Helio Gracie instructional video

Nothing earth shattering, but interesting to see the man himself demonstrating techniques. Makes you want to never complain about being too old to do stuff, right?

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkv4d_key-ta-gracie-system

I swear, this looks a lot like our black belt TKD self defense training. Funny thing, when the video started I didn't realize it was scrolling up on the screen so was moving my mouse up so I could see the bottom.

Always impressed with people who have reach a good age and are still doing things. He may not be able to move as fast as he was, and perhaps his bones are not as strong as they once were but I am sure he could roll most people up still.

I'm just over half way through it and I'm enjoying it. Wasn't sure if I would as so slow but you can really look at the technique. Many of this stuff I've already learned for self defense training, some I learned in grappling and others I can certainly understand and see where I could use it.

I think an excellent find and many should review it and have their fellow students review. A good training tool.

Nice find Matt!

I agree that the slow demo of each technique allows for a deeper analysis by the viewer. I know that I have been noticing little things that will help improve my technique.

Thanks!
Mike

These are the basic techniques to the Gracie self defense system. The funny thing is these are the basic techniques to every self defense system. To be more precise, everything demonstrated there is found in all other ju-justu schools. Perhaps some things are slightly different for passing the guard, that seems to be a Gracie trademark.

That is something that initially shocked me when I started researching the GJJ techniques. Although they emphasize ground grappling, their stand up is no different than JJJ. Which goes to show that simplicity of technique is the best thing for self defense, this holds true for all styles.

I myself learned many of those techniques in my Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan training including some of the ground work.

What I like to add is soemthing I learned from my kenpo training and it is a bit of a pet peeve of mines. I like to add an initial "shock" attack or to distract my opponent from my intention to lock, sweep, or throw. This is something I fid that is neglected by many arts including GJJ.

Coming from a Traditional Martial Arts myself before taking up BJJ, I initially dismissed the GJJ SD as "sloppy and loose". My traditional training had ingrained that my stance had to be rigid and my movements sharp, crisp and snappy. We were taught that you had to "shock 'em before you lock 'em", etc.

Now, I see the relaxed stances as an extension of the philosophy I adopted later as a Blue Belt. Going with the flow now seems like the best way to teach it without all the drama and theatrics.

Tek,
the atemi used in JJJ had two purposes... one was to break the structure of your opponent by causing a slight movement in reaction to the atemi. The other, was to focus their attention onto the initial attack (atemi) so that their limbs or balance were "secondary thoughts".

It's been taught a million different ways in many arts, but that's the definable purpose of the "shock" before the technique is executed. If I was defining it in Aikido terms, it would be "distracting the attacker to take the lead", but most arts aren't taught with that in mind. JJJ uses that all the time, and people who practice both jujutsu and Aikido understand it as the most effective method of taking the lead without much movement. FWIW