If you know anything about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, then you’ve heard the name Jean-Jacques Machado. If you haven’t heard the name Machado, then now is the time to start getting educated! Jiu Jitsu is originally a Japanese combat sport, and with the largest population of Japanese outside of Japan living in Brasil, it’s no wonder Jiu-Jitsu developed into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) and also developed new techniques and new competitions.
There are two family names synonymous with BJJ; Gracie and Machado. Jean-Jacques Machado is one of the five Machado brothers, including Carlos, Roger, Rigan and John, renowned for their Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) skills. Nephews of BJJ co-founder and Master Carlos Gracie, the brothers learned the martial art from an early age.
All the UFC fans out there should know of Royce Gracie, who competed in the cage against numerous martial arts and fight after fight walked out victorious. BJJ exploded onto the scene surpassing any Boxing, Kickboxing or Thai Boxing interest and BJJ boomed! Now people needed skills not only in their stand up kicking and punching, but also needed to know how to control opponents when taken to the ground. BJJ set new levels of skill requirements for competitions and MMA was born – a league of its own. Competitors now needed to be multi skilled in disciplines, demanding a higher work ethic and higher skill palate.
Jean-Jacques Machado is known for his grappling skills having won every major title in his native country, and then pursuing his career further abroad. Of late he has competed in (Abu Dhabi Combat Club) ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championships in his weight division, a Silver medalist in the open division in 2001 and Super fight Runner up in 2005.
Jean-Jacques Machado has a school in Tarzana, California, and has trained a number of champions; among his students are Eddie Bravo and Joe Rogan (UFC). For those of you wanting to develop your skills in grappling, and cannot make a trip to California soon – we are proud to announce a 3-hour seminar with the international champion and world class instructor, Jean-Jacques Machado. The seminar will be no gi techniques, and is open to all persons interested.
Seminar Details:
Saturday 1st October 2011
4.30pm – 7.30pm
$110 .00 (EFT available upon request, EFTPOS or Cash payments accepted at the club)
Pulteney Grammar, South Tce. Adelaide
For more information on Jean-Jacques Machado:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Jacques_Machado
http://www.jeanjacquesmachado.com/
photo credit: Mister Jo
Watching Belfort take on Akiyama in UFC 133 and win by absolutely dominating the fight made me wonder what happened to Akiyama? Pre fight interviews had Akiyama who is a Judo black belt speaking about how he will fight Belfort. Basically he laid out his game plan. Akiyama looked composed as he walked up to the octagon and respectfully bowed to the crowd. He looked relaxed and seemed to have everything sorted out just like he said in the interview. Akiyama might have had butterflies prior to the fight but he fooled everyone including myself with his cool demeanor. So what went wrong? What happened to Akiyama?
Belfort entered the octagon on a high. He was pumped and not only did he look positive but showed it physically in his body language. Then the fight started and Akiyama still looked like he would bring the fight to Belfort. I waited, and waited for this to happen. Waiting in anticipation…but he never did. Akiyama failed to fire up. Straight away his hands were dropping, looking tired, as if he had already gone 10 rounds!
It seems that there were too many things that Akiyama needed to work on in order to cement a victory. There was nothing he could now do to diminish Belfort’s already beaming positive alpha male attitude. His window of opportunity had left him. What had he been training?
This fight was a tremendous task for Akiyama but unfortunately he did not rise to the occasion. Akiyama seemed to step into the octagon already on a low, and his body language showed this. Belfort saw the weakness in Akiyama’s psyche and seized the opportunity resulting in a TKO!
Belfort’s mentality on the other hand, reminded me of a survival fight – the fighter who cares for nothing and will do everything to beat the crap out of you in order to succeed. How do you beat someone like that? That mental strength and the ‘will’ to win? You need to match the arrogance and regain the initiative. You have to get that arrogant voice in your head to talk you up and over your opponent, and once push comes to shove bring out the big guns; unleash! It would have been a bloody fight had Akiyama fired up because Belfort would have stopped at nothing…the survivor mind set. Belfort clearly dictated the fight from beginning to the end.
