Onward from Purple ...

Pre-brown belt tips ...

By this stage, you have an extensive knowledge of BJJ.
Having been exposed to literally hundreds of techniques - you should have developed a game that suits you both physically and mentally. You have 'superior' mat-skills - and strike fear into the hearts of mortal men.
You have more than one 'game' - in fact, you should have several, depending on position. for instance - you should have your 'guard game', your 'passing game' and your 'top/finishing' game all kind of roughed out.
This then provides you with a very solid foundation upon which you will add those techniques and strategies that best suit your personal needs.
You should also have an understanding of'depth' - that is, a knowledge of how an opponent can be expected to react to a given technique, and answers/solutions or ways to best capitalize on his reactions, all worked out.
A brown belt should, by this time, most definitely have acquired the 'habit' of being 'technical'. Almost nothing should done without an accompanying 'eye for detail'. The 'good enough to get by' attitude - is something a brown belt should have left behind over some time ago.

I would also like to think that the brown belt has by this time, looked fairly extensively at other areas of the fight game - and has developed an understanding of ther strengths and limitations of the art he is practicing. This is not the time to be 'blinkered' - it is a time for seeing things as they really are. The brown belt should have some solid fundamentals in stand-up, in takedowns as well as a strong as technical approach to 'finishing' on the ground. Some teaching.instrcuting experience by this time is also the mark of a brown belt.

Hope this helps ..
JBW

Blue to Purple - accumulate & collate

By this stage, you will have a good understanding of the fundamentals - and you should have between 40-100 hours of actual grappling experience under your belt. That's grappling experience - not just drilling - or sitting and talking about grappling!
You have also probably become addicted to collecting 'new material' - that's okay - your are in (what the financial advisors like to call) the 'accumulation stage'. This means you are developing good breadth in the understanding and application of the art of grappling/BJJ.

But now it's time to do something serious with all these fun ingredients that you have - it's time to bake your own cake.

Purple Belts usually start to put their own 'stamp' on their game. they are becoming clearer on which techniques they prefer and which they tend to use less. Apprentice purples and new purples should be developing their own 'style' of grappling. get clear on your biggest weakness (and start to shore things up) - and get clear on your 'best bet' or 'high percentage' attacks - and further develop them.

Purples also should have some 'depth' to everything they do - by this i mean that they should not only understand a 'swag' of techniques, but they should be fairly clear on how opponents usually respond to these techniques, and be very active in developing 'work-arounds' for those responses.
Purples know loads of techniques, they start to define and refine their game - and they begin to build 'depth'.

I wish everyone the best with their training -
JBW

Pre-blue belt advice

First two years of training - get your priorities in order - don't be distracted by 'the latest and greatest' - by new 'funky' moves - get the basics down well.

I think that before the rank of blue belt - you need to develop an overall game - a solid foundation that covers most of the basic positions - and gives you several options (both offense and defense) from each. You also need to be able to understand how to effectively transition between these positions.

Biggest problems:
Pre-blue belts - usually hold non-tenable positions longer than they have to. Eg: they are on the mount - opponent is putting them back into the guard (say: elbow escape) and they try to keep the mount. Wheras a blue belt or better, would be 'bailing out' (transitioning) as soon as he/she feels they are losing the mount.

Best analogy: the titanic is just about to hit the icebaerg - the black belts are already in the lifeboats with the women and the good food - the boat hits the iceberg - they brown belts are off, just after the black belts - the boat starts sinking - the purple belts take the last of the boats (sorry, no women) - the boat is going down - the blue belts have at least grabbed the life vests - cold, but alive) - the boat hits the ocean floor, the white belts are wondering why their violins are not sounding so good as they continue to play regardless.
In other words - the more experienced people deal with problems more easily, becasue they simply see them way early, and at best, avoid them completely. less experienced people - have to come up with solutions after they have let themselves get into trouble. Even less experienced people, are in the deepest of trouble before they even realise it.
Avoid the swamp to begin with! brush your teeth - and avoid a trip to the dentist. That's Black Belt dental hygiene!

