Chicago: Is MMA tougher than the NFL?

Recently, I got into this ridiculous argument with a friend who I constantly get into pointless, farcical arguments with.  Our arguments usually fall into the football vs.

 some evil force (I usually defend the evil force). The latest one has been perpetuating for far too long. The argument is over the question: Which sport is tougher, NFL football or Mixed Martial Arts? He is a devout Chicago Bears fan and I think that he might get up every morning and bow to his Chicago Bears shrine, decorated with the glory days of Bears past.

 He proclaims to the Bears Gods, “I shall defend football against all of thy enemies. I shall shout football’s glory from the highest mountains for all to hear. I shall claim football’s supremacy to all that shall listen. Those that choose to disagree are worthless humans that deserve to die in a car fire.”


Well I could be blowing it a little out of proportion but he does constantly claim that NFL athletes are the greatest athletes in the world and that the game they play is the toughest. I disagreed about a month ago and told him that, in my opinion, MMA – particularly the elite fighters employed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, compete in the toughest sport in the world. From there—the arguing commenced. I have constantly asked myself what the hell I am doing arguing a question of value over something as insignificant as this? Well, I have nothing better to do that’s why. Plus I enjoy getting all riled up over stuff like this—I clearly have a problem.
I don’t know everything but let me tell you one thing that I do know—it’s much tougher to fight in the UFC than play in the NFL. That’s right, I said it Chicago. Don’t take my word for it; a few former NFL players, who’ve trained or competed in MMA,

 have also reiterated my sentiment. “This is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done; this was a very tough sport for me. Every muscle in your body is sore.” Herschel Walker stated after his professional MMA debut fight this past January. Marcus Jones,

a former NFL first round draft pick and currently famous for his stint on the tenth season of the MMA reality television series, The Ultimate Fighter, stated in an interview: “Fighting in the Octagon is more demanding on your body. The pain that you go through over a short period of time, all the training that you have to do for just 15 minutes of fighting, to me, that’s just incredibly difficult.”

It was even more entertaining to observe other former NFL players, along with Marcus Jones, who competed on the MMA reality show; Wes Shivers, Matt Mitrione, and Brendan Schaub dropping like flies during the first few workouts.

 They had their hands down at their sides, fighting the urge to quit, sucking for breath that couldn’t come in fast enough. All stated immediately that it was much more grueling than anything that they have ever done. And that includes playing in the NFL! Things got even more entertaining when the former ‘NFLers’ now mixed-martial artists got into the octagon to fight. Most were winded after the first 5 minute round. So if MMA is so inferior to NFL football, shouldn’t they be experienced enough to get conditioned adequately to make it through one lousy round?

What about Jared Allen?  Bears fans have seen him dominate the NFC Central for the past few seasons donning the Vikings purple and gold.
A brief history lesson on Mr. Allen: During an offseason with the Kansas City Chiefs he ran into Jay Glazer, a MMA and NFL reporter.

 Jay convinced him to train MMA with him in Arizona, where they both reside. After training Jiu-Jitsu, kickboxing, and wrestling at Glazer’s camp he lost 25 pounds of, as Allen refers to it, “bad weight.” He also went on to lead the NFL in sacks and then signed, at the time, the biggest deal ever for a defensive end with the Vikings.

The fact of the matter is that MMA fighters are world class athletes that are well versed in a multitude of martial arts along with wrestling, and boxing. There are no teammates to help you.  There are 5 minute stretches of massive exertion paired with a minute of rest.

 Proportionally that doesn’t compare to the 5 seconds of play with 40 seconds of rest in between that NFL players have the ‘luxury’ of. Also, you have some guy that isn’t trying to knock you down and take some ball away—he’s trying to knock your ass out, slam you down, pound your head into the mat with his fists, break your arm/leg, or choke you out. Any of these scenarios could happen at any moment and you need to be prepared for it all. Skill, not just God-given physique or speed, is required to be on top. Sounds kind of like playing offense and defense – do you have to do that in the NFL?
That’s just the night of the competition.  However, that’s assuming the MMA fighter will survive the training camp to get to the fight.  An MMA fighter will train for 6-8 hours per day on their cardio, ground attacks & defense, and standup fighting coupled with weight training and sparring.

