Jiu-Jitsu techniques by Draculino

Cool highlight of Jiu-Jitsu techniques as demonstrated by the legend that is Vinicius Magalhaes (Draculino)

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

Half Guard

Roberto Correa (Gordo) is credited with developing the position referred to as the half guard. He began using the half guard after a serious knee injury when he was still a purple belt. The half guard has developed over the years from a more defensive position to a more offensive one. However, opinions on the half guard remain divided. If you are from the 'guard smashing' camp you may say that it is half way to passing guard and that the position should be avoided where possible. On the other hand if you are from the 'guard player' camp one may argue that the position is an offensive position that can be used to set up numerous sweeps and submissions. Personally I enjoy playing the half guard but I don't like to hang out there for too long. Mainly, because I feel like that I am susceptible to chokes but, also I tend to struggle to keep on my side especially with heavier opponents when they are trying to flatten me out. So who are the best half guard players today?

Here are my favourites: Celso Vinicius, Marcelo Garcia, Jeff Glover, Cyborg, Lucas Leite, Robson Moura and the UK's very own Oli Geddes. I also think that Demian Maia, Andre Galvao, Minotauro and Wilson Reis have used the position effectively in MMA. Check them out. I have included two videos one of Lucas Leite and the other of Jeff Glover.

Lucas Leite shows some effective half guard skills in the US Open No-Gi final


Below, is a great Jeff Glover highlight put together by Naledge.



Further information on the half guard:

Stephan Kesting summarises the different types of half guard here.

Here are 17 tips for an Active Bottom Half Guard .

Movimento Lento's favourite Half Guard instructionals: Half Guard with Gordo, Jeff Glovers Deep Half Guard, Robson Moura Fusion 2, Rigan Machado Secrets of the Half Guard, Cyborg Guard Series, Vince Quituguas Lost Techniques of the Half Guard. Also, love or hate him Mr Eddie Bravo has an excellent half guard game well worth checking out his DVD. All the DVD's are available from Budovideos.

Competition: Manchester Open 2010

MANCHEST'AH OPEN 'MY TEAM PERSPECTIVE'

(To make this post a more enjoyable experience please feel free to scroll to the bottom and listen to the Stone Roses-Fools Gold whilst browsing).

I hate alarms I think they are a bad invention, one should wake up naturally, when our bodies are good and ready. As, I get older I find it increasingly harder to adjust to early mornings. Working on Brazilian time, I packed my bag with essentials (cold and flu tablets, a banana and a pack of salt and vinegar crisps) and headed over to the Sugden Sports Centre (the same venue as the Ground Control competition) in sunny Manchester; to spectate at the Manchester Open. The Manchester Open is a new competition on the circuit and is organised by Gus Oliviera of Grab and Pull.

Today I was fortunate enough to have chief Movimento Lento Blog co-reporter Jody "The Axeman" Paxman spectating with myself. Unfortunately the interviews the Axeman conducted may never see the light of day, mainly because I am technologically retarded and can't open the audio files. Luckily he was able to provide myself with a few photos. Also, the GB Halifax team was blessed to have fellow training partner and assistant coach, Darren Ward, on hand to perform pre-match massages (extras at added cost, or so I hear).

Rather than write and comment on all the matches I will comment on a few of the performances from my fellow team mates and friends.

In action from GB Halifax/Dewsbury (Victor Estima) we had (amongst others):


Adam Medlock UHW White


Phil Ounsley HW White


Marc Leigh LW Blue


Jamie Paxman MW Blue


and from Nova Vida we had (amongst others):


Daniel Thompson FW Blue


Roberto Barbiero LW Blue an 'oldie' competing with the 'young guns' in the Adult division


Hanif Rehman LW Masters White


It was Mr Medlock's first gi competition and he looked incredibly nervous. Which is not surprising since the rest of his division either looked like they had been released from their weekly weight watchers programme or a Russian prison. Unfortunately Adam lost his first bout by kimura but he managed to pull off a nice sweep. I am sure Adam will be back stronger next time now that he has burst his competition cherry.

