Can Women Really Handle Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?

Keith Owen: How to Get More Women Into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

The Science of Skill

This weeks blog is someone else s blog interviewing me.  Check it out!

Science of Skill Article on Keith Owen.


Here is my new video from Submissions 101 on how to improve your cross choke as well!

The Cobra Cross Collar Choke!

CREONTE!!

This is a very difficult topic for me to blog on especially from an American Jiu-Jitsu instructor perspective.  In America team loyalty is important BUT students leave their instructors for various reasons all the time.  Are they wrong?  Not necessarily. 

 

I have thought long and hard about this issue before giving my thoughts because I'm torn…but here goes.

 A “Creonte” is a Brazilian term that derived its meaning from a Brazilian soap opera where one of the main characters would constantly switch allegiances with the other characters. This term carried over to BJJ to mean that a “high level” student leaves a school he or she is training at to go train with a rival team, in essence becoming a  “traitor”.  

Before the popularity of the internet training academies would literally have secret moves that they used against rival schools. In many cases the instructor took a poor kid off the street and trained them for free as a future champion, only to see that student go into the hands of the “Enemy.”   To lose a top level student to another academy was a disastrous proposition. I would personally say that this is a moral character defect on the part of the student and I would hope that Karma would pay him back one day.

In America things seem to be a bit different in the sense that most students pay a fee to train at a specific academy.  This is mostly a business transaction here in America and thus as customers they are free to go and train at whatever school they desire.   

Many do so because they live closer to the other school, or want to pay a cheaper fee or they don't like the other students, they might be getting hurt too much, the instructor could be a dishonest person or they don’t do tournament training or they DO do tournament training or heaven forbid, the school might just be better than the one they were at.  Does that make them a traitor?  If you’re the instructor I’m sure it would be “Yes”, in my mind, again, not necessarily.   

This is especially true if the student is a LOWER level student who might have just found his first school by accident. He knew nothing about BJJ and he decided that the schools logo was cool and that’s why he decided to train there.   Does he have a right to go somewhere else if he wants?  You bet.

What I don’t accept is a medium to high level student who has been training for years, proclaiming to love his school, the people, the instructor and the training who for one reason or another decides to leave to better himself  through another instructor’s promises of quick belt promotions, teaching opportunities or promises of free tuition.  I refer to this kind of student as “a piece of crap”, in other words a Creonte.   It’s happened to me before including taking some of my students with him! What are you to do?

 If you are an instructor who has experienced this as I have you need to turn the focus back on you and ask yourself (as I did) some fundamental questions, Am I really giving the VERY best classes I can? Am I up on the latest techniques of Jiu-Jitsu? Do I really want my students better than me?  Am I doing my best to make my students succeed?  Am I fair in my promotions? Am I NOT playing favorites with some students at the expense of others?   

If you can answer all of these questions in the affirmative then the fault probably lies in the student and not you.  It still hurts though.

Take a good hard look at your students.  If they are people with low morals, long criminal records and bad attitudes then what are you expecting from these types of people?  Loyalty? Really?  If they are good,honest people, are you giving them opportunities to shine, to teach, help the school and consequently themselves? It’s only right.

If you’re a student you need to show loyalty to your instructor!  Look very hard at your motives before deciding to leave your current instructor. Talk to your instructor first! In many cases, the grass is not always greener on the other side.  If you do leave an excellent instructor because of selfish and disloyal motives (in your heart you know) then be prepared to wear the moniker of “Creonte.” You deserve it. 

I heard a saying that goes like this “If your best friend borrows 20 bucks, promises to pay you back and then skips town…Wasn’t that a cheap price to get rid of a bad friend?”   Better to not have given that disloyal student a black belt from your linage because he will be your black belt for life.  I promise you that you will be better off with that student gone.  I know I was.

P.S. If you are a student who trains at two different BJJ academies without the knowledge of both instructors then you are a "Creonte." Pick a school and be loyal.

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“I’d like to punch you in the Face”! Why strikes are important in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu!

