Weekend before last, my son, Ty (15, tell and skinny) competed in his first Jiu Jitsu tournament.
He really, really got into it. Particularly the no-gi portion.
As a follow up to that, we had a really great seminar this weekend with several other schools. We do Judo and Jiu Jitsu at our school. We had another [...]
I have to tell you, the last few classes over at Hidden Vally Judo / Jiu Jitsu have been some of the best I’ve had.
I took some time over the weekend to really reflect on why that is. The answer that came to me is this: To really know, and be good at a martial [...]
Last night in class we had a few students who are either brand new, or haven’t been with us long. I love working wit new students… It’s amazing how much more it sometimes makes you think when you teach something, rather than just do something.
I have found a fairly consistent patten wit new students, and [...]
I have to tell you, that class over at Hidden Valley was amazing on Saturday.
We started out by pairing up, and working on some light randori. But “light” can quickly become amazingly taxing. Mike really kept on us. Once we would stand up, he kept pushing the pace, pushing us to grab back onto some [...]
When I first started into Judo and Jiu Jitsu a few years ago I was pretty aggressive. I came from a wrestling background, and was used to shooting fast and hard, and bridging like hell to roll a person over.
The problem that I ran into was: stamina. Once I was on the ground, I would [...]
When speaking about Judo or Jujitsu you may have heard phrases like:
“The Gentle Way”
“The way of acceptance”
Or similar. But what the heck does that really mean? Anyone who’s felt a good arm bar, choke or Ipon knows that it feels anything but “gentle”.
We talked more about this in class at Hidden Valley last night, and [...]
I’ve got some news to break to you: Judo is hard.
But so are most things that require finesse.
I bring this topic up because I have watched many people who start Judo get frustrated because they don’t see immediate results. I also struggled my first nine months or so in Judo, because I didn’t feel I [...]
Some of you may have read my recent post about Kumikata, or grip fighting. Along with Kazushi (balance), Kumikata really is the other half of any throw. Basically, if you have your own Kazushi under control and where it should be, and use your Kumikata to be able to exert some level of control on [...]
The last month has been a great experience for me in a lot of ways. First off, a moved a bit out of my comfort zone… I have been taking my son to Muay Thai classes, in addition to our Judo training for a few months. But I decided to try and take him to [...]
I blog fairly consistently about my experiences, successes, and challenges as I (and my son) learn Judo.
But it’s important to point out that no one can effectively learn Judo in a Vacuum. I am not in a room alone perfecting my technique. It is only through the wonderful teaching from my Senseis, and the support [...]