My Personal BJJ Training Update April 2015

As you may have read this April 2015 I decided to make my return to cross training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to learn and understand more about the ground game when it comes to close quarter fighting methods.
My interest in BJJ was sparked initially by watching Royce Gracie in the early UFC events (mid 1990's) choke and arm bar all comers from all styles of martial arts, this led to an interest in the Pride Fighting Championships held in Japan where Rickson Gracie dominated all using his skills in Gracie Jiu Jitsu.

Royce Gracie persuading his opponent to give up




                                                                Rickson Gracie undefeated in over 500 fights





At that time my Wing Chun Sifu, Kevin Chan who is heavily into cross training, had been training in Jiu Jitsu for a year or two under Chen Moraes and later Mauricio Gomes....and pretty much was the only UK BJJ club that started around 1996/1997.... when I attended one of his classes in Portsmouth (1999) and before class Kevin and one of his senior students were grappling in a boxing ring, I watched mesmerised while he transitioned with apparent ease to totally control his training partner and set him up into a variety of chokes and submissions.

Kevin Chan of Kamon Martial Art Federation (Wing Chun/BJJ)
now a 2nd degree Black Belt under Mauricio Gomes/Roger Gracie
Details of his classes at KamonBJJ.com and Kamonwingchun.com





Following this initial insight Kevin then held a Groundfighting workshop I attended based on the basics of BJJ as well as a Stand Up Grappling Seminar (1999/2000) based around the Gracie Combative Self Defence Programme addressing bearhugs, headlocks, takedown defence and basic chokes.

I then continued training/teaching Wing Chun until 2009 when I initially began cross training in BJJ with Blue Wave Martial Arts/Carlson Gracie in Bury St Edmunds with head Carlsons UK coach Wilson Junior for around 9 months until a groin injury while sparring forced me to take time away from the mats.

Worth a definite read to understand the unique Carlsons training mentality....
http://www.bjjee.com/interview/carlson-gracie-uks-wilson-junior-on-the-old-days-in-rio-his-journey-to-europe-carlson-gracie-mentality/

So here I am again back 5 years later with the Carlson Gracie Team only this time at the full time Essex HQ in Colchester under my new coach Black Belt Alain Guerra Pozo (pictured below) who has won a host of competitions in Gi and No-Gi Jiu Jitsu and fought in MMA as well as being a Brown Belt in Judo as well as training in Sambo and Wrestling.

In my first class with them and around 25 training on the mats, we covered details of grip fighting and tips to make the guillotine choke more effective before sparring non stop for over 45 minutes with higher levels than ourself where possible..I was well and truly destroyed by all and tapped out many times but again my fitness outlasted some I trained with and will only improve with time on the mats. Relaxation from Wing Chun certainly helped with this also. There is no losing in Jiu Jitsu..you either win or you learn.

 To be a lion you must train with lions - Carlson Gracie

Carlson Gracie BJJ are very well known for their tough, no nonsense training approach and they are pure fighters through and through with many champions and connections with professional fighting and MMA/UFC with their fighting spirit to training unparalleled with an open mindedness to focus on anything that works well under pressure..be it from Wrestling, Sambo, Judo etc... and I feel as long as I can stay relatively injury free and commit to regular lessons and additional home training I can develop some solid jiu jitsu in time to compliment my Wing Chun training and teaching journey.

In line with this anybody wishing to cover the basics of BJJ is more than welcome to contact me about meeting up for some free practice sessions to at least develop an insight of ground-fighting/grappling (GI and white belt (bjj uniform) will be required).
I am in the process of trying to obtain some mats or during the summer months its even possible to drill the basics on the grass.

My main passion as always is Wing Chun Kung Fu but I strongly feel at least some cursory knowledge and experience of the clinch, takedown boxing and groundwork martial arts is common sense for street level self protection as well as better understanding human body mechanics through pressure training and tactile feel on top of providing unrivalled control and submission options instead of or as well as striking.

(Update; I was awarded my first degree stripe on Tuesday 12th April 2015 - a small step up the very long ladder of progress - white belt in BJJ is all about survival and gradually learning to avoid/escape from bad positions and in turn submission attempts often by higher level students..there are usually 4 stripes awarded before the next belt which for me if i get there is Blue belt..many of today's top BJJ black belts were initially taught by blue belts and this in itself would be a great achievement and something to strive for as it shows you have a good grasp of Jiu Jitsu by this stage and a good foundation to build upon, much like the black belt in other arts)

Sudbury Next Level Class Changes May 2015

As of the start of May 2015 there will be some minor changes with regards to the classes and times in the Sudbury location for the Summer months.

