The best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be, or is he?

If only I was talking about Bret Hart, what a legend. Unfortunately for some, but not for all, I am talking about Roger Gracie. Yes, the person that some people consider to be greatest practitioner of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu today, maybe ever! Three time absolute champion and seven time at weight at the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World Championships and multiple time ADCC champion, Roger Gracie is the most dominant BJJ fighter in many peoples eyes. With his grace, technique and imposing submission oriented game, not many people have stood up to Roger and came away victorious. However, Roger is 30 years old, which in BJJ years is at the higher end of competitive age (he can technically compete in the Masters division (30-35). So the question is, at 30 years old, is Roger still the best? That depends who you ask?

Let's start with the opinion of yes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f7liHsm5EU click for Roger's BJJ highlight

As previously mentioned Roger is a multiple time World Champion. In fact, he has the most total first place medals at weight, at absolute and in total. He has phenomenal technique, he is known for using "the basics" to win his matches. He is most known for his mount and cross choke. Only Ricardo 'Demente' Abreu was able to survive Roger's mount. There is no aspect of BJJ that Roger is bad at. He can sweep, or submit anyone from the bottom, he passes EVERYONE'S guard and just to prove a point, he will stand with Judo blackbelts for a challenge. There has never been a more dominant champion (Ok, maybe Rickson, unfortunately he was a generation early so we'll never know) making legitimate black belts look like white belts who have never trained before. The one knock on Roger though is his lack of athleticism. He possesses all the skill and technique, but where people have been able to take advantage of him is being more athletic, sometimes getting the upper hand early, but never for long. So how about the opinion of no?

Some may be quick to think of other greats of the sport who have beaten Roger on multiple occasions, Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza or Xande Ribeiro. However, the popular opinion today is that Rodolfo Vieria (click for highlight), the new breed of BJJ athlete is the best at the moment. Simply put, Rodolfo is a BEAST! The dude is shredded, ridiculously strong and super aggressive. He is known for his takedowns and top game. His takedowns are incredibly strong and his top game is on another level. Just like Roger, Rodolfo passes EVERYONE'S guard. He passed Cobrinha's guard, a guard that has NEVER been passed in competition before, granted Rodolfo outweighs Cobrinha by quite a bit, but Cobrinha has faced big guys in the past and has never had it passed. Rodolfo puts so much pressure on the bottom guy that you know it's just a matter of time before he passes the guard. He is extremely athletic and ridiculously strong. For a heavyweight he moves like a lightweight, very fast and smooth. The only knock on Rodolfo is he is not a finisher, he typically wins by points.

So there you have it, the new breed of BJJ fighter vs. the best competition fighter ever.

VERSUS

Who do you have and how?

Win at all costs?

So I've been training for a little over two years now and I've seen people on both ends of the spectrum; the person who wants to continue to improve and the person who just wants to win with their "bread and butter" technique. I'm an advocate of both types of training in certain respects.

I feel that when training for a tournament it is vital to train your best technique. Figure our what you're best at, what works more times than not and focus on it when preparing for a tournament. For example, when I first started training I was very interested in triangles (click for example). As a result, I tried to triangle the person no matter what the person gave me. Later my focus moved to armbars (click for example) where I had a lot of success in tournaments. It was my "bread and butter" technique. However, I feel that it is extremely important to evolve and not stagnate with your training.

I always tried to take an active role in my training and evolution in jiu jitsu. As mentioned above, I would focus on certain techniques when preparing for a competition, but after a competition I would always try to find something new so I would improve and evolve. For example, I focused on certain aspects of my game: the de la riva guard, the spider guard, taking my opponents back and finishing my opponent from his back. Because of my dedication to these areas of my game, I continued to see improved results and I would continue to get better. In my opinion, it is vital to continue to improve by taking measures into your own hand. Find something that you are interested in, perhaps a couple things, instead of 10 or 12 and focus on them for a certain period of time. This way, you will continue to improve and get better without stagnating.

As of right now I am focusing on two specific areas in my training, omoplatas (click to see one of the best at omoplata's, Nino 'Elvis' Schembri) and passing someones guard. The first year and half or so of my training I gravitated to the guard (fighting off my back) and had great success with it. Because of my success, I did not have to focus too much on my top game. The result was a pretty good guard and a horrible top game :(. So instead of just sticking to my "bread and butter" I decided to improve my game. I am seeing good results in my guard passing and am happy that I decided to go this route.

Does this mean that I will never use my "bread and butter" techniques? Of course not. At times it is needed because you still need to improve even your best techniques, but at the same time you can't forget about new techniques to learn. You need to find that happy balance between the two. Know when it is time to move on, but also know when it is time to focus and drill what your good at. Take a proactive approach to your own training. Do not solely rely on other people to tell you what to do. Take your training into your own hands and don't be afraid to tap when trying something new, it happens to everyone, trust me and trust your instructor!

