The Rebellion Begins…

This weekend sees the opening of my new teams gym.

When I say new team that’s not technically true, this is a team of like minded individuals who have been incredibly influential in BJJ within the South Yorkshire area since the early days.

I have trained with these guys for the last 15 years or so. These guys are the pioneers.

There’s been a lot of speculation and rumours around the setting up of this gym. I’m not going to get into that here as it’s none of my concern what people will or will not believe.

I will say that this is a team, a real team. A family not just a club.

Saturday saw Rebellion Brazilian Jiu Jitsu open it’s doors and welcome anyone with a like minded attitude to training and friendship. I personally was incredibly humbled to see over 50 people on the mats, including 7 Black belts….. 7…. that’s simply incredible.

Those 7 black belts represent the graft and commitment that goes into the journey of a bjj practitioner.

John Goldson

Steve Worsley

Gregg Rodgers (me)

Ryan Holland

Lloyd Cooper (of Combat Base)

James Fairclough

And newly promoted black belt

Paul ‘Atty’ Attwood

There were new faces and some old faces. It was incredible. I look forward to the journey a head.

I want to finish this post by saying thank you to the people who have put this gym and team together. As John said this is not his club. He is the head coach.

This is a club set up and run by a group of people with the same goal. So thank you to the following people.

John, Atty, Ian, Gav, Lesley and Phil.

The Rebellion begins…….

New year new me bollocks

Look. It’s not like I want to get fitter and loose a bit of timber…. but…..

None of you really know the full extent of the stress and tribulations I and my family have gone through this year.

On this very blog I have maybe 5 or 6 unpublished blogs expressing my various mental states and feelings during the last 3 months. I have no intention of publishing  these as they were purely a cathartic exercise and a way to vent.

2017 was a turbulent year which saw a new job, new challenges and an end of my personal journey with the team I was once a proud member of. I won’t tell you there were great bust ups and childish in fighting. I simply came to a junction in the road and decided to take a different path.

By fate or design I am now set on another story. I don’t know what will happen. I only know that I personally want to go back to the basic. Train without the need to constantly be thinking about what’s next. To get on the mats and enjoy my time there, something that has sadly been missing from my training this year. 

In closing.

This year has shown me that life happens and you have very little control of how it plays out. Flex with the changes or you’ll break against fate. 

G

Judo dazed and happy

Today I entered my 4th Judo tournament, this time the Sheffield University Kyu Grade Championship.

Unlike my previous judo jaunts this time I was joined by 3 of my team mates from the Forge. Ants, Adam and Paul.

Ming as ever coaching and Maia doing her best at filming us all (whilst being a nervous wreck)

It was great to have support and see the other guys fight. All of them in their first judo comp.

Some truly note worthy events during the comp.

1 Adam’s  perfectly times foot sweep for the ippon 

2 Ant’s  Tome Nage followed by another Tome Nage 

3 Paul’s beautiful ground work

My own favourite moment was my last fight finishing with an armbar.  

This was my first tournament where I actually thought about tactics and using the rules to my advantage.

 In previous competitions I have been criticised by experienced Judo guys for going for submissions, when a perfectly good pin was already held and almost won.

Thus my lack of cardiovascular umph and strong competition from the other lads in my division, led my to use what ever opportunities were available.

So recap of the day

Fight 1 – win by submission  (Dan Severn Choke)

Fight 2 – win by pin (mount)

Fight 3 – loss on points (this ended up being discounted as my opponent retired from the comp due to injury)

Fight 4 – win by pin (mount)

Fight 5 – win by submission  (armbar)

All in all great day.

My judo record now stands at

17 wins 2 losses and no draws

Big love

Greggs

Oh. I left the lights on…… sorry

Well as a recent influx of new and exciting blogs have sprung up mostly posted by my team mates. I thought id venture back into the world of the bjj blog.

When i metaphorically opened the door after nearly 3 years of not blogging i found that a family of possums had taken residence and were claiming squaters rights……

Ok really i just had to reset my passwords and re organise my info.

 

So whats new.

Firstly my kids are older and causing me even more stress….. the gym has grown into a beast, the likes of which none of us ever expected. I became Sheffields 4th BJJ Black Belt and life goes on.

 

Recently my good friend and coach John Goldson sold his gym (The Forge Martial Arts Centre) to another good friend and BJJ Black Belt  Paul Cole.

With change comes opportunities and evolution. The game stays the same but never stays still.

I have always used a pressure and control style of Jiu jitsu, but the crop of new guys and girls over the last 3 years has made me change how i see the game.

Sometimes i look at my game and see only the holes, the gaps and the negatives. At other times i feel the flow and roll like its nothing.

I struggle to train as much as i did but i was recently given the advice ‘its the motivation that gets you started, but the habbit that keeps you going’. ive been doing this since 2003 and i cant see myself stopping anytime soon.

 

Peace out

Gregg

Team Forge.

Sakuraba, Yoko and a confused Judoka

So back in January last year. The Forge started to offer additional classes including Karate, Forms and Judo. Recently Atemi Jitsu was also added.

Now some of you may know the first ever martial art I undertook was judo. I stopped when I broke my hand when I was 17 (having trained for about 6 months)

The judo is taken by a good friend and bjj blue belt Ming Wong.

Anyway, back to the point.

Today I took my first ever grading in judo. I have been training since jan last year and was really nervous. Not in the techniques, but in the Japanese translation and terminology.

Which ukemi is yoko? Is it barai or harai?

I was so confused.

When it came to the grading I panicked and translated a breakfall whilst demonstrating a completely different one.

Luckily I calmed down and got through the rest fine. I am really happy with how I got on.

