Call Gustavo Dantas Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at 480-968-6303 for more details.

As a precursor to that training class I am posting one of my previous articles, Nutrition as a High Percentage Move in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu below.

Nutrition as a High Percentage Move in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

This article discusses nutrition as a high percentage move in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Let’s lay the ground work, no pun intended, with a definition of a high percentage move. High percentage moves are moves with strong statistics that back their chance of success.

So how does that relate to nutrition? It relates to nutrition in that nutrition is a variable in the human performance / Brazilian Jiu Jitsu equation that you can control, provided you have the knowledge and discipline to execute it.

I usually say, “If I can control it, and if it’s a known influencer of success then I pay attention to it.”

This can be compared to the 80 / 20 Rule, also known as the Pareto Principle.

Many competitiors in many sports, including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are walking away from percentage points in what I call “the success equation” by ignoring nutrition as a key variable. Although high quality nutrition is a high percentage move, it is not convenient. That’s OK. Success in any given project usually isn’t convenient.

In our society unless you are clear about what you will and won’t eat, you may find yourself eating whats easily available.

Another way of looking at it is, what’s convenient usually isn’t successful.

Is high quality nutrition the same for everybody? No. Everybody is, in varying degrees, biochemically unique. Nutrition is not cookie cutter, one size fits all. As an example, some people can thrive on a vegan or vegetarian diet. Others don’t.

Why is nutrition a high percentage move in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? Nutrition is a high percentage move in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu because nutrition is the raw material your body uses to repair tissue and microtrauma, regulate inflammation, build neurotransmitters, optimize biochemical and metabolic pathways at the cellular level. digest food, detoxify organ systems, squelch free radical activity and the list goes on.

Race car drivers use high quality fuel in their race car. You are a human race car. What is the quality of the nutrition you use to feed your body?

Macronutrients, proteins, carbs, fats, water, electrolytes, micronutrients, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals, amino acids, essential fatty acids etc. All are player in the nutrition equation. All have the potential to influence how well your body works on the matt and off the matt, in both the short term and the long term. The plot thickens due to synergism either on the upside or the downside based on how macronutrients and micronutrients are combined and in what volume.

I mention both short and long term. To progress in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or any discipline you have to be in the game long enough to evolve your game. That happens by getting huge numbers of reps which takes years. Any sport requires massive numbers of reps in order to push skill sets from the conscious mind to the subconscious mind. From conscious competence to unconscious competence. The subconscious mind is that place where you no longer think about it to execute it. In varying degrees it’s on automatic pilot.

High quality and well managed nutrition will influence the health and well being of your human race car so that you’re capable of training for many years, accumulating reps, evolving your game and fulfilling your potential.

In closing, congrats to Nova Uniao, Arizona and Gustavo Dantas for their 1st Place trophy win at the 2012 All Americas Jiu Jitsu Tournament promoted by NABJJF. Nova Uniao, Arizona won the adult division with 20 competitiors and 18 medals.

Joe Sale, CNS, CSCS

About Joseph Sale

Joe Sale, CNS, CSCS, is a board certified nutrition specialist and a nationally accredited strength coach. His educational credentials include a Bachelor of Science and a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine. Joe has been an adjunct faculty instructor and guest lecturer at numerous colleges, universities, and corporations covering human anatomy, physiology, performance nutrition, corporate performance, and precursors to musculoskeletal sports injuries among other topics. He’s been a guest expert on radio and television and is the author of the Optimum Human Performance Course.

Below are a few paragraphs from the article.

This article discusses nutrition as a high percentage move in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Let’s lay the ground work, no pun intended, with a definition of a high percentage move. High percentage moves are moves with strong statistics that back their chance of success.

So how does that relate to nutrition? It relates to nutrition in that nutrition is a variable in the human performance / Jiu Jitsu equation that you can control, provided you have the knowledge and discipline to execute it.

I usually say, “If I can control it, and if it’s a known influencer of success then I pay attention to it.”

This can be compared to the 80 / 20 Rule, also known as the Pareto Principle.

Many competitiors in many sports, including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are walking away from percentage points in what I call “the success equation” by ignoring nutrition as a key variable. Although high quality nutrition is a high percentage move, it is not convenient. That’s OK. Success in any given project usually isn’t convenient.

