EK BJJ TEAM WISH ALL COMPETITORS FROM OUR ESSEX ACADEMY GOOD LUCK TOMORROW AT THE BRISTOL OPEN.

Just for Rob – congrats on 2nd stripe!!!

I’ve been working on a project for about a month with Sensei Russ on a expanding his H2H American Self Defense System to include a website and some additional resources… more about that later. Sensei Russ and I have been talking back and forth about real combat related tactics, training and techniques. So last [...]

Hard work makes you a champion.

The date of Braulio’s seminar has been changed. Braulio will now be teaching on Sunday the 15th March at 2pm
see you all there
Tom

What is the Technical Standup?
Luigi Mondelli from Best Way Jiu-Jitsu / American Top Team calls the technique the “Technical Standup”. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard another term from it, but basically it’s the CORRECT way to standup out of bottom guard. It can be used when you’re in danger of being [...]

Participated in the no gi noon class today. There were only two other students in class today, both of whom were probably under 150 pounds. 

Thursday night class was run by lovable Chris Crampton and the Dawgfather when he finished kicking the MMA guys asses. I was like 15 minutes late due to work (I had to drive pretty much to Indiana and back). I was kind of tired from all the driving, and was worried I wasn’t going to have a productive class.

Luckily my great instructors don’t allow class not to be productive! I jumped right into cardio, where Chris had us running, shrimping, swimming, seal walking, and other crazy motions all over the mat.

Today we focused on passing half guard from the top. Crampton showed two of our main passes. The first being the “grind your head into the guys chin, prop up, get your knee through, and slide out” pass. The next was the “grab under the guys neck and give him the shoulder of pain while grabbing the guys knee and sliding you bottom knee into his ribs until you pull your leg out or he opens his guard up” pass. I know both these passes, but passing half guard on a good opponent is something I struggle with.

We got a chance for some dynamic repetition when we played the “groups of 3″ game again. We did 10 minute rounds of having to pass the half guard from top. Every 30 seconds…fresh guy; you know the drill! I had the great Dan-O and Jorge in my group, so I knew I was in for no easy task. I went first at the 10 minutes was definitely challenging. I faired pretty well. I escaped a few times, but was close or bettered myself many times in the fight. A few times I got pwned, but what you gonna do?

After this drill we had a couple rounds of live rolling, finished up with a quick sprint, and that was all she wrote!

I weighed 191.4 after class, which puts me in good shape for weigh ins next friday. I’m entering the 180-189 blue belt and intermediate divisions.

Okay so I don’t know if I really want to BE a Cagefighter.

But I DO want to be able to train like one in clothes that fit ME!

Why do so few MMA/submission grappling clothing companies offer options for the female fighter??

Okay I get the fact that not as many women train/compete as men. But women shop WAY more than men. And we care more about how our clothes fit because we worry about things like whether or not our underwear is sticking out. Ugh! I hate that.

Why do a lot of the companies that do sell women’s clothes have the stupid “I’m a hard ass” look to them that the guys all like on their clothes? I don’t need my clothing to shout “Look at me! I’m a hard ass! I’m a girl and I want to wear clothes made for a girl. Thank you very much.

So here are links to a few places that I know make MMA/NoGi BJJ clothing especially for women (please add a comment if you have any to add):

Fight Chix by Felice Herrig = http://www.fightchix.com/
FighterGirls by Debi Purcell = http://www.fightergirls.com/
Tough Love & Total Knockout by OTM = http://www.onthemat.com/
NHB Gear = http://www.nhbgear.com/Womens-c-14.html
GurlGear = http://www.gurlgearshop.com/index.php?main_page=index
Atama = http://www.atama-kimonos.com/WOMEN.htm

My school Gracie Barra Clearwater started running the Tough Times Training Program (free training for the jobless). Stephen Koepfer of NY Combat Sambo made it an official program at his gym and I liked it so I talked to my instructor and he was all for it.

The local St. Petersburg Times newspaper ran a story on it today that explains how it works.