About the Author - Welcome to my Blog

Welcome to my new blog. To get started, I’d like to share a little bit about myself, and some of my thoughts regarding jiu-jitsu.

I’ve been training since 2008, heavily focused on jiu-jitsu since 2010. I’m a 37 year old, academy owner, active competitor, and also teaches a few of the adult classes each week. I teach all of the youth jiu-jitsu classes. I’m a very active coach, and you can see me at just about every competition that takes place in the state of Maryland. I believe strongly in fundamental jiu-jitsu, for both self-defense and sport. In self-defense, you’ll never play deep half guard, or lasso. In sport, you’ll never have a functioning deep half guard or lasso guard without fundamental jiu-jitsu working on autopilot.

Currently, the focus on my training is sport jiu-jitsu. It’s mostly non-practical stuff for a street fight, but a fun game of chess using our bodies in a competition with many rules. I’m not super athletic, I’m pretty slim, moderately strong for my slimness but usually physically weaker than my opponents and rely strictly on technique. Understanding the rules of the game is a big part of my competition style training. If I can win by an advantage, I’ll take it. I’m not always hunting for the sub, unless it’s a submission only tournament. This is not to say that I don’t appreciate those who are always looking for the finish. Everyone has their own journey, so do what you enjoy. As an academy owner and coach, I will teach my students everything I can about whatever path they choose.

My current style of play is lapel guards - Worm, Lasso, Sit-up, Inverted half, and Deep Half. If you are starting to explore this path, and would like any tips, shoot me some video. I recently started making videos on my lapel work which you can see on my youtube channel. I’ll be posting more within my blog and getting into more detail.

As a coach, I teach my white belts how to win with basic technique and a single path. At blue, I like my students to start developing their own path and will coach them back on their path during competition. By purple, I expect them to have one path down pretty good, and it’s time to explore further paths that all connect with the initial path. I’m currently a brown belt and have a web of doom.

As for self-defense, I believe in the basics. Nothing fancy. If you’ve been taken down and it’s a one-on-one fight, get to top position, or get up and get out. If it’s one-on-one and the fight hasn’t been taken down to the ground, do everything you can to avoid the fight. If it’s multiple attackers and you’ve been taken down, get up, don’t ground fight. Jiu-Jitsu is self-defense, not fighting, sort of.

Now, I also know that without controversy, my blog is boring. You may already disagree with half of what I said, or just think sport jiu-jitsu is a waste of time, or that self-defense is a waste of time. I personally prefer sport jiu-jitsu, but recognize that the art is a self-defense system that has evolved over and over again to become something very, very far away from its original intention. With that said (enter controversy), I do not believe that a jiu-jitsu match is a fight. When two people are trying to cause physical damage upon each other, they are fighting. In jiu-jitsu, I am looking to submit the other person. SUBMIT. As in, they quit before they get hurt. Now don’t get me wrong, if you do not tap, I will keep going until you get hurt, but that is not my intention. I want to prove that I’m better at this game. Comparing this to other combat sports is difficult. For example, Boxing. The goal is to WIN… by beating the crap out of each other. Is this a fight? I’m not quite sure, but the fact that there are rules and rounds leads me to say no, however, the ultimate goal is not to get the other person to quit, but to knock the other person out. Now, of course, with it being a sport, there are other strategies to win without knock out, but at the end of the day, a main goal is to hurt the other person enough that they cannot continue. To me, this is more of a fight since you are trying to hurt someone. Same goes for kickboxing, and the new sport of Bare Knuckle Boxing. Some don’t even want to call BKB a ‘sport’ because it’s so brutal, but there are rounds, and there are rules, so it’s a sport. I would consider this to be even more of a real fight that Boxing or Kickboxing. The sports of boxing and kickboxing have gloves, a level of protective equipment. Then we get to MMA. We all call MMA a fight, and I agree, it’s definitely more of a fight than all of the other combat sports, however, there are still rules and rounds, but what makes MMA more of a fight is that each sport, within the greater sport of MMA, is being utilized mostly for the self-defense aspect. For example, sport jiu-jitsu is limited in MMA. Although leg locks will work well, as we see with Garry Tonon and Ryan Hall, but regular sport guards are not functional for defending strikes. The sports of boxing and Kickboxing within MMA are extremely useful in MMA, but doesn’t help with defending submissions and takedowns. Sport wrestling has a value in MMA, but may not work against a long range striker. Put them all together, and you have a fight, sort of. I think ALL OF THESE SPORTS are useful for real fights against untrained, and usually drunk or angry people, but none of them are real fights. In a real fight, I can kick you in the nuts (if you have), then run away. Feel free to put in your 2 cents if you care enough. That’s all the controversy I have today.

