This week on the podcast we bring you an interview with coach John Connors. John is the author of the e Book “Quick Start Guide to Complete Jiu Jitsu Competition Readiness”. This is a great guide for someone who is an experienced grappler or just starting out.

At the age of 35 John found himself in the business world and lacking the fun and excitement of a sport. John started BJJ with Roberto Maia, and the fun and excitement was put back into his fitness. John eventually got his black belt in 2006 from Roberto Maia. John is now 51 years old and is very active on the mat and he also has a passion for coaching.

John Connors talks with us about:
Meeting goals off the mat
Coaching BJJ and MMA
Grappling for older people and not getting hurt
Making a game plan for competition
Developing key moves
Positional sparing
Limiting your training to get better faster
Making the most of your training time
Coaching during a match
Setting different goals for your competition
Sparing like it is an actual match with a referee and a coach
Dealing with an adrenaline rush
Getting better at winning scrambles
The advantages to getting a fast start to a match
Advice for the non competitor
Setting new challenges outside of your comfort zone
How competition can help you get better at BJJ
Advice for someone's first day at BJJ

Quote of the week: “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” John Wooden

Article of the week: 3 Steps for Returning to BJJ After Injury – Breakingmuscle.com

Links
Get John's Ebook for competition for free here
Rickson Gracie Documentary Choke
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers (this is a link to the entire book as a pdf!!)
Email John Connors at John@dedhamjj.com
John's Facebook page
John's Twitter @Connorsmma

This episode we are covering some of the basics. We are going to break down some of the main positions in BJJ and give you some guidance for each one.  

We give tips and general strategies for:
Guard
Side Control
Mount
Back
Standing
Turtle
Quote of the week: “When you loose say little, when you win say less.” Matt Hughes

Article of the week: nuclearchainsaw.com “11 Things Your Jiu-Jitsu Instructor Won't Tell You”.

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunes, and Stitcher radio

We both spent a significant amount of time working on escapes. We have had a big increase in confidence with our grappling by getting better at our escapes. It is good to know that you will be able to escape a position.

Escapes fall into two categories: Escaping submissions, and escaping positions.

Tips:
You need to be proficient at escaping from both sides (left and right), you do not get to choose what side is attacked.
Put yourself in bad positions, the more you train at them the better you will get at escaping.
Escape fast, if you get out of a position fast enough your opponent will not score points.
Know the areas that you are weak in and work on them.
Roll with people that can push you.
Try working on two escapes at the same time.
Ask questions, your teammates will be happy to help.

We also give some tips for escaping these common submissions:
Armbar
Triangle choke
Guillotine
Chokes in general

Quote of the week: “What you everyday matters more than what you do once in a while”. Gretchen Robbin

Article of the week: Jijitsuvortex.com – Why and how to keep a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu notebook

our email is BjjBrick@gmail.com

It is important to take a step back and look at your grappling game.  Are you in a mode where you are trying to accomplish a goal?  Or are you just trying to get better at BJJ in a particular area?  

Some examples of the goals mode that we talk about:

You have a tournament coming up that you want to do well in.

Achieve the next belt in BJJ.

To drop some weight.

Your goals should be:

Tangible

Realistic

Have a time frame

Results focused

Some examples of some areas that you might consider for growth:

Get a better defense.

Get a better offense.

Experiment with a new technique of strategy.

Ways to help develop your growth

Go in to a deep study of the area you are growing.

Use rolling as an opportunity to try your new stuff.

Ask upper belts for help.

Make sure you are growing in the correct ways, get some guidance from your coach.

You may need to try your new techniques on lower level oponents.

Quote of the week: “you can never defend someone else belt, that is their job.”  Sean Roberts If you catch a higher belt in a submission you should go for it, and there should be not revenge.

Article of the week: “How to be a BJJ Soccer Mom”  This article was sent in by our friend Mat, thanks buddy!  This is a great article that gives you some advice on how to support your team at a tournament.

This episode is in iTunes, and stitcher radio

This week we have another preview of Metamoris 3. We talk to Sean Roberts, he has a match with Zak Maxwell (last weeks interview).

Sean Roberts is a Black belt under Ralph Gracie, he is currently training with Checkmat.

We talk to Sean about:
-What he does to relax
-What got him started in BJJ
-His thoughts on Royler Gracie Vs. Eddie Bravo
-The way he approaches the rules of Metamoris
-How the Brown belt Kumite helped prepare him for Metamoris
-His thoughts on how Zak Maxwell will approach the match
-He shares a couple of personality traits that have helped him get better at BJJ
-What he does before an important match, and how it has changed over time
-What he was like as a blue belt and purple belt
-Tips of competing for the first time, and building your confidence before a competition
-His cross country BJJ tour he recently took, and his plans to do another one
Quote of the week: “Every kick in the ass is a step forward” Unknown. If you get kicked in the ass and you don't take a step forward, you fall down.

