Hey Dereck,
Thanks for the rousing endorsement! Yep, David Meyer is the real deal and I am really looking forward to the seminar. And, I am thrilled that MattJ and RangerG are going to make it. I don't think they'll be disappointed.

As Mr. Meyer said on the phone last week, even experienced grapplers who think they already know the basics will learn a great deal at his seminars. He's not bragging, he's just pointing out that very few people focus enough on the minute details of grappling, so he's always able to show them ways to improve upon the knowledge they already have.

I'm psyched! Now, I need to get some mat time in. My instructor has been in Australia for the past two weeks training with his hapkido master (Geoff Booth) so I've only been able to grapple once in the past two weeks. While he was in Australia my instructor got to train at Elvis Sinosec's school (though Elvis wasn't there--he had...ummm...left the building ). So, we're going to train this Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday afternoon to get ready for the seminar. My wife's going out of town this weekend so I get to train!!!

Later.
Todd R

Got back from the seminar.

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME GREAT STUFF GOTTA MOVE TO CALIFORNIA AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Had a really good time. Partnered up with RangerG for the seminar. DM is a great instructor. He concentrated on very basic concepts, but showed clearly how they can make or break your game. I spent about an hour before doing this post writing notes from the seminar. So much good stuff...

One of his biggest things with us was to keep pressure on the opponent when you are on top. He showed me how I was not really doing that enough, and that by keeping my hip on the opponent from side control, how much of a difference that made.

He also made a good point of showing us why it is bad to be flat on your back if the opponent is on top. He showed us to block the opponent's arms from getting behind our heads while getting to our sides. It really does keep you more mobile.

He also showed us about getting to our hands/knees if possible, even if that means having your back under the opponent. As long as you keep the opponent directly in front of you, he will have a hard time getting to your back (with any kind of decent finishing techniques).

I was really struck by how different ground fighting is from stand up stuff. Good balance by even weight distribution is a core concept of stand up fighting. However, on the ground, even weight distribution will limit your mobilty and let the opponent know when AND where you are moving.

Dave showed us what he called the "ninja mount" from side control. It involves keeping ALL your weight on the opponent's upper body, so you can move your lower body easily. It also makes the opponent have a hard time discerning when you are going to move, because there is no weight shift from your lower body. All your weight is already on his upper body. Very confusing, but makes perfect sense when you do it!

Can't say enough about what a good instructor Dave Meyer is. If anyone has a chance to train with him, I HIGHLY recommend it. One of the best seminars I have ever been to.

PS -

RangerG is a tough but helpful martial artist. He gave me very good feedback on when things were or were not working as I applied them. His endurance is also quite impressive. As matter of fact, I had to "slow him down" a bit so that I could keep up. My AKK refuses to be kept quiet for long!!

Hope the nose is OK, Ranger!

SCORE SO FAR -

MattJ - 3 (busted noses, that is)

Oldman - 0
RazorFoot - 0
RangerG - 0

Butterfly - 10 (I couldn't walk right for days....nay, WEEKS even, after those damn thigh kicks!)

I'm sure RangerG and ToddR will have more to add. I will have a picture to post soon.

I would also like to add that it was an AWESOME seminar! If anyone gets a chance to attend one of Dave's seminars...DO IT! I learned some techniques that I had not seen anywhere else. I too was writing notes when I got home.

MattJ was a great partner on the mat. He kept things real and challenging. It was fun to add some of my favorite submission holds on him when I had him down. Of course he did pay me back with a broken nose that refused to quit bleeding for about 15 min.... He keeps telling me it was an accident... I think he is racking up a broken nose score

I got to meet ToddR from this forum as well.. A super nice guy and a top notch martial artist. Polite, honorable and humble. I was honored to attend the seminar at his dojo. Watching across the room..I could see that Todd had a real grasp of the techniques (glad he was not my partner...I get wrapped up enough as it is).

The big shock was that Dave Meyer is about seven years younger than I... S'cuse me while I go take my geritol..

All in all it was a great seminar. Matt was a great partner to work with...and his skills are top notch..heck..he almost had my back at one point...

Matt..always a pleasure.
Todd..an honor to meet you Sir.

Time for a hot bath and IV Ibuprofen...

Awesome you guys, I knew you'd enjoy David Meyers.

