Will / Machado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Australasia

I can’t believe the fantastic response to my new Alpha MMA curriculum … I have had nearly 20 school owners buy it from me in the past two weeks. I put so much into it, in the way of both design and production, that I was quite pumped to be able to finally release it to the industry. I know that school owners are going to do really well from it, in fact, I have already had one message sent from friend and student Frank Monea in Melbourne who has been using it for several weeks now. I wanted to share this with my readership - as it has not only proved valuable to Frank as a training and business tool, but more importantly, it has saved one of his female students from serious injury or worse. This is a very big deal for me - as the whole point of developing and teaching martial arts (for me) is to empower people, both emotionally and physically. Thanks for taking the time Frank … your letter is much appreciated.
For those interested, read on:

“Dear John,
Just wanted to drop you a line about your new Alpha MMA program that we recently purchased. We are up to lesson five but the feedback from the students has been nothing short of great. We’ve been trying out various other programs that didn’t give the students the success in what they wanted, which was ability to handle themselves in a short period of time while giving them the fitness benefits they were looking for and a culture of friendliness and safety. For example, one of our female students, who had just joined the program, was recently thrown to the ground in a nightclub only to find that her first Alpha MMA lesson came out naturally.
To add further to this testimonial, I have several BJJ and MMA schools nearby, one of which is run by a very prominent BJJ/MMA instructor. Two students that have been training with this school for a year came to our second Alpha MMA class, where we taught the class exactly as it is in the manual and the DVD, making no alterations. The two new students made a comment that they learned more in that one session, got more out of that one session than they did training with the other BJJ/MMA school. They have both now joined the program for the whole year. They have done several lessons since then and have said that they can’t wait to come to their next class because they get so much out of it.
I personally love the program, it’s laid out in a simple ABC format. I simply hand the manual to my instructors, they follow it to the letter and it just makes life so much easier. We can teach rather than worrying about reinventing the wheel.
Thanks John for solving the problems we’ve had with how to teach an effective yet safe MMA program.
Kind regards,
Frank Monea
Director of KMA Challenge Centre
Melbourne, Australia”

Remember back when you first got into the martial arts? For me, that was more than thirty years ago. There was no You-Tube, no internet, no DVD’s, very few books and the martial arts was a hobby, a passion, an obsession – but not yet a business. Back in those days it was a very different scene altogether; it was about getting together with a few like-minded friends in someone’s garage, sparring, swapping ideas and scouring second-hand bookstores for the odd book on anything relating to karate, boxing or the like. They were also the days of making your own equipment; very little existed in the way of protective gear, kickpads, etc. The local boot-maker became somewhat expert and at sewing canvas around heavy-duty foam to make proto-type kick-shields; he understood the intricacies of sewing baseball face-guards onto boxing headgear to make headgear worthy of our fumbling attempts at full contact sparring. The gear wasn’t shiny, the uniforms were often second-hand, You Tube didn’t exist – but boy, were we passionate!
Today’s world is different; for me, for other the other well-seasoned martial artists who have been around a few corners, and also for the newbie just getting into the game. As with all things, there are pro’s and there are con’s when comparing the old with the new; but all in all, today’s martial artist, is infinitely better off. But there were a few benefits to be had if you began your martial arts training in the B.Y.T (Before You Tube) era; and I’m sure that some of the older crew out there will agree.
Back then we absolutely had to be innovative. If the gear wasn’t available you had to invent it. Without You Tube and the avalanche of information available today, we had to get in there and experiment. Those were the times of trial and error, of learning hard lessons, of cuts, broken noses and knowing who you were and where you stood. There were no 8 year old black belts; in fact, there were very few black belts, period! But those who did wear that coveted rank, were usually hard-men in any case. Whether you were a Shotokan black belt or a TKD black belt, if you held that rank, you were made of tough material and could wear it with a certain amount of pride. Sadly today, this is not always the case; I guess much of what I don’t like about the martial arts scene today is driven by business.
To run a successful, profitable, commercial martial arts business, most schools have to put much of their focus on kids. In many instances that has devolved into basically a form of kids day-care tumbling class – or as my wife says ‘not practical enough to be martial arts – not disciplined enough to be gymnastics’. (she was a former gymnastics coach – old school: when they were expected to have blisters). In the USA particularly, I have seen many a ‘successful’ school, packed with junior black belts, who were barely old enough to tie their own shoelaces. Thank goodness for Velcro! How times have changed!

