The Judo Crusader is trying to get the arm, but Monson it having none of it. This move is tough to get on a person with tree stumps for arms    

The Judo Crusader was protecting his face. Since he wasn’t wearing his mask, he wanted to make sure that he didn’t receive that special and oh-so-loving cross face from Mr. Monson

 Sh–, he passed!!

I’m trying to pull out all the stops and do this funky lil’ footlock that I’ve learned over the years 

I’m trying to pass and return the “favor”

=======================

UPDATE ON JEFF MONSON:

There were rumors that he was Figthing Fedor, then it was Fedor’s brother, and then he was supposed to fight in Pride, and then people said he was out of the UFC, but here’s the real deal, the truth………(I think)   

Jeff Monson just inked a deal with Pride and is fighting Fujita on the 8th
of Arpil.  Fujita is a vey tough and stong competitor and has foudght
the likes of Mirko Crocop, Vanderlei Da Silva and many of the top competitors
in Pride.

Jeff has been traveling extensively in the past couple of months. He competed
in a top Grappling event in England, he’s been traveling and doing appearances
and he recently just returned from Japan because he had to do some PR to
promote the fight with Fujita.

Well The Judo Crusader will be working out with Jeff to mimic Fujita’s grappling
style and 1976 Olympic Gold Medalist Howard Davis will be working with
Jeff on his boxing. Needless to say, Jeff has a lot to prepare for. He just
recently signed the deal and hasn’t had a lot of time to really prep for
the fight, but such is the world of Mixed Martial Arts.

When they call you – you better come running or you won’t be gettin’ a
call again.

So I’ll keep you all updated. Last night was ferocious. We had a good trainng
session that went from 9:00 to 11:00.  I was tired (sleepy tired) and had
a rough time concentrating. The first two rounds Jeff handed The Judo
Crusader a pretty sound beating. But after I got my head in the game
I was smooth sailing.

The Judo Crusader doesn’t like disrobing (for no gi) but he does it
every once in a while on some special occasions.

Of course, any time you get a call from The Snowman, you gotta take your
clothes off  (Haaaaa). Well at least your gi.

Up up and awayyyyy,

The Judo Crusader

P.S. Don’t forget to get The Experience with Dave Camarillo and Rhadi Ferguson

P.P.S. For all my judo folks, The Grip to Win Package featuring 1999 World Champion Jimmy Pedro and 2004 Olympian Rhadi Ferguson is still available

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Doug Rogers said,  “It’s no secret, good judo is a matter of hard work and concentration…. The Best Judo, well maybe I don’t know yet.”

Well I would have to agree and disagree. If you travel like he did and like I did then no, there aren’t any secrets, but if he has the know-how and someone else doesn’t then it is a secret to them.

Opening up your mind, and sometimes your pockets to explore the unkown and/or to acquire an increased amount of knowledge are both critical and crucial for your success.

Take a step in the right direction and pave (pay) your way.

To get started in right direction try www.theinnerrealm.tv  (its absolutely free) and will allow you to test drive The Judo Crusader’s Judo Inner Cirlce for free for 2 months.

Up, Up, and Away………

The Judo Crusader

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(excerpt from Wikipedia – below)

Douglas (”Doug”) Rogers (born January 26, 1941 in Truro, Nova Scotia) was a Canadian Olympic competitor in judo. His best-known achievements are a silver medal in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and gold medals at two Pan American Games, in 1965 and 1967. He was a student of Masahiko Kimura, perhaps one of the greatest judo competitors ever.

As a member of the Takushoku University team coached by Kimura, Doug Rogers won the team pennant at the 1965 All Japan University Championships. He was selected as Best Fighter at the same tournament.

Doug had arrived in Japan some five years earlier at the age of 20 with the specific intention of working on his judo. He had always been athletic. As a youth, he had won the Ontario Minor Hockey Championships as the highest-scoring defenceman in the tournament. At age 15 he joined the judo club at the Montreal YMCA. It was not long before his sensei there told him there was nothing left for him to teach and directed him over to Fred Okimura’s Montreal Seidokwan dojo. He continued practicing while in high school, winning the Eastern Canada brown belt title in 1958. The following year he won the black belt title. Despite a promising academic career at McGill University, Doug Rogers applied to the Kodokan, was accepted and boarded a plane for Japan in 1960.

Training was informal. There were occasional lessons in the foreign dojo on another floor, but most practice took place in the vast main dojo. The quality of the practice depended very much on who was there. The best judo at the time was coming out of the police academy and universities and these groups would come to the Kodokan for practice on a weekly basis. Doug made a special effort to train with the judoka from the police academy and Takudai University. It was in this way that he got to meet Kimura, who was the Takushoku University coach and one of its most famous alumni .

