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BishopBjj News

Return of Science of Jiu jitsu Podcast – #18

jiu jitsu podcast

Return of Science of Jiu Jitsu Podcast – #18


Tyler, Jena, Jon, and Phil are back and better than ever… well… we’re just back talking crazy rumors, stuff on the forums, and throwing wild accusations and criticisms at respected members of the community. Join us!
You can listen to the latest Science of Jiu Jitsu podcast below, or you can check out the cast of Stitcher. Do us a huge favor, and rate the show on Stitcher. Help us reach more people so we can bring the podcast back full steam.
Listen to the podcast by clicking here to download, or use the player below.

stitcher_160x80

Show summary

  • Introduction
  • We talk about the long layoff and our hopes for the future
  • We talk about stuff on R/BJJ and the UG
  • We discuss the upcoming Five Grappling invitational
  • We talk about what Metamoris is doing
  • We get way off track for a while and talk about weird stuff
  • Phil tells stories
  • Jon sucks
  • Things get weird again
  • We discuss crazy unfounded rumors
  • Phil makes accusations
  • The show abruptly ends…

We’re happy to be back, and are always working to make the show better. Leave comments below to recommend guests, subjects, and future topics.


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BishopBjj News

Is Jiu Jitsu Growth Flat?

Is Jiu Jitsu Growth Flat?

jiu jitsu growth

As a digital marketing professional, I spend a ton of time on analytics. I evaluate trends and data to determine how well a campaign, website, piece of media, etc. might perform given the current conditions. I’m also always on the look out for the next technology or subject that will innovate the marketplace.
In doing this, I spend a lot of time looking at product or subject growth. One of the best indicators I have found for this is Google Trends. It’s a very basic tool, and available to everyone. Almost all savvy digital marketing experts use it, because it gives you a very good idea of a subject or topics popularity, and where it’s headed in the future.

Advanced metrics

During a recently product development project, we started looking at advanced metrics to evaluate the timeline for popularity of cloud software inside the manufacturing industry. Simple enough, there were a suite of proprietary tools we used to do this. At the end of the project I kept find myself asking. I wonder what jiu jitsu growth would look like if I was to run it through these same filters?
The results surprised me. Based on all of indicators, and confirmed by Google Trends, is the evidence that suggests that jiu jitsu’s growth is relatively flat. This can’t be so, right? According to social, digital, and popularity data records it is.

Not growing at all?

Jiu Jitsu really hasn’t seen a dramatic rise in popularity in the last 10 years. Although tournaments and organization may have improved, the influx of popularity and new growth simply doesn’t seem to be there. It makes sense too. When someone starts jiu jitsu, they may do it for the rest of their life, or they may quit tomorrow, who knows. Over time there will certainly be more practitioners, but that doesn’t really mean that growth is increasing. Jiu Jitsu’s growth is relatively steady.
Based on subjects of similar scope, it is my opinion that this is likely going to remain fixed. Given all of the cultural and technical innovations that have occurred over the last 10 years, jiu jitsu’s growth rate has held very flat. That leads me to believe it is likely to remain this way.
social trends

So what does that say about jiu jitsu long term?

It’s unlikely that we see some grand explosion in popularity soon. That would require a spike, and based on the environment of the last 10 years, it’s hard to imagine something significant coming along and changing that. That’s not to say that the jiu jitsu population may grow; leading to greater innovation of services, tournaments, and practitioners, but it’s unlikely to see the mainstream jiu jitsu growth that many are clamoring for.


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BishopBjj News

Podcast: Tony Pacenski and Travis Stevens

Listen/Stream on Stitcher:

Our latest podcast breaks down Metamoris 4, talks JJGF with the co-founder, Tony Pacenski. We we talk about BJJ in the Olympics, BJJ sponsorship, and more w/ guest Travis Stevens (2x Judo Olympian).  It’s nearly 3 hours of awesome, unique bjj talk.

Tony Pacenski –  JJGF co-founder, BJJ black belt

Tony talks about the JJFG, how it was founded, what it was like to get to know Rickson personally, and what he has technically learned from Rickson. Tony also tells us about some of the recent confusion around the Vulkan Open rules and the JJGF. He also lays out the vision for the JJGF long term, and tells us what other organization the endeavor is modeled after. A lot of great new information about a subject that has many hopeful for the future of sport BJJ

Travis Stevens –  2x Judo Olympian, BJJ black belt

Travis discusses the main difference between sport BJJ and sport Judo, what the different communities are like, and the differences in professionalism in both sports. Travis also candidly shares his sponsorship arrangements in Judo, and compares them to what is offered in BJJ. This dovetails off a comment he also made about competing in IBJJF tournaments as well. The result is a very sobering outlook on the current state of modern BJJ, especially as it relates to the $$$ that is involved with the sport.

Listen Now:

 

 

 

 

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Interviews

Podcast #16: BishopBJJ team breaks down JJGF and more…

The crew has an all-skate and discusses everything we know about the JJGF as of right now (rumors, truths, etc.), and tries to make sense of it all. We also tell BJJ challenge stories, discuss the rules of BJJ, and what it means to be a black belt.

Have a question for the podcast crew? Submit it here.
[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]
 

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"It's Science" Videos

It's Science: Royler Gracie (Legends Edition)

royler its science


 By: Tyler Bishop
(stats located below)

Foreword:

Thank you for making It’s Science one of the most popular jiu jitsu pieces on the internet and inside our little community. As many of you may already know, the full length articles, stats, etc. of all our competitor profiles are featured in every issue of Jiu Jitsu Style Magazine. This particular one will be released in the upcoming issue of JJS next month.
This particular episode kicks off our new series of statistical breakdowns featuring legends of the sport. Hopefully this new series can help us further paint a picture as to how jiu jitsu is evolving, by taking a closer look at where is has come from – competitively of course. I found no place more fitting to start than with the Gracie families most decorated sport jiu jitsu competitor, Master Royler Gracie.
This piece was of particular interest to me, as I viewed Royler’s style – from the outside to be different from many modern competition approaches, and I thought that an analysis of his game would prove to be a stark contrast to many past studies. I was both right and wrong. While his game does differ from many of past profiles, the results that he achieved were surprising in light of the results. His ability to play the top and achieve success is primarily where my attention goes in this breakdown, but I don’t think we should stop at that. Royler’s game is as clearly defined as any of the others we have observed in times past. I hope you will enjoy observing the results as much as I did collecting them.


Abstract:

All matches observed of Royler Gracie used in this small sample occurred in his respective weight division between 1994 and the present day. The sampling includes a mixture of both gi and nogi competition. Only techniques, occurrences, and outcomes that were recorded are displayed in the data below (i.e. if no butterfly sweeps occurred, there will not be a representation of that in the sample data). Matches were selected at random based on available matches – selected using a random generator from available matches. This is a limited sample, and one without many of our normal controls such as; unified rules, time limits, etc. This makes the data a little more skewed than what we would normally like to see. However, the data collected did end up accurately representing insightful trends that we can use to draw logical and rational conclusions. As jiu jitsu grows, so does that data.


Breakdown:

Royler Gracie, his name alone bears a connection to the sport itself. As the most decorated sport jiu jitsu competitor of Helio Gracie, Royler, is known for his flexibility, mysterious pressure, and fierce competitiveness. In fact, Royler recently competed once again at the age of 48 against Eddie Bravo in a thrilling match at Metamoris. It’s hard to deny the strong competitive will Royler possess. In fact, the famous picture above almost encapsulates Roylers mystique in-of-it-self. But, what techniques, strategies, and gameplans makeup the Royler Gracie style?
Let’s begin our review of the statistics below with a breakdown of the start of the match. Royler, like many of his generation, proved to be primarily a top game player. He displays a dynamic and smothering style of passing that he has leaned on heavily throughout his career, and the best way to execute that strategy is to start on top from the start. Roylers initial takedown of choice was the ankle pick and a wrestling style double or single leg attempt. It’s fair to mention that because many of these matches occurred in ADCC that many of these takedowns could have been specifically tailored to that format, thus giving them higher incidence than if this study was of only gi competition. These techniques accounted for approximately 78% of all of his initial takedowns.
Another strategy often used to arrive at the top position was a basic sacrifice throw in which he would drop his opponent down quickly into a butterfly style sweep in an attempt to gain the top position. Even if the throw did not work initially, Royler’s butterfly guard proved to be one of his “go to” assets on bottom. His flexibility, combined with his mastery of the technique, allowed him to secure quite a few sweeps from this position. In fact, nearly 42% of the sweeps we observed in the study were from butterfly guard. The nest most common position that he would sweep from was a simple collar sleeve open guard variation (best way to define it) – in which Royler would use butterfly hooks and scissor style sweeps to overtake his opponent. This style of play accounted for approximately 25% of his sweeping positions.
Once on top, there is a reason why many in the jiu jitsu community still refer to the knee through style of pass as the Royler Pass. Of all the competitors we studied, none averaged a higher pass rate than Royler Gracie. Royler passed the guard on average 1.6 times per match. Our next closest competitor was Gui Mendes with 0.78. Royler passed the guard more than twice as much as many of the modern competitors we have recently studied.
Royler’s guard pass of choice was  his signature knee through (or knee cut) style pass. 11 of the 24 guard passes we observed in the entire study were classified in this style (45.8%). However, Royler also utilized leg drag, torrendo, and reverse sitting half guard style passes with a high degree of success as well. Royler executed the majority of these passing sequences from his knees or from the half guard – which is very much juxtaposition from where we have seen it with the majority of the other competitors we have studied. In fact, no other competitor had the majority of their passes start from a kneeling position.
Royler recorded 88% of the submissions we observed from either the back or mount position. 50% of the submissions were chokes from the back while armbars and collar chokes made up the rest. 53% of the matches we observed ended with Royler finishing his opponent by submission.
In the matches we observed he was victorious in 13 of them. He has shown the type of spirit throughout the course of his career that you would expect from a decorated legend like himself. However, the numbers do reveal something very interesting. The dynamics of his style are unique qualities that – in many cases – we have yet to see replicated by any other competitor. In his last match against Eddie Bravo you could still see architecture of his proprietary game. And, while it’s likely we have seen the last of Royler Gracie in the competitive jiu jitsu world, it’s likely there is still a lot we can learn from the matches and legacy he has left behind. This is only a start.


