Welcome to Beyondgrapplingandfitness.com (my new web address)

My name is Matthew D'Aquino. I am 26 years old and am passionate about all forms of grappling. I have been studying Judo for 20 years and have represented Australia at 8 Continental Championships, 4 World Championships and competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

I have also competed in various World Cups, Grand Slams and Grand Prixs all over the world. I have trained in some of the hardest dojos in the world, including Yong Inn University in Korea, Tokai University in Japan, INCEP in France, Pollymunka in the Czech Republic and Sankaku Club in Slovenia.

My best results include being the first and only Australian Male to win the Pac Rim Championships in 2009, Multiple Australian & Oceania champion, World Cup Champion and 17th 2010 World Championships in Tokyo.

I also compete in Freestyle Wrestling and Brazilian Jujitsu competitions in and around Australia. My best results include: 1st No-Gi Purple-belt Submission Grappling National championship -67kg, 1st Royler Gracie Cup Purple belt 2009 -74kg and 2nd at the National Freestyle Wrestling Championships in the -60kg division.

My Philosophy: I am passionate about teaching and passing on my knowledge and experience to others. My philosophy is simply "If I haven't done it, I won't teach it." I believe this is a crucial element to my teaching. It means that in everything I teach, I am familiar with and have a deep understanding of how to complete each exercise, workout or grappling technique.

The reason why I have been so successful in my Judo career is due to the fact that I have significantly better fitness and conditioning than my opponents. I put this down to the demanding workouts I put myself through week in, week out. I train using a variety of bodyweight exercises as well as barbells, kettlebells, tyres, rowers, dumbbells, ropes, bands and medicine balls in order to be as physically prepared for each competition that I can be.

Make sure you save and bookmark my new web address www.beyondgrapplingandfitness.com

Welcome to Beyond Grappling

I am an Australian Judo player who constantly thinks about anything to do with Judo and Grappling, whether it be techniques, tactics or workouts. This blog is where i write about my journey to qualify for my 2nd Olympic games as well as share good photos, videos and information about Judo and Bjj.

I am always thinking about Judo and so i decided last year to start a blog where i can get everything out of my head and 'on paper', so far i think it has worked.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog and if you ever want to comment on any posts, photos or videos please do not hesitate in doing so.

Cheers
Matt

Off to Japan

This Sunday i am off to Japan for the 11th time. I will be training at Tsukuba University 6 days a week and resting on Sundays. So i may not have much posting over the next few weeks. This is the 3rd time i will be training at Tsukuba uni and it is a great place to train and stay if your are ever in the mood for hard training in Japan
The reason why i am going is so that i can concentrate purely on Judo for the lead up to our OJU Continental in August.
It is also summer there and winter here in Australia so at least i get away from the freezing cold.

Technique of the Week - O goshi

O goshi is a hip throw and is one of the first 40 throws of the Kodokan. It is also part of the updated 67 throws of the kodokan. O goshi is a great throw to teach beginners because it has all the elements needed in judo, from pivoting, pulling off balance, bending the knees and rotating to throw.
It can be done gi or no gi and is great when your opponent loves overhooks.


No Gi version

Pic of the Week

If at first you lose, do what your coach told you to do.

Oma Plata setups

Oma plata or Sankaku Garami (triangular entanglement) in Judo is a great submission of your opponents front deltoid. The main difference between an oma plata and an ude garami is the fact that you are using your legs as the machanism to apply the submission as opposed to your arms.

Below are a few of my setups i use to finish my opponent with oma plata.
Oma plata from turtle


Oma plata from a failed juji gatame attempt


A Fantastic setup into Omaplata

Inspiration

One of the most inspirational people i look up to in sport is Matt Hughes. He is the most successful Welterweight in UFC history defending his title 9 times. Matt is also a 4 time all american for freestyle wrestling before he got into cage fighting.
Matt is also a christian and became a christian when his twin brother Mark fasted for a while and prayed for it heaps.
This is an awesome photo of Matt wearing his Army of the One shirt, which is the shirt he wears immediatly after each fight.
So many people dont really rate Matt hughes and whenever you watch him fight the commentators are always commenting about he is only a wrestler and wins through only his amazing strength. but the fact of the matter is he knows how to grapple and knows how to strike in a way to utilise his grappling and he knows when and how to use his strength to win the fight.
Matts next fight is against Renzo Gracie at UFC 112 in dubai and i would love to maybe see him at UFC 110 in Sydney.
If i met Matt hughes one day id be so so happy.


One of my other favourite inspirational people is the 7 times tour de france winner Lance Armstrong. Lance is simply a machine. His mentality is off the scale and his knowledge in the sport of cycling and his training ethic is what makes him better than any other cyclist in the tour de france.
Lance is great due to being a student of the sport - meaning he knows everything about his bike, his team and the course. He is also very smart in choosing the right people in his team and makes sure everyone on his team will ridfe and ride and ride in order for him to win.
Many people say Lance is on the gear, but i believe that people think just because they cant ride that fast or jump that high then the guy that can is on banned substances. I think that Lances mentality and training ethic is what makes him that much better than everyone else in the sport of cycling. In saying that though Lances main focus was winning the tour de france, he has not won many events becauise his whole main focus is the tour de france. Although in saying that he did win the world road cycling champs in 93 and came 3rd at the Sydney Olympics for the time trial.
Seeing Lance ride is inspiring enough and he is another person i would love to meet one day.

My new Promo Vid

I made a new promo vid that comes with a heaps better song. It's a Switchfoot song and they are my favourite band.

A Cauliflower Ear - Some photos

Someone asked me the other day what a cauliflower ear is. Many people get a cauliflower ear from the constant hitting and rubbing on the ear from doing judo, bjj, wrestling or sticking your head in a rugby scrum.

A Cauliflower ear is simply a bruise (or hematoma) that doesn't heal. Your ear is made up of cartilage and when you get a hit or knock to the ear blood enters you ear and becomes stuck in between the cartilage. If the blood cannot drain and get out of the ear then it will set and go hard.

As the blood in the ear starts going hard the cartilage will start to shrivel and fold a little bit which is why the ear looks similar to a cauliflower. The pic below is before i got my ear drained by a syringe.

The doctor will put a local anesthetic on your ear and then stick a syringe in and suck out all the blood that's stuck in there. If you do this straight away before the cartilage is damaged then your ear will remain the same. If you don't drain is straight away the blood will go hard, once this happens you are unable to drain the blood out and the only way to fix it is to get an operation.

Many people believe that you get a cauliflower from 1 hit, but that is very rare. M,ost players get their caulis from training 6 days a week and the ears are constantly getting hit and bumped, hence why the more experienced and serious judo players get caulis while the recreational stay happy as larry.

You can wear some headgear called cauli stoppers to prevent a cauli ear (but who wants to wear headgear forever?)
http://www.grapplingstore.com/contents/en-uk/d273.html

The headgear is great but in the end if you train all the time at a high intensity you will probably get a cauli somewhere on your ear.



Here is my ear after it was drained a few times but because i kept on training my ear kept refilling with blood and was getting semi hard. The Dr said that he couldn't pierce my ear with the syringe so you can see where he cut it with a knife to remove the blood.



If you look at the above picture and then the picture below you can see how the ear has kind of shrivelled a little bit and has a weird shape about it. That's what happens when the cartilage dies.



So my ears are a little strange and mostly i they don't really get noticed by people very often which is ok but if i go into primary schools or do a few tours at the AIS kids notice straight away because if they don't know you they study everything about you and pick up on it pretty quick.