Long Term BJJ Training Melbourne
Eleven years ago since I got my black belt and I thought this would be useful advice for anyone who is in the earlier stages of their JiuJitsu training. Although it’s definitely important to have goals I think it’s also important to realise that goal setting will only get you so far. You have to enjoy the training in order to stick with it and to train consistently. Most people won’t really enjoy training, they might enjoy it for the first few weeks or months but after that the novelty will wear off. That’s why all the gradings and coloured belts in martial Arts were invented in the first place. To motivate people into training consistently because they feel they will get some kind of tangible reward at the end. The bad news is these rewards can be meaningless and don’t really work. If you don’t train consistently you won’t make progress and if you don’t make any progress you won’t enjoy the training. Even after you reach a major milestone such as a black belt you realise that you still need to keep training to maintain and improve on the progress you have made. The longer you train the smaller increments of progress you will make and the time between these improvements seems longer. Real Martial arts and combat sports training is tough and it isn’t for everyone. I think most people will figure out within a few weeks of their first sessions whether they want to do this long-term or not. To me, martial arts is a lifelong pursuit. It’s about gradually improving my skill level, understanding and ability even if it’s only a small amount every year for as long as I possibly can.
GSP – The Blueprint for MMA Success
Georges St Pierre is arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time. It is difficult to compare MMA to more established sports like boxing or wrestling. However, GSP achieved milestones that can be regarded as characteristics of the greatest athletes. During his time, he became the champion of the dominant organization winning the UFC Welterweight & Middleweight Titles. He had Nine title defenses. His final record was 26 wins and 2 losses What makes GSP so impressive is his continual improvement from one fight to the next. Whereas most fighters eventually stagnate & decline in performance as their career goes on GSP actually kept improving. Additionally, he retired at the top. He won the middleweight title in his retirement fight against Michael Bisping, probably one of his most impressive performances. GSP also had many disadvantages. Canada had a strong combat sports culture, but it was not known for MMA in the early days. The USA, Brazil, Russia, and Japan dominated MMA. As most of the champions of major organizations came from these countries, anyone else competing in UFC was not considered to have much of a chance. In addition, he did not train with one of the major fight teams, such as Brazilian Top Team, Team Quest or Chute Boxe. He was not deterred, however. He worked relentlessly to refine his skills in the individual styles, learning from the best wrestlers, strikers and jiujitsu teachers he could find, and then he worked even harder to combine them. Additionally, GSP was not a full-time athlete during the early stages of his career, working several other jobs to pay the bills and only becoming a fulltime fighter after several fights with the UFC. What was it that separates GSP from the rest and made him so great? There is a trend to imitate what successful fighters are doing right now in the hope of replicating their results. Watch the UFC countdown and see what they are doing to prepare for their upcoming title fight. The focus should be on what the top fighters were doing at the beginning of their careers. A great fighter must lay the foundation for future success during the early stages of training and fighting. If they had done things wrong early on, they would never have achieved their full potential and we would never have heard of them. Don’t look at what the successful fighters are doing right now. Find out what he did early on in his career that helped him succeed. Fortunately, I have a good resource for accurate information on GSP’s early days. My friend and former training partner Oliver Jones. Oliver and I trained, sparred and competed together for many years in the UK BJJ & MMA scene. Oliver is a life long martial artist who has trained and competed extensively in Karate, Amateur boxing, BJJ, Freestyle Wrestling and MMA. He has trained and competed all over the world including Brazil, Japan & the UK. He also studied in Canada for one year and trained with GSP almost every day. This was just before GSP made his UFC debut. I recently spoke to Oliver to get a better understanding of what made GSP so great and what he was doing back then that laid the foundation for his career as one of the greatest fighters of all time. A life long martial artist, not just a Fighter Just like Oliver, GSP was a life-long martial artist. He didnt just train for fights he was constantly training and improving all the way through his life. Unlike the majority of fighters who just train when they have a fight coming up and then lose motivation between fights. Those who are introduced to martial arts early in life often display this characteristic. It becomes