My many faces

Wheelife Show is back on Spotify and all podcasting platforms. The relaunch is Friday December 13, 2024. Clubhouse fans you will get a live show once a month on We Need To Talk station as well as weekly wrap-up show in the Wheelife Show room where we gab about life and our experiences. The Wrap-Up show in the Wheelife room will accompany every podcast drop on Fridays. In 2025, the revolution will be accessible. Until Next Time

As someone who has traveled up and down the east coast both as a competitor and coach I think it's time we cover an important of both the BJJ life and life with disability and how to actually do it, that topic is travel. Consider this a guide for the do's and dont's of travel. 1) Book Early- The earlier you book the cheaper it will be. And by early I dont mean a week. I mean as early as the company's system allows you to. Thats usually a month sometimes more. 2) Use loyalty programs- The use of loyalty points may make your stay cheaper or get your special perks like free meals or room upgrades. The staff is also more likely to be accomadating 3-Stay at the same place/chain-This is how you rack up the loyalty points mentioned in the last point. Especially you're visiting somewhere you've visited before, having acquaintances with the business can enhance your exprience. The front desk staff have a direct impact on how your experience rwmember them. They are ...

Tonight at 10pm I will be live on clubhouse in the book room, reading and discussing "My World." Tune in live and you'll get to hear my thought process and the meaning behind particular pieces. You'll get to know me, hear your favorite pieces and you may be in for a surprise. See you tonight 10pm EST!

First off happy new year to all readers. New year goals and aging in grappling will be covered in upcoming posts. Today's post is going to cover questions I get all the time about kids in BJJ. 1) When should my child start BJJ? The business answer is age 4. However, it's a bit more extensive that. At its core BJJ is all about how the body moves. Everything we do for one of two purposes, to move ourselves efficiently with the least amount of energy possible or to stop movement of our opponent again with as little energy expended as possible. Thus, a year of dance, boxing, wrestling, gymnastics or Judo even something like Jump rope will provide them with the skills to pick up concepts quickly and gives us as instructors foundation to work on. 2) What should I look for in a school Make sure there's established kids program foe your child's age group. Meet both the head instructor of the school and the head coach of the children's program. Often the coach of the ch...

The wheelife show has been going on for 3 years now. After lots of planning, our merch store is now live. Purchase at the link below if interested. Support the revolution here

We're back at the Wheelife Show is now live on Clubhouse every Wednesday and Thursday at 7am EST. Wednesday New Topics Thursday Live Recap Show The revolution will be accessible.

I've been away working on many things including this podcast for nearly a year. The Wheelife Show is a podcast for the disabled community and gives us voice to us. The podcast is available on Anchor, Spotify, Pocket Casts and will air weekly on youtube. Check out the promo here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWh4ieBQulWeiiQnLvBU2aw?view_as=subscriber

Picking the right gi is something that isn't talked about enough. You spend hours a week in them. Therefore, having the one that's right for you is super important and with so many brands out there it can be hard to pick one. So, you how do you decide? Well, there are a few things consider: 1) What is the main purpose of the gi? If you read my last post earlier this week, I alluded to the fact that different gis have different purposes. Practice/training and Competition. Competition gis tend to be the absolute perfect fit for the competitor. Snug to the body and very light. You want to be able to move freely but you also want your opponent to have a tough time getting and holding grips. These gis must be very comfortable and something you’re okay with wearing all day. Training gis tend to be a bit thicker for multiple reasons easier gripping for your partners which means you get practice grip breaking with a slight increase in difficulty. This thickness also makes them idea...

Happy New Year to all. I hope you enjoyed your holidays. With 2020 now upon us let’s talk about something the BJJ community rarely talks about, travel, and how to do it effectively. Anyone who knows me knows that I am the true definition of a homebody. Therefore, when I travel it must be related to something I’m interested in or work of some sort aka a seminar or the tournament circuit. Otherwise I’m just not going to be motivated enough to do it. Long car rides and 8-hour plane trips without some sort of re-up or compensation on the other side just isn’t appealing to me. As ruthless, cold, and business-like as that sounds it’s the truth. So how do we do it: 1) Plan Ahead- Don’t spend hours in your car to end up somewhere with nothing to do. You’ll only end up walking around aimlessly or in your room and let’s face it you can be in your room at home. My mom has this issue of planning trips with nothing to do which is why I am the way I am. At least that’s part of the reasoning. Thi...

1) Improve Branding 2) Start my building search for my school 3) Get back to social media 4) Open my school 5) Open my publishing company 6) Publish my novel and begin the next one

Which one should I train? It baffles me that Gi vs No-Gi is still a discussion. Not only that but when this is actually discussed it's always by no-gi advocates discussing why the gi is bad. The Gi advocate is never part of this discussion. I'll break down the usual points given for each and give a final opinion. Gi: -Makes your defense better -More offense -Superior leverage -Leverage is easier to get and maintain No-Gi: -Faster -Not everything from the translates -Gi guys get smashed in MMA -More street applicable Synopsis: The truth is all of these statements are correct if you look at BJJ in segments. Every BJJ athlete who has won a title in MMA, particularly in the UFC has been graded in the gi. Everything that is important translates. BJJ is about body mechanics and efficiency, that has nothing to do with Gi vs No-gi that is the athlete not being able to translate his or her skill effectively. It's not that "wrist control is bad" which a ph...

