I just bumped into these videos tonight. Jeff Glover, Budovideos and Nogi have teamed up to create a small 20 minute show called Glover’s Travels. It is a entertaining and pretty laid back show with interviews, technique and BJJ action w/top level grapplers. Above is Ep.1, part 2.

I can’t stop it… it’s out of the box… it is now a national phenomenon…The first evidence of a Fueled By Fear patch outside of Monterey, CA is now posted online.Yes, it’s true. One. Georgette jammed one of the patches on a new gi (I’m assuming…

So last night was a fun and inspirational night for me. My 64-year-old dad came to practice. He’s never done jiu jitsu before, and the last time he did any martial arts was about 30 years ago when Kempo Karate was the coolest things around.Note: This …

A repost from JujitsuBlog.com. Looks like there is a current hype about this move due to Braulio’s win over Galvao during the last ADCC and Cole Miller’s victory on UFC 108.

Never thought that the set-up was very sneaky.

Dale Shirley is a professional photographer who took zillions of pictures at the Abu Dhabi West Coast Qualifier. There are some absolutely fantastic shots of matches from white to black belt. Hell, he even had enough time to take a couple of my match…

This is probably one of the saddest moments in my BJJ life.  A lot of people have been switching teams lately, but I have a bunch of guys whom I used to think would be the last people to leave our team.  They are like brothers to me, and we happily laugh on and off [...]

Article #10, by Can Sönmez [FAQ Entry]

As far as I’m aware, the idea of using belts to reflect rank was first popularised by Jigoro Kano, who is easily among the most important figures in modern martial arts. According to JudoInfo, Kano’s senior students began wearing black belts in 1886, signifying their higher status. It took until 1930 to bring in another colour, an alternating red-and-white belt. BJJ was once similarly sparse on rank, as Royce Gracie explained in a recent interview:

In my father’s old days, in the beginning, the history of jiu jitsu let’s say, there was a white belt, a blue belt, and a navy blue belt for the instructors. That was very hard to get, it wasn’t just anybody could get it. There were no stripes, just plain blue belt. That’s what my father used to use for the longest time, until about 1970s, when people create the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation. Under pressure, my father kinda give in, and told the people, “Go ahead, do the Federation.” That’s when they came up with all kinds of different belt colours, and they award him red belt, ten stripes.

The JudoInfo article goes on to state that in 1935, Mikonosuke Kawaishi introduced a more extensive system in Europe, ten years after Carlos Gracie opened his Rio academy. The reason is telling: “[Kawaishi] felt that western students would show greater progress if they had a visible system of many coloured belts recognizing achievement and providing regular incentives.”

This continues to be a major factor in why people like to get new belts. It is human to crave praise, from your mother smiling at some abstract scribble you produced at the nursery, right through to your boss congratulating you on a job well done. In BJJ, belts are supposed to be a direct reflection of ability, meaning that in a legitimate school, promotion can be a cause for great pride. You’ve accomplished something, and are now being recognised.

The purpose of a belt is to mark your progress. That makes it easier for the instructor, if they’re looking for an uke, or if they want to match people up during sparring. It also grants you greater access to competition: if you’ve spent the past year or two smashing your way through all the white belt tournaments, then you’re going to get a lot more out of competing at a higher level against challenging opposition.

Yet many people feel undeserving upon promotion. What if you haven’t been dominating at competition? What about that one girl in class who always manages to pass your guard? Or the big white belt who tapped you with an Americana yesterday: why isn’t he getting promoted?

The only absolute is your instructor’s faith in your ability. BJJ leaves you in no doubt about your failings, as the mat is a harsh critic. There are always areas to work on and people who can painfully expose those mistakes. In BJJ’s highly subjective ranking system, it is essential you feel able to trust your instructor’s opinion.

If the instructor is worthy of a student’s trust, due to their honestly earned rank, then BJJ’s meritocratic grading process falls into place. This is why it is so important to maintain the direct link between ability and status in BJJ belts: any frauds who seek to debase rank must be exposed. Many other martial arts have lost all credibility due to compliant belt examinations, where the candidate is never truly tested. If performance against full resistance is not a central part of promotion, the belt becomes meaningless.

At the same time, obsessing over a piece of cloth instead of concentrating on your actual ability is detrimental. After all, Hélio eventually gave up his impressive red belt with ten stripes, preferring instead to wear one of those old blue belts. He didn’t need a belt to demonstrate his skills: he already had incontrovertible proof, in the ring and on the mat.

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Night Class – Wednesday
The academy was packed. About 20 people were in the boxing room and 30 to 40 training in the Muy Thai/Kickboxing class. I observed for about 15 minutes before BJJ class and briefly chatted with Josh and Polar Bear.
Class began with a light jog, shrimping and a few rolls. Then it became [...]

Class #280

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Matty Burn, High Wycombe, UK – 28/01/2010

Kev is away competing at the European Championships this weekend. I’ve seen that tournament getting a fair bit of criticism on forums, but nevertheless, it is still the most prestigious BJJ event easily reachable from the UK. Then again, the arguments about organisational problems and price seem fair enough, from what I’ve read.

Anyway, one of Kev’s blue belts from Aylesbury took the class, Matt Burn (which come to think of it is a pretty cool name for a BJJ instructor). I’m not sure if Kev advised what he should teach, but Matt continued the side control theme from Tuesday, running through some important basics.

He kicked off with the usual way to transition from side control to mount, followed by the two fundamental escapes, to the knees and back to guard. I am used to swimming the arm through when going to the knees (though I still don’t automatically go for that, much preferring guard recovery), but interestingly Matt also used that swim when recovering guard.

Sparring was naturally from side control, and again I had the chance to go with a white belt, though I’m not sure on his size. Either way, he was pretty new, so on top I was looking to try out some of the techniques from Tuesday, like the choke with the lapel. However, he grabbed my far arm, which stymied that particular technique. So instead, I went for scarf hold, and eventually moved into the step-over triangle.

When I went to attack the arm, it had already gone limp. For a moment I thought maybe I’d accidentally choked him out, but looking back, he was fine. What actually happened was that he gave up as soon as I got the triangle position. Shortly afterwards he tapped, saying there was nothing he could do. I was so surprised I didn’t think to make the obvious response, which was “you should still try and escape, as you might be able to get free.”

Then again, I can understand it would be annoying to be put into some random position by a blue belt when you haven’t been training very long. The triangle wasn’t an option with the other blue belt who was training, as I couldn’t even keep him under control. I tried to switch to north-south, but he already had his knee in place and recovered guard.

Underneath the white belt, I wanted to see if I could play with armbars and triangles again, but he was a bit more savvy with his defence than the last white belt I rolled with. So instead, I just practiced escaping as normal. Again, no such luck with the blue belt, who was able to work through to mount after a bit of a struggle. He’s a bit bigger, but that should serve to encourage me to be less passive: I’m still too complacent under side control, as I’ve gradually grown comfortable with just lying there and waiting for the opportunity to sneak my knee in. I keep saying it, but must bridge more!

I’ve got loads of books in the pipeline to review, as I received about five of them at Christmas. I normally send a list to my mum, so she can pick something from it, but this year, she got everything on the list. Which is kinda cool, so I’m certainly not complaining. Couple of DVDs to cover as well: about halfway through reviewing one of them.

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