more than just learning the techniques or getting in shape, but gaining the confidence and mentality that will last for a lifetime. This is why people who started training in their youth tend to stay in the sport for a longer than those who start as adults. As a child, GSP was introduced to Kyokushin Karate by his father, who believed that it would help him deal with bullying. He trained in Karate until he was a teenager, when he became fascinated by the fast-growing sport of MMA. He dreamed of one day stepping into the cage and testing himself, but realized he needed grappling skills to be successful. During his late teens, he began training in BJJ and wrestling. This background in traditional martial arts as well as a commitment to continuous daily improvement no doubt set GSP on the right path for future success. The Professionalization of Mixed Martial Arts GSP was among the first generation of fighters to treat MMA as a serious professional sport. Unlike previous champions, he wasn’t fighting simply to showcase his martial arts skills or promote his school or style. He seemed to understand how big MMA was going to be in the future, so he prepared accordingly. MMA (then known as No Holds Barred or Cage Fighting) was considered a freak show sport in its early days. No one could have predicted how popular & mainstream it would eventually become. In particular, that one day GSP would be named Canada’s sportperson of the year. My conversations with Oliver indicate that GSP had an intuitive understanding of the future of the sport. Knowing it would keep growing and evolving, he knew it was worth dedicating his life to. For this reason GSP had a big advantage over other fighters at the time who mostly viewed it as a niche sport, which had already reached its peak. They were more focused on short-term success and relatively small paydays than thinking long-term. Focus on becoming a well-rounded fighter Previous generations of MMA champions were experts in one area, like striking or groundwork, but lacking in others. Champions in individual sports such as wrestling or BJJ knew that if they could reach their preferred range, they would
What I love about MMA
Realism. Like most MMA fans in the early days, I wanted to see which techniques would work in a real fight against someone who wasn’t playing by the same rules as me. Which karate techniques or judo techniques will I be able to use if I’m in a fight against someone who doesn’t understand or respect the rules of karate or judo? There is a tendency in Martial Arts to believe exaggerated incredible tales. People who are otherwise critical thinkers are willing to suspend their disbelief when it comes to martial arts and believe the stories of mystical grand masters who could defeat hundreds of opponents at once using their mystical pressure point techniques. MMA has shown what will generally work and what won’t in a real fight. Of course, there have to be rules so it will never be 100% accurate but it’s as close as we can legally & ethically get The growth of MMA has encouraged Martial Artists to become more realistic and honest in their training. Rather than believing that certain styles, techniques or strategies will work in a real fight when there is overwhelming evidence that they probably won’t work. The Evolution of martial arts, Sinec the early days of the modern era of MMA we have witnessed a constant evolution and improvement of Techniques, Tactics & training methods. In the early days if you knew how do a takedown and apply a rear naked choke you had a serious advantage over 99% of the other fighters you were likely to come up against. Since then the game has evolved in cycles every few years. Starting with BJJ strategy of clinch to takedown to mount to back control to submission. This was followed by wrestling era of takedown to ground & pound popularised by Dan Severn, Mark Coleman, & Mark Kerr. Then came the sprawl and and brawl era of fighters like Chuck Lidell. The game has been continually evolving and building on the what came before. The tactics and strategies that worked ten years ago won’t work now. There are also so many techniques that are commonplace nowadays that were previously written off. For example the use of high kicks. Prior to the modern MMA era,Jean Claude van Damme was the biggest star of martial arts. Everyone was training to do the splits and land spinning heel kicks. When the ufc arrived many martial arts fans came to the conclusion that high kicks looked good in movies but were too risky for real fights and will leave you vulnerable to takedowns. One of the first things that changed people’s minds about this was Maurice Smith knocking out Brazilian Jiujitsu expert Conan Silvera. Followed soon after by Pete Williams knocking out UFC champion and elite wrestler Mark Coleman with a head kick. After that head kicks came back into fashion again as a legitimate weapon in real fighting. The purity of the sport. Fighting is the purest expression of a competition between two athletes. Unlike many other professional Sports, Fighting has been around for as long as human beings have existed. Physical Combat was always necessary in order to protect yourself , your family or your tribe from enemies. Over the centuries as societies became more