The Jiu Jitsu Answer Man

Copyright © 2014 by Roy Harris

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferrable right to access and read the text of this eBook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, photocopied, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Roy Harris.

Requests should be addressed and mailed to:

Roy Harris 2260 El Cajon Blvd. #196 San Diego, California, USA, 92104 “Have you ever taken the time to REALLY think your way through the various aspects of training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? If you haven’t, I guarantee you will gain a new perspective on developing useable and repeatable skill sets in Jiu Jitsu after you’ve read this book!”

Roy Harris Table of Contents

I. Author’s Background

II. Preface

III. Questions and Answers

#1: What should a white belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu focus on in his training? #2: Low motivation. What do I do? #3: How long does it take to become a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? #4: How long did it take you to get your black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? #5: Who were your most memorable Jiu Jitsu Instructors? #6: What are some good exercises for Jiu Jitsu? #7: What are some important training methods you’ve learned? #8: How do you see the progression in Jiu Jitsu? #9: What exactly does the word “timing” mean? #10: A type of guard someone should develop depending on height? #11: Now that you’re older, how does it feel to spar with students who are half your age, are much stronger than you and have tons of endurance? #12: Coming up through the ranks, who were your Jiu Jitsu heroes? #13: What are your favorite submissions, and why? #14: When you studied all of these different styles of martial arts, did you try to learn everything you could about each style or did you focus specifically on certain core aspects you wanted to learn that you felt were the meat of the system? #15: Who were your best training partners and why? #16: I have questions on awareness… #17: Tell us about your experience training with the Gracie Brothers? #18: Key points to your training that helped you along the way? #19: What is your favorite position in Jiu Jitsu, and why? #20: What are some unique things about your Jiu Jitsu game? #21: How much time should I spend on ground fighting compared to the other ranges for a street fight? #22: What kind of things do you do for enjoyment outside of Jiu Jitsu?

IV. Articles

#1: What Makes a Good Instructor? #2: Effectiveness, Efficiency and Playfulness: Part One #3: Defining the Terms #4: Intermediate Level Brazilian Jiu Jitsu #5: Quantify Your Grappling Experience: Part One #6: An Overview of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Basics #7: Legwork in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu #8: Quantify Your Grappling Experience, Part Two #9: From White to Black Belt #10: Apprentice Grappling Instructor Manual Excerpt

V. Stories

#1: Slammed Unconscious in Eastern Europe #2: Kick, Slap and Wristlock a Police Officer #3: A Colorful History with Leg Locks #4: Biting and the Military #5: Someone Pulled a Knife on Me in Eastern Europe #6: Jumped from Behind by Two Students During a Seminar #7: The Gestapo / Jiu Jitsu Police #8: The Ultimate Style, Part One #9: Threatened from Brazil... Three Times #10: The Ultimate Style, Part Two

VI. Secrets

#1: Starting the BJJ over 40 craze #2: An old grappling match that some have never seen #3: A peek at one of my instructor updates #4: A glimpse of a few private in-home training sessions #5: A guard passing seminar excerpt #6: Some secrets to my success teaching seminars

VII. Resources

#1: A list of current Harris International Instructors #2: Twenty-five Fascinating Videos #3: My Top Seven Books #4: My apps, dvds and websites Author’s Background

Hi, my name is Roy Harris. I began my study of martial arts back in 1981. Since then, I’ve been involved in the training and study of twenty-seven different styles of martial art. My involvement in these various arts was to see how the different arts trained, sparred and dealt with some of the more common forms of attack (e.g. straight and round punch, straight and round kick, a grab, a weapon attack, a ground attack, a multiple assailant attack, etc…).

Since I began this journey, I have logged thousands of hours in the various arts. Some of these arts, I only trained for one to two years (200 to 500 hours). Others, I trained for four to five years. And others, I’ve trained for a few decades!

Here is an overview of all that I‘ve been involved in:

1) Defensive and offensive firearms training 2) Defensive and offensive blade training 3) Cloth, rope and chain fighting 4) Kickboxing 5) Clinch work 6) Traditional and functional trapping 7) Close-Quarter Battle (CQB) 8) Throws, sweeps, reaps and takedowns 9) Nerve strikes and joint manipulations 10) Arrest and control 11) Hard Style Kettlebells 12) Scenario-based training

As a result of all this training, I have obtained multiple black belts, instructor certifications, and awards. To view my extensive and diverse martial arts background, please go to my website: www.RoyHarris.com Preface

I began my training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu back in January 1991. I was fortunate to begin my journey at the Gracie Academy in Torrance, California. I was even more fortunate to begin my training with Professors Rorion and Royler Gracie.

When I had graduated from their thirty-six-lesson self-defense program, I was allowed into the group training classes. Even though I lived nearly three hours away from the academy, I attended group classes and private lessons as often as I could, which varied from once a week to three times a week, depending on my work schedule.

Once I began training in the group classes, I was introduced to Professors Royce and Rickson Gracie. Those were some very fun and memorable days. I miss them!

To this day, I am very thankful to Professors Rorion, Rickson, Royce and Royler for introducing me to their method of Jiu Jitsu. I have so many fond memories of my days training at their academy. Rorion was the consummate businessman and instructor. He knew how to make people feel warm and like family. He also was the best Jiu Jitsu instructor I have ever had - from a teaching perspective. Rickson was the family champion, and it was very obvious to anyone who trained at the academy why. When I sparred with Rickson, it felt like I was sparring with a 400 pound, mind-reading boa constrictor. The feeling was incredible. Royler was the “Houdini” at the academy. There was hardly a hold, lock or choke he couldn’t get out of. I have a lot of really good memories training with him. Royce was my first group class instructor.

Some months into my training, I began to observe a few things about the way Jiu Jitsu was being presented. The first thing I noticed was that there was no real structure or progression to this phenomenal art. Instead, I found the manner in which it was presented was more of a collection of techniques that each student needed to piece together on his or her own. And while this was OK for many students, it was not OK for me. Granted, I could have just gone along with the flow like so many others. However, I felt that something very important was missing from this amazing art, especially for those of us who were more “cranial” and analytical. So, in my spare time, I began to put the pieces of the puzzle together as best I could.

From my early days as a child, I remember looking at things, analyzing them, taking them apart and then putting them back together. My experiences in Jiu Jitsu caused me to do the same thing. I took what I had learned from my instructors apart because I wanted to more fully understand what I was doing. Additionally, I wanted to know how to package and present this information to my training partners and, eventually, my students.

I learned as much as I could, trained as often as possible, wrote copious amounts of notes and pondered as much as I could. I was hooked on this Jiu Jitsu thing! In 1994 - after teaching at women’s fitness clubs, kickboxing and karate studios, universities, at my apartment and on the tops of hotels - I opened my first martial arts academy in San Diego. I taught group classes, private lessons, self- defense workshops and defensive tactics seminars to augment my normal job. Because I was teaching the extreme basics of this phenomenal art seven days a week, I began to understand more of it. A lot of my understanding of Jiu Jitsu came about because my students would ask me some really tough questions; things I hadn’t thought about before. This was good for me - both as a student and as an instructor.

With the advent of a new technology (called “The Internet”), I started answering questions on various online forums. Day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year, I made time to answer as many questions as I could. Some days, I would write answers to questions for one or two hours. Other days, I would spend six to eight hours writing answers to tons of questions (to date I have a little more than 2000 pages of answers to questions). As a result of my devotion to these online readers, tons of students from various countries began asking me to put my writings into one location. This book is the result of those requests!

In writing this book series, my plan is to accomplish six (6) goals:

1. To put many of my writings into one location.

2. To give my fellow Jiu Jitsu practitioners some much-needed inspiration in the areas of theory, structure, progression, etiquette, technique and training.

3. To help beginner-level students see the big picture, as well as to help them not become so bogged down with the “technique mindset” while training.

4. To help intermediate level students look beyond technique, help them learn and develop good training methods, as well as help them prepare for the advanced levels.

5. To encourage and inspire advanced students to develop a highly personalized game, one that helps them adapt to the training partner in front of them, whether he or she is longer, shorter, thicker, thinner, more flexible, as well as to help these advanced students share their knowledge and experience with the next generation.

6. To help current and budding instructors more fully understand this amazing art so they can present it with greater ease, clarity, and passion.

One last thing:

The writings in this book are not presented in a typical book format - where chapter one lays the foundation for the rest of the book and where each chapter builds off of the previous chapters. Rather, I am listing a variety of different questions that will appeal to a wide variety of students (e.g. people who haven’t started training just yet, people who’ve just started, people who’ve been training for a few years, people who’ve been training for roughly a decade and people who have been training for more than a decade). I hope you enjoy - and learn from - all of these writings!

