A Change Of Identity...

Hi folks, after much 'umming' and 'ahhing' I've decided to put the name 'Flaminginho' to bed. It's WAY too confusing for the majority of people - all too many times have people struggled with the pronunciation - but no more! From here on out, we'll stick with the far simpler 'Fat Flamingo.' It's simpler, to the point and nowhere near as pretentious. So there.

The new address is now http://fat-flamingo.blogspot.com/

Anyway, I have some more exciting news that I'll be announcing in the next couple of days, so watch this space for more info.

Ciao for now

Fat Flamingo

BKK Fighters, Part Of The Gracie Barra Essex Family

Power Balance Wristbands: The Real Deal Or A Successful Fraud?

Now, here's a little something that you clever readers may have come across recently. It's called the Power Balance band (although there are many generic versions of it out on the market too). Power Balance have claimed that "wearing it helps improve balance, strength and flexibility" and "mimics Eastern philosophies" (whatever that means) - and encourages users to take their tests to prove it.

Athletes and celebrities across the world have been seen wearing them, including Shaquille O'Neal, David Beckham, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort and even Prince William's new squeeze 'Princess Kate.' Upon reading its manufacturer's description, which states that the band's hologram is embedded with frequencies which react with the body's energy field, I had my doubts as to the validity of Power Balance's extraordinary claims. That is until my neighbour and fellow BJJ practitioner Brian Speirs decided to bite the bullet and invest in what on face value is just another fad.

He invited me to take a little test to prove how effective it really is. He asked that I hold my mobile phone in my right hand, then  make a circle by connecting the tips of my index finger and thumb on my left hand, and he would then use his index fingers to pry them apart. Incredibly, my Paddy digits were no match his feminine touch, and he broke my 'finger-ring' with ease. By proving how weak I was, Brian said now was the time for him to reveal the 'magic.'

He handed over the device in question, and asked that I repeat the same steps as before but whilst also holding the power band in my right hand. This time, Brian wasn't so successful in his display of finger-tugging prowess. My finger-circle remained intact - VICTORY! And score 1-0 to Power Balance.

Next on the agenda was a twisting exercise. I was asked to stand up straight, hold my right arm straight out in from of me, then twist around as far as I could possible go. Brian told me to hold that position, then he handed me the power band. As he predicted, I was able to twist around even further upon taking hold of it.
Score 2-0 to Power Balance.

However, I'm a very sceptical person in general, and despite being very impressed with the hologram's apparent mystical powers, I still wasn't convinced. It seemed that the most probable explanation was the placebo effect. But the experiment certainly compelled me to investigate further...

I eventually came across an interesting video regarding this intriguing little gizmo, screened on The Early Show on CBS in the United States (click here to watch), giving a better explanation than I ever could as to its apparent effects.

The video shows that the vital part of all these 'experiments' to convince wearers of the power bands that they work,  is that the participant must first try the task without the band. This allows them to have a target in mind that their subconscious will aim to beat the second time around. The second and improved results of the participants in the independent experiment was also seen in the control group given the cheap $1 bands, which of course do not purport to improve physical performance.

What surprised me was that despite being proved as spurious, the subjects still wanted the to wear the power bands after The Early Show's investigation. I think what we have here is more a case of a fashion trend that has taken hold, rather than a convincing performance enhancing concept.

I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot more of these in the media in the months to come, but if I see you on the mats wearing one, please be prepared for an ungodly volley of abuse and piss-taking from yours truly. Unless you tap me out. In which case, they must obviously work...


I love you all like my children, ladies and gentlemen (in a sarcastic, abstract way), so take care of yourselves and I'll speak to you lovely people soon

The Fat Flamingo

What Is This Jiu Jitsu Nonsense, Anyway?

As I write this post at my PC, I am feeling especially sweat-soaked and greasy after another fantastic Brazilian jiu jitsu class with the inimitable Lee Catling, a (high level) Braulio Estima brown belt and founder of Gracie Barra Essex. Only this time, the class was at Colchester's BKK Fighters rather than Rayleigh's Ministry of Martial Arts, where Lee is based.

Lee has been running classes down at BKK every Friday for the past few months now (whereas Tuesday evenings are taught by Braulio Estima purple belt Steve Wright), and has attracted more students as the weeks have passed by and improved everyone's game (mine included) ten fold.

The general focus of BKK Fighters tends to be Muay Thai and MMA, but that is changing, because the 'thinking man's combat sport' is drawing the interest of this club's eclectic group of members. Not to say that the BJJ class is stealing students from the strikers at BKK, but it is obviously intriguing enough to catch their interest and give them a chance to complete their overall fighting game.

I describe 'the gentle art' as the 'thinking man's combat sport,' because there is a certain amount of complexity in this martial art that the striking arts just don't have. Don't get me wrong - I have a HUGE appreciation for Muay Thai, boxing and the like - the thrill of a seeing or throwing a punch that connects 'just right' is hard to top, whether spectating, or if you're fortunate enough, the 'offending' participant. Mike Tyson, Mohamed Ali, Roberto Duran, Manny Pacquiao and many more besides showed how sweet the 'sweet science' could be.

But the striking arts have a limited number of techniques and combinations. In boxing, you have your straights, crosses, hooks and uppercuts, your rolls and footwork, orthodox stance and southpaw, and variations of those. But that's about the extent of a boxer's vocabulary. This is in no way an insult to those that follow and participate in boxing - I LOVE boxing and grew up watching the likes of Barry McGuigan, Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank (and many more) entertaining the masses with their extraordinary talent on ITV's Big Fight Live. And despite the limited number of strikes and parries, the years of work that go into improving the technique to the level of the aforementioned athletes is truly inspirational, and unlikely to be achieved by us 'mere mortals.'

