Transcript – Excerpt from The BJJ Foxcast Episode 87 with Scott Burr The interviewer is Alex Martinez About 46 minutes in. SB: I’ve had some interesting conversations with people. For whatever reason, I end up in these conversations with people who are like in their 40s, and they just got their black belt, and what…
Category: Psychology
What I REALLY want from Jiu-Jitsu
Before anyone outside the obvious places had heard of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I practiced various styles of Kung Fu, starting in 1977. My first Kung Fu instructor started training in 1963. He was one of the rare breed that trained martial arts before Bruce Lee. Like the Dirty Dozen, who were training Jiu-Jitsu before UFC 1…
Injuries, Training Methods, and Eco-Warriors
On a Wednesday in early February 2024, I suffered a broken left arm in training. A crack to the ulna. We were playing a jiu-jitsu game where one partner was trying to pass the open guard, and the other trying to retain their guard. I was in a group of three. One of my partners…
The Limits of Strength and Athleticism
Just try opening this up without tearing the wrapper. Your bench press max has no power here. Look for similar situations requiring patience, sensitivity, and finesse in martial arts and life as well. Maximum results for minimum effort.
Small Discipline
An inspiring quote from author, historian, academic, podcaster and martial artist Daniele Bolelli:
Flow Rolling
Should be at about a 50% pace – 50% of competitive rolling speed, 50% strength. If you want hard rolls, go to a competition class. This is about serotonin, not adrenalin. If the red mist descends, or even the yellow or orange mist, stop, breathe, and calm down. There is no winning, no losing, just…
Life in a Cult – Crash. A Cautionary Tale
Not Jiu Jitsu. But perhaps relevant to some Jiu Jitsu academies, instructors, and students. Definitely about self defence. Crash is not the real name of the organisation. It isn’t far off the real name. The guy who introduced and initiated me into Crash was named Alick. (Not really). I did gymnastics for sport and as…
Secrets
In some traditional martial arts, there are secret techniques too deadly to spar with. There may also be kata or forms, containing such techniques, which must never be shown to anyone outside the particular lineage of the dojo or kwoon. Such techniques are usually reserved for the highest student levels, those who have proven themselves…
Imperfect Creations
We are imperfect creations. We are works in progress. We all make mistakes. If we accept and recognise our imperfections, we must then similarly expect and permit our fellow humans to make the occasional honest mistake. We should make pre-emptive allowances for that in our interactions with them, and forgive them, as we would ourselves,…
Grandmaster at Note-Taking
I recently put up a blog post detailing an excellent seminar I took with John Will, on the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Front Headlock. John is a fifth degree black belt, Australian Jiu Jitsu pioneer, and extraordinarily skilled coach. John commented on my blog post, on Facebook, referring to me as a “grandmaster at note-taking”. High…