Suit UP, listeners, as we traverse the exhilarating landscape of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Riding high from a silver medal win at the Atlanta Open, I am thrilled to share memories from the mat, delve into the strategies that led to my podium finish, and the importance of stepping into the competition arena for the first time. Our previous episode with Victoria Delgado broke records as the most downloaded and I express my deepest gratitude for your unwavering support. I also share the triumphs of my teammates - a shout out to a first-time gold medalist and a IBJJF No-Gi Worlds double silver finish for an Alliance Roswell Alum.
Hold tight as we grapple with the recurring debate - Gi or No-Gi? Drawing from personal experience and the recent no-gi worlds competition, we'll navigate the pros and cons of each style, how these influence strategic game plans, and the implications of each. Does the attire really matter? Is one superior to the other? All this and more, as we uncover the layers of this age-old Brazilian Jiu Jitsu argument. Be prepared to broaden your understanding of the sport as we examine the benefits of being versatile and training in both styles.
Finally, let's raise a toast to the expansion of our Jujitsu community and podcast viewership. Your contributions and interactions have made this platform a real-time hub for learning and sharing BJJ wisdom. Don't forget to roll out the red carpet for our upcoming guest, Dr. Emily Loftus, a chiropractor specializing in preventing BJJ injuries. So, here's to staying grounded, caffeinated, and always ready for the next roll - together!
Connect with Host at caffeinatedjiujitsu@gmail.com
Join the Caffeinated Jiu Jitsu Community on IG: @caffeinated_jiujitsu
Suit UP, listeners, as we traverse the exhilarating landscape of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Riding high from a silver medal win at the Atlanta Open, I am thrilled to share memories from the mat, delve into the strategies that led to my podium finish, and the importance of stepping into the competition arena for the first time. Our previous episode with Victoria Delgado broke records as the most downloaded and I express my deepest gratitude for your unwavering support. I also share the triumphs of my teammates - a shout out to a first-time gold medalist and a IBJJF No-Gi Worlds double silver finish for an Alliance Roswell Alum.
Hold tight as we grapple with the recurring debate - Gi or No-Gi? Drawing from personal experience and the recent no-gi worlds competition, we'll navigate the pros and cons of each style, how these influence strategic game plans, and the implications of each. Does the attire really matter? Is one superior to the other? All this and more, as we uncover the layers of this age-old Brazilian Jiu Jitsu argument. Be prepared to broaden your understanding of the sport as we examine the benefits of being versatile and training in both styles.
Finally, let's raise a toast to the expansion of our Jujitsu community and podcast viewership. Your contributions and interactions have made this platform a real-time hub for learning and sharing BJJ wisdom. Don't forget to roll out the red carpet for our upcoming guest, Dr. Emily Loftus, a chiropractor specializing in preventing BJJ injuries. So, here's to staying grounded, caffeinated, and always ready for the next roll - together!
Connect with Host at caffeinatedjiujitsu@gmail.com
Join the Caffeinated Jiu Jitsu Community on IG: @caffeinated_jiujitsu
Speaker 1:
Welcome to Kaffeine Jiu Jitsu the blend of white belt enthusiasm, black belt wisdom and a dash of caffeine for that extra kick. Dive deep into the world of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as we explore the journey, techniques, challenges and the sheer joy of the sport from a white belt's perspective, from intriguing interviews with renowned coaches and professors to playful fun episodes that'll have you chuckling mid-roll. We've got it all brewed and ready. Now stepping onto the mats and into your ears, here's your host, joe Mopes.
Speaker 2:
And welcome back everyone to Kaffeinated Jiu Jitsu. I am your host, fully caffeinated. Joe Mopes, I am excited about today's episode. You don't have a guest today. You just have me sharing some updates.
Speaker 2:
It's been a crazy, crazy, probably two to four weeks in Jiu Jitsu and in my life, and then also last week we didn't post any content or an episode. We had scheduled A guest. It just didn't work out due to my work commitments and theirs as well. But we do have it scheduled to record this week and it will post next week. It's going to be the last episode in the what do we call it? The Jiu Jitsu Health Series. We're going to have a doctor, dr Emily Loftus, on, who is a chiropractor. She does a lot of work chiropractic work for us at Alliance Roswell and keeping us put together in our backs and hips and joints and spines and in the right places. So we're going to. We have a great conversation planned. I think that you as a listener will benefit from it, especially if you're a practitioner older practitioner who has a lot of aches and pains after your training session or after a series of training sessions. Competitions will have you. Emily works or Dr Loftus works on us, typically the week before competition or the week of, just to make sure that we're straight and we're ready to go, and that helps us from preventing injuries. So, anyway, enough on that. That's going to be posting next week. Excited for that.
