my Arte Suave

Back to competition…<3 new projects

I wont be able to compete in this weeks No-Gi pan ams  but i will however be involved in everything there after. Financially speaking things are better then before and now i feel comfortable enough to at the very least travel to regional events, and finally get out to those schools. I’ve been saying I’m going to visit all these different schools forever. We’ll see how it goes, maybe i can go for a weekend to NY/NJ area schools. Now that its possible that i can get to compete, I’ve been doing some extra gym work. I’ve been doing a bit of roadwork, and some dumbbell stuff. I really would like to get my legs up as far as conditioning goes. As the tournaments change a little more from gi to nogi, so has my emphasis and how i think about things. With nogi on my mind more I have been thinking i need to add and improve my attacks. I’ve been tinkering (as Micro would say) with chokes and improving the ones I have. And of course I have been playing around with footlocks. I can honestly say i have a way way way better understanding and appreciation for them these days. Its definitely a whole different world but something I’m looking to make as tight as i can before the end of the year. And as always I have been trying to make sure the details are where they need to be at. So far Daymon’s helped me out a bunch with different aspects of nogi. Tim and Matt have helped a ridiculous amount on foot locks. 

I feel good where im going in terms of the projects i just completed. Guard passing has been looking good. I think i have enough tools to be successful against really good grappler’s. So just spent a great amount of time on Guard passing. I spent a little bit of time on bottom half guard for the prospect of using it nogi. and of course foot locks. Now i think I’m going to spend a great amount of time on my nogi half guard and looking into mounting people =D. 

Another little mini mini project I’ve been doing all along was the use of the 50/50. Its soo vastly interesting to me. I cant get my mind off of it. When i say 50/50, i mean it as a guard and as a form of attacking. People know this guard because Rafael Mendes used this to defeat Cobrinha at the Gi Abu Dhabi and at the Pan Ams. Bruno Frazzato uses this game as well. Ryan Hall is probably the best I’ve at this game. JT Torres recently just got stalled out at the American Nationals. The fact that it stumped so many jiujitsu greats is very interesting. My take on the 50/50 is that like any other position in jiujitsu, its just that, a position. We have to learn how to master it just like any other. Being in the 50/50 against some who thinks its just a leg lock battle is great! Ive used this position as a guard passing tool against peoples whos guards are really tough. So the 50/50 has many great uses. Some people say the person whos better at foot locks or a better sweeper will usually win. But i disagree, I believe the person who is most proficient at the 50/50 will win 80 percent of the time. LOL We have to account for luck and scrambles =D Here’s to hoping jiujitsu brings us more interestingly mind bending positions.

My imagination is always exploding with crazy freaky wonderful ideas.”imagination is [way] more important then knowledge” -Albert Einstein 

Its back to serious time.