As everyone knows by now legendary jiu jitsu master, Royce Gracie will be conducting two seminars while visiting Scranton MMA. The first on Wednesday 5/23/12 : a beginner seminar starting at 6pm. The second session 5/24/12 :an advanced seminar scheduled to begin at 6pm. These two events are open to the public so no matter where you train you can come and enjoy the experience of training with the most renowned bjj master on the planet! The beginner seminar will consist of all teens and adults currently ranked at white belt. The advanced seminar will be for teens and adults currently ranked with a colored belt. A very special one hour session will be available for ALL children under the age of 12! If you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to contact the academy.

Refreshments will be available fpr purchase; water, sports drinks, energy drinks, and protein skakes as well as memoriable incuding t-shirts and photographs that you may have Royce autograph at the event. Photography is allowed so bring a camera but absolutely no video recording is allowed. See you on the mats!

This Friday, May 18th, Scranton MMA will be presenting on the BIG SCREEN in its entirety the exciting UFC documentary Ultimate Royce Gracie! He was the man that put mixed martial arts on the map in 1993, a pioneer of the UFC who influenced more fighters than anyone in history. This documentary captures the jiu jitsu master at his best, including interviews, behind the scenes footage, and of course, his classic matches against Ken Shamrock, Kimo Leopoldo, Kazuushi Sakuraba, and others! Join us at Scranton MMA at 7pm to relive this amazing career OR for many of the young kids experience it for the first time! This event is open to all members, friends, and family of Scranton MMA as well as the public. See you there!

Jiu Jitsu is a journey of sweat, blood, and often times tears! Many a grappler have cried themselves to sleep at night anguishing over their “game” or lack there of. Then without warning an epiphany occurs and a grappling breakthrough is achieved! Breakthroughs are an exhilarating time: a light bulb goes off and your technique jumps to another level. All the hard work and long hours at the gym have paid off. These spikes are crucial for your development in brazilian jiu jitsu and and directly correspond to your promotion of rank - sometimes it is possible to identify exactly what happened that caused the breakthrough other times it is a complete mystery.  With that said are breakthroughs simply a matter of fate? Are some grapplers destined to experience them while others are meant to languish in technical misery? Perhaps! However take heart in the knowledge that there are several habits you can develop to facilitate a breakthrough and even make these spikes a regular occurrence.

1. Attend Classes. This should go without saying but sometime people find excuses not to train! Avoid excuses. Regular class attendance will create muscle memory and techniques will flow out of you more and more smoothly.

2. Private Lessons. Private lessons are a great way to hit a spike! With the undivided attention of the instructor the most obscure details of your game can be identify and lead to a breakthrough.

3. Watch Video. We aren’t talking youtube here! Instead record your rolls and analyze yourself later. Be critical of yourself – tear your game apart. Identifying a problem is the first step towards correcting it!

4. Attend Seminars. Seminars with a high profile black belt are a great way to experience a breakthrough for two reasons. First you will undoubtedly learn technique that will help your game and second you experience a boost of morale and often take a renewed approach to your training regimen!

The April 15th in house tournament is right around the corner! This special event is being held in honor of the Wendolowski family and is a fundraising event for The March of Dimes “Walk for Babies” event being held in May. As you know by now it is Team Reese versus Team Mcguire – the question being “how will this tournament work?” This tournament is meant to first and foremost be FUN; with that being said the rules are a special format designed to allow all grappling disciplines to compete on an even playing field. So here are the rules:

Forming the Teams

The formation of the opposing teams will be a blind draw. As members arrive they will find boxes labeled “kids”, “white belt” , “blue belt”, and “purple belt”. Write your name on the index card provided and drop it in the appropriate box. Once all members have registered Tom and Jeff will be to form their respective teams by blindly drawing names from the boxes until no index cards remain.

The Competition

Beginning with the kids each captain will send out a member of their team. A coin flip will determine which team sends out their representative first. This allows the second captain an advantage of selecting from his team a competitor he feels can defeat the competitor from the first team. This advantage will then alternate between captains each subsequent round.

A match is scheduled as 2 five minute rounds. The first five minute round is a submission victory only round. If a competitor earns victory in this round he earns 6 points for his team. If a victory does not occur in round one the second round begins after a 1 minute rest period. Round two is a five minute round that can be won via submission, ippon, or points. Earning a victory in round two nets a team 3 points. If at the end of two rounds the score is tied each team will earn 1 point.

Further clarification of the rules are thus:

An IPPON will only be scored only if the throw is a “significant impact” during which the opponent lands completely flat on their back.

Points are earned as follows:

-1 point for pulling guard

2 points for a non ippon takedown

2 points to a sweep that results in a position (if opponent guards or stands points are not awarded)

3 points for securing a 5 second cross side hold

4 points for securing a 5 second full mount

4 points for securing a 5 second back mount (two hooks or one hook with a harness grip)

Every bjj guy knows that if you don’t break your opponent’s posture the likelihood of a submission is greatly decreased. Often times breaking posture is as simple as grabbing the lapel of the gi and yanking the opponent down to your chest. When it isn’t that simple however what can you do to break the posture and not burn yourself out? Below you will find two posture busting “tricks” to add to your guard game!

The Ab Crunch

As the name implies this trick involves an ab crunch – a motion of bringing you knees to your chest. Your opponent is in perfect posture inside your guard with his hands controlling your belt or pants. Rather than yanking hopelessly on the collar slip both of your hands in behind his respective elbows. As the opponent attempt to either stand or break open your guard simply flare open his elbows and do an ab crunch. Posture broken!

Shake n’ Bake

Your opponent is in your closed guard and manages to keep posture, plant his feet, and stand. Rather than open your guard right away keep your legs locked. Now reach up and grip each of the lapels with your hands.  Next violently shake and jerk to and fro like you are preparing some delicious fried chicken Shake n’ Bake style! Before you know it his head will be shaking like a bobblehead doll on route 81.  With this disruption of equilibrium he will be unable to maintain balance and drop back onto his knees with broken posture.

Try these techniques next sparring session and remember that in both tricks the movements are rapid, jerky, and sharp.