The purpose of this video is to help educate you, the parent, on ways tobe an effective ‘at home coach and keep your child training and engaged in jiu-jitsu for years to come so that they may grow and thrive…
When working guard it is important to drill retention strategies, sweeps, and submissions. As you begin to feel comfortable with each technique individually you must then link them together into cohesive strategies and drill them as such. Once you are…
The most common questions I am asked by the bjj beginner at Gracie NEPA is, “Where do I start?” The overwhelming number of techniques and strategies encompassed by Brazilian Jiu-jitsu can be a staggering meal for the beginner to digest…
White belt is a time in your jiu-jitsu life that consists of incredible excitement and wonder. Each class brings with it the awe of a new technique or the solution to a frustrating problem. The mind of a white belt…
This is a very common question that Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners ask of me. Very few people can train all day every day; mostly in part because responsibilities of work and family usually start to monopolize our time for leisure activities…
With a great many of the Gracie NEPA members competing or preparing for upcoming jiu-jitsu competition I wanted to take some time to share my blueprint for competition prepping. To follow is a general guideline to apply to be certain…
Recently we have been working with groups of students at the University of Scranton teaching then jiu-jitsu for self defense. Call me partial but I firmly believe that Gracie jiu-jitsu is the most effective and complete form of self defense.…
‘Have patience with all things, but, first of all yourself.’ Those are the words of Saint Francis de Sales, whom surely wasn’t a jiu-jitsu practitioner but clearly understood the importance of patience. Patience is among the key attributes anyone needs…
Recently I wrote a blog in which I stated, ‘it is your job to get the answers you need.” The statement is obviously meant to encourage you as a student of jiu-jitsu to ask questions. I remember in the earliest…
At Gracie NEPA, we don’t train jiu-jitsu because it is easy; we train jiu-jitsu because it is hard. Training that is difficult, and truthfully at times extremely unpleasant, makes us better people. The challenges we impose upon ourselves in our…