Fantastic jiu-jitsu seminar tonight. Thanks so much to Franco De Leonardis for making the time to teach us tonight (for free nonetheless, nobody does anything for free in Shanghai these days, nobody) Super cool guy, very intelligent approach to teaching hand-fighting to clinching to takedowns to transitions to submissions.
I loved the fusion of wrestling and jiu-jitsu. I loved the takedown series- with options to take the back, hit a heel hook, calf crank, or figure 4 toe hold, switch to a single with 3 finishes, or salvage the double off a sprawl by... heck I don't know what to call it... cutting the corner and cranking on the knee so it feels like your opponent's leg is going to snap if he doesn't fall down. (yep, that's my version of grappling jargon) The psychology behind a successful feint was very cool too. Making the other guy move where you want him without even touching him totally works if you are a "good actor" and use proper timing. That's something I'm going to have to invest some more time into. If you missed this one, you missed out.
I also liked his advice to write down your insights after training, and that writing about technique can be even more important than taking a video of it. So I'm going to start doing that more often. I notice John Zhang does that all the time, he's always got his notebook with him in class. Out of all my student's John is by far the most technical.
In the book "Mastering the Rubber Guard", Eddie Bravo said something similar that always stood out to me- how he wanted to make a really detailed well illustrated technique book instead of a video. He said the book would ultimately be more useful- you can take a book with you anywhere, you don't have to pause and rewind a book a dozen times to see the key principles of the technique, and a book can give you all kinds of commentary that a a video can't. Mobile video devices and interactive media may prove Eddie Bravo wrong on that account in the long run, but nevertheless, there is something extremely personal about ink on paper that you don't get from anywhere else.
Anyway, we've got a lot of material to review over the next few weeks. Thanks again for the seminar Franco!
I loved the fusion of wrestling and jiu-jitsu. I loved the takedown series- with options to take the back, hit a heel hook, calf crank, or figure 4 toe hold, switch to a single with 3 finishes, or salvage the double off a sprawl by... heck I don't know what to call it... cutting the corner and cranking on the knee so it feels like your opponent's leg is going to snap if he doesn't fall down. (yep, that's my version of grappling jargon) The psychology behind a successful feint was very cool too. Making the other guy move where you want him without even touching him totally works if you are a "good actor" and use proper timing. That's something I'm going to have to invest some more time into. If you missed this one, you missed out.
I also liked his advice to write down your insights after training, and that writing about technique can be even more important than taking a video of it. So I'm going to start doing that more often. I notice John Zhang does that all the time, he's always got his notebook with him in class. Out of all my student's John is by far the most technical.
In the book "Mastering the Rubber Guard", Eddie Bravo said something similar that always stood out to me- how he wanted to make a really detailed well illustrated technique book instead of a video. He said the book would ultimately be more useful- you can take a book with you anywhere, you don't have to pause and rewind a book a dozen times to see the key principles of the technique, and a book can give you all kinds of commentary that a a video can't. Mobile video devices and interactive media may prove Eddie Bravo wrong on that account in the long run, but nevertheless, there is something extremely personal about ink on paper that you don't get from anywhere else.
Anyway, we've got a lot of material to review over the next few weeks. Thanks again for the seminar Franco!
Franco is a 2nd degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and a professional MMA fighter with a record of 11-5-0. He's competed in M-1 Global, was the 2003 Shido MMA world champion, and is a decorated grappler in BJJ competition as well. The seminar will focused on grappling for MMA (no-gi).
Again, the seminar was absolutely FREE, which was awesome. Franco is an incredibly genuine human being, a highly intelligent strategist, and an absolute pleasure to train with. I've been using some of Franco's tips to improve my grappling, MMA, and BJJ game ever since. If you missed this seminar, you really missed out.
Again, the seminar was absolutely FREE, which was awesome. Franco is an incredibly genuine human being, a highly intelligent strategist, and an absolute pleasure to train with. I've been using some of Franco's tips to improve my grappling, MMA, and BJJ game ever since. If you missed this seminar, you really missed out.
Here's Franco in action, highlights from his MMA career, as well as grappling, wrestling, and Shidokan tournaments: