simply self defense.  

Teaching you have to understand the why, and how do I get my desired result.  My opinion if you want to be a good instructor/coach you really need to study the techniques.  Which will ultimately make your own Jiu jitsu better

Mario Lopez and Tom Hardy

I had two that really stuck.  The first was frame, shield, pedal.  If my guard was getting passed I would first get my frames in place which allowed me to get a knee inside which was my shield and allowed me to create some space to get a foot on my training partners hip and pedal myself back into open guard or closed…

Just keep showing up, don’t quit!  I’m thankful I decided to keep showing up. Jiu Jitsu is a great tool for personal growth. 

North South Kimura

Foot sweep for me

For me personally was not being flat on my back. Through white and half of my time at blue belt.  Any time I was working on guard retention or sweeps I would be flat on my back instead of getting on my side.  You can’t accomplish much being flat on your back.  Professor Thomas would always tell me we are not doing Pilates.  

I like to isolate the technique so I get a really good understanding of that technique against a non resistant training partner.  Than I will worry about the what if’s that come into play during the positional training of sparring.