I feel I have to make these changes as the Thursday class has almost no regular attendance most recent weeks and I could be training myself on this evening I have sacrificed so this frees me up to do this also.

It also now gives students more training variety and availability with me teaching in Sudbury 4 hours per week over two days rather than 3 hours over 3 days.

*Students are welcome to join in the session at whatever time they can get over*



Mondays and Wednesdays

Beginners Level Wing Chun - 6pm - 7pm

Mixed Level Wing Chun/Cross Training - 7-8pm



Each hour long class is £5 per session Pay as you go or the monthly Sudbury ONLY fee of £30 per month covers ALL Sudbury based classes

(Some students pay £40 for Sudbury and Bury St Edmunds for ALL INCLUSIVE classes in a calendar month)

The 7-8pm training slot will be predominantly Wing Chun based but as with our main Sunday class in Bury St Edmunds I may also teach aspects of Clinchwork, Boxing and Grappling in these sessions too which I feel can be supplementary to our Wing Chun base.

Lastly - as many of you know I plan to hold a series of 4 "Next Level" Workshops over the Summer period with the first being on Chi Sau (sticking hands) Saturday 25th April 10am - 1pm in Sudbury (82 Cornard Road CO10 2XB) at only £10 per student

This is open to all levels 

We will cover:
* The roll, changes and gate positions 
* Energy use and misuse 
* Wing chun key concepts
* Form relevance to Chi sau
* Positioning, attacks and counter attacks

Please inform me in class or on the Facebook page if you wish to attend

Keep training hard and see you all in class soon

Brief Braulio Estima BJJ Seminar Write Up 02/04/2015

Group photo following the seminar 02/04/15 (I am kneeling 2nd row 6th from the right)

What an excellent night of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Southend, Essex..the home of Gracie Barra Essex run by Black Belt Professor Lee Catling and taught by multiple World Champion in Gi and No-Gi Jiu Jitsu Braulio Estima (pictured centre in blue Gi)

Out of the 45 people who trained tonight I had the least experience and skill level in BJJ so was very much out of my comfort zone but made to feel welcome by Lee and his regular students.
I had not trained in BJJ for over 5 years so was more than a little a rusty but the drills were so expertly explained and demonstrated by Braulio with the aid of Lee that I managed just as well as my training partners and worked hard to get the details and concept behind the seminar.

We were showed drills to transition from an open guard position called "De la Riva" named after a BJJ fighter Ricardo de la Riva who developed a method of using his open guard (legs uncrossed while seated) by using his feet as hooks around his opponents ankles or knees to break posture or sweep...something he needed to develop to counter bigger stronger opponents trying to power through his guard to take a dominant position, as he was slight of build.

Then this developed into various grips whilst using this guard including the wrist, sleeve, lapel, trousers of the Gi to facilitate various sweeps to take the partners balance and take a poor position into one of dominance and control.
I was fortunately partnered by an experienced blue belt and together we figured out the best ways to learn the drills taking two goes each (lots of standing up, sitting down over and over)

In time the group was split with 8 people on the mats and everyone else one at a time testing the drills under pressure with those on the mat with a constant rotation of partners until we had all been on the mat and had our turn (like a sparring drill from a set position and as soon as someone gained a dominant role the partner changed)

After a quick sip of water we finished the seminar with free sparring where you get partnered up with someone of a similar level, start from the knees and keep going until one person taps the other to signal either they are going to be choked or something is about to break (ankle/knee/arm/shoulder/neck/back/toe/wrist)

My partner was also a white belt but had 18 months of consistent training and eventually got the better of me four times while we sparred getting me in 3 arm bars and one arm triangle..but I also escaped many more and I was happy my stamina held up...my partner complained that he hadn't trained for 5 days hence why he was so out of breath..and I told him I hadn't trained for 5 years and was 12 years older!! ;)

My relaxation under pressure from years of Wing Chun certainly helped as well as keeping my elbow to hip connection and explosive use of energy..also highly promoted in BJJ as essential factors for improvement (read survival)


Overall I was elated to be back training hard on the mats again and will certainly begin steps to get back to regular cross training in Jiu Jitsu - my old bones ached that night (couldn't even turn over in bed) and the following two days..but its amazing how our bodies adapt to whatever you put it through. I guess it felt like I had run 15 miles but stopped every 20 feet to do 10 push ups and 10 sit ups and at the end did 6 minutes of burpees :)

Thanks to all I had the pleasure to train with and learn from and also to Lee Catling and Braulio Estima who are both very professional and excellent coaches. My BJJ passion has certainly been reignited!

The compulsory fun choke group photo ;)