1)  Last weekend, MSDC hosted Mr. Roy Harris for his annual weekend Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu seminar, and it was OUTSTANDING.  Mr. Harris taught two 4-hour-plus days on the topic of "posture", and I think it's safe to say he blew everyone's mind with the information he presented.  We had 34 attendees, including 17 instructors in the Harris International Grappling, BJJ, and JKD associations.  There were 3 black belts and 3 brown belts in attendance.  People came in from New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Pennsylvania, Florida, and even Canada.  It was definitely a packed house--full of friendly, talented people! 

Day 1 began with some defensive positioning and posture underneath the Mount, S-Mount, and Back Mount.  Attendees learned exactly how to position their head, arms, and body in order to make it extremely difficult for their partner to establish control.  This included learning to navigate the transitions that people tend to make into and out of these positions, and how to make people choose the path that you want them to follow. There were lots of extra goodies like "removing three different types of grapevines under the Mount" and some cool info on Mount escapes.  Following this, we saw the body positioning and first three postures under the Side. 

The day ended with tons of Q&A, after which the gym stayed open for almost 2 full hours.  Plenty of people hung out to roll or continue training, and Scott even offered a Parkour class for the seminar attendees during this time (the crew from Erie was DYING to hit the rock climbing wall and the parkour equipment...they looked like they had a BLAST).  Most folks made it out for Pizza that night, which included a little extra excitement when a fight broke out in the street next to the restaurant, and Mr. Harris broke it up (with about 15 of our seminar attendees right behind him).  The night ended in a local poolhall where most of us played terribly.  :)

Day 2 began with postures 4 & 5 under the Side.  Following this, we retraced our steps through the Mount, S-Mount, and Back with some modifications using the gi.  We continued into posture under the Side with the gi, and did a few training methods for developing timing and sensitivity to pressure when escaping the side.  After this, the really crazy material hit--we did 6 one-armed postures underneath the side/modified scarf and some timing/sensitivity training to go along with it.  Mr. Harris also taught how to lead people into this area, "funneling" their efforts down a particular path.  We added a few other key movements to these 11 postures, and then we moved on to the Guard.

From the closed guard, we saw 3 different methods of establishing posture in order to make guard control difficult.  This launched into a discussion of the traditional "leg on shoulder" pass, and how to do it properly without giving the triangle (we spent quite a bit of time on TWO simple movements that shut down triangle...).  After more Q&A, we headed into 3 postures to deal with the Open Guard.  Lastly, we learned 6 ways to DESTROY the postures under the Mount, S-Mount, Back, and Side.  More Q&A finished the day, along with a group picture. 

At the seminar, Mr. Harris described what he studies as "Geek-level BJJ."  It's not things that the hobbyists and average practitioners want.  It's what the instructors and fanatics (BJJ geeks) want to know.  It's the tiny, tiny pieces that make the difference, if you want to take the microscope to BJJ.  And so even though my brain was ENTIRELY over-full of information by the end of the seminar, I took two hours of private lessons afterwards and went over....(drumroll please)....side escapes!  If you've been reading Mr. Harris' recent articles, you saw one a few months ago that mentioned the "7 aspects of holding someone down from the side" and that each of these are separate variables that influence how you will need to escape.  Well, that's what I took my lesson on.  And I found out that the list has been expanded to NINE aspects!  It's crazy.  If you have a chance, go read that article! 

I'd like to extend several thanks to people who made such a great weekend possible--to everyone who attended, who contributed to such a friendly atmosphere and a great vibe in the gym, especially those who travelled some distance to attend; to Zack and Jose for cleaning the mats beforehand, and to Rick Torres for bringing a much-needed second mat; to Zack again for shuttling folks to and from the airport; to Scott for running a great Parkour class while in a cast (disclaimer: his foot injury is not from Parkour, nor was it from BJJ or other MSDC training); to the many training partners in the belt exams that took place during the weekend; and of course, to Mr. Harris himself for putting on such a fantastic workshop.  Everyone is raving about the quality of the seminar itself and the material they will now need months to work on. 

2)  Congratulations to MSDC's Kyle Simpson and Clint Galamgam for passing their Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blue belt examination with Mr. Roy Harris during his visit.  Kyle and Clint showed excellent preparation for the technical portions, and tremendous heart during the rolling with (aka "being crushed by") Mr. Harris at the end of the exam.  Please help me in congratulating them!

3)  Congratulations also goes out to Mr. Kyle Saunders of Rochester, NY (soon to be North Carolina), for his promotion to 2nd degree black belt this weekend.  He too completed an exam with Mr. Harris during his visit, and it was extremely impressive to watch.  Kyle is the first of Mr. Harris' black belts to receive this promotion! 

4)  Next Friday, August 20th, I will be in Washington, DC to attend a special seminar for school owners.  Saturday classes will definitely be cancelled. I do not know yet if we will have Friday morning class, nor how the Thursday evening schedule will be effected.  Please stay tuned for specifics on the schedule next week. 

5)  I just learned from my publisher that the release date of my book (Knack:  "Self-Defense for Women") has been pushed back until next summer.  It doesn't have anything to do with me--they reshuffled their fall lineup and some of them moved to 2011.  So for those of you looking forward to seeing your face in print, you and I will have a little bit longer to wait.  But I have seen a copy of the full book, and it is worth the wait!  The final product is gorgeous. 

6) On Sunday, August 29th, I will teach a special 90-minute seminar at MSDC on "Escaping Leglocks".  This seminar is only open to MSDC students, and it's FREE...with one catch.  I'll be posting a survey at MSDC when I come in tomorrow night.  It's quick--only 6 questions, and they're short.  I just want to learn a little about what brought you into MSDC.  Now, that survey is your ticket to the leglock escapes seminar.  You don't have to put your name on it--I'm doing this on the "honor system."  If you fill one out, then you're invited to the seminar.  It's my way of saying "thanks!"

The surveys will only be available for ONE WEEK--you can turn them in from tomorrow until next Wednesday (a week from today).  And if something cataclysmic happens and you can't come in before then, I'll even email you a copy and you can send it to me electronically.  But have those surveys back to me by NEXT WEDNESDAY, and you're on the guest list for the seminar.  It's my way of giving you a little extra of my time in return for you giving me a little extra of yours.  Sound good?  I thought so. 

That's all for now.  I'll have another mini-update in the next few days, as I wait for final details on a couple other goodies for you guys.

~Chris

Hi Folks!

Well, I'm glad to be home.  Last week was INCREDIBLE, but it's always good to be back and I'm looking forward to classes tonight!

1)  Congratulations to Scott Hoffman, Jose Pacheco, and Lena Harwood, who are now Harris International Level 1 Jeet Kune Do Instructors!  These three did an AWESOME job at the intense, 40-hour training course.  And even though I had taken the course before, I was blown away by the depth of Mr. Harris' instruction.  I learned quite a bit this past week, including a sneak preview of the Level TWO course, which we'll be attending NEXT July. :)

2)  Reminder:  the EARLY BIRD DISCOUNTS for the Roy Harris seminar will expire on Wednesday at Midnight!  For those of you planning to attend, you can save yourself some money by pre-registering now, before July 15th!  Go to www.modernselfdefense.com and click the picture of Roy Harris. You can pre-register there right now via paypal.

The seminar is only four weeks away already (August 7th & 8th), and will be an EXTREMELY focused topic (posture underneath the side mount, underneath the mount, and inside the guard), so you will see a BIG jump in your understanding and abilities after this seminar.  It will be an outstanding training experience for everyone!

Registration will still be open after Wednesday, but why pay the extra money? Go pre-register and use the extra money you saved to buy yourself something nice, like a DVD or a rashguard or the Roy Dean iPad app. You know you've had your eye on those. :)


3)  MSDC will be hosting the first public session of the Harris International Filipino Martial Arts Instructor Course in March of 2011.  I'll have more details for you soon (including a description of the course) but for now, mark your calendars for March 2nd - 6th, 2011, and start practicing with your swords, sticks, and knives.  I'm *VERY* excited that we'll be seeing this course in the very near future!  :)


4)  Lastly, I'd like to send a BIG thanks to Josh, Jordan, and Steven, who asked to teach classes while I was away.  I am VERY appreciative that they stepped up and took on that HUGE responsibility, and I am grateful for their help!  Please join me in thanking them. 


