Interview by David Webb, 3rd March 2010
This week KombatClinic.com has had the pleasure of interviewing yet another legend from the world of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu – Professor Vinicius Magalhães  – a fourth degree black belt under Carlos Gracie Jr. and the Gracie Barra Academy.
Professor Magalhães or “Draculino” as he is better known, is the head instructor of Gracie Barra Texas and the Gracie Barra Belo Horizonte Schools and amongst his students, you will find Mundial winners, Pan-Am champions, national BJJ champions, champion mixed martial artists and grapplers and a total of more than …

Steve Maxwell: Relson Gracie black belt, revolutionary strength and conditioning coach and father to Zak Maxwell (2009 Mundials champion at Brown belt [featherweight], US Open weight Champion, Pan-Am Champion and [Brown belt] Gracie Worlds Absolute Champion. For those of you that are not aware of Steve he is the type of guy always at the cutting edge of the newest martial arts and fitness craze as they first emerge. Starting Jiu Jitsu in the late 1980’s Steve is a former NCAA Division One wrestler and can claim to be Relson …

A beginner’s guide to the centre line hypothesis
Roy Dean, in his DVD ‘Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: Purple belt requirements’, spoke of depth of knowledge versus breadth of knowledge and encouraged that rather than attempting to assimilate and amass numerous skill sets, to look deeper and understand the concepts and principles that underpin each skill. In the same vein BJJ Black belt Roy Harris has warned not to become a “collector of techniques” or someone more infatuated with developing flair than actually being able to use basic fundamental skills in ‘live’ randori.
If …

by David Webb, 28th January 2010
Luis “Limao” Heredia is one of a select few. Head Coach at Maui Jiu Jitsu in Hawaii he started Jiu Jitsu aged 14 in his native Brazil, soon afterwards he was granted access to THE most famous of martial arts legacies – the Gracie’s, a student under Master Helio Gracie and his sons, Rickson and Royler his skills were honed on the mats of the famous Gracie Humaita school until he was invited by Rickson to travel to the United States to help spread the …

The rationale for writing this brief post was met over a Grande soy almond latte in Starbucks. You read Val Worthington’s nemesis [the sauce] is diet coke well, soy almond latte is mine and at £3.00 a pop it’s a little more expensive too, anyway, I was perusing an edition of the Sunday Times sports section when I came across an article concerning age and competitive sportsmen and women. The raison d’être for the piece seemed to be the imminent return of Michael Schumacher, the seven times Formula One motor …

 
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is an art/sport characterised by ground fighting. More so than just being the most effective and efficient sport for groundwork, BJJ has it very own peculiar and largely unique positions to launch techniques from.
One of these is the ‘Guard’ (“do-osae” in Judo or the “body-scissors” in catch-wrestling). According to wikipedia: whilst “in the Guard, the practitioner is on their back controlling an opponent with their legs. The practitioner pushes and pulls with the thighs or feet to upset the balance and limit the movements of their opponent. …

For some time now we have seen a number of posts, threads and groups on online forums and social networking sites written and set up specifically to address the distinct lack of support, direction, appreciation and retention for all women within the grappling fraternity here in the United Kingdom. It has been established time and time again that the opportunities open to women in our sport of ‘grappling’ are far behind those of their male counterparts; an issue that is indicative in the wider context of the sporting environment. Nevertheless, great …

By David Webb, 11th January 2010
This, the second of two interviews done with Emily Kwok and Valerie Worthington, is meant to highlight the work being done by both, alongside fellow world champion Felicia Oh over in the United States of America and Canada to promote women’s grappling. At various intervals Emily and Val are responsible for sharing their world-class knowledge on a number of women only camps with an ever-increasing number of dedicated and committed female grapplers. For further information on the camps in question check out: http://www.womensgrappling.org
Enjoy!
Interview:
KombatClinic.com: Emily …

Photograph by kind permission of Lauren Elle photography
By David Webb, 19th December 2009
Interview:
KombatClinic.com: Hi Emily, thank you so much for taking some time out for our interview on KombatClinic.com it means so much having world and Olympic champions taking time to give us their thoughts on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo and offering advice to those that read each issue. Could you start by giving us a little background to you martial arts, where you started and the path you took getting to your current status as a Brazilian Jiu …

Valerie “Valhalla” Worthington is champion grappler based in Santa Fe Springs, CA who currently teaches and competes out of the New Breed Academy run be Johnny Ramirez and John Ouano. Originally a marathon runner Val has been training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu since 1998 where she gained her Blue and Purple belts under Carlson Gracie, Jr. and his legendary father Carlson Gracie. Heavily into CrossFit and now a Brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Val was placed second at this year’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Mundials that were held in Long Beach, …