It’s GO Time - Train To Improve Your Explosiveness!
MARCIO ANDRE
ON THE RIGHT PATH TO VICTORY Open Season! No-Gi With Rodrigo Freitas
PLUS King Maker - John Danaher + What You Must Know Before Visiting a New School! + Moving Up? Gain Weight the Right Way Cover 56.indd 1
Sept/Oct 2017 Issue 56
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contents Life
052 cove r f e ature Marcio Andre - The Right Path
006 E d i to r i a l
Gain Mass for Jiu-Jitsu
008 W e i g hi n g I n
084 E ven t Coverage
New Gear and News
BJJ Tour Connecticut 2017
018 p ro m ot i o n s
086 Ge ar l ab
Belts and Stripes
Hypnotik Zenroll Hemp Gi
028 W hi t e B e lt Ch ron icles White Belt’s Biggest Challenges
Visiting Other Schools
038 H ow-To Grappling Drills With a Real Dummy
046 W ho I s
fuel 020 Grub
068 how-to
Everywhere - Jiu-Jitsu
034 D o ’ s a n d d on ’ts
I SS U E 5 6 S E P T E MB E R /O CTO B E R 2 017
Book Review: Shift The Narrative Never Tap Knee Guard
Diet Q&A
024 Supplements Five Jiu-Jitsu Recovery Supplements
body 094 Medic
Ask The Doctor
skills
099 Gains Train the “GO!”
052 cove r f e ature Marcio Andre - The Right Path
122 success Todd & Sharon Johnson
074 T ech n ique Rodrigo Freitas - No-Gi Solutions
John Danaher
Meet The Experts J e r e m y Reid M.S.ED, CSCS, CISSN
W il l safford
James Lawson
Ricardo Castaneda
DR. paul morton
Jeremy is a nutritionist
Certified Strength and
is a US Marine Corps
is a brown belt and
is the Chief Resident in
and strength coach who
Conditioning Coach
veteran, jiu-jitsu black
holds a master of arts in
Orthopaedic Surgery
works with MMA and
who trains under Andre
belt under Rodrigo
Psychology. He is also
at St Luke’s University
jiu-jitsu champions. He
Galvao in San Diego,
Teixeira who loves to
the head instructor of
and Health Network in
obtained his master’s
CA. Will specializes
travel and teach jiu-jitsu
Gracie Barra Lakeway
Bethlehem, PA. He has
degree in exercise
in mobility training,
to anyone who will
in Austin, Texas. Find
experience as a physician
physiology from Baylor
injury prevention, and
listen. He’d love to keep
him on social media @
covering MMA, wrestling
University. He is a
kettlebell strength and
in touch with you. You
ricardopezaobjj and his
and other sport events
brown belt under Robert
conditioning. For more
can stay in touch with
website at Jiujitology.
as well as a competitor
Drysdale.
info, visit his website at
him at: IG: @TwistUUp
com for more.
in BJJ, wrestling and
ironwillathletics.com.
and his website at
Judo. Currently training
thewarriorsclub.com
as a black belt under David Adiv at Gracie New Jersey. paulmortonmd@ gmail.com.
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ON THE COVER Look for us online: @jiujitsumag
038
How-to: D rill in g w it h a real d ummy
On The Right Path to
52 Victory- Marcio Andre Photo: Jarren Barlow
Practice until it’s perfect
MARCIO ANDRE 046
who is: joh n dan ah e r
074
technique: Rod rigo f re itas
Contents 56.indd 2
The Squad Leader Speaks
No-Gi Solutions
ON THE RIGHT PATH TO VICTORY 9/5/17 10:20 AM
editorial
JIU-JITSU EVERYWHERE!
F
EDITORIAL STA FF EDITOR & PUBLISHER.............................................. Mike Velez ASSISTANT EDITOR................................................. Jim Lawson MANAGING EDITOR................................................Areum Kim CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS................................... Will Sanford, MacKenzie Arrington, Eran Galperin, Jeremy Reid, Arlo Gagestein, Jim Lawson, Heather Raftery,
WHEN I WAS A KID, WE HAD TOOTSIE ROLL COMMERCIALS WITH A LITTLE KID WALKING
Ricardo Casteneda, Contributing copy editor - Amy
AROUND AND EVERYTHING HE SAW BECAME A TOOTSIE ROLL. THE EXACT LYRICS THAT COME
Lindsay
TO MIND ARE “THE WORLD LOOKS MIGHTY GOOD TO ME CAUSE TOOTSIE ROLLS ARE ALL I SEE. Whatever it is I think I see/ Becomes a Tootsie roll to me.” I’m not known for spitting hot
fire, but there’s got to be something there with everything I see becomes jiu-jitsu to me… (Man
ART & PHOTOGR A P H Y ART DIRECTOR................................................. Dave Palacios
I’m really dating myself in multiple ways with this previous collection of sentences.) I’m not
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS.............Jason Boulanger,
talking about seeing armbars or triangle chokes in architecture or nature, although that would
John Cooper, Kenny Jewel, Patrick Flores,
be pretty cool. I’m talking about metaphorically applying jiu-jitsu theory and principles to just
Mike Calimbas, Alberto Marchetti, Ric Ricard
about every life situation you can imagine. I’ve written about this before, probably about three or four years ago in an editorial. As I’ve continued on the jiu-jitsu journey, I’m amazed at just
PRODUCTION & ADV E RT IS ING
how often jiu-jitsu principles can apply to every facet of our lives. Having been a business
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR................................ Paula Fountain
owner for all of my adult life, that’s the first thing that came to mind. One principle that so
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often applies to business situations is the idea of “position before submission”. Many small
CIRCULATION MANAGER..................................Chris Reardon
business owners have an entrepreneurial spirit that means our brains are always working on new ideas. These new ideas pop in our heads and our first instinct is to run out and just go do them. This would be like trying to go for the armbar while being mounted by your opponent. Sure there might be some rare instance where this could work, but the odds are probably
Address change & S UB S Phone: 1.877.834.3552 ext. 221 Web: jiujitsumag.com
stacked against you. Instead the experienced jiu-jitsu player (I’ve never liked that term, but I’ll use it anyway) would first escape the inferior position, look to gain a top position, then execute
ADVERTISING & SALE S INFO
the armbar. Just as the experienced entrepreneur would do her research, look for advantages
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in the market, get processes in order, and not venture into that new market without stacking
Jiu-Jitsu Magazine
the deck in her favor. Or how about an example with your significant other? Your significant
PO Box 2405
other’s birthday is coming up; of course you want to make them happy. A white belt would
Chino Hills, CA 91709
wait until the last minute, run to the grocery store, and pick up a gift card. A black belt, or
ph: 1.877.834.3552 ext. 221
even a purple belt, would know their favorite restaurant and make a reservation. They would
fax: 909.591.1251
observe their partner’s interests, maybe pick up clues, or sneak in some questions to find out expecting it. What’s the jiu-jitsu equivalent you ask? This one’s pretty broad and could apply to
NATIONAL/INTERNAT IO NA L NEWSSTAND DISTR IB UT ION
a number of situations. The easiest to summarize would be not paying attention to the details
The Curtis Circulation Company
what they might like. Then, when they’re not expecting it, surprise them when they’re least
with a nice surprise on the timing to put a bow on it so to speak. Let’s say if you’re attempting a triangle but you’ve got the wrong arm trapped, you’re leaving too much space and aren’t tight everywhere, and telegraphing it so your opponent would know how to defend; this would be the equivalent to running to the grocery store at the last minute. The next time you’re experiencing one of life’s dilemmas whether it has to do with personal development, career, finance, family, social, spiritual, etc... ask yourself, “What would a black belt do?” You might be surprised to find the solution by looking to jiu-jitsu.
Jiu-Jitsu Magazine (ISSN 2157-6173) is a publication of Recon Media Inc. Phone: 877.834.3552; Fax: 909.517.1601 email: subs@jiujitsumag.com. Subscription rates are $29.99 for 6 issues (1 year), $39.99 per year Canada, and $59.99 per year for foreign airmail. All rights reserved, The entire contents are copyright 2017 Recon Media Inc, and may not be reproduced in any manner in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. The views and the opinions of the writers and advertisers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Recon Media Inc., the Publisher, or the editorial staff. The Publisher assumes no responsibilities
A great resource for more “jiu-jitsu applied to life”, tune in to the Jocko Podcast. Jocko routinely applies jiu-jitsu analogies to so many different aspects of life, it’s ridiculous. And you’ll be more disciplined for listening. Keep Rolling,
Mike Velez Publisher/Editor
for advertising claims, errors, and omissions. Some of the techniques described in this magazine can be dangerous. Always practice safe procedures and use common sense. Recon Media Inc., and the Publisher can not be held responsible from any injuries or damage caused by these techniques. Perform at your own risk. Jiu-Jitsu Magazine (ISSN2157-6173) is published bi-monthly by Recon Media Inc., 3857 Schaefer Avenue # D, Chino, CA 91710. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to iu-Jitsu Magazine, PO Box 2405, Chino hill, CA 91709
MikeV@jiujitsumag.com
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TRAIN FOR LIFE Yuri Simoes 2014 Double Gold NoGi World Champion 2015 ADCC Champion www.facebook.com/GamenessFightwear @GamenessFightCo www.gameness.com Yuri Gameness.indd 1
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weighing in HEROS IN A HALF-GUARD IF YOU’RE IN YOUR THIRTIES, OR EVEN FORTIES, WHEN YOU HEAR THE NAMES MICHELANGELO, LEONARDO, RAPHAEL, AND DONATELLO, YOU DON’T THINK OF FAMOUS ARTISTS, YOU THINK OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES! FUSION FIGHT GEAR IS ONCE AGAIN GOING BACK IN TIME TO BRING BACK OFFICIALLY LICENSED GEAR FROM THE ORIGINAL TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ANIMATED SERIES. There are two choices: you can either represent the boys or you can be Team Shredder. Either way, you’ll be representing a little bit of your childhood every time you hit the mats. Fusion Fight Gear has so many other nostalgic and iconic licensed products it’s worth a trip over to their website to check out this TMNT gear and all the other cool stuff they have. FUSIONFIGHTGEAR.COM
Your Search Is Over The search for the perfect gym bag seems to be neverending. There always seems to be a trade off of some kind. Hayabusa is pretty confident that they’ve got every need covered with the new Ryoko line. Three bags complete the line including a backpack, duffle, and a mesh bag. The backpack is made not only for your gi and training equipment but also includes a compartment for your laptop and cell phone. The main compartment is perfect for a full-sized gi, shorts, and rashguard. The duffle is a bit roomier with
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room for at least two gis, gloves, and other gear. Two separate ventilated pockets are perfect your sweaty, smelly gear after training. A moisture resistant barrier helps keep that odor on the ventilated side and not in the main compartment. The mesh bag is entirely ventilated to help allow your gear to dry after training. All three bags are made of ultra durable ripstop polyester, high grade metal zippers and reinforced stitching. Check out all three bags along with their newly redesigned website. hayabusafight.com
9/5/17 9:40 AM
009
MAKING JIU-JITSU IN AMERICA
Back in 2013, Origin went from producing gis and rashguards overseas to bringing the production in house to Maine. Not long after the construction of their first American factory, we took a tour of the busy yet humble facility. Since then company founder Pete Roberts has charged ahead with the idea of making everything he could imagine here in America. That means bringing raw cotton up from Tennessee to Maine to spin the cotton into the yarn that is later woven into the various weaves that Origin produces their gis from. Steady growth over the years, along with a sizable Community Development Block Grant, have made it possible for Origin to move to a new 20,000 manufacturing facility. Also ready to join the “Made in America” fight is Jocko Willink. Origin USA recently announced a merger with Jocko Industries. We’d imagine that Jocko and Echo will soon be spending time discussing Dragon Weave and Gorilla Weave at the end of every podcast soon. originmaine.com
Turning Japanese Just when you thought jiu-jitsu was all about Brazil, Tatami went ahead and reminded us of its roots. Two new gis extend the “Japanese Series” that started with a rashguard. The first is the Samurai (shown in white). It features a samurai design printed, super soft inner material. It also features some additional Japanese accents. The other in the series is the Maple Koi, similar in the outside however in black. On the inside a maple koi design, both designs are original artworks of Black Gold Studios based in South Wales in the UK, truly an international effort here. Each gi is available in sizes A0A5. Currently both of these new gis are not yet available on the US web store, but we expect them to be available by the time you read this. tatamifightwear.com
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weighing in With A Name Like Gracie, It’s Gotta Be Good
Gracie Essentials is the first line of sports supplements to bear the Gracie name. Recently developed and launched by Rilion Gracie, the youngest son of Grand Master Carlos Gracie Sr, this new complete line of supplements follows in the traditions established by Grand Master Carlos. All of the products in the line are free of artificial ingredients such as sweeteners, colors, or flavoring. Many ingredients like their whey protein are 100% natural, free of antibiotics, hormones, and tested to contain no heavy metals. One of the unique flavors available for the Whey Protein is Acai Berry; we’ve tried it and can attest that it’s pretty good! At launch, Gracie Essentials already had dozens of different products available including protein, pre-workout, krill oil, multivitamins, probiotics, and more. They even have a loyalty program that allows you to collect “stripes” that you can use towards product and other rewards. (Stripes, see what they did there?) Check out the full lineup of products before you stock up on any new supplements. gracieessentials.com
The Alpha and the Omega Backpack
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
Lately hundreds of jiu-jitsu peeps just like you have been making the trek to the mailbox with hopes that today would be the day! Are they expecting a check? Maybe test results? Well maybe, but what really has them excited is that today might be the day that their latest BJJ Box has arrived! What’s in the BJJ Box you ask? Every box is packed with cool jiu-jitsu gear including highquality brand name t-shirts, hygiene products like wipes or soap, training aids, information products like DVDs or access to online subscription services, supplements, drinks, and more. Each month boxes are guaranteed to be worth double the cost. That means the $24.99 Classic is always worth at least $50 and the $34.99 VIP is never worth less than $70. There is a small charge for postage, but even then the value is always worth it! Below are photos of some of the items shipped out in the last few months. Boxes are shipped out at the end of every month, but don’t wait to sign up, the cutoff for each box is 13 days before the end of the month. Save $5 off your first box by entering the code “JJM5” at checkout. thebjjbox.com
Whether or not you’re an alpha, you definitely want this Omega Backpack from Tatami. It was built with the jiu-jitsu traveller and competitor in mind. Plenty of room for all your jiu-jitsu gear along with an expandable bottom compartment for all your sweaty gear. It’s also got a padded back in case you decide to use it for a more heavier duty than carting your gis back and forth to class. It also has a side handle and an optional strap should you prefer using it as a duffle. We don’t yet have an exact price, but it should be available soon on the US Tatami website. Looks like a winner, check it out. tatamifightwear.com
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9/5/17 9:42 AM
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weighing in
TSJ
Travel, Surf, Jiu-Jitsu
It’s all about the lifestyle these days. Many of us manage to squeeze in some rolls between work and other responsibilities. All the while we’re dreaming of living the lifestyle, training jiu-jitsu, traveling to exotic locations, gi in tow, and if the waves are good, maybe getting in a little surfing. Ahhh, that’s the life! Two partners Dewey Doan and Aubrey Koenig have managed to bring three of the things they love the most (TSJ) into their new Kekoa Collective apparel brand. The designs are clean, understated, and subtle, just what you’d imagine from a couple of guys that gave up the corporate life to live the dream. Their flagship retail location on Oahu in Honolulu is something that you have to see! The next time you’re on Oahu and you’re in need of some jiu-jitsu, surf, yoga, or any other item along those lines, be sure to pay them a visit. Until then, you can check out their website. kekoacollective.com
BUCHAKENZIE The cat is out of the bag, turns out that two of the best jiu-jitsu athletes in the world are officially an item. Rumor has it that it all started out on the dancefloor on the Grappler’s Escape cruise last year. We’ve seen some of Buchecha’s dance moves first hand at photoshoots. Let’s just say that John Travolta’s got nothing on the big Brazilian. A quick search of Mackenzie dancing will reveal that the two of them would make excellent moves as well. The two have been coordinating their travel schedules as of late and have made no attempts to hide the budding romance. Congrats to the two of them- jiu-jitsu’s newest power couple.
