I’ve had the pleasure of training with lots of police officers at NJ United MMA. One common theme that many of them have repeated is their dissatisfaction with the lack of or quality of self-defense training in police training academies. In recent history, this has led many officers to seek formal self-defense training at specialized […]

Slight caveat – I don’t consider age 39 to be “late in life.” But hey, by the standards of some hip, young, early-20s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitors, I guess that even age 29 could be regarded thus! In any case, today I was happy to discover this short article about 39 year-old Rubens Charles Cobrinha, one […]

Have you ever had to teach or ‘coach’ someone to do a task? Maybe it was a new coworker who didn’t quite know how your computer system works. Maybe it was a friend who needed help with a maintenance job around the house, or even a younger family member who needed your help with some […]

I always feel sad when I see people working out while simultaneously keeping track of time or the “outside world.” They check the wall-clock, check their phones, get pulled-into social media on their phones, and that adds to the high drop-out rate that traditional gyms often have. However, one incredible benefit of training martial arts […]

“Nah, I’ll wait a few months until I feel in better shape.” “Yeah. No. I don’t know. I’ll totally let you know how I feel later.” “I feel that I’ve got some things to figure out first.” ^ Those are just a few one-liners I’ve heard from people who inwardly want to raise their standards […]

I love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu testimonials because each of them rings true to me in a different sense. Check out this recent video testimonial from our student Jay Hernandez here. I’ve been training with Jay for about a year now, and I can 100% vouch for what he’s saying. Here are two ideas from Jay’s testimonial […]

If you bring up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or “submission wrestling” at the water cooler, your listeners are going to have many different (and many false) impressions of what you’re talking about. They could imagine something like this suplex to flying armbar by Demetrius Johnson. But what you could be trying to communicate is something along the […]

When I was in college, I remember my favorite professor describing the creative writing process: “It’s hard to be simple, but it doesn’t have to be.” I think that’s true of any walk of life. Over-complicating things seems to come natural to us, and the first things we forget are the basics. That’s a lesson […]

. . . and honestly, even if you’re not an officer, a solid knowledge of grappling fundamentals can turn stressful situations into routine ones. Check out this recent video in which an officer tries to break-up a fight between two young men (one of whom is definitely under the influence of something). As you’ll see, […]

I used to hate nutritional advice articles. But then again, that was when I was in my early 20’s and I was worried about the fat-content of peanuts and walnuts. In other words, I was a white belt in basic nutrition because I considered it a hassle to deal with (i.e. why should I “fix” […]