The post BJJ Mind Map: No Gi – Failed De Ashi Harai Options appeared first on BJJ Mat Rat.

The post BJJ Mind Map: Gi – Failed Scissor Sweep Options appeared first on BJJ Mat Rat.

What I was feeling after hard rounds was not only exhaustion, but I started having heart palpitations, and these would wake me up at night after training.

These palpitations were concerning, not only did it make it difficult to sleep but I began to wonder if there was something more concerning going on with my heart health.

I saw my doctor about it and he assured me that my blood pressure and heart rate were good. I also was fortunate to have a friend who is a fireman who had access to an EKG machine, he took a reading for me and also corroborated that there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with my heart.

But still the issue with the palpitations (and heart racing in general) persisted. I also felt thirsty much of the time (though I drank a lot of water) and had general fatigue.

Another friend of mine suggested looking into taking electrolytes to counteract some of these symptoms, and gave me a packet of LMNT to try.

According to several people I talked to (and Google), electrolyte imbalances could cause the symptoms I was having, irregular heart beats, fatigue, etc.

I added the LMNT packet to a 32 oz bottle of water and drank it after training. The difference I felt was immediate.

• I had no symptoms of a racing or irregular heart beat
• I felt replenished and energized
• I did not feel dehydrated
• I was able to get a good night’s sleep

(As an aside I also drink a 32 oz bottle of water with LMNT after I’ve had a few beers, and it helps me get a good night’s sleep and wake up feeling pretty good the next day).

After having such good results with LMNT I looked up the company, and found out that it was founded by Robb Wolf. I was surprised I didn’t realize this initially, since I have followed his online presence in the past. For those who don’t know, Robb is a jiu jitsu practitioner, paleo proponent and a former biochemist.

He created LMNT to aid in his own jiu jitsu recovery. The available electrolyte drinks on the market prior to LMNT had too much sugar, and not enough actual electrolytes.

LMNT is created with a proprietary blend of sodium, potassium and magnesium.

They even list how to create your own electrolyte blend on their website if you want to try it to make it yourself.

If you’re struggling with fatigue, dehydration, or a racing heart beat from hard training you should try LMNT, it helped me tremendously, and I’m sure it could help you.

The post LMNT Electrolytes Review appeared first on BJJ Mat Rat.

Benefits of Heavy Bag Workouts

We all know how difficult it is to get a cardio workout that carries over to jiu jitsu without actually rolling, but engaging in a heavy bag workout can help cross that bridge. This isn’t an article covering top-game drills for the heavy bag, those are of course very beneficial. Rather this article will discuss boxing workouts to help increase your cardio and endurance for jiu jitsu.

Heavy bags offer numerous benefits:

• Enhance aerobic fitness in a way similar to rolling. More steady-stream methods of cardio like running lead to a consistence cadence with steady breathing. Conversely, training on a heavy bag causes rapid and varied breathing, similar to a fight
• Improves arm and shoulder strength and endurance. This will help to strengthen your yoke and help your frames for jiu jitsu
• You’ll learn timing, and how to properly throw a punch
• Your hands will get stronger from multiple repetitions of hitting the bag. You will develop “heavy hands”
• You’ll develop good leg/hip mechanics if you perform proper footwork

Benefits of Shadowboxing

If you don’t have room or money for a heavy bag you can still get many benefits from simply shadowboxing. Shadowboxing can help you develop the speed, coordination and stamina needed for boxing, which can carry over onto the mats.

• Enhances your cardio
• Improves coordination
• Builds endurance
• Teach you proper form and footwork

How to Get Started With Shadowboxing and Heavy Bag Workouts

Though I’ve taken some boxing in the past, I’m by no means an expert. When I want to find good heavy bag and shadowboxing routines, I turn to YouTube.

My favorite channel is Coach Anthony‘s channel. He has tons of free, detailed instructionals on YouTube.

Here are a few of my favorites. You can apply most of the ideas he’s talking about to both the heavy bag and to shadowboxing.

The post Quarantine Conditioning: Shadowboxing and Heavy Bag Workouts appeared first on BJJ Mat Rat.

We’ve all been there. Surfing the internet looking to find a new technique for a martial art. Then, we run across a DVD advertisement or video that claims it will make us the best martial artist that ever lived. The instructor promises to show us all his or her secrets. Too good to be true? 

Maybe, but it depends…

Instructional videos offer a lot, but do they deliver? When should you try one? When should you stay clear? 

The last thing you want is to add a(nother) DVD to your shelf that will simply collect dust, or even worse, make you a bad martial artist. 

Let’s take a look at how martial arts instructionals can aid your development and make you a better martial artist.

Reasons to learn a martial art from instructional videos

There is no shame from learning from a video. In fact, there are some pretty good reasons you might want to learn this way.

