Apache said:

---

Just got the green light to start some no gi training.
Any brands you'd recommend for rash guards & shorts?

---

I've got two Ranger Up rash guards and love them.

https://rangerup.com/collections/rash-guards-1

Yeah, it seems like medical folks who don't do BJJ have a hard time grasping how crazy / tough it is on the body. Best thing you can do is find a BJJ person who is also an orthopedic doc. Great combination to have.

But even being careful, injuries just happen sometimes. . I've got an MCL strain at the moment, so my favorite guards (butterfly and single-leg-x) are going on the shelf and I'm having to get back to traditional half guard. And it sucks. But switching things up will hopefully protect the knee and let me spend a few months on a guard I don't use much.

AgBlitz said:

---

Thanks Sweep. I'd spoken to my PT about it and she didn't have a whole lot of guidance to offer (possibly because BJJ isn't one of the more common sports). Funny you mention the neck though. Mine is usually always sore with a more limited range of motion from fending off guillotine & triangle attempts, once I get back into a 3x a week rolling schedule. I just chalked that up to the cost of doing business ......

---

if your neck is always giving you problems from guillotine and triangle defense, I recommend tapping earlier. seriously. you have to play the long game.

Yeah, if you're feeling neck pain from guillotines and triangles there's a couple things to try. One is tapping earlier like Article says. With those chokes you're pretty much toast when they are sunk in so no need to hold on to the bitter end and get injured or take a nap.

Another thing is to look at how you're defending. Do you feel like you have a good escape for the guillotine for example?

Reason I ask is because many escapes in BJJ are counterintuitive (and the guillotine is one of them).

Well, tourney came & went and I "learned".
I my division (white belt heavy) there was only one other guy to compete against:
Same weight (240) two inches shorter (6'2") & he was a high school wrestler with judo experience. He also has been practicing jiu jitsu twice as long as I have. (6 mos. vs. 3). We are roughly the same age (late 40s)

I've rolled against him a few times in class starting on knees & he has always tapped me eventually, but I held my own. In the tourney I didn't pull guard but I dang sure got to the ground as fast as I could because I didn't want to get launched or double legged. Both times he submitted me around 3 minutes in... I couldn't break out of his side control & he eventually choked me.

None of the other big boys made the tourney which was disappointing as I've had good luck against them in class. Oh well. Been looking at various side control escapes off & on all day and can't wait to try them tomorrow.

Nothing quite like a real competition to expose what you need to work on. Not discouraged. Motivated.

Oh man.....an opponent with a Judo and Wrestling background? Why didn't you pull guard?!? Kidding....I recall a few of us (including me) advised you not to pull guard. Glad you enjoyed the competition, stayed injury-free and feel energized/motivated from the experience.

Wrestlers and Judo guys are legit tough guys. Good news is this - as you progress in BJJ you'll learn ways to deal with your opponents strengths while also maximizing yours.

I used to struggle against younger wrestlers, mainly when I tried to match their pace, strength and conditioning. So I switched to a different style of guard and mixed in some different submissions......and it made a huge difference.

Anyone considering putting off rolling for a few weeks because of this virus?

Apache said:

---

Anyone considering putting off rolling for a few weeks because of this virus?

---

no

This week my wife was pretty adamant that I stop for a while until this/CV sorts itself out. I work from home and JJ is by far my highest degree of exposure to any type of illness. We have a 3 year old, and my wife is studying for a major professional licensing exam right now, so me being sick or getting her sick would not be beneficial for my household, and would really just be me putting my own ego and wants above those of my family for now.

JJ will still be there after this has passed, so taking some time off is not a huge deal IMO. If anything it will allow some minor injuries to heal up.

I'm sitting out a month for a rib injury so it's convenient. I'd probably keep my distance a while because I got young ones.

I'm on the fence at this point. I have kids in 5th & 7th grade, so they have more daily exposure than I ever do (I work largely from home) if I get it from anyone it will probably be them.

Going to take it day by day. If a ton of cases start popping up around Austin, I'll lay low.

I'm kinda resigned to the fact that someone in my immediate family will come down with it. Just hope it doesn't hit my over 70 relatives.

