BJJ Görgü Kuralları: Mat üzerinde Nasıl Davranacağınızı Bilin BJJ, insanların birbirleriyle gerçekçi koşullarda mücadele etmelerini sağlayan yoğun bir spordur. Böyle bir ortamda gerilimin yüksek olması doğaldır ve bu nedenle spor salonu kurallarına, diğer bir değişle BJJ görgü kurallarına uymak önemlidir. Bunu yapmamak takım arkadaşlarımız ile aramızın bozulmasına neden olabilir.Bu kapsamlı kılavuz, BJJ eğitimi alırken aklınızda bulundurmak isteyeceğiniz BJJ görgü kurallarının tüm temellerini özetlemektedir. BJJ Mat Görgü KurallarıHijyenUygun hijyeni sağlamak sadece kibar olmanın ötesine geçer ve aslında spor salonundaki herkesin sağlıklı kalmasında önemli bir rol oynar. Hijyen, "Tatami’de ayakkabı olmamasından", "her dersten sonra GI'nizi yıkamanıza" kadar her şeyi kapsar. Bu kurallara sürekli uymak ve akılda tutmak çok ama çok önemlidir. Kişisel hijyen, insanların birbirine çok yakınlaştığı bir sporda çok önemlidir. Derse duş alarak gelin, parmak ve ayak tırnaklarınızı kesilmiş halde tutun. Hastaysanız veya cilt enfeksiyonunuz varsa derse gelmeyin. Her dersten önce dişlerinizi fırçalayın, ağız gargarası kullanın veya en azından bir sakız çiğneyin.Uygun giyinmekKıyafetiniz girdiğiniz derse uygun olmalıdır (GI veya No-GI) ve akademi kurallarına da uygun olmalıdır. GI altına bir rash guard giyin.Kemerinizi nasıl bağlayacağınızı öğrenin, belinize düzgün bağlanmış bir kemerle GI'niz 10 kat daha iyi görünecektir. Not: Kemeriniz sihirli anti bakteriyel özelliklere sahip değildir ve diğer eşyalarınız kadar sık olmasada yıkanmalıdır. Her dersten sonra terli kıyafetlerinizden ayrı bir yerde muhafaza edilip havalandırılmalıdır. İç çamaşırları tartışılmaz bir zorunluluktur. Boğuşma sırasında kimse sizin çatalınızı görmek istemez :)  Sizi veya antrenman partnerinizi potansiyel olarak yaralayabileceğinden, antrenmandan önce her türlü mücevher çıkarılmalıdır.  Başlangıç dersiniz ise ya da no-gi sınıfındaysanız, antrenmanı engelleyebilecek fermuarlı, cepli veya benzeri aksesuarlı şort veya gömlek giymekten kaçının.Beyaz kuşaklar da insandırHangi renk kemere veya stripe sayısına sahip olursanız olun, herkese saygılı davranın. Daha da önemlisi, daha yüksek kemeriniz varsa, daha düşük kemerlerin sizi izlediğini unutmayın. Bu yüzden olumlu bir örnek olmak için elinizden gelenin en iyisini yapın. Herkesle arkadaş olmak zorunda değilsiniz ama minderdeki herkese saygı duymak zorundasınız.Salon kurallarına uyunSalon kuralları bir BJJ okulundan diğerine değişebilir, ancak bunların bir nedeni vardır - eğitmenlerin peşinde olduğu eğitim ortamını yaratmak. Bir spor salonunda antrenman yapmayı tercih ettiğinizde, o salonun kurallarına ve temel BJJ görgü kurallarına uyun.Konuşmalar Jiu Jitsu çerçevesi dışına çıkmamalıBu, hemen hemen her spor salonunun kabul ettiği yazılı olmayan bir kuraldır. Tatami eğitim için bir yerdir. Şaka ve genel sohbetler normal olsa da politika, din veya diğer hassas konular gibi konuları gündeme getirmeye çalışmak iyi bir fikir değildir. İnsanların BJJ  öğrenmek için minderlerde oldukları gerçeğine saygı gösterin.BJJ Sınıfı Görgü KurallarıSınıfta nasıl davrandığınız, sizin ve diğer öğrencilerin deneyimden ne kadar yararlanabileceğinizi doğrudan etkileyecektir. Sınıfın akışını bozmak ve herkesin dikkatini dağıtmak için bir kişi yeter. Ders sırasında BJJ görgü kuralları belirlidir ve çiğnenmemesi gereken bazı temel kurallar vardır.Zamanında gelSınıf yapısından bağımsız olarak, eğitmenler, size en iyi eğitim deneyimini sağlamaya çalışırlar. Sınıfta bulunduğunuz zamanı en verilmli şekilde değerlendirmek onların ilk amacıdır. Zamanında gelmek sadece saygılı olmakla kalmaz, aynı zamanda bir sınıfın ne kadar verimli olacağı açısından da ÇOK önemlidir. Geç kalmayın.Isınma hareketlerini kasıtlı olarak atlamayınIsınma, esneme veya soğuma sınıfın en heyecan verici kısmı olmasa da çok önemlidir - aksi halde bu yapılmazdı. Bir şeyleri gönülsüzce yapmak ne size ne de sınıftaki morale hiçbir şey kazandırmaz. Sakatlıkların çoğu ve antreman sonrası ağrıların büyük bir kısmı bu ısınma/soğuma hareketleri ile önlenebilir.Ders sırasında minimum düzeyde konuşmaya özen gösterinEğitmen bir şeyler gösterirken sınıfta tam bir sessiz ortam olmalıdır. Yaptığınız her yorum veya şaka dersin bitmesini bekleyebilir. Aynı şey, teknik uygulama veya alıştırmalar sırasında insanlara koçluk yapmak için de geçerlidir – bu eğitmenin/koçun işidir, sizin değil. Sessiz olun ve elinizden gelen en iyi şekilde gösterileni yapmaya çalışın. Üst kuşaklar bazen ufak hataları düzeltse de, hoca değillerdir. Koçun gösterdiği tekniklere bağlı kalınGösterilenin dışında teknik uygulamak çoğu eğitmenin gerçekten sinirlerini bozan bir şeydir. Evet başka seçenekler de var ve evet, her hamlede savunmalar ve kaçışlar var ve eğitmenler bunu sizden çok daha iyi biliyor. Belirli bir tekniğin belirli bir şekilde gösterilmesinin de bir nedeni vardır. Roll zamanı geldiğinde, ne istersen yapma şansınız olacak.Tekniği izlerken saygılı bir duruş sergileyinÇoğu spor salonunda, üzerinde konuşulmuş bir kural olmasa da, eğitmen teknik gösterirken nasıl durduğunuz veya oturduğunuz çok önemlidir. Herkesin aynı pozisyonda oturmasına gerek yok elbette ama mindere uzanmak da uygun bir hareket değildir. Samuraylar gibi ciddi bir oturuş beklenmese de, dikkatinizin eğitmeninizde olduğunu gösterir bir duruş eğitmeninize olan saygınızı belirtir.Soru sorun ama abartmayınEğitmenler genellikle bir anlatımın sonunda veya dersin sonunda sorular ve cevaplar için yer bırakırlar. Bu bir şey sormak için harika bir zamandır. Ancak sorularınızı sınıfın konusuna özel tutun ve diğer insanların da soruları olabileceğini hatırlamaya çalışın.Cep telefonunu sessize alDers sırasında cep telefonunu sessize al. Nokta. Bir cep telefonunun çalması, birinin derse geç gelmesine, eğitmenin sözünü kesmesine veya gereksiz konuşmasına eşdeğerdir. Herkesin dikkatini dağıtır. Daha da iyisi, telefonunuzu dolabınızda veya arabanızda bırakın. Antrenman yaparken dünyayla bağlantınızı kesmenin verdiği huzuru yaşayın :)Çekimden önce izin alınSosyal medya iyi hoş ama teknik anlatılırken veya teknik uygulanırken video veya fotoğraf çekmek hoş karşılanmaz. Ders devam ederken video veya fotoğraf çekmek istiyorsanız çekip çekemeyeceğinizi sorun ve asla buna izin verildiğini varsaymayın.BJJ Roll Görgü KurallarıBJJ görgü kuralları dersin teknik kısmı bittiğinde bitmez. Roll sırasında aklınızda bulundurmanız gereken uyacağınız bu kurallar sayesinde, sadece siz ve partneriniz için değil, çevrenizdeki diğer insanlar için de roll kalitesi artacaktır.Egonuzu kontrol altında tutunTemel olarak, rakibinize kazaran tokat atmanızda veya gereksiz sert submission yapmanızda egonuz bir rol oynar. Ancak bunu kontrol altında tutmak sizin sorumluluğunuzdadır.Diğer insanların da egoları olduğunu bilin ve egolarımızın hareketlerimizi ve daha da önemlisi tepkilerimizi yönlendirmelerine izin verirsek, roll o kadar hoş bir deneyim olmaz. Şu sözü aklınızdan çıkarmayın “Bir hareketi yapmak için gerektiğinden fazla güç uygulamanız gerekiyorsa, o hareketi yapmayı tam olarak öğrenmemişsinizdir.”Çevrenizden haberdar olmakÇiftler kaçınılmaz olarak ara ara birbirine çarpar. Etrafınızda olup bitenlere karşı dikkatli olmalısınız. Üst kuşaklar ile çarpışırsanız alt kuşak olarak yer değiştirmeniz beklenir. Sizin de üst kuşak olacağınız zaman gelecektir. Merak etmeyin. Siz ve partneriniz bir duvara veya köşeye sıkışmış bir gruba çok yaklaştıysanız, elbette ki siz uzaklaşarak onlara yer açmalısınız. Çevresel farkındalık antrenman yaparken özellikle çok önemlidir. Take down çalışacaksanız yeterli alanın olduğundan emin olun.Ellerine dikkat etKazalar elbette olacaktır. Bununla birlikte, rakibinizin 3 parmağınızdan daha azını tutarsanız, saçını tutarsanız veya kasıtlı olarak çimdiklerseniz insanların tepkileri ile karşılaşırsınız. İlk başta sizi uyarır ama tekrar ederseniz sizinle partner olmayı reddetmeye başlarlar. Adil oynayın! No-GI'de partnerinizin kıyafetinden tutmamak için elinizden gelenin en iyisini yapın. Rakibiniz şort yerine GI pantolonu dahi giymiş olsa No-GI dersinde pantolonu tutmayın.Ne yaptığını bilmiyorsan, daha zor olanı yapmak iyi bir fikir değilSpazzing (deli dana gibi saldırmak), kontrolümüz altındadır. Ancak özellikle yeni başlayanlar olarak bunun her zaman farkında değiliz. Birinin, etrafında olup biteni veya partnerine ne yaptığını hesaba katmadan bir şeyler başarmak için elinden gelen her şeyi yapması hoş değildir. BJJ öğrenmek istiyorsanız kaybedeceksiniz ve daha çok kaybedeceksiniz. Buna alışın ve en azından roll sırasında bazı temel BJJ görgü kurallarına uyun.Boyut, yaş ve cinsiyet farklılıklarına saygı gösterinJiu Jitsu'da deneyim önemlidir ancak boyut, yaş ve cinsiyetin de gerçek faktörler olduğunu hatırlamak eşit derecede önemlidir. 100 kg'lık bir beyaz kuşak, 50 kg'lık bir mor kuşağı incitebilir. Sırf biri sizden daha yüksek rütbeli diye istediğiniz kadar sert gitmeye hakkınız olduğunu düşünmeyin. Bu, sizden çok daha büyük biriyle roll yaparken de geçerlidir. 25 yaşındaki bir kişinin Kardiyo fitness düzeyi ve toparlanma hızı 55 yaşında olduğundan çok daha fazladır! Kadınlar, erkekler kadar vahşi olabilir, ancak belirli bir ağırlık sınıfı için daha az kaslı olma eğilimindedir. Beyler, küçümseyici olmayın, aynı zamanda bunu Hulk'muşsunuz gibi davranmak için bir fırsat olarak kullanmayın. Her ikinizin de çalışmadan en iyi şekilde yararlanabilmesi için antrenman partnerinize uymaya çalışın.Tap’e saygı gösterinTap’in her iki kişinin de sorumlu olduğu bir şey olduğunu unutmayın. Submission’a yakalanan kişi geri dönüşü olmayan bir noktayı ne zaman geçtiğini anlamalıyken, submission’ı yapan kişi de hayati eşiğe yaklaştığında yavaşlamalı ve partnerinin tap etmesine imkan vermelidir. BJJ görgü kuralları içinde en önemlisi bu kuraldır.Zaferde alçakgönüllü olBirinin tap etmesi sonrası kutlama yapmak kötü bir fikirdir. Rakibiniz tap ederse, gülümseyin, GI'nizi düzeltin, tokalaşın ve tekrar başlayın. Bir antrenman partnerini her tap ettirişinizde UFC şampiyonluk kemeri kazanmış gibi davranmanıza gerek yok. Böyle yaparsanız yavaş yavaş antreman partneri bulmanız zorlaşacaktır. Saygı!Spor Salonuna Misafir Olarak Giderken BJJ Görgü KurallarıSon olarak, bir BJJ akademisini ziyaret ederken nasıl davranmanız gerektiğine bakalım. Elbette, ders sırasında ve roll sırasındaki davranışlar hakkında ele aldığımız tüm BJJ görgü kuralları hala geçerlidir. Ancak misafir olduğunuzda göz önünde bulundurmanız gereken birkaç şey daha var.Erken gitHer şeyden önce, tam zamanında gitmeyin. Erken gidin. Bu sayede eğitmenle ve/veya öğrencilerden bazıları ile buluşup onları biraz tanımak için zamanınız olur.Gittiğiniz spor salonu hakkında önceden araştırma yapınGI ile 10th Planet spor salonuna gittiğinizi hayal edin :) Ziyaret ettiğiniz okulla ilgili temel bilgileri bildiğinizden emin olun ve bunun bir No-GI sınıfı, GI sınıfı, güreş sınıfı veya open mat olup olmadığının da farkında olun . Gelmeden önce eğitmen veya spor salonu yetkilisi ile görüşmek iyi bir fikirdir. Derslerin saatinin güncel olup olmadığı, ertelenmiş veya iptal edilip edilmediğini öğrenerek zaman kaybetmekten kurtulmuş  olursunuz.BJJ görgü kurallarınıza dikkat edinBJJ'nin tüm görgü kuralları burada da geçerlidir. Bir ziyaretçi olarak, insanlar size biraz sert müdahale etse dahi aynı şekilde yanıt verme eğilimine karşı koyun.Sadece roll etmelisiniz, spor salonundaki herkesi öldürmeye veya bir şey kanıtlamaya çalışmamalısınız. Roll etmenin temel kurallarına bağlı kalın ve mat üzerindeki zamanınızın tadını çıkarın.Özellikle istenmedikçe öğretmeyinZiyaret ettiğinizde özellikle bir ders vermeniz istenmiyorsa, o zaman sadece bir öğrenci olduğunuzu ve tavsiye vermemeniz gerektiğini unutmayın.ÖzetBJJ görgü kuralları sadece "oss" deyip insanlara selam vermekten ibaret değildir. Bunlardan çok daha önemli kurallar vardır. Antrenmanın her kısmında, yarışmalarda ve spor salonlarını ziyaret ederken nasıl davrandığınız, bir sporcu olarak size ait genel bir izlenim oluşturmak için bir araya gelir. Kurallara uyun, her şeyin pozitif yönde değiştiğini göreceksiniz.   Ref: BJJ Etiquette: Know How To Conduct Yourself On The Mats

