Renzo Armbar from Turtle

Triangle from side control

http://www.spike.com/video/mma-girls-side/2982638

Back Control

Nova Uniao NYC

Small gains are sustainable

Over the past few days I have been talking to lots of people about training and progress in any sport. I remember John Donehue once said the aim is to improve by 1% every single session. To walk out better than when you walked in. Don’t waste a workout. Simple as that. Every now and again we all have breakthrough moments, but by in large the gains we make are incremental. We can often make large leaps mentally about an area of training but gaining the skills and the timing to perform these skills successfully and in a regular manner usually is just a matter of small gains. Its interesting now that there are athletes crossing over to from different codes of football to chase big money that this will put this idea to the test. Sports science holds that 10 000 hours of quality practice is required for a degree of mastery is any pursuit. The sheer volume of hours required by definition to reach this level of competence means that there is very gradual almost imperceptible process occurring. Raw talent and a physically gifted athlete is one thing but this can’t completely replace skill, timing or experience. These variables can only be achieved through practice, patience and dedication. So the bottom line, as always, is more quality mat time. Pick a submission, sweep, position or transition and get to work.

Hall V Reis Superfight

Seagal teaching Anderson Silva

Someone want to take a shot at explaining this to me? I thought we left the whole Seagal thing behind years ago after Gene Lebell choked him out (twice!). Maybe Anderson likes his movies and is humouring Seagal but after his last few performances in the Octagon this is flat out freaky.

Rear Naked Choke Review

Armbar from S-mount Drill

Inaugural Extreme Inter Club Competition

The posters have been up around the club for some time with respect to the first competition to be held at Extreme HQ on Saturday 10th July in Chadstone. There will novice, intermediate and advanced divisions that will be divided according to weight. It be will be in a round robin format ensuring each competitor gets a series of matches. Please support your local club by flying the flag for Mornington Extreme and also our organisation as a whole by entering and competing. Extreme JJG has now grown to support such competitions and it is vital we get started with a strong event. It has been said that experience gained in competition is equivalent to two months training. Take this chance to compete for the first time with plenty of matches or tune your game for more experienced competitors. There will be no classes on this day at Mornington as I expect everyone to attend or compete in this event and if you are going to pay to spectate you might as well enter : ) Osu. BTW Sorry I haven't posted much but the FIFA World Cup has taking up my spare time. We will return to normal postings after Holland wins the final.

Hillary Williams HL Clip

In a short space of time this girl has become one of the best female grapplers going around. Hillary just won the Mundials at her weight as a brown belt competing against black belts. Wicked triangle choke on display here.

Jiu Jitsu Calligraphy

Cold Aggression

I was interested in Brad Scotts comments in the media some weeks ago about how he expects his players to demonstrate cold aggression when playing a game of AFL. The North Melbourne coaches comments came in light of the bump and intimidation of Barry Hall by the North Melbourne backmen. I was interested in the idea of cold aggression in athletes and so went looking for a suitable definition. It seems cold aggression is premeditated. The aggressor's accompanying emotions are positive. Cold aggression can be characterized as proactive, instrumental, planned, and predatory. Compared to hot aggression which is unplanned. The aggressor's accompanying emotions are negative: sadness, anger, and fear. Hot aggression has variously been described as reactive, instrumental, defensive, and impulsive. The distinction between these two types of aggression are important from a medical point of view when it comes to responses to medication and therapy. However, I believe that cold aggression is also a suitable description for a state of mind to be encouraged in combat athletes. In the same way as Brad Scott expects this from his professional athletes in a high stakes contact sport like AFL. I'm sure he chose these words carefully from the Sport Psychology field.

But if we are to compete or fight or wrestle we need to have a switch for cold aggression when required. And the sign of a good martial artist is someone who can turn it on when required and off when it is not needed. Be nice until its time not to be nice. So when the goal is to go hunting for a submission or a finish, the other factor we need to keep in mind is cold aggression. Now I can have all the cold aggression in the world but there is no way I can apply it to another complex sport like AFL because my skill set is in martial arts. So to certain extent it is largely skill dependent. But when it comes to something more primal like fighting if you have a young, conditioned and aggressive opponent you have can your hands full; regardless of their skill set. And I think that is what happened the other night playing shark bait in that the guys who were less skilled and had less options still made a good account of themselves through being aggressive and conditioned. Compared to the guys who have lots of options and experience but forgot to add cold aggression, until I started yelling at them to turn it up. This type of aggression is encouraged fro an early age in a sport like wrestling, which is another reason why wrestling makes such a good base for MMA. BJJ on the other hand tends to be more laid back in its approach at times and we can fail to include the important ingredient of aggression unless reminded occasionally.

