Well kids, The Slaughterhouse is finished and ready for business!
Starting tomorrow I will be running semi private (2-4 people) training in there.
£20:00 before 5pm
£25:00 5pm onwards
I’m currently working ridiculous amounts of hours all over the place and training hard for a return to the submission grappling scene so the only times I have available at the minute are:
Monday: 2:00pm, 2:45pm, 3:30pm, 4:15pm
Tuesday: 4:00pm, 4:45pm, 5:30pm, 6:15pm
Wednesday: 2:00pm, 2:45pm, 3:30pm, 4:15pm
you can book in via text or facebook inbox. Sessions will be run on a first come, first serve basis, so book in quickly if you want a certain time.
Both Fridays 6pm wrestling class and Saturdays 12pm No-Gi grappling classes will continue to run at Harton Techno gym (there is a lot more room there for team training).
classes are:
£25 a month for both sessions a week
£15 a month for 1 session a week
all fees must be payed on the first weekend of the month
If you haven’t been to the class before you can have a free trial period. However you can only gain access through a free months pass you will get from a currant member. This pass will give you free access to the class up until the next due payment day (up to ten free classes).
if you eventually sign up the the month the current member that brought you gets a free month for that referral.
oioioioioioiiiiiii, Killer Jack here. I know its been a while since my last blog post but I’ve been extra busy over christmas and new year killing people I don’t like, chopping them up, putting them in biodegradable black bags and dumping them in the sea. Ohh and I also bust my knee open while trying to kick a punch machine in the local night club. owwwwwwwwww!
Anyways, I was teaching my class full of 6th form students today at Harton school and the testosterone was flying about in the air. People were rolling bout like a man was trying to rape them and they were fighting for their lives. Competing, not training. Sooo I’ve explained to them that’s not how you train. This blog highlights some of the worst possible things you can do in a MMA class. (all of these things I have actually witnessed happen at a MMA class over my 6 year training career).
Don’t blag your instructors head asking how to do a twister, electric chair, gogoplata ect. every time you train. If they were so important he would have shown you them already. Plus asking for a ‘move’ is pointless. Submissions come with positioning, controls, chains of attack and counters. Showing just the ‘move’ is often pointless. Whats the point asking how to do a twister from half guard if your half guard is shit?
Don’t talk while your instructor is demonstrating a technique. Doing so is a one way ticket to kneeridesville. Disrespect him you get disrespect back.
Don’t go 100%. Its training remember? Not a fight. If he is upping the pace just stay in first or second gear and practice your technique. You can slag him off and make jokes about him later.
hygiene! you don’t have to shower just before you train, but if you smell like a homeless persons jizz or reek of cat piss do something about it?
Don’t roll ‘bareback’. Wear a box
While drilling technique don’t break out in to an all our rolling session. I know testosterone is in the air, but haway lads. Control yourself!
Don’t stop the person your rolling with and correct his technique every time he’s close to tapping you out. Take it like a man and improve your own game.
Don’t jump up to your feet and celebrate after you’ve tapped someone. Its training, not a competition.
If someone has just done the above after tapping you out, don’t keep cranking the armbar after he’s tapping the next time you roll with him. Two mongs don’t make a right.
Don’t make excuses once you’ve been tapped. It’s quite embarrassing for you. If you pulled a muscle in your leg when I was kneebarring you fair enough. But it’s a bit of a piss take when you continuously seem to injure your self just before being submitted.
Don’t flop like a fish on top of your partner when he’s drilling on you. You don’t have to stop him practicing what he’s practicing but give a slight resistance.
Don’t brag about how ‘hard’ you are as the class will soon find out when they roll that you have the strength of a baby.
Don’t rock up for your first session with brand new shorts, gloves, shins, rashguard ect. Doing this actually makes you look like more of a newby. I didn’t own a pair of MMA shorts till my first fight (about a year and a half after I first started training.)
