Dear Legion,
This is the 21st edition of the academy newsletter, and it’s hitting your inbox after a little wobble in consistency. Avid readers may know that we skipped the January edition and had the February one available only in print format at the academy.
It feels a little like life getting in the way of training, and you miss a month, then you attempt to mount a comeback, but it’s just once a week or a few random classes.
When the two options are: begin publishing the newsletter properly again or abandon it out of embarrassment for missing a couple of editions. The reasonable choice is to start typing.
In this comeback edition, you will find morebiomechanical concepts in the main column. You will find profiles of four new coacheswho have joined the gym. Schedule changes as we’ve added classes and moved some around. We have matches of the month, leaderboards, events, and more!
Biomechanical concepts to turbo-charge your perception (Part 2)
In the last edition of the newsletter, I wrote about three of my favorite biomechanical concepts in jiu-jitsu. If you want to read part 1 you can do it here (PDF). The goal of sharing them is for you to start noticing them as you train, in a way that transcends technique and helps you progress faster.
Note: In the text below you will see some em dashes (these guys: –). They are telltale signs of content written by AI. I want to assure you that not a word in here is written by AI. I would never let a white belt like Chat GPT or Claude write about something this important.
Fight the opponent’s upper body with your legs (Asymmetry)
In a grappling exchange, your legs have distinct advantages over your opponent’s arms. They are significantly stronger, have greater endurance, and offer superior reach. The primary drawbacks are a general lack of dexterity and precise control compared to arms.
However, with dedicated training, these limitations can be overcome. Skilled grapplers, especially smaller ones, develop the ability to use their legs with the same precision and fluidity as most people use their hands. This asymmetry becomes a powerful weapon, allowing them to dominate larger opponents.
Consider how many essential jiu-jitsu techniques capitalize on this principle—triangle chokes, armbars, omoplatas, back control with hooks or a body triangle, and dominant positions like mount and closed guard. In each case, the legs are attacking and controlling the upper body, leveraging strength and reach to create an overwhelming advantage.
In training: Have this asymmetry in mind as a goal to achieve.
The hips are the powerhouse of the body.
We all learned in biology class that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. Most of us didn’t do anything with that information—but we sure remembered it.
In jiu-jitsu, the hips are the powerhouse. The gluteus maximus is the body’s largest muscle. Bridging, hip escapes, and pressure passing rely on the glutes, hip flexors, adductors, and other supporting muscles. So does getting up off the floor. If you’ve ever been to a commercial gym, you’ve probably seen female lifters loading hundreds of pounds on a barbell for hip thrusts. They do it for aesthetic purposes or internet clout points—sometimes both. We do it to roll over a dude sitting on our stomach. We are not the same.
Now that we know having a powerful dump truck is important for jiu-jitsu, let’s talk about mobility. The hip is a ball-and-socket joint, which allows movement in many directions. External rotation, in particular, is crucial. It can make all the difference in taking and maintaining back control, as well as in guard retention.
Once you understand that the hips are central to almost every major movement and position, it becomes clear: if you want to win, you need to control your opponent’s hips—and protect your own.
Burn bridges
In life, burning bridges is rarely a good idea. In grappling, bridges should be prevented from being built in the first place. If that’s not possible, they should be eroded, overloaded, burned, or blown up. Metaphorically.
The opponent will use a bridge to escape dominant positions, regain guard, sweep, stand up, or submit you. So, how can we prevent the use of the bridge—since bringing TNT or C4 to training is frowned upon and “illegal”?
To answer that, we need to ask: What’s necessary for the opponent to bridge? The answer: the back posted on the mat (or occasionally the wall), and the feet on the mat with the knees bent at about a 90-degree angle.
This means we’re always looking for ways to prevent the feet from posting. In mount, we can use the soles or tops of our feet to kick away posted feet. In half guard, we can sometimes even grab the legs or feet to stop them from planting. In side control, we can place our knee across the lower torso and overload the bridge by applying enough weight that the opponent can’t lift their hips to shrimp.
