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Countdown to 100 Shows: 7 Most Popular Videos

As a five-day countdown to our hundredth show, we’re going to be posting two blog items a day until Friday, culminating in two big giveaways, one big announcement, and finally our 100th show. Stick around for the top two announcements for sure — I think you’ll be as excited as we are.

TODAY: SEVEN MOST POPULAR VIDEOS

We do a fair amount of video here, most of which are housed on our Facebook page, and a few on our YouTube Channel. Some of those are instructional videos, some live matches from events like Toro Cup, some nutrition videos, and some potpourri.

Wild fact: on Facebook alone, our videos have been viewed for more than a million minutes (1,036,000 to be precise, with more than 1.5 million video views.

What are the most popular videos? I’m glad you asked, because that’s next on the countdowns. Some takeaways: people like a variety of things, from educational videos to montages of show content to live matches. People especially like Toro Cup 6, since many of the top clips are from that event (it remains to be seen if Toro Cup 7 will eclipse that one). And Greg Walker features in two of the top seven videos, so people like watching Greg compete.

Without further ado … Continue reading “Countdown to 100 Shows: 7 Most Popular Videos”

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Countdown to 100 Shows: 8 of Jeff’s Favorite Moments

As a five-day countdown to our hundredth show, we’re going to be posting two blog items a day until Friday, culminating in two big giveaways, one big announcement, and finally our 100th show. Stick around for the top two announcements for sure — I think you’ll be as excited as we are.

TODAY: EIGHT OF JEFF’S FAVORITE MOMENTS FROM THE SHOW

Starting this show has meant meeting a lot of new people, getting to talk to some of the all-time best in the art, and getting to know a bunch of people I thought I knew a whole lot better.

All of these are reasons I’m glad we’re still doing this after 100 episodes, and all of them show up in this list of  eight favorite moments. In no particular order … Continue reading “Countdown to 100 Shows: 8 of Jeff’s Favorite Moments”

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Countdown to 100 Shows: 9 Great Quotes From Guests

As a five-day countdown to our hundredth show, we’re going to be posting two blog items a day until Friday, culminating in two big giveaways, one big announcement, and finally our 100th show. Stick around for the top two announcements for sure — I think you’ll be as excited as we are.

TODAY: NINE GREAT QUOTES FROM GUESTS, WITH LINKS TO THOSE SHOWS

“Our culture is based on self defense … to give to the weak one the ability to adapt to an unpredictable, real life situation.” — Rickson Gracie

“Competition drives me crazy: I hate it. And because I hate it so much, that drives me to conquer it. Winning is awesome, but beating the fear of competing is way better than that. If I can overcome the fear and the anxieties I have about stepping on the mat, I can do anything else.” — John “Bagels” Telford

“My focus was 100% on jiujitsu. … It never occurred to me that I would be making history. I just wanted to fight, and win.” — Leka Vieira, first woman to win black belt worlds

“Fighting is wonderful, man. It’s like a play: you can be any character you want.” — D’Juan Owens

“The last thing you want is a belt that doesn’t fit.” — Marc Baquerizo, the 5th American to earn a black belt

“For me, Bloodsport is not just a martial arts film, although it is an excellent martial arts film. It’s not a dry text for scholarly study, although it can be that as well. Bloodsport is for a lifetime of learning. It’s got everything you could possibly need, and every time you come back to it you find something new.” — Melvin Pena, teacher of a college class on “Bloodsport.”

“The lessons that jiujitsu teaches go way beyond armbars and sweeps. … Ultimately, the main lesson that jiujitsu teaches is one of humility. You get beat every day, there’s always someone better you, and you’re never done learning. These lessons, to me, are more valuable than armbars.” — Robert Drysdale

“Jiujitsu is part of the solution: jiujitsu saves lives. Veterans love jiujitsu. … The ripples that [the jiujitsu community] brings about in the veteran community that I see firsthand at Fort Bragg on nearly a daily basis, we feel that and we appreciate it.” — Julia Parker Gumpert, Mission 22

“If you’re listening and you’re not really into jiujitsu … I’m a little bit creeped out, honestly.” — Andrew Smith