 Now while you are doing these strenuous daily workouts you need to make sure that you will be at the right weight.  Usually you have to weigh exactly the weight limit the day before the fight and this usually requires a fighter to cut up to 20-25 pounds the day before the fight and put it on after the weigh-ins before the fight. This drastic cut in weight causes some fighters to collapse from exhaustion and dehydration trying to walk to the scale. This gives them about 24 hours to prepare to fight.

A helmet would really come in handy right about now

To compare I will walk you through a typical week for an NFL Player. On Monday you show up, maybe have to lift some weights or see the trainer. On Tuesday, it’s a mandatory day off. Wednesday, you are in meetings all morning,

a walk-though wearing shorts, and then you study film of the walkthrough. Practice ensues afterwards with pads and light hitting. Hit the weight room once more and ice down, for the day is complete. Thursday is the same. Friday, practice ends early leaving more than enough time to prepare to tear up the clubs later that night. Saturday, you have a walkthrough of all the plays in sweatpants. Damn, I guess he’s right that does sounds so much tougher than training for 3 months solid for a MMA fight. No wonder J. Allen cut 25 pounds of “bad weight” training in MMA.
In conclusion, I am not trying to say that playing NFL football is a breeze by any stretch of the imagination. There are some beasts in the NFL and without a doubt, they hit like trucks. But to say that playing in the

NFL is tougher than MMA or to go even further to claim that they are not even close is insanity. If you think that MMA is a breeze, give it a shot. You may end up like NFL QB Matt Leinart, puking after 10 minutes of cage training according to Jay Glazer. Or ask Herschel Walker what he thinks now that he is a professional fighter. “I would rather go through NFL training camp because it’s a little easier.”  Hey I am not going to

argue with a Heisman Trophy winner and an NFL great like Mr. Walker, are you? So pay attention Chicago, as un-American as it sounds, it’s time that we all start to realize that Mixed Martial Arts is tougher than NFL football.

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Learn from short film on Bráulio *MMA*

You read all about ADCC superchamp Bráulio Estima’s MMA debut right here on
Now check out some of what went on behind the scenes in the lead-up to the battle, when the Gracie Barra professor mounted and tapped out Chris Holland with a vise-like arm-and-neck choke at their August 24 encounter at Titan Fighting Championship 24.

The athlete’s training, preparations and day-to-day life was documented by Ryan Loco, who assembled the footage to make the video below.

Check it out, and let us know what your favorite part is.

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Copa Pódio launches first-ever Couples Jiu-Jitsu Showdown

While penciling in the ten competitors to compete in the December Heavyweight Grand Prix, he promoters of the Copa Pódio Jiu-Jitsu tournament are drumming up some parallel match-ups.

The latest news, announced yesterday over the event’s Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/azouzsara is a double match-up pitting Jiu-Jitsu-fighter couples against each other.

The Couples Showdown involves two matches, each lasting six minutes. The first will be between men, and the second will be between women, and the women’s match picks up with the score carried over from the men’s match.

Should the men’s match end in a submission, the women will square off for a draw, should the girlfriend of the athlete who tapped out get comeuppance on her female counterpart.

One of the couples has already been picked. Lightweight world runner-up of 2011 Augusto Tanquinho and brown belt world champion Mackenzie Dern were invited to take part in the contest. The Copa Pódio organization will be announcing the second couple for this unprecedented match-up in the coming days.
Now GRACIEMAG.com readers can held out, by weighing in with their picks in the comments field below. Who do you feel should toe the line against Tanquinho and Mackenzie?

“These ideas add a more expansive dynamic to tournaments,” remarked Jeferson Maycá, the founder of Copa Pódio. “The Battle of the Cities, between fighters from different regions, and this Double Match-up between couples lets there be fighters from other weight groups,

not just the heavyweights in the GP. It’s worth keeping in mind that Guto Campos will be defending his Superchallenge title, and there will also be the superfight showdown between Leandro Lo and Felipe Preguiça. These are matched fights that guarantee excitement during the breaks between phases in the GP (the group, semifinal and final phase), holding us over till we find out who’s the big winner of the night among heavyweights.”

