Going from Central America to The Carribean.

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This morning I found myself shuffling my feet like a zombie through the airport in Saint Martin. I was exhausted after only getting 3 hours of sleep in the night, it wasn’t even 3 hours of good sleep. I could only blame myself though, I had gotten this idea that it would be funny posting a picture of myself at rooftop party in Panama City before going and meeting up with Christian in the Caribbean. He had done the same, getting quite the reaction, before going to El Salvador where I last met him. Of course when I found a rooftop party I had found some good company and I thought that you don’t get many chances like this, so I’d better use it.

When I got aboard the airplane I soon realised I didn’t fit in. Everybody on the plane was either well an dressed Panamanian or an American tourist in a Hawaii shirt, everybody going on a nice vacation. Then there was me, hung over Icelander, still pale compared to everybody, ruffled hair and the scruffiest beard I’ve had in my life, travelling out of a backpack haircut is not high on the priority list. I probably looked like some red haired viking who missed the note that pirates belong in the Caribbean not vikings.

I knew that the Caribbean would be completely different then my trip through Central America. For the last two months I have gotten used to standing on my own feet, only with my backpack and not speaking a word in Spanish. That backpacking lifestyle where each day was an new adventure had become my norm. Each adventure had become less and less exciting and I caught myself missing things back home that I didn’t think I would miss, cakes and skyr for example. 

I am happy to be starting a new chapter in my travels, even though I still haven’t accepted this as the new norm. I started this trip to challenge myself, at the time it was the hardest choice I had in front of me, going off the beaten path. I always want to keep on challenging myself, following my own dreams and ideas. Back home I had the chance to train consistently, getting slowly better like I’ve done for almost 9 years of martial arts but that wasnt enough. I dropped out of university over a year ago to follow my passion and seeing this trip come together, already going beyond my wildest dreams, confirms that this is all worth it. 

From Hero to Zero

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A word of warning here. There won’t be as much BJJ in this blog, so hopefully you’ll be okay with that. Jen started sending pictures and videos out, and I picked here up at a trail crossing somewhere outside of Hemet. Yes, there is an outside of Hemet. 

First, the Jiu Jitsu. Scroll down 4 paragraphs if you’re not a fan. I had a good session with Joao at Ribeiro in Carlsbad, and said good bye. Please check out his school there. http://www.ribeirojiujitsucarlsbad.com/  Also, it wouldn’t be modern media if I didn’t ask you to like him on Facebook too. https://www.facebook.com/ribeirojjcarlsbad/

It’s only been open a short while, but he’s the best dude and knows how to teach. I feel like I made a new friend. Maybe it’s because he’s short and bald and on the wrong side of fifty, but I feel like we have much in common. Except he can speak Portuguese. I can speak Spanish, but only kitchen Spanish, which involves much discussion of lechuga and who’s sister is the town bicycle. It helps if I’m drunk, much like my dancing. 

On my way out of town, I dropped in at Studio 540 again. I had mentioned that I was there, and the instruction was really good, but no rolling. Today was the opposite. Some high level concept stuff for back control, including a cool lockdown from back, and all positional drilling at 50% effort. Then rolling! 

This is paragraph 4, so we’re almost done. Let’s just suffice it to say that I really learned allot about the wide range of skills at Purple Belt. Which means that I had my ass handed to me by two purple belts at the school. These guys owned me from start to finish. All survival mode, which was less than totally effective.  Then I rolled with the Professor, Aaron.

Not effective at all. Really cool guys, but they are “competition Purple” compared to my “hobbyist Purple” 

Best Hike Today

I don’t know how many of you have seen this thing, but it’s both really cool and kind of daunting. This is the map. 

https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/maps/

You can click on the Half-mile way-points, and see the miles. I picked Jen up on this dirt road in that Anza Borrega State Park. It’s a trip, because there were all of these for sale signs for what appeared to be empty, rocky desert on this rough dirt road leading to the PCT intersection. Besides Sarah Conors’ sketchy friend from T-2, and some outlaw bikers, I can’t imagine who would buy a lot out here. 

BTW, Terminator Wiki says his name is Enrique, and he’s Guatemalan. You know who else was Guatemalan? This guy.

Anyhoo, the point is, I picked her up in this lovely and strangely hot selling area at MILE 139. 11 Days ago, when she started out, I was supposed to meet her at Mile 100, give or take, which was two days ago. But it was supposed to be today. You picking up what I’m laying down? She’s 39 miles ahead of schedule. Most of us will never walk 39 miles, let alone be 39 miles ahead of the 100 miles we’d already walked. 

Lucky for most of you who don’t want to read about which gym I got my ass kicked at, Jen is now here, in the trailer, full of pizza and cuddling the dogs. Also, hogging the blankets. I think we’ve both gotten used to sleeping by ourselves, and it’s an adjustment to crawl back into bed with someone. 

Speaking of crawling into bed, Jen found a perfect cuddle buddy for Joe, our PCT veteran friend. 

This one is not of the rattling variety, but he’s big. Funny story: when I was growing up, we had a lot of snakes, mostly of the rattling biting variety, on our property. My father always warned us to be careful, and for the most part, we were. He also said that the non-rattling kind were harmless, and don’t be afraid. To make his point, he showed us a king snake that had gotten got in some bird netting around a fruit tree. Dad grabbed the snake to cut him free of the netting. The snake promptly bit him on the thumb. Hard. Lesson learned. Snakes are like cats. They can’t help biting you. 

Since you’re probably bored of my meandering, here’s a cool video Jen took of her hike:

https://www.facebook.com/jenniferlraydon/videos/10212879659935526/

Her hike that afternoon. Not the one she did that morning. Or the the one she did the day before. Or the one she did the next day. What she is doing is really hard, but I think part of why she likes it is that it’s simple. What do I do today? Walk. Tomorrow? Walk. Next four months? Walk. We live in a world of endless options, and not to be all hippy about it, but deciding where you’re going to get your fat-free half-caff vanilla macchiato sucks up a lot of our time, and I don’t think it adds much to our lives. 

While I was fighting with my cable company so I could watch T.V., Jen was watching this ant haul what I assume is a giant rabbit turd back to his hole. 

 

“The joy of my afternoon is stopping to watch with tiny ant push this ball of something home. Cause he’s got high hopes. High Apple pie in the sky hopes.”

So, in that vein, here’s what she did the next day. Walked. I guess my lifestyle isn’t as rewarding right now, but at least I don’t get blisters. 

 

Isn’t she lovely: 

https://www.facebook.com/jenniferlraydon/videos/10212878510986803/?video_source=permalink 

The country here is what is called the desert section, but we’re sitting at 4000 feet right now. That’s more than 1000 meters if you’re from Europe. I think. I don’t metric good. It’s full of sandstone pushed up by granite and what I assume is a huge tectonic plate smash up. http://www.abdnha.org/anza-borrego-desert-geology.htm It’s really cool and amazing, and looks like a Western. Plus, there’s snakes. For Joe. 

We’re hanging out for the day, Jen is sleeping in, eating a large pizza I got her, and petting the puppy dogs. It’s her first rest day, called a Zero in PCT hiker lingo. She’ll get back on the trail tomorrow most likely. She’s got her boots back from the boot stretcher, so we’re hopeful that the blisters will calm down. I also got her a bunch of fresh tortillas. She eats them with tuna. For some reason, that sounds disgusting. 

Last note, Jen walked past the “town” of Warner Springs, which was officially the end Section A of Southern California! That’s the second official PCT accomplishment, the first being 100 miles! I think she gets to unlock some kind of charm or power-up for that, right? She’s now in Section B. Southern California ends at Section F. 

My Month Training in Cambodia

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Tonight’s my last night in Cambodia. I’ve been in this country for a month but in the morning, I’m boarding a flight to Bangkok, where I’ll be for all of May. Before I leave, I want to write down some memories about my time training here.

 

Training with H/Art

After taking almost a month off due to illness, I was stoked to get back into the gym in Cambodia. After a little research, I could only find two options in Phnom Penh. One was a huge facility that had classes for everything, but BJJ was just a side note in the MMA section. The other gym, H/Art, was completely dedicated to Jiu Jitsu. I knew that was the right choice if I wanted to find a tight knit community to join for the month.

The first day wasn’t a strong start after I showed up, not know what day it really was, for conditioning class with nothing but my gi and flipflops as they were about to go for a run. After looking like an idiot on my first impression, I was surprised by how welcoming everyone was when I showed the next day. Everyone was friendly and excited to get a few rolls in.

Not training for a month, combined with the draining 36C heat, made the first few classes brutal. I couldn’t remember any technique and I had no strength to execute what I did know. I felt like the past eight years of training were washed away as white belts kept slapped straight ankle locks on me like it was nothing. But, after coming to more classes and working on my conditioning in and outside the gym, I slowly became more comfortable. By the last day, I was actually trying some offense, instead of just surviving like I did for the rest of month.

(We didn’t train shirtless. The team just wanted to show off their “beach bodies” since they just got done getting in shape for a tournament.)

A lot of the guys at the gym were also training for the IBJJF Copa de Bangkok tournament while I was there. Check out my last post for more info on that.

 

The owner, Vi, told me that the gym had been around for less than a year and he started it because there wasn’t any other place in the city that really felt like home to dedicated BJJ practitioners. In the short time H/Art has been open, Vi has fostered an amazing team of extremely tough members and skilled instructors. The level of skill in that gym was truly impressive. I got a few pointers about an acrobatic north/south escapes from a Polish gymnast and learned a cool trick for a side-control bent armbar from Vi, that I promised not to give away.

I loved being able to step into the community at H/Art and see how this sport brought so many amazing people together. I’m excited to come back to Cambodia and see how much this gym has developed if it is already this amazing after just a few months.

Bonus – Here’s a few pictures from my time in Phnom Penh:

Phnom Penh Street

It’s hard to show how this city felt, but this picture of a normal street on my walk to the gym gives you an idea.

The infrastructure in PP is not the same as the west. On my first night, I watched a electrical pole, covered in a web of cables, spontaneous burst into flames. I wasn’t surprised when I came home and there was no power.

Catching a a tuk tuk. The driver was not as excited as I was.

Sunset over the colorful city buildings.

Dublin & Belfast

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Greetings From Dublin Ireland and Belfast Northern Ireland!

Start of the night, leaving Wigan and feeling ok.

I made it to Ireland! But not without an adventure to get to the airport first. When I first looked at getting to the airport from Wigan, where I was staying for the weekend, everything seemed ok. But when I looked again while in Wigan planning my route suddenly the buses weren’t running at times indicated before. It seemed my only options to make it to the airport on time where to take an incredibly expensive taxi ride, or a long convoluted trek on the trains to make it the airport and hang out there over night. Neither one looked fun, so in the interest of saving a few dollars I picked the train ride. Having bought the tickets online I walked to the station and waited for the last train that would take me in the direction of the airport. And waited. After 15 minutes past the time the train should have arrived I walked up to information desk and asked where train was. I was told some upsetting news. The train was actually at the station across the street and I had missed it. You see there are actually two stations, one on each side of the street, and apparently the ticket, which says to show up at the station I was at, then tells you to walk across the street to catch the train at the other station. Showing up at the wrong station is a usual occurrence with people buying tickets online that have never taken this line before, from what I was told. I personally think it’s stupid to have the ticket marked for another station than in small print say to walk another station. That’s like saying for all plane tickets you first must fly to London’s Heathrow airport, so if you’re flying from New York to Florida, first fly to London then off to your destination. Just stupid.

Finally on my flight to Dublin, been up all night and feeling so so drained.

So I missed the train. I only way to get to the airport in time for the flight in the morning now was to take the next train in the opposite direction, to Preston which is almost back to Blackpool, to catch a bus to the Manchester airport. Except that there would be a 4 hour wait for the bus. That wouldn’t be a problem, if not that for the fact that the station shuts down at night after the last train arrives. So with no coffee shops open overnight I was forced to wait outside in the damp chilly night until the morning bus. Great. I will also add that this detour was costing an extra $30 CDN. I was not happy but there was nothing I could do, I had to make it to the airport for my flight, although this adventure was almost worth spending the $150+CDN on a taxi in the morning instead. Anyways, the bus showed up and I was on my way to the airport, thinking back now the bus driver never checked my ticket, making me think maybe I could have gotten away without spending the $30 CDN on the second ticket after all. I caught my flight to Dublin and made it downtown, tired and sore, grumpy and feeling like shit, but I was in Dublin!

Wandering The Beautiful City

Before I get into the training and meeting all the cool people in Dublin let’s first go over all the cool places I got to see and take photos of. Like this giant unicorn horn the city has sticking out of it, called The Spire.

I made sure to wander down to the Guinness and Jameson distilleries, and if I was a drinking man I would have had a drink or two at each spot, something my brother says I still should have done anyway, but instead I settled for picking up a few souvenirs for some family members.

