Category: Media
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YouTube Channel Relaunch
Since our conversion to Gracie Barra we have since taken down our old Youtube channel when we were still Champion Academy. As such, many of our old videos are now inaccessible, but fear not! We are relaunching our Youtube channel under Gracie Barra Mansfield. Be sure to check out our videos, and subscribe to us to keep up to date with all new videos from Gracie Barra Mansfield.
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Got “Jiu”? What is the “Jiu” in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
While teaching the standup throws portion of a class at Gracie Barra I was trying to communicate to the class ( largely made up of white belts ) the idea of using your opponent’s momentum to set up the opponent for the throw. I paused and asked the class “Does anybody here know what the “jiu” in jiu-jitsu stands for?” Several sets of shoulders shrugged and blank stares were the response. I saw that I needed to explain further.
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5 Things Jiu-Jitsu Newcomers Should Know
5 Basic Things You Need to Learn about Jiu-Jitsu
SO there you are finally deciding to get off your couch and try out that awesome thing that you saw in MMA being shown on primetime TV. You finally said, “hey, my body is a huge mess, and girls dig MMA fighters. Right?”
And then you walk into one of them Gracie Barra schools, or any school that you would normally drive pass by. You park your car and step into the gym. You have never seen so many people in one place your entire life! You decided to sign up. Get your very first Gi, a rashguard.
Welcome to the wonderful world of BJJ.
As a newcomer, I applaud you for choosing to start your journey in BJJ. As thousands already have, you are now a member of a wonderful brotherhood / sisterhood of martial artist. I know you are really fired up, however, there are things that you will need to remember to become AWESOME in this field.
Things to remember ARE:
Becoming a black belt takes years
Yes. Getting a blackbelt takes around 5-8 years of training. Depending on your training and your will to be promoted, belt ranking is actually done regularly. Be prepared to brush up on your lessons. From basics to advance. There are exemptions to this, of course. I believe BJ Penn received his in 4 years. The kid’s a prodigy,
If you are expecting to be a black belt in less than 2-3 years, think again. I think Jiu-Jitsu is not for you, or Gracie Barra is not the school that will provide that. A black belt is just something dark-colored and that goes around your waist. That’s about it. It’s not the color that makes the fighter, but the fighter to who fights and doesn’t quit training.
There some who claim that you can get it in just 2 years. I believe they trained at McDojo BJJ. No offense meant.
There is a thing called over training
Unless you are superman, or heals like Wolverine, you should look out for signs of overtraining. This occurs when well, you spend a little too much time training. At first, it’s your body that takes in the first blow. Then your start to lose focus. You lose strength in your arms. Running seems laborious, and grappling such a task.
The answer: take some break. Probably giving yourself a day or two from training will work. The logic is quite simple: if an employee needs a vacation, what more for a budding martial artist?
Listening actually WORKS in BJJ
Ok. I’ve seen some BJJ newbies that are struggling. The core root cause is the lack of listening skills. I have noticed a lot of them spacing out while being instructed moves. Some have difficulty in listening because they think that YouTube videos actually are the best ways to learn. While there is no evil behind learning in YouTube, it is far better that you first develop these new techniques and follow the basic rudiments of the art. IF you plan to reinvent the wheel and come up with your own training regimen,
Prepare to Fail
Ok. Don’t get this wrong. Seriously. But there will be a lot of heartaches in BJJ. Well, in anything that rewards anybody will not be easy. Prepare to fail on your first to attempt to submit someone. Failure is normal. If all boxers succeeded in knocking out someone the very first time, they threw a punch, it wouldn’t the boxing that we all know today.
Expect to Succeed
Success is not measured by the number of opponents that you were able to beat on the mats. Well, at least for me, that is. Success is measured by how far you have improved as a person while and after doing Jiu-Jitsu. Expect that you will succeed. Expect eventually you will get to that rank. Expect that you will win that gold.
Jiu-Jitsu for everyone!
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BJJ Lifestyle: Spar and Learn
Sparring is going against a teammate in a fight, where enough rules are set to avoid injuries. Often sparring is a good way to gauge someone’s skills, especially in BJJ.
Now the big question is, should you spar? Or better yet, are you ready to spar?
I can still remember the first time I was asked to spar. I sparred with this blue belt guy. In sparring, no one gets to lose (well, getting choked or being submitted counts as losing.) The idea of the spar is quite simple: knowing your skills so when you hit the competition arena, you know where you stand, and know how well you can do.Anyhow, I sparred with the guy, and sad to say, I was submitted 8 times within 5 minutes. After all, his belt level is higher than mine – but it was a tough lesson to learn: there is no BJJ miracle. You have to work hard to get the skills to become really good at it. I thought that I was going to get a submission, but it was far from happening back in the day.
However, sulking as anyone should be after being submitted that much in less than 5 minutes, I began to focus on what I needed. I began working on a gameplan: not getting submitted.
In the following weeks of sparring, I was able to ward off attacks and subs, but I knew that it would not get me anywhere if I did. However, being able to learn how to defend myself is the key to learning the very basics of the guard and the counters.
With sparring, I started becoming very good at my skills. I started to learn how submissions really work. And it’s all because of sparring.
I’ve seen students who refuses to spar, or at least are too shy to. But the lessons to be learned from sparring are really great. Remember this: BJJ is a skill-based art. It’s something that you need to be able to do and not just know how to do. It’s training your body. It’s feeding your mind to develop muscle memory.Make it a point to spar at least once a week. Think of it as a culmination of an entire week’s worth of training. Apply what you have learned. Get used to it and be good at it!