You might learn from an instructional because access to your desired art is limited in your particular area. Likewise, your schedule might not permit regular training when classes are available locally. In these situations, video instruction might be the next best available option for you. 

For many people, a DVD instructional is simply a good way to learn a new technique or supplement their training when they are away from the dojo. While the COVID pandemic forced everyone to start training from home, sometimes injuries or life prevent us from training too. In these cases, a DVD can keep your mind in the game while you are unable to train.

How to evaluate a martial arts DVD.

When you are looking for a DVD to learn a martial art it can be hard to sort through the good from the bad. It is important that you evaluate an instructional to determine if it is appropriate for your needs. 

For instance, if you are looking to buy BJJ DVDs, you should first look at the instructor’s background and pedigree. Second, has the instructional been reviewed online or in magazines? The production date is also important as modern jiu jitsu instructionals tend to have much better production quality than older ones. As a general rule of thumb, any instructional produced before 2000 is probably not worth watching, unless there is some historical or other notable reason to watch it.

There are so many bad instructionals with good marketing. Do not get fooled. 

The final analysis requires you to use good judgement. Do not fall into the marketing hype. 

Free videos vs paying for a DVD

Why pay for a martial art DVD when there are so many free martial art videos online? Good question. For example, with brazilian jiujitsu, you can find lots of good bjj instructional videos on youtube. The quality may vary and you may have to dig around, but high level instructors do in fact give away lots of great content all the time.

If you are on a budget, or simply want to pick up a couple of new ideas, free videos are the way to go. Plus, they make for good mindless youtube binge watching.

On the other hand, a DVD usually is worth it if you want to take a deep dive into a topic. The production value of a DVD and the focus of the material is almost always higher compared to free videos. 

How to use DVD instructionals to improve your martial arts training

Frankly, martial arts instructional DVDs are best used to supplement your martial arts training, not replace them. They work best when you want to focus on a particular style, move or technique. 

Here are some tips on using instructionals to learn your martial art.

1. Find a DVD that meets your skill level and needs
2. Watch and study the DVD with a partner
3. Have a good home gym-set up (especially with a good mat) 
4. The DVD should be from a reputable instructor
5. Take notes and ask your real life instructor questions.
6. Know the limits of learning from DVD (see below)

A DVD will never replace real training on the mat in your gym with your partners or private lessons with your coach, but it can be a useful tool to tune-up your game or learn something new. 

Fundamentally, a DVD is most effective when you watch it a few times and actually practice the techniques repeatedly as part of your regular practice.

When you shouldn’t learn a martial art from just instructionals

Learning by DVD has its disadvantages too. 

First, it lacks interactive feedback from an instructor. Martial arts are all about making mistakes. Your instructor is there to show you what you did correct and what you did wrong. A DVD really cannot do that effectively. 

Absolute beginners might want to “try before you buy” to see if the art is for them. For instance, you might be tempted to learn a martial art by video to just test the waters before you visit the dojo. Afterall, (so the thinking goes) you may feel you do not want to look like you know nothing. 

Caution should be exercised with this approach. First, everyone starts at whitebelt and the expectation is that you know nothing. Second, as a beginner, you lack the proper context of the martial art to get a true understanding of what it is all about. 

Only real live sessions on the mat can give you the proper experience. When you start learning a martial art, your best bet is to spend time finding a good school and then once you do, ask the instructors what DVDs or video they recommended to supplement your training (if any at all). 

Lastly, do not collect DVDs just to collect them. Avoid the shiny object syndrome. If you are a three stripe white belt, you do not need to be learning advanced spider-guard techniques. 

In short, DVDs do not offer a not act as a substitute for real, live martial arts training, but they can become a means to improving aspects of your game. 

The post Are Martial Arts Instructionals Worth It? appeared first on BJJ Mat Rat.

I spent a few months of the pandemic working the StrongLifts program, which yielded some nice results. I was able to increase my strength in all of the major lifts, most noticeably on my deadlifts.

This program did equate to improvements in jiu jitsu. When I was able to train again my muscles didn’t fatigue quite as fast as they had in the past. This was a major win as I hadn’t trained jiu jitsu in many months during the initial pandemic shut down.

I still wasn’t happy with the results though. My cardio was still awful. I gassed out quickly on my first rolls, my heart rate skyrocketed, and I wanted to tap out from simply not being able to breath.

This really concerned me. If I couldn’t maintain some semblance of “fighting shape”, even when I couldn’t train jiu jitsu, then what use would jiu jitsu be if I were to get into a real self defense situation?

This led me to look for a workout program that mimicked the intensity of a grappling match.

That’s when I stumbled across the Iron Wolf channel on YouTube. Iron Wolf is the moniker for Art Shvartsberg, a Marine Corps Martial Arts Instructor Trainer. He started doing all bodyweight/callisthenic exercises when he was deployed and had no gym to train in.

