Savarese Jiu-Jitsu Lyndhurst wins 2024 Martial Arts School of the year

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Savarese BJJ wins 2024 Martial Arts School of the year

Lyndhurst Jiu-Jitsu Academy Savarese BJJ wins 2024 Martial Arts School of the year! Founded in 2006 by owner and head instructor Chris Savarese, the Savarese Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy was opened with one purpose: to better peoples lives on and off the mat through the teaching of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Professor Savarese said Thanks to all of our instructors, students and staff who share in this award. Professor Savarese, who was inducted into the Hall Of Fame in 2019, is Bergen County & Northern New Jersey’s top BJJ and martial arts school that offers practical self defense training in a relaxed, family atmosphere. Savarese Jiu Jitsu Academy has facilities located in Lyndhurst, Pequannock and Township of Washington in NJ. Students learn techniques to build their self esteem, get a great work out, and most importantly, defend themselves. Our Lyndhurst Martial Arts Academy is widely considered by those in the industry to be not only one of the best in NJ, but one of the best in the USA. Savarese BJJ winning the 2024 Martial arts school of the year makes it the 7th time the Academy has won the award. If you would like to keep up with the in and outs of the Savarese BJJ team, follow us on our website at on our instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/savaresebjj/ or our website at  www.njbjj.com .<

Other Savarese Awards

Professor Savarese Awards

Lovato BJJ Association Instructor of the year 2015-2016 (Professor Savarese)

Civil Service Leader Instructor of the year 2015

Lyndhurst Martial Arts Activities 2014 School of the Year

Lyndhurst Martial Arts Activities 2015 School of the Year

Lyndhurst Martial Arts Activities 2016 School of the Year

Lyndhurst Martial Arts Activities 2017 School of the Year

Lyndhurst Martial Arts Activities 2018 School of the Year

Lyndhurst Martial Arts Activities 2019 School of the Year

Lyndhurst Martial Arts Activities 2021 School of the Year

Lyndhurst Martial Arts Activities 2022 School of the Year

Lyndhurst Martial Arts Activities 2023 School of the Year

Lovato BJJ Assocation Academy Of The Year 2019

Lyndhurst Martial Arts Activities Hall Of Fame Inductee

Team Awards

Grapplers Quest #5 Team in US 2006

RGDA Tournament Team Champions 2008

RGDA Tournament Team Champions 2009

Grapplers Challenge Team Champions 2011

Grapplers Quest Spring Champions 2013

NAGA Team Champions 2013

NJBJJF 2013 Spring Challenge 2nd Place

NJBJJF 2013 Summer Classic 2nd Place

NJBJJF 2013 Summer Classic Kids 2nd Place

NJBJJF 2013 NJ Open 2nd Place

NJBJJF 2014 Fall Championship 2nd Place

NJBJJF 2014 Spring Challenge Team Champions

NJBJJF 2014 Summer Classic 3rd place

NJBJJF 2015 Fall Championship 3rd Place

NJBJJF 2015 Spring Challenge Team Champions

NJBJJF 2015 Summer Classic Team Champions

NJBJJF 2015 Fall Classic Kids Team Champions

NJBJJF 2016 NJ Open Kids Team Champions

NJBJJF 2016 NJ Open Team Champions

NJBJJF 2016 Fall Adult Team Champions

NJBJJF 2015 NJ Open 2nd Place

NJBJJF 2015 NJ Open Kids 2nd Place

2015 Big Apple Open 2nd Place

2016 Big Apple Open Kids 3rd Place

American Grappling Federation Adult Team Champions 2018

American Grappling Federation Kids Team Champions 2018

Big Apple Open  Adult Team 2nd Place 2019

Fuji Tournament  Adult Team Champs 2020

Fuji Tournament  Kids 2nd Place 2020

Fuji Tournament Adult Team Champions 2021

NJBJJF Spring Challenge Adult 2nd pace 2022

American Grappling Federation Team Champions 2023

Want to try a class?

Your first class here will be a free 1 on 1 class with one of our instructors. If you are interested in setting up an appointment for one, leave your info on the homepage in the box and someone will contact you. For faster service, call 201 933-5134 to speak with a program director.