In our society unless you are clear about what you will and won’t eat, you may find yourself eating whats easily available.

Another way of looking at it is, what’s convenient usually isn’t successful.

Is high quality nutrition the same for everybody? No. Everybody is, in varying degrees, biochemically unique. Nutrition is not cookie cutter, one size fits all. As an example, some people can thrive on a vegan or vegetarian diet. Others don’t.

Why is nutrition a high percentage move in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? Nutrition is a high percentage move in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu because nutrition is the raw material your body uses to repair tissue and microtrauma, regulate inflammation, build neurotransmitters, optimize biochemical and metabolic pathways at the cellular level. digest food, detoxify organ systems, squelch free radical activity and the list goes on.

Read the remainder of this article in Tapout Magazine.

Check out Tapout Magazine and MMA Worldwide.

About Joseph Sale

 Joe Sale, CNS, CSCS, is a board certified nutritionist and a nationally accredited strength & conditioning specialist. His educational credentials include a Bachelor of Science and a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine. Joe has been an adjunct faculty instructor and guest lecturer at numerous colleges, universities, and corporations covering human anatomy & physiology, sports nutrition, corporate performance, and precursors to musculoskeletal sports injuries among other topics. He’s been a guest expert on radio and television and is the author of the Optimum Human Performance Course. He can be contactd at 480-241-2621.

The article is titled, “Tactical Athletes / MMA / Mixed Martial Arts and Sports Nutrition”

Below are a few paragraphs.

Raw mental discipline and top flight physically conditioning are of great value but there are additional benefits to be garnered from intelligently applied sports nutrition / including macronutrient management along with optimum quantities of micronutrients.

I met with Gustavo Dantas, with Gustavo Dantas Braziliian Jiu Jitsu in Tempe Arizona this week as I prepared to write this article. We meet on a regular basis and I work with many of his athletes on custom sports nutrition programs for Jiu Jitsu competition. Gustavo provides seminars on Jiu Jitsu to the law enforcement and tactical athlete community in Arizona. I was explaining my take on nutrition being overlooked in the world of the tactical athlete.

There is a mistaken belief out there that if you train hard you can eat anything and still perform at your best.

Your body is made up of 70 trillion cells and is in a continuous process of sloughing off dead cells and creating new cells. The quality of your nutrition day in day out is the raw material your body uses to recover from workouts, repair tissue and microtrauma, regulate inflammation, create neurotransmitters, optimize biochemical and metabolic pathways at the cellular level, digest food, detoxify organ systems, squelch free radical activity and the list goes on. What is the quality of the raw materials / the nutrition you are using?

Many MMA competitors maintain what appears to be great physical condition in spite of poor nutrition management. This is often seen in bad weight cuts .That may last for a short time but eventually they will be required to go to the next level.

Checkout Tapout Magazine.

- Joe Sale, CNS, CSCS

Rarely is the path to any goal or successful outcome an easy and direct ride. Yet the public most often sees or hears only about the end result and / or when the media picks it up. What’s missed and what the public often doesn’t hear about is all that happened in route, the work that was done, the sacrifices made, the life lessons learned, and the temporary setbacks that had to be overcome on the way to any given goal or destination.

My objective is that through these interviews, the reader will pick up pearls of wisdom and overriding universal life principles that they can apply to their own life regardless of their destination.

- Joseph Sale, Founder, Optimum Performance / Human Performance Systems

Joe Sale / Let’s begin with your background. You’re most well known as a Mixed Martial Arts / MMA Commentator and Translator. One of your specialties / areas of expertise is Japanese MMA, having commentated Japanese shows including Senguko, K-1, and Dream. Most recently, you earned your Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and you have a book coming out about your journey to Black Belt. How did you become involved in MMA?

Hans Thompson / I was introduced to the UFC by a friend when I was in High School, and we used to get the tapes from the local video store. I started training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu not too long after that. We were big fans of MMA and watched all the events available at the time, even making the trek to a little Japanese market in Phoenix that had PRIDE tapes, which really inspired my love of Japanese MMA and probably set me on my ultimate career path.

Joe Sale / Hans, more specifically, please discuss your personal journey to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt.

