Tag Archives: jared weiner

Walking Past the Guard

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Here is a guard pass from Rodolfo Vieira that I literally watched about 20 times in a row in the morning today.

This pass may seem too easy to most people. It has already collected 2 dislikes on YouTube and a comment saying that it’ll never work. But I believe that the idea behind this guard pass is at the core of what makes Rodolfo one of the best guard passers in the world. What’s the idea? There’s two: misdirection and timing. I’ve been thinking of these two ever since JW started me on my guard passing journey with the x-pass about 6 months ago.

I’ve drilled about 10 different guard passes for several thousand times at this point, and the picture is slowly starting to emerge. The best guard pass is not one semitruck running over another semitruck. The best guard pass is the bullfighter stepping aside as the enraged bull rushes past. It’s subtle and crisp.

One of the jiu jitsu guys that I follow closely on the Internets is Philadelphia’s own Josh Vogel, and he wrote two good posts on just these two topics. He breaks down these two ideas  of timing and misdirection which I think is rarely done with such rigor.

How to Watch a BJJ Instructional

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Someone mentioned to me a few months ago that it takes them forever to get through an instructional because they like to carefully watch, re-watch, and re-watch again, every single move in it, take notes, and then drill each one.

My approach has been different. I watch an instructional the same way I read a philosophy book. I watch the whole thing without pausing much at all. When I’m not watching it, I’ll think about what makes the technique work (the fundamentals behind it) and let it settle somewhere deep in my subconscious. I’m not looking for a technique I like, I’m looking for one I love. It has to click with me immediately.

An example of a technique that clicked with me right away is Andre Galvao’s bull pass:

When I first saw that, I felt immediately that this will be one of my favorite passes, and it is.

More often than not, however, I don’t pick up any one technique but use the system of techniques presented to modify my current game. I’m not sure how to describe it best. But by watching someone who is a world-class jiu jitsu player perform a set of related techniques, I tend to pick up a few general principles and begin almost imitating them in drilling and training.

The techniques I saw in instructionals that had the biggest impact on my game so far (that I can think of) are:  Marcelo Garcia butterfly and x-guard, Jared Weiner’s knee on belly and guard passing, Caio Terra’s half guard, Ryan Hall’s back takes, Andre Galvao’s guard passing, and the variety of fundamentals from Saulo Ribeiro, Robson Moura, and a few others I can’t think of now.

Anyway, the point is, I think too many people obsess about getting to know every single technique on an instructional dvd set they purchase. For me that’s too much pressure. I just like to enjoy the totality of it, pick out the rare technique that clicks with me, and slowly integrate it into my relatively simple game.

Eighty Seven Reasons to Train Harder

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The IBJJF European Open started yesterday with the blue belts. The results are slowly trickling in. There were 87 guys in the blue belt middleweight division. I was positive that at least one of the guys I knew would medal. They did not. And then I started doing some research, and realized that this division had some very good competitors. About 10 of the 87 could win gold on any given day.

I know that the blue belt is commonly thought of as a beginner rank, but the guys that win these divisions do not have many holes in their game. They are by no stretch of the imagination “beginners”. Many have spent 3 to 4 years training daily (if not twice daily). What’s clear to me is that several of these guys will beat me 9 out of 10 times if I am passive and let them play their game. For example, the first place winner looks to be a triangle guy. I know if I stick around in his closed guard long enough I will get triangled. The answer for me is to be the aggressor, to not allow the closed guard, or if it happens to very aggressively work to split it.

Marcelo Garcia put it well in his new book on advanced jiu jitsu that you must always be threatening some kind of attack. At every moment of the roll, you are winning if you keep your opponent on the defensive. That requires a certain mindset that to me doesn’t come naturally. I have to develop it in training.

Here’s a video of the first place winner (Julio dos Anjos):

Here’s a video of the second place winner (David Hulland):

I have to be honest and say that I am genuinely intimidated by the level of competition at this tournament. It’s a wake up call that I have to do the things I know I need to do to win. That’s a confusing sentence. But basically, many of us know what needs to be done to accomplish a certain goal. You can write it down on paper. You can visualize doing it. Actually doing it is a whole another challenge, especially with many forces from the real-world putting stumbling blocks in your path.

I won’t make promises that I will win. But I can promise that I will give it everything I got.

