Let’s be real, the world we live in is not a safe place. There are bad people out there looking for victims to prey on. Therefore, you need to know how to protect yourself in case someone targets you for reasons of harassment, theft, rape, or to cause bodily harm. Not being prepared can result in serious consequences such as unwanted sexual proposals and action, serious injury or even death. You cannot control the desires and behavior of such bad people, but you can certainly take actions to minimize and prevent yourself from being the one chosen for the attack. And if you are attacked the use of self defense techniques and strategies can save your life.

Whether the attack is physical or sexual, the experience can leave both emotional and physical scars that can last a lifetime. You will never be the same. You will always replay the attack over in your mind wondering what you could have done differently to avoid or escape from the situation. You will question yourself as to why you never took a women’s self defense class.

There are three steps you must do to better protect yourself from would be attackers. 1.) You must have a greater awareness. You need to pay better attention to your surroundings, as this is your first line of defense. Attackers are looking for easy victims who are not aware, as they are easy targets, because they have the element of surprise at their advantage. 2.) You must take measures to reduce your risks. This can be from how you dress, to how you act, and even how you talk. Also don’t go into isolated areas alone, and if you are going out, go with people and stay around people. Make sure your body language shows a sense of confidence. If you don’t feel comfortable going to certain places, then don’t go there. 3.) Take a self defense class. The best way, in fact, the only way to prepare yourself to fight off an attacker is to take a self defense class. Self defense classes can teach you special techniques for breaking from an attacker’s grasp and other things you can do to get away.

Many women might take action by implementing the first two steps mentioned above, and skip the self defense training. But what do you do when those barriers are broken down, you let your guard down for that one moment, and suddenly you are in a frightening situation? Crime can happen to anyone at anytime, even if you are prepared. Taking a women’s self defense class will empower you to stand up for yourself and take control of your own life.

There should be no excuses when it comes to your personal safety. Women's self defense classes are not expensive. They are not hard to find, and they don’t take a big time commitment. So take the time and find a class. Enroll and attend. Do a friend or family member a favor and take them along with you.

The goal of SAAM is to raise public awareness about sexual violence and to educate communities and individuals on how to prevent sexual violence.  Nearly 1 in 5 women have been raped at some time in their lives and about every 2 minutes someone in the United States is sexually assaulted.  Get involved by educating yourself about the issue. There are many online resources and state and local groups and organizations that can provide help.  Also, no matter how well you are educated about the topic, nothing can compare to having the self defense training which gives you the skills to escape from an attacker. 

I often get asked by my students what can they be doing outside of the academy to help improve their conditioning for Jiu-Jitsu? The advice I give depends on the goals of the student, i.e. if they want to compete, or just want to improve upon their everyday training at the academy. For the sake of this article, I’m going to focus on the average student, one who is learning Jiu-Jitsu as a martial art, as a self-defense system, who attends class 2–3 times per week and is not looking to compete for the time being. For the student who is training to compete in the sport of Jiu-Jitsu I would have different recommendations.

The average student may come to class 2–3 times per week. They have a job, or maybe go to school, may be married and have a family, and most have activities and commitments outside of the academy. They certainly don’t have the time or even the desire to train and workout 6 days a week as a Jiu-Jitsu athlete may do. One of the best ways to prepare your body for Jiu-Jitsu is by doing Jiu-Jitsu. But for those who ask what else can they do outside of the academy to help improve their body and performance here’s some recommendations.

1. If you already belong to a health club use the treadmill, elliptical, or stationary bike a couple times a week for at least 30 minutes. If you don’t have access to any of those, then fast-pace walking or jogging or jumping rope at least twice a week would suffice.

2. Another option I recommend, and I have done this a lot in the past, and even during my competition days is to put together a 30-minute non-equipment cardio workout that you can do at home. There are tons of exercises you can put together to create a fast-paced workout that will get your heart pumping.

3. To improve flexibility, I recommend stretching at least 2-3 times a week. Improved flexibility will help reduce potential injuries, and help speed up recovery time from sore muscles. As you become more flexible, your speed, strength, and coordination increases. You can easily put together a 15-minute stretching routine. Include stretches to improve hip mobility, as our hips play a key role in our Jiu-Jitsu.

4. Improve your core. We use our core for everything. Strengthening your hips, abs, back and lower back is a great way to improve your body for Jiu-Jitsu. There’s tons of exercises for your core that you can include in your non-equipment cardio routine.

5. Incorporate some sort of strength training (not body building) into your regiment as it offers tons of benefits such as toning muscles, strengthening bones, increasing metabolism, and the list goes on and on. You don’t need a gym membership or own expensive equipment either as many exercises can be done at home such as isometric resistance exercises.

These recommendations will not only help improve your experience on the Jiu-Jitsu mat, but will improve the quality of your everyday life. Who doesn't want to look better, feel better, and live a longer, healthier life? Good luck and we’ll see you on the mat. - Prof Greg Eldred

Bullying is becoming a serious problem in today’s society. Whether it’s mental, verbal, physical, or even cyber bullying, it needs to be stopped. Bullying is more common than we realize. Studies show that between 15 – 25% of all kids up through high school age are bullied, while many bullying incidents go unreported. That’s almost 1 out every 4 kids are bullied. It is estimated that each day 160,000 kids will miss school for fear of being bullied.

Many adults don’t even know that their child is being bullied because many are afraid to report it. It’s important to talk to your children and get to know how things are going at school, social events, in the neighborhood, or even sporting activities. Specifically ask your child how are they being treated by other kids. That will help open the dialog, and could expose potential problems your child may be having with others. Even if your child is not encountering bullying problems it’s good to educate them about the topic, and prepare them with the means to deal with it if it happens to them. There are many good resources online for parents and kids to learn about bullying and more importantly to learn about prevention and intervention strategies.

In many cases if our kids simply stand up to the bullying they can stop it. But many don’t stand up for themselves because they don’t know what to do, especially when the bullying gets physical. That’s where, as a last stand, we need to arm our kids with a physical means to defend themselves if they are attacked. Statistics show that almost half of all bullying incidents end up in physical violence. If at all possible we want to avoid physical means of self-defense by using other intervention strategies, but sometimes we have no choice. If a child is empowered with self-defense skills, that will give them the confidence to deal with a bully who is using physical aggression against them. More importantly the confidence they gain will help them in other aspects of their lives and increase their overall self-esteem. Generally when kids have higher confidence and self-esteem, they tend to be a lesser target for would be bullies. Don’t wait until it is too late, start empowering your kids today, before they become victimized by bullying.

Many people ask me how I got started “teaching” Gracie/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, so I thought I’d share that here in part 3.  It was actually Rorion Gracie’s idea.  I was a student at the Gracie Academy for almost 3 years, and was about to relocate to Cincinnati, Ohio for a new job.  In October 1993, I met with Rorion in his office a few weeks before moving, and he presented me with an idea he had about starting training clubs or associations across the United States, as this would be a good way to spread Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.  He said he first needed to get the UFC project off the ground, but would take on that task the following year.  Meanwhile, he got me in touch with several martial arts schools in the Cincinnati area, (schools that were on his mailing list, or that had instructors that attended Gracie seminars), and he suggested I try to hook up with one of them and see if they would be interested to have me start something at their dojo.  When I arrived in Cincinnati, I contacted a Tae Kwon Do school owner named Tom Federle, who he and a couple of his students were familiar with Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, by attending a seminar in the past, and they were very happy to have me train with them at their academy.  Initially it was just a few of us training on Sundays, but over time it grew to about 30 people.  Meanwhile we would also attend Royce Gracie seminars in the region, and as well, had him come to our place.  Additionally, some of us would travel annually to the Gracie Academy in California.  Also, Relson Gracie was regularly coming to Columbus, OH at that time where some of us would go learn from him, taking private lessons.
  
About a year or so later Rorion asked me to be an official charter representative and I became one of the first few Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Training Association Representatives in the United States.  I think initially there were about 6 - 8 locations across the U.S. that started around the 1995 time frame.  Most of us representatives were not certified “teachers” or “instructors” under the Gracie Academy initially.  A representative’s role was to organize and supervise training sessions based on the techniques they learned from seminars, instruction at the Gracie Academy, or by using the Gracie instructional videotape series.  For a representative to call himself a “teacher” or “instructor” he needed to complete a rigorous instructor certification process requiring a significant time commitment and frequent travel to the Gracie Academy in California, which I wasn’t able to do.  Nevertheless, my participation as a TA Representative is how I began to gain experience sharing the art of jiu-jitsu to others.
 
The Gracie Academy was very selective in choosing chapter representatives, and I think eventually they had around 45 Training Associations across the U.S., but could have easily had over 200 if they did not have strict selection criteria.  In late 1996, my job relocated me to Indianapolis, where there I also started a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Training Association.  By that time a few of the guys in Cincinnati (Dale Dean, Harold Roberts, and Andy Nogueira), who had trained with me for a couple years, we’re approved to take over the Cincinnati Training Association.  As a fun piece of trivia, during 1996, my last year in Cincinnati, I had a student member by the name of Rich Franklin, who ended up being one of the most decorated UFC fighters of all time.  - Professor Greg Eldred

This is a continuation of some of my memories and stories about the old days at the Gracie Academy back in the early 90’s.  After exactly one year of training at the Gracie Academy, in January 1992 during one of my classes, Royce had us spar for several minutes near the end of the class.  He didn’t do this all the time, but occasionally, I think to evaluate students.  While we were sparring, Royce left the room for a brief moment, when he returned he presented me with my Blue Belt.  They didn’t do belt testing back then, and it was generally known that you’d be a white belt for at least a year.  I don’t know what ever happened to my original white belt, I probably lost it, but since then I’ve kept all my other belts.  Back then there was no stripe system within each belt color.  You wouldn’t know if someone had been a blue belt for 3 weeks or for 3 years, but the best indicator was how faded and frayed their belt was.  Also,  I only remember there being just a couple purple belt students around.  The Gracie’s didn’t start using the stripe system until 1993 shortly before I moved away from southern California.  In all the classes Royce began notifying the students to sew a black patch at the end of their belt.  Slowly I started to see other students, including myself with black patches on the ends of their belts.  Then it came down to my last class before I moved away, and it was at that time Royce put 2 stripes on my Blue Belt.  Prior to that, I had not seen any other students given their stripe(s) yet, so, I possibly may have been the first student to ever receive them.

I remember one day Rorion Gracie announced an investment opportunity for his students.  A meeting was scheduled one evening at the academy where 30 – 40 of us students showed up.  Rorion and an advertising executive named Art Davie presented an idea for an event called the Ultimate Fighting Challenge, and was looking for investors at $1000 each.  For the Gracie’s that event would be a means for which the Gracie family can promote and prove to the world that Gracie Jiu-Jitsu was a more superior martial art.  It was going to feature different disciplines against one another, in order to determine which martial art style was most effective in no holds barred combat.   At that time it was not affordable for me to be an investor, if I only knew how things would have turned out.  The first UFC was in November 1993, and was held as an 8 man tournament (I believe this format was used until UFC 18) in which Royce Gracie represented the family winning an incredible 3 matches in one evening and became the first UFC Champion.  Royce went on to win UFC 2 and 4 and fought to a draw with Ken Shamrock in a Superfight in UFC 5.  Shortly after UFC 5, the Gracie’s sold their portion of the UFC reportedly due to the implementation of time limits and other rules imposed on the fighters that went against BJJ fighting philosophy.  Also, by that time the Gracie’s had already proven their point about Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.  After 30 years and 285 UFC events later we pretty much see that most competitors are using Jiu-Jitsu in some aspect of their game.  As a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Training Association Representative the Gracie Academy used to send me UFC posters to display at our club.  I still have my Royce Gracie autographed UFC 5 poster hanging up at my academy, but for the likes of me I don’t know what ever happened to the earlier posters.

People always ask me how I starting teaching Gracie/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, so I will talk about that in Part 3. - Thanks,  Professor Greg Eldred    

     Greg & Helio Gracie

I started taking lessons at the Gracie Academy in Torrance, CA almost 32 years ago in January 1991.  This was 3 years before the first UFC, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was mostly unknown at that time here in the United States.  The UFC platform helped propel the Gracie family name and their style of martial art into mainstream America and the rest of the world.   A friend of mine, and long time martial artist of several disciplines, first told me about the Gracie’s, as he had already been taking lessons from them for a couple of months.  He couldn’t believe the effectiveness yet simplicity of the things these skinny mild mannered Brazilians were teaching him.  He said that what he had learned in those few months of practicing jiu-jitsu would be much more beneficial to him in a real street fight than the many years of his other martial arts experienced combined.  He encouraged me to come to class with him to check things out, and said the Gracie brothers were very nice and welcoming to everyone.  So, I did just that, I went to the Gracie Academy with my friend one evening and I immediately knew it was something I wanted to be involved in.  I was the Gracie Academies 197^th student.

Back then students started out with privates lessons.  The academy had 2 small rooms, and a larger room for bigger classes.   For the first 6 months or so all of my lessons were one on one with either Royler, Royce, or Rorion in one of the small private rooms.  They focused on teaching new students street self defense, including, the club, knife, and gun techniques, as well as fundamental ground techniques.  Eventually students were put into small semi-private classes of 2 – 3 other students.  I don’t remember classes being any bigger than that, at least not until after the first UFC and their popularity skyrocketed.  After my first year Royler moved back to Brazil, then most of my classes from then on were with Royce, and occasionally with Rorion or Rickson.  Eventually, Rickson started branching out on his own teaching classes at a couple other locations.  People always ask me if Rickson was incredible, and the answer is always yes.  There was also a Brown Belt named Craig Kukuk, who started teaching some classes at that time, who soon after became the first American to receive a Black Belt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.   And I’ll never forget a Black Belt named Fabio Santos who they brought in to teach at the academy too.  Fabio is one of the nicest guys you could meet, and yet looks like one tough dude, who also had some of the greatest fight stories.

The Gracie’s used to have challenge matches at the academy, where local martial artists of all types would call them up and challenge them to a no-rules match to see whose style is really the best.  The Gracie’s used to upset some in the martial arts community with their claims that they had the most realistic and effective style of martial art, so many lined up to try and disprove that.  I had the privilege of witnessing several of these fights, where Royce or Royler always emerged victorious, and it only deepened my desire to make jiu-jitsu a permanent part of my life.  Some of the fights I witnessed are on a video they produced called “Gracie in Action II”.  If you’ve ever seen it I’m one of the students standing up against the wall.  In one challenge match I witnessed, the challenger cried after being beat because he was so devastated and upset that his technique was not effective against Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. - Part II will be coming soon.  Professor Greg Eldred

At some point on your jiu jitsu journey it will be time for you to start participating in open mat or sparring sessions, often referred to as “rolling” in jiu-jitsu.  Some schools don’t advise of it until a student has sufficient background, which may vary from just a couple months to several months of practice.  In any case it’s an integral part of the learning process, and it will put you on the path to increasing your proficiency in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.  Initially your training may start with technique learning and repetition, but eventually your training should consist of these 3 basic parts:  Technique learning, drilling, and sparring.  

Some people might have the mindset that sparring is just for those who desire jiu-jitsu competition. That is far from the truth.  Sparring has many benefits as I will share some with you, whether you’re intending to compete or not.  Nothing else prepares you for a real fight, or competition as well as live sparring.  It’s a great way to get and stay in shape as it is a high cardiovascular workout.  Keeping your body in shape has all the health benefits, but more importantly if you are attacked on the street you’ll have the endurance to properly defend yourself and go the distance to achieve a successful outcome, likewise in competition.  

Regular sparring also gives you the chance to practice the techniques you have learned.  It gives you the opportunity to try your stuff out against a live, resisting opponent, as opposed to your partner typically being more cooperative when just practicing techniques in class.  Sparring also helps improve the timing of applying your techniques, and your reaction time to your opponents movements and behavior. Throughout the sparring match your body will be in a number of different positions, and you will learn how to react and deal with all of those situations that may come up in a real fight, or in competition.  You will get in bad positions especially if you spar with higher ranking students, and that’s when sparring also will help develop your patience and teach you to not use your strength, but rather to rely on your technique and skill.  Sparring also helps develop your strategic thinking and to anticipate your opponents movements. You will learn to always be one step ahead of your opponent as you will be able to plan out a sequence of moves in advance, or you will be able to defend off some action of theirs in advance.

The more often you spar the better off you will be when or if the time comes for you to use your jiu-jitsu, whether it’s in competition or if you find yourself in a real fight.  A student once told me who was attacked out on the street that because of his frequent sparring and drilling in class the actual fight felt as if he were training at the academy.  He felt comfortable, had confidence, didn’t panic, and his jiu-jitsu reflexes just kicked in.  The last thing you want to happen in a fight is for it to feel unfamiliar or awkward.  You have techniques in your mind, but you’re not comfortable or polished in combining them in sequences, or connecting the dots as we say.  This can be a bad feeling and a bad outcome.      

This discussion is intended to convince you that you need to incorporate sparring into your training regimen.  How to spar and things to consider while sparring to get the most out of your training is a whole other topic.  Meanwhile, keep polishing your techniques, and find time to incorporate sparring into your routine.

Good Luck and have fun -  Greg Eldred

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 29 years since the first UFC. As a student at the Gracie Academy back then I received this flyer in the mail in early October 1993 promoting the first UFC. I was in the middle of a job relocation at the end of October and was unable to attend. Of course looking back I really wish I would have gone, but instead my wife and I watched on TV from our new apartment in Cincinnati, OH with the other 86,000 pay per view subscribers. Can you imagine $50 ring side seats? I was confident Royce was going to be successful that night since I had already been training with him for 3 years and knew first hand the effectiveness of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. By then I had already witnessed several challenge fights at the Gracie Academy, which a few are showcased in the “Gracie In Action” video series. I don’t think it was ever intended to be, but UFC 1 was the launch of a new sport which we now call MMA. It did for sure show the world the effectiveness of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and helped it become the fastest growing martial art on the planet.  Prof. Greg Eldred

With the growing popularity of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu more and more people are giving it a try. But how does one decide which academy is right for you? Where ever you train you need to plan on going to class at least 2 times per week. Going to a jiu-jitsu academy is not like belonging to a health club, where you show up, use the equipment and leave. It’s an educational and learning environment. So, first and foremost you need to look into the quality of instruction. You should look into the background of the head instructor. You can do some of that homework online. You should sit in on a class to see how a class is ran. Is it a structured class? Does the instructor communicate in an understanding and logical way? Do they have a beginners curriculum?  Does the school focus more on Self Defense (street) or competition jiu-jitsu? Also, ask students in the class about their experiences there. Most academies have a trial period which is a great way for you get a better feel for the quality of the instruction. So definitely take advantage of a trial period.

Another big thing to consider is what the atmosphere is like. Is everyone friendly to one another? How are people treating each other? Are the students helpful to you and to others. Do the other students seem to be happy there? Is it a place where you seem to belong? You will be spending a lot of time there each week so you want to make sure you are comfortable there and you fit in. Many students make great friendships that extend beyond the walls of the school.

Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art that requires a lot of physical contact. So there will be sweat and sometimes blood. Skin infections could occur if academies are not cleaning the mats each day, or if they are letting people train with skin conditions. Take note of the facilities cleanliness. Are they mopping the mats regularly? Are others training with exposed skins conditions? Also, students should be wearing clean uniforms each class. These are some things you should definitely observe when you take some trial classes. Most jiu-jitsu schools should have a hygiene policy.

And finally a word about price. Many people ask about the price before they even visit the school and look into the most important things which are covered in this article. As mentioned before a jiu-jitsu school is an educational institution, so expect pay at least $100 per month or more depending on the market you live in. It doesn’t matter what the price is, if the instruction is bad, the people are unfriendly, and the place is dirty.

If you want to get started on the right path in your search for a place to train consider these facets of a jiu jitsu school before you sign on the dotted line.

Should you get in shape before starting Jiu Jitsu Lessons?

From time to time while meeting with a prospected student I hear they want to “get in shape” before they start training jiu-jitsu.  I thought I’d share my thoughts on it.

What does getting in shape actually mean?  There’s not really one definition.  It can be everything to having muscular strength, to cardiovascular endurance, to having low body fat, or even having good flexibility.  But it really depends on what your goals are.  Due to the fact you’re visiting a jiu-jitsu school, I believe you desire to learn an effective martial art for self-defense.  Maybe you have in your mind you may also want to one day compete in sport competition, or even MMA, and you can eventually work towards those goals too, but for now let’s just consider you’re starting at the beginning.

What I tell those who think they need to get in shape first is to consider this.  If you want to improve your life stop making excuses or procrastinating about it, and dive right in. Participation in a jiu-jitsu program does not require strength, nor speed or quickness, nor tremendous flexibility, nor lean body fat, nor considerable cardiovascular endurance.  It’s an art that uses principles of  leverage, timing, efficiency, and control.  But this does not mean that practicing jiu-jitsu won’t help or show improvements in any of those areas.  You most definitely will see changes and improvements that will happen over time.  In other words, you’ll get in shape for jiu-jitsu by doing jiu-jitsu. As you practice jiu-jitsu a transformation will take place.  Your energy levels will increase, you will gain more confidence, your brain is being stimulated because you’re learning new things, you will increase your endurance, strengthen your muscles, will notice increased flexibility, and may even lose weight. 

You will then be living the jiu-jitsu lifestyle. You will be attending class at the academy several days a week, but also taking other measures outside of the academy to improve your overall health and state of mind.  Ultimately, you will be living your life in better physical condition, with less stress and anxiety, with more confidence, and especially you will have the preparedness to defend yourself if the situation arises. - Professor Greg Eldred  

Bullying is becoming a serious problem in today’s society. Whether it’s mental, verbal, physical, or even cyber bullying, it needs to be stopped. Bullying is more common than we realize. Studies show that between 15 – 25% of all kids up through high school age are bullied, while many bullying incidents go unreported. That’s almost 1 out every 4 kids are bullied. It is estimated that each day 160,000 kids will miss school for fear of being bullied.

Many adults don’t even know that their child is being bullied because many kids are afraid to report it. It’s important to talk to your children and get to know how things are going at school, social events, in the neighborhood, or even sporting activities. Specifically ask your child how are they being treated by other kids. That will help open the dialog, and could expose potential problems your child may be having with others. Even if your child is not encountering bullying problems it’s good to educate them about the topic, and prepare them with the means to deal with it if it happens to them. There are many good resources online for parents and kids to learn about bullying and more importantly to learn about prevention and intervention strategies.

In many cases if our kids simply stand up to the bullying they can stop it. But many don’t stand up for themselves because they don’t know what to do, especially when the bullying gets physical. That’s where, as a last stand, we need to arm our kids with a physical means to defend themselves if they are attacked. Statistics show that almost half of all bullying incidents end up in physical violence. If at all possible we want to avoid physical means of self-defense by using other intervention strategies, but sometimes we have no choice. If a child is empowered with self-defense skills, that will give them the confidence to deal with a bully who is using physical aggression against them. More importantly the confidence they gain will help them in other aspects of their lives and increase their overall self-esteem. Generally when kids have higher confidence and self-esteem, they tend to be a lesser target for would be bullies. Don’t wait until it is too late, start empowering your kids today, before they become victimized by bullying.

Congratulations to Carson Eldred for placing 2nd in the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals on Feb 22nd. Carson finished his senior year with a record of 42-3 with his 3 loses only to Zeke Seltzer who Carson wrestled “under the lights” at Bankers Life Fieldhouse with a crowd of over 10,000 spectators for the 120 lb state title on Saturday night. Zeke was undefeated at 43-0, ranked #1 in the state and #13 in the nation. Carson was ranked #4 in the state.

It’s a huge accomplishment even making it to the state tournament, and even more astounding making it to the final. The state of Indiana and only California and New Jersey have one wrestling class which makes it extremely difficult to be a wrestling state finalist. Only 16 wrestlers from each weight class earn a trip to the state finals. After the first round on Friday night only 8 wrestlers move on to the 2nd and 3rd rounds to determine 1st through 8th placement on Saturday.

This was Carson’s 3rd trip to Bankers Life during his High School career. He placed 4th at 113 lbs as a sophomore, a state qualifier at 120 lbs as a junior, and state runner up his senior year. This season Carson also broke Westfield High Schools career fall (pin) record with 92 falls previously was 77 held by his brother Evan. He also came 1 match short of equaling the school career win record of 153 also held by Evan. Carson’s High School career record was 152 – 26.

Carson is not the first Eldred to make the trip to the state tournament. His oldest brother Dillon was a state qualifier his senior year at 138 lbs, and Evan qualified his freshman year at 120 lbs, placed 6th at 132 lbs his junior year, and 3rd at 138 lbs his senior year.

Let’s be real, the world we live in is not a safe place.  There are bad people out there looking for victims to prey on. Therefore, you need to know how to protect yourself in case someone targets you for reasons of harassment, theft, rape, or to cause bodily harm.  Not being prepared can result in serious consequences such as unwanted sexual proposals and action, serious injury or even death. You cannot control the desires and behavior of such bad people, but you can certainly take actions to minimize and prevent yourself from being the one chosen for the attack.  And if you are attacked the use of self defense techniques and strategies can save your life.

Whether the attack is physical or sexual, the experience can leave both emotional and physical scars that can last a lifetime.  You will never be the same.  You will always replay the attack over in your mind wondering what you could have done differently to avoid or escape from the situation.  You will question yourself as to why you never took a women’s self defense class. 

There are three steps you must do to better protect yourself from would be attackers.  1.) You must have a greater awareness.  You need to pay better attention to your surroundings, as this is your first line of defense.  Attackers are looking for easy victims who are not aware, as they are easy targets, because they have the element of surprise at their advantage. 2.) You must take measures to reduce your risks.  This can be from how you look, to how you act, and even how you talk.  Also don’t go into isolated areas alone, and if you are going out, go with people and stay around people.  Make sure your body language shows a sense of confidence.  If you don’t feel comfortable going to certain places, then don’t go there. 3.) Take a self defense class.  The best way, in fact, the only way to prepare yourself to fight off an attacker is to take a self defense class.  Self defense classes can teach you special techniques for breaking from an attacker’s grasp and other things you can do to get away.

Many women might take action by implementing the first two steps mentioned above, and skip the self defense training.  But what do you do when those barriers are broken down, you let your guard down for that one moment, and suddenly you are in a frightening situation?  Crime can happen to anyone at anytime, even if you are prepared.  Taking a women’s self defense class will empower you to stand up for yourself and take control of your own life.

There should be no excuses when it comes to your personal safety. Women's self defense classes are not expensive.  They are not hard to find, and they don’t take a big time commitment.  So take the time and find a class. Enroll and attend. Do a friend or family member a favor and take them along with you.

I’d like to share some thoughts on the importance of operating a jiu-jitsu program using standardized curriculums.  At one time most all group classes were taught in what seemed to be a random fashion. I singled out group classes because I believe in the private class setting the instructor was able to keep better track of what they were teaching each student.  I for one started out with private lessons with Royce and Royler Gracie for at least my first 6 months and recall learning in a logical sequence.  But in the group class setting it’s much harder to control the logical progression of learning because you have a mixture of students with different experience levels, so it becomes easier for the instructor to teach classes randomly.

I remember almost 30 years ago the Gracie’s used to say there’s about 600 techniques in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Students would show up to a group class and learn whatever was taught that day, without a clear understanding of a logical path to follow.  However, over time students would eventually repeat techniques and began to improve their proficiency.

Today Jiu-Jitsu has grown into the worlds most popular martial art, and I would conservatively say there are several thousand techniques being taught, however many of those were developed specific for sport competition.  But still today many BJJ instructors are teaching without curriculums.

At our Academy we have curriculums for every program we offer. That’s one reason we are an Academy instead of just a BJJ gym, as we are an educational institution for learning that has programs and processes in place for doing so.  What we provide is an integrated, coherent system of classes with techniques organized in a logical sequence which our students are better able to follow along without being overwhelmed.  With a curriculum classes are more structured and disciplined.  This teaching approach allows the students to focus on a certain set of techniques over a period of time rather than getting a hodge podge of techniques presented to them randomly. Our curriculums are on a cycle that repeats at a consistent interval.  As a result, students get proficient, gain confidence, develop their reflexes, and begin to perform techniques instinctively. This is especially important in the unforeseen event one finds themselves in an altercation or attack where they need to draw upon their training for protection.

Also, by having curriculums we are better able to incorporate our philosophy across all our classes and programs. Our philosophy is to teach jiu-jitsu first and foremost as a martial art and self-defense system.  Having a curriculum also allows an academy with multiple instructors to teach the techniques with consistency.  At our academy every instructor goes through a rigorous training process centralized around a thorough understanding of our curriculums.

With all our curriculums we are constantly evaluating and scrutinizing every detail of each technique to make sure the most effective aspects of each technique are defined and taught. The end goal is to benefit the students in their journey of learning jiu-jitsu in the most effective way, by providing a superb learning environment while they maintain motivation and are excited to attend classes. - Prof Greg Eldred