Recently found out, that BJJ Globetrotter won best blog of the year awards with both GiReviews.net (tied) and Jiu Jitsu Laboratory.

Man, I miss writing this blog :)

One of my many recent projects is producing BJJ lifestyle hoodies and t-shirts with all the designs, I would buy myself if only I could find them in the shops. I never accept donations for my blogs, but if you want to support me, this is a good way to do it :-)

The Roll Eat Sleep Repeat webshop just opened a few weeks back, and right now, there is a special offer on free shipping to anywhere in Europe, Japan and the United States. Use the promotion code “WITCHINGHOUR” and the shipping will be free, but only this weekend!

Check out the store and grab some of the awesome shirts before the offer ends :-)

Oh, how I miss writing this blog… It was so nice to update it every day on my trip and be really thorough with the quality of every photo and sentence I put into it. Now, I sit here at home and the winter is creeping in on me. Today has been misty and really cold, and it is only getting worse. Good thing is, that I am training and competing a lot, and recently have been traveling a lot too. Just haven’t written about it here, but on my regular blog www.ShogunHQ.com instead. I had considered to keep writing about trips on this blog, but I guess this one was only for that one trip around the world, makes more sense.

But a quick update on the weekend tours, I’ll do, while I dream myself back to the times, when I was in hammocks with my iPad random places around the world, writing posts here :D

About a month ago, I was in beautiful Geneve in Switzerland for the Swiss Open. It was nice weather and the alpes were beautiful, as they surrounded the city. Despite being horribly organized, the competition went pretty well for us, taking home a few medals. I lost in my own division, but revenged myself in the open weight, where I took the gold.

Two weeks later, I was in London for four days to compete in London Open. Lost my first match, but it was a good one and I took home some good elements from it. Weather was amazing for England, and we enjoyed many hours in the sun around the London parks and outdoor cafes.

A short break at home, before I took off for Scotland. I was visiting three cities, mountainbiking in the highlands, checking out a whiskey brewery, going out, teaching three seminars and competing – all in five days. It was great to get that feeling of high pace traveling and change of scenes, that I loved so much on my round the world trip. Competition went well too, I took gold in both gi and no-gi.

Tomorrow, I am off for Sweden for Scandinavian Open. Next weekend, it is Paris for a competition and some fun down there, before ending the competition season with a weekend roadtrip to Swedish Open.

Traveling is in my blood now, I cannot help it. I hope to do some trips during the winter before the Europeans in Portugal in January. Other than that, I am spending a lot of time in the gym at the moment, teaching and training. My different teams are doing great and every single minute spent there is a pleasure. I even have a visit at the moment from Fernando Moya, that I trained with in Costa Rica on my trip. He is really good and a cool guy, teaching many of our classes.

Oh yeah, and I am still writing on the BJJ Globetrotter book every day – but don’t expect it to be finished any time soon, it is a lot of work :-)

Check out my other blog www.ShogunHQ.com for updates on my life, training and travels :)

(crosspost from www.giveagi.com)

Robert has just sent me a documentary, he made from the project we have supported in Moldova. It is a little long, but definitely worth the time. See, how the donated gis are being carried from Romania to Moldova by bus and hitchhiking, the first training in the village, a tournament trip to the capital Chisinau and finally the tournament held in the village. All made possible by YOU, who have been donating gis and money!

Here is a breakdown of how the $275 from the New York fundraiser seminar has been used so far:

“Travel to/from Chisinau: $126.72
Team Food: $16.19 (it should be noted that the Chisinau team bought food for everyone in Chisinau, and the Burlacu moms provided food for everyone in Burlacu so these costs aren’t included)
Trophy for Tri-Duals: $18.54
Medals + Lanyards for Tri-Duals: $11.13
Engraving for Medals and Trophy: $22.00

Total: $194.58″

In the newly published issue 4 of Jiu Jitsu Style magazine, I have the final article about my trip printed. It’s a really nice and professional magazine, I recommend you check it out :)

It’s been a while since I wrote, that if I got 1000 likes on my FaceBook page, I would post a video of a technique that cannot be defended. I reached the 1000 likes a while back, but the video took a while to get online. It is finally here, and you can enjoy a move, that I still haven’t found any defense for.

Me and my friend have actually pulled this off in competition a few times. Depends on the mood of the referee, his nationality and your nationality, but sometimes we have gotten away with it. I don’t think it states anywhere in the rules that you cannot do this?

(All credit goes to my good friend Chris Haueter, who demonstrated this move on one of the first VHS instructional tapes I ever saw)

I finally found the time to give my “normal” BJJ blog a makeover, and it is finally starting to take shape. Visit version 2.0 of Zhoozhitzu do Graugardo on www.ShogunHQ.com! :)