Tues, June 30, Congrats Jim Stratis!

Congratulations to Jim Stratis on his promotion to the Blue Belt! He is hard working, coachable, and a huge fan of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA! Jim has been training for almost 3 years! I remember when he first started...what a difference! Everyone loves Jim but rolling with him is A LOT OF WORK! The man is a beast on the mat!

I went down to the Stronghold in San Diego this morning to train with Mike. He has such incredible Jiu Jitsu. He's awesome to roll with. He pushes me hard and exposes my weaknessess so I can work on improving my game. He is also a very good teacher but what I like most is his blend of confidence and humility. He runs a great Jiu Jitsu Academy!

thanks again Mike!

-Michio

training June 28-July 3

This week we'll be focusing on Escapes from the bottom of the Side Mount. If you cannot escape from this inferior position...you're in for a long day! We started Sunday off with some escape technique with some drill work with some conditioning. It was a very tough workout but good.

and then after...

Ben has been on fire lately! After class, he'll do extra conditioning work with Kettlebells and Medicine Ball work. He is making Big jumps in his Jiu Jitsu game because of all the "extras" that he puts into his training!

Pushing yourself is one thing...but having a coach in your face, making sure you get the most out of your training...is a whole different Ball Game! Huh Ben? Pierce won't let Ben get away with sloppy form and has him do extra reps!
Dont' mess with the Bull...You'll get the horns!!!

-Michio

June 26, Stronghold comes to train

Mike, Jeremy, and Miguel drove up from San Diego to train with us on Friday. These guys have so much skill and are very, very nice guys.We did four six minute rounds of sparring...

During the technique portion of class, we worked some chokes from the side mount. I taught some techniques and Mike showed some techniques.

Lot of good matches!

Lot of tough matches!

Thanks Mike for coming up! Everyone had good things to say about you and your students!

-Michio

training June 22-26

This week, we're focusing on opening the closed guard and over the thigh Guard passing. When you get two guys pretty equal in skill, you will spend a lot of the sparring time in the guard, top and bottom. It takes a lot of skill to pass a good Jiu Jitsu guys guard!So, lots of drills this week...

and lots of sparring... Make sure you guys keep a good diet and get plenty of water throughout the day!

Congrats to Andrew and Christy on their upcoming Marriage this Friday, June 26th!!!

-Michio

June 18, training at Stronghold

I got a chance to train with my friend and old training partner, Mike Cusi today at his academy, The Stronghold in San Diego. He is belted under Roy Harris and like all Roy Harris students, he is vey technical with great grips and postions. We plan on doing more training together and he is interested in coming up with some of his students to do some cross training with us at our school. If you guys are interested in coming down with me to train, let me know. Mike and his students are very, very good. It'll be a great learning experience while making new friends! All the students that I met this afternoon were very nice and showed some great skills on the mat! I had fun and looking forward to more training. Rolling with Mike was tough. He has great attacks and is relentless. I don't think I've ever been swept so much in my life! Ha! Great guard game he has!

thanks Mike!

-Michio

HARDCORE

Here are two guys that put a lot into their training and it shows! They do their strength and conditioning outside of class. When they get to class they are serious about their training. They have a great diet and healthy attitude! They both have great Jiu Jitsu! Ben and Marco after some hard training... Tuesday night, we got some strength and conditioning drills after sparring. The drills are extra tough especially after rolling hard! Whew! Legs are burning!Keep it up guys! I'm really proud at the dedication that you put forth.

-Michio

training June 14-19

This week, we are going to work top and bottom half guard along with some drills to help bring your Jiu Jitsu game up to the next level.On Sunday's class, we got a lot of good sparring in and went over some great technique from the bottom of the half guard. Also, the wrestlers...Bryan and Daniel once again showing some incredible wrestling! These young men work hard year round. they treated the class to another wrestling demo. Very impressive, to say the least...A couple of the guys and I got some extra conditioning in after sparring on Sunday!...

pushing the pace with quick movements for time!

keeping the burn going after sparring!

Using the Bosu with Kettlebells for high reps...really gets the core fired up!

-Michio

June 12, training @ Haueters

Great group of guys at Chris' this morning! He had a few students here from England as well as some highly skilled Brown and Black Belts to whip our butts! GREAT TRAINING!!!


Chris about to choke me out, once again!

Chris' new school: JIU-JITSU TECHNICAL LABORATORIES is at Harbor kickboxing in San Pedro.

Chris sent me some construction pics of his new school, which they start training in next week!

We are all excited for Chris...This is a great chance for him to really launch his name!

-Michio

training June 7-12

This week, we'll be spending some time with chokes, Gi and No-Gi. So, get your necks ready!!!

Sundays class was a lot of fun! we worked variations of the guillotine choke and got a lot of sparring in!

Bryan and Daniel giving the class a wrestling demonstration. These two are some of the best of San diego High School wrestling. They are fast, strong, and technical.

Bryan and Daniel working some takedowns. These guys know wrestling!

Get your conditioning up guys! Do your work off the mat with your running, lifting, and conditioning work!

-Michio

training June 1-5

This weekend is the Jiu Jitsu World Championships in Los Angeles. If you guys can get up there to watch some of it, you'll definitely see some great Jiu Jitsu. Guys will be coming from all over the world to compete!

Another great class last night! Working some spider guard sweeps with variations. We ran some mock matches last night...

Ray and Andy was a back and fourth war! These guys have great Jiu Jitsu and are super tough guys!

Ben took it to Marco! Here he has Marcos back but Marco escaped and this was another back and fourth match!

Jim and Jaime, these guys look like two bulls colliding! this was another great match with two tough guys!

-Michio