Rebuilding the Jiu Jitsu Colosseum

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The BJJ United academy got flooded yesterday when the fire sprinklers “malfunctioned” and went off. Jared Weiner (the head instructor) put out a video documenting this unbelievable event (that couldn’t come at a worse time):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8txa_7HjXA8

What I think a lot of people were inspired by is how Jared took on this situation as he takes on a lot of challenges on the mat: whatever happens in life, you don’t whine and sulk, but focus and overcome it.

If you know Jared, you know how much of his blood, sweat, and tears go into the school. Send him a note. He recently put out an instructional dvd set all about knee on belly. I think actually buying that would be an especially nice way to show support. I wrote a review of it a while ago. It shows that he attacks his opponents the same way he is attacking this mat flooding misfortune: with intensity.

Review of Operation Knee on Belly

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Jared Weiner has come out with a new dvd set Operation Knee on Belly.

I’m a big believer that a good instructional dvd or book can take your game to another level. For me, for example, Marcelo Garcia’s x guard book opened up my game to where I could be dangerous (against people at my lowly level of blue belt) off my back.

But at the end of the day I’m a top player, and that’s where my favorite top game instructional comes in: Operation Knee on Belly. The following are some of the things I particularly like about it (off the top of my head).

Emphasis on Control

Jared emphasizes the kind of knee on belly position control that people often associate with  controlling the back mount. For him, it’s not a quick transitional position. It’s a place where you stick around and can finish the match. He discusses that extensively throughout, but especially in the “Principles” part of the set.

Impose and Finish

A lot of the techniques on the dvd set aren’t responses to something the opponent does. Instead you’re imposing the dominant position and going after the submission that you want. Just the way I like it! That includes triangles, chokes, kimuras, armbars, omoplatas, etc. Jiu jitsu is very much about the push-pull reactions, but sometimes you can really impose your game on the opponent to the point where their options are very limited. This makes the task of controlling position and submitting the opponent much more manageable.

Live Speed and Common Mistakes

Two extra things that I particularly like is that for each technique Jared shows the technique at live speed a bunch of times with entries into knee on belly from both sweeps and guard passes. After showing all that, he describes some of the common mistakes people make for each of the techniques.

Complete System

The same fundamental concepts run throughout the instructional, so taken together Jared presents a complete system of attacks from knee on belly (in both gi and no-gi).

Teaching Style

While perhaps not essential, one of the most memorable parts of the instructional is the style of Jared’s teaching. There’s a certain mix of intensity and humor that makes watching the set both entertaining and motivating. Words like crush, smash, drive, torque, twist set the “mood” perfectly. And of course, there’s the frequent mention of “grinding the sternum”.

While jotting down the above few comments I came across a picture of Jared that I had from the first time I saw him in person (competing and winning a superfight in the summer of 2010). I remember being very impressed at his guard passing style. He was relentless.

And above all I think that’s what makes his instruction great. He uses the techniques he teaches to consistently score on and beat other top black belts in his division.  Of course, a great instructor doesn’t have to be a great competitor, but it sure doesn’t hurt ;-)

Lazy Judo

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I woke up bright and early at 10am today (Sunday). For some people that might not be so early, but for people like me with a productivity peak that hits around 3am and a life-threatening addiction to coffee, 10am is pretty damn early.

I finally got around to having my “birthday party” with my parents. A month late, but who’s counting. I got a new camera! Mostly for still shots, but I’ll be definitely using for HD video also together with my other one. Here’s the first video:

These are a couple of throws that ignore most of the basics: not bending knees, not turning enough, not pulling enough, etc. Hence the title of this post: “Lazy Judo”. I was being relaxed, overly relaxed.

That’s a perfect time to focus on technique. Instead I ended up lazily half-assing each throw. This is why I like video’ing practice, because my judo looks a lot worse on camera than I imagine in my head ;-)

Special thanks to Osagame Martial Arts for the great training and instruction as always.

In other news, congrats to Jared for winning his Long Island Pride superfight. A score of 3-0 is always music to my ears. That’s a score I would love to have for the rest of my BJJ career. To me it says: a long battle that ends in a guard being passed.

Black Belts and Fire Sprinklers

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My day started at 10am when I was woken up by the sound of running water. My landlord installed fire sprinklers in the building last week. Today, they were testing them by turning the pressure up to “200 pounds” and seeing if any of the sprinklers fail.

