In Jiu-Jitsu getting a submission means first you have to secure a dominant position but before you can secure a dominant position you must first win a series of small battles with in whatever position you happen to be fighting from. In Saturdays Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ( BJJ ) class we demonstrated this idea for the […]
Today during our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class we covered what to do when somebody grabs you from behind. This can be one of the most starling attacks because you can not see it. We discussed making sure you don’t et knocked over. In brazilian jiu-jitsu we refer to this as dropping in base and is the […]
Tonight during our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ( BJJ ) class we worked on what to do if your training partner tries to stand up to pass your guard. Since all guard passes in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu can be broken down into two categories, passing from the knees and passing from standing, understanding how to defend both is […]
Today in our kids class we continued working with the kids on foot sweeps. A foot sweep is a very effective way to move a self defense or bullying situation from standing to the ground where a smaller child can control and protect him or herself. The kids then did some live rolling drills with […]
Congratulations to Jim and Joe on earning their blue belts tonight. Both of these men have put in the mat time and it shows!
Today in our kids class we kept working our basic takedowns and our break falls. Making sure every student in the Crossroads Kids BJJ program knows how to fall correctly is extremely important both inside and outside the gym. Because falling the wrong way can cause serious injuries, we want to make sure we land […]
In the bottom position if we can control our opponents posture by holding the closely to us, we can prevent them from punching or hitting us. The best bottom position in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is called The Guard. The amazing thing about the guard is it is a position where you an use your entire body […]
Today during our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Team Training class we continued working on our 3 points of pressure loop, this time starting from the turtle. By covering where and when to put pressure on different parts of our training partners body we can successfully keep the advantage during a match. Keeping the advantage and applying continuous […]
Today in our Brazilian Jiu-jitsu class we continued covering how to maintain back control. Back control is the most dominate position to have in a self defense situation, an mama fight, or a jiu-jitsu tournament. Because your training partner can’t see you and has a very limited number of escapes we can easily control their […]
Today all of our kids worked on how to take a bully down to the ground and control him in side control where we are safe from punches and kicks. If you have been reading these posts, especially the post about our kids program you know by know that the whole purpose of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu […]
Today in our Brazilian Jiu-jitsu class we went over how to control a person once you achieve back mount. Back mount is the strongest position you can have in a fight because you are secured to your attackers back and they can’t see you. So not only can they not hit you, they also can’t […]
Today in our Brazilian Jiu-jitsu class we went over basic stand up strategies with a focus on head position and grip fighting. In grappling angles make a huge difference in who has the advantage and while our main focus in BJJ is to close the distance and get the fight to the ground any way […]
Since the main focus of our Kids self defense program is teaching your child how to be safe and how to protect themselves against bullies todays class focused on how to get a bully down onto the ground where a smaller child can control them until help comes without getting punched or kicked. The focus […]
As always we started out drilling the self defense techniques of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. When BJJ was first modified from its Japanese Jiu-jitsu and Judo Roots it was to make the art more effective in the Street Fights in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. This was before the IBJJF was founded by Carlos Gracie Jr. son of […]
Today we warmed up with stretching to increase our flexibility and get ourselves warmed up for the technical portion of our Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Class. While being flexible isn’t a requirement for learning jiu-jitsu improving our flexibility is an essential portion of any exercise routine. So many people spend their days sitting in offices or repeating […]
Today during our Brazilian Jiu-jitsu class we started by warming up with a simple action-reaction drill moving between 3 BJJ style submissions, The arm-bar, triangle and omoaplata. As our opponent defends one submission we work to effortlessly to switch to the next submission without using strength. Drilling without using strength allows us to learn these […]
Another fantastic kids class filled with FUN! At Crossroads BJJ one of the things we really try to make sure is that our kids students fall in love with jiu-jitsu and always leave class smiling. At an age when attention spans are short and kids lose interest fast our coaching staff makes sure that every […]
Today in Our Brazilian Jiu-jitsu class we went over how to prevent a sucker punch. We define sucker punch as anytime somebody is close enough to us to through a punch that we are not expecting. The first thing we always discuss when going over dealing with a potentially hostile person is the ranges of […]
Today in our Brazilian jiu-jitsu class at Crossroads BJJ we started class with one of the most fundamental lessons in BJJ, learning how to deal with an aggressive person who may possibly attempt to sucker punch you. Understanding how to manage distance, how to position yourself with regards to your surroundings is extremely important when […]
Today during our Brazilian Jiu-jitsu class we went over how to break the posture of somebody on top of you in-order to prevent them from hitting you by controlling the distance. Once we have control over our training partners we no longer have to worry about being hit and can then move on to either […]
Today during our Kids Martial Arts and Self Defense program we continued to work on Balance and Flexibility after we finished our warm up. At Crossroads we try to make sure that the kids in our Marital Arts Program are developing higher levels of coordination each and every class. If you want to be able […]
With another New England snow storm making the roads nice and slippery tonights BJJ Class turned into a semi private lesson for those brave(crazy) enough to get on the roads and make it to class! Coach Mike held a Q&A session on the half guard, going over what to do when you are stuck flat […]
Everyone knows the belt system in Jiu-Jitsu. White, blue, purple, brown, black. If you want to get technical, black is followed by coral, and then red. When your Jiu-Jitsu journey begins, the higher belts can seem like super heroes, and you’re instructor can seem like Zeus atop Mount Olympus. But what is the one thing […]
Today during our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class two ways to escape the mount position. The Mount position is one of the most powerful ways to control an attacker in a self defense situation because of the number of BJJ style submissions that are available as well as the number of ways to completely neutralize your attacker […]
Today during our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ( BJJ ) program we studied the Mount position. Today we dealt with one of the worst possible situations in a self defense scenario, Somebody sitting on top of us trying to hit us. The main strategy taught today was to force the attacker to us his hands to prevent […]
Today we worked one of the most well known series of attacks in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Working from the guard we were able to work from the arm-bar attack then into a triangle submission followed by the reverse arm-bar. By putting our training partners in a position where we have have 3 attacks we put ourselves […]
Today Kids BJJ Class was a lot of Fun! Class started off my running around the gym playing with Giant Ball and Hula Hoops! Then everybody lined up and we started focusing on the underlying lesson of the day, the ability to follow instructions both in Jiu-Jitsu class but also in school and at home […]
Today during our Our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) class we worked a potential self defense scenario. We started from the clinch and then worked a simple yet effective take down. In BJJ or MMA the clinch is how we describe the position where two people are grabbing onto each other while standing up. Understanding the Clinch […]
Today during our Kids BJJ class we continued working the idea of keeping your child safe. In Brazilian Jiu-jitsu the main strategy is to put yourself in a position where you can not be hurt. This idea of safety goes beyond a physical altercation, making sure that every student is treating people how they would […]
The UFC is huge these days. Barely a month goes by where there isn’t a UFC pay per view event on tv. This is where my interest in jiu jitsu began. As most fans know, to be a well rounded fighter in any combat sport like the UFC, you need a good ground game. Jiu […]
Today during our Brazilian Jiu-jItsu class we continued working the idea of timing and flow. Timing is a crucial aspect of BJJ, if you don’t understand when to transition after your training partner is defending your techniques you will always be reacting to their movement instead of the other way around. We started working the […]
Today during the Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Class at Crossroads BJJ Coach Doug covered the toronado pass. This is one of the most commonly used passes in BJJ and can be seen in pretty much every tournament you will every see. The toronado pass is a loose style pass that is accomplished by controlling your training partners […]
Today during our Crossroads BJJ Kids Class we continued working on balance and movement drills. Our Children are growing at a rapid rate, which can cause them to become uncoordinated, and this lack of coordination can lead to problems with their self confidence, which can lead to them being bullied in school and all of […]
Today during class we continued working headlock escapes from the bottom position. While this is not something that will typically happen during a sparring session at Crossroads BJJ because the headlock does not offer a great deal of control over our training partners and there aren’t many submissions from the position it is something that happens […]
Unfortunetly because of the forcasted blizzard all classes will be canceled today. Be safe if you have to drive. See you all in class on Monday.
Today during the Brazilian Jiu-jitsu class at Crossroads BJJ we continued with our theme of escaping the headlock. While Brazilian Jiu-jitsu practitioners will not try to headlock you wether they are in class training or in a tournament because you can’t finish a fight from the position and once you know how to escape it […]
Congratulations Kevin on earning your BJJ Blue Belt! Kevin is one of the most dedicated and hardworking guys in the gym and has he has put a tremendous amount of work into earning his BJJ Blue Belt! It is great to have him in the school always bringing a great attitude and a desire to […]
Today during our Brazilian Jiu-JItsu we continued working escaping the headlock position from the ground. Last week we started defending the headlock from the standing position and today we continued working how to escape the headlock once your training partner is on the ground. The first details we covered were how to stabilize the position […]
Sunday Morning Jiu-Jitsu started by going over the Gift-wrap position. Coach Denis started by going over how to get into the Gift-Wrap Position and then went into a number of BJJ submissions you can achieve from there. The two submissions taught this past Sunday were the Arm bar and the Reverse Triangle, two of the […]
Today in our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class we continued to work the headlock defense where a Stronger opponent has already Broken our posture. The main points of today were understanding the right time to go for the move. By knowing when to apply the technique we can make our movements much more efficient with allows us […]
Today’s kid class started with Balance Drills. Balance drills are a great way to help the kids enrolled in our Crossroads BJJ Kids Martial Arts program to see the immediate benefit of increasing their focus. One of the methods to increasing how well you balance is to find one spot on the floor and keep […]
Friday Night Open Mat is taught run by Coach Denis and is always a great time. Friday night is always filled with the students who love jiu-jitsu and want to get better! This Friday we had 3 purple belts on the Mat as well as several blue belts and a few white belts all helping […]
Thursday’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class started with a good warm up and then went right in to the technical portion of class. We started work from the stand up position working from one of the most common situations in a street fight, the headlock position. There are several different ways to escape the headlock positions, today we […]
Wednesday nights class Began with Coach Doug walking everybody through how to perform the hip bump sweep from the Guard Position. One of the things that separates BJJ from other Martial arts is the range of techniques it has to defend yourself while you are on your back underneath your training partner. The guard is […]
Today Crossroads Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu held another great kids class and due to the stormy weather we were able to have a 1 to 1 student to teacher ratio, so every student got 45 minutes of one on one attention with one of our great Kids Martial Arts Instructors. Todays Kids BJJ Class focused on Three […]
Everybody has been training hard and it shows. In the past two weeks we’ve had 3 students earn well-deserved promotions. Denis made it through a super-tough, top-secret (Shhhhhhh ;-)) test to receive the second Purple Belt ever awarded at Crossroads BJJ! Denis has been training with Dustin for almost 4 years and has been an […]
Congratulations to Bryan for earning his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt! Bryan is a long time Crossroads student and one of the Jiu-Jitsu schools most dedicated members. We are all excited to welcome him into the next phase of his BJJ journey!
