Blog Archives - BJJASIA

BJJ Asia Interview #5 | Raphael Moa – Carpe Diem Bangkok

Mac — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 15:21:25 +0000

Raphael Moa is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt under Edison Kagohara and the newly appointment Head Coach of the Renowned Carpe Diem Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu branch in Bangkok.

Originally from Kuching, Malaysia Raphael’s life took an unexpected turn into Jiu-Jitsu shortly after studying to become a sports coach in University.

Raphael joins BJJASIA to discuss coaching, living in Japan and try out a new rapid fire quiz with hilarious results.

Carpe Diem Bangkok Instagram

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BJJ Asia Interview #1 | Jack Brown

Mac — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 17:21:54 +0000

Jack Brown is a Scottish Black Belt under Renowned competitor and Coach Marcos Nardini (MNBJJ). Specialising in No-gi Jack is well known in the European circruit as an incredible competitor and coach. Jack has been traveling for the last 3 years and settled in Bangkok for 7 months at Arete BJJ. BJJ Asia caught up with Jack just before he left back to Scotland and recorded at the new Modal Creative Studio in Thonglor.

For anyone who would like to book privates or train with Jack Brown, he can be contact via his Instagram.

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Bjjasia Interview #3 | Jayson Holechek

Mac — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 14:49:34 +0000

Jayson Holechek is an entrepreneur based in Asia who boasts brands such as Iron BJJ (https://ironjiujitsu.com) and Lucha SEA (https://www.instagram.com/lucha.us). With his college wrestling background, he has made himself a reputation as a solid coach and is now part of the Arete family.

For anyone interested in contacting Jayson for collaborations or work regarding BJJ gear.

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New IBJJF uniform requirements have been issued

Jehan — Sat, 29 Jul 2023 19:10:07 +0000

IBJJF UNIFORM REQUIREMENTS

GI MATERIAL

GIs should be tailored using cotton or cotton-like fabric only. The fabric should not be so thick or hard as to impede an opponent from gripping it. For juvenile, adult, master and senior divisions, a GI fashioned from woven fabric is mandatory.

It is permitted to wear kimono with EVA or similar material inside the collar, if the measures of size and rigidity regulations provided in the IBJJF Rules Book are followed.

GI COLOR AND PATCHES

GIs must be of uniform color.

The following colors are permissible: white, royal blue or black. Gis with tops and pants of different colors are not permitted; nor are GIs with a collar that is a different color than the rest of the top.

Painted GIs are forbidden, unless the paint is designed in the form of an academy or sponsor logo – and only on regions of the GI where patches are permitted.

Even in cases where they are permitted, the athlete will be obliged to change GIs should the paint mark the GI of the opponent.

Patches may only be affixed in authorized regions of the GI, as depicted in the IBJJF Rules Book. They should be of cotton fabric and properly seamed.

All patches unseamed or in unauthorized regions of the GI will be removed by the GI inspectors.

Click to zoom image

BELT REQUIREMENTS

Athletes should use a durable, 4 to 5 cm wide belt colored according to the athlete’s rank, with a black tip – except for black belts, where the tip should be white or red. The belt should be worn over the top, wrap around the waist twice, and be tied using a double knot tight enough to hold the GI top closed. Once tied in a double knot, each end of the belt should hang 20 to 30 cm in length.

GI MEASUREMENTS

The GI top should reach the athlete’s thigh and the sleeves should come to no more than 5 cm from the athlete’s wrist when the arm is extended straight parallel to the ground.

GI pants should reach no more than 5 cm above the tibial malleolus (ankle bone).

The inspection will verify whether the following official measurements are met: GI lapel thickness (1.3 cm), width of GI collar (5 cm), opening of sleeve at full extension (7 cm).

Click to zoom image

OTHER REQUIREMENTS

Use of a shirt under the GI top is prohibited, except for women. In the female divisions, it is mandatory for the use of a stretchy or elastic shirt that hugs the body beneath the GI; It can be short or long sleeved, without the necessity to follow the color requirements. It is also permitted for athlete’s to use a one piece swim garment (bathing suit) or gymnastics top.

