Tag Archives: self defense

Adults Jiu Jitsu

Wim Hof Method Workshop with Reed Shelger: Breathing & Meditation


The wim hof method workshop led by personal trainer Reed Shelger at el dorado hills brazilian jiu jitsu was a great spark to better understand the science, theory and application of breath work, yoga and extreme cold to better the body on and off the mat.

There is an incredible sense of focus and deep degree of mindfulness that can be attained through the process of meditation and commonly talked about as the wim hof method.

EDH BJJ is a martial arts school for the community. We focus on technical training to develop the individual and team while talking about our community and ways we can better ourselves and the people surrounding us. Our community is El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park, Placerville, Folsom, and in general the greater Sacramento area.

Adults Jiu Jitsu

IBJJF San Jose Open: Bronze at Black Belt

Athlete-Coach Jerel Tengan took to the mats at the IBJJF San Jose Open. This was his first competition at the black belt division and finished with a bronze medal in the tournament. He was competing up in weight class and age category to get some competition experience before taking the mats at the Master World Championships this summer in Las Vegas. A great start to break in the black belt category and gain valuable experience.

Adults Jiu Jitsu, Kids Jiu Jitsu

A challenge worth taking

Every day is an opportunity to challenge yourself! Jiu-Jitsu is a great challenge for yourself; not just physically and mentally, but also for your self discipline. It’s okay if you’re not the best one on the mat, or if you get submitted once a minute. If you come on time, give it your all while you are there, and train at a realistic consistency you will improve! That is a challenge worth taking!

Kids Jiu Jitsu

EDH BJJ Gray Belt Promotion | Kids Martial Arts

Gray Belt Promotion
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Chase earned his gray belt in just under three years of training after he started training with his father at El Dorado Hills Brazilian jiu jitsu.

Chase has a focused mind that pays close attention to detail and doesn’t hesitate to ask questions or stop and think before doing something.

His determined spirit to never give up, along with his technical improvements over time, has led him to where he is now.

We’re excited to see him continue to improve and move up into the junior bjj class in the next year or so!

Adults Jiu Jitsu

IBJJF SF Open Results & Reflection from EDH BJJ & Self Defense

On February 25th we took a small team down to compete at the San Francisco Open. The event was held at the historic Kezar pavilion. Driving into the city on clear Sunday morning, I felt a mixed sense of nervousness for the competition and nostalgia from living there over two decades ago.

I was the first one from our team to compete, and I was pretty nervous. It was my first tournament at Black Belt and my first match was against a former training partner of mine. I was happy to pull guard cleanly and have to opportunity to play my game. As I was pummeling for grips he pressed my guard and kept me on my back. I was getting passed and I bridged and came on top… well sort of. He locked a triangle and did my best to defend it and he was able to secure a nice wrist-lock. It was a hard first lesson at Black Belt, but you have to start somewhere.

After my match, I walked down Height Street and placed this experience in the context of my life. Even when you lose, there is a special place in your past as a person that put it all out there.

The tournament was a great learning opportunity for everyone. There were people competing for the first time in their jiu jitsu journey, and others for the first time in 2018, after the holidays. One of our students Brad made his competition debut at the IBJJF SF Open this weekend and he documented his experience on his blog on linkedin. “How competing in a combat sport taught me more about how to improve myself and help others do the same.” Give his article a read and let him know what you think!

Tournament Results:

Blue Belt:

  • Jamie – Bronze
  • Jarrod – Silver (in his first competition at Blue Belt)

White Belt:

  • Ryan – Silver
  • Brad – Silver (First Competition)

by Coach Aaron

Photography By Aiza Tengan

Adults Jiu Jitsu, Kids Jiu Jitsu

Van Robertson Seminar in El Dorado Hills Jiu Jitsu & Self Defense

Last month we had the honor of hosting a seminar at the academy for Van Robertson. It was a really neat experience as the attendees were mixed with adults and child practitioners.

Van taught variations of the Bull Fighter (also known as the Toreando) pass, with a very reactive and systematic approach. The passes primarily dealt with the guard player maintaining both grips on the sleeves of the guard passer. Using both sets of grips (on the guard player’s pants and their grips on the passer) she anchored their guard and switched grips on the legs in a specific manner that killed their ability to make space. There was more to it than that, but that’s what I took away from it in essence, besides the specific techniques that she taught.