1)An Improved Level of FitnessOne of the first thing your going to notice within the first month of training is a drastic improvement in your fitness level. There is no workout like grappling! Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is one of the few activities that gives you both an anaerobic and aerobic workout at the same time. What […]
1) Crossroads BJJ is a Fun and Exciting way to get fit. Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is often compared to a game of human chess. If you don’t like to workout at the gym because you get bored, you are not alone. Many of our students were tired of repeating the same exercises at the gym. They […]
Crossroads Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Is proud to announce our 3rd Annual Carlos Machado Seminar! Carlos puts on an amazing seminar, teaching great techniques and concepts that are easily added into your game. A Carlos Machado Seminar will increase your understanding of Jiu-Jitsu and allow you to apply the concepts he shows to all areas of your Jiu-Jitsu. Carlos […]
The Advanced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Class at Crossroads BJJ in CT has begun studying a new position. While our last segment was devoted to passing the open guard, the next segment will be spent practicing details on how to control and attack from the Side Control Position. One of the most popular saying in CT Jiu-jitsu […]
Just as expected Rodrigo Gracie Grandson of Carlos Gracie Sr. put on an amazing seminar last week at Crossroads Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Connecticut. Rodrigo has been learning Brazilian since he could crawl from his family. The Gracie’s are the most famous Martial Arts Family in the world having displayed there technical prowess both in self […]
This past September Crossroads Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Celebrated its 4 year anniversary. It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were sharing space with the local batting cage. When we first opened in Waterford, CT we would put down the mats at the beginning of every practice, train, and then wash the mats, wait for them […]
Crossroads is proud to announce that we now offer Brazilian / Gracie Jiu-Jitsu classes 7 Days a week! With full schedule of classes for Beginners, Advanced Students as well as those interested in No-Gi Grappling for MMA. We will now offer an Open Mat on Friday evenings starting at 6:00pm and an “All Levels” class […]
Crossroads Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is proud to have had its 3 year anniversary this past September. Over the last year we have grown significantly. In the past year Crossroads Brazilian Jiu-jitsu has moved into its own dedicated training facility with roughly 700 square feet of mats, a sitting area for parents and guests and a separate […]
Crossroads Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is proud to announce we have moved, and we are now in our own dedicated facility. We are still Located at 316 Boston Post Rd, Waterford CT, however we will now be conducting classes in Suite 1. Our gym now offers almost 700sqft of mat space, and a new larger changing area. […]
Dustin Rhodes BJJ Seminar at Gracie Farmington Valley Crossroads Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Head instructor Dustin Rhodes will be teaching a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu seminar at Gracie Farmington Valley (www.graciefv.com) March 31, 2013. The seminar will be from 11am to 1pm. Gracie Farmington Valley is located in Simsbury Connecticut approximately 30 minutes Northwest of Hartford. This seminar will […]
2 Years of High Quality BJJ in CT Crossroads Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is proud to have brought high level Brazilian Jiu-jitsu instruction to Waterford,CT during 2012. This marks the second full calender year we have served New London County Connecticut and our gym is very excited to continue helping BJJ grow during 2013. 2012 […]
Improve Your Problem Solving abilities with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is an art of problem solving. For example, how can somebody who is small defend themselves against somebody who is big? The smaller person will never punch or kick as hard. A Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner realizes this, so the first thing he will try […]
Flow with the Go Brazilian Jiu-jitsu proved its effectiveness in the early days of the UFC by demonstrating its ability to give those who are small the opportunity to defend themselves against those who are big.With no time limits and no weight categories, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu(BJJ) defeated all challengers. One of the reasons BJJ was […]
Injury Free Jiu-Jitsu One of the reasons Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is such an effective Martial Art is because of the way it is practiced. Unlike striking arts, Jiu-jitsu techniques can be practiced at full speed without risk of injury to you or your training partner. In BJJ, anyone can simply Tap out if they are […]