I decided to give a few of his workouts a try, and I’m really glad I did. They are deceptively simple, but extremely brutal. They are the closest thing I’ve found that mimics the kind of conditioning that full-on rolling gives you.

I’m currently doing two of his workouts, and I A/B them. So one day I’ll do the A routine, and the next day I’ll do the B routine. I’m currently doing these 4 days a week.

I can’t keep up with his pace or his full rep ranges, but I’m doing what I can. I finish up the workouts with some core work, and hit the heavy bag for a while to round things out.

Here are my current A and B routines from Iron Wolf:

“A” Routine:

“B” Routine:

With winter approaching there’s a real chance that we’ll see not only jiu jitsu schools having temporary closures, but also regular gyms. Iron Wolf’s routines are an excellent way to stay in shape if you don’t have any way of working with training partners or weights.

Personally I have a home gym in my basement, so I do have access to weights, but the workouts that Iron Wolf demonstrates seem to be more suited to the type of endurance and cardio that I’m trying to develop for grappling.

Here’s an interview with Iron Wolf that’s also worth a listen:

In addition to his YouTube channel he has a line of apparel that looks pretty cool: https://teespring.com/stores/ironwolf-3

Give these workouts a try, I think you’ll be surprised at how beneficial they can be.

The post Iron Wolf: Quarantine Conditioning Without Equipment for Jiu Jitsu appeared first on BJJ Mat Rat.

YouTube has turned out to be a great way for schools to keep in touch with their students. It helps to keep the camaraderie and enthusiasm up with the members and seeing new content is something that I personally really look forward to.

Check out Hurricane’s YouTube channel for more content.

The post Hurricane Jiu Jitsu Podcast appeared first on BJJ Mat Rat.

The academy I train at is closing its doors for two weeks, and possibly longer depending on what happens with the nationwide quarantine. I know that many other academies are doing the same. FaceBook is filled with posts announcing temporary academy closings.

So this has got me (and probably you and everybody else) wondering what can be done to keep our conditioning in shape while we’re off the mats. Being furloughed from training does suck, but it actually opens up some opportunities to get stronger while away from grappling.

My plan is to use this time to hit the kettlebells hard. A typical week sees me balancing jiu jitsu classes with kettlebell workouts, and trying to make sure I don’t overdue the training so my body can recover. With being stuck off the mats for a while I don’t have to be as concerned about pushing myself really hard with kettlebell training.

There are two routines I plan on working through with the kettlebell:

Pavel Tsatsouline’s Simple and Sinister

Pavel’s Simple and Sinister routine is well known in the kettlebell world. It is a deceptively simple workout that leads to great results in cardio, posterior chain health, strong glutes and even improved grip strength.

The core workout is simply the following:

1. Perform 10 repetitions of one-armed kettlebell swings every thirty seconds for 10 minutes.
2. Perform 10 Turkish get-ups, doing one repetition once every minute for 10 minutes.

You want to start with a kettlebell weight that isn’t too hard to handle in the beginning, and work your way up from there. I’m currently using a 45 lb kettlebell, but I started with only 35 lbs so that I could get the mechanics of the Turkish get-up learned safely.

I use the Interval Timer – HIIT Workouts app to time my repetitions for the Simple and Sinister workout.

10 Minute Kettlebell & Bodyweight Workout for BJJ

A friend of mine that I train with shared the video below with me. This is a workout that he is currently doing, and one that I plan to work into my routine over the next few weeks.

BJJ Solo Drills

Now is also a good time to really dive into jiu jitsu solo drills. Solo drills have always been something I say I’m going to get around to, but rarely ever do. With all this downtime there should be plenty of time now to dive into these. In addition to focusing hard on solo take-down entries I’m going to incorporate some of the techniques in Jason Scully’s excellent video:

If you happen to have a heavy bag laying around, you can also try these solo drills designed to improve your top pressure:

Yoga for BJJ

In addition to strength and conditioning, it’s a good time to take some steps to prevent injury. Stretching and Yoga are good ways to undo all the unbalanced muscle tightness that jiu jitsu causes. It’s also another one of those things that I don’t do as often as I should, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this.

Meditation

Meditation is one of those activities that at first doesn’t seem like it’d help your jiu jitsu, but upon deeper reflection you can find some very important benefits that meditation has.

First, here’s how I meditate, it’s very simple and it’s important not to overcomplicate it.