Speaker 2:
Huge thank you to all of the listeners for making our last posted episode, the episode with Victoria Delgado, our most downloaded and caffeinated Jujitsu's most listened to episode to date, and everyone started to check out. The new listeners started to check out the previous episodes as well. So if you know anything about podcasting, us podcasters keep a pretty steady track of the stats and the viewership. Well, yeah, just stats on the listeners and who's listening to what episodes, what content People are more interested in, are most interested in. So thank you to all the listeners and new listeners. We appreciate you and hope you find continued value in caffeinated Jujitsu and all of the great things we have to come. So, also happy pre holidays. Not sure if you're a listener and celebrate Christmas, whatever, but yeah, just happy holidays from me, and here at caffeinated Jujitsu, I have spent my share of time this year putting up lights and Christmas decorations and everywhere I go seems there's people doing the same thing. So happy holidays. So let me. Let me catch you up to some of the things that have been going on in my life and in my Jujitsu journey. We'll start with the Atlanta open that was in of last month. It was, as always.
Speaker 2:
Competing is a great experience. I am. I did not win gold, I won silver. I had a bracket of three competitors, won my first match and lost my second match, but I did, you know, in my opinion, far better than the first time I competed and you know, I was able to implement a lot of the things that I had learned between the two competitions a lot more technical in my match and paying attention to the things that my coach was shouting at me from the sidelines and understanding why I needed to do those.
Speaker 2:
You know, just every time you, if it's your first time, if you're getting ready for your first competition right, you have all these nerves understand that it's it's my opinion your first competition is all about just experiencing it. It's not going to win. Well, I'm going to put parentheses around this air parentheses. It's not about going in winning and dominating. All right, maybe you will, maybe you want, but what you will get is an amazing experience. You will understand just how much of your jiu-jitsu training you have retained over the months or years or whatever you've been training. If you've waited to compete for a while and it's a you'll understand where you are relative to others in your age, your weight division, and you will be, at the end of it all, super surprised and excited about where you are again, when or loose, because as you're going through your competition, once you get through your match, or as you're going through it, you're going to, you know, recall the technique and the hand placements and you're going to really see why our professors and coaches and, you know, jiu-jitsu mentors are all about in impressing the importance of technique to us. Right, that's junior belts, and that's not even just for junior belts but upper belts as well. So competition went really well.
Speaker 2:
We had quite a few who competed. We had a female from our school, white belt female, who competed for her first time and absolutely dominated her match. She walked away with gold her very first competition. So it can happen, yes, and shout out to Maureen just in. The cool thing about it is she actually went down an age group so she would have an opponent, right. So she's fighting someone younger than her, but she did a phenomenal job. You know our other competitors. We have a lot of females jiu-jitsu practitioners who compete. I would say most of our competition team are females and they just do phenomenal. Rachel, who we've talked about before on the podcast and who will be a guest, she did phenomenal, as always, taking home she medals every time and she just finished competing in no-gi worlds and we'll talk a little bit more about that because there is a topic to the days episode. It's not just me rambling, but she meddled in both open class and her age and weight division and no-gi worlds this past weekend, so don't know where was going with all of that. Just wanted to share you know and update about that competition and the other thing.
Speaker 2:
The last thing before we get into what I want to talk about today is I have officially been promoted to Blue Belt. I don't know what I'm gonna do with the intro now. I really like the intro to the podcast. Several people have asked me about that. Probably didn't put a lot of forethought into that when I when I put the the color of the belt in the in the title, but it's still the same right now caffeinated you just to from a more novice, maybe going into a little bit of intermediate. I don't know what's considered in a meet intermediate in jiu-jitsu, but yeah, still still kind of that grassroots based knowledge perspective.
Speaker 2:
I was super excited, was it? You know? Huge, huge, you know party celebration right out in the street. I was promoted during one of our evening classes and it was, just, you know, absolutely amazing, got a lot of high fives, hugs, and as I was driving home after that training, I just started thinking about over the past year and some change and where I was when I started, you know, way back at Iron Wolf and and in Brasiltown, georgia. And then you know my phenomenal and amazing journey here at Alliance, as it, you know, as it even continues, but it it really does go faster than you think it does, as most all things with life.
Speaker 2:
I think a lot of people quit jiu-jitsu because they get discouraged, either because they compare themselves to others, which is a no-no and jiu-jitsu or, you know, they hear that it takes 10 to 15, maybe longer years to make your black belt or the highest rank in jiu-jitsu and they just they can't fathom or wrap their head around that amount of time. But you know, and if that's you, if you should, they're thinking, wow, this is gonna take a long time. Listen, think, think about five years ago and you can probably remember it like it was yesterday. But it was five years ago and you know these things, especially things you enjoy, go by so fast. You know your kids grow up fast. Maybe your relationship goes fast. You it, just you.