So what can we learn from Akiyama? Work on everything before, during and after your training. Not just your physical conditioning. Mentally focus on what you are going to achieve rather than blindly committing to training. Train both perfect and imperfect situations. Train the unexpected, train when you are tired and when you are losing – so you know what it really feels like when it really happens. Train your mind for all situations; understand all the elements of fight training; the physical, and the mental human psyche.
photo credit: f_mafra
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a sport with rules, regulations and a controlled environment – just like any other sport. MMA is a sport which keeps you active, fit, will improve your coordination and build your confidence. Training will contribute to mental wellbeing, teamwork, peer interaction and friendships. It will keep you engaged and focused and create goals to aim for. All positive character building attributes found in all sports. We are human beings, we are competitive. MMA is a competitive sport; practiced in a controlled and age regulated environment.
So often we are afraid of what we don’t understand or what we don’t know.
MMA is a discipline, dedicated to physical training, conditioning and technical skills. Kids are already training boxing and competing in boxing at 12 years old in SA (younger in some states). Again, it is a controlled and regulated sport – especially at this age. MMA follows suite. Boxing: must be 12 years or older to compete; must wear protective head gear; striking to the head and body. MMA: must be 12 years or older to compete; must wear protective head gear; striking to the head, body and legs and grappling on the ground. Under SA MMA rules there is no striking to the head when on the ground. Consider 10 rounds of boxing to 10 rounds of MMA. It could be argued that boxing takes far more punishment to the head.
What is the real issue here? Kids fighting? Kids being hit in the head? Encouraging violence? These arguments can be tied to anything – school yard bullying, competitive boxing, competitive netball, YouTube and COD.
Contact and impact from sports is an old recurring argument; it came up when Boxing first came on the scene, what about Ice Hockey, it still comes up with AFL. Contact sport is dangerous but so too is being inactive, gaining weight, and being disengaged.
photo credit: PjotrP
Mention “deadlift” in a gym these days and you may get remarks from others from ‘what the heck are you talking about?’ to ‘If you know what’s good for you – stay away from deadlifts!’ The mere mention of the deadlift would often conjure up back injuries and horror stories.
But the dealift is not just for power lifters lifting huge amounts of weight – with the bar dipping at each end! The deadlift should start with a sensible amount of weight attached.
As as a power lifter I can tell you that when I started deadlifting there was no bend in my bar. The fact is deadlift begins like all weighted exercises… a little weight at a time. Overtime when your body adapts to the physiological changes and your strength builds up then you can increase the weight accordingly.
Having a good coach with an eye for details and subtleties makes a big difference to your lifting capability and sustainability. A good coach will have you train good technique first, and get you practising with only a bar. A good coach will point out correct posture prior to the lift, then the correct posture during the lift and finally the correct posture at the top of the movement. It is correct technique during these three steps done hundreds of times over that will be of value to you when it comes time to add weight to the bar.
Aside from the Olympic lifts the deadlift will stimulate more musculature than any other machine or barbell exercise. The following body parts are incorporated when you perform a deadlift: forearm/grip, shoulders, upper back, abdominals, mid and lower back, butts, thighs, lower legs and even the feet must do their part to ground the lifter.
Still not convinced? Why not get a hold of some very old footage or books from the 50’s and 60’s when most of the bodybuilders trained solemnly with barbells. Their mainstay for strength and conditioning were bench press, squats, the mighty deadlift and power -cleans. Names like Bill Pearl and Reg Park were synonymous during those times and even though they wouldn’t quite be as admired today as they were back then, there was nonetheless an aura about their physique that emanated strength and power.
So how do you make the mighty deadlift part of your toolbox of exercises? Why not find a competitive power lifting club, competitor or coach and see the benefits and proper form first hand.
photo credit: Jami Dwyer
That time of the year has come yet again and most of us gym junkies are dreading the month of December – when their gym will close during the Christmas period. Festivities call for your attendance, drinks are weekly occurrences and eating is always part of the routine. Ah, Christmas! Unfortunately for many gym junkies out there the awful truth is – your personal trainer and instructors need some time out to relax, rest and recharge just like all of us mortals.
So what do you do then? In this time of crisis – when you don’t have someone keeping you accountable? Someone to turn up to, someone yelling at you and pushing you to do one more rep, set or drill? Here is a couple of ideas that you can start with that will keep you motivated until the festive season is over:
1. Get yourself a diary! And I mean one big enough that you can jot down everything on a day-to-day basis. Begin to write goals for yourself and be very specific about what you want to achieve and by when. Your goals could be to maintain an active lifestyle four times a week and describe what each of these activities will be, what time you will do it, and think about how it will look. Visualise it first so you know what you are stepping off to do.
2. Enrol a friend, partner or your neighbour so that you can be accountable to your goals plus having someone there can make the training enjoyable.
