Our subsequent seminar in Switzerland with my friend Marius

After the BJJ seminar in Belgium, The next stop we made was in Aarau, Switzerland visiting my dear old friend Marius Maissen. Part of our excitement was borne from visiting Aarau for Jiu Jitsu after a long time. But our main attraction was the independent institute New Legacy Aarau newly set up by my friend Marius.

Our contribution to Marius and Aarau

At the recently conceived New Legacy Aarau, we worked on making sure the Sampa Brazilian jiu Jitsu style or approach to the art is being used/developed and honored at the new legacy martial arts.  Our goal is making jiu-jitsu students to understand that the mutual benefit is the secret to growth. Besides that we worked on techniques of Side Control Maintenance, Side Control Escapes and Attacks from Side Control. These methods can be described in short as:

• Side Control Maintenance: This stable position is all about immobilizing your opponent and preventing yourself from slipping back into their guard.
• Side Control Escapes: These escapes are performed by alleviating the pressure on our rival’s shoulder and conducting a series of twist and under hooks.
• Attacks from Side Control: The goal here is to control the head and arm, then driving the knee into the opponent’s hip to turn his spine enough to scoop up the inside elbow.

Our attempts to perfect these styles had an extremely positive effect on the students. We proudly promoted three students to blue belt, one to purple belt and another to brown belt. It makes all our efforts worthwhile training a batch of such talented students. We congratulate each of them. Also, we give our best wishes to Marius for building a flourishing BJJ institute in Aarau.

To Gi or No-Gi

Marius has always been fonder of the No-Gi training method. This method involves getting hold of the body’s natural handles such as the neck, wrist, elbow, knees to coerce a submission. Yet, old school masters of martial arts have often preferred the Gi method due to its technicalities. The Gi routine consists of holding the partners sleeves, collar, or pant legs to gain a controlling position over the rival.

The most natural difference between the Gi and No-Gi style is the usage of the attire Gi or Kimono. This is the clothing worn in the martial arts world. It facilitates grappling among aficionados of the Gi style. Having been a doting No-Gi trainer, it was a daunting task to convince Marius to train with the Gi.

A gem in the martial arts world- Marius Maissen

Marius is a phenomenal martial arts champion. He has won accolades in tournaments all over Germany and Switzerland. His mastery is not restricted only to BJJ but he has also been a title holder in Mixed Martial Arts and Thai Boxing. Marius has 10 years of training under his sphere.

He has focused on training the young talent in the last five years. From personal experience as a social scientist, Marius has always been aware of weaker people being abused by the stronger ones.  As a coach, he makes sure to induct only those who would respect the art and not misuse it.

Marius has previously trained in the No-Gi style under the guidance of our institute. Even so he has been practicing for the last four years on the Gi style to attain a complete black belt. We would like to compliment him on his hard work and wish him all the best for his new endeavor.

If you like to participate in our classes and be part of our association, please call 626-419-2840.