If you've been following this blog for a while now then you know i'm a huge player of a few different TCGs. I stream them from time to time. If there is one thing streaming has taught me, it's that consistency key. My stream schedule isn't set yet when it is finally set it will be posted here. I will make Twitter announcements when I go live so if want experience another side of me follow me at www.twitch.tv/bjjtcg

I haven't done this blogging thing in a little over 4 months. What have I been doing all this time you ask? Just after finishing my last book, which was released in August, when I was preparing to return to the mat I found out my coach Maguilla retired and shut down operations. While searching for another school I picked up streaming to cure the boredom(check out tomorrow's post to learn more about that). I had to continue the online promotion of my current product. I have been discussions about starting my own website(more on that as it develops). All while completing my first novel(which if you've been following this blog you have gotten a sneak preview of already) and my Associate's Degree in Business Administration. My 2019 goal is simple prepare everything so that my school and publishing company are running by 2020. I still want my Black Belt World title and my spot on New York Times best-seller list, but those are smaller goal in a much bigger plan. The are th...

The book is done. Time to get back on the mats It’s my latest poetry collection. My World is an expression of love and relationships in all their forms. It speaks to my growth as both a writer and a person. You can purchase My World here: https://www.amazon.com/My-World-Romeo-Barnes/dp/1530691192/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534996462&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=romeo+barnes&dpPl=1&dpID=51V72vnMD8L&ref=plSrch

I took six months away from the mat, only returning very recently in late April. That’s why blog posts have been even more sporadic than usual. Anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time knows what time away means. A new book is on the horizon. The book is Secret Paradise. Here’s a preview(partial passage) Note: This passage takes place after James, the main character goes back to the gym he’s been training at since childhood after some time away. “How are you James?” I haven’t seen you in about six months.“ Master Johnson said. “I’m sorry about that Master, I’ve been doing well though.” I said. “Don’t apologize, it’s fine.” He said. “Who’s this?” Master Johnson asked, nodding toward Jose. I looked at Rob to see how I should respond. He gave me a nod of approval. “This is my partner Jose.” I said. “Oh hello.” Master Johnson said offering his hand to Jose for a handshake. “Hello sir.” Jose said timidly as he accepted the handshake. “Now that that’s out of the way, I...

There's a line I get a lot that I actually hate. "You're an inspiration." People say it all the time without realizing that it's for that exact reason among others that it means absolutely nothing. It may seem like a compliment but you're really saying when you say that is one of two things. 1) You've given me an idea or 2) I felt sorry for you, but now I don't because you made feel guilty about complaining and being lazy. Now for the purposes of this post we're going to use and focus on the second use of the word that I listed above. Now to all the able-bodied community I ask you, if after having a conversation with someone they said to you, "Before talking to you I felt sorry for you, but now I don't because made me feel guilty about complaining and being lazy." Does that sound like a compliment? Now is this your fault? Not so much, it's the fault of the media moreso than anything else. After all, it's the media who toss...

I've said before coaching makes you a better competitor because having to break things forces you to understand how and why they work, but it goes much deeper that. Competition requires you get into a zone. A zone of hyper-focus where everything is in slow-motion and thinking is not required there is no nervousness, there isn't even logic there's only action. This is why if you ask any athlete what happened during "X" or "X" play they'll either reply "I don't know" or "I have to watch the tape." This is also why when people ask if I ever get nervous my reply is, "No. When I compete, I'm going to work." Training is fun, competition is business and that will never change and in business the zone is a prerequisite. If you can't reach the zone, go home. Coaching requires not only the ability to make things easier to understand, but the ability to motivate and lead; the ability to make people believe in you, so th...

Box-Get inside the box and you win. Sandwich-Our forearms are blades with them we slice bread Flying vs Praying-Simple elbows in vs elbows out Simple concepts I use when teaching. I find teaching moves is a waste of time if the student doesn't understand why work.

What you see above is my medal wall. Looking at it reminds me of questions I was asked when I helped to plan the first GrapplersHeart tournament. The question was "Should we give out participation medals? The obvious answer to that is no and I've went into detail on that in other posts, so I won't do that here. However, that does bring me to the subject of this post and that is, "What do medals really mean?" Well, that depends heavily on who you talk to. Keenan Corneilus says he just tossed them all under his bed after a while. I agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment as medals medals only represent how good you were on that day. I firmly believe as a competitor you're only as good as your last fight. The only thing on that wall that will forever hold meaning is the certificate itself. Why? Because that doesn't represent just one day or one weekend, over a decade of work went into that. Switching schools, injuries, helping keep a school afloat, being...