End Game

I am trying to teach my six year old son how to play chess at the moment. And he is starting to pick it up pretty well. A fun thing we do with the computer is to turn down how smart the machine is playing and just play against a dumb opponent and move without thinking about the consequences, just explore the map and see what happens to learn and have fun.

I understand the bare basics of chess and consider myself a novice, but I think its a useful metaphor for coaching purposes. Chess of course is a game of strategy, based on principles of combat, and requires its participants to think many moves ahead. Often the one who thinks furthest ahead is the better player, much like BJJ. If you can anticipate or dictate where your opponent is going to move then your chances of success improve markedly. It is common for a game of chess to broken down into sections, an opening, a middle, and an end game. Different players have stronger and weaker aspects depending on their game style or tactics. Just like a BJJ match has a distinct beginning, middle and end. The end game in BJJ is using a superior position to finish the fight. Roger Gracie is the prime example of someone with a very strong end game, if he gets the mount or back control, its good night. Roger very rarely wins his matches on points, the final of this weekends Mundials being a rare exception as the match went the distance. Interestingly, Roger often gives up early takedown points and loses the opening game so to speak but controls the middle and end game brilliantly.

The other night I got grumpy whilst coaching a session of BJJ because I requested everyone go "hunting" during some shark bait training. The goal was to submit an opening as quickly as possible largely because a fresh opponent would be arriving straight afterward and this skill conserves energy. Tap them out quick and get on to the next one. Easier said than done of course, especially when wrestling with someone of equal skill, but that was the goal. What became apparent quickly was that most guys haven't sufficiently developed their end game under pressure, that is, the capacity to close the deal when instructed to do so, even against less skilled opponents. And this I found very frustrating to observe. After giving it a lot of thought I decided it largely came down to two things, one of which was a poor end game. The other aspect I will blog about soon.

I am all for playing BJJ like I play chess with my son and the computer, sometimes just seeing where things go and flowing, maintaining position, keeping guard, playing safe etc. I think this is good for learning. However when the time comes and you have to close the deal quickly, like in a competition or a fight, get to the end game and finish the fight. So consider spending the next few weeks thinking about your own end game. What attacking positions, transitions and submissions do you use frequently in training and how can you accelerate the end game at will? It is something we will be focusing on a as a group as well.

Deep Half Guard Sweep

Isao Okano

Bruno Malfacine

With this weekend seeing the Mundials this guy is the one to beat in the lightest weight bracket. Here from a post on the Underground....

*** Black Adult Masculino - Galo ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Bruno Malfacine
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Bruno Malfacine
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Bruno Malfacine
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Bruno Malfacine
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: N/A

The Contenders?
A small field this year (pun intended), but some highly decorated grapplers none the less. The tale of the tape suggests that Bruno never learnt to share; hovering up golds at all the major competitions in the past year barring the World Pro Gi which he and many other Alliance fighters declined to enter. Terra, Pitel, Costa, Teixeira and Freitas (somehow cutting from his usual Pluma) will all be looking to the podium, but I don’t think any of them will have what it takes to take down Malfacine from his pedestal.

Mornington Club News Update

We are all set to go for Gorilla's in the Mist this Saturday after training, There are still two places left for anyone who is interested. Please make sure you get me the $70 to pay for lunch and hot springs if you haven't already done so. It will be a great chance to have a few beers, eat lunch and catch up with the boys.

Also best wishes to Grant and Harry who will be competing for Victoria in the National Judo titles next weekend in Queensland. Both boys have been training hard at State training and will be up for a good showing come tournament day. As Dave will be away with Harry for this trip there will be no Boxing for MMA classes for two weeks after Tuesday 8th June until Tuesday 22nd June when Dave returns.

Please remember Gradings at Extreme HQ in Chadstone on Friday 25th June at 6pm with dinner afterward at La Fiama.

Osu.

Jeff Glover Gi Chokes

Gordo Half Guard Compilation