Tournaments in 2009--Copa Nova

Competing in tournaments is good for several reasons. If you're rolling with the same people in class everyday, you may be getting better, but it's also possible that you just recognize their set ups and know how to avoid them. By going to tourmaments you will learn quickly if there are any holes in your game, especially from schools with different fighting styles. For example, if your school drills a lot of techniques with the rubber guard, how will you adapt when faced with someone who has been training mostly with the spider guard? Or butterfly guard? Or X guard? How about a former wrestler?

It looks like the first local tournament will be in a few weeks. The Copa Nova BJJ Tournament will be on Saturday January 24, 2009 in Ashburn VA. I wasn't able to make it to last year's event, but a few people in our club made it out there and reported that it was well run with good judging. It's not as big as NAGA or Grappler's Quest (but then again, what is?), but a good local tournament to go to and sharpen your skills. Put it on your calendars!

For those of you getting ready to compete, check out the SCHOOL CLASS SCHEDULE and see if you can fit in at least one extra day a week of training.

New Basics Class

From now on, Tuesday night will be devoted to learning and drilling basics. This will help new students get up to speed on the fundamentals, and help more experienced students review and improve their techniques.

Here is a basic kimura armlock drill that we normally do in every class during warmups. You should do 20 of these to get you started.

Easy New Solo Stretch

The only thing worse than losing a match because of your technique is losing one because you are inflexible. Like it or not, if you are going to get better at jiu jitsu, you are going to have to work on all aspects of your game, including flexibility. Luckilly, it's easier to see improvement in your flexibility than it is to improve your strength or get better at your other skills, like keeping your weight on someone.



While we do work on stretching during warmups, it's important for you to practice that on your own as well. Here is a helpful trick for stretching out your hips with some old belts from your judo gi. It was submitted by the guys at Submissions 101.








Keep an eye out for changes in the schedule. Most of the people at our jiu jitsu club found out about us by word of mouth (i.e. from a friend), so as new people joined we worked with them to get them up to speed and let them participate in the class. Since we have recently gotten several new students, we may be changing one of the classes to focus specifically on basics. This will help the new students with their foundations and will be a good review for more advanced students.



Also, I will be adding a link on the side to let people know about upcoming jiu jitsu tournaments or seminars in the DC area. If you know of one, send the info to info@capitolcombatsports.com



-Pete Law

Rear Naked Choke Tutorial

I came accross this tutorial on the Rear Naked Choke on YouTube. Drew told me about it after he got done choking me. It's put out by Stephan Kesting from Grapplearts. It's got a lot a lot of useful tips about applying the technique and about common mistakes to avoid. It's about 10 minutes long and it's got some details you can incorporate into your game right away. Good luck out there!

-Pete Law

Happy Holidays

Just a reminder that now that Thanksgiving is over, we have returned to the regular class schedule:

Mondays:

• 7 - 8:15pm Striking
• 8:15-10pm Jujitsu

Tuesdays:

• 8:30 - 10:30 Jiu Jitsu

Thursdays:

• 8:15-10pm Jujitsu

Fridays:

• 6 - 8pm Jiujitsu

Saturdays:

• 9:00-10am No Gi Grappling

Also, for the white belts testing for their next stripe or for their blue belt, the testing requirements are as follows:

3rd stripe: Should know at least 15 submissions or techniques, as well as shoulder, and hip throws, and major outer reap.

4th stripe:Should know at least 20 submissions or techniques, as well as shoulder, and hip throws, and major outer reap. Should have competed at least once.

Blue Belt: 25-30 techniques, good stand up, knowledge of Judo throws. Should be a Positive Representative of the club.