I look forward to seeing you all very soon!

~Chris

On Tuesday, June 15th, HYPE (Hartford Young Professionals & Entrepreneurs) visited MSDC for a special Self-Defense Workshop just for their members!  In the 90-minute session, we covered a lot of ground in our discussion and training.  It was a beautiful, sunny evening for a workshop!  Here are some photos from the event:

You can read more about HYPE, their organization, and their mission, by clicking here:  hypehartford.com

On Wednesday, June 2nd, I visited Giroux Brothers Martial Arts in Glastonbury, CT to teach a special class on legocks!  GBMA owner and head instructor Jeff Giroux and I have been friends for years, and he's a great instructor and phenomenal BJJ instructor in his own right.  We love to have him and his students visit us at MSDC to get some good training together.  Thanks also to MSDC's Zack Betta and Carla Marselles for joining me! 

Here are some photos of the legocks class at GBMA in Glastonbury!

Thanks to Jeff Giroux and his students for a great class.  Jeff will be teaching at MSDC next Tuesday for a class on Collar Chokes! 

Hi Everyone (again),

It's been a busy couple of days.  I want to let you know 5 things about next week:

1)  MSDC is open as usual this Saturday, even though it's Memorial Day weekend.  (OK, ok, I know...that's this week.  I wasn't counting it in the 5 things!) 

2)  MSDC is closed on Monday, May 31st for Memorial Day. 

4)  On Wednesday, June 2nd, I will be guest teaching at Giroux Brothers Martial Arts in Glastonbury, CT.  Many of you know Jeff Giroux--he's a supercoolguy who has trained with us at MSDC--and some of his awesome students.  I'll be teaching BJJ class at his facility from 6:30 - 8:00pm, and the topic is LEGLOCKS.  You are all welcome to join me there for some rip-roarin' leg-lockin' good times! 

Jeff's website is girouxbros.com, if you'd like directions to his facility (YES, he's the guy standing right next to Chuck Norris, and YES I'm super jealous).  Also, please wear your gi.  I hope to see you there!  (PS - No class at MSDC that night.  We'll all be wearing gi's and locking legs in Glastonbury.) 

5)  On Saturday, June 6th, I will head to Rochester, NY for a 2-day seminar with Roy Harris.  The topic is (hmm, this is becoming a trend) Leglocks!  If you're interested in attending, please let me know.  We are sorting out accommodations.  There will be no Saturday classes at MSDC while I'm in Rochester, but classes will resume on Monday, June 8th. 

6)  Before I leave for Rochester, I will send out the orders for the MSDC Custom BJJ Gi's ($90 preorder sale) and MSDC Custom Board Shorts ($30).  So if you're planning to order some, please make sure your name finds its way to the appropriate clipboards (over by the mats) with your order.  I'm looking forward to having those goodies in my hands (and YOURS) very soon!

Wow, two May updates.  What a month!

Hi Everyone,

Today’s update is nothing but FUN news!  We've got new classes, upcoming seminars, and custom MSDC gear, all coming soon.  Pretty good, eh?

New Schedule fun:

1)  Summer brings in a new class schedule, with a couple of new (and returning) classes!  JKD is finally back on the schedule, there are two NEW BJJ classes open to all levels (BJJ Escapes and BJJ Combinations), and the Instructor Training program begins.  (If you’re interested in participating in the new instructor training program, please contact me ASAP.  The program begins in June!)

Here’s the link to the new schedule.  It will take effect in 2 weeks, on June 1^st! 

Leglock fun:

2)  In two weeks, on the weekend of June 5^th & 6^th, Roy Harris will teach a 2-day seminar on Leglocks in Rochester, NY.  We are beginning to make travel plans now.  If you’re planning to attend, please let me know so that I can include you as we plan. 

Finally-escaping-Side-Mount fun:

3)  Save the date!  Roy Harris will be coming to MSDC on August 7^th & 8^th to teach a 2-day BJJ seminar!  The topic will be on “Posture” (the placement and pushing motions of your arms to minimize the risk of submissions and begin to escape inferior positions) from under the Side, under the Mount, and inside the Guard.  This will be AMAZING!  Also, Mr. Harris will have some limited availability for belt tests and private lessons while he is here.  If you’re planning to do either of those, please make sure that I know!