Konfor alanımızdan çıkarak kendimizi test ettiğimiz spor müsabakaları birçok açıdan potansiyelimizi ortaya çıkarmaktadır. Peki, BJJ müsabakalarına ilk defa hazırlanan bir sporcu olarak nelere dikkat etmeli, turnuvada nelerle karşılaşma beklentisinde olmalıyız? Öncelikle turnuva hazırlık sürecinde daha farklı bir antrenman rutinine girmiş olmanız ve hazırlığınızı yapmış olmanız en bariz ilkelerden. Kendinizi en iyi hissettiğiniz tekniklere odaklanıp onları bol bol tekrar ederek yaptığınız çalışmalar neticesinde içgüdüsel olarak düşünmeden yapabilecek hale gelmeniz turnuva heyecanında da bu teknikleri uygulama imkânı sağlayacaktır.  Müsabaka maçları her iki tarafın da en iyi oldukları oyunlarını sergiledikleri mücadelelerdir. Yeni ve ilk defa görülmüş ya da az çalıştığınız, emin olmadığınız teknikleri deneme alanı değildir. Turnuva deneyiminiz arttıkça ve teknik repertuarınız genişledikçe elbette bu söylediğim belli noktalarda geçerliliğini yitirecektir, ancak sınırlı minder deneyimine ve teknik bilgiye sahip sporcular için her zaman güvenli ve bildiği teknikleri uygulaması başarı oranlarını artıracaktır.  Kondisyonunuz en az tekniğiniz kadar önem arz etmektedir. Katılacağınız turnuvanın kural düzenine göre maç sürenize bakarak antrenman yapmanız ve temponuzu kontrollü bir şekilde artırıp azaltmanız, gerçek maçınız esnasında da nefesinizin ritmini kaçırmamanıza yardımcı olacaktır.  Daha yoğun ve sert antrenmanların eşliğinde en az onlar kadar önem taşıyan süreç iyileşme sürecidir. Yani temiz beslenmeniz ve en az 8 saatlik gece uykuları ile bedeninizi desteklemeniz hem hazırlık sürecinde sakatlıklarınızı minimize edecek, hem de müsabakada daha iyi bir performans sergilemenizi sağlayacaktır.  Turnuvaya yaklaştıkça, antrenman şiddeti azaltılmalı, vücudunuzun dinlenmesine ve toparlanmasına imkân tanımalısınız. Turnuva haftası artık sert idmanlardan uzak, teknik tekrarı, kas hafızasını kuvvetlendirecek, ter antrenmanları tercih etmeniz müsabakada daha enerjik ve güçlü dövüşebilmenizi sağlar. Müsabakanıza 1 hafta – 10 gün kala kafein içeren içecekleri keserseniz kafeine olan duyarlılığınızı yeniden artıracak, turnuva günü tükettiğini kahve ve benzeri içeceklerin etkisini de daha iyi hissetmenize imkân sağlayacaktır.  Etkinlik eğer farklı bir şehirde veya ülkedeyse, başlangıç gününden en az 1 gün önce seyahatinizi sonlandırıp yolculuktan kaynaklı oluşacak ödemin vücudunuzdan atılmasına ve dinlenmenize süre tanımanız yine size turnuva günü daha iyi hissettirecektir. Tartınızı bitirip kilonuzu da onaylattıktan sonra maçınıza kadar su tüketiminize özellikle özen gösterin. Dehidre olmamaya dikkat edin, düzenli su için.  Maçınızdan önceki gün temiz beslenmeye ve vaktinde uyumaya dikkat edin. Etkinlik günü kolay sindirilebilir güzel bir kahvaltı ile güne başlayın. Hazırlıklarınızı yaptıktan sonra turnuva alanında maçınızı beklerken aç kalmamak adına da (Muz, elma vb.) meyve ve yine kolay sindirilebilir temiz yiyecekler taşıyın. Yanınızda mutlaka su taşıyın ve düzenli olarak tüketin. Terlemeden kaynaklı mineral kaybınızı azaltmak adına yanınıza tuz alıp maç aralarında su ile tüketebilirsiniz. Glüten ve rafine şeker içeren ürünler tüketmemeniz fiziksel performansınızı artıracaktır. Etkinlik alanında giyebileceğiniz rahat bir çift terlik, ısındıktan sonra beden ısınızı kaybettirmeyecek bir hoodie/geniş sweater ideal olacaktır. Maç aralarının ne kadar süreceğini bilmediğiniz ve sonrasında üniforma arama telaşına düşmemek için yedek rashguard ve short bulundurmanız oluşabilecek son dakika heyecanlarının önüne geçecektir.  Maçınızın ne zaman olacağına dair aşağı yukarı bir fikir sahibi olabilirsiniz. Organizatörler karşılaşmaları listeleyeceklerdir. Venüye maçınızdan 1.5-2 saat önce gelmeniz hem atmosfere alışmanıza yardımcı olacak hem de etkinlik alanında fazla bekleyerek enerjinizin düşmesine engel olacaktır.  Tekrar tekrar terleyip soğumamanız ve enerjinizi boşa harcamamanız için maçınızın saatinden 20 dk önce ısınmaya başlayarak hazır beklemeniz verimli olacaktır. Takım arkadaşlarınız ile beraber gittiyseniz maçı olan arkadaşlarınızın köşesinde bulunabilir, eğer teknik bilgi olarak yardımcı olamıyorsanız maçın süresini ve puanlamayı ona belli aralıklarla bildirebilirsiniz. Kendi maçınızı takip ederken bir yandan takım arkadaşlarınızı da gözetmeyi ihmal etmeyin. Unutmayın ki birlikte her zaman daha güçlü olursunuz.  Eğer ilk kez bir grappling/BJJ müsabakasına katılıyorsanız öncesinde kural kitapçığını okumanız önem arz etmektedir. Eğitmeniniz size genel hatlarıyla turnuva düzeninden ve puanlama sisteminden bahsetmiş olacaktır. Müsabaka alanına geldiğinizde, kendi maçınızdan önce olan özellikle üst kuşakların maçlarını izlemeniz genel düzenin nasıl işlediği ile ilgili size bilgi verecektir.  Maçınız esnasında hakemin direktiflerine uymaya, karşı çıkıp saygısızca tepkiler vermemeye özen gösterin. Unutmayın, rakibiniz düşmanınız değildir, bilakis sizin kendinizi test etmenize imkân sağlayan kişidir, onlara öfke değil minnet duymanız gerekmektedir. Bu tarz bir tutum hem sizin bir sporcu olarak iyi görünmemenize hem de ekibinizin genel duruşu üzerinde etkili olacaktır. Maçınız esnasında hakemin direktifleri haricinde kulak vermeniz ve odaklanmanız gereken tek ses köşenizde size destek olan eğitmeniniz veya takım arkadaşınızın sesidir. Maç esnasında takım arkadaşlarım, izleyenler ne düşünür, kaybediyorum, nasıl gözüküyorum, rezil mi olurum kaybedersem vb. negatif düşünceleri susturmaya özen gösterin. Unutmayın, eğitmeniniz ve takım arkadaşlarınız kazancınız ve mağlubiyetinizden dolayı değil, onlarla minderi paylaşıyor olmanızdan, verdiğiniz emek ve mücadeleden, gösterdiğiniz cesaretten dolayı sizlerle gurur duyuyorlar.  Hepimiz mücadele sporlarında müsabakaya çıkarken elbette kazanmak için çıkıyoruz. Ancak unutmayın ki illaki birileri kaybedecek ki birileri kazansın. Başarı sonuç değildir. Başarısızlık da ölümcül değildir. Önemli olan devam etme cesaretidir. Zaferde alçakgönüllü, yenilgide de zarif olun. En önemlisi de keyif almayı unutmayın. 

Yeni başlayacağımız herhangi bir deneyim bizi her zaman korkutur. Bilinmezlik vardır en nihayetinde, insan ise güvende hissetmek için ne ile karşılacağını önceden kestirmek ister. Yeni bir aktiviteye başlarken her ne kadar bir çekince olsa da, sanıyorum dövüş sanatlarının doğası gereği bu alanda bir adım atma ve devamlılığı sağlamak daha zor oluyor insanlar için.Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, bilinen geleneksel dövüş sanatlarından çok farklı bir duruşa sahiptir, çünkü belki de yerde sırtımızın üzerinde bu kadar ayrıntılı ve detaylı bir şekilde hareket ettiğimiz tek sistemdir. Benzer disiplinler elbette mevcuttur; Judo, Sambo, Catch Wrestling vb., ancak bütün bunlardaki Newaza dediğimiz yer güreşi olan kısmı, BJJ’de görüldüğü kadar ayrıntılı değildir.Hayatımız boyunca ayaklarımız üzerinde hareket etmeye ve özellikle büyük şehirlerde yaşıyorsak, kişisel mesafemizi korumaya bu kadar önem vermişken, bir anda bütün bu alışkanlıkların yerle bir olduğu bir aktiviteye başlamak elbette kolay bir karar olmayacaktır.Aklınıza gelebilecek bazı soru ve düşünceleri farklı bir bakış açısıyla yanıtlamak ve yorum katmak istiyorum. Jiu-Jitsu’ya başlamanın sizlere neler kazandırabileceği ile ilgili tecrübe ettiklerimi de size aktaracağım. Aynı zamanda dövüş sanatlarındaki eğitiminize başlamadan önce dikkat etmeniz gereken bazı hususları dile getireceğim. Öyleyse başlayalım.• “Çok zor gözüküyor ben hayatta yapamam”Yeni başladığımız ve yapmaya değer her şey kolay olmaya başlayana kadar zordur zaten. Bu öğrenmenin en doğal parçasıdır. Yaptığınız aktivitenin size kolay gelmesi aslında o yaptığınız şeyin kolay olduğundan değil, artık sizin için kolaylaşmış olmasından kaynaklanır. Düzenli çalışma ve tekrar ile Jiu-Jitsu öğrenememeniz için hiçbir sebep bulunmamaktadır.Düzenli olarak antrenmanlara katılıp gerekli emeği verdikten sonra Jiu-Jitsu öğrenememiş kimse tanımıyorum ben şu ana kadar. Herkesin öğrenme şekli ve hızı farklıdır, dolayısıyla zor-kolay, hızlı-yavaş gelişim algılarınızı biraz daha arka plana atarak sadece yeni bir şey öğrenmeye çalışmak olarak yaklaşmak Jiu-Jitsu yaparak geçirdiğiniz süreci daha keyifli hale getirecektir. • “Çok yakın temas, çok terliyorsunuz’’Evet, BJJ doğası gereği oldukça yakın temas uygulanan bir disiplin. Evet, haliyle yoğun fiziksel bir mücadele ve hareket neticesinde terleniyor. Fakat normal şartlara, fiziksel bir mücadele içinde kendi bedeninizi karşınızda size zarar vermeye çalışan birine karşı savunurken ne kadar rahat hissetmeyi planlıyorsunuz?Doğası gereği,hayati tehlikesi yüksek olan fiziksel bir mücadele, olmak istediğimiz bir yer olamaz. Ancak istesek de istemesek de bu tarz bir mücadelede kendimizi bulmamız her zaman bir olasılık. Peki, böyle bir noktadan baktığınızda, böyle bir olayda neler yapabileceğinizi, soğukkanlılığınızı koruyabilmeyi ve hayatta kalma olasılığınızı artırabilecek niteliklere sahip olmayı tercih etmez miydiniz? Size bir seçenek sunulsa, kendinizi herhangi bir insana karşı fiziksel olarak savunabilme yeteneklerine sahip olma veya olmama, buna hayır diyen birisi çıkar mıydı gerçekten? Bu güvenlik hissimize ve hayatta kalma içgüdümüze ters bir tutum olurdu. Yakın temastan çekiniyorsanız ve rahatsız oluyorsanız, o zaman kendinizi savunmanız gerekebilecek bir durumda panik yapmanız, duygusal tepki vermeniz ve dolayısıyla fiziksel bir mücadelede yapılabilecek yanlışları yapma olasılığınız fazlalaşmaktadır. Boks yapan insanlar “suratıma yumruk atsınlar, ne güzel” diye antrenmana gitmemelerine karşılık, ilk başta çekindikleri bu eylem oldukça sıradan bir hale gelmeyi başarıyor. BJJ için de bu geçerli.Huzursuzluk ve rahatsızlık içerisindeyken de sakin kalarak, akıllı kararlar verip, hareket edebileceğimiz bir alan yaratmak istiyoruz. • “Ben çok ufağım yapamam”Jiu-Jitsu’nun ortaya çıkışı zaten, küçük insanların kendilerinden daha büyük daha kuvvetli insanlara karşı mücadele edebilmelerini sağlamakmış. Öğreneceğiniz teknik konseptleri uygulamanız halinde hiç tahmin edemeyeceğiniz bir etkinliğe ve güce kavuştuğunuzu göreceksiniz. • “Ben sinirlenince kırmızı görürüm, vurmak isterim, kendime hakim olamam”Hayatta bir çok şey planladığımız ve olmasını istediğimiz şekilde gitmiyor maalesef. Bundan dolayı duygusal farkındalık ve duygusal yönetim hepimizin medeni bir toplumda yaşaması için önem arz eden özellikler. Jiu-Jitsu, aslında doğada oluşabilecek sonuçları hızlı bir etkinlikle karşınıza çıkartıyor. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu son derece matematiksel bir disiplin olduğu için, doğabilecek sonuçları size gösterip, oluşmasından önce size onu tanımanız, kabullenmeniz ve durdurmanız için fazlaca süre tanımaktadır.Doğada bir canlı başkasının bölgesine girdiğinde neler olabileceğini çok iyi bilir, istediği her ne kadar bir mücadele etmek olmasa da (çünkü bu her zaman onun da ölümüyle sonuçlanabilir) bunun farkındadır. Herhangi bir canlı kendisinden güçlü bir başka canlı ile mücadeleye girerse sonuçlarını bilmektedir. Doğada ders alma-öğrenme genelde yaşam mücadelesi üzerinden çok fazla şans tanınmadan gerçekleştiği için hayvanlar bizlere göre daha çekimser ve daha az cüretkardır. Biz insanlar, medeniyetle ile birlikte gelen sahte bir güvenlik hissine maruz kalabiliyor ve gücümüzü bazen olduğundan çok daha fazla görebiliyoruz.Öfkelendiğimizde, bağırdığımızda, hakaret ettiğimizde, genelde sonuçları fiziksel bir münakaşa ile bitmediğinden dolayı daha rahat hareket etmekte bir sakınca görmüyoruz, bu da bizi güçlü hissettirebiliyor. Ancak, medeniyet sayesinde çoğumuz, hayatında hiçbir fiziksel mücadelede bulunmadan yaşıyoruz. Böyle bir mücadele olması halinde ise gerçekte neler olabileceğini daha iyi anlamak açısından BJJ ve benzeri dövüş sanatları oldukça etkilidir.Sandığınız kadar güçlü veya sandığınız kadar güçsüz olmadığınızı çok güzel deneyimleyeceksiniz. Egonuzu dizginleyebilecek, sakin kalmayı çok hızlı şekilde öğreneceksiniz. Burada çalışırken hissedeceğiniz bütün duygular sizi onlarla başa çıkmaya itecektir. Duygusal tepkiler verip, vurmaya vs çalışsanız da bir işe yaramayacağını görmenize ve bu vesile ile sakinleşmenize ve kabullenmenize yardımcı olacaktır. • “Çok vahşi”Doğasına baktığınızda dövüş sanatları ve savunma disiplinleri karşıdakine fiziksel bir üstünlük sağlamak için düşünülmüş sistemlerdir. Fiziksel bir çarpışmaya kaotik bir olay olarak bakarsak, kaos ile nasıl başa çıkacağınız yine bir tercih noktası olmaktadır. Ondan kaçabilir, siz de kaotik bir tepki verebilir ya da onun karşısında mümkün olduğu kadar sakin kalıp onu kontrol etmeyi deneyebilirsiniz. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’nun hedeflediği nokta ‘’kontrol’’ ilkesidir. Kontrol edebildiğiniz bir durumda dürtüsel ve düşüncesiz hareket etme olasılığınız azalacaktır. Zaten kontrol altında olan birine zarar verme gereği de yoktur.Unutmayın, Jiu-Jitsu sadece bir araçtır, nasıl, nerede, ne için kullandığınıza göre çok büyük değişiklik gösterebilir. Son derece sakin ve kontrol esaslı olabildiğimiz gibi, daha saldırgan ve zarar verici olmamız da mümkün ama bu sanatın kendisinden kaynaklı bir şey değil icra edenin kişisel tercihidir. Unutmayın ki bir bıçağı meyve kesmek, yemek yapmak için de kullanabilirsiniz, bir başkasına zarar vermek için de.Bu ön yargıları ve düşünceleri bir kenara bırakırsak, çok daha öncelikli bir soru var aslında; Neden BJJ yapmalıyım?Öncelikle, her bireyin fiziksel olarak kendisini minimum düzeyde koruyabilecek bilgi ve fiziksel nitelikleri olması gerektiğini savunuyorum. Güvende hissetme içgüdüsü bütün canlılarda olduğu gibi bizim için de her zaman geçerlidir. Medeniyetin vermiş olduğu sahte güvenlik hissini hatırlayın. Kanunlar ve kurallar, bir toplulukta birlikte yaşayan insanların ortak kabul ettiği düzenlemelerdir. Devletlerden, medeni düzenlerden uzakta herhangi bir yerde hak, hukuk gibi kavramlar bulunmamaktadır. Zaten sorun da bu ortak yapılarda yaşarken topluca kabul edilmiş bu kuralları tanımayan, onlara uymayan insanlar çıktığında meydana geliyor. Sizin kendi hakkınızı sizin yerinize ‘o anda’ savunabilecek birisi olmadığında ne olacak? Sizin kendi haklarınızı, kendinizi savunmanız gerektiğinde ne olacak? Böyle bir senaryoyu hiçbirimiz düşünmek istemeyiz ama böyle bir tehlike her zaman mevcut.Hayatınızda herhangi aktif bir sporun olması sizin böyle bir durumda daha dayanıklı, daha zor bir hedef olmanızı sağlayacaktır. BJJ’nin antrenman modeli ve tekniklerin uygulanışı ise gerçek bir fiziksel mücadeleyi maksimum direnç ve kuvvetle, karşılıklı zarar görmeden, gerçeğe en yakın haliyle simüle edebilme imkanı sağlar.Beden farkındalığınız artacak. Bir bütün olarak bedeninizi daha iyi anlayacak, onu daha iyi hissedecek, daha iyi kullanabileceksiniz. Koordinasyonunuz, dengeniz kuvvetlenecek, acı toleransınız artacaktır. Stres toleransınız artaracak, zihinsel ve fiziksel olarak daha güçlü bir siz olacaksınız. Egonuzu dizginleyecek ve özgüveninizi artıracak bu disiplinde başkalarıyla birlikte çalıştıkça, güveni, saygıyı, takım ruhunu, yardımlaşmayı, sağlıklı rekabeti, başkası için mutlu olmayı öğreneceksiniz. Olduğunuz her yerde kendinizi genel olarak daha güvende hissedecek, daha özgüvenli olacaksınız.Bütün bunlarla birlikte, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’nun nasıl öğretildiği, nerede kim tarafından öğretildiği son derece önemlidir. Herhangi bir salona kayıt olmadan önce dikkat edebileceğiniz bazı noktalar şunlar:Öncelikle, eğitmenin yetkinliği. Hiç bilmediğiniz bir alanda, hiç tanımadığınız birine güvenerek bedeninizi emanet ediyorsunuz aslında. Eğitmenin deneyimi ve yetkinliği sizin sakatlanma riskinizi, öğrendiklerinizin niteliğini ve öğrenmenizin kolaylığını belirleyecektir. Elbette konudan çok uzaksanız bunu değerlendirebilecek bir perspektife sahip olamayabilirsiniz ancak diğer salonlardaki eğitmenlerle, ders yapısıyla ve eğitmenin kendisini gösterme şekline göre bunu değerlendirebilirsiniz. Unutmayın, eğitmenleriniz de öğrenmeye devam ediyor olmalı.BJJ’de eğitmenin yetkinliği en basit şekilde kuşak soy ağacından belli olur. Diğer geleneksel dövüş disiplinlerinin aksine herhangi bir standarda oturmamış bir kuşak sistemi vardır BJJ’nin. Genel çerçeveleri bellidir kuşakların ancak sınırlı bir teknik sayısı olmadığı için, yapılabilen teknik sayısından ziyade, kişinin bu disipline verdiği emek ve onu ne kadar anladığı üzerinden derecelendirme yapılır. Derecelendirmeler ve alınan kuşaklar, eğitmen ve okulun (salonun) tarzını temsil eder aslında. Kuşaklarını aldığı eğitmenler ve takımlar belli ise o takım ve eğitmenler onun yetkinliğini kabul etmiştir.Eğitmenin sorduğunuz sorulara karşı uslübu. Sorgulanabilir olması.Derslerde soru sorduğunuz için küçük dürüşürülüyor, alay ediliyorsanız orada bir yanlışlık vardır. Soru sorabilmeli ve öğretilen tekniği yeri geldiğinde sorgulayabilme, neden çalışıp çalışmadığını, nerede uygulamanın daha uygun, nerede uygun olmadığını tartışabilmeniz BJJ’nin önemli bir parçasıdır.Alt kuşaklara nasıl davranıldığıBJJ özelinde olmadan, bazı dövüş sanatlarının öğretildiği salonlarda yeni gelenlere gereksiz bir üstünlük sağlanabiliyor. Yeni başlayan birisi eğer öğrenmeye gelmiş, kibar ve düzgün tavırlar sergilemesine rağmen karşılığında ötekileştirildiğini hissediyorsa orada bir problem vardır. Elbette kapıdan giren herkese ilk günden bütün ilgi gösterilmez, takımın parçası olmak için emek vermesi ve ciddi olduğunun anlaşılması beklenir. Ancak, beyaz kuşaklar takımın en önemli parçasıdır belki de, her gelen kişi yeni sorular, yeni fikirler ve yeni motor paternleri ile gelir. Onlara ilk günden yardımcı olmak ve sıcak davranmak üst kuşakların en önemli görevidir.Başka insanlarla/kulüplerle antrenmanSizin bir salona yazılmış olmanız, orada çalışıyor olmanız, oradaki herhangi birine salon dışındaki hayatınızda size ne yapıp ne yapmayacağınızı söyleyecek yetkiyi vermemeli. Çalıştığınız salonu ve takımı temsil ettiğiniz noktalar elbette önem arz ediyor ancak sizin bireysel olarak çalıştığınız kişiler katıldığınız etkinlikler takımınızın kimliğinden bağımsız olabilmelidir. Başkaları ile antrenman yapmanızı, başka kulüplere misafir olmanızı, cross-training yapmanıza kimse karışamamalı.Bir yere ait hissetmek, bir topluluğun parçası olması insana her zaman güçlü hissettirir. Bunu evde ailemizle, iş yerinde meslektaşlarımızla, okulda arkadaşlarımızla, hobilerimizde, her yerde yaşıyoruz. Ancak, bu aidiyet ve birlik güdüsü başkalarına hayatımız üzerinde gereğinden fazla yetki vermemeli.Umarım kafanızdaki bazı sorulara cevap olabilmiş, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’ya başlamanıza engel olan bazı önyargılar hakkında farklı bir bakış açısı kazandırabilmişimdir. Unutmayın, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu her yaştan, hayatın her alanından insanın yapabileceği bir disiplindir. Genel hareket, denge ve kaldıraç prensipleri etrafında, teknikler herkesin vücut tipine göre uyarlanmaktadır. Minderde görüşmek dileğiyle!

