Having the Right Tools Makes Everything Easier Jiu Jitsu, Wrestling, Martial Arts

     The other day I was drilling a hole in one of our walls so that we could hang a  framed picture of Helio Gracie. Some of our walls are sheet rock and it doesn't take much to drill a hole in the wall to hang pictures, but the other walls of our dojo are concrete and it takes a little more power to drill any holes in them. We quickly realized that we would have to get a proper drill bit in order to drill into the wall. We made the drive down to Home Depot, picked up the needed drill bit and a few heavy duty screws just in case. When we got back we were still having trouble and we realized that the standard drill we were using wasn't going to work. We would have to use a roto hammer drill with the proper drill bit. So we got in our truck again and found ourselves in the back of a workshop looking for the right tools to make everything work just right. With the right tools we had no problem getting the holes drilled and are screws installed for Grand Master Helio Gracie to look over each and every one of our training sessions. 

     It's only fitting for me to realize that having the right tools are essential when building, creating, or fixing while trying to hang a picture of Master Helio Gracie. Master Helio must have been brilliant at knowing it took the right tool or right technique to conquer an opponent. His adaptation of the traditional Jiu Jitsu so that a smaller weaker person could use them against a bigger stronger person expresses the importance of technique over power and speed. Most importantly Helio must have understood the need for the application of proper technique at the exactly right time. Not only is it important to have the right tools and proper technique available, but also it's important to be able to recognize when those tools and technique should or should not be used. 

     If you were to walk into a Home Depot and look over all their inventory of tools, supplies, and gadgets, you would recognize that there are an overwhelming amount of things you could use to build, create, or fix. Learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is like building an inventory of Home Depot supplies and knowing how and when to use them. I'm very thankful for my contractor black belt friends for teaching me this lesson! Thank you! 

Eliot Kelly

916 595 4064

EDH Jiu Jitsu

How They Make IT Look So Easy! Jiu Jitsu Wrestling Judo

     If you have had the opportunity to share jiu jitsu, wrestling or judo with a family or friend, you're probably heard a comment, "why don't you just grab them and hold them down?" A typical response to that might be, "it doesn't work like that," "it's harder than it looks," or "why don't you try and see." From an untrained eye everything might seem very simple and even frustration to see very little taking place. However, to those with experience on the mat, they see what is invisible to those who have never trained.
     There is a degree of invisibility with all of these grappling arts. What might be invisible to the eye is usually felt by the body. Sometimes things are more obvious and sometimes more subtle. The belt or ranking system in jiu jitsu and judo is a good way of understanding the degree of invisibility. Let's take the jiu jitsu belt system for example, what is invisible to a white belt may not be invisible to a blue belt, what is invisible to a blue might not be invisible to a purple belt, what is invisible to a purple belt might not be invisible to a brown belt, and what is invisible to a brown belt might not be invisible to a black belt. The more experience and hands on training we accumulate on the mat, the more variations and understandings we are able to see. To a white belt side mount might appear like a person laying on top of someone. To a blue belt side mount might appear like a guy holding the person down. To a purple belt side mount might appear like a person smothering them with their entire body. To a brown belt side mount might appear like a guy pressing and driving off his feet into the person on bottom. To a black belt side mount might appear like the person using a specific part of their body against a specific part of another persons body for maximum weight and control.
     Being able to see not just what is happening, but what is really taking place is understanding invisibility. A few reasons for the invisibility is because of the speed that things take place, the specific points of pressure that may or may not be moving anything, and lack of experience. The link below is a great demonstration that demonstrates the invisibility of judo. Although it might seem silly to see them "throwing" without any contact, in many ways there is no other way to display the invisible factor to those with limited training or experience.
     The "they make it look so easy" is a comment we often hear from those that have some experience but are still at the initial stages of learning. Those types of comments are a result of the invisible forces in work. Invisible forces working perfectly in sync, and something everyone will one day master with consistent and dedicated training on the mat.