Wearing pants of any kind under GI pants is prohibited, except for women, who are permitted to use pants made of elastic fabric (clings to body) under the GI pants, as long as these pants are shorter than the GI pants.

Athletes must use undergarments. The use of thong-type undergarments is not permitted; only briefs-type undergarments.

GIs may not exhibit mending or tears, be wet or dirty or emanate unpleasant odors.

NO-GI JIU-JITSU UNIFORM REQUIREMENTS

SHIRTS AND RASH GUARDS:

Both genders must wear a shirt of elastic material (skin tight) long enough to cover the torso all the way to the waistband of the shorts, colored black, white, or black and white, and with at least 10% of the rank color(belt) to which the athlete belongs. Shirts 100% the color of the athlete’s rank (belt) are also permitted.

Note: For black belts a small red area will be tolerated, but must not decharacterize the athlete’s rank color.

SHORTS FOR MEN:

Board shorts colored black, white, black and white, and/or the color of the rank (belt) to which the athlete belongs, without pockets or with the pockets stitched completely shut, without buttons, exposed drawstrings, zippers or any form of plastic or metal that could present a risk to the opponent, long enough to cover at least halfway down the thigh, and no longer than the knee.

Also permitted are compression shorts made of elastic material (skin tight) worn beneath the shorts, in the colors black, white, black and white, and/or the color of the rank (belt) to which the athlete belongs.

SHORTS, COMPRESSION SHORTS AND PANTS FOR WOMEN:

Shorts, compression pants (skin-tight spats) and/or compression shorts colored black, white, black and white, and/or the color of the rank (belt) to which the athlete belongs. The shorts must not have pockets or have the pockets stitched completely shut, must not have buttons, zippers or any kind of plastic or metal that could present a risk to the opponent, and must be long enough to cover halfway down the thigh and no longer than the knee.

Full details can be found at their website,

https://ibjjf.com/uniform

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Brazilian jiu-jitsu: ‘A soul-destroying, ego-clipping sport that’s sunk deep into my veins’

Jehan — Wed, 31 May 2023 17:49:26 +0000

Elena Gomez’s account of her first encounter with the gentle art can relate to many of us.

From the patched pyjamas, to homo-erotic spatz and rash guards, the uncontested or rather acceptance of exchanging bodily fluids with total strangers, inevitable addiction to ibuprofen, and no complete understanding of what you are doing at all, sums up the steep learning curve of the first 6-12 months of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

A martial art or modern form of flagellation which has no part timers.

This is a game for keeps. We play until we break, physically and mentally, literally and figuratively.

Once hooked it’s more difficult a habit to break than heroin. That’s according to Anthony Bourdain anyway,

“Friend: What’s BJJ like? Me: It’s like Fight Club but you talk about it all the time.”

The full breakdown of her journey can be found in the Guardian article below.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jan/22/brazilian-jiu-jitsu-a-soul-destroying-ego-clipping-sport-thats-sunk-deep-into-my-veins

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Someone I once had the the good fortune to train has chosen to perhaps walk a higher path.

Jehan — Sat, 20 May 2023 06:30:08 +0000

“You should become a monster. An absolute monster. Then you should learn to control it.”

En route to a competition in Borneo some time ago I stopped by in neighbouring Kuching along the way and happened upon a little gym with a large prescience.

Both the students and instructor impressed me with both skill and courtesy, something both necessary in the skilful savagery of the art we so rapidly pursue and enjoy.

Sadly my journal and photos of the time were lost to a digital disaster some time ago and all i have are the fleeting memories of a time well spent and the impression of Q23 in Kuching. Must have been some time as i don’t believe it exists as was so maybe someone can correct me.

Regardless I stumbled upon a post by the then brown belt instructor Ivan, now Black belt and much more.

I came across a recent Facebook update and thought these developments might be of interest to our readership in Kuching and anywhere in our digital domains.

Performance Coaching with Coach Ivan

There is something I have been doing in the shadows for years , it is now time for me to step into the light!

