A Quick Thank You

To all of you who have sent in emails to parttimegrappler@ymail.com

Thank you all so much. The response has been way stronger than I expected. Initially, I thought one or two emails might pop in from people at SBGi-UK but wow. So far I have had emails from all over the UK, the US, Canada, Italy and places as far and exotic as Malaysia and Russia.

Some were notes of support and kind words and some were questions pertaining to Time Management, Nutrition and Recovery (especially Creatine!), Book & DVD recommendations and other matters that fit in the Part Time Grappler concept. I am very chuffed to see that so many people share the thought that life is too short to only have one passion.

I appreciate the time you took to read my crazy ramblings and write to me and I look forward to hearing more from you and other Part Time Grapplers out there.

PS. I would love to hear more from you about how you live the PTG lifestyle (i.e. how much/often do you train, work, run, lift, study and how you manage all that around your family and social life) so please click on the envelope icon on the right or the link below and drop me a line or two.

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BJJ Tips: Recommended Books and DVDs

Building your BJJ/Grappling library is a lot of fun! But where do you start? and just as importantly, where do you stop?

A quick search on the web will show you a million and one books, DVDs and dowloadable files that all claim to be "Essentials", "Fundamental", "You-Can't-Survive-Without-It"...etc. But a question came up the other day:

What constitutes a good start, or a bare minimum?

The way I see it, from an educational point of view, good starter-kit materials need to:

1. Have an author who wants to teach. Not just show you the cool shit (s)he's come up with, but teach it!
2. Focus on the fundamentals as defined by Pareto's rule (20% of the total of the moves but used 80% of the time)
3. Break the moves into digestible chunks with lots of details that make or break the move
4. Build the moves into chains and game-plans
5. Good production quality

With that in mind, I believe the BJJ/No Gi Grappling list below is a good starting point. If you are going to buy nothing else, buy everything Saulo Ribiero has ever written or produced. Not only is his performance amazing, but he is such a fantastic teacher, and that's what you really need. Otherwise, you might as well just get some Mundial Finals DVDs and wing it!

Books:
Standing:
Gi: Dave Camarillo, Guerilla Jiu-jitsu: Revolutionizing Brazilian Jiu-jitsu
No Gi: Randy Couture, Wrestling for Fighting

Ground:
Gi: Saulo Ribiero, Jiu-jitsu University: The Daddy of BJJ books!
Kid Peligro & Rodrigo Medeiros Essential Guard
No Gi: Antonio Nogueira, The Guard
Eddie Bravo: Mastering the Rubber Guard & Mastering the Twister

DVDs:

Standing:
Gi: Saulo Ribeiro - Jiu-Jitsu Revolution Series 2
Dave Camarillo, Position Impossible
No Gi: Saulo Ribeiro - Freestyle Revolution

Ground:
Gi: Saulo Ribeiro Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Revolution Series One & Saulo Ribeiro - Jiu-Jitsu Revolution Series 2
Roy Harris, You can find his great material from BudoVideos
Cesar Gracie Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Instructional 9 Volumes on 3 DVD's!
SBGi Cross Side Top: Pressures & Concepts DVD , Cliff Notes Version

No Gi: Saulo Ribeiro - Freestyle Revolution

I have a few more books and DVDs but I don't in any way feel that they are necessary for someone starting out. Heck, if Saulo's stuff had come out earlier, there is a great chance I would never had bothered.

PS. I don't claim to have a superior knowledge of BJJ/Grappling. There are heaps and heaps of player out there who are better than me. However, I am qualified to judge educational material and this is what I am doing here. Nuff' said.

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Who Are Part Time Grapplers?

Many people have sent positive encouraging emails to parttimegrappler@ymail.com over the past couple of months that the blog has been active, which is more than I ever anticipated. I initially started it as a venue for me to both jot down a few ideas on how I think Part Time Grapplers need to tailor their training and also show others in the same boat that we are indeed the majority of Grapplers out there.

Part Time Grapplers (PTGs for short) are those among us who have a deep passion for the arts of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) and or No Gi Grappling. Some may even dabble in striking arts such as boxing or Muay Thai but deep down inside, they rather block, clinch and take you down than stand and trade punches and kicks.

On top of the above, which covers more or less all grapplers, PTGs are those who either can not, or do not wish to, dedicate more than a few hours a week to grappling/BJJ training. By a few hours I mean 3-5 hours of mat-time per week.

So who are those PTGs? In my experience they are people who either work and / or study more than 5 hours per day, have a partner or a small family and may or may not have another hobby other than Grappling/BJJ. It’s important that you notice that I call it “hobby” because that is what Grappling/BJJ is to us. It’s not a profession.

Keeping the above in mind, it is easy to see that some people may fall into the PTG category without actually trying to. People such as army soldiers, shift workers, full time professionals or perhaps people who are restricted to no more than a few hours a week. Such restrictions may be financial (can’t afford more classes or travel to classes) or logistical (only 1 academy in the vicinity and they only do so many classes per week) or even time-commitment (have access to classes and can afford them but is currently studying on top of working full time, like yours truly).

The aim of this blog is to share ideas and tips on how to maximise the results of these few hours of training so we can continue enjoying this wonderful art and sport. My contributions are not superior BJJ/Grappling knowledge; neither are they super-secret training formulae. They are simply pointers in the areas of:

1. Time management (so we can create more training opportunities)
2. Learning methodology (so that we can optimise the use of the above mentioned opportunities)
3. Project management (so that we leave no stone unturned and round up all the resources we have)

So, many thanks for all the kind words (keep them coming :) ) and I hope, if nothing else, my rants entertain you.


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