A Sometimes Overlooked Side Of Ego In BJJ… A lot of people take a lot of time to talk about getting rid of your ego when you start your jiu-jitsu training. We have all seen it tons of time. The young, strong, fast,...

“Disastrously counterproductive for jiu-jitsu” -Rener Gracie  In a video that surfaced recently, a purple belt practitioner of BJJ is seen deliberately choking a white belt unconscious. Not only does he ignore the students taps, but he continues to apply pressure to the choke...

Work Hard, And Check Your Ego... Typically speaking, a white belt with three or four  stripes should be able to tap a brand new white belt or one with a stripe or two. Same as blue belts are able to tap white belts,...

Exploring the battle with ego on the mats... The mats provide many lessons in life. Some lessons are obvious;keep your elbows close and manage space. Some lessons are subtle;ideas that we inherently know but can barely articulate. Some lessons we relearn...

The Gentle Art? Yes, But Train Smart! I often times hear the excuse, “I can’t train BJJ, because I can’t get hurt”. While being injured is certainly a detriment to daily living, the fear of being injured should not close the door to...

Are You Standing In Your Own Way? A few months back, I was rolling with a much lower ranked teammate.  Starting in my guard, he easily went to my side.  Before I knew it, he had my back and I found myself defending...

Two practitioners start training BJJ at the same time. They are close in age. They both attend a similar number of classes, and each student shows a tremendous amount of interest in the art. They are now 6 months deep into their study...

The longer you train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, you begin to realize it's so much more than just a bunch of super cool, even deadly techniques and having the skill to apply those on training partners and opponents.  Besides an understanding of half guard, triangles and...

Let's talk about one of the unsung heroes of our BJJ journey, one of the most misunderstood parts of why we get on the mats everyday, sweating, drilling and competing with our training partners, our opponents and our own minds.  We're talking about...

From the first day that we start learning jiu jitsu, we are also taught that the ego is toxic.  We are taught to abandon our pride, and that we either win or we learn.  From the first day that we start learning jiu jitsu, we are misled to some degree.  The ego is crucial to […]