civilized the need fro physical fighting became less and less necessary. however its clear that human beings still recognised the value of the ability to fight and defend yourself. This led to the development of martial arts & combat sports in every country and culture around the world. Mixed Martila Arts is the ultimate expression of this human need to fight & defend yourself and the ultimate test of the martial artists ability to apply his skills and techniques against an equally skilled and equally trained opponnet. after all what is the point in training for years if you cant apply the techniques under the pressure of a real fight? MMA sums up the idea of one person against another equal matched opponent. Sometimes people will try to gain an unfair advantage through steroids or other methods but most fighters are doing for the right reason. To test themselves and their training and push themselves beyond their limits. Learn MMA in MelbourneWhat I love about MMA
What I hate about MMA
Weight Cutting Too many fighters try to win by being heavier than their opponents rather than putting in the time to master the fundamental skills of fighting. They focus on how much weight they can cut but dont spend learning how to throw a straight punch without dropping their hands. Weight divisions are necessary so fighters can be matched with opponents of similar size however weight cutting is one of the prime examples of how far MMA has gotten away from its roots. The first UFC was won by the lightest fighter in the tournament, Royce Gracie. Shortly after that at UFC 5, he also went on to beat Dan Severn who outweighed him by 32 kg. The sport has evolved a lot since then but the clear lesson is that if you spend your time focusing on proper training then the extra few kgs of weight probably won’t make a big difference to the outcome of a fight especially in the early stages of the fighters career. It is also fundamentally opposed to what martial arts training is all about. The idea of trying to gain an advantage by being bigger and heavier is very impractical in the real world. You can’t choose to be attacked in the street by someone only of your weight. Steroids There’s an attitude that if you’re not cheating you’re not trying. All the top professionals take steroids and figure out clever ways to avoid getting caught so if you aren’t willing to do the same you’re naive and should find another sport. I don’t really have a problem with taking them for bodybuilding or even for grappling only where you are unlikely to do long term damage to an opponent but in MMA, fighters risk brain damage or even death, therefore, I think I it’s unacceptable to turn a blind eye to this type of cheating. There is often the argument that you still have to train just as hard even if you are on steroids or that everyone else is taking them so there’s no point being at a disadvantage. Cheating is cheating no matter how you try to justify it and it goes against the spirit of what martial arts should be about. Trash Talking. Trash talking to promote fights usually just looks embarrassing and juvenile. Very few fighters such as Muhammad Ali & Conor McGregor genuinely have the skill to do this type of promotion well. Everyone else tries to imitate them and does a really bad job. Trained athletes getting into the cage to fight under very limited rules should be enough to generate interest from fans without the need to turn it onto the Jerry Springer show with storylines about why this fighter hates that fighter. I think it shows a lack of faith in their product that fight promoters feel the need to sell the sport with these manufactured storyline’s. The general public is perfectly willing to watch football, cricket, cycling, athletics and every other sport but for some reason, we won’t watch mixed martial arts unless we believe the fighters hate each other. Of course, there is evidence that the fights with the most hype and trash-talking lead to the biggest pay per view numbers but this is usually a short-sighted strategy whereby these new ‘fans’ get all excited about one fight but are then left disappointed when a high level mixed martial arts championship fight turns out to be not what they expected and so they go back to watching professional wrestling. Once again it also goes against what martial arts should be about. Honour, humility and respect. Dangerous Training Methods MMA is generally a safe sport in terms of what goes on in the cage. This is due to regulation, monitoring, strict rules and guidelines for professional promotions. However, what goes on in the gyms in the lead up to fights is the real risk area. Anyone can claim to be an MMA coach without any actual experience or credentials. These coaches have no idea about how to train fighters safely and effectively and so instead just encourage young aspiring fighters to bash each other in the gym every day. While this can sometimes bring good results in the short term it will invariably lead to most of the fighters accumulating injuries which will derail their career or even worse to develop less visible but much more serious concussion-related problems which they will not begin to see the effects of until later in life. Sparring never needs to be full contact. My team practice many