Thank you for reading,

Roy Harris www.RoyHarris.com www.MyJourneyinChrist.com

Online.Harris.Academy Questions and Answers

Question #1: From your experience, what should a white belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu focus on in his or her training?

For starters, I believe a white belt should keep in mind that his or her involvement in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is primarily for enjoyment and personal growth. In other words, Jiu Jitsu is a hobby and a sport. It is something to be enjoyed and shared with others in our spare time. And, as a hobby, the white belt should focus on having fun while progressing within the art-- regardless of how fast or slow the progress occurs.

Too often, white belts become focused on the "tap,” or the “pecking order” of students at their academy. And while I certainly understand this, it must be remembered that all of our teammates are family. So, as a white belt, try not to become so focused on the mindset that becomes so consumed with “who is better than whom” or “who tapped who”. Instead, focus on having fun as well as making sure our family members have fun in the process!

I write this because I have witnessed the “who tapped whom” line of thinking can lead to negative attitudes and behaviors within the academy; things like complaining, bickering, gossiping and bad-mouthing. These attitudes can sometimes lead to misunderstandings, hard feelings, and unnecessary injuries.

So, to avoid these problems, make sure you focus your mind and heart on enjoying your journey in Jiu Jitsu. It will help you and the others with whom you train.

The second thing I would like to stress is:

Make every effort to stay healthy!

Why is this important? Consider the following: 1. Injuries can slow you down and/or affect your life (i.e. your activities and your relationships) at home and work.

2. Ringworm, staphylococcus, and other skin problems can cause all kinds of problems at home and work.

3. Unchecked attitudes can sometimes lead to incidents inside and outside of the academy. Additionally, these attitudes have the tendency of festering over time if they are not talked out and resolved.

4. All of the above can affect your most important relationships with family members, close friends, employers, co-workers, etc.

Also, focusing on staying healthy during your journey is primary to your continued enjoyment. I write this because I have observed many people quit their Jiu Jitsu training because of all the injuries and bad attitudes they had to deal with on a weekly basis. Many told me - through email - that they grew tired of the “hard trainings” at their academy. So, make every effort to stay mentally, emotionally, psychologically and physically healthy during your training!

The third thing I would stress to white belts is to focus on the fundamentals (i.e. “The Basic”). Yes, I know the fundamentals aren’t “flashy” or “sexy”. However, they are important to your longevity within the art.

What exactly are fundamentals? I'm sure if you ask ten different instructors, you might get ten different answers. Here's what I consider to be the fundamentals:

1. Basic mindset (i.e. proper thinking before, during, and after training.) With proper mindsets in place, proper actions will generally follow. For example, if you have the mindset of consideration firmly planted in your mind, you will always “consider” the person with whom you are sparring. If that person is timid and has less experience than you, you’ll let them into the game more, teach, share and guide them. If they have less experience than you but they tend to brag about their abilities before class, you’ll probably shut them down a bit more often. Or, if you training partner is a fifty-year-old woman, you’ll probably train with her like she’s your sister or aunt. So, by taking the time to consider each person you train with, the training environment can become more conducive to learning, growing and camaraderie for all who train. 2. Theory. This is an important part of the journey where you focus your mind on trying to understand the primary principles and concepts of the art.

Leverage is one of the primary principles of Jiu Jitsu. And while many students and instructors talk about leverage, I am not convinced they understand it. For example, I have asked some instructors about leverage and they say they understand the principle, but when asked to elaborate on it more, they hem and haw about the three classes of levers.

So, take some time and try to understand many of the primary principles and concepts of the art.

3. Fitness specific to Jiu Jitsu. While general fitness is good for Jiu Jitsu practitioners, raising your fitness levels specific to certain aspects, Jiu Jitsu is even better. Here are some examples:

• Thousands of slow and weighted bridging motions to develop strength and endurance in your hamstrings, gluts and erectors.

• Stretching out the lower, middle and upper back muscles as well as the muscles on the backside of your neck to make attacking from the guard easier against bigger training partners who stack you when you go for an arm lock or triangle choke.

• Thousands of hammer curl reps to develop strength and endurance in your biceps and brachioradialis muscles for chokes, arm locks, leg locks, and controls.

4. Fundamental movements. These are movements all practitioners do regardless of experience or belt color. Some examples are bridging, shrimping, going to the knees, throwing the legs and sitting up, standing up in base, etc.. These movements lay a foundation for proper movement.

5. Basic positioning. This involves learning and practicing how to properly position your body (e.g. hands, arms, shoulders, head, upper torso, hips, legs, feet) to gain leverage over your opponent’s body. Some examples are laying flat on your back, turning partially onto your side and turning fully onto your side.

6. Basic postures. This is where you learn how and where to place your arms and legs to gain leverage over your opponent’s body from such inferior positions as the bottom of the front mount, bottom of the side mount, or inside an opponent’s guard.

7. Basic escapes. This area of training is the most important area for white belts to focus on. Your basic escapes should be trained from the most common positions (e.g. front mount, back mount, side mount and closed guard).

8. Basic controls. Just like learning and practicing your basic escapes, this white belt should also train their basic controls from the four most common positions.

9. Basic submissions. And, just like learning and practicing your basic escapes and controls, you should develop a handful of basic submissions.

10. Basic throws and takedowns. Finally, a white belt should learn, practice and developing some throws and takedowns from standing and the knees.

Focusing on these aspects of training will reap huge benefits in the mind and body of the new white belt. They will also help develop an academy culture and environment into one that is conducive to safety and learning for all.

Question #2: I'm stuck in a rut. My motivation is slowly diminishing. What do I do? How do I get back on the edge of things? How have you battled with this sort of thing if you've ever had to?

From personal experience, I can tell you that a lot of Jiu Jitsu practitioners have gone through periods of time in their training where motivation was low and/or they felt stuck in a rut. This is normal. What should a person do when this happens? How do they get back on track? The first thing I would recommend is this:

Take a break!

I have gone through several periods of time in my training when I’ve lacked motivation. Taking a break usually helped. What I found was that when I began to focus on other things in my life, like more reading, golf, music, church, basketball or friends, I eventually found a renewed interest in Jiu Jitsu. Sometimes, it only took a few weeks to gain back my mojo. Other times, it took several months. Overall, taking a break helped me to clear my mind of all the junk that had accumulated.

Additionally, I have seen this same thing in many students around the globe. Having taught over five-hundred seminars in twenty-five countries, and having talked with hundreds of students, I have heard similar stories of students who’ve focused on training for an extended period of time, later felt burned out and did not know how to proceed. Taking a break was the best thing for them.

So, the first thing you should consider doing is taking some time off from training.

My second recommendation for you would be to take a series of private lessons with your instructor!

Sometimes we get into a rut because we continue doing our own thing, that is, we don’t go outside of our comfort zone. We get used to the fact that, as a purple belt, we’re really good at arm locks, collar chokes and triangle chokes from the guard; we’re mediocre at passing the guard and hold-downs from the side mount, and we’re horrible at side mount and scarf hold escapes. So we stay in our comfort zone for long periods of time. We rarely try to pass the guard or get on top. We play guard all day long and everything is fine because the pecking order doesn’t change very often. Then, along comes a new white belt student who has eleven years of experience in Judo. Suddenly, there’s a “disturbance in the force” because our guard keeps getting passed again and again. This would be a great time to jump outside of our comfort zone and take a series of private lessons with our instructor. When we take private lessons from our instructor, the instructor can often spot weaknesses in our game and help us to break through them. Additionally, they can help inspire us to train those areas we don’t like very much. For example, when I was traveling and teaching seminars, I would often get requests to give private lessons. Frequently, the student would have no idea what he or she wanted to train. Many would want to spar for a few minutes and have me evaluate them from our sparring session. I would oblige them, but I would do so with a hidden agenda. Here’s how:

- For the small guys, I would pull them into my guard and control them with my guard. I would do this because most of them were used to playing guard because of their size in comparison with their training partners at their academy. I would place them into a position they didn’t use very often. Nine times out of ten, after our sparring session, the smaller student would say something like, “Boy, I need to work on my top game!”

For the big guys, I would find a way to put them onto their back, pass their guard, side mount them and hold them down for an extended period of time. At the end of our sparring, they would all say, “I guess I need to work on my side mount escapes.”

These private lessons were very memorable for many of them because the sparring session showed them that they were spending too much time working on their favorite part of Jiu Jitsu. It also showed them that their game had a few holes in it-- holes that definitely needed patching. Once I showed them how to patch these holes, big grins came across their faces.

