BJJ / NoGi grappling seminarium hos Berserk MMA- Stockholm, Sweden

Jiujitsu / grappling resan fortsätter. Nästa destination: Stockholm, Sverige hos Berserk MMA.

Min resa till Stockholm var mycket lättare och enklare än till Sicilien på många sätt:

• Jag flög vid 9
• Jag flög från London Gatwick som är båda enklare och billigare att komma till och ifrån
• Jag skulle bara stanna i ett dygn
• Målflygplatsen (i detta fall, Arlanda) är endast 45minuter ifrån Stockholm city med flygbuss
• Flygbussarna går var tionde minut, har AC och t.o.m. Wifi!
• Seminariet jag skulle hålla i var nogi, så jag behövde knappt packa med något
• Ingen vidare språkbarriär som i Italien

Sagt och gjort, dagen efter att jag landade från Sicilien befann jag mig i Stockholm och, tack vare världens snällaste och trevligaste polisgubbe, gick genom passkontroll på mindre än hälften av tiden jag hade avsett till det så jag gick lite runt i Stockholm och fyllde mina lungor med den friska nordiska luften. 

Surviving Bad Positions in grappling / jiujitsu - Seminar at Union BJJ, Manchester

Jiujitsu hands

Having lived in Manchester for over 12 years, I've formed many friendships, a huge majority of which are in the Jiujitsu community. I recently travelled back to Manchester to teach my second seminar at my friend John Dang's gym UNION BJJ near the city centre.

This was a special visit. Not only had this seminar attracted attention from students of the art from multiple local Jiujitsu gyms and academies, it was also the first time I'd visit UNION BJJ's new location. Previously, Union used to be at another, very iconic, city centre location in Manchester: the Van Dang Building. That building had been an unquestionable part of North England martial arts heritage. Not to mention, I trained and taught privates in their for the last 6-7 months before moving from Manchester and got to know the team at UNION BJJ quite well.

Speaking to John before the seminar about its contents, he expressed a strong wish for the focus to be on the topic of Survival. As an avid traveler and visitor of Jiujitsu gyms and academies everywhere I go, this topic is very close to my heart. I cannot guarantee that you will win every match or sparring round, but I can show you mechanical principles that will make you feel far more comfortable than usual while surviving bad positions. Heck, I'd even venture to say, if you drilled this principles properly and enough, positions will cease to be "bad" or "good" they will just be "grappling positions".

BJJ Seminar & Summer Grading: New School BJJ with Helio "Soneca" Moreira

The day started with 7 black belts

I recently had the pleasure & honour to attend Professor Helio Soneca's Summer Grading and seminar at Ernest Bevin College in Tooting, South London. The seminar was open to all and was immediately followed by New School BJJ's Summer Grading.

The Instructor

Helio Pires Moreira, aka Soneca, is a big deal. The man is a bit of a legend to be fair. He's one of the first black belt produced by the powerhouse Gracie Barra back in the old days. The NAGA, Brazilian Nationals- & Mundial champion has a lot to teach so when I heard he was coming over to London for the third time to teach and grade at his affiliate New School BJJ, I jumped at the opportunity. I mean, how many black belt do you know who started jiujitsu at the age of 8? Exactly!

BJJ Seminar: Carlson Gracie Black Belt Marcos ‘Parrumpa’ da Matta

I recently had the pleasure to attend a seminar with Marcos ‘Parrumpa’ da Matta. Parrumpa is a 4th degree black belt in jiujitsu from the Carlson Gracie Sr lineage and an important figure in the modern history of jiujitsu and MMA household name: American Top Team.

The seminar was held at Parrumpa's affiliate, Union BJJ, in central Manchester. John Dang, Parrumpa's student and representative is an old friend of mine who is also the man behind the IdeePure soapbar company I reviewed recently.

Jiujitsu seminar for charity

Sunday the 8th of March 2015 marked a fantastic first for me. This was the first time I got to do something though jiujitsu. I have always loved and enjoyed jiujitsu and being around those who share the same passion but today, I taught a small seminar at a friend's academy and all the seminar proceeds went to charity. Two charities, to be specific.

