Erno Elgland is one of the best brown belts in Europe. This Finnish brown belt from the famous Hilti academy, talks to BJJ Eastern Europe about his Jiu-Jitsu journey, his Judo and Greco Wrestling background, why Finland is so good at BJJ:

1. Hi Erno , can you please introduce yourself to the BJJ Community of Eastern Europe?

Hello everyone! My name is Erno Elgland and I’m a 26-year old brown belt from Tampere, Finland (hint: the Moomins & alcoholism). I train in a HILTI academy, Tampereen Ju-Jutsukoulu. I’ve been serious about competing for a few years after I entered what we call the “Elite” division, in which the brown and black belts compete together.

A few titles worth noting:
– 3x No-Gi national champion (2x Elite division)
– BJJ Elite national champion, Finnish Open Elite champion
– ADCC professional national champion (and best fighter with an all-submission streak)

And just a few weeks back, I won my (quite tough) division in the Rome International Open, and placed second in following day in the Rome No-Gi Europeans.

I’ve also amassed various other titles which, whilst important to me for personal reasons, don’t merit mentioning here. I’ve also fought some tough guys; I beat a well-known HILTI black belt and a Shooto European Champion in a local tournament. The No-Gi Finnish Open was also a great experience, as I got to fight Thomas Lisboa, a 2x World BJJ Champion (purple and brown, I think?). I lost 5-0 in a pretty uneventful match. Oh, and I fought a current brown belt No-Gi World Champion in Rome, and submitted him after taking his back.
2. Please tell us about your Jiu-Jitsu story (how you started training)

Humiliating backstory. I was maybe… 18? So, I was practicing gymnastics with one of my best friends, and as he had just started training Jiu Jitsu, he playfully challenged me to a wrestling match. I had some experience in both Greco-Roman and Judo, so I snickered and thought I’d show him a thing or two. So, uh, turned out I was in for a surprise — and I was decidedly not very happy. A few weeks later, I enrolled on a beginner’s course, got my ass kicked around for a (long) while and gradually started training more and more. Jiu Jitsu grew on me; now there is nothing else I’d rather do.

3. You are a frequent competitor had a great 2013/2014 season, medaling at many major European tournaments such as Rome Open or European NO Gi. How do you train and what do you do for Strength and conditioning? 

Heh, had I had more money and not suffered from injuries, I’m sure I could have done better. I’ve had horrible luck, always twisting an ankle or tearing a shoulder a month before a big tournament. But yeah, I think a lot of factors have contributed to my relative success.

For starters, my academy is great. We have five black belts, several ADCC European champions, BJJ and No-Gi European champions and a BJJ brown belt world champion. We also get loads of great athletes over for seminars — just this past year, we had Dean Lister and Bernardo Faria — although they’re too big for my taste. So, you know, training with some of the best guys in the business is kind of a great. In general, we try to take a smart, scientific approach to Jiu Jitsu: we analyze top competitors, replicate their styles and modify them as we see fit. We’re pretty creative. And very relaxed.

Of course, we also roll a lot. I can’t say how much, because it changes weekly. Last week we had a mini-camp and I rolled for 4-5 hours per day. It’s now Tuesday and I’m still recovering from that, and I haven’t rolled at all this week — I’ve jjust been eating ice cream and catching up on school work. But I think I average around 12 hours of BJJ per week.

I do S&C, or at least the Strength part. I think the most beneficial thing for Jiu Jitsu is to focus on maximal strength, with a heavy emphasis on pulling; deadlifts, pull-ups, bench pressing, deep squatting… All the cardio, that comes from Jiu Jitsu. I don’t run. I hate running. But you can’t develop maximal strength with Jiu Jitsu. I don’t have a weekly schedule — not for Jiu Jitsu, not for S&C — I average two strength workouts per week, each major lift once per week, but this depends on how tired I am on any particular day. Right now I deadlift almost three times my bodyweight and can do a clean, weighted pull-up with 45 kilograms (I weigh around 65kg), so I’m pretty confident about my physique.

If I could change one thing, I wish people would focus more on technique and developing their game when rolling, and not compete in the gym so much. Nothing is as irritating and wasteful as a blue belt trying to kill you, twisting your fingers and kicking you in the face.

Oh, and I study a lot. I study and follow nutrition, BJJ, Judo, S&C… Pretty much everything I have an interest in. I’m a strong advocate for educating yourself and doing things scientifically, instead of just trusting other people, or just trusting your gut. I trust empirical evidence more than myself, as what I believe is be based on my narrow perception, and this applies to everything in my life, including Jiu Jitsu.

One thing that has really developed my game is the fact I’m always looking for new guys to spar and train with. I visit other teams and gyms a lot, and I think that’s made me very well-rounded as a grappler. I vividly recall sparring with Jyri Kakko, who is also one of the best grapplers I’ve ever had the pleasure to roll with, as well as a former teammate of mine. I hadn’t trained with him for years, and man, he just wiped the floor with me. That was a real eye-opener — I had to change something in my game. And so I did.

4. How would you describe your BJJ style? Who are your BJJ role models? How much influence does your judo background still have on your current game?

I’ve had a lot of role models. I started out as a big fan of Marcelo Garcia. I bought all his books and DVDs and meticulously went through every detail. For the last year or two, I’ve been a huge fan of the Mendes brothers, and I’m obsessively going over every detail of their every technique. I also enjoy Bruno Malfacine, Leandro Lo and Rodolfo Vieira. Keenan has great technique, but in my opinion, is a bit boring to watch. But yeah, Rafael Mendes for sure. Best BJJ guy pound-for-pound out there. So, my style is a combination of all of the above, with a heavy emphasis on the Mendes Brothers and Rodolfo Vieira. I want to be well-rounded, aggressive and versatile, both on top as well as on bottom.