Hans Thompson / I started watching the UFC in around 1997, went back and watched all the older events (there had been about 12 at the time). My buddy had trained some grappling before moving out to Arizona, and he showed me some stuff. We would move the couches and train in his living room, getting all rugburned. When I graduated high school and got a decent job making enough money, I went right down and signed up at the only black belt school in Phoenix at the time. I continued training all through college and even while I was living in Japan teaching English, and then went looking for a place to train when I moved to Colorado in 2005. I have been at Zingano Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ever since, and I earned my black belt in March 2012. I have had my share of injuries, gotten busy with work or school, and had times where I wasn’t training as much as I’d like, as well as times where I did almost nothing but train. But in the long run, I never gave up, and I consider my black belt to be among the most important achievements of my life.

Joe Sale / What are your thoughts on the mainstreaming of MMA in the United States today?

Hans Thompson / This is actually something I have debated quite a lot with other MMA fans, and really I think MMA isn’t getting mainstream so much as the UFC brand is. There is still very little knowledge among the general public of anything outside the MMA, or even UFC pre- “The Ultimate Fighter”. I think the adoption of Unified Rules and sanctioning by boxing commissions have been huge for the sport, but the truth of the matter is that everything else lags way behind the UFC. Bellator, the next closest competitor, really struggles to get viewers, and the next-biggest after Bellator is smaller still. So, although a lot more people are aware of MMA, I’d say most of them think it stops and starts with the UFC, and that is reflected by the fact that many people still call the sport “Ultimate Fighting”.

Joe Sale / Your background with MMA in Japan is significant. What are the most current developments in MMA in Japan?

Hans Thompson / Unfortunately, the single biggest development in Japanese MMA at the moment is that it is completely stagnant. You have some smaller shows like DEEP or Shooto that have been going for a while, but all the biggest MMA shows in Japan have either folded outright or are completely dormant. I basically have been working almost exclusively on regional US MMA projects this year, because the state of Japanese MMA is so bad.

Joe Sale / How is the culture of Japanese MMA different from the culture of MMA in the United States? Is it true that Japanese crowds sit in silence during MMA events as opposed to the loud cheering we experience in the United States?

Hans Thompson / Yes, the overall atmosphere is a lot calmer, but they definitely cheer when there is action. The thing I always liked about Japanese fans is that they cheer when there is a good grappling exchange, a submission defense, etc. – the US still has a long way to go in that regard. Fans here start booing 30 seconds after a fight hits the mat. Back in the heyday of PRIDE, you would see old people, young girls, all walks of life at the shows, wearing T-shirts and buying calendars and stuff. It was truly a phenomenon. Sadly, it is mostly just hardcore fans these days, as the fad seems to have passed among the general public. The promoters definitely deserve some blame for badly mismanaging the sport there, though.

Joe Sale / You’ve continued to follow the International Kickboxing scene for an extended period of time. What do you see as the evolving trends in kickboxing at the international level?

Hans Thompson / Kickboxing, on the other hand, seems to be alive and well. Significant expansion into the US has always been the dream, and it really looks like that might happen this year. Two of the biggest organizations, Glory and It’s Showtime, have joined forces and solidified much of the best kickboxing talent on one roster. Their main competitor, K-1, has an uphill battle but theirs is the more recognizable brand name worldwide and if they put on good events and sign good fighters, they could see a major resurgence.

Joe Sale / Hans, what do you see as the “next evolution” in skill sets or integration of skill sets in the world of MMA?

Hans Thompson / I can’t really predict where the next evolution will be, but the current trend I see is of wrestlers making for exciting fights. This is in stark contrast to the early/middle years of MMA, when guys with great wrestling would simply control their opponents for boring decisions. Now, there are so many good wrestlers, and the overall level of wrestling is so high, that an evolved striking or submissions game is also necessary to win fights. It’s an interesting time for MMA, in my opinion.

Joe Sale / Hans, Thank you for taking the time to participate in this interview. In closing, would you share with the readers the most important life lesson or lessons you have learned either on your personal journey to blackbelt or through your global involvement in MMA?

