Rafael Lovato Jr. interview on Judo Podcast

Here is a good interview with Rafael Lovato, Jr., the second American after BJ Penn to win the BJJ world championships at the black belt level. The interview is done by some judo guys who aren’t exactly professional dj’s and that makes the interview better. One of them describes rolling with Lovato, saying the pressure [...]

Using a structure

In bjj, they often tell us to use a skeletal structure to block something. It’s more efficient, not requiring wasting strength. Of course that’s a big part of neijia, maybe the very first thing, but it’s much much harder in stand up with more variables and infinite ways to compensate and not realize it’s all [...]

Kettlebells for bjj and judo

Nice video I saw on Combat Sports Conditioning. I’m more likely to watch it again if I re-embed here.

I’m too lazy and frugal to go buy kettlebells, though. I may try a few of these exercises with dumbbells if I feel like it. I like the hip heist sweep. More judo throw-ish. I don’t like [...]

Eddie Bravo innovations and questions

After reading all these names for different guard types I don’t yet understand, I surfed over to read about Eddie Bravo on where else, Wikipedia. Some of his suggestions, according to this article:

Always practice only no gi grappling.
Incorporate the rubber guard.
Drilling (kata) is as important as rolling (sparring).
A clip from the article:
Bravo explained (at [...]

Judoka perspective on guard positions

This thread has a judoka’s perspective on bjj guard positions and uses. Talks about open guard, rubber guard, and spider guard. I don’t yet understand these distinctions. Kuzushi using the legs from a bottom position is something I am finding through experimentation, though. Will have to go back to read and better understand the thread [...]

Pushing legs

From a taijiquan perspective, I need to start thinking about bjj as pushing legs. Sure, you, random reader who studies taijiquan, say “pushing hands is not meant to be literally pushing hands”, and you, random reader who studies bjj, say “huh?”. Suffice it to say there is a similarity. However, when I try rolling, almost immediately [...]

Bjj day 2

Pollen season is winding down and I feel healthy enough to get back to real training again. This week I did yoga three times, zhan zhuang and qigong pretty much every day, taijiquan one day, and finally made it to my second formal bjj class. Too many training notes to jot down for now. Some [...]

Josh Waitzkin interview

Here is a great interview I found on EmptyFlower.net in a thread called “Attacking during the blink”:

He talks about breaking down the complexities and making smaller circles and fancy techniques not being “it” and condensing biomechanics, bringing things from the conscious mind to the unconscious, speeding up perception (slowing down time) at will, and more.
AND, [...]

Dan Inosanto

Very old video training with Bruce Lee:

Training with John Machado. Dan is apparently 71 and a Machado BJJ black belt in this video. Geez! Talk about mastering all ranges. Look at how well he moves at age 71.

Rickson Yoga

Here is Rickson Gracie doing ginatisca natural in a clip from the famous video Choke:

What is with the really weird breathing technique?
And here is a cool video where he flips over when picked up and looking like he’s about to eat a slam: