Jacob practicing Sumo Dead Lift High Pull

3 Rounds

20 wall ball (20lb)
20 sumo dead lift high pull (75lbs)
20 push press (75lbs)
20 calorie row
1 minute rest

Fight gone bad but task priority

Scale if necessary

Demo

Here is our demo video from over the weekend!

Russell at CrossFit Stronghold from The Stronghold on Vimeo.

Epic Training Montage

“Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision.” -Muhammad Ali

Asian Cultural Festival

Thanks to everyone from The Stronghold Fam that came out today for the festival. We had an awesome turnout and great time. Aside from just hanging out at the booth, the kids had an unexpected opportunity to do a demo on stage and they put on an excellent show! We're looking forward to our next even on May 7th, the harbor cruise. See you all there!

Fredson Paixao

Next month in preparation for Worlds we will be focusing on less new techniques and more on repping things we have already covered. Here is some great drilling advice from Fredson Paixao, a 4x world champion:

Fredson does something interesting when it comes to drilling: He drills a handful of moves from every single position – and he aims to do this each and every time he trains.

“I drill top and bottom guard, mount, back mount… everything.”

This is different from the vast majority of the athletes I interview – including other world champions and upper-echelon grapplers and MMA fighters.

When you break it down, that’s a whole lot of drilling. 4-6 techniques from top and bottom guard, half guard, side mount, turtle guard, mount, and back mount ends up being somewhere around 60 reps – but assuming Fredson hits each technique a number of times – this ends up being a much larger number.

The full article can be found here.

Rafael Mendes vs Bruno Malfacine

At 20 years old, Rafael Mendes is already on his way to being one of the greatest BJJ competitors of all-time. Here is another awesome match to study where Rafael uses the leg drag to effectively pass Malfacine's guard. Check out more of his matches on the Mendes brothers youtube channel!

Kneebar Details

Here are some really good kneebar details with Robert Drysdale: Fall to the correct side and a good way to open their legs when they triangle!

Ministry Fair at The Rock

This past Sunday The Rock Church had a ministry fair to help everyone get plugged in. We stayed there for all five services and we were beat! Hopefully we can get a few more people involved in both Right Cross and The Kids Rock Jiu Jitsu program!

Sushi Night!

Last night the kids had an awesome treat: sushi and mochi balls. The kids enjoyed the sushi but I think the parents might have been more excited! We would like to extend a huge thanks to the Auditor family for the sushi and Stevie Santos for bringing in the mochi balls. Can't wait for the next kids night!

Back Details

Here are some back details from Caio Terra and Nick Diaz. We have been working on the first choke for some time but the second attack is very nice. Pay close attention to the leg movements Caio uses while maintaining back control, they are very crucial.

Caio Terra DVD

I've been following Caio for a while now and am really excited about his new DVD. Hopefully I can pick it up within the next couple weeks and have it playing at the gym for everyone to check out!

More Berimbolo

Here is a great compilation video one of the guys found on YouTube of Rafael Mendes using the berimbolo numerous times in live competition! Study time!

New Orange Belt!

Today Brian earned his long awaited orange belt! Brian has been training with us for the last several months, after a long layoff from BJJ. On and off the mat he is always smiling and is someone everyone in class looks up to. He has had great results in his last couple tournaments and is also a great training partner! On Saturday, Brian endured over an hour long drilling and rolling session(after an hour long class) with very minimal rest. He showed a lot of heart and never gave up, exactly what we expected from a new orange belt! Congratulations Brian!

Jonatas Gurgel Brabo Variation

Here is a cool brabo choke variation that fits in well with the passing sequence we have been using!

Brian With His Blue Belt After The Gauntlet

On Thursday night, Brian finally earned his long awaited blue belt! Brian has been with us(on and off) for almost 2.5 years and has been so close to his blue many times. I finally decided Thursday would be the night and surprised him. He rolled with 24 people straight for 3 mins each; awesome job B-Squared!

Stronghold Kids Treat Night: Caramel Apples!

Today we had another Stronghold Kids Treat Night! Every couple weeks or so we like to reward our kids for all their hard work. Out of all the treat nights we've had, Caramel Apples have been one of our favorites! Thanks to all the moms who helped out. Roman really enjoyed this treat night, that's his 4th refill!

Espinoza Family at CIF State Wrestling Championships

Last night I was invited to Tommy Espinoza's high school wrestling banquet. For those of you who didn't know, Tommy placed 7th in the state as a sophomore; a huge accomplishment! Only 9 people from his district have placed in the top 8 in 80 years and Tommy also was the first person from Olympian High School to win CIF and CIF Masters! We are so proud of Tommy's accomplishments and look forward to seeing him do big things both in wrestling and jiu jitsu.

Upgrading!

