Bjj

Improve your chess comprehension with the physical sport of BJJ! Because of the great feedback on the last piece I put up, I decided to post more about the discussion on chess and jiu jitsu. I find the connections between chess and jiu jitsu fascinating to the mind and enlightening…

Crazy correlations between BJJ and the game of kings — zug·zwang [tsook-tsvahng] A noun: In chess a situation in which a player is limited to moves that cost pieces or have a damaging positional effect. Wu-Tang Clan has always promoted the idea of chess and martial arts being compatible. Photo credit: Mike Relm @mikerelm on IG. For many years people have…

In training Jiu Jitsu you pick up many seemingly innocuous lessons. Ones that on their surface seem to be simply about how to do some specific move or technique in Jiu Jitsu. As you begin to integrate these lessons, you realise that by peeling back the layers of them, you…

In the sprawling saga of the Gracie family, there exists a behemoth footnote that is etching its name into the annals of martial arts history. Meet Gorgar Gracie, the 6'6", 360-pound Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) titan, the little-known ‘black sheep’ of the famed family. Long cloaked in the obscurity of his…

Why BJJ, meditation and chess should be taught in all American schools! In 2006, I created a non-profit with my friend Leo Libiran called the Hip-Hop Chess Federation (HHCF). The original goal was to use rap music, martial arts and chess to entice kids to play chess and make better…

Data mining results from the biggest players, at the biggest events, over the past decade. The past few years have been a real treat for anyone following the world of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. With no-gi events hosted by organizations such as ADCC, WNO, ONE Championship and UFC Fight Pass Inv, there’s…

On July 21, 2021 my jiu-jitsu instructor Alan “Gumby” Marques, owner and head instructor at Heroes Martial Arts, awarded me my black belt at the Heroes HQ in San Jose, CA. We had begun our martial arts journeys together under Ralph “The Pitbull” Gracie in the early days of jiu-jitsu’s…

Introduction I asked a question to Reddit’s r/bjj recently, wondering how the community overcame the challenge of pre-competition anxiety when training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). Pre-competition anxiety can manifest in various forms, such as nervousness, self-doubt, and physical discomfort. …