I found a lot of my walking around and taking pictures included finding cool looking churches and thinking back now that I’ve been to a few places I could probably get a whole photo album dedicated to churches.

 

And of course I walked by the Trinity College and checked out the Dublin Castle and stopped for ice cream at the beautiful St. Patrick’s park beside St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Too Drained to Stay at The Gym

So I told you about the ordeal of making it to my flight to Dublin, but my journey for rest wasn’t done yet. I showed up downtown on very little sleep and made it to where I was supposed to meet up with my host, Hugo. I was supposed to be staying at Hugo’s gym and was looking to meet him and his club and have a great time in Dublin, but I would need a nap first. I get to the gym, which is a garage on  a side road, and it’s locked and no signs of anyone around. I try getting a hold of Hugo and see what’s up and I’m getting no response. I figure there must be some sort of emergency or miscommunication going on so I head down the street and grab myself a meal and use the wifi at the Burger King (if you follow my Instagram you know I’m a big fan of the Whopper). After a while of working on the blog I get a response from Hugo. Apparently he’d been having problems at the gym with electricity and has been frantically trying to get it fixed all last night and today, so I can see how he missed me trying to connect with him. I’m not sure the specifics but basically he lost power to most of the place and the front of the gym is an automatic garage door, without power they can’t open for class.

I made my way back to Hugo’s gym to meet him and the guys and finally drop off my bags I’ve been carrying around all this time. I get there and greet Hugo at the front gate to the parking lot beside the gym. As he was busy with a repairman he directs me to the back door, where a few others are hanging out. I meet the others and find out that they all live there with Hugo in the gym. The back of the gym is turned into a dorm of sorts, with bunk beds in each room and a community kitchen. Half the people trained Jiu-Jitsu and every one I believe was Brazilian, so they were all speaking Portuguese and I didn’t really know what was being said in conversation, but I was too tired to care. After asking where I could sleep one of the guys offered my his bed to take a nap. I was only able to get a little bit of rest but it helped a lot. When I woke everyone is out back setting up a BBQ, they were going to have a Brazilian BBQ for dinner that night, which was awesome because I love grilled meats! As the evening went on I was still really drained from being up all night the day before and all the traveling. I could see the place was really busy with everyone living there and having their own jobs, not to mention trying to sort out the front door. I would had loved to stay with Hugo and everyone at the gym but there was no way I would be able to get enough rest to be able to train, at least not with the plans I had to visit more than one club a day. So I made the choice to move to a hotel just around the corner from Hugo’s. I told him of my plans and Hugo totally understood, being pretty drained himself from the whole ordeal of trying to fix his gym, so we made plans to meet for the evening class the next day. I thanked everyone for their hospitality and left for the hotel.    

2 Gyms a Day! 

After a hot shower and solid night’s rest I was ready to start the day. It’s amazing how much a single night of good rest and relaxation can re-vitalize you. With feeling back to normal I started out on my way to visit the first of many clubs in Dublin. I was able to visit 4 of the total of 6 I had hopes of checking out but one evening I hurt my neck rolling weird during warm up. Although it was short lived, training twice a day was fun and I hope to be able to get into that kind of rhythm for a pro-longed time during this journey at some point.

Team Ryano

The first club I visited was Team Ryano, which is funny since as a affiliate student of Prof. Kieth Owen I am a member of Team Rhino. Team Ryano is run my Prof. Andy Ryan, with Ryano obviously a play on words of his last name. The club is above a cross-fit gym that seems to run a lot of women’s conditioning classes from what I saw of the posers. The gym is a big open space with an MMA cage off the to the side of the mats and some heavy bags lining the mats as well. It was fun meeting the club members, everyone seemed happy to have a visitor and I guess it’s not everyday you have a Canadian passing through Dublin training BJJ. Those I partnered up with during training were helpful and rolling with everyone was competitive but friendly. It was a good first club to train at to give the feel for the Ireland Jiu-Jitsu scene.

During rolling after class I got to have a round with Prof. Andy, who is a big guy, probably about 6 feet or more and similar build to myself. I expected him to be strong and with the nickname ‘Ryano’ I figured he would crush me. What I was not expecting was his agility as he danced around moving from one side to the other. I didn’t just get crushed, I got destroyed on a whole new level! Prof. Andy’s movement isn’t just good for a big guy, he is seriously nimble. After class he thanked me for coming out and instead of giving me a club patch, as I usually trade a Panda Patch for one, he gave me a Team Ryano t-shirt! Awesome.

Fight Arena 

That evening I returned to Hugo’s gym, Fight Arena Fitness, for his class, there were actually 2 classes, with a kickboxing session in between but after his first class I was done for the day. Having trained earlier that day I just didn’t have it in me to go another hour or more that night. With the class being mostly guys who lived there I figured the class was going to be tough as lets face it, Jiu-Jitsu is in their blood. I was not wrong. Hugo had us start with repping out berimbolo’s and that 180 degree guard regain spin around that I’m sure there must be a better name for, either way both moves I had a lot of problem with, given my build and lack of flexibility for inverted techniques. We then moved on to our warm up drills which weren’t anything out of the ordinary, shrimping and front rolls etc. Most of class involved those first two movements, moving to an inverted state of some variation. needless to say I didn’t fare very well trying to drill out these techniques. After drilling we had rolling, and the guys did not let up on the new guy. I first rolled with Hugo and he simply had his way with me. He’s a brown belt, but a top competition level brown belt at that, he’ll have his black belt soon enough I’m sure. The one thing that got me the most was Hugo’s movements. I tried going on the the defensive and just try and survive but I couldn’t tell where he was moving to and all his set ups where foreign to me. After the round he told me I need to be more aggressive and I told him, I didn’t know what was going on so I was a deer caught in the headlights.

As it ends up one of the reasons Hugo’s movements are so fluid and different is they have a Capoeira teacher at the gym, they call him ‘Capoeira Master’ which he denies being but after rolling with him and watching him roll with others he’s body movements are next level. I was so lucky he was only a white belt as he was able to dance around me with ease but didn’t have the technique yet to lock in any submissions. He will be scary in another year. I wasn’t able to return to Hugo’s gym again on this trip, but thank you Hugo for the class and the offer to stay at your gym, maybe it’ll work out better next time.

Royal Grappling Academy

I was curious to visit the Royal Grappling Academy as it’s a Marcelo Garcia affiliate and I haven’t been to any of his gyms so I was really looking forward to see how they trained. The club was easy enough to find, it was in a block of industrial buildings and had a big sign out front, much like Team Ryano. The inside there were stairs up to the main training mats just as you walk in, with the front desk and smaller mat space just to the right. After introducing myself and changing I headed up stairs for the class and meet the rest of the class. It was a no gi class, which I could always do more of, so I was looking to pick some tips, I was not disappointed. It wasn’t so much as the techniques themselves that helped my game as much as some help with placing pressure and how to move transitioning. During warm up we worked takedowns, not just drilling one takedown over and over but actually working our own takedowns we want to sharpen and just drill the set up and entry for a minute or so then switch, back and forth for a while. I was happy with this warm up drilling as I find this aspect of people’s games aren’t worked on enough, actually working over set ups and drilling entries to takedowns. Every match in a tournament, or incident on the street even, starts on your feet, and the best offence isn’t just the technique itself, it’s having a smooth set up to it. And the best defense to any technique, especially takedowns, is knowing how it’s done so you can shut it down.

 

I picked up some great guard passing and top pressure tips during class and then saw how they’re really used rolling with the guys. I went in with the idea to just survive and see how their games are, see what they pick apart from my defense so I can work on that. Well, I can say from the start my no gi defense game isn’t nearly as good as my gi. I got destroyed pretty easily, but in a good way. I really enjoyed rolling with everyone there, it was a good vibe and everyone was friendly while also very sharp technique wise. After class I traded patches and again got a new t-shirt, this time a green one, which was exactly what I needed for St Patrick’s Day coming up!  

Jorge Santos BJJ

That evening I was off to Jorge Santos BJJ which was just around the corner from where I was staying, on the other side from where Hugo’s gym was. I had heard good things about this club and was looking forward to visiting. Being that they’re right off the main street it was easy to find and I showed up early as kids classes were still on. I spoke to the front desk, Jorge Santos himself was sitting back there with the person working the desk, just relaxing before class. He was busy talking to someone else at this point but later on we spoke and he was a very friendly guy and happy to have a international visitor. I had showed up with the hopes to do both the fundamentals class as well as the intermediate but I was told the fundamentals was only for white belts and I’d have to sit out and watch. I always love taking part in the fundamentals classes because I love seeing how each gym teaches them, but being a senior blue belt I should start being used to intermediate or advance classes only.

The gym is a bit small and down in a basement lot, so there’s not a lot of mat space, but they use it very well, for warm up they do a set pattern of drills, doing one drill down one side of the mats and another set down the other side on the way back, like in a loop. There were all kind of warm up drills, front rolls, shrimps, side rolls, technical stand up, etc. and going through this loop keeps a good flow in an otherwise small space that would create a lot of stopping and not really getting people warmed up. It was a brilliant solution.

I must have stressed my neck on one on the side rolls during the warm up because as class went on it was hurting more and more and eventually I couldn’t go on and had to stop and sit out. I did manage to stick it out and work on a cool snap down to pull guard to arm bar chain but I had to miss out on rolling and the king of the mountain they had at the end of class. Watching the king of the mountain was fun, it was all starting from standing and getting the opponent down to dominate position with a timer on to push them to make a move. There was only one match at a time with everyone lined up along the wall cheering. It was a great way to end a class and I think something like this both keeps the competitive edge up and brings the class together more as they cheer each other on and push to make each other better. After class Prof. Santos and I, and some of the students as well, talked some more about traveling and training at different gyms and the usual questions of what I’ve seen or experienced. Jorge Santos and his gym were very friendly and caring people, in fact during my time sitting off he several times came over to make sure I was ok and even put a cold spray on my neck to help. It was a great time there, I just wish I didn’t get hurt and could have trained a more than half the class.  

King of the mountain.

Prof. Jorge Santos and myself.

Sick In Belfast..

This is in the center of town, it’s called ‘the Spirit of Belfast’.

After hurting my neck I took the last day or so in Dublin off and went out sight seeing. It sucked not to be able to train and not to be able to drop by SGB Dublin or East Coast Jiu-Jitsu but I you have to listen to your body, and when it says you can’t turn you head in one direction, that means it’s time to rest. To add insult to injury I got into Belfast feeling like shit. I felt a little worn down when I got on the bus going up to Belfast and by the time I got in and made my way to the Air BnB I was staying at I knew I was coming down with something. I grabbed some tea and medication and hoped it would pass over. I still tried to set up going to class, thinking if it’d be better to have a class set up then scrambling last minute. As it happens I never made it out to any of the gyms. I met up with Mike Summers of Break, BJJ/sportswear clothing company and Podium, a Jiu-Jitsu news site. I met Mike on Facebook through one of my first friends I’ve made through BJJ Globetrotters, Luke. Luke’s in Australia and I’ll meeting up with him eventually, but in the meantime I might as well meet some mutual friends along the way. We had a great chat about all sorts of Jiu-Jitsu topics one afternoon, I was looking to do an interview and talk about his brands but we didn’t have a good spot to do it when we met so we decided after class the next day, which I of course never made it to. The only thing I did make it out to was the St. Patrick’s day Parade, but then went promptly back to bed.

St. Paddy’s Day

Here are some picture’s of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Belfast. From what I’ve been told the bigger one is in Dublin but this was still a fun parade to watch. I can’t tell you what some of the groups were in the parade, I have no clue how the caveman rock band playing on a float looking like a dinosaur skeleton has anything to do with St. Patrick’s day but, hey, it was fun to watch!

Star wars fans, they’re everywhere.

Caveman rock band riding a float of dinosaur skeleton, nothing more St. Paddy’s than that…??

By the end of my stay I was feeling a bit better, but my respiratory system was still pretty raw feeling and I had a horrible voice. I was off now to Glasgow Scotland to meet Giles and Christiana hoping this could wouldn’t get in the way anymore. Little did I know how well they would take care of me and get me back on my feet! But that’s for next time.

Until next time, see you on the mats!

OSSS!!

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BJJ Globetrotting – Sicily

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BJJ Globetrotting – Sicily 

A few years back, Danish jiujitsu practitioner Christian Graugart took us on a journey around the world through his blog and subsequent book the BJJ Globetrotter (Download here for free). Beyond doing the around-the-world journey himslef, Christian set about creating something much greater than himself when he came back: a community of jiujitsu enthusiasts who just want to meet, train and be groovy. Membership is easy and always free. These are the BJJ Globetrotters.