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weighing in Must Be Bag Season! While many of the new bags hitting the market these days are made to serve many purposes, the new Grapple Pack from FUJI Sports was designed by grapplers that do grappler things. It’s a backpack so you can sling it over your shoulder or give up the points and wear it on your back. Rather than having a zipper across the top like most backpacks, it has a long zipper that opens vertically like a duffle. This makes getting your gis and gear in and out very easily. There are side pockets for things like your water bottle or protein. There are also compartments on each side for things like our belt, keys, mouthguard, etc. For that sweaty, stinky gear there’s also an isolated compartment at the bottom that keeps the clean stuff away from the dirty stuff. All of the interior features a bright green material which comes in handy when you’re looking for something that’s dark and seems to blend in with the rest of the bag, unless of course today’s the day you wore your lime green undies. There’s even a spot for your laptop incase you want to watch videos during class. The Grapple Pack is reasonably priced at $49. Check it out. fujisports.com
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015
On The List?
Let’s say you’re the type that loves to read Jiu-Jitsu Magazine but you’ve got commitment issues and don’t want to buy a subscription, plus you don’t like going all the way down to the bookstore. Wouldn’t it be great if you could pick up Jiu-Jitsu Magazine at your local academy? Of course it would! So, here’s what you need to do: tell your instructor to go to getjiujitsu.com and sign up so that they can carry your favorite magazine at your school. While they’re at it, they they can find out how to get your school listed in future issues of JJM. How cool is that. If you’re a school owner check it out, or have your favorite black belt go have a look. getjiujitsu.com
MAKE ANY TIME OPEN MAT TIME. SAVE WITH ONLINE HOME MAT SPECIALS ezflexmats.com 877-939-3539
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Official mat Sponsor of
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Tarsis Humphreys World Champion
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Trust and respect your training partners with underwear that will keep it’s shape, fight odors and survive your rolls. • Bamboo inner layer (antimicrobial, silk-like softness, extremely durable) • Silicone tape around leg openings - to help prevent ride up while training • Ultra-durable fabrics (4-way stretch, breathable, and moisture wicking) • Flat lock stitching (most durable and comfortable)
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promotions
DREAM CATCHING School: Templo Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
OUR GOOD FRIEND CHRIS TEMPLO (A LONG TIME SUBSCRIBER AND A DIE HARD ADVOCATE FOR JIU-JITSU MAGAZINE) VISUALIZED, BELIEVED, STUCK WITH IT, AND AFTER TWELVE YEARS CAUGHT HIS DREAM! HE HAS EARNED AND RECEIVED THE COVETED BLACK BELT ON JUNE 17TH UNDER PROFESSORS LEANDRO NYZA AND BRIAN WONG. We here at the magazine get inspired by those who stay committed to an idea and a dream and are happy to celebrate the achievement of such. Well done Chris, and all of the others who submitted their accomplishment. May your hard work and good fortune continue. ALOHA! templojiujitsu.com
Gettin’ Buck in Buckhead
School: Buckhead Jiu-Jitsu Location: Atlanta, Georgia Congratulations to Jennifer Sovik and Cale Pascoli as they were promoted to blue belt by Professor Sam Joseph.
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A Brown is Crowned School: Gracie United Location: Alexandria, VA
After nine years of training , Clint DuPlechian was promoted to brown belt on May 20, 2017 by his instructor Rafael Ellwanger. His belt was tied on by Ailson “Jucao “ Brites.
Breaking New Ground in Canada School: Synergy Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Location: Fredericton, New Brunswick Melyssa Hutchinson of Fredericton, New Brunswick, recently became the first female black belt in Atlantic Canada. Through her jiujitsu journey, she has trained with three separate teams, each offering a unique aspect to her game. She is pleased and honored to help her fellow female jiu-jitsu athletes lead the way for women’s jiu-jitsu in Atlantic Canada!
4 x’s Brown!
A Purple Decade School: Way of Jiu-Jitsu Location: Greenwood Villiage, CO
Justin Stadelman was promoted to purple belt on June 7, 2017 by 2nd degree Rigan Machado black belt Matt Cram out of Way of Jiu Jitsu Greenwood Village, Colorado. He has been training for over 10 years.
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School: Maguilla BJJ Location: Silver Spring, MD Four brown belts on one day! Michael Kamarov, Kurt Marteney, David Fout, and Andrew Shields were promoted to Brown Belt along with Rob Calamuci, who has been at the academy since he was in grade school, advanced to purple. Four years ago Kurt Marteney was featured in our magazine getting his purple belt from Regis Lebre. A job transfer took him to the DC area and he’s still plugging away. Keep up the good work Kurt!
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grub
WITH GRUBJEREMY REID
Q&A
I train in the evenings a lot of the time. I’m usually hungry before and after class. I know the stuff that’s good to eat, but is there anything I should avoid before or after class?
B
BEFORE I GET INTO ANSWERING YOUR QUESTION, LET ME JUST SAY THAT EATING NOTHING AT ALL IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE WORST THINGS YOU COULD DO BEFORE AND AFTER TRAINING. YOUR BODY NEEDS FUEL AND NUTRIENTS AT THESE TIMES AND GIVING IT NOTHING AT ALL MIGHT JUST BE THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO. Eating some candy probably would be better than eating nothing at all! I am not saying to eat whatever you want, but it’s better than nothing. There are certainly foods you want to avoid both before and after training. The main thing is to avoid anything that will cause gastrointestinal distress or interfere with absorption of necessary nutrients. Before training, our bodies can use some extra fuel for optimum performance in the training session and to help prime them for recovery and rebuilding. However, we must avoid consuming substances that will be contradictory to what our bodies require. One of the main things to avoid is foods high in fat, especially bad fats. This means all greasy foods, such as pizza, burgers, fast food, chips, etc. Fat takes very long to digest and sits in our gastrointestinal tract. This is
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counterintuitive to what we want at this period in time. We want a quick and easy source of energy that will be readily available to our bodies. Therefore, we want to get our fuel from carbohydrates, not from fat. High amounts of fat before training can “sit” in our stomach, causing bloating and that “heavy” feeling during training. Fat will also slow down the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates and protein from a meal. This means less good nutrients and “fuel” for your training session. I would also avoid very fibrous foods such as legumes, or beans, as these can have similar effects as fat. While they are usually very healthy to eat during the day, they should be avoided immediately prior to training. They slow down digestion and may cause that “bloated” feeling during the training session. So, hold off on them for the rest of the day. As far as right after training is concerned, the absolute worst thing, again, is eating nothing. Your body is literally starving
at this point for the nutrients necessary to recover and rebuild. By denying your body necessary nutrition at this time, you are severely hampering recovery and possibly negating all the hard work you put in during the training session. Denying your body these nutrients can also lead to an ever greater degree of muscle damage and therefore even longer recovery time. And if you train more than one session per day, these effects will be compounded and you can easily become overtrained. You will go into your second training session not fully recovered and then continue to beat your
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body down and not give necessary nutrients for recovery which can lead to an ongoing cycle of incomplete recovery and poor performance. Avoid this cycle by giving your body nutrients after training and avoid eating absolutely nothing at all costs.
and opting for simple carbohydrates. The bottom line is this: the biggest thing to avoid is eating nothing, especially immediately after training. While there are certainly some foods you should avoid, from a physiological perspective, it is better to eat a cheeseburger immediately after training than nothing at all.
You should avoid foods high in fat. For the same reasons we want to avoid them before training, fats should be avoided immediately after training. They slow down digestion and absorption and you need nutrients fast. We know we need protein and carbohydrates to aid in recovery and cause that insulin spike necessary after training. Since this is one of the few times where an insulin spike is helpful, I would suggest avoiding high levels of complex carbohydrates
❖❖ A balanced protein bar like this one from ATH Organics is perfect before or after training.
I have the worst will power. Are there any tricks you can share that will help me stay strong when it comes to my diet? I know what Jocko Willink would say, “Want to eat better? Start eating better.” I kind of have mixed feelings with this question, especially since there really is no right answer. I tend to agree with Jocko’s “discipline equals freedom” mantra. I have always had the mindset of “you either want to do something or you don’t, and if you can’t stick to it then you don’t want it that bad.” Now I realize this isn’t exactly the best approach and have since changed my views quite a bit. However, my old viewpoint left me with a very valuable point and tip. The first tip in dealing with will power problems is this: you have to take responsibility for your choices and actions. We have all heard this a thousand times, but very few actually take this to heart. What I mean by this is that you have to understand and accept that you are in control and have the ability to determine the outcome. Many of us often create excuses to deflect this responsibility and allow ourselves to create this feeling of “oh well, there’s nothing I can do.” As soon as we do this, we lose all of our control. We get this belief that all these circumstances or situations make our decisions for us. Well, sorry to say, they don’t. It might be easy and convenient to make it seem this way,
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but the truth is YOU are in control, and YOU ultimately make the decision. Yes, circumstances may influence or make decisions harder, but it is YOUR decision. By taking responsibility for your actions, you throw the excuses out the window and give the control back to yourself. You would be surprised at how much this simple concept will help your will power. Now that we understand that we are in charge and in control and are fully capable of accomplishing this, the next step is to take action! Now again, this may seem
very simple, but many people struggle with this concept, myself included. Too often we make these decisions to change but fail to take action. I’ll let you in on a little secret; change doesn’t happen without action. We are usually stuck in the “want” of things. The “I want to do this. I want to do that,” but if we don’t take steps towards it, it ends up being wishful thinking. Simply wanting to eat better and lose weight is useless unless we DO IT. My grandfather used to tell me, “Want in one hand and s#*! in the other. See which one fills up first.” As with most of his little adages and sayings, it turned out to be some of the best advice you can get. You must learn to attach actions to these decisions. If you get in the habit of taking immediate action every time you make a decision to change, you will create a very effective habit for change. Even if it is only a small action, by always connecting your decision with an action, you will create a pattern of “doing” instead of “wanting.” For example, if you decide you are no longer going to eat junk food, immediately go into your kitchen and throw away all of the junk food. While it seems simple, getting into this habit can make a huge difference, not only in your will power for your diet but for your entire life.
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g r u b
-
q & A
I’ve heard brown rice is really good for you, but I prefer the taste of white rice. Is brown rice really worth it? In a word, yes. Sorry, but not too much else to say about it; it really is worth it.
I get really strong food cravings sometimes. Is there a safe appetite suppressant? Well, this is always one of my favorite questions because it’s actually somewhat of an oxymoron. I never know exactly what people are referring to, and sometimes they’re not sure either. It can usually go two ways, and you should first try to understand exactly what you are referring to. The term “appetite suppressant” would suggest dealing with a natural feeling of hunger, while “strong cravings” suggest dealing with yearning for something specific. While to many these may appear the same, it is important to understand there is a distinct difference. You need to determine whether you are naturally hungry or whether you are just “craving” certain things. Once you make this distinction, you will have a better understanding of exactly what is going on and will allow you to proceed accordingly.
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If it is a natural hunger, as in you are not eating enough calories or certain macronutrients, then I would say you should eat something. Try to make it a healthy nutritious snack or meal, but it is ok to eat something. You need to “eat your way lean.” This means you should be eating regularly and should not feel these strong feelings of hunger. If you planned your diet properly and followed the steps from the last article, your diet should include enough calories and nutrients to satisfy your body. Now that being said, if you have an occasional feeling of hunger once a week or so, that is fine eat
something! It is your body telling you that it is undernourished and needs more calories. Maybe you trained a little harder this week, maybe skipped a meal at some point, or maybe trained longer this week, etc. However, if it is an ongoing feeling you are getting daily or every other day, then you have a problem. Either you miscalculated your diet or you are trying to cut too much too fast (a very common occurrence). Like I have stated before, people tend to go into the “if some works, more must be better” mentality. I know I have said it before, but I will restate it: you shouldn’t starve yourself. It is extremely unsafe and unhealthy, and besides that, your performance
will suffer substantially and your progress will halt. It’s your call; you can be 5 or 10 pounds lighter but worse at jiu-jitsu and weaker with worse cardio, or you can lose your weight gradually and ensure optimum performance and gains. I don’t know about you, but I will take door number two everyday of the week. So, if it’s a natural hunger feeling that occurs sporadically, then eat up! But if it’s a common ongoing hunger, you need to reevaluate your diet plan. Now, for the other side of that coin. If it is a “craving” for something specific, then we are starting to talk about a mental issue rather than a physiological issue. If it isn’t a natural hunger feeling but a specific “I want this” or “I feel like eating that”, then it is a lifestyle and will power issue in which case refer to the will power question.
