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

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”