The BJJ Globetrotters evolved, and continues to evolve, into many things over the years. One such facet that has really picked up speed is an alternative to couch-surfing, with a BJJ twist: Matsurfing. Knowing I had the Easter Break coming up soon, I contacted a few Globetrotters who, on Matsuring, had said they’d be prepared to have someone crash their couch (or mat, I wasn’t fussy) and I was lucky to hear back from a couple. Even luckier, that I ended up picking up the contact and flying to see Mr Ruben Stabile (From Matside BJJ – Palermo) in Palermo, Sicily. To fit other commitments, I needed to fly on Friday the 7th of April and, unfortunately, there were no flights to Palermo from London that day, but I could fly to Catania, also on Sicily, and take a connecting bus. I thought to myself, “It’s a Mediterranean island. How big could it possibly be?! It’ll be fine”.

Hmmm. The only reasonably priced flight is from Luton. But, it’s at a reasonable hour. “How hard could it be?! It’ll be fine”

A taxi to Blackfriars station at 4am followed by a train to Luton Park then a shuttle to Luton Airport later, I hadn’t even left London! Luckily, it was a super smooth trip all around and I arrived in at Catania Airport on time and relatively fresh.

 

After a fashionable (30 min) delay, the bus from Catania to Palermo arrived. I asked the driver how long the drive was going to be and he informed me with a big smile: 2 hours and 40 minutes. 

 

Globetrotting Advice: transits and choice of airports matter. Luckily I had no hurry to go anywhere so the additional 3hrs+ where simply spent taking in the Sicilian countryside and glorious sun. I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever seen so many luscious orange trees. 


Once at the end of the coach line, I waited a few minutes before my contact there, Ruben, showed up. We’d never met before but we recognised each other from social media etc. He’s a very passionate practitioner and coach of Jiujitsu and dedicates every possible moment of his free time (away from his girlfriend and university studies in law) to improving his and his students’ Jiujitsu. We had a long talk, as Jiujitsu people eventually do, about how we started in the art and what we love about it and, after he took me to what is arguable the best ice cream experience I’ve ever had, then we slowly made our way to the gym.

First day of rolling

We attended the freestyle wrestling, taught by an aging but very champion Mr Fabio Vitrano, son of wrestling Olympian Mr Carlo Vitrano, after which Ruben handed the mat over to me to teach. I had earlier quizzed him on what he may want me to teach but he left it all in my hands, so I taught my favourite attacks and set ups from the closed guard, namely the overhook game. 

One of my bodybuilding heroes: Ray Mentzer 


My brothers in arm(bar)s

What happened after that was my favourite part of Jiujitsu: post-training socialising. Ruben, Andrea, Luca, Martina and I all went for pizza. I was having pizza with Italians in Italy!

They kept feeding me different local specialties and every time they giggled and insisted I taste it, I knew it was something was odd but luckily I like offal etc. Much food and one large beer later, we headed back to the house for a much deserved rest. 

Bjj globetrotting in Sicily
Day 2

I woke up naturally from the beautiful Sicilian sun shining through the windows in Ruben’s living room where I was sleeping. My head was tired. My body was aching but my heart was happy and, did I mention that, the sun was shining?

Say “Cheese!”

The pasta isle was amazing

Did you know if you mix cream, coconut and pistachio you get heaven?

Before parting with the group last night we talked about a Jiujitsu session at noon. I can’t wait but first, some yoga in the sun to set the tone for the rest of the day. And what is a morning in Italy without cannoli?

 

Body limbered up, fed and caffeinated, it was time to hit the road. 

 

“Ruben, can I wear these (Bad Boy) grappling shorts in town?”

“Si no problem, if you want. You are a tourist”

“Haha. Wait…ok I change them now”

 

Italian / Sicilian time is a phenomenon to behold. 

 

Me: “What time does the session start?”

Ruben: “12 o’clock”

 

12.30…we’re still in the changing room chatting about techniques. Some are in gis. Some in gi pants. Some still just chilling ;) eventually we headed to the mat and people got on with their own stretch and mobility routine. 

 

When everyone was nice and loose we set the timer for 5 minute rounds and I wanted to go with everyone (there were 6 is us, myself included) twice so more or less 50 min of rolling later, I gathered everyone and showed a few fundamental weight distribution principles with examples from the half guard, side mount, closed guard and even from the grips while standing. Ruben’s obviously a good teacher so they will always have good access to more and more techniques but I wanted to give them a taster of how a technique can look the same from the outside yet feel completely different when applied to the opponent instead of simply performed on them. They all seemed to like the material and after another half hour of drilling, we finally made our way to the changing rooms. 

 

A few of the guys went their separate way but Luca, Ruben and I made our way to Ruben’s car to drop our stuff and walk to town. Ruben had asked earlier if I fancied a long walk and with glorious sun being out I wasn’t going to waste such an opportunity. 3 hours of walking later, I had seen most of Palermo’s city centre and consumed the best arancini (2 flavours) ever and a large lemon granita topped with strawberry!

Back at the house, Ruben threw all our dirty gis in his giant washing machine and went for a nap. I wish I was a nap-person, but I’ve never been. Instead I read another chapter or two from Christian’s book. It felt fitting. 

 

At 9pm Ruben is talking about food. The words “pizza” and “quattro stagioni” were used and I don’t take these words lightly and, luckily, neither do Sicilians. 

 
 

This is when Ruben says: “OK. It is now 10.30. Let go see the night life of Palermo!”

 

Ruben, Cristiano (Ruben’s cousin) and I arrive at the square where we’d been earlier that morning but this time it was heaving full of people. Teens, young adults and even a few families. Everyone was there, standing in the square chatting, drinking and socialising. Even the police were there but to be fair they looked really bored. 

 

By about 11.30 the whole troop had gathered and 15 strong of us started walking through the crowds to a favoured corner of the city with nice bar with great prices and quick service. We bought a few beers and went back outside to drink and mingle and while my Italian is very rusty, I could understand parts of the Jiujitsu-centric conversations, or at least ask Ruben to fill in the gaps, but come 2am, the theme of the night changed back to “let’s see what else we can make Liam do!”

 

Did you know that, after a couple of drinks, Italians crave a kebab-like meal like most of us but their version, the delicious Stigghiola, is made from marinated grilled intestines? I didn’t! Nancy disappeared into the near by restaurant and came back with small dish, steaming with a charcoal-grilled flavour. She offered me one of the tiny forks and the whole grouped struggled to hold back their giggles while I took the first bite and practically cheered as I let out my approving “nomnom Bellissimo!” The Stigghiola and the tiny forks were passed around, almost as some type of ritualistic horn of mead passed between Vikings. If Palermitans like you, they welcome you with open arms, and it felts great to be with friends at 3 in the morning. 

 

Boy am I glad we’re sleeping late tomorrow.

 

Can you see the size of that pizza? That bottle of beer next to it is a large 500ml!
 

 

 

 

Bjj globetrotting  in Sicily
Day 3

Woke up at 11.30 and with no training to rush to, I lazed in bed for another hour before getting up, ready and after 15 minutes of yoga I was restless and ready to discover what the day had to offer. I checked google maps and noticed there were a few shops not too far so I got changed and let myself out for a walk.

I’ve always found grocery shopping on foreign countries fascinating because I know shop layouts are never haphazard. Shelves are arranged and stocked for particular purposes and that must reflect and cater for the needs and demands of the locals, or they’d simply take their business elsewhere so I, as a non-local find it interesting to see where things are, what they’re next to and how big of a variety stores have of various “everyday” items. I was, for instance, impressed but not surprised by the size of the pasta isle at the local Carrefour near Ruben’s. I was, however, blown away by the nut-spread isle: limited edition Nutella? Pistachio butter? Damn!

As Ruben and I drove around the cute towns of Castellammare and Scopello, listening to a great soundtrack of music from out childhood like Insane in the Membrane by Cyprus Hill

I have seen beaches, both big and small, to feast my eyes on and cute little marinas. Speaking of feasting, Scopello has this thing called pane cunzato and while you’d be forgiven to think it’s a sandwich. It’s not. It’s a phenomenon!

We talked and talked. It’s amazing how universal the human experience is. We had both seen our hometowns change over the years since we moved away and we both love our sisters dearly. We both had a strong passion for Jiujitsu and what it can do to someone’s life and both hated martial arts politics.

Before I knew it, I was in his mom’s country house helping move a bedside unit out and marveling over the grand oil paintings his sister had made in her teens. We got to the garage and saw her old Vespa he used to use to disappear into the mountain or to the beach when he was cutting class. Did you know you could for nine people on one Vespa? Me neither but now I can’t stop picturing it in my head!

Anyway. Big day awaits tomorrow, but it can’t beat today.

Bjj globetrotting  in Sicily
Day 4

I’m getting used to being awakened by the bright sun rays shining on me. 8.30 rise to accommodate a guest, Moritz, who was a blue belt visiting from Palermo from Austria. I had packed my gi last night so I just needed to wash my face, brush my teeth and jump in the car with Ruben who, unlike me, is no major fan of the sun or going anywhere at 9 in the morning!

Thanks to traffic, when we arrived at the gym, Moritz was already there and in his gi. A quick change and the small group had assembled: Moritz, Ruben, Claudio and I did around an hour of 5 minute rounds. Moritz had great technical understanding of the game and I couldn’t help but think about how rubbish I was as a blue belt. I literally had no game to speak of. I had learnt the lockdown – whip up – old school sweep from half guard ala Eddie Bravo and had OK pressure from side control. That was kind of it. Here I was rolling with this kid who had a very clear understanding of how to grip, weaken, pressure and pass the guard and had a sequence of attacks from side control and mount. Crisp techniques. Very impressive. After sparring, I gave him a few pointers I thought he should play around with (directed pressure from side control, head positioning…etc.)

Next on the agenda was walking along the gorgeous beach of Mondello, where I’d take a picture with my BJJ Globetrotters gi for a competition they’re running followed by swimming in the Mediterranean. While the water wasn’t warm, the experience was incredibly refreshing and I must have swom for quite sometime. Once our, I was dry within minutes from walking in the mild sun.

Ruben fired the question, as he pointed at a mountain:

“Do you want to get to the top?” 

“Of course!”

As a rule, if I get an opportunity to experience something like this, no matter how tired, I never want to say no.

Driving up what Ruben refereed to as Villa Favorita he asked me a very direct question:

“What do you think this long road in the forest is famous for?”

“No idea. What?”

“Jogging and prostitutes!” 

As we laughed and laughed, we drove past a group of joggers on the right and a professional woman on the right. More laughs!

We climbed up all the way to the sanctuary of Santa Rosalia.

The panoramic view of Palermo was my strongest indication of how truly large the city is. I had no idea prior to this visit that Palermo was as big as it was. over 600,000 people live here. That’s bigger than Gothenburg or Manchester.

I couldn’t help but feel so lucky that I was here. Such a beautiful part of the world and Ruben was gracious enough to show it to me and tell me about its history. Soon it was time to hop back in the car and get back to the gym for the last training session of the day and of my wonderful visit to Sicily.

Many familiar faces had showed up to the session and while it she couldn’t attend the session itself, one of my new friends had brought us very fresh cannoli and even came to give me a hug and wish me a safe journey home. How I will miss these wonderful and friendly people.

Bjj globetrotting  in Sicily: Arrivederci 

Flying back from Catania? Well let’s leave the house at

5am to catch the coach from Palermo

The beautiful Mediterranean sunrise   
 

There’s still so much more to see in the greater Palermo area, and far more in the rest of Sicily but I was never there to be a tourist. I couch-surfed in an apartment with local Palermitans, grocery-shopped where no one spoke English and partied and mingled with the locals using English, my five words or so of Italian, plenty of hand gestures and Google Translate and I’m proud to call these people my friends. Thank you to Christian for opening my eyes to this great mode of travelling and meeting people and I’m happy to say that Ruben will be visiting London in the coming weeks for some training. I can’t wait to show him around, take him training and have him stay here with us for a couple of days.

Hazelnut covered cannoli and a freshly made cappuccino

Jiujitsu is often quoted to be more than a sport or a martial art, but a way of life. I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean, but I know that it does provide a unique opportunity to meet and interact with like-minded people around the world, if you let it. I’ve made a ton of friends in Sicily, and I can’t wait to see them again soon.

It’s about carving a life.

 

Liam Wandi is a highschool maths teacher with a passion for jiujitsu, judo, karate…but mainly for human beings. He posts about these things over on http://parttimegrappler.blogspot.co.uk/

And I would (and did) walk 100 miles

/in /by

Well, there’s no other way to say this, and as hard as it is, this isn’t about me. This is kind of a big deal, no way around it. JEN HAS WALKED HER FIRST 100 MILES!

It bears repeating, maybe not in all caps. Jennifer Lynn Barrus Raydon, first of her name, Queen of the Trail, not only walked  100 miles, but she did it pretty early in the morning. And, she looked better doing it than these guys, 

If you’re not impressed, you’re high on codeine. 

Or whatever this guy is on. Which is way stronger than any heroin based cough syrup. 