1. Stack pillows against a wall and sit on them. I like to sit against a wall so that my back has something to lean against. I don’t want to get distracted by my back getting sore or tired while meditating for extended periods.
2. Close your eyes and start breathing in and out through your nose.
3. In the beginning of your meditation focus on breathing deeply into your lower back. This is how you’ll be able to fully fill up your lungs.
4. After you’ve practiced breathing fully for a period of time, maybe 5 minutes, simply shift to focusing on the sensations of the breath coming in and out of your nostrils.
5. If your mind wanders, starts thinking about chores, bills, work, etc just bring your attention back to the sensation of air that is coming in and out of your nostrils.

That’s it. Do this for about 20 minutes a day, or even twice a day. If you don’t have 20 minutes then just do 5 or 10 to get started. I use the Enso Meditation app on my iPhone to keep track of the time.

But how does meditation benefit jiu jitsu? For me it does two things, it helps me learn to be aware of my breathing. This is really important when you’re rolling. I have a tendency to hold my breath when I’m doing any activity that requires a lot of exertion. This is horrible for cardio when rolling. If I can be more aware of how I’m breathing, and breath properly then my rolls go so much better. Meditating daily gets me in the habit of being conscious of how I’m breathing.

The other thing it does for me is to generally keep my mind calm. Meditation stops my mind from racing. As a result this leads to less stress and anxiety, and I can become more aware of when my body is tensing up so that I can relax it when unnecessary tension creeps in. The less tense you can be, and the more focused your mind is, the better your rolls will go. At least that’s been my experience.

If you want to learn more about meditation in general I highly recommend Culadasa John Yate’s book “The Mind Illuminated”. It’s by far the best book on meditation I’ve ever read.

Catching Up On Tutorial Videos

I’ve collected a bunch of jiu jitsu videos over the past couple of years that I just haven’t had the time to really study. I have several of the John Danaher instructionals, a Lachlan Giles video, some Bernardo Faria videos, and more.

My goal is to set aside an hour (probably longer) on the days that I would normally train and catch up on those videos. I plan on taking detailed notes, and will attempt to find several techniques to practice visualization on. My hope is that I can get back on the mats not only with my stamina intact from the exercises above, but also with new skills to try out from the videos I will be catching up on.

Additionally, Benardo Faria has offered to provide a video of your choice for free to help support the jiu jitsu community during the coronavirus quarantine.

Final Thoughts

This is an interesting time we are living through, but I think with some creative thinking we can actually take advantage of the free time we’re all about to have. I always try to find opportunities in any situation, and I think this is a good time to catch up on all the ancillary training that we don’t get to do normally.

My son also trains, so I need to help him stay in ‘fighting shape’ during this time too. We have some mats in the basement and I’ll be drilling with him as well. Hopefully I can get some drilling in with some teammates too.

I can’t wait to get back to training, but in the meantime I got a plan to keep improving during the coronavirus quarantine.

The post How Has The Coronavirus Affected Your Training? appeared first on BJJ Mat Rat.

He also talks about the degree of physical exertion and conditioning that is required to really throw someone. As he says, you’re trying to throw someone 180lbs (or more) who is fighting the whole time to not land on their back. This requires a ton of effort.

The setup that he uses in this vid is an Uchi Mata to a foot sweep to an ankle pick. It’s not only a nice combination, in my opinion a foot sweep is less physically exhausting than a throw, single leg or double leg take down. The combination he shows here is nice in that it leads your partner down a path where they have to give up the foot sweep if you do it right. This takedown finishes with you in a good top position.

The second takedown he shows will land you in an advantageous guard position in the event that the takedown doesn’t work. He calls it a “safe guard pull that could potentially be a takedown”.

Check it out:

The post Secret Judo Skills For Jujitsu Situations – Travis Stevens Judo Techniques appeared first on BJJ Mat Rat.

Catch wrestling found it’s way to America where it was used in carnivals as a type of entertainment combat sport, and today professional wrestling tips it hat to catch wrestling. In Brazil during the heyday of Vale Tudo Catch Wrestling was used effectively by Luta Livre fighters against jiu jitsu fighters. Catch wrestling emphasizes inflicting pain and pressure on a fighter’s opponent to cause them to move in a way that the catch wrestler can take advantage of. Kazushi Sakuraba famously used his catch style to defeat Royce, Royler and Renzo Gracie.

Neil Melanson is a huge proponent of Catch wrestling, and I’ve written about his instructional material here before. His approach to grappling is novel if you come from a pure jiu jitsu background, and well worth checking out.

Today one of my team mates sent me the video below from the Snake Pit. Here we see how to counter the De La Riva with leg locks. There is a nice heel hook and toe hold available when  you’re stuck in a De La Riva guard. After seeing the techniques in this video I was struck by the simplicity of the submissions, and was surprised at how obvious they were as options, and also how I had failed to see them in spite of the many times I’ve been caught in De La Riva.

Check out the video below to learn more:

The post Catch Wrestling: Countering De La Riva with Leg Locks appeared first on BJJ Mat Rat.