Teknolojiyle beslenen eğlence çağında, çocuklar eskisi kadar egzersiz yapmıyor, spor yapmıyor veya sosyalleşemiyor. Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) çocuklara sağlık ve sosyal yaşam gibi ögeleri sağlamakla kalmaz, aynı zamanda çok eğlencelidir ve hayata dair bazı harika fırsatları da beraberinde getirir. Çoğu sporda olduğu gibi, çocuk dersleri hiçbir zaman yetişkin dersleri kadar yoğun değildir. BJJ kavramları öğretilirken oyunlar kullanılır. Disiplin, Odaklanma ve Saygı Etrafınıza bakın, uyarımlarla dolu bir dünyada yaşıyoruz. Çocuklarda dikkat sorunlarının bu denli fazla görülmesinin en büyük nedeni budur. Disiplin ve odaklanmanın, eğitilmesi gereken kaslar gibi olduğu söylenir. Jiu Jitsu'yu öğrenmek eğlencelidir ancak teknikleri öğrenmek ve uygulamak çok ayrıntılı ve karmaşıktır. Çocuklar bunu yapmaktan zevk alırlar ve başarılı olabilmek için eğitmenlere dikkat etmek zorunda kalırlar. Jiu Jitsu, çocukların disiplinini ve odaklanmasını güçlendirecek ve geliştirecektir. Bu ileride daha iyi okul çalışması, daha iyi ilişkilere ve genel bir yaşam kalitesine dönüşecektir. Saygı olmadan disipline sahip olamazsınız. Tıpkı yetişkinler gibi, çocuklar da bu kavramlarda zorlanır. Eğitmenlere ve takım arkadaşlarınıza saygı duymalısınız. Çocuklar takım arkadaşlarının sınırlarına ve onların çalışma ve öğrenme haklarına saygı duymayı BJJ yaparken öğrenirler. Yaşınız ne olursa olsun, BJJ'de odaklanmanın ve saygının ne kadar önemli olduğunu çok çabuk öğrenirsiniz. Kendini Savunmada Özgüven BJJ tecrübesi olan bir çocuk, bir saldırganı kontrol edebilir ve gerçekçi bir senaryoda etkisiz hale getirebilir. Ayrıca rahatsız edici pozisyonlardan nasıl kaçacaklarını veya daha büyük ve daha güçlü bir saldırganın altında kalmaktan nasıl kurtulacaklarını da öğrenirler. Kendinizi savunma yeteneği hak ettiğinden çok daha az değer gören bir beceridir. BJJ gerçek hayattaki durumlara uyarlanabilir ve potansiyel olarak hayatınızı kurtarabilir. Kendini savunmaya olan güven, çocuğu her yönden kendine güvenen bir birey olarak yetişmesini sağlar. Rener Gracie, aşağıdaki videoda Ryron Gracie ile birlikte hazırladığı “Zorbalığa Dayanıklı Çocuklar” BJJ programını anlatıyor. Bu video derslere dair bir fikir edinmenize yardımcı olacaktır. Jiu-Jitsu'nun arkasındaki temel fikir, başka bir kişiye yumruk atmak, tekmelemek veya zarar vermek zorunda kalmadan kendinizi bir saldırgandan nasıl koruyacağınızı öğrenmektir. Koordinasyon ve Beden Farkındalığı Jiu Jitsu'yu öğrenmek, bir çocuğun birçok küçük ayrıntı içeren teknikleri uygulamasını gerektirir. Bu teknikleri uygulamayı öğrenmek, çocuğun ince motor becerilerini geliştirir ve onlara dengeyi iyi anlamalarını öğretir. Bu, çocukta güçlü kassal ve sinirsel bağlantıları geliştirir, koordinasyon ve dengeyi artırır. Bu beceriler daha sonra hayatlarındaki diğer sporlara ve aktivitelere yayılır ve sadece Jiu Jitsu'da değil, günlük yaşamda da daha başarılı olmalarına yardımcı olur. Hedef Belirleme ve Tamamlama Jiu Jitsu'da kendinizi test etmeniz ve gelişiminizi ölçmeniz için birçok fırsat vardır; rekabet, bir sonraki kemerinizi alma, canlı roll sırasında yeni bir teknik uygulama veya yeni bir rakibe karşı eski bir teknik uygulama gibi. Jiu Jitsu'daki öğrenme süreci boyunca, her gün biraz daha ileri gitmeyi ve biraz daha fazla çalışmayı öğrenirsiniz. Hedef her gün bir önceki günden daha ileri gitmektir. Erken yaşlardan itibaren Jiu-Jitsu ile uğraşan çocuklar, geleceklerinde kendilerine güvenen, zorluklar karşısında pes etmeyen, yenilgilerinden ders çıkaran, saygılı ve güçlü birer birey oılarak parlama şansına sahip olurlar. Çocuğunuzun hem fiziksel hem de duygusal olarak büyümesine tanık olmak için, bugün onu Jiu-Jitsu derslerine kaydedin!

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is often referred to as human chess. Improving at this martial art requires a mix of physicality and intellect. Athleticism and strength are respected, but the crafty, technical, smart practitioners are universally recognized as the best representatives of the sport. BJJ is unique because it does not just attract athletic people. It attracts nerds, bookworms, philosopher and thinker types. Yes, yes. No wonder the best BJJ coach — Jon Danaher — is a philosophy PhD. People often make parallels between BJJ and chess, mostly because of the importance of strategy and tactics. Here is another similarity, which is not discussed very often — the importance of calculation. In chess, a player who can see 3 moves ahead will almost always beat the player who sees 2 moves ahead. How far you can see is infinitely more important than how much theory you know. Similarly, in jiu-jitsu, we marvel at the ability of some practitioners to almost read the opponent’s thoughts. No matter what you try, they are ready. They give you this cheeky smile and you know you are in trouble. Of course, unlike chess, jiu-jitsu has the speed factor. In chess, each side makes only one move at a time. But in BJJ you could execute several moves before the opponent can respond. Sure, many factors play into this other than the speed itself — cardio, the level of fatigue, the mental state we are in during sparring, and so on. But in any case, in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, it pays to have an elaborate game where you have a plan, then a response to each of the possible reactions of the opponent, and then answers to their reactions to your responses, and so on (Marcelo Garcia is a strong proponent of this). As your “jiu-jitsu tree” grows deep and wide, your skill level increases. You start “seeing further” and doing precisely what you admire in high-level practitioners. You can calculate further and further. You guide your opponent exactly where you want them to go. You set cunning traps and trigger reactions to which you already have well-prepared responses. Yes, jiu-jitsu has a certain level of chaos to it — after all, your opponent is not a training dummy and has his or her plans, moves, tactics, and strategies. But having a plan is almost always better than not having a plan. Those of us whose game and skills are best prepared for multiple possibilities, usually end up winning. In this article, I want to describe a concept that I have used, successfully, in both offensive and defensive positions. It is relatively simple, hence something that can be practiced and mastered reasonably quickly, even by white belts. It is simple but difficult to counter — so the time you invest in practicing this pays off in sparring and matches. Enter the 1–2–1 principle. Essentially, it is an advanced trap setting. You use two different moves that have different and usually opposing directions of force. Think about the push-pull principle, or creating dilemmas that Jon Danaher and Gordon Ryan often talk about. You probably already do this — you try a move, which, when countered, opens an opportunity for the second move. You try to push, the opponent resists, then you pull. You attempt a sweep to the right, and as the opponent adjusts the weight and positioning, you sweep to the left. BUT. I see a lot of people who stop at move two. They are missing out. Let’s take it one step further: Do the first move, As the opponent reacts, do the second move (in the opposing direction), And as the opponent reacts to that and overcorrects, go back to the first move. The logic for this is simple: First move — EASY TO COUNTER. Second move — HARDER TO COUNTER if followed right after the first move, but can still be done by a decent opponent. Back to the first move — QUITE A HEADACHE. Let’s look at a few examples. Example 1. Mount Escape 1.1 Try the Elbow Escape As part of the elbow escape (for the sake of the example, let’s say you are turning right), you have to turn a bit sideways and start bringing your head and your knee (on the side you are trying to escape) closer together. One of the most annoying and effective ways to counter this is a cross-face. As the top player uses the cross-face to straighten you up (towards your left) and move your head away from your knee, it is easy to give up on the elbow escape — because it has no chance of succeeding. And that is precisely what most people at white and blue belt levels do. But let’s think about what is the opponent giving you—the arm under your head. 1.2 Switch to Trap and Roll Now that your opponent can’t easily post, use your right hand to block the opponent’s arm under your head, trap his left foot with your right foot, and execute a bridge over your right shoulder. All of a sudden, your opponent has a different problem. Sometimes this is enough to reverse the position. But most of the time, the opponent (sometimes violently) pulls the arm from behind your head to post or raises the left leg to prevent the reversal. You failed. At Trap and Roll. Yes. But what opportunity opened up? Now there is a lot of space to work with on your right side. 1.3 Switch back to Elbow Escape! As the opponent counters the threat of reversal by trap and roll, you know have a lot more space than you had the first time you tried the elbow escape. This time, it is going to be significantly easier to execute it. Give it a try. Rather than just trying singular moves — which are easy to stop, once you connect the moves that have opposing directionality, things become very different. Suddenly you are practicing jiu-jitsu at a much higher level. Example 2. Butterfly Guard elevation 2.1 First attempt to elevate Get a 2 on 1 grip, let’s say on the opponent’s right arm. As you move your hips close and attempt to elevate, a decent opponent will resist. They may move their hips back, or use a cross-frame, but a frequent reaction is to move their upper body backward. Faced with this, a lot of people give up on trying to elevate. But look at how the opponent’s body is misaligned. 2.2 Switch to a push to takedown The second you see the opponent’s shoulders directly above the hips, or even behind the hips, stop pulling and start pushing. It is simple and very effective. People will just fall and you may score a takedown. However, if the opponent is agile and quick enough, they may recover their balance and use their arms on you to start leaning, or even pushing forward to prevent the takedown. Now the opponent’s head is moving ahead of the hips. What does that allow us to do? 2.3 Second attempt to elevate Switch to 2 on 1 again and make the second attempt to elevate. In my experience, this is when if you are not careful, your opponent may fly over your head. :) This is because, unlike your first attempt, here you are starting not from a static point where the opponent can relatively easily stop you, but from a situation where the opponent’s body is on a forward trajectory. Whether from here you enter into leglocks, take the back, or whatever else you are into — up to you. Do you see where I am going with this? Example 3. Triangle and Reverse Triangle 3.1 Triangle Say you have locked a triangle from the bottom. And while you can control the opponent’s posture, their frame is strong enough to provide space and they also don’t let you get the right angle by not letting you get to a perpendicular position. If you have already locked a triangle, be patient. You can try different things to tighten the lock, to get rid of the frame, to get the right angle. If all of it doesn’t work, let’s see how we can take advantage of precisely what makes it difficult to finish the triangle — the stubborn frame. 3.2 Switch to Reverse Triangle Remember, make sure you keep control of the head at all times. Now switch to Reverse Triangle. Once you do that, you change the direction of the attack. The very frame that was saving the opponent has suddenly become the problem. With the reverse triangle, you can attack a kimura, an armbar. The opponent will now focus on protecting the arm, radically changing the arm’s position. Often, the arm goes across, precisely where you were trying to get it in the previous step. I’m sure you know what comes next. :) 3.3 Switch back to Triangle As the opponent is trying to hide the arm, it is likely that the overcorrection will now make the regular triangle deadly. Swing back (make sure to control the posture!), switch to a regular triangle and you will, most likely, have a much easier time finishing the submission. Example 4. Single Leg X Sweep 4.1 Single Leg X sweep attempt So you get into the Single leg X position, wrapped around the opponent’s leg, your hips high, everything is tight. You try the sweep and the opponent shifts the weight the other way in order not to fall. In the process, the leg you are wrapped around becomes light, but sweeping is close to impossible. Problem? No. Opportunity. 4.2 Push in the opposite direction You could try a false reap, or try to attack with a heelhook, but let’s keep the feet where they are. Just push the opponent in the direction OPPOSITE to the direction of the original sweep attempt. If the opponent falls, great, get on top. But usually, the opponent will try to push back and will put the weight back on the leg that you are wrapped around. 4.3 Re-try the Single Leg X sweep As he opponent’s weight shifts back, it usually goes a tad too far. There is also the momentum of course. Now, try the sweep again and most of the time, you will find that it is much easier to make the opponent fall since you will go in the direction toward which the opponent’s body is already moving. Example 5. Snap-down and Takedown 5.1 Snap-down attempt Snap-downs are tough against an opponent of the same size and strength. But there is a good reason to try it — at the beginning of a BJJ match, both opponents’ bodies are bent forward to be ready for a potential takedown attempt. With the head far ahead of the hips, a snap-down is a real threat. But when you try a snap-down, there is an instinctive reaction where the opponent will try to stand straight and align the head and shoulders with the hips. This creates a new vulnerability — now the legs are accessible. 5.2 Double-leg takedown attempt As the opponent straightens up, feint a double leg takedown. You could fully commit, of course, that is another option. Once you feint, the opponent will immediately bend back down and aim to put arms low to protect the legs. Again, like in previous examples, the momentum and the overcorrection help you. 5.3 Second snap-down attempt Try a snap-down for the second time. This time you are far more likely to succeed as you will catch the opponent’s head during the downward motion. Be careful, because opponent can face plant into the mat — that’s how effective this can be. Whether you want to try the guillotine, attack the turtle, go to the back, your choice. ··· You can, of course, apply this to a wide array of different positions. You can also, instead of the 1–2–1 schema, go for 1–2–3, 1–2–1–3, or any other combination of moves that work for you and for the position you are working on. In fact, you should. If I know that all you do is 1–2–1, it will be progressively easier to defend it. This is just one option to expand your repertoire, you can add many others. The point I am trying to make is, don’t just go 1 and that’s it — anyone can counter that. Or 1–2, where most decent practitioners will be able to deal with this too. 1–2–1 is one of those things where you make a claim that you are serious about becoming an advanced practitioner of the art. Now. How to make it work? You have to drill it. No avoiding that. You drill it first, against a cooperative opponent. Then, when you get reasonably comfortable, try it in sparring against lower belts. Then try against the higher belts. Take the feedback and see how to improve. Maybe you need to adjust your grips. Maybe a slight change in body mechanics will help. Drill again. Try again in sparring. You can see from the examples, you don’t need to be a black belt to apply this method. And you will find that it works quite effectively even against higher belts. The reason it does — it overloads the opponent’s processing capacity. It also immediately elevates your level by helping connect different techniques into a coherent approach where one technique flows from another. We usually learn all techniques in relative isolation, so it needs work to connect things. Good luck!

