Stuff to try this week.

I've been out of training last week due to a pretty hefty amount of overtime I've had to put in (Christmas won't pay for itself) so I been pretty much only able to train by myself or with my unwilling wife for the last 12 days. I hate not training and given that when I'm not training Bjj all I'm doing is thinking about, reading about or watching Bjj, I've been doing a whole lot of these things recently.

In particular, I've been reading the latest issue of Jiu Jitsu Style, which has quickly risen to the top of my most awesome and highly regarded magazine wish list. This most recent issue features some brilliant articles on September's ADCC tournament, an interview with 'The General', Fabio Gurgel, the always brilliant "Ask Dr Braulio" section and an interview with the legend that is Leo (He was there when I got my blue belt) Vieira. I particularly like the interviews with the legends as they tell you what their lives were like in the early days of Bjj (well it's all still early days really in comparison to an art like Judo) back in Brazil where they all seemed to know each other and train together. It was also clever seeing the two different sides to the Alliance break up as told in the interviews of Gurgel and Vieira. And I really loved the Jiu Jitsu Style on the Road article which featured Gracie Barra Bristol and the interview with their Head Instructor, Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt. Honourable mention for the article goes to it's writer Can Sönmez, aka the blogging world's own Slideyfoot, who even managed to get his picture in there.

Now the reason I bring this up is because my favourite feature of this magazine is the techniques. Scattered throughout each edition of the mag are some favoured techniques of some of the stars of the Jiu Jitsu world. The most recent issue had moves from Nick Brooks, Jasmin Wilson and Daniel Strauss. Jasmin's triangle from the mount and Strauss' Omoplata from the mount were both awesome subs that I am dying to try out at training tomorrow night. As it is, recently I've decided to try and stop using the stuff that I find comes easy to me and start trying to vary my game. As I mentioned previously, I tend to make myself somewhat stale by resorting to the same old moves if I don't stop and kick myself up the arse. This leads to me becoming a bit predictable which is never a good thing in bjj.

To combat this I'm going to look to do different stuff when I get to certain positions. In particular, when I mount I'm usually looking for the armbar or the Ezekial. Ages ago I was always on the hunt for the Americana or the forearm choke. I need to once again spice up my repertoire and add some new flavour. This week if/when I mount I'm going to try looking for mounted triangles and omaplatas (maybe even a gogoplata if I'm feeling really stupid). I've been watching, reading, thinking over in my head and practising the motions of these moves on my living room floor against a pillow, my wife, my 5 year old son (hello? child services you say?) and think I've got the manoeuvres committed to muscle memory at least. It's just whether or not I can remember them when I'm blowing out of my ass! Ah well, only time will tell.

Other stuff I've been doing to "feed the obsession" this month; I've managed to get hold of a copy of Roy Deans Blue Belt Requirements off of a mate. I had a quick skim through the first 40 plus minutes of it and liked it a lot. So much so I stopped and have started rewatching the DVD and taking notes, rating techniques for use with my style etc..  I have only just got to the where I was previously after the skim through but I like what I've seen so far. There are two side control escapes which I have particularly developed a love for. I had the missus on the floor practicing them for a good half hour the other night :o)

I have added the side mount section here as I found it fairly useful. (Thanks go to Roy and Youtube)

One last thing, I had this technique in my email inbox from Bjj Weekly the other day and it seems to have caught like wildfire. Everyone seems to be linking it or sharing it on Facebook or Twitter. It's Roberto 'Cyborg' Abreu's Kimura from Tornado Guard. It's a really disco looking move that's actually simpler to pull off than I thought it would be (thanks must go, once again, to my wife) it just requires a good bit of flexibility. That's not to say that it will be easy to pull off in sparring mind you, just that the move is there, it's possible, I've got it down, I just need to see if I can remember it when the adrenaline's pumping. Anyway, if you're one of those people who've had their head under a rock all week, here's that move below.

Ok, looks easy doesn't it? :o)


I'll keep you updated with my progress on it.
Til next time \m/