She’s now knocking out 15, 20 miles a day, and way ahead of where we’d thought she’d be. I’ve had to change by camp plan to accommodate her. Awesome sauce. 

What I’ve been up to has been way less Bill Murray, and more, I don’t know, Carrot Top? Maybe Gallagher.  If you’re not into Jiu Jitsu, this is maybe the part where you go find some pictures of kittens falling down on ice or something, ‘cuz if I wasn’t into Jiu Jitsu, I’d be doing that. Remember that video of the Viking Kittens? Yeah, Internet rulez/

But I did train twice in a day! I moped a bit after dropping Jen off, and was able to hit up Ribeiro BJJ in Carlsbad. I mentioned this, but it was really cool how Joao showed me some stuff that I’d studied in the Jiu Jitsu University book (bible?), and made it real and showed me some cool details that make it work. I won’t say what it was, (back escape, shhh) since I want to use it. Awesome Sauce? SECRET sauce. 

Molho Secreto in bad Portuguese. 

Variety is the spice of life, at least other peoples’, as my stomach gets funky if I eat too much of it, or miss watching reruns of Matlock, but I hit up Studio 540 for a session the next day. Very cool, bigger school, really fancy. They don’t have showers, they have some kind of spa in there. With, I kid you not, towels. For you to use. 

The session was a lot of takedowns from 

I paired up with a guy who was older, thicker, and less handsome (maybe, hard to tell) than either Jeff Higgs or myself. Nice guy, didn’t go all Worlds on me, but he was heavy and I was totally thinking he was going to land on me and break all my ribs, or my legs, whatever. I was being a baby, he didn’t do anything wrong, but I was a bad partner. There, I said it, now we’re moving on. 

It was a little weird because we drilled, but there wasn’t much rolling after. I’m used to about an hour class, and then fifteen minutes of rolling after, followed up by some of us sitting around, drilling new stuff, talking BJJ, talking crap to each other, dodging work. So I  had some energy to burn, and instead of eating cookies and drinking liquor, I took the dogs out, and then hit Ribeiro with Joao again .

He had some gigantic army guy white belt in there, and a father/son on their first days. Cool. I had the chance to show my super purple belt skill by not crying when this 250 pound man was laying on me. I passed. They wouldn’t let me grapple the 16 year old kid, who in spite of being a boy and not a girl, I still think I could beat. 

After that, I was ready for bed, but got a surprise message from my brothers’ old roomie Fast Eddy, how was in SD for business, and being a cautionary tale for why you don’t invest in franchises. At least not sandwich based ones. We had an awesome dinner, good convo, talked about being old and how his late teenage kids were not as bad as we were at that age. After that, I headed back to the trailer, where Joe, of PCT fame, was crashing on his way home. 

There may be from time to time moments when I complain that my beautiful and accomplished wife snores. Please remind me that it is nothing compared to the horrible sounds that emanated from Joe as he slept on the convert bed in the trailer. Holy crap, that doesn’t sound healthy. 

Thankfully Joe took pity on me and took an Uber to the airport at 4 a.m. rather than holding me to my promise of driving him. I was grateful that he’d hiked some with Jen, although I know he loved it the whole time, and wanted to do him a solid, but man, 4 a.m. is early. 

I slept in, and caught a good recommendation to go train with the great Tim Sledd at Small Axe BJJ at ten. I was pretty excited, Tim is known as a great teacher, and they’re an Atos affiliate but don’t charge like $50 to drop in. Even training with Sonny Brings only costs you like $20. 

Unfortunately, while Tim is a legend in teaching and BJJ, he neglected to mention that HE’D MOVED TO THE MIDWEST A YEAR AGO!

Oh, and the school closed sometime in March or April. Fuck. They website is up, the facebook page says nothing, they even still have a Google phone message, none of which mentions that the school is now an empty bay in an industrial park. 

I was up that way, so I dropped in at Oceanside BJJ. http://oceansidejiujitsu.com/ In spite of being the only guy NOT in a white gi, I had a good time. Plus drop in was a reasonable $20.  Again, class goes, the instruction is good, from a solid Ribeiro black belt. Nate Solis. Plus, he has a gym dog.

Really nice lapel feed under the head from cross sides, which I’ve been working on, but they take it to a deep knee on belly (Neon belly), which leads to a tight pin, and eventually a baseball bat choke. But no rolling during class.

Fortunately, their schedule isn’t tight, so a bunch of guys stay after and roll. I’ve been surprised that the moderate pace and aggression level here. I guess I thought that ever guy here, in a big BJJ city, would treat every roll like Worlds, and it’s just not true. These was definitely a competition school with serious guys, but they all rolled technical and with a learning focus. 

After that, it was all about chilling out with the pooper dogs, plus Jen called me to tell me that not only did she make the 100 mile mark, she also had her first 20 mile day. So, like I said, all that choking stuff was super fun for me, but not as impressive as what she’s doing!

 

BJJ and…cycletouring?

/in /by

I never really planned to be a BJJ Globetrotter. I have this tendency to dive into things head first, without always (okay pretty much never) considering all of the consequences. So when the idea to ride my bicycle from Canada to Argentina became a reality, I hadn’t properly considered what that meant for martial arts. As the departure date grew closer, I started to feel more and more unsure about the decision to go. Martial arts had become my whole life, my club was my family, my team was my social life, the tatami was my safe place. Was I making a stupid decision leaving all that behind to go on this crazy adventure?

My badass home team: Bushido Kai, MXT BJJ, Halifax, NS, Canada

I had become so comfortable with my martial arts lifestyle, and it is hard to leave things that are comfortable. But then I would imagine myself years down the road, and I knew that I would never forgive myself for not taking an opportunity to have an adventure like this. I believe that putting yourself in uncomfortable situations is the only way you learn and grow, and I never want to stop growing.

So, I sold all of my belongings, crashed with friends from the club for a few months while I had one last MMA fight, got my blue belt, and tied up loose ends in Halifax. Then I moved back into my parents basement in Calgary to get ready to leave. On August 18, 2016, I got on my heavily loaded bicycle, with my non-BJJ friend, and we struck out through the Rocky Mountains towards the West Coast.

I received my blue belt from Edgard Lucke 3 days before I moved away from Halifax.

My last MMA fight in Halifax before leaving to get on the bike. Photo courtesy of Doug Currie Photography.

I spent the first months of the trip struggling to get my body to adjust to the lifestyle. I had spent three years training for three to six minute rounds, fast recovery, and explosive power. This was not helpful when I all of a sudden needed to cycle for eight or more hours a day. My legs hurt all the time, for months. I stopped in a few clubs while I traveled from Calgary out to Vancouver and down the Pacific Coast of the US, but I found it difficult. I was struggling with the physical challenges of cycling, and the mental challenge of being away from the support system I had so carefully constructed back in Halifax. I was so nervous to train at new clubs. I had had my blue belt for only a few months and was worried that I would come across nothing but defensiveness, competitiveness, and ego. But with each club that I visited, I was met with nothing but excitement and open arms. Bit by bit I gained a little more confidence and each time I felt a little bit more like myself again.

My old friend Steve from water polo back in the day in Halifax now training at Elements Academy of Martial Arts in Vancouver, BC, Canada

With Alberto Crane at Legacy in Burbank, California, USA.

With Baret Yoshida fresh off of his performance at EBI 10 at The Arena in San Diego, California, USA.

It wasn’t until Mexico that I really found my BJJ travel legs. I began to realise that BJJ was the same everywhere you went. There is an incredible network of people across Mexico, and the around the whole world. My heart is so full from the incredible generosity I have experienced through BJJ. I am constantly finding people with the same mentality as I have, people who want to fight, not only for medals, but to build people up, to make safe spaces for those who may not fit societal expectations, places where people can push themselves to grow and change. The sacrifice, determination, and risk it takes to make BJJ your life requires a special kind of person. While I sort of knew that (my club is full of them back home), I am still in awe every time I meet someone who has made these sacrifices. It seems that the nature of BJJ nurtures people to be humble, honest, and passionate, making conversation and personal connection easy and natural. With each new club and new person, I am amazed at how much we immediately have in common, how I feel like I automatically fit into these tight knit communities, how connected I feel to people even after knowing them for a very short time.

The wonderful ladies of Promahos in Mexico City.

So this trip changed. I decided to continue on alone so that I could make BJJ a priority while I travelled. And I couldn’t be happier that I made that decision. While this trip has its difficulties, I love the life and am happier than I have ever been before.

Feeling happy and loved at Promahos in Mexico City.

Checking out the pyramids at Teotihuacan with some chilango friends.

Feeling colourful in San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico.

A little bit of stoke from the Mexican surfing community in Bamba Concepcion, Oaxaca.

Top 10 Reasons Why Cycletouring for BJJ is Awesome

  1. You have sick endurance – while it took some time for my body to adjust to long endurance days, it did eventually adjust. So while my skills sometimes feel a little rusty when I train after being on the bike for a few weeks, my cardio is the best it has ever been. I have no problem doing multiple classes in a row, and rolling hard with as many people as are willing.
  2. You can connect with people in a whole different way – I get all kinds of reactions when I tell people that I am traveling by bicycle, and to be honest, it never gets old seeing the surprised and impressed looks on people’s faces. Most people that do BJJ have a real respect for living a lifestyle where you challenge yourself every day, where you are constantly pushing hard physically and mentally. I don’t have the energy to pretend that this trip is easy, so honest conversations happen easily and naturally. Each one of these interactions is so special. Every single person that I talk to about why I am doing this trip, what I am scared of, what I hope to get out of it, provides an opportunity to learn something new. So many people have their own stories about why they started Martial Arts, about where they get the strength to challenge themselves, and why they want to put themselves in difficult and sometimes painful situations. Hearing people’s stories is an incredible educational opportunity that I am so grateful to have.
  3. Your plans are really flexible – I have no flight booked, no bus ticket, no one expecting me home any time soon. So when I am somewhere that I really love, I can stay for a while. If I am somewhere uncomfortable or scary, I can just move on. This has allowed me to take some incredible opportunities. When I found out that there was a Victor Davila seminar in Guadalajara the week I was there, I could stay and participate. When I was offered the opportunity to participate in a two week fight camp run by Eduardo Botega to prepare for the first IBJJF Mexico Open, it was a no brainer to stay. Traveling on a bicycle teaches you to be adaptable and how to be comfortable with constantly changing plans, which was not easy for me. But the best experiences on this trip have been the things that I did not plan for.
  4. You get to know the culture of the places you visit intimately – the slow pace of bicycle travel has major advantages, you end up visiting a lot of small towns and places that not many people go to. In these places, people are always excited to have someone visiting, they are proud of their town and jump at the opportunity to show it off. I have met incredible kindness, generosity, and kindred spirits in many unexpected places. I have had the opportunity to learn from and interact with people that I would likely never otherwise meet. I have often had to check my Canadian privilege when families that clearly don’t have much welcome me into their home with no questions asked. I am constantly impressed with the heart and determination I find in small clubs that are started with little equipment, in places where most don’t know what BJJ is.
  5. Your triangles are boss because your legs are so strong – cycling is amazing for building leg muscles, I don’t know if you knew that. My leg gains throughout this trip have been significant and it is no secret that I love my triangle chokes. So I was pleasantly surprised when I realised the many advantages of my new leg strength in BJJ.
  6. You never have to wash your gi – while it sometimes sucks to not have a gi, the upside is that you never have to wash one. Washing my gi was my least favorite part of BJJ back home.
  7. You’re always hungry and can eat everything – this is perhaps my favorite part of traveling by bike. I don’t know the exact number, but I know I burn a lot of calories in a day of cycling. I also love food and love trying new foods in new places. The combination means I can eat all the tacos I want. There is nothing better than tacos and fresh cold fruit juices after some hard training. Nothing.
  8. You have double the network of travel friends and it is fun when they connect – both BJJ and cycletouring have wonderful global networks. While there doesn’t seem to be a lot of overlap, there is a lot of mutual respect; they are often impressed and think each other are a little bit crazy for doing what they do. It’s hilarious. But it is an incredible feeling when I get cycling friends to come try a BJJ class, or when I inspire a BJJ friend to embark on a cycling adventure.
  9. You have a bike to get around the city on – this is the easiest, fastest, and cheapest way to travel around a city. It allows for more independence than you would otherwise have, and can easily go sightseeing, or get to classes at various clubs on your own. There is also a really amazing feeling when you ride your bike around a city with a friend, especially at night.
  10. You’re already acclimatised to the altitude – I spent a lot of time training in Mexico City, which sits at an altitude of 2250 m. When I arrived, it happened to be the weekend of the Abu  Dhabi trials, so there were lots of people who had traveled to the city for the tournament. They were struggling with their cardio due to feeling short of breath from the thin air. However, I had spent the last few weeks biking up mountains and training in Guadalajara, the thin air was not a problem for me.