This, in the photo above, is my tribe. My community of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners. My team. It includes my son, some of my best friends, my work colleagues, people from all walks of life, some of which, if not for jiu-jitsu, I would have never met. People of different ages, genders, and backgrounds. United in their quest to become a better version of themselves, by putting their bodies and minds through a grind of regular martial arts training. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a team sport. That’s right. You compete alone, sure. But you train and grow together. Whatever your reasons are for training — you want to improve your self-defense, you are a competitive athlete, you are just trying to get some physical activity in and de-stress — the training environment builds the team chemistry that has a significant impact on our growth both as jiu-jitsu practitioners as well as human beings. As I wrote in one of my other articles: “The people you will meet come from different parts of the world, cultures, religions. There will be the random 110 kg man who wants to lose weight, the 50 kg woman who wants to learn how to defend herself, an 8-year-old who wants to be able to deal with a school bully, a 55-year-old who just wants to be fitter — all in the same room with, say, a professional fighter preparing for his next bout.” Think of your first impression when you walk into a BJJ gym. You see everyone sparring in pairs. It is easy to see the sport as a one-on-one activity. But while you are winning or losing alone, you cannot grow and improve without everyone else on the team. Your Team is the Key It is straightforward in training. You drill, you roll with your teammates. We all have tried to do more solo drills, but let’s face it, they are boring. Have you tried to work out with a wrestling dummy? Boring again. There is no substitute for training with a live and resisting opponent. You get realistic reactions, pressure, and resistance. You can communicate and ask to reset the position. You observe their movement and adjust your own. You learn something every time, whether you are submitting or getting submitted. You go light if your teammate obliges. Or you can go hard if your teammate is game. You can try different modes of training depending on your objectives, or levels of energy. You will find a willing sparring partner for each situation. You roll with lower belts and you can practice your attacks, you can experiment, and test your defenses by putting yourself in bad positions. You roll with higher belts and they will guide you, let you work in some positions, and even put themselves in dangerous spots because they know how to protect themselves. Sometimes just one small tip, one adjustment from a higher belt can change the way you see the position and improve your game instantly. Similarly, you can give one tip to a lower belt and they can instantly and visibly improve. You roll with big strong guys and lightweights. You roll with the teammates who are strong and those who are flexible. You roll with men and women, children, and older teammates. You roll with someone with long limbs, and someone else who is short and stocky. In our team, Barbaros brings speed, Shahab brings size and power, Zafer and Ozan have very long limbs, and Kivanc is insanely strong — each one of our teammates does something that is different, sometimes unexpected — since most people cannot do some things that they do. Some are intense, others are always chill. Some come with slick technique, others with crazy cardio. The move that works on one, may not work on another. And so you learn, adjust, improve in real-time, and get better at applying your techniques to different types of opponents. My favorite sparring partner is my 18 year old son, Alp Arslan — he is like water — you cannot rattle him, you cannot tire him. He just keeps coming and almost every time he springs some new technique at you. Since he has done countless sparring sessions with me, he knows my game all too well, so I have to be on my A-game to do damage. He sees my attacks coming a mile away, and that, in turn, helps me get better. Training follows a class structure. You need it to be systematic — but we don’t keep things too rigid, everything is light-hearted and fun. Then there are open mats that when handled correctly, can promote creativity and sometimes unexpected lessons. I love open mats. Anyone can match up with anyone and just have fun. Sometimes it feels like I am in a workshop with fellow craftsmen trying to figure things out together. Share the knowledge and elevate the team as a whole, not just myself as an individual. Show my signature moves to my teammates and make it a little bit more difficult for me to hit these moves next time — forcing me to upgrade my game and avoid getting complacent. Here, this is how I do my guillotine, my footlocks, my kesa gatame, my butterfly guard. I will happily share whatever I feel I am good at. And I must say, the same goes for my teammates. Generosity in sharing knowledge is one of the key things that define our team. All this helps build team spirit, the spirit of collaboration, and respect. We rely on each other to learn, to practice, to get a serious workout. We share the knowledge and all this prepares you for the competition, after all — the way you train is the way you fight. In Competition When you travel to the tournament venue with your team, you feel like you are marching into battle together. When you think about it, the only time you are truly alone is when you step on the mats for your match. You warm up with your teammates, you leave your stuff with them, and you ask them for time, updates, and tips. There is someone to hold your towel, and hand you a bottle of water. You are never really alone. Even when your match starts, you can hear your teammates screaming their lungs out from the stands as your coach yells out instructions (if you are paying attention of course). After the match, there is someone to pat you on the shoulder in celebration or console you after a loss. You go out after the tournament and have a good meal together. Travel back to your home town together. And the very next day perhaps, it is time for the next training session again. Competitions can be very stressful events. Having a support network like this is immensely helpful. Your Coach matters Our team founder and main coach, Devran Umut Tuzla, a black belt, is the heart of the team. Having trained for more than 12 years, he started building the team with a handful of students. I remember the first time I dropped by the gym, there were only four of us and Devran was a purple belt. :) He patiently built and rebuilt (after COVID-19) the team in Ankara, the capital of Türkiye. Humble beginnings. And now, this is one of the strongest BJJ schools in the country, with the students regularly competing and bringing home bags of medals. Devran is incredibly skilled, yet humble. He shows his students by example that he treats the art of jiu-jitsu very seriously, all the while not taking himself too seriously. He is a warrior in spirit, yet one of the kindest people I know. I will never forget his fight against a 160 kg competitor in the absolute division in an ADCC event that he unfortunately lost but on points — 2–0. That fight left a huge impact on me and has been an important motivation to keep going despite difficulties, injuries and life desperately trying to pull me away from jiu-jitsu. Our second coach, Deniz Kucukozdemir is equally committed to the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. As much as many of us love training in no-gi, Deniz keeps the love for the gi training going. He is a warrior through and through, and it is a shame his injuries have not allowed us to see him in competition. Healthy, he is a menace. Yet he has a light and fun side to him, often commentating on the sparring sessions, cracking jokes, and being there for his teammates in both training and competitions. Our coaches help create an atmosphere of respect and collaboration in the team. Everyone who joins the team either follows this path or does not stick around long. What Devran himself was able to learn in years, his students can now learn in half the time, if not less. Today, anyone stepping into our school has a black belt instructor in front of them. We support each other on and off the mats The bond training together builds is strong. Sure, not everyone gets along. But seeing someone go through adversity, through one opponent after another, and still being available for the next roll — that tells you a lot about that person. That is how you give and earn respect. In some cases, teammates become like family. They are there to support you when you have a personal problem. They are there to listen when you need to talk. They are there to help with all kinds of things whether it be moving apartments, supporting a good cause, or finding your lost pet. Every time when I am going through something, I know I will feel better after training. Even when injured. Beyond your team And all of this goes beyond your team. The whole BJJ world “is your oyster”. You open up a massive community of like-minded weirdos across the world. Almost any place you go to, you can find a jiu-jitsu gym, and the local practitioners will welcome and embrace you. Even when you meet world-class athletes, champions, and best coaches, they are simply people who are in love with BJJ and you can attend their seminars, train with them, and have a meal or a chat. I have often seen how people who just fought each other in a tournament match become friends. This unspoken bond between those who train jiu-jitsu is visible all the time. Be a good team member Whatever your motivation for training jiu-jitsu, you are helping your teammates. You may be a competitor or a hobbyist, but you can push your teammates to get better. Your unique style and specific knowledge can help others improve. Someone who competes helps everyone crank up the intensity. The hobbyist helps remind all that BJJ is not be all end all. It is not an exaggeration — every time you show up in the gym, you are helping everyone else. So show up. Keep your gi and rashguards clean. Pay attention to your hygiene. Cut your nails. Be respectful to your teammates. Behave. If someone asks a question, try to help them to the best of your ability. It is also ok to say — I don’t know. Your stand-up is not great? Point them to someone with good wrestling or judo. Someone asks you how to escape from this position, but maybe you don’t know? Ask the coach. Give your time freely. Be kind. Be focused. Do the work. Over time, your role may change — from white belt to a competitor, to a teacher perhaps. As you get better, you will start helping others improve, giving useful tips and pointers. Embrace being a member of the team. After all, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a team sport. :) The team a few years back. I am still a white belt here. 😁 We train, we fight and we have fun 😃  

My experience from the AJP tournament, Istanbul, December 2022   Look at this picture. I am on the left, wearing black. How do I look? Exhausted, that’s how. This was my sixth tournament. I had convinced myself that by now I was experienced enough not to freak out, to be laser-focused, and to get the best outcome possible. Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. In fact, I waited for a few months to write this article precisely because I needed to reflect on what happened and give it enough time to try to be objective. The first tournament experience is usually tough. The first fight you have, perhaps the second and third and a few more — you are desperately trying to get used to the aggression and roughness of it. Yes, training in jiu-jitsu should prepare you for this. But it is not quite the same. The first time you go down as your opponent launches an aggressive double-leg takedown, the first time a hand lands on your collar with serious intent, or the first time you get bull rushed as you are desperately trying to prevent a guard pass — what happens is a bit of panic settles in. Your heartbeat elevates. You are starting to run out of breath. This is surprising, after all, you roll in the gym for an hour and here you can barely handle 5–6 minutes. You regularly fight with big strong guys, but your opponent, who doesn’t quite look that intimidating, feels too strong or too fast. You can barely hear your coach screaming. The noise of the crowd comes and goes. There are moments when there seems to be nothing else, just you and the opponent. Then there are moments when there is so much noise it makes you dizzy. I remember my first match. My heartbeat was so elevated I could hear it. The opponent felt strong as a bull. After the first 30 seconds, the shock passed and I kept thinking — I am not going to take damage, I should trust my training. I did feel better. Since then, I have had my good days and bad days in competition. Which brings me to the AJP Tour Tournament of December 2022 in Istanbul. This was, as I said, my sixth tournament. What could possibly go wrong? Had I not seen it all? Ah, so comical. Thinking a bunch of white and blue belt competitions meant that much. That I was already an experienced competitor. False confidence can be a serious problem because it makes you think you can be successful despite whatever goes wrong. And one big thing that went wrong was that I barely slept the last couple of days before the competition. We arrived at the tournament venue, weighed in and the next morning, the matches started. DOWN We were only three in the bracket. By the time my first match started, I had waited for hours. During this time, I did all the wrong things, mentally. I burnt myself out. Kept thinking about the match, about what I wanted to do. Nothing wrong with that. But these thoughts were constantly interrupted by other thoughts. That I was a blue belt with four stripes, so I had to win. Anything less than a double gold would be a failure. This, of course, was a colossal mistake. Putting that kind of pressure on yourself is a direct path to failure. If your status, achievements, or accolades do not generate calm confidence, you start feeling like an impostor, desperate to prove to everyone and to yourself that you deserve to be where you are. When I stepped on the mats, I felt mentally exhausted. It did not help of course, that my opponent was as game as they come. In a few seconds, he took me down and started trying to pass my guard. He was strong, he was focused and surprisingly technical. But he was facing a diminished version of me. I was doing what I could to keep him at bay, but by minute two of the match, I could not feel my arms. I couldn’t breathe. I was getting increasingly frustrated with myself. Minute after minute, my opponent racked up points and the desperation settled in. Once I accepted that I was going to lose the match, I focused on not getting submitted. He tried an armbar. I defended. He tried a choke. I defended. Finally, the ref stopped the match after what felt like an eternity. Final score — 20–0. The worst defeat I have had in my 17 tournament matches. As I walked (or rather crawled) off the mats, I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. I sat down next to the mats and closed my eyes, trying to regain my breathing. Failed. Opened my eyes and saw the tournament organizer who took one good look at me and then told the referee to give me 5 minutes before the next match. Yes, there was going to be the next match. The thought of stepping on the mat again was almost physically painful. As my brain started functioning again, slowly, the thoughts that filled my head were not helpful at all. What an embarrassment. 20–0. My team must be so upset. My coach must be so upset. My son (also a competitive jiu-jitsu practitioner) saw that. How could that happen? Maybe I should never compete again? UP Then the rational brain kicked in. Calm down — I said to myself. Just breathe. This was the worst match ever. But you did not get submitted. Now is the time to forget that match. I can relax now. No pressure. I won’t be getting gold, so no point being upset about it now. Just do the next match. Focus on what is in front of you. The referee signaled for me to come to the mats, my opponent was already there. He had seen the mauling I had just received and probably thought it’d be a walk in the park. Can’t blame him if he did. I triangled him in a little over a minute. A win. A convincing win. How about that? After thanking the opponent and the referee, I walked off the mats and went to the stands where my teammates were. Despite all the words of encouragement and congratulations, it was obvious they were a bit shell-shocked at how my first match had gone. I thought about how I could turn this around. My friends! — I said with a big smile. — If you had any worries about your matches, trust me, you will be fine. You would have to try really hard to lose 0–20. As I sat there, with my body aching, I tried to calm my nerves. Yes, I got silver in gi. Not too bad. I did not get submitted. I won by submission. Now I had to concentrate on the no-gi part of the tournament where in the quarterfinal I was paired against a 31-year-old Russian. DOWN AGAIN Perhaps it did not help that a couple of hours passed before I was to compete again. I reverted to destructive self-talk, making the same mistake I had made earlier. Hyped myself up. After all, I was much better in no-gi than gi. I thought I would do well here. As I thought this, my heartbeat started getting up. I did not make the connection at the time, but I can see now that this was the wrong approach. My opponent was a young wrestler (damn it) and attacked viciously. At some point, as he was trying to pass my guard, he tried a baseball choke of sorts and squeezed his fist into my cheek and I felt my teeth cracking. This brought me back to earth. You, son of a bitch, I thought. I got back into the fighting mode and regained some ground, then wrapped my arm around his neck. Arm-in guillotine. I had it deep. Then again, doubt started creeping in. My arm-in guillotine is not good. I need a clean guillotine. And sure enough, as I tried to re-position, he escaped. I felt very frustrated. And as I was already low on energy, he started accumulating points and won the match. I was very upset. Walked off the mats, came to the stands, sat down, and did not say a word for a while. My teammates recognized that it was best to leave me alone. My son put his hand on my shoulder and said — it is over. I was glad it was. That was the competition. Down. Up. Down again. In a tournament— when you don’t win, the question is did you lose or did the opponent beat you? - Losing means you lost focus. You were not present. It is self-inflicted.- Being beaten is — you put up a fight, did your best jiu-jitsu and the opponent was just better.The only way you can make sure your experience was not a waste of time is to identify specific lessons from each loss. These can be specific technical issues, like fixing my arm-in guillotine (match 3 takeaway). You can also make sure you don’t take your wins for granted and seek lessons in those too. You can also adjust your tournament preparation, mindset, and thinking process, as well as your routine before and during the tournament. Here are a few thoughts: Train. Understand that when competing, you are going to fall back on the most trusted techniques that you can perform almost subconsciously. So train, train, and train. I won’t go into details on how to train for a competition — that’s a separate topic altogether. But know this — your confidence depends on your training. As John Danaher once remarked, confidence does not come from words, it comes from accumulation of skill.Improve your conditioning. If you are exhausted, your technique becomes unimportant. There are different ways of doing this, again, a separate topic altogether, but among other things, don’t neglect good sleep. Also, focus on your breathing. Doing breathing exercises can help improve your cardio.Your tournament is NOT that important. Don’t burn yourself out overthinking what might happen. As I often say to my teammates, no one remembers or cares about Gordon Ryan’s wins or losses as a white or blue belt. Most tournaments are to help you identify holes in your game and what to focus on in your training, maybe to have a fun time with your friends and get a bit of an adrenaline rush from the competition. Treat it as such.Your tournament is NOT that insignificant. Yes, the tournament is not such a huge deal, but it is also not nothing. If you approach it correctly, it can be a great motivator to train and improve. It can be a source of great inspiration, new friendships, and fun times. It is a test of your ability to perform under pressure and a medium through which you can improve that. Trust your training. Don’t overthink whether you are ready. Do what you know how to do. You can, of course, try new things, but the tournament is not usually the best place for improvisation.Be here, now. Be present. Don’t overthink your environment. The crowd. The noise. Your family, friends, and your teammates will not care whether you won or lost. Focus on your match. On your opponent. And nothing else.Defeats are normal. Rather than trying not to lose or trying to win, focus on giving it your all. If you come out of a match with no regrets, everything else will line up. Maybe not in this specific tournament, but longer term.Expect aggression. Don’t be shocked at how hard your opponent attacks. Expect it. Initiate aggression if you can. This will save you valuable match time and unnecessary self-talk during the match. No one is coming to the tournament to lose. Yes, some people might choke and fold, but most will give it a fair shot. Do the same.Practice listening to the coach. It is amazing how little we end up listening to corner advice during our first matches. You need to train that. Do drills in training when your coach yells out advice and try to detect the coach’s voice from among the noise. I find that the most useful information is about the time — how many minutes are left in the match — knowing this will help you decide on your strategy and tactics.Winning the first points. This is crucial, it is hard to come back from a point deficit in a 5-minute match. So try to initiate the action, this will help you relax and have a clearer head for the rest of the match.You need to realize that of all the “tough” people you know in your life, a very small percentage has what it takes to survive a week in a jiu-jitsu gym. So you are already in a very small group of people. But then there is the next level. Of all the people who even regularly come to training, only a small percentage competes. So the fact that you are there, competing — you are already among very few select warriors. Take pride in that. . . . Just the last week I did my first tournament at a purple belt level. The advice I have shared in this article helped me avoid being nervous and I did quite well, winning one match by submission and losing in the finals on points. Most importantly, I did not burn myself out before even fighting and was able to enjoy the experience. Competitions can be an amazing experience. I have had a blast traveling and competing with my sons and teammates. I have made a lot of new friends along the way and have great memories. Try it out!