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supplements
FIVE JIU-JITSU RECOVERY SUPPLEMENTS
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WORDS: MIKE VELEZ
BATTLES ON THE MATS ARE WON OR LOST BASED ON A NUMBER OF FACTORS. WE ALL WANT TO BELIEVE THAT TECHNIQUE IS WHAT CONQUERS ALL, BUT WE CAN’T RELY ON TECHNIQUE ALONE. If you really want to excel at jiu-jitsu, especially in a competitive environment, you must work on the other pillars of sound jiu-jitsu: strength and endurance. Just like anything, the more time you work on a skill the better you get. The more you roll, the better your jiu-jitsu will inevitably get and that’s the technique part. Strength and endurance are also benefits from increased mat time, but to really take strength and endurance further, you have to augment your jiu-jitsu with some additional training off the mats. In the Gains section of JJM, we’ve given you countless pointers and ideas on how to work on improving your physical condition off the mats. One limiting factor that
will determine how much work you can put in on or off the mats is recovery. If you run your body at its limits all the time, you’ll quickly burn out and your body cannot sustain a grueling training schedule without ample time to recover. There are, however, supplements with science behind them that can aide in your recovery, minimizing that downtime and getting you back on the mats or in the weight room sooner than later. In this article we’ve identified some of our favorite supplements for reducing recovery time so you can get back to it. Don’t confuse supplements that primarily aid in recovery with those that aid in the building of muscle. Yes, many do both, but our focus here is on those supplements that help with recovery. Of course there are plenty of others that could have made the list, yet when it comes to supplementation, it’s important to do plenty of research.
Beta-Alanine
This modified version of the amino acid alanine has been shown in multiple studies to help increase muscular endurance, reduce fatigue, and improve the time it takes to get to exhaustion. The way that it works is by forming carnosine in the blood and altering the overall pH of the body. All of the benefits during exercise carry over into the recovery phase because of the lower amount of potential damage to muscle tissue. Betaalanine is a common ingredient in many pre-workout drinks, but you can take it at any time. An advised daily dose from someone with a regular training schedule should be between 3 to 5 grams daily. Some people have reported a tingling sensation called paresthesia. This is harmless but not too pleasurable. If you experience this, lower your dosage to a smaller dose more often throughout the day to achieve the daily dose you’re looking for.
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CITRULLINE
We did a pretty extensive article on this one earlier this year in Issue 52. Citrulline is another amino acid (derived from watermelon) that helps improve endurance which reduces muscle damage allowing for better recovery. When we put our bodies under intense physical load, we go through a process of fueling that needs work. First we use the available carbs to get the job done, then we move onto protein for fuel. When your body uses protein to fuel the work there’s some nasty byproducts like ammonia. Citrulline has shown to support nitric oxide production which helps to speed the cleansing of those toxic waste products generated during intense exercise. Citrulline has also shown to help with erectile dysfunction thanks to its benefits to circulatory health. For jiu-jitsu athletes, however, the recommended dose is between 6 to 8 grams about an hour before training.
Curcumin
Curcumin is found in the curry spice turmeric. It has antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties that make it a great recovery aid for athletes. Multiple studies have found that after exhausting physical activity, taking as little as 2 grams per day can reduce post-exercise inflammation and reduce muscle damage. Some inflammation is necessary for the healing process; however, curcumin has specifically shown to reduce joint inflammation and help with arthritis symptoms. Other studies have shown it to help with cholesterol levels, blood flow, pain relief, and fatigue. A dose of between 2 to 4 grams daily should produce the desired recovery effects for most jiu-jitsu athletes.
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ZMA ZMA can be considered a “magic bullet” of sorts when it comes to recovery supplementation. There’s a lot of research to back this one up and it does a lot more than just help with recovery. ZMA is a compound made up of zinc monomethionine/asparate, magnesium aspartate, and vitamin B6. ZMA, when taken before bedtime on an empty stomach, has shown to help improve sleep quality thanks to magnesium’s ability to extend deep and REM sleep. In athletes with zinc deficiencies, supplementation with ZMA has shown to increase testosterone
levels. Another area where improvement was shown among those deficient in zinc was weight loss and immune system function. If you train a lot, there’s a good chance that you’re deficient in both zinc and magnesium, likely due to the fact that both of these minerals are excreted in our sweat. Zinc is also used by the body during recovery and protein synthesis, which means that zinc is also excreted through urine after training and recovery. Since ZMA is a compound of different ingredients, formulas may vary slightly between manufacturers. Common
ratios of ingredients are 30mg of zinc, 450mg of magnesium and 6 to 7 mg of B6. This dosage should be perfect for most, but definitely follow the directions on the brand you choose. Timing is important with ZMA; it’s good to take it an hour before bedtime on an empty stomach. Also, don’t take ZMA with any type of dairy or with amino acids.
OXYGEN
So far every supplement that I’ve mentioned has to do with that recovery we desire between workouts or between training days. But what about that immediate recovery between rounds? What about that 6 or 10 minutes you might have to recover between matches at a competition? The amount of oxygen in the air we breathe is about 21%. Deep breathing exercises, like those made popular in jiu-jitsu by Rickson, are a great way to process more air and intern oxygen into our systems between rounds. Another way to increase the amount of oxygen we inhale in that short amount of time is with an oxygen supplement comprised almost entirely of pure oxygen. A 2013 study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology tested ten well-trained male athletes running 10 rounds
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at 3 minutes a piece at 85% maximal oxygen consumption. They were given 90-seconds to recover between rounds. During that time they were given either 99.5% oxygen or 21% oxygen (atmospheric air). After all of the interval repetitions, peripheral capillary oxygen saturation (SpO2) was significantly lower than the baseline. However, the SpO2 recovery time was significantly quicker for those given the hyperoxic 99.5% concentration of oxygen. Researchers concluded that “Supplemental oxygen provided
during the recovery periods of interval based exercise improves the recovery time of SpO2 (peripheral capillary oxygen saturation) but has no effect on post-exercise ROS (reactive oxygen species) or inflammatory responses”. So, basically oxygen helps in the short term getting the amount of oxygen in your hemoglobin up but doesn’t have an effect on long term recovery. Which is fine when all you really care about is that next match. So aside from going down to sea level where there might be a tad more oxygen in the air, using an oxygen concentrate like Boost Oxygen between rounds at a tournament is the best way to get hyperoxic air you need for the greatest possible recovery between rounds. In case you’re wondering, oxygen is not listed as a performance enhancing drug by either USADA or WADA.
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white belt chronicals
A WHITE BELT’S BIGGEST CHALLENGES WORDS: RICARDO CASTANEDA
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AS A WHITE BELT, YOU ARE GOING TO BE FACING SOME ENORMOUS CHALLENGES AHEAD. SOON AFTER YOU BEGIN TRAINING, THE INITIAL EXCITEMENT AND ENTHUSIASM ARE REPLACED BY SOME OF THE MANY RIGORS OF JIU-JITSU TRAINING. As you learned immediately after your first jiu-jitsu class, nothing about the Gentle Art will come easily and the road ahead is long and hard. There are many aspects to training jiu-jitsu that nobody warns you about. Some of these things, like the physical exertion and the learning curve, are implied, but most others like inflammation, injuries, and feelings of discouragement are rarely obvious. As you continue along the path, you are going to be facing some mental and physical challenges that might seem insurmountable.
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Inflammation, Soreness, and Injuries Jiu-jitsu is going to put your body through an immense amount of physical stress. The natural born athletes of the jiu-jitsu world may get by a bit easier than most others; however, jiu-jitsu is still unlike most other exercise or training you have done in the past. The greatest challenge for many beginners is the rush to get better quickly. Rarely do people like being bad at something, so, of course, in the beginning stages, you will want to accumulate as many hours as possible. The more you train, the more abuse your body takes, and this leads to much inflammation and soreness and potential injury. Advice: Take your training slowly and at your own pace. Jiu-jitsu is a marathon and not a sprint. If you get injured and have to take time off the mat, you have done yourself a disservice. The goal of training should be learning and the best way to learn is to train. Rest and recovery are valuable and frequently overlooked aspects to training. Do not overlook them lest you suffer the consequences.
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HOW DO YOU MEASURE YOUR PROGRESS? There’s no way surefire way to measure how you are doing, so it’s going to be difficult of knowing of where you stand. Competitions are a good way to test the skills for some people, but not everybody is into jiu-jitsu for the medals. For many beginners, tracking submissions, keeping score against training partners, and even keeping score against themselves is the norm. The problem with this kind of mental note taking is that there is nothing quantifiable about submitting your training partners and how many times you are submitted.
Advice: People like to measure things. We will reach for just about anything that will give us a good indicator of our progress. Instead of taking the measuring stick out at every practice, focus on the things you can measure. How often are you training each week? How many new techniques are you not only learning but also implementing? Solicit feedback from your coaches and professors and ask what you should be working on to reach the next level. This is much more beneficial than keeping score and also will keep you focused on what is really important: the practice itself.
Feeling Discouraged Jiu-jitsu is going to leave you with many bumps and bruises. Most of those are going to be more mental than physical. As we lose the ego, it will be natural to experience some feelings of low self-worth and poor self-esteem. After intense training sessions, you may be wondering why you even train jiu-jitsu in the first place, especially when nothing you are learning seems to be working. Feelings of self-doubt, low self-confidence, and other negative views of your practice are to be expected and should be managed carefully. As a white belt, you are not expected to know much. As a matter of fact, if you are a white belt, your training partners probably only expect for you to show up to class and not get hurt. Beyond getting home safely, there is not much else you should be focusing on. Everyone you share the mats with has been where you are. Jiu-jitsu can be discouraging if you focus on your feelings. Instead, focus on learning. There are valuable lessons to be extracted from every one of your experiences in jiu-jitsu. Embrace them, move forward.
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ESTABLISHING A TRAINING REGIMEN AND STICKING TO IT Jiu-jitsu is going to take a lot of your time. Time management is going to be a problem if you cannot create balance. At first, your loved ones may be excited that you found a productive and healthy hobby that has you equally excited and filled with new energy but when you start missing valuable family time for an extra jiu-jitsu session, things can turn negative. For most beginners, finding a balance between various aspects of daily living can be challenging. A lot of people give up before they even really start because they have no idea how much time jiu-jitsu will take from their personal and professional lives.
are available to train, undershoot them, and then stick to the plan. Adjust as necessary but never deviate for no good reason.
Advice: Establishing a consistent training regimen is important and should be done sooner rather than later. If you have a spouse and a family, communicate the training plan to your spouse and figure out the most beneficial way to train but not skip out on date night. If you have a job, identify times that you can work around your schedule. Figure out how many hours you
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This is where the witty comments go. Make it fun!
WANTING TO GET BETTER
TOO SOON
Nobody gets better at jiu-jitsu overnight. Progress in jiu-jitsu is slow and steady and even many of the legends you read about put in the hours you can only imagine putting in. Short of the outliers, it is going to take a very long time to get good at jiu-jitsu, and one of the biggest challenges that white belts have is a desire to make substantial improvements in very little
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time. This often leads to overtraining, physical injury, and burnout. Advice: The desire to become as good as possible in the shortest amount of time as possible is understandable. However, in order to become good at jiu-jitsu, you must put in the time and practice. Even if you are getting substantially better compared to your training partners, your
body still needs time to acclimate to the abuse it’s going to take. Furthermore, overtraining can lead to burnout and added stress at home or work. Many lifelong practitioners can attest to the idea that the best progress in jiu-jitsu is the progress that endures for the long haul. Be patient. Everything else will follow. and should have an open door policy with his or her students.
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Do’s and don’ts
VISITING OTHER SCHOOLS WORDS: RICARDO CASTANEDA
THE JIU-JITSU COMMUNITY IS A VERY SPECIAL ONE. AS THE ART CONTINUES ITS EXPONENTIAL GROWTH ACROSS THE GLOBE, THE OPPORTUNITIES TO VISIT OTHER SCHOOLS WHILE YOU TRAVEL ARE INCREASING WITH IT. Visiting other schools is a great way to expand your knowledge base and also allows you to see jiu-jitsu from a variety of different perspectives. Undoubtedly, it is optimal to have a home school where you spend 95% of your time, but deeply consider the opportunities to train at other academies when you have a chance and especially when you travel. There are many things to keep in mind when traveling and here are some Do’s and Don’ts:
DO’S
Communicate with Your Instructor
When we travel, we usually know where we will be far in advance of our actual trip. This gives you plenty of time to seek counsel from your instructor to get advice from about what schools in your destination are good for training. In the small world of the jiu-jitsu community, your instructor may know people all across the earth and can recommend a great school for you to check out even if it’s a little far from where you are staying. In many cities, an extra 45 minutes on a commute may be worth training with the Renzo Gracies and Draculinos of the world. If you are new to jiu-jitsu, these opportunities are easy to miss, so be sure to solicit advice from your instructor and plan from there.
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Touch Base with the Destination School
Most academies are always welcoming to visiting students and do not require that you get in touch first. You can always just show up without reaching out before, but sending a quick email to let the instructors or program directors know you’re coming can go a long way. Frequently, there are different classes for different ranks. If you are a visiting white belt, it probably will not be best to attend an advanced class, and if you are a visiting black belt, the fundamentals classes may not be the most optimal use of your time. If you call or email ahead, the
program director or head instructor can let you know when the best time for a visit is and recommend a class for you to join.
Consider Private Lessons
If you have the resources available, consider taking a private lesson. Often, you will find yourself traveling to jiu-jitsu hot spots where a world-renowned professor or his highly qualified coaches train. If you happen to be visiting an academy with a professor whose pedigree and experience are once in a lifetime, consider scheduling a private lesson. Do not assume they have the time, so please send them an email well in advance. The lesson may be expensive, but it will definitely be worth the experience.
DON’TS Assume Every School is the Same
There is no established standard for etiquette in jiu-jitsu schools. Every school has its own unique personality and even larger, franchised schools are not one hundred percent equal. Never assume that every school follows the same rules as your school. A good practice is to observe what other students are doing. Pay attention to where they are changing and whether they are warming up or waiting off the mats for class to start. Sometimes schools will have an etiquette poster hung up on a wall so that students can refer to if they have any questions about how to conduct themselves. When in doubt, ask the coaches, professors, program directors, or other students what are expected behavioral standards. If you are too shy to talk to anyone, observe what the students are doing and follow their lead.
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Be a Lousy Training Partner
This is even more important when you are visiting other schools. Remember, you are an ambassador of your jiu-jitsu, but more importantly of your school and a direct reflection of your professors and coaches. If you come across like a jerk, the school you are visiting will have a poor perception of you and the people you represent. Be mindful of your new training partners while you are visiting and be much more respectful compared to when you are training at your home school. Be polite, be courteous, train hard, but train politely. Be mindful of the many ranks, capabilities, sizes, and shapes of the people you are visiting and always be respectful of their limits.
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Zip it!