In practical terms I feel that my bjj has improved due to my cross training. I dont mind stand up now and my grip has improved.

Here’s to the first steps on the road that ultimately leads to a more proficient grappler.

Gregg

Its been a while….. who are you again?

Its been a while, well actually my last post was just after my youngest daughter was born………. shes 2 in March.
My bad, life got in the way.
So why have I come back to this blog?
Honestly?
A good friend of mine has recently returned to training after a very long absence due to a major back injury (nothing to do with bjj) Hes the guy who got me blogging in the first place, and with the return of his blog I feel inspired to resurect mine.

So, what have I been upto?
In December 2012 I got my brown belt. I was as shocked as anyone.
I got my first stripe in December 2013 and im happy with that pace.
Me and some of the team finished Tough Mudder 2013 in north Yorkshire.
My kids are growing up fast, work is manic and bjj took a bit of a back seat in the last 12 months.
Hopefully I have fixed some of my scheduling issues and will be on the mat more often.

I will attempt to chronicle my training, interests and anything else I feel the internet may want to know about.

For now, peace out.

Remember “you cand spell legendary wirh out leg day. 

Xx

There and back again. By bilbo baggins

Firstly I would like to say sorry for not posting a blog in a while, turns out bloging is quite low on the old “to do list” but hopefully I’m back.

So what’s new with me, well I now have two kids (hence the lack of blogs) charley grace is the new addition to the Rodgers clan, and she is doing great.

I haven’t managed to train half as much as I would have liked over the last 6 months, but I haven’t been totally lazy. I have been a regular at the forges Tuesday night mma class, where I have been developing Anderson Silva like striking techniques, And the saturday open mat has given me chance to realise I wasnt getting enough bin in my diet.

With that I have totally re-thought my training regeme, gone are the massive lifts in the gym, gone is the half arsed effort on the mats.

So to this week,

I have made the effort to try and train as much as possible

Tuesdays mma was a study in range and closing distance.

Wednesday bjj I worked my closed guard (something I really need to work on in future) we are lucky to have not only a bjj black belt in john goldson but also a group of great guys to train with.

Thursday a little no gi sparing with chaz, Dan, aiden and Pete. Followed by an awesome wrestling lesson by Sam. Turns out I am quite good at suplexing people, Sam worked us hard and we all developed good bridging skills and the confidence to trust in the arch when throwing.

Tonight is another 2 hours sparing then that’s the week done for me, tomorrow is john goldsons 2nd big class and I will wish everyone a good session as I won’t be there.

Thanks for reading my scrawled thoughts and remember…. Keep watching the stars.

Lagarto visits, the room goes crazy

last week Lucio Lagarto visited the Forge home of GB Sheffield to put on one of his ‘Big Classes’ and man was it a big class, 50 people on the mats shows that the club is growing daily, there were quite a few people missing also.

Lagarto showed us some useful additions to our games, and showed the white belts (many of who had never met Lagarto or see his level of Jits in person) so great defense and details which would help them no end.

Then to the promotions, lots of stripes given out (sorry too many to name) Blue belt promotions for ‘lil’ Adam, Dymitri, Kyle and my good friend and legal advisor Che ‘samurai’ Naz er or what ever we call him. Jake also recieved his orange belt.

Lagartos speech

i’m doing this from memory so forgive me Lagarto if i get it wrong.

Guys i love you all like my family especially you Hock & Holl. 🙂

When we are talking about jiu jitsu, its more than about the fight, its about the life.

I live for jiu jitsu, I live for my family you guys are my family, everything i do in jiu jitsu i do for you, we train to be better but its not about you smash your frends in the gym, poke him in the eye and then kick him in the balls. You train hard and you tap so you learn and you get better.

I know i always want to make my living from jiu jitsu, everyday i get up and want to train, even when my body hurts and i want to stay in bet, jiu jitsu makes me get up and train. Even if i never make any money from jiu jitsu i would not change. I would rather train every day and be happy then look at my bank at the end of the month and go AAAAAAAARRRRRGGHHHH (Lagartos exact words) than work in an office and be sad but look at my bank and be WHOOOOOOOOOOO (again exact words)

When i give out the belts i look at the guy/girl and i think is this person mature enough for this belt. Age has nothing to do with it when i look at a guy for blue belt i say this 16 year old boy is good and his attitude is right. even though he is only 16 he is more like a man of 18. At purple belt you are like a 25 year old, you take responsibility for you life and try to be a good person. At brown belt you are like a 30 year old, you have a job and look after your family. Then at Black belt you are like a 35 year old, you work hard to give your family the best, you help them grow and get better, your are there for them in everything they do and hope they grow up right.

Guys you are my family and i see you all growing every time i visit, i hope i have given you the help you need and you will grow and become better, i hope i have done my job right and you help each other. with that Mr John come get your BLACK BELT…………

the room goes crazy

Gracie Barra “Livin’ the Dream”

Its been a good week for GB,

Roger wins his MMA bout by submission in round 1

Braulio wins Gold at the Euros and dedicvates the win to Steve Fan R.I.P

and Lagarto wins Gold at the Euros, and promotes his first Black Belt in Paul Hartly

Bruno Alves BJJ Seminar

Gracie Barra Sheffield are hosting a Seminar taken by Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt BRUNO ALVES.

He is a BJJ World Champion (2008) 2x European Champion, 2009 Pan American Silver medalist, 2010 South American Champion and 2010 silver Rio Open and World Cup medalist.

This is your chance to train with a champion level BJJ Black belt, this seminar is open to ALL but please be advised that all places must be payed for in advance.

The cost is £25.

Thanks

visit www.theforge-ma.co.uk or http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=6430369507