2010 June | Draculino Blog

Draculino – Evolution of BJJ

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Every change gets its criticism. When I was using a lot of spider guard in my early purple and blue belt matches, some people were saying: “What an ugly game! This guy is holding the sleeves all the time.” Now you see everyone doing it. You can be critical about any new move but you have your mind open to them in order to know what to do when you are face to face.

I think the biggest evolution in BJJ was brought by Rolls Gracie. He brought a new offensive approach to the art with the implementation of moves typical from other styles such as wrestling and sambo. He made BJJ more aggressive, while preserving its defensive nature and self defense.

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Draculino – The 50/50 Guard, tool for stalling?

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Photo Eduardo Ferreira

I think that the 50/50 guard is a great new tool and it depends on each fighter to use tool that for attacking or stalling. Just Like any other kind of guard, It is in our hands now to make that kind of guard better, create new defenses, counters and options. This is the evolution of Jiu-Jitsu. Most new guards received some criticism, especially tricky ones that take some time to figure out. I think this is part of the fun, we will always have something new to learn.

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Draculino – Are you injured or are you hurt?

Friday, June 25th, 2010

If you train hard, eventually, like any other physical activity, you will have a little hard time with injuries. This is normal and you should get used to training around these minor inconveniences. Your game should be developing in enough areas that if one part breaks down, the others can take up its place. If you hurt a hand, tuck it in your belt and go train. You will be surprised how much your game improves through pain and injuries that force you to compensate. The human body is amazing, if you lose your sight, your other senses compensate and your hearing sharpens and sensitivity to touch increases. It is the same in Jiu-Jitsu, if you lose the ability to grip the gi from hand injuries, your clench will get stronger, your game tighter. Now, if it is something that completely nullifies your possibilities, stay out UNTIL YOU ARE 100 percent HEALED! Recurring lesions are normally the worst ones.

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Draculino – Fear

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Everyone feels fear. If you don’t feel it, you are either a liar or have mental problems. Fear is natural and instinctive. It is actually good because it gives you the ability of self protection in dangerous situations and how to react in a conscious way. Don’t fear, fear, embrace it and understand its purpose.
I feel the fear all the time! Even if you need to fight a person that u know u can beat with closed eyes, fear will come. Trust me. It will come for BOTH of us. So, you can either use fear to defeat your opponent, or fear will beat you before you opponent even has a chance to.

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Draculino – As students get better, when does size matter?

Monday, June 21st, 2010

For every instructor, this time will come. I my self, have several students that can kick my butt! But I’m happy because that is why I teach everyday, to make my students better than me. And I will be happy when my student’s students gets better than them as well.
But don’t get me wrong: my technique can save my skin pretty good and even far from my top shape, I can still be dangerous….because I train almost everyday.

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Draculino – How to prepare students for big competitions

Friday, June 18th, 2010

When I prepare students for competition, I follow much the same strategy that I use for myself. It is important to be both mentally and physically ready for the challenge, and I help my students get their heads straight. I push my students to be the best they can be and encourage them to expand their physical and mental game. Also, it’s important to scout out opponents as well, especially at the higher levels of the sport. If you know that someone likes a certain sweep or submission, you can prepare your counter should that situation arise.

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Draculino – Romulo Barral’s Injury

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Romulo was putting a hell of a performance! Beating really great guys such as Xande Ribeiro, heavy weight champ Bernardo Faria and way more. On the medium heavy weight finals, he was ahead of Tarsis Humpfrey but was caugt on a knee bar and, while defending it, put his knee on a bad angle and it twisted bad. During the match, he told me: “it popped bad. What should I do?” I said: ” let’s go!”. Then said it was very bad. We decided to stop after. He was not in condition to keep going.
It was very hard on him and he could not do the absolute but, this things happen…..
People may wonder about these competitions and injuries and how likely they are to happen. I think that, on a Black Belt or professional level, it depends solely on the athlete about resisting or not on a submission attempt. It was not really the case on Romulo (I think it was more an accident) but they are mature enough to know the consequences. I respect the guy who taps and the guy who does not.

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Draculino – What was it like growing up with the Gracies.

Monday, June 14th, 2010

It was one the best things that happened in my life. They taught me Jiu-jitsu, how to be brave, to be fair, to eat and live healthy. Plus the close friendship that I have with part of the family such as Master Carlos Gracie jr., Renzo, Ralph, Ryan, Rillion, Rolles, Igor, Roger and more. They taught me also to love Jiu-Jitsu not for any reason different than the love for the art.

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Draculino – Gracie Barra at the Worlds

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

At the BJJ Mundials my students are always making me proud! From Texas, even though they are pretty fresh and did not get medals at the Mundials, their performance was really good. Kristen lost on six points to the champ who submitted all the other girls. Calvin and Isai lost on the first match but did good even though way below their potential. And Brent Childers won the first two matches and lost to a Brazilian guy in his third. Felipe Carsalarde was our guy on the meduim heavy weight purple belt and won the first three matches by submission and lost on judges decision on the quarter finals.
From Gracie Barra BH, Pablo Silva and Samuel Braga closed the bracket on the Black Belt light feather ( 1st and 2nd ) in an awesome performance. Sergio Benini won the first match by submission and lost on the second. Bruno Robinho lost on a really controversial decision on his first match. They competed on the lightweight Black Belts. Romulo Barral got the silver medal in both meduim heavy weight and absolute. Unfortunately, he had a knee lesion during his medium weight finals and could not go on to compete on the absolute finals. He did outstanding as always.

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Draculino iPhone Apps Are Here!

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

We are EXTREMELY happy to announce our first two iPhone apps are live and ready for purchase!

These applications are “Blue Belt: Basic” and “Blue Belt: Complete” and cover the techniques I feel are essential for every blue belt to know. After looking at the content available online, it was obvious to me that we could do better – and we have! We have high quality instructionals teaching techniques with proper form and movement, we have great camera angles (just like the online training site), and the application is easy to use. Technique wise, we cover everything from the basic mount escape to arm bars, triangles, and take downs.

If you want to be able to learn wherever you are, download the app! Check out the apps in the store: Draculino BJJ Training: Blue Belt – Complete and
Draculino BJJ Training: Blue Belt – Basics. You need to click the “…More” link at the top of the page to see all of the details.

Also, stay tuned as we have another HUGE announcement coming soon that will shake up the way you learn and train!