We are a Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and Submission Grappling Training Group in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Established in 2008 and still going strong in 2024!
Showing posts with label petaling jaya bjj. Show all posts
Showing posts with label petaling jaya bjj. Show all posts
If you are looking for a fun, physical sport to participate in, look no further than Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). It is a martial art that is great for learning some self-defence as well as to help you get fitter and stronger.
So what exactly is BJJ? Check out some of these demos,which will show you what the martial art looks like.
I wish to say a big thank you to Coach Samuel Wee who promoted me to brown belt after a recent training session with him. After starting my training in Jiu Jitsu from the year 2001/02, reaching brown belt was beyond imagining. Heck, even getting to blue belt then was considered a major achievement (by my own standards)...
I remember back in early 2000, there were no BJJ gyms to be found anywhere in Malaysia. We actually had to train in "garage gyms".... The first gym to officially teach Jiu-Jitsu was Ding's, with Sam as the coach (then a blue belt). That was around year 2002. Today there are so many great BJJ and MMA gyms that have come up, and I'm glad to have stuck around long enough to see the evolution and progress of the art here in Malaysia.
Anyway I want to also give a special thanks to my fellow Coach Tirmizi "Mandeng" for all his encouragement and guidance thru the years at PJ Jiujitsu Club. Also a big thanks to my students (past and present) - you have all played a big part in my personal growth in this awesome martial art/sport.
On the wrong side of 40s now, I am not getting any younger. But as long as I am physically able, I will continue to do my best to share whatever little knowledge I have with my teammates here at PJ Jits.
It's 2016! A couple of our members from PJ Jiujitsu Club decided to take part in the second edition of the Copa de Malasia BJJ competition. It would be their first attempt at competing against players from other clubs.
The event was held at the Jaya Shopping Centre in Section 14 Petaling Jaya. A great venue for a jiu jitsu competition for sure! Indoors, air conditioning, lots of f & b outlets, ample parking....
The competition also had an international flavour with teams and competitors coming from all corners of the world - Vietnam, Cambodia, US, Japan, Singapore, Middle East, Philippines etc.
Fights underway
Rifhan had a match (under 64 kg white belt) in morning portion of the competition. He fought hard against his opponent from GFT but did not manage to win. He eventually lost by points. Vincent fared slightly better (over 65 kg white belt masters) and managed to win by submission in his first match against his opponent from Monarchy. He was unable to repeat the feat in his second match and lost to a player from Cristiano Kamanishi's team.
Pass that guard...
All in all it was another fun (but stressful and tiring) outing for the team and it would be good for them to compete the next time if opportunity permits.
This is the final open mats training session at PJ Jiujitsu Club, before the implementation of the GST (Goods & Services Tax) in Malaysia on 1/4/2015!
So what the heck is "GST"?
GST which is also known as VAT or the value added tax in many countries is a multi-stage consumption tax on goods and services.
GST is levied on the supply of goods and services at each stage of the supply chain from the supplier up to the retail stage of the distribution. Even though GST is imposed at each level of the supply chain, the tax element does not become part of the cost of the product because GST paid on the business inputs is claimable. Hence, it does not matter how many stages where a particular good and service goes through the supply chain because the input tax incurred at the previous stage is always deducted by the businesses at the next step in the supply chain.
GST is a broad based consumption tax covering all sectors of the economy i.e all goods and services made in Malaysia including imports except specific goods and services which are categorized under zero rated supply and exempt supply orders as determined by the Minister of Finance and published in the Gazette.
Taxes are paid so that the government can finance socio-economic development; which includes providing infrastructure, education, welfare, healthcare, national security etc.
Today, almost 90% of the world's populations live in countries with GST, including China, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and India.
Well... that explains everything... Right? All I know is, some things will cost more from April onwards...
Well, it's a another year. Training is on as usual at PJ Jiujitsu Club. Some old members have returned while some have moved away or have "retired". Nevertheless, life goes on and we just keep on rolling!
Below are some pics of members having a good easy going workout! Fun rolls! (thanks to Sugu for the photo contributions)
Our PJ Jiujitsu Club members had a nice get-together at the recent BJJ competition held at the KL Convention Centre (at KLCC). Organized by Monarchy MMA, many BJJ enthusiasts were there to participate.
Only white and blue belts were allowed to compete, and our team member Leonard tried his hand competing for the first time under the 70kg blue belt category. Leo fought hard against his opponents but was not able to gain victory. Nevertheless it was good experience for him as he regroups and trains harder for the next competition.
Overall the competition was fun, saw many good matches. The venue at the Convention Centre was not bad, but the air conditioning was super cold, making it slightly difficult for competitors to warmup. Also, they had only ONE competition area, so contestants had to wait ages before they could get to their matches. Hopefully the organizer will set up at least two competition areas in the future.
PJ Jiujitsu Club members with William and his friends from Kuantan BJJ
Our friend and former member William also competed (88kg blue belt), in the gi and nogi categories, and went home with two silver medals. Congrats, buddy!
Congratulations to our long time member Alan who was awarded the rank of blue belt. Alan has trained with us since 2009 and has progressed nicely, combining his raw power with technical application of BJJ. As for the other members who were given stripes on their belts - Benny, Leonard, Sugu, Kian and Ian, well done, guys!
New blue belt Alan with Coaches Mandeng and Janson
Some of the PJ Jiujitsu Club members who were present for the night's training session
Something I came to realize was that being a good instructor is something that a lot of people who own schools are not doing. Regardless of how skilled they are, or their accomplishments, teaching is a whole different ballgame.
Teaching random techniques daily, and then telling the students to wing it is NOT good instruction. The people who succeed under this type of instruction have done so in spite of the instruction. They may or may not understand how to continually improve efficiently by themselves.
The most important thing to understand in my opinion, is having context to the material being taught. Simply put, there is a curriculum that I've come to understand that provides the most efficient learning for students. I didn't arbitrarily pick the order btw, it is strictly from analyzing my own progress and struggles from day one, as well as comparing the students who advanced quicker to those who didn't, side by side.
It starts with the worst case scenario (which is also 90%+ of the reason why new people lose) to progressively learning the next logical part of the game.
1) Escapes (from every single damn position).
The goal here is to cover how to get to the half guard from every position. Why half guard? Because in terms of worst case scenario, half guard is the next best thing, one notch above being in the positions where your guard is passed. The vast majority of white belts lose their matches NOT because they don't know the latest submission or rubber guard, but because they absolutely suck at escaping. Preventing guard passes also falls under this category. I feel that every single white belt who just starts out should focus a tremendous amount (an absolute metric shit ton) of time simply on escapes and not getting your half guard passed.
2) Sweeps
Once the escapes are mastered, typically the next thing is to learn to get on top of the opponent. Sweeps starting from half guard, then open guard/butterfly/different variants and finally full guard should be learned. It is at this stage that most people receive their blue belts. Because escaping is no longer a big problem, the focus should shift to the sweeps. There should be no bullshit about working on the latest submission, or practicing the newest guard pass quite yet. Yes it is good to learn something from every position, however 90% of the focus in training should be devoted to becoming a THREAT from different forms of guard.
3) Guard passing/Takedowns
Once the sweeping is solid, against most people of the same rank, getting on top should not be a problem anymore. The sweeps should be so good, that you are threatening nearly everyone you roll with to some degree. At this point, technical guard passing should be developed. It is very likely that in a tournament (assuming the person has reached this point), the most likely cause of a loss is not being able to score a takedown, or not being able to pass the guard. And yes, good guard passing implies that you also are working on NOT getting swept. Having the right pressure from the top is a fine art, and developing this along with takedowns will increase the amount of matches won far more than learning anything else at this point.
4) Maintaining the good position/transitions
This is also a point that is sort of neglected in training. The highest level competitors have the best/quickest transitions between one good position to another. So to succeed in a tournament, you want to try to emulate that. i.e. taking the person's back quicker than they can turtle as they defend a guard pass. Typically as the opponents get better and better in tournaments, quick transitions and solid ability to maintain good positions will make or break the matches.
5) Submissions
Finally, submissions. Not that the person shouldn't invest ANY time until now on submissions, but the focus should be somewhat basic until here. Submissions from EVERY position should be practiced. Assuming all of the above have been mastered, having excellent subs from everywhere will complete the game plan, and I am pretty sure from my experience that once this is achieved, the black belt level has also been achieved. The ability to finish matches and really punish the opponent for making a mistake, or not being able to impose his own game really separates the elite black belt competitor from the not as skilled competitors.
So, this isn't the end-all be all way obviously, but at least from my point of view this has been more or less the most accurate picture of the fastest way to improve in bjj.
Finally, one more point I would like to mention is
Big guy game vs little guy game
Being a somewhat little guy myself, there have been plenty of times where I lost to someone bigger who had far less mat time than me. Yes it was frustrating, but over the last 6+ years, I learned a REALLY valuable lesson, which is that: there are two different types of game plans that everyone should learn.
Yes. One for the people who are bigger than you, and one for the people who are the same size or smaller.
The absolute PERFECT example of someone who plays the way he should against a bigger opponent is Marcelo Garcia.