Now, there are other times when what we need is a good old-fashioned pat on the back from our instructor. When we feel this way, we need to be honest and admit it. Tell the instructor what you need. Don’t expect him or her to be a mind reader and know what you need. Ask him or her for some positive feedback and then move on. Besides, he or she has been down this path before and understands what it is like to need encouragement. Make sense?

Over the years, I have given all kinds of private lessons. I have taught the typical lesson which involves questions, answers, techniques, training methods, and tactics. I have also given some unique lessons. Here is a peek at just a few: - I’ve had students come to me and take a private lesson just because they needed to talk. No one else at that time in their life was willing to take the time to listen, and the student felt I was the only person who’d take the time to listen. Deep down, they knew what they needed to do, but still, they felt they needed to vent. They needed someone to take the time to care and simply listen to them without giving them advice or telling them what they should do. After the talk, they felt more freedom because someone on this planet had taken the time to understand what they were going through. These hour-long lessons often turned into 60 to 70 minutes of listening and 20 minutes of teaching on my part. Most of the time, this was all they needed to get off of their plateau.

- I’ve had other students take a private lesson with me and talk for most of the lesson. It’s not that they needed to talk or get things off of their chest, however. They were what I call “participatory learners.” Participatory learners are students who cannot listen for long periods of time. While they are listening to an explanation of a question they just asked, a word or phrase catches their attention and then they feel the immediate need to interrupt and explain how much they understand the explanation they’re listening to. This interaction was all they needed to jumpstart their training.

- I’ve had other students take private lessons in order to focus on developing a specific skill set. For example, I’ve had some students spend their entire five or six lesson series on side mount escapes. We began the lessons by identifying their strengths and weaknesses. Once we discovered these aspects of their side mount game, I developed a plan for them to enhance their strengths and fill in some of the holes in their weaknesses. The plan involved six elements:

1. Theory 2. Positioning 3. Fundamental movements 4. Techniques 5. A structured, progressive training method 6. A few tactics to turbo-charge the training methods When the series of lessons were finished, the students had a usable, repeatable skill set. They also experienced a noticeable improvement in their side mount escaping abilities.

By taking a handful of private lessons from your instructor, you can be encouraged and inspired to rise up off of the plateau you’ve been on and experience noticeable improvements within a month or two!

My third recommendation to you would be this:

Take the time to find a good training partner.

A good training partner is worth ten times his or her weight in gold. You must take the time to find someone who encourages and inspires you; it must be someone who truly helps you with your game, as well as someone you can help in return. Mutually beneficial training goes a long way.

Sometimes, you may need to train your own training partner - so that he or she knows exactly what it is you want them to help you develop. I’ve done this many times, and it works quite well. Over the years, I’ve had eight to ten different training partners!

Finding, training and developing a good training partner will pay huge dividends in the long run. There will be fewer injuries, you’ll get more accomplished, you’ll develop great friendships, and you’ll have a lot more fun!

Here’s the bottom line: Everyone needs a little help, inspiration and encouragement every now and then. So, be disciplined in training or time off. Take the time to find out what you need. Then, once you’ve found it, do what’s necessary to take your Jiu Jitsu game to the next level.

I hope this helps! Thanks for asking.

Here is an old picture taken from the Harris Academy. When I teach, I prefer to use a white board to visually illustrate my ideas. This way, most students can grasp a hold of my abstract ideas better than just hearing my words. Also, when it comes time to finish class, it helps students to remember what we've gone over. NOTE: Good teaching has two primary goals:

1. Understanding. 2. Retention.

If an instructor is not helping his or her students understand the material that is being presented, or if the instructor makes no effort to help the students retain the information, then the instruction given has been mediocre at best!

Over the years of teaching group classes and seminars in this manner, I have heard a ton of positive remarks about my use of this method. Also, I have a happy to know that I have inspired others to use similar methods to help their students understand and retain what has been taught!

Question #3: How long does it take to become a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

My short answer: It depends.

It depends on the practitioner, how much time and discipline he or she has, the academy and its culture / environment, your training partners, the instructor's requirements and one’s availability for extra training.

My long answer: On average, it takes around eight to ten years of consistent training, two to three days per week, to obtain a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Some students have taken as long as 15 to 18 years. Others have obtained the black belt in a considerably shorter period of time. The most well-known student who accomplished this was Professor B.J. Penn. Many have said it only took him three and a half years to obtain his black belt.

While it is definitely possible to obtain a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, it must be remembered that this goal will consume a lot of your time, money, and energy. If you are willing to pay this price, then it is definitely a reachable goal. Is obtaining a black a worthy goal for all students? I believe it is, but please keep in mind that while obtaining a black belt in this particular style is definitely a worthy goal for many, I must also admit that it is not an easy goal for every student.

Obtaining the coveted black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a noble pursuit, but sometimes this goal can be pushed back by life. For example, your training can be progressing along at a quick pace, and you may feel good about it, but then you injure your shoulder and have to temporarily stop training. You lose a bit of ground, but that’s OK. You start again in a couple of months, and then you’re back on track in a month or two.

Training goes along well for a couple of years and then you get a promotion at work. You’re now required to work an additional 10 to 20 hours a week (on top of your usual 42 hours a week). Unfortunately, these new responsibilities cut into your training time. Sorry, but life happens. Fifteen months later, you’re back on track training again. You’ve lost ground-- again-- but that’s OK. You’ll get back on track in a few months.

Nine months into your new groove you discover that you and your wife are going to have your first child. This means that, for the next 36 to 48 months, you’ll only be able to train two to three times per month instead of your normal two to three times per week. More responsibilities have cut into your training time!

After all of this, when you are reflecting one night on all that has occurred within the past few years, you see how the original eight years you had planned on taking to obtain your black belt has now been extended to ten, maybe eleven years. This extension in time happened because “life” happened-- and there was nothing you could have done differently.

While I think obtaining a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is something many students should pursue, I think at this stage of the game (i.e. as a blue belt) you should focus your attention on obtaining usable and repeatable skill sets that will follow you for life. Why? Because while wearing a black belt around your waist will speak volumes about you, your instructor and your team, possessing usable and repeatable skill sets will speak even louder to everyone watching and to everyone who rolls with you. Let me share with you an idea that maybe, just maybe, you might want to pursue:

Imagine developing both sides of the guard so well that very few people at your academy can pass your guard while you are able to pass everyone’s-- except your instructor's-- guard with confidence and finesse. Wouldn’t having these skill sets speak volumes about you as a practitioner?

Why these two skill sets? Well, one of the things that separate Jiu Jitsu from the other grappling arts is the guard. None of the other styles has a guard like Jiu Jitsu. None!

With a great guard, you’d be able to fight off of your back against bigger and stronger opponents and not tire or feel afraid. Additionally, with phenomenal guard passing skills, you’d be able to pass most people’s guards and get to the side mount, scarf hold or mounted positions, which is where the fun really begins!

In addition, the guard is the most developed position within Jiu Jitsu. Think about that for a moment. Jiu Jitsu has the closed guard, the spider guard, the butterfly guard, the half guard, the De La Riva guard, the rubber guard, the “X” guard, the “Z” guard, the tomato guard, the Godzilla guard, the watermelon guard, the tornado guard... and the list goes on. It has so many variations of this one position. However, when it comes to the other positions-- like the mount and side mount-- how many variations of these positions do you know? Do you see my point? If you can develop a phenomenal defensive and offensive guard, and then add to that some awesome guard passing abilities, wouldn’t that be more rewarding - and more fulfilling - than just the color of the belt around your waist?

Food for thought!

Question #4: How long did it take you to get your black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

My Answer: It took me seven years. “Why so short?” some may ask. Well, at that particular time in my life, I was a training animal. I had some phenomenal training partners and we were training six to seven days a week. Many of our training sessions were two to three hours in length. Sometimes, they were even longer. When a student intentionally puts in an additional fifteen to twenty hours a week of focused and dedicated training outside of the typical four to eight hours of classroom instruction, it can only be expected that this student is going to make gains in his or her skill sets much quicker than their classmates - who typically train just four to eight hours a week.

Also, it helped that I was single and did not have a wife or kids or any other responsibilities hanging over my head. I was free to train for as long and as often as I liked. So, instead of putting in the typical four to eight hours of training per week, I was putting in twenty to twenty-five hours per week (i.e. three to five times as much training).

To make a long story short, back in those days, I was a fanatic. I was obsessed with my training in Jiu Jitsu and the other arts I was training in. As a result, I got my black belt quicker than many.

