The BJJ Belt System is Broken
As a coach, every action I take either helps or harms the people I train. My actions are guided by this filter, which causes us to do things differently to other gyms. Consider […]
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Entries by Dion Mendel
Rickson’s connection principle
Rickson Gracie enjoys a reputation as the greatest jiu-jitsu practitioner ever. Whether you believe his claimed 465-0 fight record or not, respected coaches such as Fabio Gurgel say Rickson’s reputation is deserved.
Is Rickson simply a superior athlete with impecable timing and co-ordination, or is his invisible jiu jitsu the key that distinguishes him from everyone else?
Rickson says invisible jiu jitsu is a combination of base and connection. We talked about base previously, but what is connection?
Verbalising BJJ concepts
Jiu Jitsu is too complicated. There are many techniques, and many more counters. We focus too much on the details and not enough on the bigger picture.
Consider the idea of “base” in BJJ. Base is about being stable. We need: […]
Head-arm choke details
Most BJJ classes have people of mixed levels. Beginners benefit from the advice and feedback from those with more experience. Advanced members benefit from having less skilled training partners to refine their skills against. How does an instructor run a training session that will benefit members with differing ability? One solution is to break the […]
New Year’s Resolutions
It’s that time of year. Our recent holiday indulgence makes us look in the mirror and we realise that our health and fitness is not as good as we wish it to be. This year will be different, we tell ourselves. This year I’ll be serious about taking better care of my body. Of course, […]
Training your training partner – part 3
Rolling is competitive. You and your training partner are both trying to submit each other. The best way to do this is to stick to your A-game and only use the moves and tactics that you are best at. While this is a good way to submit your current opponent, it isn’t a very effective […]
Training your training partner – part 2
How do you know that you need to train your training partner? The easiest way is to ask yourself whether you enjoyed the roll you just had with them. If you didn’t enjoy the roll, the worst thing to do is to talk to them about it immediately afterwards. When emotions are high, there will […]
Training your training partner – part 1
What do we need to learn BJJ? We need some ground, a training partner and a desire to improve. Coaches can give us the benefit of their experience. Instructional videos and competition footage can give us inspiration and new ideas. It is the training partner that has the biggest effect on your ability to learn […]
The most effective submission in BJJ
There are many different submissions in BJJ. Some are more effective than others. If our goal is to submit our opponents, then it makes sense to focus more of our training time on the most effective submissions. In BJJ, we get very good at almost breaking our opponent’s joints. We take the joint to the […]
The 6 positions of Jiu-Jitsu
To understand something complex, we often break it down into to smaller chunks. Smaller chunks are easier to understand but we lose understanding at the boundaries between chunks. If the chunks are too small and numerous, we have many boundaries between chunks and hence lots of grey areas where we can lose understanding. A problem […]