Hans Thompson / This is going to sound like a platitude, but the most important things I have learned are to never give up, and to never accept that you have to do something that you don’t enjoy. When I was younger, being a black belt in BJJ seemed so far off that it was practically unattainable, and I never would have thought I could make a living in MMA. But both of those things happened, because I kept working towards my goals. So, I’m not the first person to pass on this advice, it’s certainly nothing groundbreaking, but I think I am living proof that given hard work and a little luck, people can achieve some pretty awesome things.

About Hans Thompson

 Hans Thompson is a producer for Inside MMA and AXS Fights (formerly HDNet Fights). He has been an avid fan of MMA for more than 15 years, and holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He is fluent in Japanese and worked as an interpreter and commentator for the US broadcasts of DREAM and Sengoku. He lives in Brighton, Colorado (just outside Denver) with his wife and two dogs, and is an instructor at Zingano Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

I will be guest speaking at the event covering a multitude of useful topics including nutrition prep for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competition and a human anatomy / joint health tutorial among other topics

Below is Gustavos post on the Workshop, from the Gustavo Dantas Brazilian Jiu Jitsu website.

-Joe Sale, CNS, CSCS / Founder / Optimum Performance / Human Performance Systems

Hey everybody, I will be teaching my Back Attacks workshop at the GDJJ Academy on Saturday, June 16th from 10 am to 1 pm. A lot of people may not know, but submissions from the back are the highest percentage finishes in World class competition, especially in the black belt division, and this is why I push the back attacks so much. Most of team GDJJ submissions come from the back position and it’s a great time to go “back hunting” at the 2012 AZ State Championship on June 23rd & 24th. You will be working on how to control the back, maintain position, and finish the match. You will also be able to identify good and bad situations and increase your success rate in maintaining, escaping, or finishing from the back.

The workshop will also include tournament preparation mind set and strategies:

- How to develop your game plan for the competition

- How to act before, during and after the tournament (winning or losing)

Plus, we will have a guest speaker. Nutritionist Joe Sale will be educating us about proper nutrition. This is valuable information whether you are a competitor or not.

This class is available only to Nova Uniao Arizona students (all levels), and the investment is only $35 for GDJJ Academy students and $50 for GD Affiliate schools. You must pre-register for the Workshop, no registrations at the door. Sign up now!

-Gustavo Dantas

You can now read my

The following is an excerpt from the MMA Worldwide website.

Check out Tapout Magazine.

- Joe Sale, CNS, CSCS

MMA Worldwide, Inc is more than just a Magazine, an Association, a Website, a TV show or a Road Tour. While each connects with Mixed Martial Arts fans in unique ways, together they provide a central source for knowledge and entertainment unmatched in the industry.

No other company brings together:

•the top mixed martial arts masters to teach the tricks of the trade

•the top gyms to create a harmonious MMA training community

•the top website to engage fans with news as it happens

•the top writers to entertain through compelling stories

•the top quartet of MMA fanatics to guide fans through this fascinating “world” of MMA

TapouT Magazine, launched in 2004 under Bodyguard Magazine, is for the sports-centric fan focusing on training and what takes place inside the cage or ring. MMA Worldwide Magazine, founded in 2006, takes fans behind the scenes into the MMA lifestyle. The MMA Worldwide Website l brings readers up to date news, videos, fights, games, contests and a whole lot more. The MMA Worldwide Association unites gyms from around the country to provide fans the best savings while they hone their skills for fitness or sport.

“Dr George Pratt’s book, Code to Joy / The Four Step Solution to Unlocking Your Natural State of Happiness, contains practical and usable information that through application, has the capacity to create significant and quantifiable change in your life. The book, Code to Joy is endorsed by well known names in their respective fields including Dara Torres / 5x Olympian, Rob Dyrdek / the Host of MTV’s Fantasy Factory, Larry Dossey, MD / the author of Reinventing Medicine and Larry King / the former Host of Larry King Live on CNN. Dr George Pratt has been and continues to be, on the cutting edge in his field. Read and apply Code to Joy.”

- Joseph Sale, Founder, Optimum Performance / Human Performance Systems

The following is the Foreword from Code to Joy, written by Larry King / the former host of Larry King Live on CNN

The twentieth century had its share of medical miracles. I should know. When you’ve survived a heart attack, had quintuple bypass surgery, and you’re still going strong a quarter-century later, it gives you a pretty healthy appreciation for modern medicine.