Here I am standing watch over two seminar participants. The weapon in my hands will help ensure they are performing the techniques properly ;-)

I share this photo with you to help you understand how I view, study, train and teach Jiu Jitsu as an art, a sport and a hobby. And, as a hobby, it should be fun, enjoyable and entertaining. Additionally, instructors should lighten things up a bit and find opportunities to add humor into the training :-)

Over the years, I have told many funny and fascinating stories - like the time I accidentally farted SO LONG and SO LOUD at a woman's self-defense seminar that it sent the women scurrying! I was terribly embarrassed by the "event", but hey, life happens! When I have told this story around the world, I've gotten some pretty good laughs! Telling this story was a conscious effort on my part to lighten things up for my students as well as show that I am just as human as the next person.

Question #6: What are some good exercises for Jiu Jitsu?

My Answer: Here are my favorites, as well as the reasons why:

1. The Kettlebell Swing, as taught by Comrade Pavel Tsatsouline and Dr. Mark Cheng. The reasons why I believe this exercise is beneficial to the Jiu Jitsu practitioner are that it’s a phenomenal conditioning exercise when performed “Hard Style”, it focuses on developing strength in the areas of the body that will make your submissions and hold-downs much tighter, and with the Hard Style progression, it develops the strength of your grip. Additionally, this is a great exercise for conditioning!

2. The Kettlebell Get Up, as taught by Comrade Pavel Tsatsouline and Dr. Mark Cheng. From a personal perspective, this exercise is the best one for developing strong side mount and scarf hold escapes. It is also good for teaching you to move your hips away from an opponent and standing up in base.

3. The Seated Row: This exercise is an absolute must if you plan on developing a good offensive guard, powerful submissions and lots of pressure from the top positions.

4. The Full Military Sit Up: This exercise is also important for developing an offensive guard as well as phenomenal side mount, knee on belly and scarf hold escapes. 5. The Hammer Curl: This exercise will make your bare-arm chokes, arm locks, and foot locks much stronger and tighter. This exercise and the Kettlebell Get Up are my two personal favorites!

6. Hamstring Curls: For developing powerful triangle chokes with your legs as well as powerful control with your straight arm locks and leg locks, this exercise is another absolute must.

7. Elbow push-ups: This is something I came up with on my own back in the early 1990’s. I am sure someone somewhere does these as well. However, I came up with them because I wanted to develop my shoulders to the point where they could take a lot of weight on them over an extended period of time. Some of you remember me talking about spending seven years working on my side mount escapes. I know some of who read that probably thought, “Yeah right! Sure you trained side mount escapes for that long.” For many years, I didn’t let many people in on exactly what I was doing or how I was training. Well, now you know what I was doing for many of those years. I was training with elbow push-ups on the mats with my forearms parallel to my spine or my forearms perpendicular to my spine. These elbow push-ups helped me to train the seven forms of posture from the bottom of the side mount in various combinations for two hours or more, non-stop.

While there were other exercises I worked on, these seven exercises were primary because they developed strength in the areas that I used most often in my sparring matches.

Here were the four mindsets I used while training these exercises:

1. I choose to focus on the movements I used most often. 2. I chose to develop strength in the muscles I used for the most common techniques I employed. 3. I chose to focus on developing isometric strength because Jiu Jitsu involves a lot of pushing, pulling and holding. This is one reason why so many have said, "The only reason Mr. Harris can do those techniques is because he's so strong." While I do not lift heavy weights, I can hold a position for a long period of time. So, if there was one thing I'd have you focus on, it would be isometric exercises. You will gain the greatest benefit from them than many other exercises. This will be true especially when you reach your forties and fifties! 4. When I trained these exercises, I chose to focus less on the amount of reps I was doing and more on holding the positions for longer periods of time. How long did I hold these positions? I began by holding them for fifteen to thirty second. I progressed to being able to hold them for up to three minutes.

Give these exercises a try for the next 60 days. Let me know your thoughts on them, as well as any progress you’ve noticed. You can email me at [email protected] with your feedback. I am positive you will see and feel a difference in your game!

Here are a few of my favorite training tools! I know some might be surprised to see the knife in this photo, but the knife is a great tool for developing physical and mental attributes.

Many students and instructors think of a knife as an offensive or defensive tool. And while this is true, the knife can train so much more than just how to cut an attacker or prevent them from cutting you. This training tool can develop the "primary" attributes needed for kick boxing, boxing, clinch work and ground work. A person just has to know how to train it.

I feel very fortunate I had some instructors who taught me how to use this tool to its full potential. I'm also thankful I had some great training partners over the years. Each of them taught me a lot!

NOTE: The unique knife in the above photo was given to me by Sifu Paul Vunak in the mid-1990's. I am thankful to him for his teachings and the friendship he gave to me during that time!

In the coming years, I will be coming out with a book and an app on training with knives for fitness and self-defense (it’s not what many people think of when it comes to blade training [because it’s not all about cutting and stabbing]). I look forward to sharing that info with you!

Question #8: In your mind, how do you see the progression in Jiu Jitsu?

My Answer: Having trained in so many styles and with so many instructors, I see the progression like this:

Level One - Making the effort to be effective with one’s training. Level Two - Making the effort to be efficient with one’s training. Level Three - Making the effort to be playful with one’s training. Level Four - Making the effort to personalize one’s training.

In another section, I will describe each of these training levels in greater depth. Right now, I just want you to see that there is an actual progression in Jiu Jitsu training, as well as all of the other styles I teach. I will show you a little about each. Ready? Here we go:

Beginner level students should focus their efforts on becoming effective with the basic techniques they have learned. They should also remain consistent in their training and their focus. I write this because beginner level students sometimes lose focus and concern themselves with what the intermediate and advanced level students are doing. Many of these beginners say to themselves, “I don’t need to focus on these basic techniques. All I need to learn is what the purple and brown belt students are learning. That way, I’ll be equal with them, won’t get caught in any of those sweeps or submissions and won’t have to practice these boring basics.” However, what they don’t understand is that the basics are what lay a foundation for all of the “cool things” they’ll learn in Jiu Jitsu at the intermediate and advanced levels. For example, many of these beginning level students want to learn drills and combinations right from the start, but yet they have no idea why they want to learn them, other than the fact that the purple and brown belts are training them. They miss the fact that drills and combinations have prerequisites. Here is a short list of skills needed for drill and combination training:

1. Attention to detail for extended periods of time. 2. Knowledge of the basic movements and techniques. 3. The ABC’s of training (i.e. “Awareness, Balance and Coordination”). 4. General strength and flexibility. 5. A great attitude. 6. A great training partner.

Without this foundation, all the beginning level students will be doing is going through the motions and pretending they are at the level of the purple and brown belts.

Once a student has a few years of focused and disciplined training under his or her belt, the student can then change his or her focus to becoming more efficient with their current skill sets.

Being more efficient means changing one’s focus from (A) being able to perform the basic techniques to (B) being able to perform them with grace, finesse and smoothness and in a shorter period of time WITHOUT speeding up. This type of training involves a compression of the basic mechanics of each of the basic techniques. What does that look like? Here’s a glimpse:

(M1) + (M2) + (M3) + (M4) + (M5) = Technique A

Technique A is the composition of five separate and distinct movements. The mindset of many beginners is something like this: “How am I going to remember these five movements when I sparring in class or compete in a tournament? There’s no way I’m going to be able to do them while sparring. I just need to train how those purple belts are training, even though I’m a brand new white belt.”

What they miss is that the equation changes over time. Here’s how the process begins:

(M1) + (M2) + (M3) + (M4) + (M5) = Technique A [5 movements]

Here’s the next step along the path of becoming more efficient:

(M1 and M2) + (M3) + (M4) + (M5) = Technique A [4 movements]

Here’s the next step in the progression:

(M1 and M2) + (M3 and M4) + (M5) = Technique A [3 movements]

Here’s the next step in the progression:

(M1, M2, and M3) (M4 and M5) = Technique A [2 movements]

Here’s the final step in the progression:

(M1, M2, M3, M4 and M5) = Technique A [1 chain of movements] NOTE: Chaining movements one through five together does not mean moving faster or more explosively. If you think it does, you do not understand intermediate level training just yet.

Once the student has trained to become very efficient in the use of fifty to eighty basic techniques-- a five to eight year journey-- he or she can now change the focus to becoming playful. This journey of playfulness will follow students the rest of their lives. It will not only benefit them, but it will also benefit the community they are involved in since the journey of playfulness is more of a communal mindset than the previous two training mindsets. Also, there will be fewer injuries associated with this mindset. It’s a win-win situation for all involved.

To add one last comment on playfulness, the focus of playfulness is on “discovery” and "community" - not destruction, devastation or domination! There will be more about this later in another article.

