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Eugene Thong

@etfwellness

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Dilettante professor of the Dark Arts at @renzogracieeastside
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@find.yourpowerfitness - my 💪 lab

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Guys, I started a Patreon. But first, a story:

When I first started #BJJ back in 2004, information sources were scarce. If you were not as fortunate as I was to have incredible teachers like @danaherjohn and @renzograciebjj readily available to you, then the landscape was bleak. You had the option to buy instructional books from Victory Press. You could wait weeks to get a shopworn copy of Mario Sperry’s Vale Tudo DVDs. If you were a sneak and a dirty creonte, you could even cross train with people from (or - gasp - at!) other schools. So in a lot of ways, you were beholden to your teacher and school as the fount of knowledge. It could take years to gain understanding of a position, and even longer to learn how to connect positions and have something resembling a coherent jiujitsu game.

Nowadays, you have the opposite problem. You can study with any teacher on the planet, ask them your burning jiujitsu questions, or to have them watch tape on you and tell you how awful you are. You can show up to any open mat you like and no one will give you the side eye. You can spend a fortune on amassing a library of instructionals, or spend a lifetime watching free content on YouTube or social media. Learning has never been so self-directed, and for a good student, you can really take charge of your own learning. But the tragic flaw of being an auto-didact is - you don’t know what you don’t know.

Today, we suffer from information overload. We know more jiujitsu than ever, but we understand jiujitsu less. For most students, more techniques isn’t the answer, more understanding is the answer.

That’s what my students told me I offer, at least for the lower body game. They wanted a way to review class material, to gain insight into my perspective as a normal Joe playing legs in the best room in the world (and living to tell about it). And they thought their friends who didn’t have the benefit of studying with me could benefit too. So I started a Patreon.

All that is to say, if you study BJJ and want to learn more about leglocks and how I think they fit into the rest of your jiujitsu game, maybe you would benefit from my point of view. My students say they do. by @etfwellness

Saturday students: Look no further than this weekend’s @adcc_official Worlds for an awesome live application of our most recent lesson. Marlon Tajik hit this excellent belly down ankle lock in his Absolute division match against Javier Zaruski. Keen eyed students will notice multiple details covered in class:

1) Tajik hits the entry from the second of the three typical scenarios we look at for belly down ankle locks, an opponent standing over us.

2) Being a live match against a resisting opponent, Tajik doesn’t get the perfect back shoulder roll, so he folds his knee down towards his opponent’s knee to trap it against the mat (the knee “sandwich”).

3) Tajik uses a shin pin on the leg he attacks to keep his opponent’s knee pinned to the mat.

4) Finally, since he uses the single hand version of the belly down ankle lock, he raises his chest above the level of his hips for the finish (pic 6).

Come to @renzogracieeastside every Saturday at 11am to learn leg techniques that work at the highest level of competition (and if you can’t make it, keep up to date by subscribing to my Patreon - link in bio). Don’t play footsies without it! by @etfwellness

🦊Defending Butterfly/Ashi Ankle Lock 👊

📱Learn more with the Silver Fox BJJ APP ⬆️ Link in BIO for S:8-Ep:33 👊

#bjj #jiujitsu #anklelock #gi #submissions by @etfwellness

Kicking it like it’s 2008 in the #bluebasement by @etfwellness

🦊Get the breakdown of how to defend the Butterfly Ashi Ankle Lock with Fox 👊 Learn more with S:8-Ep:33 of #rollwiththefox ⬆️ Link in BIO

#bjj #jiujitsu #anklelock #gi by @etfwellness

Folie à quatre by @etfwellness

🚨PSA: DO NOT ⛔️ SPIKE YOUR PARTNER 🚫

#bjj #safety #jiujitsu #adcc #ufc by @etfwellness

🦊Cryangle After Getting Shaken Off The Back Is 👌High Level Response 🔥

#bjj #jiujitsu #backcontrol #triangle #silverfoxbjj by @etfwellness

🦊 1 Hook 🪝 is better than 2✌️

#bjj #jiujitsu #backtake #armdrag #submission by @etfwellness

What is @silverfoxbjj thinking here? Wrong answers only by @etfwellness

🪝 Hook or No Hook 🚫 You Decide on S:8-Ep:9 episode of #rollwiththefox 📺 Link in BIO ⬆️ by @etfwellness

Saturday students: @renzogracieeastside is a young academy, and most of you are just starting your journey towards mastery, so this recent picture may not strike you as anything other than a bunch of black belts posing for the camera.

But to me, it reminds me of where I came from. Which is probably not too far off from where you are now.

Most of these men were already high-ranking jiujiteiros and accomplished fighters when I started. And as a young padawan marveling at the depths of my ineptitude, I took inspiration from each one of them:

• Tsunami’s devil-may-care attitude and gameness (I will never forget my first tournament; Tsunami was there just to cheer us on, but ended up competing (and winning) after some “gentle prodding” from @renzograciebjj))

• Marcus’ preternatural ability to weasel out of any move you tried on him, and immediately counter you

• Nardu’s uncanny stillness and unshakable calm

• (not pictured) Jason Yang’s precision and absolute devotion to making *zero* mistakes, technical or tactical

• George Sernack’s focused intensity and savage effectiveness

• Rodrigo Gracie, ADCC champ and living legend

In attempts to prevent my classmates from taking my lunch money, I aped their styles. I stole their techniques. I copied their class notes. I thought, if I could just blend everything I learn from them into some kind of pastiche I could maybe be good at this jiujitsu thing…

…and yet, my own jiujitsu resembles none of theirs. Like an artist’s brushstroke or a guitarist’s tone, it’s unique to me, like a fingerprint.

As you forge your own vision of #bjj, take inspiration from those who’ve traveled before you. Steal their work, inhabit their mindspace. But realize your jiujitsu is already written in your DNA. It’ll ultimately be an expression of who you are. Those who guide you point the way; the answers are solely yours to discover. by @etfwellness