Source: http://www.thejiujitsufighter.com/2013/02/when-fight-goes-to-ground.html
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Meerkatsu Art: Raspberry Ape v2
I teamed up with super talented comic artist Bong Abad, of Gawakoto fame, to create this sequel to the original Raspberry Ape t-shirt (first produced by Scramble). This t-shirt went on sale today and we're nearly all out already. But let me take this opportunity to discuss the design and background anyway...
Long time readers will recall my first effort at the Raspberry Ape t-shirt. The tee was a huge success - co-designed with Scramble - and one of my most endearing memories is witnessing hundreds of people wearing the t-shirt at Daniel's big fight events, notably the Submission 1000 grappling tournaments and the ADCC in Nottingham last year. To see something that I have had a hand in creating enjoyed and worn by a lot of people really gave me a proud feeling.
For those unfamiliar with my friend, team mate and instructor Daniel Strauss, then in a nutsell I think it is safe to say Daniel is one of the most exciting and accomplished young British-born grapplers in the UK right now. Just this year alone, Daniel won the IBJJF European Nogi title at brown belt and also the NAGA European Elite division title.
Here is a video of Daniel in action. Blink and you'll miss it, but he does at least check if the guy is okay and tries to recover him before the ref intervenes and, um, sort of faffs around...
Daniel mentioned he was keen to see if a new Raspberry Ape t-shirt could be made. I took the hint and drew the front panel you see below. I drew the ape face in pencil first, then re-drew it using Illustrator. Once the clean version was complete, I found some splatter textures on the internet and applied them to the ape art. It crashed my computer three times (each tiny splatter takes up a lot of memory when vectorised in Illustrator) but I think the very gritty and grungy result was worth the extra effort. I also hijacked the slogan 'Ape Shall Always Submit Human' from Scramble's original t-shirt, which itself paid homage to that most classic of SciFi movies, Planet of the Apes.
But it needed more I thought. Something to give the tee that extra bit of irresistable wow factor. Daniel had a very strong concept of what he wanted the back design to look like. So I asked Bong Abad - the designer and artist - to draw his interpretation of Dan's vision. The result is this highly impressive piece of hand-drawn art:
As of writing, the t-shirt is flying fast off the Gawakoto shelves. I'm very proud of this collaboration - my first ever with Bong, and I think it's both the perfect subject matter and a great joining of abilities into one project. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as we do too.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Meerkatsu/~3/Ky6qOlV8t70/meerkatsu-art-raspberry-ape-v2.html
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-06-25
Post from: my BJJ blog
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-06-25
Source: http://mybjjblog.com/2010/06/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-06-25/
Marcelo Garcia and Cobrinha rolling
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bjjtech/~3/BxnpLrhFLdU/
Monday, February 25, 2013
Meerkatsu Art: Tengu T-shirt
My Karasu Tengu (crow demon) t-shirt design is now available in the Meerkatsu Store. It comes in two colours - light blue and graphite graphite grey and we'll be making sizes from small to XX-large. Here is a little more information about the art and the concept behind it...
I first drew Tengu when I designed a piece of digital wallpaper artwork a while back and it's still one of my favourite drawings. The more I read about the mythology of the Tengu, the more I was fascinated with the ideas and the stories.
I love the idea of shadowy creatures that dwell deep in the forest. Depending on the stories, they are either fully formed crow-like birds or they take on complete human form apart from some wings or a beak. Several stories suggest that they were the ancestors of the ninja assassins.
So I absorbed as much as I could about the Tengu and paid homage to the legends with this design here.
On the front, the central crow is configured in a secretive wings folded position, his face half hidden. Behind the bird is a pair of crossed katana swords and surrounding them, are a bunch of shuriken weapons - all associated (though not exclusively) with the ninja. The kani at the base is ? which is the 'nin' part of ninja. It can be used to mean to hide but also it can mean to endure and to persevere. All of which are interesting connotations in the world of martial arts I think.