For quite sometime I have wanted to do something that involved jiujitsu, my friends and good will but not really known how to or even where to start. I kept hearing about seminars in the US being held for charity but they were always by big names. Famous black belts with accolades and such.

One day I expressed my desire to a few friends who own academies and they immediately showed their support to the idea. Rob Dixon, a man with great vision, who is the instructor at the Gracie Academy affiliate in Stockport, UK was the keenest on the idea. We talked about this towards the end of last year but life got in the way so we agreed a March date, which at the time seemed so far away but as I got in the car this morning I was full with excitement and joy: I was doing something fun, enjoyable and completely selfless.

Royce Gracie Seminar Review

Royce Gracie took the time out of his busy schedule and came to a town near me. Being the UFC and Gracie jiu jitsu legend that he is, I had to go see him and train with him and learn from him. Just as importantly, I had to go thank him.

BJJ Globetrotter Christian Graugart Seminar: Wrestling from Guard and Upper Body Control in Passing

Christian Graugart in a shiny white belt :)

Christian Graugart, aka the BJJ Globetrotter, visited the North West of England recently. He was here with his brother to watch the Manchester United v Manchester City football game and while he was in the area, he gave a seminar at my friend Carl Fisher’s place Combat Base up in neighbouring Bolton. I was invited and had a great time.

This is a very serious photo.
Check out Christian's awesome PTGrappler Patch!

I found out that Christian was taking the train from Manchester to Bolton so I hooked up with him and we had a very nice journey. He even paid for my train ticket (what? The machine only took card and I only had cash on me?!). Christian is as sincere and genuine as he comes across in his awesome book and is, as you can imagine, a man of a million stories and very clear opinions on friendship, BJJ politics and what is and what isn't bullshit :).

After we got picked up by Mr Fisher and got to his gym, Christian asked me if I thought he should roll at the seminar and I gave him my frank opinion: You’d be crazy to do it. He had just a couple of days prior got a very very serious eye injury (which forced him to spend his birthday at the eye hospital) where a spider guard player almost took his eye out with his toenail. In fact, Christian was wearing an eye patch to protect his uber light-sensitive eye (due to the eye drops). He still wanted to test the waters so him and I rolled a little bit to warm up and while he did pull me apart like a cooked chicken, we had to keep a very controlled pace which thankfully drove the point across to him that he shouldn't roll just yet.

He distracts you with the eye patch and the promise of a
friendly High Five then BOOM... You're staring at the ceiling!

BJJ / MMA Motivation: The Passion of Pioneers and the Origins of Vale Tudo

I don't really follow MMA, but this motivational video really caught me off guard. Also, I miss PRIDE.

Vale Tudo is the parent of modern day MMA but Vajramushti could be the great grand parent of Vale Tudo.

I think what the above motivational video did was remind me of the passion that pioneers have for their chosen field.

John B Will is one such man. To learn Karate, he travelled to Japan. To learn Silat, he lived in Indonesia. To learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Vale Tudo, he travelled to Brazil and the US. He took private classes from Helio Gracie. He learned directly from the Machado brothers. He invested in his passion and craft.

In this article on GrappleArts.Com, you can read about John's travels to the origin of one of the oldest forms of free fight, all the way in India.

It is this passion that really shone thru when I spoke to him during last year's seminar at Factory BJJ and it is this passion (and, undeniably, knowledge) that I hope you all join me in sharing on the 5th of May.

Click here to read John's Bio and reserve your spot for John B Will's seminar at Fighting Fit Manchester.

But hurry, we currently only have 15 (at the time of writing) slots left for the seminar. Training with John is a privilege you shouldn't deny yourself so do not miss this opportunity.

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Liam "The Part Time Grappler" Wandi

Proudly sponsored by Predator Fightwear: Built for the kill and Brutal TShirt: Made By Grapplers For Fighters

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BJJ / Grappling Tips: Inspirational Characters. Standing on the shoulders of giants

Fighting Fit Manchester: The best place to train BJJ, MMA and traditional martial arts in Machester will be hosting John Will, 4th degree under the Machados and head of BJJ Australasia on the 3rd of May. This is very exciting!