So apart from good basics and an understanding of essential attacks and escapes, transitions are about the most important thing a pre blue or new blue can work on.
All of my beginners know - the first three big secrets to good grappling are:
POSITION - POSITION - POSITION
Also works for real estate!

So for the first two years of practice - we put loads of emphasis on that aspect of training (in all it's forms)

Please excuse the typo's - time is short.

JBW

PS; Any women that read this : please don't take offense at my analogy - just substitute 'women' for 'guys' - and all will be fine.

My friend Mike ...

I am deeply saddened today by the loss of a friend - Mike Gent of Auckland in New Zealand.
This week, while he was on the mat, doing what he most loved to do, he collapsed - cause of death as yet unknown.

Mike was an extremely interesting man. A warrior through and through. He was a hard man - Old School - is how the kids of today would describe him. He trained in Japan with Hatsumi Sensei, before the gi's turned black; and when a bokken strike to the head, mean't exactly that. He was never a man to pull pumches and never one to sit on the sidelines. Whether running his security company, doing his bodyguard work or on the mat each evening, he was in all things, a Man of Action.

I first had contact with Mike back in the early 80's when I was running Blitz magazine. He seemed interesting then and I ran an article on him. It was years later though, that I finally met the man, when I came to New Zealand to teach some BJJ seminars. Mike picked me up from the airport and took me to his dojo. "Where are the mats?' I asked - 'Mat's? We don't need mats' he replied. I liked him immiediately! And so we went at it! Wooden floor, grappling, sweat, bumps, bruises and some small quantities of blood. It was well over a year before I could talk Mike into getting mats for his students sakes. That was a big compromise for Mike.

Mike was a very proficient and hard martial artist, with loads of street experience under his belt. He was a passionate teacher and a loving family man. What I have to say about Mike, cannot be expressed in a few paragraphs here - but one thing that stood out about him the most, was his unceasing desire to be a student of the martial arts. He loved his BJJ training - it opened up a whole new world for him - another complex challenge; one he undertook with great passion. Although he held the rank of purple belt - he was to receive his brown belt on my next visit. We will honor him with that rank as of now.

I am sad - as must be all of his students; but the truly deep sadness lays with his family - Mel, Warwick and Cherise. I know that all who knew him will be there for them - and will do whatever we can to assist in this time of great grief.

You were a great man Mike - and you took on life head on. You really lived my friend - and will be sadly missed.

JBW March 2006

Some of my favourite Latin sayings ..

To the few freaks out there that may find this interesting, here are a few of my favourite Latin sayings - and yes, I did learn Latin at school - and a further yes, I am that old!

dulce bellum inexpertis: war is sweet to the inexperienced

semper reformanda: always being reformed

Sine Qua Non: Without which nothing

fac fortia et patere: do brave deeds and endure

obscuris vera involvens: the truth being enveloped by obscure things

ars longa vita brevis: art is long, life is short

Te morituri salutamus: we who are about to die, salute you

acta non verba: actions, not words

audentes fortuna iuvat: fortune favors the bold

per ardua ad astra: through adversity to the stars

Mens sana in corpore sano: A sound mind in a sound body

esse quam videri: to be, rather than to seem

Rerum cognoscere causas: To discover the causes of things

hic sunt leones: here there are lions

Dum spiro, spero: While I breathe, I hope

repetitio est mater studiorum: repetition is the mother of study

citius altius fortius: faster, higher, stronger

uctor et emergo: I struggle and emerge

a posse ad esse: from being able to being

veni, vidi, vici: I came, I saw, I conquered

RADIX Training ...

I am just kicking off with this years seminar schedule - and have already been asked the same question by half a dozen different people. I'm guess it was that article on Warrior tactics, that appeared in Blitz Maagazine, that has sparked the interest. it may or may not be of interest to the BJJ community at large - but here goes anyways, as typing seems to be good therapy for my post-op recovery.
the question: what kind of training do I deliver to military and policing units?