To add one last comment on efficiency, once the student has begun to focus their training on becoming playful, their journey with efficiency has not ended. Rather, they have just reached a mid-point. Becoming more efficient with the use of one’s technique is a life long journey. To this very day, I still continue to work on becoming more efficient with the use of my favorite techniques-- and I have been training in Jiu Jitsu since 1991. So, just because you have become more efficient in the use of the basic techniques doesn’t mean you have completed your training. No, it means that you have completed the first part of your journey. It also means that you have many more levels to complete!

Finally, after spending three to four years on effectiveness, five to eight years on efficiency, and another four to five years on playfulness, the student is now ready to begin the journey of personalizing the art. I know some of you are saying, “What? Twelve years or more to accomplish all of this? Can’t I do this in just a few years?” Yes, you can accomplish this in three to five years. Here’s how: Quit your job. Train on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays four hours a day in Jiu Jitsu, two hours a day in wrestling, two hours a day in Judo, one hour a day on cardio, one hour a day in strength, one hour a day in flexibility and spend one hour a day on reading books and watching videos. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, do nothing but rest, relax, spend time with family and friends and maybe do a bit more reading, watching videos, some stretching and practicing your fundamental movements. Yes, you can accomplish this in a much shorter period of time. However, if you are like most of us, you do not have a trust fund with your name on it. Your family is not sending you $5000 to $8000 a month so you can train 10 to 12 hours a day, several days a week. You, like most everyone else reading this post, have a job and various other responsibilities outside of your hobby. So, since you have other things tugging on your shoulders for attention, you have to live a normal life and take the long road to developing these usable, repeatable and admirable skill sets. Make sense?

So, this is how I see the progression in Jiu Jitsu, how a person develops usable, repeatable skill sets, and how a black belt passes on the leverage game of Jiu Jitsu to his or her students. If students or instructors spend too much time focusing on strength, they will tend to rely on strength rather than leverage to accomplish their goals. And this, in my opinion, is not good for passing on the art to the next generation since. it is only good for the individual.

In short, I see martial arts training with the following progression:

1. Technique (leverage-based positioning and movement). 2. Training methods (the development of physical and mental attributes). 3. Tactics (the ability to adapt to the person or circumstances in front of you). 4. Personalization (making your Jiu Jitsu work for you). 5. Sharing, teaching and passing it on (focusing on others rather than yourself).

I hope this give you a better idea of how I see progression in Jiu Jitsu.

Good progression to you!

Here I am standing in front of one of the Federal Air Marshal Service training facilities. All I can say is WOW!

I am very thankful I had a chance to meet and train these guys!

What kinds of things do I teach to law enforcement personnel? I teach them things that are practical and useful for their jobs. I teach them theory, techniques, training methods, and tactics that I do not teach to the general public. Because law enforcement personnel are forced to confront violence as a part of their chosen employment, they need a variety of tools to make sure (a) they get their job done efficiently and (b) that they go home at the end of their shift.

So, because I have studied 27 styles of martial arts, because I have trained with 51 different instructors, and because I have read thousands of books and articles on martial arts / self-defense / defensive tactics / combatives / psychology, and because I have a very large video library, I can offer them theory techniques, training methods and tactics that very few other instructors can.

Here is a picture of old school and new school note taking: A pen and paper center stage coupled with a voice recorder on the left. This is how many students take notes at my seminars!

Taking notes is not common among many Jiu Jitsu practitioners, schools or instructors, but it is popular among many Harris International instructors and students. Why, you ask? It is popular because it represents an additional way of remembering what was taught.

Over the years, a bunch of students has told me, "I don't learn that way". And while that statement is “kind of true”, I know there's a lot more to that statement than many students are willing to admit. Here are some additional reasons why I believe some students don't take notes:

1. The student doesn't know how to take good notes.

2. The student has not disciplined his or her mind enough to focus on recording their thoughts.

3. The student is truly a HIGH LEVEL visual or tactile learner. In other words, they really can remember 80-90% of what they saw or felt during training.

I know some may think, "Hey, that's kind of judgmental of you don't you think?" If that's all there is to my statement, I'd agree with those who think this way. However, having been around the block a few times, and having heard numerous conversations after class (or seminars), I know the above-mentioned reasons can be applied to many students - not all, not most, but many. I know this because I've heard many of these "I don't learn that way" students ask other students, "Hey, can I get a copy of your notes?"

Additionally, with the advent of smartphones with on-board cameras, I've seen these same "I don't learn that way" students take numerous photographs of the notes I've written on the whiteboard. So, I KNOW these students retain information this way. They just don’t want to admit that they don’t want to take the time to take good notes - because they know how time-consuming it is. They would rather take a picture of what I’ve written on the board or ask a fellow student for a copy of their notes ;-)

Here is one of my signature mount escapes! It started out as a simple bridge and roll, turned into an elbow / knee escape and then finished with a roll.

NOTE: Here's a little history lesson. While I did not invent the shrimping / snakey move / hip escape technique, I was the person responsible for coming up with the phrase “elbow / knee escape”. How so you ask? Here's how it happened:

Not too long after Professor Rickson Gracie started teaching Jiu Jitsu on his own, I took a private lesson from him. We were sparring. He was mounted on top of me and allowed me to perform the basic hip escape technique from the bottom of the front mount position. When I put my hands on his right thigh to push and move my hips away, he told me not to do this. He said, "Don't push with your hands. Push with your elbows and knees." I told him, "But this was the way you guys taught to me do this at your academy." He smiled, paused for a moment and then responded by showing me how vulnerable my top arm was to an arm lock. He also showed me how easy it was for him to take my back if I placed my hands in that position. So, from that point in time on, I began pushing with my elbows and knees. On my drive back to San Diego, I remember reviewing the information he had taught to me in my head. I remember asking myself, "How am I going to remember this?"

Well, when I got back to San Diego and began to write my notes, I wrote, "Push with my elbows AND my knees when performing the hip escape technique." Over time, that sentence turned into "elbow / knee escape". As I began to answer questions online in late 1994 and early 1995, I wrote this phrase a lot.

Here are some notes from a side mount control seminar I taught in a few years ago in Trondheim, Norway. At that seminar, we focused on (1) chest to chest hold downs, (2) side of the body to chest hold downs, (3) counters to the three primary forms of posture and (4) north and south hold downs. I also talked a little about Geriatric Jiu Jitsu as well as the secret "Back to Chest hold downs” from the side mount. It was a fun seminar - so fun that students were asking (me in private) how to counter these hold downs!

I wish I could share with you in this book the secrets of the north and south series! There's so much to this series that everyone should learn it.

Oh well, I'll save that for another book :-)

Here I am performing a “bottom-sideways” Kettlebell clean. From the floor, I clean the Kettlebell up and onto the racked position and then hold it there for 5 seconds. Then, I release, drop it down to the bottom position and perform the clean again. My focus during this exercise is on clean technique, activation of most of the muscles from my toes to my fingers. I’m focusing on the development of (a) my stabilizers, (b) a strong grip and (c) attention to detail!

Below is a simple, but challenging, five-step progression with the Kettlebell Clean:

Level One: Perform a standard Kettlebell clean. Finish in the racked position. Make sure you finish with five contractions (1. Toes grab the ground, 2. Knees squeeze together, 3. Knee lock out straight, 4. Abdominals hard and 5. Gluts are squeezed tight.). Finish with the normal grip - holding the kettlebell handle with your wrist straight and the bell rests firmly on the outside of your forearm. Hold this position for five to eight seconds before returning the kettlebell to the down position. Perform three sets of five repetitions on each side.

Level Two: Perform the same precise clean. Finish in the racked position with the same five contractions as mentioned above. This time, finish with the bottom up grip. In other words, firmly grip the handle of the kettlebell so that the bottom of the kettlebell is facing the ceiling. Hold this position for five to eight seconds before returning the kettlebell to the down position. Perform three sets of five repetitions on each side.

Level Three: Perform the same precise clean. Finish in the racked position with the same five contractions as mentioned above. This time, finish with the bottom-back grip. In other words, firmly grip the handle of the kettlebell so that the bottom of the kettlebell is facing behind you. Hold this position for five to eight seconds before returning the kettlebell to the down position. Perform three sets of five repetitions on each side.

Level Four: Perform the same precise clean. Finish in the racked position with the same five contractions as mentioned above. This time, finish with the bottom-forward grip. In other words, firmly grip the handle of the kettlebell so that the bottom of the kettlebell is facing in front of you. Hold this position for five to eight seconds before returning the kettlebell to the down position. Perform three sets of five repetitions on each side.

Level Five: Perform the same precise clean. Finish in the racked position with the same five contractions as mentioned above. This time, finish with the bottom-sideways grip. In other words, firmly grip the handle of the kettlebell so that the bottom of the kettlebell is facing to your right (if you are gripping the kettlebell in your right hand). Hold this position for five to eight seconds before returning the kettlebell to the down position. Perform three sets of five repetitions on each side.