The seminar was a donation based event where all the money made was donated to a non-profit brazilian jiu jitsu program in Oakland called Guardian. Guardian Jiu Jitsu is a martial arts program that funds children to train under the age of 18 with donations from their adult members and community events. We were able to raise just about $400 for the event.

If you have the opportunity to train with or learn from Van in the future we highly recommend taking advantage of the opportunity. She is detailed, thoughtful, and engages with learners in a fun and active way.

Van now lives and trains in Auckland, New Zealand, but we are lucky that her parents live here and that she comes and visits when she is in the area!

Coach Aaron

Adults Jiu Jitsu, Kids Jiu Jitsu

Teamwork in an individual sport and martial art

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Individual sports and martial arts are unique in that they often require an immense amount of teamwork to build a successful individual performance or development. This concept is unique in individual sports because in the heat of the moment only one person is responsible for the success and failure of the battle. However, to prepare and execute in battle it takes an entire team to do so. In life, just like in these individual sports, there are individual responsibilities that contribute to the success of the entire group. The ability to recognize your individual responsibility and contribute to the team is essential. This contribution might come in the form of being a leader, a follower, a silent voice of action, or mustering people together with your words and action. Needless to say we work on both of these skills on the mat at edh jiujitsu.

Only those that work together can be the strongest! Here, we aren’t just building grip and leg strength. At our martial arts academy in El Dorado Hills we don’t just teach technical and physical skills, we also teach skills of collaboration and working with others. This is a skill that is important on the mat but even more important in life off of the mat. One example of teamwork being taught is through “tug of war” a team of strong individuals won’t beat a team of averaged strength individuals all working together. In doing so we talk about leadership, in this example the leader is the one getting everyone to pull all at once. We also talk about being led, in this case those that agree to all pull at the same time.

It’s intriguing to see the different personalities come out when we do these training sessions. Some follow, some lead, argue, quit, persevere, but in the end we all begin to see the strength and value in working together.

Kids Jiu Jitsu

Belt Promotion: PeeWee Class Gray-White belt

Sohan started Jiu-Jitsu with a strong spirit and work ethic. He was one of the first students to join the peewee class (a jiujitsu class for students age 4-6) in el dorado hills. In the year of training he has furthered his spirit with the ability to focus on a deeper level.

With his charisma and leadership qualities, others quickly follow in his path. As a result. with his development of focus, hustle, and technique, others also developed their sense of these qualities. Sohan is super spirited and competitive with all of the activities we integrate to learn the art of jiujitsu. We look forward to channeling his competitive spirit with focus and a positive attitude. Congrats!

Kids Jiu Jitsu

Belt Promotion: Gray-White Belt EDH Jiu Jitsu

Ben is a student in our juniors bjj class at el dorado hills. This is a class for kids age 10 to 17 and is a time when we begin to really challenge the students mentally and physically in class. Ben is never afraid of a challenge. He takes on a difficult task with courage and a humble attitude to learn from challenges. To Ben training with others who are much bigger or stronger than him is an opportunity to improve.

His natural talent to move on the mat was very apparent when he first started. Especially his good body control and balance. With time, he developed more skills that gave him the ability to control others using technique. In his technical development Ben has embraced attacks from all positions and continues to be “well balanced” in his Jiu-Jitsu development! Congrats!

Kids Jiu Jitsu

New Jiu-Jitsu Class for ages 4 to 6 in El Dorado Hills

We are starting a new section for our Pee Wee aged (age 4-6) Jiu Jitsu class. The class is on Tuesday and Saturday and therefore, it’s titled TS PeeWee Jiu Jitsu. We are open for enrollment and look forward to new trials starting on their fun jiu jitsu adventure.

In the class we focus on learning through fun and play and make special care to emphasize collaboration, teamwork, and learning through social play. Our curriculum is set with an understanding that consistent training of 2 times a week will lead to technical improvement but more importantly, an improvement in their ability to learn how to learn.

BJJ demo in Folsom with peewee student and Dad

Parent participation is not mandatory, but we welcome parents who are interested in coaching to join us on the mat. All we ask is that you wear proper uniform attire and are willing to work with all of the students in the class.