BjjBrick Podcast- BJJ, no-gi and good times!

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Mark Mullen
Mark Mullen

Mark Mullen is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and a brown belt in judo from Canada, now based in Taipei, Taiwan.

Mark Started training in judo in 1995 and inspired by Royce Gracie winning the early UFC's he became obsessed to learn BJJ.

When Marcus Soares 7th degree coral belt of the Carlson Gracie Team moved to Vancouver in 1997 (the first black belt to teach in Canada) Mark became on of the earliest students.

Mark discovered an early aptitude and love for teaching BJJ when head instructor Soares would return to Brazil and Mark would teach the class.

Mark started Training with Gracie Barra black belt Josh Russel when Josh moved back to Canada after training and living in Rio De Janeiro for several years.

Mark was one of the original founders of Gracie Barra Calgary and graduated to purple, brown and finally black belt under Josh Russell 3rd degree.

In 2014 Mark accepted an offer to relocate to Taipei, Taiwan to be the BJJ coach for 2 MMA gyms (Marital Armor and Tough MMA in Taipei and Hsinchu) and runs the BJJ program for the schools as well as coaching the fighters.

Mark writes for popular online BJJ blogs Gracie Barra Blog and Grapplearts.comMark is also available for writing on other blogs.

We talk about:

  • What got him started in BJJ
  • Changes in BJJ over the years
  • The 3 types of BJJ students (Competitors, BJJ lifestyle, Fitness)
  • His travels to Taiwan
  • Why most students come to his BJJ school
  • The differences between teaching and performing BJJ
  • Teaching class as a blue belt
  • Traveling to Brazil
  • BJJ master minds that change and advance the sport
  • BJJ before and after youtube
  • Making complex things simple
  • Doing BJJ as a life style
  • Mario Sperry - Day of the Zen Documentary
  • Life as a Jiu-Jitsu Bum
  • Diet advice
  • The development of BJJ in Asia
  • How overwhelming BJJ can be for beginners
  • Advice for white belts
  • The importance of movement drills

Links for Mark Mullen: TwitterFacebook

Quote of the week: "it's not supposed to be easy" Samuel Spiegelman

Article of the week: "3 Important Questions to Help Recalibrate Your Training Focus" By Valerie Worthington

First year of BJJ

Catch us next week for another episode of The BjjBrick Podcast

Direct download: Epi208320Mark20Mullen.mp3
Category:bjj -- posted at: 10:30am CDT