As you can see in the photo above, I am doing a level five workout with the 16 KG Kettlebell - and I'm not even squeezing my left hand! Squeezing the left-hand increases the strength of the grip and the hold of this position.

When you can do this five-step progression with a 16 KG Kettlebell, it's time to start back at level one again and use a 20 KG Kettlebell. Once you can do all five levels with a 24 KG Kettlebell, you will ROCK! (I am almost there)

This is a phenomenal exercise for the strength and endurance of your grip!

Here is a glimpse of the physical examination I give to my purple belts who are testing for their brown belts in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. For their examination, they have to demonstrate technical proficiency, toughness, proper mindset and heart during their examination.

The examination consists of roughly 72 rounds of sparring. How long is a round? It's as long as it takes the student to accomplish the objective - whether it's escaping a position, finishing a guard pass or finishing a submission. If the student accomplishes the objective in 15 seconds, good for them. Round one is complete. If it takes them longer, they’ll probably need a good amount of endurance to finish the examination.

What is the total time to complete the brown belt exam? Roughly two and three hours!

Is the standard high? Yes. It is high by design.

Does everyone pass? No. A student either meets the standard or they don't.

Do students have to prepare for the exam? Oh yes. Most definitely!

Question #20: What are some unique things about your Jiu Jitsu game?

My Answer: Here are three things I believe are unique about my Jiu Jitsu:

1. My emphasis on leg-lock training.

I was the first American Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner and instructor to publicly emphasize the importance of learning and training in leg locks. I did this as early as 1991. And while I certainly did not create leg locks, I was the Internet Voice of leg locks as far back as late 1994. Additionally, I have continued to refine what I was taught by my Russian Sambo instructor, Nikolay Baturin.

2. The manner in which I use pressure.

While there certainly are a lot of guys out there who have a very tight Jiu Jitsu game, tightness is not pressure. There is a marked difference between the two. Pressure does not come from the use of the arms. Instead, it comes from something much stronger. I have been using pressure from every position (top of the front mount, bottom of the front mount, top of the side mount, bottom of the side mount, top of the guard, bottom of the guard, top of the turtle position, etc.) since the mid to late1990’s. 3. My use of traditional techniques in sparring.

For years, I debated with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners globally who declared that the techniques from the traditional styles of martial art did not work in a live and dynamic environment. So, the only way to convince them was to spar with them and use these “ineffective” techniques. For several years, I would spar with students in several countries around the world (at the end of seminars) and do nothing but wrist lock after wrist lock. It only took a few years for wrist locks to catch on. I’m very happy about this!

I’m also very happy that other students and instructors have started to incorporate wrist locks into their training. And, I am ecstatic that certain tournaments have made wrist locks illegal by claiming they are small joint manipulations. From my perspective, I think it’s silly that tournament directors have forbidden them from tournaments. The only reason they do this is because of their unfamiliarity with them, not to mention the fact that some instructors don’t like them and have absolutely no idea how to escape them. I saw this same attitude with leg locks back in the early 1990’s, and now the same thing is happening to wrist locks. And, just like leg locks were eventually allowed into tournaments, I think it is only a matter of time before wrist locks will be allowed into tournaments.

NOTE: This was written many years ago. Since I first penned those word, some tournaments have allowed wrist locks in their tournaments. I think this shows progress….but let’s be clear: GJJ / BJJ did not have or emphasize these things back in the 1990’s. Yes, they were taught in the basic self-defense curriculum but they were not allowed in sparring or training. So, I think it is good that GJJ / BJJ have progressed and absorbed techniques and training methods from other styles!

Here is an old flyer from my first school. Back in those days, I not only taught the BJJ, JKD, FMA, self-defense and kid's classes, but I also taught knife throwing to those who were interested. My knife throwing instructor's name is Bob Karp. Thanks to him, I actually built a knife-throwing bench! Here’s a question for you: How many BJJ black belts do you know who have extensively trained knife throwing or built their own, dedicated, knife throwing bench? Well, now you can say you know one ;-)

Question #21: Roy, how much time should I spend on ground fighting compared to the other ranges for a street fight? What do you consider the most important strategies and techniques for a street fight? Is it more important to learn defensive techniques so that if I found myself on the ground I could get up as soon as possible? Do I need to be more strike oriented than submission oriented? I don’t have a lot of time to train, so I want to make sure that I am working on the bare essentials when it comes to ground street fighting.

My Answer: When it comes to the subject of ground fighting for the street, I would emphasize five things:

1. Prevention from being taken to the ground 2. Standing up to disengage from a ground fight 3. Simple bites 4. Simple chokes 5. Simple escapes (from the mount, side and guard positions)

I would emphasize these five elements to make ground fighting simpler for the average student.

From my perspective, ground fighting is a complex endeavor. It involves a lot of precise body positioning and the control and manipulation of one’s balance as well as a medium to high level of awareness and sensitivity in order to obtain leverage over a bigger and stronger training partner, opponent, or assailant. Plus, when fighting with someone that close, tunnel vision and auditory exclusion tend to occur. These two elements make being or remaining aware of your surroundings very difficult. Add all of these elements up and you can begin to understand why I am not a proponent of turning every self-defense situation into a grappling event.

The complexities of the endeavor, as well as the things that generally tend to happen, are a few of the reasons why I’ve written in the past, “If I am ever involved in a street fight, I will rarely take the fight to the ground. And, if I end up there as a result of being knocked down or shoved from behind, then I'll find a way to get back to my feet.”

So, when it comes to training for a potential ground fight, your training should be in the order I have listed above: Keep the fight on the feet by learning how to prevent the fight from ever hitting the ground, standing up to disengage from a ground fight, and use a simple bite, simple chokes to escape from the three main positions.

To prevent a fight from hitting the ground, students should learn, practice, and develop their balance, awareness, and control of distance. They should also learn, practice, and develop proper footwork and various methods of sprawling. The combination of all five of these will help the student prevent most fights from hitting the ground.

In order to disengage from the fight on the ground, a student must learn, practice, and develop getting up off of the ground with speed and explosiveness. Practicing this movement 10,000 to 20,000 times with a sixty to eighty pound weighted vest strapped on your chest and back is a great way to develop this much-needed skill set. 50 repetitions on each side, once a day, three times a week, for four to six weeks would be a good start.

What would come next is the bite and simple escape training. Why these two, you may ask? Well, having bitten well over 100 nipples on this planet (you can read a couple of biting stories in the stories section), and I can tell you from personal experience that an unexpected bite is a great equalizer! It works wonders temporarily, but it is not a permanent fight stopper.

Before I talk more in-depth about simple escapes, let me say something important about biting…

Some students and instructors have the biting thing all wrong. Biting is a single technique, just like a punch, kick, or arm lock. We all know from personal experience that single techniques do not work all the time in sparring. And, because single techniques have the potential to fail, we need to train follow-up techniques. The bite is no different.

Also, individual techniques (regardless of what style of martial art they come from) do not work on every person we try them on or in every circumstance. Therefore, we should not treat the bite as an end all or fight stopping technique. Two more important points:

Point Number One: Biting for self-defense is not designed to draw blood. More often than not, the experienced and knowledgeable biter uses the bite to cause pain and immobilize the assailant for short periods of time.

I write this because I’ve had many students and instructors write to me to tell me “How stupid it is to bite someone because a person can get an infectious disease as the result of biting an assailant.” I’ve usually told these people something along the lines of, “Yes, that can happen if all a person knows how to do is bite someone until they bleed. But if that is all a person knows about biting, to me, it’s obvious this person doesn’t know very much about the topic! So, please tell me about the extent of your biting training and experience.” The conversation didn’t go very far after that-- except for the few who wanted to learn more about bite training.

To say that all biting is the same is to show one’s lack of knowledge on the topic!

To draw an analogy between biting and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu here is how I see it: If all a person knew how to do was bite a person until they bled, that knowledge would be similar to the knowledge of hip escape and an elevator sweep in Jiu Jitsu. While that level of knowledge is good for a first day student, this level of training would only take the student so far in a sparring match or in an all out street fight. Do you see how limited that mindset would be?

So, if you don’t know how (when, where and why) to bite, learn from someone who does.

Point Number Two: Biting training is no different than any other kind of training. It involves basic techniques, defenses, prevention, training methods, counters, tactics, and strategy.

I write this because I’ve heard a multitude of Jiu Jitsu instructors claim that if they were allowed to bite in a fight, the fight would still be in their favor. And while I understand what they are trying to say, they are making a very simple claim: “Biting is not that big of a deal. If someone does it to me, I will just do it back to them.”