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10 MMA Grappling Tips

Anybody who is interested in MMA, whether it be fighting or watching it, could use 10 MMA grappling tips to know how to take someone down, maybe to use while they are playing grab all. These tips will ensure that you kick off your MMA career with as much of an advantage as possible. They are also designed to keep you safe from harm that may be caused by an inadequate technique.

1. When grappling in MMA, make sure you pace yourself so you don’t lose all of your energy. This is probably one of the most important things you can learn about MMA grappling. If you tire yourself out too quickly, you will be bound to make careless mistakes.
2. As you learn moves for MMA grappling, make sure to learn the counter for the move. This will help you in two different ways. The first one being that you will become a “master” at this specific move by knowing both the offensive and defensive aspects of the move. It will also help you because you can know what to look out for when you try to use the move!
3. Be sure to keep calm while grappling in any form. One of the quickest ways to make mistakes and forget everything you’ve learned is to freak out when someone gets you in a headlock. The best way to keep calm is to take yourself out of the situation and ask yourself: A) what move is being used on you and B) how to counter it.
4. While MMA grappling, make sure that you learn how to control and maintain a constant breath. One of the first natural reactions to a stressful situation is to hold ones breath; it’s just how humans work. But if you focus on maintaining a constant breath, and more importantly, on avoiding holding your breath, you will be a much more efficient fighter.
5. When grappling in any form, if you have exhausted all of your options, don’t be afraid to tap out. This may sound like a wimp move, but there are many athletes who wouldn’t tap even if they turned blue. But  whether you can trust your opponent to let you go without a tap so you don’t go unconscious is a gamble that you should not be willing to take
6. Do some strength training on the benches for grappling momentum!
7.  Being a gargantuan isn’t necessary, but make sure you are powerful enough that you can control yourself when pulling off your moves! Look into different strength training for different muscles in order to have the power to control your MMA grappling.
8. When doing any kind of strength training to increase MMA grappling ability, do a few reps with heavy weights. It is common knowledge among weightlifters that doing 5-8 reps of a heavy weight is your best bet at getting strong. Doing anymore reps than that means you should go up in weight because if you don’t, you’ll just get ripped and not strong.
9. Focus during everything you do. 
10. This is an important tip because there are many people who will focus while they are fighting but not while training, or vice versa. This is a bad habi. You should always focus on what you are doing. Not practicing focus at all times could mess up and make it harder for you to catch your mistakes.
11. Use your size to your advantage when grappling. If you are small, get around your opponent and dodge and be nimble. On the other hand, if you are bigger, be aggressive and manhandle your opponent!
12. Don’t be afraid to train with people more advanced than you. They will teach you stuff by showing it to you in the ring, and this is also a great way to build up endurance when grappling!

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Bráulio Estima on Jones v Belfort: The first to slip up will pay dearly

Vitor Belfort, between ex-UFC champion Rashad Evans and Jiu-Jitsu champ Brazilian Estima, during training at Blackzilians camp in Florida / Photo by Ryan Loco

Bráulio Estima had a sterling maiden outing in MMA last month, and following some well-deserved off time surfing, his mind is already back on training—and his eyes on UFC 152.

“It’s hugely satisfying to train with Vitor. I’m a fan of his from way back, so I’m somewhat partial,” said Carcará, another elite athlete helping Belfort prepare for his attempt to take the light heavyweight title from the fearsome Jon Jones, during a chat with GRACIEMAG.com. “Vitor’s a born professional.

 He’s dedicated and has a wealth of knowledge. Having started so early, he’s got some crazy octagon experience. I’ve learned a lot from him. Training here at Blackzilians is really professional, with lots of tactics, specific training on attacks and blocking takedowns and attacks,” added the Jiu-Jitsu professor from Gracie Barra Birmingham.

As for training, the black belt feels the help of one of Jones’s former friends will prove essential.

