Awesome news!
China’s BJJ/MMA pioneer and long-time mate, Andy Pi, has just opened an awesome new gym.

First, this new venue solves one big headache… Beijing’s horrendous traffic is no longer part of the equation. That’s because the new gym is 200m from the Line 5 Datun East subway stop, which makes it sooooo easy to get to. Basically, now we can bypass the traffic and polluition and arrive ready to train, not pissed-off and worn-out from hectic taxi-in-traffic experiences. Here are directions.

Second, this place is friendly…I’m not just talking about the professional MMA fighters working out there (although they are friendly too), i’m talking: mat space galore. 100+ square meters of fighter-friendly mat space means no more taking turns, which means a more intense workout, which means greater gains and learning, which means time well spent! But even cooler than that, this new joint has it’s own changing rooms with showers too. Makes hitting the town after a tough Friday or Saturday evening session totally stress and stink-free.

So, if you are in town, and you need a sweet place to roll - MMA, BJJ, Shuaijiao, Sanshou… then this is the place!

Check the Beijing Jiujitsu Academy site for more

Keep Smilin’

Michael

ps. If you are nice to some of the pro MMA guys there they may show you a move or two from the grasslands. Dai Shuanghai, Zhang Tiequan, Batar, Bao Ligao and the guys have been wrestling Mongolian style since they could walk!

a guest post by William A. 

Hello Guys,

I finally was able to get my butt in front of my PC to write about a short visit to a Shuaijiao school in Toronto Canada. Thanks to the magic of Youtube and some luck while searching for a decent SJ school I came across Shifu Sunny Cao’s clips.

His school is located in Scarborough 63 Silver Star Blvd, Unit C6 Toronto. Shifu Cao shares his school with a Sanda teacher as well. The Shuai Jiao class is conducted from 5:00PM to 7:00 PM every Sunday. I was quite impressed with what I saw in the videos so I had to check it out during my stay in Toronto. I met Shifu Cao (a native of Tianjin) and was quiet impressed with his kindness and humor. He is quite the opposite of some Chinese teachers I have met in the past who are quiet mysterious with what they teach. Shifu Cao was very open and willing to show me as much as he could in the short time we had.

The class started with a good warm up that made our hearts pump like crazy, then we covered three defence techniques against punches. We worked them for a while without the jackets. The next part of the class every student had to grapple with every other student, the drill consisted in that one student will try to throw another student while his partner was only allow to defend and grab the jacket but not throw. Once a throw was scored the person throwing will face another student and so on.

Finally we practiced the techniques taught but this time using the jackets. Once the public class was over and I recovered my breath, I had a two hour private lesson with shifu Cao. He showed me several throws, grabbing techniques, defences and conditioning exercises. Needless to say that after 4 hours of getting thrown around I was exhausted but extremely glad to finally find a good SJ teacher.

I recommend anyone who is looking a SJ teacher in Toronto to drop by and try the class, you won’t regret it. As for me, I am training what I learnt and getting ready for another trip to learn more SJ.

William A

by Antonio Langiano

The European Shuaijiao Union (ESJU) was established and formally constituted in Oropesa, Castellon, Spain, on 12 June 2005. The ESJU founding member states are: France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The ESJU have developed a programme management approach to the promotion and development of Shuaijiao in Europe: to ensure the effective delivery of its objectives. The ESJU is the official governing body for Shuaijiao in Europe. The official logo of the ESJU (pictured below) is based on the flag of the European Union.

The ESJU is an a-political and non-profit making organization. The Executive of the ESJU is the Council of the ESJU which is composed of the Presidents of each of the national Shuaijiao Unions, authorized to act on behalf of their union. The President of each national Shuaijiao Union is a resident in the country or region whose interests that they represent.
The ESJU is composed of national and regional Shuaijiao Unions from within Europe. Membership is restricted to those countries belonging to the European continent. Under the constitution of the ESJU, the European continent is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean to the west by the Atlantic Ocean to the South by the Mediterranean Sea and to the east by the Black Sea and the Ural Mountains. The only current exceptions to this definition are: Iceland; Ireland; and islands situated in the Mediterranean Sea. Applications for membership of the ESJU from countries determined to be outside of the defined European continent must be considered by the full Council of the ESJU.
European Members in 2008 representing their countries are:
Langiano Antonio (Italy), Robert Simpson (England), Roberto Sejio Lombao (Spain), Wang Zhi-Hong (France), Jesus Manuel (Portugal), Calos Perez (Switzerland), Antonio Gomez Sierra (Germany), Lous Linn (Sweden ), Gregorz Ciembronewic (Poland), Paul Mitchel (Ireland), Patxi Marta Blanco (Basque Country), Isidora Milosewic (Serbia).
New country member’s: Greece, Belgium, Holand, Austria

(L-R: Li Baoru, Antonio Langiano , Ma Jianguo)

Today was a special day.

We had the pleasure of meeting and working out with Jan-Yu Weng, a noted Shuaijiao instructor from the USA. Jan-Yu and his father - Daniel Weng - have been tireless in teaching, promoting, and competing Shuaijiao not only in the US but around the world. You can visit his site here.

We had a tough sparring session the day before and everyone was sore, so Li Baoru took it easy on us today. We started outside in the sunshine and CLEAN AIR (the pollution in Beijing isn’t as bad as CNN makes out :-)) working the Zhizi (Steel Brick) and Da Gan (Long Pole). You cant practice these inside because the steel brick destroys the mats if you drop it and you cant swing the Long Pole with out taking the ceiling out. Afterwards we moved inside for basics, and some light sparring.

One of the things I love about Shuaijiao - and that i think some people around the world need to be reminded of - is that Shuaijiao is a great way to make friends. It crosses language barriers, colour doesnt matter, and I’d go as far to say that who loses doesn’t matter too. What matters is that spirit of friendly confidence, generosity, and a passion to share that training and competing together in Shuaijiao develops.

Jan-Yu’s is a living example of that and his visit was a great reminder for all of us.

Li Baoru and the rest of the Team - me included - were honored by Jan-Yu’s visit today and very much look forward to meeting him in Beijing again soon.

Keep Smilin’

Michael

P.S. On a fun note: I often hear people complaining that the Chinese aren’t creative or cannot innovate. Well, today as we left the gym, we saw something that proves all those claims wrong. This has to be one of the best examples of the creative use of scarce resources that I have ever come across…

Check it out!

Shuaijiao has not always been the way it is today. Nor has it always been known as Shuaijiao.

In the Tang Dynasty, Shuaijiao was called Xiang Pu. Xiang Pu read in Japanese is pronounced: Sumo. As we all know, Sumo is Japan’s national sport.

Above is a picture of one of Japan’s greatest/strongest/imfamous Sumo wrestler: Asashouryuu

Interestingly, he is Mongolian. A national hero in both Mongolia and Japan, Asashouryuu - a.k.a. Dolgorsürengiin Dagvadorj - has displayed some of the most impressive skills in his bouts that people have ever seen in Sumo. He is the first Mongol to become a Yokozuna, and the first Yokozuna to be suspended from competition… for faking an injury.

This is how Wikipaedia describes his fighting style:

“Unlike his Hawaiian predecessors Akebono and Musashimaru, Asashōryū was a relative lightweight earlier in his career. He was just 129 kg in 2001, but he began bulking up to 131 kg in 2002, 140 kg by 2004, and is now about 148 kg (326 pounds), right on average. He has successfully relied on speed and technique to compete against his often much heavier opponents, though lately he has begun confronting those opponents head on with the intention of out-muscling them. His lightning speed has suffered somewhat with the extra weight though he is still much faster than most of his opponents. He famously dumped the 158 kg Kotomitsuki with a “lifting body slam” (tsuriotoshi), a feat of tremendous strength, normally accomplished on much smaller and weaker opponents. In training, he is reported to do multiple repetitions of biceps curls with 30 kg dumb-bells. While gym training in 2008 with NHK commentator Hiro Morita, he reportedly bench pressed 200kg”

All i can say is check out his Shuaijiao! It’s pretty O.K.!

courtesy of Liao Minxiong of The International Federation of Shoubo in France

Master Yuan Zumou, originally from Shanghai, has worked hard to promote Shuaijiao in France and Europe.

Sincerest congratulations to him and his team for holding the 8th Paris Mayor’s Cup Shuaijiao & Shoubo Competition. To my knowledge, Yuan’s competition is one of the few international Shuaijiao competitions to have made it to 8! Here’s to many more!!!

Here are the results. Congratulations to those who achieved and those who participated:

SHUAIJIAO

Ranking by country :

1. France 26 Points

2. China 21 Points

3. Spain 14 Points

4. Belgium 11 Points

Ranking by category :
- 60 kg :

MA Yu Bing (China) 7 Points
BAYABO Cédric (France) 5 Points
DEVAUX Damien (France - Rouen) 4 Points

- 66 kg :

POULAIN Renaud (France - Lille) 7 Points
ZENIA Ahmed (France) 5 Points
GOSSELIN Gwenaël (France - Bretigny) 4 Points

- 73 kg:

VAN DEN BROECK Kris (Belgium) 7 Points
BRELLE François (France) 5 Points
BENDOUCH Hichem (France – AMCM) 4 Points

- 81 kg :

NOURI Karim (France) 7 Points
RASCO Narciso (Spain) 5 Points
UYTTERSPROT Christophe (Belgium) 4 Points

- 90 kg :

ZHANG Jiang (China) 7 Points
BALLESTEROS Josu (Spain) 5 Points
GUZMAN Jesus (Spain) 4 Points

-105 kg :

SHANG Hai (China) 7 Points
SAGNA Abdou (France - Rouen) 5 Points
OUSADI Farid (France) 4 Points

SHOUBO

Ranking by Country:

1. France 31 Points
2. Spain 16 Points
3. Italy 8 Points
4. Algeria 7 Points

Ranking by category :

- 60 kg :

1. ROUIBET Hocine (Algeria) 7 Points
2. DEVAUX Damien (France) 5 Points

- 66 kg :

1. ZENIA Ahmed (France) 7 Points
2. GOSSELIN Gwenaël (France - Bretigny) 5 Points
3. BOULANGER Quentin (France - ADAMEC) 4 Points
3. (ex-aequo) QUINA Ramon (Spain) 4 Points

- 73 kg :

1. BRELLE François (France) 7 Points
2. MARIE NOEL Pascal (France) 5 Points
3. VAILATI Stefano (Italy) 4 Points

- 81 kg :

1. NOURI Karim (France) 7 Points
2. MACIA Christian (France -Bretigny) 5 Points
3. ROCCA Andrea (Italy) 4 Points

- 90 kg :

1. BALLESTEROS Josu (Spain) 7 Points
2. GUZMAN Jesus (Spain) 5 Points

Congratulations again to all who competed.

Here’s to more people and more competition in 2009!

Keep Smilin’

Michael

About time!

Masters Li Baoru and Ma Jianguo have put together a “smashing” opportunity to learn Shuaijiao with the best teachers - and athletes - in China.

Put these dates in your calandar: October 12th - 27th. Beijing will be back to normal after Olympic fever, and it will be cooler… perfect for some intense Shuaijiao training.

Where do i start?

World-class grappling facilities

+

World-class Shuaijiao coaches

+

World-class Shuaijiao athletes from China & the rest of the world

+

China’s ONLY official Shuaijiao certification

=

Time well invested & Shuaijiao Life Changed!

At the risk of sounding like a snakeoil salesman rather than a simple Shuaijiao guy, I put together a tag line that - in my opinion -  sums the experience up :

“Learn from Masters, Be Recognized by Masters, Become Masters”

It’s not hype. It is a real opportunity to learn real Shuaijiao at the source, make life-long friends from around the world,  be recognized for your hard work, and get on the fast track to some slammin’ Shuaijiao!

I’ll tell you more over the next few days… in the meantime….GET EXCITED!

Keep Smilin’

Michael

ps. If you can’t wait, contact me for more details: michael@shuaijiao.tv