Think Outside the Guard! Clinic July 28

I'm not particularly anti-jiu-jitsu or against pulling guard. It's just that overdoing ANYTHING tends to be a bad idea. I like beer as much as the next person but if you drink it all of the time  you turn into a fat guy with a beer belly. You have been warned.

Mmmm ... . beer

The same is the case with always using the same position in mat work. No one in their right mind would teach only forward throws and yet I have seen far too many people lately ALWAYS attacking from the same position in matwork.

A few years ago, everyone attacked only with their opponent on all fours (in the turtle position). Now, the position of the year seems to be the guard.

Limiting yourself to any one position is a bad strategy. So, this Sunday at the West Coast Judo Training Center, we will be having a "Think Outside the Guard" matwork clinic. It's a measly ten bucks. Show up and have fun. 

We'll also do a few rounds of matwork where anyone who goes into the guard position automatically loses (just for fun). It WILL be fun to see how hard it is for people to break a habit, even for three minutes.

Isn't that a bad thing to do? What if being in the guard is the best position for that situation?
No, it isn't, and too bad, have a Plan B.

When Ronda was little she was really good at uchi mata.

The problem was, she as 13 or 14 years old and it was getting to be the only throw she did. So, we forbade her to do it at practice some nights. We'd have club tournaments and say that uchi mata didn't count as a score. She got really mad about it, but it forced her to develop other techniques.

Maybe the guard is the best position because that is where you are most comfortable.
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Random fact about me: I'm going out to Kansas City to the AAU Grand Nationals in Judo , just for fun because my friends Steve and Becky Scott live there. Also, there is a hotel on a riverboat and that sounded pretty cool - because, well, isn't it obvious? Here is a link to the flyer. I couldn't find a link online so I uploaded it to my company website and linked to it here.

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