Gracie Family

Another great video... quality is a little poor but you can still see it.

A look at the Beginning of Jiu Jitsu in the United States

I ran across this video on one of my daily reading websites www.txmma.com which was posted by Mike Calimbas who does AWESOME work in the MMA and BJJ community with pictures, videos, and interviews all over Texas.  The video is extremely interesting so I thought I would share with my loyal followers.

Product Review - Universal Ultra Whey Pro

For this product review I wanted to switch over to a supplement that all athletes should be taking during the day or most importantly after a workout and that is Whey Protein.  There are so many different types of whey protein out there and most them do the same things for you with alot of the same ingredients to fill them.  What in my opinion that makes a whey protein worth buying is a couple of different variables, taste, ease of mixing in a shaker cup, and of course affordability.  This past week I received some sample packets from the good folks at Universal of their Ultra Whey Pro.  The samples I received were the flavored Double Chocolate Chip.

TASTE

The taste of the Ultra Whey Pro was surprisingly good!  My experiences with whey proteins that are flavored other than plain ole' chocolate and vanilla have not been good so when I saw the flavor listed on the package I cringed a bit.  To me nothing is worse than  having to choke down a protein shake, or holding your nose while drinking it as fast as you can to avoid actually tasting it because you know you need to get it in your body.  So when I'm reviewing these products I want to do it with just the protein powder itself and whatever beverage I decide to add to it, so I know what it taste like without anything else there to mask it.  For Ultra Whey Pro Double Chocolate Chip it was one scoop/package and I mixed it with about 8 oz. of water and the taste was good.  No holding my nose or anything, I was able to drink it normally with out gagging or having no terrible after taste.  The flavor was just as the package read Double Chocolate chip, which to me was closer to plain chocolate flavor but I'm not complaining one bit.

Mixing

Now I'm not one of those guys who walks around with a blender handy.  So as stated before I want something that mixes easily in a shaker cup or better yet even mixes well with just a spoon.  Most of the whey proteins I have tried, mixing with a spoon left you with a clumpy mess, and using a shaker cup left your arm dead from shaking violently for 5-10 mins.  In the case of Universal's Whey protein using a spoon or a cup will be just fine.  With the shaker cup the powder mixes easily with a few hearty shakes.  There is no protein residue left on the bottom of the cup so you don't waste any of the protein.  The powder itself is fine so its similar to the consistency of your everyday chocolate milk mix so the spoon would definitely do the trick as well. 

Affordability

As for the pricing of this protein, it seems to be competitively priced with the other major label supplement companies.  On their website Universal Nutrition you can find the 2 lbs canister for $40.95 and the 5 lbs. canister for $69.95.  I think for a good tasting, well mixing protein coming from one of the largest nutritional supplement companies around that price is on point.

Here is the nutritional values on the back of the product. You can click on the picture below to see it more clearly

Dada 5000?

You have all heard of Kimbo Slice and his backyard brawls, well here is another character by the name of Dada 5000.  He is a promoter of backyard fights in Florida.  Now while some of these fights may very well be entertaining, they are very illegal.  In my opinion these kind of things are very dangerous and is what gives alot of fighters a bad image, even if they are not involved in this kind of activity.  There are no medical personnel, there is no commission  no regulations, just their little set of rules and these guys literally go out and try to kill each other.  Let me know what you think.

GSP and Frankie Edgar Training with Renzo

You can see why people flock to Renzo's school.  The guy breaks down little details about techniques.  This is a must watch!

Lane Yarbrough Interview

For anyone who thinks all MMA fighters are bad guys just take a look at Lane Yarbrough.  Lane is one of the classiest guys I have ever met.  Very humble and respectful, last night was the final MMA fight of his career as he works towards his master's degree.

After fight Interview

Brian Lightfoot Vs. Jared Taylor

Here is the video of my good friend from last night's IXFA.  This is the result of a great training camp and alot of hard work.  Congrats my brother!  I am proud to be a friend and training partner of Brian "Murillo" Lightfoot!

Professor Ulpiano at Gracie Barra Westchase

I had the pleasure to go out to GB Westchase today and had a great class with Professor Ulpiano and his students there.  I also had the opportunity to roll and get tapped out repeatedly by Professor Ulpiano, all in all it was a great experience for me.  Professor was a great guy taught an awesome class and I really look forward to going out there again for another great session.  Thanks to him, his students, and also a special thanks goes out to Moon Kim for asking me to come out there and setting everything up!

Francisco "Paco" Rodriguez a REAL HERO

Wow!  This is a great story.  This gives everyone of us hope that there still are some great people out there.  Even in tragedy this family and their son give other people the greatest gift of all, life.  If this doesn't make you shed a tear you are not human.  Rest in Peace Francisco Rodriguez! You can read more about the story and the letters the video talks about here:  http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6390758

Explosive Workout

Here is an explosive type workout that I found online that can be used for MMA and BJJ.  The workout hits alot of major muscle groups and also looks like a conditioning type workout.  The guy in the video explains what how many sets and reps for each exercise.  The best thing about this work out is, there is minimal equipment that is needed to do it.  Check it out!

GSP is SICK!!!

This video shows just how sick GSP is!  It is amazing the amount of strength and body control he has during this video.  This guy in my book is one hell of an athlete!

Great Video

Good Single Leg Combinations

Check it out!

Evans vs. Jones, Starting to Heat up, From MMAMania.com

Poor Rashad Evans.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion took a lot of heat for sitting on the sidelines and waiting for "Shogun" Rua's knee to heal up after earning a title shot at UFC 114. His much-criticized plan ironically backfired when he suffered knee injury of his own in training which forced him out of his title fight.
In stepped teammate Jon Jones and the rest, as they say, is history.
Now Evans is on the outs with his former training camp, Jackson's Submission Fighting, and he's scheduled to face his former training partner, Jones, sometime in September or October. It's something "Bones" swore in previous interviews that he'd never do.
"Suga" discussed his current predicament with Pro MMA Radio, making sure the MMA world knows his side of the story.