Vitor has been practicing a bit of everything. Rashad Evans is backing Vitor up big time. There’s no one better than him to teach Vitor what he needs to know. Predicting the outcome of a fight like this one is difficult, but there is one thing I can say: Vitor’s doing awesome in striking, ground and pound and Jiu-Jitsu. A fight’s a fight, and nobody’s invincible. The way I see it, the first one to slip up will pay dearly,” he said in closing. What do you think, savvy reader, will Vitor Belfort hold his own against Jon Jones on the coming 22nd? Will Belfort’s Jiu-Jitsu make the difference? Share your take with us.

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TheTake out the garbage Sweep

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20 tips to enhance your play

 20 tips to enhance your play

If you only read and keep the teachings presented here, you’re not going anywhere with your ground techniques. The following advices – useful in tournaments with gi, grappling, MMA and for the athletes personal evolution – ought to be studied between trainings. On this case, our little script here can change everything you had been doing wrong – or simply didn’t know existed. Aiming at bringing you a large and carefully wrought guide (whether you are or not a beginner), we have asked the main masters of the sport: what would you like to have found out earlier? What’s behind the gold medals and amazing titles? What are the shortcuts? What are the secrets? Each Jiu-Jitsu exponent brought their own delicacy to this feast. Enjoy, therefore, this manual if you wish to evolve. In Jiu-Jitsu, life – everything.
1)Exercise your ears
The first rule to perfect your Jiu-Jitsu is to never be deaf to other people’s knowledge,” says Renzo Gracie. “It’s common to see guys who deem themselves professors decline a new teaching, ignoring a pupil who shows something new. To grow better you must understand how people think and how they got to that position. Even if it’s not perfect, it’s up to you to enhance it.” A clear example was a coup with which Gracie surprised Canadian fighter Carlos Newton in the Pride Bushido 1: “I nearly submitted him on the foot lock, in a position a white-belt had taught me. Starting from the tip I perfected and developed the leg attack, from the knee lock to the foot lock.” To Renzo, it doesn’t matter whether the student is a blue-, white-belt, or someone who’s never fought: the moment they show you something, shut your mouth and pay attention. “Even if the move is not efficient, the concept might help your play. When you don’t allow yourself to accept any other form of knowledge, you become a limited professor,” he teaches.

2)Always believe in the move

If you follow Rodrigo Minotauro’s MMA bouts, you can probably figure out his tip to make your Jiu-Jitsu better. A combative athlete, always with a surprising coup at hand, he shoots: “Fight to get a grip on your opponent.” How do you do that? Well, the Brazilian Top Team star suggests that every fighter ignores the clock and the points during the combats. This measure may result in defeats in the beginning, but on the long run it’ll leave the fighter “light and loose” (Nogueira’s definition). “There is nothing better than fighting naturally and pressure-free,” he says. “The secret is to believe He’s got to believe,” adds Wallid Ismail. Carlson Gracie’s black-belt’s advice is based on three elements: stamina, attitude and will to win. “At the time of the position or the fight, the main thing is to believe. To make the move work, you’ve got to believe it will work. And it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side, because there lies the difference between winner and loser. The winner is never intimidated. He may even fear, but he must have something greater inside – the attitude.”

Practice an outdoor sport

Soccer, jogging, outdoor work out – there’s always a healthy activity waiting for the athlete who takes off the gi after hours of grappling in the academy. One can then dive into a commonplace sport (surf, for instance, is practised by nine in every ten fighters) or even invent their own distraction. This strategy keeps the body in shape without making the fighter stressed from the training routine. “Every physical activity, not only Jiu-Jitsu, is useful for working out heart and mind, leading the guy to thinking that, instead of smoking a joint or using drugs, he can dedicate his time to exercise,” says Royler Gracie, who has since 1999 been climbing the Rock of Gavea, at Rio de Janeiro: “It’s a workout similar to the Macacos Hill trail at Teresopolis, which I would cross with Rickson when he was preparing for MMA fights,” he recollects.