Still, there are some aspects of the human condition medicine can’t touch. Or at least it couldn’t until now. Modern medicine has made us a lot healthier—but what about happier? That may be where the frontier of medicine lies in this still young century. And one of the undisputed masters of that new frontier is a clinical psychologist named George Pratt.

The first time I met Dr. Pratt he was a guest on Larry King Live, talking about a fascinating approach to healing our emotions and creating lasting improvements in our productivity and sense of fulfillment.

“Whether it’s an unresolved hurt, persistent low self-esteem, or vague sense of anxious unease,” said Dr. Pratt, “most of us struggle with some version of what we call the fog of distress. It clouds our lives, interfering with our relationships, our careers, even our health. And no matter how many hours you spend on the couch, talking it through just doesn’t always do it.”

Why not?

“Because there’s typically a disconnect,” he explained, “between what we logically know about ourselves and the place in the brain where our emotions live. Sometimes you just can’t get there from here. You have to find alternative ways to get that information to click.”

Alternative ways like what? Like energy psychology.

If you’ve never heard the term before, you’re not alone. Neither had I, before that show. But in the years to come, you and I will be hearing about it plenty. It refers to innovative techniques that affect the body’s energy systems, almost like a 60,000-mile tune-up of the thoughts and emotions. Using these techniques, as my distinguished guest explained it, you can clear out the past traumas and events that created those disconnects in the first place. The result? It’s something like what happens when a fresh wind blows away the clouds: the sun comes out.

“Actually,” he added, “it’s a pretty easy thing to do. And it works.”

Dr. Pratt has helped pro golfers and ball players improve their game, jilted young men and women get over heartbreak, estranged couples get their groove back. He has helped people get past the trauma of terrible accidents, restart faltering careers, recover lost self-confidence, and move past irrational fears.

He has even helped one talk show host I know—me.

Even before we had him on the show that first time, I knew a little bit about the good doctor. He had worked with two people on the Larry King Live staff, and they had gotten fabulous results from those sessions. Soon I had him on as a guest again, and this time he talked about “creating your own joy.”

Now I was really intrigued.

We set up a time when he could give me a private demonstration of the approach you’re about to explore in this book. So we’d have something to work with, I described an emotional issue in my own life. What he did with it in the fifteen minutes we spent together blew my mind. To say it was impressive would be a crime of understatement. It was remarkable. When he says it’s a simple and easy process, he’s not kidding. When he says it works, he’s not kidding there either.

George Pratt is a true modern-day healer, and what he and his colleague, Dr. Peter Lambrou, have created in the pages you’re about to read is a brilliant formula for tapping into our highest potential. I predict it will change many people’s lives for the better.

Including yours.

Whatever is going on in your life, whatever is keeping you from being as successful, as productive, as flat-out joyful as you’d like to be, there’s a path that will take you there. I know, because I’ve experienced it first-hand.

- Larry King

The knee joint is an amazing structure of the human body. It’s surprising that it holds up at all in the sports world in general, in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts, or even in every day life, being asked to perform in ways biomechanically that are a challenge to all it’s structures. Think about it. The knee is like 2 tooth picks stacked on top of one another end to end. What holds it together under the shear, torque, and rotational forces that it is exposed to?

Lets start with understanding and defining the major anatomical players of the human knee.

At the most basic level the human knee is a hinge joint made up of the articulation of the femur and the tibia. It’s important to note that the patella or knee cap articulates primarily with the femur, not the tibia.

With deeper inpection we see that the human knee has 3 functional units or subdivisions which are the femoropatellar articulation, the medial femorotibial articulation, and the lateral femorotibial articulation. These three functional units or subdivisions can be considered separate joints.

Next, let’s cover the ligaments of the human knee.

The anterior cruciate ligament / ACL and posterior cruciate ligament / PCL are the 2 cruciate ligaments of the human knee found in the intercondylar fossa of the femur and attach to the tibia below. They control anterior and posterior displacement or movement of the tibia on the femur. Note that they line up at oblique angles and from a biomechanical and engineering perspective this allows for flexion and extension of the knee. Without this oblique positioning there would be no flexion and extension of the knee. Amazing!

The lateral colateral ligament / LCL / same side as the fibula and the medial colateral ligament / MCL / same side as the tibia provide lateral and medial support to the knee as the names suggest.