The sidelined former champ got things started by updating the status of his injured knee.
"The knee's doing good. It's about 80-percent right now, just trying to do a little bit of training. Just trying to work and get my movement good. I don't want to go too hard and too fast. Don't want to injure myself further."
After leaving Greg Jackson's camp, Rashad moved from Albuquerque to Florida and began training at newly christened Imperial Athletics with American Top Team castaways Jorge Santiago, the Villefort brothers and JZ Cavalcante, as well as Antonio Silva. Evans believes his upcoming title fight with Jon Jones will go down sometime this fall.
"I was ready to fight this summer but I think Jon needed a little more time. He had the two fights back to back so he deserves a little time to relax. I thought it was gonna be August but I'm pretty sure it'll end up being September or October."
There's likely nothing worse than watching an opportunity to reclaim a title slip through your fingers. Rashad experienced it first-hand and regaled his experience cage-side at UFC 128 in New Jersey.
"It was tough for me to sit there and watch it unfold. I knew I would have been able to beat Rua. I knew there was a chance he'd look bad coming off of surgery because of the last time he fought [Forrest Griffin] coming off surgery. I was extremely happy for Jon. That kid, he fought crime at day and then beat a world champion at night. You can't be nothing but impressed by that despite how much you want to hate him."
There's been considerable drama with Team Jackson lately. After the public split with the famous training center, the former champion admitted that he had been against Jon Jones joining Jackson's camp in the first place.
"[About Jon Jones joining] I told Greg no and Greg went to Phil Nurse and talked to him about it and tried to convince Phil to convince me to let him on the team. Chris Luttrell is pretty much the guy that's Greg first guy. He's from way back in the day. He told Chris that he wants Jones because he's the wave of the future. Ask any of those guys and they'll corroborate my story. "
"I told him I didn't want [Jon Jones] on the team and I didn't feel comfortable with him on the team. Greg was really hard-headed about it. Greg said we'd never fight and we were brothers. I trusted Greg with my life so I finally said 'to hell with it.'"
Evans wasn't the only fighter in Jackson's camp that didn't want Jones on the team.
"I never felt comfortable with the idea. I went through the situation with Keith [Jardine]. Keith didn't like it either because he was fighting up-and-coming guys and he was concerned he'd have to be in a situation where'd he's be forced to fight Jon to keep his job. It took Keith a really long time before he was comfortable enough to even train with him."
Rashad doesn't want to say "I told you so!" but he admitted that at least one trainer regrets their decision.
"I talked to Phil Nurse the other day and he told me that he feels like crap because, 'you told us this was gonna happen and we didn't listen.' I say this because I don't want people to feel sorry for me. It wasn't about him being on the team. What's done is done. The thing that upsets me about Jon is how he threw me under the bus because he said he'd fight me after all that time we said we wouldn't fight each other... It was a snake move and I don't like snake moves. Be a man."
Jon Jones presents himself as MMA's golden boy but Rashad believes he's human just like anyone else.
"Jon is always trying to say the right things and be perceived a certain way. Just keep it real. Now I know what time it is. Now I know that you would fight me. You must have been thinking of this for a long time. You must have been keeping score, taking notes during training for a long time."
"He gets beat in practice, he gets beat up just like anybody else, just like any other fighter. I'd never take away his talent but when it comes to acting with integrity. It pisses me off beyond belief."
When it's all said and done, Evans doesn't think he'll ever be able to reconcile with Greg Jackson or Jon Jones.
"I'll be respectful when I see them. I don't think I'll be friends. When you see people's true colors, what more do you need to see? I want real friends. I don't want friends who are only circumstantial. I want somebody who will be there for me when I need help. I don't need weak, fake friends."
"The last thing Greg [Jackson] said to me was if you can't trust your friends, you can't trust anybody."

Article Written by Brian Hemminger

From the Mind of Babalu #4... Nutrition for BJJ, Life, and My Story

BJJ and Nutrition go hand and hand.  I will be the first to tell you that I never really paid too much attention to what I ate.  As a matter of fact, there was one point in my life where by medical standards I was considered obese.  About 7 years ago I weighed in around 270 lbs with a whooping 28% body fat!  I mean I'm a big guy, have always been a big guy but 28% body fat??  Depending on which publication you look at an ideal weight for my height of about 6 ft 4 in. is anywhere between 180 lbs-220 lbs and a male with 18-24% body fat is considered average so I knew my fat butt had some work to do.

Now before you go thinking man that guy was a lazy turd and ate like crap all his life let me tell you a little bit about myself.  I was never lazy... yes I did eat like crap before, but I was extremely active my entire life.  I played competitive basketball for about 20 years of my life.  From the time I was 5 until one dark day ( get to that in a minute) basketball was my life.  I had small college offers and played on a few men select traveling teams, so lets just say I wasn't a slouch.  One night was just like any other night I was playing in a league in downtown Houston.  At the time I was about 205-210 lbs  and had been playing really well.  The game was at the end and our team was down by a couple of points with about a min left.   To make a long story short that night I was rushed to the hospital with my femur dislocated from my hip socket.  After a short stay in the hospital and my femur relocated to where it belonged, I was told that my hip had dislocated 2 times.  When I slipped and hit the court it dislocated when I ran into the back of my opponent knocking me back, it went back into place and dislocated again.  So I was diagnosed with a hip dislocation and nerve damage done to the femoral and sciatic nerve I believe.  The nerve damage caused me to lose all feeling in my foot and my doctors didn't know if I would ever be able to use it again.  Which in turn ended my basketball career.  As the months went by my recovery was slow and sometimes very painful.  I couldn't run and jump like I did my entire life, shot I could barely walk, so I did what every other male in his early 20's did... I partied like a rockstar! LOL My bad eating habits continued and I put on weight like you wouldn't believe.  After about 5-6 months I slowly started to regain movement and feeling in my foot and slowly but surely it all came back to as close to normal as possible.  Now I was fat, out of shape completely and didn't know what to do with myself.  I knew I couldn't play basketball at the level that I once did, even though I tried I was never the same player again.  About a year and a half after my injury I started training MMA.