4. Repeat the moves over and over

Leaders of victorious academies in Jiu-Jitsu and MMA, Andre Pederneiras (Nova Uniao) and Sylvio Behring (Winner-Behring) don’t fear being repetitive when they assure that the motto is to persist and persist and then persist some more when it comes to position-training. “Definitely the key is the positions. In judo, the athlete makes 1,000 takedowns on every session. It’s sad to see that in the Jiu-Jitsu milieu people think it’s a waste of time. We repeat the basic positions in the warm up about 5 times before every practice”, says Pederneiras. Master Sylvio corroborates: “Every title we conquered in the last years with Mario Reis and Fabricio Werdum were due to this philosophy: repeating the basics and go through a training fight under supervision, which is the sparring game. One of the athletes executes every type of attack, arm, triangle, and the other tries to defend from the blitz”, says Marcelo Behring’s brother, who demands 90 seconds or a series of 100 repetitions after training. “Thus the athlete reaches exhaustion and lets the movement flow naturally.” After all, as professor Jean Jacques Machado puts it, it’s better to repeat a position a thousand times, working on it for a month, than learning one a day.
The phenomenon Nino “Elvis” Schembri also agrees on the tip: “More and more I convince myself that one should pay attention to the positions, from the white all the way to the black belt. The main thing in Jiu-Jitsu, a sport in which, I believe, the most technical player gets the advantage, is to repeat the positions. Everybody does that in boxing, judo, but in Jiu-Jitsu the guys are a little lazy. Including me.” To Nino, it’s reasonable to reserve the beginning of the practice to repeating 50 positions for each side, thrice a week. “And don’t even think of giving up”, he smiles.

5. Set goals

In the nineties, when he was among the best competitors in Jiu-Jitsu, Ze Mario Sperry had a notebook where he would right the goals to be reached in training, in a given period. The black-belt used to rip the leaves and leave them on all corners of his house. “I’d go to the bathroom to shave and would find a note glued to the mirror: ‘If you want to be a champion, you’ve got one week to do this or train that’,” he recalls. Sperry explains that setting goals helps in the evaluation and control of what is being produced in the training. “The ideal is that the fighter define what he wants. Afterwards, find ways to get there, reckoning the time necessary to reach it.” For an example, the black-belt recollects the time he set the goal of getting a perfect physical condition. To achieve it, he designed a series that focused on several exercises, such as squatting, weight lifting and running-sprints. “By keeping my heart-beat accelerated with this workout, I made progress until I conditioned my body to the rhythm of the combats.” This “note pursuit” enabled the BTT master to keep focus on his career’s objectives, being sure what he had to improve in a near future.
Black-belt Vitor Shaolin warns his students about this up to this day: “You must set up your training in such a way that you define what are the two most important competitions for you to be in that year. No matter how much you try it, you can never be 100% in all tournaments,” he guarantees. “Then you must establish the rules: ‘I want to be well in the Brazilian and World championships.’ And prepare to place well only in these tournaments, not minding whatever you win or lose in the rest of the competitions. The body is not a machine and cannot remain on a level 8 or 9 all the time, be it in Jiu-Jitsu or MMA, which is the Triathlon of fighting,” the Shooto champion concludes.

6. Be dynamic

To Amaury Bitetti, Jiu-Jitsu is like chess: you only move a piece thinking of the next move. The two-time world open champion in ’96-’97 says an attacking position during the fight must always be connected to other future positions whose objective is the submission or – just to follow the comparison – the check-mate. In order to achieve that, Amaury advises that the attack-trainings should be made in a logical progression. For instance: a takedown leads to a guard-pass, which in its turn leads us to a mount, which leads to a choke. The combinations are infinite; what matters is that your game be not static. Just as in the whiskey advertisement: keep walking. Turn your Jiu-Jitsu into a motor gear.

7. You are an athlete, not a weight-lifter

Two-time world open champion 02-03, Marcio Pe de Pano strives to convince the athletes of the fact that they don’t need to look for a superathlete’s body at any cost. To the black-belt, the secret lies, above all, in training to ally technique and good conditioning. “If you train Jiu-Jitsu, you ought to work out, but not make a monstrous physical preparation,” he comments. “If you fight MMA or wrestling, you might need such a body. In Jiu-Jitsu, physical preparation is not all: one must work to become a technical and conditional athlete.” Therefore, don’t go try anything silly.