 

Top 10 Reasons Why Cycletouring for BJJ can be Annoying

  1. It is pretty much impossible to carry a gi – a gi would weight more than my tent and would take up more space than all of my other clothing combined.
  2. You only have 1 or 2 sets of training clothes – this means I have to do laundry a lot when I train regularly. I have gotten really good at washing my nogi gear while I shower after training. Contact me for step by step instructions
  3. All of your clothes are always dirty when you arrive in a city – this means it is sometimes hard to train right away. I try and keep a set of nogi clothes untouched, but sometimes I wear my spats to bike in when it is cold. It rained for 4 weeks straight in Oregon….everything was wet, dirty, and smelled bad. I had to throw out my rashguard eventually. It sucks to have to do laundry when you arrive somewhere before you can train.
  4. YOU are always dirty when you arrive in a city – when you spend a whole day on the highway, you get dirt in places you never thought possible. Add to that extremely hot days, camping on beaches, and limited access to showers, and no one should have to roll with that without a serious deep clean.
  5. You are always physically and mentally exhausted when you arrive in a city – I find this the hardest part. When I am already nervous about going to a new place, it gets that much harder when I’m tired. I also want to be able to perform well in a  new club, and when I have biked, oh say 500 km in 5 days with 1500m of elevation (like when I arrived in Guadalajara), let´s face it, I’m not at my best.
  6. You have limited access to technology and WiFi to get in contact with people – this can make planning and finding clubs to visit pretty difficult. I often don’t have a lot of time with WiFi to do the research. Good thing there are wonderful resources and forums like BJJ Globetrotters that makes this a little easier.
  7. You forget how to interact with other human beings – when you spend weeks barely interacting with anyone, or only having short conversations in broken Spanish, you sometimes forget your social skills. Not kidding. I’m already a slightly awkward person and it just gets worse when I spend so much time alone.
  8. You often stay in a place for less than a week – turns out, a bicycle is not the fastest way to travel. This means means that I can’t stay in places too long, otherwise I will never make it to Brazil. This lack of consistency in training really affects my game, and my confidence at times.
  9. It is difficult to train while on the road/your cycling friends won’t let you choke them – this contributes to the lack of consistency problem. It is hard to feel all that confident in my skills when I don’t get to use them or drill them very often. I do try to keep some sort of routine while traveling, mostly stretching, bodyweight exercises, and shadow boxing. It has made me more creative with my workouts (old tire tubes as resistance bands?), but I am always open to suggestions on new ways to train on my own with very limited equipment.
  10. You are traveling on an extreme budget – this is the often the case for anyone traveling for an extended period of time. Many of us save some money, quit our jobs, and have no income while traveling. It means that I can’t visit really fancy gyms that charge a lot for drop ins. For me, this isn’t a problem, I have had a wonderful time visiting smaller clubs.

While traveling by bicycle certainly has it’s difficulties, I wouldn’t do it any other way. I am constantly amazed at how generous people within the BJJ community are, and with their help, the difficulties become slight annoyances, nothing more. For me, the benefits and the unique experiences and opportunities created by this mode of travel are well worth the difficulties.

Follow the journey:

Instagram @luchadoratheexplorer

www.luchadoratheexplorer.com

Playa Venao, Panama. The perfect place to end in Central America.

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Little over two months ago, right before I headed for my adventure, I saw a post from John Boyle welcoming every globetrotter to drop by at his newly open gym Playa Venao Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. When I scrolled through it and saw the pictures of the gym and it’s location I knew this would have to be on my list. They had partnered up with Beach Break Surf Camp, a hotel located right at the beach. So every morning I could step outside of my room, walk 10 steps to the left to do some training or 10 steps to the right to go surfing. Talk about the perfect Jiu Jitsu Surfing lifestyle.

Now 2 months later I have spent one week here and I can tell you that this has been one of my favorite places so far. This is a perfect place to wind down after all my backpacking and at the same time getting solid mat and surf time to prepare me for the tight scheduled month of BJJ ahead of me. Not to mention getting some great points from John how to fix my game and improve what I already have. I really respect instructors who are able to put themselves in your shoes and give you advice accordingly. 

Since the first day that I arrived here the people have been nothing but welcoming. Angel, the receptionist lit up when I told him I was here for BJJ and it turned out he was a really good competitive purple belt. Me and him got some really good intense rolls. Nathan the hotel owner is an brown belt and he managed to squeeze in a private session with me in his busy schedule. Then there is Carla, John’s wife, she’s super technical purple belt and really good role model for all the young girls who are taking their first steps at the gym.

Angel, John, Carla and me during our sunset beach roll.

Me and Nathan after a good roll.

I still can’t get over the kindness that I’ve recived here. John and Carla took me and showed me around the area and let me taste the local açai bowls to try to find the true Brazilian Jiu Jitsu essence. Also the taught me how to pronounce açai as a true Brazilian so I could fit in with all the Jits people. Then yesterday I managed to break my board in one of the waves, neither me or anyone else have any idea how I managed it. Carla decided they would try to cheer me up and invited me to a local place showing Django on a big screen with all the appropriate snacks. In the end of the day, instead of being bummed out about the board and the amount I had to pay for it, I was overwhelmed by the kindness of people I’ve know for less then a week. I thought about how many people I’ve met on this adventure and how I have madeconnections that will last a lifetime. This is what life is about, be kind to each other and that kindness comes back around.

John showing off his skate surf skills before the açai.

The best movie theater ever.

Lastly I have to mention how relatable John is. He talks from the heart and you can see that he means what he says. Every time we talked I could reconsile with everything he said and felt that we had really similar thoughts concerning BJJ and life, even though he has much more experience and insight. For me to feel that way is not common and made me even more glad to have decided to make my way to this tiny little surf paradise.

Tina my favorite mat partner.

 

Weekend Trip to the Ancient Temples of Angkor

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As the team I’ve been training with in Cambodia boarded their plane to compete in the Copa de Bangkok IBJJF tournament, I was on my own flight to a considerably less strenuous weekend getaway. Instead of entering the competition with the rest of the guys and girls I’ve been training with, I decided to spend a few days exploring ruins in the Cambodian Jungle.

 

A Little About H/Art Academy and the Tournament

Before I get into my side-trip expedition, let me tell you about the guys I’ve been training with in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. They form a small gym called H/Art. Their tagline is something all BJJ enthusiasts can appreciate: Art / Heart / Harmony. It’s only been around for about six months and is the city’s only gym fully dedicated to BJJ. It’s insane how dedicated and tough these guys are for only training together for such a short time. I’ll write more about the gym in my next post.

When I began training with them at the start of the month, they were all fine-tuning their strategies and focusing on getting on weight for the tournament. They were hungry to prove themselves; especially Rithy, a white belt who, as of last weekend, is the first local Cambodian to compete abroad. H/Art ended up taking twelve medals back with them!

I really wanted to join the team for the tournament, but having only just got back into training about week ago since I got over a 4 week long respiratory infection. I need to take it easy and get back in shape before I push too hard.

 

Exploring Ancient Temples and Learning About Cambodia’s Politics

After a 45 minute flight Northwest from PP, I was in the tourist infested city of Siem Reap. Just outside the small city, are the temples of Angkor. Within a 400 square km area, there are hundreds of ancient temples, many still inaccessible and unexplored, that were completely consumed by the jungle until the French began restoring them in the early 20th century.

Saturday I woke to an unthinkably early 6:30am alarm (after working until about 2:30am the night before) to get to the temples before the blazing Cambodian sun made them unbearable. As the sun rose, me and two buddies met with our guide, hopped in a tuk tuk and headed off toward the most famous and largest temple: Angkor Wat.

After a few hours at the sprawling Angor Wat grounds, we spent the rest of the day traveling between and exploring temples of varying size, age and levels of dereliction. My favorite was the Face of Bayon. Although this was a relatively new temple, (only 600 years old) it was the most deteriorated because of the inferior sandstone it was constructed with. The crumbling walls, giant face statues and vast corridors would make it the world’s best laser tag venue. But sadly, I don’t think UNESCO or Cambodian government would sign off on that.

We also visited the temple used for filming the Tomb Raider movie with Angelina Jolie. It was stunning because massive trees have grown through the giant sandstone blocks to become a part of the temple’s structure. The historic architecture and natural fauna have melded together for hundred of years to create breathtaking scenery. It looked just like the first level of the original Playstation Tomb Raider game.

If you ever find yourself even remotely close to Cambodia, take some time to check out these wonders. I regret that I only had a day to explore. I could’ve spent a week trekking deep into the jungle to find the most remote and untouched ancient temples.

 

Grappling Lessons from an 800 Year-Old Carving

Since this blog is supposed to be about BJJ, I better end it with a tie-in to martial arts. While at the Faces of Bayon temple, I was lucky to stumble across this carving on the exterior wall depicting two Khmer warriors:

This scene shows that even ancient fighters had to be careful not to overextend their arms, especially when they’re on their back and excited to set up a choke. It makes me feel a little better knowing that wrestlers were getting caught in the same trap I do hundreds of years later.

Today was a hard day

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https://goo.gl/photos/anqAYvpGQ24fzu6z9

I guess this is day six, and it was kind of a tough one. I’m a big bad Jiu Jitsu man, and the feels, well, you can’t choke out sadness or missing your number one lover girl. I sent Jen off at 7 this morning for another five day stint of solo-ish hiking. It was hard to say goodbye, and when I returned to the empty campsite, it was pretty maudlin. I didn’t cry. Nobody saw me shed a tear, so nobody can prove it happened, but it was kind of a lonely experience. I might have sniffled a little, but maybe I’m getting a cold. 

On the plus side, I did Jiu Jitsu! First time since Thursday, and well, a three day lay off is hard for me, especially when I’m feeling the feels about other things. I took the recommendation from Alfredo Barum and visited his buddy Joao Carlos Silva. For the record, I had to cut and paste his name. I may have a purple belt in BJJ, but my Portuguese name pronunciation is still white belt spaz. It was really cool. He just opened his new own Ribeiro gym in Carlsbad, about ten minutes from where I’m parked. Really shiny, and well, I kind of pulled a dick move.

See, he’s got a brand new gym, and I’ve been hiking and camping. I thought my feet were clean, but after living in the woods for a few days, your idea of clean is a little off. He was wearing a white gi. He’s going to need some OxyClean! He’s building up his program, and tonight it was just the two of us, working some cool Ribeiro stuff. Awesome! I got tapped out about five times in two rounds with a fifty-five year old brown belt, so it felt like home. 

https://www.facebook.com/ribeirojjcarlsbad/?fref=nf for some training, I’m sure hes cleaned the mats of my forest foot. 

On Friday, it was time to go check on my PCT hiking woman. Honestly, I was worried that I’d show up, she’d be in tears, ready to quit, hating how hard it was. I drove down a forest road with the dogs and the motorcycle and my concerns for the well being of my wife, found a spot where the trail crossed, and started hiking in. 

Let me just say that there are many times when I think I’m going to find the broken, emotionally shattered wreck that was once my beloved Super Jen, and she always disappoints me. I’ll tell you another time about how she scared me on Half Dome by being fearless, or when we hiked Crawlers Ledge on the North Shore of Kauai, and when she didn’t come around the ledge that had scared the shit out of me, I assumed that she was frozen with fear and unable to move. Yeah, right. She was taking selfies. She asked me to come out on the ledge to take a picture. I tartly declined. 

Once again, there she was, chugging along smiling and happy and nowhere near an emotional crisis. I sent the dogs up ahead, and they found her first. I found her by the noise of delight as she reunited with the pups.

After five days on her own on the trail, she called her mom.  Moms’ first question was “did you quit?” Jen laughed, and I realized I’m not the only one who underestimates her sometimes. 

Apparently the challenges presented thus far have fallen into two categories: The first she calls the Game Makers, as in when the Hunger Games designers throw twists at you just to see how you deal. Those were things like getting a ton of blisters from her brand new boots, having her umbrella break, getting a little lost, her compass breaking. 

The other category is “Not today Satan!” items. Those are long climbs in the sun, rocky trails, and the mileage. These are things that are part of the trail, but which can break your spirit. She ain’t having it. 

She seems to be born to this long hiking, most of the time. Smiling, getting up early to hit the trail, helping out and cheer leading the other hikers. She’s calling herself the trail mom. 

I spent a few extra days at camp, and although we hadn’t planned it, the camp lent itself well to a little slackbacking. Jen stayed in the trailer, got up, and hiked with a lighter pack, but she was still going hard. She’s regularly hitting ten miles, and now even more. I hiked a mile with her in the morning, bringing the boys along, and then turned around. For tiny little guys, they do pretty well, but they poop out. Jen took Marley along for a day, and ended up packing him out.

Our buddy Joe!, who was the one who most inspired her, met us in camp, and hiked along with us for a few days. I left them both to come back down to town, and they hiked together for a day. Joe left her at a place called scissors crossing, mile 70. That’s a full day of hiking, and Joe wrapped up his PCT nostalgia tour. Jen hiked another 7 miles, total of 17 for the day. Yes, holy crap is right. 