Notable Stats

  • Highest average pass rate per match of any competitor studied so far (1.6 per match)
    • Passed the guard twice as much as the next closest in this category (Gui Mendes)
  • 88% of submissions came from the back or mount
  • Knee through style of pass was used to pass in 46.8% of successful attempts
  • 1/2 of total submissions he secured were chokes from the back
  • Scored first points (when applicable) in every single victory
  • 45% successful passes started from opponents half guard

royler stats graphic

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BishopBjj News

World Jiu Jitsu Championship 2014 – Podcast Breakdown

BishopBjj.com Podcast Breaking Down Worlds

Check out our latest podcast as we discuss a variety of World Jiu Jitsu topics including:
–       What’s on the docket?
o   Complete Worlds Breakdown

  • Stories
  • Results
  • Trends
  • Futures
  • Memories

o   Eddie Bravo Invitational talk
o   Bloody Elbow article conversation
o   New techniques in BJJ

  • Worm guard

o   Jiu Jitsu Pet Peeves
o   Jons Sour Grapes
o   Jena’s Hate Corner
o   Roosters jiu jitsu travel tip
o   Mikes nerd topic
o   Phil’s Thoughts
 

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BishopBjj News

Pan Jiu Jitsu 2014 Pictures / Results

pan jiu jitsu rick slomba

Check out our 2014 Pan Jiu Jitsu galleries and updates on this page.

Photo Gallery for Thursday March 13th (Blue and Purple Belts)

Photo Gallery for Saturday March 15th (Brown and Black Belts)

Photo Gallery for Sunday March 16th (Women’s, Masters, Black Belt)

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BishopBjj News

Podcast #13: Jimmy Pedro

Check out the latest edition of our podcast featuring special guest Jimmy Pedro. We also discuss the 2014 IBJJF European Championship, the forthcoming Pan Ams, steroids in jiu jitsu, read some fan mail, and more…

Categories
"It's Science" Videos

It's Science: Rubens "Cobrinha" Charles

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-qsrivMmew&w=560&h=315]
Welcome to another episode of “It’s Science”. We  continue our 2013 season with a look at Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles (2010-2013). Now on to the fun stuff…
 
Abstract: All matches observed of Cobrinha used in this small sample occurred at gi IBJJF events, inside his weight division, and between 2010-2013. Only techniques, occurrences, and outcomes that were recorded are displayed in the data below (i.e. if no butterfly sweeps occurred, there will not be a representation of that in the sample data). Matches were selected at random based on available matches  – selected using a random generator from 20 total available IBJJF matches matches between 2010-2013. This is a limited sample – but given the estimated amount of matches in this time period – it is well above the percentage necessary to create a scientifically validated trend sampling.
Breakdown: Some things simply get better with age. Cobrinha may be a perfect example of this mantra. While Rubens Charles once reigned as king of the featherweight class, it’s in the last few years where he may be at his most dominant. We decided to only study the past 3 years of competition to keep techniques and styles relevant, in doing-so we leave out a lot of the bulk of Cobrinha’s career. Fortunately, he has remained competitive and strong. In fact, one could argue that today, in 2013, he is at his very best.
Most impressively, Cobrinha submitted his opponent in 9 out of the 14 matches we observed. That’s a 75% submission rate in all of his tournament wins. You would be hard pressed to find many other active competitors doing the same, much less one that is over the age of 30. His average match length was very short because of this – roughly 6:15. When matches are short, it allows you to be aggressive, fast, and dynamic. Cobrinha does exactly that. He pulled guard in almost all of his matches, and used a slick combination of De La riva Guard and Sit-up guard to score first by sweeping his opponent. His opponents often made the mistake of fighting the sweep and giving their back. This was the beginning of their untimely end. In our observation, Conbrinha did not lose the back once. Once he got to your back, you were finished!
It’s not often you find a competitor who not only stands the test of time, but improves as they get older. Cobrinha is likely to join the ranks of top competitors like Saulo and Xande Ribeiro, Royler Gracie, Pe De Pano, and Megaton – to name a few – that have been a force at their weight well into their master and senior years.  This was truly one of the most fun studies we have done.
Notable stats:

  • Submitted 75% of his opponents in winning matches
  • Scored first 58% of the time
  • Pulled guard 79% of the time
  • 56% of his sweeps came from the Sit-up guard
  • He averaged 1.12 sweeps per match
  • He finished a choke from the back in 5/5 matches in which he achieved the position
  • 83% of his passes were a “knee-through style” pass
  • His average match length was approximately 6:15 (almost the length of a blue belts full match)

 

Top Competitor Cobrinha
Successes Sit-up guard
Avoided… Takedowns
Top Technique 1 Sit-up guard to Single Leg
Top Technique 2 Choke from the back
Number of Matches Observed 14
Submits Opponent 9
Wins by Points 3
Minutes of footage watched 84 minutes
Scores First 10
Total Wins 12
Total Loses 2
Sweeps (Position)
De la Riva Sweeps 5
Spider Sweeps 2
Sit-up Guard 8
Sweeps (Type)
Ankle Pick sweep 5
Scissor 2
Sit-up to single leg 8
Total Sweeps 15
Passes (Position)
Half-Guard 1
Standing 5
Passes (Type)
knee through 5
knee up, from hg to mount 1
Total Passes 6
Taking the Back
from passing the guard 1
guard 4
Total Back-Takes 5
Submissions (Position)
Back 5
Side Control 2
Closed Guard 1
Half-Guard Top 1
Submissions (Type)
choke from back 5
armbar  2
omoplata 1
cross collar top 1
Total Subs 9
Start of Match
Guard Pull 11
Pulled on by opponent 3
Categories
BJJ Study and Statistics Articles

3 Tips To Improve Tournament Jiu Jitsu Performance

Jiu jitsu is so much more than just a sport, or a form of competition, but there is no denying that this competitive desire is the focus of many jiu jitsu practitioners. So when it comes to competition, study and analysis can become useful tools that can assist in
So when it comes to competition, study and analysis can become useful tools that can assist in tournament and physical performance. If you haven’t read or observed our study of the 2012 World Championships, I highly recommend starting your research there. However, there are a few tips that you can start implementing now to improve tournament performance…

1:) Build a gameplan

improve jiu jitsu performance
Guess what, the best in the world don’t just “see what happens”. The best in the world make it happen! You should do the same thing. If you haven’t checked out our series “It’s Science”, you should study up. One theme that comes across rather quickly is that the must successful competitors have a few things they are really good at, and then they put themselves in position to implement those strategies.
Building a gameplan is no easy task. In our book we will go into detail about how this can be done, but until then focus on a few important elements. Write down what you are best at (top 3), determine how you can get into these positions/scenarios, and figure out how you can go from your feet at the start of a match to one of these pre-determined positions. Once you have gone through this process, practice it religiously. If certain problems keep arising, make adjustments and move forward. A good gameplan is a series of events that you can put into place and seemingly fight above your normal ability level at.

2:) Focus on scoring (preferably, score first)

scoreboard
If one thing sticks out from the 2012 World’s study, its that people that score first win. Regardless of the circumstances that lead to this anomaly, scoring first should be a high priority.  Make this a strong element of your gameplan if you want to be successful in tournament jiu jitsu. This means fighting or approaching your opponent differently than what you might typically do in the academy. It means fighting with your brain as much as your brawn.
It makes sense that scoring is directly proportionate to winning, but this concept seems to be a hard lesson for many. Many fight conservatively and leave points on the table throughout the match only to become tired and unable to score late in the match. Take points whenever they are available, you can never guarantee another opportunity. You will never look back on a tournament and say, “I shouldn’t have scored all those dang points!!!”.

3:) Diversify your training partners

diversity
Why leave anything to chance? There is a time and place for everything, and while working with training partners of relative skill and size is best for building a gameplan, part of developing a complete gameplan is determining the multiple types of reactions to your strategy. Once you have developed a comfort with your style and gameplan, try testing it against training partners of all sizes, strengths, and abilities. Try to
Once you have developed a comfort with your style and gameplan, try testing it against training partners of all sizes, strengths, and abilities. Try to fully-understand the options your opponent has available them. What made our study of Rafael Mendes so amazing was how well he knew the options of his opponents. This lead to him dominating the competitive scene for a very long time. You won’t know all of the reactions until you have to account for the multiple body types and skill levels that are out there.