Saturday training was great today at Gordo Jiu-Jitsu, plenty of black belts and lots of good training!
Gordo Jiu-Jitsu Saturday training November 2009
(Photo from Greg Penaloza)
There are a dozen black belts in the photo, including myself and that is not including the ones out of the picture, not to mention a half dozen brown belts, high level purple belts… No breaks from high level rolling and hot weather!
Here are a few Jiu-Jitsu basics I use, recorded by Grego Peñaloza at Gordo Jiu-Jitsu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKOGa4KlfIc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwj7IyLN4EU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWd_Xf_8TT4
Jiu-Jitsu is something that when practiced, over time becomes a great part of ones life. More than what takes place on the mat but throughout the day, helping to realize healthier options for those who choose to make Jiu-Jitsu’s philosophy a way of life. A simple example of this is knowing that training or Jiu-Jitsu is always with you, remember the teachings and practice do not stop when a person steps off of the mat. In whatever activity I might be doing, there is an awareness of the philosophy’s presence and the effect whatever that might be has on my Jiu-Jitsu and vise versa.
Although my focus for many years has been Jiu-Jitsu and MMA, there is still a deep desire to pick up where I left off with my training in Filipino Martial Arts. This Dog Brothers video really inspired me, reminding of how much I appreciate FMA. Take a look: DBMA Gathering 2009
As it has been a long time since the last blog entry, I would like to write first that training and teaching are great at Gordo Jiu-Jitsu. The amount of time spent teaching every day has provided another avenue to refine my game and I really enjoy helping others develop their Jiu-Jitsu. The Summer weather is here and for me it makes training that much better.
On another subject, yesterday I was speaking with an educated man about Brazil or more specifically Rio…He asked me why I would prefer to live here in Rio as opposed the the United States and simplified, it is the quality of life. He began telling me that he had many friends who left for the US to make a life because of the crime and problems here in Rio. My response; Running away from the problems in your own country is not the solution. They will need to be dealt with eventually and the people to do it are the countrymen themselves.