Here are the Keith Owen Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Team Results from Grapplers Quest in Las Vegas. Grapplers Quest is one of the biggest and most well known Jiu-Jitsu and Submission Wrestling tournaments in the U.S. We took 11 Guys to Vegas and came back with 9 Medals!! 4- 1st Place 2 -2nd Place 3- 3rd Place 4- 4th Places- 2 of them missed third place by 1 advantage point!! Congratulations to Dylan, Kaz, Roy, Matt and Matt, Bernard, Steve, Poncherello, Czar, Jim and Tren!! That's what you get when you focus on Good Technique and Not Muscle!!

I have been sitting here thinking about Ryan Gracie and his untimely death. I am a big fan of Ryan and I watched all of his fights. It appears that he was a troubled young man. The Gracie family like many families in the world has had it's trials and tribulations. They are by no means perfect, many of them have gotten into trouble,but I don't think one family member's problems should reflect on all the Gracies. I learned a valuable lesson from Rorion Gracie one time when I was training at the Gracie Academy. Rorion was wrestling around with his very young son Rener, Rener had his dad in the guard. Rorion stopped what he was doing and placed his hands on Rener's biceps and leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Rener was a bit embarrassed but smiled and they kept on wrestling. I learned from that small exchange that that is how you should raise your kids. My oldest son is 14 and I kiss him all the time...so far so good. Will kissing your children keep them out of trouble?..I don't know for sure but I think it's a good start and combined with talking ,shows them you love them. Where are your kids right now? Have you kissed them today? Maybe you should. I hope that Ryan is resting in peace.

I want to say for the record that I love no-gi jiu-jitsu. I have spent over half my career practicing it. I have heard many people preach that to get good at no-gi you shouldn’t do gi jiu-jitsu. They say it can wreck your no-gi game. I couldn’t DISAGREE more!! Wearing the Gi will actually help your no-gi game!! When I first started with Professor Pedro Sauer I was pretty anti-gi. I am in no way a traditionalist. I think of myself as a Jiu-Jitsu innovator. I was thinking back then,“How is this gi crap going to help me win a fight?" Boy, was I wrong! After 14 years I am thankful that I spent so much time with the gi. Gi training is not like training wheels as some have said but more like a big weight vest. It is extremely hot, if your not used to it. It makes wrestling hard to do. It slows your game down and forces you to be more technical. It forces you to protect your neck. It gives opponents handles to use against you and teaches you to get through their elevated defenses. In short..It’s hard!! When you shed the gi and do no gi you will be amazed and glad at all the things you won’t have to think about, especially protecting your neck. Your defense will be much better and you won’t have to use as much speed and strength. The gi will also help the longevity of your career. One really awesome thing that gi jiu-jitsu will do is give you a belt system that allows you to set goals such as black belt. Many people will spend a few years at a no-gi school and then quit because they can’t really monitor their progress. A person could practice their whole life doing no gi and never have a rank or level of attainment to show for it!! I’ve also noticed that people don’t get hurt as much in gi training. I think it might be because in total no-gi training many people have to rely more on speed and strength in a very sweaty environment with elbows and knees flying . I also think that ankle locks tend to be more prevalent because there aren’t as many options as in the gi side for submissions. Gi and no gi training are about 85% the same ,but with a few differences. The no-gi side requires more arm hugging maneuvers then the hand pulling of the gi especially in the guard and in guard passes but it is extremely easy for a gi practioner to make the transfer to no-gi ,with a little practice than a no gi person to gi-by far! The saying “Train hard-Fight easy” is especially pertinent when it comes to jiu-jitsu training. Make Jiu-Jitsu hard on yourself physically in training and easy on yourself in technique by wearing the gi. Don’t take the so called “practical and abbreviated” way that no-gi gurus espouse for success by going no -gi totally. If you want to be a grappling champion follow Marcelo Garcia and Roger Gracie lead and spend a good amount of time in the gi. It’s a lot harder but will make your no-gi game a lot easier.

This is the second installment of a three part series. See www.bjjmoves.com for other two installments. I really admire Eddie Bravo. He is a very competent and excellent Jiu-Jitsu man. He makes a lot of sense in a lot of issues and is someone who I would say is a creative genius. I do however; disagree strongly with his premise that doing gi jiu-jitsu will hurt your no-gi game. I am NOT writing this to tell you that I dislike Eddie Bravo. I just disagree on his total no gi philosophy, that’s all. I own a good amount of his books and videos. I just think he is wrong on this issue. Bravo is a black belt under John Jacques Machado, arguably the greatest jiu-jitsu fighter of our time, both in the gi and no-gi, ironically. I attended a seminar that Eddie Bravo did here in Boise last year and learned some really awesome moves. Eddie made a comment that stuck with me. He said that the rubber guard works much better when you are wearing gi pants because it’s not so slick and you’re e able to grip better. Eddie Bravo for those who don’t know trains extensively in gi pants. Correct me if I’m wrong but gi pants are still a gi, albeit half a gi. I don’t understand how you can say that gi training is no good but still train using half a gi. Honestly I don’t think Eddie and I are too far apart. I just happen to train with the other half as well. I come from a BJJ is self-defense mentality and then we work down from there. Many people label the gi as unrealistic, like two sweaty guys with no shirts and in shorts on a padded surface is somehow a more realistic fighting scenario for training. I live in Idaho. I don’t know where you live but half of the year most people are wearing coats. I like to think of it as the other half of the gi, suitable for choking people out with it. That’s a bit more realistic fighting probability. I suppose that if a naked streaker runs into my school and challenges me to fight that that might be at a disadvantage but until that happens I will probably be fighting fully clothed individuals probably wearing coats. Don’t get me wrong. I work in the gi a lot but I’m not espousing that you should never do no-gi and do constant gi work. I think both can help you immensely and you should do both for reasons I spoke of in part 1. I am inclined to think that Bravo has the no gi agenda that he is pushing as a means to make him stand out apart from other jiu-jitsu instructors. It’s working! Bravo also spoke out that all the world grappling champions are gi people right now because they are the most advanced and that total no-gi fighters will rule the roost as the years go on. I’m sure he is thinking this will happen after Marcelo Garcia and Roger Gracie retire. Eddie Bravo got his black belt by doing Gi jiu-jitsu. This allowed him quite an extensive background in what he thinks works and what doesn’t. It’s sad that he doesn’t allow his students the same option to help them in their skills. In the big scheme of things I think that time will prove him wrong on who the world champions will be in the sport of no gi Jiu-jitsu. My bet is that they will still be Gi guys that took off the gi.

This is the third installment of a three part series. My last points on Gi and No Gi Jiu-Jitsu training pertains to martial arts school owners. It's a hard, hard business being in the martial arts and I think it's even harder for many hard core bjj schools, no-gi schools and MMA Schools as well. One of the upsides to having a gi AND no gi AND MMA programs at your school, besides the options of training, is that many students are able to get belt rankings IF THEY DESIRE. This keeps the goal oriented people on track and attending and allows you to attract different kinds of clientele into your school so that money can keep flowing into your coffers. If you don't have a ranking system then the only way students strictly know how well they are doing is by beating the other students. If beating the other students is the only way to get "respect" then many people in your school will have a "I'm going to win you at any cost attitude. " This leads to injuries where students take off months at a time having to heal, which hurts the school owner's bottom line. If winning is the only way to show progress then many students will be unwilling to share info with potential rivals because they don't want it used against them. New students quit after a short time because no one wants to show them anything and are often used as cannon foder to be beaten up on by the more advanced students at the school. They then quit in disgust because they aren't progressing and they are getting the crap kicked out of them. The more advanced students get bored because they have the same old guys to challenge them or they are worried about all the blown knees and shoulder injuries from people going so hard and they move on to a different school in hopes of a better environment. This loses the martial arts school owner money all over the place! If you don't think money is important then talk to your landlord about not having to pay rent anymore and see what he says. I know I have made a huge leap saying that having a gi program with a belt system keeps students happy, sharing and safe. I do feel comfortable in saying that having a belt system COUPLED with a focus on the "quality " of submission and not the "quantity " of submission, letting your students know that GETTING BETTER TECHNICALLY is the goal and not just tapping people out any which way with pure strength and THEN combine that with having an attitude that helping each other helps the whole school get better is the key to tournament, self-defense and business success (how is that for a run-on sentence?). I've seen a ton of no-gi schools and MMA schools go out of business or limp along barely covering expenses in their dungeon dojos. Many no-gi or MMA owners are ex- wrestlers and have never spent any time in the gi. They don't want to start over by learning gi submissions. So they instantly treat the gi as uncool , unrealistic and a bunch of crap. These are the same people who treat their school like high school wrestling practice and not a business, dirty and unkept, with guys walking around with no clothes on and going full force against each other in training, attacking attacking attacking. The outcome, You get only one kind of clientele, too many people get hurt and the school owner is having to work two jobs to keep the school going because of the dropout rates. To sum it up Keith Owen Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu took 9 medals with 11 guys at Grappler's Quest –Four 1st place medals, two of those in no gi. We do it consistently! The secret -keep your guys healthy, safe and happy. The gi and a belt system HELPS with that.

Keith Owen returns with a strong follow up to his Favorite Submissions Vol. 1 with Favorite Submissions Vol. 2. Owen is a really cool guy and a marketing machine. Not a day goes by I don't see a message from him on my myspace. Keep up the good work, Keith! Favorite Submissions Vol. 2 takes over where Vol. 1 ended and delivers big time. Once again we get a glimpse into some high level techniques presented in a great quality production. Reread my review for Vol. 1 and you'll essentially know what Vol. 2 is all about. But honestly, I think Vol. 2 is better. The material to me is a little more interesting for me personally and I believe once again, this is a must have for anyone practicing BJJ. I mean, seriously, if you want a ton of material that you can use in class tomorrow, buy this DVD. It seems like every town has some sort of BJJ school going on these days and that is a great thing. But you can't always find the quality of instruction that is offered in the bigger cities. If you want to train with one of the best in the country for just a few bucks, buy this DVD. Volume 1 and 2 are probably 6 months worth of high level BJJ instruction. I'm going to kill Keith's private instruction business, but if you want the next best thing to 6 months of privates with Keith, buy these DVD's. Jason Panick at www.ko-reviews.com

Favorite Moves Volume 2 by Pedro Sauer Black Belt Keith Owen is finally out and I must say it is another “must have” DVD! If you like volume 1, you will not be disappointed with volume 2. The DVD follows the same principle of volume 1, in which Keith continues to show you some of his favorite moves. Each move is broken down and shown with various camera angles. A lot of instructionals on the market today use one camera angle, but the multi-angles used here definitely make learning a little easier. Some of the techniques that really stood out for me was the Baseball Bat Choke. Normally I’ve done this technique from the knee on stomach position, but Keith shows two variations from two different positions, plus the basic knee on stomach position. The first one he shows is from the standing position. Basically as you get the grips of the choke in, you drop to the floor and as you do, the choke tightens up. The second variation of the choke is from the guard position in which your opponent passes your guard and moves right in the choke. Another area that really stands out is the amount of kimura material. On the DVD you will find how to apply the basic kimura from the guard, how to escape the kimura when you opponent has the north/south position, plus numerous details on applying the kimura from the top. You not get a step-by-step breakdown on how to execute these moves, but you get the little details that really count. Finally one other move that really sticks out is a guard pass that has you trap your opponent’s arm. I’ve been using a similar pass where I can trap the arm, but this gave me another option to do it this. The way I normally do it would end up having my opponent’s arm trapped under his back, but the way Keith show’s it has your opponent’s arm trapped to his side using the gi skirt, allowing you to take the side mount, and finish with a choke. I could go on about each section, but you really should just get the DVD yourself. The video production and audio quality is top notch. One of the features that really stuck out was the navigation of the DVD. On the DVD you will find two menu chapters for which you can navigate from. One is by having each move listed by alphabetical order, but the second way and my favorite is by position. If you noticed the way I have the techniques listed earlier in the review, that is the way you will find them broken down on the second menu. The DVD runs for 1 hour and 39 minutes. You won’t find any fluff on this DVD, just good solid instruction. The price is listed at $24.95 and at that price, this is a steal! To order this DVD or find out more about Keith Owen and his school go to www.bjjmoves.com. Keith is definitely on a roll putting out quality products and hopefully we will see more from him in the future! __________________ www.bjjreviews.net www.bjjreviews.blogspot.com

"If you liked volume 1 then you'll love volume 2. Keith shows many great moves and breaks them down into simple, easy-to-follow steps. I particularly liked the treatment of the S-Mount - I haven't seen it taught this well anywhere else and I look forward to incorporating some of his details and tricks into my own game." Stephan Kesting BJJ Black Belt