For this article I’m narrowing my focus to ground punching for a "grappling/BJJ" school, nothing stand-up oriented.  So, don’t go emailing me about how I should be standing or this is how MMA does it. I got it.

There is a funny saying about BJJ Black Belts that goes, “If you want to turn a bjj black belt into a brown belt, punch him in the face.  If you want to turn him into a purple belt, punch him again.” I don’t believe this is quite true but there can be a shred of truth none the less.  I, personally, have a couple stand up martial arts black belts along with my BJJ black belt and I have been punched in the face quite a few times over the years. I have also done a lot of grappling and punching in my time as well. So punching is nothing new to me.  But it has traditionally not been explored by many of my students and many in the Gracie community. 

I was recently training with one of my students Tren Long getting him ready for an MMA fight he wanted to do.  Tren is a brown belt and one of my best students.  I was helping him with some of his grappling and striking.  We trained for a while, both of us taking care not to hurt each other’s feelings or faces.  We both know each other’s games pretty well so it made for a very interesting time. I have never had such a great sparring session in all my life and to be honest I got the worst end of the deal that day.

It made me make a decision on something I had been thinking about for a long time.  What good is saying you teach “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu” if you never throw punches?  How realistic is that?  It’s one thing to train in the gi which I find to be a very realistic self-defense training tool.  People wear coats and pants on the street all the time. I also teach the Gracie Stand-up Self Defense.  But you need to take it a step further and don the gloves while you spar!

Here are some problems with never punching during your rolls.  One thing about doing straight gi Jiu-Jitsu is that you tend to not worry about your head and face.  If a guy can look at your head then he can probably tag it.  Checking his arms is vital.  In this kind of scenario you will need to modify your game to take this into account.   

The second concern is that you have no time to be hanging out when you are on the bottom especially if you get mounted.  Mount escaping while you are being punched is paramount. Get out of there!   

Third, disrupting your opponent’s base from the bottom is amazingly important so he can’t get off clean shots at you!  Finally, punching while grappling shows you to get your ass on top during a real fight!  

I’m sure your sitting there saying, “What’s the big deal, we have been doing this all along?”  I commend you for it.  The only problem is that I have been to a lot of BJJ schools that don’t but they should.  They will get a real eye-opening experience If they did.

Let me end by saying that punch throwing should be a once in a while kind of thing...using MMA Gloves of course.   Solid fundamentals are developed by practicing non- punching  free rolling.  Those fundamentals are tested and enhanced by the anvil of the fist though.  Remember that punching doesn’t have to be hard with your partner.  A simple tap lets him know that “I just punched you in the face.” So don’t go knocking teeth out. 

 I’m incorporating more punching with my students from now on so they can become better Gracie Jiu-Jitsu practitioners.  I think this will be the deciding factor when people ask, “What’s the difference between Sport and Self-Defense BJJ.” 

Good luck with that X-Guard.



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Jason Scully and the Invisible Art

Let’s get one thing straight about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.  Making a decent living is all about teaching in your school and NOT about producing DVDs.  

Many people don’t realize that the average DVD set brings in between 5 to 15 thousand dollars in profit over its life!  That might sound like a lot but try living a year on just 15 thousand dollars (over three or four years really).  That just doesn’t go far. With all the DVD and Online competition out there it’s amazing that black belts make much money at all.  I’ve told my students on numerous occasions that I would have made millions by now if it weren’t for BJJ and the Martial arts and I’m serious about it....but it's ok I like it. =)

So let’s put to rest the idea that Black Belts who make DVDs are making a killing. This includes all the world champions.  They aren’t.   We black belts mostly do it because of the uncontrollable insane passion for the art that we have. We just want to SHARE with others so they can grow and make BJJ flourish. 

Jason Scully is one such individual in particular.

