Open Mat Podcast

Most people don't train only gi anymore, but should you train in it sometimes? Tim and Adam discuss how, when and why to train in both, and how to manage the balance between the two if you're in a school that primarily trains one or the other.

The idea of understanding and learning concepts in Jiu Jitsu - like posture, inside position, and head control - has been the gold standard of "good" technique for years. But when it comes to learning individual skills and specific movements, does that kind of big picture focus help or hurt us? Tim and Adam discuss the limitations of concepts during periods of specific focus, their view on the place concepts have within the sport, and what we replace bigger concepts with during specific work.

Tim and Adam discuss a common situation: White belts giving feedback and advice to other white belts. They discuss the role and importance of peer feedback among junior students, and the place it should take up within a class.

Tim and Adam discuss dropping in to new gyms while travelling. While this sounds like one of the easiest decisions to make while travelling, most practitioners have anxiety when it is actually time to go train at a brand new gym. Tim and Adam discuss how to stop worrying about performance, what to do before dropping in, and the mistakes to avoid when in a new gym.If you find this podcast helpful, don't forget to either comment on this episode or connect with us on Instagram at open.matpodcast - we check our messages!

Tim and Adam discuss how they create classes in which they don't demonstrate or drill techniques. They cover how to break technique apart into individual skills, how to create games that directly improve those skills, and how to do this for yourself.

In this episode Tim and Adam address the difficult positions of Front Headlock and Turtle, and how to build a dominant game. They discuss why it's impossible to control right away, how to focus aggression into primary attacks, opening your opponents to further attacks and dilemmas. Finally, they address how to begin building those skills up immediately, whether or not you have a chance to drill them in class.

Tim and Adam discuss the cycle and evolution of Jiu Jitsu's competitive "metagame". They discuss how competitive BJJ has evolved since Tim started in 2009, what is currently happening, and also what they expect the next focus of competitors to be. They discuss whether or not "Old School" Jiu Jitsu to be coming back, and the danger of focusing on a set of techniques in competition too much.

Tim and Adam discuss whether knowing and tracking Jiu Jitsu lineage still means anything in an art that continues to become more of a sport every year. They discuss how it may give meaning to belts that they don't have on their own, why we will probably always track lineage, and their own coaches.

Continuing from episode 29, Tim and Adam tackle questions they have been asked on the mats before. They discuss why they believe it's important to teach heel hooks to beginners, where we can find significance in belts, why Derek Moneyberg IS a legitimate black belt, and why Tim insists that pulling guard is a good thing.

Tim and Adam answer questions they've been asked about coaching or learning styles, and also address some thoughts they've heard more generally. They discuss why specifically they typically do not demonstrate techniques for students start to finish, and why Tim has insisted that self defense isn't important to teach or learn in Jiu Jitsu classes. Finally, Tim explains and defends a comment from an earlier episode claiming that offense and defense are the same in Jiu Jitsu.