Ever since I was a child I've always loved spending time in the company of inspirational characters. Whether it was an uncle who studied at university, an aunt who had travelled the world and seen cool, far-flung places or a teacher who had stories to tell from interesting historic events. Growing up, this continued and, naturally, trickled into my many interests.

When I studied medicine at Gothenburg University, my most interesting lectures where with one professor who had spent considerable time with Doctors Without Borders and had many tales to tell from his time in both eastern Africa and the Far East. Dodging bullets and saving children. I didn't really retain much of the lectures themselves but when he started telling anecdotes, my ears would immediately perk up.

Later on, when I started training Karate, I went from club to club. I trained at a number of both martial arts and dojos before I found Gothenburg Kanzenkai which was and still is a great institution and training environment, but what drew me to it was the characters I met there. Sensei Siamak is a great man. An inspiring person. Someone who is educated, well-travelled and had a great sense of humour. A family man with tons and tons of stories from back in the day. He was there when Karate started in Iran, one of the top nations in the sport. He was there when Shinan Farhad Varasteh founded the first karate club in the country back in 1966-67. He is someone I could spend hours listening to and learning from.

This happened again when I attended a seminar with John Will about a year ago. There is something about pioneers that sets them apart from others. Their past struggles were different. Don't get me wrong, no one reaches a decent level of skill in ANYTHING without enduring hardship. Diamonds are created thru pressure. I, and many of my friends, however simply walk into a martial arts club down the road and practice.

BJJ seminar: John B Will, head of BJJ Australia, Machado 4th degree black belt and all round awesome fella.

Hi,


I hope you've launched into the new year, all rockets firing.


I am finalising my April/May seminar trip to the UK.


I understand you may be interested in hosting me for a seminar – which I would love to do – particularly as I met you last year at Adam's place [Factory BJJ].


I would be okay on May the 3rd (Thursday).


(As for material) my first plan for you would be something along these lines:


OMOPLATA – beginning to advanced
We would cover Omoplata basics – getting everyone (beginner to advanced) on the same page in short order – then move onto advanced entries and combinations for Omoplata.


HELIO'S GUARD: Back in 1987 – I had four private lessons with Helio Gracie [the founder of Gracie Jiu Jitsu], in Brazil. He taught me the foundation that he has built his whole guard game on. I can teach these lessons – exactly as he taught me.


STAND-UP: Advanced MMA drill that combines Superman punch – with an ‘angling concept' to set up a double leg shot.


This would work for everyone – regardless of rank or preference.


How does that sound?


I'll wait to hear back from you.


Cheers.


John

It’s not everyday you read an email like that. It’s not everyday you, as someone interested in BJJ, Submission Grappling or MMA get to touch base with the first person to earn a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt in Australia (From the Machado brothers nonetheless!) and went on to establish the largest BJJ organisation outside Brazil. It’s not everyday you get an opportunity to learn techniques that were handed down from the founder of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Helio Gracie himself (not to mention his sons Rickson Gracie and Rorion Gracie), the founder of Goju-kai Karate Gogen Yamaguchi and many legendary teachers of Indonesian Silat (in which he won the world title!) and Muay Thai.

John Will, chillin' with Renzo Gracie like it's nothing!

CFS BJJ Team get together at Mill Hill BJJ Nov 2011

The Combined Fighting Systems - BJJ Team, headed by Mr David Onuma had their bi-annual get together this gone Sunday and The Labs BJJ - No Gi - MMA and Fighting Fit Manchester were represented by a barmy army of 9 (Martyn, Anna, Carol, James (who trekked all the way from York!), Damien, Paul, Don, Andy and yours truly). We all travelled down from Manchester to sunny and beautiful (can you tell I love it?) London for the 3 1/2 hr seminar and BJJ grading, kindly hosted at Mill Hill BJJ Club.

BJJ / Grappling Interview: Luta Fightwear and Fight For Peace

The Part Time Grappler is happy to announce an upcoming interview with a representative from LUTA Fightwear and the Fight For Peace charity. LUTA as a brand are working hard to break down gang culture thru the use of our beautiful arts. They are also the sponsors of the upcoming MMA seminar with former UFC heavy weight champion Mr Frank Mir at Fighting Fit Manchester on the 30th of July 2011. Click here for tickets as spaces are going to be limited to allow maximum 1-on-1 time with the champ.