Watch and share this facebook link from the JUDO MEME page:

JUDO DEMO LINK

EDH JIU JITSU 

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What Jiu Jitsu, Wrestling and Life all have in Common

     This video is an reminder to us all on the importance of finding balance. In jiu jitsu and in wrestling we are constantly trying to maintain our base and stay in good balance. You could almost make the argument that the "game" of these grappling arts is about being able to take someone off balance while maintaining control of your own balance. Ironically, our training on the mat is both how to maintain your balance and get someone off balance, but also what to do when you completely lose your balance. How you react and face the fall or challenge after you've been taken off your center. How to fall without hurting yourself is one basic but good example of what we learn to do when we've completely lost balance. When learning how to fall we intentionally take ourselves out of balance to learn and regain ourselves from the experience. We have to make corrections, adapt and train our reactions by constantly doing what we ultimately dont' want to do. We do all this while knowing that it's inevitable to lose your balance and the only way to protect yourself is through consistent and proper training. Interesting to see that balance training is not in avoiding it from happening, but training your reaction knowing that it will happen.
     Life seems to work in the same way. We are constantly struggling and fighting to maintain balance with our work, family, friends, hobbies, etc. It seems interesting that most of our training is about how to maintain balance and hold a firm base instead of learning how to take the fall and recompose ourselves after a hard fall. The video is an interesting reflection of how delicate the maintenance of balance can be.
     The last few seconds of the video show how every single little thing has an influence and effect on balance. After an intricate seven minutes of stacking the sticks in perfect balance, the smallest, lightest, seemingly most insignificant part of the display, the feather, is removed from the stack. As a result, the stack of sticks fall right down to the ground. There is not a single chance for the sticks to maintain balance one the feather is removed. As insignificant as it might seem, the feather was an essential element in the display maintaining balance. It could be someone blowing on the feather, a gust of wind, a typhoon or a tornado that knocks the feather off. That is not within our control. What we can control is how we react to the situation and go back to rebuilding our balance. How we take the fall with the least amount of impact. Being confident with our training and knowing that we are able to regain our balance in as little time as it took for us to lose our balance.
   

Eliot Kelly 

916 595 4064

Train your Balance!

Graphic Video on Self Defense: What could you do?

WARNING EXTREMELY GRAPHIC VIDEO 

     A few weeks ago in our Ladies only Jiu Jitsu class and our NoGi Jiujitsu class we incorporated a presentation involving this video. This is a recent home invasion video of a mother being assaulted by a man who was eventually apprehended thanks to the video camera that happened to be set up. What a horrific scene of malicious attacks! We used this video in our class as an example of how our self defense training in class could or couldn't protect us from an attack like this one. While violent home invasions are not an everyday event, we need to be alert and mindful of the potential dangers surrounding ourselves. More importantly we need to have a plan in case something were to happen.
     According to the lady being attacked, she tried to be as quiet as possible so that she wouldn't alarm or scare her children. Her thought was that by not making any loud noises, her kids would remain quiet and the man might leave her kids alone. Her tactical self defense was about protecting her children. While she may not have been able to physically defend herself from the attacker, you could argue that her self defense tactics were successful by being able to protect her children from being harmed. Looking at the situation and what she was trying to accomplish from her tactics, we could say she had great family self-defense.
     But this brings up more questions. How could she have better avoided the situation? Would a rigorous and routine training of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Self Defense Seminars made any difference? That's difficult to say. However, one thing for certain is that a  FAMILY SELF DEFENSE action plan could be created just in case incidents like this were to ever take place again.
     Just as people are recommended to have an action plan for a tornado, earth quake, tsunami, or any other type of natural disaster, it would make sense to have an action plan for self defense situations. A good educational self defense program should include an action plan. An action plan not just for those that are being attacked but for by standers and onlookers. If someone is not necessarily involved but witness to an attack what steps do they need to go through to help the person being attacked? Have a plan!

El Dorado Hills Jiu Jitsu 

916 595 4064

A Jiu Jitsu Community Project on Cardiac Self Defense

     I've finally found a platform I feel comfortable standing on a soap box and talking about for hours on end. HEART HEALTH. As a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor I've had the opportunity to teach kids as young as five and adults into their seventies. From these friendships on the mat, I've had many encounters that have shaped what I teach, how I talk, and who I interact with.  Most of all, every time I'm on the mat I feel privileged at the wonderful opportunity I have to promote a lifestyle of health and fitness. Up until this point, my approach to health and fitness has been through the physical act of training. Training to lose weight, training to become stronger, training to have good cardio, training to de-stress, training to meditate. The physical training made me eat better, think better, and feel better. However, I've never made the connection to talk about heart health and talk about its relationship to health and fitness. 

