Category: Uncategorized

If you have walked into a BJJ gym or wrestling room, or have watched any UFC event ever, you undoubtedly noticed the deformed ears of some or all of the individuals involved. This wrinkled and potentially bulbous appearance of the ears of many grapplers and fighters is known as cauliflower ear. If you participate in […]

Although Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is first and foremost a system for ground fighting, BJJ is an incredible method to support weight loss and a healthy lifestyle.  If you have tried to lose weight in the past, you are undoubtedly familiar with the frustrations, difficulties, and other troubles that come with attempting weight loss.  In the […]

How long should you train before competing in BJJ? Competing in BJJ is one of the most difficult and rewarding aspects of the BJJ journey. In terms of growth, improvement, and building self-confidence and camaraderie with your team, there are few activities that rival BJJ competition. If you are new to BJJ and interested in […]

As a beginner in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, you may feel overwhelmed by the number of techniques and strategies in the martial art.  After your first class, you may be wondering, “what should I learn first in BJJ?” While there is no perfect order to learn BJJ, there are some general principles that can speed up your […]

BJJ is growing in popularity across the globe.  You may have heard of it through watching UFC.  Perhaps you have a friend or coworker who just cannot shut up about BJJ. But what is BJJ? BJJ, or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, is a martial art that primarily focuses on grappling a single opponent on the ground.  […]

As people grow older, they begin to find ways to be more productive and make use of their time. For senior citizens, in particular, they find that there is even more time they need to utilize and want to do so effectively. Many will go out and find other jobs while others will pursue hobbies […]

Every year, the American Heart Association celebrates Heart Month to raise awareness about heart disease and heart health. What you may not know is that martial arts are great for the heart. In fact, the cardiac benefits of martial arts give a whole new meaning to the idea of cardiovascular fitness. With that in mind, […]

Grade school can be quite the experience for any child. It is a place where a child not only learns academically but one where a child must learn to socialize and function in the world. Unfortunately, there are a lot of negative experiences that a child may have when going through school. Whatever those experiences […]

What to Expect as a BJJ Beginner Alright! you made the decision to change your life the minute you stepped on the mat congratulations your first few days made me a little overwhelming! Just like it was whenever you first learned how to ride a bike it was awkward. You fell off, got back on […]

Do you find yourself dragging more ass that you kick, these days? Here are 3 ways to kick ass in life that aren’t gonna kill your vibe or your bank account. #1: Put the Bottle Down! Not only is this going to affect the amount of money in your bank account, but it’s also going […]

Really though, training Jiu Jitsu isn’t easy. Here are 3 reasons why you might suck at BJJ and what you can do to save yourself a little bit of embarrassment the next time you hit the mats. REASON #1: Nothing Worth Doing is Done Easily Straight up, Jiu Jitsu is not easy and you haven’t […]

4 Ways Jiu Jitsu Makes You a Better Man and how training BJJ in the right place can really change your life! Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the benefits of training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu from different celebrities like Keanu Reeves, Joe Rogan, Jocko Willink, Henry Cavill (Superman), Ariana Grande […]

Are you the “Stinky Gi Guy?” DON’T BE! Here are 2 ways to get the funk out of your gi. If you’ve trained for any amount of time, you’ve made the mistake of leaving your gi in your bag or car after a monster training session. You know; one of those classes where you dit […]

3 Things to Expect in Your First Jiu Jitsu Class Check out these 3 things that you should expect when attending your first Jiu Jitsu Class. Expect to sweat! You’re going to be moving for the majority of the time you are in class. Your heart rate will be elevated and you’ll be using muscles […]

Post Newb Annihilation “Not quite a newb, not yet the Pro.” So you’ve been doing BJJ for a bit now. I guess you could say things are getting serious. You train three to four times a week and have totally been bitten by the BJJ bug. By now you’ve gotten a few stripes and can […]

Confidence is King in a Field of Weakness Today we have soft kids, entitled generations and soft men. All with the voice of giants (on the internet) but lack the experience of having bad experiences to back them up. If you’re over 30 years old, you can look back on a few moments in your […]

BEING DEPRESSED SUCKS!! How do you cope with it?  Do you just sweep it under the rug? Overeat? Medicate? ACCORDING TO THE ADAA (ANXIETY & DEPRESSION ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA)  in 2015, 15 MILLION ADULTS WERE AFFECTED BY DEPRESSION OR ANXIETY. 15 million! HOLY HELL! That, with zero doubt, tells you that someone you know is affected […]

Competition. Should you do the damn thing? What is that thing anyway? I can remember when I fell in love with competing.  I’m not sure when I started but, I can remember the night where my views on competition turned from playful games to something much more intimate. I found something inside of me that […]

BJJ is a Video Game Man. First off, if you have friends that haven’t played video games, they are OLD AS HELL! After a monster training session on the mat at Vagabond BJJ, a student and I were talking about how to get their friends interested in BJJ. He has a couple of buddies in […]

When’s the last time you thought about the health of your heart? Do you wonder what that double w/cheese is doing to you as you snarf it down? You can do better, man and you know it. Look, I’m not gonna sit here and tell you how to eat. I can but, you’re grown, you […]

How Many Times A Week Should I Be Training? I don’t know…how good do you want to be? Let’s talk about it. There is a school of thought that you should “Go hard or go home.” The other side of that coin is “Quality over Quantity.” Which one is for you? Maybe somewhere in between? Really, […]

For Real Though. What the Hell Is It? Look, I can give you the history of this and how far back in history that goes but, really, that ain’t all that interesting and I’d lose you by the end of the next paragraph. So, I’ll tell you something cooler. I started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in mid-2006. […]

Could You Imagine What it’s Like to Lose 100lbs? Shoot. Some of us would disappear or, just be a sack of vital organs. I’ve had the pleasure of coaching two students through their journey of losing 100+ lbs. Losing this amount of weight is astonishing to think about. What it takes to lose that is […]

So You Decided That You Want to Be a Ninja? I gotta tell you, GREAT DECISION! Look, I know, when I was a child, the ONLY thing I wanted to be when I grew up was a Ninja! This was in the late eighties and early nineties when Sean Claude Van Damn was a Hollywood […]

Where to Train Martial Arts in Odessa, Texas. With so many martial arts to choose from, how do you know which one you should be training. Then, where do you train those martial arts in Odessa, Texas? Here are a few ways to pick martial arts in Odessa, Texas. With the HUGE resurgence of the […]

3 Ways To Stay On Your Diet For More Than a Few Days There are no two ways about it, especially during the holidays, that being on a diet is near impossible. I remember reading a Garfield the Cat comic as a kid around the age of ten. Garfield is walking alone in the short, 3-frame, […]

Why You Should Be Working Out With Your Boo. There are few things quite like working out with a partner, spouse or, a loved one of any sort. No matter the type of martial arts you both practice, there are some benefits to exercising together. From perfecting your form to keeping each other motivated, you’ll […]

Will My Child Want to Fight After Learning Martial Arts? A Simple Answer to a Complicated Question on Kid’s Martial Arts Training. This question is one of the most common questions we get from parents. They are SUPER concerned that training a martial art, like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), will foster the want for a fight outside […]