608 jiu jitsu

10/09/2026

Thursday Nights

10/07/2026

From white belt to black belt, I’ve only ever had one jiu jitsu instructor.

I’d say my coach is pretty darn good at jiu jitsu. And to toot my own horn, I’m pretty okay at it too.

But if you compared us, you might not guess he taught me just about everything I know. I definitely have a different style than him, but he’s also a little taller, a lot more flexible, and more than ten years younger. There are a lot of things that I had to do differently. We just aren’t built the same.

He can show me what he does. He can’t teach me how to be taller or younger (there's an argument for more flexibility, but I could be too old to learn that trick).

When your instructor demonstrates a technique, it probably looks reasonable enough. Then you try it, and your knee won’t fit where theirs went. The grip is farther away than you expected. Somehow the position feels more crowded than it looked.

The thing is, your instructor has had time to make adjustments of their own. There’s a good chance they even do the move a little differently than the person who taught them.

Now you get to work through it with the body you brought to class.

You may need to move closer to reach a grip, change your angle, or make more room for your leg. Your partner’s body matters, too.

Looking at a move as a collection of ideas can help. What does the grip control? What does the angle allow you to do?

If a sleeve grip is supposed to stop your partner from posting, holding the same piece of fabric won’t help much if they can still put their hand on the mat.

Your instructor can help you figure out what needs adjusting. Then, over time, those adjustments can become part of how you do jiu jitsu.

That’s how I think about what my coach taught me. His influence is still there. I’ve spent years making his lessons work with my body, and somewhere along the way, that started to look like my jiu jitsu.

I’m still waiting on the lesson about being ten years younger, though. I’d show up early for that one.

See you on the mats.

Read “Some Assembly Required” in the Training Notes blog at 608jiujitsu.com.

10/02/2026

When you think of Keenan Cornelius, you might think of lapel guard. Bernardo Faria, and deep half might come to mind. Those are parts of their jiu jitsu they’ve become known for. Their game.

So if someone asks you what your game is, would you have an answer? Should you have one? And when were you supposed to have figured that out?

You can probably name a few people in your school whose games seem obvious. One person keeps finding your back. Another has a submission they hit from everywhere.

Then there’s you. You know a sweep. Sometimes it works.

Is that a game?

At white belt, having something you can remember and attempt during a round can feel like a considerable accomplishment. You start looking for that opportunity more often. Your partners might even begin to recognize it.

By blue belt, of course, you definitely have a game. By golly, at blue belt you probably know more than your instructors do. They’re old and probably don’t believe the best Instagram moves even work…

Blue belts, amiright?

But knowing what you usually do and knowing why you prefer it aren’t quite the same thing. You might like closed guard because you understand it. You might like it because it’s the only guard you’ve spent much time learning.

I don’t think you need a particular belt before you can call something your game. With more experience, you may have a clearer sense of what you like and how it fits together.

Even Keenan and Bernardo have more to their games than those opening descriptions suggest. Keenan is a nogi world champion. No lapels there. Bernardo’s deep half helped him get on top, where his pressure passing gave his opponents another problem.

Those descriptions tell you something about their jiu jitsu. There’s quite a bit left out.

Your answer might be a little shorter right now. That doesn’t mean you can’t have one. It also doesn’t mean you have to keep giving the same answer as you learn more.

See you on the mats.

“Hello, My Game Is” is a blog on the 608 Jiu Jitsu website. Read the full blog under Training Notes. Link in bio.

09/18/2026

“I let you get there” and “I could not get out” can both be true.

Neither requires a public statement.

When I first opened my school, most of my training partners were white belts. One way to challenge both of us was to give them more room to work into positions, then try to get out before things became worse.

(Sometimes things became worse.)

That didn’t mean handing them the position. When they tried to pass, I could give them a real defense to solve without immediately adding the next two lines of defense. They still had to recognize the opening and use it. I still had to deal with what happened next.

If they advanced or got the submission, they earned it. Their success didn’t need an asterisk explaining all the things I could have done earlier.

Over time, our escapes improve. Our partner has to tighten their control. Their control improves, and now our escape needs another adjustment.

The space we once allowed them becomes space they know how to create.

Truly inconsiderate, but we helped with this.

Our partner doesn’t need to be better than us at everything to make us work on something.

None of this needs to become an assignment for every round. Sometimes we want to use our favorite techniques because doing jiu jitsu is fun. That is reason enough.

But repeatedly reaching the same comfortable result may leave us wondering why we aren’t being challenged, while we keep steering away from anything that might challenge us.

We already know one way to make this round go.

What else is there?

See you on the mats.

09/16/2026

‘nuff said

09/08/2026

09/02/2026

These kids have been making a lot of progress lately. We had some well deserved level-ups last night!

09/02/2026

Future Winner and self-approved zoning official, Chet, reports that comfort has submitted plans for continued expansion.

City planners say several long-standing plans for self-improvement are directly in the path of the proposed development.

Free trial link in bio.

09/02/2026

Tuesday Night Takedowns!

08/31/2026

He’s ready for something different, provided nothing has to change.