Lots of exciting things happening this summer:

Our very own Pablo Cabo is heading off to Brazil to compete in the BJJ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. This is big time stuff. Pablo’s been training mano-a-mano with Edson for a month or so. He’s totally ripped, and ready to go. Good luck, Pablo– we’re all hoping the best for [...]

As we continue to prepare for the European’s, tonight’s training was a test of endurance. We trained six-minute circuits of takedowns, guard passing, and guard defending. Man, it was hard (but fun! Ok, maybe not so fun…) (Oh, that was, of course, after our warmup 20 minute Spinning class with Don Psycho.)

We then moved on [...]

Bien, vuestro escritor ha vuelto a españa después de terminar sus vacaciones de navidad fuera del pais, y que sorpresa cuando encontré que estamos ahora entrenando en el brillante nuevo gimnasio Platinum en Puerto Banús (Marbella). Normalmente no suelo quedar sorprendido con los gimnasios, pero debo decir que este es el gimnasio de mas lujo [...]

Well, your author is back in Spain after eating his way through the Christmas holidays abroad, and what a surprise to find that we’re now training in the shiny new Platinum Gym in Puerto Banus. I usually don’t get excited about gyms, but I must say it’s the most luxurious gym I’ve ever seen in [...]

Update: For those not quite familiar with the sport of grappling– Despite what it looks like, Bray and Jeff, in the above picture, are actually participating in the act of combat. There is absolutely nothing romantic going on there, and Bray is not trying to pull Jeff’s pants up just a little bit [...]

Tonight we trained a nice pass of the sitting guard, and a standup judo-related takedown. We sparred for about 30 minutes at the end of class. Now that Edson is training hard, we really see his talent!

Be sure to check out a video of tonight’s technique!

Tonight was a special session of the Gracie-Barra Marbella training, filled with happiness and disappointment.

The training focused on defending the back position, with some special training for about 20 minutes.

As part of our training we then did some tournament simulated fighting, beginning on our feet (we do this from time to time). The first match-up [...]

We had a lot of fun at training tonight. Edson showed us some techniques for taking the back position, attacking from the back, and defending from the back. We spent about 20 minutes in specific training, and then about 30 minutes in live sparring. Edson’s recovering well from his broken hand, and is back sparring [...]

Friday night means grappling, and tonight Edson started the class with a technique for passing an opponent’s sitting guard. After we mastered that one, he showed up two incredible leg locks (kneebar and foot lock) to apply when the opponent counters with a half-guard.

And most importantly, we decided that we’re going to introduce a “Chica [...]

Tonight we repeated the double attack from the guard (since a number of people attended who weren’t there on Monday). We then did about 30 minutes of specific training, guard passing, whereby the winner stays in. Good class.

Tonight we trained the double-attack from the mount and from the guard. Edson also showed us some details about property choking technique, in particular proper wrist movement for the cases where (1) you have both hands in the lapel of the opponent’s gi, and (2) where one wrist in inside the gi, and the other is grasping the shoulder area. Very important!

We ended training with about 20 minutes of specific training, one opponent starts in the mount. The winner stays.