Share Your Opinions
Try not to have opinions about how things are run at the academy you are visiting. Never bring up comparisons like “this is how my other school does it” or “my professor teaches it this way”. It is great to have a sense of pride in where you train, but keep an open mind. Not every school is the same and not every instructor is made equally. Even if you are training with a multiple time world champion that has produced many more world champions and the school you are training with is led by a lower rank, it is still crucial that you maintain a great level of respect for the school, its instructors, and students you are visiting. If something is bothering you about instruction, feel free to privately reach out to your own professor and ask his or her thoughts but NEVER correct the instruction and NEVER attempt to devalue the instruction by offering opinions on how things are done at your academy. This shows a lack of respect and can create tension. Be mindful and when in doubt, reach out to your own professor and ask their feedback. They will advise you best on how to proceed.
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how to
GRAPPLING
DRILLS WITH A REAL DUMMY WORDS: JIM LAWSON | PHOTOS: MIKE VELEZ
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NEVER HAVE I BEEN TASKED TO WRITE TECHNIQUE FOR ANYTHING WHERE I REFERRED TO A TRAINING PARTNER AS “THE DUMMY”. THOSE ARE GENERALLY SOME FIGHTING WORDS THAT COULD GET YOU CUT WHERE I COME FROM. However, in this instance it was totally appropriate. Having a grappling dummy can be a huge help to you for multiple reasons. The obvious one is having a willing partner available
to you to endlessly drill a new move that you scoped out on one of our fabulously written tutorials or YouTube, who won’t complain or bicker about being too tired or you going too rough. Another reason is if you are not in possession of ample space to roll at home, all you need is a very modest open space (mats not required, but a definite plus) and you can, again, drill said techniques and movements.
He r e a r e a fe w d rills you can d rill (e n d l e ssly if you’d like) to get you started. Be creative, have fun, but more i m p o rta nt ly, d o n ’ t ca l l a n y of your act ual t rain in g part n e rs “dummy”. it can get you into unnecessary trouble.
three Point Swivel Pass Drill
Step 1
Step 2
Starting from the standing position in front of the dummy’s guard, place one hand on the mat and the other on the dummy’s knee.
Leading with the same foot as the hand that’s on the dummy’s knee, begin to step out from between the dummy’s leg.
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Step 3 Once your legs pass the guard, swap hand position and shuffle your legs around to the other side of the dummy’s guard and repeat this movement pattern making sure to always keep three points of contact on the mat.
Shoulder Pressure Jump Pass Step 1 From inside of the dummy’s guard postured up, start by placing your left shoulder onto the dummy’s waistline area, making sure that your head is on the right side of the dummy’s torso and looking outward, while also placing your left hand onto the dummy’s hip.
Step 2 From here, hop over the dummy’s right leg using your left shoulder as a fulcrum.
Step 3 Once passed, reset and do the same thing on the other side.
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Mount to Mounted Triangle Lock-Up Step 1
Step 2
Start from the mount position with one hand controlling the dummy’s wrist and the other controlling the back of the dummy’s head.
Using the leg of same side of the hand that is controlling the head, shift your knee underneath the dummy’s tricep by bringing your knee close to the dummy’s ear area.
Step 3
Step 4
Once the previous step is completed, push the dummy’s wrist down towards its chest area and with that same side leg, shoot your leg directly underneath the dummy’s neck. As you do this, you may release the wrist control. Make sure to secure the side of the dummy’s neck in the crook of your knee.
From here, lock in the triangle with your opposite side leg and pull up on the head to simulate the completion of a mounted triangle.
NOTE: If you’re are having a hard time closing your legs to complete the triangle, use the hand that was controlling the dummy’s wrist to base out on the mat. From here, you may lean to that side while maintaining upward pressure with the leg underneath the neck (like a leg curl) to create space to lock in the triangle.
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Feet on Hip Overhead Sweep Step 1
Step 2
Starting with the dummy in your open guard with both feet on the dummy’s hips, grab control both of the dummy’s wrists.
Keeping control of the wrists, slightly push off with your legs, creating a slight separation and quickly shoot your hips directly underneath the dummy’s hips while lifting the dummy directly above you, making sure to keep the wrists close to your chest.
Step 3 Using your legs to lead and guide the dummy while still maintaining control of the wrists, perform a back shoulder roll
to either side, allowing the weight of the dummy to assist you rolling up into the mounted position.
Step 4 From here, you may roll to either side returning back into the closed guard starting position.
Triangle-Armbar-Omoplata Flow Drill (with gi)
Step 1
Step 2
Starting from open guard with your feet on the dummy’s hips, establish wrist control with the dummy.
Drive the dummy’s left hand to its waist and hip up to wrap your legs and execute a triangle and hold for a second.
Step 3 While maintaining control of the dummy’s right arm, release the triangle by taking your left leg up and around, grabbing the dummy’s head behind your knee and executing an armbar from guard. Hold the submission for a second.
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Step 5
Step 6
Keeping control of the arm, guide the arm towards your left hip.
As you guide the arm, release your leg from the dummy’s head and rotate on your back so your left ear moves towards the dummy’s right hip.
Use downward pressure with your legs as you sit up and complete the omoplata. From here you may reverse through the same moves until you return to starting position and repeat the process on the other side.
Guillotine From Guard to Half Butterfly Sweep
Step 1
Step 2
Starting from closed guard, sit up and lock in a guillotine with your left arm. Hold for a second.
From here, open the guard and hip out to the left side, while maintaining the guillotine. Using a circular motion establish a butterfly hook with the left leg.
Step 3 Use your right hand to grab the dummy’s left arm. Make sure to keep your right elbow tight. Elevate your left foot while rolling to your right, keeping your core and elbows tight.
Step 4 Finish the move in the mount position with the opportunity to finish with a mounted guillotine. Both of the grappling dummies shown can be found at RINGTOCAGE.COM
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TRAIN FOR LIFE
JoĂŁo Gabriel Rocha www.gameness.com Joao Gameness.indd 1
www.facebook.com/GamenessFightwear @GamenessFightCo @Gameness_Sports 11/15/16 9:40 PM
who is
JOHN DANAHER THE SQUAD LEADER INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS: WILL SAFFORD
PHOTO: KENNY JEWEL
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JOHN DANAHER IS KNOWN FOR MANY THINGS WITHIN THE JIU-JITSU COMMUNITY: THE MASTERMIND BEHIND NO-GI WIZARDS GARRY TONON, EDDIE CUMMINGS, GORDON RYAN, AND NICKY RYAN, GRAPPLING COACH TO UFC CHAMPIONS GEORGES ST. PIERRE AND CHRIS WEIDMAN, AND THE GUY WHO WEARS A RASHGUARD TO MOSTLY ALL OCCASIONS, ON AND OFF THE MAT. But however you’ve come to hear about him, it undoubtedly originates from his expertise and mastery of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. No longer able to regularly train or compete, Danaher has elected to contribute to the art by sharing his broad and highly cerebral understanding of jiujitsu with his students. The New Zealand native possesses an inquisitive mind and deep passion for understanding the subtle nuances of the martial art. He approaches jiu-jitsu as an intellectual, akin to a scholar striving for even the slightest grasp of advanced astrophysics. His tireless study of the art of jiu-jitsu has earned him the position of head instructor at the world-famous Renzo Gracie Academy in Manhattan and coach to some of the best grapplers and fighters the world has ever seen. His prowess is sought out by those fighting for and defending world championships, yet he shares his knowledge with every man, woman, or child who steps on his mat. The respect for Danaher within the academy is palpable. His physical limitations, namely hip and knee issues, restrict him to a sitting position throughout the duration of class. Small movements to illustrate technique are made, but much of the class is spent sitting against the wall with a quiet watchfulness. Students understand the privilege of learning from Danaher, however, and crowd attentively around the soft-spoken black belt as if receiving divine wisdom from the jiu-jitsu gods themselves. The same level of reverence is seen at the class’s end, as a long line of pupils wait patiently to thank their cross-legged guru. Preparing for this interview was met with apprehension, as the standard getting-to-know you questions to glean background info, favorite techniques, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu generalities seemed unfit for one of the greatest minds in the sport. The questions presented were asked to challenge our interviewee, clear up misconceptions, and shed light on some of the profound concepts he alludes to in his numerous Facebook and Instagram captions. Incidentally, small bits of significant news were gleaned amongst broader riffs of valuable concepts and insight. So, take what you can from the thoughtful information that lies ahead.
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You’ve trained a lot of athletes. Georges St Pierre, Chris Weidman, Garry Tonon, Eddie Cummings… What qualities make a world champion? First, I don’t believe you can say there is a cookie cutter mold which creates world champions. I’ve seen world champions in jiu-jitsu with every type of psychological makeup and every body type. I don’t believe there is one particular mindset or body type that dominates. I believe any type of mindset and any body can do it provided there are certain other elements in the picture. I’ve always believed that, ultimately, your ability to get towards whatever goals you have, not just in jiu-jitsu but in life in general, comes down to your ability to solve problems. Life is pretty much a series of problems thrown at you day by day. There are short term problems or goals and long term problems for goals, and the issue is how to get to those goals. The difference I see with world champions is not that they do anything differently, it’s just that they do it better. They’re better at solving problems, and what’s more important, they’re more persistent. A lot of people in a competitive setting experience failure and stop. What I notice
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“I also think there are some myths about gi versus nogi training…that somehow gi training makes you more technical. That makes no sense whatsoever.” in world champions is that they have a mindset geared towards problem solving. They have a certain goal... to be a world champion… they identify the problems on path to that goal, and they form rational solutions to overcome them. And they have a persistence to push through, in this case, failure. They have mental resilience. So, really they do the same thing as everyone else; they just do it a little better, and they do it longer against resistance.
Most of your athletes are known for their no-gi skills. Do you still value the gi game? Absolutely! Roughly two thirds of the classes I teach any given week are taught with the gi. I think there’s this widespread
misconception that I only teach or train no-gi. That’s not the case at all. There are definite benefits to gi training. I also think there are some myths about gi versus no-gi training…that somehow gi training makes you more technical. That makes no sense whatsoever. What it does do when you put on a gi is increase the friction between you and your opponent, which slows things down. It offers a much larger variety of grips, and the grips tend to be more resilient, they’re harder to break. And of course, it offers many more options for strangle holds. So really three things change between gi and no-gi. The basic mechanics of the game, however, remain unchanged. There are many famous athletes who were equally effective gi and no gi, and their games did not change that much between the two. There are others who tend to specialize in one or the other, but the basic mechanics of the game don’t change. So there’s no reason why an athlete can’t excel at both. I’m hoping in time some of my athletes will. I know Nicky Ryan and Gordon Ryan have expressed a lot of interest in competing in IBJJF competitions in the gi in the next few years. They have certain goals they want to reach with no-gi first before they attack the next task.
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This is where the witty comments go. Make it fun!
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one form of control, but there are many other forms of control. The higher you go in the sport, the more you start to realize this. Most great world champions are masters of many forms of control, not just the basic position and submission. So really, what I’m looking to get into students first is a sense of control. The easiest one for students to learn is position. It’s easy to explain, it’s easy to visually identify, and it works well with the point system of our sport. But in time, they’ll have to go beyond that.
How do you feel about the name Danaher Death Squad? You know it’s the funniest thing, I never use that name because I fu**ing despise it! (laughs) I remember my mother being horrified because she went on Google to look up my name, and the first thing that came up was Death Squad. She said “What have you done!” and I said “Mom, it’s not me!” (smiles) One of my students made a joke about it because one weekend they had submitted a huge number of people and he goes “Man, you guys are the Danaher Death Squad!” and everyone laughed. The next thing you know it’s online and people are talking about it like it’s our name! I used to just call them “The Squad” and then it was a funny joke…”the Danaher Death Squad,” and then it stuck! So yeah, now I don’t know what to do with it…. Poor Mom.
Alluding to a previous interview… Why is it important for students to know the names of positions? I believe that learning efficiency is strongly related to language acquisition. If you look at human beings in nature, one of the distinguishing features of humanity is that we have language by which we can translate knowledge over time. So one generation can transmit information to another generation, and you get compounding knowledge over time. So the human beings of today know considerably more than the human beings of 300 years ago… The transmission of knowledge is directly proportional to your precision with language. Animals have a hard time transmitting knowledge because their communication methods are rather vague, rather rough – calls, barking, quacking, and what have you. You couldn’t transmit knowledge about higher mathematics through barking. So, a huge part of human advancement has to do with language acquisition. This is true especially when you’re trying to transmit complex information. [JD then goes on to explain how difficult and inefficient it would be for two people to rebuild a car engine without knowing the names of the parts. It would take
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“As a coach I need to be able to transmit information in a short period of time to someone in a crisis situation.” twice as long, needing to describe each part to one another during the process.] As a coach I need to be able to transmit information in a short period of time to someone in a crisis situation. I can’t be saying to them, “Ya know, grab em around the wrist and thread your left arm through…” No, it’s Kimura. One word, he knows what I want. So, this ability to provide a complete nomenclature makes it very easy to transmit knowledge. One person can teach another much more efficiently, and in a fight situation, I can transmit knowledge to an athlete to make him perform better on stage.
When should someone start learning and practicing leg attacks? I believe that jiu-jitsu is the science of control that leads to submission. One of the great clichés of our sport is that you must get position first then submission second. But you don’t really hear me talking much about that. I prefer to use control rather than position. Position is
I believe students must have a sense of how to control the whole body and how to move around their opponent’s whole body before I will begin teaching them the leg lock game. I don’t want students who can only fall back onto the legs. Then they’re only attacking half of their opponent’s body. The idea is always for a student to be able to attack an opponent’s whole body. A critical part of that is the ability to get past your opponent’s legs and onto the upper body, preferably towards the back. I put a disproportionate emphasis on back attacks. As a result of that kind of thinking, I prefer to see my students working on their ability to pass the legs and get around to either top pins or pins from the back. Once I see them mastering that to a satisfactory degree then I’m happy to teach them the leg attacks. But the ability to move around and control the whole body must come first. Only then will you have a student who can attack 100% of their opponent’s body’s rather than 50%. And that’s very important as you get higher in the sport of jiu-jitsu.