8.) Strengthen your grip

The first attitude necessary to follow this hint by Vitor Shaolin is: tighten that rope well! After all, the principle behind this task is to use a thick rope tied to the academy’s ceiling in order to strengthen the fighter’s grip on the opponent’s gi. An important detail is that this exercise is good to another very important muscle for the athlete: the abdomen.
As Shaolin demonstrates, there are three ways of climbing, each of which improves a specific group of moves. In the first exercise (picture A), the athlete uses short grips to get to the top, which helps in the chokes executed with the hands near and the arms bent. As he shows, the climb can be made with the hand reversed (picture B). In the following task (picture C) he goes upwards with wider grips, ideal to strengthen a pull from the ground with a hip escape (bottom picture) or any position that demands a strong grip with the arms stretched. The detail is to keep the legs always elevated, which toughens the abs. “You go up, stop for a few seconds with the legs stretched, and then descend in the same fashion,” explains the Nova Uniao professor. “The wider grip is the hardest, so I do it only once a day, five times a week. The other one, easier, I repeat ten times a week, twice on one day, thrice on the next, then twice… Always after training, when the arms are more tired.”

9. Strive to be complete

What good is it to get an A+ in guard-passing but flunk attack-from-the-back? To stand out in Jiu-Jitsu, the fighter can’t excel at one or two moves. He must play in the eleven, as we say in football. Black-belt Saulo Ribeiro teaches a simple way of reaching versatility: “Many people despises the warm-up before practising. Well, dedicate the first 15 minutes in the academy to doing the basic: escape from the back, from the mount, and side-mount. In the next 15, practise submission from the back, the mount and the side-mount. Do this every day in your Jiu-Jitsu career. It may be boring, but it’ll make you complete. No matter what belt. I am a black-belt and still discipline myself into doing it till today. Oh, I nearly missed it. Practise judo at least twice a week. Knowing how to fight standing is also fundamental. That it my formula for becoming complete.”

10. Posture is everything

By training Jiu-Jitsu frequently, three or four times a week, our physical preparation specialist Martin Rooney’s attention was caught by a simple, though essential, tip. “It was something that changed the way I looked at workout itself: whether on the mat or with the dumb-bells, always pay attention to your posture. That is the most important, both if you are trying pass a guard or lifting tremendous weight. Without the adequate posture you don’t spare moves, you worsen the strike’s execution and augment the health hazards – or loss hazards.” In case the reader suspects on Martin for the fact that he isn’t a great BJJ star, remember that is one of the aspects Rickson Gracie stresses the most while training. So, straight neck, lined-up shoulders, firm back and off you go.

11. Learn from defeat

Many fighters absorb but negativity from losses. They get depressed, blame God and the world for the result and, sometimes, deem their careers finished. Leonardo Vieira does the exact opposite. He uses the defeats (preferably in practices, of course) to reflect on what he can do better. “I’m convinced that everybody who submits all of their opponents in the trainings is actually learning nothing,” says Leo. Like the child, who only learns how to walk by stumbling, it’s by tapping that the Jiu-Jitsu practitioner improves their art. Therefore, the Brasa black-belt advises that the masters mix athletes of different graduations in the trainings. Thus the fights aren’t too even, leaving room for adversities. Martin Rooney agrees: “The athlete who reacts with bad feelings to the defeats isn’t learning the incredible lessons that have been taught him, and that would make his chances of losing again much smaller. There’s no such thing as winning and losing, but only winning and learning,” says Renzo’s and Ricardo Cachorrao’s trainer. “Only you can your reaction and spirits to grow as an athlete. I believe the person that has been submitted the most is the toughest to beat. That’s what a tough guy is made of. That’s of a black-belt is made of,” he summarizes. Leo Vieira calls the attention to the fact that the losses out of the mats are just as fundamental to form a champion, above all in what concerns character. “When there was a dissidence at the first formation of the Alliance team and I was alone in Sao Paulo, I went through one of the most difficult moments of my life. However, I became a much stronger person and learned a lot about life. I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t gone through that,” he evaluates.