On that note don’t continuously ask if you can fight. If your coach is any good he will make sure your ready before throwing you in the cage. People progress faster than others and just because little Jonny is competing after 1 year doesn’t mean your ready to turn pro after the same amount of time. Hard work comes before the glory. Just keep training and improving, then if you look ready your coach will probably ask if you want to compete.
When your drilling wrestling don’t start attacking your partner with submissions. It’s really annoying.
I’m sure there are many, many more things I missed out, but off the top of my head these are all major no-nos!
I was just about to post a status advertising my grappling classes this weekend when I realised I don’t want just anyone turning up. To be honest I’d rather shit in my hands and happy slap my own face then let 90% of the population train at my classes. I’ve been to waaaay to many gyms that are full of shitbags I’d rather not associate with. That’s not even me being stuck up either….actually, yes it is. I don’t want to train or be friends with semi retarded charvas who go out on the weekends, hit people on the sly and then brag about it on monday at the class. If that’s me being stuck up then fair enough, I’m stuck up.
At my classes I’m big on keeping an upbeat training environment where you can train hard, but enjoy yourself. The last thing I want is to let a handful of rajis come train just to take their money off them. Money isn’t everything and I’d rather they keep their 3 quid and not come then to make a few dollars, but ruin the atmosphere.
If drugs, violence, rape, murder and people hurting themselves make you laugh then you’ll fit right in with my clique. If sarcasm offends you then you’re probably going to feel a little uncomfortable being around us. If you see a street fight on a night out and try to break it up rather than laugh at how poor their thai boxing technique is you’re one of the people I don’t want. If you’re currently reading this thinking “what an arrogant wanker” then you’re also one of those people I can’t be bothered with.
“So who do you want then?” I hear you ask. Well here’s a little list of the qualitys I want in my students:
Happy. To train with me you neeeeed to be a positive person. Negativity spreads (and draaaaains your energy) so lets keep things upbeat eyy? When you feel good you do good.
Friendly. Even though you fight alone in the cage MMA is a team sport. You and your sparring partners need each other to improve. So treat each other like family, even the new guys who you don’t know very well.
Dedicated. Training once every month or two is not going to improve your game. By the time you do your next class you’ve forgotten what you learned in the last one. I’m in the business of improving people and getting results, to get that I need people who are willing to train all the time, not just when their girlfriends are busy.
Obedient. I need people who are going to listen to what I say and do exactly as I tell them. Don’t worry, I’m not going to make you beg, fetch and roll over like a dog. But if your busy talking to your pal while I’m showing ya’ll a technique I might get a little angry and try to bite your nose off.
Mentally tough. Your doing the conditioning at the end of the class and you’re getting reeeally tired. do you A: try your very hardest to push on, or B: fake an ankle injury so you don’t have to do anymore? A’s hop aboard the train. B’s, let’s try elsewhere yeah?
So there’s the list of qualitys I want in my students. Notice I didn’t put any specifics on athleticism, strength or size. That isn’t important if you want to start MMA or grappling, the correct attitude however is.
Think you fit the description to become one of my clique? Lets play!
“You have to train with people better than you to get better”.
I disagree. To get better you need to be a big fish in a small pond. You cant expect to nail the latest choke you have just been drilling on the classes black belt level grapplers. It’s just never going to happen.
As tough as it makes you sound, training with people vastly superior than you who smash you day in day out will only improve one thing: your defence. If your constantly in defence mode your never going to practice your offence or learn to be aggressive. You’ll also never be able to learn anything or use new techniques if your too buzy tapping every 10 seconds to the classes star pupil. You need to be regularly training with guys you could beat easily in a fight.
There is an etiquette however when training with people you’re a lot better than. You can’t just go and smash them every time you train with them, they will only end up avoiding you. Go in there with a “get a tap every 30 seconds” mentality and you’ll soon find a lack of newer guys wanting to train with you. Think of it like this: your girlfriend gives you a blowjob, but you refuse to return the favor. Do this a few times in a row and she’s not gonna want to have sex with you anymore. Same with training. If people think your being a selfish training partner you’ll quickly lose favor in the gym.