If the opponent tries to bridge off one foot—for example, in a technical stand-up—we can grab the free leg and either lift it high or pin it to the mat. Both options kill the mobility they’re looking for.
There is one case, however, where crossing the bridge is the best move. From side control to knee-on-belly, you can bait the bridge. If the opponent goes for it, you simply step over into mount. Their bridge helps you and avoids the usual threat of them catching half guard.
Keeping the academy a safe environment
At the beginning of February, serious misconduct allegations rocked San Diego’s jiu-jitsu community. They had to do with Andre Galvao’s conduct as the head instructor of Atos. This resulted in a mass exodus of kids, adults and just about all the top black belt competitors and coaches. This is why you may have seen some new training partners in the classes you attend, some more kids training with us and we’ll meet some new coaches in the next column.
It seems like this kind of news happens too often in jiu-jitsu. Obviously, we want Legion to be a safe training environment for everyone. This is why we’ve avoided the top-down hierarchical structure, which often leads to a power imbalance that seems to invite abuse of various kinds. Keenan highlighted this in a video that you can watch here.
We have also made sure that every single instructor is now certified under SafeSport. SafeSport is an organization that works with Olympic committees and other athletic governing bodies to train staff and handle reporting. All coaches have taken the Core course, which covers harassment, bullying, and abuse prevention.
We would also like you to help us keep the training environment healthy and thriving by reporting any inappropriate behavior if it were to occur. Both from the coaches and the other members. Jiu-jitsu already carries some risk of injury as we are fighting each other, so academies should be safe in all other ways.
New Coaches
At Legion, we are always on the lookout for the best available coaches to add to the team.
That stems from a belief that there is value in learning from multiple qualified coaches with a diverse set of methodologies, styles, perspectives, and experiences. Meet the new team members:
The first new instructor is Fellipe Trovo. He is a World Champion, Pan American Champion, American Nationals Champion and holds wins over names like Adam Wardzinski, Pedro Marinho and our own Breylor. At the 2022 No-Gi Pans, he faced Keenan and won, which is something a very small minority of Keenan’s opponents can say. If you can’t beat them, hire them!
Besides being a proven competitor, Fellipe also has a great attitude and a passion for teaching beginners. You can learn from him in the Mon, Wed, Fri No-Gi Fundamentals Classwhere he will be replacing coach Jake. He will also be teaching Tue, Thu Gi Fundamentals. Last but not least, he will be teaching the Fri 6pm Intermediate-Advanced Class (Gi).
Note: Fellipe will be gone from March 8th to March 31st as he will travel to Brazil to compete in (and hopefully win) the ADCC Trials. Get into a class with him this week!
Joining our kids program instructors is Rafaela Guedes. She has amassed an elite competitive resume, including multiple IBJJF World and Pan-American titles. Most notably, she is an ADCC World Champion (2024) and has held the WNO heavyweight title, establishing her as a powerhouse in both gi and no-gi competition.
The kids are happy to have the guidance of someone so accomplished. Another happy person is Paige Clymer, who gets an elite training partner at her rank and belt level. And we get to see two titans of the women’s heavyweight division roll on the gray mats.
Jason Lara is a purple belt in jiu-jitsu, but a high-level black belt in wrestling. Sure, wrestling doesn’t have belts, but if it did, Jason would have one of those black belts that’s starting to fray and turn white because of all the years of wearing it. Jason wrestled at University of Michigan and later Oregon State. After a distinguished D1 career, he transitioned to coaching and started Matsense Wrestling Academy. He has sent 13 athletes to D1 universities, 2 got World Medals, 3 joined the World team among other coaching accomplishments.
You can learn from Jason at his Wrestling for Jiu-Jitsu Class on Tue, Thu - 10am.He will also be assisting with our kids program later in the day.
Joining us for one class per week is Michael Diffley, who will be teaching the 11am No-Gi All Levels Class on Sundays.
