Tag Archives: Breathing
3 Ways to Get a Really Heavy Kneemount
When I started doing BJJ the kneemount position kind of confused me…
I knew that it was considered to be a good position, and I knew it led to a bunch of submission options, but still, it never really ‘clicked’ for me. (more…)
'Cardio' For the Martial Arts
Cardiovascular training can be a confusing topic and there are many different and divergent views on the subject. Different reputable sources inform us that you don’t need to do cardio (more…)
Grappling with Claustrophobia in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu
This article grew out of an email conversation I had with a reader of the Grapplearts newsletter about his problems with claustrophobia while grappling (read about the initial conversation here). How could he possibly control this awful feeling? (more…)
A Weird Dilemma...
I recently sat down and figured out which of my articles I got the most feedback from. Here’s another article that I’ve received a LOT of feedback on. Back in 2004 I was asked a very interesting question about grappling endurance by someone I’ll call ‘Fred.’
Here was the problem in a nutshell… (more…)
Tony Blauer on Fitness, Fear Management, and Combat Psychology
I just interviewed Tony Blauer. He’s the head of Blauer Tactical Systems which specializes in close quarter tactics & scenario-based training for law enforcement, military and professional self-defense instructors. (more…)
One of the things I talk about in my Beginning BJJ online Course is the importance of not telegraphing your moves, particularly your explosive escapes, by holding your breath.
Now this lesson led to many interesting conversations, including one with Mr. Will Wood, who trains with Garrett Erickson. (more…)
Keeping the Will to Fight
As is so often the case, Mark Twain said it best: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” This applies to dogs, grapplers, MMA fighters and jiu-jitsu players alike. (more…)
Air Chokes
For the last two weeks we have primarily been discussing strangles that cut off the supply of blood to the brain – this week I’d like to move on to ‘chokes’. A choke is a submission which primarily cuts off the flow of air through the windpipe, as opposed to a strangle which primarily cuts off the flow of blood to the brain. (more…)
One Simple Tip for Surviving the Smother
There’s nothing worse than tapping out to a smother. It is one thing to get caught in a nice technical choke and having to tap out, but it really sucks to get slowly smothered as someone covers your nose and mouth with some part of their body. (more…)
Breathing, Oxygen and Exhaustion
For the past two weeks I have been talking about breathing, concentrating on unusual situations, like conscious hyperventilation and the Valsalva Maneuver. I should probably have started out by talking about something that is a bit more universally applicable. (more…)
Today’s question is: “should you ever hold your breath while sparring”. Many instructors would tell you that holding your breath is a big no-no, and generally I agree with them. What I want to talk about today, however, is a possible exception to this rule. (more…)
I sometimes get asked questions about how to breath while sparring, in particular, how to control your breathing when you are really fighting hard.
When you are sparring at an easy to moderate pace then it is a good idea to keep your breath regular, deep and even. (more…)
Breathing and Stretching and Yoga
Yoga pays a lot of attention to breathing – Yoga has many special breathing exercises, ranging from the simple to the downright esoteric. For martial artists and grapplers, however, the integration of breathing and stretching is of particular interest. (more…)
Here are some more ideas if you want to try anaerobic conditioning. The common theme this week is that more time is spent going hard than resting, so willpower is important here! (more…)
Last week we discussed some of the factors around incorporating anaerobic training in your conditioning routine. As promised, here are some real-life examples of anaerobic workouts: this week all the sample workouts have more recovery time than exertion time (don’t worry, you’ll need it). (more…)
I get asked fairly often when someone should incorporate anaerobic training into his or her conditioning regimen.
By “anaerobic” training I basically mean sprints and interval training – where you go hard and fast for a relatively short period of time. (more…)
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