A.Y.T: (After you tube) A clip from my recent seminar in Auckland

Teaching this weekend in Auckland and tonight in Napier … again, before beginning the sessions, I remind the students of the contract they have made in coming to the seminar … and that is: they have traded three hours of their life to come and do the training, it’s not the money that counts, it’s the time they have given to attend, that really is important. Again I remind them, if they have swapped three hours of their lives to attend the training - they should absolutely make sure they take full and comp;lete ‘ownership’ of what is being presented. The first step in taking ‘ownership’ is to remember what was taught - I make sure to ‘test’ them on the material at the end of the session - because I for one, understand the contract’ made on both sides and I do try to have everyone understand the importace of ‘full engagement’ - and the fact that it is a colaborative process between teacher and student.
On the other hand - it’s not just the students time that is important - it’s mine also. I am trading hours of my life to be there and do te teaching. Away from my family - staying in hotels and waiting in airports - I require ‘full engagement’ from the students to make it seem all worthwhile to me. Sometimes, as on this trip - I go for a couple of days without seeing my family - although thechnology helps - tonight I had wireless internet connection available to me so was able to video-chat them on my laptop. Took this screenshot as they signed off. They will no doubt chastise me for publishing it here - but it’s late and I am ovbviously not thinking clearly. Time for sleep.
best wishes,
JBW

I realise I am definitely a frequent flyer when as I pass through customs this morning, the officer opens with ‘Lucky New Zealanders – more BJJ training!’ And this is not the first time this has happened. I run into students all over the place – the world is definitely becoming smaller and my travelling allows me to connect with fellow martial artists more frequently than perhaps any other instructor I know of.
As mentioned, I’m off to New Zealand for the second time this year. Visiting Christchurch, Auckland, Napier and Wellington before returning home late next week. I really enjoy catching up with my Kiwi students – it’s a pity I can only make it over three times a year – but plenty of other duties call!
As I wait for my boarding call, I had time to flick through the manual for my new Alpha MMA curriculum, which I just received last night. In fact I am packing a few sets to carry across the Tasman to school owners who have already invested in it. I am very excited about this project; it is far and away the best thing I have done to date. The Alpha MMA website will be up and running in about two weeks, just in time for the official launch of the program in Orlando, Florida at the MAIA convention. It has turned out better than even my own expectations (which were quite high) – this is a tool that is going to make a lot of money for a lot of school owners. I know it’s not all about the dollars – that has certainly never been my motivation – but school owners need to pay their bills and attract good numbers of students if they are to stay in business and live the ‘train for a living’ lifestyle.
One school in Melbourne, an early adopter of the program, told me that one of his female students, after taking her first lesson in the program, was throw to the pavement in a Melbourne carpark and assaulted – whereupon she proceeded to re-enact the ground & Pound drill she had learned only days earlier – and emerged the victor in the encounter. As a result, she returned to the school and signed up for three years. The instructor called me up and thanked me for the program – it had already saved a new student from what could well have been some serious physical and psychological injury, and got him a fully committed and forever grateful student at the same time. We’re all still smiling.
Whoops – rambling on a bit here. It’s pretty early and I am half listening for my boarding call. Better go. I’ll keep blogging from NZ – although it may be a day or two before I come up for air.
Best wishes,
JBW

Learning BJJ can be likened to learning a new language. At first we learn a few prases by rote - and this brings us a certain sense of achievement. Then comes the harder stage - where we learn he underlying grammar and structure of the language - that’s the hard part. We begin to learn how to put things together in ways that suit the set of circumstances we find ourselves in - we may even learn to be creative in the ways we do this. Once we have the ‘grammar and structure’ down, we slowly add more ‘vocab’ as years go by (read: more techniques) - and our fluency and ability to express ourselves more meaningfully, increases.
With BJJ - instead of grammar and structure - we learn leverage and applied-biomechanics. Thes things take time but once we understand them, it becomes easy to add new techniques - just as it’s easy to add to or vocabulary once we have learned the way a language works.
In learning how to manipulate other bodies - we first learn about leverage - whuch is easy matter and usually only takes a couple of years. Want to move a lever - push or pull the very ‘end’ of it. End of the lever - that’s the first thing we learn. Then we develop clarity on exactly what these ‘levers’ are - it’s simple really - they are the bones of our body. The BONES are the LEVERS. End of the humerous, end of the femur, end of the spine (the head), etc. That’s the easy bit - the hard bit is learning what I call the GEOMETRY of the fight. This is more about, WHICH way to attack the lever - the direction of the push, the pull, the rotation, etc.
These ANGLES are extremely important. Becoming clearer and clearer on which dorection we should push, pull or otherwise move the various parts of an opponents body is a time-consuming process. The end of the lever is always the end of the lever - but the angles change moment by moment, situation by situation. This GEOMETRY is the difficult part of the fight language to get a handle on - it takes time, but is well worth the effort.
Think training - think angles.
JBW