Next we have the menisci, both the lateral meniscus and the medial meniscus of the knee. Again, from a biomechanical and engineering perspective, the knee meniscus provides expanded distribution of vertical and compressive forces over a larger surface area. In essence, the medial meniscus and lateral meniscus of the knee provide shock absorbing properties, act as spacers between the femur and tibia, and also contribute to the circulation of synovial fluid in the knee during flexion and extension.

Working from stand up is considered a closed kinetic chain position with both feet planted on the ground in a weight bearing position. This can be precarious as you can find yourself in unique positions where things happen fast.

Working from your own guard is a open kinetic chain position and is not weight bearing. It presents a different set of challenges being a non weight bearing position.

An extremely short list of common injuries to the knee include ACL tears, MCL tears, and meniscus damage.

Years ago a torn knee anterior cruciate ligament / ACL was a sports career ender. Not any more. One of the earlier cases in pro sports of knee anterior cruciate ligament / ACL reconstruction comebacks was Kurt Warner, a running back for the Seattle Seahawks. Although not Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or Mixed Martial Arts, Kurt Warners case was the precursor to the knee injury comebacks that are much more common today. He had anterior cruciate ligament /ACL knee reconstruction in 1984 and came back to successfully rush for over 1000 yards in three of his next four seasons.

Today, the procedures are far more advanced and guys come back quicker with even better results.

Jerry Rice the great wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers made one of the fastest comebacks from knee anterior cruciate ligament / ACL surgery / reconstruction. He came back in 3.5 months. Unheard of at that time.  He was always known for pushing the outer limits of human performance and for a great work ethic. However, although he worked hard post surgery and came back fast, maybe too fast, he also experienced reinjury to the same knee very soon thereafter.

Well known cases of successful knee anterior cruciate ACL comebacks include Tom Brady and Wes Welker, both of the New England Patriots.

Well known Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competitiors and Mixed Martial Artists who have come back or are in the process of coming back from knee injuries include Junior dos Santos, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and George St Pierre.

In closing, keep in mind that an intelligently managed strength and conditioning program will contribute to keeping your knees healthy and functional in the short and long term. This includes viewing your knees as well as your body as a whole, as a human resource that should be intelligently managed if you hope to get the most from it.

Joe Sale, CNS, CSCS

Call Optimum Performance / Human Performance Systems today at 480-241-2621 and mention this article by Joe Sale, CNS, CSCS, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts, and the Anatomy of the Human Knee, and receive a free consultation with Joe.

About Joseph Sale

Joseph Sale, CNS, CSCS, is a board certified nutrition specialist and a nationally accredited strength and conditioning specialist. His educational credentials include a Bachelor of Science and a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine. Joe has been an adjunct faculty instructor and guest lecturer at numerous colleges, universities, and corporations covering human anatomy, physiology, performance nutrition, corporate performance, and precursors to musculoskeletal sports injuries among other topics. He’s been a guest expert on radio and television and is the author of the Optimum Human Performance Course.

Let’s lay the ground work, no pun intended, with a definition of a high percentage move. High percentage moves are moves with strong statistics that back their chance of success.

So how does that relate to nutrition? It relates to nutrition in that nutrition is a variable in the human performance / Brazilian Jiu Jitsu equation that you can control, provided you have the knowledge and discipline to execute it.

I usually say, “If I can control it, and if it’s a known influencer of success then I pay attention to it.”

This can be compared to the 80 / 20 Rule, also known as the Pareto Principle.

Many competitiors in many sports, including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are walking away from percentage points in what I call “the success equation” by ignoring nutrition as a key variable. Although high quality nutrition is a high percentage move, it is not convenient. That’s OK. Success in any given project usually isn’t convenient.

In our society unless you are clear about what you will and won’t eat, you may find yourself eating whats easily available.

Another way of looking at it is, what’s convenient usually isn’t successful.

Is high quality nutrition the same for everybody? No. Everybody is, in varying degrees, biochemically unique. Nutrition is not cookie cutter, one size fits all. As an example, some people can thrive on a vegan or vegetarian diet. Others don’t.

Why is nutrition a high percentage move in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? Nutrition is a high percentage move in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu because nutrition is the raw material your body uses to repair tissue and microtrauma, regulate inflammation, build neurotransmitters, optimize biochemical and metabolic pathways at the cellular level. digest food, detoxify organ systems, squelch free radical activity and the list goes on.

Race car drivers use high quality fuel in their race car. You are a human race car. What is the quality of the nutrition you use to feed your body?

Macronutrients, proteins, carbs, fats, water, electrolytes, micronutrients, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals, amino acids, essential fatty acids etc. All are player in the nutrition equation. All have the potential to influence how well your body works on the matt and off the matt, in both the short term and the long term. The plot thickens due to synergism either on the upside or the downside based on how macronutrients and micronutrients are combined and in what volume.

I mention both short and long term. To progress in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or any discipline you have to be in the game long enough to evolve your game. That happens by getting huge numbers of reps which takes years. Any sport requires massive numbers of reps in order to push skill sets from the conscious mind to the subconscious mind. From conscious competence to unconscious competence. The subconscious mind is that place where you no longer think about it to execute it. In varying degrees it’s on automatic pilot.

High quality and well managed nutrition will influence the health and well being of your human race car so that you’re capable of training for many years, accumulating reps, evolving your game and fulfilling your potential.

In closing, congrats to Nova Uniao, Arizona and Gustavo Dantas for their 1st Place trophy win at the 2012 All Americas Jiu Jitsu Tournament promoted by NABJJF. Nova Uniao, Arizona won the adult division with 20 competitiors and 18 medals.

Joe Sale, CNS, CSCS

Call Optimum Performance / Human Performance Systems today at 480-241-2621, and mention this article by Joe Sale, CNS, CSCS, Nutrition as a High Percentage Move in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and receive a free consultation with Joe.

About Joseph Sale

Joseph Sale, CNS, CSCS, is a board certified nutrition specialist and a nationally accredited physical conditioning specialist. His educational credentials include a Bachelor of Science and a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine. Joe has been an adjunct faculty instructor and guest lecturer at numerous colleges, universities, and corporations covering human anatomy, physiology, performance nutrition, corporate performance, and precursors to musculoskeletal sports injuries among other topics. He’s been a guest expert on radio and television and is the author of the Optimum Human Performance Course.

Rarely is the path to any goal or successful outcome an easy and direct ride. Yet the public most often sees or hears only about the end result and / or when the media picks it up. What’s missed and what the public often doesn’t hear about is all that happened in route, the work that was done, the sacrifices made, the life lessons learned, and the temporary setbacks that had to be overcome on the way to any given goal or destination.

My objective is that through these interviews, the reader will pick up pearls of wisdom and overriding universal life principles that they can apply to their own life regardless of their destination.

- Joseph Sale, Founder, Optimum Performance / Human Performance Systems

Joe Sale / John, on your website you talk about your passion for photography. What is your story leading up to your work as a photographer?

John Cooper / Ever since I was a child I have always been interested in photography. I used to shoot with those old 110 toy cameras and would have a stack of the cartridges laying around until my grandmother would go develop them for me.

I never really considered doing photography as a main profession growing up because I never wanted it to feel like work (or maybe I was just lazy because photography is WORK). I would just shoot what I could here-and-there and hope to capture something that interested me.

Anyway, I went on to study graphic design and worked for many years at a small advertising agency. I even started doing product photography for several of our clients but I was always more interested in shooting the tiny details of the product rather than a static, boring shot for an ad (which didn’t make the clients too happy).

I started taking photography courses shortly after and tried to learn as much as I could about the technical side of photography. I always felt I had a decent eye but I needed to improve my knowledge about how to get the most out of a camera.

In 2007 I began training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I fell in love with the sport immediately and started attending tournaments, as a spectator.

One of the first tournaments I photographed was the 2009 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championships. I had shot a couple of smaller tournaments but this was one of the big ones. The funny thing is I didn’t get too many photos because I would catch myself watching the matches rather than snapping photos. Besides, trying to shoot from outside the barricades with all those people around posed its own challenges.

Now I try to attend all of the major (and some smaller) tournaments on the west coast with plans of traveling to shoot the ones that are further away.

Joe Sale / John, I’ve see your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu photos on your website cooperfoto.com. In my opinion they are absolutely amazing. What are your thought processes as you shoot at a tournament?