So what are you ment to do? Theres plenty of things you can do to help both your newbie partner while helping yourself at the same time. Let him (or her) pass your guard, then you can practice re-guarding. Then let him pass but only to half, sweep him then reverse rolls. If your boxing let him attack you while you work on your blocking, parrying and defence. If your wrestling then use the new single leg set up you’ve just learned but let him work his defence a little bit too.
“but I hate rolling with noobs, they spaz out on you”
You might get angry at them when they really go for it and try to out strength you, but chill out, they don’t know any better. It’s not anything personal. Newbies need time to learn correct manners and etiquette, just like they need time to improve their grappling technique. “you’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”. If you’re at a decent club they will eventually stop trying to mong you and try to roll with a more technical style.
Now with all this in mind I’m going to contradict myself. You NEED to train with people better than you. You NEED to be pressured. You NEED to be pushed. As nasty as it is you NEED to get bashed about every now and again. Training with people better than you makes you understand your limits and highlights flaws in your game.
so to round all this up, you need to be training with people below your level, at your level and above your level. Otherwise you’re not fully reaching your potential and having a well-rounded training career.
I recently caught up with one of the UK’s leading coaches: Marcelo Brigadeiro to talk about starting out as a beginner. Marcelo is the head grappling coach at one of the top gyms in the country: Team Kaobon, home to UFC fighters: Terry Etim, Paul Kelly, Paul Sass, Mark Scanlon, Paul Taylor and many more of the top mixed martial artists in the UK. Even though Marcelo is buzy at the minute touring Europe to teach Luta Livre he still made time for us to awnser a few questions. I attended one of Marcelos Luta Livre seminars a few months ago, his style of grappling was very modern and what he teaches transitions well to MMA. If you ever get a chance to train with Marcelo I’d highly recomend jumping at the chance.
Marcelos seminar at Spartan
Jack Sexton – Hello Marcelo, lets get straight in to it. For all of those people who have had their heads buried in the sand for the last few years, can you tell us a little bit about yourself. Feel free to brag.
Marcelo Brigadeiro - Hi, my name is Marcelo Brigadeiro, I am a Luta Livre Black Belt. I’ve trained in Luta Livre for 16 years and taught for 11 years. As a competitor I had over 230 grappling fights and nowadays I coach at Team Kaobon (UK) and RFT (Brazil)
Jack Sexton - Can you remember what it was like starting out? what were some of the problems and set backs you faced as a beginner?
Marcelo Brigadeiro – Yeah, I will never forget. The problems I had in the beginning were because I was only 58kg when I started and the second lightest at the team was 80kg and purple belt already. So I had all kind of problems you can imagine…hahahah
Jack Sexton - It’s well documented that you have some of the top fighters in the country training with you, but do you have many complete begginers?
Marcelo Brigadeiro – Yes, I have many beginners and I love to work with them. Of course is great having guys using the techniques I teach in a big event as the UFC but getting someone from the very start and see him improving every day is just great.
Jack Sexton – What would you say were the 3 most important techniques for grappling?
Marcelo Brigadeiro – Maybe easier to say the 3.000 more important techniques… Grappling is just an amazing science, it is impossible to name only 3 techniques.
Jack Sexton - What would you say were the 3 biggest mistakes beginners make when they first start training?
Marcelo Brigadeiro – First, They want to rush into things. There are many MMA professional fighters that dont even know how to do a perfect rear naked choke, and you see beginners trying flying armbars before they even know how to set up a regular armbar.
Second, be upset when they get tapped in the gym. Get tapped in the gym is a bless, the more times you are tapped in the gym less times you will tap in a fight. I think I have been tapped over 10.000 times in the gym when i was a beginner but in more than 230 fights i never been tapped.
Third, train like they are fighting. Many guys train like they are competing, dont take chances, dont try new things, this way you will never improve.
