BJJ Poll: How Flexible Are You?
March 6, 2010
Many assume flexibility is increased when you practice martial arts. I mean, don’t all martial arts people sit down in those machines that crank your legs wider and wider so you can kick better? (I kid.)
Flexibility in Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a curious thing however. It certainly has a big effect on how one’s BJJ game develops. Lots of folks who favor playing on the bottom seem more inclined to be flexible, and use this in setting up some unique submissions. Ryan Hall’s early years in competition are a good example.
Similarly, some who are less flexible seem to favor the top passing game.
How about you? How flexible are you? We know that being able to touch one’s toes is not the ultimate measure of flexibility, but a simple indicator we can use in a poll to start the discussion. Let us know what you think in the poll and comments below!
BJJ Poll: Do You Think the Average Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Tournament Referee is Biased?
February 27, 2010
People get very emotional about Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It is natural when you care about something so much. Anyone who has been to a Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament can attest to how passionate the crowd is. Everyone has someone they are rooting for out there on the mats. Even if you don’t know one of the competitors, maybe you want one or the other to win because it affects your team’s chances for success that day.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu referees are just like the rest of us: they have friends on multiple BJJ teams, and they likely have trained with someone who knows someone in the match they are watching over. But by definition a referee is supposed to be absolutely neutral in their work. They can show no preference to one BJJ competitor over the other.
What do you think? In your experience is the average BJJ referee biased or neutral? Don’t base your response on one bad experience!
Thanks to RG, one of the Mighty 600,000 for suggesting this week’s poll!
Alliance’s Fernando Soluco does not agree with the referee’s decision in his match against Gracie Humaita’s Rafael Lovato Jr at the 2009 BJJ World Championship.
BJJ Poll: What Policy Does Your BJJ School Have About Gi Color?
February 20, 2010
This one came to us from one of the Mighty 600,000 who called our toll free number 877-247-4662 and asked about what colors Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners are allowed to wear at their schools. He asked:
I visited other websites from other schools, and I noticed that some of them are traditional white gi schools only. I’d like to know how many schools are just that, where they only do the traditional white gi.
Let us know what it’s like at your school in the poll above, and feel free to leave a comment below!
BJJ Poll: Do Any Gay People Train at Your BJJ Academy?
February 13, 2010
I received this suggestion for a poll back in early January from Ross, who has been our most prolific source for poll ideas since we began our weekly BJJ Poll feature on our site. I knew that sooner or later this topic would come up and it did not take very long. Just this week Slideyfoot posted an article on his site about some of the general context of how homosexuality is viewed in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, so I figured it’s as good a time as any to post this one.
If you have any interesting stories on homosexuality and BJJ, feel free to leave them in the comments section of this post. Keep it respectful!
BJJ Poll: Why Do You Not Take Paid Private Classes with Advanced BJJ Belts?
February 6, 2010
Oftentimes Brazilian jiu-jitsu students will arrange to take a one-on-one private class with a BJJ instructor (usually a black belt). This allows the student to have some specific questions answered and get some special attention they may otherwise not be able to get during a group class. It benefits the instructor of course, as they can earn a healthy hourly fee to supplement their income.
Back in July of last year, we learned that a minority of Brazilian jiu-jitsu students take privates. According to our poll, only 39% of BJJ students take privates. This week our poll hopes to learn why that number is not higher.
Thanks to Brad, one of the Mighty 600,000 for the poll idea! If you have a poll idea, let us know!
BJJ Poll: How Many BJJ Black Belts Regularly Teach and/or Train at Your Academy?
January 30, 2010
Lately in our polls we have learned about what role internet videos play in one’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu education, and in April of last year we found out what role jiu-jitsu DVDs play. But we never stopped to ask about how many BJJ black belts people have access to!
So this BJJ poll, like many recently, was proposed by Ross, a listener from Northern California. Thank you Ross!
BJJ Poll: Are Internet BJJ Videos a Key Component of Your Training?
January 23, 2010
On our recent show with Keith Owen, we discussed how Brazilian jiu-jitsu students of today often check out BJJ technique videos on YouTube. This can be good because jiu-jitsu practitioners can be exposed to a range of moves that they might never encounter at their academy. On the other hand, there is the risk that students may become too enamored of fancy, advanced moves when they might be better served by focusing on the fundamentals. In any case, Owen said that internet videos of techniques can not be ignored and we agreed that perhaps one of the roles of a BJJ teacher today is helping to navigate their students through so much information that they will be exposed to one way or another.
How about you? Do you consider BJJ Videos on the internet a key component of your training?
(This poll idea came to us from Arnaud, who called in to our toll free number 877-247-4662 and gave us his suggestion. Thanks!)
BJJ Poll: How Are Jiu-Jitsu Belts Primarily Awarded at Your Academy?
January 16, 2010
One of the interesting things about Brazilian jiu-jitsu is that there is no widely adopted book that says how just about anything should be done. Like many martial arts, BJJ has a belt system (white -> blue -> purple -> brown -> black) to track students’ progress. For the most part, the skill level of people wearing a certain belt color is consistent and you know what that person will be like on the mats.
