Monkey News

Not BJJ, but absolutely hilarious.

Monkey news is one of the funnier sequences on the laugh-till-you-cry Ricky Gervais Podcast series, and this is one of the funnier stories. Karl Pilkington recounts the tale of the monkey in space. This is some unnofficial fan-created animation, but Ricky gave it the thumbs up on his blog. Fucking hell, I nearly died. Brilliant.

I recommend you watch this. I do not recommend you listen to any of the blogs with your ipod in public, as you will be taken for a madman due to howling with insane laughter in public.

Felicia Oh / Fightworks Podcast

One of the podcasts that I started listening to when I got my shiny new ipod touch earlier in the year was the Fightworks Podcast, and I’m glad I did. Hosted by the ever cordial Caleb, and another guy whose name escapes me because he doesn’t really say much, it’s a great show for you to get your BJJ dose when you’re out and about.

This week, they interview Felicia Oh. She seems to be a bit of a badass, and got her black belt from Jean Jacques Machado in a ridiculous four and a half years. That’s how long it took me to get my blue belt

Last year she won first place at the Pan-Ams (black belt) in gi and no gi, and came second in the ADCC. What a beast!

Here she is, she looks pretty awesome to me…

The interview is great, check it out here, and if you haven’t already, subscribe to this shit via iTunes.

 

OJJ March 23

My body hurts. My fingers are red raw. My face is still glowing like a beetroot.

All signs of a good training session! I had a fantastic time last night at the 32nd OJJ. OJJ is a kind of social club at our dojo which originally started as a club for middle-aged men (or parents) who couldn’t come at other times, or just wanted to hang out and talk about cars or soft porn DVDs or whatever the hell it is middle-aged men talk about. It has mutated now into a wicked group of all ages and sexes that train very hard.

I had all the different aspects that, to me, signify a good training session during last night’s “jiu jitsu marathon”.

In no particular order:

I got owned.
The all-Japan blue belt champ from a few years ago (now a very solid purple) totally ownerised me, including an accidental knee to the head and a palm smash directly to my nose. Aside from those sneaky tactics, he was very quick, very strong, and very technical. Total ownage, great fun.

I owned.
There was a monster of a blue belt who I was paired up with. I wasn’t looking forward to it because last time we rolled (even though it was about a year ago) it was a slow, painful death for me. To my great surprise and joy, he was completely out of shape and I managed to triangle, armbar and collar choke the shit out of him. After about four minutes of this I realised something was up, and after the round ended I think he went off to barf in the toilet, but hey, we have to take these small victories where we can.

I persevered.
I had a few of those rolls where you feel as weak as a baby. Where your arms feel like useless pieces of balsa wood, and as you grip someone’s collar or sleeve, you know the chances of you moving them or controlling them are slim to none. Kind of like grabbing an elephant by the tail and trying to push it around. But I made sure I just kept pushing myself to keep moving, keep trying, for the full six minutes. Those rolls are very good for you.

I didn’t learn anything new, but it was a good, physical session. I managed to do one sweep that I’ve slowly been working on and now can count it as a useful part of my arsenal. It’s a good counter to a guard pass. If you can’t defend the pass and it looks like he’s passing, let’s say to your right, make sure you have a spider-type guard on his right arm, but instead of your foot pressing into the crook of his elbow, it’s your left shin. Keep that grip on his right sleeve with your left hand. Bring your right leg up, knee/shin across his chest if you can, and put your right heel on top of your left heel, basically so that your heels are touching but with your right one on top because you are going to push with it. Grip his left pant leg at the knee with your right hand, then push your heels down, your shins out, punch his leg up into the air, and roll up to sweep and land in knee on belly. Difficult to follow hey, but it worked last night.

Ten coloured belts… that’s a pretty good number. Including 2 all Japan champions and one all-Japan absolute third place!

A good chance for white belts to practice as much sparring as possible.

Ide-san, the don of OJJ.

Hardcore sweat, steaming up the lens!