Jack Sexton - What is it that the GREAT grapplers are doing different to the average/poor grapplers who have trained the same amount of time?
Marcelo Brigadeiro – I think great grapplers are more than anything very inteligent. The secret in grappling is not only the ammount of techniques you know, its the way you make transitions among them that makes the difference.
Jack Sexton - Can you give some advice to the people out there who really want to progress in this sport fast and go on to big things?
Marcelo Brigadeiro – Yeah, first of all pick a good coach and a good team. Nowadays a lot of people unprepared are teaching everywhere. Guys that dont even know how to do things themselves are leading teams…the result is a lot of students loosing time and getting nothing but bad habits. Also dont be afraid of trying new things when training.
Jack Sexton - Thank you so much for your time, I’m sure we will speak again soon.
Marcelo Brigadeiro – It was my pleasure. All the best.
No one really knows this (well, your girlfriend might) but I once had a phobia of the missionary position. The first few times I had sex missionary style it was awkward, like that time Will from the inbetweeners flopped like a seal on top of that blonde chick. I decided that missionary didn’t and couldn’t work for me, so for the next 2-300 women I had sex with I avoided it like the plague.
So anyways…fast forward 3 or 4 years to when I was about 18. I was put in a situation when I had no choice but to rock the missionary position. I was shit still, butttttt I no longer had a phobia of it. So for the next 3 years I practiced and practiced on hundreds of supermodels till eventually got my missionary to a respectable purple belt level. Even though its decent I still continue to practice until I can get it to an elite black belt level. I refuse to settle for average.
If you don’t understand how this relates to fighting I would like you to tie concrete blocks to your shoes and jump off the nearest pier. The rest of you know what I’m getting at is ‘practice makes perfect’. Your never going to get a technique in one. You might not even get it in ten, but keep at it.
If you watch a 4 or 5-year-old video of a world-class grappler such as Roger Gracie you will see he did mostly the same stuff he still does to this day. The only difference being is he does it a lot better now. His armbar set ups are faster, his guard pass is now a lot smoother and his chokes only take 3 seconds to black someone out rather than 4 or 5.
What is the big secret? Reps. Drilling the same movements or technique over and over again. I once heard a wise, wise man say: “drill it till you do it right, then drill it till you can’t do it wrong” and he couldn’t have been more right. The more you practice a technique, the better your going to get at it. Hardly rocket science, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t realise this.
Of course its pointless drilling something if you can’t carry it over in to rolling or sparring. Heres the blueprint for how to bridge learning to drilling to putting it in to play:
watch technique> practice technique> have teacher check technique> practice technique in an isolated ’live’ situation > try to get the technique while rolling.
what that might actually look like in a class environment:
>Watch a demonstration of a hip escape from under mount (pay attention to explanation and details!!!)
> Drill technique 5 times but struggle slightly
> Ask your coach what the problem is (turns out you’re not shrimping enough to the left)
> Drill technique ten times (or till you can do it smoothly)
> Roll with a partner starting in mount going 50% and use the escape. Once escaped, go back under mount.
> Free rolling, if you end up under mount use your escape
You’ll not instantly be great, but you can speed up the process. Take 2 days a week out to meet up with training partners and practice what you’ve learned over the past week. Drillers are killers.
Don’t agree with me? Too lazy to do as you’re told? If you don’t drill you will get seriously hurt. Heres a fight between two people who didn’t drill. R.I.P.
A tiger is vastly superior in the strength department to a cheetah. The jealous cheetah doesn’t like this and just wants to be better than the tiger. So he trains every day for 6 months squatting, deadlifting, bench pressing (you know, as cheetahs do) and pumping himself full of steroids. Meanwhile the tiger lazes about in the shade for 6 months doing nothing. After the 6 month period the cheetah challenges the tiger to a strongman competition. He gets his ass handed to him! The tiger can lift double what the cheetah does without even trying.
