Jiu Jitsu Idiots

Mark is a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt and owner of New Breed Training Center here in Chicago. He has promoted 47 of his students to the level of black belt. Over half of these black belts started with Mark as white belts. New Breed also has large springs built into the mat system that makes for a very bouncy and forgiving surface.

The Jiu Jitsu Idiots podcast recorded a ton of interviews at Midwest Finishers 13 two weeks ago. We also sponsored the "Submission of the Night" cash prize that went to Lauren Sears for her use of the Sorcerer. It's a double gogo-plata submission that she has been working on recently. We also recorded the following interviews:

Levi Parrish @levi_parrish__

Adriel Del Toro @deltorojj

Mo Hakim @mohakim24

Travis Henn @henn.travis

Lauren Sears @laurensears10p

Dane Leak @daneleak

Tyler Jones @funkybonesjones

Jeff Serafin @serafinbjj

Omar Ocasio @omarocasio @10thplanetlombard @midwest_finishers_subonly

10th Planet Black belt Alex Kim joins Greg & Russ this week on the podcast. Alex teaches a weekly no-gi class at Balance Point Jiu Jitsu inside of Rockwell Barbell every Saturday at 11:00am. You need to enter through the alley in the back and there isn't any signage. Basically there are two doors. Take the one on the left.

Ashur Darmo is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Mark Vives here in Chicago. Ashur is the owner of "The Academy" located inside of the MyBody Complex in Northfield, Illinois. Greg and Russ trained and rolled before sitting down to record this podcast.

Leah Stumpf is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and instructor at SBG in Montana. Dan Hart is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Henry Akins and owns Alpha BJJ in Woodstock, Illinois. Leah was in town teaching a seminar at Dan's gym so we pulled out the microphones afterwards and recorded a podcast.

Scott Gave is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Jeff Serafin. He is the owner and head instructor at Fit 2 Defend Academy in Lake Bluff, Illinois. Scott teaches both gi and no-gi jiu jitsu as well as kickboxing and self defense.

Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt and owner of Misfits Jiu Jitsu Brad Edmondson joined us on the podcast this week. Greg and Russ braved a serious snow storm to train with Brad at his gym in the small Illinois river town of St. Charles on the outskirts of Chicago. We had some good training followed by rolls and then recorded a fun conversation between old friends.

Katie Bochenek is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu blue belt under Omar Ocasio at 10th Planet Lombard here in Chicago. Katie is very active competitor in nogi jiu jitsu and also works closely with Omar as a matchmaker for Midwest Finishers SubOnly. She is also sponsored by Parry Athletics and will soon be uprooting her life to start training full-time with Heath Pedigo's Daisy Fresh team in Mount Vernon, Illinois.

Ed Serra is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and owner of Balance Point BJJ here in Chicago. Lawrence Scott is a purple belt under Ed and is the founder/owner of the infamous power lifting gym Rockwell Barbell. Ed and Lawrence are longtime friends and recently teamed up to build out Balance Point BJJ in the back of Rockwell Barbell accessible "speak-easy" style through an unmarked door via the alleyway. Ed is teaching gi classes during the week and also has his friend and 10th Planet black belt Alex Kim teaching no-gi classes at 11am on Saturday's. The flooring assembly is cutting edge and built for grapplers. It consists of Zebra mats on top of a structural subfloor platform that is suspended on top of foam blocks. It is stiff under foot while standing but deflects and absorbs your body during a takedown or slam. Reach out to Ed on Instagram @balancepointbjj and check out this beautiful new spot in Chicago.

Jennifer "Jen Z" Zanotti-Ferrari is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Jeff Serafin. She currently teaches and trains at Capital MMA & Elite Fitness in Takoma Park, Maryland. Along with being a BJJ black belt Jen is also a personal trainer, nutrition coach, podcaster, and blogger. You can find her on instagram @allthingsjenz and her podcast is "The Jen Z Podcast." If you live in the Washington D.C. area then you should definitely stop by her gym and soak up some of the positive vibes while learning how to defend yourself.