Last Week Training In Eastbourne

Only one week left till I get on a plane and fly to Bahrain! Its a bitter sweet moment as I am looking forward to seeing all my family and being at home again, but at the same time I am going to miss all the guys from BTT Eastbourne. It has been a kick ass year in terms of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and I have learnt so much, and made many friends! We have gone from that very first class at Canton Martial Arts where there were just 4-6 people, to having regularly over 20 people on the mats and it has been great to be part of all of it. Seeing these guys day after day on the mats has made many of them much more than training partners and I feel I have found some very good friends over the past year. While I won't be around as, I know I will always have a team to train with whenever I find myself in the UK. Thanks guys you know who you are!

Personally, I feel I have gone from knowing a few moves and not really understanding the rules of BJJ, to having my own solid game plan and a good understanding of what this whole world is about. I have had a good taste of competition and am beginning to really enjoy both the mental as well as the physical side of jiujitsu.

Luckily, I will be able to continue training once I get to Bahrain, under Joe Moriera lineage black belt Reza Monfaradi. This is another amazing team with a very high level of jijitsu, and I can't wait to spend another year training with more top tier guys!

Tatami Gi Review

I Ordered a BBJ Competition gi from Tatami fightwear in black A2. The website says it is made from a single piece of gold weave competition standard material. Was pleasantly surprised how quick it got here - just two days! Initial impressions? This thing is huge! The trousers fit pretty good and were a bit on the baggy side but that was to be expected, but the jacket was crazy big! The sleeves were a bit long and the skirt of the jacket was longer than any of my other gis. However I didn't despair as I knew I could shrink it down to size (probably what the company expects its customers to do :P).



I started off by soaking it in a cold bath of water for a couple hours to get rid of any extra dye. Some people suggested adding some white vinegar to the bath water to help set the colour but, as usual, I didn't have any on hand. I am not sure if this works or not but it can't hurt to try. After the bath the gi went on a 90 minute cotton wash at 40 degrees Celsius. I was tempted to put it on a higher temperature but figured I still needed to dry it over a couple hot cycles in the dryer and didn't want to risk over shrinking it. Once this was done I stuck the gi into the dryer, checking it every 10 minutes to see how it the size was. The trousers needed around 15 minutes before they fit well, while the jacket needed 25 minutes. Was very relieved when I realised that it was going to fit me and not be way too big as I initially thought.



After the gi had been washed and tumble dried to fit, I tried it back on. The sleeves fit quite well, reaching just short of my wrists when my arms were outstretched. The shoulder area was a bit big when compared to my Koral or Feral gis, but fit much better than before I shrunk it. The one thing I don't like about the Tatami gi is that the skirt of the jacket is very long! I didn't risk shrinking the gi anymore as the sleeves would have been too short, but I would have liked to get the bottom part of the jacket shorter. I left the gi slightly on a the big side just in case it will shrink anymore after a few more washes.



The gi has some nice patches running down the front of the jacket and across the shoulder area. Also there is a nice Brazilian flag patch located on the back of the jacket. On the rear of the skirt area of the jacket there is another Tatami fightwear patch. I think that with a 'competitor' patch and a club patch, the back of this gi will look pimped!



Overall, this is a nice gi at a very low price. It seems to be made of a high quality material and looks pretty slick. However, I think anyone shorter than 175cm and A2 would find it very long in the jacket/ skirt length. The shoulder area was quite large on me, even after shrinking, It seems to be made for taller, mesomorph type bodies. Apart from this, a very good gi!



Rach is going to do her own Tatami fightwear gi review very soon so keep an eye on her blog to read a bit more about this brand:

www.catfacebjj.blogspot.com

Normal World Fridays

Last two days have been no jits days. Usually I manage to get an informal session in with some of the guys down at Canton where we meet up without an instructor, drill a few moves and then roll for however long. But this week it didn't happen so I have deprived of training for 48 hours! This led to me doing a bunch of random bits and bobs which needed doing. Since me and Rach are moving back to Bahrain in less than two weeks, I spent most of the time sorting out my clothes, paintings, cooking books and all my other things so I can decide what I want to take with me immediately, what to ship and what to leave behind or give away.

Also my new Tatami gi arrived yesterday so managed to it down to size. It looks pretty slick with some nice patches on it and the material feels pretty good, but thats a post for another day! I was a bit skeptical about getting a black gi as I always felt that a black gi should be reserved for higher belts, but since both schools I train at are allowing them I figured what the hell!

Another thing on the cards is a one day trip to Amsterdam to sort out some family business (and possibly indulge in some perfectly legal substance abuse!). Booked my tickets on EasyJet and I'll be heading out this Thursday. Unfortunately I will need to spend a night sleeping at Gatwick Airport as my flight leaves early in the morning and the trains won;t get me there on time.