Michael is a black belt under Baret Yoshida and has been dedicated to no-gi for years now. He has been making frequent trips to Austin,TX, and has trained extensively with John Danaher at New Wave / Kingsway. He is incredibly knowledgeable and technical. He has also been finding success in competition, most recently getting silver at the ADCC San Diego Open, going 5-1 in the advanced -76kg division. Take advantage of the chance to learn from him right before the open mat.
Schedule Changes
Now that we’ve met the new coaches, let’s go over the schedule changes.
New class: 10am Tue & Thu Wrestling for Jiu-Jitsu with Jason Lara "
Time change: 11am Mon-Fri All Levels No-Gi with Sloan Clymer.
P.S. This class has been growing nicely recently, come get your am no-gi fix!
Pro class: Black belt / Invite-only no-gi sparring class is returning to Thursdays at 11 am-ish.
Schedule Change: My No-Gi Games-Only class is moving to Saturdays at 11am, right after the Gi 10am class and right before 12pm Judo for Jiu-Jitsu.
New Class: The above class used to be on Sundays at 11, that slot is now taken by Michael Diffley’s class. Come check that one out.
Highlighted class: I want to conclude this section by highlighting the Weekend Warriors 10am class with coach Sunshine on Saturdays. It has been packed with 20+ people consistently for some weeks now, which is awesome to see. Get your weekend started right by checking it out for yourself and maybe staying for a double dose with 11am no-gi.
The website now has a new, dynamic schedule that is paired with the check-in app.
Matches of the Month
No-Gi
On the competition scene, no-gi was at the forefront in the past month. ADCC Euro Trials in Serbia, Polaris Squads in the UK, IBJJF Absolute $50k tournament, and ADCC Opens here on the West Coast were the major competitions. There are a lot of submission compilations on YouTube, especially from the Trials, that I recommend checking out. But the match for this month features the newest Legion instructor, Fellipe Trovo. This one is from the finals of the 2022 No-Gi Pans.
Gi
One of the main purposes of this column is to help you keep a pulse of what’s going on, on the competition scene. The other is highlighting study material that’s also entertaining, which is why matches are curated so you don’t get 8 minutes of double guard pulling. Believe it or not, watching jiu-jitsu will make you better at jiu-jitsu!In the spirit of that, we’re changing it up by including a different kind of video. This is Keenan, rolling with students at a seminar for 40 minutes straight, while live narrating what he is doing. The video has 750,000 views, so it’s safe to say there is value in it. Check for yourself.
Attendance Leaderboard
🥇Jun Dilmaghanian 34 Classes
🥈Kristína Rogovoya 25 Classes
🥉Jimmy Wang 24 classes
Free Law Enforcement Workshop
Last year we put on our first LEO workshop. Oscar Magana, our black belt member and Border Patrol Officer in charge of hand-to-hand training taught it. With some civilian assistance from yours truly. It was a big success with dozens of attendees, who reported that they got some value out of it. That’s why we are doing it again on April 4th!
The core of the workshop will focus on basic takedowns based on distance management, crucial skills for maintaining control without escalating force. It’s a great opportunity to sharpen your tactical grappling in a controlled, professional environment. If you know any officers or members of law enforcement agencies, who could benefit from some mat time, send them this link to register: eventbrite.com/e/e1983187111035/?aff=oddtftcreator
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this newsletter. Hopefully you learned something, became more informed, excited for the new coaches and classes.
If you’re in a situation where you’ve missed a few metaphorical editions of the newsletter, aka strayed away from the mats. Pack the bags and start typing! We’re going to wrap this edition up before the metaphors get too convoluted and obscure. See you in the next one in exactly one month.
P.S. I am back to teaching after my 3-day paternity leave. I am now teaching Tuesday and Thursday 6pm No-Gi (Intermediate-Advanced). The Saturday 11am No-Gi games class is picking up steam and tons of fun to teach. Speaking of Saturday, this is my 5th year of teaching Judo for Jiu-Jitsu at 12pm (Gi)! I’ll see you there.