However the manner in which belts are awarded varies significantly between jiu-jitsu academies. This thread posed the question to forum-goers to discuss what the practices at their schools are like, and we received an email from Ross Finlayson, a longtime listener of our humble BJJ podcast who suggested that we include the question in one of our weekly BJJ Polls. (Ross is becoming the Pollster in Chief around here with all his ideas!) So here you go!
How are belt promotions handled where you train? Vote in the poll above and feel free to share your experiences in the comments section of this post. We will discuss this a bit in tomorrow’s episode of The FightWorks Podcast.
BJJ Poll: Do You Think Training in the Gi is Necessary for a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
January 10, 2010
On January 2nd, Rolles Gracie awarded Rashad Evans his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Some in the BJJ community have expressed discontent over the decision to award the black belt to Evans, primarily because many years training in the gi is traditionally required before someone is given a black belt.
In today’s episode of The FightWorks Podcast we ask Rolles about the promotion. Read what he has to say and let us know in the poll above whether you think training in the gi is necessary for a black belt in BJJ.
EXCERPT OF INTERVIEW WITH ROLLES GRACIE ON RASHAD EVANS’ BLACK BELT
The FightWorks Podcast: One of the things I wanted to ask you about Rolles, was your relationship with Rashad Evans. He had a [UFC] fight recently. You were helping him prepare his ground skills right?
Rolles Gracie: Yes, we’ve been training now for a while. He’s an outstanding guy, outstanding athlete, and soon you’re going to be seeing his jiu-jitsu kicking in a lot more every single fight.
The FightWorks Podcast: Let’s talk about that. I think one thing that surprised some people recently was – I think it was on your Twitter account (which is twitter.com/rollesgracie) there was a picture that appeared and it sounds like you gave Rashad a black belt. Talk about that.
Rolles Gracie: Yes, I see what’s going on and I get a lot of questions and that came out like a big controversy, people questioning this belt. First I want to say that I have been involved in jiu-jitsu in my family my whole life. It’s been like a lifestyle to me… And for people to ask why I give a guy like Rashad a black belt is a big disrespect in my opinion, you know? When I realize all this controversy, people saying this and that, and they were asking, I was very surprised. Not only surprised but insulted. I don’t really owe an explanation to anybody. But then I realize that not everyone is lucky to train with guys like him and in the school in New York. Maybe they don’t know me or Renzo, my brothers, and the system that we teach. We have a school like I said that has over 1,000 students and I think that speaks for itself. Some great guys train there, great talents like Matt Serra, George St. Pierre, they all go there to train. And I really shouldn’t be like, explaining. But these people want to know how Rashad’s training is going, I’ll be glad to do this.
The FightWorks Podcast: I think one of the questions that people had was that traditionally people expect some years of work in the gi to be required for a black belt. Maybe you know something that other people don’t know. Does Rashad use the gi? Or is this different?
Rolles Gracie: I never trained with the gi with Rashad. If this happened five years ago, maybe I wouldn’t have given him his black belt, you know? But the sport evolved. Today we see Worlds and Pan-Ams gi and no-gi Pan-Ams by the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, which is the biggest organization out there, the most renowned. So the sport has evolved. Rashad is a black belt in no-gi jiu-jitsu. That’s why I give him his black belt. Rashad is a phenomenal athlete. He is a great wrestler. He picks things up faster than anybody else, you know? So that’s what it is. If you see his last fight, he dominated! He dominated Thiago Silva on the ground. And Thiago Silva is a well-known black belt. He passed his guard, mounted him a few times. You know there are things I hear from people like, “[Rashad] did not attempt submissions, he never triangled, he never finishes anybody.” Man that’s his personal game: he likes to use the ground to hit, to use his ground and pound. That’s how he’s comfortable there. And I’m happy. And people are still questioning him? They should come back and roll with him to see how they do.
The FightWorks Podcast: So like you said, it’s justified based on your experience with him, that he is technical and qualified.
Rolles Gracie: Yes, because like I said – in the No-Gi Worlds and No-Gi Pan-Ams if you put him to compete it wouldn’t be fair if I put him in the blue, purple, brown belt divisions. He would be competing with the black belts. Would he win? I don’t know. After everyone signs up for the tournament, you can’t really know for sure.
The FightWorks Podcast: I guess a similar example would be Josh Barnett right?
Rolles Gracie: Exactly, exactly, I agree.
The FightWorks Podcast: Somebody who knows a lot of technique and maybe they didn’t train formally in a Brazilian jiu-jitsu environment, but skill-wise in noggin submission grappling, they are there.
Rolles Gracie: Yeah. And like I said, he’s just a phenomenal athlete. He picks things up real fast and I’ve been working with him a lot this past year. I dunno if people saw me on the TUF season. I was there, working with him, helping the other guys. So in this past year we have developed a great relationship training.
The FightWorks Podcast: Sounds like you guys are pretty close. It’s nice to have people like that, friends.
Rolles Gracie: Yeah. Not only that, Rashad is my first black belt. So I wouldn’t throw that at [just] anyone.
BJJ Poll: How Much Does the Sport of Mixed Martial Arts Interest You?
January 2, 2010
Mixed martial arts as we know it became popular when Royce Gracie defeated several bigger, stronger opponents using Brazilian jiu-jitsu when the Ultimate Fighting Championship began in 1993. Now, more than fifteen years later, MMA has grown into a legitimate sport with fans all over the world.
As a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner today, how much does MMA interest you now?
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