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Countdown to 100 shows: 10 Top Shows By Listeners

We’ve just posted our 99th podcast episode, a terrific show with D’Juan “Dirty South” Owens. For our 100th show, we have something very special planned — an interview with the legendary Ricardo de la Riva, alongside his fourth degree black belt, Vicente Junior.

https://soundcloud.com/dirtywhitebelt/djuan-owens-on-uganda-self-defense-and-fighting-gender-based-violence

As a five-day countdown to our hundredth show, we’re going to be posting two blog items a day until Friday, culminating in two big giveaways, one big announcement, and finally our 100th show. Stick around for the top two announcements for sure — I think you’ll be as excited as we are. But here’s the schedule for the blog posts:

MONDAY
10 Top Shows By Listeners
9 Great Quotes From Show Guests

TUESDAY
8 Of Jeff’s Favorite Moments From the Show
7 Most-Viewed Videos

WEDNESDAY
6 Best Show-Related Pictures
5 Pieces of Advice From Guests

THURSDAY
4 Most Popular Blog Posts
3 Hosts Pick Their 3 Favorite Episodes

FRIDAY
2 Big Giveaways

SATURDAY
1 Major Announcement

SUNDAY
100th Show!

TODAY: OUR TOP 1o MOST POPULAR SHOWS SO FAR

10. Toro Cup 7: Ethan Crelinsten, Junny Ocasio, Nicky Ryan, and many more
The biggest Toro Cup yet featured elite level international competitors and the best of our local scene!

Continue reading “Countdown to 100 shows: 10 Top Shows By Listeners”

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Making a Training Plan For Jiujitsu at White and Blue Belt

Planning for the worst-case scenarios is the best way to ensure those scenarios don’t happen.

When you’re dealing with something as complex as jiujitsu, the possibilities for what might happen in a given sparring session or competition are almost literally limitless. Preparing as best we can, physically and mentally, is the best way to be prepared. How do we prepare to succeed, though, when the material we need to know is so vast?

The answers slightly vary based on experience level and belt level — and vary greatly from person to person, because we all have individualized needs — but I’m going to give you my best general answers for how to make a three-month plan dedicated to improving your jiujitsu. These would vary based on people’s goals, of course, and particular needs. A young woman focused intently on winning competition jiujitsu matches would have different needs from an older man focused on weight loss and self defense, for example.

 

Having a plan doesn’t guarantee that you’ll hit your goal, but it’s the best way I know for structured improvement. Plus, if you miss your goal, you’ll know you did everything you could to get there, which is some solace.

Originally, this post was going to be how to make a training plan at every belt level. It got very long very fast, though, so I’m splitting it in two. This post will cover how to make a training plan for white and early blue belts. If you’re a mid-level blue belt and up (say, you’ve been a blue belt more than two years, or have two stripes or more), a post is coming for you soon (EDIT: that post is here).

And here’s an idea — what if, instead of just offering private lessons, gym owners offered personalized training plan packages for one, three, or six months that included tailored improvement plans for that specific student? Just a thought for you gym owners. Continue reading “Making a Training Plan For Jiujitsu at White and Blue Belt”

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VIDEO: Black Belt Matches, US Grappling Submission Only Raleigh

David Porter v. Daniel Frank

Nicholas Walters v. Daniel Frank

CJ Murdock v. Nicholas Walters

David Porter v. Josh Murdock

CJ Murdock v. Terin Swanson

Cody Maltais v. Daniel Frank

Daniel Frank v. Joshua Murdock

Cody Maltais v. David Porter

David Porter v. Terin Swanson

CJ Murdock v. Daniel Frank

Cody Maltais v. Terin Swanson

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PODCAST: The Kekoa Collective

We spoke with Kekoa Collective founders Dewey Doan and business partners Aubrey Koenig and Jeffrey Huang about Kekoa’s vision, it’s innovative revenue sharing model designed to help other jiujitsu academies grow, how they actually open their store space for community projects,  the real story behind an iconic brand photo and much more. Also, see some photos below the fold of their new space under construction.

 

Continue reading “PODCAST: The Kekoa Collective”