Our 100th show drops tomorrow! Be sure to come back to check that out, or — even better — subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher so you never miss an episode.
We promised an announcement before the show dropped, and here it is: in 2017, for the first time we’re going to be giving end-of-year awards for jiujitsu in the Carolinas.
The Dirty White Belt Radio Awards — which I can only hope will be nicknamed “The Dirties” — will be announced at the end of this year. We’ll have open nominations for each of the award categories, which will include Coach of the Year, Competitor of the Year, and more, and a panel of our distinguished judges will decide the results. (EDIT: NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN NOW!) Current award categories are:

Coach of the Year

Competitors of the Year (Men and Women)

Submission of the Year

Match of the Year (Gi and Nogi)

A call for nominations will go out around November 1. Get some nominees in mind and stay tuned!

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:  OUR THREE HOSTS PICK THREE OF THEIR FAVORITE SHOWS

You already know our 10 most popular shows with the listeners, and eight of Jeff’s favorite moments from the show.

But what about the voices you hear on the show? We have three regular hosts, so we polled each of those three for their three personal favorite shows.

 
THREE SHOWS FROM LOURDES

Mary Holmes: One of the area’s most well-respected brown belts (and a training partner of Lourdes’ for years) sat down with us for a fun and introspective conversation that is still a favorite.

Continue reading “Countdown to 100 Shows: 3 Hosts Pick 3 Favorite Shows”

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:  OUR FOUR MOST POPULAR BLOG POSTS

Before DWB was a podcast, it was a blog — a blog I started after I got my blue belt. The writing has taken a back seat to the audio lately, but I hope to do more of that next year.

The four most popular posts we’ve published here, by pageviews, are:

How to Get Better at Jiujitsu (Using Notes and Drilling): You know you need to drill. You probably know you should take notes. I’m the nerd that has a method or two to share, and it seems like people are interested in reading about that.

How to Roll During BJJ Sparring (Five Principles): I wrote this to help people get better, be better training partners, and to try to pre-emptively stop some unnecessary head-squeezin’. (Note: some head-squeezin’ is totally necessary).

The Greatest Jiujitsu Competitors of All Time (Guest Post by Daniel Frank): A departure from the how-to posts above, Daniel Frank from Revolution BJJ wrote a series ranking the best competitors of each decade. This was the wrap-up post that gave Daniel’s opinion of the best sport jiujitsu competitors ever. This was written before Roger-Buchecha 2, so I wonder if Daniel would put them in a different order now.

The All Time Most Common Submissions At US Grappling: Since it came out, this post has always been number one with a bullet, and is still. I’m glad that, somewhere in Venn diagram with “jiujitsu nerd” on one end and “data nerd” on the other, there are a whole bunch of people like me.

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: Five Great Pieces of Advice From Show Guests

We try to get the best jiujitsu minds we can on the show. If you love jiujitsu, you want to get better at it — and the following five people delivered some advice that we think will help. Lots of other great advice in the other 95 interviews, too!

ON WHAT PEOPLE SHOULD SEEK DURING TRAINING

“What people should seek is not necessarily becoming better, but understanding — an overall understanding of the objectives of the game. To become able to flow more over time, to use a lot less energy, and to risk a lot less of your life — your bones, your joints, all these things, these injuries that will always occur with jiujitsu. Understanding how to not get hurt when you’re training.” — Andrew Smith

Continue reading “Countdown to 100 Shows: 5 Great Pieces of Advice From the Show”

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