On the back of the tee is my older Tengu artwork. This time I spiced up the design with a rather large and spotlight inspired font. More shuriken decoratre the design and at the base is Japanese karasu tengu, which means the crow tengu.
I'm very pleased to add that both front and back designs were based around hand drawn artwork. I opted to draw these by hand instead of digitally using vector software since I wanted a more organic feel to the feathers and the character of the birds. I hope you like the designs.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Meerkatsu/~3/mBdqwXM0aZM/meerkatsu-art-tengu-t-shirt.html
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Proud to be a part of the 97%
Early in January, the MMA and BJJ world was shocked to learn of two male jiu jitsu students who were arrested for brutally raping their female jiu jitsu team mate. The internet forums, blogs, websites and social media have exploded in their condemnation. But the story is deeper, way more insidious.
MMA news and commentary website Bloody Elbow summarise the developments in this selection of posts here: http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2013/1/10/3861544/two-lloyd-irvin-martial-arts-school-students-arrested
Many prominent members of the BJJ community have already spoken of the situation. For an example of some more personal thoughts, blogger Georgette sums up her thoughts here: http://georgetteoden.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/its-not-rape-culture-or-is-it.html
But I strongly recommend everyone read the words from former Lloyd Irvin student, Ryan Hall.
He writes a beautifully thoughtful essay on the darker side of life under a cult-like martial arts organisation. He implores us to take a deeper look inside ourselves and ask questions about what it is that is important to us, as decent human beings. It's a strongly worded and deeply heartfelt message that applies not just to martial artists among us, but to everything in life in general.
Here is the link to Ryan's essay:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/121007439/Open-Letter-to-the-Martial-Arts-Community
Finally, I, along with a large group of others in the BJJ community, will be doing something to support victims of sexual violence. The recent news surrounding Lloyd Irvin students are not just a one-off local incident. Sexual violence, especially those against women, happens everyday, all over the world and in every strata of society. A number of charities are devoted to spreading awareness, empowering and supporting victims and educating the masses. But really - as one commentator noted: we should ALL be anti rape.
Here are some awesome charities that help victims of sexual violence:
RAINN
Women Win
Equality Now
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Meerkatsu/~3/H5izJtDz3Qw/proud-to-be-part-of-97.html
Drill to Spin, Drill to Win
My two favorite BJJ sites are running a contest, and I joined in on the fun! The Jiu Jitsu Laboratory and DSTRYRsg launched Drill to Win, asking for jiu-jiteiros to send in videos of their favorite drills for the chance to win amazing prizes (that is, t-shirts and stickers). Here’s mine!
Here’s a description of the drills:
1. Spin behind – This is a simple drill which is good for staying on top of side control when your opponent is turning in to you with an underhook. You can …
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aesopian/~3/JlcpM0vSWf4/
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-22
Post from: my BJJ blog
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-22
Source: http://mybjjblog.com/2010/01/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-01-22-2/
Monday, February 18, 2013
Phantom BJJ Monday Class
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/jwDV/~3/A_WtTtoRTxQ/
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-04-23
Post from: my BJJ blog
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-04-23
Source: http://mybjjblog.com/2010/04/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-04-23/
Seminar: Jake Mackenzie and Vinicius Marinho, GF Team
Summary
GF Team black belts Jake Mackenzie and Vinicius Marinho taught a three hour seminar at GF Team, Richmond, London. Jake concentrated on half and deep half guard while Vinicius taught passing the aforementioned techniques. Both instructors offered intense detail on techniques that have been honed though their vast tournament experience.
[Disclaimer, this report only describes a few techniques and even then, the possibility of me erroneously describing them accurately is probably quite high, so bear with me.]
Jake Mackenzie
Jake is a Canadian who spent much of his early BJJ career training half the year in his home in Nova Scotia and the other half in Brazil. He also spent several years in Florida, training under Roberto Abreu 'Cyborg' who promoted him to black belt. A keen competitor and winner of many titles (see Jake's BJJ Heroes entry here) he told us last year alone he had competed in 24 BJJ tournaments!