I just put it on hold today....

I'm off the mats due to a knee issue at the moment so not an issue for me. Will re-assess in a few weeks.

I'm going to stay off the mats for a few days until things settle down. The last thing I want is to get sick then pass it to my young kids.

On the bright side it gives me an excuse to watch my Saulo Ribeiro DVD's.

I'm doing the same (watching videos) while my knee heals up and the virus stuff passes. Ribeiro has great stuff.

I've been watching Lachlan Giles leg lock series recently, and it's really good - just a different mindset to work when trying to finish with leglocks.

Which leg lock series are you watching? I just picked up his half guard anthology- seems pretty thorough and well thought out so far.

Yeah, that half guard anthology is good. I like Giles approach to his material.

I'm watching his Leg Lock Anthology from 50/50. It's good stuff and great format. But it is heavily focused on advanced leg locks that can only be used in nogi (heel hooks) or by Brown/Black belts in gi (knee bar, toe hold, Estima locks).

Good to know- I was thinking about getting it as well, but figured the half guard would be more applicable for where I am at (white belt), plus I prefer playing half guard when I can.

I saw he is about to drop a series on escapes, which I will probably pick up at some point as well.

Also, if you don't follow Bernardo Faria, he is giving away one of his instructionals to encourage those in the BJJ community to stay home during this time. He had a post on Instagram about it, considering picking up his new fundamentals series too.

After talking this through with my wife, my training will go on the shelf for at least the next couple of weeks.
Rolling is as high risk as it gets outside of being a health care worker for contracting the virus. Looks like videos & maybe some drills in the garage will be the extent of my training for a while.

That's a good call getting the half guard one. Much more applicable at this stage of the game. Leg locks don't really come in much into the game until brown belt (or earlier if you go nogi). I'm mainly using the leg lock series to work on my defense against those new-breed leg lockers.

Yeah, saw that offer by Bernardo Faria, that is seriously cool. One of my instructors knows him and says he's even nicer a guy in-person than in the videos. I love that he is a 5 -time black belt world champ, but he is still humble enough to learn new stuff from others and to help promote it. Lots of high level guys aren't.

Danaher just released a free one on solo drills and movement, and Gordon Ryan has his guard attacking series on sale as well. Picked up both. Only 20 min into Gordon Ryan's but impressed so far

Glad you mentioned that. I got the Danaher drills one (haven't watched it yet though). As far as Gordon Ryan, he is an absolute top-of-the-food-chain beast. Let us know what you think of his material.

In terms of training, I know everyone has pretty much stopped training at the schools (most schools I know of have closed temporarily anyway), but what are folks doing to stay in shape and keep that grappling form?

I know a number of schools have gone to an online curriculum, with small groups of trusted training partners getting together to train in garage gyms when schedules allow. I'm giving my knee another couple weeks to recover, but if schools are remaining closed much longer than that, I'll probably give the 'garage BJJ' format a try.

So far Ryan's Guard series has been really good. It is very conceptual- the focus seems to be what he's doing, why he's doing it and what reactions it creates, and how it influences the guard pass and prevents opponents retention. I am still watching the first video, but the series covers pretty much every guard scenario.

I like this as it is helping to bring together the various guard passing techniques I have learned so far, and showing how to link them together. It will be a good study for when we get back on the mats- looking forward to putting the concepts to work.

Great to hear that the Ryan stuff is good. One of my training partners has started using Ryan's approach to passing and it's taken his already strong guard passing to the next level.

I've been going a little crazy not training, because I've trained BJJ 3-4 times per week for the past 13 years so it's both a workout as well as my social circle / happy place. Watching videos helps me from a technical standpoint, but it also makes me miss training even more.

Can y'all recommend gyms for the Houston area?

Definitely. I'm familiar with a number of schools in the Houston area. What part of town will you be training in?

I live in Katy.

Good schools in that area. You should definitely check out Gracie Barra Katy. Its a good school and I know a number of folks who train over there and have good things to say. There are also other schools in the area (Reign BJJ, Revolution, etc) to check out.