Word was out that Doug Rogers was a strong competitor, and a handful for even the best judokas in Japan. The Canadian Olympic Committee were looking for medal hopefuls and jumped at the idea of having a medal hopeful already located in Japan, and were ready to recruit him for the team. They were less than delighted, however, when Doug returned to Canada to compete in the nationals and were reluctant to pay for his airfare back to Japan for the games. Eventually they settled for paying a one-way ticket and Doug Rogers was ready to go. His day at the Olympics is best described by Frank Moritsugu, a contemporary of his.

“With coach Frank Hatashita at matside, on that October 1964 day at the Budokan, Doug had an easy time in the early rounds. In the semis he clearly decisioned a tough opponent, the bull-like Soviet competitor P. Chikviladze, eliminating one of the possible winners. Then came the heavy weight finals where his opponent was Isao Inokuma, the all-Japan champion. Inokuma was shorter and many pounds lighter but much more experienced and perhaps Japan’s supreme judo technician. And he was an occasional training partner of Rogers at the Kodokan. Theirs was a hard-fought match which we watched agonizingly on our TV sets here in Canada. Neither man could throw the other cleanly although both managed to complete throws which ended off the tatami. At the end of a truly championship bout, it was a narrow decision for Inokuma but with his silver medal, Doug Rogers had become Canada’s first judoka to mount the Olympic medal podium at the first Olympics where judo was included.”

It was only after the Olympics that Doug Rogers went to train full time with Kimura and the Takushoku (Takudai) team. He felt very close to Kimura, regarded him as a father figure and stayed in touch with him until his death in 1993. Kimura was a kind man, a lover of bonsai plants and very loyal to his students. On the mat, he demanded a very high level of physical fitness and concentrated on training simple, strong judo moves. His training style was somewhat informal compared to the strict etiquette and bowing rituals practiced in the western world to this day. He often came onto the mats in sweat pants and threw on a judogi only as needed to demonstrate a technique.

In the summer of 1965 Doug Rogers joined the All Japan University Championships as a member of the Takushoku University team and helped them bring the winner’s penant back to Takudai for the first time in many years. Not only was Doug the first non-Asian foreigner to take part in this tournament, he was also named as best fighter in the tournament.

“One more year,” Kimura had told him, “and there will be no opponents left for you to beat.” But Doug Rogers did not have one more year. Judo brought a degree of fame in Japan but no fortune, and unlike the more flexible working world of today, people had to build a career when young. He had attained his private pilot’s license at the age of 16 and had always hoped to be a professional pilot. At the ripe old age of 24 the clock was ticking and Doug chose to return to Canada to pursue his career as a pilot.

After a summer tour of many Japanese universities with the Takudai team and after many great parties, Doug Rogers was seen off at the airport by his teammates carrying their winner’s pennants and by his coach Masahiko Kimura.

Doug Rogers went on to win gold at two Pan-American games and several Canadian National championships. Another mark of Doug Rogers’ judo skill is his taking of 4th place at the 1972 Olympics despite having been out of serious training for many years. Once in Canada, he was spending hours a day in a cockpit rather than on the mats. He no longer had Kimura as a coach nor did he have the quality of partner that a world champion really needs.

Doug Rogers has now retired from a long career as an airline pilot. He is married with four grown-up children (all of whom are outstanding athletes). Although less active in Judo today he still frequents local Judo tournaments and from time to time is an invited guest/coach at Judo clubs through out Greater Vancouver, British Columbia.
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Rogers“

One of the key areas in which you can see MASSIVE improvement in your judo is through time management. So my question to you today is – “What do you do after practice?”

Are you sitting around shooting the s–t?

Are you lying down stretching?

Do you eat right afterwards?

……..What are you doing?

At the Olympic  Training Center it was common practice for many individuals to hop into the sauna, jump into a whirlpool, or ice down after practice.  Not me…. The thing that I did immediately after practice was an after practice assessment and a note taking exercise.

That’s right. I took notes after my practice adn I did an assessment based upon what I did that day, what I ate and what I did in terms of physical training.  I had to. If not, how would I know the reasons why my practices were good and/or why they were bad.

And once I figured out why my practices were good or bad, I could prepare myself mentally for the next day that I had a repeated series of events.

For example. If I had a poor practice and I knew that on that day I had a very tough weight room workout in the morning, followed by a long film session, and then homework, lunch and a short nap. Then I knew the next time that I had the same series of events I would have to enter practice with more mental toughness and greater mental acuity so that I could maintain a high level of focus in practice.