Continued fun:

4)  Mr. Roy Dean will also be coming to MSDC to teach a BJJ seminar this fall.  We haven’t set a date yet, but we’re looking at September/October.

Instructor Course fun:

5)  Several of us will be traveling to Erie, PA this July to participate in the Harris International Jeet Kune Do / French, Filipino, and Indonesian Martial Arts Instructor Course (Level 1).  I’ll be retaking the course for the first time since 2004, and I’m excited to have a few of you with me!  MSDC will be closed the week that we are gone, for a little “summer break” the week of the July 4^th holiday.  So hit up a picnic (or four), enjoy the summer sun, and let the little bumps and bruises heal, and think of us, sweating our butts off at a 40-hour training course all week. J

Even fun-er-er fun:

6)  I spoke with the designer for the MSDC Board Shorts this week, and he’s preparing the order.  You can preorder shorts now by putting your name on the clipboard at MSDC, with your desired quantity and size.  The shorts are only $30/pair and are custom embroidered with MSDC’s logo.  Sizes run from 28-40 waistlines. 

Most fun-est-est-fun:

7)  The company that is custom making our MSDC BJJ uniforms is also preparing to launch the order.  These are fairly lightweight gi’s, with a white top and black pants, featuring embroidered MSDC and Harris International Logos.  They are going to be sweeeeeeeeeet.  The preorder price is only $90 (yes, really).  This will be a limited time “first run”, with the possibility of more in the future, so if you’re planning to get one, hop onto that clipboard now!  Orders go out at the beginning of June. 

That’s all for today.  Enjoy your day!

 ~Chris

Last Wednesday, I was excited to visit Sterling, VA for a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu seminar with the legendary Rickson Gracie. 

I set out Wednesday morning at 8am from Connecticut, and without making any stops I arrived at the seminar location around 3pm.  The seminar was scheduled to run from 5pm-10pm, so I had time to snag some bananas and a drink with plenty of time to rest and stretch before things got rolling.

To begin with, the Academy is beautiful.  I didn’t realize until later that it was their Grand Opening that day, but it was impressive.  The main mat room looked around 3,000 square feet, and there were several smaller rooms with a few hundred sq feet of mat space each. 

I couldn’t imagine that we’d need all that room, since they’d announced that the seminar was limited to 50 people.  As it turns out, they changed that number to 200, because that’s how many people showed up (and they were all pre-registered). 

Rickson began the seminar by welcoming everyone and inviting us to ask questions about what he showed—as he put it, “How often are you and I both here?  Take advantage of it.” 

He then began the instruction like this:  “I’ve never fought MMA.”  A lot of puzzled looks went around the room—we were all pretty sure we’ve seen a lot of footage to the contrary.  “MMA is in a cage, and I haven’t done that,” he continued.  “Three 5-minute rounds...I haven’t done that either.  My style wasn’t for those kinds of matches—I would be patient and use good defense until he made a mistake.  These guys who compete in this today are different kinds of guys than we used to have.  They go, they fight, the bell rings, they go back to their corner, recover, they fight again.  It’s a different kind of athlete and game than it used to be.”

Bombshell number 2:  “I don’t think you should cross-train for MMA.”  That one received more quizzical looks from the crowd.  “You’re not gonna go box for 6 months and then stand with Anderson Silva.  Instead, you need to learn to defend his boxing, maybe learn to move your head and block punches.  Go learn to defend wrestling for a fight with GSP, but you’re not going to outwrestle him.  You need to be patient, to make yourself invincible against their strengths, and then wait until the chance to be the better jiu-jitsu guy, and when it happens you finish.” 

With that, he segued right into the first technique of the day.  In 5 hours, he taught only 10 techniques, which I really appreciated.  I’ve been to the “shotgun style” seminars in which a black belt teaches 100 techniques in 2 hours and you leave remembering nothing.  Rickson wanted to cover only the most important things. 