Big Phil Ounsley put in a stellar performance for his first BJJ gi comp and managed to clinch the gold. It must of been the brand spanking new gi, that he received for fathers day. Maybe a new gi for every comp is a sure fire path to success.

Now everyone will be glad to hear that Marc Leigh (mentioned in my previous post) DID actually make weight this time. Looking like a angry chiwhawha with his Arlovski style mouthguard he proceeded to dominate his first round opponent. Marc demonstrated good solid Jiu-Jitsu skills. He managed to execute a beautiful omoplata sweep and a total of 3 'Roleta' style sweeps, with one being stopped only by the judges table. This earned him a points victory and entry into the next round. In Marc's second fight he was up against the eventual winner (and a seasoned blue belt). Mr Leigh showed excellent top game work and was shutting down his opponents half guard, until one mistake led to him being swept and finished with the subsequent cross choke submission. Unfortunately, Marc looked slightly 'gassed' in his final fight and eventually tapped out to an arm bar. I think he just wanted to get to the pub for a justly deserved real ale ;-).

At only 19 years of age Jamie Paxman (aka Andre) was the top performer of the day from the club romping his way to the middleweight gold. Andre has been attending Victor Estima's academy on a more regular basis and this was evident from his matches. Looking calm and collected like a young Roger Gracie he manged to pass the guard and enforce his game on two of his opponents, this earned him a place in the final. The final was a close run contest, with Jamie leaving it until the last ten seconds of the fight to secure the back mount with hooks and ultimately victory. It was good to see the hard work finally starting to pay off. He has come along way since the only technique he knew was the Saulo Ribeiro running escape. (I have included a picture of Jamie with his gold medal, top left of post)

Daniel Thompson (aka the Flying Ferret), not having much luck of late (sunburn, broken car) continued with this trend loosing his first fight. Dan was very close to pulling off the 'Glover' half guard sweep, if he had of managed this task the outcome may have been very different. With some more hard training I am sure we will see Dan and his Californian tan again in the near future (Please check out Dan's blog here.).

Talking to our co-reporter "the Axeman", Roberto Barbiero said that he felt confident going into his matches and that he was going to take the victory by pulling guard and "snapping peoples arms off". In his first match he nearly managed to do just that but his opponent, with great tenacity, managed to escape. Rob eventually stormed to victory with a overwhelming points win. In his second match up Rob got unlucky, getting caught with a sneaky loop choke from guard to the eventual winner. Roberto's day was topped off by a poor performance by Italy in the World Cup.

Hanif Rehman at 36 years young put on a valiant performance and secured a bronze medal. Surprisingly Mr Rehman did not not recite an inspirational quote and seemed a little disappointed that he had lost his bout. I am sure we will see him back in action again soon enough.

The young girls from Nova Vida (Tia and Davina) gave it their all and performed exceptionally well. I did not manage to catch their final fights but it was great to see the youngsters in action, definitely some future grappling talent right there.

Everyone put in a great performance whether they won, lost or drew and it was great to watch and have a large team for support. It made me feel guilty for not competing and wimping out with a cold. Next time frens I will compete fo'sure.

So there you have it a day out at the Manchester Open with Movimento Lento and Co. Lots of great matches and up and coming stars.

I am off to buy myself a years supply of acai.

Til' next time.



Note: It was good to see fellow competitors, friends and spectators from Nova Vida, GB Leeds and other clubs. It was also nice to see my friend Paddy Carmody there competing, I have to say there seems to be some talent coming from GB Brum.

Tabata

Recently with competitions on the horizon and a few 'fatties', 'smokers' and 'drinkers' among our ranks (you know who you are, nudge, nudge, wink, wink), we have been finishing the GB Halifax sessions with Tabatas. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Tabatas let me explain.

Tabatas are a form of High-intensity interval training (HIIT) used to improve endurance performance. With HIIT, one performs a set exercise at maximum intensity for a given time period followed by a recovery of a set period, usually with a 2:1 work to recovery ratio.

The Tabata regime first formulated by Tabata et al consists of 20 seconds of ultra-intense exercise (at 170% of VO2max) followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated continuously for 4 minutes (8 cycles) [1].

It is this particular regime that we adhere to in training although the masochists amongst us have been known to reduce the recovery time or increase cycles. Judging by the massive grin on Rich's face I am sure he gains some kind of sadistic thrill out of seeing us all in pain, I know I do (I jest). Speaking of pain it is quite strange how different types of exercise result in different types and levels of pain. Has anyone ever noticed this? I personally prefer Tabata burpees to press-ups with a plank. Anyone who has not done Tabatas should live a little dangerourously and give them a try (Please leave a comment and let me know how the experience went. In fact I would be interested to hear any opinions or thoughts you have). Bear in mind, the original study [1] conducted at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan used highly-trained endurance athletes in peak physical condition. So if you don't fall into this category (or are a big girls blouse) remember to listen to your body and ease into the Tabata slowly.

Here is the original Tabata Protocol:

5 minutes of warm-up

8 intervals of 20 seconds all-out intensity exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest

2 minutes cool-down

To finish the post I have included a picture of one of my team mates, Marc Leigh. In this picture he is receiving his prize 'pie' from Rich, for not making weight. Hopefully the Tabatas will have paid off and Marc will make weight this weekend at the Manchester Open. Good luck to everyone one who is competing. Smash it my frens!!!

[1] Tabata I, Nishimura K, Kouzaki M, et al. (1996). "Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max". Med Sci Sports Exerc 28 (10): 1327–30.

Training Introduction

I have had the privilege of training at a whole host of academies (albeit in some instances for only one session) both at home and abroad including Gordo's, Carlson Gracie Revolution, BJJ School, Gracie Barra (GB), Alliance UK, Asylum MMA, Caged Steel (and "off shots") and Nova-Vida to name but a few.

Currently the core of my training is at three main academies these are Nova Vida (Huddersfield), GB Halifax and GB Midlands. Nova-Vida and GB Halifax only run 2 sessions a week but luckily they are on alternative days. I try and venture over to GB Midlands once a week to get black belt tuition from Victor Estima and Bruno Alves, although sometimes I cannot make it because of the distance, times and my finances. Below, is an example of a typical weeks training. I usually use Sat or Sun as a rest day depending on how I feel.

Mon and Wed 7.30pm-9.30pm Nova Vida or 7.00pm-8.45 GB Midlands
Tues and Thurs 8.00pm-9.30pm GB Halifax
Fri 12pm-1pm or 7.00pm-8.45pm GB Midlands or local gym
Sat 1.45pm-3.30pm GB Midlands or Asylum MMA or local gym
Sun 10.00am GB Halifax open mat or local gym.
*In the future I would like to add more strength/conditioning and running to my training.

As you can see life can get rather confusing with training so rather than document every lesson and technique and bore you to tears I will highlight the occasional lesson and technique in my blog. Besides most of us know what a BJJ lesson entails and many schools follow a similar routine for example warm up, drills, techniques, specific sparring, free sparring and warm down.

Please keep posted for further blogs, for now I have included some photos of my local BJJ schools;

Here is a photo of the original GB Halifax team

Here is an older photo of the Nova-Vida team after we had moved into the new premises

World of Movimento Lento - Shocker Jiu-Jitsu

So, here we begin with the journey into the world of 'Movimento Lento'. With a plethora of blogs available in the public domain, many of which bore me to tears, I decided to start my own. I will be covering a wide range of subjects and random musings that will be held together (vaguely) by a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu thread. The men in white coats may be coming for me, but at least it will make for an interesting read. My adventure into 'geek-dom' starts today. Hold on!!!