What am I getting at here I hear you ask? The cheetah was so caught up in trying to beat the tiger at his own game that he forgot to play to his strengths. Had the cheetah challenged the tiger to a 100 meter race he could have won with 3 legs tied behind his back.
Some people are just genetic freaks. I’ve rolled with a handfull of hulk like bemoths in my time and it’s not pleasant. Did I out grapple them by trying to go strength for strength? Of course not, I would have ended up on the wrong side of a neck crank. What do I do? Endure a 1 minute onslaught while I relaxxxx (see how all these blogs tie in together?) then proceed to use my superior conditioning to treat them like a cheap prostitute, get on top and rag them about. Lack of conditioning can make the strongest of men feel weaker than terminally ill children.
If you’re not physically strong you’ll probably end up better on bottom, with good sweeps and escapes. If you’re one of these beastly strong people that I hate you will probably develop your top game, passing guard and controlling. If you’re an idiot who talks to his mates while the techniques are being shown you’ll probably only ever be good at pulling mount and geting choked.
You’re never gonna end up with the same style as everyone you train with. You’ll develop a style that complements your best features, whether it’s strength, speed, flexability, balance or cardio and that’s fine (unless your best trait is ignorance). Anderson Silva might be your favourite fighter, but you’re probably never going to be able to mimic his style if you’re built like Sean Sherk.
So the moral of the story today is to play the cards fate dealt you. You’re not happy with your genetics? Go and strangle your mother for not choosing a better physical specimen to mate with. If you’re not the greatest of athletes but you’re smarter than stephen hawkings, use strategy to break down opponents, if you’re a striker with a long reach pop that jab in his face, if your as game as a badger try flying armbars and leglocks, if you’re a chick with massive tits wear a low cut top. Use what you’ve got.
As your friends would say to you before a first date: “just be yourself”.
There’s a reason Eddie Bravo has such innovative grappling abilities. He’s so relaxed. Yes, his methods of relaxing are controversial but nobody can deny he has possibly the funkiest style of jiu jitsu in the world. I’m going to go out on a limb and say Jeff Glover and Marcelo Garcia are occasional stoners too.
I’m not advocating you all go and buy a twenny bag of weed here, I do however want you to stop straining and putting all your energy into your first attempt at a guard pass after touching hands with your grappling partner. Remember, he hasn’t sexually assaulted your mother, he never shoved a firework up your cat’s arse, he’s done nothing to you. At the end of the round you end up looking like you’ve just had a baby, your partner ends up looking like the victim of domestic abuse and your onlooking coach will have his head in his hands. Double face palm.
calm down, your not wolverine
Being the strongest in your MMA class might get you by while you’re training, but what happens when it comes to fighting someone stronger? You have depended on brute strength to get those prized ‘tapouts’ your whole training career. Your technique will has suffered massively.
Now instead of changing levels, powering off your back foot, knocking your opponent back with your penetrating step and finishing the double leg takedown with a direction change and knee tap like you should have, you put your head down and charge forward like a mad bull thats just seen a blood gang member. Sadly that shit isn’t gonna fly when you’re fighting against someone just as strong. Welcome to failure street, sprawl city. Population: you.
This blog doesn’t just apply to big strong monsters however, it goes out to all people who treat every sparring session like it’s a UFC title fight (I’ve met a few of these over the years, nobody likes them). Even if you don’t care about anyone’s health you don’t want to get the reputation for being the class mong. An increasing reputation for being the class mong directly correlates with the increase in training partners avoiding and no longer wanting to train with you. You can’t get better if you have no one to train with.
So relaxxxxxx, if you can’t get one pass to work without tearing somone’s knee off, try another. If you can’t finish a guilateen without bursting blood vessels in your face, try switching to an armbar. Jiu jitsu is called “the gentle art” for reason.
in next weeks blog I contradict myself and also tell a story about a tiger and a cheetah…
right, so after last weeks blog we are all no longer afraid of the infamous ‘tapout’. Time to start learning from it.
every time you roll remember where you went wrong. when it comes to free time at the end of the class ask your instructor what you should do next time around to avoid falling for the same mistake. He will probably laugh in your face, make you stand up, wear a dunce’s hat and embarrass you in front of the whole class by pointing out how stupid you are. No, just kidding, he will help you. Well, if he’s a good coach he will.