On a less positive note, Thursday is the designated day where I can break from my usual diet and go out to a restaurant with Rach and eat whatever I want, but all this extra imposed time off led to me eating more than my fair share this week via an Indian takeaway, several pastries, a huge chocolate chip cookie and not too long ago a crazy big plate of fish and chips! I'm not sure why but on the days I don't train I crave junk food much more than the days I am training. Oh well, will need to fit in a few extra runs or gym sessions this week and all should be good!

To continue with the complete random direction this post is taking, I have started watching two TV series which are really great. These are 'True Blood' and 'Burn Notice' ... highly recommended for non juijitsu days! Anyway, the intro clip for True Blood is freakin awesome! Its weird, religious, sick, time distorting, vampire goodness. Oh, and the sound track is sweet! Check it out:

Deep Half Guard Sweeps

Over the last few competitions I was really struggling to connect my top game to my bottom game. While I was scoring points and getting submissions on top, if I ended up on bottom in guard I was finding it hard to end up back on top. I started looking at different solutions and various positions to initiate sweeps so I could have a 'complete' plan. After trying a few different things, Tolly let me borrow his Marcelo Garcia X guard book. What a cool book! Loads of cool moves in there and a nice biography on Garcia. Some nice pictures too. However, after trying out a few of the moves, I quickly realised that for me to develop any sort of X guard game, I first needed to refine and improve my guard game (which is exactly what Marcelo Garcia reccomends in his book). And that got me thinking about delving into half guard...

However, practicing 'half guard' would seem to be a very, very broad statement. Within 'the half guard' there is deep half guard, quarter half guard, Z guard, butterfly half guard and a bunch of other ones I am sure I havn't come across yet! After messing around with a few of the different positions, I decided to dedicate a couple months to the deep half guard. Check out these cool sweeps :)














These sweeps have been great fun and I feel they have made me really comfortable in half guard. There seems to be so much to do from this position! Anyway I just wanted to post these videos, more for myself so I can find them easier than anything else.

Tatami Gi Review coming up!

Since me and Rach are heading back to Bahrain in a couple weeks as we both have finished our university courses here in the UK, we both agreed we needed to go back with a good stock of gis, as they are hard to come across in the Middle East! Seeing as I have been pretty much broke for the past month, my selection was limited to UK based companies (due to lower shipping costs and shorter mailing time) and heavily influenced by price range. The best deal that I could find was between the Tatami fightwear competition gi and the Feral fightear gi. I briefly considered a Faixa Rua gi, but as far as I am aware they don't do them in black! And seeing as I have a Feral gi already, I decided to go for the Tatami one. I wasn't a huge fan of the white trim on the sleeves of their forte BJJ gi series, but this was of little concern as I decided to go with their Competition BJJ gi series, which is all black. Rach ordered one as well so hopefully there will be two new reviews floating around the web in the next couple of days! Check this space for updates!

Where to find BJJ Gis in the UK

I keep having this dilemma of browsing for new gis online and finding some really kick ass ones, only to find out that the shipping is almost the same price as the gi! However, there are a bunch of online retailers based in the UK or Europe who sell top quality kimonos. Since I am planning to buy a few more gis in the near future, I thought I'd put up what I find and, where possible, give a quick review of the gi in question :)



Feral Gis
This is an ebay based company that sells single weave gis for just 45 pounds, with shipping included! I have had my Feral gi for a couple months now and am very happy with it. They are NOT preshrunk, so I highly recommend buying a size up. I originally bought an A2 size and this turned out to be a bit on the small side, even though my A2 Koral gi fits perfectly. I am definitely going to get another Feral gi as they are a great design, good quality and amazing price, but this time an A3. Also, the customer service is excellent with Mr Feral answering emails almost straight away. A few posts down is a more in depth review of my feral gi if anyone wants to read anymore on them. To find them just plug Feral GI into the ebay search and they will come up!



Koral Lightweight Gis
My first gi was a Koral double weave which has been great! I've worn it to all my competitions and for many months it was my only gi so its had its fair share of being worn, yet it still holds up great. The MKM series and double weave all sell for between 105-140 pounds, which is a bit steep for me these days, but for those interested in getting a very good gi and have money to spare I would definitely recommend them. The new Koral lightweight gis also look pretty slick and come in at 80 pounds. I managed to try this gi on at the last competition and was very happy with how it fit and looked! both the MKM double weave series and the lightweight series can be found at www.grabandpull.co.uk If you want a seriously flash Koral gi (e.g.: camo, red, urban, etc) www.mmafightwear.com sells them for around 150 quid.



