The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunes, and Stitcher radio

Last week at Fox Fitness Byron was given a Black belt from Andre “Tim” Monteiro and John Castillo. Gary interviews Byron about his journey from white belt to black.

Gary ask Byron about:

• The journey at each belt color
• Him off the mat
• A description of his game and what he likes to do
• Advice for your first BJJ tournament
• How to make your first BJJ Brick
• A good goal for a 1st year student
• Did he ever think about quitting
• Using BJJ as a firefighter

Quote of the week: "High expectations are the key to everything" Sam Walton

Article of the week: "3 Ways to Become Happier with Your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Training"

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunes, and Stitcher radio

Rafael Ellwanger is from Rio De Janeiro, he has been a BJJ black belt since April 10, 2006.  He opened his won gym called Gracie United, in Hammond Louisiana.  Gracie United has 15 schools in or near the Louisiana area.

We talk about:

• Rafael's early BJJ, and an accident off the mat that broke both his legs
• Why it can be difficult to start BJJ
• How safe BJJ can be compared to training other sports
• The rules of IBJJF
• His thoughts on the double guard pull and the 50/50
• Some of the current rules of BJJ
• His early training in Brazil
• His family not wanting him to do BJJ for a living
• Some of the rewards off the mat of BJJ
• The social benefits of BJJ
• Teaching BJJ full time
• Training with lower belts
• Some older BJJ matches

Contact Rafael Ellwanger on his website or on his facebook page.

Check out the new Bernardo Faria DVD

The BjjBrick Podcast has been going for 1 Year with this episode!!  We have managed to pull off an episode every week.  We (try to quickly) go down the episode list for anyone who has missed something that you might want to go back and check.

Quote of the week:"Everything Should Be Made as Simple as Possible, But Not Simpler" Albert Einstein- Presented by Matt Thorton

Article of the week: Breaking Down the Notebook by White Belt Survival Strategy 

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunes, and Stitcher radio

Matt Thornton is the founder of Straight Blast Gym.  He was introduced to BJJ in 1991.  In 2001 Chris Hauete awarded Matt his black belt.  He can be found running his own Academy in Portland, Oregon, when his is not traveling.

This episode we talk about:

• His personal training history
• We go deep into what are the fundamentals of BJJ
• Why he recommends not teaching your style, just teaching fundamentals
• How to find your own game after you get the fundamentals
• The process of becoming a black belt in BJJ
• Why many people make the "all you can eat buffet" mistake when studding martial arts
• Conor McGregor's striking style and movement
• Fundamentals are not style specific
• The principal of Aliveness
• The iMethod (introduction, isolation, integration)
• Why it is important to make BJJ simple
• The SBG kids program Growing Gorillas
• Some advantages for kids to do BJJ vs other sports
• Advice for students competing for the first time
• Staying calm during competition
• His early BJJ techniques
• Why learning to relax is a key to beginner BJJ
• Conor McGregor getting his brown belt
• Having passion for the martial arts

Contact Matt Thornton by Email here sbginfo@yahoo.com or visit the website http://www.straightblastgym.com/

Quote of the week: “I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.” Abraham Lincoln

Article of the week: "How To Be A Douche In Jiu-Jitsu" by http://jiujitsutimes.com/

We end the podcast with Ultimate dancing with Byron's Mom talking about Randy Couture on dancing with the stars.

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunes, and Stitcher radio

Matheus Diniz is a rising star in the world of BJJ. He is a Brown Belt training at Marcelo Garcia's academy.  On Saturday 9-27-2014 he won the Pans nogi, Brown belt in the heavyweight division.

In this interview we talk about

• What it is like to train at Marcelo Garcia's acdemy
• Winning the Pans on 9-27-2014
• Why it is important for him to have exciting fights
• His training schedule
• What makes MGinaction such a great environment
• Advice for a first time competitor
• What he was like as a blue belt
• What happened in his first 2 BJJ matches
• What he does before a match
• Advice for developing a game plan
• What it means to "start the match" and "always move forward"
• Advice for people during their first year of BJJ

Matheus Diniz is sponsored by MGinAction.com

Matheus Diniz Facebook page

Quote of the week: "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you will be among the stars" Bernardo Faria

Article of the week: "When Hugs Get Dangerous: Guys Rolling w/ Women" by Jesse J. Saxon

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunes, and Stitcher radioBernardo Faria is one of the top BJJ black belt competitors on the mat today.  He credits a lot of his success not to being talented but to training very hard everyday.  He is currently training and teaching at Marcelo Garcia's Academy. Look for him this October competing in Worlds No-Gi, IBJJF PRO and NY PRO.