Speaker 2:
You know I've been working at my new job Now for well over a year and it seemed like just the other day I was walking through the door for my first day and you just, it was the same way. I remember my very first class. I don't know how long I'll remember that. I would have talked to some people and you know there's black belts that say that they've, they remember their first class. And then there's some black belts is like, oh my god, I can't. I can't remember any of that, or purposely blocked it out. But yeah, so I'm super excited. A I feel like a new chapter has been opened in Maju Jutsu journey, or a new path. Right Rolling has felt a little different. As a blue belt, I used to hear that Once you get your blue belt, you have a target on your back and you know, I thought a little bit that, okay, well, maybe that's just something they say, or, or, you know, wonder how true that is.
Speaker 2:
And it is very true, very true. I, I, I, I don't think that that some of my training partners were holding back completely, but I was training with, you know, maybe a blue belt, mostly white belts, but I can say that some of the upper belts absolutely were, and but it's been great. I'm excited, been continuing my study, my journey, none of that has changed. Continuing to train hard to drive I'm not taking, you know, my foot off the gas by any means. I Remember, as a white belt, I would think a lot about stripes and like, oh man, can't wait to get my, my next stripe because it, for some reason, it, it is, it, let me know that I was. It gave me a visual, visual represent, a visual representation of progress, and I think that's what belts and stripes are. But now it's that I feel like I have a really good foundation of Jiu Jitsu, right, the basic core moves. And now I feel like, yeah, it's, it's time to start perfecting, refining, and I don't want to say modifying the sense of changing anything, but building that concrete Joe modes game plan that's going to carry me, you know, through my next competitions, through my next evolution in Jiu Jitsu. And you notice all practitioners, everyone in your school it's a higher belt, like I would say purple, brown, black all of them have a Certain game plan. If you'll watch them roll, or if you'll watch them them compete right, you'll see a game plan unfold. I see it every time I watch a competition, even on TV, or Flow grapple, or if I, if I go to a competition, if you want some of the, the people fight two, three, four times You'll see that game plan and it's. It's, in my Perspective, is that, you know, it kind of starts happening at blue belt is when you start building that and, and everyone that I've talked to and everything that I've read and studied it, that it seems to echo that. So that's what I'm focused on, that is what I wanted to share.
Speaker 2:
Thank you for Spending 17 minutes listening to me rant, but I am excited about those two things. I'm, you know, or three things holidays, I'm excited about the competition we just went through, very, very excited about the promotion to blue belt. Now, what are we going to be talking about today? So I wanted to make sure that you know, I put some content out for you this week, knowing that last week we did not post, and I was thinking about, you know, all the things that have happened recently in my and my life, but also what I just spent the weekend Watching on flow, grapple and our Academy several people spent competing in and that is the no-gey worlds. So I Got me just thinking that there's a lot of conversation that happens, is happening and Still probably needs to happen around this, this debate, if you will, of ye versus no-gey.
Speaker 2:
So Before coming to Alliance, I was pretty much strictly a a only train in GEE type practitioner. But when I got to Alliance I said you know what I'm gonna give? Give no-gey Some more in my time and, lo and behold, I enjoy it just as much as I do Training in GEE. I feel like it gives me a balance To do. I feel like it gives me a balance and technique and understanding why some moves are done the way they are.
Speaker 2:
I don't know how to make that make more sense. But that's that's what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about this, this ye versus no gee. We're gonna talk about some things like understanding ye and no gee. I do Jetsu. I'll talk a little bit about the game and the no gee game and some of the, the differences, and again, everything's gonna be from that that Between novice now and intermediate Perspective. So so, let's, let's, let's get into it. So first off, let's, let's, break down what we mean by Gee and no gee. Jiu, jitsu for the let's see, un-initiated Gee training refers to that training in your traditional kimonos, right, yeah, thanks, like the type of outfits you see, judo are similar outfits that you see judo practitioners wear, karate practitioners wear, and you know that, that.
Speaker 2:
You know, the belt, the pants, the Kimono top. That's what we are are talking about there. It it's the classic attire I guess you've probably seen in martial art movies. But compared or in contrast to no gee, which is much more like, I mean just your gym wear, I've seen people come in and basketball shorts with no pockets and a tank top. I've Well, when you think Jiu Jitsu, no gee, you're thinking rash guard, those tight, tight shirts that look like the practitioners can't breathe, and then the short above the knee shorts Looks like biker shorts, or you may even see some that have, you know, the full-body kind of rash guard, or Spendex, if you, if you will, and then some type of spat. So that's that's what we're talking about. It's just different clothing, but it's even more of a Different game.
