Category: Cool Videos

Kodokan Throwing Techniques (Nagewaza)

What’s more exciting than watching a Judo master throw his opponent? We all know how devastating a good judo throw can be, one could even argue that when properly executed a judo throw can be a fight ender.

As jiu jitsu practitioners we’re often accused of not having a good stand-up game. Across the internet you often read people lamenting “how can you win a fight if you can’t even get your opponent to the ground?”.

I disagree with this. I believe that as long as you start most of your rolls from a standing position, you’ll be in good shape in terms of perfecting your take down skills.

Throw in some judo throws combined with some wrestling and you can become exceptionally effective at taking down an opponent.

Check out this video demonstrating 67 throwing techniques with variations:

 

Also check out the video “Real World Judo: Hit Harder with a Throw” (included with an Amazon Prime subscription if you have that):

real-world-judo

4 Fighting Styles Every Fighter Should Know

“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” – Robert E. Howard

“How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight?” – Tyler Durden, Fight Club

Most of us will never be put in a situation to have to defend ourselves in our adult life. Fights are typically relegated to the school yard, or the college bar, but at a certain point life changes and the appeal of throwing fists in polite society loses it’s luster.

Still, this doesn’t relieve us of the responsibility of knowing how to defend ourselves, our loved ones, and those who can’t defend themselves. The chances of needing to get into a physical altercation are generally pretty slim, but it’s better to be a “warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war”.

Learning how to fight is a great way to boost confidence. Knowing you can throw a punch, and take a punch if necessary, can take the anxiety out of any adversarial exchange. There’s evidence that people who know how to fight tend to avoid confrontation just on the basis that they know they don’t need to prove themselves.

There’s also evidence that the more confidence you exude, the less likely you are to be a target of violent crime. Most criminals commit crimes of opportunity. They want the most return on their efforts with the least amount of resistance and risk . How you carry yourself could very well make the difference when a criminal is looking for their next mark.

With the plethora of fighting styles available to learn, which ones should you choose to dive into? There are traditional martial arts such as Karate and Kung Fu, grappling styles, striking styles, and subdivisions in each.

Here are the four fighting styles I think are the most important and effective. Each of these fighting styles has proven themselves to be invaluable in mixed martial arts events. Their effectiveness has been battle tested by their practitioners through countless hours of sparring and refinement.

Continue reading “4 Fighting Styles Every Fighter Should Know”

Why Women Should Train Jiu Jitsu

At our Jiu Jitsu academy we have a women’s program that was started a couple of years ago. It was created as a way to help women overcome the discomfort of training in a co-ed environment. One of the instructor’s at our academy is a female, and she thought it would be worth experimenting with a women’s-only program to see if there would be any interest in getting more women to train jiu jitsu. And there certainly was. That part of the school is now thriving. You can read about it here: Girls-in-Gis: The Power of Healing.

I’ve heard from a few women that have trained jiu jitsu that there is an initial discomfort to get over in training with guys. There’s the obvious gender difference that is a barrier for some women to get past, but there’s also the size difference. It’s physically demanding to train when you’re first starting jiu jitsu, and if you’re a woman starting out who has to train with guys much larger than them then I could see how it could be difficult to do the moves, at least in the beginning. Jiu jitsu was designed so that a smaller, weaker person can overcome someone larger and stronger, but when you’re first learning the techniques you don’t know how to apply the proper leverage yet, so you’re not going to be defeating size and strength from day one.

There are many reasons why women may feel uncomfortable training jiu jitsu with guys, I’m not a woman so I won’t claim to know truly what it feels like but a quick web search shows many articles that address this topic. The organization “Girls in Gis” was created to help women train together in a friendly environment. They host events all around the United States through their ambassador program and we are very fortunate to have a Girls in Gis event at our school. Girls in Gis also has a scholarship program to help offset the costs associated with learning jiu jitsu.  If you check out the testimonials on their site you’ll see that Girls in Gis have had a positive influence on many women’s jiu jitsu journey.

Continue reading “Why Women Should Train Jiu Jitsu”

Jesse Delgado Funk Roll Study

DPS Breakdowns just posted a video breaking down how to do and use a Funk Roll in grappling. If you’re not familiar with DPS Breakdowns, you should head over to their YouTube channel, tons of great videos, a lot of very technical, high quality analysis. Dan from DPS breakdowns is a high level competitor in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and has great insight into the finer details of the game.

The Funk Roll is a roll that according to Dan has 3 objectives:

  1. Disrupt the opponent’s base, by doing the Funk Roll and achieving hip and ankle control.
  2. Prevent the opponent from regaining base.
  3. Either score or force a stalemate.

From the video blow it seems like an important aspect of the funk roll (or arguably the sole reason to do this move) is to counter a take down with the funk roll, and then establish control of your opponents leg(s) or hips so that they can’t establish their own base, which kills subsequent take down attempts and opens other possibilities.

See the full breakdown below:

Hurricane Jiu Jitsu: Student Video Analysis

Hurricane Jiu JitsuIn this video John Lawrence from Hurricane Jiu Jitsu does an analysis of one of his student’s competition footage. Lawrence has a long competition history and his experience enables to him to see details in this video that I would have missed.  He breaks down what it would take for this student to finish his sweeps and control his opponent better by controlling his opponent’s posting hand and stabilizing his opponents core by gaining grips on two opposing corners of his opponent’s body.

North South Escape using Elbow Push vs Side Control

marcelo-garciaI find myself getting stuck in north  south and side control a lot lately (again). While searching for ideas on how to escape north south I found this video of Marcelo Garcia showing how to escape by getting back into side control. He says that he’d rather be in side control than in north south, so doesn’t mind escaping to that position, where he can work on escaping side control via an elbow push.

Beating DLR With Old School Pressure

Hurricane Jiu JitsuJohn Lawrence from Hurricane Jiu Jitsu shows a pressure pass when confronted with a De La Riva guard. Pressure passing is my favorite way to pass so I’m especially interested in this way of beating the De La Riva. I have been trying to step out of it with varying success, I’ll be curious if pressuring in will increase my success with passing this guard.

Kuzushi in the Guard

Scott BurrScott Burr from the Fight Gym discusses Kuzushi (unbalancing an opponent) from the closed guard.  This is an important concept, not only because breaking an opponent’s posture is important when they’re in your guard, but also because doing so leaves you vulnerable to headbutts. I’ve almost received accidental headbutts when rolling from trying to break an opponent’s posture when they are in my guard, so I can imagine in a real fight that a headbutt would be a real option for someone if they wanted to do some damage from that position.

Check out the details in the video below:

Scott Burr is a Jiu Jitsu Black Belt, Judo Black Belt, Steve Maxwell certified trainer and  a black belt in Kuk Sul Do. He is also the author of the novel “Bummed Out City”.