🥋 A BJJ Legend Is Out Of Retirement

SUPPORT BJJ CREATORS

This week's newsletter partner is Ken with Roll N’ Pin. 💪

Built from scratch by BJJ Dad Ken and his kids, Roll N’ Pin infuses BJJ techniques, rules and points into a fun card game for the whole family. 

It’s easy to learn and uses real techniques and submissions to not only have some fun but also expand everyone’s BJJ knowledge!

This is a great product made by great people - and with Christmas just around the corner, it’s a great way to get something fun and unique for the BJJ kids (and adult kids) in your life!

Try it for yourself - click the button below👇 to check out Roll N’ Pin & use the code TAPNAPSNAP for 10% off your first order.

QUESTION TIME

What Keeps You Up At 2 am?

We all know that remembering to bring your belt to class is important, right?!

Without it, your pants fall down you can’t tie your Gi, and no one else can recognise just how dangerous of a pyjama wrestler you really are #2stripewhitebelts 👀

On top of that, some gyms also go as far as to claim that forgetting your belt is not just a simple brain fart; it’s ill-disciplined, disrespectful, and deserving of punishment! 🔥

But is that fair? Or a bit harsh? Many of us have demanding jobs and busy family lives, so forgetting our belt joins a long list of many other things we have likely forgotten that day. 😮‍💨

On the other hand, we have signed on to learn and practice a martial art with a rich history of tradition that promotes consistency and a clear focus on details - which is arguably where many of the benefits come from…

So, this week, we want to know if you believe punishments for forgetting your belt are warranted? Or a bit over the top? 🧐

This week’s big question ⬇️

The last poll’s results:

Last time we asked you - “Have You Ever Switched BJJ Gyms?”

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🚫 - Nope. It's one gym from the start for me.

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ✅ - Yep. I've had at least 1 gym change in my journey.

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🕺 - I'm a gym-gypsy, happily travelling between and mixing it up

We’ve got a solid crew of lifetime members and a handful of fast-moving globetrotter-types, but most of us have had a gym change or two over the years.

Changing jobs or moving town seems to be the most common reason people need to switch, and as one of our readers wisely put it - ‘the best gym is the one you can get to most often.’ 🧘

WHATS HAPPENING?

This Weeks Tap’s ✋, Nap’s 🥱 & Snap’s 🫰

1.) ONE CHAMPIONSHIP IS NOW A BJJ HUB 🔥: with its new VP of Grappling, Tom DeBlass, going on a signing rampage and securing some massive names!

In only a matter of weeks, he’s bolstered their BJJ roster significantly with the addition of Dante Leon, Fabricio Andrey, Cole Abate … and, get this, coming out of retirement - the great Marcelo Garcia! 🤯

Cole is already matched up with the legendary Shinya Aoki for a submission grappling match, but nothing has been announced yet for Marcelo or these other BJJ savages.

As we’ve talked about before though, One Championship never seems far from controversy, with another ex-fighter of theirs recently joining the UFC roster and speaking out against them after his recent win 😬 → more here. 

2.) A ‘91 4RUNNER WITH 80,000 MILES 🚗: is all that grappling’s latest millionaire, Kade Ruotolo, has spent his money on … so far 💰

In a recent interview after his latest dominant MMA win at One 169, Kade ran through his favourite BJJ career moments to date, the ambition to land his last major event title and what he will eventually spend all that cheddar on. 🧀

He also spoke about wanting to re-work the Mikey Musumeci match that fell through earlier in the year, and have another crack at a certain competitor from CJI that he feels might need another go → more here.

 3.) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN 🤔 : … live rolling footage of the man, the myth, the living legend, John Danaher? It’s honestly quite hard to come across nowadays, as he has a list of injuries as long as his instructional catalogue.

Back in the day, though, long before Danaher Death Squad, even he was a preppy blue belt getting his mat time in and scrapping it out with the best of them at Renzo Gracie NYC. 🔥

Take a dive into the archives with this one and watch John get a round in with none other than Ricardo Almeida 🏆 → more here.

The Quick Hitters ⚾️

• The Gracies aren’t the only BJJ lineage worth remembering. 🥋

• Andrew Tackett is out of WNO25 😔

• Any ‘BJJ optimisers’ want 1-month free on Whoop?🔥

• Blue Belt competitors … better watch out for James 😳

• Omoplata’s DO work in the streets! 🤯

• This YouTube prankster got worked over hard 😣

BY BULLETPROOF FOR BJJ

The Weekly Fix

Last time, Joey showed some vicious core exercises to get your abs fired up and ready to roll with the best of em’. 😎

This week, JT drops a comprehensive shoulder workout that you can nail in just 15 minutes - increasing mobility and building strength for all those awkward movements on the mats 🔥

The Best Routine to Unlock Sore and Tight Shoulders:

Shoulder injuries & BJJ go together like pineapple & pizza - they’re common as all get out, and it's always sad to see 🍕 #comeatmepineapplepeople

Most of us are already walking around with stiff necks and tight shoulders, which, on the mats, quickly leads to tweaks, strains and even worse injuries.

Routines like the one above ⬆️ are a quick way to unlock that tightness, build base strength and give your shoulders the best chance of staying safe in the loveable chaos we call BJJ.

If you’re digging The Weekly Fix - sign up for your 7-day free trial with Bulletproof For BJJ and take the app for a spin! 👇

WHAT’S SO FUNNY?

The Meme Open Mat:

30,000 did you say!? 🤤…

LET’S GET TECHNICAL

The Good Option:

The kimura (or ‘figure four’) grip is one that most of us learn early on in the journey …but don’t realise how versatile it is until we’ve been tapped with it from every direction 👀

You can secure it when you’re on the back, grab it from both top & bottom half guard, hell, you can even get it when someone’s passing and hit em’ with the classic Uno Reverso ♻️

It’s a grip you can look for almost anywhere - and in the clip below, Rosie Rollz shows 5 great ways to use it that you can add your game straight away ✅ 

Grab a cuppa ☕️ and notepad 📝 👇

The Not-So-Good Option:

Passing guard can be tricky.

When your opponent is a weapon from the bottom, it can seem like every move you make gets shut down, and you’re all of a sudden in a world of trouble.

So, sometimes, you need to get creative. Sometimes, the ol’ goin’ around em’ approach just doesn’t work. Sometimes, you need to go through.👇

YOU WIN, WE WIN!

Sharing Is Caring 🫵

Hey! - this is your chance to do a damn good deed and help us out while also scoring yourself some sweet sweet rewards for doing so! Win-Win baby!

All we ask for is that you share our newsletter with some of the other BJJ savages in your circle - we will even give you heaps of cool stuff to say thanks! ⬇️