To the uninitiated, the leg attack game may appear cheap, or a quick way to a submission without advancing position. What would you say to those people? It depends on the scenario, but in many cases those people are right. When I go to a local submission grappling tournament you see people who clearly have no conception of how to control a body or lock down a limb and hold it in place. They are just kind of flopping into a submission hold here and flopping into one there. It just looks random, and it looks awful to be honest with you. That’s NOT my vision
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You can tell a lot about a man by the rash guards he wears.
for jiu-jitsu. I want people to attack the whole body and control the whole body, and that’s a very different thing from someone just flopping around from leg to leg. They’re not controlling anything. So in that sense, yeah, I can understand the grievances that some people have with modern submission grappling because there is a lot of this flop and drop stuff. But you’ll notice when my athletes go out there they don’t really do that. They go in and they’re purpose driven and when they get a hold of a leg, there’s real control. If the criticism is out towards naive leglockers, then sure I understand that, but that doesn’t mean you should besmirch the whole leglocking game based on the errors of a few beginners. There is a depth to leg locking which is every bit as profound and useful as the upper body submission game in traditional jiu-jitsu. So many times we’ll have opponents who will come to the gym or compete against us and say, “You know, I just don’t fear leglocks. No one’s ever leglocked me,” and then they’ll get leglocked in 30 seconds and you’ll see the look on their faces like “what just happened?” They’ve felt something they’ve never felt before. So, I can understand the criticism but it depends on context.
Do you have a favorite rashguard? Are you kidding? That’s like asking me if I have a favorite parent or sibling. I treasure all of my rashguards.
How many do you have? Not enough.
Long sleeve or short sleeve? I despise short sleeve rashguards!
You recently spoke about studying military strategy to improve one’s jiu-jitsu, can you elaborate on that?
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Yes, I believe jiu-jitsu is combat on an one-on-one scale. It’s one individual against one individual. It mirrors many of the elements we find in mass combat – between armies...even between nations. So many of the profound thinkers in the history of combat concern themselves with combat on a grand scale, namely military combat. These outstanding thinkers have written about it in a very profound fashion. Many of the lessons they derive apply just as well to single combat as they do to what they talk about in mass combat. Often if I find myself bereft of ideas or stunted in growth…I’m not progressing in certain directions…I will draw inspiration from people like this. And very often it jolts my mind to directions I hadn’t investigated, or I had forgotten about, or I hadn’t paid enough attention to. And then, of course, you have to bring it back in a practical fashion to the sport of jiu-jitsu. It can’t just be abstract thinking. It has to be brought back to concrete results and actually enhance the performance of the jiu-jitsu athlete. So, I use them for inspiration to make me think about things differently, and then it’s up to me to make the abstract thoughts practical that will improve jiu-jitsu competition.
What are some other things athletes can do off of the mat to improve their jiu-jitsu? Well on the one hand, I think there is an industry in jiu-jitsu of people who try to imply that they can make you better at jiu-jitsu through things that have no relevance. So, I see a lot of that in the sport and I’m turned off by it. But on the other hand, you can never be too strong, you can never be in too good of shape. So there are exercise regimens outside of jiu-jitsu that will definitely help.
I do believe that a deep understanding of the human body is very useful for the practice of jiu-jitsu – a study of rudimentary medicine is useful. I’m not a huge believer in diet as absolutely critical for performance, but I do believe it is important for longevity in the sport. I’ve seen world champions that have atrocious diets. I’ve seen judo champions that smoke a pack of cigarettes a day and they’re still world champions. So there can be a wide variation, but those things aren’t conducive to longevity in the sport. If you want to play the sport for a long time, a healthy lifestyle is important. So yes, there are things that you can do off the mat to help but be weary of those who promise tremendous results from things that clearly have no relevance to what we do on the mat.
Turning GSP and Weidman into UFC Champions was a goal of yours as was creating an elite squad of submission grapplers. You’ve achieved all of the above. Do you currently have any other goals? Yes, I have many of them. One is to have a squad of athletes who represent themselves in the gi and are highly successful. I think I can definitely do that; however, it’s not my prime focus right now, but I’m confident I can do that in time. Some of the other goals are somewhat up in the air because there is uncertainty about the career of George St. Pierre. He could be going back into a second phase of his career, making a comeback. So there would be certain goals set for him, but I can’t make concrete goals at this point. But for now, the next goal would be the gi squad, and again I’m confident in time they will do very well in competition.
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MARCIO ANDRE THE RIGHT PATH TO VICTORY
WORDS: MIKE VELEZ | PHOTOS: JARREN BARLOW
Raw Data Powered by BJJ Heros Lineage: Mitsuyo Maeda >Luiz França > Oswaldo Fadda > Sebastião Ricardo > Wendell Alexander > Daniel Almeida > Fábio Andrade > Marcio André
Main Achievements: ❖❖ IBJJF World Champion (2014 brown, 2013 & 2012 purple, 2011 blue) ❖❖ UAEJJF World Pro Champion (2016 black, 2014 brown, 2013 purple) ❖❖ IBJJF World No-Gi Champion (2016 black, 2013 brown) ❖❖ IBJJF Pan American Champion (2013 purple)
WE’VE HEARD IT BEFORE, “JIU-JITSU SAVED MY LIFE”. MARCIO ANDRE IS ONE OF THE MANY THAT CREDITS JIU-JITSU WITH DOING JUST THAT. GROWING UP IN A FAVELA IN BANGU, BRAZIL, MARCIO’S FATHER WAS MURDERED WHEN MARCIO WAS JUST TWO YEARS OLD. GROWING UP WITHOUT A FATHER CONTRIBUTED TO HIM HANGING WITH THE WRONG CROWD. EARLY ON IN LIFE MARCIO WAS ON THE PATH TO LIFE AS A CRIMINAL.
❖❖ CBJJ Brazilian National Champion (2013 & 2012 purple, 2011 junior blue) ❖❖ IBJJF European Champion (2016/2015 black, 2014 brown, 2013 purple) ❖❖ CBJJ Brazilian Teams Champion (2010 junior blue) ❖❖ IBJJF World Championship Runner-up (2016) ❖❖ IBJJF Pan American Championship Runner-up (2017) ❖❖ IBJJF World Championship 3rd Place (2017)
Later, Marcio would again face tragedy at a young age. Growing up his mom was chronically ill, she would tell Marcio that when he turned eighteen that’s when she would give up her fight for life, that way she knew she lived long enough to raise a man. Sure enough, after reaching the age of eighteen his mom let go her fight. Dealing with this type of adversity can easily relegate someone to failure. But thankfully at around the age of ten he discovered jiu-jitsu and coach Fabio Andrade. Fabio had more confidence and hope in Marcio than even he himself had. Fabio gave him the direction he needed. Fabio is credited with helping many others out of a life of crime and poverty with his social project of providing jiu-jitsu to underprivileged kids in Bangu. Marcio’s first big competition win was a World Championship at blue belt in 2011, it was then that he knew that he wanted to dedicate his life to jiu-jitsu. Just three years later in 2014 Marcio received his Black Belt under Fabio Andrade. On the way to Black Belt he won two world titles at purple, one at brown and missed a Black Belt world championship in 2016 by one advantage to Rafael Mendes. It’s clear that Marcio is on the right path which leads to victory in jiu-jitsu and in life. We were privileged to spend some time with Marcio to get to know him and his jiu-jitsu that we’re going to share with you here.
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❖❖ IBJJF Pan American Championship 3rd Place (2016)
FAVORITE POSITION/TECHNIQUE: Open Guard WEIGHT DIVISION: Peso Pena (Feather Weight) – 70kg/154lbs TEAM/ASSOCIATION: Nova Uniao (Bangú)
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SPIDER GUARD PASS Step 1
Step 2
Marcio starts off in his opponent’s Spider Guard. The first thing he does is get his grips on the pant legs. From there, he must choose a side to begin working the pass.
Before Marcio makes a move, he needs to bring his elbows together. If he doesn’t do this, his opponent will be able to lasso the arm or stretch out the arm and keep the Spider Guard. So before moving to a side, he tucks his elbows in, taking away his opponent’s ability to stretch him out.
Step 3 Marcio moves to his left side and forces his opponent’s left leg down and under his right. He also gets heavy with his right side, bringing down the pressure on his opponent. Be sure to not rest your elbow on your own knee -keep it inside your knee so all the pressure is on your opponent.
Step 4 From this position Marcio has a lot of options. One thing he likes to do is to get inside the right leg. To do this, he lets go of the grip of the pants and rotates his hand underneath and between him and his opponent’s leg and then regains the grip on the pants.
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Depending on your opponent the hardest part on this one could be getting that foot off your bicep.
Step 5 Now controlling both legs, Marcio moves his legs to step to his right, keeping downward force on both legs. His left knee is on the inside of the thigh and his right elbow is down on his opponent’s hips.
Step 6
Step 7
At this point, Marcio’s right knee is also against his opponent’s right hip. This keeps him from being able to square up on Marcio.
With all the points under control, Marcio lets go of his left hand grip of the pants and brings it up to his opponent’s right side collar just below the neck. It’s super important that Marcio keeps his left elbow on top of his opponent’s left knee with pressure. This keeps him from being able to move his hips.
Step 8 Now Marcio completes the pass by grabbing the other collar with his right hand, closes the elbow down, keeps the pressure, and scoots over to his right to complete the pass.
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TRIANGLE FROM THE SIDE
After completing the previous pass, Marcio will have his opponent’s left arm in control. He now has some options to finish. Step 1 After the pass, Marcio uses his right hand to grab his opponent’s right collar under the neck.
Step 2
Step 3
He then postures up putting downward pressure with both arms on the collar and steps his left leg up and over his opponent. He brings that left foot up high near the head.
Once the leg is clear, he can sit on his opponent’s chest and pull his own left leg tight around the back of the neck with his right hand.
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With enough flexibility you can lock up the triangle in step 4 and stay on top.
Step 4 Once he has a firm hold of his leg trapping that outstretched arm, Marcio falls to his left to roll into a traditional triangle. He pulls his leg in tight and locks the figure four.
Step 5 Now, Marcio brings his hips up to allow space to bring the arm across to his left side, relaxes his hips back down, and finishes the triangle.
Stay tight with the trapping leg during the roll to not let go of the position. When finishing a triangle you want to have your foot that’s behind the head pointing in the opposite position of the captured arm. Imagine a “Z” or “S” with your leg and their arm.
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THE ARMBAR OPTION
After the pass, the fact that Marcio has his opponent’s arm trapped leaves for a few other finishing options aside from the triangle he just showed us. One of those is a simple armbar that Marcio shows us here. Step 1
After Step Two from the triangle setup, Marcio uses his right arm and thigh to keep his opponent’s arm trapped.
Step 2 Instead of going on top, he sits back, keeping control of the arm and bringing his right leg up and over his opponent’s head.
Step 3 With the arm trapped and both legs across the body, all he has to do now is press his hips forward while continuing to lean back and get the tap.
For best results make it quick!
DE LA RIVA PASS Step 1 Marcio likes to control his opponent’s legs near the knees. The most important grip at this point is the knee that’s wrapped around his leg. Marcio gets a thumb in grip of the pants. On the other side he grabs near the knee. With the grip on the pants, Marcio pushes his opponent’s left knee way down and then steps back with his left leg. By pushing the knee down, his opponent can’t regain the DLR hook.
Step 2 Next, Marcio pushes the left leg down with his grip and steps over the leg so that he’s trapping his opponent’s right leg between his.
Step 3
Step 4
At this point Marcio still has a grip of the left leg (between his opponent’s knee and his own body there will be some space). Marcio lets go of the grip and puts his right hand down to the mat in that space. At the same time he drives his right knee across his opponent’s body.
The slide across puts Marcio into a Half Guard knee slice position. From here Marcio has two options to complete the knee slice pass. One friendly, one not so friendly.
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Passing Options
PASSING WITH FRIENDS
Here all Marcio has to do is to bring his hands together behind his opponent’s head and drive forward to flatten him out. This will usually allow Marcio to get his knee and leg all the way through for the pass.
PASSING WITH ENEMIES
This option produces a little more discomfort for his opponent but is extremely effective against even a very strong Half Guard. Step 1
Step 2
Marcio’s left leg is posted out and his right leg is caught in his opponent’s Half Guard. Marcio keeps his right hand posted to the mat with the underhook then gets a thumb in grip on his opponent’s right side collar.
With a firm grip of the collar, Marcio places the top of his forehead against his opponent’s chin and drives forward with his head turning his opponent away while pulling down on the collar. With enough pressure, this usually opens up the legs enough to complete the pass.
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HALF GUARD TOP CHOKE
From that knee slice position where Marcio’s still in his opponent’s Half-Guard, he has a cool choke that he can go for even without the pass. Step 1 With the underhook and still caught in Half Guard, Marcio reaches his left hand out to base out past his opponent’s head.
Step 2 He then bases on his head and scoops his left hand under the back of his opponent’s neck as low and as deep as it can go.
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Step 3 As he scoops the neck, he rolls forward with his left shoulder on the mat. Marcio’s left arm is extended when he completes the choke by bringing his right arm in to capture his left hand in the crook of his right elbow as if to perform a rear naked choke.
Step 4 If his opponent fails to tap, Marcio rotates his hips to the left to get to his knees allowing him to put more pressure on the choke and get the finish.
Whenever you’re caught in a DLR guard, it’s super important to get that hooking leg out as quickly as possible by pushing down on that hooking knee.
Reverse
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ELIMINATING THE KNEE SHIELD
This pass is demonstrated from a guard that could be considered a Quarter Guard with a knee shield or a Reverse DLR with the knee shield. Whatever you call it, this an effective pass you can use when you find yourself in a situation like this one. Step 1 If his opponent has a knee shield, Marcio never wants to pass against that - odds for success aren’t good. So first he must remove it. The first thing Marcio needs to do is go get a good grip of his opponent’s same side collar, below the neck, at the top of the chest. He goes with a thumb in grip, folding the lapel over. Elbow low, less space the better.
Step 2 On the right side, Marcio puts his palm on his opponent’s left hip, fingers to the right. Then he brings his outstretched leg in and pushes towards center to bring his opponent off of his side and onto his back.
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Be sure to study this one, you’ll find yourself needing a lot!
Step 3 Once centered, Marcio needs to bring his right elbow in against his own leg. But he can’t just bring it over; he needs to slide it against his opponent’s leg nice and tight and then tuck it in against his own leg.
It’s super important that you bring that right arm and elbow back against your body and above their leg; otherwise, they’ll maintain the knee shield.
Keys to The Pass Step 4 Now Marcio’s going to bring it back by stepping off to his left side and pulling his opponent back to his side. This time Marcio has his right arm and keeps his opponent’s left leg down so that he can’t establish the knee shield.
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Always have a solid base when dealing with your opponent’s guard. If your base is solid you can stay on the offense. If your base is off, or not where it needs to be, your opponent will sense this and they’ll be on the offense going for sweeps or submissions. So the first thing to think about is to make sure your base is on point before working for the pass.
