But there’s a time and a place for everything…

Spending a long time on the ground in a street self-defense situation might not be the best idea.  And getting back to your feet from the guard is an option that MMA fighters simply need to have in their repertoire.

So even if you love groundfighting, you ALSO need to know how to get the heck off the ground.

There are right ways and there are wrong ways to get back to your feet.  Here’s a link to my article which breaks down some of your best options for how to get back to your feet properly.

Make sure you check it out – it’s a really important article.  And feel free to forward this email or the article link to your training partners so that they can read it too.

Also, for an in-depth analysis of different techniques, strategies and drills to get off the ground and back to your feet check out my Mixed Martial Arts DVD.  It’s NOT just about MMA – there’s a ton of stuff on it that’s directly relevant to self defense too!

]]> http://www.grapplearts.com/Blog/2010/09/556/feed/ 0 http://www.grapplearts.com/Blog/2010/09/how-to-get-ripped/ http://www.grapplearts.com/Blog/2010/09/how-to-get-ripped/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:39:53 +0000 admin http://www.grapplearts.com/Blog/?p=547 Although I take my own nutrition very seriously, I don’t normally get involved in the weight loss field – it’s just not my area of specialization (‘dammit Jim, I’m a grappler, not a nutritionist…’).

But once in a while I can’t resist, so here’s a recent exchange I had with a loyal reader:

Q: “Hey, I have a question.  I am six feet tall and I barely weigh 180 pounds, but my body fat is like 30% body fat.  I would like to fight MMA as a middleweight (which is 185lbs)  but my question is should I first lose body fat and then put on more muscle mass, or just gain more weight.”

A: I am always loath to dispense specific fitness and nutrition advice unless I know someone personally.  Partially this is because I’m NOT a nutritionist, and NOT a doctor.  And coming up with definitive answers is really difficult because different people start at such incredibly different baselines when it comes to fitness and knowledge about fitness.

That being said, here’s some very general advice…

I think that your overall goal – to reduce your body fat percentage before competing in MMA – is exactly correct.  By and large, weight from bodyfat doesn’t help you punch, kick, or throw.  (It may help you when you’re on top if you’re grappling, but having it be ‘good weight’ as opposed to ‘bad weight’ is still a much, much better solution!)

Opinions vary on whether one should: A) bulk up first (i.e. put on muscle and fat) and then cut down, or B) lean out first (reduce body fat) and then bulk up while stay lean.

But regardless of which option you go for, the single-most important thing is to get your DIET under control first.

And you need to find a way to make sustainable changes to your diet.  Going on a crash diet and losing a bunch of weight isn’t healthy, and also means you’d be losing both fat and muscle.

Think about making one major change a week, for example:

• week one – no more soda, only water and non-sweetened teas,
• week two – tripling your fresh vegetable intake (yes, I really do mean triple),
• week three – ensuring adequate daily protein,
• week four – eating five small meals a day instead of two or three monster meals,
• etc.

Cleaning up your diet WILL be a major struggle, but trust me, it’s the single best thing you can do for your grappling, your MMA career and your general health.

If you clean up your diet your weight may go up or down – it depends on how much muscle you gain while you’re losing fat – but the important thing is that your body composition (% body fat) should improve.

Eventually you’ll also regular weight training and cardio sessions to your routine, and then you’ll get you into killer shape.  Good luck with your transformation.

Being able to feel your opponent’s intent and react to it even before he moves (like when he’s trying to bridge his way out of your mount) requires sensitivity.  In fact, sensitivity is one of the most important physical attributes in grappling.

So let’s talk about some ways to develop this mysterious attribute called “sensitivity.”

The tried and true method to amp up your sensitivity is simply to spend more time on the mat.  If you’re working with real-live opponents and dealing with real-live pressure and resistance on a regular basis then you will eventually develop sensitivity.

But if you want to specifically work on your sensitivity you can try sparring with your eyes closed.  By relying on feel, rather than vision, your sensitivity and spacial awareness will develop much faster than if you were always using your eyes.  (I often use this to handicap myself when I’m sparring with someone who has much less experience than me).