I have the main interview and will be conducting a follow-up telephone interview to cover more grounds and publish it here soon.

Liam "The Part Time Grappler" Wandi

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Does BJJ work in MMA? Frank Mir Seminar in Manchester

BJJ will work in MMA if you train BJJ for MMA, as proven by champs like Frank Mir who will be doing a seminar at Fighting Fit Manchester.



Even if you are not interested in learning BJJ for MMA or in MMA itself, it would be of interest to learn how and why many of the techniques were originally created the way they were.

BJJ Seminar: Frank Mir is Coming to The Labs @ Fighting Fit Manchester

Guard your ankles everyone, Frank Mir is coming to Manchester!

Hot off the press, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and all-round menacing MMA fighter, UFC heavyweight champion Mr Frank Mir will be holding a seminar at Fighting Fit Manchester. The seminar will be at the end of July 2011.

For more information keep an eye on The Labs @ Fighting Fit Manchester on Facebook or Click here to add The Part Time Grappler to your Favourites / Bookmarks

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Interview with Royler Gracie Black Belt Eddie Kone Part 3

As you all know, on Friday the 28th of May I interviewed Mr Eddie Kone, Royler Gracie Black Belt at his EKBJJ Headquarters in Tottenham for the blog. What came out of that was a 20+ minute chat about, amongst other things, Gracie Jiu Jitsu, honour and some of Eddie's own tips to all the Part Time Grapplers out there. Here's the final part (of three) of that interview, where Eddie talks about (amongst other things):

Why he wants to see BJJ in schools
The philosophy of Gracie Jiu Jitsu
Hobbies and Supplementay activities
What made Helio Gracie so good?
The value of self-defence in GJJ
The value of tapping
What he felt like walking into Gracie Humaita the first time

I hope you enjoy it.

Part Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkKA0eN-gVw

For those of you who missed parts One & Two, Where Eddie talked about being in the zone, the gift and legacy of Jiu Jitsu and putting your own signature on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, you can find it here:

Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgYncxWFCFk

Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngz36EmX8ug

Mr Kone was nothing but a perfect gentleman and I really look forward to train with him and his team really soon. For those of you lucky enough to live near his academy: Go to the Ultimate Fitness Centre and learn from the man himself.


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Interview with Royler Gracie Black Belt Eddie Kone Part 2

As you all know, on Friday the 28th of May I interviewed Mr Eddie Kone, Royler Gracie Black Belt at his EKBJJ Headquarters in Tottenham for the blog. What came out of that was a 20+ minute chat about, amongst other things, Gracie Jiu Jitsu, honour and some of Eddie's own tips to all the Part Time Grapplers out there. Here's part two (of three) of that interview. I hope you enjoy it.


Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngz36EmX8ug

For those of you who missed Part One, Where Eddie talked about being in the zone, the gift and legacy of Jiu Jitsu and putting your own signature on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, you can find it here:

Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgYncxWFCFk



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Interview with Royler Gracie Black Belt Eddie Kone Part 1

On Friday the 28th of May I travelled to London to attend a BJJ seminar with Royce Gracie but unfortunately Royce couldn't make it past Heathrow! Luckily the seminar organiser, Mr Eddie Kone - Meerkatsu's old instructor, decided to give everybody who was in attendance something to take home and that was a 2 hour session mainly on passing the half guard. Eddie's level of detail, but also style of instruction and general attitude towards his students, really impressed me and after the session I asked if I could interview him for the blog. What came out of that was a 20+ minute chat about, amongst other things, Gracie Jiu Jitsu, honour and some of Eddie's own tips to all the Part Time Grapplers out there. Here's part one (of three) of that interview. I hope you enjoy it.

In Part One, Eddie talks about being in the zone, the gift and legacy of Jiu Jitsu and putting your own signature on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

The questions we covered in Part One were:

Greatest thrill he got out of practicing and/or teaching Jiu Jitsu?
Background in training and teaching Gracie Jiu Jitsu
What he thought makes a good student?
What he thought makes a good teacher?
What he would look for in an affiliate?
When did he decide to teach BJJ for a living?
The first part of the interview ends with us touching on what 2010 holds for Eddie Kone.