I consider myself a ‘learning machine’ first – and a ‘teaching machine’ second. In fact, I doubt it can ever be the other way around – not if I want to ‘do the job’ properly. Teaching well requires that we continually ‘problem solve’; that we continually look for creative solutions to both teaching and learning problems. Every day is an exercise in experimentation, trial and error, analysis and formulation – I find it at once both demanding, exciting and always surprising – new ways to deliver old ideas – old ways to deliver new ideas – it never ends. A week rarely goes by where I don’t find a better way to deliver an idea, concept or technique – I am always on the lookout for ‘better outcomes’ – my wife says I am more than a little OCD with regard to this – but I couldn’t have it any other way – in fact, some organizations are paying me for that exact ‘quality’.
Fast-track learning is what I am always focussed on - never to the point where the quality of learning is compromised, quite the opposite in fact. Better and faster skill acquisition is one of my teaching tenets - I get a great deal of satisfaction in teaching people to acquire a skill in a single session, that ten years ago, would have taken me ten sessions to achieve. I do it for the ’challenge’ of doing it – a side-benefit is that people respond very positively to the Fast-track learning process because they have a greater sense of the value of their ‘time’ nowadays. If someone only has a few hours a week that they can devote to training, it becomes even more important to streamline the teaching/learning process – for those who have more time (professionals) then obviously, they achieve even favourable outcomes.
Apart from the teaching and learning models that I have developed over the years, there are lots of ways people can improve their training outcomes. One is to build a culture of efficiency in their classes. When I look at the way people train, I can almost always see ways to get the same results they are getting in nearly half the time. The way people ‘change-up’, ‘get ready’, ‘recover’, ‘deliver instruction’ and ‘respond to instruction’ can all usually be improved. Time is precious – manage it well and achieve better outcomes.
Train well – train smart.
JBW

BJJ is hard to quit. It is, as many will agree, a very addictive form of training. But why is this the case?
I think the answer lies in understanding that there are huge differences in the way we train ‘stand-up’ (karate, kickboxing, TKD, Kung Fu, etc) and the way we learn groundwork. And in my view, one of the biggest differences is as follows …
The way most people undertake their ‘stand-up’ training is by focussing on the way their own bodies operate; ie: our attention is largely on understanding how we execute kicks, strikes, elbow, knees, etc. Over time, we gain a better control and understanding of our own mechanical processes and skills. Most of our focus is turned inward, as we look at ourselves, and work on the things our own body can do.
Grappling is a very different process; here, our gaze turns outward, toward our opponent. Developing grappling skills requires that we gain skill in the control and manipulation of someone else’s body. In BJJ we strive to become the puppetmaster. This is a very different and alien concept for those who have focussed solely on non-grappling styles. And more besides; our opponent does not want to give us this control; and so we look more intently outward, gauging responses, seeing patterns and evolving solutions to an ever-increasing set of problems.
It is this new ‘style’ of learning – this de-mystification of the ‘Human Rubix Cube’ that becomes to captivating for us. But unlike the multi-coloured cubical puzzle that confused millions (and still does) – the human version continues to evolve and increase in complexity. Our BJJ training sees us in an endless quest to chase down the next viable solution … the dance continues.
JBW