Another great method is to do drills with your eyes closed.

For example, check out these four relatively simple technique repetition drills that can all be done with your eyes closed (just be sure not to impale your partner with your knee during the guard passing drill!).

Maybe the most effective application of this idea is to do reaction-based drills with your eyes closed.

For example, let’s say that you’re trying to train your defense to a specific attack.  The specific type of attack almost doesn’t matter – it could be an armdrag from butterfly guard, an armbar from mount, or a standing guard pass.  The important thing is that your partner can apply it to you on both the right and the left side.

Start with your eyes closed – your training partner will start his attack, but you won’t know whether he’s going to your left or right.  You have a single, specific counter in mind, and as soon as you feel  the attack you respond with the counter on the appropriate side.

The idea of this drill is to bypass the normal circuit of first seeing the attack, then thinking about your counter, and then deciding to initiate your defense.

With severely limited options (i.e. right or left) and your eyes closed you feel the attack and then go directly to your counter.  I was using this training myself the other day with my good friend Ritchie Yip and it really helped solidify the arm drag counter we were working on.

If you’re looking for ideas on how to train this way, then take a look at my classic Grappling Drills DVD – almost all the exercises on this DVD can be ramped up a notch by doing them with your eyes closed!!

==> A QUESTION <==

“Do you think there’s much benefit to video taping myself in sparring sessions and then watching them later to try and pin point bad/good techniques, or stuff I need to work on?  One of my sparring partners argued that they are pretty pointless unless you get an instructor (or someone more advanced than myself) to sit through them and make the observations.”

==> MY ANSWER <==

That’s an interesting question, and it demands a two-part response.

First of all, YES, video self analysis is an extremely powerful tool.  In fact, it’s the secret weapon of one of my main training adversaries (I discussed this in some detail a couple of years ago on my blog – click here for the complete article).

And video analysis might be most useful if you have a dominantly visual learning style.  But there’s something else going on here.  Something far more important!!

Here it is:

Take responsibility for your own progress!!

A good coach can help you along the way, but when push comes to shove YOU have to do the training.  YOU have to do the thinking.  YOU have to figure out what to work on.

And take responsibility as soon as possible.  Don’t wait until you’re a BJJ brown belt before you start critically examining your own game.  If you’re a beginner, for example, you might only notice big giant mistakes like having terrible closed guard posture, whereas if you’re advanced you might notice more subtle details. But regardless of what level you’re at, you’ll probably discover something that you can use or improve on right away!

Of course it’s great if other people offer you some help along the way, but don’t become dependent on it. One of my favorite martial arts sayings is “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for his whole life.” We are talking about developing an approach that teaches you ‘how to fish’ when it comes to your martial arts training.

This philosophy goes beyond way video taping – there are tons of different approaches you can use to get better.  It’s the 21st century and information everywhere!  Good instructors are super-useful, but there’s no shortage of grappling books, DVDs, and online information. So get as much help as you can, but ultimately take responsibility for all aspects of your training as soon as possible.  I promise that you’ll thank me later!

Last week I uploaded posted an article and video called 5 Triangle Chokes You Need To Know, and shortly thereafter some people asked me to break down Toby’s famous triangle.

The thing is, that although Toby used a different entry and finished it in a standing position it’s still exactly the same choke as the Side Triangle (or ‘Yoko Sangaku’) that I show at 2 minutes and 41 seconds the 5 Triangles Video.  All the same principles and adjustments apply.

But I’ll do you one better!  Here’s a video I found of Toby breaking down how to get into the Side Triangle when your opponent is in the turtle position (don’t worry, you don’t have to get your training partner to stand up to train it):

Judo players successfully use this choke all the time, but the majority of BJJ players and no-gi grapplers don’t even know it exists.  So add it to your repertoire, and then go forth and ambush your training partners with it!

But the term ‘triangle choke’ can be used for several different submissions, and this can be confusing to the novice or intermediate-level grappler. So to make sense of the five major types of triangles check out my latest Youtube video.  I’ve put some really good stuff in here!