Jason’s passion for BJJ is crazy!   This guy spends hours videoing his work and then typically gives his moves out for FREE on YouTube!   Take for instance his 57 Guard Passing Techniques in 8 Minutes, what’s this guy making by giving ALL these awesome moves to you, for nothing?  You got it.... nothing.  He just wants to share it as a reference so YOU"LL get better.  He simply loves the art!

Jason recently sent me a copy of his Invisible Grappling DVD Set for review.   This is a 7 DVD set with hours of video!!   It took me days to watch it all!!   The only thing I can say about it is that it’s absolutely outstanding!   One of the best videos I have seen in a long time.   It is every blue and purple belts dream set.    This is material too detailed and foundational to find on YouTube but you must have, hence the name “Invisible.”  

The sad part is this DVD set is SOLD OUT.  Jason isn’t making anymore, most likely because it’s very expensive to produce.  So I’m the first person in BJJ history to review a DVD set that you probably can’t get anymore.  It got scooped up like money falling from a building.

My point is…when Jason does a video you might want to be the first in line to buy a copy.  I have also learned that when he tells you there will be no more made,  HE ACTUALLY MEANS IT.   

  

 “Invisible Grappling” represents the incredible base technique that most practitioners don’t see or get…but I also think it means that if you haven’t bought Jason Scully’s DVD set…It’s now invisible to you. =).  

You can find out more about Jason Scully at www.jasonscully.com  or see if you can actually sign up for a change at his grappling resource forum  www.grapplersguide.com . Most of the time joining is only opened on a limited time basis.  I've been a proud member for over 5 years!

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Brazilian Time is NOT a Good Time!

Here is a huge enemy of your school,  Brazilian Time.  “Brazilian Time” is a humorous term used to denote  starting the martial arts class up to 15 minutes late in many cases. 

This is made famous by Brazilian BJJ Instructors (and many American Instructors) who are notoriously late in beginning their class; whether they arrive late, leaving their students sitting out on the front steps with a locked door or simply having a small talk conversation on the mats with a few students and letting time slip by.

Besides setting a bad example it also minimizes the actual technique learning process because many schools will actually do “extensive” warm-ups and drills leaving minimal time for the actual teaching of methodical technique. 

Let’s do a time breakdown to see what “Brazilian Time” is cheating us out of.

Let’s pretend that your instructor has six class times a week.  I’m sure they have more but let’s “pretend”.  Let’s also pretend that he/she starts class 15 minutes late for only 4 of those 6 classes a week.  4 classes X 15 minutes=60.  That’s 60 minutes of productive class time per week that is being wasted.   60 X 50 Weeks in a year =3000 minutes of training time not applied for the entire year.  3000 minutes divided by 60 minutes in an hour =50 hours of down time.  Lets say that each class is two hours long, that equals out to 25- 2 hour classes (50 divided by 2) that is kaput.  That is like you paying for close to a month of class and getting nothing out of it!!  How is that math working out for you?

This waste of time could be the difference between you winning a medal at a tournament and going home empty handed if not just getting better at Jiu-Jitsu.

Because this is a math/ bjj class,  let’s go a little further and cut it in half again just to be conservative and say your instructor isn’t “that bad”.  Let’s say 25- 2 hour wasted classes divided by 2=12.5 two hour non -productive classes per year vaporized….wow I feel better now, don’t you (Sarcasm)?

I’m not putting myself up as the perfect example and saying that I “Always” start my class on time. I don’t. But I try.   I’m just saying that I’m very very, very  aware of the benefits of proper time management.  I will also go on to say that I never let my students show up late without giving me a call or text.  My time is valuable as well and I won’t let them insult me by continuously showing up late like it’s no big deal.  It is a big deal.  Respect goes both ways. 

I want to close by adding that ending your class late (in kids and adult class) is NOT ok both because many students and parents have families to get home to and they often have to walk up embarrassed and say, “I have to leave before class bows out.”  As an instructor I have been guilty of this felonious act many times and it’s not right and I’m pledging to do better. 

Let’s keep the Brazilians, because they rock….Let’s just get rid of Brazilian Time!

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