Speaker 2:
There are a lot of different Moves available for each, depending on you know what you're trying, what you're trying to achieve in Giji, giju Jitsu, the gi itself or the kimono itself. The clothing is Is actually part of the strategy itself, as practitioners were learning to use the, the G top or the, we'll call it the jacket, would just say that we'll say jacket. So for those who may not be familiar In pants. We're using those for additional ways to grip our opponent, making Control and submission techniques really really complex. And if you think about a really intricate art, there is a saying that Gi training is a lot like Chess. You know it's a game of a lot of different, complex positions and grips, but don't let that fool you into Thinking that it is slow pace. Alright, so chess is very slow pace. Gi training can be very Dynamic and extremely fast pace. It can also wear you out Pretty quickly. Again, for the most part, if you're in a Training studio versus competition, you're. You know you have your rash guard, your pants Some people are shorts under their pants. These are not. These kimonos are not made to for, for comfort and for You're allowing sweat in your body to breathe.
Speaker 2:
I'm not sure exactly what the purpose of the design is. Some of you may, but yeah, it's. It can be very uncomfortable and tire you out really, really quickly. So switching gears to no gi, the game I think the game changes significantly when you train Are going to to no gi grappling, to no gi grappling, and Without that fabric to hold on to, the style becomes faster, rely more on clenching techniques and fluid movements, and this has been the biggest challenge for me to get used to. So with the gi have endless grips that I can grab and some, you know, especially with takedowns when I'm trying to take someone down. I've got a lot of real estate I can reach for. I Can go for the collar, I can go for the lapel.
Speaker 2:
I can go, I can grab behind the neck, I Can meet grips on the gi, on the bicep, on the sleeves. I mean it's just, it's endless. I can grab a lot of things, I can grab the belt, but with no gi and I'm extremely limited to the things that I can grab, and it's usually a wrist, an arm, a foot, a leg behind the head which forces you to really think about your game plan and no gi and it's really often compared to a fast-paced wrestling match. If you think. If you ever watched high school or college or collegiate or or Olympic wrestling, it is, I would say, very similar to that. As a matter of fact. I think that's why you would probably see a lot more wrestlers who start Jiu Jitsu, switch over and train more no-gee than Ghee, because it's something that they're already familiar with and familiar with kind of how they need to be, you know ripping and how they need to be moving, and they're already bringing, you know, fluid movements to the table. So I think it's about that agility and adaptability which you have to have, that for no-gee. I know for me, one of the things going into this next year that I'll be focusing on is doubling up weekly on my no-gee, because what I found is now that I have a better understanding of where my hands need to be and the types of grips I can, you know, make, I now need to start working on my offense. I need to clean up my defense. As with Ghee, it's all about working on offense because I feel like my escapes are pretty good. I feel like my, you know, my defense is pretty good. But that goes back to I have a lot more options to grab. I have a lot more things I can push and pull and rotate and choke with and submit with. So that's a little bit of the difference between the two.
Speaker 2:
But once so, what is the benefit of training in either or, better yet, both? As I mentioned, I train both. I think Ghee training hones your technical precision. I feel more technical when I'm wearing the Ghee. I feel like I have more forward thinking happening during the roles. With Ghee, I think it teaches patience, I think it teaches control and an in-depth understanding of leverage and mechanics, which is that's what Jujitsu is Right. It's an art of leverage, it's an art of fluid movement and it is extremely mechanical in nature.
Speaker 2:
But on the flip side, you have no Ghee. It really. It sharpens your speed, your reflexes and, I would say your adaptability under pressure and as an older practitioner. That may be why for so long I shied away from it. I'm obviously not as fast as a lot of practitioners that I train with. My reflexes are still pretty good and adaptability I've got that. But you really do need a degree of speed in my mind when training. No Ghee.
Speaker 2:
Now I'm not saying you have to be gosh, what's that cartoon? What's that cartoon thing? Speedy Gonzalez, right, I don't know if anyone, any listeners, remember that cartoon from like the 80s, late 70s, whatever. And you know you don't have to be that fast. But you don't see a whole lot of stalling when people are training. No Ghee. That's been my observation.
