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Monday, April 11, 2011

Road to the American Cup 2



Tonight's training was intense! We started the practice of with the usual wrestling type warm up and  then proceeded to do some grip-fighting excercises.

We went over a guardpass with some unique details that Marcos pointed out. For my game plan and style of BJJ which I am starting to call  Big Man Jiu-Jitsu, I was able to modify Marcos' technique to suit my body type. After repping the guard pass for a while we moved on to drilling.

We drilled the Morote Gari or double leg take down. The Morote Gari was my throw when I started Judo back in 2007, before the rule change after the 2008 Olympics. I love the Morote Gari, the power if the throw as well as the ability to completly pick your opponet off the ground and take and then bring them back with force and power. That is what Big Man Jiu-Jistu is about! We pulled out the crash pad and Team Yemaso put in serious work. Uke stood in a standard stance and Tore shoot in and took them down. We drilled non-stop for a minute and a half.  We cycled through our group until we each had a chance to drill twice. My lungs were on fire and my heart rate was through the roof, but I felt strong and powerful.

After that we hit the mats for some Newaza randori and rolled for about thirty to forty minutes. We bowed out to end class and then our usual crew of guys stayed after to get in a few more rounds of No-Gi Randori.

I feel strong and my game is slowly improving. I have been working on maintaning  guard and setting up sweeps to gain side control. I feel my guard game is improving greatly and I know I will bring a greatly improved game to the American Cup this year and I am hunting for a repeat Gold Medal.

OUUUUUSSSSS!!!!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Road to the American Cup

Sorry for not be able to write for a while.My school work had kept me busy, but we are in the middle of the semester and I am now able to write.


Due to my lack of funds I have not been able to compete as much as I projected I would for this year. The American Cup 2010 was my first Jiu-Jitsu tournament and I won gold as a white belt. I hope to repeat that success this year again at this years American Cup as a Blue Belt. This will be my first time competing as a Blue Belt so I am looking forward to the challenge of new competition at the higher level.

I have come very far in the last year in terms of not only technique but also strength, power, and mental fortitude. I have excellent training partners and feel I am in a even better position to win gold gain this year in not only my division but also in the absolute.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

I am back!!

Now that the semester as quited down a little and I am back into the groove of schook again. I will now begin to blog again!

Thank you all for your patients!!!

Monday, January 31, 2011

New post coming soon

Sorry I have not posted new info on the blog. I will be back soon, school has been kicking my butt. I will have new post this week.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Weight Training


I finally went to the gym for the first time in four months. The problem I find with weight training is that compared to Judo and BJJ is that it is very boring. I go to 24 Hour Fitness which is where everybody goes and I see bad form, kids working out only their arms and chest, and men and women wearing things that they shouldn't.

I do not like to spend alot of time in the gym, I like to get in there hit the weigths hard and get out. My workouts are sport specific, meaning that the focus is on movements that are common in grappling, which is mostly pulling movements. So I do alot of deadlifts, Wide grip lat pull downs, low cable rows etc.

I have my workouts spread throughout the week by a "Pull" day, "Push" day, and a leg day. I based this on the Four Pillars of Human movement. One is Locomotion, which is walking, running etc. I run on a daily basis so that takes care of training locomotion, and even though there is not alot of locomotion in BJJ or Judo, the cardiovascular benefits are great as is the fat burning that locomotion training provides.

The other pillar is the Push/Pull pillar which is the most used in grappling, with more emphasis on the "pull". Both must be trained to keep a muscular balance and avoid injury. The next is "level change" which is using the legs to move the body up and down. This comes in play when changing levels for a double or single leg takedown or in Judo when using hip throws such as Harai Goshi or Ippon Seoi Nage.

The last Pillar is Rotation which is the most neglected factor of movement. So far the best way I have found to train rotation in the body is by using Kettlebells, which I will start to implement a kettlebell workout once a week.

On Friday I trained the "pull" factor. My workout went as follows: Deadlifts: 225 pounds x 8 Reps, 275 x 6, 295 x 4, 315 x 3. I could had gone much heavier but I did not want to tire my back out too much. Wide grip pulldowns: 155 x 8, 175 x 8, 195 x 8, Close Grip Pull downs: 175 x 8, 8, 8, Low Row cable pulls: 165 x 8, 8,8.