I’m married, I have a mortgage, I have a business. I don’t want to get hurt. I want to train well into my golden years. To me, jiu-jitsu is personal growth. It allows me to constantly keep my mind sharp and keep my body in shape. It helps me with focus and making positive choices. It reminds me that nothing is easy, and you have to work hard. But most of all, it reminds me that we are all human. No matter where you are from, what religion you are, what gender you are, how much money you have, who you know - we are all equal on the mats.

So - what can you expect from my blog?

1. An open and honest account of my own training, struggles, successes, video content, competition.
2. Tips for lower belts.
3. Tips for training with women.
4. Tips for going against larger opponents, I'm around 155-165 and try to do absolute divisions as much as I can.
5. Tips for training as you get older (I’m 37, and we run an executive class for ages 35+). I train with many people in their 30s and 40s, even some in their 50s, 60s and 70s, and will be catching some interviews with them for this blog for more tips on staying healthy and injury free.
6. I won’t be covering the high level competitions - for that, visit The Grappling Rewind, a weekly podcast run by my student/training partner, Maine. However, if something really cool happens, I would have no problem going over the move-set.
7. I still will be catching interviews with well known jiu-jitsu players, and well known self-defense jiu-jitsu practitioners.

Here's an example of some problem solving technique videos I recently started making. I'll post more video's on some fun positions that I've been working on. I'd also love to trouble shoot some of your issue.

Here's an example of one of my tournament videos from 2017. I played a LOT of deep half guard then. If I were to make a blog on this video, which I will in the future, I would talk about the technical details of the deep half guard and inverted half guard that I used here. This will probably be one of the first video's I get into detail about, so if you're just getting into deep half, you'll like this one.

I may not be a world champion, but I’m proof that you can be more than average. I’m very proud of my accomplishments, because I’ve pushed myself to be the best I can be, and that’s why I love jiu-jitsu. One thing I’ve learned over the years is - NEVER COUNT YOURSELF OUT. You will learn that from jiu-jitsu...in time. You may feel average, but with the right game plan, you have the chance to beat anyone, and with hard work and proper training, there is no reason that you can’t win. I’ve beaten higher level opponents, bigger opponents, stronger, faster, younger, mixed martial artists, collegiate wrestlers, etc. You can too. I also understand that you may not have competition on your mind, and that’s ok too! It’s your own journey! Only 10% of my students compete, the other 90% train for life - health, fitness, mental sharpness, stress relief. This is your world, and you get to make your own choices. I’m just hoping I can help motivate you a little bit more.


Here are my sport accomplishments from Purple Belt up:
US Grappling 2X Gold Medalist Purple Belt Lightweight Executive (30+)
US Grappling 2X Gold Medalist Purple Belt Open Weight Executive (30+)
US Grappling 1X Gold Medalist Advanced NoGi Lightweight Executive (30+)
US Grappling 1X Gold Medalist Advanced NoGi Welterweight Executive (30+)
US Grappling 1X Gold Medalist Advanced NoGi Open Weight Executive (30+)
US Grappling 1X Silver Medalist Advanced NoGi Lightweight Executive (30+)
US Grappling 1X Silver Medalist Advanced NoGi Welterweight Executive (30+)
US Grappling 2X Silver Medalist Advanced NoGi Open Weight Executive (30+)
US Grappling 1X Silver Medalist Brown Belt Welterweight Executive (30+)
Newbreed Ultimate Challenge 1X Silver Medalist Advanced NoGi Welterweight Executive (30-39)
Newbreed Ultimate Challenge 1X Silver Medalist Purple Belt Flyweight-Welterweight Men's (18+)
IBJJF DC Open 1X Bronze Medalist Purple Belt Lightweight Masters 2 (36-40)
IBJJF DC Open 1X Bronze Medalist Brown Belt Lightweight Masters 2 (36-40)

I can't wait to share my journey with you!
-Greg

Follow me on Instagram: greglewjitsu

Greg Lew (middle) after receiving brown belt from Professor Monroe Hall (left) and Lee Synkowsky (right) in June 2018.