Turtle Surfing - Don't forget to enjoy Jiu-Jitsu

Sometimes when training hard every day and preparing for competitions we can sometimes take things a little too seriously; and loose sight of the real reason why we participate in the Arte Suave. That reason is FUN.

After watching, many Jiu-Jitsu practitioners in action most notably Ricardo Vieira, Lucas Lepri and Andre Galvao I noticed that they liked to surf their opponent when their opponent was in turtle position. Usually this was done to open their opponent up to get their hooks in. This got the cog's in Movimento Lento's brain turning and I came up with a FUN game that my friends and myself like to play called "Turtle Surfing".

Now this is purely for FUN, and people should take it with a pinch of salt.

The idea of turtle surfing is to surf your opponent in turtle position for as long as possible. I have managed to surf and have been surfed on. The reigning turtle surfing champion in our club was Andre "Young Roger Gracie" Paxman, well that was until I stole his crown.

Have a go when you have 'down time' and let me know how you get on. Try and be as creative as you can and most importantly have fun.

Below is a VB Team HL with Ricardo Vieira, check 44secs for some serious surfing


On his DVD Lucas Lepri demonstrates the turtle surfing technique, however rather than upload this I thought it would be best to include this Lucas Lepri highlight for your viewing pleasure. This is one of my favourite Jiu-Jitsu highlights on the web.



Finally to finish here is Andre Galvao rolling with some of his students, having FUN with his Jiu-Jitsu

Victor Estima Charity Seminar

Today Movimento Lento accompanied by Andre "Young Roger Gracie" Paxman and Movimento Lento Co-Reporter himself Jody "The Axeman" Paxman; headed over to GB Midlands for a special fundraising seminar.

The fund raising event was in aid of Victor and Braulio Estima's father who's life had been left devastated by the recent floods in Northern Brazil (For more information and to see the full scale of the disaster click here).

After a quick journey down the M1 thanks to some Niki Lauder style driving skills we arrived at the academy on time. Walking into the academy we were greeted by a huge gathering of people from all over the country, including our fellow GB Halifax and Leeds team mates, who had come to show their support for this worthy course. Today's seminar focus was on the open guard and controlling the opponent in open guard. Personally I learnt some really great control details that I will be trying to implement into my game.

Overall a good day for a worthy course. It is always good to meet and share ideas and techniques with fellow practitioners of the Arte Suave. Big shout out to all the people who made it. Above is a picture from the event, click through for a larger image.

Submission: Omoplata

It is that time of month again where I highlight one of my favourite submissions today is the turn of the Omoplata. I will spare you the fancy definitions this time, so sit up straight I want your full attention, you will not be needing that extra caffeine boast or your daily steroid injection. Basically, the Omoplata is a shoulder lock performed using the legs. The Omoplata can be set up in numerous ways and obtained from many different positions. As Jiu-Jitsu develops people are coming up with more creative ways to obtain the Omoplata. I know I often dream about the Omoplata. To see the Omoplata in action take a look at the videos below.

Here is a HL of one of my favourite Jiu-Jitsu practitioners Antonio "Nino" Schembri. Check out his crazy Omoplatas.



Marcelo Garcia also has a great Omoplata, here is a short clip from the Arte Suave Lifestyle DVD. Notice the Omoplata set up he uses at 1.02 and 1.35.



So there you have it the Omoplata. I am off to practice it on some Umpa Lumpas. Why don't you do the same and let me know how you get on. Until next time Movimento Lento Blog followers!!!