An important part of your goal setting is to make sure that you review what you do on a day-to-day basis and write down any downers and uppers that you have experienced that day. This continual self analysis will help to keep you motivated and on top of your goals.
Still unsure whether this is the way you want to spend your Christmas while waiting to get back to the gym? Ok. Let’s look at another approach which is outside the square:
3. Why not try something totally different from the norm? For example try outdoor rock climbing or orienteering with an organisation that specialises in this activity. Open water canoeing or kayaking. Learn to dance the Samba, Salsa, Argentinean Tango or any other style that you fancy.
Sometimes it is good to look outside the square of your comfort zone. You may be surprised at what you find! A change in environment or training regime often makes your current training better. Also – your personal trainer or instructor is probably off doing something out of the norm for themselves as part of their relaxation, recharging and building their repertoire of activities!
photo credit: PinkStock Photos!
I have always been an avid fan of martial arts. Since leaving my beloved island, Mauritius, I have sought to improve my knowledge through reading books, watching videos (yes that’s how old I am!) training and practicing. Before leaving Mauritius I had a short stint learning Kung-fu from a mate. Back then learning martial arts was secretive and the very thought of someone doing such training would conjure up images of breaking bricks and shattering wood from a palm strike; complete with the infamous death touch and magic!
Little did I know that my short introduction to martial arts would have a life-long impact; that I would continue to train, teach, compete, and even write about this fascinating and dynamic practice.
In 1988 I moved with my family to Australia where I lived in Cabramatta, Sydney and my growing addiction of martial arts began… I would regularly walk past a group of Asian elders who would practice a form of tai- chi, combining movements from the Tiger, Leopard, Bear, Dragon and Crane. Eventually, after my curiosity and interest permeated through my skin, they kindly invited me to train with them! It had started…I then found Tae-Kwon Do at the local Police Citizen Youth Club (PCYC).
It wasn’t because I was bullied at school or because of B-grade movie stars – I wanted to train just because I loved it! And so, my journey continued… I went on to study Kenjutsu, Hapkido, Chow Wing Kune Do, Kali Illustrisimo, Thai Boxing and Western Boxing. I still wanted more; I had a hunger for martial arts, physically, mentally and spiritually and I had to find more.
It came to this; in 2000 I left my job, my family and my home to head to Adelaide to study and train martial arts full-time. What a leap – what an adventure – talk about following your dream! Adelaide opened up a world of opportunity for me! My journey went from reading books and watching videos of renowned instructors – to training in person with them! Here I got the opportunity to train and learn from world class Australian and international instructors. Wow!
As I grew, in martial arts and in years, my understanding of the different practices of martial arts developed within me. Everything I had previously learned – in Mauritius, Sydney and now in Adelaide made sense to me and the conversations I had had with my instructors started to mean much more. These moments are very dear to me as they have shaped the person and the teacher that I am today. And, as a result I offer similar guidance, patience and time to help shape my own student in their training and personal development, and hope that one day they too can impart their knowledge as teachers to their own students.
Growth, development and opportunities haven’t stopped here! After years of training and teaching I now have my own city fitness and martial arts club here Adelaide CBD – where I get to teach all sorts of people from all kinds of background and with all different abilities!
Ok, now for the honesty check. I have omitted a few things that I think bear mention now. This journey, as exciting as it has been for me since my departure from Mauritius, has also been filled with blood, sweat and tears, frustrations, loneliness, helplessness and martial arts politics. The standard turmoils of any adventure and every achievement.
Despite the journey being years long, riddled with twists, turns and dead ends my love and passion for martial arts has always been the driving force for me. Life without martial arts would be so much harder and far less interesting. Passion is what keeps me going even when the wall comes up to try and stop me. Passion is one of the greatest characteristic we possess as a human and from it we develop awesome skills like determination, discipline, creativity and humility. If you follow your passion to do what you love, simply for the love of it, and the joy that it brings you, then you will truly live the life you want the way you want. Your path might change, take new forms, and be tedious at times, but if it is your passion that is driving you, you will always be creating life and never just falling into it. Powerfully choose to follow your passion and you will create everything you set out to create.
photo credit: WilsonB
There are many things to consider when choosing a gym. First of all is the gym located nearby? Is it convenient to get to? Do you have to travel through suburbs before your next work out? There are people out there who will make the journey for many reasons. Their gym may have specific training available. It may be the environment and the atmosphere of their gym. The instructors, friendly, experienced and maybe the gym shows genuine care for the well-being of their members. If this is the type of gym that you are attracted to then by all means whatever the journey you will do it, and be rewarded by your efforts.