different forms of specific sparring drills which simulate what will actually happen in the fight. There is no reason to practice getting hit with full-power strikes to the head. As someone who has fought extensively, I can tell you that being hit in a real fight is not the same as being hit by your training partners in sparring. The fighters and teams that spar too hard and boast online about how tough their training sessions are invariably all end up dropping off the scene within a few years rather than having any long-term success. Bandwagon Jumpers Mixed martial arts has become hugely popular in recent years. As the sport increased in popularity I’ve seen more and more people try to get involved and jump on the bandwagon. Sometimes this can be a great thing because it brings new blood and new ideas to the sport but more often than not it leads to flashy con men trying to exploit the impressionable next generation of up-and-coming fighters with big promises that seldom live up to the hype.This is especially a problem for young fighters who don’t yet fully understand how the sport works. They get to experience some success early in their career and then suddenly the new coaches or managers appear out of the woodwork and promise the world.Obviously its not practical to force every coach, manager, promoter or gym owner to fight in MMA a few times in order to get some genuine experience. But,
MMA Training doesn’t get Easier – You get Tougher
Fighting is supposed to be difficult. Fighting is necessary for the survival of all species. The animals that aren’t prepared to hunt or fight don’t survive. One of the big mistakes I see with martial arts training is when beginners believe that it should be easy, that they should be able to learn all the techniques within a short amount of time or that there are certain tricks or hacks that will allow them to get there faster. In my experience, this is not the case. Even the people who do seem to have found some secret way of getting better faster are usually gone or overtaken within a few years. Their talent allows them to improve quickly but they haven’t developed the habit of consistently training hard to keep making improvements. The important lesson is that fighting and martial arts are supposed to be hard and that’s ok. We live in a world where everything is easy – Uber eats, Netflix, everyone gets a participation medal. Martial Arts is supposed to be difficult – by getting used to facing and overcoming these difficult situations – such as, how do I escape from Mount when someone is bigger and heavier? Then it should in theory transfer to other situations we face in the real world. The problem is that if you’re always looking for an easy solution, some secret that will allow you to fight without putting in the work, you will always find someone offering to sell it to you. This has always been the case in martial arts, from Magical pressure point knockouts to getting your black belt in 2 years if you memorise the katas. There is no ‘easy’ way to become a good fighter. It takes time, effort and consistent hard work. But by developing the attributes of patience and hard work you will see the benefits in other areas of your life which you wouldn’t get if it was just a matter of learning a few tricks. www.dkmma.com.au
BJJ Grading FAQs
What time does it start Grading Starts on Saturday at 11am and will finish at 12.30 What do I need to wear? Wear a white gi and make sure your belt has the correct number of stripes. How do I know if I’m eligible for grading? Everyone is welcome to attend and take part in the grading. There are no entry requirements. I would advise all current BJJ students to attend and take part so you get an idea of what’s involved in our gradings and also to help support your team mates. I haven’t been training enough in BJJ / I haven’t been training in the Gi? Come along and take part anyway so you can help support your team. You would want them to be there to support you. What techniques do I need to know? Grades are awarded based on knowledge of BJJ as well as performance on the mat. There are no specific techniques you need to know for each grade. Will it be too hard for me? No. If you have been training regularly in our normal BJJ classes you won’t find the grading day any more difficult than a normal class. Obviously for students going for higher grades the grading is tougher due to more rounds of sparring however you by the time you are ready to grade to a higher belt you will be more than ready for these challenges due to your consistent training. How much are the grading fees and where can I pay ? We don’t charge for gradings. You earn your belt by training consistently for years and years and being a good training partner. At the higher belts you may need to pay a registration fee to the Ibjjf to have your belt officially recognised and certified. Is it possible to be ungraded ? Yes. This Saturday we will officially be introducing ‘ungrading’. This is a special ceremony for students who have been promoted to a particular belt but have slacked off significantly or avoided training with tougher sparring partners. We will also be removing stripes from students who’ve been training for an extended period of time but still cannot escape from Mount.