Getting Started and Tampa Trip

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    (Apologies for the pictures being chopped, I’m figuring out how to get better pictures within my posts)

     Since this is my first blog, I guess that I should introduce myself and tell you a little about my jiujitsu journey so far. My name is Dirk, but I tend to go by the name BJJ Drifter (on social media anyways), as it seems to fit my current situation. I live in the US and have trained some sort of martial arts since I was seven years old. I started with Kung Fu as that was the only discipline that was available in my small Kentucky town. When I was 19 I began training Muay Thai, although I had a lot of fun doing it, I was not able to fully devote the time needed. I was first introduced to BJJ through the Modern Army Combatives Program (MACP), which is the hand-to-hand system used by the US Army. MACP consists of four levels of training that is a mix of BJJ, wrestling, kickboxing, boxing, and weapons fighting. The first two levels are meant to be an introduction to these fighting styles and serves to instill a warrior spirit in the Soldiers. The last two levels are instructor courses and take much more time to complete.

     In 2006, I attended the level one course and was introduced to BJJ. I had never seen anything like it; I was intrigued by the idea of such a martial art. From there I continued to train, although sporadically due to work constraints, family, amongst other things. In 2012 I became an Instructor for the MACP; during this time I can say that I truly fell in love with BJJ.

     In 2016 I retired from the military and found myself searching for an identity, as many veterans due when they get out. I had no direction, and my family became the only thing that was a constant. I moved back home to Kentucky while my wife and I attempted to figure things out. While there, my wife came up with the idea for me to train at a local gym just to let off some steam. While there, the fire was rekindled and I returned to training as often as possible.

     So now there were two constants in my life, my family, and BJJ; but I was living with my parents as my family was having difficulty finding a house that we liked. To make a long story short we decided to purchase a camper and travel the US seeing the sights and enjoying the beauty.   While training one day I mentioned our plans to a friend and he said that I should train at different gyms wherever I stop. That’s pretty much where the idea for BJJ Drifter came about.

     Since then, my family and I have been traveling around the country stopping in different cities, seeing the sites, and training BJJ. It has been an absolute blast! I can honestly say every member of my family is enjoying it. I try to train at least 2-3 times a week, and usually at different gyms unless I am visiting someone in the area, such as I did in Tampa but Ill get to that in a bit. Sometimes I wish I could train more but I want to have time to do things with my kids and rest my body some.

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Rob Kahn and I

     We made the trip to Tampa, FL for two reasons: it was warm and close to the beach; a chance to train with an old friend, Rob Kahn. Rob is the owner of Gracie Tampa and is one of Royce Gracie’s first American black belts. I first met Rob in 2013 while I was a combatives Instructor in Georgia. I recall this short grey haired guy come in, very nice and humble; then we got on the mat and I was amazed by his teaching style. After that little seminar I said that at some point I really wanted to make a visit to his gym and train with his guys, well in March that happened.

 

   The Gracie Tampa North facility is an awesome gym with a large mat area that has a cage wall lining one side of the mat. Towards the rear of the room there is four heavy bags and an uppercut bag. To the far left of the room is a doorway that leads to another mat room, about half the size of the first, where kids classes and Judo classes are mainly conducted. The right side of the main mat room has a decent amount of weights with the obligatory bench press, Olympic bars, and a trap bar, along with some offices. When you walk in the door you will usually be greeted by Leo, Rob’s adopted pit bull; Rob rescued him from a kill shelter and he is probably one of the nicest dogs I have ever met. Most of the BJJ training conducted at Gracie Tampa North is nogi, which I am a big fan of. While I train in the gi, I definitely prefer my shorts and rash guard. I attended the advanced BJJ class and it had about 15-20 people ranging in skill level and age. Some of the guys I talked to had been training for a year or two, while others had been training with Rob for over 10-15 years. I found everyone to be quite welcoming and humble, as I’ve found most gyms to be in my travels.

     Rob led the instruction on most nights that I was there. One of the things that I really appreciated about Rob’s curriculum was that every class fed off of the one previous, meaning that if he taught a Darce choke series from the sprawl on Monday, when I went back on Wednesday it would be a Darce choke series from half guard, and so on. I was able to train with Rob and his students six times in the two weeks I was there, and enjoyed every second of it

 

     Outside of training, the Tampa, FL area has about anything you could ask for. I took my family to the beach a couple days as well as the Florida Aquarium. One the of things that my kids really enjoyed was going to the Manatee Viewing Center where they got to learn about the manatee and the conservation efforts that have been put into place to try and help these gentle animals. They even got to see a couple, as well as touch stingrays, which they really enjoyed. We even made the hour long journey to surprise my kids with a trip to Legoland Florida, which they thoroughly enjoyed. One of the things that I loved while we visited the area was the food! Kona Grill was, without a doubt, one of my favorite restaurants we ate at while there.

     All in all, I’d say if you’re looking for a place to visit and train, or perhaps move to, Tamps is a great spot. Stay tuned for my next blog as I always seem to be on the move to the next city, and the next jiujitsu gym.

Countdown is on……But Why?

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So as time ticks down……11 weeks..2 days..21 hours..31 minutes..30,29,28 Seconds! until we leave for 163 days of adventure, But who’s counting right? I start to reflect on what as lead to this decision of why we decided to go on this journey. A quick look into our training history may give some insight into this.

Its October 2008….my daughter is 4 months old, I have been working in the Iron ore mining industry since I was 17 and was now 26. Living in a small mining town. At that time all I did was work, race motocross and Drink..the great aussie pastime.  The UFC was gaining ground in Australia and BJ Penn was Read more

Blackpool and Wigan UK

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Greetings From Blackpool and Wigan England UK

 

After a nice bus trip up from London, and totally skipping Manchester (sorry!) I made it to Blackpool, where I realized on the flight over to London is where Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children takes place, which had me wondering if I was going to run into some strange monster at night there. I did not. Probably because the Circus isn’t open at this time of the year.

 Meeting Fellow Globetrotters in Blackpool!

Blackpool was always on the list of places to go to when I was planning out traveling around the UK, simply because of how active Scot is on the BJJ Globetrotters Facebook group in helping people out for the UK and inviting everyone out to his place. Scot Tudhope runs UTC Blackpool and is always happy to have any globetrotter stay at his gym, so I took him up on the offer. As it happens, not only would I be meeting Scot and his club but another globetrotter who I had recently starting talking to online, Joon Wai from Malaysia was also going to be visiting at the same time, we were going to have our own mini BJJ Globetrotter camp!

I got into town a bit late but it worked out to be just after class so Scot picked me up from the bus station and dropped me off at the club. After a quick tour of the place Scot was on his way home and Joon and I were left alone in the club. Joon and I spent the night sharing our travel stories and plans around a heater and drinking tea, it was still early spring so the gym was a bit cold at night. We talked about why we chose to go on our adventures and what we plan to do afterwards. It was cool meeting someone who on the surface we might not seem too similar but deeper down we have a lot of common interests. Having gotten to Blackpool before me Joon also left for Scotland a day or two before I left for Dublin, but we had some good times together before that and we have kept in contact since, in case we run into each other again. It was good meeting you Joon, I hope you travels are going as well as mine!

Joon Wai, he also has a blog on BJJ Globetrotters, check it out!

The Blackpool Tower and The Pier

One day it was actually sunny out and Joon and walked around the pier and the Blackpool Tower. I didn’t realise how of a strip the pier is, it reminded me of Niagara Falls, just as it the ‘Las Vegas of Canada’ Blackpool felt like the pier was the ‘Las Vegas of the UK’ it would be a sight to it during the summer when everything is running and all the tourists and vacationists are in town. Maybe I’ll come back to see.

The Tower, pretty impressive.

I like this shot, a looming structure of old era architecture.

 

UTC Blackpool

Finally Meeting Scot and his club was great, we had all sorts of conversations on Jiu-Jitsu philosophy and traveling and etiquette. Scot himself has been training martial arts for years in different styles and was a solid coach, bringing all this experience from past training into his BJJ classes. We had a good roll and his style was pretty unique, and I could see past martial arts playing into his movements. The rest of the club were great to meet, they were all so happy to have a visitor to pick my mind on anything jiu-jitsu related.

One day Scot couldn’t make it in for the noon time class so we were left to run our own class. I was the senior belt and the others all looked at me to run class, so in my wisdom I looked at them and say “Ok, what do you guys want to work on?” we decided to work some entries and takedowns since a tournament was coming up and I personally don’t think most club work their standing game enough. During the evening I got to meet more of the club and hear about their own stories. Joon, Scot, myself and Bev, who is a blue belt of Scot’s, went for food after class one night and Joon and I got to hear of Scot and Bev’s experiences being at the BJJ Globetrotter’s camp, which we haven’t been to yet. I will get my first experience in the fall at the Germany camp, and from their stories I can’t wait!

It was cool to meet everyone at the club, that I wouldn’t have made my way out to not for the Globetrotters community that Christian has set up. There’s all sorts of cool people out there willing to help out and share knowledge and stories and eager to meet you, and with the BJJ Globetrotters I’m able to find them and make my way to meet them. I have a feeling I’m going to end up in a few places I wouldn’t have thought of because of this community. I look forward to it!

Enigma BJJ

There was a night, i think the day Joon left actually, where there was no class at UTC Blackpool so I decided to check out another gym in the area, Enigma BJJ. The gym was on the other side of town but easy enough to get to and inside a gym on the second floor. The club is run by Prof. Paul Rice who is laid back these days. I had heard before he runs a strict class, and during warming up waiting for the rest of the class to show up he told me he used to really be strict with rules but now he just focuses on teaching his techniques instead worrying about students not being top athletes. everyone trains for a different reason.

 

Once enough people had made it in we began class, which ran about 2 hours. After warm up we drilled techniques, there was lots of drilling, I was with a bigger guy and some of the techniques weren’t great for our body types, but we made the best of it. The students were all friendly and happy to have a visitor on the mats, it was a fun time training with them. I wish I could have rolled with the class but I started to get a leg cramp near the end of class and had to sit out. I’ve found traveling so much as really put a lot of strain on my hips and legs, sitting on buses, planes, or trains for so long. I’ll have to remember to keep up with stretching my legs out and getting up and walking around on long trips, to keep from missing out on classes or rolling with the club.  

 

Mr. Roy Wood and The Snake Pit in Wigan

 

Originally when I was planning out my trip around the UK and Ireland I had the idea of taking the ferry over to Dublin from Liverpool. I thought that would be a cool idea and really just wanted to visit Liverpool. I couldn’t find any gyms and didn’t get any responses through friend on leads for places to stay or train at in my early planning. I was about to change my plans to stay in Manchester and look for gyms there, as I decided flying out of Manchester to Dublin would be easier and cheaper, when I got word from Nathan Hatton about Catch Wrestling in the area I should look up. After setting up some group chats I Facebook I had two contacts, one in Stockton-On-Tees that I will meet up with later, and one in Wigan, which is just outside of Manchester. I don’t know much about Catch Wrestling other than it’s submission wrestling style has been an influence on no gi grappling and Pro Wrestling has it’s roots in Catch Wrestling. Nathan, the literal professor on the history of grappling filled me in on the roots of Catch Wrestling and the significance of The Snake Pit and Mr. Roy Wood. So when I had the chance to meet up with and talk to a direct lineage to such an influential grappling sport, and the see place itself where so many greats have trained, I changed my plans again. I was only in town for two days and it happens that there are no classes on the weekend so I missed out on being able to attend a class, and Roy is a busy man with full jobs and a business to run, so we weren’t able to set up my camera to film an interview but I followed him around for an afternoon talking to him about Catch-As-Catch-Can and wrote down a bunch of notes to write up this segment.

One of Mr. Wood’s of skills, making molds and trophies.

I met Mr. Wood at a coffee shop in the center of Wigan, he was happy to meet up and talk about Catch Wrestling and all his achievements, but always stressed that it was just hobby to him. I found that was so crazy that the leading man running the Snake Pit, who is one of the last statesman of the art and has trained so many great talents only does it 3 nights a week as a hobby. Some of the achievements of the Snake Pit, either run by Roy Wood himself in the more recent years or by the original coach Billy Riley, include coaching a number of Pro-Wrestlers that have made it big on the WWE/F and WCW (such as Davey Boy Smith and ‘Dynamite Kid’ Tom Billington (other wise known as the tagteam the British Bulldogs) Davey Boy’s son Davey Boy Jr. and Oliver Claffey AKA Jack Gallagher) a well as a bunch before the WWE and WCW were created (such as Karl Gotch, Billie Robinson, and Thomas Moore AKA Jack Dempsey) training Olympic wrestler Maria Dunn for her 2012 Olympics run and training ‘The Gracie Hunter’ Kazushi Sakuraba. With that impressive list you can understand how I was shocked to learn the wasn’t a running camp everyday full of students.

