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October 15, 2011 will be the next Andre Galvao seminar at Small Axe!!!! Come check it out!

  Andre Galvao travelled to south central Indiana to lead his second seminar at Small Axe Jiu Jitsu, but his first seminar at the school as its affiliate leader. Eager jiu jitsu practitioners of all levels gathered early to see what techniques would be taught.

   Many in attendance were veterans of Professor Galvao seminars and so expectations were high. Professor Galvao began the seminar with a welcome to all who attended and explanation of his philosophy of always seeking the submission and working to advance to the most dominate position and not just ride an advantage to victory. After his brief intro, he led a thorough warm up focusing on loosening and stretching all the joints of the body. Then the seminar began.

The focus of the seminar was on attacking the back. I had asked Professor Galvao a question in the car shortly after picking him up from the airport and he told me the seminar would answer my question. IT DID. Look at what we did:

1. Attacking Turtle-ing Opponent (Proper position, arm placement, hip placement, elbow blocked)

2. Methods of impeding the “turn in” by a simple elbow push.

3. Drilled sensitivity and movement when and if bottom guy turns in.

4. We learned how to take the back when the opponent turns into us.

5. Rear Naked Choke details

6. Breaking a defensive Grip that is preventing RNC.

7. Sliding Collar Choke, Galvao Style! Critical details that make the choke faster, tighter and harder to defend.

8. Transitioning when guy escapes over your bottom hook.

9. “Digital Clock Choke”… analog is out of date!!!

10. Transitioning to Digital Clock Choke from the on-side back position (kicking leg away).

   After the technique portion, Professor Galvao fielded questions from the students. Every question was answered to the student’s satisfaction.

Throughout the seminar, I mingled around, trained, and talked to the participants. More than one came up to me and told me that one technique or another was worth the whole price of the seminar. I heard students say, “that is a game changer” and others praise little details by saying, “why didn’t I learn this years ago?”

   After all the rolling, teaching, and training was done, several of the Small Axe/Team Atos students were awarded stripes on their belts and several of the youth students moved up into new belts. A new tradition for the Small Axe students was implemented and each new belt came with a throw from Professor Galvao and Instructor Tim Sledd.

   Small Axe Jiu Jitsu was happy to host grapplers from many different regional academies and is grateful to Professor Galvao for his open mindedness and leadership.

Andre Galvao and Tim Sledd

GALVAOBJJ/ATOS LEADER

ANDRE GALVAO

IS COMING!!!!!!

DATE: 2/26/11

TIME: 1-4

LOCATION: SMALL AXE JIU JITSU

DETAILS: Multiple time World Champion, Andre Galvao will visit is First American Affiliate on February 26th, to lead a seminar and offer promotions to the Small Axe/Atos students present.

Questions? E-mail: smallaxebjj@gmail.com for answers.

Tim

It is my distinct honor to report that Andre Galvao and Tim Sledd agreed that Small Axe Jiu Jitsu would be a great affiliate for Professor Galvao! We look forward to more great instruction from Professor Galvao and will strive to help spread the Atos message!

Promotions

Blue belt         1998 by Caique (with Gracie TA), Bedford seminar
1st stripe blue        2-26-06 by Caique, IU seminar
2nd stripe blue        9-23-07 by Caique, IU seminar
3rd stripe blue        2-23-08 by Caique, GMA seminar
4th stripe blue        10-24-09 by Caique, IU seminar

Purple belt        11-13-10 by Caique, IU seminar

Competition Experience

10-20-07         Extreme Grappling Open, Indy:  Master Blue light-hvy    3rd gi 

12-1-07           Michigan Open:  Master Blue light-hvy            DNP   

6-13-09    Hoosier Open:  Master Blue light-hvy            1st        

9-26-09    Michigan Open Master Blue middleweight     2nd    

10-2-10    Michigan Open Master Blue Middleweight    2nd   

Hopefully you would look around the room. If so, seated quietly near the entrance watching some guys playfully sparring, you would see a highly decorated World Class competitor, smiling. If you haven’t lived under a rock in the BJJ community for the last 8 years, then you would quickly recognize the guy as Andre Galvao, and something tells me you would quickly put your gi on and tie your belt.

The seminar began with a brief introduction, not only to Professor Galvao, but also to his philosophy and that of Atos Jiu Jitsu. What a way to set the mood for the day! This was not going to be a seminar of thuggish ruggish ego-centric testicular explosions; this was defined early as a seminar of sharing love of the art.