These instructors make this claim because they have not learned the breadth and depth of biting, nor have they actually trained biting. Don’t believe me? Ask your instructor about his bite training! Ask them how many ways there are to bite someone! Ask them what areas one should consider biting and why; what are the expected outcomes of each bite; what the appropriate follow-ups to the bite are, as well as how long they have trained biting. I’ll bet you’ll get blank stares with this line of questioning!

Having written all of that, please understand that the bite should not be considered a “be all, end all fight stopper.” Rather, it should be considered an effective tool for releasing grips, creating space, and temporarily immobilizing an assailant. Once the grip has been released and enough space has been created, the tool is then disposed of and a different tool is used.

The next thing I would focus my ground fighting training on is standing up with speed while striking with power. There's nothing more overpowering than something shooting out of the ground at your neck, face, or groin! If you don't agree with me, have you ever had a dog charge at you and jump at your face, neck, belly, or groin? If you have, then you know what I am talking about.

When it comes to street fighting, I would always keep the offensive and defensive tools simple. If I were forced to engage a person in a street fight, I would use four or maybe five tools:

1. An eye poke or gouge 2. A bite 3. A choke (not a carotid restraint) 4. A knee strike 5. An elbow strike

Note: I have trained these five simple techniques to the point of reflex. I wholeheartedly recommend you train a handful of basic tools to the point of reflex, as well.

One more important point-- something I forgot to say earlier: I am not a fan of making grappling a first response in self-defense situations. I believe in the following progression (an escalation in the use of force) as a primary response:

1. Leave when you sense trouble brewing 2. Talk your way out of the situation 3. Walk away at the first opportunity 4. Run if you need to exit quickly 5. Escape a grip or hold if you are surprised 6. Push or shove the assailant to buy time so you can run 7. Strike if the softer forms of resistance have been unsuccessful

Should the fight unexpectedly end up on the ground, then hurt your assailant quickly and get back to your feet. Don’t spar with him down there. Don’t turn a self-defense situation into a grappling match where you goal is to submit him. While it’s true the submission may end the encounter, the real question is “At what cost?”

I hope this gives you some ideas on how I look at ground fighting and self-defense.

Someone else’s response:

I found Roy's post quite interesting and maybe a bit disturbing.

Most Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners probably spend about 85-95% of their Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training focusing on groundwork. Mr. Harris’ post suggests that many Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners may be primarily focusing on elements of fighting that may/should have little bearing to self-defense.

It reminds me of the type of myopia for which other martial arts were often criticized and that ultimately undermined their effectiveness when No Holds Barred competition was introduced in the early 90’s. Not that I expected Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to be the complete solution to all self-defense scenarios by a long shot, but it is disturbing (or eye-opening) to think that in the vast majority of my training time, I may be training sportive techniques that have almost no bearing to self-defense.

My follow up response: Please do not misunderstand my writing. I am not saying that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is ineffective as far as self-defense is concerned. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, just like any other art, has the potential to be very effective in a lot of self-defense situations. It is a very good art! However, it must be remembered that it is not “The end all style” of martial art. Additionally, it has weaknesses just like every other style.

Because of the complexities associated with street fighting, I cannot wholeheartedly say with confidence that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu would be a good choice as a primary method of self-defense. Why do I think this way? Consider the following:

1. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu does not teach striking methods. Instead, it teaches “grappling” as the preferred method of self-defense, whether the assailant is armed or unarmed. This makes the art appear one-dimensional.

2. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu does not teach effective methods for confronting edged or blunt weapons. While the art does have some very simple techniques for simplistic single attacks, it has no structured or progressive training methods to back up these simple techniques.

3. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu does not train its students for realistic defenses against multiple assailants.

4. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training does not prepare a student’s mind for self-defense encounters. Instead, it prepares them for sportive encounters.

These four points are, from my perspective, inherent weaknesses that must be addressed in training if a person is to fully prepare for any type of assault.

NOTE: There is a lot more to this answer. I just posted an excerpt!

A double arm lock is destroying me at the end of this training session!

Here I am teaching my first European seminar with Sifu Paul Vunak. This seminar took place in Munich, Germany in February of 1998.

I have Sifu Paul to thank for starting me out on teaching seminars internationally. In a private conversation, I told him I wanted to one day be able to do what he did. I wanted to be able to travel the world and teach martial arts for a living. Long story short, he began taking me on seminar tours with him.

At this seminar, I met a very friendly group of students from Northern Switzerland. And, as a result of our conversation, they invited me to Switzerland to begin teaching my own seminars in the fall of 1998!

So, thanks to Sifu Paul Vunak, I‘ve been fortunate to - thus far - have taught 539 seminars in 25 countries! Article #4: Intermediate Level Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Below is an excerpt from an article I shared with the instructors in my association many years ago. Enjoy!

Here are ten areas to train for intermediate level Jiu Jitsu (once the basics have been trained extensively):

1. Take an inventory and review what you think you know:

A. How many basic techniques do you know from each position? B. How well do you know and understand these basic techniques? C. Can you perform them effectively in a dynamic environment? D. How much energy do you use when you perform the techniques? E. Can you perform them equally on both sides of your body? F. How well do you know your mechanics? Can you list each movement?

*Answering these questions will help determine your current and true strengths, weaknesses and tendencies. They will also show you where you need to focus your training.

2. Put your basics together into two and three technique combinations:

A. Can you perform these combinations smoothly (without any jerky movements)? B. Can you perform these combinations slowly (without feeling the need to speed up)? C. Can you perform these combinations smoothly and slowly with your eyes closed?

*Answering these questions will help you to develop awareness, sensitivity, efficiency and finesse. With a high level of awareness, sensitivity, efficiency and finesse, you are setting the table for the next part of your journey - Advanced Jiu-Jitsu!

3. Put the basics together into two and three technique combinations based on positioning. This is the next phase of combination training. This is where one technique overlaps another technique mechanically. Make sure you pay attention to the entire process of the combination, not just the ending. Take notice of how the ending of technique “A” no longer ends where it used to end.

* The purpose of this training is to go through the process of “shedding” / becoming more efficient in your movements. When two techniques are put together into a combination, there are three moving parts: Technique A, Technique B and the transition between techniques A and B. All three of these must be trained individually and then collectively. Additionally, when Technique A and B are put together into a combination, you will find that Technique A is much shorter than when it is used / practiced / performed by itself.

4. Put the basics together into simple two and three technique combinations based on resistance. Define resistance (six lines of movement). Learn and practice the techniques for the most common forms of resistance. Focus only on basic techniques.

* The purpose of this training is to develop your awareness, sensitivity, and flow. An important point here about training resistance: Over the years, I have seen students make the mistake of learning a new technique, practicing it a few times and then asking their training partners to resist the newly learned technique. This, in my opinion, is a horrible mistake. It’s a mistake for a few important reasons. First, the student has just learned the technique. So, asking another student to resist only makes the matter more complicated-- and no skills will be developed with this mindset. Second, the form of resistance is not defined. Here’s an example: You put me into an arm lock and then you tell me to resist. I bite you in the leg and then you become upset with me. You have no right to become upset with me because you didn’t define the resistance. All you said was, “OK, now resist.” So, I resisted in a manner that was guaranteed to make you think and act differently about the arm lock. This is why resistance training is reserved for intermediate level students. Resistance must be defined first in order to learn how to effectively neutralize it.

5. Learn, practice and develop one or two counters to the following techniques:

A. The bridge and roll mount escape B. The basic elbow/knee mount escape C. The foot lift mount escape D. The foot drag mount escape E. The basic under the leg guard pass F. The basic over the leg guard pass G. The basic replace into the guard side mount escape H. The basic go to your knees side mount escape I. Mount posture J. Side mount posture K. Guard posture L. Straight arm lock M. Bent arm lock N. Rear choke O. Guillotine choke P. Triangle choke with the arms Q. Triangle choke with the legs R. Palm up, palm up collar choke S. Palm up, palm down collar choke T. Straight foot lock U. Heel hook V. Figure-four toe hold W. Knee bar X. Scissors sweep Y. Foot lift sweep Z. Knee sweep

By learning, practicing and developing these counters, you will not only raise your level of awareness to self and your training partners, but you will also develop a highly polished intermediate level Jiu Jitsu game. 6. Refine and polish what you know. Make your basics better, more efficient and smoother. Let me give you an example:

When you perform a basic sweep, how much effort do you put into making it successful? Let’s say your answer is 80%. In other words, when you attempt a basic sweep from your guard while sparring, it takes you 80% speed and power to make it happen. OK. That’s a good starting point, but I hope you can see that you have a lot of room for improvement.