I loved it... I was learning new things, and was feeling great about myself.  I even lost 20 lbs, but I still knew nothing about Nutrition.  So I basically hit a plateau at 250 lbs. until Prof. Draculino came to town.  I signed up the first day and within a month had broken that plateau, but my Nutrition for BJJ still had not changed.  Two years ago I decided compete in a tournament in Austin, TX.  I was a blue belt and had been for about a year then.  I weighed like 230 lbs. and competed in the division with the biggest guys at the tournament.  Needless to say I was still a tubby!  Not only where they big guys but they were also skilled big guys which is a bad combination.  I lost my first match that day, to the eventual champion.  I remember thinking to myself once he had passed my guard and was laying in side control "wow, I can't even freaking move!!!" and when he mounted me it was one of worst feelings in the world.  After that day I knew I had to change my nutrition and diet because I wasn't meant to be competing with that monster! 

So it started, my nutrition for BJJ or life in general wasn't something I had knowledge on.  I had to go to an expert.  If I wanted to lose weight correctly and be competitive in BJJ I had to acquire the knowledge.  So I did... I can thank Mr. VH Shelton for getting me started with some great workouts and a diet guideline to follow.  If you need a strength and conditioning guy in the Houston area check him out.  The guy is amazing and knows his stuff!  Once I got going, I researched and researched everything I could get my hands on about nutrition, caloric intake, maco nutrients etc...I even studied strength and conditioning cause I was motivated!!!  Nutrition for BJJ for me is now is easy.  There is no fad about it.  If you put good lean proteins in your body, chicken, lean beef, eggs etc... get your carbs from good sources like whole grains and vegetables, drink lots of water, and limit your fats your already winning!!  If you do this for every meal then that is a great start.

Of course I don't want to get scientific with this stuff because a licensed Nutritionist I am not, but if you want to lose weight then all you need to do is create a calorie deficit in your diet.  You can start by reducing your caloric intake by 500 calories a day.  500?? Why?  Apparently 1 pound equals 3500 calories, so 500 calories X 7 days = 3500 calories.  So without even changing your exercise habits or anything you can easily lose 1 lbs a week just by taking this one small step.  So now think of this without going into percentages, macos and all that scientific stuff, just for an example if you cut your caloric intake 500 calories a day and you do some kind of activity throughout the week that you burn lets say another 3500 calories a week, then you are losing 2 lbs a week!  Simple right?

Wanting to strive to be better at BJJ has given me better Nutrition for BJJ and Life.  I know that its not easy and this post doesn't have the end all be all answers that you maybe seeking but its a start at least.  I am happy to say that my Nutrition for BJJ and life journey hasn't ended either.  As of this morning 4/14/11 I am 213 lbs and about 13% body fat.  Since I am not competing anytime soon, I can still have a cheat day or meal every now and then with in reason and don't have to be extremely strict at the moment but I am maintaining where I am.  Throughout my week my meals are pretty clean and I follow my own rules of lean proteins, good carb sources and limit my fats.  Also don't forget to check out my friends over at www.perfectfitmeals.com, these meals are what I have been eating for breakfast and lunch for about a month now every day and I couldn't be happier!

If you have any questions please ask in the comment sections.   I will do my best to help you find the answer if I don't know it myself.  Everyone needs help sometimes getting over that hump and I will help out anyone I can.  Nutrition, BJJ, and Strength and Conditioning are all a passion of mine, and I enjoying sharing knowledge and learning things from people who have something to share.

Very Motivating Interview!!!

This is a some good stuff!  I think we should all listen and pay close attention to JT Torres.

Great Sweep

I saw this this morning, I have seen a couple of this guys videos and he enjoys sharing his knowledge.  I like the looks of this sweep, it actually takes away 2 bases from one side and gives you an option for a submission.  I will drill this and add to my game!!  Thanks Mr. Osiander!

Another Connection Rio Show

Book Review... The Cauliflower Chronicles

The Cauliflower Chronicles by Marshal Carper, is a book that was given to me over the weekend by a buddy of mine that trains at the academy with me.  He thought I may be interested in it so I gave it a go.  The book is a fairly easy read, the first few chapters I got somewhat confused buy his jumping from a BJJ tournament, to Hawaii, to the United States, but after all the time traveling finished I rather enjoyed it.  Without giving too much of the story away, Marshal is a college student who was a white belt in BJJ.  Did an exchange student program and studied for a semester at the University of Hawaii- Hilo.  Who famous, from the MMA and BJJ world is also from Hilo?  You guessed it, BJ Penn.  So while studying in Hilo his plan was to train as much as he could at the BJ Penn Academy and try to earn his blue belt.  Throughout this book you will learn quite a bit about some of the cultures of Hawaii, and the author writes everything he sees with great detail so its like you are there with him.  I feel like he really did a great job of capturing the beauty and toughness of the city of Hilo all while trying to fulfill his dreams of training with BJ Penn.  If you get a chance check this book out.  If you like BJJ and also learning a thing or two about history and cultures  than this may be the book for you.


I NOW NEED A NEW BOOK TO READ!!!!  RECOMMEND ME ONE!!!

Fighting Words with Mike Straka with Special Guest....

Eddie Bravo.  If you didn't see this interview before its actually pretty good, its a long one, but check it out.  Let me know your thoughts. Here are mine below:

I can see some of the points Bravo is making, he also admits on the video that after he beat Royler, he got his ass kicked in the next match "like 30-0"  What ever his system does for you, I really don't know... I don't hate the guy or hate on him, I can't use most of his system because of the lack of extreme flexibility that you need.  I will tell you that I LOVE THE GI and a big proponent of the wearing the GI and training and competing with it.  That doesn't mean that I don't like NO GI... I like them both, to me they are both considered Jiu Jitsu in my book and what it really boils down to, is I am a fan of Jiu Jitsu first and foremost.  So whether I train in the GI or not it doesn't matter as long as I am able to train Jiu Jitsu... I am a happy guy!

Shoyoroll Video

The latest craze on the Jiu Jitsu Kimono market is the product that the guys over at Shoyoroll put out.  I don't own one, not because I don't want one, but because #1. they usually sell out on their website as soon as they release them and #2 they are rather expensive if you try looking else where to buy one.  If you don't believe me when I talk about the CRAZE just go check out ebay and price them for yourself.  These gis are going for up to 3-4 TIMES their original cost on a regular basis!!!  From what I have seen from the people who do own them they are some good high quality gis.  Listening to the guy on the video talk about his influences, hard work, and dedication that he and his team have put forth to get the name out there and support other people who are doing good things in the sport,  makes me appreciate their company and its products even more!

