When you start skipping as a cardio workout, at first even a few short minutes can seem hard to do. But then as you become more coordinated and your fitness improves, you can go for longer without feeling as much strain. After a while longer, you start finding it difficult to get your heart rate up enough to work your cardio. When you reach this stage, the answer is to start doing double-skips. Double-skipping is done by jumping once, but rotating your skipping rope around your body twice... Read Full Story

I have a few students who are testing for yellow belt this weekend. As always, the students have to memorize certain aspects of the curriculum and this sometimes stresses them out. They worry about forgetting what to do on a test while under pressure. I recently found a useful article about how to memorize for different learning styles, the advice from which I'll combine in this blog post with techniques I've used or recommended from my own experience. There are 3 types of learners... Read Full Story

I was checking out various videos on YouTube of people using a cane for self-defense one day and I came across some product videos for the unbreakable umbrella. Watching their videos on YouTube, it does appear to be unbreakable. But it is possible to fake these things. I contacted the company asking them about their product, telling them a little about who I am and what I do, and they offered to send me one of their umbrellas on the house provided that I review it on my blog. I... Read Full Story

For the past week, I've been away from Vancouver on vacation. I went down to the San Francisco area to be a bride's maid at an old friend's wedding. Being the head of a dojo, it's hard for me to leave my dojo for an entire week. I wouldn't do it if I were forced to cancel classes (unless they were already being cancelled due to holidays). The reason I was able to do it was because I have people I can rely on, for which I am very grateful. I had to miss 3 classes so I got two of my more... Read Full Story

I have a student who is testing for his purple belt test today. He has a tendency to get very nervous about belt tests, even though he is well-prepared (I wouldn't let him or anyone test for a belt if they weren't.) Here are my suggestions to students of what to do in the last 48 hours before a belt test. 1. Hydrate. Sometimes when people are nervous they forget to do some of the basic things they need for their body to be ready for the rigors of a belt test. Students should ensure they... Read Full Story

My Jiu-jitsu dojo, West Coast Jiu-jitsu, is a member of the Jiu-jitsu BC Society. This is a non-invasive organization that does not dictate training curricula, nor how dojo owners should run their clubs. It is simply an organization for mutual support and learning of traditional self-defense oriented Jiu-jitsu dojos in the province of BC. It also provides schools with injury and liability insurance for their members. Every quarter, the JJBC society holds a technical seminar at which 2 or... Read Full Story

Yesterday I taught an impromptu grappling class for my students. Submission grappling doesn't make an appearance in my curriculum until the senior belt levels, focusing more on 'no rules' ground defense (i.e. do whatever you have to to get off the ground and away from your attacker) at the early belt levels. That being said, I do teach submission grappling to my white and yellow belts once in a while as a change of pace. In the past, I've trained at MMA and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu schools... Read Full Story

One of my students came to me before class to let me know that Jiu-jitsu saved his neck over the weekend. Unsurprisingly, it was a breakfall that saved him from injury. The student had been on top of a tall truck, loading it up for a move. He was in the process of pulling a holding strap tight when he lost his balance and fell straight back off the truck onto the pavement. He landed in what he described as a perfect back breakfall, with his chin tucked down, arms slamming the ground to... Read Full Story

Last night, I went for dinner at a friend's place, an old friend named Vicky whom I met in Japan. Seeing her reminded of my time spent in the place where the local time is tomorrow, so today I decided to post a chapter from my book, Weapons of Opportunity, that goes back to that time. Enjoy! Weapon #33: A Pair of Underwear In my second year of living in Japan, a cloud descended on the foreign women living in Iwaki. It started with an incident that involved Vicky, a Canadian girl I knew... Read Full Story

Last night I taught an off-curriculum Jiu-jitsu class in which I taught grappling submissions, specifically arm bar, triangle and omoplata from the guard position. When I do teach grappling or submissions, I always teach them in sets along with defenses against each move so that students can learn transitions. I'll explain. First, I taught the basic arm bar from guard, similar to the way it is taught in the following video: Then I taught a defense against the arm bar called "The... Read Full Story