Last night at Crossroads Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu during our BJJ Team Training class we took the time to put all of the pieces of the Kimora system together. Over the past two weeks in each of our BJJ Team Training classes we spent each class covering the small details that make each technique work, however it […]
Last night during our Fundamentals of BJJ class at Crossroads BJJ in New London County CT we drilled a chain or sequence of techniques starting with a passing the guard and ending in the mount position. During that sequence we covered a number of senerios that can take place if you are not paying attention […]
Today during our Team Training Brazilian BJJ Class we worked on Pressure from Side Control and how to shut down the most common escapes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu by using pressure to neutralize an explosive elbow escape. As we progress in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu tapping untrained opponent because extremely easy and we begin to focus our training […]
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 Team Training class we started a new chapter, moving from the butterfly guard position to the top of Side Control. Today we worked advanced Brazilian Jiu-jitsu technique where we provide our training parter with enough space to move into a position that is not ideal for them, using pressure in specific areas […]
Today during Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Team Training we worked some very high level back back takes from the De La Riva Guard. The De La Riva guard is one of the most popular guards today in sport BJJ and can be seen in every International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation tournament you attend. So even if you don’t […]
Constantine stopped by Crossroads BJJ for one of our Sunday open Mats while in town away from his gym. Here is what he had to say about Crossroads Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and our Coaches! “I just came back from Crossroads BJJ while vacationing in Mystic (they’re in Waterford). Dennis, the two Mikes, and John treated me […]
Our BJJ or GJJ(Gracie Jiu-Jitsu) Team Training Class we continue to work the butterfly guard using an overlook to control our training partners posture. Today we added the detail of hooking our opponents arm when they are sitting square in front of us and have neutralized our favorable angle. By hooking the arm we can […]
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 […]
BJJ is a contact sport! You are in close proximity to the people you train with, so being clean is supremely important. Dirty gis and dirtier people spread bacteria and other nasty infections, so it really is a health issue. We don’t really have this problem at Crossroads bjj but it’s still important to go […]
Today in our Team Training class we continued working working Butterfly Guard, today working an overhook variation similar to what we covered in our No-Gi BJJ class on Tuesday night. Our main focus was moving our hips so that we can keep constant pressure on our training partner in order to break their poster and […]
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 […]
Kia has been training at Crossroads for about two months, here’s what his mom has to say about the Crossroads Kids Martial Arts Program! “Kids martial arts — if your kids are interested in martial arts, there is no better place to learn than Crossroads Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. My 6-year old son started attending the children’s […]
Today during Team Training we continued our study of the Butterfly guard Hook Sweep introducing the pant grip to slow down your opponents ability to circle pass to your weak side. We then strengthened that concept by adding a push pull to increase the amount of total force. At this point in the class once […]
Today during Team Training we continued working Butterfly Guard sweeps, starting with a review of the butterfly Guard Sweep we have been working on for the last week. This gave everybody and opportunity to increase their understanding of the mechanics of the sweep and sharpening up some the skills we already knew from previous classes. […]
Today during team training we went right into 5 minute sparring rounds! With a black belt, a purple belt and several purple belts on the mat everybody had to be on point with both offense and defense. Hard work is the key to success in BJJ and everybody tonight was working hard and having a […]
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 Team Training we continued working the butterfly guard, working into a counter to our training partners using their leg to replace the arm when we have successfully controlled it from the bottom position. One of the most common counters to the butterfly guard in BJJ is to use your leg as a kickstand […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Today we warmed up for team training with Bear crawls and “Crocodiles” , Jacare Souza style, we finished off the warm up with arm drag drills and practicing our double legs takedowns. The fight starts from the feet, so just like in our BJJ class we start drills from the standing position. Once we started […]
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 […]
Learning the art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was never a goal of mine. It was never on a checklist of things to accomplish nor did I know much about it. Prior to being dragged to the gym by a good friend, I had studied Muay Thai for a few years and that was good enough […]
More Butterfly Guard Sweeps! Today in our BJJ Team Training Program we covered more sweeps from the Butterfly Guard and went into detail on how to create momentum from the position as well as how to adjust your angle in order to switch between sweeps. We also covered a sweep directly into a submission. Working […]
Today during our No-Gi Team Training class we held a marathon rolling session, completing 60 minutes of 5 minute rounds! With a mix of Black, Purple, Blue and White belts on the mat everybody put in great work and continued to sharpen up their techniques. Marathon rolling sessions are a great way to develop mental […]
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 […]
When the voice of experience speaks, it’s usually a good idea to listen. When that voice is talking about jiu-jitsu and has an undefeated professional MMA career as backup evidence, you pay close attention to what it’s saying, because it works! On Saturday, December 5th, Crossroads BJJ was proud to host one such distinguished voice, […]
It’s promotion season at Crossroads, and James is the latest to pass his test and reach the rank of purple belt! James was a strong folkstyle wrestler when he got to Crossroads three years ago and has grown into a formidable, multi-faceted grappler in his time training here. Known for his excellent cardio, fitness, and […]
The last 2 weeks have been busy ones at Crossroads BJJ! The hours of training put in on the mats has collectively raised the caliber of jiu-jitsu being practiced by everyone, and nowhere is that more evident than with Nils and Mike, two longtime students of martial arts, who both achieved new belt ranks- blue […]
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 […]
What you should you expect your child to learn at a Crossroads Kids Class? At Crossroads Brazilian Jiu-jitsu our Children’s program has 3 main goals, giving your child the tools to prevent an abduction, teaching your child how to deal with bullies at school, and teaching your child how to move and feel comfortable and […]
We are excited to announce that Crossroads BJJ will be hosting our 3rd Annual Carlos Machado Seminar in less than 3 weeks. On January 24th 8th Degree Coral Belt Carlos Machado will be showing us his latest techniques, concepts and details to help you take your Jiu-Jitsu to a higher level and give you a […]
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 […]