Product Review: Bullnox from Betancourt Nutrition

For the past week I have had the opportunity to try a a Pre-Workout drink from the good people over at Betancourt Nutrition.  If you are like me and sometimes need that extra boost to get going in the morning or before a workout these types of drinks are for you.   Here is a little bit about my experience I had with Bullnox.

Nutritional Facts:  One scoop of Bullnox is just 50 calories and contains 11 g of Carbs , 0 g of Fats, and is Sugar free!

Taste: The flavor I had gotten was Blue Raspberry and the taste was actually very good.  Some of the pre-workout drinks I have had in the past contain a very bitter taste and sometimes are very tough to swallow.  This one was not like this at all.  I actually looked forward to drinking this each day.

Mixing: When following the directions on the label, the powder actually mixes very well.  I have come across a lot of different supplements in the past that were just a nightmare to get mixed.  You can shake for 10 mins sometimes and still get that granule feeling in your mouth.  You know what I'm talking about where you grit your teeth and feel like you just gargled a mouth full of sand.  Bullnox was easily mixed in a basic water bottle or a shaker cup with no residue remaining after a few hearty shakes.

Does it work:  From the moment I start drinking Bullnox I begin to feel charged and ready for action.  Whether it be for a tough workout on the mats or just to get my day started.  I felt great!  I had no jittery feelings while on it, and the strange part is I actually felt a rush over my body.  Its difficult to explain a rush but for me I could feel almost like a heated tingling sensation going through my body.  During workouts I felt great as well.  I sometimes would wonder when I would start to feel tired but I never really did.  This past Saturday and Sunday I really put this through the test.  Saturday was a great BJJ class where we actually free rolled for 4-10 min rounds non stop.  I felt myself extremely relaxed in my rolls and my cardio felt great.  I never felt spent and felt if I needed to I could have trained more.  Sunday was a strength and conditioning day for me.  I was unmotivated to get the workout going, but once I felt the Bullnox kicking in I couldn't stop.  I went from one exercise to the next with little to no rest for a good part of an hour and felt just as strong the moment I started until I finished.  The best part about all of this is there is no crash that I felt while drinking this drink.  If there is one I never felt it.  I mean sure you are going to come down off your high but not like you would if you were drinking your regular Monster type energy drink.  There was really no crash and burn feelings.

How I used it:  I used Bullnox in the mornings as a pick me up and as well before a workout.  I, like I assume many people out there are not morning people.  I have never been a morning coffee drinker, actually I can't stand the taste of coffee.  So I used Bullnox as my morning coffee and it really helped get my day kicked started.  I don't know if its intended to be used this way but, I did it and it helped me get through my early mornings.  I also had the drink before each workout.  Before drinking Bullnox, I was having a tough time getting myself on the mat or in the gym.  Once I started drinking it that was no longer the case.  I wanted to train as much as possible and use the energy that I was getting out of the drink to have a positive workout each day.

In conclusion, I would recommend Bullnox to people who are looking for that little something extra to get them moving in the right direction on the mat, in the gym, or in just every day life in general.  This product can be found at Betancourt Nutrition and most major supplement shops.  I know for a fact they carry the product at Nutrition Depot at a very reasonable price!

Steroid Testing in Black Belt Finals?

As some of you already know, after winning the Pan-AMs light feather weight title a few weeks ago, Mr. Caio Terra called for black belts in the finals to be tested for steroids.  Some people agreed and some people disagreed, but if you haven't seen it yet here is the interview.



Now after seeing this, last week I almost didn't post anything about it until I saw a legendary blackbelt Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti respond via email with his thoughts about what Caio Terra said.

We don’t have any policy on steroids or performance enhancing drugs, we try to advice our athletes about the danger of taking these drugs for their health, however we have no way to know if there is anybody using anything, I personally think is very hard to find out or prove unless you ask this or that guy to test.

We have no plans to implementing a plan, the best way in our opinion is just to tell people once in a while about the dangers of taking any drugs in general, we believe our schools are drugs free environment but we have no way to know what people do outside the school.

PS. This subject was brought up by Caio Terra trying to say that there are guys in Jiu Jitsu using steroids, well if you are accusing someone you have to prove, don’t just trow things in the air because this can bring you problems, he is always crying about this or that, always trying to blame a referee or because he didn’t do well is because he has some injure, etc.. just shut up and fight, he is a good fighter but he need to just fight and talk less.

What do you guys think about this situation?  I really feel like testing these athletes will be waaaay to expensive and may cause the price of your entry fee to go through the roof.

A day after I write the blog on injuries....

I find this.  Check out this video.  It gives you a good perspective about what to do if you get injured.

From the Mind of Babalu #3

As we all know injuries are part of every sport.  Some sports injuries happen more than others.  My thinking today is how do you personally deal with injuries?

I've heard it time and time again people saying "I'm going crazy... I need to get back on the mats asap"  I know for myself, I get the the itch to get back to training as soon as I can, but I don't want to do something that will make my injury worse and prolong my returns to mats. 

As I type this I am nursing a pretty bad rib injury.  I have broken a rib before which has some similar pains that I am feeling now but one major difference is this injury it doesn't hurt to breathe like a broken rib does.  I suffered this injury on Thursday of last week, and by tuesday I tried to get back on the mats and do what I could.  There are some things that I can do, and of course there are some things that I cannot, so Tuesday was a day I used to test my limitations.  Pain is something I can handle, but taking away something that you love to do I'm with most of you I can't handle. 

The question I pose to you, is what do you guys do to help you through your recovery time and keep you from doing something dumb?  Do you help your friends or team mates get through their injuries or show concerns for their health and well being?  If you are like me and are around BJJ and MMA all the time how do you keep yourself off the mat when you know its best for you?  I'm not looking for any help personally, but I want to know your experiences of how you handled things.  I want to know how you overcame your injuries, whether you did it by yourself or with the help of team mates?  Lastly I want to know, if it was hard for you to stay off the mat, did you still go to the Acadmey to be around your friends or team mates, or did you stay as far away as you could?

