We’re sure you’ve heard the saying “practice makes perfect,” and it absolutely holds true for anyone training in Jiu Jitsu. But since you probably don’t have 24 hours a day to spend on the mat at your academy 7 days a week, don’t forget that you can also practice at home – just make sure you do so safely! Below, we’ve outlined three tips that you should definitely read through before doing any training on your own:

1. Find the right space: Especially if you’ll be practicing with a partner, you need to make sure that you choose a room in your home that offers enough space to move around comfortably. That means, don’t choose a room where you can easily bump into something that stores breakable items! You may also want to have a mat of your own for added comfort and protection, and if you use one, make sure it fits into your practice space properly.
2. Do conditioning drills: Practicing Jiu Jitsu doesn’t always have to refer to specific fighting techniques – it can also include some strength training. After all, in order to excel you need be strong, so any time used to strengthen your muscles is time well spent! To learn which strength training exercises we recommend for our students, give us a call or ask your instructor.
3. Don’t forget to stretch: Whether you’re practicing the latest technique you learned in class or are going to spend time on conditioning, don’t forget that you must always stretch first. Even if you’ve only got a few minutes to dedicate to practicing, you need to stretch in order to prevent yourself from getting hurt.

Of course, though, even when you do have a safe place to practice at home, our recommendation is to leave the harder skills for your class – it’s always best to have a professional with you and have access to the proper equipment!

To learn about our training facilities in Salem and Exeter, NH, as well as for more information about our expert instructors, please give us a call at (603) 777-2775 or visit us in person today!

We’ve said it a few times and we’ll definitely say it again – what you eat and the diet you follow has a huge impact on your ability to succeed in Jiu Jitsu and any other form of martial arts. Of course it’s important to eat healthy even when you aren’t training in a sport like this, but when you are, it becomes even more critical that you keep up with a solid plan.

With that said, what do your eating habits look like? If you know that you need to make some changes, here are a few great places to start:

Focus On Water

Regardless of whether you drink it out of a bottle or consume it through the foods that you eat, water is huge. Try aiming for foods that have a high water content (at least 70%) – fruits such as watermelon, strawberries and grapefruit should do the trick, as will vegetables such as lettuce and cucumbers.

Adjust Your Combinations

Most of us eat certain foods together because, well, they taste good! But, it’s actually really important for all of us to put some more thought into which foods we combine and eat at the same time. The Gracie Diet places a huge focus on combinations – for example, starches can be combined with vegetables, greens, seafood, meats, sweat fruits and foods, fats and oily foods, and fresh and creamy cheeses, but not with each other. Another rule of the thumb you can live by is to not eat protein, carbs and starches in the same meal.

Work On Portion Control

It doesn’t matter how hungry you think you are – you don’t need to eat yourself sick during breakfast, lunch and dinner. Especially right before bed, it’s important to analyze the size of your servings to make sure you aren’t over-doing it. If you do feel the need to eat a lot, make yourself a big bowl of salad. And, should you be feeling hungry late at night, try to stick to fruit.

Still have questions about nutrition and how it relates to Jiu Jitsu? We at Renzo Graice NH are your Jiu Jitsu experts, so please feel free to give us a call at (603) 777-2775 to learn more!

Just like with several other martial arts forms, a person’s level of experience in Jiu Jitsu is recognized based on the color of their belt. In order to progress from one level to the next, students are required to master a certain skill level, which could happen over the course of a few weeks, a few months, or maybe even a few years.

For those of you who are new to Jiu Jitsu, today we’re breaking down each belt to give you a better understanding of what each color represents. You’ve probably heard what it means to be a black belt, but before you can get there, there are a ton of other colors you must go through!

White Belt

The white belt is the first belt a new student receives – think of this as your first job, it’s your “entry level” belt. At this stage, students learn the fundamentals of the sport and begin to gain an understanding of how to perform certain moves and techniques.

Blue Belt

After successfully moving through the white belt stage, students move on to being a blue belt. Here, they put their new-found knowledge to the test and are usually expected to be able to escape from most, if not all, of the major positions with ease. However, since this is only the second rank, performance may be a bit inconsistent on the mat, but this is normal. As a blue belt, students are still working on mastering certain techniques.

Purple Belt

The third belt, the purple belt, is commonly referred to as the belt of movement and momentum. At this level of training, students really begin fine-tuning their skills and techniques and place a lot of their focus on learning how to use their weight and momentum to achieve certain goals. Additionally, students at this level will also begin combining several different moves and actions.

Brown Belt

Before obtaining a black belt, students must pass through their brown belt training. By now, there aren’t many techniques or situations that students do not know, and in fact, they should be starting to feel comfortable in their ability to teach Jiu Jitsu to others. As they work towards receiving their black belt, students at this stage should be able to perform their moves smoothly and near perfectly, and they should also be able to counter just about any move that an opponent uses. Furthermore, students should also have an idea of which technique(s) they are best at and work on those to master them as their signature moves.

Black Belt

Anyone with a black belt is viewed as a true master of Jiu Jitsu – these are the experts you want to learn from. At this time students continue will continue to work on mastering their signature techniques and will have a level of focus that has been higher than ever before. Although this is the highest belt, students at this level realize that their training remains a learning process and continue to refine their skills.

Here at Renzo Gracie NH, we understand the proper progression of Jiu Jitsu belts and promote our students to the next level when they’ve shown that they are ready. Have questions about each level and how our team helps students advance from one to the next? If so, please give us a call at (603) 777-2775; we’d be happy to speak with you about our training process!