The teaching style was familiar to anyone who has trained at a Gracie family academy before.  He would pick a partner, usually a brown or black belt, and instruct them to do something simple:  “Clinch with me” or “armbar from guard” or “elbow escape”.  It would, of course, go poorly for them, and for the next couple of partners as well.  After a couple people attempt it, someone would get close.  “This guy hears the ringing but he can’t see the bell,” Rickson quipped a couple times.  “Switch with me and I show you.”  From there, he’d show the main component, from his thinking, behind the success of the technique.  Often these were things that were difficult to see, and he called them his “invisible jiu-jitsu” a couple times. 

Around the halfway point to the evening, we took a 15 minute break, and coming back there was a highlight video shown on a projector.  Following this, Rickson gave a lecture for about an hour on the importance of breathing in his jiu-jitsu and in his life, and on how he understands his connection, as a human being, to other animals.

I should note here that Rickson is a very charismatic instructor, and has a few funny conventions.  One of them that I noticed early in the day was that, without explanation at the time, he was referring to his partner as a zebra.  “When the zebra put his arm here, you do this.”  I’m sorry, did he just say ‘zebra’???  In his discussion of breathing and centeredness, he finally explained this, in part of a response to a question:  “When you watch a lion hunt, he sits in the shade and rests.  He watches the zebras go by, and he doesn’t get excited or angry.  But when one of the zebra comes too close, he is quick and aggressive making his kill.  It’s not emotional, but it’s aggressive, it’s final.  When you compete, you don’t look across the mat and see another lion—you see a zebra.” 

Late in the day, Rickson spoke about his reasons for teaching these seminars publicly:  “I used to save this stuff for my family, for my close students, for my team.  But now as I get older, I see my responsibility to help the whole jiu-jitsu world grow.  I see things get lost, guys don’t know the best way to do things anymore.  Or I find new changes that make them better.  So I used to hide these things so that only my friends could win.  Now, I feel like that’s not big enough.  We get old, we stop competing, and if we don’t share these things, then nobody will have them.  People ask me why I never put out a book or DVD, and share that way, to make money from it.  To come here today, you pay respect to me.  I see your face, and you see mine, and that shows respect.  So I am happy to show you what I can about my jiu-jitsu.  But if I put a book on the shelf in every store, then my worst enemy can go buy one, read my book, and see my jiu-jitsu, without showing me any respect.” 

For that reason, I haven’t described the techniques that he taught at the seminar.  I’d like to say a few things about them, to give you an idea what was included, but I won’t be sharing details about how they were taught or changed.

We began with entering the clinch from standing against a striking opponent.  We went on to initiating the clinch from our own strike.  We learned how not to be off-balanced (or even moved) by someone who grips us and tries to push and pull us out of our base.  We covered the Upa mount escape, as well as the elbow-knee.  We also saw the elbow-knee from a sort of modified scarf hold.  We did the armbar from guard, and the scissor sweep.  We learned a method of escaping the front headlock from the knees, and we went to our knees under the side.  Those were our ten.  There was nothing flashy or crazy.  But it was solid, and we learned something important with each one.

There was distinctly a method to the selection of the techniques, and the order in which they were taught.  If you looked only at the core component he emphasized with each one, it was almost the same—it just changed a tiny bit with each successive technique.  And as you may already have imagined, all of them revolved around the hip’s connection to the rest of the body. 

At the seminar’s conclusion, Rickson set up the group photo, and then graciously posed for individual photos with everyone who wanted one.  He set up a line and a photographer so that he could move through them quickly.  I was fortunate enough to be near the front, and I can’t imagine how long that went on—when I left, even after changing and writing some notes, the line was still massive. 

My review has been fairly glowing, which is probably appropriate.  There were a handful of strange events, a few questions he didn’t want to answer, and one that he did answer that was particularly strange from my perspective.  But it was an enlightening event, and sometimes it’s nice to see how the master operates—how he thinks about his craft, and how he shares it with others. 

Thanks for reading.

~Chris

Here are a couple candid shots from Day 2 of the photoshoot.  We shot for 9 straight hours on Saturday, and then Sunday's crew shot ANOTHER 9 straight hours.  It was intense!

A couple of shots made it onto (our photographer) Kristen Jensen's blog:    www.kristenjensen.com/blog  

The crew heads downtown to do some urban shots: