While coming face to face with molten lava was the primary reason for visiting the Big Island of Hawaii, since I had some free time I made sure to check out one of the local Brazilian jiu-jitsu gyms.
I’m lucky that in this day and age, BJJ is so popular that you can find a gym in every major city and Hilo, Hawaii is no exception.
While Hilo only has a population of 43,000 and has a small town feel, it’s considered one of the bigger cities on the big island.… Read More
The highlight of my week is Friday evening. Not because I go clubbing or drinking or bar hopping or whatever it is the kids are doing these days. It’s because of something special that happens at my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym.
Here’s what the typical Friday evening schedule looks like.
6:00-6:30: Open Mat
6:30-7:30: Fundamentals II
7:30-8:30: Marathon Roll
Marathon Roll is only for blue belts and above. White belts can participate, but they have to be individually invited by one of the instructors.
It consists of 10 sets of 5 minute rounds with 1 minute rest in between for a total of 60 minutes of pure BJJ happiness. … Read More
This is a social project and fundraiser currently being organized by Kenny Savercool, one of the instructors at my BJJ gym, Fifty50 BJJ, home of Ryan Hall.
Kenny is a brownbelt and usually teaches there on Thursday evenings. I really enjoy his instruction and coaching, so when he stopped showing up for a while I started to wonder what happened to him.
It turns out, he went to Brazil for some dedicated BJJ training in the motherland of the sport. When he finally returned he was excited to tell us all about a social project he was involved with to provide Jiu Jitsu equipment and instruction for underprivileged kids in the Favela. … Read More
I’ve been a fan and supporter of Metamoris ever since it began back in 2013 and have paid to live stream all 5 Metamoris events.
While I know that somehow the matches are pirated and find their way onto youtube almost immediately after it’s done broadcasting, I still feel compelled to support them. The bigger they get, the better it is for everyone in the jiu-jitsu community, so I’m more than happy to do my small part.
They released released a subscription based, on demand feature called Metamoris All Access, with hours of new and old content.… Read More
I started this project for completely selfish reasons. Seph Smith is one of the main instructors at my gym, 50/50 BJJ and I had all these questions for him but no real opportunity to ask them. His schedule is absolutely packed. The only time I could maybe squeeze in a question or two would’ve been when he’s using the toilet between classes or when he’s in the locker room changing… definitely not ideal.
When I told him about this project, he was gracious and patient enough to set out sometime to let me interview him and snap these photos. … Read More