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Malcolm Gladwell Comes to the UK

It's hard to describe how excited I'm about this, but i just booked my ticket to see Malcolm Gladwell live at the Lowry in Salford.

Mr Gladwell's books (Outliers: The Story of Success and Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking) have been great influences on the way I view my work, studies, BJJ and other hobbies. His writing is very refreshing and mind-opening and his research is always very thorough.

I was initially googling his name because I wanted to quote him in an email to Caleb at the Fightworks Podcast about their latest episode (more specifically the 10,000 hour rule) and was so excited to see that he was coming to the north west of England in about 10 days!

This should be great and of course expect a review.


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Passing The Open Guard. Pit Stops, Awareness and the 3P

I watched some old-ish footage of a Joe Moreira and Roy Harris seminar on open-guard passing during this Easter break just gone.

Joe Moreira wasn't really showing any particular techniques that I wasn't familiar with which was a bit odd, mainly because I have this image in my head of him showing 12 ways to drink a glass of pineapple juice! (After all, the man released a book with over 100 techniques just from Side Control!) What he did instead was something much, much more valuable.

He gave his take on the 3P model. He never called it that but hey...pineapple juice is pineapple juice no matter what else you call it. What he did was:

1. Got rid of and constantly fought against any meaningful contact or pressure exerted by the guard-player on him and instead established his own meaningful grips (posture) and
2. He fully turned on the pressure. Pressure pressure pressure! Now for those of you who haven't seen what Mr Moreira looks like, he's not a big man by any measures, but once he had the postures and grips he wanted, he was in the zone. The pit-bull zone! Pressure pressure pressure! I swear at one point it looked like he was going to fall out of the TV screen! That would've been awkward. "Hey Joe. How's it hangin'? Pineapple juice?"
3. The third P- the possibilities- kind of took care of themselves. I mean you can either pass over, under or around the leg(s). Which one ends up depending on what the poor guard player “gives” you.

Yesterday, I taught a private session on passing. I showed 2 techniques (the double under and the bull pass) and entry to a good pit stop (See my drawing above) and we spent a lot of time working on the necessary awareness to clear any obstacles (hands, hooks, knees...etc.) and Pressure pressure pressure! It was emotional.

Now despite all that, why did I still show two techniques? Not because these specific two are the be-all-end-all of passing and not because they are my favourites, but simply because they served as good demonstrations of the principles.

And the pit stop? Well, it’s all in the pit stop baby!

Oh by the way, Cane did an excellent piece on Guard passing. Highly recommended reading!

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---------------------------------

Gunni Nelson Seminar

Seminar will be held at SBG Manchester on Sat 14th Nov 1-4pm
Non Members £30 Limited places.
Please email karltanswell@hotmail.com to book.

Some background on Gunni
For the last year Gunnar has proven himself in many of the toughest BJJ and Grappling tournaments in the world. About a year ago he won gold at the North American Grappling Championship (NAGA) beating "Macaco" Jorge Patino in the finals. This year (March) at the Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2009 he beat fighters like Clark Gracie, Darren Robert and Bruno Alves among others to take the gold in his weight category.

In April he also won gold at his weight class at the New York Open and bronze in open weight. And in June he got silver at the Mundials beating among others last year’s World Champion Ryan Beauregard.

September 27th he took 4th place at the ADCC absolute division beating Jeff Monson on points and choking Dave Avellan to submission!

And October 3rd he won gold at the Pan Am No-Gi in his weight class (black belt) and silver in open weight (where the open weight was decided by coin toss-up).

Gunnar is also undefeated in his MMA career, winning 4 out of his 5 last fights in the 1st round and the 5th one with a KO in round 2.

http://www.gunnarnelson.info/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnar_Nelson_(fighter)

For more seminar details and to book contact:

Karl Tanswell

SBGi

31 Spear St

City Centre

Manchester

M1 1JF

+44 (0) 7966 577306

http://www.sbgukproteam.com/

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Drop me a line on parttimegrappler@ymail.com or explore some of the recommended past articles on the right...