John Cooper / Thank you. My main goal at any tournament is to shoot the emotion of the matches. Yes, I like to capture the takedowns, the submissions, etc but what’s more important to me is the emotional range that athletes go through during a match. My main goal is to capture that range. One of my favorite photos came to me by accident. It isn’t a technically perfect photo nor is it well composed but the photo tells a story. I was shooting a match right in front of me when I heard a scream from across the gym. Someone had just won a gold medal at the brown belt level. As I looked over, their backs to me, I saw his hand raised so I started snapping photos. He then runs towards the crowd and jumps into the arms of his coaches and friends. I shot the whole sequence not thinking much of it. When I got home and looked at the photos I noticed in the bottom left corner of the photo was the losing athlete with his head in his hands being contrasted by the winning athlete embracing the crowd in victory. I didn’t even notice the other athlete at the time I shot it.

Joe Sale / When you shoot a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu match how many photos do you come away with that are “A game” photos?

John Cooper / That’s a good question. During a single day tournament I will shoot upwards of 2000 photos. I try to eliminate the obviously blurred, etc photos during my down time so that number is probably higher. As far as ‘A’ game photos, I would take a guess at maybe five or so. These are the photos that I would call portfolio pieces. That isn’t to say the other photos are bad but these ones really stand out.

Joe Sale / How is shooting Mixed Martial Arts different from shooting Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

John Cooper / The biggest challenge for me is the cage itself. I have not had the opportunity to shoot above the cage yet so I have only shot through the fence. Other than that, it is basically the same for me.

Joe Sale / What other sports do you shoot? How is shooting other sports different from Mixed Martial Arts or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

John Cooper / I have photographed football, basketball, soccer and baseball. The main difference is where the action is taking place and trying to anticipate that place. Of those sports, baseball is probably the easiest for me because the action is sporadic. Basketball is probably the hardest for me because it involves quick passes, running etc. (plus it is probably the sport I have the least experience shooting.

Shooting Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu isn’t like that. I know where the action is going to take place. Because I have trained I have an idea what to expect in certain situations (I am no expert though). And maybe just my passion for it makes it seem easier for me.

Joe Sale / John, your photos can be found on BJJ Legends and in GracieMag. I imagine it’s great to see your work out there. Please expand on that.

John Cooper / Yes it is. But not from an ego stand point. If I have a photo that I think is great I want to share it with everyone. I sometimes wish I could have everyone over to my house and watch a slideshow of all the photos just so that I am not the only one to see them. And I love when magazines like Jiu-Jitsu Magazine, Jiu-Jitsu Style, GracieMag or BJJ Legends call and ask for a photo of so-and-so from that one tournament because now everyone gets to see it, not just my wife (Sorry for the shameless plugs).

Joe Sale / John, on your website you say that “photography is about capturing and immortalizing those moments in time that can never be captured again, at least not with the same meaning.” I thought that was so well stated. Please elaborate on that.

John Cooper / Part of the reason I LOVE sports photography is that it is unscripted and once a moment happens it is gone forever. My job is to capture that moment. Yes, I can photograph 1,000 triangle chokes, but not one of them is the same. I don’t just mean from a technical stand point or and angle stand point. I go back to the emotion of the moment as well. What is going through the athletes head when he/she is trapped in the triangle (other than escaping)? What about the athlete who is on the verge of winning a championship? Hell, what about the white belt who is competing in his first tournament (and maybe only one) and he has that triangle locked tight! Wow! THAT is what I mean by it can never be captured the same again. You have one shot to capture it.

Joe Sale / John how can people or organizations contact you to book you for an upcoming event, photoshoot, or tournament?

John Cooper / You can contact me through my website, Cooperfoto or email me at john@cooperfoto.com. You can also ‘Like’ me on Facebook at Cooperfoto or follow me on Twitter @cooperfoto

Thanks so much Joe for the interview. I had a great time.

About John Cooper

John Cooper is an avid sports photographer and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu enthusiast. His work has been published in magazines, on websites, promotional materials and academy walls. He lives in Orange County, CA with his wife of 13 years and their two children Analiesa and Aedan. Look for him at a tournament near you.

Photo by Cooperfoto