If you roll with a guy for 5 minutes and you get d’arce choked 5 times its fairly obvious what you need to do: pester your coach about rubberguard! just kidding (ohh I’m such a joker). When it comes to free time get shown how to defend the d’arce choke. Then I want you to drill the escape till you do it right. Then I want you to drill it till you can’t do it wrong. Now lets put it in to practice while rolling.
Don’t tell me you didn’t do anything wrong because you didn’t get tapped out. Grappling isnt exclusively submissions. Belive it or not it also includes: escapes, control, passing and transitions to name a few things. It could be something simple like you keep getting headlocked by the class meathead when you’re first starting out and don’t know how to get out, or it could be that every time you pass guard on the left side they get it straight back. You might find that every time you pass half guard on the right side you get swept. It could be anything!
Still adement that you didn’t do anything wrong? Okay Marcello Garcia, you’ve obviously been playing on UFC undisputed much more than all your training partners, giving you a distinct advantage. Heres what I want you to do when rolling. Let your partner:
Pass your guard and practice getting straight back
Take side control and practice escaping from underneath
Give up mount and practice getting back to guard in less than two movements
Take your back with both hooks and escape
Riiiiight so that’s all your escapes from bad positions covered. Can you do every one of them without any difficulty? Yes? Liar! Okay, Okay, for arguments sake here’s what to do if you can escape easier than Houdini in a pair of plastic handcuffs:
Let your partner put you deep in to a submission. time to escape! Can do that? Lets try every other submission possible: triangle, armbar, scarf choke, rear naked, d’arce, guilateen, kneebar, heel hook, ect…you have a fair few to work through.
Roll with your partner but don’t use any submissions at all. Work on your sweeps, passing and control.
Roll, but don’t use any hands. Now this is a hard one.
Can do that without any trouble? Yeah? still tying your partner in knots without even trying? yeah? Fair enough, I look forward to seeing you win the next grapplers quest and ADCC before moving on to your amateur MMA debut.
in next weeks article I’ll tell you how Mary Jane can help your grapple game…
A MMA class is no place for people with egos. Everyone gets tapped. If they don’t, they must be training with the wrong people. Big fish in a small pond syndrome. Dont worry, in a few years time the UFC wont disregard your undefeated 20-0-0 professional MMA record just because you get taped out regularly in training.
In training, I probably tap out on average ten times every session, sometimes more. In actual competition (30ish submission wrestling and 7 MMA) I’ve only ever been tapped out once, in the openweight division while giving up 30kg (to heavyweight sex pest Phil Defries). The moral of this story? You have to put yourselves in bad positions to learn how to get out of them. If you let someone take your back to practice defending the rear naked choke and he catches you, so what! Next time you roll let him take your back again and keep practicing defending that choke. Better to be tapped ten times and finally block the choke the eleventh time round than to not be able to defend a choke properly come fight time.
Tapping out isnt just good for your skill set, its also good for your health.Trying to ignore the fact your arm is about to snap may seem like a good idea at the time, but you’ll regret it 3 months down the line when your balls burst because you havnt been able to masturbate for the last 12 weeks due to your broken arm sporting a cast. To miss out on a few months worth of wanking over a tap isn’t worth it.
I have even heard of a few cases where people have shit themselves when they’ve been choked out. Would you rather shit yourself then tap out? Tapouts are also good for saving your reputation.
So tapping out improves your skill set, keeps you healthy and saves your reputation. Sounds like submitting isnt that bad after all. Tap, remember where you went wrong and take note of the next weeks point…
if you want any more information or have any questions about Mixed Martial Arts, conditioning, diet or training in South Tyneside drop me an E-Mail at:
