Tag Archives: ryan hall

Lloyd Irvin: Rape is Never Forgiven

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rape-victimLloyd Irvin issued an official statement about the rape incident from 2013 and from 1989 (link to previous post about it). To me personally, this statement came way too late.

My own views have evolved on this incident, with a lot of respect lost. That’s all I will say here on that. The rest of the internet has already said it in a thousand different ways, often with too much hatred, but the people who speak with a calm voice of reason are there and have moved me in a profound way (e.g. Ryan Hall’s open letter and Karen Miller’s comments).

We live in a society (in America) where the act of rape, no matter the circumstance, is never forgiven. It’s a sign of a people dealing with the fact that for thousands of years (until very recently) rape was viewed throughout the world as a minor offense, akin to the damage of property (see history of rape). Now let me pause before I state the next fact. I have written about it often, and think about it with a shudder of disbelief. Rape of women by military forces are still carried out as a weapon of war today. Horrific example: 48 women are raped in the Democractic Republic of the Congo every hour (source). Just sit and think about that.

The world is drowning in injustice. But I’m hopeful, seeing the moral outcry and growth in our country on issues like this incident and many others.

 

Review: Ryan Hall’s Instructional on Arm Triangles

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Ryan Hall has released a new 3-dvd set on just arm triangles. Everything I’ve seen of it so far reminds exactly why his instructionals are (in my humble opinion) the best out there today. I’ve been praising his backtake dvd ever since I started jiu jitsu, and it’s probably had more influence on my game than any other instructional.

He presents all the techniques in the context of a unifying system of principles. So he essentially gives you the tools with which to go drill / train to figure out the details that make the techniques work for your body type.

The bottom line is that he can verbally explain in detail all the things that make the technique work. I think a lot of instructionals are more “show” and less “tell”. That’s okay for in-person instruction when the teacher can walk over and fix the stuff you’re doing. But for “one-way” instructionals, the more detail about the principles behind the technique is provided the better. While, in class, I usually like it when the instructor is brief and then walks around fixing stuff. I want the opposite from the instructional.

Given the depth of his explanations, it’s hard to believe that Ryan is relatively young, and also started jiu jitsu relatively late in life. He is truly one of the best teachers of the art that I’ve encountered (never in person). Anyway, check it out, and buy it if you can afford it, so that he keeps making more of them.

My Grapplers Quest Experience in Asbury Park

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Yesterday, I competed at the 2011 Grapplers Quest World Championships in Asbury Park, NJ. Where better to hold the World Championships than in New Jersey? Take that, southern California! ;-)  I won my division, all with submissions.

Overall, I wish I had a few more matches ;-) Next time, I’ll be sure to sign up for both no gi and gi divisions.

I genuinely enjoy Grapplers Quest tournaments. As long as you go in ready to potentially wait a long time before and in-between fights, you will have a great experience. I think many people come to the tournament not prepared for that wait and so sometimes look back at the tournament as a crappy time, but it really is not. Jiu jitsu is not just about the six minutes on the mat, but also about the hours of patiently waiting off the mat.

Here are some videos of the matches:

As a side note, there were a lot of top level competitors in attendance, some fighting, some not: JT Torres, DJ Jackson, Mike Bannon, Drew Vogel, Travis Stevens, Zak Maxwell, Ryan Hall, David Bass, the Russian Bear Rustam Chsiev, and many more.

The advanced divisions attract some killers, so I look forward to competing there in the coming months and years.

ADCC 2011 Interviews

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Budo Jake put up a bunch of great short interviews with the competitors of the 2011 ADCC submission grappling tournament (that’s happening tomorrow and Sunday). The following are my favorites of these interviews, with some comments.

Ryan Hall

This one stood out because Ryan looks skinny, even skinnier than usual (though not as skinny as Jeff Glover), and he mentions that he takes the weight cutting very seriously, and that he stayed on weight for two weeks out, which is probably the right way to do it, but is just damn hard to do.

Braulio Estima

Braulio won the ADCC last time (in 2009) both in his weight (88 kg or 194 lbs) and the absolute at the age of 29 which makes him one of the older competitors now at 31. He talked about how 35 is really the peak for a BJJ athlete because it’s when the mind and body come together.

What I especially liked is the idea of  a “jiu jitsu compass” he talked about, which is the process of constantly improving, and structuring training such that improvement is maximized. This is in contrast to the way that (as he says) many people approach BJJ which is roll, day after day, just to butt heads.

Getting in Touch with My Inner Sambo Leg Lock Specialist

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I was born in the former Soviet Union and lived half my life there. I’m thoroughly “Americanized” at this point, but obviously all the stereotypical Russian qualities must still be deeply a part of my genetics. All I have to do is unlock them, no pun intended. Surely, that includes the intrinsic knowledge of leg locks which are a central element of Sambo (a martial art of Russian origin).

In all seriousness, my knowledge of leg locks is nearly non-existent, and I feel that this is simply unacceptable for anyone looking to compete in high level no-gi events. I know a few fundamentals of defending leg locks, but am not at all comfortable doing so. Bottom line is it’s a big hole in my no-gi game and as a leg lock specialist (and facebook friend of mine), Reilly Bodycomb, says in this excellent interview, it’s a hole that should not be there.

For this reason, it was very cool when Sharon taught a calf slicer in Tuesday’s class. It was something like this:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKqe3mQ33gI

I had a lot of trouble wrapping my mind around the technique at first. Given my advancing age, I sometimes have trouble figuring this youngster trickery out, but it eventually started clicking. I think that this attack could be effectively used on the way to taking the back with something like a rolling back take (that Ryan Hall, for example, likes to do).