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how to
GAINING MASS FOR JIU-JITSU WORDS: WILL SAFFORD
MOST OF THE TIME ATHLETES ARE LOOKING TO CUT WEIGHT FOR SPORT. IN COMBAT SPORTS LIKE OURS, WHERE WEIGHT CLASSES ARE USED TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD, IT’S BELIEVED THAT THERE’S AN ADVANTAGE TO CUTTING WEIGHT. If strength and other qualities can be maintained while dropping to a lower weight class, a physical advantage is thought to be had over opponents. A lot of times, though, just the opposite can happen when cutting weight: a loss of strength, increased mental and physical fatigue, and an increased risk of injury occurs. Athletes complain of the struggles of cutting weight, accompanied with hunger pangs, loss of energy, and not feeling like themselves on competition day. Jiu-jitsu weigh-ins also usually occur right before competition, which gives athletes little chance to rehydrate and eat before go time. After a few hard weight-cuts, you may find yourself looking to compete at your natural weight or even one class above. Some fighters may want the extra weight for stability and control, or the additional strength and power that comes with more muscle mass. Size definitely has its benefits, especially in combat sports. A heavier opponent is harder to move, harder to take down, and harder to escape from when in a dominant position. A stronger opponent has more control, can often muscle technique if needed, and can force the submission when the time is right. Many athletes also note that their joints feel stronger and more resilient with additional muscle mass, and the added “armor” aids in injury prevention. Whatever the case may be, there may be a time when you’re looking to add weight. However, not all weight is created equal. Athletes should look to add lean muscle with minimal fat. Anyone can pack on the pounds by eating low-quality, high-caloric foods with little nutritional value. This will just slow you down and hurt your performance. The following strategies are meant to add lean muscle mass while preserving overall health. With consistent effort, it’s reasonable to add one to two pounds of lean muscle per week; however, drastic weight manipulation methods should be avoided.
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Determine Your Caloric Needs Some basic biology will help you understand how to gain (or lose) weight. Simplified, each day you must take in more calories than you burn. Just the opposite is used to lose weight - take in fewer calories than you burn throughout the day. Many people don’t know exactly how many calories they consume, so a good idea when aiming to gain weight is to start tracking. If you’re simply guessing your caloric intake each day, you surely won’t see the results you’re looking for. Start tracking rough estimates every day, or use a nutrition tracker app. To determine how many calories you need per day to gain weight, you need to learn your basal metabolic rate (BMR). This is how many calories your body burns just to run its daily functions like breathing, digestion, blood circulation, etc. A quick and simple way to determine BMR is to add a zero to your bodyweight in pounds. So a 180-pound athlete would have an estimated BMR of 1,800 calories. More complex calculations for determining
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Next, add 1,000 calories to cover your daily activity. This will include moving around throughout the day and your daily training, including jiu-jitsu. So our active 180lb athlete with a BMR of roughly 1,800 will add another 1,000 calories for a total of 2,800 total calories to cover his daily movement needs. That amount is solely what he needs to maintain his current weight and muscle.
BMR can be found online, but this simple method should do the trick.
In order to gain weight, you’ll need to add another 500 calories. This is where the caloric surplus comes in to lay down new muscle tissue. In our example, the 180-pound athlete would add 500 plus 2,800 calories thus equaling 3,200 calories each day to gain weight. If you’re around this weight, 3,500 calories is a good goal to shoot for in order to add mass. When you actually start tracking your daily caloric intake you’ll probably be surprised by how much food you’ll need to put on weight. Usually, it’s far more than you think; however, that’s what needs to be done to build serious muscle.
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Not All Calories Are Created Equal
Now that you know how many calories you’ll need per day, you have to understand the difference between sources of calories. The three main macronutrients are protein, carbohydrates, and fat. A rough breakdown of how much you’ll need each day is 35% protein, 45% carbohydrates, and 20% fat. A good estimate of how many grams of protein you’ll need is to multiply
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your bodyweight by 1.5. For your daily carbohydrate needs, multiply your bodyweight by 2.5 grams, and by .4 to determine your daily fat intake. So, our 180-pounder will roughly need 270 grams of protein, 450 grams of carbs, and 72 grams of fat each day. The most important component in adding new muscle is protein. It should be a priority to meet your daily
protein goals while you’re bulking. Carbohydrates are crucially important for the combat athlete as well as this will provide the fuel for training in addition to helping you reach your weight goals. Again, the numbers above are rough estimates; however, they can be used as a guide for your daily caloric needs. When gaining weight it’s most important to focus on daily total calories through high-quality food sources.
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That looks very tasty.
Eat More and More Frequently
Gaining lean mass is hard. Many believe it’s much harder than losing weight, and that notion typically develops simply from the amount of food consumption that needs to occur. The best way to achieve your caloric needs is to have three large meals per day along with two snacks and a post workout shake. You want to eat roughly every two to four hours throughout the day. If you use the numbers above, you can break down how many grams of each macronutrient you’ll need per meal and snack. One way to quickly get protein and calories into your system each day is to have a protein shake right when you wake up. This will break your overnight fast and start adding to your mass gain without adding fat. It’s also vitally important to consume protein and carbs directly after your training session. This is when the body is depleted and searching for macronutrients to help replenish and recover. Don’t miss this opportunity to give your body exactly what it needs to build muscle.
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Training for Size
What to Eat As mentioned before, highquality food sources are the best way to go when building muscle and overall health without adding body fat. You can surely gain weight by loading up on sugary drinks, snacks, and desserts; however, your body will be adding fat, not muscle, which will detract from performance. Your best sources of protein are lean cuts of meat like steak, ground beef, turkey, chicken, and fish. Try to make these the main part of each of your three large meals. Your carbohydrates should include a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, and grains, if your
body can tolerate them. Rice, potatoes, and healthy pastas are a good way to get high-quality carbohydrates into your diet. Your fats should also be high-quality, including certain oils like coconut, olive, and avocado, plus healthy nut butters.
daily caloric needs without being too filling. A whey isolate protein shake upon waking, a carb and protein shake after training, and a casein protein shake before bed are great choices when trying to add lean muscle.
It’s important to note that consistent weight training must be a part of your weight gain process. If you consume excess calories without training, your gains will be limited and mostly result in added fat. Limit your cardio training strictly to jiu-jitsu, with no additional endurance work, which will limit muscle growth. Lift heavy weights with low reps, 5 to 8, for 4 to 5 sets, and focus on compound exercises that hit large muscle groups to aid in muscle growth. Three days per week of weightlifting with a few days of jiu-jitsu will ensure that your nutrition program will be the backmost effective.
When you’re eating close to six times a day, sometimes you just can’t chew anymore. Whole food is the best source of calories, but when you’re trying to add weight, supplements have their place. Specifically, protein and carbohydrate drinks will help to meet
FINAL THOUGHTS
Gaining size should be an infrequent training phase that is performed only a few times a year, not year round. Once you reach your desired weight you can cut back on your calories and eat and train to maintain what you’ve built. The body is resistant to change at first, and you most likely won’t see the results you’re expecting right off the bat. A mass gain phase should be performed for six to eight weeks, so keep this in mind when preparing for competition and to set expectations. It’s also common to gain small amounts of body fat when bulking, however if you’re increasing muscle mass more than fat, your program is working. Daily consistent effort with nutrition and training is what it takes to gain the size you want to be a bigger force on the mats.
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Officially Licensed BJJ Apparel fusionfightgear.com
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Technique
Tech - Rodrigo.indd 1
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Raw Data Powered by BJJ Heros Lineage: Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie Sr. > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Jr > Aldo Januário > Rodrigo Freitas
RODRIGO FREITAS NO-GI SOLUTIONS FOCUSED DIVERSITY
T
WORDS: JAMES LAWSON | PHOTOS: MIKE VELEZ
TO HAVE A WELL ROUNDED SKILL SET IN ANYTHING IS SOMETHING TO STRIVE FOR. IT SHOWS A WILLINGNESS TO BE DIVERSE AND ABSORB THE MANY POSSIBILITIES WITHIN A SKILL. Even to a specialist, that path usually begins with a strong, wellrounded set of fundamentals. Someone who embodies this notion is Rodrigo Freitas. Rodrigo came up through the Gracie Barra family and earned his black belt from Aldo “Caveirinha” Januário in 2007. On his path to winning medals from all of the major tournaments in the world, Rodrigo has established himself as a practitioner that is well rounded and sharp in the many facets of jiu-jitsu. From sound defense to high paced attacks, in gi and no-gi, Rodrigo always seems to have an answer for a wide range of styles. In this technique session, he covers a variety of techniques from De La Riva Guard, side control and a pass to take the back. Now, like any good banker would tell you, “Diversify”!
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Main Achievements: ❖❖ Pan Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Champion (2014) ❖❖ American National Champion (2013/2011/2010) ❖❖ World No-Gi Championship Runner-up (2016/2014) ❖❖ Pan American No-Gi Championship Runner-up (2015/2010) ❖❖ American National Championship Runner-up (2009) ❖❖ American National No-Gi Championship Runner-up (2014/2013/2010) ❖❖ World No-Gi Championship 3rd Place (2013) ❖❖ American National Championship 3rd Place (2014/2012) ❖❖ American National No-Gi Championship 3rd Place (2015/2012) ❖❖ Pan American Championship 3rd Place (2016)
FAVORITE POSITION: Open Guard WEIGHT DIVISION: Peso Leve (76kg/168lbs) TEAM/ASSOCIATION: Rodrigo Freitas Jiu Jitsu
“Rodrigo has established himself as a practitioner that is well rounded and sharp in the many facets of jiu-jitsu.”
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DE LA RIVA TO X-GUARD TO CALF SLICER
The De La Riva Guard has been proven time and time again, across various platforms, to be a highly effective guard. Made famous by jiu-jitsu forefather Ricardo De La Riva, there have been some great methods of defense, reversals, and attacks that have been developed from this position. Rodrigo walks us through a very useful leg attack from the DLR. Step 1 Rodrigo starts with his left hand gripping Manny’s right ankle and the DLR hook to the back of the same leg while pressing his other foot up against his left knee spreading Manny’s legs wide.
Step 2
Step 3
Once Rodrigo spreads Manny’s base, he hooks his right foot behind Manny’s left knee.
After establishing his hook behind the foot, Rodrigo releases and “unwraps” the DLR hook of his left leg, shooting it between Manny’s knees and placing his left foot underneath Manny’s hips. He then uses the hook of his right foot to pull his hips and “hops” underneath Manny’s hips. As Rodrigo hops under, he also transfers his grip on the ankle to an overhook grip.
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If you’ve never been caught in a calf slicer before you don’t know what you’re missing. Good Times.
Step 4
Step 5
From here, Rodrigo uses his hooked right foot to pull Manny forward, making him fall forward.
Once Manny falls forward, Rodrigo uses his right hand to grab Manny’s right knee to hold it in place while his left releases the overhook and grabs Manny’s ankle palm up.
Step 6 Now, Rodrigo weaves his right shin behind Manny’s right leg, placing it in the crook of Manny’s knee and triangling his legs, securing and trapping Manny’s leg.
Step 7 Rodrigo uses his right hand to grip Manny’s hip and pulls himself up to hug Manny’s waist, pulling Manny’s hips back and effectively finishing the calf slicer.
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SIDE CONTROL TO TRIANGLE
Side control lends itself to a variety of options. It can also be considered a home base to either mounting an attack or simply controlling a position to take a breather (but who wants to do that?). Here is a nice triangle that is set up by initiating one attack to only catch the prey in another. Those are the best kind, right? Step 1 Rodrigo starts this attack with Manny in his south side control with his hips pushing up on Manny’s right arm. Manny has a left arm underhook on Rodrigo to set up a potential escape.
Step 2
Step 3
From here, Rodrigo grabs Manny’s left wrist and pushes it down to his belly.
With Manny’s left wrist pinned, Rodrigo switches his left knee near Manny’s head, keeping his shin over Manny’s right arm to trap it and keep it extended.
Step 4 To prep for the next move, Rodrigo does a windshield wiper motion to switch the leg that’s on top of Manny’s arm, making sure to keep his position tight to Manny’s head.
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T E C H N I Q U E T H AT N E V E R R EQ U I R E S ST E N GT H
Now learn TRUJITSU concepts at these academies...
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T H E T R U J I T S U R E VO LU T I O N .C O M
@Trujitsu
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TruJitsu Full Page - FootLockDefense B.indd 1
@Trujitsurevolution
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Step 5 As Manny rolls towards Rodrigo, Rodrigo weaves his left arm through the opening near Manny’s elbow, establishing and threatening a Kimura.
Step 6 Manny acknowledges the threat and grabs his own leg to prevent the Kimura. As this happens, Rodrigo steps over Manny’s arm, placing his foot underneath Manny’s armpit.
Step 7 At this point, Rodrigo sits straight down and falls towards his left side, while keeping his left leg straight behind Manny, his right leg also straightens out across Manny’s chest so that he can close up a triangle, making sure to point his toes up and squeezing his knees.
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DOUBLE UNDERHOOKS TO BACK TAKE
This is a great pass to use against someone who is very flexible and when you’re having a hard time stabilizing a position after a pass. Step 1 Rodrigo is standing in Manny’s Open Guard. From here, Rodrigo uses his right hand to grab Manny’s right ankle, and his left hand is placed on the inside of Manny’s knee, pushing Manny’s right leg to the ground.
Step 2 Once Manny’s leg is on the ground, Rodrigo walks around to Manny’s left side using his right arm to establish his first underhook and immediately takes his left hand from Manny’s knee to get his second underhook and uses a Gable grip to secure the double underhooks low on Manny’s hips, locking his elbows down against Manny’s side. *Note: It is important to secure the underhooks low towards Manny’s waistline and not high towards his knees.
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Congratulations to Rodrigo and his wife Michele on the birth of their baby daughter Maitê.
Step 3
Step 4
Rodrigo now scoops Manny’s hips up onto his own and stands up. Keeping a tight Gable grip, he now stacks Manny up on his shoulders and pinches his knees against Manny’s hip so that he cannot roll back into him and recover.
From here, Rodrigo uses his right hand and grips slightly below Manny’s left calf and walks around to place his right knee behind Manny’s right knee, pinning it to the ground.
Step 5 Now, Rodrigo places his left hand on Manny’s hip while Rodrigo initiates a forward roll like motion with his right hand, but instead of completing a roll, he adjusts his position to the top of his own shoulders and places hooks behind Manny’s knees.
Step 6 Once here, Rodrigo uses his left leg to kick straight, creating momentum to roll Manny to an upright position and attaining Manny’s back by establishing a seat belt position.
