I feel like big changes are going to happen in my life this year. As a man who likes his routine, the onset of change does provide a fair amount of stress and anxiety. Thank god for jiu-jitsu. The routine of commuting and training, coming home late to eat and wash…its familiar. Almost 8 years now. Its comfortable.
Discovered some videos of this guy Priit Mikhelson while browsing the BJJ Globetrotters website. Interesting guy with some very strong opinions on jiu-jitsu and coaching. I like listening to people who have views on this kind of thing, as it challenges myself to think about the way I teach my class and whether I’m doing the best I can.
Anyway, he has a one hour video on the Turtle. Some key positioning changes to make it very hard for anyone to take the back (full seatbeat, or hooks). I tried some of it out last night on the girls; it was pretty successful. I’ll try to keep that in mind if I ever turn away to escape the guard pass into the turtle. Also, its just a weird goofy position, especially combined with what Priit calls the ‘Panda Guard’. I’m gonna call it the Snorlax though!
I mapped out the gyms that I’ve visited so far in my BJJ life. It’s pretty…disappointing? Really not that many gyms in 8 years of practicing jiu-jitsu. To me it seems like I really have not gone out ‘into the world’ and connect more globally with the community. I guess again, the routine of going to my own gym is comfortable. Maybe also because I don’t compete much, so never traveled for that purpose either. I’ve never dropped into other gyms in my own city for example, other than affiliates.
- Long term goal-fill out this map with far more pins, across many different countries.
- I’m off to Los Angeles next week- so that will give me a few more pins!
- I would like to get some more in SE Asia (Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam), Korea, Japan, East Coast USA, Canada, and Europe…
- Medium term goal- visit other gyms in my own city.
- Short term goal- continue reading Christian Graugart’s The BJJ Globetrotter
Yoshi's BJJ Journal 