Wow do I feel tired, sore and beat down today! 🙂 After teaching my regular Jiu jitsu class today I attended a closed-door training session at Gracie Sydney Headquarters in Coogee. My coach Bruno Panno (head of Gracie Sydney), asked me to come along and is now holding these sessions every Wednesday afternoon from 2-4pm and what a great idea they are! No ego or fanfare , just a bunch of guys coming together to train and get better! I believe the only proviso is, that it is only open to Gracie Sydney Association (GSA) members from purple belt through to black belt!
After a great training session with a healthy mix of purple, brown and black belts I am reminded of one thing… I need to do some more gi training! As of late I have placed more of a focus on no gi training as the weather is getting warmer and one of my main training partners/coaches is overseas. But today as I worked hard to pass some of these purple and brown belt’s guards, it became painfully clear that training with the gi really does give you more options and obstacles to pass! I mean some of these purple and brown belt’s guard games were sweet, transitioning smoothly from closed guard to seated guard to spider guard to various styles of open guard. The possibilities and options with the gi are almost endless and I walked away thinking I need to work on a few things:
1. Passing that damn spider guard 🙂
2. It’s amazing how far a good solid game grounded in the basics takes you. Even when facing unfamiliar techniques and positions, if your basics are solid and you know how to use your weight and apply leverage you can wreak havoc on your training partner’s “new positions”! 🙂
3. Man those little guys are fast and dangerous!!! I need to work on using the gi to slow them down, control and contain their movements so that I can best put my skill set to good use and make them play my game!
4. I’m so disappointed that I missed Guilherme Mendes’s seminar on Monday night at VT1 Gym! Some of the stuff that Owen Gee Kee showed me today was mind-boggling… Particularly the way that they apply their same passing game from all different types of guards and positions!!!
Now that I think about it I really am amazed at how far Jiu jitsu has come in Australia. I mean the standards of everyone training today was really high and a lot of that is due to the work done by Bruno Panno over the last 8 years! He really has created a great learning environment and I look forward to more of these sessions over the coming weeks, months and new year! There’s just so much more to learn that I am reminded of an old adage, “the more I learn, the more I realise that i dont know”. Anyway that’s it for today and if you’re ever in Sydney, Australia please feel free to drop in and train at Gracie Sydney!
Good luck with your training and Happy rolling!
Felipe
Jiu jitsu Kingdom
Tags: australia, bjj, brazilian jiu jitsu, bruno panno, coach, felipe, felipe grez, gracie, gracie jiu jitsu, gracie sydney, Gracie Sydney Association, GSA, jiu jitsu, jiu jitsu kingdom, learning, mma, Owen Gee Kee, royler gracie, sydney, vt1 gym
Jiujitsukingdom's Blog 
December 2, 2009 at 11:43 am |
Too right Felipe! In addition, a gi also allows you to:
1. Hide a gut (much unlike a rash vest)
2. Do Saulo’s version of the lotus sweep
3. Act as an emergency sail in case you get shipwrecked
5. Hide a gun (if you never actually turned up to BJJ class)
6. And dry yourself off after a particularly sweaty No-Gi class at Jiu-Jitsu Kingdom
December 3, 2009 at 4:40 am |
Hey Derek, good to see the creative juices flowing and you’re thinking outside the box! However you skipped number 4… Is that because it is “HIGHLY CLASSIFIED” competition ritual?
4. Can be used as a sweat suit to drop weight during the hot and humid months of Summer
Perhaps I can add some additonal benefits to using the gi:
7. Can be used as a make shift sling for those that refuse to tap to armbars (although the belt works just as good)
8. Can be used like a blanket to treat hypothermia for those that live in the snow!
9. Make for really comfortable pyjamas… Funny that! 🙂
10. You can wrap your belt around your gi and carry it over your shoulder adding to your “street cred”!
11. Cross Choke from Mount! (My favourite)
12. Make for a more hygenic training environment and help prevent the spread of skin diseases/irritations
13. A nice easy and convenient costume for a fancy dress party
14. Acts as a good cover when you tell your partner that “you train UFC”
15. Why stop at just hiding a gun? You could hide all sorts of knives, batons, brass knuckles, plastic exposives, grenades, nunchakus, throwing knives, sais, tasers, handcuffs, kevlar vest, chainmail, garrote, pepper spray, victononox swiss army knives (cause everyon needs one not just MacGyver), cable ties, manrikigusari (if you dont know what that is, google that shit!), protective gloves, various poisons, shurikens and so much more 🙂
Oh and feel free to add to the list at any time! Have a good one and I’ll see you on the mat soon!
Kind Regards
Felipe
December 2, 2009 at 2:07 pm |
[…] This post was Twitted by 2jiu_jitsu […]
December 3, 2009 at 4:47 am |
Dont really know how twitter works but feel free to stop by anytime! And I realise that i forgot to mention that I learnt a new/modified grip on a kinura variation that i taught today from one of my white belt students Ryan! just goes to show that you really can learn from anyone!
Kind Regards
Felipe
December 3, 2009 at 4:18 am |
I LOVE SPIDER GUARD!
Its the best!
Come train at VT1 Felipe!
Man im so jealous about those training sessions, Bruno told us about them but its just impossible to get to those classes when you work an office job.
December 3, 2009 at 4:45 am |
I remember that you love Spider guard and man, it was the source of much frustration for me yesterday! I must admit I use a very modified version for no gi, well actually its more the principles that I use!
I am planning on getting out to VT1 to train with you guys again at some point in time however I just seem to run out of time these days…
As for the closed door sessions I say quit your job, come train and lets wreck shop at every single competiton next year! Oh and I guess the sensible side of me should say that I am kidding with the last statement but seriously…..
Kind Regards
Felipe
December 3, 2009 at 5:40 am |
Believe me i’d love to be doing what i love and making a good living from it! Unforunately i have to do what i dont love but make my living…dreading each moment and counting down to 6pm, training time.
I love spider guard for No gi! Still works!
December 3, 2009 at 1:30 pm |
lol, pyjamas.
A gi can also be used:
16. As an ineffective pillowcase to make a brick more comfortable
17. Let your lame friend pretend to be Luke Skywalker from A New Hope for a fancy dress party
18. Let the SAME lame friend fashion a giant nappy for his own amusement
19. A badass do-rag for street cred
20. Hide a girdle (AS WELL AS your grenades)
21. Smuggle little penguins and other cute animals out of the zoo
22. A fancy seat cover
23. Very rough wash cloth
24. Ezekiel chokes from the guard
25. Worn at night when everyone’s asleep and pretend to be Rickson Gracie
26. Worn as everyday street wear, much like John Macacho did in the movie Red Belt, every scene he was in, in that guy’s office, getting out of a car, backstage at an event…(notice they never showed what was on his feet, joggers don’t look good with a gi…)
27. On a date, coz if John Machado can pull it off, so can you!
December 3, 2009 at 1:35 pm |
Here’s another one:
28. Throw it onto a clothes rack, and scare yourself in the middle on the night when you wake up and think there’s an odd shaped murderer standing silently in the corner of your room, even though YOU were the one that put it there and you’re a grown man in his twenties…
December 3, 2009 at 1:44 pm |
29. Excuse to use a Brazilian accent
December 3, 2009 at 10:37 pm |
lol Derek obviously has too much time on his hands.
December 3, 2009 at 11:36 pm |
30. A really effective straight jacket!
31. Add a hood and some boots and you’re officially a ninja!
32. Can tie it between two trees for some shade in the desert
33. Can be thrown over a line and used as a “Flying fox”
34. Intimidate traditional martial arts schools by walking in wearing a “Bad boy” gi saying you’re there for a challenge match!
35. Chuck Norris wears a gi…. Need I say more?
December 4, 2009 at 12:17 am |
Hahaha, Chuck Norris should have worn a gi in that fight aginst Bruce Lee, if he did, he wouldn’t have had chunks of his uber shoulder hairs pulled out of his skin, he probably still woudl have lost though…
Lawrence my friend, I have two days off from work to study for my exams, in which case:
36. Good way for procrastinating from studying boring CA by thinking of humourous ways to use a gi with your equally jiu-jitsu obsessed coach
37. To prevent chest and shoulder (or even neck!) hair being yanked out in a fight if you are a particularly hirsute gentleman (or gentlewoman)
38. Worn everyday JUST IN CASE you bump into Rickson Gracie or Marcelo Garcia, so they have something to sign! (i’ve sewn a nifty pen holder into my gi, much to the complaints of my sparring partners)
December 4, 2009 at 12:20 am |
39. Great way to meet your Asian girlfriend’s parents for the first time, if you’re a non Asian dude, so you can “fit in more with your parents honey”…”don’t look at me like that”…”What!? I did it for you!”
December 4, 2009 at 12:22 am |
40. A FANTASTIC way to collect the blood, sweat and pubes (ugh) of the hundreds of training partners at your academy.
December 4, 2009 at 12:23 am |
41. Yet another reason to remind you why your mum is so great, after you give her another gi to wash, covered in blood, sweat and pubes. Thanks Mum! You’re the best!
December 4, 2009 at 12:24 am |
42. A reason to remind your mum why out of her two sons one who is a dentist and one who loves BJJ, you are NOT her favourite.
December 4, 2009 at 12:29 am |
43. As an emergency tablecloth by your unknowing (and loving) girlfriend/wife/partner for the kid’s table at family get togethers
44. As the emergency rope by your unknowing (but still loving) girldfiend/wife/partner in a kid’s tugs-of-war game
December 4, 2009 at 12:35 am |
45. As a holy, magical vestment of armoured Brazilian protection against big, beefy Shoot Fighting Champs who outweigh you by 40+ pounds at UFC 1
December 4, 2009 at 12:38 am |
Royce did NOT win by RNC as it says on Sherdog!
December 4, 2009 at 12:43 am |
46. Make your girlfriend wear it so you can pretend she’s Kyra Gracie
47. Use the spider guard grips to control the angry she-wolf who is your girlfriend when she cottons on to what you’re doing
(no, i’ve never done that, i swear – i don’t even play spider guard!)
December 4, 2009 at 12:56 am |
48. A fantastic way to STAND OUT in your favourite cousins’s wedding photos, when there’s 2 rows of 30 people lined up and you’re at the back in the corner.
(Hey, if you’re the black sheep all the time because of your unhealthy obsession to your extra-curricular activities that involve grappling other dudes on the ground, isn’t it nice to be white when everyone’s wearing black for once?)
December 4, 2009 at 12:56 am |
oh man, i need to get back to study…
cya Saturday Felipe!
December 7, 2009 at 7:47 am |
Great session on saturday mate, those wristlocks are dangerous! Hope the studying is going ok mate!
Kind Regards
Felipe
P.S. Look out for more uses of the gi over the next few days! 🙂
December 26, 2009 at 3:54 pm |
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January 5, 2010 at 10:47 pm |
Glad you like it! Stop by anytime!
Kind Regards
Felipe
February 11, 2010 at 6:14 am |
Good, Great colored, specially from the major news corperations with the big slants to the left or right. Did you see last nights Late Show? haha, that was rediculous! Sorry, I am rambling on again. Have a Wonderful one!
February 18, 2010 at 10:23 pm |
Hey Wilda, not sure if that comment was meant for this page but thanks for stopping by!
Kind Regards
Felipe
April 17, 2012 at 5:08 pm |
vietnam oto…
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