In the Search of Aiki – Rob John & Björn Friedrich about IMA & BJJ. Episode 3: The BJJ Connection

In the Search of Aiki is a conversation between Aunkais Robert John and Third Degree Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Blackbelt Björn Friedrich.

In different episodes they are discussing not only their own path and experiences but also a lot of Background stories, history and the different ideas of Aiki or Internal Power.

In the third Episode, Björn talks about his martial arts background, how he found BJJ and why he later started with internal martial arts training. He will also talk about the connection between BJJ and Internal Training

Content in this Video:
00:00 Intro
00:52 Judo – Björns first martial art he learned as a kid
02:05 Shotokan Karate – Björns second martial art he learned as a kid
02:55 Wing Chun & Fullcontact Sparring – Björns third martial art he learned as a teenager
06:24 Björns Intro to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as a teenager
08:08 Training BJJ and Wing Chun simultaneously
08:56 The reason Björn why Björn was exclusively focusing in BJJ
11:10 Björns BJJ Training in the mid to late nineties.
12:35 Meeting Royce Gracie
15:00 Rolling with Royce
16:07 Roy Harris – Björns most important BJJ teacher
17:55 The moment that changed everything
20:34 The pressure of Roy Harris
21:46 Meeting Rickson
23:00 BJJ and the importance of breathing
26:00 2008 the year that changed everything
27:48 Systema Training with Alex Kostic
32:00 Meeting Minoru Akuzawa
33:20 Meeting Torsten Kanzmeier
35:55 How the different Internal Martial Arts Masters feel?
37:58 BJJ is not about effectiveness but efficiency
39:36 Akuzawas effortless 2 finger takedown
41:58 Age-Te with Akuzawa

Study on the effects of mental imagery in sports:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0028393218307784

If you are interested in Rob Johns work or Aunkai in general, you should check out the following websites:

Robs personal website:
https://en.zerotohero.jp/

Aunkai Headquarter Tokio:
https://www.aunkai-tokyo.jp/en/

Aunkai USA YouTube Channel:
https://youtube.com/@UCHf8_VwK1KJMs8AQohqqLYA