Greg Eldred and Grand Master Helio Gracie.
Helio Gracie was born October 1, 1913. He would have been 108 years old today. The Grandmaster made his life a mission to expand Jiu-Jitsu throughout the world. Let’s all remember this day and his legacy and we all thank him for how Gracie Jiu Jitsu changed our lives.
Should you get in shape before starting Jiu Jitsu Lessons?
From time to time while meeting with a prospected student I hear they want to “get in shape” before they start training jiu-jitsu. I thought I’d share my thoughts on it.
What does getting in shape actually mean? There’s not really one definition. It can be everything to having muscular strength, to cardiovascular endurance, to having low body fat, or even having good flexibility. But it really depends on what your goals are. Due to the fact you’re visiting a jiu-jitsu school, I believe you desire to learn an effective martial art for self-defense. Maybe you have in your mind you may also want to one day compete in sport competition, or even MMA, and you can eventually work towards those goals too, but for now let’s just consider you’re starting at the beginning.
What I tell those who think they need to get in shape first is to consider this. If you want to improve your life stop making excuses or procrastinating about it, and dive right in. Participation in a jiu-jitsu program does not require strength, nor speed or quickness, nor tremendous flexibility, nor lean body fat, nor considerable cardiovascular endurance. It’s an art that uses principles of leverage, timing, efficiency, and control. But this does not mean that practicing jiu-jitsu won’t help or show improvements in any ... Read More
The goal of SAAM is to raise public awareness about sexual violence and to educate communities and individuals on how to prevent sexual violence. Nearly 1 in 5 women have been raped at some time in their lives and about every 2 minutes someone in the United States is sexually assaulted. Get involved by educating yourself about the issue. There are many online resources and state and local groups and organizations that can provide help. Also, no matter how well you are educated about the topic, nothing can compare to having the self defense training which gives you the skills to escape from an attacker.
Bullying is becoming a serious problem in today’s society. Whether it’s mental, verbal, physical, or even cyber bullying, it needs to be stopped. Bullying is more common than we realize. Studies show that between 15 – 25% of all kids up through high school age are bullied, while many bullying incidents go unreported. That’s almost 1 out every 4 kids are bullied. It is estimated that each day 160,000 kids will miss school for fear of being bullied.
Many adults don’t even know that their child is being bullied because many kids are afraid to report it. It’s important to talk to your children and get to know how things are going at school, social events, in the neighborhood, or even sporting activities. Specifically ask your child how are they being treated by other kids. That will help open the dialog, and could expose potential problems your child may be having with others. Even if your child is not encountering bullying problems it’s good to educate them about the topic, and prepare them with the means to deal with it if it happens to them. There are many good resources online for parents and kids to learn about bullying and more importantly to learn about prevention and intervention strategies.
In many cases if our kids simply stand up to the bullying they can stop it. But many don’t stand up for themselves because they don’t know what to do, especially when the bullying gets physical. That’s wher... Read More