Price is another aspect to consider when choosing a gym. Is there set up fees as well as membership fees? Do they provide different types of memberships to suit your training needs and lifestyle? Can you buy a 10 pass visits, a casual visit, monthly membership or annual membership? Do they come on an easy payment plan? How much paper work do you need to go through before they even sign you up? Some gyms offer a trial period, some don’t. Again it doesn’t mean that one is better than the other, remember that free is not always best! You just have to do your research. What will keep you returning to training?
How friendly is the staff when you arrival? Do you float around before someone notices you? Do they make you feel welcome? Does staff answer your questions rather than make you a selling pitch? How well do they know their gym? Do you get to look around and are you showed the various training rooms and facilities available to you? Do you get a sense of belonging from other patrons? Don’t be afraid and ask them what they think of the gym.
What does the gym itself look like? Is it clean and is the equipment well kept? I’ve trained in a 300 sq metre tin shed that had no shiny weights and no machines. However, the gym was immaculately clean and always kept tidy. That made the difference training there and I always knew it was clean.
If there is a class running stick around and observe the instructor and the people participating in the class. Does the instructor give their attention to the participants and what they are teaching? Is it personalised? Will the instructor help you? How well presented is the instructor? Do they wear uniform? Do they motivate the participants to work hard? How does the instructor look physically? Do they look like they are living what they teach?
Does the gym offer classes? Does the class timetable work in with your schedule? Are there enough classes available that if you miss one you can make it up on another day? Or do you have to wait another week? Does your membership allow you to do the classes and use the machines? Questions should ask before you sign in.
Last but by no means least what about your first impression. This if often the phone call. How well were you greeted on the phone and did they make any effort to ask for your name? How well did the staff answer your questions? Did they paint a clear picture in your head about the gym and its facilities? Remember, some gyms are people oriented and others number oriented. Before you sign in, be clear about what you want out of your gym and what will keep you returning to training?
photo credit: law_keven
I was asked a very interesting question by one of my friends a couple of months ago. How can you train someone to fight in the ring if you haven’t been there yourself? There is definitely no simple answer to this question therefore I will speak from my own experience and hopefully you can take something from it.
I competed in a stick fighting tournament a few years ago and did quite well for a first timer. Leading up to this tournament I trained early mornings and late nights and because I did not want to be under prepared I trained whenever I had any spare time, even if it was for 20 minutes.
My sparring partner was a lot bigger than I was and with that came strength to boast. Every time he hit me on top of my head the blow would be so intense that it went through my head guard and left two tiny eggs on my head. As the sparring continued and the beating followed I would eventually cringe from every hit and mentally it wasn’t doing me any good either. I thought long and hard about how to avoid the hits and it struck (pardon the pun) – avoid! That was what I did! Every time my sparring partner would attack using a head strike I decided to bob and weave, and slip the stick. It worked.
Eventually my timing got better and I was able to avoid his strike every time and counter his attacks. So the lesson I learned here was to analyse the problem and think outside the square.
Two years ago I attended a Will-Machado Brazilian Jujitsu tournament in Melbourne. I had 5 matches to compete but unfortunately I lost to an arm-bar in the 3rd round. This however did not dampen my spirit, in fact losing taught me some valuable lessons that day. My first round was won after I passed my opponent’s guard just as the time ran out but that round left me exhausted. My second opponent was actually similar skill level to mine but my experience won over in the end. My last opponent however was no push over and he tried to manoeuvre me into a flying arm-bar. Losing to him made me realise that I had not spent enough time on the mat grappling because I was always one step behind him. Every time he made a move it took me a split of a second to counter as I was still trying to understand what he was doing.
The next day I did an awesome seminar with Rigan Machado and he taught different finishes from the guard. What I learned from Rigan was how to Keep It Simple Stupid. I came to the tournament hoping to do some fancy and intricate techniques and I forgot about the basics. So leaving Melbourne the next day I was armed with knowledge to strengthen my grappling and the conditioning I would require for the next tournament.
So what qualifies me to train someone to fight in the ring? There is one more ingredient that we need to look at before I wrap this up. It is probably the most important lesson I learned from my power-lifting coach – the mental side of training or better known as sport psychology.