That was my workout for Friday. Simple and not very complex, but it is short and brief and to the point. I rather spend the extra time on the mat!

Be Blessed!!!

BJJ Training

This will be a wrap up of the week's training. On Friday (1-14-2011) we had our Competition Team practice which consists of drilling one offensive move or series of movements.(For more on the importance of drilling see here: http://wwwthegentleway.blogspot.com/2010/12/drilling-basics-is-road-to-victory.html) I have been working on building up my bottom game for the last three months and drilled a series of Spider Guard to a Tri-Pod Sweep to Side Control.

After surviving the drills, we had three rounds (10 minutes) of rolling. I was thoroughly gassed but as always I left glad that I came and put in the work on a Friday when so many others are thinking about going out to go party.

TEAM YEMASO!!!

Be Blessed!!!!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Dax Mosito Gi Review


I was finally able to wear the Moskito Gi to both Judo and BJJ practice, and I am very impressed!!! The Gi is super thick everyone who I trained with made a comment on how insane the thickness of the material was. It does make griping very hard for your opponent and it holds up very well during training. It does not seem to stretched during practice like my HSU gi and my Gameness gi.

The Moskito is very heavy and very hot even in this cold weather we are having here in Sacramento. I am very satisfied with the performance of the Moskito and highly recommend to get one if you can as I understand that they are discontinued.

Be blessed!!!!

Thank your Sensei!!!

Yesterday I stayed behind at the Sacramento Judo Club and had a conversation with Sensei Takeda. I had asked him about the whereabouts of a gentleman that had trained at the Club when I first started back in 2008. Sensei Takeda stated that the gentleman no longer wished to train with the Club and had gone some where else to train. Sensei Takeda seemed sadden when I asked. Sensei said that he has taught many students and had brought them up to the ranks of Black Belt but very few decide to give back and help to run the Club.

Sensei Takeda has given his whole life to Judo, often he said it has even caused many arguments between his wife and himself, he has run down vehicles traveling from one clinic or tournament to the other and has done all this with no pay. he said that the old way of the Japanese and Judo in California was always to be non-profit and to give back to the community or as Kano Sensei stated "For the mutual welfare and benefit" of all who partake in the wonderful sport and art of Judo.

We discussed the current state of Judo and that it most likely will become a "for profit" business, like what Jimmy Pedro and Rhadi Furgesson have created. Most of the schools on the East Coast are for profit and are very expensive to join in comparison to the clubs in California. Sensei believes that the old Japanese way is dying out and that as time goes many future instructors will want to be paid for their instruction and no longer give their knowledge for free.

I was sadden to hear this, as I looked at Sensei Takeda I could see his sadness in his eyes. I shook his hand and thank him for his sacrifice that he has done again and again for the past forty plus years.

I know have many friends in the Judo community in Sacramento, I know that Sensei Goodall and the rest of the Senseis at Team Sacramento volunteer their time to give back and so does Okubo Judo. If you practice Judo and you know that your Senseis freely volunteer time out of their life to  impart their knowledge on to you please, PLEASE, shake their hand and let them know that it does mean something to you.

To all the Senseis that volunteer to teach and expect  nothing in return I salute you!!!

Be Blessed!!!!

Judo Training

Tonight's Judo training seemed more intense to me. I was really tired this evening due to getting off work really late. I almost did not go, but I decided I had to because I will not be able to go to BJJ on Thursday so I went.

I got to class a few minutes late so I missed the frst part of the warm up. After we stretched we did more to the basic Judo Newaza sweeps we do. I work with a different person this time, instead of Sensei Weiler. He was very eager to pick my brain on Newaza. Of course he wanted me to show him real exotic things like the D'arce choke and the rubber guard. I told him I do not even know how to do those things and that most matches are won by the most basic chokes and locks. I advised him to drill the basics and focus on the fundamentals of the closed guard and open guard for now, and to also work on his Osaecomi-Wazi (forgive me for my misspellings). I showed him some of the sweeps I use from the open guard and some of the theory of BJJ and how to use what space and movements your opponent give you to make the sweep happen.

We did 30 minutes of Newaza Randori and then move on to Ta-Chi Waza. We set up the poor, old broken down crash pad and practiced Kuzushi drills and then threw Uke on to pad with our throw. I did alright with Uchi Mata, but was really getting a clean powerful throw with Harai Goshi. Sensei Takeda had us switch to Osoto Gari and all of mine were horrible!!! My foot was too high or my hips did not go through enough to generate power for the throw, defiantly something I will work on in the future.

Last we did Randori of course and I was able to use my grip figthing to be defensive but still be active so not have any stalling called on me. Sensei Weiler kept trying to throw me with Osoto Gari but I was able to counter by grabbing his leg and using a wrestling technique called "running the pipe" as a legal counter.

I did take a thumb to the eye so I had to sit out a round as I could not see out of my left eye. Class well and was very enjoyable and I am glad I went to train!!!!

Sensei Takeda told me he knows that I am ready to be promoted to Blue Belt in Judo!!! I need to study the guideline that he has given me so I can test at the end of the month. I hope to be a double Blue!!!

Be Blessed!!!

BJJ Training

This is for BJJ training for 1-11-11. I was too tired to write yesterday.

First BJJ lesson of the year!!! After everyone made fun of my glasses, we did our warm up and then went into technique. Marcos show the De La Riva Guard and a sweep from the De La Riva.

The De La Riva is an awkward guard to me. It seems like you can tear up your knee with it; Marcos addressed this and said that our knees will toughen up and condition themselves to the rigors of the De La Riva.

I have always wanted to learn the De La Riva Guard. It seems like it is the next step in the guard fighting process, after mastering the basics of the closed, open, and spider guard. We drilled the move for about 30 minutes and Marcos was joking around with me and said that my De La Riva was looking good and was calling me Joaquin "Demente", who is a player that I look up too for his aggressive "Big Man" BJJ.

After drills we rolled. I rolled with one of the many Mikes we have at Team Yemaso, this Mike I call Asian Mike because he is Filipino. Mike is a Purple Belt and he is never afraid to roll with me and we had a good battle going back and forth. I almost submitted him but he transition out of it. Asian Mike pushes me and I like to think that I push him as well. Great Roll!!!

I also got to roll with Mike U. who is my greatest opponent at Team Yemaso. He has gotten very good, so good that most of the things I try do not work and I find myself constantly getting swept or reversed and then submitted. Somewhat discouraging, due to the fact that the battles used to be more 50/50.

I know that Mike U. has greatly benefited from private lessons with Marcos. I decided that I will start taking private lessons from Marcos at least twice a month; in one lesson alone I developed a game plan that I used to crush all the Mike in class and everyone else, until they all took privates and figured out counters to my game plan. So now it is time to step it up to that next level and I strongly believe that private lessons will aide in that goal.

Be blessed!!!!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Judo Training

Judo training was excellent. Did the Judo warm up and then proceeded to Newaza. I drilled with Mike Weiler who is a Shodan (First Degree Black Belt). We always just do some basic sweeps. Like said before on the sweeps I feel just leaves me open for my opponent to take side control. I drill the moves but I highly doubt I will ever use this hip type sweep. I showed Sensei Weiler the Anaconda choke to break down an opponents turtle position. Sensei Weiler really like the Anaconda. I was happy to exchange knowledge with someone who has helped me a lot with my "Big Man" Judo.

We did some Newaza Randori and then moved on to moving drills for Osoto Gari and Ashi Bari. Last we drilled a Ouchi Gari to Kouchi Gari combination. Next came Randori.

I was able to give Sensei Weiler a decent fight although he threw me many times. I was inspired by my buddy Stuart from the U.K. with his view that you should just attack and not worry about being throw because there is nothing to loose.

I was able to hit a Hari Goshi on one of the smaller players using the overhand Russian grip, I am really attracted to the Russian and Eastern European style of Judo. I believe that Russian Judo also is better suited to BJJ. (will write an essay in that theory).

All in all my timing and technique is coming back to me and I do not feel as tired as I did last Monday. Tomorrow I go back to BJJ.