12.Look for the best version of the move for you

Master Osvaldo Alves says that up until the nineteen-seventies one only gave and armbar-in-guard by uncrossing and wide-opening the legs. “I realized this coup was vulnerable, for it enabled the opponent to flee and pass the guard easily. So I invented the climbing-armbar,” recalls the red-and-black-belt. As you can see on the image, this armlock version makes it a lot harder for the adversary to escape. “The thing is to not lock the opponent’s arm, but his/her shoulder,” clears up the master, who uses his own calf against the sparring’s shoulder, stopping him from getting up. Summarizing: if you don’t get along with a certain move, try to perfect it, adapt it to your physical and technical traits, always searching new versions for it. That’s what makes Jiu-Jitsu evolve continuously.

13. The best strategyis the attack

“I always try to attack. While I’m on the offensive, my opponent can think of nothing but defending, that is, I’m protected,” Marcelo Garcia teaches. As an example, the Alliance black-belt recalls the time when he didn’t know to keep an open guard. He would cross the legs on the opponent’s back and pray for the time to elapse. “I was afraid of attacking,” he evaluates. After noticing the deficiency Marcelo started uncrossing the feet and practising sweeps. He realised that, if he went right onto the adversary, he’d run a much smaller risk of being submitted than if he played defending, applying but rare counter-strikes. Garcia also realised that, by being the first to attack, he would make his opponents abandon their former plan. If he prolonged the blitz, Marcelo also prolonged this “untouchable” state. But there are those who say that repeated attacks tend to tire the athlete. “What really tires is to hold the fight back the whole time,” Marcelo argues. Notwithstanding, the black-belt gives some advice on physical preparation for those who agree that the best defense is the attack: “Climbing stairs and ramps is the best option for an amazing guard,” he reveals.

14. Don’t forget toenhance your defense

Despite liking the attacking strategy suggested by Marcelo Garcia, Rillion Gracie stresses the importance of training submission-escapes (remembering that the other guy may attack first). “Look at Roger Gracie’s performances in the last World Championship. He suffered fulminating attacks right in the beginning of the battles but was able to defend like a master to then counter-attack,” Rillion recalls. The Gracie Leblon Master says that, while practising defense, the competitor learns exactly what the opponent feels like in situations of adversity. “Learning defense improves the attack. I f the lion knows how the prey can escape, it’ll capture it in a much more precise way,” he ponders. To practise defense in Jiu-Jitsu, Rillion advises the reader into forgetting s/he is strong. “Exercise your patience. Use the weight and the force of the levers,” he explains. “Start practising defense as soon as possible, to awake just as soon the survival instinct in your fighter’s soul.”

15. Stretch!

Ever since he was a kid, Antonio Schembri has been used to stretching daily. And he never complained, unlike his opponents, whom, in time and practice, he began to submit in the most varied ways. “I’m very flexible, so I always take a strong session before and after training. Some people are stiffer, they don’t like it, but stretching is essential, especially the bottom half, legs, spine and lumbar,” says the Chute Boxe athlete. According to “Elvis,” stretching is vital even for improving the guard. “What I realize in competitions, even black-belts’, is that everybody gets along well on top, but not everyone can keep a good guard. So besides stretching, which improves the de-passing, the athlete must set up a schedule and program himself and persist in training every single variation, butterfly guard, closed guard, with inside hooks… You can’t let the guy cross the knee line, or else you’ll have to pull something out of your ass to stop the guy from passing,” Schembri teaches.

16. Develop self-knowledge

According to Fabio Gurgel, competition-Jiu-Jitsu is so leveled nowadays that the small details can make the difference in the fight’s result. Considering that you, fearless reader, have already looked after the technique and physical preparation, the Alliance general calls the attention to a “detail” that can turn you into a giant of the mats: self-knowledge. “I advise my students to talk to themselves. Self-evaluation makes the athlete know himself better, finding out his true virtues and weaknesses. He starts being conscious of his own instincts, develops self-confidence and doesn’t chiken out. Thus the athlete can design an ideal fighting plan,” Gurgel analyses, and then describes the state of mind with which one should enter the ring: “The fighter’s self-knowledge must turn the battler into something pleasant. The Jiu-Jitsu practitioner must have fun in the championships. That way, it all becomes easy.”