Before they were Stars...

I saw this video a while back, but I think its really good!  It shows some of todays top MMA fighters in their first professional fights.  Check it out.

Sweet MMA Highlight

Check out this MMA highlight video for Metal Mulisha fighters.

Connection Rio House

I came across this video today, if you don't already know there is a house in Rio de Janeiro that accepts people from other countries to come and stay there and train BJJ in Rio.  They are similar to what the good folks over at TraininRio.com do but Connection Rio is located in Rio.  The reason why I'm posting this video is because the guys over at Train In Rio are planning a trip to Brazil in July.  I know the last time they went it was a HUGE success and they also made a stop over at Gordo's Jiu Jitsu Academy.  This video will give you alittle insight as to what the training is like there.  Also, our buddy Australian Tim is on this video sporting his Draculino BJJ tshirt!  Tim trained with us for a little while back in February and March and was a really good dude. 

Below is a bit about the video and they show they are calling "Real Rio Show"


Today is the day of Real Rio Show’s first episode, part one. The edited footage of RRS is a mixture of a documentary and reality show. In this first episode the camera takes us through a weekday in Rio de Janeiro. Rise in the morning for training and take a look inside Gordo Jiu-jitsu (LB). Pass through Connection Rio HQ as the characters begin to be presented. During this weekday the house went out to eat at Bar do Oswaldo in Largo da Barra. Get a glimpse of what the series will unfold during the second and third part of episode one. The Real Jiu-jitsu Lifestyle in Rio de Janeiro.

Beginners Primer... by Matt Kirtley

I pulled this from another website ... so it is not me writing this, but I feel like its a great piece for people thinking about or wanting to begin training in BJJ.  Its starts off by telling you a little bit about the author.

Matt Kirtley is a brown belt in BJJ and is well known for his groundbreaking website Aesopian.com, a journal he started in 2006 as a blue belt which chronicles a countless number of BJJ techniques in great detail.  He was truly ahead of his time in his endeavor.  Matt is not as active on the internet as he's been in years past, but he graciously offered us a sweet white belt primer he recently wrote.  We thank him for his contribution.

I'm a brown belt and an instructor and today I felt like writing a train of thought piece for people starting BJJ and surviving the first year. I'm going to assume you don't train yet. Let's get started.

You probably like watching MMA and have the idea that training BJJ could be cool. Google BJJ gyms in your area and ask on forums online for good schools to try out.

Stop making excuses like "I want to get in shape first." Nothing gets you ready for BJJ except doing BJJ. (Watching Youtube clips and trying them on your annoyed girlfriend doesn't count.)

Should you do gi or no-gi? This is irrelevant at this point. Find the best gym in your area and do whatever they offer. Eventually you should train whichever one you like more (or the best option: doing both) but don't act like you can't train under a gi-only instructor when your dream is to be a "em em ay" fighter.

Time to take your first class. Wear shorts with no pockets that tie off with a good draw string and a t-shirt you don't mind getting ruined. You may be given a loaner gi to wear.

Show up a little early to meet the instructor, sign a waiver and check out the space.

When class starts, pay attention, follow instructions and just try to do whatever everyone else is doing.

The class will likely go like this:

1. warm-ups,
2. learn and drill 2-3 techniques (you may get your own special first lesson at this point),
3. live drilling
4. and maybe sparring (not all gyms let people spar day one.)

If you get paired up with someone for drilling, don't worry about "wasting their time" because you're a white belt. Everyone has to help everyone and if you're eager to practice and drill, no matter how awful you are, then you aren't wasting their time.

Sparring time. Watching MMA might make you feel like you've got half a clue but there is an ocean of difference between watching and doing.

If you ever saw someone tap to a "lucky" choke or armbar in MMA and thought "Why did he tap!? I wouldn't have tapped!", now is your time to find out why yes, he really did need to tap to that.

If you "almost get" a move on a colored belt, they let you and they are just being nice to the new white belt.

How to not make enemies on your first day:

• Don't pick anyone up and slam them.
• Don't try any leglocks you saw on Youtube.
• Don't just crank on necks.
• Try not to spaz too hard.
• Don't brag about anything.

You are allowed to spaz a little because you are a white belt and no one expects any better out of you. But you should work to replace spazzing with real technique as you train more.

This class will be a blur and you will likely forget everything you learned. That's normal. It takes learning and drilling techniques many times over many years to really get them.

You are likely now aware of muscles in your body that you never knew existed before as they scream at you as you roll out of bed the following morning. That means you did it right.

The best way to deal with anxiety, feeling stupid, being out of shape: realize that everyone (except genetic freaks) went through this too and stop worrying about it. You don't know this stuff yet and that's why you are here to learn.

Claustrophobic? Prepare to take confront your fears head on. This phobia will go away as you get exposed to it and learn what to do.

If you smoke, quit now. It's bad for you, it's bad for your BJJ and you smell awful to your training partners who can't avoid breathing in your musk.

Finishing your first month. Most people don't even take a second class, so you're doing better than most people. But most people also don't finish 6 months to a year, so you're not better than them by much.

Time to get into a rhythm. Keep coming to classes, be eager to learn and drill and don't be afraid of asking questions.

How many times a week should you train? Work up to at least 3 times per week as soon as your body can handle it. Here's a rough guide to classes per week:

1: You will be a white belt forever and barely learn anything.
2: This will barely maintain your skill level and progress slowly.
3: You will make headway and still have recovery days.
4: Now you're getting serious. You are becoming a fixture in the gym.
5: You will see big improvements but get more injuries.
6: You probably don't have a job.
7+: You probably don't have a job or girlfriend. But your BJJ is going great!

Finishing the first 6 months. Your body is probably getting into much better shape than when you started. You should take a look at your diet and sleep habits and try to improve them. This is good for you, good for your BJJ and will even help prevent injuries.

Ready for your first tournament? Of course not. But do one anyway. Everyone should try it at least once. You will probably be very nervous. That is normal. The only way to overcome this anxiety is to compete so much you get over it. Unfortunately that's not a possible solution for your first competition.

Competing as a white belt is good too because the pressure to perform and "prove your belt" is much worse once your belt has a color. No one expects anything impressive out of a white belt so you are free suck and no one will hold it against you (except Youtube comments on your tournament video.)

I would tell you to not worry too much about getting your blue belt and you will likely say you don't really care about your belt. But I also know you're probably secretly coveting it anyway.

What you should be working on as a white belt:

• Regular attendance. This is the most important skill you can have because I could leave the rest of this list empty and you'd still get better by going to the gym.
• Getting in shape. You need to be able to handle a whole class from start to finish and never quit sparring because you're tired.
• Remembering techniques. Drill a lot and maybe keep a written journal.
• Defense and escapes. As a beginner you will spend most of your time in bad spots so naturally this is the main area to improve your technical performance.

Keep that up and you'll get better and eventually earn your blue belt.

One last piece of advice: Don't teach anyone anything as a white belt. Don't try to coach other white belts.

This is harsh and it will make you sad when you are sure you really know the technique, but as an instructor I have seen too many white belts eagerly teach the wrong thing without knowing it. Just ask the instructor to come and check things out. It is not a problem. That is our job.

15 Minute workout?

Here is a workout that I ran across, I haven't tried it yet but plan on giving it a go just to see how tired I get.  The idea that I get from here is that you never stop moving and you are involving every major muscle group in your body.  The entire workout last just 15 mins and you go through it as many times as you can.  For those of us short on time and need a quick workout this could be for you.  If you don't have access to this equipment just improvise shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

I had to share this pretty funny if you ask me....

I learned 2 important lessons watching this

1. Always wear a cup when you are training Muay Thai!  You never know when something may hit your junk.
2. NEVER kick your Muay Thai instructor in the junk whether it be on purpose or on accident.  They don't deliberately beat the crap out of you but its done in a nice kind of way.

Yoga for Grappling

I ran across this today.  I've heard alot of guys at the gym state that want to start doing some yoga.  So here is a link that can get you started. 
http://www.grapplearts.com/Yoga-for-Grappling.htm

New Sponsors!! Proformance Custom Mouth Guards

The Babalu Experience is pleased to announce our newest sponsor Proformance Custom Mouth Guards.  This company provides all your needs in protection for your teeth.  If your an MMA fighter, practice Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, or just any contact sport in general check this company out!  They represent leading edge technology in custom protection!  Whether your child needs a basic mouth piece or you want it fully customized for yourself they can do whatever is necessary to accommodate you and your teeth.  Check out their website and their designs, you definitely won't be disappointed.

Edgar Verdin and Brian Lightfoot new Interviews

Check it out!!  As they prepare for their upcoming IXFA fight April 23rd.

Another day at Rogue Strength and Conditioning Day

Here is a clip of some of the workout that we went through.  There was more stuff like plyo jumps and plyo pushups, but we weren't able to get those on video.

Brock Lesnar tears through Xtreme Couture gym one by one

source: mmamania.com 

I found this online check it out!! I think its pretty crazy what do you think? 

Fighter Mag sat down with Xtreme Couture fighter Jay Hieron, who revealed what it was like when Lesnar was training with the Las Vegas based team during the filming of season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter.

"The guy is just a whole different animal.
"It was his first time back to training since the Cain fight and he was just under 300-pounds. It was something different and we never had a beast quite like that at our gym.
"It mostly consisted of BJJ and wrestling. A lot of rolling. He also helped some of us in the wrestling department. He did some sparring with Randy.
"You do not realize how strong he is and how fast he is unless you are there training or fighting him. I fight at 170 and I'll be the first to tell you that he was much faster than I was. It's shocking actually - the way he was just throwing guys around.
"Couture had him go through rounds of rolling. One person would step in, roll with Brock for 2 minutes then step out and someone else would go in. Forrest Griffin was there, Vitor was there, I was there, Sefo was there. We had a bunch of guys.
"He was incredibly strong, we would just go in there and get submitted a couple times and get out. He caught Forrest in the same straight armbar three times in the two minutes they were rolling. The only one he didn't tap out was Vinny [Magalhaes] but it was more of the same.
"I don't think anyone was able to get top position without him giving it up. It was a fun experience."

Eddie Bravo Interview...From Tatame.com

I just ran across this Exclusive interview with Eddie Bravo from Tatame.com.  Its about alot of different things, but it seems like he says the same things a few times.  Read it let me know what you think.

By Guilherme Cruz

Photo personal archive

Graduated as a black belt by Jacques Machado, Eddie Bravo became famous when submitted Royler Gracie with a triangle choke, in ADCC in 2003. The black belt was also UFC’s broadcaster for many years and has as his main passion music. Besides leading many gyms back in America, Bravo is a musical producer and a great Jiu-Jitsu defender, mainly the specific training for MMA. Check below the polemic interview with the tough guy, the differences he sees on the Jiu-Jitsu style he teaches from the original BJJ, he also comments on how many people have turned against him, about his win over Royler, among many other subjects.

Talking about your Jiu-Jitsu style, what’s the difference between your Jiu-Jitsu and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?

Well, my schools are mainly taught without the gi. We do Jiu-Jitsu, I rank the same way, I got my black belt in the gi. I love Jiu-Jitsu so much, Jiu-Jitsu is in my soul, my heart, is number one martial art to me, not Wrestling, not Sambo, not Karate, Jiu-Jitsu. What’s most important to me is how Jiu-Jitsu looks in MMA. The world’s watching the UFC. How does Jiu-Jitsu look when somebody is trying to smash your skull, whether it’s on the streets on in UFC, that’s what’s most important to me. The traditional Jiu-Jitsu with the gi, the focus on grabbing and yanking, pulling on the collar, and that’s not so important to me. It’s like surfing: there’s the long board, the short board, I like the short board more. Surfing came from the long board, but I like the short board, short board is more important to me, just like the most important thing for me in Jiu-Jitsu is how Jiu-Jitsu looks with the whole world watching in the UFC. That’s why I decided to take the gi off, teach all my students how to fight without the gi and clinching, and my style is based on the clinch. When you’re clinching, your opponent can’t hit you. So, my whole style offensively, not just defensively, is working on the clinch, setting submissions off the clinch, setting sweeps off the clinch, so when the punches are coming in, it’s no difference, it’s the same thing, because you were clinching all the time.