I don’t focus on Judo anymore, but I feel training from an early age gave me a great sense of balance, and an appreciation for the physical aspect of combat sports — Judo athletes are light-years ahead of most BJJ guys in that regard. Probably the biggest influence on my Judo game was Jimmy Pedro, a world champion and the US Olympic Judo coach, and an expert at grip fighting. Oh, and Katsuhiko Kashiwazaki, who developed the modern Tomoe Nage to a great extent. And Kosei Inoue. So, if you want to include Judo in your BJJ game, those are the guys to look out for.
5. How do you explain the fact that Finland is one of the strongest BJJ scenes in Europe? How big will BJJ be in Finland 10 years from now?

I think it’s because it’s cold. There’s literally nothing to do here during winter. So, to feel productive and to avoid insanity, you either pick something to focus on, or you drink.

Kidding aside, yeah, there’s no simple answer. We seem to have a fondness for grappling. Greco-Roman used to be huge here. And we have a knack for problem solving, too. The fact we’re getting so good at Jiu Jitsu is, I think, because it’s a mathematical sport. I see Jiu Jitsu as math, and our society excels at education, logic and math… And, to be fair, we suck at virtually all other sports, so you know, we gotta balance it out somehow.

Actually, considering how huge Jiu Jitsu is, the amount of publicity it’s getting is virtually non-existent. There’s nothing in the media about BJJ, even though we had over 400 athletes in the BJJ nationals. And the whole country only has six million people. Ridiculous! But yeah, it’s still growing a lot. Every year we get more competitors, and recently we had our first professional tournament with cash prizes for fighters, which was also, in hindsight at least, a step forward for the sport.

I hope that in ten years time the sport will have entered the public’s eye. It’s sad how the fastest growing combat sport out there, both internationally and nationally, is not getting the respect and the visibility it deserves.
6. Tell us about the Finnish program Kiririnki that you have just entered

Kiririnki (a cheering crowd) is a Finnish crowdfunding program, meant to help fund top-level athletes raise to the top of their respective sports. Basically, you send them an application, and if they’re interested enough, they’ll contact you and set you up with a profile, through which you’ll be selling fan products such as T-shirts, seminars and whatever else. You have to have a project you’re collecting money for though, such as a training camp. It’s a great opportunity for me, but a lot of work; I’m constantly sending out e-mails, and the PR work is exhausting.

I entered Kiririnki to raise money for a combined Mundial trip and training camp in California. We’ll see how it goes — I’ve got a few seminars booked and some friends buying T-shirts, but no real sponsors as of yet. I’m a student, and on top of that, I’m in the middle of an internship for which I don’t get paid, so unless I can collect some money this way, I will probably have to skip the Mundials, too. To be honest, not being able to compete internationally as much as I’d want is breaking my heart, as I feel I’d have potential to compete at the top of the sport.

*shameless plug* go check out my brand new profile at: http://www.kiririnki.fi/projects/erno-elgland–2
(I hate advertising myself, but in case you have any extra money laying around and want to help me out a bit, down at the bottom there’s a big, yellow ‘Help Erno out!’ button)

7. Tell us about your love for ice cream. How do you control your ice cream addiction when you are competing so often?

😀

I don’t control it. I absolutely love ice cream. I’m like the poor man’s Caio Terra, and I’m sure that once I’m done with weight classes, I’ll gain twenty to thirty kilos just from Ben & Jerry’s. Sometimes (often?) I replace real carbs with ice cream carbs. And man, are they efficient! I’m actually trying to get sponsored by ice cream companies and restaurants. If I weren’t doing BJJ, I’d probably own a restaurant, or better yet, I’d be a food critic. This also naturally leads me to go up and down in weight quite a bit, which is irritating, but so worth it.
8. What is next for you and your team in 2014?
Next up is the BJJ Mundials for sure. I’m trying to lure everyone I know into going. Finland has traditionally had a lot of athletes in there, so I’m sure this year won’t be any different. Then, in autumn, the focus is on ADCC and No-Gi. This past year has been really good for our club, as we were also ranked the best one in the country, and I don’t expect things to change anytime soon, as I feel we’re only ever getting better and better!
9. If you want to thank somebody or sponsors, feel free
I’d like to thank my friend and professional graphic designer Teemu Launis for helping me with the Kiririnki video.

I’d also like to thank all of my past and present coaches, and two guys in particular, Tero Pyylampi and Janne-Pekka Pietiläinen, who are also ADCC European Champions, for their support in my Jiu Jitsu journey. And, of course, all my training partners, including Perttu Tepponen, who has been just murdering everyone in Europe — he’s possibly the most promising blue belt I’ve ever seen. Keep an eye on him, if his awkward name ever pops up.

And, of course, thank you Kiririnki, for giving me this great opportunity to represent myself and the sport which I love.

And last but not least, a big thank you to you guys over at BJJ Eastern Europe for interviewing me. Awesome stuff!

… oh and uh, my girlfriend Katjusa, who also happens to be a very good purple belt and a former Judo national champion. I’m an annoying bastard sometimes, so thank you!

10. Thanks Erno and all the best!
The pleasure was all mine! I hope to see you all on the mats somewhere. I’m also looking for sponsors, supporters and all kinds of contacts, as I want to compete more in the international scene and do my part in making European Jiu Jitsu known around the world. And, just maybe, one day, teach Jiu Jitsu for a living! So, feel free to contact me 🙂