Some Reflections My son and I, on the day of my promotion to purple belt. Symbols. They matter because they represent something to us. But for them to have meaning, there needs to be a group of people who share a similar “language” helping understand how to interpret these symbols. Whether it is an object (a belt of purple color in this case), a ritual, or a sign of some sort, they are a part of our vernacular, helping to make sense of things, persons, and situations. The object — the Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt. The language is that of the worldwide community of BJJ practitioners, grapplers, MMA athletes, and fans who understand the significance and meaning of different belts in one’s martial arts journey. Symbols also tell a story. In this case, the story of a 45-year-old, who has spent the last four years plus borderline obsessed with Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Of countless hours of practice, drilling, sparring, injuries, competitions, watching instructionals, and more practice still. Of dragging my two sons and many others to try BJJ, hoping they would find in this art the precious things it has given me — in addition to the obvious physical benefits, a mindset, and habits that help deal with everyday stress, a great community of like-minded individuals from different parts of the world and walks of life, and an extraordinarily tricky martial art that is fun to learn. So I got the purple belt about a month ago. It was a strange mix of feelings. At first, a deep sense of pride. I did it. When I started jiu-jitsu, I hoped to get to a blue belt level. That was the maximum I hoped to achieve. At the time, the purple belt seemed so far out of reach. As I have heard different black belts say, not more than 10–15% of the jiu-jitsu practitioners get to a blue belt level. If you do, bravo. But sadly, most people quit after getting a blue belt. Only about 3% of the practitioners reach the purple belt. However, once you reach the purple belt, the chances of reaching the black belt become significantly higher. At the purple belt level, you have crossed the survival stage of the white belt, and you did not quit as the blue belt. It is at the purple belt level that everyone around you recognizes that you are in this for real. That’s what it is. The purple belt signifies consistent commitment. With pride, however, come all kinds of thoughts and feelings, sometimes contradictory. • Gratitude. To have found Brazilian jiu-jitsu. To have decided to put in the work. Towards my coach and everyone else who helped me learn and get better. To everyone else in my life, who is patient and understanding enough to let me spend this much time and effort in what may seem like a strange way for a forty-something-year-old to spend his free time.• Confidence. In my skills, putting in the work. In my ability to learn and improve. In my technique, my game, my ability to defend myself and defeat others.• Doubt. Am I really at the purple belt level? Can I successfully match up with other purple belts? Do I know enough? Doubts are part of life. In this case, the way I deal with the doubts is that I remind myself that I am at the beginning of my time as the purple belt — so a couple of years down the line is when I will be a much better purple belt. So no rush, no freaking out. One step, one training session, one sparring match at a time.• Relaxation. I don’t have to prove much anymore. Not that I don’t think I need to improve, of course I do. But I can do that without putting any pressure on myself. Relaxed learning. I can care less now who taps me out, how many times. There is relaxed strength that comes with the rank, I feel. I know my worth, and what I am capable of. I won’t give easy wins to anyone, that’s not gonna happen. But I am now more comfortable with losing without having my ego bruised. Losing and learning.• Focus. At the same time, as my knowledge of BJJ expands, I am becoming more and more focused on what I want to learn. It is hard to make sense of all of it as a white belt. Even as a blue belt you try different things and many things just don’t stick. The problem is at junior levels I did not understand the game well enough to learn the concepts and techniques efficiently, to add them to my game. As a purple belt, it feels different — there are very few things I cannot understand and physically do at this stage. So learning becomes very different.• Responsibility. To my teammates, to anyone I spar with. To keep them safe, to help them grow and get better. But also to improve as their partner — the better I get, the better I can help them become.• Joy. Of just practicing something I love. Having fun. Exchanging jokes with my teammates. Trash talking in the most desperate situations. Giving and receiving positivity.                                                                       ···So where to now? What is next? The easiest answer to that is — keep training. Keep moving forward. If there is one thing BJJ has taught me so far, it is the importance of small steps. Incremental improvements. Kaizen. Atomic Habits. Call it what you will, but anything of value is achieved through continuous work to improve over time. Still, I know I won’t just be satisfied with vague guidance. :) I like to make specific plans. So here are some thoughts: • Don’t forget Defence/Escapes. Periodically revisit and dedicate specific sparring sessions to fundamentals of defense and escapes.• Elevate my guard game. Open Guard, including butterfly, X-guard, single leg X, half guard, half butterfly, reverse de la Riva. Improve the transitions, sweeps, wrestle ups and submissions from all.• Polish my favorite submissions. Leglocks and strangles (including triangles). I never fancied armlocks much. But guillotines, d’Arces, rear-naked choke, and all kinds of leglocks — that I love. I need to add/improve set-ups and finishing. One important thing, I think, is understanding the transitions — between different kinds of headlocks for example. Or between different leg entanglement positions — irimi ashi-garami, cross-ashi, 50/50 and others.• Streamline my top game. From stand-up (snap downs, double leg takedowns), to guard passing (pressure passing), to top control in side control (including my beloved Kesa Gatame) and mount. Get it to the level where opponents feel claustrophobic.I don’t feel I need to learn a whole lot of new techniques necessarily. I think the focus needs to be on improving the execution of high percentage techniques I am already using. It is all about learning and applying the nuances at this point. That said, this old fox can certainly learn some new tricks too. :) I have mentally prepared myself for plateaus. I have previously dealt with plateaus when learning languages, piano, and chess. Plateaus are not fun. But plateaus are also manageable. With perseverance and changing things up just a little bit, you get through them and typically end up better and stronger at the other end. I should also prepare myself for how my sparring sessions might change. As a purple belt, you are in a place where every sparring session with blue belts has a different significance. Also, every white belt will feel more comfortable experimenting because they will feel more confident that I can protect them and myself. :) Every brown and black belt roll will get harder since they won’t feel the need to hold back. This might take some adjustment — symbols change attitudes, even if logically speaking, I have not changed much within the last month. So practice and have fun. And learn, learn, learn.                                                                        ···A week ago, on my trip to Baku, Azerbaijan, I had my ass kicked by a purple belt who is 10 kg lighter than me. :) Yes, yes, he was younger. Much younger. But it was the skill level on display that was more impressive. I was not disheartened after such an experience and if anything, it made me even more eager to learn. There is so much to learn…

Supercharge Your BJJ GrowthA still from a John Danaher instructional Listening to the stories of people who started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the 90s, I have always noticed a similar pattern. They seek out and find some worn-down gym with a bunch of people rolling around, then there is the first experience of sparring and being demolished by someone smaller, weaker, and less athletic. Then starts the fascination with BJJ, becoming an obsession, followed by (important!) minimal opportunities to learn anything about BJJ outside the gym. These days, the pattern is slightly different. BJJ is much more mainstream, thanks to its importance in the fastest-growing sport of MMA, as well as the expanding interest in, as well as the range, and viewership of BJJ competitions. So most people who start BJJ have some idea about what they are getting into. And while the first experience of sparring is usually the same as thirty years ago, what has changed tremendously is the amount of BJJ resources out there. In this article, I want to talk about BJJ instructionals. How to choose them, what to study, and most importantly, how to study. First of all, seek material appropriate to your level. If you are only two months in, watching Gordon Ryan's instructionals is a waste of time. You simply do not have enough reference points to learn advanced systems and techniques. As a complete beginner, you are much better off focusing on learning how to be safe, then fundamental techniques of escapes, then guard, then the top game, and most high-percentage attacks. I won’t go into detail here, you can find my advice for the white belts seeking to become blue belts in my article Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — The Path to Blue Belt. As you gradually gain more experience in jiu-jitsu, self-study should become a key part of your learning. You are much more in a position to start experimenting, branching out, and building game plans. You can find my thoughts on the journey from blue belt onwards in my article Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — You are a Blue Belt, now what? At white belt, your best investment is studying fundamentals, typically through short-format videos, for which YouTube is best. You need some specific tutorials and you won’t be able to retain much of the information you consume, so keep it short. But at blue belt onward, I recommend you start taking your time. Long-format instructionals can revolutionize your training and jiu-jitsu progression. You can still look up short videos if you are trying to fix a specific problem, but the long-term format should take most of your instructional study. There are a number of specialized resources with such materials. The most significant among these is probably the BJJ Fanatics — offering hundreds upon hundreds of instructionals on every possible topic related to the sport. Other resources include the MGinAction by Marcel Garcia, GrapplersGuide by Jason Scully, Jiujitsux by Keenan Cornelius, and others. The pricing differs, but you are learning from some of the best athletes and coaches in the world. At the beginning of my experiments with BJJ instructionals, I have been, sadly, one of the thousands of members of the “I watched an hour-long instructional and barely remember anything” group of jiu-jitsu practitioners. It is hard to retain and apply what you see in an instructional. There is a reason why a coach and a sparring partner are essential when learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It is a physical activity after all, and an activity practiced with another person. That said, there are specific things you can do, to maximize the value of the time you spend watching instructionals. So here are a few things you should do first: • Pick the right type of instruction. This is so important, I will repeat myself. What are you looking for? Learning material for beginners or advanced practitioners? Covering a general theme or a specific position or technique? Gi or no-gi? Make a choice.    • Choose the area you want to study. You can choose to expand your game gradually by researching a position that connects well with your game. For example, if your favorite guard is butterfly guard, you might want to expand into half guard, single leg-X, and X-guard. If you prefer the supine guard, add Reverse de la Riva. You might want to connect Reverse de la Riva with de la Riva. If you prefer closed guard, you might want to review the K-guard. And so on. Finally, sometimes unrelated topics. Fun. Serendipity — embrace randomness.• Pick the right instructor. Not all instructors are equally good. Some excellent competitors can be pretty bad teachers. So choose well. You cannot go wrong with Jon Danaher for example. From white belt to black, everyone can learn a lot from Danaher’s instructionals. Arguably the best coach in the business, he offers a number of well-structured courses (available on BJJ Fanatics). For gi, check out his Go Further Faster series. For no-gi, Enter the System series and the New Wave Jiu-Jitsu. For advanced practitioners, anything by Gordon Ryan is quality material. You can go with Marcelo Garcia, Lachlan Giles, Craig Jones, Gary Tonon and many others. Pick your poison. • Do not overdo it. Too much good material is not a good idea. The instructionals that just sit in the memory of your computer and you never watch are not improving your game. So don’t try to find, buy and download EVERYTHING. Be selective. Remember Bruce Lee’s famous “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times”. Now that you have selected the instructional you are going to work on, here are the things you can do to make your study session more effective: • Watch a section per sitting, not an entire instructional. BJJ can be intense. A lot of details, movements, concepts, and techniques. Know when to stop. How much can you actually absorb• Take notes. Whatever format works for you, linear, mind map, whatever. I recommend taking notes digitally, on a platform that you can sync across your devices (Evernote, Notion, or another similar tool), so you can quickly look your notes up during your training session, particularly before rolling.• Use stills. Pause the video at key points and copy that picture into your notes. BJJ is a sport of physical movement and sometimes it is hard to capture what you are supposed to do with words and sentences. A still from an instructional, or series of stills can easily remind you what is the move that you are trying to execute. Using still was a huge upgrade in my BJJ note-taking. I cannot recommend this enough.• Re-watch it! Good instructionals can and should be watched multiple times. You will discover that as you improve in jiu-jitsu, you start noticing things you did not pick up on the first time you watched the instructional. So every once in a while, go back to excellent instructionals that you rate highly.• Watch the instructional with a sparring partner at hand. Watch, stop, drill, go back to the video, and keep watching. This is arguably the best way to do it. If you have a study partner, brilliant. Do not think that just watching instructionals will make you better. It is COMPLEMENTARY to mat time. Make sure you actually practice the moves you learn from the instructionals. Theoretical knowledge that is not applied is useless. So practice, practice, practice. At the end of the day, you need to be on the mats. Try the moves on someone worse than you, then someone at your level, then someone better. This is Frank Shamrock’s training method. Make sure to ask for feedback. Ask your coach if there is something that does not seem to be working. Keep trying. Don’t abandon the move if you just tried it once and it did not work. Adjust, drill, and try again. It is useful to complement your instructional study by watching competition footage. Especially the competitors whose style you want to emulate. Watching high-level competitors apply the techniques you are trying to learn in a competitive setting can be extremely useful. There you have it. Good luck and let me know if there are any interesting methods you use to maximize the impact of studying jiu-jitsu instructionals.

Continue Progressing Despite Being on the Sidelines   Show me a black belt who has never been injured and I will show you a fake black belt. Jiu-jitsu might be the “arte suave” — the gentle art — but it is still a contact sport. Yes, jiu-jitsu is much, much safer than, say muay-thai or boxing. We can spar with high intensity a few times a week, which is impossible in striking disciplines. Unfortunately, injuries are, nevertheless, inevitable. I just had an unfortunate foot injury during sparring where my sparring partner simply fell on my foot, resulting in toe and ankle injury. It happened almost three weeks before a local ADCC, which threw a wrench in my preparation. I could not walk for three days, then limped for a few more. I am starting to slowly spar again, though not nearly at full capacity. While this is not my first injury, I want to share some thoughts and experiences on how to handle an injury and continue progressing. Let’s start by acknowledging that injuries do not come only with negatives. An injury can be good, because:  •    It teaches you how to move better, more efficiently, and safely; or, if you prefer to think about it the other way around, it teaches you how not to move;  •    It teaches you to tap early and recognize high-risk positions;  •    It helps choose the right sparring partners because let’s face it, every gym has some people who are responsible for most injuries happening to teammates;  •    It forces you to rest if you are overtraining. Were you sleeping enough? Did you train too often and did not recover?  •    It forces you to diversify your game, for example, I cannot use my left foot to elevate the opponent in butterfly guard, so I had to start using cross-butterfly sweep a lot, using my right foot to elevate.   What should you do when an injury happens? I am not a medical expert. If clearly serious, seek medical help immediately. If it is something relatively light, like a sprain, give it a day to see if you feel you need medical attention or not. All I will say is, take the necessary time off. Don’t push it, don’t force it, don’t make it worse. You want to be back in full force, not to delay the recovery. But. While you are recovering, do not completely check out. The frustration you may experience because you cannot spar or compete is understandable. It may be tempting to just take a complete break from jiu-jitsu, thinking you will be back in full force once you fully recover. If you do that, you will be in for a serious disappointment once back on the mats. You will not only NOT be at the same level, but you will have regressed. Not to worry! There are a few things you can do to “stay in the game”. You can take advantage of the time you have, now that you cannot do jiu-jitsu as you used to. If you did 4–5 sessions a week, for example, that is at least 8–10 hours, plus whatever time you spent commuting to and from the gym. THAT IS A LOT OF TIME. Make the best use of it. Here are a few things you can do:     1.  Attend classes and observe the techniques and sparring. You will keep your finger on the pulse and not fall behind the rest of the team. Also, watching live sparring is very enjoyable and instructional. One thing is sparring with your teammates, another is observing them when they spar with someone else — you will pick up on details that you don’t normally notice when you spar with them. I like to observe our coach sparring with some of my teammates who give me trouble and see how he deals with the same problems. It is like unlocking a cheat code.     2. Watch videos. YouTube can be a massive distraction and an obstacle on the way to our objectives. But for a jiu-jitsu aficionado, YouTube can also be a treasure. Thousands upon thousands of videos on all kinds of positions and techniques. I would suggest not just watching random videos, but being systematic about it. What positions do you struggle with? Is there a particular move your opponents make that gives you the most trouble? Do you struggle with particular escapes, or with finishing a specific submission? Perhaps you play a specific type of guard and would like to add some additional tools to your toolkit? Whatever you are looking for, you will find a dozen or more videos. Minimum. Watch, take notes, and then when back in the class, practice them. There are excellent channels, such as Chewjitsu, Knight jiu-jitsu, BJJ Globetrotters, the Grapplers Guide by Jason Scully, Tristar Gym, Wiltse brothers jiu-jitsu, Stephan Kesting, Gracie breakdowns, videos by Lachlan Giles, Mendes brothers, so many other top level athletes.     3. Buy instructionals. BJJ Fanatics is currently the best online shop for jiu-jitsu instructionals. It also has a ton of instructionals on wrestling, judo, and striking. BJJ Fanatics features material from Jon Danaher, Gordon Ryan, Marcelo Garcia, and many, many other incredible athletes and coaches. One tip, watch for the sales and also make sure to use your BJJ Fanatics points for discounts. Otherwise, it is easy to spend a fortune on this website. There are other places where you can buy good instructionals, but BJJ Fanatics is by far the best. Video quality is typically excellent, and the quality of instruction is world-class.     4. Watch jiu-jitsu competitions. If you are aiming at a particular competition with a specific ruleset, watching matches will give you a lot of information about not only techniques but also tactics and game plans. ADCC, IBJJF, AJP, EBI, whatever the ruleset is, there is an endless supply of videos online that you can study and improve your game, as well as learn the finer points of the rulesets. You can also find breakdowns of matches with professional analysts explaining what is happening, where athletes make mistakes, or what they do well.     5. Strategize. Game plan. Systematize your jiu-jitsu. Stop thinking in terms of singular moves and just letting a scramble happen. Be strategic, take time to think about your game plan — in a standing position, when at the bottom, when on top. How do you tend to act in specific positions? What do you think your game is missing?     6. Visualize. This goes with the previous point. As you are working on your game plan, visualize a fight. Try to imagine how a fight would go. How would you respond to different moves by an opponent? How do you react to different situations? Visualizing helps prepare for a fight, but also to identify gaps in your preparation. If you cannot think of a way to deal with a problem, you won’t be able to come up with a solution on the spot. I practice visualizations before tournaments and it has certainly been a boost to my preparation.     7. Do some physical activity! Do not fall completely out of shape. You may not be able to do jiu-jitsu, but perhaps you can do something else. Weight training? Calisthenics? Cardio workouts? Jog, swim, or do yoga. Staying in shape will make the return and re-adjustment that much faster. If your foot is hurt, do push-ups or pull-ups. If your hand is injured, run or squat. Of course, do not go too hard. You are still recovering from an injury, but some minimal exercising has been proven to help with recovery.     8. Rest! Don’t forget that! Most importantly, make sure you get good sleep. This will help you with recovery from the injury, and if you are overtrained and your body needs a bit of a break, there is nothing better than quality sleep to help your body get back in shape. I recommend reading Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep, here is an article I recently wrote about it.     9. As you start rolling, pick your opponents carefully — avoid too big, too explosive partners. Pick patient opponents who are willing to work slowly, and let you work with the handicaps that you have. Practice what you can. If your foot is fine, practice footlocks. If you are hurt on your dominant side, perhaps you can practice your moves on the other side. Right now I have trouble being in top mount as my left foot still hurts, so instead, I stay in side control a lot and have tried to focus on improving my control from this position.     10. Lessons learnt. Finally, when you are fully back, do not just move on and forget about the injury. Re-think your warm-ups and cooldowns. What do you need to do to avoid injuries in the future? Stretch more? Differently? Do mobility drills? Does your game make you vulnerable to certain kinds of injuries? What kind of adjustments you can make to be safer? Use your injury as a learning experience. So do not overthink the injury. Don’t get demotivated or frustrated. Injuries are simply a part of the journey in jiu-jitsu. Follow the above suggestions and you won’t really lose that much of your progress. You might even come back stronger, surprising your teammates with a bunch of new tricks in your arsenal. Good luck!

