This week we bring you an interview from BJJ black belt Kristina Barlaan. Kristina is a top level black belt competitor under Caio Terra. She recently took silver at worlds her first year in the black belt division.

We talk about:

• Her first experience doing BJJ
• How BJJ effected her personal life
• Her first impressions of Caio Terra
• Starting BJJ at 21 years old
• Why the gi made it easier for her to learn
• The mental side of competing as a blue belt
• Putting expectations on herself

Links:

• Kristina's Fb page

Quote of the week: "Jiu-Jitsu is easy, it is the people that make it hard" presented by Ricardo Tubbs

Article of the week: Park and Roll

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This episode also contains Mat Tales Epi 1 "Locked Up"

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The week we bring you an interview with BJJ black belt Ricardo Tubbs. Ricardo is a black belt under Master Ricardo Cavalcanti, he is also the owner of Da Firma Kimono Company.

We talk about:

• What makes Da Firma Kimono Company different
• Why they have 49 different sizes of kimonos
• Some challenges with starting a gi company
• Tips for caring for your gi
• Keeping the color in your gi
• BJJ and the navy
• BJJ in schools
• Advice for a student doing a first tournament
• The importance of basics
• Advice for doing no-gi from a mostly bjj background

Links:

• Da Firma BJJ
• Vector Jiu-Jitsu
• Spartyka Fight League

Quote of the week: "He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life" Muhammad Ali

Article of the week: Purple Belt a.k.a. "The Rolling Belt" 

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This episode also has a movie breakdown of Napoleon Dynamite on a bike ramp and Gary talks about his book "Rolling In The Living Room: The Futon submission"

Catch us next week for another episode of The BjjBrick Podcast

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunes, Stitcher radio, and Google Play Music for Andriod

This week we bring you an interview with Jimmy Fortunato. Jimmy started a tournament company called "The Good Fight" in 2008. Jimmy started training jiu-jitsu in 1997, and his experiences competing ultimately lead him to make some improvements to BJJ tournaments. A couple of years ago The Good Fight switched from a point based tournament to a submission only tournament.

We talk about:

• Why he started The Good Fight
• A little bit of history behind The Good Fight
• Making the change to sub only
• The basic rules
• The goals of the tournament
• Jiu-Jitsu Theatre
• Advice for kids doing a tournament
• Advice for parents
• Some of the most popular submission in competition

Links:

• The Good Fight
• Jiu-Jitsu Theatre

Quote of the week: This quote was presented by Ken Blackburn "Don't pray for an easy life. Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one." Bruce Lee

Article of the week: 5 Reasons You Should Say “Hello” to the New Student in Your BJJ Class From Jerry Tsui 

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We are now looking to start a new segment called "Mat Tales" and we need your help. If you have a BJJ story good, bad, or just amazing. Please share it with us and we will try to get this new segment rolling.

Gary shares the concept of his audio book "5 Min Into My Cardo- My First Roll"

Catch us next week for another episode of The BjjBrick Podcast

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunes, Stitcher radio, and Google play store for Andriod

This week we bring you an interview with Ken Blackburn. Ken is a coach and athlete. Ken is a life long martial artist and he holds an american Kettlebell record in the Chair Press. Ken has been doing BJJ for about 17 years, and he is happy to help introduce the BJJ community to the benefits of Kettlebell and other training methods. In 2008 Ken along with his partner Steve Cotter founded the International Kettlebell and Fitness Federation (IKFF).

We talk about:

• His start with BJJ and Kettlebells
• Kettlebell sport
• Some benefits that Kettlebells bring to BJJ
• Work capacity
• Developing mental toughness
• Grip endurance and strength
• The Bulgarian Bag
• Mace and clubs
• Animal movements
• Why you should warm-up and cool down
• How to do a proper warm-up and cool down
• How to keep motivated
• Training movements vs training muscles
• Mapping out your goals
• The culture of the Kettlebell community
• Common mistakes with strength and conditioning
• A schedule for doing strength and conditioning

Links:

• IKFF
• Suples.com
• John Brookfield Battling Ropes Creator
• Conor McGregor Lizard Crawl

Quote of the week: Our quote this week is the Oath of Kings and Champions by Travis Stevens. It will motivate you.

Article of the week: 10 Habits of Successful BJJ Competitors

If you are interested in supporting The BjjBrick Podcast find out how here

Byron is working on a new audio book about kennel cough and BJJ

Catch us next week for another episode of The BjjBrick Podcast

The BjjBrick Podcast is in iTunes, Stitcher radio, and Google play store for Andriod