Shoshin Jiu Jitsu Erie, PA

Invest in rock solid defense👊🏼

In some team sports you have separate teams for offense and defense. In Jiu jitsu you go out on the mat alone - you are responsible for both offense and defense. Good offense will take you a long way when you first start out because many of your opponents at lower level do not have very sophisticated defensive skills and a good offense will get you many quick wins. However, as you go higher everyone has good defense and it gets harder to harder to get quick breakthroughs with your offensive game. As the skill level rises, defensive skill becomes more and more the determinant of who wins and who loses. You’ll need strong defense to stave off a skill d opponents attacks and stay in the game long enough to wear a tough opponent down and get late wins. I know defense is not the most glamorous part of Jiu jitsu and doesn’t garner much interest in comparison with exciting offensive techniques, but let me assure you time invested in this skill early will pay big dividends later in your jiu jitsu journey.

Congrats to all who were awarded new stripes last night!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

After a successful review week, many hours of hard work, dedication, and perseverance were on display in fine fashion last night.

I'm always impressed by the selflessness of our team. Everyone shows up to help their partners succeed, and it's that spirit that will carry us to our goals.

Special thank you to the non-testing students who showed up to the event to support their teammates... That was very much appreciated!

Back to work on Monday, starting a new cycle. See you on the mats! 👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼

Get Signed Up Today for our seminar with Andrew Murry on Saturday November 16th! Click the link below (FB) or see our linktree in our profile (IG) to get all the details and to register now!

👉 https://kick.site/d1hymuvy

The most well known adage of Jiu jitsu is quite possibly the least used. The day you begin Jiu jitsu you are told - “push when you are pulled, pull when you are pushed - work in accordance with action/reaction.” It seems so obvious, so simple. Yet actually doing it consistently on the mat while under pressure is the hardest thing. A coach says and students say “yes, yes, I know that.” They know it as a sentence but they don’t manifest it as a principle. Knowing something and doing it every time are two different things. Next time you’re on the mat don’t focus on moves - focus only on the principle of action/reaction and you’ll see it’s not easy to apply it throughout a match. You may hear it uttered often, but it’s easily forgotten under pressure. Make sure it remains in your consciousness at all times when sparring - that’s when it counts

Many will watch - few will see: We are given countless opportunities to watch Jiu jitsu. Every time you go to the gym you can watch teachers, friends and training partners engage in sparring. Every competition you attend you’ll see dozens of matches in a day. We all have the tendency to “zone out” and watch mindlessly until the only thing we see is the result. This is a wasted opportunity. Each time you observe a match it’s a chance to train your mind to observe events and make sound decisions. Don’t just watch - interpret the action as it unfolds and make assessments as to what the athletes are doing and what they could be doing better. The better you get at this skill, the better your game will become. Good jiu jitsu is largely the skill of sound decision making under stress. This is a skill like any other and thus requires practice and one of the best forms of practice is interpretive observation of matches. Make it a habit and soon your improvement will show itself in your game.

Anytime you’ve gotten a grip upon your opponent where they can’t even think about offense, but must focus solely on escaping that grip before they can move on - you’re winning. Hunt for those grips aggressively and use them aggressively and you’ll create a situation where your opponent is more worried about what you’re doing to him than he is thinking about what he should be doing to you - if you can maintain that you’ll be winning far more often than not.

🎉🎉 We're turning two years old!🎉🎉

Come join us for our second anniversary seminar with Andrew Murry on Saturday November 16th. There are two separate workshop classes. You're welcome to sign up for one or both!

🟢 9-11am, gi workshop
🟢 11-12pm, open mat
🟢 12-2, no gi workshop
🟢 2-3pm, open mat

$30 for one workshop, $50 for both!

We expect a big crowd for this, so please sign up in advance to reserve your spot today!

Visit our Link Tree or click the links for all the info and to REGISTER TODAY!

https://kick.site/d1hymuvy

In a good training room you can make solid progress just showing up every day and following along - but if you want great progress you must bring a clear set of personal goals with regards skill development to every class aligned within a long term plan to acquire the skill set required to attain your career goals. Don’t just show up - show up with a purpose - if you can maintain this over years you’ll outstrip the room

I will be doing OPENMAT FUNDRAISER 🥋 🙏 🪙

OPEN TO ALL RANKS AND AFFILIATIONS.

WHY? I.O.T. raise money for Richard Bresler who is Very Ill. If You train it’s probably thanks to Richard and the Gracie family. Jiu Jitsu gave us all so much, now it’s time to rally and give back.