A Poster of one of Roy Wood’s accomplishments.

I spent the day following Mr. Wood around as he conducted one of his day jobs, fixing pub machines. Roy Wood has a business that supplies pubs, restaurants and hotels with all equipment and maintains the machines they rent out, such as slot machines and pool tables. As we toured around town and talked Roy told me about starting off as a molder in a foundry, just like Billy Riley did himself. Wigan was a big mining town and according to Mr. Wood when he started out wrestling most the other students were miners, which added to the style getting a name for being rough the techniques being stiff, ‘We were known for being a rough crowd, no one would want to try anything with the Wigan lads’ he told me. During our talks he told me about the monthly seminars he puts on at the Snake Pit, where clubs from all over come to learn the old style and sharpen their techniques. Once Mr. Wood did a huge seminar over in Tokyo for the Japan wrestling league and was offered to stay and train them more, but decided to come back to Wigan. ‘Too many lights and cameras’ as he said.

Inside the actual Snake Pit, Mr Roy Wood is on the left.

‘Catch beats all!’ He would say, ‘Wrestlers don’t go to their back because they’re trained not to, BJJ players are trained to give up their back’ Words of a true die hard of their art. The debate of which is better, wrestling or BJJ will constantly be waged by either side but one cannot deny that Catch-As-Catch-Can has made an impression on the world of submission grappling. Thank you Mr. Wood for giving me a history lesson on the art of Catch Wrestling and The Snake Pit.

‘Downtown’ Wigan.

After meeting Mr Wood I had the day to pack my things and be off that night. I had a plane to catch in the morning but there was no transit in time before my flight, so it was an over night trip to the airport before taking over to Dublin Ireland, but that’s a story for next time!

Until next time,

see you on the mats!

OSSS!!

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My Year Long Adventure

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Balancing Work and Play While Abroad

In February, I embarked on a year-long adventure away from home, friends and family. I’ll be travelling to Asia, Europe and South America. I don’t have much saving to fall back on, but I’m lucky enough to work for an amazing advertising agency in California. They’re supporting me through this personally and culturally enriching undertaking by allowing me to pay my way and work for them remotely. So, I have to balance my adventures and partying with some productive time staring at a computer screen. It’s still better than a cubicle though. I’ve officially become one of those annoying digital nomads everyone hates that posts pictures of them “working” from a tropical beach.
 
Working on Koh Rong Samloem

Me sending a few emails from Koh Rong Samloem, a small tropical island in Cambodia.

 
I’m going to put in some solid hours for the agency and develop my professional skills during this trip. But, I’m stoked for the chance to test and hone my grappling skills with fellow BJJ fanatics all around the globe. As I visit 12 cities across three continents, I’ll make time between sightseeing and work to train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at every stop. Instead of jumping to from gym to gym, like the original BJJ Globetrotter, the plan is to take it a little slower and spend as much time in one gym as possible. That way I can get a more in-depth sense of their community and learn some of their favorite techniques. I’ll also take my gi with me on a few side trips and look for local gyms.

My Awesome Itinerary for the Year

If you know any good gyms in these cities let me know.
 
1 February—Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2 March—Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
3 April—Phnom Penh, Cambodia
4 May—Bangkok, Thailand
5 June—Belgrade, Serbia
6 July—Lisbon, Portugal
7 August—Prague, Czech Republic
8 September—Sofia, Bulgaria
9 October—Buenos Aires, Argentina
10 November—Cordoba, Argentina
11 December—Santiago, Chile
12 January—Lima, Peru
 
(I know I’m starting this blog a little late in my journey. I’ll make a post about my first international sparring session soon, which consisted of white belts mopping the matt with me in 32C heat and 80% humidity in Kuala Lumpur.)

BJJ: The Gentle Art that Eliminates Boundaries

I’ve been training in BJJ for about 7 years now at a handful of gyms across the United States. I’ve come to recognize an amazing, unifying factor of the gentle art: Everyone who sticks with it seems to become generally more at peace and happier in their day-to-day life.
 
Aspiring MMA fighters, ex-military members, energetically aggressive teenagers, single mothers — these are just a few descriptions of the eclectic bunch of friends I have called training partners throughout the years. Although they come from disparate backgrounds and have diverse motivations for training BJJ, every one of them has seemed to find more peace in their life after they stuck around long enough to earn a few stripes on their white belts.
 
Something transforms in them as they slowly progress on their individual BJJ paths. They find humility through defeats, relieve stress by chocking someone out, stimulate their minds with the chess game played with their bodies and gain self-confidence as they discover that they can do things they never thought were possible. All these lessons extend to life outside the gym to make them happier and more successful (however they define success in their lives).
 
These groups of unlikely friends, bonding and becoming better people through training, has been present at every gym I’ve sparred at in America. Now, I want to experience that same community at an international scale.
 
As I travel the world, I’m sure that I’ll find and embrace this same phenomenon existing across physical and cultural boundaries.
 
I’ll chronicle my amazing experiences with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners around the world and share some travel stories throughout the year on this blog.

And it’s on, like Donkey Kong!

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So, in the unlikely event you’re done reading the first, sort of explanatory blog, well, congrats, you’ve reached boss level. BTW, Jen hates video games, so don’t tell her that I made a video game reference on a blog that is ostensibly about her adventure. Also, her name is Jen, or Jennifer, but for the love of tiny baby jeebus, don’t spell it with two “n”s. I don’t know why this is important, but I have learnend that it is.  Like all good conversations, this one is likely to be steered towards BJJ. Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail is like Jiu Jitsu, honey….It takes a long time, and it can give you a sore neck. And often times you don’t smell so good. 

Speaking of, I sent Jen off yesterday morning, around 9. I can’t say what day, because my sister in law, Janet, is convinced that someone is going to read the blog, or my facebook posts, drive out to the middle of nowhere, hike multiple miles in difficult conditions, and attack my wife. I’d like to point out the number of murders on the PCT are, statistically speaking, lower than the number of alien abductions, also, lower than your chance of winning the Power Ball or having sex with whomever is on your freebie list. Yes, Ross Geller, I’m looking at you. 

Now, you might question my math, but here’s the proof. The number of people who have won the lottery is more than 0. People having sex with hot Italian actresses whom, while past their prime, are still more attractive than anybody reading, or writing, this blog. Or anybody on Friends. Seriously, I used to think Courtney Cox was pretty hot, but the neurosis……

Anyway, I digress, as I am wont to do. Also, then number of reported Alien abductions is also non-zero, and the fact that there is a lingering question of whether they happen or not still makes them more likely than getting murdered on the PCT. Not even crazy people think they got murdered on the PCT. 

So, Jen has a sore neck. I sent her off from the Mexican border wall, which frankly, looks like the Mexicans did pay for it, exactly the amount they think it’s worth. I walked with her for about a mile and a half, during which time she constantly fucked with her umbrella.

We had gotten up really early and driven in from San Diego, and it was hard to see her go, and well, frankly I don’t think I was at my best emotionally. I may have also had one more whiskey than I am accustomed too the night before, and well, the whole thing was stressful and sad, and she kept fucking with this umbrella. Also Bernardo tried to run off and join the fire department, who was a mile down the road carting some poor woman off who hurt her ankle and probably killed six months of planning in the first mile. 

 So I kissed her about an hour in, turned around, and headed back to the border with Mexico, while she began her walk towards the border with Canada. I headed back to San Diego, briefly thought about a nap, and instead opted to hit Jiu Jitsu.

I visited Barum BJJ, which is a stones throw, but a fifteen minute drive, from my Trailer Park Paradise. Seriously California, for a state that worships the car, you sure make it hard to drive one. Anyway, most of the good schools I’ve visited are in tucked away pockets, with no glitz and no glamour.

I’ve trained in a garage with a member of the Dirty Dozen, and in a broken down strip mall with a bunch of amazing Kauai players. My favorite is the BJJ Class taught by Daniel Thomas in a kung fu studio in Monterey. This is one of those places. Guys show up ten minutes late, the place is in an industrial park, nothing fancy. Ah, but the Jiu Jitsu. Solid, fundamentally sound, those little tweaks that you wished you had known five years ago. 

I just got my Purple Belt on Saturday, and this was my first time actually training since then.

I was nervous. Heavy is the waist that wears the purple, and I was visiting a town full of killers. This school is good, but man, they’re also really cool. They work on the theory that you get better if you’re not thinking murder or be murdered all the time. We all need a little mayhem and chaos, but I’m fifty, and well, I like to roll, and as much as I’m filled with thoughts of homicide, it’s nice to have really technical rolls with good people. And that’s what I got. Okay, enough BJJ for today, which is how I felt after rolling for ninety minutes. 

She had planned on a short day, about 5 miles, and I got a text saying that she had reached that point, at 12:30. She set up her tent, a light weight miracle made by Z-packs which cost more than a semester at a State College here, and tucked in. 

That lasted about 60 sweaty, bright minutes. She ate some lunch, packed up, and walked another five. Honestly, although she deviated from the don’t do too much plan, I’m proud of her. I’m also slightly, guiltily, experiencing some schadenfreude. She told me last night that the goddamn umbrella had made her neck hurt. Of course, so did mine, but I didn’t tell her that. 

Stop, Walk, and Roll

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We all have passions, and in life, we often share those passions with the ones we love. Or at least try to. Often with limited success. A great marriage, I believe, is based on the ability to feign just enough interest to keep your spouse feeling loved, without making them believe that you’d actually engage in the activity they suggested on more than a token level.  That way they won’t be surprised when you don’t like their favorite movies (seriously, Raging Bull vs. Pride and Prejudice. Oh, Mr. Darcy, can you imagine?) And so it is with the adventures chronicled in this blog.

Sometime around 2010, my soon to be wife, Super Jen, and I moved to Reno, NV.  I had trained martial arts a little here and there, and wanted Jen to learn some self-defense, since Reno in the 2010 days was sketchy a.f., more like crappy parts of Portland than the hipster paradise it’s becoming today. I found a school that was less Kobra Kai than most, and seemed really woman friendly, and signed us up. Since we were newly wed, she hadn’t learned the proper balance of feigning interest vs. not ever doing that stupid stuff again, and she tried gamely to fake her way all the way to green belt, or mid-beginner. 

I knew it was over when she broke in to tears and refused to try and punch me in the face. I felt that meant she loved me deeply, and also had zero faith in my defensive skills. I was touched, and emasculated. I vowed then to train harder and improve my skills, so that  my dear, sweet wife could try and punch me without fear or regret. I figured it was coming anyway, so I might as well prepare myself. 

After about four years, give or take, I earned a black belt in our schools’ program, which included a pretty tough six month black belt test. Say what you will about traditional martial arts, I say it too, but this school really took their training seriously, without being an MMA factory. Which brings us to the Jiu Jitsu part. This school teaches a balance of TMA with forms, flashy kicking, and other such old school stuff, with self-defense, muay thai combos and padwork, sparring, and BJJ. Along the way, I fell in love with the gentle art of choking, smashing and joint bending, and after I got my black belt, I pretty much quit with the jumping and spinning and the yelling in Korean. 

I never really tried to get Super into Jiu Jitsu, it was much more intense, focused on killing the other guy. In TKD and other arts, you can go, train, jump around in your pajamas, kick pads, whatever, and never touch another human, let alone hear him exhale loudly in pain or make that weird gurgling noise when it’s close but not quite right. BJJ, is by its very essence, practiced on someone who is desperately, and sometimes skillfully, trying not to let you do the very thing you’re trying to learn to do. Slap hands, fist bump, simulate murder. Although I don’t get why, I knew she’d never go for it. 

Of course, this blog won’t be just about my Jiu Jitsu travels and journey, it is also about Jens’ passion, which I show a mild interest in and avoid getting sucked into at the high level she’s involved. Her passion is the reason I’m traveling around the West Coast from California to Canada, rolling, stinking, choking, loving. Jen is hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Yeah, like the girl from Wild, but with a much better backpack and fewer emotional issues. Not to say none, but man, that girl was a mess. 

Jen somehow got the bug from a disastrous but eventually triumphant trip up Half Dome, or Half-a-dome as she insists on calling it. 

We got a permit to go with our friend Joe!, who had hiked the PCT back before it was cool. I put a light day pack on Jen, a huge backpack on me, and she cried and hated every minute of the three day trip, except the Half Dome part, which in all fairness, scared the shit out of me. She loved it. Hated backpacking loved hiking. Then Joe told her to get a real backpack, so we did, and started doing over night trips around Tahoe, where we live. 

I don’t think she would’ve ever taken to it but for one thing. Well, maybe a couple or a few, but one 1 thing sealed the deal. Jen is an Idaho girl, so tougher and more used to outdoors stuff than most. River rat, mountain biker, general Idaho tough girl. Jen is also a recovering Mormon, and those people just seem bred to walk. I think they marry each other with an eye towards offspring that can walk long distances in white shirts and black ties, carrying the collected words of Joseph Smith in their knapsacks. She can walk. Most importantly, Marley likes backpacking.