The main point in this game plan for bigger people, is that when you are on bottom, you strictly limit the moves you do to the ones that do not let the bigger guy put any weight directly on top of you. This means, no normal half guard, no deep underhook, no flat on the back. There MUST be something framing the top guy (your forearm on his neck, your foot on his hip, your butterfly hook, ANYTHING) but the weight must be off. The attacks have to come very aggressively via arm drag, single leg, head lock/snap down, taking the back, leg lock, or standing back up.
Big guys who are equally as skilled as you, will most likely beat you. So the point is to be so skilled at this game, that being matched in skill is not possible.
Now against people your own weight, the above game plan plus all of the rest of the moves can be used with no consequence. The worst thing is when I see someone trying to use the same game plan against everybody, and it includes the big guy putting weight right on top of the little guy. This indicates a severe lack of experience.
Can you progress in Brazilian Jiu-JItsu if you cannot train that often? This is a nice article written by SBGi BJJ black belt Cane Prevost, specially for the part time or recreational BJJ player, which answers the question quite well.
Some of the important points he emphasized in the article are:
1. Be consistent. Training 2 times a week every week is going to pay off more than training very intensely for short periods followed by stretches of time off. Of course I have no scientific data to back this up but I’ve seen it play out over and over again at the gym. Enough to confidently make this claim.
2. Focus on fundamentals. At it’s core fundamentals can be broken down into Posture, Pressure, and Possibilities. Building a library of techniques is not a great or efficient way to get good. You only have so much room on your bookshelf. At a certain point the shelf will be filled and you’ll have to throw some out to make room for new ones. In my personal experience I’ve rarely seen anyone who is good at more than about 5 submissions at one time. They may know way more than that but their A game is mostly limited to the top 5. Adding 50 more moves won’t help your game much.
3. Focus on Posture most of all.I tell students that the posture should do about 80% of the work for you. You should always be asking yourself “Am I in posture?” If the answer is no then you know what you have to do. If posture does 80% of the work then you should be spending most of your time either working to get posture, improving the posture you have, or fighting to keep it. If you are doing this then BJJ will be way easier.Focusing on posture means getting the best possible posture you can get WHILE putting the other person in the worst possible posture you can. If you create this posture imbalance then you don’t have to be good at BJJ in order to beat the other guy. Remember, the posture does 80% of the work.
4. Don’t roll above 70%. I you go all out all the time then you will be building a game that requires that you go all out all the time. That’s hard to do if you aren’t young and in super shape. Instead try building a posture based game that REQUIRES that you move slower and concentrate on simply building good posture along the way. A good goal is to build efficient postures that use leverage and structure instead of muscle strength. To use efficient motion that requires less intensity of movement. And to use fewer movements in your overall game. My goal is to win by moving less and less until eventually you won’t even notice that I’m moving at all.
5. Focus on breathing. If you can’t devote lots of extra time to conditioning exercises you need to be very mindful of your breathing. Stop and check during a roll. Are you breathing heavier than the other guy? If the answer is yes then you need to slow down and focus on posture. Catch your breath before you exert too much energy. Breathing heavy is a sure sign that you are not attending to posture effectively.
6. Simplify the game. Can I use the same posture in mount bottom that I use in cross sides bottom? How many ways can I use this triangle submission? Finding multiple uses for things that you already do well is a great way to improve your game without having to put a tremendous amount of extra time in. As you learn new things try to relate them to things you already know and look for commonalities wherever you can.
7. Don’t keep score. The worst thing you can do for your game is to keep track of who you tapped and who tapped you. It’s counter productive and probably the worst way to measure progress. If you focus on the tap you miss most of the joy of BJJ. You won’t notice the beautiful guard pass, the gorgeous butterfly sweep, the perfectly timed escape… All the things that happen in a roll that show mastery of the game. A gym where nobody keeps score is a healthy gym. If you are in a gym where there are a lot of side conversations about who tapped who you’ll find the atmosphere unhealthy. A tap should only be treated as an event that happens in grappling that tells you when to stop. Nothing more. There are many better ways to measure progress.
8. Enjoy the journey. In only every case those who enjoy it more are better at it. Train in a way that is healthy, smart, and most of all fun. Will power will get you a year of training at best. If you aren’t having a blast on the mat you won’t stick around or train in a way that will allow you to make much progress. This is perhaps the most important rule. It’s certainly not about “dedication” or “work ethic” as some will describe. Look around you. What looks like dedication is actually someone following their bliss. They are doing it because it’s the most enjoyable and rewarding thing they can think of to do. This is only always the case.
Janson has been training in the sport of jiu-jitsu (BJJ) since 2001/02. Janson was promoted on 7/9/10 to purple belt and thereafter on 5/6/16 to brown belt by Sam Wee ( black belt under John Will) . A lawyer by profession, Janson actively runs his legal practice in Kelana Square in Petaling Jaya, focusing on general civil litigation and property law.