Do you struggle with:
Communication issues
Finding your footing as a leader
Gaining clarity about your next move
Limiting beliefs that are holding you back

If the answer is yes, then I believe I can be of help. For over a decade now, I have worked with CEOs , heads of NGOs, athletes and folks from all walks of life in helping them overcome challenges that are holding them back from fulfilling their true potential.

As a certified coach I have undergone rigorous training and developed a set of skills that I can use to help you achieve clarity on what you really want, craft a strategy to achieve it and provide accountability to ensure that you really get there.

I am not a guru or some mystical wiseman.

I am your thinking partner and your blindspot mirror.

Through simple yet powerful questions we draw out the stories that are running you currently and see if they need an upgrade.

If this sounds like something that could be of value to you, send me private message and we set up a discovery call to see if I can be of help. Looking forward to hearing for you!

Thankfully the gram has a record of the encounter, a mere 241 weeks ago.

Tempus fugit indeed.

The story of the subsequent competition did survive though whether it should have is another issue entirely.

Copa de Borneo 2018

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“Beyond the Game: Teaching Life Lessons through Sportsmanship”

Guest Post — Sat, 20 May 2023 04:00:52 +0000

“As my son grows, I plan to volunteer as a coach in whatever sports he finds interest in, except basketball because I cannot dribble for the life of me.”

I also plan to train him in martial arts, and one important lesson that comes to mind is humility in victory.

As a Tachiquin, Bowie, you must know that we are always humble in victory and gracious in defeat. I’m sure you’ll ask why, and that’s a great question, son!

We are disciplined in our training, dedicating hours of time to perfecting our skills instead of watching TV or playing video games.

We focus on developing our strengths, while constantly finding ways to improve our weaknesses.

We know the importance of eating properly to fuel our bodies, getting enough sleep to recover, and enjoying the process of preparing for competition and testing our skills.

When it’s time to compete, we expect to win; when we do, we shouldn’t be surprised.

We put in all the hard work, time, and love into it, so winning should come as no surprise.

We don’t showboat or taunt our opponents. Instead, we go and shake their hands, because, without our opponents, there would be no game. We show gratitude towards our teammates and those who came to support us, and people will want to keep playing with us and offer to teach us more.

People appreciate seeing someone enjoy themselves in a positive way, and that’s why we stay humble, my son.”“Okay, Dad, but why are we gracious in defeat?”

Because, my son, whether you are aware of it or not, you are setting an example for your teammates and others who are watching.

If you are a bad sport, throwing things, cursing, or blaming others for your loss, you will create a negative environment around you and the team.

The goal after defeat is to find solutions and ways to improve and to build your teammates up for the next opportunity.

But you can’t do that if you start making excuses or blaming others, as that victimizes you When you make yourself a victim, you disempower yourself to make positive change.

Learn to take ownership when you lose. Recall where you made mistakes and practice fixing them, so you never lose in the same way again.

That’s how we get better and inspire others to improve themselves. Remember, my son I don’t care if you win or lose.

The only time I will be disappointed is if I see you’re not giving it your all and have a bad attitude out there. So give it everything you’ve got, and most importantly, enjoy yourself out there. Win or lose, I will still love you with all my heart, just the same.

If you win, I’ll pick you up and raise you to the sky, and whenever you fall, I’ll be the first to lend you a hand to pull you up and dust you off.

One day, when you’re older, you’ll realize the whole lesson I was teaching you goes beyond winning a game or a fight. The game/fight is just a metaphor for life, and you can apply these principles to all aspects of your life, including your career path, hobbies or interests, and your own family. I’m teaching you how to win in life.”

Javier Trujillo – a professional combat sports athlete, wildland firefighter, and Libertarian Party candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Nevada, has over a decade of experience fighting wildfires, holding titles such as Hotshot fire crew member and Engine Boss in the Pacific North West, and he recently worked to defend lives and property during last year’s destructive fire season in northern Nevada. The original article can be viewed here :

https://www.javitrujillo.net/post/beyond-the-game-teaching-life-lessons-through-sportsmanship

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The History of Ju-Jitsu by Demian Maia

Jehan — Sat, 22 May 2021 22:26:45 +0000

BJJ Hero, Demian Maia has taken it upon himself to chronicle the history of the gentle art.