Be blessed.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Judo versus Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: An Apple Vs An Orange

Please note that this is an essay that has been formatted to the MLA standard of writing therefore this essay is an academic work. I completely own this essay in it's entirety, including the research. Anyone may use this essay in whole or parts, all I ask is that academic credit is given to me in the form of a citation. Please let me know if you enjoyed the essay and your opinion on the subject matter. Thank you.

Judo versus Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: An Apple Vs An Orange



By Joaquin Jauregui

An objective and fair comparison between the combat sports of Judo and BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) would reveal that each art has its own set of strengths and weakness, and that these strengths and weakness are created by the rules of each sport. An argument to attempt to establish which art is better is akin to arguing which fruit is better: An Apple or an Orange.

Judo and BJJ each have their dedicated followers and of course of if you ask a Judoka which art is better they would most likely say Judo and a BJJ fighter will say the opposite. A Judoka might say that BJJ fighters have no throwing skills and that all they want to do is lay on their backs. A BJJ Fighter might say that Judokas only focus on throws and that they cannot finish their opponent because of their lack of advance groundwork. Both arguments are valid and invalid, because each side is seeing the other side through the rules of their separate competitions.

Modern day Judo or Olympic Judo focus is on performing throws; as stated in the International Judo Federation Official Referee Rule Book an Ippon (Winning score) is awarded: “When a contestant with control throws the other contestant largely on his back with considerable force and speed.” (Sec. Rules, International Judo Federation) A throw for a Judoka is the fastest route to victory and is therefore practiced the most in the Dojo. Judokas can also win a Judo match by submitting their opponent, by either a choking technique or a joint locking technique against the elbow or by pinning an opponent. Though three of the four ways to win a Judo match are on the ground a premium is placed on scoring and Ippon via a throw. Referees also have a practice to only allow a Judoka three to five seconds to get a pin or a submission. As any Judoka or BJJ fighter knows, groundwork is a game of inches, not miles; three to five seconds is simply not enough time to work your game plan on the ground. “I do not know when or why this three to five second time constraint came from!” stated Sensei Victor Anderson, who is a Forth Degree Judo Black Belt and a National Level Qualified Judo Referee. “Nowhere in the rule book does it say that there are any time constraints on Ne-Waza. If the players stall then we are supposed to call “Matte” (Halt or Stop in Japanese) and stand them up. If a Judoka is working for something or both players are rolling and making transitions than let them continue.” (Anderson)

Due to this practice of limiting time for Ne-Waza in tournaments, many Judo clubs simply do not spend much time teaching Ne-Waza let alone any of the complex guard sweeps, guard passes or submissions that BJJ fighters do. Why would they? Why focus on an aspect of the competition that you may only spend a few seconds in during a match and the probability for winning is relatively low? The logical thing would be to simply train throws, because that is most likely what is going to win your matches and make you a successful Judoka.

This leaves many Judokas with a very basic and limited ground game, but a very good skill set for grip fighting and throwing techniques. Many BJJ Fighters will claim that BJJ is better because many of the BJJ fighters are able to dominate many Judokas on groundwork and right they should as most BJJ schools teach about 90 percent ground work and 10 percent throwing or takedowns, if even that. Many BJJ fighters will simply pull guard if presented with an opponent who they are unable to takedown. This is allowed in BJJ competitions but is not in Judo, so a Judoka who is skilled in groundwork cannot simply pull guard to initiate groundwork. The Judoka must throw his opponent to the ground with skill and then use what limited time he has to achieve a pin or submission. If we were to compare BJJ to Judo in a Judo Tournament, than most BJJ fighters would be at a great disadvantage and BJJ would prove to be the inferior style. If a Judoka was to fight in a BJJ tournament then most likely he would lose, as a BJJ fighter can get thrown cleanly to the ground and only be down by two points and still win by using his elaborate groundwork game, and not be worried about a referee stopping the groundwork to stand the opponents back up. In a BJJ tournament Judo would prove to be the inferior sport, as groundwork is placed above all else and throwing can be negated all together by a BJJ fighter simply pulling guard.

In Sociology when objectively studying a culture, who must take care not be ethnocentric, meaning that we must judge a culture’s way of life by the culture’s standards, not our own. When comparing Judo to BJJ and BJJ to Freestyle wrestling and Freestyle Wrestling to SAMBO we must look at the rules and regulations of the particular style of grappling and judge it by its’ own standards and not by those of our chosen sport. After all an apple and an orange are both fruits but are still very different, and who can say one is better than the other?