2024 award

2024 award

Lyndhurst Jiu-Jitsu instructor teaches the pros

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Lyndhurst Jiu-Jitsu instructor teaches the pros

Professor Chris Savarese, a Lyndhurst Jiu-Jitsu instructor taught the pros at the Lovato Jiu-Jitsu camp in Oklahoma City last week, with a lot of high level pro MMA fighters, high ranking military and BJJ pro competitors in attendance. The camp was at the Lovato Jiu-jitsu Academy in Oklahoma City (https://okbjj.com/)
Savarese, a 4th degree BJJ blackbelt, had this to say “What an absolutely awesome experience teaching at the Lovato Jiu-Jitsu camp with so many high level guys, world, Pan and ADCC Champions and medalists, UFC vets and even a famous retired U.S. Army Special Operations Sergeant Major. Just an awesome experience of learning and exchanging ideas w guys. What a huge honor for me to teach in this room with sooo many high level guys. I want to thank my brother Rafael Lovato Jr. for the hospitality and thanks from all of us for putting this together where EVERYONE left better than when they walked in. Thanks to everyone for the compliments of how much they learned in my class, it means more than you know. This will 100% be a yearly trip for me, it was just the inspiration i needed. Learned some cool new things and others that will work well w stuff I do already. See everyone next year.”

Countering your opponent in BJJ

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Countering your opponent in BJJ

Countering your opponent in BJJ can make all the difference. When you can turn your opponents offense into your offense you add a whole new dimension to a match. It’s one thing for an opponent to stop your move – it’s quite another for him to turn your move into his score. When you can strongly counterattack an opponents moves he will go into a passive state where he becomes reluctant to initiate moves at all for fear of your counterattacks. When you can put an opponent into that passive mindset victory is almost assured. Make sure you don’t limit yourself to moves that stop an opponent but also add some where you aggressively counterattack and turn his offense into yours – success in this regard will greatly enhance your ability to take charge of a match.

Here are some ways to counter your opponent in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ): 
  • Underhook
    A fundamental move that prevents opponents from taking you further in a takedown 
  • Sprawling
    A way to counter takedowns 
  • Guard
    Keep your feet in front of your opponent to keep their weight away from you. Guards like the collar and sleeve spider guard and lasso work well. 
  • Take the back
    Taking your opponent’s back is a dominant position that’s hard for them to use their physical advantages. 
  • Knee shield
    Use your knee shield to prevent your opponent from dropping their hip to yours. 
  • Shin to shin
    Grip your opponent’s shin with your instep to position both your legs on the inside of theirs. 
  • Peel behind the elbow
    When your opponent is stacking you, peel behind their elbow to separate it from their body. 

Watch and learn in Jiu-Jitsu

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Watch and learn in Jiu-Jitsu

Watch and learn in Jiu-Jitsu! Many will watch – few will see. We are given countless opportunities to watch Jiu-Jitsu. Every time you go to the gym you can watch teachers, friends and training partners engage in sparring. Every competition you attend, you’ll see dozens of matches in a day. We all have the tendency to “zone out” and watch mindlessly until the only thing we see is the result. This is a wasted opportunity. Each time you observe a match, it’s a chance to train your mind to observe events and make sound decisions. Don’t just watch, interpret the action as it unfolds and make assessments as to what the athletes or your teammates are doing and what they could be doing better. The better you get at this skill, the better your game will become. This is great advice for when you are injured as well. You should stay on your schedule and still attend class and watch the rolls and study the movements. Good Jiu-Jitsu is largely the skill of sound decision making under stress. This is a skill like any other and thus requires practice and one of the best forms of practice is interpretive observation of matches. Make it a habit and soon your improvement will show itself in your game.