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event
BJJ TOUR CONNECTICUT WORDS: STAFF | PHOTOS: JEFF ROBERTS FLOWROLLPHOTOS.COM DURING THE SUMMER THE BJJ TOUR MADE ITS FOURTH ANNUAL STOP IN THE GREAT STATE OF CONNECTICUT. THIS YEAR THE HOST VENUE WAS THE FLOYD LITTLE ATHLETIC CENTER IN NEW HAVEN. As
you can see from the photos the venue was first class and the brackets were stacked with great competitive matches. As with all BJJ Tour stops there’s a $1,000 prize to the top school. At this year’s event the Kids division was won by GF Team, followed by Essential Jiu-Jitsu and Marcelo Garcia CT. In the Juvenile/Adult/ Masters category it was Soul Fighters taking home the gold followed by GF Team and Team Fabio Clemente. In the Adult Male Under 181.5 category it was Nathan Mendelsohn beating out Rafael “Formiga” Barbosa. In the Under 208 Wancler Oliveira from GF Team got his hand raised over Jordan Lutsky of Soul Fighters. The Open went to Formiga (Soul Fighters) as fortunes switched between him and Nathan Mendelsohn (Coalition 95). The BJJ Tour schedules winds the year with two more events. The first is the granddaddy, the longest running jiu-jitsu tournament in the country, the US Open. It hits San Francisco November 4th and 5th while the Nevada tour stop is on December 2nd. Make plans now and don’t miss the action. BJJTOUR.COM
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Gear Lab
hypnotik
ZENROLL HEMP GI
H hypnotik.com
HEY MAN YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE AWESOME - IF YOUR GI WAS MADE OF HEMP. YOU KNOW THE WORLD WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE IF EVERYTHING WAS MADE OF HEMP. We all have that friend, you know, the one that swears that our cars could run on hemp oil if it weren’t for the government or the global conspiracy to keep hemp down. Reality is that he isn’t too far off base. The virtues of hemp have become mainstream in recent years. As for jiu-jitsu gi’s hemp is a great alternative to cotton or polyester because of its antimicrobial properties, it’s many time stronger than cotton, very breathable, and Eco-friendly. The latest company to make the push into hemp is Hypnotik and their new Zenroll 100% Hemp Gi. Let’s take a look.
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087
The Jacket
The first thing you’ll notice
when you get the Zenroll in your hands is how soft and pliable the material is. The jacket is made of 100% hemp
That’s not the case. It is indeed made of 100% hemp. If you get one with that little oversight head over to Ebay!
The Pants
woven into a 550 GSM weave.
The pants are also made of
Hemp is four times stronger
100% hemp, this time the
than cotton, but even so there
miracle thread is woven into
are reinforcements in the side
11 oz twill. Like the jacket, the
slits along with triple-stitched
pants are super soft. Four
in all of the seams. The collar
belt loops keep the corded
is made of UVA foam and the
drawstring in place. The pant
sleeve cuffs feature a smooth
cuffs feature the smooth tape
“100% Hemp” tape. The interior
just like the sleeves. Branding
shoulders feature a super soft
is limited to one vertical logo
lining. The inside label on ours
along the left thigh and a small
said it was 100% cotton, oops.
patch on the right hip.
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Gear Lab
a d
Fit and Feel
b
This is where the Zenroll is worth its weight in wee… gold. The first time you slip this bad boy on you’d swear it was bedtime. It’s super comfortable. At 5’11” 220 lbs the A3 fit me perfectly. The
c
sleeve length was good and the jacket closed nicely after the two required washes. Required because Hypnotik says that you must machine wash and hang dry the gi two times before rolling to prevent any shedding of the natural hemp material. As you can see from the numbers shrink was moderate. I did wash in cold and hang dry just as instructed.
e
Through at least a dozen washes so far the Zenroll remains soft, black, and in great shape. Through a month of testing there were no signs of premature wear and tear. The hemp seems to be holding up nicely.
f
A 66”
WEIGHT:
B 32.5”
Pants: 1lb 8oz
C 24” D 6.75”
Jacket: 2lbs 10oz
E 22.5”
Together: 4lbs 2oz
F 39.5” G 9.25”
AFTER 3 WASHES AT 70º F
BRAND NEW (A3)
Measurements A 63” B 31.5” C 23” D 6.5” E 21” F 37” G 9”
g
Rolling In It Comfort is usually my top criteria for judging the performance of a gi. If I’m not comfortable I’m not happy. Also a gi shouldn’t give our opponent any
means having my own collar used against me is a bit
Highlight & Specs
more likely with a softer gi. Through all of my test rolls
❖❖ 100% Hemp, stronger than cotton.
advantages. The overall softness of the Zenroll make it extremely pliable for me and my opponent, that
that wasn’t an issue. This gi was tested in August here in Southern California, that means it was HOT. The breathable nature of hemp was definitely a benefit during testing that I could feel during some particularly humid rolls.
❖❖ Naturally antimicrobial ❖❖ Moderate shrink ❖❖ Soft and comfortable, breathable in hot weather
Verdict Not your ordinary gi, comfortable, durable, and affordable.
CONCLUSION
PERFORMANCE VALUE QUALITY OVERALL
Back in the day hemp gis were rough, expensive, and not something you’d want to wear all the time. The Zenroll is comfortable, durable, nice looking, and sells for $190. That price tag is more than reasonable considering the virtues of hemp as a gi. The Zenroll is available in ten different sizes from A1 to A5 with many long and husky variations in between. It’s available in both black and natural white. I think everyone should own at least one hemp gi, especially if you’re the type that likes variety. The Zenroll is the perfect candidate to be your new favorite gi. You might even decide that your buddy was right, everything should be made of hemp!
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gear lab book review
SHIFT THE NARRATIVE by Russell redenbaugh
LIFE GIVES US SITUATIONS THAT ARE SOMETIMES MORE DIFFICULT THAN OTHERS. HOW WE CHOOSE TO LOOK AT THOSE SITUATIONS AND WHICH PATH WE DECIDE TO TRAVEL ON IS ENTIRELY UP TO US.
No matter how tough things might appear to others it’s only how things appear to us that matters. Russell Redenbaugh was blinded by a freak accident at the age of sixteen. At the time, society was set on dictating his life ahead, but through his own will he refused to accept this narrative and was determined to shift it. In his new book he shares his story and gives us advice on how we can do the same. Russell’s story began in 1962 on a Saturday morning. Russell was a 16-year-old growing up in Salt Lake City. At the time, everyone was pretty caught up in the idea of sending a man to the moon as challenged by president Kennedy. Russell wanted to do his part so he decided to do some experimentation of his own. He gathered up all the necessary ingredients to build solid rocket fuel. He actually went to some pretty great lengths to secure some potassium nitrate for his endeavour. He posed as a delivery boy for a milk company to pick up one pound from a chemical plant outside of town. While mixing the chemicals together something ignited the fuel and it exploded. The explosion could be heard several blocks away. Unable to see, he ran his hand down his leg and felt a puddle of blood soaking through his jeans. Luckily his next door neighbor, Ruth Johnson, was an Army surgical nurse. She knew how to treat Russell before making it to the hospital. Over the course of many surgeries and trips back and forth to Children’s Hospital in San Francisco, Russell eventually lost all of his sight. He also lost almost his entire left hand and his thumb and index finger from his right. In 1963 blind people had very few options. He was basically offered a guide dog, a
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collapsible stick and the limiting label of “disabled”. He rejected not only the label but all the misconceptions associated with it. In the hospital bed during his recovery, Russell used the power of declarations to set a new course for his life. His declarations were; I will not be poor, I will not be dependent on others, I will not live at home, be led to the bathroom, fed and walked. I will live an active, independent life and be valued by people. Those declarations were the foundation of the life he’s led. Russell later graduated first in his class from the University of Utah. Russell was rejected from both Harvard and Stanford, not based on qualifications, but on the fact that he was blind. Through determination Russell was admitted into the MBA program at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. He was told bluntly by the Dean of Admissions, “If you can’t make it here you’ll have to leave.” With that, Russell went on to graduate with an MBA from Wharton. Russell’s refusal to accept the limitationsthat society placed upon him was evident throughout his career. Russell would go on to become a Securities Analyst in Philadelphia where he helped Cooke & Beiler transform from a tiny company to
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❖❖ Russell during one of his Masters Seniors Worlds matches (on bottom).
having over $6 billion in assets. He later went on to form Kairos Capital Advisors. Kairos is a Greek word meaning, “That moment when vision, bold action and opportunity converge to achieve extraordinary accomplishment.” Russell has also served on the United States Commision on Civil Rights under three presidents. Of all these accomplishments and challenges Russell speaks of in the book, he spends the most time and exudes the most pride in his jiu-jitsu accomplishments. One day at the age of fifty Russell was working out with his strength coach, Steve Maxwell, when Steve eventually convinced Russell to try jiu-jitsu. Russell began going to regular group classes and fell in love. As a kid Russell was energetic and fit, but not well-coordinated and definitely not a fighter. He was sometimes bullied and would back away from confrontation. The empowering aspect of jiu-jitsu added to the appeal for Russell. Along with having no sight, Russell managed to
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contend with limited use of his hands. Like all of us, he developed a style of his own jiu-jitsu that worked for him. After some success in local competitions he flew to Brazil to compete at the Masters World Championship in Rio de Janeiro. That first year he won his weight and division. To make sure it wasn’t just a fluke he went back the following two years and won again in his weight division and came home with silvers in the open division. The book is broken into three parts, the first is a biography of Russell’s challenges and accomplishments. The second section helps the reader to define the narrative they’re in, the third is how to shift that narrative. It’s filled with practical life advice that can be applied to nearly any situation. Russell discusses shifting your mood, making declarations that will be a powerful motivator in helping you to determine the outcome of your life and finally, how to convert those declarations into action. There are so many great takeaways
❖❖ Russell on the podium in 2005.
and quotes from this book. The one that resonated most with me was passed on to Russell by his father, “You can have anything you can pay for.” So true. If you want to be a jiu-jitsu World Champion you can have it if you can pay for it through sweat, determination, hard work and perseverance. That holds true for nearly anything in life. In the writing of this review I had the opportunity to talk to Russell for about an hour. It was an enlightening phone call. To summarize it here would be an injustice. Look for that interview along with some of his favorite jiu-jitsu techniques in a future issue.
❖❖ Ready for a days work.
highlights & specs: ❖❖ 138 pages ❖❖ Applicable knowledge to all
If you’re looking for a great book to read, or know someone who’s in need of some inspiration (yourself included), I can highly recommend picking up Shift The Narrative. It’s available anywhere books are sold and retails for just $17.95. Pick it up and change your narrative.
areas of life. ❖❖ Portion of sales go to Habitat for Humanity® ❖❖ Well written and easy to read ❖❖ Available in paperback or Kindle
Verdict Might be the perfect book for you if you’re in need of a change.
STORYLINE VALUE OVERALL
9/6/17 1:47 PM
gear lab N e v e r Ta p
KNEE GUARD Nevertapknees.com
IT’S NEVER FUN TO HEAR ABOUT A KID IN HIGH SCHOOL THAT NEEDS TO HAVE ACL SURGERY, OR SOMEONE IN THEIR FORTIES THAT’S ABOUT TO HAVE THEIR THIRD KNEE SURGERY. IN MANY SPORTS THAT REQUIRE ATHLETES TO CUT THEIR WAY DOWN THE FIELD OR COURT, A TREMENDOUS STRAIN IS PLACED ON THE KNEE JOINTS. In jiu-jitsu we’re not cutting, but just the same our knees are extremely vulnerable to rotation or hyperextension. Knee braces are pretty common in jiu-jitsu. Unlike football players on the field with high-tech carbon fiber braces that look like something out of the Terminator, our options are more limited. Knee braces must be soft, comfortable and add some level of protection. That’s where the Never Tap Knee Guard comes in. It’s designed specifically for the needs of jiu-jitsu athletes. The Never Tap Knee Guard is the invention of Ben Potesky who tore his MCL while training jiu-jitsu. With the help of other grapplers and orthopedic doctors the Knee Guard was born. The compression of the brace helps to keep the joint and everything in place. The braces that run along the sides provide a small amount of bending resistance that gets more intense as you flex your knee. The patella pad up front helps to prevent injury when impacting the mats for take downs or other situations where you’re posting on your knees. It’s available in a blue/ grey color combination and comes in three sizes, small, medium and large. Our overall impression is very positive. After a few minutes of wearing the brace and getting into a roll you pretty much forget you’re wearing it. Neither of us has any lingering knee injuries, but we’re both in our forties and all too aware of how quickly things can go south. I wore mine on my right leg, I’ve been noticing some
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bursitis recently. The guard helped with reducing pain felt when basing on that knee. The side braces are nice, they won’t prevent injury, but the added resistance helps to push your knee into a straightened state. Again, during all my rolls, I forgot I was wearing it. It was only when a training partner asked if my knees were injured that I remembered it was on. A few times I did have to pull the brace up and reposition, not sure if a little extra grip inside would help. I’m going to order another medium and start wearing them all the time. I just turned 43 and anything that will help me to prevent an injury sounds like a pretty good idea.
Conclusion At $29.95 price tag is a steal. Never Tap offers a money back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with the product. If you’re dealing with a fragile knee from surgery, injury, or just want an ounce of prevention the Never Tap Knee Guard should be on your list.
highlights & specs: ❖❖ Comfortable feel ❖❖ Quality construction ❖❖ Great price ❖❖ Money back guarantee
Verdict With knee injuries common in jiujitsu this seems like a pretty wise investment.
PERFORMANCE VALUE OVERALL
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Medic
ASK THE DOCTOR WORDS: DR PAUL MORTON MD
Cauliflower Nose?
About a month ago, I was getting smashed by this big brown belt. My nose was up against his sternum; I could breathe, but it hurt like hell. My nose really hurt for a few days after. Now, if I stick my thumb in my nose and pinch my nostril I can feel a hard lump inside near my septum. What is this and what can I do about it? Severe trauma to the nose can result in fractures or dislocations of the cartilage or bones. While more common in wrestling or MMA events, broken noses can definitely occur in jiu-jitsu. Look for a swelling or deformity. Bloody drainage is another common phenomenon. Obstruction of a nostril can occur from swelling due to blood clot formation. Similar to cauliflower ear, blood can pool around the septum of the nose and separate the nutrient supply from the cartilage. This pooling of blood is called a “septal hematoma”. Septal hematomas can lead to problems such as infections, septal perforation, or permanent nose deformity.