Works Cited

Anderson, Victor. Personal Interview. 3 Jan 2011

Intjudo.eu. Rules. International Judo Federation. Web. 3 Jan. 2011

Monday, January 3, 2011

Judo Training

Tonight I made my return to Judo practice at Sacramento Judo Club. I forgot how demanding the sport is. Tai-Chi Waza is very demanding due to the huge emphasis place in the Push-Pull Factor of Human Movement (More on that in a latter blog).

We did a light warm up and stretched; afterwards we practiced some basic sweeps form the guard positions. As a BJJ Blue Belt I find some the sweeps peculiar only because some of them seem to leave you open to having your opponent take side control. Alas I must train Judo with my Judo Goggles on, not my BJJ Goggles. Sensei Tekeda had three of us lay in open guard and ran the rest of the students through to practice fighting from the guard. I enjoyed this because al I have been doing for the last 8 weeks or so is fight from my back, so I was able to give nearly everyone the business.

We did  five, five minute rounds of Ne-Waza Randori. I had a great roll with Sensei Tony Comfort, who is very skilled at Ne-Waza and gave me quite a challenge.

Next came the drills for Tai-Chi Waza. We drilled just getting Kazsushi. As we broke Uke's balance we moved up and down the Dojo. I practice Osoto Gari and Kouchi to Ouchi Grai. I was terrible at both.

Then came the Randori; seven five minute rounds of pure hell. I realized that I am decent at grip fighting and avoiding alot of throws, but I am timid when it comes to attacking. I think that I need to just find one or two moves and drill the hell out of them until I become proficient. As stated before drilling is the key to success.

Do any Judokas learning the art have the same problem? Not attacking nearly enough?

Besides that practice went great and I am not as tired as I thought I would be.

Be Blessed!!!

Product Review: iFightVideo's Judo Throws 1

iFightVideo
I was lucky enough to be given a copy of iFightVideo's Judo Throws 1 app for the iPhone. After reviewing the product I must say that it is really slick. The video resolution is crisp and the audio is clear, excellent production by iFightVideos.

The throws are performed by Senseis Brent Goodall and Tauasa Timoteo from Team Sacramento. Goodall Sensei explains the throws in great detail and the throws are shown from various angles to help you get a sense of the throw's mechanics from different perspectives. Besides the video of the throws there is also an option to view the throw as a slide show with or without step-by-step instructions on the mechanics of the particular throw.



This is an excellent product from iFightVideos and Team Sacramento. I highly recommend it as audio/visual aide to your Judo training. If you are like me than you constantly are think of ways to improve your Judo and this video allows you to basically have unlimited private lessons from two top level Judo Black Belts.

I firmly believe that nothing takes the place of mat time and training, as going to practice is akin to going to school and hearing the teachers lecture; having access to training supplements like the Judo Throws 1 app is like going home to study and take notes for the final. Could you pass the class with just the lecture notes and going to school? Yes of course, but if you go home and read the text and study you know you will be that much more prepared for the test, which for us is the competition. This App is the text book!

The throws that are discussed are: Grips, Osoto-Gari, Te-Gurma, Tai-Otoshi, Yoko-Tomoe-Nage, Osoto-Gari, Harai-Goshi, Soto-Makikomi and many more.

The App is available for both the iPhone and the Droid. iFightvideo's website is: http://www.ifightvideo.com/
Team Sacramento's website is: http://www.teamsacramento.org/

Disclaimer: I received no monetary compensation for this review, if something is garbage I would say so, this app is of a very high quality and I personally use it on a regular basis.

Be Blessed!!!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

DAX Moskito Judogi


Today I placed my order for one of the infamous Dax Moskito double weave Judogis. My friend Jonel from Team  Sacramento Judo team highly recommended it and said that it is thick and has a slimmer cut and can make the transition from Judo to BJJ easily.

This is good as after BJJ practice Team Sacramento immediatly starts Judo practice and I would like to join in and not have to rush to change gis.

I will write a review for the Moskito once I can put some miles on it.

Be Blessed!!!