Jiu-Jitsu Master teaches at Lyndhurst Academy

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Jiu-Jitsu Master teaches at Lyndhurst Academy

It was a great day for Jiu-Jitsu students in Lyndhurst as Jiu-Jitsu Master teaches at Lyndhurst Academy on Park Ave. Master Royler Gracie, a 4x World BJ Champion and 3x ADCC champion, taught at Savarese BJJ Academy on Monday. Professor Chris Savarese, the owner owner, received his blackbelt from Gracie in 2006. Savarese had this to say after : “Thanks to Royler Gracie for an amazing seminar tonight. He is so inspiring to me to watch him teach with such passion, running from room to room every year and teaching Jiu-Jitsu in its simplest form. It is just awesome to watch and learn and listen to his lessons that can be practiced on and off the mats. His seminar every year brings a renewed sense of love for the art every year. I value the little time I get to learn from him each year. Thought about this for awhile last night after another amazing night of the great Royler Gracie teaching on my mats, which is always a great honor for me and thought about how absolutely blessed to have these people in my life. Angelica Oliveira, Master Royler Gracie, me and David Adiv. These people have wished for nothing but my best since the day each of them came i to my life. It is incredible important to have people like this in your life. People who clap when you win, people who are happy for you when good things happen to you. Special thanks to Dave Adiv and Angelica for making it happen for me and my students each year. Love you guys. #graciejiujitsu 

Understanding the human body in BJJ

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Understanding the human body in BJJ

Understand where the human body is strong and where it’s weak and you’ll go far in this game. We tend to think of people as strong or weak per se, but each one of us is only as strong or weak as the positioning and posture of our body at that time. For example, the arm of the strongest man is made weak when it’s put behind his back. The fastest man is made slow when his ankles are tied together. Take every opportunity to put your opponent into a physically compromising position and those impressive physical attributes of his will be severely degraded to a level you can manage easily. Deepen your understanding of these positions of weakness and soon you’ll be able to exploit them to your advantage on the mat. At the end of the day, it all comes down to technique. You will get better at it as you progress. Like if you can’t keep your posture while fatigued but can when you are not fatigued then you are simply not doing it right. Again, it will come with more practice. Nobody has it all figured out. Everyone is still learning as well, you will still be learning well after you earn your blackbelt. Everyone still gets fatigued and sometimes our technique falls apart. But knowing that it is a matter of refining our technique is the important part. For example, if you move your hip forward so that your knee, hip, and shoulder are all in a straight line and your whole body is angled away from your training partner then it is really difficult to pull you forward and break your posture. You can keep this position without any strength but as soon as your hip drops back even a small amount then you will come crashing down. This is an idealistic position but the concept is correct. In practice, you need to make small adjustments to deal with your training partners movements but that is all part of figuring it out. The quicker you start understanding the human body in BJJ, the better you will be.

 

Push and pull in Jiu-Jitsu

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Push and pull in Jiu-Jitsu

One can talk about Push and pull in Jiu-Jitsu for hours. Somewhere between push and pull is where the magic happens: An old adage of martial arts is to pull when pushed and push when pulled. There is much wisdom in this. Any time you push or pull an opponent you will get an opposing reaction. Learning to read that reaction and capitalize on it is a huge part of your development. I would have no hesitation in saying that a big factor in what distinguishes beginner from expert in Jiu-Jitsu is this ability to play between pull and push and use the opponent’s reaction to advantage. Don’t just put your hands on people for no particular reason. Use them to initiate pull and push. When you feel the response, that’s your opportunity, that’s when you push when pulled and pull when pushed,  that is when doing so will stumble an opponent and take them out of balance and create the openings you need to win. This concept is taught a lot of the Savarese Jiu-Jitsu academy in Lyndhurst. Reading our opponents or training partners reactions and capitalizing on those mistakes is vital to improvement. For more BJJ tips, follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/savaresebjj/

Base in Jiu-Jitsu

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Base in Jiu-Jitsu

A common question i get is about base in Jiu-Jitsu. The more explosive and powerful your opponent is on bottom the greater the need for a wide base of support to prevent being unexpectedly turned over. However, that wide base often comes at the price of control. Since your hands and feet are wide apart on the floor there is nothing holding your opponent and hence a lack of control. Your goal will be to find a satisfactory relationship between your need for a wide base of support and some kind of controlling grip that maintains enough control to get the job done while maintaining that wide base. Trapping your opponent’s head between an underhook and your own head is often the best choice. This does a good job of keeping a satisfactory compromise between width of base and physical control over the opponent. Control grips have made it easier to maintain control during transitions. Definitely a necessity. Often, many people think of ‘base’ as stability and being hard to move.  While that may be partially true, but that there’s way more to it than that. To illustrate this point, lets just suppose you’re spread-eagled on the floor.  In that position, you’re definitely stable and very hard to move, but you’re definitely not posing a danger to anyone and are very likely to get submitted in a hurry. Instead, a more useful definition of base “A platform from which to apply and absorb force.” Most of the time you’ll be pushing off your opponent to generate base, but sometimes it’ll be a wall, the cage, a car, any object, or your opponent. If you have good base then it’s hard for your opponent to push you or pull you around. But, at the same time, if you suddenly decide that you want to move your opponent, you are in a much better position to do so.