As I was approaching the date for my power-lifting meet, I started lifting quite a significant amount of weight. Squatting over 180kg and dead-lifting over 200kg all back breaking exercises which taught me a great deal about discipline of form where slight imperfection could seriously damage my spine.
One month prior to the power-lifting meet my coach taught me to visualise the events that I was competing in. How many steps do I take before I end up on the lifting platform? How many breaths do I take before grasping the bar? How many times do I adjust my feet before I know that I am ready to lift? What kind of music to listen to in between lifts to keep me motivated and engaged? I followed this visualisation technique to the letter and before long I could see myself at the power-lifting meet doing perfect lifts every time with good form.
So once again what qualifies me to train someone to fight in the ring? I understand what an individual needs in preparation for such an event. I know about conditioning, discipline, determination, visualisation, working the basics, winning and losing, and how to think outside the square.
photo credit: Loozrboy
We all want the best in life whether it is for ourselves or for our family. The best can be described as so many things from wealth to good health, having someone to love and make love to, trustworthy friendships, success at work – employee of the year, as well as success in our social circle – to feel wanted, intellectual and mental agility and that thing some people call spiritual awakening. It all sounds good but few of us live such a life bountiful in energy and excitement in all of these areas. The rat race has made us work longer than before -especially now we have a mobile office thanks to the advances of technology. Hooray!!
Unfortunately for those of us trying to make ends meet, whether by not having enough or by having too much that we live in excess, we tend to exhaust one area more than others and as each of these areas are integrated within one another, and make up our complete life, when one area suffers – they all suffer.
So, how do we work-life balance? Do we do it out of guilt because we think you need to? Do we do it because we have exhausted one area and any further excess will permanently cause changes irreversible to our life? Do we do it because it is the in thing at the moment and we want to be up with it? Whatever it is that makes us decide to introduce work-life balance it is there for a reason. And that reason is very real to all of us. When did you last slow down and decided the hell with everything, this is my life and my time! When you are asleep you say? Wonderful! As long as the number of hours sleeping counteracts the number of hours working. Yeah right! (It is now 3am as I am writing this article!)
So what is this article about I hear you say to yourself? Is it a reality-check? Perhaps it’s a kick in the butt? This article is about slowing down and looking around and really looking around. For example, if you have 100 projects to finish by the end of the year, delegate to other people – they are capable. Give clear and concise guidelines that will stop you stressing about it. Schedule and stick to your schedule. Do a little bit at a time. Schedule in time for yourself, time for your kids or partner. Make it an appointment. We have some members who have scheduled their 45 minute lunchtime session in to their diary and are Unavailable at that time. Work-life balance is hard and like anything else it needs to be worked on, practiced and trained.
Put too much focus on your destination and the best you’ll have will not be worth much in the end. All the areas of our life need equal attention and fulfilment. Slow down a little so that you can enjoy the journey along the way and you might surprise yourself by finding a work-life balance that brings you the best in life and success!
photo credit: andi.vs.zf
I have been grappling for quite some time now but by no means do I stand out in a league of my own. I enjoy the journey that grappling takes me on because every grapple gets me a little closer to understanding control and positioning before I can even think about submission. Years ago when I was first introduced to grappling the only thing that I wanted to do was choke or arm-bar my opponent. Because I had no concept of control and definitely no concept of positioning it was difficult to get a submission unless I could over power my opponent with brute strength. Fortunately, brute strength was rarely on my side, as I am quite a small bodied person and most of my grappling partners out-weigh me – sometimes by 15-20 kg. I had to find another way…
In the last few months the concepts of control and positioning and have been the driving force behind my improvement in grappling. It all started when I grappled a 120kg student, who would later become a continuous sparring and grappling partner for me. At that stage I was very fond of the half-guard and wanted to make it my thing, so that whenever I grappled someone they would, at some stage, find themselves in my half-guard from any position.
However, being underneath a heavier guy was not where I wanted to be. My 120kg sparring and grappling partner would teach me a valuable lesson. His size would force me to work out ways to control his body and position myself with better opportunity to counter his attacks and set him up for submissions.
Watching my own students grapple in class takes me back to the early days when I was so eager to submit my opponents without understanding control or position. However, as an instructor I am able to process and impart this information on my students so that they too can improve their control and positioning. I show them enough so that they can put the pieces of the puzzle together and deepen their understanding of grappling.
My grappling journey is constantly evolving whether I am on the mat or off the mat and I owe it to my teachers, students and my 120kg sparring and grappling partner. Thanks Scotty!