In order to become more efficient, you’ll need to train basic sweep much more in order to make it smooth and efficient (e.g. move down the scale and using just 60% effort). Do you know how to train the sweep to become more efficient? If you replied, “Well, I just need to do more repetitions,” you would be correct. But with that answer, I would ask you a few important follow-up questions like, “How would you train these repetitions? What would be your mindset while training? And how will you know when you’ve reached your goal?” If you were like most students, you’d probably stand there with a blank look on your face-- not knowing exactly what to say.

I write this because I have seen a lot of students, in numerous countries around the world, train technique (i.e. they do a bunch of repetitions) and then they spar. They have no structured or progressive training methods to lead them from the knowledge and understanding of a technique to having a usable and repeatable skill set on the mat. If you do not know how to do this, then that is your next goal. Learn how to accomplish this with a structured and progressive training method. If you’re not sure on how to do this, I will be producing an iOS App on this in the coming months. Please keep your eyes on my main website www.RoyHarris.com for more information

7. Positioning your body to purposely funnel an opponent’s efforts down a specific path:

A. From mount (turn on side, bottom knee up and out) B. From guard (hands on ground, fingers pointed back towards your feet) C. From side mount (push opponent’s head alongside your body)

By developing your positional skills to a high level, you force your opponents to move in predictable manners. For example, when you learn how to properly position yourself on the bottom of the side mount position - like I taught on my BJJ over 40 app - you force your opponents to give up chest to chest or scarf holds and go to either the north and south or knee on the belly positions. So, by developing proper positioning as well as the timing of this position, you can usually be one step ahead of your training partners-- because you know where he or she is going to reposition their body when they pass your guard and reach the side mount position!

Why does this positioning work? It works because it takes away those things that are primary to their control. I will share more on this topic in another article.

8. Develop your sense of timing:

There are three points in time in when you can employ a technique:

Beginning Middle End ______X____ (Beginning level students) ______X______(Intermediate level students) ___X______(Advanced level students)

Take the time to identify the various movements within your techniques. This will heighten your awareness. Then, move your response to the stimuli back on the time line until you reach the beginning.

Please remember that timing is faster than speed, more powerful than power and stronger than strength.

9. Making the effort to master the primary positional aspect of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu:

A. Mount escapes B. Side mount escapes C. Guard control D. Guard passing E. Side mount dominance F. Mount dominance

For white and blue belts, I recommend they focus on just four positions: (1) The top of the guard, (2) the bottom of the guard, (3) the top of the side mount and (4) the bottom of the side mount. These four positions are the primary positions of their belt level. For purple belts, I’d recommend adding the top and bottom aspects of the mount position. Being able to escape from the inferior positions and control from the top positions is paramount to laying a solid foundation in the art!

10. The process of mastery:

A. Knowledge B. Understanding C. Familiarity

Excerpt… There is a lot more to this article in the book!

Thanks to Mr. Richard North, the distinguished chap on the left, I was nominated and inducted into the Masters Hall of Fame in 2007. Also being inducted that night were UFC Referee Big John McCarthy and UFC Veteran Randy Couture. I was very honored by this nomination! Story #5 - Someone Pulled a Knife on Me in Eastern Europe

At the end of a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu seminar I taught in a foreign country, I asked the participants if anyone had a question. A guy raised his hand and asked me if I had any realistic defenses against a knife.

"Yes, I do," I replied.

"I don't believe you," her replied.

"Well, I do," I insisted.

"I don't believe you," he repeated.

So, I asked the crowd if anyone had a real knife with them. The guy who asked the question went over to his gym bag and pulled out a four-inch folding knife. I told him to come over to where I was standing and attack me. He looked at me with disdain and disbelief.

"How hard do you want me to attack?" he asked.

I said, "The harder you attack me, the harder I’m going to do what I’m going to do."

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

"You think I'm going to tell you? You said you didn't believe I had realistic defenses against a knife. So, it doesn't get too much more real than this!"

Keep in mind this was a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu seminar. Everyone was wearing a gi.

At first, the guy came at me in a manner that was "non-committal." He didn’t want to commit too much because he was concerned that I might do something he had never seen before, so he waited to see what I would do so he could formulate a strategy (and maybe embarrass me in front of everyone). When I kept backing away from him with simple footwork, he exclaimed, "Pffffffff! Is that all you're going do?"

I responded quickly by saying, "Pffffffff! Is that all you're going do? You're the one with the knife!"

Many chuckled when I said this. After listening to what I said, he came at me harder. His wild swings became more aggressive. Finally, he made a large stabbing motion towards my belly. I parried his wrist and slapped him really hard in the left eye socket. He stopped for a moment because of the pain in his eye. Then, he folded the knife, put it in his left hand and reached for my right hand with his right hand. We shook hands.

His final words were, “I believe you have realistic defenses.”

We had a great conversation after this encounter. He began by telling me that no one had ever done that to him before, which to me was an indicator that he had challenged many instructors before me. He also told me that most instructors perform a wrist or shoulder lock as their knife defense.

I responded, “This is very true. Many of these instructors focus all of their training on simple technique defenses against single knife attacks. Many of them don’t know any knife drill progressions, nor have they trained for hours against a live blade. I have. Plus, I’ve been cut by a few live blades.”

He looked at me as though I was mentally insane. He replied, “You’ve done that? That’s crazy!”

I replied, “No, it’s not crazy. It’s realistic.”

“But you could have gotten hurt by doing that!” he countered.

I replied, “You mean to tell me you’ve never put on a pair of boxing gloves, a mouthpiece, groin protector and kick boxed full power?”

He replied, “Yes, of course. But that’s different!”

“No, it’s not. From my perspective, both methods of training are realistic. Both methods involve dynamic and unpredictable movements as well as pain and the threat of serious injury. Both methods also involve the potential for bleeding. So they are roughly the same as far as I am concerned.” “Yes, but you could get cut training against a live blade,” he replied.

“True, but you could get knocked out, get your nose, jaw or ribs broken. Worse yet, one of your ribs could be broken and then have it accidentally be driven into and puncture a lung. And this injury could be life threatening. So, I don’t see much difference between the two. The reason why you see them differently is because you have experience hurting and bleeding from boxing, but you have no experience training realistically with a knife. If you had my experience, you would think differently than you do.”

He smiled. We bowed to each other, shook and parted ways.

I thoroughly enjoyed opening his eyes to the world of the blade. I wish I had more time to teach him my progression in training! I think he would have enjoyed it.

Secret #6

After having taught 5 seminars in 25 countries, 132 cities and on one cruise ship, I can confidently say that I know a little bit about teaching seminars. Allow me to share with you a few secrets about teaching seminars that will help those of you wanting to start teaching seminars on your own. Here are my top five:

1. The seminar is not about the instructor. Rather, it is about every participant who took time out of his or her busy schedule to pay money and attend the seminar. So, make it worth their while! Help them learn and retain what you've taught them!

2. Learn to "BE" at the seminar. In other words, BE on time, BE ready to teach, BE ready to converse before and after the seminar, BE ready to spar (if you are young enough for that), BE ready to go above and beyond the call of duty, BE gracious and humble, BE clean and nice smelling, BE aware of hidden agendas, BE safety conscious, and finally, BE aware of those time vampires who will steal your time away from everyone else if you let them!

3. Spend quality time with the four most important people at the seminar:

- The seminar host's wife or girlfriend. Many times, she alone determines whether or not you return for other seminars!

- The seminar host. He must feel as though he gained some things of great of value from the seminar! Give him something unique and valuable before, during or after the seminar.

- The most awkward and uncoordinated students at the seminar. They know how much they struggle with the art you are teaching. They are present at the seminar because they believe you can help them. So, take the time to help them!

- The most un-good looking (I know that's not correct, but I used it anyway because I think you know what I am saying) and non-athletic of students. Everyone expects you to spend time with the good-looking, highly coordinated and very athletic students. Instead, spend time with those whom most people overlook. You will find a loyal following among these students - and, they will appreciate it!

4. Have a plan for the seminar. Don't wing it! You're not that good and many will see through it. Get feedback from the seminar host, make a plan and stick to it.

5. Give people a great experience. Make them laugh. Challenge them mentally and physically. Wow them with something spectacular and then share a few personal stories about your struggles and triumphs. Help them see how human you really are!

The mix of these five will help your seminar career tremendously!

If you like what you have read thus far, I want to encourage you to consider purchasing my book. Here is the link:

Jiu Jitsu Answer Man, Volume 1

Thank you for your time,

Roy Harris

Main website: www.RoyHarris.com

Harris Academy Online: http://online.harris.academy