But with BJJ, a fighter's vocabulary is almost endless. You can work from the closed guard, open guard, half guard, spider guard, the mount, the back, butterfly guard, x guard, De la Riva guard... You can go for arm bars, oma platas, gogo platas, americanas, kimuras, triangles, reverse triangles, triangles from the mount, wrist locks, leg locks, heel hooks... You can pull off flower sweeps, up n' overs, scissor sweeps, De la Riva sweeps, helicopter sweeps... And then you have all the variations and transitions as well. And beyond all this, the sport is still evolving, EVERY DAY. And that's just without the gi. Rolling in the traditional Japanese pyjamas is a whole new world as well...

On the way home from class, I was discussing with a friend who generally trains in MMA, but whom tonight finally wore a gi kimono,  the difference between gi and no-gi grappling. Being someone who fight's in the cage, this gentleman had focused purely on grappling without a kimono, precipitated I'm sure by the obvious absence of upper body clothing in MMA. Why train with a gi when you'll never wear one in the cage?

I used the analogy of the games of chess and checkers. No-gi would be akin to playing checkers: as board games go, it's fast and fun (okay, maybe Hungry Hippos would be a better example). But grappling with the gi is comparatively like chess: the game is far longer and more complex, with more playing pieces and moves at your disposal. And in my humble opinion, a far more cerebral way to fight.

No-gi is fast and fluid, but rolling in the gi provides the participants with more 'handles' to take a grip on, lapels one can use to wrap up your opponent's arms, and a collar to CHOKE THE SHIT OUT OF THEM! The gi opens up a whole new world to a grappler or 'cage fighter.' Lee Catling himself put it very succinctly during the class: "Saying a gi is of no use to a fighter is like saying a punchbag is of no use to a boxer."

The gi is an optional extra in jiu jitsu, but it's a luxury I wouldn't want to live without.


For a full timetable of classes, please visit BKK Fighter's website at http://www.bkkfighters.com/ and Ministry of Martial Art's site at http://www.ministryofmartialarts.com/index.php

The Fat Flamingo

Braulio Estima Americana Innovator!

In the space of a few weeks, Carcará himself Braulio Estima graced the boys (and lady) at Ministry of Martial Arts with his godly presence once more, for another seminar that allowed us mere mortals to walk away with a tighter jiu jitsu game.

When it comes to Braulio, at the expense of sounding starstruck and particularly nerdy, I can't say enough good things about the man. An exceptionally well-accomplished BJJ fighter with and without the gi, he is also a fantastic teacher and a seriously down to earth fella. I have assured 'Mrs Flaminginho' that as soon as we win the Euro Millions Lottery, we will be housing and employing Mr Estima full-time in our newly purchased castle. But until then, I'll stick to attending his seminars (and possibly even share a few snippets of his genius with you.)

Much like his last seminar with us, Braulio focused on one particular technique, in this case: the Americana. His intention was not only to show us a variant of this, but to cover details to tighten it up, and allow us to walk away from the class having digested particular concepts that we could incorporate into other similar techniques.

Calling forth our usual instructor Lee Catling to act as his grappling dummy, Braulio began in side control, high on the body and to Lee's left side, with his (Braulio's) left arm under Lee's (impressive) head and his other arm over Lee's body. You can of course reverse all these instructions if you're on the other side of your partner's body. But you knew this already, didn't you, clever clogs?

Now here's the clever part: when Lee (or your opponent) starts pushing away at your head to create space, you should hold said arm down tight to his body and in place with YOUR NECK. Yup, use your your chin/jaw to squeeze his forearm against your own neck and tight to his body. This is to free up (in this case) your right hand to pull your opponent's left lapel out from his belt. Then wrap this around his offending arm, passing it to the other hand which you should have fed under your opponent's head when taking side control. Then slide your right hand  under his trapped arm (or 'chicken wing'), to reach the lapel that you are holding in your left hand. Tighten your grip on this by feeding your lapel from hand to hand, almost like climbing a rope. This will effectively disable that arm and give you a little breathing space to think, which will GREATLY improve your game.

The options you have from this point are numerous: you can go straight to the Americana; go for wrist locks; if he/she bridges, then go for the mount while they are in a vulnerable position, and many more besides. This description can't really do this justice, a video or series of diagrams would be ideal. Unfortunately, I'm far too incompetent to provide you with such luxuries, so all I can suggest is that you check out Braulio's fantastic instructional DVDs, or better yet, go to one of his seminars - you'll thank yourself. For more info, contact him here.

After Braulio had demonstrated the various techniques and we drilled them with our partners, we got a chance to practice them in a more realistic context through specific sparring. While we practised, Braulio got in the cage for a roll with our talented brown belts - not something one gets to do everyday, eh?

Anywho, consider this another morsel of my limited knowledge. I'm new to this blogging malarky, and I realise that I really need to invest more time in recording some video footage for you lovely people to really grasp the techniques I describe. I'll sort this out ASAP, so in the meantime, please tolerate my poor grammar, lengthy sentences and 'unique' humour. I assure you the quality of these posts can only improve. No, really. They can hardly get any worse...

In the meantime, até logo e muito obrigado

The Fat Flamingo

'Clinton Combats Cancer For Cash' Goes International!

Just a quick update on Clinton Combats Cancer For Cash in aid of Cancer Research UK. Here is the article that Irish newspaper the Inish Times did on the event (with a little background on my link with the area). Enjoy!