The Stats
Age: 27
Belt: Brown
Weight class: Medium
Length of training time: 1990 Judo, 2008 BJJ
From: Lapland, Sweden
Nicknames: The
Magician from the North
Affiliation: Frontline Academy
Sponsors: Mom, Dad
and my Girlfriend
2011
IBJJF European Open Purple Belt Medium Heavy Champion
Abu Dhabi Pro Trials London Purple Belt Medium Heavy Champion
Abu Dhabi Pro Trials London Purple Belt Medium Heavy Champion
2010
IBJJF European Open Blue Belt
Medium Heavy Champion
IBJJF Mundial Purple Belt Medium
Heavy and Absolute Champion
2008
IBJJF European Open White Belt
Middle Champion
Journey Jiu-Jitsu: At what age and how did you start
training Jiu-Jitsu?
Sebastian Brosche: Age 23. My back got injured badly from
the hard Judo practice I used to do. BJJ is gentler to your body, and when I
realized that, and at the same time experienced how fun BJJ really was, it was
not going back.
I converted completely from Judo to BJJ in 2008.
JJJ: Did you compete in Judo?
SB: Yes, I competed a lot. I never won a big tournament. I
was a bit too weak in the upper body, which is very bad in Judo, and I never
had a good game or game plan.
I trained often and hard, but never had any structure in my
training and I never got really good.
JJJ: How did you first take to BJJ training? Explain some of
the initial highs and lows you had.
SB: Getting into Judo when I was 7 was a great choice of my
mother. I am sure I would have gotten
diagnosed with ADD if it wasn’t for judo!
Converting to BJJ was easy, I was fed up with the points and
rules of judo, and even more so with the attitude of many competitors.
BJJ was
relaxed and casual, and at the same time very profound and serious. My highs
were that I had a very good foundation from judo, so I learned all the new
techniques very fast. The big problem was UN-learning all the things specific
for judo; mainly turning my back to my opponent! It took me at least two years
to understand how bad it is to do that!
JJJ: How is your training environment in Norway? Do you look
at it as an advantage or disadvantage living there? Do you feel it’s necessary
to travel in order to expose yourself to better training?
SB: We have a very good environment for BJJ at Frontline in
Oslo. A lot of hard work has made this academy a treasure for serious
practitioners. I do not find it necessary to travel to get tougher sparring,
although it is always nice to broaden the horizon and see other places from
time to time.
JJJ: How has Jiu-Jitsu changed you as a person, both
mentally and physically?
SB: BJJ makes me humble. As long as I get my ass kicked, it
keeps my ego small and my sense of reality sharp. Physically BJJ is both good
and bad. I get pain everywhere from hard sparring, but I keep in very good
shape.
JJJ: How has judo helped your jiu-jitsu?
SB: On several levels judo is great for my BJJ. Being used
to the gi, breaking grips, power and resistance in my forearms, and economy of
gripping.
Posture and balance is also something that you develop well
in Judo. Another thing is the ability to let go of the position when the
referee stops the fight and start over, which happens many times in a judo
match. This is helpful in BJJ, where it can be frustrating to let go of a good
position because the referee stops the fight.
JJJ: You mentioned that you have been doing a lot of yoga
lately. How did you get into that and how has it helped your jiu-jitsu?
SB: Since I met Stine I have been doing yoga almost every
day! In the start it was difficult and impossible to do many of the basic
positions. Gradually my core got stronger, my hips shoulders and legs loosened
up, and my posture improved. Now I find it easy to lift up to handstand and
stay there. All transitions are smoother and my breathing is very different
from before.
I think that if you want to practice BJJ for a long time it
is very important to take care of your body.
When you do Yoga it rejuvenates, heals and strengthens you.
I had a long break from sparring, and now that I am back I
feel stronger, faster and above all smoother and more economic with my power
than ever before!
JJJ: What do you feel is your strongest position and
favorite submission? What have you struggled with?
SB: Favorite position: North south Figure 4. Awesome
position! Fav sub: Rear Naked Choke
I have struggled a lot with relaxation during competition
and hard sparring. In Judo you only have 5 minutes to win the fight, and they
pass in what seems to be 30 seconds!
In BJJ you have much more time to do what you want, but this
have taken me long to understand, and I still work on relaxing and taking my
time.
JJJ: What positions
are you working on now?
SB: Passing deep half guard, and not ending up in some funky
de la riva/lasso variation. We have some magicians in our academy, and I am
working hard to keep up!
JJJ: When did you first compete?
SB: First competition in BJJ was European championships as
white belt 2008. (Sebastian won that year btw)
JJJ: You managed to win Euro's at blue belt in the same year
you won Mundials at purple. That's a huge leap. What contributed to your success
that year?
SB: I think I was very fed up with loosing from Judo.
For over 19 years I lost more than I won.
I actually signed up for the competition as a blue belt, and
a couple of weeks before the tournament my teacher graduated me to purple. This
clearly demonstrated that he had belief in me, and I wanted to make him proud
and win regardless of the belt color.
JJJ: Everyone has an equation for success. What are some of
the factors that contribute to your success?
SB: My Teacher said the other day: “Do not seek success, but
strive for excellence” If you are successful, then you reached your goal and
you are done. Instead of thinking “I want to be the best”, I like to think “I
want to get better”. Just a little bit better every time I train. A journey of
10,000 miles is done one step at a time. As long as you keep on doing what you
do with awareness and strive to get better; there are no obstacles or enemies or
problems, you will overcome all. ^_^
JJJ: You have a very aggressive and energetic style, which
must use up a lot of cardio. How do you get in shape for tournaments?