Faixa Rua Classico Gis
I am not too familiar with these gis, but I have heard good things about them! At 60 pounds a pop, they are a great price. I'm not going to say too much on these, as Meerkatsu has an insane review for this gi. Enough said. Here is the link:

http://meerkat69.blogspot.com/2009/07/geek-gi-review-faixa-rua-classico.html

If you like these gis you can get them at www.faixarua.net



Big Dog Fightwear Gis
This is a brand new company based in the UK with some hot stuff. Since they are based out of Eastbourne, alot of the BJJ, MMA and Muay Thai schools in the local area have been getting alot of exposure to their products. They have a huge range of great stuff, from hoodies and T shirts to BJJ gis and MMA gloves. At least 5-6 of the guys at BTT Eastbourne have bought some of these and the gis look gooooood! The black gi is especially nice and has some nice patches in the form of Brazilian and UK flags, and a cool company logo. I don't own one of these gis so can't give an in depth review and they havn't been around long enough to see how the gis stand the test of time, but they definitely look promising! At just under 80 pounds its another great bargain for someone looking for a high quality gi that looks good and is a reasonable price! Check out there stuff at www.bigdogzfightwear.bigcartel.com



Blitz Lutador BJJ Gi
Personally, I am not a fan of these gis. This was the only gi available at our club when BJJ first started so alot of the guys have them. The patches seem to come off and the fit seems to be a bit baggy on most guys. Priced at just over 60 pounds, there are plenty of other gis which are higher quality and look better for less money. Here is the link http://www.blitzsport.com/Products/Adult-Jujitsu-Suits_2



Manto BJJ Gi
I like these! No one I know owns one, but I have tried them on at the British Open competition as they had a stand there. Fit was nice and snug with no wizard sleeves or baggy armpits! The design looks nice and the logo kick ass! I have a Manto BJJ T shirt which I think is great and if the gi is anything like that then this will be a quality gi. http://www.fightshop.com/GIS-Category-156.html



Lucky Gis
Do I need to say more? Probably the coolest gis ever made! Excellent design with loads of cool bits. Amazing print on the inside of the gi, ace of spaces on the wrist, 'get off my back' printed on the rear of the jacket and other cool bits and bobs. Some subtle but sweet colour schemes such as black with red and a brand new blue one too! However, priced at 200 pounds these gis will leave a huge hole in your financial pocket. If anyone wants to get me a Christmas present, you need go no further :) find them at www.mmafightwear.net/gis



Tatami Fightwear Gis
Again, priced at 45 pounds you can't ask for more. Simple, clean designs with a nice trim on sleeves and the bottom of the jacket. Plus, you can buy a kick ass red gi for 50 pounds! You also get a free gi bag with any gi purchase. I can comment on quality or fit as I don't own one, but these are definitely tempting me if I don't go for another Feral. Find them at www.tatamifightwear.com

Edit - red gis do not look good




Black Eagle Gis
Not a huge fan of these. They seem to fade loads from the original colour and the patches are not that great. Then again, it may be that the only ones I have come across are old and have been used for ages! If they want to send me a free gi to review I would be happy to :) www.black-eagle.co.uk

Eastbourne BJJ

Just thought I'd do a quick post on where are the places to train Brazilian jiujitsu in Eastbourne. There seems to be alot of new people coming to class these days so it might help a few more find their way to the various schools. As far as I am aware, everyone in Eastbourne trains under T, currently a purple belt under Ze Marcello of Brazilian Top Team.

At the moment, classes run out of Canton Martial Arts (101 Bourne Street) three times a week and last for 90 minutes. Mondays and Wednesdays start at 8.30pm, Saturdays at 1230. There are also Muay Thai and a small MMA class at the same facilities for those interested.

On Saturdays there is an open mat class run out of Sparta MMA Gym (37 Vine Street), another Brazilian Top Team affiliate. The class is usually run by either T, Adam or the highest belt that shows up. It starts at 2.30pm, but sometimes starts a bit later as if the Canton class runs over then it takes a bit of time for people to wonder over to the Sparta Gym. The Sparta Gym also has a daily MMA/ wrestling class (apart from on Sundays) which starts at 8.30pm.

For those looking to train more than the 3-4 sessions currently available, there are a few of us who go up to Slough with T two or three times a week to train with the Brazilian Top Team under Ze Marcello. Usually this is on Tuesdays and Sundays, but can also be on Thursdays sometimes. Its a long drive but the quality and level of BJJ is well worth the travelling!

And thats about it really! Its a bit scattered all over the place but there is somewhere to train almost everyday of the week! On top of this, we regularly get 3-4 people together who want to do some extra rolling and meet up at one of the gyms, organising a time suitable for everyone in advance. Here is a summary:

Monday: 830pm Canton Martial Arts
Tuesday: 640pm (leaving time) BTT Slough
Wednesday: 830pm Canton Martial Arts
Thursday: 640pm (leaving time) BTT Slough
Friday:
Saturday: 1230 Canton Martial Arts, 230pm Sparta Gym
Sunday: 930am (leaving time) BTT Slough