Our goal is to make the amazing self-defense system, sport & martial art called jiu-jitsu known to as many people as possible in our community. Everybody knows karate and judo. But not everybody has heard of jiu-jitsu, whether it be a more traditional style or a more sport oriented style like BJJ. We created this blog to help the public understand what jiu-jitsu is all about. We believe that many people would benefit from jiu-jitsu … only if they knew.
With over 5,000 years of history, yoga is one of the favorite forms of exercise for active people today. A mix of movement, breathing and meditation, this ancient set of techniques can and will help you with your conditioning for a better performance on the mats. We went after yoga instructor Angela Kent and black-belt Flavio Almeida and they shared the following eight ways yoga can help your jiu-jitsu training.
When we talk about ‘fundamentals’, we are not talking about what’s most basic – we are talking about what’s most important. You can't build a house on sand. In any art, whether ballet, cooking, drawing/painting, carving, jiu-jitsu or any martial arts (just to name a few), proof of knowledge of the basics, and the learning of fundamentals is paramount before a student can be considered for entry into deeper levels of the art. This is different than a skill, in which there are basically just different things to learn how to do. Skills are things like running, weight lifting, reading, or kayaking. This is in fact the difference between art and skill; art is something that you can never stop improving on and learning about, skill just means the ability to do something well.
For me practicing martial arts has always been the search for truth. Over the past years Fundamentals Jiu-Jitsu has evolved from a more traditional way of training and teaching to a very modern and realistic approach to self-defense and fighting in general. It is not about the style or the techniques. It is all about how you train that makes it (more) functional. Aliveness is the epistemology of functional martial arts. It is the self-correcting mechanism that allows us to adjust our form to align with function. It is a truth seeking method.
The Guard makes Brazilian Jiu Jitsu distinct from all other grappling disciplines. Providing one with the ability to control distance and disrupt their opponent’s base, the guard is crucial for self defense, sport and combat. The ability to reverse roles from attack to defense- change positions from bottom to top- is a cornerstone in making the art as effective as it is.
Let's look at the golden rules of grappling according to Chris Haueter.
Feel like you're doing all the wrong things when you exercise at home? Don't worry, home workout mistakes are common, even for seasoned professionals!
Confusion often surrounds the topic of strength training for the martial arts. There are generally two schools of thought on the subject. One school states that weight training is detrimental to martial skill acquisition because the excessive tension held in the muscles will reduce the fluidity of movement, thus robbing one's technique of speed and power. The other school says that strength training done correctly and as a complement to the martial skill training will increase the contractile strength of the body without sacrificing flexibility, the end result being improved speed and power.
The coronavirus obviously has a huge impact on the practice of martial arts and other contact sports. Is it better to temporarily close all martial arts schools or do martial arts instructors have any other options? If you search the internet, there is a lot of creativity and a lot of instructors nowadays or forced to offer alternative workouts (in the dojo or online).
3rd-degree Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt and fitness expert Nicolas Gregoriades shares his 4 favourite core exercises for jiu-jitsu.
Bullying is extremely prevalent in this day and age, especially at school and on the playground. This can be difficult for parents and children to navigate as it can be an extremely bumpy road.
Jiu-jitsu often tries to sell itself as the martial art that anybody can learn. And yes, to a certain degree that is true. It is at its core a unique and very intelligent self-defense system designed to give the weak a chance against the strong.
What better way than to start this blog with listing the benefits of doing jiu-jitsu? While especially Brazilian jiu-jitsu has become very popular due to the incredible success of Royce Gracie in the early days of UFC – where he was able to consistently submit larger and stronger opponents – jiu-jitsu has grown into more than just a sport or a martial art, it is a way of life for many people because of the incredible benefits that come along with training in “the gentle art.”