Doing things like this are painful, but necessary if you want to be good. This extends beyond just having a diary and is more along the lines of moving towards the process of self-actualization. Meaning, you know what YOU need to do in order for YOU to get better. The Judo Crusader is always preaching about “off the mat” practices to improve “on the mat” performance. Well, this is one of the key things that you can implement which will have an awesome effect on your career.

If you are looking to improve and are interested in more and similar strategies, secrets and tools such as this, then you must immediately get your hands on The Gold Mettle Plan at –>  www.goldmettleplanpackage.com

Take care and……….

Up, up and awayyyyyyy,

The Judo Crusader

The Judo Crusader’s body is hurting.  I generally don’t feel like this but it was a submission wrestling practice and I couldn’t train in my cape, so I didn’t have my usually armor on and thus, I’m a little banged up this morning.

To follow up with the last post…..One of the main reasons why The Judo Crusader loves working out and training with Jeff Monson is because Jeff doesn’t mind going all out when we roll. Cross faces, neck cranks, smothering, and all the stuff that would piss people off are all “fair game” when Jeff and I roll.  I enjoy seeing him do well knowing that I was just one of the several cogs, nuts, screws, bolts and tape that held his training together.

It’s always good to look back and know that you could help out with someone’s career, especially as a heavyweight, because heavyweights just don’t have a good deal of practice partners.  Now that The Judo Crusader is on a Crusade he’s out to help out and bridge the gap among all the grappling arts.

So if you need some help, just get in the touch with the Crusader and I’ll fly to a mat near you or you can fly to me. (FYI, even though the Judo Crusader has a cape, he does prefer Delta Airlines at times and likes to fly first class) 

Back to brother Monson. Right now Jeff is prepping for a fight in St. Petersburg, Russia with Bodog, against some dude whose name I can’t pronounce and he is also prepping for the next Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling World Championships. This year’s field of competitors at the Abu Dhabi World Championships are tough. The field is real deep and its gonna be a tough tournament.

Jeff recently won a huge  tournament in England about 10 days ago so technically he’s ready.

That’s about it. Today’s piece of advice from The Judo Crusader is to do yourself a favor a pick up The Gold Mettle Plan Package at www.goldmettleplanpackage.com

And start putting all the “pieces” of your game together right now!!

If there’s one thing that Judo players can learn from Brazilian Jiujitsu it a sense of aggresiveness on the mat. In judo practice Judo players are just too damn nice in matwork and let’s be honest, we tap too damn fast.

Most judokas don’t know any armbar escapes and in practice they don’t even try due to fear of getting a tiny elbow tweak once or twice.  It happens, if you don’t ever get it, you’re not trying to get OUT!!!

Learn the escapes and try to get out.  Also attack matwork with reckless abandon. You can’t fall so you really don’t have to worry about getting hurt. But you need to go hard because you have to practice at the pace that is necessary so that a referee won’t call matte during competition.

So stop looking for a soft spot to lay down and work hard on the mat.

The one place that I used to love to attend practice was San Jose University. Practice in that place was vicious. They trained hard on the mat and in tachiwaza (standing). It was always a good practice with some really good practitioners. I can recall getting roughed up in that place quite a bit. But what I really remember is that amount of World and Olympic Team members and champions that came through that place.  All of them had good matwork.

Put some matwork in your game and improve 100 fold. If you want to see how David Camarillo does it then you can check out The Experience at www.theexperiencedvd.com

Take care.

Up, up, and awayyyyyyyyy,

The Judo Crusader

More Power or More Technique?

One of the most common equations that coaches, practitioners and “fight game” philosophers want to quote is Power = Force x Velocity. This equation actually means that you can exert more power by becoming a stronger athlete or a faster athlete. Often times as a strength and conditioning professional people will come to me and tell me that they want more power, when really they want more endurance. People will tell me that they want more strength when in actuality they want more speed. And many times athletes will come to be and tell me that they will do whatever is necessary to win and that when I tell them that they are in the wrong place!!

I believe in the gym, I believe in resistance exercises. Hell, I love bodyweight exercises and lifting weights, but if you want to win more matches I can tell you right now where you need to spend the bulk of your time and that’s on the mat.

Power is great, putting on mass is good, getting faster is fine, but its all for naught without technique.

The Great Thing About Power

We’ve all seen athletes who are just more powerful than their adversaries and they completely thwart their adversaries’ ability to apply technique. To accumulate such power is rare, but I have seen it on a couple of occasions. I’ve seen it from Submission Wrestling World Champion Jeff Monson and I’ve been blessed to be able to have such power during my judo career. Now, it is not bad to possess such power. The ability to acquire, possess and maintain such power is certainly difficult and is not easy to do.

There is no greater feeling than walking out on the mat and knowing that you are the fastest, strongest and most dominating force out there. Such confidence provides you with a clear advantage.

