Guard players - a style that really stands out

Guard players are one of the most dangerous jiu jitsu fighters and grapplers out there. You carry out a takedown but get caught in the guard of these people and once they lock that guard in it can be really tough. Even if you do get a chance to break the closed guard it can be extremely difficult to do anything from there before they recover the closed guard.

Some of the guard players can be boring of course. If a guard player does not have an aggressive guard, he may just wait and wait and wait for a mistake and so it sometimes can get boring. It's great to develop the passing though. If you can pass the guard of a great guard player, then your game is dally on the top level. Passing is an important element and being able to defend against a very tight guard player is vital.

I think what many guard players fail to do though is they focus too much on this one element at the expense of other parts of the game.
All they seem to do is to try to get to closed guard and then look for sweeps and submissions. Guard players can be really conservative or risk averse, so instead of taking a chance they rather not do anything and this can make some boring matches. I love to see an aggressive player not only able to play just classic guard but when I see a very effective butterfly guard, I am very pleased to see some awesome well rounded technique.

Draculino BJJ Training for iPad:2/5 for Drac iPad App!

Got the iPad recently, great product well done Steve Jobs, but in terms of content for brazilian jiu jitsu and mixed martial arts, the UFC (they don't offer anything!!) and Apple should have done a lot more.

Basically there really is little content to actually choose from in my opinion. I downloaded the Draculino BJJ Training application with the video library for the blue belt that includes over 50 techniques to watch, but to be honest for the 23 pound sterling they charge, its not really worth it I think. If they want people to pay this much money for an app, not only does Draculino's teaching that has to be top notch (which it is) but the app itself must be awesome as a product.

There is basically only one feature which is the video library and the video quality and size was small and it seems like a product done in a rush that could have been done much better.

I did not see neither the technique search bar, nor the 3-angle video where you can see the technique demonstration and choose the angle. A lot to improve here. Training is fun, but if you pay money for a product, it should be high quality.

2/5 for Drac iPad app!

Ideal Academy for BJJ

What would a perfect academy be if you could choose all the best traits and take away the problems? What do Academy owners do and what are they not doing and should? here is just a few things that I think that should be up there on the list:

1. Good instructors - this has got to be at the top of every list. A good teacher is really a big thing and actually it's hard to find a great teacher that can take you the whole way from white belt to world champion

2. Facilities - some may say that it doesn't matter where you train, but if your gym is not clean, the toilets are dirty, it's just not a place where people want to stay for very long. The academy is a second home and so it should be a good home for an athlete

3. Good environment. A great team, good sparring partners will take you the other half of the way to being a top class bjj player.

4. Location. Your club cannot be more than 2 hours away. You just can't travel there enough and stay for long enough unless this is your full time occupation.

5. Development - progress is important. If you don't make progress, you are wasting your time. The academy you train at should give you every opportunity to train with different people, learn from elite fighters in seminars, compete and much more.

6. Cross training can be very helpful whether you want to practice submission grappling or wrestling. The opportunities should be there to take you bjj to the place where you want it to be.

7. Conditioning. Many clubs believe that it is the responsibility of the bjj fighter to do the conditioning on his own time. I don't believe this is the right approach, it is the instructor that should be there to provide a programme for card and strength training needed.

What other things should be on the list? Something to think about.

Train As You Can For As Long As You Can

Training I feel is the only way to become a great BJJ player. Romullo Barral is famous for training an enormous amount and is truly one of the most incredible BJJ players out there.

You have to put the mat hours no matter how productive your sessions may be. It was often that I said to myself that by studying 2-3 times per week in private sessions that it was thesame as 20 ordinary classes. While this may sometimes be true, you have to really do both I feel to improve.

Train with fighters that are better then you technically and weaker and practice different things. Practice what you are bad at. Over and over I practice now a few things that I am not good at. Butterfly guard, spider guard, open guard with one foot in. You basically have to practice the positions you are bad at.

Competing really helps though. By competing you really test yourself and at the same time learn from your mistakes. I went to a competition last weekend and have learnt a lot since then by going through my mistakes in a private class thereafter.

You benefit a lot from your losses and I think while you practice new moves on beginners, you definitely should train as much as you can with fighters that are better then you. You pick up new things and it gets your head working on how you should improve even though your ego may suffer.

Of course from time to time you do go and train with someone weaker and you feel good, but it is better to improve then just stall your progress.

Practice your techniques, don't just sparr. Share with you partners the techniques that you have learnt and they will share their moves that work for them. This exchange I think is very useful and you develop. Not always do you have a teacher at your side and everyone has a different game. There is a lot to learn in jiu jitsu, and the sky is the limit!