SB: With lots of hard sparring and circular training. Last
Mundials I did 5 trainings of very hard
circular training, 2 rounds of 7 minutes (30sec x 14 exercises) with 100%
intensity. This was much tougher than the actual fights in the competition. I
even thought in the final of my weight class when the guy had me in his closed
guard: “This is nothing compared to those crazy sessions”
JJJ: A lot of people say that schools matter when it comes
to competing. Do you think that it matters what school you attend, and why?
SB: If you mean the name or logo of your academy then, no.
Of course it matters what people you surround yourself with, and the attitude
and moral of your teacher. In my
experience, ego is bad for competition and humbleness is good. Go for a school
with a consistent approach to training and avoid schools that compete and
compare themselves with the neighboring academy.
JJJ: You hear a lot of elite fighters speaking about
training 3-4 times a day, eating clean, and avoiding many other vices. How true
is this for you? What does your average training day look like?
SB: I do not use poison like tobacco, weed and alcohol. I
eat mostly vegetarian, nuts & berries and drink lots of fresh juice. I
train Yoga every day and spar 3-4 times a week.
Speaking of average days of training, I highly recommend recording all
your training sessions online. Nothing is better than honest, self recorded
statistics. Since I started BJJ I have recorded every session of training
online, and the graphs never lies! Together with a film camera, the online
journal is the tool that has helped me the most in my development.
JJJ: Do you drill? If so, how important do you think it is
to training jiu-jitsu?
SB: 5-10 repetitions are not enough o learn a technique well
enough to make it work in sparring. When you are sick of repeating it, do it
for another 10 minutes. Breakthroughs only happen when you are outside your
comfort zone, and being lazy is surely inside your comfort zone. Drill to make
it stick!
JJJ: One thing that makes jiu-jitsu unique from a lot of other
sports is extreme effort takes you a long way and physical attributes seem to
not matter so much. Do you agree with this, and just how hard did you work to
get where you are today?
SB: When you look back at all the dishes you have washed in
your life, it seems like a huge mountain of dishes, right? It was never a
mountain though, just a few plates and glasses every day. There is no extreme
effort involved in training. Just continue to push yourself a little past your
limits, and you will be greater than you could ever imagine.
JJJ: What do you feel is the most important attribute to take
with you into a competition?
SB: If you manage to meditate for just one minute before
your fight, you are better off than most of your opponents. Meditation is the
original purpose for all martial arts; the more you practice the longer you can
meditate. If you can get distance from your ego and mind, you are well prepared
for your competition.
JJJ: What made you start competing in the first place? How
much of a priority is it in your life?
SB: Competition is the next level of practice. You know for
sure that there are no excuses, and everyone who shows up is there to win it.
Competitions give you a rhythm in your training; you train hard to win it, and
you get a lot to work on and think about after it is over.
Since I won the worlds in 2010, I don’t worry about medals
anymore. I do it because I love it and that’s all!
JJJ: How did you develop your unorthodox and unpredictable
style?
SB: By trial, error, and skateboarding.
Like I said; I have never had a plan or structure, so I
experiment and try different things until something works. I also have pretty
good stamina, so when something fails I try again and again, and then try the
next thing and then another thing until something works.
When I watch my own fights it looks like a blur, just chaos!
But it works in the end, because I put a lot of effort into understanding that
chaos.
Oh, skateboarding too! Skateboarding is one of the best
tools there is to practice patience and persistence.
It is similar to BJJ, with an endless amount of tricks and
techniques. My Judo game and skateboarding style developed together as a teenager
and I think that is where I got my unorthodox style from! Hahaha ^_^
JJJ: Would you say you were obsessed with jiu-jitsu in the
beginning? What was the one thing you loved about it?
SB: Yes I was. I downloaded instructional DVD’s and learned
some Portuguese. I even grappled in my sleep. The one thing I loved about BJJ
was that it worked. The principles in BJJ are sound, and it makes perfect sense
when you experience it for yourself.
JJJ: What matches
have been significant in your career? Which ones did you learn the most from?
SB: The ones I lost.
JJJ: How do you mentally prepare for tournaments?
SB: I try not to worry about the outcome. I prepare my game,
conditioning and diet, and put all my awareness into that. And I try to smile
the whole time!
JJJ: What formula would you give to anyone wanting to place
at a major competition?
SB: There is no formula. Just be consistent and take
responsibility instead of making excuses.
JJJ: A new year has started, meaning a new year of grappling
competitions will commence. What are your goals for this year and what tournaments
do you plan to compete in?
SB: Win Finnish Open in purple-brown-black to get the ticket
to LA, and then win the World Championships with my girlfriend Stine.
JJJ: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
SB: 10 years from now I want to be happy and at peace with
everything.
JJJ: Who is your biggest inspiration?
SB: In the beginning my idol was Leo Vieira. His style and
attitude amazed me. Today I get inspiration everywhere; from videos and books,
from playing around on the mat, from hard sparring.
JJJ: What do you feel is your biggest accomplishment in
Jiu-Jitsu?
SB: My biggest accomplishment is the small things I learn
along the way. To be nice to people, to stay humble, that life is not to take
for granted. The friendships and lessons from life is an accomplishment in
itself, bigger than any gold medal.
JJJ: What places have you traveled to train?
SB: I lived in Hungary and Portugal when I trained Judo, and
I have been to England, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, USA and Brazil to train BJJ.
JJJ: What do you do for fun besides train?
SB: I like to practice Yoga because it is great fun. To
longboard is also pure joy for me. I
enjoy very much a day in the park or the forest, doing nothing.
JJJ: Who are your favorite female and male competitors?
SB: I don’t have any.
JJJ: What do you do for a living?
SB: I am a Yoga Instructor! In the beginning it was far
outside my comfort zone, but it turns out it fits me very well and I am happy
to have a job that can both support and help develop me.
See Sebastian's website here YogaUniao
