The only people who do not have an aversion towards politics are the politicians, or people looking to become politicians. And this does not only apply to global politics. It is the same in every walk of life, where there’s enough structure to allow for the formation of politics. Unfortunately, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has not been spared of its fair share of politics too. In fact, there’s too much of it. And if there’s one thing we can really do without, then it has to be Jiu-jitsu politics.
To be fair to Jiu-Jitsu politics (just this once) they did help shape some things. However, in the long run, politics really just interfere with what Jiu-Jitsu should be about – fun. Politics can help settle things, that’ true, but they’re all things crated by politics themselves. In fact, we have different kinds of politics within the sport. Similarly to any other kind of politics, only those involved really like to keep on going with the concept. If there’ son thing most people are united about in BJJ, is that we need less politics.
Team Politics
Team politics is probably the one thing that’s really affecting Jiu-Jitsu as a whole more than any other type. It may seem like a local thing, but it is far more than just that. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a sport that’s constantly evolving, and it has a lot more evolving to do. Every single student contributes to the evolution of Jiu-Jitsu at one point or another. In order to do that, people need to train with as many different training partners as possible. This is where Jiu-Jitsu politics mess things up.
The concept of “Creonte” in BJJ states that a student can’t train in two different academies at the same time. It is a dumb one, but it does still hold value in the BJJ world. In fact, people really hate being branded a Creonte. In other words, if you have three options to train in your city, you’ll probably have to only pick one. The funny thing is that he has nothing to do with direct rivalry or competitions since you can’t really learn all the “secrets” of every team. instead of being able to really speed up your progress, you have to settle in one academy, and leave completely and be branded a traitor if you’d like to check out what’s going on in another.
Another aspect of team politics is on a grander scale with the largest competitor teams in the world. They all have their own academy politics that, by association (via the BJJ affiliation issue) extend to any academies around the world. The catch here is that people from Atos and Checkmat (just examples) in a European city are far from the same as the headquarters of both teams. Why should a quarrel, misunderstanding, or whatever other political issue HQs have, extend to all affiliates as well?
Organization Politics
This is an aspect of Jiu-jitsu politics that we all know. There are several huge organizations out there that pretty much dictate what happens in the BJJ world. I’m talking both in terms of what happens at tournaments, and what happens within academies. These organizations have transformed themselves into self-proclaimed governing bodies that dictate rules simply because they have the resources to do so. They organize the most events in a year, and their “rules and regulations” are what people follow when training all around the world.
As with every other type of politics out there, there are different streams. This causes an even bigger gap between people, once again due to the demand imposed by others. I personally know of cases where people that enjoy training everything were forced to train along some of the more restrictive rulesets out there. Why not keep it simple and let people train Jiu-Jitsu as it is supposed to be trained? Whoever likes to compete under a certain rule set, or at specific tournaments, can shape their training around them.
Furthermore, these huge organizations and their JIu-Jitsu politics rally do affect how much people can compete,. Outside of the rally small percentage of pro-Jiu-Jitsu athletes, amateurs have to pay. Politics keep making it more and more difficult, increasing the fees, for everything, from tournament entries to the type of Gis you have to get in order to train at an academy or to be able to compete. It has to do with even more profit, which is politics 101.
Global Jiu-Jitsu Politics
Of course, there is also a global aspect to Jiu-Jitsu politics as well. They have to do with BJJ hierarchy and lineage, and how belts area warded. Sometimes, they even have to do with how classes are organized and academies are run. This once again brings us to affiliations, which has its roots in team Jiu-jitsu politics.
The thing with promotions is that the governing bodies of BJJ (sell-proclaimed, remember?) state that only inspectors of a certain rank can promote another student to a black belt. This makes sense, but it does centralize power once again, lading towards a few who represent certain political streams. If someone is at black belt level, another black belt should be able to recognize it and promote a person.
Sometimes, this extends so far as to deny people the belt they have, simply by association with another professor/coach. Probably the dumbest aspect of BJJ politics if you ask me. Certainly, fake black belts have proved to be an issue, but they’re weeded out pretty quickly and dealt with. Plus, there are now platforms that offer a peer-to-peer based evaluation of your skills, where people that know you can vouch for how long you’ve been training and what belt you are. Things can be simple, instead of being overly complicated by Jiu-Jitsu politics. it just doesn’t fit the ones that have the resources and abilities to rally affect the entire sport.
Closing Arguments
Just to make one thing clear, rivalry is a good thing, and we need it. Rivalry between teams, between individuals, even organizations. It drives everyone forward, including the entire sport of BJJ. However, we need sports rivalries, rather than political ones. Going with your head against a wall just because someone in Brazil said something to someone else 50 years ago makes no sense to me. But, then again, neither do most of the Jiu-Jitsu politics. let’s keep BJJ simple, and kick all politics to the curb.