Jake began his portion of the seminar with his tips on how to maintain a basic half guard position. Immediately I picked up a number of pointers that I did not know before. He quickly moved on to how best to deal with the top guy having flattened you out and acquired underhooks on the far side, aka, my worst nightmare when playing half guard. Jake's answer was actually very simple - bridge, reach far over your head slightly to the far side, shrimp back and tuck your head low while securing your own underhook on the top guy (and gripping his belt). It was a neat illustration to me of how basic BJJ warm up drills, like bridging and shrimping are actually incredibly relevant and vital components of how one has to move in jiu jitsu.
From the now newly acquired underhook half guard position, Jake ran through several different versions of a sweep from this position. All the sweeps were based on an initial exchange of position of my own legs, thus leaving the half guard to end up on both my knees. From here, Jake showed several techniques dependent on how the opponent reacts from here. I had been taught one of the techniques before, but Jake's addition of extra fine little details made it a much richer experience for me and I really absorbed the new information (team mates beware!) The other variations were new to me, but again, with Jake's excellent instruction and encouraging help during drilling of the techniques, we were all able to nail the correct sequence quickly.
Jake next moved on to teaching deep half guard. I have nightmares about the deep half. Despite many attempts by various instructors to teach me it, it's simply a technique my mind cannot get around. Unluckily, my training partners seem to have picked this guard with ease, compounding my misery as attempting to escape. Today was ideal then for me to once again, attempt to understand how deep half guard (and the follow on sweeps) really work as Jake is widely recognised for his powerful and extremely effective deep half attacks.
I have not watched too many instructionals on the topic, so I don't know if the deep half tips Jake showed were of his own invention or fairly standard among deep half players but it looked to me like he had adapted several aspects to make them his own. I really liked what he showed and I felt a big wave of relief as I successfully managed to drill these without fumbling around like a dispraxic. One of the techniques ended by taking the back, it scored highly in my mind as a flashy but cool technique.
Just as I was really getting the hang of all this flipping people over whilst appearing to resemble someone just having a lie down, Jake commented on the fact that many many times, opponents will be doing something in their attempts to resist that would make you have to start all over again or switch to another technique. It still seems a bit low percentage to me, but I am at least one step further than I was before the seminar so hopefully I'll get to try some of these out in normal class.
All the while Jake spent a lot of time with each pair, correcting and encouraging them during the drills. Jake is a very energetic and fun character, his North American accent just hinting at its Canadian origins. At the end of class he entertained us with stories of life training in Brazil as a gringo and other amusing anecdotes. He's an example of someone truly living the jiu jitsu lifestyle, eating, living and breathing the sport and art every single day.
Vinicius Marenho
I had already read about Vinicius's rare talent to work his BJJ from strange creative angles and positions beforehand. You can read his BJJ Heroes entry here. I was eager to see how this would translate to passing the guard.
Vinicius kicked off his portion of the seminar with a basic half guard pass. Despite seemingly not containing too many moves in the sequence, there were actually a lot of small details that once executed correctly, made the pass highly effective. Vinicius instructed in Portuguese while Jake translated. It seems he likes to begin his passing with one knee raised from within the opponent's half guard- that knee ideally travelling away from the opponent's legs and on top of his stomach before continuing as a knee slice pass! He demonstrated options from this position and made us aware of the opponent attempting to reach for our outer leg. From here, the passes he showed involved meting out some pretty tough weapons - the aforementioned knee and a forearm across the opponent's jaw line to make his turn his head away. I liked these passes. They were straightforward and fancy free.