What’s the difference in the techniques and these things you teach? Is it that difference from BJJ?

Yes, it’s very different. It’s just as different as Judo and Greco-Roman Wrestling. Judo and Greco-Roman Wrestling have the same premise, the same concept: try to take someone down. With Judo, they grab the collar and they yank and they pull, and all the set-ups are yanking and pulling set-ups. Greco-Roman they need under-hooks, over-hooks, head control, it’s different muscles, different clinch, different rips, so if you wanna get a gold medal in Greco-Roman, they’re not training Judo, they’re training Greco-Roman 24/7. If you wanna get a gold medal in Judo, don’t train Greco, train Judo 24/7. In my philosophy, same thing. If you wanna be the best possible MMA fighter, and you wanna have the best Jiu-Jitsu MMA, you should train without the gi in the clinch, like if someone’s punching you 24/7. It’s the same idea.

What’s the difference between this Jiu-Jitsu and Submission?

It’s just different names. You can call my style Submission Wrestling, you can call that, you can call it Catch Wrestling, or whatever, but I still call it Jiu-Jitsu because, for me, it all came from Jiu-Jitsu, you know. Before the Brazilians, before the Gracies showed the world what was possible on the ground, nobody was doing that right, the Gracies showed the world how to do it right, and what I’m doing is taking one step further and keeping doing it right, but let’s get rid of the Japanese outfit – it’s not even a Brazilian outfit, it’s a Japanese outfit, so let’s rid off the Japanese outfit and train with no gi, with punches and with strikes. So that Jiu-Jitsu looks good in MMA, in the UFC in particular, that’s my goal. I’m doing this for Jiu-Jitsu, it’s all about Jiu-Jitsu.

There’s a lot of polemic in Brazil about your Jiu-Jitsu style. What do you think about that?

You know, it’s hard for me to understand because it’s seems that all the traditions, there’re lots of Brazilians out there, I like Junior Perez, Ricardo Liborio, there’re lots of Brazilians who understand my philosophy, and I can’t understand why they all don’t, they’re all ruining for it, they want all my style not to work out, ‘cause right now it still hasn’t been proven 100%, not to the world. For the world, it you wanna get good, you still train with the gi and so it’s still not proved, it’s on the proving stage right now. You’d think that if you really love Jiu-Jitsu, you’d be hoping that there’re new techniques to make it better, but it’s strange how are people who are against it and all I’m doing is for Jiu-Jitsu, everything I do is for Jiu-Jitsu, so the reason people are so resistant is a shame because I wish everybody’d jump in and we all worked together and do this task together, but there’s so much resistance I’m left to do a small percentage of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community instead of everybody, it’s battling.

Do you think it’s impossible now for one to be good in MMA only training with the gi?

It’s not impossible, but it’s definitively not as easy as it was before. Royce is probably the only Brazilian, the only Jiu-Jitsu fighter to fight in a gi, Royce’s the only guy, and he was the first guy. So he left such an impression with the gi, it was suck an impression that everybody thought: ‘oh man, I got to get a gi too’. If Royce didn’t do the first UFC, if it was Rickson, Rickson wouldn’t have done it with the gi. We would have a whole different impression of Jiu-Jitsu if Rickson would have did it instead of Royce, or even Renzo or Murilo Bustamante or Wallid… All this other guys could have did it, but they choose Royce and Royce decided to wear a gi, that’s what left the impression that the gi is what make you powerful, the gi is everything, when to me I look at the gi as slowing you down, it slows you down. If, in 2003, when I opened my first school, and I said ‘I’m opening my school without the gi, I’m not gonna have my students getting used to the yanking and pulling and then they gotta do MMA and they gotta readjust. I’m not gonna have that’. When I did that, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community thought I betrayed Jiu-Jitsu, they thought I through Jiu-Jitsu out, that I said ‘fuck you’ to Jiu-Jitsu, but that’s not what I did. I got rid of the gi, the Japanese outfit, it’s not Brazilian, and I got rid of that part. I felt what’s going to make Jiu-Jitsu better, that’s gonna bring Jiu-Jitsu back.

If Helio and Carlos, if they would have said, in 2003, ‘you know what, this American is making a point… Why are we wearing this Japanese outfit still? We evolved so much, we have changed the sport so much, but we still wear this Japanese outfit… Why?’. They would have said: ‘everybody, let’s get rid of the gi’. Right now Jiu-Jitsu would be smashing, dominating all wrestlers, but the reason the wrestlers are dominating is because they’ve spent all their lives controlling bodies without handles, without the gi. That’s why wrestlers are in there, that’s why you see Matt Hughes totally dominate Royce Gracie. Royce Gracie trained with gi his whole life, Matt have never trained in the gi, but that was why Matt was able to beat Royce so easily, because he’s used to controlling bodies without handles. And even Roger Gracie, Roger Gracie just made a public statement, after all this resistance, that I’ve got for eight years, Roger Gracie this year made a public statement saying that 80% of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu does not work when there are strikes, does not work in MMA. He said it, and that’s what I’ve been saying this whole time. He said it, nobody really reacted, it was a big thing, it was on news, 80% of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu does not work when there’s punches and strikes… Yeah!

Of course it doesn’t because if your Jiu-Jitsu was yanking and pulling all the time no one is doing this on a fight. Do you know what happens? It’s even if you don’t have a developed clinching style, Greco-Roman style, when you get hit, they clinch, they’re holding even if it’s not their style, they’re holding the head so they don’t get hit. But there’s not their style so setting up submissions as not as easy, but if every day you practice it, instead of every day you practice yanking and pulling your Jiu-Jitsu, if every day you practice under, setting everything from the clinch, moving every day, when somebody starts punching you, it’s the same game you play every day. That’s not a difference game. All I’m saying is let’s practice the same game you’re gonna practice in MMA. Not a totally different game, and people just don’t seem to understand it.

Do you think you proved your idea in Abu Dhabi, with Royler?

