Dylan Morris, of Keller, Tx competed in his second Jiu Jitsu tournament in Argyle, Tx today, and won 2nd place in both Gi and No Divisions. He had some tough matches, but learned a lot from his 1st tournament performance. I'm very proud of him and his efforts today! Way to Go Dylan! Keep up the good work!
Rusty did great in the video. Still going crazy like a spider monkey, but gave the other kid hell. Oh, and he gave up 10lbs to take the fight. He did a great job of catching kicks and throwing punches right away. great job Rusty.
This past Saturday at the Texas Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championships, one of our little warriors, Sam, competed in his second tournament. He is a great example of never giving up, but rather taking every experience and learning from it. He won 3rd place in his division and also competed in the Kid's open division. His performance at the tournament was very good, he showed that his hard work in the gym is paying off. He was passing guard like he should, was executing mount escape well also. Over all I was very happy at his performance. He will continue to improve, and things only get better. Be Patient in training, and always give you best. Great Job Sam!!!
In Grappling, Timing, reflexes, movement and agility are of the utmost importance, and this is exactly the objective of this next exercise.
Many schools advocate that the Flow drill is more beneficial for advanced students, and that beginners will not understand or take advantage of this exercise as much as an advanced student. We tend to disagree with that opinion, many good schools throughout the world practice this every day, however, if you are a beginner to our sport, do it slowly and carefully, bumping heads and getting accidently kicked in the face while doing this exercise with a clumsy person is a very distinct possibility. We advise you to do the drill under supervision.
The flow drill is usually divided into two categories, one were both opponents will roll, without any grips and will never try to go for submissions. The objective is to move, move plenty and move often. Just like “shadow boxing/Sparring” the opponents will not go “full on” contact, they will roll lightly and never stopping in one position, meaning that if you end up in closed guard (for example) you should immediately open it and work something else, even if you lose position. In fact, this is the objective, to lose position and interact with your partner. This will give you (with time) and excellent knowledge of timing and added agility, as well as being an excellent warm up/work out. Do it well, and 5 minutes will seem like 20 minutes of normal sparring. Another advice for anyone that wishes to give this a try is: never, ever do this exercise with your ego, this is not a sparring session. This is a workout between two team mates.
The other way of doing this Flow exercise is to do the same exercise, with the same dynamic, but this time you will add the grips and the submission movements. But again, do not insist on submissions, you may put them in place, but release immediately. Do not stop for one moment, the objective is to move (like the previous exercise), trying to use as much momentum as possible. Again, if you lose positions, there is no problem, this is not a roll it is an exercise, like drilling arm bars, but instead of working on perfect technique, we are trying to improve our muscle memory and our ability to scramble.
In this video senior nak muay and coach, randy, demonstrate a drill that helps keep your kicks coming in at the proper angle without going out too wide with the kick. Give it a try. Enjoy.
This past weekend Azariah Pattee fought in the Muay Thai Classic Tournament in Iowa. First let me say that it's always fun traveling with my guys to an event. Anyways, AZ fought a very game opponent and lost a extremely close split decision. Now, before I go any further let me be the first to say that I am very proud of AZ for always wanting to take a fight and going in and giving his all. The circumstances in which he fought weren't the best, but then again they rarely are. This time he didn't pull the win, but I'm not concerned about that. I know he'll go back to the gym and improve himself for future fights. We are only getting better and the future looks bright for the Core Fight Academy Fight Team. Keep training!
Just an update on the school. We have started a new Takedown class on Thursday nights at 6:45-8pm. This class will be led by Coach Cameron Couch. In case you are unfamiliar with his background here's a list of his accomplishments:
Current Wrestling Coach at Rockstar Wrestling Club in Flower Mound, Tx
Greco-Roman All American
Greco-Roman and Freestyle State Champion
3 Time All American Texas Dual Team Member
Division 1 College Wrestler at UTC
Come out and check out the class. It will elevate your game for sure! See you at the Core.
Here are pictures of my new little training toy called a Bulgarian Training Bag. Instead of spending $150 + Dollars I thought I'd make one for about $23. Enjoy the pictures.
Hey guys and gals! I hope you all are doing well. Training at Core has really stepped up a notch, with the Muay Thai fights in June and NAGA coming to North Richland Hills in May...we have lots to prepare for. Which leads me into my first point. Training often and training smart. Often times when in the gym we tend to pick our favorite people to train with and those to stay away from for various reasons. This should simply not be the case.
Example, yesterday in Jiu Jitsu I worked technique with one of our top Jiu Jitsu students, Levi, and I must say that working through some trouble areas regarding the running escape from side mount really helped me out. He altered the technique just a bit and for me made the escape a little easier to perform. So, if there's someone you don't normally train with in class...grab them next time and don't be afraid to ask them how they do a particular technique...it just might help out your game. Until next time.
Things are getting exciting with our New Little Warriors and Warrior Kids program at Core Fight Academy. We have 10 students now and we are growing. They will all be doing their stripe test at the end of the month to continue showing their progress in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This is going to be an exciting 2010, and we will be entering our students in competitions in the very near future. Keep posted for updates.
Congrats to Johnny Flores, who received his blue belt in February 2010. He's been a tremendous addition to Core Fight Academy. He brings with him 10+ years in MMA/Submission Wrestling as well as a professional MMA fight record. He's very reserved and you probably would never get that info out of him...usually the quite ones are the dangerous ones. Congrats again, and we will be posting a pic soon.
Recently we have discussed in class the importance of building a foundation first and not rushing to learn Muay Thai techniques.
We were working a basic combo series based off of a jab-cross (ie. jab-cross-right knee-left elbow). I stress to my students that first form must be correct this is why we shadow box first. It is my job as an instructor to go around and correct the mistakes I see.
Then, as the students get more comfortable with the combo and form they must concentrate on completing the combination while being as relaxed as possible. My reason for this is if you are relaxed then speed and power will follow. The moment one becomes tense then speed and power are sacrificed along with form. So when practicing a combo or technique you must remember to do the follow:
Practice shadowing boxing first
Be sure that the form is correct
Relax and have fun
Don't be in rush to learn new techniques or combos...when you rush that's when mistakes are made.
Once you are doing this smoothly while shadow boxing, try it on the pads
Once this is done successfully on the pads, move on to live target during partner drills
Then once this is done comfortably try it during a sparring session.
Of course there's a little more to it than what's listed above, but that is a good outline for practicing your combos and techinques for Muay Thai.
Before Christmas Core Fight Academy had it's first BJJ Blue Belt Promotion. Many received their stripes, but a huge congratulations goes out to Levi Peterson and Chris Gray for all the hard work they put into their training. They received their blue belts and let me tell you it was fun helping them break them in. Head Instructor Bret Bosler went on to tell us that this is a milestone in your training when moving on to blue belt and that it's very important to continue training. We are very lucky to have Coach Bosler as our Instructor, and the CORE group of guys we have is truly amazing. We aren't just a school...we're a family, and 2010 will be an exciting year for us all. Pan Ams are just around the corner, and we will be training hard to represent the school and Fort Worth Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Keep an eye out for us in the coming year. Here's some pics from our promotion night:
Dylan Morris, of Keller, Tx competed in his second Jiu Jitsu tournament in Argyle, Tx today, and won 2nd place in both Gi and No Divisions. He had some tough matches, but learned a lot from his 1st tournament performance. I'm very proud of him and his efforts today! Way to Go Dylan! Keep up the good work!