The nose deformity that is associated with a hematoma formation in the nose includes widening of the base of the nose, a saddle deformity, septal perforation, and widening of the nostrils. This deformity can easily be prevented by early drainage of a septal hematoma by an otolaryngologist, or an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctor within the first three days after the injury. Drainage of the blood should be done in a sterile environment to avoid infection. Broken noses can also lead to dislocated bones in the face. These are usually reset
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by an experienced physician. Depending on the extent of the injury, this may be done immediately or after a short waiting period of a few days to allow swelling to improve. Sometimes a broken nose will require early surgical intervention to re-align the nose. A chronically dislocated nose can lead to a deviated septum which may cause difficulty breathing, congestion, recurrent infections, or sleep problems. After treating a recent broken nose, you would likely be advised to avoid returning to jiu-jitsu for at least six to eight weeks to allow for healing of the
cartilage and bone structures. Sometimes a facial mask can be worn to protect your nose from a repeat fracture. A chronic deformity may require more advanced reconstructive surgery by either an ENT or plastic surgeon. After about a month, such as in your case, you might consider reconstructive surgery if you’re having concerns with breathing, recurrent infections, problems with sleep, persistent drainage, nosebleeds, or cosmetic appearance.
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Mr. Glass
I’m 42 and have been training for about nine years. All of a sudden when I post my left knee on the mats it feels like it’s on shards of glass. It’s terrible pain, like my skin and my muscle are pulling apart. What can this be and should I be worried?
Knee prepatellar bursitis is a common problem among people who spend a lot of time on their knees, especially jiu-jitsu players and wrestlers. A bursa is a natural cushion that your body forms over hard surfaces that protects these areas from trauma. Your knee has several bursas that can become inflamed. The prepatellar knee bursa is the most common area that gets inflamed by people who endure impact to the front of their knee. This area can become swollen and painful when putting pressure on it such as during double leg takedowns or when posting on it during knee-on-belly.
also known as MRSA. If the front of the knee turns red, you develop a fever, develop severe swelling, or are otherwise concerned, seek out a physician. Infected bursa is something that should be taken care of in an urgent manner, as it is something that likely needs antibiotics and possibly surgical drainage to remove the source of infection.
The best way to prevent or treat prepatellar bursitis is with knee pads. This can alleviate the pressure and tearing sensations underneath the skin. This in turn will reduce the amount of swelling that occurs. Drainage of the prepatellar bursa is not usually recommended as it will often come back. In chronic conditions, your physician may recommend drainage of the bursa with a needle or with surgery, but this is done rarely and on a case-by-case basis. Unfortunately, the prepatellar bursa can become infected. The most common bacteria is Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus,
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Tonight I was caught in some strange Kimura where my training partner’s leg was behind the back of my neck. He extended his leg and it shoved my neck forward, with my chin hitting my chest. Kind of like a Can Opener neck crank. Luckily time ran out, I didn’t feel immediate pain to tap, but since I’ve been home, for about an hour, my neck hurts when it’s in a number of different positions. I’m afraid it’s really going to hurt in the morning. What should I look out for that would indicate this is a serious injury? Does the neck heal like other joints in the body from strains? Neck cranks are illegal in most competitions due to the fact that when enough torque is placed on the the neck, a disk can herniate or the vertebrate bones within the neck can dislocate or fracture. While an injury of that severity rarely occurs, it could require a surgery to reduce and stabilize the problem. You should seek immediate medical help if you have sudden, severe pain, especially if the pain radiates down one or both of your arms. If you develop weakness or lose muscle control, this may be an emergency and you should seek emergency care. Fortunately, most neck injuries during training are not nearly that severe. It is very common to have neck pain the following day when you didn’t have it the night before. The best way to treat a neck strain is to give it time to heal. You can try symptomatic control with heat on the back of the neck, or nonsteroidal
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anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen or naproxen. Range of motion exercise to gently keep your neck limber will reduce stiffness that happens afterwards. If your pain is persistent, you can seek out medical help where you may be prescribed stronger medications such as a corticosteroid or muscle relaxer medication. These medications come with stronger side effects so they are not first-line treatments. More important than treatment of neck pain is prevention. Regular stretching and strengthening exercises can reduce or prevent neck injuries. Once your neck pain has improved, you can work on strengthening your neck muscles. This is easily done by lying on your back and performing sets of 10-50 of neck flexion, rotation and side bending. Incorporating neck bridge exercises is also a good way to improve your neck strength.
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gains
IT’S GO TIME! TRAINING THE “GO!”
C
CARPE DIEM - “SEIZE THE DAY”. IT’S A WELL KNOWN AND WIDELY USED PHRASE THAT COMMUNICATES THE URGENCY TO MAKE YOUR MOMENTS COUNT. There are many instances where opportunities present themselves. It oftentimes can be the “make or break” moment that can dramatically change the landscape of a situation. So, it would be within reason to suggest that if we
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WORDS: JIM LAWSON | PHOTOS: MIKE VELEZ
were able to train ourselves to not only recognize opportunity but also train our body to receive and act on a signal of a defined opportunity, we would theoretically enjoy the benefits of well timed execution on opportunities.
“GO” and not hesitate is key to success in high level competition and in life in general. Mike shares some of this philosophy and methods of achieving actual results in connecting the mind to body and melding them together for high efficiency performance.
Enter Mike Saffaie. Zeroing in on the notion of explosive action on opportunity, Mike feels that training that moment to
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Reactive Exercise In this type of exercise, Mike uses two methods to reference or train “The Go” by using either a vocal command or a visual command which uses a physical reference to have Carla react with a sport specific movement that maximizes the muscle group responsible for certain actions within an actual fight. In this drill, Mike spaces out each station approximately 12 feet apart. The reason for this is that upon his command, he wants Carla to accelerate to full speed to the next station.
Each athlete has their own pattern of movement, so Mike uses that to help identify a “default movement” for this particular drill. This will be the movement that takes place between “The Go” (explosive) movements. Mike emphasizes that the default general movement can be performed in context of how the athlete feels is the best way to perform that movement in relation to their natural body type, so variation of movement within this context is acceptable. Her job is to accelerate as quickly as possible.
Default - Sprint Drill (Vocal/Physical Command Method)
Mike explains that it is important to have a cap on time of when “The Go” will happen. In this demonstration Mike will have Carla explode within a twenty-second window in which Carla will respond to a vocal or visual cue. Mike believes that the body is only as powerful as the signal is from your brain to your muscle. Step 1 Using a stopwatch, Mike initiates the drill at the first station and has Carla execute short, lateral hops in one place.
Step 2 Mike gives the sharp verbal command “GO!”, in which Carla now sprints full speed to the next station and resumes the “default movement”.
Step 3 Mike repeats this sequence for a predetermined amount of stations and reps as part of a complete workout session. NOTE: Mike performs the same drill at close range to Carla to mimic the distance of Carla’s opponent. Instead to giving the verbal command “GO!”, Mike assigns a physical cue and has Carla explode once that physical cue is given.
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Push/Pull “GO” Superset
For this drill Mike will have Carla using a “Swiss Bar”. Although he notes that this is something that you won’t necessarily find in your average gym, he states that he does like using it because it allows Carla to do work using a “neutral grip” position, which he feels is more functional in a fighting environment. neutral grip
not a neutral grip
In this superset drill combination, Mike has Carla working on a “push/pull” pattern of function. At the beginning of camp, Mike imposes a greater amount of weight to push/pull but will scale down as the fight gets closer.
Step 1
Step 2
Mike has Carla laying prone on a bench press using the Swiss Bar in neutral grip.
On “GO!”, Mike will have Carla lift and bench press in a full range of motion with a quick but controlled tempo for 8-10 reps.
Step 3 Once the reps on the Swiss Bar are completed, Carla will immediately get up and move to the end of the bench gripping the waiting resistance band to perform Gable Grip Resistance Band Rows (see Issue 52 for complete breakdown). Using a Gable grip, note that the band rests on the wrist and forearm area of Carla’s arm, rather than over her hands* (as seen in Issue 52).
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Step 4 With legs shoulder width apart and squatting down half way, Carla begins to rapidly pull the band into her solar plexus while taking two lateral steps one direction and then back to center and repeating the same thing in the opposite direction, repeating this movement for the duration of the drill. Mike encourages that this portion be done with a quick tempo to keep the mind and body signals firing quickly.
Understanding that not everyone will have access to some of this equipment, Mike states that you can use dumbbells or explosive push ups to activate higher force. Most importantly, Mike advises to “have fun with it, play with it, and make sure you have a spotter. Also make sure that when you move fast that your body’s in a safe position so that you don’t injure yourself”. *NOTE: As Carla explains, the reason why she likes the band over her wrists is because it simulates the grip and pressure of performing a single leg takedown better.
Shadow Go Drill
For this drill Mike will use a reference point and some rope. Mike keeps the rope loose to serve as a bit of a safety so if you happen to trip over it, you’re less likely to fall. Also note the the rope ascends and descends depending on Carla’s relation to it. Still using vocal and physical commands, this drill helps the athlete be responsive off of a command or cue. In working with Carla in preparation for her next fight, Mike will have Carla shadow boxing striking movements for her default movement. All of this is geared to stimulate the signal from your mind to your body. Note: In preparation for grappling, Mike states that you can substitute shadow boxing for forward and backward movements to simulate prepping for a shot or sprawl. Since Mike has Carla emphasising striking in this drill, he has her hold a tennis ball in each hand. The reason for this is to give the athlete a physical reference of a relaxed position when not punching, but as Carla shadow boxes, she will squeeze the ball at the simulated moment of impact.
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“GO!”
Mike states that you may perform this drill with a time duration ranging anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes. Step 1 To start the drill, Mike has Carla shadow boxing, throwing various combinations while moving backwards.
Step 2 When Mike gives the verbal command “Go!” (or a physical cue), Carla hops over the rope and continues to shadow box but has now changed her direction of movement and now moves forward.
Step 3 Carla will repeat the entire process for the prescribed amount of time.
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9/5/17 5:46 PM
success
Powered By:
Todd & Sharon
JOHNSON
THE SUCCESS THAT WE SEE FROM JIU-JITSU CAN COME IN MANY FORMS. IN THIS COLUMN, WE TYPICALLY HIGHLIGHT PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATIONS. This month we have that and much more. Todd and Sharon Johnson both received their jiu-jitsu black belts recently, which on its own is an accomplishment worth saluting. What’s special about the two of them is that they did it together. Both have seen tremendous life improvements thanks to jiu-jitsu. Their love for jiu-jitsu helped Todd lose 100lbs and has given them both something to share as a couple and reach twenty-one years of marriage together.
Todd Johnson AGE: 44 | HEIGHT: 6’0 STARTING WEIGHT: 310 CURRENT WEIGHT: 210 HOMETOWN: Murrieta, California HOME SCHOOL: Dan Henderson Athletic Fitness (Checkmat) INSTRUCTOR: Ricardo Feliciano Pereira BELT RANK: Black
How did you discover jJiu-jJitsu? I was bullied as a kid and when I saw Royce go out and destroy everyone in UFC 1, I wanted to get my kids trained so they never had to feel threatened, so I enrolled them in jiu-jitsu.They were three and five at the time. One year later they asked, “Dad if we have to go, why don’t you?” I said good point. So at 33, I started as a white belt weighing 310 pounds. I lost 100 pounds in a year from jiu-jitsu.
What motivates you to train?
What’s been the biggest challenge so far?
What’s been the best benefit from the changes you've made?
Continuing the momentum with work, family and injuries which are inevitable. Jiu-jitsu has also taught me how to get through those injuries and still train even when not 100%. Additionally, I found out three years ago I have Crohn’s disease. The impact on my cardio and joints have been severe, even with medication, and being able to keep focused and train even when I am hurting has been a challenge. A huge thanks to my coach Ricardo Feliciano for recognizing everyone has a different path to black belt with different challenges and different capabilities – he has encouraged me to continue to train even if I am not 100% and to just do my best. I couldn’t ask for more support.
Self-confidence and the physical changes to my body. I will never have a six pack, but after almost 11 years, my body is very muscular everywhere, toned not bulky.
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after
What advice would you give to someone else looking to make the same sort of change? Check your ego at the door, have an open mind, injury will come - how do you plan to deal with it when it does, mind over matter, and persistence. I have an MBA and getting my black belt was many times harder.
I wanted to prove to my kids that sticking to something pays off; I also have become addicted to the sport and the physical results.
What else do you do for physical fitness? I go to Dynamic Fitness, a kinesiologist to help with balance, cardio, and flexibility.
How have you changed your diet? I strictly watch portions, I eat more old grains and healthier options, and I have become a vegetarian. I also drink more green tea. I should give beer up- it’s my one vice.
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Sharon Johnson AGE: 51 | HEIGHT: 5’7 STARTING WEIGHT: 135 CURRENT WEIGHT: 122 HOMETOWN: Murrieta, California, HOME SCHOOL: Dan Henderson Athletic Fitness (Checkmat) INSTRUCTOR: Ricardo Feliciano Pereira BELT RANK: Black
How did you discover jJiu-j Jitsu? I learned about jiu-jitsu from my husband, Todd. He would always encourage me to try it, but I was too afraid to step on the mat. When I was 44, Todd and our sons, Ian and Sean, presented me with a gi for Mother’s Day. What mother can deny their children?! So, that week I stepped on the mat and just kept going!
What motivates you to train? Jiu-jitsu has given me the ability to push my body and mind in ways not offered by other sports/activities. I am motivated to continue to improve myself, and I love that the “dance” will be different with each opponent - there is never a boring moment for me on the mat.
What else do you do for physical fitness? I only make the time for jiu-jitsu… working full time and family fill in the rest of my time!
How have you changed your diet? I eat more foods from the soil vegetables, fruit, old grains, etc, and less meat. I mostly hydrate with water and have decreased my alcohol intake.
What has been the biggest challenge so far? Allowing yourself to become a leader and accept the growth that the professor and others see versus allowing my ego to still tell me I’m a white belt. Also, continuing to work and go to practice even with injuries and finding the time to go consistently with a full family and work schedule.
What’s been the best benefit from the changes you have made? My mind and body have transformed, learning that sometimes the best
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return is simply to give, linking that to helping new people has shown me the more I help and give, the more people are drawn towards me.
What advice would you give to someone else looking to make the same sort of change? I know it won’t ever be easy and find the right school that fits your style. I am so glad to be a part of Checkmat at Dan Henderson’s Athletic Training Center… this old gal has always felt supported and welcome there. It’s not about beating your opponent- it’s about beating yourself.
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