Esdras Jr talks 2020 and mantaining his resolve in the face of a pandemic. Photo: IBJJF/Facebook

Esdras Jr had a good year competing in 2020, despite the whole world having to come to grips with the covid-19 pandemic. The black-belt from Ares BJJ won some big IBJJF titles and saw his jiu-jitsu evolve and his career take off as a professional of the sport.

At 30, the featherweight is taking stock of his victories and his evolution attributed to the training provided by Osvaldo Queixinho and company in Arizona.

“My evolution is due to my daily dedication, to my studying jiu-jitsu,” said Esdras, a sitting no-gi champion of the American Nationals and gi and no-gi champion of the San Jose Open. “I’ve been dedicating myself to studying jiu-jitsu more, I’ve been eating better, and I’ve been training my mind to be positive when the scenario isn’t a good one like, for example, was the year 2020.”

He added: “Learning from Queixinho makes me a more intelligent athlete and makes me progressively more prepared to fight in any competition. I’m loving this process, which generated good results in the last season.”

During said season, Esdras injured a knee, resulting in his exit from the Pan, which was held in October in Florida. Because it was the only big event held by the federation in the second half of the year, Esdras had to deal with the frustration of not fighting in order to recover faster. He said: “Injuries are part of the sport. Of course no one expects it to happen, but I think it’s during these troubled times that we have the opportunity to do some good work on our psychology.

“During this last year, especially when I was injured, I was trying to keep my mind focused on that which was within my reach and particularly on the aspects I could control, like nutrition, physiotherapy, technical training and mental training. I can say that in the past season I learned that giving it your best on the hard days makes all the difference. It makes your mind progressively more heavily armored.”

And thus he fought and won at the American Nationals. “After having injured myself right before the Pan and gone two months without training, I resumed my training with practically three weeks to go and managed to fight well,” he said. “Claiming the championship was the best feeling I had after having gone through all these obstacles. It was soul-cleansing — it was a very delicious win.”

Next up, Esdras is likely to compete at the Dallas International Open in March as he looks to climb the IBJJF rankings.

For the current white belts, learning what others go through may alleviate the growing pains involved with starting out on your Jiu-Jitsu Journey.

In this documentary, a white belt named Chirag Dave from Toronto prepares for an upcoming tournament. Check out how he trains and how he fares at the competition:

Ronda Andrews, an avid competitors for years and a familiar face among women’s BJJ, has achieved the rank of black belt from Professor Amilcar “Mica” Cipili of GMA Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Las Vegas.

We spoke to her about the promotion and the journey as we can all learn from what it takes for an individual to get to the rank. Here are her words:

“I’m sure many use this word, but it feels surreal to finally receive a black belt. To think about the beginning when I had no idea what Jiu Jitsu was. I jumped into a no-gi class because I wanted to wrestle dudes. I’m not making jokes. I was definitely a meat-head when I started. Someone gave me a gi and said it would make me better. Year after year I got sucked in deeper and deeper into learning, teaching, and allowing Jiu-Jitsu to change me and my life. I still can’t believe and, even this morning, am overwhelmed to tears by all the love and respect I felt in the academy last night becoming the first female that stuck around and went the distance in my academy. My professor, Amilcar “Mica” Cipili and many more have played a part in my journey. I wish I could thank all of them personally.

It took 8 years for me to achieve black belt. Not long after I started, I started training twice a day 4-5 days a week. That’s 4 hours a day I’d be on the mat, as a white belt. Thankfully my work schedule allowed me to train more than the average full time working adult. I mentioned getting sucked in and allowing Jiu-Jitsu to change me and my life. If I had not been open to the change, I would’ve never accomplished what I have today. Always the responsible adult, who took pride in always taking care of herself, I made a life changing decision while still a purple. I was far from being a young college kid financially dependent on her parents, but still decided to leave my job of 17 years to become a full time Jiu-Jitsu student and competitor. Many have dreams of making Jiu-Jitsu their life, but I garnered the courage to take that plunge. Taking my decision seriously, I made and smashed my goals.

1. Compete and medal at high level competitions. DONE! No need to spew off titles. Anyone can look up IBJJF results from 07′-13′ and will see my name. My best year being 2013, as a brown belt middle weight. I hurt my back in early 2014, which took me out of competition.

2. Learn to teach. DONE- also a never ending process, but I’m onto something.

3. The ultimate goal: open an academy. Done! DONE! DONE!!!! Me and my best friend, with Royler Gracie’s blessing, opened Gracie Humaita North Las Vegas August 1, 2014. My friend, Leticia Ribeiro, was a huge inspiration. The support from Royler, Mica, and Leticia made my dream come true.

