New Jiu-jitsu

Last Saturday I attended a seminar with a pretty well known Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Professor Tio Chico Augusto. We worked Butterfly Guard which is a position where one person sits on his knees and the other sits with his feet hooked in behind the bent knees. The one on his knees in the other persons butterfly guard.

We worked about 5 transitions from one move and drilled them for a good long while until we felt pretty comfortable with the movements. After that, we worked guard passing for about 20 minutes as an open mat session. All these moves opened up some big doors for me and one of the biggest realizations I had while rolling was the use of your arms while you sweep your opponent. I have been feeling very comfortable lately (much more comfortable than a few months ago that is) and it has been a little easier for me to move around more freely on the mat, rather then just stay stuck in one area holding onto a position for dear life. My sweeps (when you transition away from you opponent, or move or flip your opponent into defensive position) have been getting much better because of this freedom I've been feeling. But what I found was that I use my legs a lot; I do this because my legs are strong and when I use them I end up staying on my back on the floor which is a little more comfortable for me, but it does not give me a better position. Now, I have the ability to use my arms to just nudge my opponent in the direction he is leaning and the sweep just happens, with me right behind in a perfect position. Beautiful.

Have I mentioned I enjoy this stuff?

Never Stop. GET FIT

Josh Courage

Free Strength Class!!

Alrighty folks! I will begin running a FREE strength training class at the Georgetown location of the great clothing store lululemon athletica.

I have to admit, I've been a huge fan of lululemon despite the fact that their mens section is rather small. But their clothes are so cool! It's that wonderful sweat-wicking material but at the same time they move so freely and look pretty hip at the same time. I know it sounds like I'm giving a major sales pitch here, but ask any of my clients, I wear a lot of their clothes and recommends them all to go check the stuff out. I've even told all my Jiu-Jitsu guys about it too.

Either way, besides the fact that they have great clothes, they also represent a great cause. When I looked into their website I found that their mission is right in line with mine; help get the community active! Along with this, they offer free yoga classes all the time; and now, they are looking to expand their demographic so they are looking to get into other activities.

So I am now offering a free strength class at lululemon Georgetown every Saturday at 10 am. Come on by and join in the fun! My hope is to start offering more and more classes there, so let's get a huge group there!

Never Stop. GET FIT.

Josh Courage

Fox5 Coverage

A few weeks back I was asked to do a special on baseball specific training on Fox5 DC morning news. They titles the special "World Series Workouts" as it was to air live on the Monday before the World Series began.

There were a few teasers shot as the regular, in-studio news cut to commercial, and then we had two separate 4-minute segments where we covered quite a bit of materiel.

Link to Segment 1
Link to Segment 2

I invited a friend and player/client of mine to help out, Wes Walker. He had just received a large scholarship offer to play Division 1 baseball at Niagara (in the same conference I played in college!). And the reporter who was in charge is also a client of mine, Holly Morris, who went on to run the NYC Marathon only two weeks following the shoot.
Make sure to check out Fox5 News on Tuesday, December 2, around 11:45am to see another segment with me, where I talk about power running.

Never Stop. GET FIT.

Josh Courage