26/04/2020 - Zoom classes update, plus thoughts on the future of online BJJ

Article #25, by Can Sönmez
Class #1234
Artemis BJJ (my living room), Bristol, UK - 26/04/2020



Insomnia as usual, so I'll take the opportunity to chat about how the shift to online teaching only has been going for me here in Bristol. I've been doing it for a month now, as I have a housemate willing to be my uke. I've been using Zoom to teach group and private lessons since the lockdown got serious in the UK a month ago. Internet connection while streaming has stayed steady, which surprised me considering my wifi is pretty rubbish.

The recording function on Zoom is terrible: it's supposed to upload to Zoom's cloud storage, but so far has just resulted in unwatchable vids (though the quality while I'm initially streaming seems to be fine). I therefore record it on my phone instead, then upload that to unlisted YouTube links I can send to my students (as lots of them don't watch live, they prefer to check it out later, judging by the view numbers on the YouTube vids). The full vids are between 20 to 30 minutes long, though as my uke doesn't like to be on public footage, those are just for members. 😉

The main problem is naturally the lack of physical feedback. I have got a few sufficiently motivated students that have been doing Zoom private lessons and give good verbal feedback, plus I can see what they're doing and correct (thanks to the gallery view in Zoom), but most of them don't have a drilling partner, which unsurprisingly makes that a lot less useful. Interestingly, one of the most committed private lesson students is somebody who I hadn't often seen in my classes pre-lockdown: she usually goes to the nogi and women's class. I'll be curious to see if she will pop up in my classes when normal training resumes (I hope so, she's a good student, a promising blue belt).



I have modified how I teach a little as a result of the move to online-only. I demonstrate the technique for longer, also taking time to show it solo. In a normal class, I'd just teach one technique with one variation, then do a lot of drilling. With Zoom, I'll show multiple variations and some related techniques, plus anything else people ask about.

After that, I do solo drills (like shrimping, bridging, grilled chicken, turn to knees, back step etc), bunch of repetitions so people can follow along. The handy thing with that is I get a little work-out too: I have considered doing that section for longer (at the mo, isn't usually more than a few mins). So yeah, I need to ask if people want that solo drill section to be longer or not. I then finish up with stretching, which again is useful for me. That's something else I could potentially do for longer, as there isn't the same time constraint as in a 'normal' class.



I think that is one positive outcome of the lockdown. All sensible BJJ schools have now engaged with some kind of online training as a result, which is making everybody more familiar with the options available. That also means we are all getting a lot of hands-on experience with what works best online: the long-term repercussions for our sport could be significant, with a whole generation of BJJ teachers becoming very familiar with both the technology and pedagogy of teaching online.

Before lockdown, online training was something a few big names were able to use as an income stream, putting up technique videos relatively similar to what you get on a DVD. Now, I think that is going to open up, as so many of us are running full classes on Zoom, or recording full classes and uploading them. That experience and knowledge is still going to be there when the lockdown is lifted. In an ideal world, it will provide us all with a whole new potential income stream, or at least a way to increase the value of what we can offer to our students.



I was surprised when an ex-student of mine (who now lives in Australia) suggested she'd be interested in paying to just have private lessons, as I'd mentioned I was doing them for my current students. I'm not at a level yet where doing that separately would make sense, BUT it wouldn't be difficult to simply live stream my in-person classes (once those start up again). I could set up some low payment option for people like her, who have an interest in doing distance learning.

Though yeah, I'd need a wifi connection at the gym for that, probably. I could try the data on my phone, but I'm not sure my data package is beefy enough to handle repeated live streaming. It's something I've considered in the past, but the experience of Zoom classes has done a lot of clarify the idea for me. Watch this space! 😁

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Interview - Romulo Barral on Instructionals & UK BJJ

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Last week, Romulo discussed spider guard and injuries. This week, he considers UK BJJ, online training and his favourite instructional DVDs

slideyfoot.com: You’ve been to the UK a few times now, training with Braulio at his academy in Birmingham. What do you think of the jiu jitsu in this country?

Romulo Barral: Braulio, he’s doing a good job, I think, of spreading jiu jitsu in the UK. I was with Braulio for three or four months, I’m not sure, and Braulio was travelling, like almost all the weekends, to spread jiu jitsu, to teach at different places in the UK. He had a lot of people come from all over the UK to his academy.

I think the UK is going to be the next United States. You remember when jiu jitsu came to the United States, a long time ago? It was small, but look how big it is now. I think the next country is going to be the UK. I think it will grow and grow, and then in like five more years, it must be the same as the United States.

slideyfoot.com: Are you planning to hold any future seminars here in the UK?

