Hey bro, let’s roll light. There’s a reason that’s a bit of a meme in BJJ. The cliche of someone suggesting a light roll and then going into full on comp mode. “Going light’ is easier said than done. Often what people mean by that is “don’t smash me bro, while I play my A […]
There’s some situations where we want lot’s of choice (like say ice cream flavours). And then there’s others where choice gets in the way, slows things down. Ever been to a restaurant and found it really hard to choose from a menu? How about at a wedding, or on a flight where there’s only two […]
How often do you ask this question? I mean really ask it and take the time to consider the answer? Because it’s a question worth asking. Tim Ferris calls it practical pessimism. If what I’m trying to do fails whats the worst case scenario. Ferris’ point as an entrepreneur is this – if you take […]
Well we’re a half of the way through the year. It’s funny how quickly time can fly, and we can find ourselves wondering if we’ve made the most of it. The same goes for our time in class. I started out in Aikido, a very traditional Japanese martial art. Classes were characterized by strict “ettiquette”. […]
After another successful grading last week it’s a good time to remind ourselves what gradings are all about. Gradings are a tool. Nothing more nothing less. They are a convenient way to do a number of things Give students some guidance as to what techniques and drill they should be focused on. This helps […]
Perhaps the most important aspect of self defence is awareness and risk assessment. It should be the starting point of any conversation about how to keep yourself safe. All the fancy martial arts techniques in the world will not help you if you don’t notice that the big dude with the knuckle duster is getting […]
There are many reasons why people get interested in training Martial Arts.By far one of the most common we hear is “confidence”. What is confidence? Simply put it’s a belief that you can, rather than a belief that you can’t. But there needs to be more to it than that. A few years ago I read about […]
And so we’ve rolled into another year (see what I did there?) New year’s resolutions have gone out of fashion, I get that. “You shouldn’t wait for a specific date to set goals, you should always be setting goals” is the modern refrain. And yet we can’t deny there’s something about the calendar ticking over […]
At the last official rolling session for the year I found myself reminded of some great advice I once read. Anything worth doing, is worth doing poorly…..at first. Which when you think about it is absolutely common sense. When we first do something new, chances are we’re doing it poorly. We know this. And we […]
Recently I’ve had several discussions about how well students remember the techniques or classes that they have been to. Memory is an interesting thing. Especially when applied to a physical skill like jiu-jitsu. It turns out that memory is a term we use to cover a multitude of different activities in our brain. So perhaps […]