One of the ones in my apartment did fail, soaking the majority of the room. My first reaction was to yell “What the f***!” I’m not sure who I was addressing, but it seemed like the right thing to do. Then I heard a voice from downstairs yell back: “Sorry, dude!” Reminded me a lot of Office Space.

I grabbed a cup of coffee, my gi, and went out the door to go train at Jared’s. Every guy there was tougher than the next, including as Mike said: “the world’s two best blue belts”. He was just joking, but when he said that, I realized how much I wish I’d gone to Worlds, and that I’m definitely going next year. Of course, there are many high-level tournaments before then that I really need to start medaling at. Andrew is game for the Chicago Open in August. And I think Jared and a few others might be going to the Boston Open.

In training, I opened up (as I have more and more recently) and tried different guard passes. Even tried lefty passes to help make sure my base is strong no matter what grip I have. X-pass is working well. The part I struggle with is stabilizing side control. I’m most successful when I really force a strong knee-on-belly right from the x-pass.

Guard Passing Intervention

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There are times in your jiu jitsu development that you need an intervention, either from yourself or your coach or both. First step is admitting that you suck. I did that, and was depressed for a week about it. Step two is to analyze the biggest problems and what needs to be done to fix them. Jared did exactly that, better than most coaches I’ve ever trained with. He taught  four passes, which set me on a long road of improvement in this aspect of the top game.

I now have a clear system of passing. It feels awkward, since it’s new, but it’s clear that the potential is there. Already, I’ve been plowing through guards that gave me trouble before. X-pass, in particular, has been very effective, especially since it’s there more often than the others.

Below are some of the passes I’ve been drilling. The first four are the four that Jared taught me. Two of them I already knew, but there’s nothing like a coach drilling into your brain the importance and effectiveness of a pass. Linked are some youtube videos showing the pass.

I got a chance to drill and work on these in several training sessions at BJJ United. Every hour I spend on those mats, I walk away with a better jiu jitsu game.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zeEe7Sd2as

Solid Jiu Jitsu Fundamentals

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lex-fridman-jared-weiner-training-at-bjj-united

Fundamentals class (6-7pm) at BJJ United precedes kettlebells, no-gi, and then an advanced bjj class. It’s always packed with good training partners, and a lot of them.

I like this class because in it Jared Weiner usually shows the basics, and I’m all about the basics. All I want to do in jiu jitsu, in the end, is to excel at the fundamentals.

I got a chance to train with Jared and Rafa (one of my favorite training partners). Rafa kept going to inverted guard which is great to see because it makes me feel like I’m not being ridiculous for working on this guard also. He has a very technical game that’s fun to figure out and find answers to.

The roll with Jared was excellent. He has exactly the kind of top game I hope to developlex-fridman-rafa-rolling-at-bjj-united one day. Lots of pressure, strong powerful passing, knee on belly, chokes, backtakes, etc. I went for a basic x-guard entry that works on most people, and he just didn’t even pay attention to it. He broke the butterfly guard, and passed real heavy. I had no space to move, none. Awesome jiu jitsu!

I also did the Kettlebells class with Sharon. I especially liked the pass-under lunges. She had a better name for them, but I forget it now. Here’s a video of this exercise. It’s definitely a good mix of balance, coordination, strength, and there’s a kind of nice flow to it.

PS: Thanks to Greg (a BJJ United student) for the excellent photography. It’s always great to see someone be very good at their hobby (or job).

A Good Idea for Finishing the Single Leg

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Ever since I was paired up with Wilson Reis a few weeks ago and we were doing a single leg takedown drill, I realized that I was lacking in knowledge and skill (to put it mildly) in the area of finishing the single leg.

I finished a few single legs in tournaments but it’s been an annoying scramble every time, and I’m always thinking “damn it, Lex, why didn’t you just switch to a double when you had the chance”. The single leg just never made sense to me. It feels like I’m trying to control a lion by its tail. The analogy probably makes no sense to you, but it works in my mind at this late caffeinated hour.

So, given all that, it was great to see Jared Weiner put up a technique of the week video (see below) with an awesome idea for finishing the single leg. Why is it awesome? Several reasons, but the main one is that it uses the same kind of idea that I like to use in passing the butterfly guard (in gi). The gripping and the body mechanics are very similar, so I can’t wait to try it if I ever find myself with just one of my opponent’s legs in my hands.