The process of re-invention requires that we continually look back at what we think we understand, but through our new and current perspective. In BJJ, this means that we should look back at the basics we learned as a white belt, and re-asses them as a blue belt – as a purple belt, we should take another good look at what we consider to be the building blocks of blue belt – and so forth. And so now, having been a highly active black belt for some ten years – I look back on the white belt basics and see them in a new light. One of the bedrock platforms that BJJ is built upon, is the concept of the Guard. The idea of the Guard gave hope to the combatant that found him or herself, not only on the ground, but on the bottom side of the fight. Prior to the ‘Guard concept’, if you were on the bottom, you were losing – and that was that. The ‘Guard’ changed the way the whole world looked at ground-fighting. Traditionally, in the art of BJJ, students are first introduced to the Guard idea – via the closed Guard techniques and strategies. Looking at it all now though, after having taught thousands of people, ranging from military, law enforcement, both amateur and professional martial artists, fighters, kids and others – I find myself taking a different view of how the first building blocks of the Guard should be laid out.
Before everyone starts jumping up and down – in either anger or disbelief at this heretical point of view – remember, it is only that, a point of view – bear with me.
The ‘Closed Guard’ concept, is certainly a powerful and worthy strategy – there are many potent and workable ‘Closed Guard’ techniques that we can use – it’s just that I don’t think it should be our ‘first port of call’. I think that the Closed Guard, should be the second or third rung on the ‘bottom defence’ ladder – not the first! The logic, as I see it, goes like this …
Lesson One: if we hardwire ‘pulling to Guard’ as our automatic response to being on the bottom position, but we have no skills as yet, we may well find ourselves in more trouble than we would like – particularly if the opponent is wailing away with punches from above (read: Ground & Pound). I think the closed Guard has evolved from a purely grappling-based point of view, as a way of preventing the ‘grappling oriented’ opponent from easily ‘passing’ and gaining a strong position on side control or the mount. For street or MMA applications, I believe it is far better to start with a Neutral Guard and maintain DISTANCE CONTROL, when first starting out.
Imagine this, you’ve had your first lesson in BJJ and you are taught to ‘pull to closed guard’ – told also that there are many powerful sweeps, armbars and chokes you can use form that position (and there are) – but that very night, as you leave the mat to go home, you are assaulted – in the real world – and finding yourself on the bottom, you ‘pull to Closed Guard’. WHOOPS! Now what? As your attacker reigns down a barrage of punches or starts clawing at your face – you begin to bemoan the fact that this fight couldn’t have been postponed for six months or so, until you had been better introduced to the big swag of closed guard techniques that had previously been hinted at.
So what’s the alternative? Open Guard: FEET IN THE OPPONENTS HIPS – Control the distance. In my view, this should be the ‘first port of call’ – from here we can later on (as we learn more) easily transition to a whole range of Guard possibilities: Hooks Guard, ½ Guard. Closed Guard, etc. if I had to choose a ‘centre of operations’ in terms of the Guard landscape – it would be the Open Guard: starting with both feet on the opponents hips, controlling his ability to strike us and maintaining distance control. From there we can always kick him off, get back to our feet, run back into the school and ask the instructor for another lesson. Alternatively, if we have had a few lesson, and learned a choke, an armlock or a sweep or two – we can take the Open Guard a step further by taking hold of our attackers collar (thereby controlling the distance in two directions) and start to make him pay for his indiscretion.
I’ll finish this up by pointing out that I find it is easier to instruct beginners in the ‘scissor sweep’, the ‘figure 4 armlock’ and the ‘cross lapel choke’ and other basics, from the Open Guard, than it is to do so from a Closed Guard. I have also found that they then find it easier to transition to other Guard (Closed, Hooks & Half Guards for example) from the Open Guard, than they do from the Closed Guard. They’re on the ground, underneath – GET THEIR FEET IN BETWEEN THEMSELVES AND THEIR ATTACKER – simply put, they GET IT!
JBW (qualified heretic)

Nowadays, most of us train with the aid of some kind of protective gear or another. With regard to grappling - most of us have the luxury of training on mats. This luxury brings with it, some real benefits – but along with those obvious benefits, come a few challenges – the most obvious of which, is the fact that some techniques and training methods evolve around dependency on the mat.
Hitting a good ‘double leg takedown’ for example, requires a ‘penetration step’, folding of the knee to the ground and then the follow-through or ‘finish’. In following mainstream wrestling-based training models for this technique, we come across certain problems when we take the practice out onto a concrete (real world) arena. These problems, are in fact, quite readily solvable – my point though is that they don’t ‘get solved’ unless we ‘need’ to solve them – and so running the technique through a ‘real world’ filter, can be a useful and informative experience.
As far as the example of the double leg is concerned, for those whose curiosity has been aroused – here is something to consider:
As we ‘level change’, ‘step in’ and connect to our opponent for the leg shoot, we need to seriously ‘lean’ into him (like a drunk sliding down a wall – excuse the imagery) as we fold our knee to the ground. This way, we are in full control of how hard our knee ‘hits the deck’. In fact, it makes for a better takedown anyway – because we maintain good ‘stick-ability’, which makes it far less likely the opponent will be able to disengage or sprawl as we complete the shot. This ‘leaning into the opponent’ also saves ‘old knees’ from the extra wear and tear that thumping them into the ground promises.
In fact, this very weekend just past, while teaching over in Perth (Western Australia), I had the whole class leave the mat for a bit and head out onto the concrete to emphasize this very idea. Within minutes, the knee-pounding phase of the low double had been radically modified – and on taking it back onto the mat, everyone experienced a better technical result to boot.
Try this ‘simple fix’ for the ‘off-the-mat low double’ – have that knee caress the concrete – you’ll be happier for it.
Train well,
JBW