Well the program that I deliver to defensive Tactics Staff and Marine corps M.A.C.E staff at Quantico, as well as Australian Military Unarmed Combat Development cellsand other specialized Law Enforcement groups, is called the RADIX Training Program.
It is a distilled, accelerated learning-based defensive tactics program designed for people who cannot undertake regular and ongoing intensive training - but who need a highly functional, fat-trimmed and holistic defensive Tactics methodology that works in high stress situations.
It takes about 12 hours to get participants up to a functional level after having worked through the following in a scenario-based training format:

- Developing a Plan: Planning and coping strategies for real world assault
- Main Arsenal: Headbutts, elbows and knees
- Pre-Fight Plan: The Formula - setting up the pre-emptive attack
- Safety Boxing: How to box and spar without either partner taking a hit
- Fox-holing: How to cover up against a blitzing attack
- Braving the Storm: Getting in and clinching without being hit
- Taking it to the ground: Real-world clinching and takedowns
- Ground Control: Getting and keeping good position on the ground
- Finishing: Chokes and dislocations from both superior and inferior
position on the ground
- Control and Strap: Controlling and cuffing a non-compliant assailant

Relevance to Martial Arts Schools:

The Problem: For most people, undertaking martial arts training is an ongoing and long-term commitment. People have many and varied reasons for taking up martial arts training. But for almost all of them, the Self Defence aspect rates as one of the most important reasons why they even make a start.
As professional instructors, we understand that realistically speaking, it can take many years of training in the martial arts to attain even the most basic of useable self defence skills when it comes to the nitty-gritty of real-world assault.

Many people/students desist with their martial arts training because they instinctively feel that, although the training provides many other benefits, they could not effectively deal with a vicious and non-choreographed assault from a larger and extremely motivated adversary.

The answer: Have them training in the nitty-gritty right up front at the start of their martial arts training. By utilizing the RADIX training method, I give them the goods they need to survive, whilst they continue with their long-term approach to the study of martial arts, and gain all the benefits that go along with that. The RADIX training method is also used by a few select schools a short course, to draw in the public to a longer study of the martial arts. In other words, it is used as a highly effective entry-level program to get people into long term martial arts training.

Most martial arts training is like saving for your retirement; a great long-term investment, but what happens in the meantime, in the short-term? Retirement savings ar not going to feed me tonight or pay my rent this week. What skills will you need if you are assaulted this week on your way home from training – not in ten years from now, when you have more experience and hundreds of hours of sparring/grappling under your belt? It all comes down to about ten to twelve hours of training in the right things – using strategies and techniques that are absolutely cutting-edge.

Take the knowledge of a seasoned Street-fighter, a ranked Kickboxer and a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt, then distil it all down into a 12 hour training package and you begin to have an idea of what RADIX Training is all about.

So there you have it. In essence, I teach the essence of what makes the highly practical and combative efective arts work. I teach it in a short amount of time - because most of these serious professionals have so many other skills they need to spend time on, that they just cannot realistically spend the two to three hours per day in Dfeensive Tactics/martial arts training that they would like to spend.

I hope that answers some of the querstions that people are asking. I look forward to see you all on the mat soon.
With two separate trips to Sydney and one to brisbane and the gold Coast in the next month - I will be kept busy before once again visiting my friends in new Zealand. the it's off for a couple of weeks work in the USA - specifically in las vegas for the Chuck Norris UFAF convention, then the MAIA professionals convention, then Seattle, San Fransisco, then other secret stuff - I could tell you but you know what would have to happpen then ...

Best wishes,
JBW

Who does the cutting?

Back from surgery pn my elbow last night. Surprisingly, i can type as well as i could before surgery. the mark of a good surgeon? Anyways - op is over, all seems to have gone well. I have had five ops over the course of my life, and have recovered quickly from all of them. The one thing I have always done is to track down the best surgeon for the job. So if you need surgery on a broken or injured limb - find out who the top pro athletes go to. And go there. What you get for your time (usually some waiting) and money is someone who can get in, do the job, without being overly invasive; meaning, they do not disturb surrounding tissue more than is necessary. this promotes speedy recovery.
Anyways, i am taking a few days off training. Watch a few dvd's and play with my family.
best wishes all,
JBW