In the first part of this mini-series he begins in feudal Japan during the Nara period circa 710 AD.

Certainly one for history buffs and students of the sport.

Roberto Pedreira provides the definitive resource on the subject in his book Choque, should you wish to delve further:

https://amzn.to/3fEwU67

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Jiu Jitsu as a microcosm of life

Jehan — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 05:35:59 +0000

“BJJ is a human war game, a measure of a man’s ability to inflict violence upon another……. if violence isn’t something you know, you will forever be subject to those that do.”

A fascinating personal perspective from a black belt and the original Boondock Saint, Sean Patrick Flanery.

Check out the IGTV post below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sean Patrick Flanery (@spflanery)

Author of this article

Jehan

Jehan is a former hedge fund trader that caught the jits bug whilst structuring capital investments for offshore gas exploration in Brazil.
The deals failed but he was seduced by the gentle art and has pursued it ever since.
He travels the world, trades, and trains as much as his Masters 2 physiology will allow him.

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ER Doc’s Need To Know About Stroke Prevention In Jiu-Jitsu Athletes.

Mac — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 09:31:48 +0000

On June 19th, 2019, I received an email from an emergency room doctor who has just begun Jiu Jitsu. He found my blog about strokes in relation to Jiu Jitsu and had some great questions that I wanted to address for the entire BJJ community.

“Hi Chris,
“I’m a BJJ newbie that’s emailing you with a question in response to your very illuminating series of posts you wrote on Medium regarding BJJ and stroke. Thank you for writing this all, it’s been incredibly informative. I’m an ER doc that’s been doing BJJ for about a month — I really like it. After I got guillotined for the first time I became somewhat concerned about the risks of injury from BJJ — it seemed pretty logical that you could get a carotid or vertebral dissection from this sport based on the strength of the choke/ways you fall. I did some research on this and came to your series of posts. I had two questions I was hoping to ask you:”
Q1A: Based on the stories you’ve gathered, does it seem like the major damage is being done by holding out too long during the choke, or have you heard of stories where this is happening during even mild chokes?

My Answer To Q1A: In my personal experience, I am unable to say for certain which choke initially caused my carotid artery (CA) to tear. I also absolutely cannot tell you how long I walked around with a tear in my carotid artery as no one knows that for sure. However, the doctors said my clot (which was on the tear) was significantly large even after they administered the TPA drug, which is also why my medical team decided to put a stent in my neck.

In my personal opinion, I would say that I probably tore the artery many weeks prior to my stroke and it never fully repaired due to continued practicing after the injury occurred. All that said, I can confirm that the direct cause of my stroke was holding out too long on the North / South choke, which ultimately shot the clot to my brain. This instantly led to my stroke.

Looking back, I now recognize that I had experienced right side blurry vision after a practice one night, which I believe was a few months prior to my stroke. Although I did mention this to a teammate, we brushed it off as a small concussion. While these symptoms occurred a bit before the stroke, I also experienced other symptoms only days prior to the stroke. Some of these included a sore throat and other symptoms typically ascribed to the common cold or flu. Whatever these potential symptoms may mean, one certain fact is that the clot was on the CA prior to the North/South Choke I mentioned previously. I got stuck in this choke during “rolling” with my teammate Rob Smith of Milwaukee, WI. I did not tap because I was breathing and I thought I might get out of the choke if he adjusted and I gained some room to move. Since I was drilling and practicing a significant number of back take drills and choke transitions from the back take during the months prior to the stroke, I think it is very likely that the amount of chokes and choke escape during the month prior to my stroke caused my injury and prevented it from fully healing.

In other cases of stroke related to the sport, however, the condition was not related to chokes at all. Some cases were caused from being stacked up too much, and even others were from a hard cross-face. In the case of 19-year-old Ronaldo Silva in Brazil, a stroke was caused simply from hanging pull-ups with a GI, which may have been caused by the hinge back on the neck. Doctors still cannot say for certain what caused Silva’s stroke, according to the Dream Project, but my guess is that he had a tear which went undetected. We are finding that modern medicine has struggled to identify tears in young patients, which is due in part to the fact that they are not ordering the necessary tests. Our studies to date have found that imaging without contrast is missing most dissections in BJJ and even non-BJJ related injuries. In other words, they are looking for a clot when the patients come to the ER, where they should be looking for a tear in young healthy jiu-jitsu practitioners with stroke like symptoms.

Although many of these instances result from the patient trying to fight out of the choke, other cases were just from the repetitions in practice (example, Duane & Erik). As of now, we are finding that CADs and VADs are the cause of over 80% of the strokes we have found in Jiu Jitsu athletes.

Q1B: “I am assuming if this happened in the latter instance, there must have been some significant preceding neck injury that led to the dissection.”

My Answer to Q1B:

In my case, this is true. However, we cannot say for sure at this point regarding these incidents at large.

Q2A:. “For a person that’s just starting to spar, what should I be doing or saying to my training partners to lower this risk? I’m thinking the best things that you can do are telling your partner to go easy on the neck and that you should tap out early to any major choke.”

My Answer to Q2A:

To be honest, most of the coaches I have spoken with about this subject matter have really been unaware that anything like this could happen. Head coach of Gracie Farmington Valley BJJ, Jay Bell is one of the coaches who admitted that he was unaware that this could happen in our sport, however he has taken personal action to spread awareness to this topic after one of his students also suffered a massive accident on the mats:

Jiu Jitsu is a relatively new martial art /(sport), so many of the cases we are currently discovering are not well-documented. However, many participants are reaching out to me with their stories because they are making connections with the topic to their own experiences. One major way to help prevent prevent strokes in BJJ is to share the experiences and data (like this article) as we learn of them with other trainers, students, and doctors. You can help your school and ER by sharing our stories and learning from them.

I would guess that the majority, maybe even 95%, of the BJJ community is unaware that something like this could even happen. This belief was reinforced when I recently traveled to speak at the Arizona BJJ Coaches conference to bring awareness to the coaches, they had no idea.

We are currently working to spread the word even more.

In fact, a fellow survivor, Black Belt and ERPA Josh Verra, and I are planning to speak to more coaches and communities to bring awareness to this risk.

2019 AZBJJF — Coaches Convention

Everyone in the BJJ community should remember that they always have the ability to tap out and based on the knowledge and stories I am working to share with the community, I would recommend choosing to tap sooner rather than risking these ranges. Other ways to protect yourself might include asking yourself; “Do I know how to escape chokes?” If you do not, you might think about letting your training partner know that you are not comfortable rolling with chokes because you do not know the escapes yet. Otherwise, you might really focus your time and energy on learning new ways to break collar grips, pay closer attention to where you leave your neck, and instead of trying to focus on submissions in the white belt years, focus your studies on escaping chokes, or better yet, preventing them.

As I mentioned previously, Josh Verra and I have been accumulating as much data as we can on this subject because to date there has been a limited number of medical studies on this topic. The following three links are the only medical reports that we have found thus far:

1. Case report on vertebral artery dissection in mixed martial art

2. Internal Carotid Artery Dissection in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

3. Combatives Doctors Cautioned to Lookout for Vertebral Artery Dissection Following Complications From Chokeholds.

Of course, in addition to the above medical studies, we have compiled a list of over 70 cases and are documenting many of the interviews on my Youtube Channel, which can be found at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYq4oZCXcv3jm0BQlxUQ1Yg/featured?disable_polymer=true

My experience has led me to a desire to share the risks of BJJ. My hope in sharing my story and the stories of others is not to prevent the practice of the sport, but to promote safe practice. BJJ can truly enhance the lives of its students, but we should always be aware of the risks and prevention strategies to maintain a full and healthy lifestyle.

Background – Originally published via https://medium.com/@bizjitsu

Chris Martin is a father first and a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Coach. A stroke survivor.

You can connect with him Via @bizjitsu and his website www.MartialArtrepreneur.com

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