Speaker 2:
You know worlds this weekend, those matches, the ones that I watched, very few of them went to all the way to time. I mean they were moving. It looked like it always looks like that. Both practitioners are in more of an offense mode, so meaning they're trying for subs. You know the higher belts have hill hooks available to them. That's another thing I didn't touch on. And Ghee and no Ghee. There's different moves that are available to you, both in competing and when in training. So you would have to check with your school and your professor to learn more about that. Every place has a different take on that, but you know, no Ghee is often seen as more relatable to real world and self-defense scenarios due to, you know, the similar clothing, right? Like, if I'm getting into a confrontation, out and say a parking garage, I'm not going to tell the person, hey, hold on a minute, let me. Let me grab my Ghee out of my trunk and then take time to put on. And then the other thing it doesn't do me any good. If I have a Ghee on, he's going to have to have a Ghee on right. So I'm not going to toss him again and say, hey, before we fight, please put this on. So you know real world and I would agree with that. Real world is more reflective in no Ghee training.
Speaker 2:
I will say that I don't buy into the debate over whether or not one is better than the other and I. There's a lot of debate, you see, going on social media and in the jujitsu forums and groups about that. A lot of the known juj I call them jujitsu celebrities are are no Ghee, are fully no Ghee, almost almost all no Ghee training, such as, you know, gordon Ryan, uh, nikki Rod. I think Nicholas Marangoli is a good blend of no Ghee and Ghee. I've I've seen him compete in at least me I've seen him compete in kind of a hefty, a good balance. This past weekend he was competing in no Ghee, uh, but I've seen a lot of his his Ghee matches. So I don't buy into whether one is better than the other.
Speaker 2:
I think that as a practitioner you have to decide if you want to, uh, well, how do you want to be better in one than the other? Do you only want to learn one over the other or do you kind of want to have a balance of both? And that's where I'm at. I want to have a balance of both. I want to learn a little bit of each and my thought is that it will, over time, make me a more balanced jujitsu practitioner and it will give me a lot of tools to use right, especially in a real-world situation. If I find myself in that In my mind, why would I ignore half of what a martial art has to teach me? But that's something you have to decide yourself. You have to think about what your goals are in your journey and go with that. So the biggest thing, and just wrapping up, we're going to make this a short episode and I just wanted to kind of put my thoughts out there on this.
Speaker 2:
Gi versus no gi. Whether you choose the traditional path of the gi or the fast-paced world of no gi, or decide to blend them together, each style does offer unique benefits that can enrich your overall skill set in Brazilian jujitsu, and that's really what I wanted to talk about today, and I think that there is a lot more to learn on these two topics as the sport or as the martial art continues to grow and popularity and it's going to be very interesting in seeing how these two forms of the same art continue to coexist or if one is going to outpace the other as far as popularity and things like that, which has been the story from my understanding of jujitsu from day one. The evolution that it continuously goes through started back in judo and then it's now it's separate from judo and it's evolved through the graces and the things that they did in Brazil, and now it's worldwide and it's evolving. Even then there was a post or an article I think it was an article that I read somewhere, where one of the older Gracie family members was talking about. Even the jujitsu that we see today may not be recognized fully back, you know, when, like a little Gracie, and definitely back when, like Maeda and those those legends were, were practicing. So that's, that's it for today.
Speaker 2:
If you, if you are someone who only trains Guy or someone who only trains no Guy, what I would say is is, at least once or twice, give the other form a chance or a try. Go to a class you know whether it's Tuesday, thursday, whatever your your. However, your Academy switches it up, but just just go, try it, check it out. I say go at least twice Because you know you can't, you can't fully evaluate or appreciate anything by just going one time. You need some type of consistent exposure to see how your body reacts, to see how you do in it, to see how it fits. It's not like trying on a shirt or clothing store Yep, that's good. No, it's not that. Give it a try, see what you think. It's not for you, it's not for you.
Speaker 2:
Continue on with the, the discipline or the form that you you want to perfect and enjoy your journey. So again, that's it. Thank you for joining, joining this episode. Again. Next week we have another great conversation, another great guest coming. Stay tuned, keep your coffee close and, yeah, let's, let's continue on our journey together and remember to subscribe, follow, share. Our IG community is growing, the podcast viewership and subscribers are growing and we're getting what we're getting out there and we are getting back so much, all these great conversations, that we're having the opportunity to talk about topics important to jujitsu practitioners. And with that, stay grounded, stay caffeinated and let's roll into the rest of this journey together. Take care.
Speaker 1:
And thanks to our listeners, especially today's insightful guest, for sharing their BJJ knowledge and tales. If you felt that adrenaline rush and are hungry for more, hit, subscribe, drop a review and spread the jujitsu buzz. And to contact the host, reach out to the email provided in the podcast description and to join our grappling community, head over to Instagram. Get those geese, crisp your coffee strong and always be prepared for the next roll. Ah us.