The Ninja Blog

Welcome to the Grapple.Ninja Blog!  This blog contains articles and other information related to grappling, mental & physical health, competition and anything that I find interesting or worth sharing with a large group of people. This blog will also include guest posts from high-level grapplers and other experts in their field. I have always believed in the sharing of information because it empowers the community and helps us all on our quest for mastery. Please feel free to sign-up and join the discussion. Every member of a community has something unique and valuable to offer. 
 

Taking Ownership and Avoiding the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Plateau

One of the most effective ways to kickstart your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu growth is through a concept known as deliberate practice. Deliberate practice helps you grow your game systematically and with enough of it, you begin taking ownership of your own Jiu Jitsu game. This is the unique summation of techniques, transitions, attacks and escapes that you have added to your jiu jitsu game that work for you and your body. The shift in mindset that takes place once you start taking ownership of your own jiu jitsu growth is subtle, but important. It can help ignite a spark in your growth and development while also serving as a way to avoid the dreaded jiu jitsu plateaus.

Read More...

5 Tips for Jiu Jitsu Competition

Competing is a different skill set from jiu-jitsu. Do you know someone who is really good at rolling but not very good at competing? This person usually dominates open mats by developing a high level of training skills, but has not yet developed their competition skills. In fact they may hate competing because they don’t like losing and find competition too stressful. These 5 tips are for both types of grapplers...........

  

Read More...

Recovering from your Jiu Jitsu Injury

One of the most difficult, and almost inevitable, experiences in jiu-jitsu is injury. To make matters even worse, many people get into a vicious cycle that follows something like this:

  1. Get hurt 
  2. Stop training completely
  3. Come back ready to go hardcore
  4. Get re-injured
  5. Repeat.
 

Read More...

Consistency Is King

Consistency has been and is a major key to improving my jiu jitsu game. I try to build a routine around my training schedule so that by default I’m busy on training nights. Friends want to go out for drinks that night? Sorry, but that is a training day for me. Take it as seriously as you would an appointment with someone else. 

If you are able to consistently dedicate as little as 300 minutes per week (3 days per week) to improving your Jiu Jitsu, you’ll be on track for great results. It's better to be consistent and steady than the alternative. I have had many friends hit the gym super hard for a few weeks only to vanish for months while they figure out why they got hurt or burned out. It's just as important to get quality rest as it is to get those hard sparring rounds in!  You can use Grapple.Ninja to help keep yourself accountable and motivated, while also keeping an eye on your training volume. I use Grapple.Ninja to keep an eye on how much I'm training and I adjust my days accordingly. 

Go train and happy tracking :)
 

Read More...