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Keys to Conscious Jiu Jitsu Improvement

Dan “Micro BJJ” Faggella Interviews Multi-Time World
Champions Gui and Rafa Mendes

Gui Rafael
Mendes Mendes
Dan Faggella

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by Daniel Faggella
special thanks to special guests Rafa / Gui Mendes
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Thank You Page

I’d like to say a big thank you here to the Mendes brothers, who took the
time after their seminar in New York to grab some pizza and get deep on
the topic of Conscious Jiu Jitsu Improvement.

Another big thanks to Joe Capizzi who invited me to the Mendes seminar
and was nice enough to let me interview Gui and Rafa in his home in
Staten Island.

Without the insights of experts and champions like these guys, I wouldn’t
have nearly as much to write and share, and I certainly never would have
gotten 4-second leg lock matches at expert division tournaments!

Thanks again, guys!

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ARTICLE 1:
How to Focus and What to Focus ON
Getting better at grappling… In the past 10
years the Mendes brothers have done a lot of it.
From Rafa’s raising up to beat Cobrinha at an
absurdly young age, to Gui’s first world
championship – the grappling community has
been in relative “awe” regarding their success.

I first saw Rafa’s match (when he was 17, I

believe) against Bruno Frazato at the Brazilian
ADCC trials and I remember thinking “this kid is
unreal.” Sure is.

You can bet that when I had the opportunity to

interview these guys (some of which took place
in a great little random pizza joint near Joe Capizzi’s gym in Staten Island,
NY), one of the first things I wanted to know about was how they focus on
and develop the various aspects of their game.

Practical Advice on BJJ Game Development from

Gui and Rafa Mendes
Rafael and Guillerme had a relatively simple algorithm for building on
individual elements on one’s game, and focusing on improvement:

1 Pick 3 Top Techniques to Develop (IE: 3 Leg Drag Techniques)

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2 Pick 3 Bottom Techniques to Develop (IE: Arm Drag, 2 Inverted De

La Riva Sweeps)
3 Pick 3 Submissions to Develop (IE: Arm Triangle, Anaconda, RNC)
Now if you were to look at Rafa’s full game plan for his 2009 or 2011 ADCC
preparations, you’d see 3 months of intensely mapped out sequences,
areas of emphasis, physical exercises, etc…

However, when it comes to determining areas of focus in building your Jiu

Jitsu game– the brothers have a pretty strait-forward concept to share:

Keep it Simple
They’d likely warn against randomly focusing on a different move each day,
or focusing on a single technique at the expense of the rest of your game.
In their’3x3x3′ model, you can pretty much always be working on a distinct
area in your game wherever you are.

If your only focus is sweeps, then what do you have to do when you get on
top? Pull guard? Its not the end of the world, but it could certainly hinder
the other elements of your game.

Just another perspective to consider when as you build your BJJ game.
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ARTICLE 2:
Innovation and the Evolution of BJJ
I’ve been doing this whole “interview super good BJJ performers“ thing for
a while now, and I can say pretty frankly that the Mendes Brothers are
about as sharp as it gets when it comes to training methodology and skill
development.

When I finally had the time to pick their brains over pizza after a seminar at
Joe Capizzi‘s gym on Staten Island, I knew that innovation would be on the
very first topics I brought up.

“Be Like Water” – Rafa / Gui Mendes

We’ve all heard Bruce
Lee say it (or… most of
us I hope), but
traditionally the analogy
isn’t brought up in BJJ.
The brothers told me
that on their belt they
have Japanese
calligraphy representing
the phrase.

Essentially, they’re
committed to finding a
better way, an easier way, to do anything, or to beat anyone. They don’t
like the idea of grinding away at a method just for the sake of hard work.
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What sets them apart is their overall orientation towards training – which
tends to be:

Maximum Physical Training + Maximum Strategic Planning +

Maximum Feedback Intake

They weren’t afraid to say that they have all the DVD’s from the people
they compete against, and many, many more. Rafa posed the question: “If
there is a way to learn something new or get a new idea, why would I not
use it?”

I agree 100%, and I happen to believe that as Jiu Jitsu evolves and
competition becomes increasingly fierce, we’ll see the competitors at the
top as athletes honed through film analysis, well-planned tournament
preparation strategies, multiple coaches, and more.

Training at our physical limits is much easier for an athlete to do than to

train at his mental limit (forcing himself to learn new things, develop certain
elements of the game, deal with new positions, etc…).

Usually a top-tier coach takes over this role – such as the coaches at the
Olympic Training Center for Judo or Wrestling, or the kind of role
Ronaldo Jacare played forCobrinha in structuring his rigorously
challenging training sessions in Georgia). The fact that the Mendes
brothers (multi-time BJJ world champions, mind you) do this on their
own is pretty impressive when you compare their methods to the
sophistication used by most other world champions of this era.

The Necessity to Innovate

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“When you’re at the top, everyone is watching… you need to evolve your
game” said Guilerme.

The pair have a firm belief that innovation leads to success, and not only
does it serve to help find new and better ways to solve problems, it also
helps to leave a legacy beyond world championship metals – its a
contribution to the sport itself.

Their methods for innovation? Here are a few tips to leverage in your own
training:

1 Stay After Class to Tinker: Rafa and Gui told me that they stick
around for 30 minutes after classes to just talk about what is working
and how to edit techniques and strategies. They not only do this with
their own games, they also help out other competitors. This way, not
only do they get new and varied feedback and ideas, they also get to
work on problems and positions they may have not even though of
yet.
2 Figure Out What’s Working Well and Build: From what I was told,
this is how the leg drag, berimbolo, and other “Mendes classics”
came about. You roll and bunch with high-level grapplers and you
think to yourself “man… that keeps on working… I wonder what’s
going on there?” This is reason to explore, tinker, get feedback from
others, and experiment. It could be your contribution to the BJJ world
– or at least your ace up the sleeve in competition / live rolling.

The famous berimbolo sweep is a good example of what Jiu Jitsu

Innovation can yield:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHikSZK5jc4
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This fits in with the whole “sagittal plane back take” idea I outlined in my
Rafael Mendes BJJ strategy video from way back in the day (well before I
had the privilege of rolling with them).

For now, take a few of these innovation tips and run with them. I’ve gotta go
practice my inverted De La Riva variations…

Sincerely,

-Daniel Faggella
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POPULAR RESOURCES:
Through Science of Skill and Micro BJJ, I’ve been lucky enough to privately
train with and interview many of the world’s BEST light weight grapplers -
picking their brains about what works and what doesn’t in the Real World of
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Here’s a small selection of some of my BEST articles with light weight world
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(1) Multi-Time World Champion Caio Terra

http://scienceofskill.com/caio_terra_bjj_training_tips/

(2) No-Gi World Champ Justin Rader

http://scienceofskill.com/justin-rader-interview-initial-
habits/

(3) ADCC / World Champ Alexandre ‘Soca’

http://scienceofskill.com/becoming-an-elite-bjj-
competitor-alexandre-%E2%80%9Csoca
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Thanks for reading! As a writer for Jiu Jitsu Magazine, Jiu Jitsu Style
(UK), and MMA Sports Mag, I’ve had a number of requests to interview
specific athletes about competitions, DVD releases, events, and more.

For writing inquiries, please contact Timothy at:

info@scienceofskill.com

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