I could probably write a book (short e-book that is) on the subject of 
The Shootfighting we know today, developed later on when an American named Bart Vale coined the term. He fought for the “Professional Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi”, a Japanese shoot-wrestling promotion, and was their champion for several years in the 80s. Back in the USA, he used the term Shootfighting to describe his own hybrid style, which introduced Kenpo and 
The first things of note are submissions. Compared to BJJ subs, they are much more brutal, fast and seem to contain less complicated details. In that sense, they’re more like 
My personal favorite. Once an opponent sets up a BJJ Toreando pass (i.e. you see or feel both grips on the pants), go for a cross collar grip. Most often, if you’re in a seated guard this will be easy, as opponents have to lean over to get the pants grips. You’ll block the op[opponent from going to both sides with just this grip. In order to wrap the choke up you can let them pass, and just focus on opening your elbow enough so they enter the loop themselves. Alternatively, you can attack from a seated guard by changing the angle towards the free side in order to sneak the second arm in.
Of course, age plays a huge factor, as do a bunch of other factors we’ll touch on a bit later. The older you get, the more difficult it will become to maintain a BJJ physique like that of a fitness model. The question is, why would you go through all the trouble, and why would you want one to begin with? The dad bod in BJJ / MMA is usually what people look like outside of a fight. Interestingly, they also seem to have a slightly better performance during those “dad bod” times, compared to right after they cut weight.
If you’re able to roll three to five rounds with a short rest in between, you’re in shape. It doesn’t matter if you’re panting at the end, as long as the rolls were effective and meaningful for you. In terms of BJJ strength, there are no real requirements. I’d recommend cunningness and tactics, along with mechanics over strength any day. That way, you get to be lazy when you roll, and still more effective than most of the young, athletic grapplers that look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club.
A Bulgarian bag
Training in such a fashion is not really sustainable in today’s modern world. Then again, training with barbells and kettlebells, and other metal equipment is neither the most efficient, nor the safest way to develop Olympic-level wrestlers. Enter the Bulgarian bag. It is crescent-shaped and made out of leather. In Bulgaria, they’re made by hand, mostly from goatskin. On the inside, there are packets of sand, which make it as heavy as you might desire (it comes in 
However, why stop there? As I said, Sambo rules do differ between different Sambo disciplines. That said chokes that are used in Freestyle and Combat Sambo are perfectly legal to use in Jiu-Jitsu. In fact, you could do so at every belt level. Given the presence of the Gi jacket, the predominant strangling techniques of Sambo revolve around using the Gi to choke people out. In that department. There are some highly innovative moves that could really help you finish people in BJJ. Simply put, most BJJ folks won’t expect grip configurations for chokes like those in Sambo, meaning you have the element of surprise which is always a great tactical advantage.
Starting with leg locks, I’ll talk about a position that offers several different leg locks, rather than just a single submission hold. The Sambo knows, or Game Over position is one of the tightest Ashi Garami positions you can use in all of grappling martial arts. It works by placing a leg up and over an opponent’s hip (knee reaping) and then using both your legs to wedge the free leg underneath. It really is a knot and one that’s extremely hard to get out of. The leg that’s trapped on top is right there for the taking, with ankle locks, heel hooks and toe holds readily available, in several different varieties. Getting out is next to impossible once you’re in, and you can enter from both top and bottom.
One of the most useful skills in retaining top positions is following the opponent that will be surely moving. Side control is particularly difficult to retain, given the many directions the bottom person has for movement. All you need to do is switch from side to side effectively, while preventing the bottom person from going to turtle. Having the ability to go into a handstand means you can let them try
If you can stay patiently in the mount, then you know what control is. The same is true for the back. However, a submission rarely takes place directly from one of those highest scoring positions. Instead, you take that same approach and transfer it to the submission itself. Remember that everyone worth submitting is going to look to escape very late. That man that if you want to choke or armbar someone, you have to be able to stay in the submission itself for a long period of time, fins tuning and adjusting aunt ill you get a tap.
First things first, a heavy bag, like the name suggests, is heavy. In fact, there are several different varieties, coming in different lengths, widths, and weights. Accordingly, you can work on different aspects of your BJJ with different heavy bags. The best option for BJJ heavy bag drills would be those floor-to-ceiling kickboxing bags that are very heavy and provide a lot of surfaces to work with. However, if they’re a bit too heavy, the middle-seized bags will also do the trick. It is boxing style short and lighter bags that are the least useful compared to other heavy bags. That said, you could really get some work done with one of them too if they’re nothing else available.