BJJ White Belt Advice BJJ Training Melbourne
White belt is the make or break stage in your Martial Arts journey. BJJ has a very high drop off rate and the majority of people who begin training don’t make it past the three month mark. There are a variety of reasons for this but quite commonly students quit because they feel they are not making any progress. There are several common problems that I see with most beginner students and in this article I will offer possible solutions that will help you improve and make progress in your martial arts journey.Some Beginners will never suffer from these problems, particularly so if they are athletic or have a background in other combat sports. They may not get exhausted or stuck in bad positions when rolling with other beginners, however, I think its actually beneficial for students to go through this frustrating process and to get used to it. This is something you will have to experience again and again throughout your training career. The sooner you can get comfortable with being uncomfortable the more benefits you will get in the long term. Gassing Out… The first problem for many beginners is lack of fitness leading to exhaustion during sparring. Don’t base your entire BJJ game around fitness and outworking your opponent at the expense of proper technique, however, it will always help to improve your fitness if you feel you are struggling during sparring rounds. To achieve this I recommend simple solutions such as getting up half an hour earlier and going for a run, bike ride or swim twice a week. Yes there are more scientific and technical ways of maximizing your fitness but as a White Belt you aren’t trying to win the Olympics just attempting to build your gas tank so you can roll at a sensible pace without feeling completely exhausted and having to sit out rounds. Another tip to avoid gassing out is to make sure you roll at a pace that is suitable for your fitness level. If you find you are breathing heavily and exhausted within 30 seconds you need to slow down and concentrate on what you are doing. Don’t waste energy relentlessly squeezing your opponents head when you should be figuring out how to move your hips and legs to escape. Getting Stuck in Bad Positions… This is one of the most common questions I get asked by beginners. They get stuck under side control or Mount for every round of sparring and never get a chance to use any of the techniques they have learnt. My first piece of advice is to learn and drill the escapes from these positions then practice them in isolation sparring. This involves rounds of starting from side control and once you achieve an escape or reversal resetting and doing it again. This method will improve your escapes 100%. Another useful idea is to occasionally just ask your training partners to reset once you’ve been stuck under side control or mount. Getting better at escaping especially against heavier and more skilled opponents is a time consuming process and you can’t expect results overnight. For this reason I would advise new students to just ask their training partners to reset in a different position and work from there rather than wasting valuable training time. At a slightly higher level the biggest key to avoiding getting stuck in bad positions is to avoid ending up there in the first place. The key to this is Guard Recovery and Guard Pass Prevention. The better you get at preventing getting your guard passed the less time you will be spending in bad positions. As mentioned previously this is a long term process but the earlier in your grappling career you get started on it the better results you’ll get. Can’t get any Submissions… Another problem is that the typical BJJ student learns or is at least exposed to dozens of submissions in their first few months of training but when they try to apply these techniques in live sparring they never work. This is because all the other students have also been taught the same techniques during the same period and so they are aware of them and are ready to shut them down. This often leads to the less than ideal ‘Youtube Arms-Race’ scenario where ambitious White-belts will scour the internet for secret techniques to catch their training partners unawares rather than just focusing on learning how to do the fundamental techniques properly. I advise beginners to follow the BJJ maxim – ‘Position before Submission’. Focus on building your game, at least in the early stages, of getting to solid control positions such as Side Control, Mount and Back Control and then the opportunities for submissions will begin to present themselves. I also encourage building your game around submissions where you will not lose position if it doesn’t get the tap. For example if you cant finish the Rear Naked Choke you are still in Back Control so you get to try it again and again until the end of the round. Can’t remember their techniques when Sparring… As previously mentioned during your first few months of training you will be exposed to what seems like an endless amount of techniques. It is usually too difficult to remember everything you learn and it will be almost impossible to recall and use it effectively when needed in live sparring. The first stage in the solution to this problem is to try to retain as much information as possible. Make notes on everything you learn as soon as possible after learning it. Drill the technique as much as possible after your Instructor shows it then try to drill it again a few times later in the class e.g. before each sparring round or a few reps at the end of class. This will help keep it fresh in your memory. Its also a great idea if you get to class early to grab a partner and do a
Mat enforcers in BJJ
One of the dumbest things about bjj is the idea of having a mat enforcer. For anyone who isn’t aware this is a designated tough guy in the gym who enforces the gym rules on the mats by roughing up newbies in sparring if they go too hard or break any of the gym rules. To me needing to have a student to do this just indicates a poor gym culture. If you need a senior to beat up other students then something has gone wrong. Building the correct team culture is in my opinion the most important job for a coach. This means explaining exactly what to do and not to do in training and sparring. It means that you need to monitor what is actually happening and making sure students are actually following those agreed upon rules. It also means that if someone is repeatedly not following the rules to tell to find somewhere else to train where they will be a better fit. The lazy approach of not explaining the rules and behavioural expectations of training at the gym and instead leaving it to the mat enforcers to sort out is what always leads to the development of a terrible mat culture and the inevitable decline of a club. If you’re a BJJ coach it’s your coach to explain and enforce exactly what the students should and shouldn’t be doing when they’re in the gym.
46 Rounds of Sparring for my 46th Birthday
To celebrate my 46th birthday, I rolled 46 rounds of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with my incredible students—all for a good cause! 💪🎉 Each student made a donation to charity to take part in this special event, showcasing the power of community, fitness, and giving back. Throughout the day, we had fun, laughed, and shared unforgettable moments on the mats, all while supporting a charity that means a lot to us. ❤️ This video highlights not just the sparring rounds, but the strong sense of community that makes our gym feel like family. Whether you’re a beginner looking to try BJJ, a seasoned practitioner, or someone coming back after a break, there’s a place for you here at DKMMA. We train hard, but we never forget to have fun along the way! 🥋 Check out the highlight video of the 46 rounds here: 👉 Are you ready to join the family? Whether you’re interested in learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, getting fitter, or simply being part of an amazing community, we invite you to come check out a class. Contact us today to book your free intro session and experience the culture & community firsthand! www.DKMMA.com.au #BJJ #BrazilianJiuJitsu #BJJCommunity #CharityEvent #GiveBack #46Rounds #BJJFamily #JiuJitsuForLife #JiuJitsuJourney #Fitness #FitnessMotivation #MartialArtsCommunity #GetBackOnTheMat #BJJTraining #MartialArtsLifestyle #RollWithUs #Charity #GiveBackThroughBJJ #FunOnTheMats #GymLife #BJJForBeginners #JiuJitsuLife #FitnessChallenge #BJJTraining #JoinTheFamily #CharityThroughSports
Beginner’s BJJ 4-Week Course
Are you ready to start your journey in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ)? Whether you’re new to martial arts or looking to return to training, we’ve got the perfect opportunity for you! At DKMMA, we’re excited to announce our Beginner’s 4-Week BJJ Course, designed to introduce you to the fundamentals of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in a safe, supportive, and engaging environment. With 3 classes per week, you’ll receive hands-on guidance from our experienced Black Belt coaches, ensuring you gain a solid foundation in this incredible martial art. What to Expect: Our 4-week course is specifically designed for beginners. Here’s what you’ll get: Why Join? Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu isn’t just about fighting—it’s about building strength, confidence, and discipline. It’s the perfect martial art for self-defense, fitness, and mental resilience. Whether you’re looking to get in shape, learn self-defense, or challenge yourself physically and mentally, BJJ has something for everyone. Limited Spots Available – Sign Up Today! With limited spots available, we encourage you to act quickly and secure your place in this exciting 4-week intro course. Don’t miss out on the chance to begin your BJJ journey with expert coaching, a supportive community, and all the tools you need to succeed. Course Details: How to Sign Up: Ready to get started? Sign up now to reserve your spot in our 4-week Beginner’s BJJ Course. Spaces are filling up fast, so don’t wait! We can’t wait to see you on the mats at DKMMA. Start your BJJ journey with us today!