History, Memorable Moments, and Lessons for PractitionersADCC 2022. Gordan Ryan is on top of the world. Source: Flograppling Launched in 1998, Abu Dhabi Combat Club — ADCC is today the greatest grappling tournament in the world. While wrestlers, judokas, MMA, and sambo practitioners, have traditionally competed in ADCC, it has always been seen as the prime arena for Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners to display their skills. In this article, I want to give a quick overview of the ADCC history and some of the notable lessons for practitioners. The 1990s and Jean Jacques Machado The first few events in the late nineties saw notable wins by legends of the sport — Renzo Gracie, Royler Gracie, Jean Jacques Machado, Saulo Ribeiro, and others. One athlete worth attention is the nephew of Carlos Gracie (the older brother of Helio Gracie) — Jean Jacques Machado. He stands at the very origins of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and is known as the coach of Eddie Bravo and Joe Rogan. Perhaps the most incredible thing about Machado is that he has been able to compete at the highest levels of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu despite his disability — the amniotic band syndrome — he has only a thumb and a little finger on his left hand. While obviously affecting his grips and jiu-jitsu ability, it did not stop Machado from competing at the highest levels — he won the Brazilian national championship for 11 consecutive years (!), and made his mark on ADCC by winning his division in 1999. He then won silver in 2000 and silver again in the absolute division in 2001 with a total record of 11 wins and 4 losses. 9 of his wins are by submission, while all his losses are by points.Jean-Jacques Machado Eddie Bravo once remarked that Machado’s disadvantage forced him to develop an extremely strong overhook since he could not grip with his left hand. Jean Jacques Machado’s jiu-jitsu was far ahead of its time, so much so that his matches do not seem extremely old-style even today. In addition to all the classics of the Brazilian jiu-jitsu of his time, he used the seated guard and butterfly guard, sumi gaeshi sweep from butterfly guard, particularly combining side-to-side sweep threats and even using the shoulder crunch sweep that has been re-popularized by Gordon Ryan.Machado chokes his opponent out. ADCC 1999 final Quick Lesson for BJJ practitioners: Find a way to turn your disadvantages into advantages. Recall how Machado worked around his disability to build a strong overhook game.The 2000s and Marcelo Garcia The first decade of the 2000s saw the arrival of a new generation of champions — Roger Gracie, Marcelo Garcia, Ronaldo Jacare Souza, Demian Maia, Xande Ribeiro, Fabricio Werdum, and Braulio Estima. The fighter I want to highlight in this era is one of my favorites — Marcelo Garcia. One of the legends of no-gi grappling, Marcelo Garcia’s first ADCC was in 2003. Fun fact — Garcia actually did not make it through the trials, losing in the semi-finals. He was brought in as a late alternate and made the most of this opportunity. Competing in the -77kg category, Garcia went on to win gold in 2003 (defeating Renzo Gracie and Vitor Shaolin), 2005, and 2007. He won bronze in the absolute category in 2005, defeating Xande Ribeiro. He won silver in the absolute category in 2007. In 2009, he won silver in his weight class, only to come back to win his weight class again in 2011. Garcia thus won his weight class in 4 different ADCCs across almost a decade — an incredible achievement given the pace of evolution of jiu-jitsu. What is interesting is that at each ADCC, his game would include new elements that would puzzle his opponents and catch them unprepared. He also has an insane 89% submission rate! Shockingly, his submission rate in the absolute division where he almost always was much smaller than his opponents is 100%. Garcia’s record in ADCC is an incredible 27 wins and 5 losses.Don’t let that smile fool you. Garcia also made an important contribution to the development of the technical aspects of the sport. He made positions such as single-leg X-guard, X-guard, crucifix, and north-south mainstream, his arm drags, guillotines and back attacks continue to be dissected and studied to this day.The famous Marcelotine — Garcia’s version of the guillotine. Quick Lesson for BJJ practitioners: Find a way to continuously learn, grow and reinvent yourself. Whatever your level is, studying and exploring jiu-jitsu should never stop. Recall how Garcia constantly introduced new elements to his game which allowed him to keep winning ADCC after ADCC. The 2010s and Gordon Ryan As the second decade of the 2000s kicked in, Andre Galvao, Vinny Magalhaes, Rafael Mendes, Roberto Cyborg Abreu, JT Torres, and Marcus Buchecha Almeida heralded the arrival of the new guard, paving the way for arguably the first BJJ superstar. Enter Gordon Ryan. Hailed as the best no-gi grappler of all time, no one since Rickson Gracie has been universally recognized as the best of the best as much as Gordon Ryan. Ryan has won ADCC in 2017, 2019, and 2022 in three different weight classes with a stunning 73% submission rate. He is at a level where winning alone is not enough. Only submission is something he considers success. Ryan’s opponents seem proud of their achievement if they survive the match — dominated, but not submitted. After the 2022 ADCC, Ryan’s competition record as a black belt is an incredible 94 wins, 3 draws, and 5 losses. And his last loss was over 50 matches ago. Insane.The King. In terms of his jiu-jitsu game, Gordon Ryan represents Jon Danaher’s New Wave Jiu-Jitsu philosophy and is known for his extraordinary ashi-garami and leglocks game, guard, particularly open guard, guard passing, top pressure, and back attacks. You name it, Ryan excels at it. For a few years now, he rarely seems to be in danger — a testament to his excellent defense. He has also become bigger and physically stronger, which on top of his technical skills makes it all the more difficult for anyone to withstand his attacks. Quick Lesson for BJJ practitioners: Polish and sharpen your fundamentals, and build a comprehensive game focusing on high-percentage techniques. Most importantly, have a problem-solving approach to improving at jiu-jitsu. Recall how Gordon Ryan continuously improves even in the areas where he is considered to be world-class. He works on improving fundamentals as well as devising new techniques and strategies. Another important lesson from Ryan’s experience is — to find a quality instructor. As Ryan never forgets to mention, his coach Jon Danaher is the main reason for his achievements. Re-watching ADCC matches can be an excellent way to improve your level of jiu-jitsu. This is the cutting edge of no-gi jiu-jitsu. Watching and learning from matches is probably more valuable as you advance in your evolution since it can be difficult for white belts to understand what is going on in world-class matches. Here are ten matches to give you a taste of ADCC. These are some of my favorites, but there are, of course, many, many more. 2001 — Jean Jacques Machado vs Ricardo Arona 2003 — Marcelo Garcia vs Vitor Shaolin 2005 — Marcelo Garcia vs Rico Rodriguez 2003 — Eddie Bravo vs Royler Gracie 2005 — Roger Gracie vs Ronaldo Jacare Souza 2011 — Marcelo Garcia vs Kron Gracie 2013 — Kron Gracie vs Gary Tonon 2017 — Gordon Ryan vs Keenan Cornelius 2019 — Gordon Ryan vs Marcus Buchecha Almeida 2022 — Gordon Ryan vs Andre Galvao Enjoy! :)

Reviewing the Ruleset and Tactics for the ADCC competition format I write this article as my team enters the last phase of the preparation for the ADCC open in Istanbul, scheduled for 4 September 2022. As I was reviewing the ruleset and pondering the fight tactics, I decided to put together an overview of this particular format of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitions. ADCC World Submission Fighting Championships were created in 1998 to introduce a ruleset that would help promote and popularize the sport of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Today, ADCC is arguably the best grappling tournament in the world where practitioners of BJJ, but also wrestling, judo, and sambo can compete. This helps understand the logic for this particular ruleset — the idea was to allow different grappling styles to compete on more or less equal terms. Sure, since the match starts on the feet, it may seem that wrestlers and judokas have the advantage. But it is BJJ practitioners that hold the ultimate advantage in the submissions department. Competition is at three levels — beginner, intermediate and professional. Overall, the rules and the point system are the same. But there are differences in terms of the length of the matches and illegal techniques for each level. You can find the detailed description here. The key distinction of the ADCC ruleset is that the first half of the match is without points. In the second half of the match, points are scored. THIS IS THE KEY. The reason for such a format is to encourage the competitors to be aggressive and active, and to attempt submissions to the extent possible — you can safely put yourself in inferior positions and take risks in the first half of the match. You won’t concede points. Of course, submissions won’t win you the match only in the first half, but at any point during the match. Except in the second half of the match (and in the overtime if there is no winner in the allocated time), now you have to factor in the point system. Here are the main things to remember:     •  Takedown (ending in Guard or Half Guard) — 2 points     •  Clean Takedown (ending in passed guard, and a pinned opponent) — 4 points     •  Guard Passing — 3 points     •  Knee on Belly — 2 points     •  Mount — 2 points     •  Back mount (hooks must be in, or a body triangle) — 3 points     •  Sweep (ending in Guard or Half Guard) — 2 points     •  Clean Sweep (ending in passed guard, and a pinned opponent) — 4 points Now, a couple of finer points. Note that if you pass the guard straight to knee on belly or mount, you won’t get 3+2 points, but only the 3 points for guard passing. Also, if you are in back mount, you can rack up points by taking your hooks out for 3 seconds, then back in for 3 seconds, and so on. Remember that if the score is equal at the end of the fight, negative points will determine the outcome. Negative points are assigned due to passivity, including for pulling guard. If the fight ends in a draw, including after added time, referees will decide the outcome based on dominance and aggression. Also, if the referee feels a competitor is in danger, or cannot intelligently defend himself, the fight will be stopped. Now. Tactics. •  First off, know what the illegal techniques are for each level. There are illegal techniques that are banned across levels, but there are also differences between the levels. For example, at the beginner level, the only leglocks allowed are straight ankle locks. At the intermediate level, you can also do toeholds, kneebars, and calf pressure locks (or calf slicers). Heel hooks are only legal at the professional level. I might be stating the obvious, but train what you can use in the competition. It does not make sense to spend a lot of preparation time working on heel hooks if you are going to compete as a beginner or intermediate. •  Remember the rule of 3 seconds. To get points for any position, you have to hold it for at least 3 seconds. If you are not sure (time can feel slower or faster during the fight), try to hold the position for 5–6 seconds. Keep an eye on the scoreboard, or have a coach signal you the score every once in a while. •  Stand-up, while not necessarily determining the outcome, is a big factor. So watch out for wrestlers and judokas. I suggest first feeling out the opponent. Once you clinch for the first time, you will get a sense of their strength and stand-up ability. If you feel you won’t be able to overpower this opponent standing, it makes sense to pull guard — as no points are awarded in the first half of the match, you will skip the stand-up part and get straight to the ground game. If this is the path you choose, be prepared to be aggressive from the bottom. The opponent may not be very willing to engage and might want to wait it out until the points start being awarded to try to pass your guard and score. They might therefore try to save energy. •  If you choose to engage standing, remember, that the stand-up experts will typically feel very comfortable on their feet and try to tire you in the first half of the match. Taking you down at this point is not helpful to them, since they won’t get points. It makes more sense for them to score the takedown in the second half of the match, earn the points and then hold on to that advantage. Therefore, if you choose to go toe to toe with them in stand-up, they might just not give you their all in the first half of the match and give you a false sense of security. So let’s say you try to stand up with a wrestler or a judoka, but you’re starting to get tired — you can pull guard seconds before the second half of the match starts and move the match to the ground. •  Takedown fine points. Remember something very important about takedowns. If a takedown ends in a turtle position for more than 3 seconds, no points are awarded. Similarly, if you shoot for a takedown and then pull guard or go for a turtle, make sure your takedown attempt lasts at least 3 seconds before you switch. That way, you avoid a negative point for passivity. •  Sweep fine points. Here is another important tactical point. If your opponent attempts a sweep, and during the sweep motion you make a submission attempt (for example, a guillotine or a kimura) and hold on to it, the opponent needs to escape the submission and then hold you for 3 seconds to score. Use the extra time your submission attempt generates to recover guard, reverse the position, or otherwise avoid being scored on. •  Attacking pays off in ADCC. Personally, I prefer a counter-attacking game, but that is more suited to EBI or no time limit submission only style competitions. In ADCC, you have to be on the offensive to win. If you display the most fantastic defense, but you are down a couple of points, you still lose. Also, keep in mind, that as long as you are on the offensive, you have more leeway for mistakes. The defending party cannot afford mistakes. •  If you go out of bounds, do not stop until the referee stops you. In the gym, with our teammates, if we are about to cross into the neighboring mat space, we tend to stop ourselves or scoot back. This builds an unfortunate habit that won’t do in the ADCC. If you are shooting for a takedown for example or executing a sweep see it through to the end. Only stop once the referee instructs you to stop. •  Be patient in attack. If you reach the side control position and try a submission immediately, and it fails, it’s ok. Keep working. Remember, things don’t have to work immediately. You don’t have to be finishing your matches in 30 seconds. Sometimes it pays to let the opponent “stew”. Say, you get to mount. Only go for an armbar if you are sure, or try to do it securely. If you spend all that effort to get to mount and then lose the position immediately, that’s just dumb. Put pressure, cut off the exits, negate escape attempts, add pressure, and as you see the opponent’s defenses go down, go for the kill. Of course, be mindful of time. •  It pays to not go 100% on your submissions off the bat. When I get into the rear mount for example and lock a Rear Naked Choke, I like to start slow. If you go 100% and the opponent survives this, your morale will take a hit while his confidence will increase. Start with less than 50%. Enough not to let the opponent escape, but also enough to strain him and make sure he has to fight to survive. Your opponent does not know what your 100% is. So don’t show it all immediately. As your opponent defends, but you keep gradually tightening your submission hold, this will affect his morale. When your opponent despairs, you will have an easier time with the finish. •  Other than that, you try what you always try in training — improve your position and chase submissions. If you are in a bad spot, be patient, escape, reverse, sweep, and get to a place where you can control the opponent and attack. •  Last, but the most crucial. Submission is king. It does not matter how many points your opponent is ahead of you, you make them tap — you win. That said, be smart. If you are a few points ahead, with 30 seconds left on the clock, and in a dominant position, it pays to not try crazy submissions that might cost you a position. Let me add a personal recommendation. DO NOT STALL. No one respects a sneaky or annoying competitor. You might win a competition or two by just negating your opponent’s attempts, but at the end of the day, we are trying to practice and get better at jiu-jitsu. Keep in mind, unless we are talking about ADCC world championships, no one cares about your gold medals. You might beat me once or twice, but unless you are actually improving at jiu-jitsu, there will be a point where all of the people you used to “beat” will start submitting you mercilessly. So respect the art.

So you get the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu “virus”, you work hard, and suddenly the sparring sessions are no longer painful. You have gone from trying to survive when the entire gym could tap you with ease, to someone who became a challenge. More practice, more time on the mats later and now you are becoming a threat, catching people with submissions every once in a while. You start enjoying the classes and enjoying the sparring. You reach a point when you:     • can protect yourself in tough positions;     • have solid escapes from side control, mount and back control as a minimum, and possibly some of the other dominant positions;     • have an effective guard, and while it is sometimes passed, it is functional enough where it is difficult to pass, and you can use it to create threats of sweeps and submissions;     • finish people, and have your favorite submissions where even more experienced sparring partners know to be careful.Congratulations. You have the foundational knowledge of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu now. You are essentially a blue belt now, for which the commonly stated test is the ability to beat a person walking into the jiu-jitsu gym for the first time, even if they have a background in other sports or are larger, stronger, and more athletic. I cannot promise you that you will get the actual blue belt as soon as you feel you have all of the above sorted out. Your feelings are only useful here in that they help your confidence and learning. What matters is if your coach feels the same way and you will get that belt. But with the above list checked, it is only a matter of time. Now what? Now things start getting interesting. Things are bound to get harder. True, getting a blue belt does not change your skill level from one day to the next, but you will notice a clear mental shift your gym partners will go through. Higher belts will no longer take it easy on you. White belts will start coming at you, to test themselves or to prove a point. You thought being a white belt was tough? Blue Belt is, interestingly, a key point in the jiu-jitsu journey where most people reaching it, actually quit. I guess it is the line, that, once you cross it, means you have “made it”. You can defend yourself and those close to you in most real-life situations. You will inevitably start considering putting more time into other things in your life. We have jobs, families, and other hobbies we want to pursue. BUT. If you do continue, jiu-jitsu has a way of rewarding loyalty to the art. I will go as far as to say that the journey from blue to purple belt is perhaps the key determinant of whether you will ever get that coveted black belt or not. It is a period of great discoveries and great frustrations, successes and failures, times when your jiu-jitsu feels almost effortless, and other times when it feels like you are not improving at all. If you do stick with it, here is some advice that can help you with the continuation of your Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu journey as a blue belt: Technique:     • Fundamentals. Continue working on the fundamentals. Polish your escapes, your favorite guard. Keep adding details that make them more and more efficient.    • High-percentage. Focus on high-percentage concepts and techniques. Strange, unusual things might work once or twice (and it does not hurt to have a couple of those in your arsenal), but the time-tested moves are what you need to concentrate on.    • Gameplan. Formulate your game as a total plan of moves and positions. Not disjointed situations, but a connected web of positions that you smoothly integrate. Expand your game by adding elements that help expand your game, for example, if your favorite guard is the butterfly guard, adding a proficient X-guard and single leg-X is a good idea. Perhaps you prefer closed guard? Add half-guard. Fancy de la Riva? Make sure you add reverse de la Riva to your game and so on. But don’t just mindlessly add things that do not make sense together. Don’t hoard positions and techniques, develop a game.    • Trademark positions. Choose and develop a particular position or two, which are uniquely yours, becoming your trademark zone. A place where your sparring partners do not want to be because for them it is torture to defend. A position where you reliably submit people. And as your opponents work to improve their counters to your moves in this position, you will continue to improve your knowledge of this favorite position. For me, it is Keza Gatame, where I can reliably control, pressure, and submit opponents.    • Back takes. Develop a variety of ways to get to the back. This will serve you well against opponents of all sizes and shapes.    • Leglocks. Try to at least understand the basics of leglocks. If you do not particularly fancy leglocks, then at least develop your defenses.At blue belt, you can no longer afford to be one-dimensional. Things like baits, multi-directional game, timing, balance, angles, creating dilemmas for the opponent become more and more important. Patience becomes more important. You need to be more relaxed and observant while rolling. Try to spot the openings the opponents give you, learn to read your opponents’ intentions, recognize their weight distribution, and develop a feel for where they seem to be moving. Here are some general thoughts.     • Injuries. Yes, you might get injured. If that happens, be patient. If you can still train, though not at one hundred percent, try to train. Work on your defense. Practice specific positions. Do some drills. Just add to your mat time. If you cannot train, try to come to the gym and watch or study some things online    • Research. Get some instructionals and study. Focus on some positions as researchers do. Embrace random things that might come your way — one short video on Instagram might teach you that one little detail that finally helps get that technique you struggle with to work.    • Plateaus. Quite natural at every belt, but can be quite painful at blue belt level for some reason. If you feel stuck, change things up, or maybe take a short break. Get some perspective.    • Teaching. If it is not your thing, that’s fair enough. But if it is, it will be another interesting way to improve. You don’t have to teach regularly, you can start by giving basic advice to the newbies. You will notice that when forced to articulate things, your technique improves. As your sparring partners get better, it will force you to upgrade your game too. Not to mention that having your students improve, is another very motivating thing. SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE.    • Competition. It is not a requirement for promotion, but it can be a great source of motivation and learning. The aggression and intensity of a match will be much higher than the sparring sessions in your gym, and one match can teach you a lot more than a few training sessions. It takes some getting used to and injuries are a possibility. I understand this is not everyone’s cup of tea and I was reluctant myself for a long time. But once I decided to give it a try, I realized that competition is a great way to test your skills. It helps reveal the holes in your game that you can then work on. The preparation period for competition is also the time when you experience a lot of growth. So give it a serious thought.Become the blue belt your coach and your teammates are proud of sharing the mats with. Be patient, put in the work and that purple belt may not be so out of reach as you might think.

Jiu-Jitsu sakatlık riski yüksek bir spor mudur ? Sakatlık riski hayatımızın her anında olan bir şey olmakla birlikte, elbette yaptığımız bazı sporların diğerlerine göre bu ihtimali daha yukarıya taşıdığını hepimiz biliyoruz. Jiu-Jitsu her ne kadar kelime anlamı nazik/kibar sanat olarak çevrilse de, aslında diğer bütün mücadele sporları gibi çeşitli riskler taşımaktadır. Doğası gereği Jiu-Jitsu teknikleri, rakibin eklemlerini hareket kapasitesinin dışına manipüle etmek, boyundaki kan veya hava akışını baskı sayesinde kesecek şekilde boğuş teknikleri uygulayarak rakibin pes etmesini ve yenilgiyi kabul etmesini hedeflemektedir. Uygulanan tekniklerin amacı aslında rakibinize çıkamayacağı bir duruma geldiğini hissettirmek ve yenilgiyi kabul etmesini sağlamak. Eklem manipülasyonların sonucu eklemin veya bağlı olduğu kemiklerin kırılması olabileceği gibi, boğuş tekniklerinin neticesi de bayılmak oluyor. Anatomik olarak vücutlarımızın yapabildiği ve yapamadığı bir fiziksel kapasitesi olduğunun hepimiz farkındayız. Bu noktada jiu jitsu yaparken bedenimizin sınırlarını daha iyi anlama fırsatı buluyoruz aslında. Ancak bu noktada antrenman partnerimize ve bize bazı roller düşüyor. Bir mücadele sporu ve savunma sanatı olmasından dolayı haliyle yenilginin ölüm ile özdeşleştiği bir düzen mevcuttur. Bu da kazanmayı çok önemli kılmaktadır. Bundan bağımsız olarak elbette hiç kimse başladığı bir işe kaybetmek amacıyla yapmamaktadır. Ancak antrenman maçı ile gerçek mücadelenin farkını unutmamanız gerekmektedir. Kazanmak değil antrenmanda öğrenmek daha önemlidir. Nerede yakalanıp, nerede çıkabileceğimizi anlayabilmek sadece antrenman partnerine güven duyulması ve karşılıklı birbirimizin iyiliği doğrultusunda hareket ettiğimizden emin olduğumuzda mümkündür. Beden ağırlığımızın, hareket hızımızın, dengemizin kontrolünü kaybettiğimiz hareketleri sparring sırasında denemek sakatlık riskini artırmaktadır. Özellikle eklem manipülasyonlarını doğru uygulamak için antrenman partnerinizi bu tekniklere yakaladığımızda hareket kabiliyetinin son derece sınırlı olduğuna emin olmalıyız. Güreş yaparken rakibinize zarar vermeden gücünüzün neredeyse tamamını kullanacak koşullarda mücadele edebilirsiniz. Strike(Vuruş) içeren disiplinlerde böyle bir şansınız yoktur. Bu tarz disiplinlerde gerçek bir müsabakada olduğu gibi partnerinize vurursanız birileri mutlaka sakatlanacaktır. Ancak, BJJ’de sadece sonlandırılacak yerde daha kontrollü ve yavaş hareket etmemiz gerekmektedir. İtişlerde, çekişlerde, düşürüşlerde ve pozisyon mücadelelerinde antrenmanın şiddetinin artmasında bir sakınca yoktur. Sadece yakaladığımız eklem ve boğuş tekniklerini artık son uygulama anında daha kontrollü olmamız önem arz eder.  BJJ yaparken mücadele anında istediğiniz gibi kuvvet uyguladıktan sonra herhangi bir bitiriş tekniği yakalarsanız bunu bitirmeden önce partnerinizi sabitlemeye ve mümkün olduğunca yavaş bitirebilmeye odaklanmalısınız. Bu hem sizin teknik içerisindeki olasılıkları değerlendirmenize, hem de partnerinizin defans çalışmasına olanak sağlayacaktır. Eski zamanlarda kılıçla savaşmayı öğrendiğinizi düşünün. Gerçek bir kılıçla hızlı ve bütün gücünüzle çalışırsanız kuvvetle muhtemel bir sonraki sefere ya yeni birini bulmanız gerekir ya da bir daha asla kılıçla savaşacak halde olmazdınız. :) Eğer partneriniz tap etmiyorsa, siz bırakın. Baktınız yakaladınız pozisyonu ve eminsiniz (bunu deneyiminiz arttıkça daha iyi anlayacaksınız) partneriniz sizden daha deneyimli veya daha az deneyimli olsun fark etmez, bırakın. Antrenmanda kimseye bir şey kanıtlamak zorunda değilsiniz. Bu tabi erken bırakma alışkanlığı oluşturmamalı. Partneriniz yakaladığını noktadan çıkamıyor, uyguladığınız tekniğe göre eklem veya boyna verebileceğiniz baskı için daha yeriniz var ise ve uygulamamayı tercih ediyorsanız o zaman tekniği uygulamış ve bitirmiş sayabilirsiniz. Antrenman partnerlerimiz elbette bana zarar gelmeyecek güveni ile kolunu bacağını kaptırdığında burada bekleme alışkanlığı kazanmamalıdır. Gerçek bir fiziksel mücadeleyi simile ettiğimiz bu oyundaki kurallara her iki tarafın uyması gerekmektedir. Çocukken hayali silahlar oynadığımızda vurulan nasıl kenara geçiyorduysa burada da başımıza gelebilecek senaryoyu kabul edip oyun bozanlık yapmamalıyız. :)  Her ne kadar bireysel mücadele edilen bir spor olsa da, BJJ aynı zamanda da bir takım sporudur. Antrenman partnerlerimiz bizim için en değerli insanlar olmalıdır. Onlar olmadan sevdiğimiz bu sporu yapamaz hale geliriz. Ayrıca düzenli olarak sizinle antrenman yapan insanlar sakatlanıyorsa, bi süre sonra insanların sizinle roll etmekten kaçınır olduğunu göreceksiniz. Kazanma veya kaybetme olayını geride bırakıp sadece öğrenme ve doğru teknik uygulama deneyimine girerseniz çok daha hızlı ilerlediğinizi göreceksiniz. Antrenmanlarda her gün galip geliyor ya da hiç kendinizi kötü hissetmiyorsanız düştüğünüz pozisyonlar açısından, yanlış bir şeyler yapıyor olmalısınız. Kendinizi ve partnerleriniz korumak için patlayıcı ani hareketlerden kaçınıp, antrenman partnerinizin hızına uyacak şekilde idman yapmanız daha verimli olacaktır. Unutmayın ki yaptığımız submissionların sonu eklem veya kemiklerin kırılmasıdır. Bu tarz bir sonuç elde etmeden antrenman partnerinize ‘yakalandın’ hissini vermek tekniğinizin doğru ve etkili olduğunu göstermektedir. Savaşı, fiziksel mücadeleyi kaotik bir etkinlik olarak düşünürsek jiu-jitsu bu kaosu kontrol etmemize yardımcı olan bir araçtır. Sakin kalabilmek, sonraki adımı görebilmek, seçim yapmak, kendi isteğimiz doğrultusunda anı yönetebilmek gerçek yetenek ve teknik üstünlük olarak görülmelidir.  Siz siz olun ne kendi egonuza, ne başkasının egosuna yenik düşün. Öğrenme zihniyetiyle yaklaşın minderlere. Kendinizi geliştirebildiğiniz, fiziksel ve zihinsel olarak çok daha güçlendirebildiğiniz bir yer gibi düşünün bu alanı.   

Making Sense of your BJJ journey as a White Belt I remember when I started Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), I came in with some idea of what the sport was. As a huge fan of MMA, I was familiar with BJJ and the BJJ terminology — I could recognize some positions and the most common submissions. So I thought to myself — I’ll be fine. But it looked like anyone, regardless of size, strength, and skill level could beat me up. It felt like drowning. Every session was ending with a bruised body, bruised ego, and a racing heart. While the body (and the ego) gradually adapted, it took a while for the skills to catch up.  In the beginning, I just blindly followed classes, but almost no move that coaches would show me I could repeat in sparring. Sparring felt like torture. With the lack of positional understanding and no techniques, I had to use strength, which quickly sapped my energy to the point of exhaustion.  I was keen to make progress, so I thought the learning principles that I had applied to learning languages, playing piano, other sports would help me with BJJ as well. So the initial concept had two elements:    •  Learning plan — formulate the overall vision of where I wanted to improve — for this, I would ask my coach for advice and do my research online; •  Training sessions — maximize the impact of training — do deliberate practice;  Let’s go through these in a bit more detail.  1. Learning Plan I figured I needed to concentrate on a limited number of things. So I came up with a formula for getting to the blue belt (or at least close to that). Now that I am a blue belt, I still think this approach makes sense. You will work on these things usually in this order, though not always. Just don’t lose sight of the overall plan. In the beginning, make sure anything you add to your game falls under these things. If you know how to do an armbar, but never even get into your guard because the opponent passes too quickly, that is not helpful. If you learn the omoplata but spend almost all of the time in sparring pinned and trying to survive, you are focusing on the wrong thing.  •  Safety•  Escapes•  Bottom guard game•  Top game•  Back attacks  The first step was, most obviously, learning how to be safe. When you don’t know anything else, this is a great place to start. Keeping elbows close to the body, not stretching the limbs too far, protecting the neck, are the kind of advice that can make your sparring sessions far more pleasant. Don’t lay flat on the floor when pinned, if you want to be able to breathe. Keep your legs — your strongest weapon — between you and your opponent. Protect your torso, to the extent possible, keep your elbows and knees connected. That will make the opponent’s task of getting into any of the dominant positions all the more difficult. Think about it, side control, mount, knee on belly, even back control are the positions where your opponent has achieved a position where your elbows and knees are apart. Try to be as small and compact as possible.  Most importantly, learn to tap. This, by the way, is not always straightforward. You need to learn to tap not only with your hand but also with your feet if both your hands are trapped. You also need to develop the instinct to tap verbally, not something we naturally do when we start.  The second step is learning escapes. If you are in a position where the opponent can attack and you cannot, that is not the place where you want to remain for the entire sparring round. Escapes are essential not only because you don’t just want to fight for your life, but because without escapes you cannot develop an effective guard game and offense.  I believe escapes from side control are the key. This is where you will end up most often, but also a position that is the most connected to your guard game. Escapes from mount and back are also important. You need at least two strategies for escaping from each one of these positions. If you only have one, you will quickly discover that the opponents know how to shut it down. You need an alternative, to give your opponent more to think about. Positions such as North-South or knee on belly happen more rarely, but for starters, you also need at least one escape from those positions.  As you learn to stay safe and escape bad positions, you will discover that you will become more of a challenge for your more experienced opponents. Not yet a threat, but certainly a challenge.  The third step is to develop a guard game. You need to choose a guard and develop a range of moves and tactics that keep you safe and also allow you to create threats. What you will discover is that the better your escapes are, the more quickly you will develop an effective guard. Because a failed guard means that your guard is passed and that your opponent gets a side control or mount, which is where you need to start escaping. If you are comfortable enough with your escapes, you can experiment with your guard, confidently add more techniques, try them and try again, troubleshoot, and continue learning and improving your guard game.  Please do not try to learn 5 different guards at the same time. You can experiment and learn the fundamentals of a few, sure. But do a concentrated study of one. Do not worry, if you decide to practice another guard later in your jiu-jitsu practice, the body movements and habits you will pick up from focusing on one guard will mostly be transferrable to other guards too. Just don’t spread yourself too thin at the beginning. Closed guard, butterfly guard, de la Riva guard — whatever it is. Focus on one. Learn the movement mechanics from this guard, a couple of sweeps, and a couple of submissions.   Now, this is where you start getting dangerous for your opponents. An effective guard means you can protect yourself, but also control the opponent, control the distance and dictate the game. You are no longer just protecting yourself, but threatening sweeps and submissions. Guess what, from here on, sparring becomes a lot more fun.  The fourth is learning how to maintain and improve a top position. No matter how good your guard is, at the end of the day, being on top is, all things being equal, better than being in the bottom. BJJ has a hierarchy of positions where you go step by step from guard pass to side control to knee on belly to mount and possibly to back control. It is usually messier than that in sparring, but essentially it is a step-by-step process. At first, the key to top control is developing a sense of balance and weight distribution that allows you to stop the opponent’s attempts to sweep you and reverse the position. You will learn about the mechanics of different pins to help you control your opponent better. Simple advice — focus on controlling the opponent’s head or hips, or both. Limit their options, create opportunities for yourself.  To advance position, it is useful to learn a submission or two from each top position and to combine those with positional moves that get you to an even better top position. For example, when you are in top half guard, rather than just trying to force getting to mount or side control, accompanying that with a threat of kimura makes things easier. It is hard to defend two things at the same time.  Finally, back attacks. Being behind the opponent has a clear advantage — all your weapons are directed at the opponent, but all of the opponent’s weapons are directed away from you. The back attacks and particularly the RNC — the Rear Naked Choke are universally recognized as BJJ’s best, most effective, and most high-percentage weapon against any kind of opponent. I, therefore, focused as much as I could on that as my main offensive weapon. You will need to learn how to take the back and also how to finish from that position.  You will notice I did not mention leglocks. :) No, I did not forget. I just don’t think you need to get into leglocks as a beginner. BJJ is complex as it is and the more you learn, the less you will feel you know. Don’t try to learn everything at once. Once you are reasonably comfortable with all the above, feel free to choose whatever else you want to learn.  2. Maximize the impact of your training sessions Do not think that it is enough to just come to training and follow the instructions. You will, for sure, improve. But you can improve much faster if you do the following:  •  Let’s start with the obvious. Train regularly. That is what allows you to improve. If you take breaks, you will, when you come back, waste the first 2 to 3 sessions to just get your cardio back. Every break is a step back. Injuries and sicknesses are pretty much the only reasons that justify taking a break. Even then, if you are sidelined, you can still think about BJJ, strategize, watch matches, or instructionals. •  Practice fundamental movements. After a few sessions, we think we have mastered them, but the fundamental movements are worth regularly working on. Do the bridges, shrimping, reverse shrimping, pummeling, scooting, different kinds of rolls, hip heists. Do drills with the opponent, without the opponent, with a resisting opponent. Think about how these movements feature in some of the techniques you practice in sparring and how you can improve your movement. •  Try to approach every sparring session with an objective. Don’t just do the same stuff every time. Even if you are successful for a while, you will quickly realize your opponents are adjusting and learning, while you are staying where you are. So pick something you will work on at each session. Whether it is trying to apply the moves the coach just showed you or focusing on one particular position, practicing defense, or a particular guard. Don’t waste the sparring time. •  Learn concepts. You will discover that when coaches focus on concepts, it will help with your sparring and you will be able to incorporate the moves into your game much faster. Specific, complex techniques, will be very difficult to pull off in the beginning. •  It is Ok to include some unusual moves in your game but focus mainly on high-percentage moves. Fancy things are a bonus, invest in time-tested techniques. •  Think. Identify problems. Do you get your guard passed the same way all the time? Figure out a solution. Ask your coach for advice. Check a YouTube video. Have trouble with my butterfly hooks? Do you hate being caught in a triangle all the time? Not sure how to deal with an opponent with very long limbs? Zoom in on the problem and try to identify a solution. •  Be patient, resilient, accept that you will have bad days. The trajectory is not linear, some days you will feel like you are not improving, some days you will not have the energy. That is ok. It is part of the journey. •  Every once in a while, throw all this advice out of the window and just enjoy rolling. :)  Perhaps the most important piece of advice is, don’t fixate on getting a belt. Or stripes. Focus on learning and growth, try to enjoy the process. Have fun. The belt will come when it comes. You will do way better if you focus on the journey, rather than the destination. Because guess what — you think what you want is that blue belt, but at some point, the blue belt might just be a stop on a much, much longer road. 

