Open Mat

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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 […]

So we're here in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua. Everyone knows the Spanish word "bueno" means "good." In some areas of Latin America, they use "buenazo" to mean "really good." Kelly invented a new word today: Buen-awesome. That sums up the day.Had our first day of jiu jitsu camp today. A couple houses down from our […]

Very exciting news! If you are a big fan of MMA and happen to live in Manchester: YOU ARE IN BIG LUCK! There is a good number of excellent MMA gyms that approach the sports intelligently and meticulously. The Part Time Grappler, who's lucky enough to train at FIGHTING FIT MARTIAL ARTS,  has conducted a series of interviews with the head coaches of a num […]

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 […]