CMD Primates

The CMD Malaysia shirts are finally here. In celebration, overdue CMD gradings are awarded in regconition of the following individuals' hard work and mat performance. Kudos to the following

Trainer-in-Training
Albert Lim

BLUE (ring):
Mike Gong
Laurent Alessio

White IIII:
Charles Wong
Leon Van Soest

White II:
Tommy Lim

White I:
Raj Ahmed

White:
Adrian Tan
Antoine Tanguy
Fidael Yusof
Juliane Block

Welcome aboard:
Yeap Hock Kar
James Ooi

Yes, some of the faces have disappeared for a while and I'm hoping that the situation remedies itself soon.

Exciting things are on the horizon for the CMD program. The nearest one coming is our Annual CMD Singapore Retreat in the first week of November. 5 members are already confirmed to attend this year's event and I'm hoping more will join before its too late.


BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU
On the BJJ front, I recently received my copy of Braulio Estima's DVD set on his guard game. It's an expose on his personal guard game which has taken him to the upper strata of BJJ Elites and he has successfully used it to secure the gold medal in the BJJ World Championships.

Whether or not you aspire to be a world champion guard player, I would say this DVD set is more suitable for someone with at least 2 year's BJJ experience in order to appreciate the complexities of his guard (but he makes it look soooo easy to do for which I'm envious!). Why 2 year's? Well a lot of movement and mobility skill and awareness is advanced for someone who can't tell their left from right, hand from leg and front to back, especially when rolling under pressure, upside down, etc. After a good 2 years of consistent training the DVD set will be great for someone wishing to explore the guard game.

Production quality (BJJ Tapes) is its usual high standard, good lighting and sound, although there are instances when he moves to a not-so-audible position but that is only for short instances and he moves frequently to afford alternative viewing angles.

There are lots of techniques which I've not been exposed to and I'm looking forward to trying them out on the mats, including Hook guard and numerous sweeps and submissions. Mr. Estima explains the details of each technique himself (no voice over translations) and it is easy to understand what he is saying at all times.

I'm pleased with my purchase and hope to explore the possibilities and plug in a few of the techniques in my game soon.