Vinicius next moved on to passing the deep half guard. He explained that in order for a deep half guard to work and for you to be swept, the opponent ideally needs to straighten out your leg. Vinicius showed us how the first port of call when under (on top?) someone's deep half is to bend at your own knee and prevent your leg being straightened. Pushing his bottom knee to the ground then took away the deep half guarder's ability to rotate underneath and effect the sweep. From this position, we were shown how to switch leg positions and pass to the side mount. It made perfect sense to me and again, Vinicius had taught us techniques that were seemingly simple but highly effective. I wondered however, when would we see the weird and strange angles and positions he was renowned for? After a few more deep half guard passing scenarios, it was time for q&a and then sparring.
Sparring
After a couple of nice sparring bouts with Benny from GF Team and Gavin from Roger Gracie, I managed to spend five minutes rolling with Vinicius. It seems I got my answer on the weird angles and strange positions question. As a lightweight, he nimbly danced around any of my feeble attempts at sweeping him or pulling any type of guard on him. The pattern would be - he would take whatever position he felt like and I would squirm and scramble as frantically as I could in an attempt to (a) escape and (b) vaguely look like I knew what I was doing. Like all exceptional BJJ practitioners, I could tell he actually gave me a lot of space intentionally so I could at least conform to (a) and (b) above while all the time he knew I would move to whatever finish he was waiting for. There were moments when I literally had no idea where he was positioned around me. It was a thrilling experience for me and a great privilege to roll with someone of his high caliber.
Left to right: Jake, Gabriel, and Vinicius |
After we wrapped up the session, we all headed off to eat at Rodizio Preto in Putney. It's fair to say I completely stuffed myself with meat, meat and, yeah, more meat. All in all a most excellent day out training with high quality black belts where were also great company too.
My thanks to Gabriel Rainho (head of GF Team in London) and Benny Sootho for kindly inviting me to attend today.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Meerkatsu/~3/fPcrlK4cRkU/seminar-jake-mackenzie-and-vinicius.html
Saturday, February 16, 2013
?jump over? attacks from butterfly guard top
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bjjtech/~3/cX8w8rENjtw/
Friday, February 15, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Side control : shoulder control tips
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bjjtech/~3/oKXUTsIHWvY/
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Q1 London BJJ Women?s Open Mat: 3 February 2013 at Total Dojo
Source: http://www.megjitsu.com/q1-london-bjj-womens-open-mat-3-february-2013-at-total-dojo/
Roberto ?Cyborg? Abreu ? Taking the back from half guard
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bjjtech/~3/giWscY5U4v4/
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
It's a Lloyd thing
In the past couple days I have been following the social media output of a Mr Lloyd Irvin Jr. For those who do not know much about Lloyd (including myself up until a few months ago), he is a BJJ black belt instructor based in USA. You will almost certainly have come across something that he has had a hand in if you follow Brazilian Jiu Jitsu online.
(Photo at top and video here taken from Lloyd Irvin's Facebook page)
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Meerkatsu/~3/15AICFaHmpg/its-lloyd-thing.html
Eddie Bravo visits Marcelo Garcia
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bjjtech/~3/yvP7f8I7B3s/
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Side control : shoulder control tips
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bjjtech/~3/oKXUTsIHWvY/
Friday, February 8, 2013
Review: Odin Fightwear rashguard and fight shorts
Summary
Good quality lightweight rashguard and sturdy grappling/fight shorts offered at a good price from new Danish brand.
Disclosure
I have no business or personal connection with Odin Fightwear.
Information
Website: odinfightwear.com
Price: 40 Euros for rashguard, 45 Euros for shorts. Plus shipping.
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/OdinFightWear
Introduction
Odin is a Norse God and is generally depicted in folklore and pop culture as a pretty badass warrior type. It's a good name for a fightwear brand, especially one based in Denmark. Odin Fightwear is so new it really only has two products - the rashguard and the shorts being reviewed here. The Berserkur rashguard is also available in brown and I am told more products are on the way.