The Great Thing About Technique

I certainly don’t have to make an argument towards being technically sound. The match between Tim Sylvia and Randy Couture spoke volumes towards the benefits of being technically sound. Watching individuals like Marcelo Garcia and BJ Penn will let you know that being technically sound has its advantages. But the main thing that being technically sound allows you to do is it allows you to maximize the benefit of your developed or current power. When you are technically sound you are spending less energy on wasted movements and therefore you can be a less powerful fighter but feel more powerful than the less technical fighter. It’s similar to jumping in the water and trying to have a swimming race against Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps. Without a doubt, you are stronger than Michael Phelps, but the Phelps is more technically sound when it comes to swimming. He has adapted his body and his game to the environment and you have not. Although you possess more power, you do not have enough power to overcome his acquisition of skill.

So in your quest to become stronger, faster and more powerful, don’t forget the most important thing of all – MORE TECHNIQUE!

Caveat, please don’t look at Power development as a negative. And please don’t ever think that just because someone has a lot of power that they are not technical. I hear people make this assumption about Jeff Monson all the time and it couldn’t be farther from the truth. Remember, accumulating power is a good thing. There are many benefits to it. But make sure that you spend your time wisely, especially in the beginning of your journey as a martial arts student Every movement requires power and you must have it, so don’t look at power development as being evil. The key is not Power or Technique it is the right balance of Power and Technique.

Strength and conditioning just like anything else has its limitations, but the key is to find the “sweet spot” in terms of strength and conditioning AND technical development. Therein lays the key to becoming a champion.

Today The Judo Crusader had an opportunity to attend the 2007 New York Open Judo Tournament. It was a massive tournament and filled with many high caliber judo players. The Judo Crusader met many other fellow Crusaders and friends.   There were a lot of Mixed Martial Arts enthusiasts and Submission Wrestlers and of course Judo players. 

The Judo Crusader

There was movie a couple of years ago that featured  Tom Cruise and the title of the movie was “Eyes Wide Shut”. Just recently, The Judo Crusader held a Teleseminar with 1999 Judo World Champion Jimmy Pedro and after the seminar some people couldn’t grasp the gravity, the importance or the benefit of such a great, and FREE teleseminar. 

Well, what I’ve found out in my years as a martial artist that if someone is trying to show you a new technique and you immediately don’t think that it works or if you’re going through all the defenses to the move in your mind, then the technique will never work for  you because you are unable to “receive” the technique.

I can tell you right now that many martial artists will look at the flying armbar as a circus act technique think that it will never work. Some don’t believe that it has any “real-life” application beyond sport  and some just refuse to learn it because they don’t think that they can do it.  Whatever the case, if you don’t enter into a situation with your EYES WIDE OPEN, then you will not be able to “see” the things that other people see.  You will totally “miss” it. 

Creating a mentally fertile landscape is necessary for growth in sport and life.  On the 8th of March, Jimmy Pedro and The Judo Crusader, put on a teleseminar titled “Gripfighting Secrets Revealed, it was absolutely AWESOME.  On the Teleseminar, 1999 World Judo Champion and 2-Time Olympic Bronze Medalist, Jimmy Pedro and 2004 Olympian and 4-Time National Judo Champion Rhadi Ferguson revealed:

1. How to increase grip strength through functional training methods and sports specific methods

2. How running and cardiovascular fitness won’t do much for your grip strength. Jimmy actuallygave some great on-the-mat examples and we really hammered home the importance of intensity

3. Which hand to reach with first in a right vs. right and left vs. right situation.

4. EXACTLY where to put the power hand once you kill it.

5. How to thwart the attacks that Europeans use when they grab you behind the tricep and what to do with the other hand (I actually learned something on that one. Jimmy said, I threw him a curve ball, but it was some interesting info)

6. A brand new product that Lia Hatashita and I recently developed

7. The difference in the amount of rest time allocated at the Olympic Games as opposed to other competitions and why doing high intensity gripping rounds is important

And much more information.
The teleseminar was informative and great. And right now Jimmy and I are in the initial stages of making this available to the public. The Judo Crusader will let you know when its finished.  But back to my point. Some people totally missed the golden nuggets in the conversation, but some got it. As a matter of fact. A World Judo Champion emailed me and told me how cutting-edge the information was and how much she benefitted.

When training Judo or any  martial art for that matter. Make sure that you eyes aren’t WIDE SHUT. Becuase you may see something and not “see” it.

Up, Up, and Awayyyyyyy

If you are like The Judo Crusader, then your time is precious. You don’t have any to waste and you want to spend it and issue it wisely. Well in harmony with that is the maxim of Judo which is “Maximum Efficiency with Minimum Effort”.DEVASTATING ARMBARS!