Romulo Barral: Oh definitely. I’m probably going to have a trip to Europe in January, and I’ll try to go to as many places as I can, and also compete at the European Championship. For sure, if I go to Europe, I will be stopping by the UK. I teach a few times in the UK, so I have a couple of students, I want to see them, how they’re doing, I want to stop by Braulio’s academy. For sure, I’ll be stopping in the UK, it’s going to be like my main place to stop by for my seminars in Europe.

slideyfoot.com: What do you think of online training, like Gracie University, or the website your own instructor, Draculino, has set up?

Romulo Barral: I think the online training, it can help you get close to very good people, like Draculino. I’m too far from him: I watch Draculino’s class – I have an account there – I watch, because you can see different ways to teach, a couple of different details. I think they can help a lot. Of course, you need somebody good to teach you.

I think it’s really good for you to learn things, you can learn how to teach, and then I think it can be good for everybody, as long as you go to the mat and then you try to apply, it can be great. You cannot be a black belt from online training, you know, but it can help you a lot to develop your game.

You cannot go there and train with Draculino, but you can go online and train with him on his website. I think that’s awesome. You just need to do same thing as if you go train, you learn the position, and then you go and try to apply it, but I think it’s awesome, a good idea. I’m happy I can see Draculino teach a different position every day.

slideyfoot.com: Have you ever used DVDs and books to help your own training?

Romulo Barral: Yes, I have watched a couple of DVDs – I think it is a little bit hard to learn from DVDs, but anyways, I try. [laughs] I have a lot of DVDs, you know, like fighter’s DVDs, like my favourite fighters. So I have of course Draculino, it’s my favourite one. I really like Braulio, the way he teaches, he’s a very good teacher.

Then I have a couple of guys, I like to watch their fights, I like to know what kind of positions they do. Great fighters, good guys, like Cobrinha - he has a pretty good DVD. Andre Galvao, I like his DVD too. My favourite DVD is Draculino, and Braulio, I like a lot the way he teaches closed guard, I like Cobrinha and yeah, I like Galvao. I think in my mind now, as I remember, those are my favourite DVDs.

But, the DVDs I really learn, is like when I watch a World Championship, Pan-Ams, learn the position in real-time, you know? So I can figure out when is the best time to apply the position. On a DVD, you can learn the position, but it is a little bit hard to understand out how to apply, it takes a while. When I watch a DVD of fights, I learn faster.

slideyfoot.com: I’ve heard a few people say that. So do you think that’s something you need quite a lot of experience, to learn from watching competition, or can it help at any level?

Romulo Barral: Yes man, I think you need a little bit of experience, it cannot be like “ok, let me just watch this and then I’m gonna see.” It takes a little bit of experience, like...I cannot tell how much experience, but you need a little bit, you cannot just go there and see all the details. You’ve gotta have good experience to learn this way.

slideyfoot.com: Yeah, I guess a beginner would miss details, they wouldn’t understand the position, it would go too fast, that kind of thing.

Romulo Barral: Exactly.

In the final instalment next week, Romulo has some comments on BJJ in the Olympics, then we wrap things up. To read more about Romulo, check out RomuloBarral.com, and you can also follow him on Facebook and Twitter

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Article - The Rise of Online BJJ Training

Article #12, by Can Sönmez

When the UFC looked to be in its death throes in the final years of SEG, after getting kicked off cable, MMA fans online helped keep the UFC alive. That vibrant internet community was closely related to BJJ, a sport which has greatly benefitted from the growth of mixed martial arts.

The internet has also expanded exponentially over the last decade, meaning that BJJ now has a major presence on the world wide web. There are thousands of BJJers on a huge number of blogs and message boards, discussing the latest gossip, events, and of course, how to get better at jiu jitsu.

With the development of YouTube, it was inevitable that somebody would make the connection between an online community hungry for training resources and a business opportunity. As far as I'm aware, Jean Jacques Machado was the first to take advantage of this market, announcing his online program in late 2006. A few others followed, like the Grapplers Guide in 2007, but online training was still a niche interest.

That appears to have changed, most likely thanks to the advent of Gracie University, which hit the internet in March 2009. Machado's program was and is respected, but it didn't have the aggressive marketing tactics of the Gracie Academy to push it forward. Rorion and his sons may not have been the first to go online, but their widely advertised system demonstrated the viability of online training as a profitable endeavour.

At least, other instructors seem to think so. Tinguinha set up a program in October 2009, Marcelo Garcia in Action opened that December and most recently, Draculino launched his offering in early 2010. Those are just three of the bigger names: there is now considerable competition for your online subscription. They're even pitching their product in forum threads, addressing potential subscribers directly.

Another reason Gracie University arguably made bigger waves than Machado was because they offered rank. For the first time, a Gracie jiu jitsu student could earn their belts without ever stepping inside a school. Whether or not that belt really means anything is quite another question: I still don't feel online ranking is a good idea. Apparently most of the other online training providers agree. Draculino in particular has been explicit about his objections to online ranking:

The belt is something that really matters: it's not a joke. You really have to earn your belts and it's not something that you can give away easy. I sweat a lot, I had to work hard to get my belts [...] because of that, I'm not going to be giving away belts, online. I don't see how somebody can be awarded a belt online, especially if you never met the guy before.

Ok, they're going to show a couple of techniques, and they have to do correctly. Ok, but it's not just show technique, you know? The first thing with a belt, you have to prove time on the mats. [...] You have to see the guy live, you have to put a hand on him, you have to watch him.

The nature of the internet means that online training is quite different to older formats, like tapes, books or indeed DVDs. You can't ask Demian Maia a question as he runs through The Science of Jiu Jitsu: he is just a picture on a screen, which you can pause, rewind and fast-forward. There is no interaction.

By contrast, online training comes with the tempting prospect of having a conversation with those pixels, not just watching them. That is a particular attraction if it is a major figure in the sport, like Marcelo Garcia. I'm sure my old instructor Roger Gracie would do a roaring trade if he ever developed a similar product. An online training program can keep on growing and adapting to the needs of subscribers, though unlike a DVD, you are forced to rely on your internet connection and streaming videos.

Personally, I haven't been tempted: I already have a monthly subscription to a real academy, so lack any desire to pay for a virtual one as well. Still, I can see the benefits, if you have plenty of bandwidth and time. I'm happy working on the fundamental skills and asking my instructor questions, while using a few trusted DVD sets (like Roy Dean, Saulo Ribeiro and Cindy Omatsu) to refine what I already know. So for the moment at least, I'll be keeping my training on the mats instead of a keyboard.

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Article - A BJJ Christmas

Article #7, by Can Sönmez

You've woken up to shiny new DVDs and books on Christmas Day. The titles slowly shed their seasonal skin of wrapping paper: Saulo Ribeiro's Jiu Jitsu University, Roy Dean's Purple Belt Requirements, or perhaps one of the three volumes by Ed Beneville.

With the huge amount of BJJ instructionals on offer now, it is easy to slip into the mindset that you'll be able to overcome that stumbling block in your game through supplemental material. If only you could find the right submission, the right set-up, the right defence, you would suddenly transform into a dominant sparring machine. This is especially common with beginners: there is still so much that seems out of reach. Constantly failing to pass somebody's guard can swiftly become demoralising, so it may feel like a DVD could be a magic key to unlock the secret.

On a related note, it appears that many people prefer to turn to the internet or supplemental material, rather than their instructor (who in my view should always be your first port of call). This may be because some instructors are easier to talk to than others, especially given variations in class size. It is also true that there are plenty of schools with a 'sink or swim' mentality. Due to BJJ's lack of formal structure (a strength in terms of a meritocratic ranking system, but a weakness when it comes to standardisation and a clear syllabus), in some clubs a beginner may go months without learning a basic escape from side control. A well-organised DVD, like Blue Belt Requirements, can help towards providing that structure, as well as filling in the gaps.

There is also the fact that BJJ is incredibly complex, a sport which is constantly developing (except among those seeking preservation rather than evolution). Especially at the higher levels, there are always new ideas and strategies coming into play (I don't want to say 'new techniques' because – barring unfortunate circumstances – we all have two arms and two legs, so seeing as grappling is at least five thousand years old, it's unlikely anything is truly 'new' in that sense), or the resurgence of earlier tactics which had fallen out of favour.

That has been aptly demonstrated this year by the 50/50 guard: not only has there been a DVD set devoted to the position, but also a flurry of YouTube videos, where various camps battled to see who could counter the other's counter first. This is evolution at its best, a technique pressure-tested to force efficacy. Thanks to the rigours of competition, if there is any flaw in the technique, you can be damn sure somebody else is going to find it.

Personally, I use DVDs and books all the time. I think they're a helpful resource, as long as you don't forget to always check technical problems with your instructor first. Ideally, DVDs simply refine what you've already learned in class, rather than an entirely new technique you've never seen outside of the internet. When you've been training a bit longer, a DVD can provide an interesting new perspective, or perhaps a different game to what you're used to (e.g., the dynamic rotational style advocated by Yukinori Sasa on Paraestra Guard). Enjoy your presents, but don't forget, it's drilling in class under qualified supervision that really counts. ;)

I'm off to Wales in a couple of days, so until January: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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