Bernardo talks about:

• His early training and school
• Teaching and training hard for competition
• Training with Marcelo Garcia
• Why he is able to put all his effort and determination in a match
• Why he likes his half guard so much
• His deep half guard dvd that will be released soon
• His short term and long term goals
• Focusing on doing your best and not focusing on winning
• How he gets ready before a match
• His omoplata and why he goes 100% for the submission and not the sweep
• His very first BJJ match
• Advice for someone doing their 1st tournament
• What he was like as a blue belt (his longest belt)
• Why it is important to develop you own game
• Why you should set your own goals
• Traits he likes to see in his students
• His matches with Rodolfo Vieira

Contact info Bernardo Faria on facebook page here

More info on Bernardo's Deep Half Guard DVD!!

Quote of the week: "train hard fight easy" this quote was presented by Yuri Simoes

Article of the week: Teamquestmma.net "8 Tips For Teaching Kids Martial Arts"

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunes, and Stitcher radio Yuri Simões is one of the top competitors at the heavyweight division in BJJ.  He is competing for the Caio Terra Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Association.  He has been doing BJJ for 13 years, compeating for most of it.In this interview Yuri Simões talks about:

• His main goal of becoming a black belt world champion
• Starting Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 7
• Overcoming his rough start at competition as a kid
• His training habits
• Competing with an injury
• His last competition at worlds
• His two wins over Rafael Lovato Jr
• A Metamoris Match between Simões and Lovato Jr
• His dreams to compete in ADCC and Abu Dhabi Pro
• The possibilities of doing MMA in the future
• How he will change his focus when transitioning to MMA
• His first year in the black belt division facing many guys he looked up to
• He has learned more about Jiu-jitsu since he has got his black belt than before the black belt
• Why he is always learning and expanding his Jiu-jitsu

Contact Yuri Simões

• Like Yuri Simões Facebook page
• Yuri Simões website
• Yuri Simões instagram

Quote of the week: "ABC always be choking" Brian Marvin

Article of the week:  "7 people you meet training bjj"

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunes, and Stitcher radioBrian Marvin is a 1st Degree Black Belt under Master Carlos Gracie Jr.  This interview is packed full of great advice for the new grappler and the experienced competitor alike.  Professor Brian Marvin has recently opened a Gracie Barra School in Sugar Land Tx. This interview we talk about:

• His early days of training (BJJ and MMA)
• His smashing and attacking style
• ABC (Always Be Choking)
• How he developed his style of BJJ
• Teaching the BJJ kids program
• His new academy in Sugar Land Tx, a suburb of Huston
• His goal to be a BJJ World Champion
• Why he learned so much when he started teaching BJJ
• Why you should be keeping a note book
• Why he will mentally review his game plan before a competition
• How to get better when you are only training with lower ranked students
• How he has been doing the same basic techniques since he was a white and blue belt
• A common mistake made by new students
• How to improve your specific game
• Why new students should set small goals for BJJ
• Tips for doing the omoplata

Quote of the week: In boxing, I had a lot of fear. Fear was good. But, for the first time, in the bout with Muhammad Ali, I didn't have any fear. I thought, 'This is easy. This is what I've been waiting for'. No fear at all. No nervousness. And I lost.

Article of the week: Train or contact Brian Marvin

• Gracie Barra Sugar Land Website 
• Sugar Land Facebook page
• Email info@gbsugarland.com

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunes, and Stitcher radio

This week we have our first repeat guest Roy Marsh from Sandhills Jiu-Jitsu. Roy is a Black Belt under Royce Gracie. He has been training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu since 2001.  In this episode we talk about learning other martial arts and training Jiu-Jitsu.  He gives lots of great advice and he may just change the way you thing about the martial arts.