Happy training folks

Do you drink the Kool-Aid?

So I read a post on Facebook from a fellow teammate about a week ago from an interview with Ryan Hall {click for interview} (BJJ black belt, great competitor and all around cool guy) about training with people outside of your team, or affiliation and it got me thinking. Now for those who train BJJ, you know exactly what I'm talking about, but for those who don't, let me give you a quick run down.

Some academies/dojos/gyms have a very tight-knit atmosphere, one could almost call it a second family. It's sometimes common for people within the same team to have rivalries, or disagreements with other teams. This type of rivalry is common in almost any sport, so it's almost natural to transcend into BJJ. For some teams, it's almost a cardinal sin to train with members of the opposite team. It can be seen as "betraying" your family. So now that you're all caught up...

I completely agree with Ryan Hall and his approach to training partners. I think it is silly to hate, not want to train with someone from another team, or treat them differently just because they are from another team than your own. I personally embrace training with as many people from different academies as possible to enhance my game and learn. I've not only trained with these people, but have made strong friendships as well. It's naive to think that one person has all the answers to such a huge art. If you're able to train with someone from another team, don't shy away, embrace the opportunity and take it as something that you can learn from, get better with.

Now if you're getting the pressure from people within your own academy to do, or not to do something, you may want to evaluate if this is the best thing for you. At the end of the day you should try and make as many friends as possible in jiu jitsu and like I said a million times already, learn as much as you can from them, everyone has something new, or different to teach. Make opinions for yourself, don't inherit them just because you joined a club.

Don't drink the Kool-Aid

Injuries

If you have ever trained in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu you know what what I'm talking about. Sometimes it's a little injury that you can deal with and doesn't really bother you, sometimes it's a little more serious and you have to take a few days, or maybe even a week off, but sometimes it's that type of injury where you have to take an extended period of time off from training. Let me tell you, it sucks. If you do train, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You've probably even tried to continue to train with any of these injuries, but take it from me, it's not a good idea.

My first injury wasn't anything to be worried about, I sprained a finger, so I continued to train. My next injury was getting slammed on my head during an in-house competition (supposed to be friendly...hahaha) as a result I blacked out for a few seconds. At this point I was unable to continue to compete, so I called it quits for the day. My next injury was a little more serious.

At a competition in February of 2011 I decided to enter the absolute division after placing second in my own weight division (154 lbs). You typically face people in your own weight class, but in the absolute you can face any size opponent. I was "lucky" enough to face a 200+ pound behemoth in the first round. After frustrating him and almost winning (lost on a judges decision) I realized that I really busted up my rib during the competition. Ribs are a very touchy area on your body and this type of injury is a lot harder to train through than a sprained finger. As a result, I was unable to train for about a month...it was almost the death of me. I was unable to compete in the two biggest tournaments of the year. Needless to say I was very depressed. My next major injury came only a few months after healing up from my rib.

I was training in the academy, not hard or anything and doing something very simple I ended up fracturing my fourth metacarpal on my left hand (my ring finger). I had to get x-rays, multiple casts in which I was in for about two months and recovery for another three weeks afterwards. With this type of injury I was unable to really train at all. I would still go out and do what I could, but it was very minimal. This was a horrible time for me since the summer months were the prime time for me to train and here I was, injured and feeling useless.

Fast forward a month after my cast comes off and I hurt my knee in a competition when my opponent used an illegal technique (a heel hook) and almost ripped off my knee. Because of adrenaline I did not feel the full effects of this and continued to compete. The next day and almost two months later I'm just getting back into the swing of things.

So after my laundry list of annoying injuries, here are some tips on how to deal with the injuries.

First:
Determine what type of injury it is. Is it something that you can easily train through, or do you need to get it looked at?

Second:
If the pain lasts longer than a couple days, go to the doctor.

Third:
This ties in with the second one, don't be arrogant, or feel like a "pansy". Taking some time off to rest and heal is a crucial component of training BJJ. The ultimate goal is to become a black belt. If you can't train then you'll never be able to get to that point.

Fourth:
Know your limits and respect them. This kind of ties everything together. If you know that something is just a bothersome pain that you can deal with, continue to train. If you know something might be wrong and you're in constant pain, evaluate if training for a couple hours is worth it if you have to stop for a week, or won't be able to train when you're 40 because of the injuries you sustained when you were 21?

Like I said, the ultimate goal is to be able to train 20 years down the road, not just the next day. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is an art, a sport and a self defense tool all at the same time. So instead of just thinking about the sport side where you are able to compete for a short period of time, think about the art side that you will be able to train and teach until the day you die.

So happy training and stay healthy folks :)