Author - Alex Dincovici

Road to black belt: the white fun

This is a series of posts on my personal journey towards being promoted to a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by Romania's jiu-jitsu pioneer, Tudor Mihaita. In the 12 years it took to get here, I've learned a lot, adjusted my expectations a great number of times, almost quit, got injured, got married, had a child, started teaching, and I am still here, on the mats, at least every other day. If you are a jiu-jitsu practitioner, maybe my thoughts...

October 5, 2018By BJJ Philosophy0 CommentsRead more...

Do you really need endless drills to improve your technique?

I’ve heard, over the years, many coaches and students talk about muscle memory and the benefits of endless repetitions. And I must say I don’t usually agree with them, and not only because I hate endless drilling and think this takes away much of the beauty and pleasure in jiu-jitsu. I should quote a French sport scientist here, Pierre Parlebas, who makes a very important distinction, between psychomotricity and sociomotricity. Brazilian jiu-jitsu is, thus, a sport with sociomotricity, meaning your bodily...

January 23, 2018By Technique1 CommentRead more...

Is BJJ good for self defense?

Is BJJ good for self defense? A critique of the classical BJJ self defense strategy. Before answering this specific question, I must tell you a bit about myself and my experience with martial arts and aggression. I haven’t been in a fight since I was a child, somehow managing to successfully avoid confrontations. I have been picked on, though, but did not fight back, and after more than a decade of various martial arts experience I still think this is one of...

November 10, 2017By BJJ Philosophy0 CommentsRead more...

Care about getting your purple belt

There is a lot of talk going on about belt promotions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which results in a whole range of potential discussion topics. In what follows, I will try to stick to one of the essentials, the time between promotions and, if you stick to it, the time it takes you to reach black belt. There is a lot of pride in the BJJ community when it comes to the effort involved in getting your black belt. While there are...

September 1, 2017By BJJ Philosophy, Technique, 0 CommentsRead more...

Why we roll

One of the reasons some people are so attracted to jiu-jitsu is the concept of roll. And by roll I just don’t mean sparring, but rolling. There is a subtle yet very important difference between these two ideas, which has to do with the fact that jiu-jitsu is, after all, a gentle art (“arte suave”). The beauty of jiu-jitsu in general, and of the roll in particular, is that although with potentially dangerous consequences (or submissions, as we all know them),...

July 14, 2017By BJJ Philosophy0 CommentsRead more...
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