17. Simulate hindrances and escapes

“Back at Carlson’s academy, I always trained with partners who would attack me full-on That’s what’s bad about training in an academy where everybody wants to fight for real: you don’t get used to the opponent that hinders the fighting in the competitions,” Ricardo de la Riva points out, stressing the hard time he had developing his game against Japanese fighter Yuki Nakai in September 2004.His hint, accordingly, is to simulate fights where the opponent neither tries to pass nor to submit; to fight against a technical sparring – or one who runs away. Marcelo Garcia also has a hint for those hard situations: stretching and breathing. “The fighter has got to know how to stretch and move all of his members, besides breathing properly, for the time when he is on the bottom, being smashed and smothered by the adversary,” says the middle-weight world champion. In order to learn how to get out of the tough situations, Garcia indicates: the good thing is to practise guard with heavier mates.

18. Try!

Jean Jacques Machado likes to awake his students’ creativity. The master organizes “lab sessions” during the trainings in the academy where he teaches in Los Angeles. On these moments he shows the classroom a move, asks the students to study it and to present a defense a week later. “There are many ways to get to a goal. I like my pupils to use their creativity and find out new ways to get there,” he evaluates. In other words, Jean doesn’t make his apprentices “move repeaters.” By disseminating experimentalism in his lessons, the black-bellt gives birth to classrooms full of creative and innovating athletes. Leo Vieira likes Jacques’ methodology, but presents another way of making the students open minded: “Look at the kids fighting. Notice how they’re always laughing and jumping around. That’s how I like to fight. Children invent, use unexpected moves that, if adapted to adult Jiu-Jitsu, can be fruitful. Teaching kids is a great source of knowledge to me.”

19. Regularity, always

Also to 1999 ADCC champion Jean Machado, there’s nothing more important than regularity. Not vanishing from the academy is, therefore, essential for the athlete’s evolution – s/he must avoid substituting wasted weeks with overtraining periods. Nearly every one of the gi-superstars knows that by heart, as Pe de Pano Illustrates: “The secret is regularity: training over and over and over. Twice a day if possible. As I began late, I would make it up by going to the academy in the afternoon and at night.” According to him, training regularly leads to evolving and injury-avoiding. “For the fact that you keep training, the body gets used to the effort you make. It was after I began resuming and quitting that I began to have injuries often,” he completes. A partisan to that idea, Vitor Shaolin exemplifies: “Besides training often, you must divide the trainings, understand that there is a little something called resting. So if in the afternoon the practice is slower, take the chance to rest. If your body doesn’t react all that well in the morning but you know that in the morning the training is profitable, wake up earlier to get your body prepared. Practise more heavily at night, but don’t let it go on till too late, for you might go to bed tense, thinking of training – and end up not resting at all.”

20. Respect and reflect

Respect and dedication are utterly necessary to Ricardo de la Riva. “The idea is to arrive with an open mind and to practise with pleasure, and not to simply want to win in the training. You must respect, above all, not only the dojo and the professor, but also your practice-mate, after all you need him/her,” says the master. According to Martin Rooney, the salutation can afford great benefits that sometimes can go by unnoticed. “In all sports, athletes create rituals that push the negative energy away. However, I realise that many Jiu-Jitsu beginners ignore that fact, maybe for seeing martial arts as just a way of defending, a game of win or lose,” he says. Martin refers to the simple and traditional act of bowing. Associated for centuries to martial arts, the act should not be seen as only a demonstration of respect or a sign that the fight has begun. As the American trainer explains, the time to bow is a great opportunity to concentrate. The bow is the moment when the practice begins, so any negative thought or attitude must be left aside – or out of the academy. “A salutation at the end of the practice enables the athlete to go back to his normal life,” he says. “Develop, therefore, a strong mental connection so that your mind is activated by the bow in the beginning. Just as in any sport, if your head is not ready to practise, it’s impossible to learn anything,” Rooney concludes.

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