Check out this recent security cam footage of a woman using Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu self-defense basics against an attacker with a knife! This incident occurred last month in Brazil, and it demonstrates the unpredictability and unglamorous nature of how self-defense scenarios occur. The video is interspersed with footage of a detailed breakdown of the situation by […]

I started my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training in 2003, the same year that Quentin Tarantino’s movie Kill Bill came out. I was a lot younger then. Martial arts action movies and fighting video games held way more motivational influence over me than they do now. I saw them mainly as entertainment, but now and then, I’d […]

Recently, a Facebook friend of mine jokingly shared this National Post article entitled “Dodgeball isn’t just problematic, it’s an unethical tool of ‘oppression’” by Joseph Brean. The basic gist of Brean’s article is that competition is “unhelpful to the development of kind and gentle children,” and that the struggles of victory and defeat are not […]

I am not a parent. I don’t know what fatherhood is like firsthand, but I regularly teach kids and teens Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu here at NJU. When talking with the parents of our young students, I’ve joked that I do know what parenting is like . . . for the 45-minute class period, of course! So […]

Nowadays, you can find celebrity endorsements for just about anything. But the vast majority of the time, celebs are simply being paid to advertise a product. So now that Grammy-nominated singer and actress Demi Lovato is loving every minute of being a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blue belt, she’s also been bringing a lot of attention to […]

On the internet, a lot of people philosophize about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. That’s all well and good, but I’m impressed by Chewjitsu’s straightforward talk here about how BJJ combats depression. After all, depression is not just something that happens to clinically depressed people – it’s an unfortunate part of life, and if you’re not prepared to […]

Yesterday I was on bjjfanatics.com, and I read this cool article titled BJJ for the Small Guys. It rang true with me because I hover around 145lbs. Thus my ‘cross to bear’ in my grappling career has been simply not being particularly big or strong. When I first started training, I sure had my share […]

I’ll be honest – I was tired of seeing ads about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and weight loss. That was before I saw it happen twice (and in dramatic fashion) with my own eyes. And it wasn’t just the weight-loss issue that caught my attention – it was also a matter of watching a human body change […]

I’ve sometimes found that the more someone wants to do something, the more they’ll put-off doing it. Why? Well, sometimes people are reluctant to start a commitment, and other times they’re overly cautious about how they spend their money. There can be all sorts of motives for putting off the self-care that comes from martial […]

Big congrats to NJU white belt Steve Vega for taking silver at the NJBJJF Spring Challenge Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament yesterday! Steve fought hard and always had his poker-face on during his matches, never exerting unnecessary energy and always looking to pit the strongest parts of his game against the weakest parts of his opponent’s game. […]