Rashguard
Odin sent me a size small rashguard which fitted me perfectly around the torso but slightly too short at the sleeves. The notable aspects for this product are the extra long length of the torso and the rubberised strip lining the base of the hem. Both of these facets prevent the rashguard from riding up. When I wore this gi in both nogi class and under my gi, it did indeed do its job and stay reasonably well in place. The rubbery strip does feel a bit unusual at first since it is quite 'weighty' compared to the thinness of the rashguard fabric, however I quickly got used to it.
The cut avoids a seam directly underneath the armpits, which some reviewers of other rashguards have observed can cause irritation on the skin. The fabric itself is soft and quite thin, making it very comfy to wear, however I felt that the thread used to stitch the panels together was a little rough to the touch. The flat-locked stitching itself looked very secure and I imagine would prove more than adequate protection against tearing or coming apart.
In a quick bobbling and pilling test using the velcro from my earguards, I found that this rashguard did bobble reasonably easy. The fabric is definitely not pilling resistant (not that this is a claim Odin are making) so the advice for this product is to keep it well away from velcro.
I did notice some bobbling around the collarbone and top of my shoulders where usage under the gi caused friction and wear and tear.
The design is printed using dye sublimation so it will not fade, crack or peel. It's an attractive composition of distressed graphics, textures and type that is not too cliched MMA but still alludes to that audience.
Overall, the rashguard is nice and light and I would say a good item to wear during hot weather nogi training or under a lightweight gi top.
Fightshorts
The Odin 'Muninn' fight shorts sent to me were a size XS. Unusually when compared to most other brands, the shorts sold by Odin seem to be a size bigger than most other fightshorts. Normally a size small would be good for me, but Odin took my size details (5'6'', 59Kg) and suggested the size extra small. It was a good call as it fitted very well around my waist (I have a waist of around 29-30") but the length was perhaps a tad short, cutting off above my knee caps rather than midway - as most board shorts seem to do when I wear them. It's a very very minor difference however.
On initial inspection, the all polyester fabric is very smooth and soft, yet it is also feels thick and sturdy. Triple stitching along most seams would appear to be standard for this type of product and I am sure this gives adequate reinforcement.
There are two key areas to help the shorts remain secured when worn on the body - notably a large velcro front strap and shoestring style tie cords. I found these to be perfectly adequate to keep the shorts secured, although it may be worth noting that some other similarly designed fightshorts include extra rubber strip tape around the inside waistline - for example as seen on the Ground Game Samurai Shadows fight shorts and the NoGi Industries HD fight shorts.
The design on the shorts is a slightly more stripped down version of the same design found on the rashguard and is dye sublimation printed. When both rashguard and shorts are worn together, they complement each other nicely.
Generous side vents and a crotch panel made from lycra type material mean the shorts have the potential to function very well when attempting more dynamic techniques...not that my creaky old bones were able to test that particular function!
The lack of reinforcing fabric just above the peak of the side vents seems to me to be a major oversight as this could be a potential area for tearing or stress.
An interior pocket placed near the front of the shorts is a handy function to store gumshields, ID card or whatever else you might need when training or competing. Overall I found the shorts felt comfortable when worn during nogi class - not too heavy and not paper thin light, a good compromise. If I actually trained nogi more regularly, I would be happy to consider these shorts part of my nogi rotation.
Conclusions
The two products from Odin are a decent debut offering. The rashguard is light and pretty comfy and the shorts are solid. Both are not going to break the bank for prices so I would say they are well worth considering - especially if you like the cool graphics. God-like Norse powers cost extra and are not part of the standard package however.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Meerkatsu/~3/ldmaMRyJ7cI/review-odin-fightwear-rashguard-and.html
BJJ Mundials 2012 highlight
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bjjtech/~3/VVQ7XQBDrBE/
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Phantom BJJ Class: 8/13/2012
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/jwDV/~3/U0aK6Xx0208/
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Pregnancy and Exercise: Maternity Active Wear Round-up
Source: http://www.megjitsu.com/pregnancy-and-exercise-maternity-active-wear-round-up/