Question - what are your goals for BJJ? Different schools focus on different parts of the sport. Some are MMA focused, others self defense, etc.

Best thing to do is visit different schools in person and do a free trial class. And see how the school feels and how folks act, etc.

Bad news is that BJJ is closed for business with this Covid19 stuff. Which sucks.

Sweep4-2 said:

---

Good schools in that area. You should definitely check out Gracie Barra Katy. Its a good school and I know a number of folks who train over there and have good things to say. There are also other schools in the area (Reign BJJ, Revolution, etc) to check out.

Question - what are your goals for BJJ? Different schools focus on different parts of the sport. Some are MMA focused, others self defense, etc.

Best thing to do is visit different schools in person and do a free trial class. And see how the school feels and how folks act, etc.

Bad news is that BJJ is closed for business with this Covid19 stuff. Which sucks.

---

Overall fitness/a different workout. I also work in EMS occasionally we have to physically intervene with a patient and want to improve the tools I have in my toolbox to protect myself and crew. I also believe that one can never be too mentally tough.

Thanks for the response and appreciate any feedback.

Cool, that makes sense. It's a great sport for all that, and also a ton of fun. Great community of folks who train.

I've trained at Gracie Barra (Webster and Pearland) since 2008 and will always recommend Gracie Barra schools. Great schools, high level instructors and a variety of bjj, wrestling, striking, etc. Revolution is also very well thought of and has a range of programs. Don't know much about Reign, it's fairly new to the scene. I think they are more of a sport BJJ school focused on BJJ competition.

But part of it is just gut feel. Going into a school and seeing what feels right. Hopefully schools will survive this virus stuff and start reopening when things are better.

Hope that helps!!

It's weird how one of the things I miss the most from normal life is squishing and strangling my friends!

Life just isn't the same without BJJ!

Totally agree. Over the years, all my friends fall into one of two groups. 1) People I currently train with or 2) People I used to train with.

And my vices are even grappling related too!

Since BJJ Fanatics is still running a sale on their instructionals, I thought I would give y'all a quick review of the Gordon Ryan Guard Attacking series, since I know we are all sitting around dreaming of the day we can wrap our arms around our training partners necks and squeeze.

Overall I think it's fantastic. Ryan has a very easy to understand teaching style. Rather than focusing on different types of passes like knee cut, smash pass, toreando, etc, the content is focused on specific goals he is trying to achieve while passing and why those goals are important, and then how to achieve those goals based on the guard being presented, and both early and late responses to the most likely scenarios of a given position. For me, it has helped tie together the various techniques I've learned so far (~9 mo training).

It has a high degree of focus on fundamentals. Obviously more applicable to no-gi, so if you don't train much no-gi it might not be as applicable or worth the money for you.

Overall, I'm glad I picked it up. Guard passing is something I have been wanting to improve, so I'm excited to spend this time studying and have some new tools to try out once we can train again.

Hope everyone is staying healthy and fit!

Good deal, glad to hear that the Gordon Ryan series is good! Thanks for sharing the info about it (in terms of how it's laid out). Sounds like a very useful format that he's using (in terms of both philosophy, position, moves). Ryan is a ferocious leg-locker, but people overlook his top game and well rounded subs.

Guard passing is such a key concept, but lots of folks abandon it (in search of cool submissions). And they either end up being guard pullers for life, or they become higher belts who can't pass guard and instead have to go for ankle locks because they can't pass. Don't want to be that guy!!! ;-)

In terms of training and staying in shape, a number of my friends are doing garage training (and my instructor is broadcasting lessons 3x daily via FB Live and Zoom). But I'm not rolling/training even in the small group setting (as many of my training partners are EMT's, police and firefighters who have a lot of contact with people).

But I am doing hard workouts daily. Stretching, strength training (burpees, sprawls, dips, ropes, pull-ups, etc.) and intense cardio training...100/200/400's at the high school track several times a week and a 5K a couple times a week. It's not BJJ, but it's helping keep me sane and hopefully in shape when things open back up.

Started running to keep my cardio going. I used to hate running. Now I only strongly dislike it.