Some of the martial arts we talk about in this episode

• Hapkido
• Judo
• Muay Thai
• Taekwondo
• Boxing
• Wrestling
• Karate
• Kung Fu
• Fencing
• MMA
• and more

Quote of the week: "Iron sharpens iron. So that one man sharpens another. I think that it is very true. If you are not in a training environment where you are getting smacked in the head, you are getting tapped out, you are getting challenged on a daily basis, then you are not getting any better. You’re not improving. Your workout partners are a very important piece of your progression as an athlete and the character that you are building as a person as well. Those are key components and finding that right place is a piece of it.”
Randy Couture “Wrestling For Fighting”

Article of the week: How to Accelerate Your Brazilian Jiujitsu (BJJ) Game By Brandon Groce From appliedmma.com

Lots of great BJJ and MMA information at http://www.roymarshjiujitsu.com/  Email Roy at roymarshjiujitsu@gmail.com

Epi 17 Interview with BJJ Black Belt Roy Marsh

Epi 16 Brian Freeman- Training BJJ with a T4 Spinal Cord Injury

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunes, and Stitcher radio

BjjBrick (metaphor) it’s important to have a few key techniques that you can perform at a high level. You need to have a well-rounded game, but having some great techniques will help you excel at BJJ.  To your opponents it will feel like they got hit with a brick.  It takes a lot of blood and sweat to make a BjjBrick, but if you are making the correct bricks the effort will be well worth it.

Big strong tree-

•                 Trunk- Fundamentals, Posture, and Game plan
•                 Big branches- Positions, some branches will be stronger than others
•                 Smaller branches- Techniques, from the positions
•                 Leaves- Owning the techniques
•                 Big roots- The pioneers of BJJ, and/or your instructor’s instructor
•                 Medium sized roots- Your instructors and training partners
•                 Small roots- Other methods of training and learning
•                 Pile of leaves and branches on the ground- We all discard some techniques and positions when we are searching for what works best for us, this is normal.  You should avoid having a giant pile of leaves and branches under your tree.  Focusing on key things will help keep you from having this problem.

How important is it to have really good fundamentals? Having poor fundamentals is like a tree trying to grow branches without having a strong trunk.  Strong fundamentals are the foundation of your game, like a strong trunk supports a large tree.

The Building Burns-

This analogy helps someone who has been training BJJ and now they are going to be doing MMA.

Quote of the week: "I fear no the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." Bruce Lee

Article of the week:"10 Reasons Why I Practice Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu" By Peggy Nolan

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunes, and Stitcher radio

Ways to help develop a culture of learning at your BJJ school

• Recognize improvement and accomplishments
• Keep trying new things (everyone, the teacher and student)
• Have a system of teaching and order to the class
• Don’t teach, help students learn
• Experience vs being taught- we learn more from experience (people learn more in the field than at school)
• Enjoyment- improves performance, and learning
• Promoting positive peer relationships
• Get on the mat with your students- you might feel things that you cannot see
• Have students figure out answers to their own questions (with your help) positional spar. Give them to tools to learn on their own.
• Trial and error
• Answer and encourage “Why” questions. “why do you grab his leg like that?”
• Mistakes and Failure are ok, this is how people learn

Making leaders at your BJJ School

• How can everyone have a leadership role?
• Answer your student’s questions- This will encourage other students to help lower belts. Be an example of a good student/instructor
• Help build people’s confidence with real and honest feedback
• Positive attitude- Toward the training, and about the people
• Be Passionate (don’t just show up and go through the motions)
• Care about your training partners, (Learn names of new people, Get to know their life off the mat)
• Have students show techniques they are performing well
• The Meme about the birds crapping on each other Sucks!
• It’s about PEOPLE!- Dr Carol A. Johnson example “I know that I am no more well educated, no smarter, no richer, no braver than any of you. You have everything you need. Everything you need to go and to serve and to help those who are poor, ill, injured, hurting, forgotten. You just need to do it. And you will find that the rewards that you receive are far greater than the things you sacrifice to do so. You are already so blessed, and you can be further blessed. I have been around the block a few times and I think I know what really matters in this world."   1. Relationships, not things.   2. What we do for others, not for ourselves.   3. What we do for eternity, for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”-Carol A. Johnson, MD 2012 Kansas Humanitarian Award recipient

Quote of the week: "If you are tired, don't show me" Ken Primola

Article of the week: "It Takes A Very Steady Hand, Or Foot" Dirty White Belt