My plans are to focus on my academy, my students, and get back to competition. I miss competition. The stress of competition makes me absolutely NUTS, but I love being able to pull it all together once the ref says “Combate”. My time off from competing was a blessing. With that focus taken away from me, I placed my focus on teaching. My instructor, Amilcar Cipili, and my best friend and business partner, Bryan Glenn, gave me the opportunity to learn and mold me into a teacher. Teaching has been the most rewarding thing I have ever done. Passing on the art and watching people grow because of it.”

Diana receiving stripes from Professor Carlos Terrinha. Photo: Personal archive

Professor Carlos Terrinha of GMA Gracie Barra New England recently interviewed one of his students, Diana Weisbach, who is a 64-year-old blue belt.

In this video interview she explains how training at her age is healthy and benefits her in other areas of her life. Originally drawn to the self-defense aspect, she enjoyed training and came back for me each day despite being tired or sore.

As a woman training martial arts, she explains that women are normally timid when starting out but find that they can grab hold of the techniques rather easily which builds confidence. At her academy, Gracie Barra New England, the men are always helpful so being fearful of rolling with them isn’t an issue.

Learn more by watching the video:

Becoming a Jiu-Jitsu black belt takes time and a lot of work. Everyone has their own path whether recreationally or through competition or both. There are people from all ages starting Jiu-Jitsu and getting to the real start, the black belt, at various times in their lives.

For two students at GMA Yemaso BJJ in Sacramento, CA they found that their promotion was met last month and given by Marcos Torregrosa.

In their speeches, Bill Click and Marcus Boness explain the journey and how it feels to reach the ultimate rank:

Gustavo Dantas at the Long Beach Open 2014. Photo: Erin Herle

GMA member Gustavo Dantas is at it again. The head instructor of GDJJ in Tempe, Arizona and the professed BJJ Mental Coach has yet another piece of advice for anyone struggling with their mindset in competition.

Are you struggling to get positive results in tournaments? Are you frustrated that you have been training a lot, competing consistently, but you still have not achieved the success that you desire? The BJJ Mental Coach, Gustavo Dantas has a message for you:

The 2012 IBJJF world master 2 black belt champion, and the 2014 world master 2 runner up confesses that it has been a long rough road to the top. “I’ve struggled a lot in the beginning of my career, but for sure one thing that I’ve learned and I can pass to you is that HARD WORK PAYS OFF!” says the BJJ Mental Coach.

In this video Gustavo shares three key elements necessary to accomplish any meaningful goal that you have set for yourself, on and off the mat.

For more information about discovering what is holding you back from performing to the best of your ability, reaching your full potential and achieving the success that you desire, check out his program “Inner Discovery for Outer Success” at www.thebjjmentalcoach.com. In this program Gustavo breaks down fundamentals, concepts, techniques and five tips that can help you to be your best self on the mat.

You either can control your mind, or your mind can control you. The choice is yours, choose wisely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_YCK0CEalQ

What he thought was an outlet to learn self-defense became so much more and over the years infused his life with lessons on how to be a better person, friend, father.

Check out All Things BJJ’s new video from Caio Terra’s GMA academy, Institute of Martial Arts in San Jose, CA:

The Gracie Barra Texas head instructor has been training Jiu-Jitsu for thirty years and his wisdom is priceless.

There are too many gold statements here to relay to you, so watch the video and learn from the role model himself:

Now a successful school owner of GMA GDJJ in Tempe, AZ, a leader of Nova Uniao in the states, promoter of the successful AZ International Jiu-Jitsu Tournaments, founder of BJJ Mental Coach.

His message is “acredite” which means “believe” in Portuguese.

Check out the latest video from All Things BJJ and let Gustavo Dantas motivate you for your own success:

With words from Roberto Cyborg Abreu, Dean Lister, Andre Galvao, Joe Rogan, Rafael Lovato Jr., Fernando Maccachero and Nic Gregoriades, you will gain insight from many different people who have made Jiu-Jitsu their life.

As the video promotes, Jiu-Jitsu is a way of life and when you train it consumes your life for the better. You make connections with people you would never have crossed paths with otherwise, you find confidence no matter your age, you take responsibility of your own biology, and you do it all because you want to.

Let us celebrate his birthday by hearing from the life teacher on why success and happiness is not measured by the amount in your bank account in this Stuart Cooper Films video:

Even people with disabilities find training fulfilling like Alex Madrid of San Francisco, CA. Alex has a condition called cerebral palsy that causes impairment in motor skills. At a recent open mat session black belt Bill Hotter was able to roll with the white belt, which was posted on YouTube.

The roll between the two shows that even at black belt, you can still gain experience from training with white belts. It also represents the numerous qualities that Jiu-Jitsu offers for people of any background. And it shows the bond that is created between people who train together.

Watch the roll and next time you put off training, question your excuse.