Article of the week: The art of losing 1- Sandhillsbjj.com By Roy Marsh

Links
OTM
Gi Soap
Newaza Apparel
Sean Roberts Facebook page

Episodes Mentioned:
Epi 17 Roy Marsh
Epi 18 Zak Maxwell

Today we bring you the first episode of our Metamoris 3 preview.  We have an interview with Zak Maxwell, he will be competing in Metamoris 3 against Sean Roberts.  Zak is a black belt he is currently training at Gracie San Diego.  

Some of Zak Maxwell's accomplishments:

Pan American Champion as Purple and Brown belts.

World Champion as a Brown belt.

Pan American Absolute as a Brown belt.

3X ADCC pro trials as a Black belt.

Metamoris 3 will be the first time Zak has been in a submission only match.  We talk to him about his match with Sean Roberts.  Zak also tells us what it was like for him to start training as a kid.  Zak also offers some of his competition tips.

Zak Maxwell's Gi sponsor is HyperFly.  Swing by their website and if you get a Gi tell them thanks for supporting Zak!

Quote of the week- “Look at what you have, not what you want.” Roy Marsh

Links

Article of the week- 10 Tips to help the Non-Competitors Stay Motivated. From Groundworkbjj.com

Zak Maxwell's Facebook page

Gracie San Diego

HyperFly

Our Roy Marsh interview

Next week we have an interview with Zak Maxwell's opponent Sean Roberts.

This week we bring you a very educational interview with Roy Marsh.  Both Gary and Byron got a lot of knowledge out of talking with Roy, we hope you do too.

Roy Marash is a Black Belt under Royce Gracie. He has been training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu since 2001. Roy's game is always changing but he prefers a top game with a lot of top pressure. His go to guard is the butterfly guard. He trans a lot with the military.
Roy talks about:
Self defense- he gives some ways he adapts training for his BJJ students to deal with real world situations.
Training for a tournament- He give some great advice on developing a strong tournament game.
Breaking everything in BJJ down- Roy breaks BJJ down into four factors the two big factors are distance and angle, the two smaller factors are timing and pace.
Staying positive after a tournament- If you have something bad to say about your tournament, you should also say something good about the tournament.
Roy's House Theory- He wants to fight you in areas that he is good at, this is his house. Have places in each position that you are very good at.
Jiu-Jitsu is for everyone- He is a firm believer in this, find what works for you and find ways to work around your own limitations.
The BJJ community- We have such a great community and friends in this sport.
Roy will be putting out a DVD this year on back control. Look for this DVD and we hope to have him back on the show to talk about back control.
Quote of the week- "I can be paralyzed and miserable or paralyzed and happy, I choose to be happy." Brian Freeman. You can catch a entire interview with Brian in episode 16 of the BjjBrick Podcast.

Article of the week- JiuJitsubrotherhood.com Roger Gracie- Understanding the phenomeom.

Links
Team rok
Roy Marsh's website

Next week we start our Metamoris 3 preview!

This week we are very lucky to have a interview with the very inspirational Brian Freeman.
Brian is a disabled vet with a T4 spinal cord injury with Brown-Sequard syndrome. He is from Rockingham, North Carolina. Brian enjoys training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, his 8 year old daughter convenced him to get on the mat. He started by taking private lessons first then transitiond into the regular BJJ class.
Brian shares with us how BJJ has changed his life. BJJ has caused Brian to be more active then he was and also helped him with his lack of appatite. Jiu-jitsu has also given him more confidence.
we also talk about Brian's:
-First UFC experence
-Favorite techniques
-Unique challanges
-Goals
-Rwards that BJJ gives
We thought it would be ineresting to talk to Brian's coach BJJ Black Belt Roy Marsh (Team R.O.C.). Roy is co-owner of the Martial Arts Academy of Southern pines and he is the head instrctor of the BJJ program. Roy was kind enough to talk to us about training with Brian. Roy is a firm beliver that BJJ is for everyone. When Brian showed interest in learing BJJ Roy was happy to help.

Article of the week:

Freakoutandshutdown.blogspot.com "Getting Tough"

Links
Daniel Coyle's website
Teamrock.net
Sandhillsjiujitsu.com
Brian on twitter @wheelchairjitsu