Following the introduction, we did a brief but comprehensive warm up and the first indication that Andre is a methodical instructor became evident. He started from the top of the body and warmed every joint imaginable down to the little toe.

Next, we jumped into some drills which led into techniques, which spawned counters and various submissions. Professor Galvao periodically tied the techniques together to remind us that we were on a path of progression and merely exploring a small set of options for each situation. The seminar included but was not limited to the following techniques:

• Open Guard Pass Drill (variations on blocking the hip)
• Andre’s Method of holding a tight cross-side from said guard pass
• Using your hip to prevent an elbow escape, using your head to prevent a roll away (this section alone gave me significant material that I could add a whole new “Hip Control Video” tutorial)
• Ezekiel from opponent turning away
• Triangle from cross-side (new variation for Small Axe)
• Nifty triangle finish detail using a head turn!
• Guard Replacement drill (from open guard “thread the needle” pass) Roll under
• Guard Replacement to triangle
• Triangle defense to Omoplata
• Omoplata detail clean up! (leg squeeze, far lapel grips, ankle grip, hips away)
• Clock choke if guy is flexible (I obviously wasn’t)
• Belly down armbar from omoplata –>rolling if necessary to variations of the traditional mounted armbar.
• Drilled Guard Retention –>triangle–>omoplata–>clock choke–>armbar
• Two variations of taking the back off a defended omoplata
• Armbar off of back take attempt! (very tight and fast armlock… I think I yelped once during the demonstration)
• Last was an armbar from omoplata control while parallel. Bringing the inside knee in to transition to the armbar.

Once the technique portion of the seminar was done, Professor Galvao began a meet and greet (another way of saying he picked people to spar with). He chose kids, women, black belts, purple belts to roll and he gave lots of different energies and utilized the techniques he had just shown many times. What a pleasure to watch.

Overall, I would describe this seminar as “concept driven”, beginner to advanced, and tons of fun. Andre is very approachable, willing to answer questions, and constantly surveying the participants to correct details. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND an Andre Galvao seminar. There is an old saying, “Some people can teach, some people can do.” Andre Galvao can do BOTH!

Valeu Andre!!!!!

“SHUGYO”

“Meeting and dismissing that inner-voice, the one that calls for retreat, calls for rest, calls for acquiescence to physical exhaustion, then proceeding forward, pushing on and achieving more than what you thought you could endure, hardens your ability to survive.” –Tim Sledd

    Warriors, athletes, and competitors are looking for an edge. Some stay tuned to the latest diets, exercise routines, and literature. Some choose to buy the latest equipment, gear, or instructionals on their relevant field. But throughout history, a key characteristic of successful warriors, athletes, and competitors has been the desire to survive.

    By “survival,” I mean the ability to meet great obstacles head on, overcome them, and continue forward with the mission. Perhaps the obstacle is pain, limited finances, or fewer troops, but to a real warrior, there is nothing that will get in the way of the mission. A small percentage of people exemplify this character trait, but all of us are born with this trait and can condition ourselves to endure obstacles so as to meet our goals. 

“Fighting is actually the best thing a man can have in his soul.”

                        – Renzo Gracie

    So, honing your ability to survive will increase your effectiveness on the mat, in the cage, or on the street. That seems easy enough to understand, but HOW does one condition the ability to survive? One way, which is used by the best combat athletes in the world, is Shugyo Training. Many of the athletes may not even realize they are employing Shugyo Training but they are, and it makes them fierce competitors that have the edge when the match/fight gets tough.

In short, Shugyo Training is using a set of exercises or drills that force the participant to their breaking point physically and mentally then demand they push through. Marathon runners often engage in Shugyo Training when in preparation for the actual Marathon, they increase the distance they are running, and when they feel they are going to fail to be able to complete the lesser distance, they visualize making the ultimate goal of 26.2 miles. Meeting and dismissing that inner-voice, the one that calls for retreat, calls for rest, calls for acquiescence to physical exhaustion, then proceeding forward, pushing on and achieving more than what you thought you could endure, hardens your ability to survive.

Militaries around the world force their toughest troops through bouts of Shugyo Training. Whether it is the Navy SEALs with sleep deprivation, near drowning, and sensory overload, or Special Forces training in surviving “prisoner of war” scenarios, the goal and objective is to harden the ability to survive.