Hardest job of a BJJ instructor

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Hardest job of a BJJ instructor

What is the hardest job of a BJJ instructor? My hardest job as an instructor to make you believe in yourself, that you can do what are teaching you, that all the upperbelts and instructors you that you think are “amazing” or “beasts” have been exactly where you are now. You have to TRUST THE PROCESS! And LEAVE YOUR EGO AT THE DOOR!
It’s has been so nice lately to see guys and girls who are making real progress, getting better every day. So many of you have gotten significantly better in the past 2-3 months. Maybe it isn’t showing in “taps” but the improvement is really significant to me, remember I can see things you can’t see. Gonna shout some of you out.  The common theme between all of them? they come to class. It’s not easy to come and be tapped. But that is how you learn! You lose weight but eating less and portion control. If you don’t, it doesn’t work. Same w BJJ. If you don’t train, it’s very hard to get better. I need the whitebelts to get in class. And i don’t mean fundamentals class. That is not class. That is the class to get you ready for real class. Stop creating safe spaces for yourself. Face your fears, your insecurities. Stop avoiding people who are getting the better of you in training. If you are one of those people who after class, avoiding training and masks it by “teaching”, you are only hurting yourself. TRUST THE PROCESS!
Whitebelts-get in class and give yourself 6 months of training. I GUARANTEE you will be a mentally stronger person in 6 months. 100%. But we can’t want it for you. You need to take some personal responsibility. And those of you that are police, please, please, please get in a class! Are you kidding me? What we are doing can save your life, a partner, a fellow LEO. Your #3 option after family and work should be to be here.
PLEASE trust me, your life will be better in 6 months if you start today. Here is your plan:
1) 2-3 days a week (including Blitz.
2) Stay 30 minutes after class and train (no phone checking or BSing on mat, LIVE training, not an upper belt “showing you something” sweat, move, react!
3) 20 minutes 2x a week home studying of the video curriculum we are teaching
TRUST ME PLEASE. You want real change? Start today!
See you on the mats.

Pompton Plaines Jiu-Jitsu school promotes 1st blackbelt

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Pompton Plaines Jiu-Jitsu school promotes 1st blackbelt

Pompton Plaines Jiu-Jitsu school promotes 1st blackbelt! Training 4 Life Jiu-Jitsu, located on rt 23, promoted Joe O’ Connor to blackbelt last night making him the Jiu-Jitsu Academy’s first blackbelt. It took O’Connor 12 years of training to achieve this honor. Training for life is an affiliate school of Savarese Jiu-Jitsu, lead by 4th degree blackbelt Professor Chris Savarese. O’Connor trains under Savarese blackbelt Chris Laciura. It is also the first blackbelt that one of Savarese’s student has given making the moment special for not just O’Connor, but Savarese and Laciura as well.

Professor Savarese thoughts

Very special night for a bunch of us at Savarese Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Joe O’Connor earned his blackbelt today after 12 years of training. He ended the night with an amazing speech sharing his journey which all the lower belts can definitely learn from. He becomes the 1st blackbelt at Training4Life Martial Arts Academy and my blackbelt Chris Laciura. Chris has been an amazing student and now teacher. He is a true martial artist, he lives what he teaches and I am beyond proud of everything he has built and the job he has done w his study of Jiu-Jitsu and his ability to share it. Congrats Chris and Joe, I’m so proud of you both. It was so special for me to know that somebody that I brought from white to black was able to take my teachings and bring somebody else from white to black. It was very special to be a part of, and I want to truly thank everybody that came out to experience the night.