Monthly Archives: November 2009

Ingredients * 1 cup butter or margarine, melted * 2 cups graham cracker crumbs * 2 cups confectioners' sugar * 1 cup peanut butter * 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips * 4 tablespoons peanut butterDirections 1. In a medium bowl, mix together the butter or margarine, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well b […]

I had looked through a few books about Rio before my travels. I was torn between buying the "Lonely Planet Rio de Janiero" and "Rough Guide Rio de Janiero". Lonely Planet is a good resource and very up to date. However I liked the off the beaten path advice that the Rough Guide provided. They even included Jiu Jitsu academies! I researche […]

I have been thinking about whether or not I’m learning anything on this fantastic jiu jitsu adventure I’m on. I mean, I’ve spent 4 months already traveling Latin America, and I’ve had incredible opportunities to train with incredible people everywhere I’ve been.But have I really learned anything? I don’t feel like my game has improved or changed much since I […]

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve conducted interviews with the head coaches from a few Manchester based MMA clubs gyms and academies. They have been very generous with their time and the interviews were quite an interesting read, I’m sure you will agree. What I have done now is mixed these interviews around so rather than a full interview with one MMA […]

I’m hurt, I can’t train hard, and I’m enjoying a mildly-normal vacation for once. So, that night I spent with a friend from college who had since moved from Arkansas back home to Brazil. We ate more sushi than two humans should ever attempt to ingest and I introduced him to the greatest series ever, Jersey Shore. He wasn’t quite as moved as I was. I was exit […]

In 2009, in the course of working with Marc Walder to organise the Essex BJJ Open, I received an unexpected email from a would-be competitor. This competitor, a blue belt out of the Roger Gracie Academy Bucks who also trains at the McLeod Academy, was keen to enter his first competition. He did have one concern, however, his age. He was 69, was this going to […]

Hi all. We all learn some techniques from instructional videos. It s a good way to learn new sweeps and submissions. To be honest most of my sweeps and submissions that i successfully use in sparing these days came from instructional videos.The reason why i love learning from vids is because it keeps me ahead of my class.I get to sweep them and do crazy stuf […]

Last week, Romulo discussed his thoughts on teaching. In part two, he talks about competition.slideyfoot.com: You began competing quite early in your training: how would you advise a new student coming to you saying “I want to compete”?Romulo Barral: I have a lot of people who do that, and my advice is like this: the competition needs to be something natural […]