WHO? Is Richard. First GJJ student of Rorion’s in the US. He helped the Gracie Family gain a “foothold” in the US. 👨 you should check out his book 📕 worthdefendingbook and learn his story.

WHEN? November 23rd (Saturday before ThanksGiving. ) @ 930AM- 11AM 🕚

WHERE? @ Good Karma Jiu Jitsu Academy in Meadville PA. 🥋

HOW MUCH? Minimum $20 donation to Richard’s Go.Fund.Me bring a picture of your donation receipt.🧾

The higher you go in this game the more you replace “position before submission “ with “position OR submission.” The threat of submission elicits defensive reactions designed to stop that submission, but which often do nothing to prevent an immediate follow up positional attack. So too, a positional attack elicits a defensive reaction designed to stop that specific positional attack but which does nothing to prevent a subsequent submission attack. Position and submission are two very different skill sets. Defense to one does little to defend the other since they are entirely different categories. Thus one of the most profitable dilemmas you can create is the threat of submission followed by positional attack and vice versa. Rather than simply seeing position and submission as a sequential pair with one antecedent to the other - see them a dilemma pairing that breaks the rhythm of your attacks in a truly effective way.

Great training tonight, my friends! Lots of good work on elbow escape and scissor sweep... 1% better every day!

So nice to have teammates at the Association Conference this weekend... Hoping to have more of our team join us for future events, so start marking off that calendar for next year!! 👊🏼🤙🏼

When you can stop your opponents movement you are close to victory. When you can let them move but only in the directions you want - you are even closer to victory. When you can funnel their movement in the directions you want and have a trap already prepared at the end of the funnel - victory is yours already.

When we first learn a move in Jiu jitsu our primary concern is mechanical efficiency. When it’s time to apply it in live sparring however, it’s equally important to execute with a sense of commitment. Remember that timidity has spoiled the ex*****on of moves as often as mechanical deficiencies. You must execute with confidence and authority, so be sure to build this attitude into your drilling once you feel you got the mechanical aspects to a satisfactory level. As your confidence grows with a move start applying it with an increasing sense of authority and elan. The spirit in which you apply moves is as important in real world application as the method.

Somewhere between push and pull is where the magic happens: An old adage of martial arts is to pull when pushed and push when pulled. There is much wisdom in this. Any time you push or pull an opponent you will get an opposing reaction. Learning to read that reaction and capitalize on it is a huge part of your development. I would have no hesitation in saying that a big factor in what distinguishes beginner from expert in Jiu jitsu is this ability to play between pull and push and use the opponent’s reaction to advantage. Don’t just put your hands on people for no particular reason. Use them to initiate pull and push. When you feel the response, that’s your opportunity - that’s when you push when pulled and pull when pushed - that’s when doing so will stumble an opponent and take them out of balance and create the openings you need to win.

When two people clash in a contest they both want to win, victory will go to the one who wins a long enough sequence of little second by second battles until he gets a potentially fight winning scenario and carries it through. In the midst of all that there there will likely be times where you lose a sequence of battles. That’s when you have to be able to hold yourself together and stay in the fight. As long as you don’t get finished and there is time on the clock recovery and reinvigoration is always possible no matter how dark the situation may appear at the time. Remember always that wars are won by winning a series of battles. You’ll win some and lose some, but when you can string together enough wins in a row to break an opponent mentally or physically, the war is won

If you can pin the head and shoulders as you navigate past the legs there is very little an opponent can do in response. All forms of control are valuable, but none can surpass control of the head and shoulders, especially when you’ve got their back on the ground and are past one of their knees. Try to trap their head between your head and your under hook - this controls both head and shoulders and confers real control.

If you make an opponent think your doing one thing and then do another, you’ll always have an advantage. There is more to combat sports than technique. Technique must be housed within tactics and among tactics, surprise and subterfuge are king. Whenever you’re sparring, try to sell your opponent the idea that you’re about to attempt something different from what you actually intend to do. If an opponent has any skills and experience he will quickly ascertain what you’re attempting and counter; but when you can fool him as to what’s about to happen his defense will be in the wrong direction and by the time he corrects himself you’ll have gotten the breakthrough. Subterfuge is a skill like any other. If you don’t practice it you won’t be good at it. So incorporate it it into your daily training like everything else you want to excel at and you will see for yourself how much it adds to your game