You know, I don’t know. Obviously I didn’t prove it because people would believe it. I don’t know.

But to yourself, did you prove it?

I know to myself. I know that for MMA the way I know it’s better to prepare no gi quality Jiu-Jitsu, not no gi whatever Jiu-Jitsu, it’s gotta be no gi from a really good no gi Jiu-Jitsu instructor, focused on no gi techniques that work in MMA, that’s better than training everyday with the gi for MMA, just for MMA, that’s all I’m talking about. When a guy starts to punch you, how’s your Jiu-Jitsu when he starts to smash you? How is it? That’s all that is important to me. In the UFC, the whole world is watching UFC and the whole world is watching punching. To me, Jiu-Jitsu is so important that I want to look good in Jiu-Jitsu, I’m not even getting rid of the gi to help Wrestling out, I didn’t get rid of the gi to help out Muay Thai. I got rid of the gi to help Jiu-Jitsu, that’s all it’s about.

How do you think that win helped to make your name bigger?

Maybe beating one of the Gracies is the best thing that has ever happened in my life. It gave me a louder voice. Before that I was still saying the same things, but no one even knew who I was, but beating him now people listen to me, as least they listen to me. I have 29 schools, I’m not complaining, my life’s great, but my mission is to make my philosophies stand though all MMA, through all martial art, I’m not trying to get rid of the gi. Some of my schools have the gi program and no gi program. I want the Jiu-Jitsu community to realize it’s Judo and Greco-Roman, it’s two separate styles, I want it to be in every school plans of Jiu-Jitsu classes for people who are interested on the clinching style beat suited for MMA, but then you have your Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, but then you also have on Tuesday and Thursday you have no gi classes. It’s two different styles.

Why do you teach Jiu-Jitsu with the gi if you don’t believe it’s as good as with no gi?

No, no. All I’m concerned about is MMA, but a lot of people don’t wanna do MMA and they don’t care about that, so they like to choke out with the collar, they like that and there’s nothing wrong with that for me, that’s fine too. I don’t hate the gi. There’s people who like the gi and train with it. There’s people who like the long board and there’re people who like short board surfing, you know what I mean? That’s all it is. If you wanna train long board, train long board, but I’m focused on the short board. You don’t have to do both, but if you wanna do both, do both. If you wanna do one, do one. If you just wanna do the gi, do the gi. Ultimately I want to be a choice: gi classes or no gi classes, that’s it. I’m not trying to stop out the gi.

You worked with UFC for a long time. Would you image that MMA and UFC would be as huge as it is today?

I don’t work for the UFC anymore, I just quite. I was with it for eight years, but it’s too much travelling, I’m focusing on my schools, growing my schools, training my fighters and working on music, which is my main passion. The Jiu-Jitsu thing was an accident (laughs). I was only doing Jiu-Jitsu to stay in shape, so I wouldn’t look like a fat slum on the stage. I started Jiu-Jitsu when I was 24, that’s when I started it, and I’ve been producing music all my life. So, I was training Jiu-Jitsu to stay in shape, I got good at it, I beat Royler and I go ‘oh, ok, cool’. I have a lot of passion for Jiu-Jitsu, but the main passion has always been music. Now, the bigger my Jiu-Jitsu gets, the bigger my music gets. They’re working off each other, and as far as knowing if UFC, if I was surprised… I was never surprise. From the day 1, when I saw UFC I said: ‘this could take over the world’. I was just waiting for it to happen, and in the dark years, like from 1997 to 2000, I knew it was a matter of time. I said this literally word for word: ‘it’s gonna be a billionaire out there who falls in love with the sport and it’s gonna save it’. I knew it was going to happen, that someone with money would come in and it would happen. The Fertitta’s got involved, they bought it, they blew it up, there was no shock for me, I was waiting for it this whole time. I knew there was no way you could stop it, because everybody that I knew that was into it, they were fanatically into it, so on a small market, when they were exposed to it, the percentage of fanatic was huge, that’s like the test-marketing: you test a movie, and you show 40 people this brand new movie, and 30 people out of the 40 went like ‘man it was amazing’. You know that, even with only 40 people, you know that movie’s gonna be big. Same thing the way I look, my friends were all nuts for the UFC, and I was like ‘man, it’s going to take off, all it needs is a spark to tart to blow it up, I’m not shocked at all.

Do you think about working with them again in the future?

Probably I don’t see that happening. My focus, from this point on, is going to be building as many schools as possible, proving my philosophy for MMA and keeping producing my music, have a couple of kids, a couple more animals and just be happy.

I heard that you have a band. How does it go?

Like I said, I’ve been producing music, I’ve been in and out of bands ever since I was 10 years old. There’re few people I’m producing right now. One of the projects I’m producing is called Smoke Serpent, it’s a band like if The Cure, Depeche Mode, Marilyn Manson, Smashing Pumpkins and Peter Murphy all got together and said: ‘let’s form a rap band’. That’s what it sounds like.

 

Books and Book reviews

In the little spare time that I have I enjoy reading quality books or magazines about the stuff I love.  Whether it be BJJ Technique books, Non-fiction books etc... everything about BJJ, MMA, and the people that are part of the sport I love soaking up as much information as I can.  So if your anything like me and enjoy reading and learning new things this spot maybe for you.  That last book I read cover to cover was The Fighter's Mind by Sam Sheridan below I will write a brief review of it.  If you have any reading recommendations I would love to hear them. Its about that time I read another good book.

This book is a great look into mental part of competition and life through the eyes of some of the greatest coaches and competitors through all walks of combat sports.  Each chapter is divided by the greatness that each of these people have achieved throughout their careers.  People like Freddie Roach, Dan Gable, Renzo Gracie, Marcelo Garcia, and Randy Couture all visit with Sam and answer questions that will give you some great insight about how they approach the mental aspect of the fight game and what they have done throughout their lives that helped them reach this point in their careers.  Sam also moves away from the fight game alittle bit and covers Josh Waitzkin, who was child chess prodigy, a Tai Chi Push Hands Middleweight National Champion, and now trains BJJ. As well as David Horton about the psychological effects of long distance endurance running.  If you are a fan of any combat sports, their champions, and the way they think this is a great book for you!