Marley is our blue eyed, twenty pound shih tzu, looks like a stuffed animal made love to a muppet, and he can go like a Jack London wolf-dog in the woods. Jen LOVES Marley. So, once Marley was on-board with the hiking and tenting and camping, I didn’t have much choice. 

I don’t know how the PCT dream really got planted. I remember her asking me if I wanted to go. I told her that I couldn’t wait to hear all about it. The more she talked about it, the clearer it became that 1: I didn’t want to go and 2: I didn’t really want her to go by herself. You see, I love my wife, and I miss her. I’m that one in the relationship for sure. Make of that what you will. It didn’t come from the Cheryl Strayed, and it didn’t come from Reese Witherspoon, I think it came from Joe, but by the summer of 2016, it was cemented in.

And that, is how we got here, me sitting in a trailer in San Diego, two dogs, a half dozen gi’s, and a bunch of dried food, following Super Jen from Mexico to Canada. This blog is called STOP, WALK, And ROLL, and we’ll be doing a lot of all three. 

Training report: Wave BJJ (London)

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Greetings from London England!

looks like a slow day in customs…

I made it! I’m actually in London England! Although I just spent the last 4 months traveling across Canada I really feel like my journey has only now just begun. In a way it has, this is first time being in Europe where I have no old friends or family members to meet up with. This is the land with each city full of history and sights equal to that of all of Canada. This is the start of the European Odyssey!

The sights!

I took some time to see some of the sights in London, seeing Big Ben and Buckingham Palace were an obvious must but I really didn’t know what else I would see.

Buckingham Palace.

Victoria Memorial.

Big Ben.

The Wellington Arch.

Royal Artillery Memorial. There are several memorials around for different units.

After my first night to class I met a fellow jiiu-jitsuero, Steve, who happens to work security at the Tower of London and he offered me a pass in to see the sight and get on one of the tours with a Beefeater telling us of the history of the place. I couldn’t pass it up! I made my way to the tower after class one day and got there just in time to jump in on a tour.

Our Beefeater guide. He was really great.

The Crown Jewels, it’s basically a giant vault inside.

The last of the real Tudor Houses, all others have been burned down during different events over the years.

After the tour I walked around and took a bunch of pictures and even got to see the Crown Jewels. I would have loved to take pictures of the vault that they are stored in, because the eight inch thick doors you pass through are both impressive and intimidating, but I doubted that would have looked very good on the security tapes, someone walking around taking pictures of the security measures.

The dungeon. The Rack.

And the Manacles.

The Tower of London or White Tower.

Tower Bridge.

Granted there’s still a lot of sights for me to see in London but the Tower of London is top my of list of places you have to go to when you visit!

 

Steve, my jiu-jitsu friend, thanks for the tour!

Wave BJJ 

During this stay in London I was only able to make it out to one club. I say ‘only’ because I was hoping to make it out to Roger Gracie’s Academy but the weekend schedule didn’t match up with what else what going on. There are a large number of BJJ clubs in London and no matter how many I make it out it will still be saying I ‘only’ made it to these clubs. Anyways, my first night out was to the Wave BJJ’s east location at the Elephant & Castle club. It’s a smaller spot, with them renting out an art exhibit room and throwing down puzzle mats for the class. The whole location has a art vibe, with the building around them being a number of sea containers stacked together and turned into shops. The room they rent out is all windows and being in the location there is a lot of foot traffic, as one of the students said, you feel like you are art of an art display. It’s actually a nice spot and cool little place.

I showed up and introduced myself, asking if Lorenzo, the head coach, was around. I was told he was not but knowing him was good enough to be allowed into to class, I would have to wait for the weekend to meet Lorenzo. In fact none of the people I had talked to online were at this class, which was kind of disappointing as I wanted to meet everyone, but I had a great time all the same and met a wonderful new group of friends. I was feeling a bit rough from the flight over so I skipped on rolling that night. I did not, however, skip on joining the class to the pub afterwards. I grabbed myself a Coke and joined in with the conversations, talking about all things from Jiu-Jitsu and traveling to current politics. It was a great first night out to a club in London!

The Elephant & Castle location, small but a lot going on!

Hanging out at the pub after class!

The next day I would be going to Wave BJJ’s home location, the HQ, in Chiswick. It’s a easy club to miss if you don’t know exactly where it is. You come out of the train station and directly beside the station is a small narrow path that follows along beside the train tracks. I missed this path at first but thanks to Google maps on my phone was able to see that and back track and find it. Then while walking down this path you see different stores under the arches of the train tracks, Wave BJJ doesn’t have a sign in the window, not when I visited them anyways, but I was able to see the mats through the bare windows and someone in a rashguard and gi pants, I correctly guessed this must be the place.

The Chiswick location.

wave bjj

It’s actually a really cool setup WBJJ has. Other than being under the train tracks there are stairs that go up a floor that overlooks the mats and makes for some cool group pictures, it’s also where the guys change. The main floor has a wall that is completely mirrored, as it used to the a dance academy. It’s an open rectangular space that is well suited for the classes they conduct. After warm up we got into drilling some techniques that dealt with using some different grips from what I’m used to that made the technique almost completely new to me again. After drilling we got into some positional rolling, starting in guard and either passing or sweeping. The students were all good people, they were friendly and fun to train with, lots of fun was had. I returned again for an open mat and rolled with all sorts of people. Apparently they get students from all over come in, as I found out after I was schooled by a 10th Planet student “white belt”. I even got invited out to a few gyms, which I’ve have to look up when I’m in London again. The open mat was a of of fun and I could plainly see the philosophy of club: everyone is welcome.

A view from the top!

Jaiveer, met him on BJJ Globetrotters, finally got to train with him!

Prof. Lorenzo Fraquelli

After open mat Prof. Lorenzo and I sat down and did an interview. This is first interview of a black belt who actively is a part of BJJ Globetrotters so I wanted to talk to him about how that influenced his club as well as his own philosophy. We had a fun chat about his Jiu-Jitsu journey and running the club and what BJJ means to him. You can watch the video over on the Panda’s Odyssey YouTube Channel and watch it there. Don’t forget to show some love and like, comment, share and subscribe!

Prof. Lorenzo and I.

That’s it for London for now. I only spent a few days in the city this time around but when I return I’ll be there for a week and hope to get out and check out a lot of more clubs. in the mean time the rest of the UK and Ireland await!

Bags packed and on my way to the next adventure!

OSSS!!Until next time, see you on the mats!

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Birthplace of BJJ

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I am finally back in Rio. It took me a year to come back. I am staying right in the middle of Rio, at the border between Copacabana and Ipanema, because there a range of different Academies to choose, just to name a couple, Felipe Costa’s, Terrere’s, Checkmat and DeLaRiva. For me as a lighter guy I went with Felipe Costa, but planning in dropping in at some other Academies. 
 
Rio is Rio, chaotic but organised in his own way, and such a great place to be with all the good things, like beach, amazing food and much better weather than Europe! 
 
If you choose Airbnb, be prepared that not everything works fine all the time, you have to deal with a 20 year old laundry machine and some Mosquitos. As Jujitsu guy that trains twice a day means a lot of laundry, so I go with hand wash to beat up my hands even more. Sure you can use that later in life!
 
The first Saturday I arrived, I got lucky and had an open mat from all the Brasa-Team of Rio. There were so many higher belts on the mat, it was just amazing! The only down thing is the heat, it takes some time to get used to it and the first day you will be drenched like nothing before. The experience to be able to do something like that is just unbelievable!

San José, Costa Rica. Cans of whoopass on sale!

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I had met Diego when I trained at Santa Teresa and he told me he owned a hostel in San José and invited me to stay there when I would go. So when I show up in San José I go straight to the hostel. The receptionist was already expecting me and told me that he also trained BJJ, apparently more then half the staff members trained at Athletic Advance. My stay there was amazing and I recommend anyone who’s travelling through San José to check out The Garden Guesthouse!

For San José I had nothing planned except at least 2 classes on Monday and Tuesday. I show up at noon for Monday’s gi class with the impression that it would be pretty technical training and the next day would be competition training. We start with drilling 2 short techniques and then, what do you know, it’s 10×6 minute of rolls. Oh boy, after being on the road for so long without consistent training it was hard but I did manage to last all the rounds, got my ass handed to me a few times but I was happy with my rolls.

Tuesday arrives and I decided to rest till 7pm when the training was. I show up and the gym is full of people with all belt colours, laughing and joking in Spanish. I could feel everybody was gearing up mentally for the training, things were gonna get interesting. We did a high pace short warm-up and then 10 rounds of 6 minutes on the clock again. I look across the room and nobody looks back except a familiar face, Kuba who I trained with in Jacó was there. Of course he just sweeps the floor with me, giving this training a great start. For the next rounds I roll with few people, nobody holding anything back, especially against the new gringo. All of those people were good as well, from blue belt to black belts. I was exhausted and not sure I would make it through the training. For the 9th round I give up, I needed a break. For the 10th I gathered everything that I had left and picked a partner to roll with. After that round I was left lying on the mats close to death after 2 taps in that round. Then I hear “UNO MAS!”… they were going one more round. I just couldn’t, knowing that I already past my limits and reminding myself that I wasn’t in as good of a shape as when I trained 2x times a day.

I go back to the hostel exhausted but stuck with a smile on my face. That training was what I needed. I gave it a serious thought to stay for the whole week and training with those beasts for longer but in the end I wasn’t ready to give up the plans I had. The next weeks I would be making my way down south and through Panama, taking a little break from training. I do however plan to visit at least 2 gyms in south of Panama.

Training Report: Yamasaki BJJ Academy in Gothenburg, Sweden

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A little while ago, I traveled to Gothenburg, Sweden on business. Gothenburg is located on the west coast, in southwestern Sweden, about halfway between the capitals Copenhagen, Denmark, and Oslo, Norway. It is the second largest city in Sweden and enjoys a mild climate with quite a bit of rain.

This wasn’t my first time in beautiful Gothenburg, but it was the first time that I brought my training gear with me. Before leaving, I of course consulted with my friends and the internet and found an academy that sounded very open to visitors, had a well known prof and had the right training schedule that fit my timeline. I sent a message to Prof Pilo Stylin at the Yamasaki Academy located here, and asked permission to train on the Wednesday night that I was free. I got a very quick reply back allowing me to train.

As usual, I stayed at the closest Scandic hotel to the academy, which was only about 400 m away. This ended up being very good luck as of course, it was raining cats and dogs that evening!

I arrived to the academy about 30 minutes early so I could work out where to go but there was no need really. The facility was well laid out and everything was quite easy to figure out. I was greeted warmly in the reception when I walked in and that first impression was reflected by everyone that I met that night.

I proceeded to change and make my way to the tatami. It was a really large and impressive hall! There were going to be 2 classes that night running at the same time, beginners and advanced and there was plenty of room for both. I was permitted to train with the advanced group which was great. Some academies are very strict about their advanced classes, not allowing white belts of any rank in.

Prof Pilo started the class and we gathered for what I thought was going to be the warm-up but we all knelt and did some relaxing breathing and yoga style stretching techniques. That was a first for me and I really enjoyed it. We then broke into pairs and Pilo ran off to the side of the room asking us to wait for a second. He came back with a box full of small wooden balls and gave us 2 each…at this point I was perplexed, wondering what the heck they were for.

We were instructed to hold one in each hand and start sparring with our partner. The goal was to get the opponent down without dropping either ball. Well, I tell you, that was HARD! Try fighting in a gi and not being able to use hands or fingers for that matter. I absolutely loved it. What a refreshing, innovative way to warm up.

We sparred like this, changing partners every few minutes until we were all warmed up. It was time to practice drills. There was a tournament coming up and they wanted to drill double leg takedowns and double leg takedown defence. We drilled the double legs first with different variations, then started on the sprawl to counter it. I had no idea just how physically challenging it is to drill this relentlessly for 30 minutes straight…I was shaking after that workout!

We were given a couple of minutes to wipe off and get a drink, then right into 45 minutes of rolling. I was so impressed with the skill level of everyone there, no matter what belt they wore. I can also admit that I have never been “spider guarded” more in my life and I learned a valuable lesson that night…I have NO defence whatsoever against a good spider guard! (something I have been since working on) I left there that evening, purple as a plum but extremely satisfied.

All in all, it was an amazing experience where I met more new friends through BJJ. Pilo has been very active competitively and is a legend in his own right. He was so open and friendly, helpful and skilled in his teaching that I will definitely be back.

If you are ever in Gothenburg, Sweden, I highly recommend visiting the Yamasaki Academy for a great training session.

Stay tuned for my next article where I write about the next academy I visit on my travels!

Osss!