Dan Gable is revered in the wrestling community as one of the best wrestlers of all time and one of the most brutally demanding coaches. In the documentary, “Dan Gable, Competitor Supreme,” Shugyo Training oozes from every practice clip and tale of training Coach Gable undertook to come back after his solo collegiate loss. Losing was not an option for Coach Gable and because of the training his wrestlers endured, it was not an option for them either.

“Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.”

                        – Dan Gable

“ The 1st period is won by the best technician. The 2nd period is won by the kid in the best shape. The 3rd period is won by the kid with the biggest heart.”

                        - Dan Gable

My first experience with Shugyo Training occurred my freshman year in high school during wrestling season. One day, our coaching staff came into the room and hung a red flag on the door. We were told that no one was allowed to leave, if anyone needed to puke, trash cans were available, and quitting was not acceptable. For the next two hours we exercised, drilled, exercised, drilled and on until puking, crying, and groaning were only muffled by the deep breathing of (what we thought were) well conditioned wrestlers. When the practice was over, the coaches made us congratulate ourselves, focus on our exhaustion, realize that we had made it through. They asked us to remember what it took. The head coach told us that no match would hurt that bad and that if we gave up on the mat, conceded defeat without being beat, then shame on us. What the “red flag” practices (there were at least 8 more in my high school career) achieved was giving me a confidence that when I stepped on the mat, I was more conditioned than my opponent. I clearly recall having a few overtime matches where I was tired and Coach telling me to suck it up, this was not a red flag practice!

“To survive it is often necessary to fight and to fight you have to dirty yourself.”

                        – George Orwell

A SAMPLE TEAM SHUGYO PRACTICE:

For the coaches and instructors out there, consider adding Shugyo Training to your regimen. The practices should not be dangerous, but can use simple drills and exercises to failure. My methodology for a Shugyo Training session is as follows:

• Warm up and stretch (light jog, shrimp drills, forward rolls etc.)
• Circuit training for exhaustion (Power rope swings, Kettlebell Swings, Slosh Pipe rows, medicine ball “hot potato,” sledgehammer swings) Depending on the level of fitness of the group we will do several rounds of this circuit without the participants knowing how many rounds.
• Next the drills to failure: (Wall-sits, planks, handstands against the wall) Each of these exercises are safe yet tire an already exhausted body and mind rapidly. THE KEY IS, YOU CANNOT LET THE PARTICIPANTS FAIL WHEN THEY WANT TO! Make them begin to count out loud when they want to quit, have a coach take over the count, or use the group support to keep the person engaged past their quitting point.
• Finally we analyze the thoughts. Each participant should know that they still have something left they could have spent to survive longer… next time we will go there!

MY OWN SOLO SHUGYO TRAINING WHILE ON “VACATION”

    Each year, my wife, daughters, and I travel to my in-laws’ cabin in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area for a wilderness trip. There are no cell phones towers, no high speed internet, no gyms, no mats, it is the WILDERNESS. What there is an abundance of is water, trees, mosquitoes and beauty. Here is the last Solo Shugyo practice I did while there: 5 round circuit

• Solo Paddle 18’ Aluminum Canoe ¼ mile from DNR dock to our dock
• Portage Canoe from our dock to the DNR dock
• Run to garage (1/2 way between docks)
• Pick up 60lb “Atlas Stone” (a piece of sandstone from the property)
• Fast march the stone to the DNR dock then back to the garage
• 60 swings of a sledgehammer each side.
• Run to the DNR dock
• Repeat

Enjoy serving up some brutality and hardening your ability to survive!

Here is a video of Renato Tavares explaining the benefits of training hard. The benefits of Shugyo Training are found at the heart of his discussion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEU-zV9UVo0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Of course running and weight lifting can help you develop sufficient cardio and strength to excel in grappling. What do you do when you are bored with those options, don’t have a gym near by, or believe (as I do) that running is harder on the body than an armlock and weight lifting is inefficient? You turn to non-traditional yet functional alternative training methods.

Below are several cheap, simple, and FUNCTIONAL exercises that will leave you exhausted while building relevant strength. There is AMPLE example and explanation on how to do the exercises that I demonstrate, so I (after demonstrating the exercise) take you through it’s BJJ/Grappling counterpart. Enjoy the exercises, and Happy Grappling! Click “read more” to see the vids.