     With the help of my friends, I will be taking on a new project inspired by my friends and the organization TAP CANCER OUT, (really cool site you should check it out) to bring about a greater awareness for cardiac disease.  The Jiu Jitsu community is full of healthy dudes in their 30's, 40's, 50's and even 60's, yet we would be in denial not to talk about this deadly attacker. 

     I'm not going to lie, I was always nervous about our "wisest" student at the age of 74, rolling around and training with these guys in their prime. But last year we had a student at the age of 35 in tip top shape, low body fat, didn't smoke, didn't drink, suffer from a heart attack. I was in absolute shock when I heard the news and didn't know what to do or how to help. All I remember was feeling very sad and helpless. Almost a week ago another one of our students suffered a heart attack at the age of 37, in tip top shape, low body fat, didn't smoke, didn't drink... I couldn't believe it. I was shocked but I had learned to act from my previous experiences. 

     I now know more about the potential for cardiac disease then I did a week ago and will continue to educate myself and in turn my students on the importance of taking preventative cardiac self defense training. The new project I'm going to be taking on will take many different shapes over time, but my hope is that it brings about an awareness within the HEALTHY and FIT jiu jitsu community that silent attackers can still attack! I've never taken on a project like this before, but know there are many other jiu-jitsu brothers that need to know about this silent attacker. Looking forward to making a difference! 

Eliot Kelly

916 595 4064

The Gentle HeART

Self Defense for Men Starts with Heart Health

     We have a variety of age groups training on the mat at El Dorado Hills Jiu Jitsu. The youngest being age five and the eldest being age 74. I would be hard pressed to give an average age of our student population, but I'm willing to bet it's somewhere in the early to mid thirties. These are all very fit individuals with a strong sense for eating well, not smoking, not drinking, and incorporating a healthy dose of fitness in their life. One of the most important aspects of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is self defense and we have practiced many different situations with the sport and combative situations that would enhance a students knowledge to apply practical self defense tactics if they are ever attacked. However, instead of defending themselves from an random assailant on the street, being able to defend themselves from silent attackers that creep up from within may be far more important.
     The silent attackers are heart disease. Heart disease affects 2,500 people every single day in the United States. These silent attackers need to be given special consideration as the deadliest assailants out there.
     While most of the self defense tactics we train are related to taking preventative measures. Cardiac Self Defense starts with taking preventative measures as well. In this video Dr. Laxmi Mehta outlines some good preventative measures for Cardiac Self Defense. In short here they are:

1) Know the symptoms of heart disease
2) Know your risk factors for heart disease
3) Visit your health care provider
4) Maintain a healthy lifestyle

    This outline is a very simple yet practical approach to thinking about hearth health. Learn the facts about cardiac self defense. Even if you exercise on a regular basis, if you don't eat right you are not taking every possible measure to defend your body from these assailants. We will be covering heart disease in more detail over the next few weeks. Please take the time to do your own research and take steps towards preventative cardiac self defense.

Eliot Kelly

916 595 4064

El Dorado Hills Jiu Jitsu

Fight Fit El Dorado Hills July Program

July Workout

     

WARM UP:

1.    10 min of walking, running, jump rope, biking etc

MOBILITY

1.    Foam roll back and gluteus

2.    Lacrosse ball shoulder blade (if you have it)

3.    Big and small shoulder circles

4.    Hollow body

5.    Anke rolls

6.    knee rolls

7.    Hip twirls

8.    Handstand

WORKOUT: 

 

Day 1: 

Circuit

Week 1: do 3 sets of 10.  Week 2: do 2 sets 15.  Week 3: do 1 set of 20 and 1 of 10

1.    Pull up or row 30

2.    Press over head 30

Goblet Squat 50

Farmers walk mark distance or count steps (Week 1: do 1 walk.  Week 2:  rest for 1 min and do a second walk, Week 3:  3 walks)

Day 2:

1.    Instead of Goblet Squats do 50 athletic burpees 

EDH Fight Fit 

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See you on the mat!