Get fit, get smart, get better and have fun I remember watching UFC 1 for the first time. I watched it with Russian commentary and the way the sport of Mixed Martial Arts was called in Russian was “fighting with no rules”. Or to put it in proper English, “no holds barred”. It was obvious however, there were some rules. Basic at first, but still. Biting, eye-gouging, and groin strikes were prohibited. A curious fact — the same rule set was applied to Pankration — the Ancient Greek martial art, closest to the concept of mixed martial arts.But it was not the relatively barbaric nature of the sport that caught my (and frankly, everyone else’s) attention. It was that the first UFC events seemed to give a definitive answer to the eternal question of which martial art was supreme. And what an unexpected answer it was. It was not boxing, karate, wrestling, or any of the stranger martial arts that were represented (believe it or not, a participant of UFC 3 claimed to be a ninja).A smaller guy wearing a white kimono would defeat larger, stronger, scarier opponents one after another. He would choke them unconscious, or apply joint locks that made them grimace in pain and surrender. And that is how the world was introduced to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.I won’t go into the history of the sport, but instead try to make a case for why everyone (yes, that is precisely what I mean) should, as a minimum, give it a shot and try it.1. Self-Defence. This is, perhaps, most obvious, but Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (hereafter BJJ) is the tried and tested self-defense method. No martial art offers a guarantee, but BJJ comes pretty close. Robust and sometimes counter-intuitive techniques and principles for staying safe when in a fight, for restraining or even immobilizing an opponent, tested methods with which one could render even a much bigger and a stronger opponent unconscious, are a few of the reasons why BJJ is a great choice if you are looking to learn self-defense.Beyond self-defense, if you ever want to be a professional MMA athlete, it is simply impossible to succeed without adding BJJ to your repertoire of techniques. Need more convincing? Here is a fun fact — John Wick may not be a great role model to follow, but he uses BJJ extensively in fighting.2. Physical Benefits. BJJ is simply a fantastic exercise. Whole books can be written about this subject, but I’ll try to keep it to a paragraph. You will inevitably become stronger, leaner, improve your cardio. BJJ offers a whole-body exercise, so you don’t just improve your physical attributes, but your body functions better overall. Much better. In BJJ training you essentially engage in regular combat simulations (through sparring sessions, which are called ‘rolling’), which does wonders for your endurance. After all, you are sparring against fully resisting individuals.You will discover a range of unexpected physical benefits as well. Your movement just gets better. It is hard to quantify this, but you will have better balance, flexibility, and mobility. You will be surprised to discover how much more efficiently you can move. You will develop body awareness you did not have before. You will sleep better. Here is a personal example of the unexpected benefit of BJJ — as I got older, I was starting to feel that my feet got weaker. Almost every friendly football match would end in pain in my feet. Now, years later and with several years of BJJ practice, my feet are so much stronger.One more benefit is developing comfort with physical contact. We all have our personal space that we don’t like being invaded and it is important to develop a sense of comfort to physical contact. Multiple psychology studies have confirmed that touch, physical contact is essential to human beings. Now, in particular, the COVID-19 pandemic has robbed us of one of the most natural senses, which has a range of emotional and physical health benefits. Touch is fundamental to humans and BJJ can help you re-discover the power of physical contact.3. Stress Relief. Let me tell you, after a few sessions of BJJ sparring, you realize something about our daily life. Most of us, city dwellers, have gone soft. We are stressed out when we have too much work, too little work, too little money, too much money when we make someone mad when someone makes us mad, the list goes on. Every day our lives feel like they are spiraling out of control. This is exacerbated by the news cycle that seems to be designed to do one thing — keep us in a state of continuous stress.When you do BJJ, two things will happen. Firstly, even those of you who do not believe in meditation will discover what BJJ will do for you, essentially what meditation does for its practitioners. It will calm your mind, take your focus off of the things that stress you out, and make you feel better by just providing you with physical exercise. Secondly, it will create a much-needed sense of perspective. You thought finishing that report or replying to that e-mail was stressful? Well, how does that compare to sparring with a 110 kg opponent who seems to be slowly smashing you into the ground? Having an actual physical challenge a few times a week dramatically changes how you view and respond to stress. You become more patient, more relaxed under pressure, and less likely to panic in critical situations.4. You Become a Better Person. I will do my best to describe this, but you develop confidence and humility at the same time. A strange combination perhaps, but oddly enough, you get better at both simultaneously and, balance these out. If you are shy, you will become tangibly more confident. if you are, however confident bordering with arrogance, BJJ training is very quickly going to bring you back to earth. If you resist humility, it’ll be beaten into you. It is as simple as that — without humility, you simply cannot get better at BJJ.BJJ also develops grit and improves your discipline. And not for some vague reasons, but because again, if you want to get better at BJJ, you just have to have grit and discipline. There will inevitably be moments when you will feel that the pressure is too much, you will feel physical pain, you will get injured. Your ability to not only persevere but thrive under pressure is crucial to ensure continued commitment to BJJ. Nothing improves your BJJ better than regular BJJ training. The mat time is key. Finally, grit and discipline are two things that will be transferrable to other parts of your life — work, relationships, everything.5. You Become Smarter. Perhaps not the most obvious benefit, but BJJ has a range of underrated benefits for your mind. Firstly, it is not an accident that BJJ is referred to as “human chess”. It is a very cerebral sport with hundreds, perhaps thousand techniques and because every human is different, the way we develop our BJJ game is also uniquely ours. No two BJJ matches are ever the same, even when the same opponents square up. Just training won’t cut it. BJJ forces you to do some thinking, to reflect about your game, about your techniques, about your reactions to opponents’ techniques.Practicing BJJ also teaches you how to learn, how to acquire skills. You will check YouTube videos, watch instructionals, ask higher belts for advice, amalgamate all of the acquired knowledge into your own unique BJJ game. You can transfer your learning strategies to other disciplines, including not only other physical skills but language learning, mastering a musical instrument, pretty much anything else.BJJ training will also make you better at problem-solving. The famous UFC commentator Joe Rogan once described MMA (and fighting in general) as “problem-solving with dire physical consequences”. As you improve at BJJ, and the skill level of your opponents gets better, you will be constantly confronted with positions and moves that you will have to figure out ways to deal with. Significantly stronger opponents, opponents who have much longer limbs, opponents who just don’t tap to particular submissions, opponents who have a kind of a guard that you seem unable to handle. Each one of these challenges will force you to find creative and innovative solutions. This is a practice that will come in very handy in other aspects of your life.6. Becoming part of a Community. We all belong to communities at our workplaces and our places of residence. But these do not always become tribes of like-minded people. With BJJ, you enter a world of people who come from all walks of life — lawyers, doctors, salesmen, professional athletes — people who love BJJ. The people you will meet come from different parts of the world, cultures, religions. There will be the random 110 kg man who wants to lose weight, the 50 kg woman who wants to learn how to defend herself, an 8-year-old who wants to be able to deal with a school bully, a 55-year-old who just wants to be more fit — all in the same room with, say, a professional fighter preparing for his next bout.This goes beyond your local gym. Anywhere you go in the world, you can find a BJJ gym, just show up, train, and meet like-minded people. You will discover that even when you meet world-class athletes, champions, and best coaches, they are simply people who are in love with BJJ and you can attend their seminars, train with them, and have a chat.You may think that you are in just for some training, but over time, you might be drawn to competition. As you get better and better, you will also start giving tips and advice to the up-and-comers and who knows, maybe someday you will start teaching.7. Fun. Yes, it is not always fun at the beginning. It is not fun to feel like you are drowning, that you are helpless against somebody who is 20kgs lighter than you but seems to have four arms and four legs. It will also not be fun when you get injured. You may quit because it will get tough. But when it gets tough, go back to everything you have read up to this point and understand this. Nothing valuable in this life comes without effort. Many things in life don’t even guarantee success if you do make effort. But if you commit to BJJ, the results are pretty much a guarantee. And in addition, you will start enjoying training, sparring, learning, figuring out solutions to the problems your opponents pose, you will get addicted to the feeling you get during and after training.So what are you waiting for? Go train and have fun!  

Kıpırda! Platon sporu felsefe kadar mühim bir etkinlik olarak görürken ne anlatmak istiyordu. Dengeli bir beden ve ruh,  erdemli olmanın temelidir ve filozofun yolunun asıl gereçleridir. İsmi, ‘ Geniş omuzlu’ manasına gelen düşünür aynı zamanda bir olimpiyat şampiyonuydu . Yakın tarihimizden bir söz de bu savı destekleyerek ortaya atılmış gibidir : sağlam kafa sağlam vücutta bulunur. Ama maalesef bu doğru sözlerin ve çıkarımların insanlar üzerinde pek bir etkisi yok. Son zamanlarda sosyal medya etkisiyle spora yönelmiş(iyi görünmek için) bir kuşağı saymazsak, iç güdülerin emrinde eylemek ve zorunlu  yürüyüşler dışında ülkemiz insanların pek hareket ettiğini göremezsiniz. Bu durumun asli nedenleri; ülkede oturmuş bir spor kültürün bulunmaması, spor yapanı kendini boşuna yoran olarak gören, bilgisiz ve kalabalık güruh ve filozofun savının tersine, sporla uğraşan kişilerin zekalarından şüphe etmek ( kafasını kullanamayanın spor yaptığını iddia eden cahil görüş) Tüm bu ön yargılar, insanların göbeklerini büyütürken, vücutlarını tanımalarına da engel olur.  Burada tanımak, ayrıntıları bilme ya da nasıl göründüğünü bilmenin ötesinde, vücudun neler yapabileceğini, olanaklarını bilmedir. Sakatlanmadıkça nasıl adım attığının dahi farkına varamaz insanoğlu. İki ayaklı olmak marifet olarak görülse de ,yürümek, kişilerin değil evrimin marifetidir. Öğrenilmiş hareketleri tekrarlarken nasıl yaptığımıza ilişkin bilgiden yoksunuzdur.  Spor yapan kişiler bu genellemenin dışında kalır. Onlar vücutlarını tanımak, hareketleri üzerine düşünmek zorundadırlar. Daha bilinçli beslenir, daha düzenli yaşar, psikolojileri spor yapmayan hallerine göre daha dengeli olur.  Burada tüm spor dalları incelenebilir ve yazı okunamaz bir uzunluğa ulaşır. Öyleyse kendi yaptığım sporun vücut farkındalığı üzerine etkisinden kısaca bahsedip bu yazıyı bitireceğim.  Jiu Jitsu, bir çok sporun tersine, bize aşina olmadığımız bir hareket etme biçimi sunar. Bu hareket etme biçimi, daha önce benzerlerini dahi yapmadığımız derecede kendine özgüdür. Sırt üstü yatarken guard alır, gorile öykünen adımlarla yol alır, dışarıdan tuhaf görünür ve anlaşılması neredeyse imkansızdır.  Bu başka  ( kendine özgü ) hareketler zamanla vücudumuzla neler yapabileceğimizi bize gösterir. Sayılamayacak kadar fazla teknik ve onlarca konsept barındıran jiu jitsu, tek bir kişinin her şeyi öğrenemeyeceği kadar geniş ve kapsamlıdır. Bu kavraması zor genişliği yaratan asli unsur, vücutlarını tanımayı başarmış ustaların kendi vücutlarına ve hareket etme biçimlerine göre sporu evirmeleridir.  Bu da demektir ki, her vücut tarzına ( kısa,uzun, kalın ,ince, hatta şişman, zayıf, hızlı, güçlü, çelimsiz...) göre bir bjj yapma şekli vardır. Eklenecek çok şey olsa da, dallandırıp budaklandırmadan bitiriyorum. Spor yapmak, kişinin kendini tanımaya başlamasının bir aracı olarak oldukça değerlidir. Her kim olursa olsun, profesyonel olsun ya da olmasın, dengeli bir ruh hali ve düşünme için hareket etmeye başlasın!

Hafızam yanıltmıyorsa 2008 senesiydi. Ankara’da yaşıyor, başka bir dövüş disiplininde antrenman yapıyordum. Eğitmenimiz (Özgür Baş) vizyonu geniş bir dövüş sanatları sevdalısı olduğundan , birçokları gibi kendi disiplinini en iyisi olarak görme eğiliminde değildi. Diğer disiplinleri de tanımamız gerektiğini düşünerek, alt katta çıplak ayakla güreşen, adının henüz jiu jitsu olduğunu bilmediğim ve dışarıdan bakınca pek bir şey anlamadığım sporu tecrübe etmemiz için bizi Eren Anlar’ın ders verdiği  BJJ sınıfına dahil etti. Bildiğim kadarıyla Ankara’daki en eski BJJ okulu... Derste öğrendiğim teknik, fake bir yumruk gösterip ardından dobule leg’le rakibi yere almaktı. Antrenmandan çıktığımda kafamda Jiu jitsu’nun ne olduğuna dair karmaşık fikirler vardı ve o gün roll yapmadığımız için, tekniğin gücünü anlama imkanım olmamıştı. Tek öğrendiğim sahte bir yumruk ve iki bacağa dalıp yere düşür... İçinde hepsi de  erkek altı arkadaşımın bulunduğu eve gittiğimde bira içmeye başladık ve hafif çakır olunca bir şekilde küçük bir güreş turnuvası organize edildi. Fake, double ve arkadaşlarımın hepsinin sırtlarını sırayla yere getirdim. Tabi klasik sırtı yere gelen kaybeder kuralını uygulayarak... O günden sonra beni ikna eden bu tekniği araştırmaya başladım. Her başlamak istediğimde siyah kuşak almanın en az yedi yıl sürdüğünü, öğrenmenin zahmetli ve zor olduğunu düşünüp vazgeçtim. Tıp doktoru mu olacaktık sanki ! Böyle şeyler düşünüp kendinizi yenmeyin ; çünkü kaybeden gene kendiniz oluyorsunuz... Yıllar kovalanıp kaçarken 2016 yılında bir aralık yakalayıp BJJ’ye başlamaya karar verdim.  Bu sefer kararlıydım. Yanıma antrenman kıyafetleri almadan Esat caddesindeki salona gittim. Koridorun başından içeride gördüğüm geniş sırtlı adam ( Devran hocamız), kibarca derse katılabileceğimi söyledi, ben yanımda kıyafet olmadığını söyledim, Master, şöyle bir bakıp gideceğimi düşünmüş olabilir. Oysa ben tamamen ikna olmuştum ve bir sonraki dersten altı sene sonraki şu ana dek antrenmanlara devam ettim. Ne tıp doktoru olabildim ne de siyah kuşak olmak umurumda, birini boğmak ya da kendimi savunmak derdinde de değilim. Bu sporu  hırsından öte seven kişiler bilir ki  , Jiu Jitsu’nun en değerli yanı sonunun gelmemesi, kişiyi hep kendinin daha iyi hali olmaya motive etmesidir.