Hey everyone, we are working on a few upgrades for the gym. We added some new plywood for your olympic lifts, a new squat rack and some new floor mats. Next up: more mat space to the BJJ area. Rome was not built in a day!

Baseball Choke

This week we are continuing with attacks using your opponents tail. Here is a great example of using this control from the top position for passing and finishing the choke. Guilherme starts opening the tail for the brabo choke at about 3:30 into the match. In the end he switches his grip and finishes with the baseball choke. Pay attention to the grips he uses for each of these techniques; these will be the ones we practice the most during class!

Brabo Attacks

Last week we worked on Brabo combinations from the closed guard. Watch this video of Mike Fowler working the Brabo to armbar. He starts opening the lapel around 6:15 into the video, unfortunately he is slammed and loses the position!

Stronghold TV Coming Soon!

We have a new media section on our website in development. The media section will contain techniques, matches, drilling and CrossFit WODs!

Tan Gold Medal at World Pro!

This past weekend we had a number of people competing at the World Pro at Point Loma High School. The event was run very professionally and the venue was right across the street! Everyone looked great and Stronghold took home 20 medals! I was very proud of everyone that competed, we gained some valuable experience from this event.

Ramon Lemos!

Ramon Lemos, the co-founder of Atos was in town the other week for a class. He showed us some great guard attacks, passes and great training methods. Awesome training!

Right Cross MMA Ministry

The Right Cross MMA Ministry was on the CW 10 o'clock news last night! The segment was filmed on Monday night at 5pm during our weekly training session. Thanks to everyone that showed up and we hope you can join us next week!

Kids Pan BJJ Championships

Yesterday, six of our kids competed at the Pan BJJ Championships for kids. Esteban took gold in the yellow belt division with two submissions and he ended up receiving his yellow belt afterward! Renzo and Brian also took home medals after some great matches and finishes. Hunter, KyMani and Josh had some tough fights but ended up losing to the division champions. Everyone fought well and made The Stronghold proud! Excellent work boys!

Leg Positioning for Deep Half

This week we finished up our lessons on deep half guard. Here are some specific details about leg positioning to think about when playing deep half. Hopefully everyone learned a lot about this position the last couple of weeks!

Seoi Nage

I have never really been into practicing judo, but I really appreciate the grip fighting and especially the throws they use! Although turning your back in jiu jitsu can be dangerous, seoi nage is quickly becoming my favorite throw.

Abu Dhabi World Pro at Point Loma High School

Awesome news everyone, ADCC Pro will be right across the street from our academy at the PLHS gym! We are looking to put on a big showing for our team, so everyone sign up!

Deep Half Guard Sweep

This week we have been learning how to play the deep half guard. Here is Bernardo Faria using one of the techniques we have been drilling, the lapel sweep. Once the grip is in, it is very difficult to stop! Next week we will be mixing the half guard and deep half guard and doing a lot of drilling from both positions.

Rafael Mendes Berimbolo

We will continue practicing the berimbolo this week from different situations. Here is Rafael Mendes using it from De La Riva guard against Renan Borges at the 2011 European Open. Remember we have a couple tournaments on the horizon so everyone keep training hard! Even if you're not planning to compete, show up and help everyone train!

Lucas Leite vs. Kron Gracie PanAms 2009 from Samnang Thang on Vimeo.

Half Guard

This past week we went over taking the back and a couple basic sweeps from the half guard. Here is Lucas Leite's match with Kron Gracie in the 09 Pan final using his half guard. Lucas plays this position in almost all the matches I have seen him in, so be sure to watch all his entries and finishes carefully!

JT vs Jake Mackenzie 2011 European Open

Great video of JT Torres executing some of the things we have been working on the past couple of weeks: Berimbolo, back control and finishing!

New Flyer!

We apologize for the lack of updates! Should be back on track this week. Got some new flyers as well, feel free to take a bunch from the gym and pass out to family and friends!

We'll also be having new separate CrossFit blog running soon. It will be accessible from the CrossFit tab above. Thanks for the patience!

BBQ

We had a great turnout at the BBQ on Saturday. Thank you everyone for coming and helping out! In some exciting news I promoted Ramiro to blue belt and Migs and Rafael to purple belt. Please congratulate them next time you see them. All three of these guys have been working very hard in their training and it really shows in their progress. Finally, we are proud to announce that we will be working with Andre Galvao and Atos Jiu Jitsu. We expect great results from this union!

CrossFit WOD:
Weighted pull-ups 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

New Sign!

For those of you that have not seen it yet, here is our new sign. Paul Mejia has some serious skills! He painted it over the past weekend and everyone loves it so far! Please thank Paul for the hard work.

CrossFit WOD:

Fran

Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95 pound Thruster
Pull-ups