I went to class on Wednesday and was talking with some of the guys who came with me to the seminar and were talking about how we should have picked up some of his discs. When changing and getting ready to leave my Instructor walked and and secretly handed me a disc. Knowing my enthusiasm they had acquired a disc for me ... which I am very greatful for.

David is a good Instructor. Can break things down so well that makes it easy to understand and apply. I can understand why my Instructor and his partner train under him. They will be going to see him in San Fransisco in the very near future. I can't wait for the opportunity when he comes back to further train.

Again I'm glad you all enjoyed him. I'm going to sit down and take notes off of the disc and one of the blackbelts who is doing the same, and also was a person to get the disc for me ... thanks to him too ... said he'd like to get together with me to train more on them. I'm there!

Maybe one day I will get a chance to train with some of you as well. That would be something to look forward to in the future. The world is already getting smaller as we have this board plus have trained with the same Instructor. It is not to harder to imagine.

Sounds like you guys had some fun! Glad to hear you folks doing well, learning...and more importantly, hanging out as friends with each other.

Like that ol' beer commercial goes....despite technical differences, ages of participants, just the comraderie of good folk learning together....doesn't get much better than this!

Glad to hear.

-B

Well, it's 5:15AM and I'm about to drive David Meyer to the airport in Baltimore so he can catch a 7:50AM flight back to Oakland/San Franciso. I was so pumped from the seminar that I barely slept at all last night.

I cannot describe how much it meant to me that guys like RangerG and MattJ came down to support my school--those two exemplify everything that is good about the martial arts: talent, humility, respect, and authenticity. It was fantastic to look across the room and see them ROLLING!! They were working it, and having a blast! At one point I looked up and RangerG was trying to staunch the flow of blood from a busted nose. Poor MattJ had this genuine look of distress on his face from the errant elbow (or was it from some good ole' ground and pound?) But, like the professional he is, RangerG just shrugged it off and kept right on rolling. BEAUTIFUL!!!

After a 3 1/2 hour seminar, David rolled with some of the blue belts from Berks County BJJ and despite a wicked cold "managed" to give the guys some lessons in humility. I gotta tell you though, those Berks Co. guys are good! Shane Mock, Mike Siani, and their purple belt former instructor Keith Neff are top-notch guys, and you always see their names in the winners' circle of local and regional BJJ tournaments.

My instructor and I came back to the dojo w/ Mr. Meyer for another 3 1/2 hours to work on our instructor certification and I'm proud to say we passed with flying colors, so we now have the David Meyer seal of approval to teach levels I and II of his Masterclass Grappling curriculum. Not sure when we'll start a class at www.lfmac.com but I'll keep you all posted.

I'll try to post my own notes from the seminar asap but I have a ton of "real" work to do today and I feel a SERIOUS crash coming later this afternoon.

I'll say it again so there's no mistake--RangerG and MattJ are KILLER! Couldn't ask for better friends than them.

Looking forward to doing it again REAL soon.

Cheers.
Todd R

No way I'm training with you any more MattJ, my nose is big enough as it is without you punching and kicking it all the time!

Thanks for the congrats. You just may be in luck--we're probably going to hold the David Meyer curriculum classes on Tues/Thurs from 8:00 - 9:30. These will be with gi and will focus on levels I and II of the Masterclass Grappling Curriculum, so we'll probably do some warmup drills, rep 2-3 techniques, and roll for the remaining 30-45 minutes.

Then, we'll have the no-gi class on Saturday mornings from 10-12, which might actually turn out to be an MMA class since the instructor, Brad Souders, likes to teach standup, clinch, takedowns, and grappling at the same time (and I sure as heck could use work in ALL those areas).

I'll post information about exact days and times, and prices for these classes, as soon as they're available.

A few of us should also plan a trip up to Berks County BJJ (that's where all the belted BJJ guys who were at the seminar were from--really good school w/ some killer grapplers). David Meyer said I need to get up there and get my butt kicked by those guys so I could get better at competitive grappling. Oh boy, that's gonna leave a mark.

Later.
Todd R

Picture from the seminar:


http://img284.imageshack.us/img284/4112/dmseminar7jw.jpg

From the left to the right -

MattJ, Dave Meyer, RangerG, ToddR