Photo by Meerkatsu

Daniel Strauss is one of the top European BJJ competitors around, who is especially focused on No Gi. The student of Nick Brooks and Roger Gracie talked to BJJ Eastern Europe before his next big competition: European No Gi Open: 

Hi Daniel can you please introduce yourself to BJJ community of Eastern Europe? 

Hello Eastern Europe. My names Daniel Strauss but you can call me “Dragon”, though i’m more commonly referred to as “The Raspberry Ape”. Born and bred in north London I train out MIll Hill BJJ, a Roger Gracie affiliated headed by tough old badass and Roger Gracie black belt Nick Brooks. I am a BJJ brown belt under Roger Gracie himself. Im a full time athlete/instructor at Mill Hill. My main accomplishments are 2007 blue belt juvenile nogi world champ, 2008 blue adult rio open champ, first sub1000 champion, 2011 ADCC qualifier, 2012 brown belt adult nogi euro champ and 2012 Naga elite euro champ.

Winning Naga Paris

What’s your Jiu-Jitsu story?

I was always interested in martial arts as a kid but never got into it like many kids do at a young age. Around eleven I started trying out different martial arts. I did Karate, Kung Fu, Jeet Kun Do, Judo, etc. All these lasted for a class or so but none really ever grabbed me. Aged 14 I started at Mill Hill Ju Jitsu club, which at the time taught traditional Japanese Ju Jitsu. I enjoyed it and stuck with it, but I was not in love with it. After being there for around four months the head instructor left and Nick Brooks (A BJJ blue belt at the time) took over and converted it to a pure BJJ club, and it was then that I found my calling. Since then I was obsessed with the art.

Why do you prefer to fight Nogi?

I always have. Don’t know why. Even when I rarely trained without the Gi I always preferred it more. As a kid I was small, weak, but I was fast! For this reason I enjoyed the more dynamic fast pace of Nogi. Even as I got bigger and fatter I’ve continued to enjoy it significantly more than the Gi. A lot of people say nogi is less technical, I beg to differ. The assumption is that because Gi has more grips there are more options, but I believe the grips make it easier in a way. Having to take full advantage of the few good grips you can get if a very difficult skill that I believe many people don’t think about or consider.

Can you tell us about your strength and Conditioning program? Do you lift heavy/low reps or light/high reps? What types of exercises do you do? How often do you train bjj around that?

I place a high priority on physical training. I usually do some form of lifting 6 days a week. For the most part my focus is on pure strength so I keep the reps relatively low between 1 and 5. Main exercises are the basic strength movements; bench press, shoulder press, chin ups, rows. I cant deadlift because my back is broken but I try and squat a lot to make up for it. When 8 weeks out from competition I drop some strength days and increase conditioning, consisting of circuits/tabatas/sprints etc. If i’m trying to put on weight I cut out all cardio or conditioning, keep the heavy lifting up but also increase hypertrophy work.

Please tell us about the academy where you train and your instructor Nick Brooks.

Mill Hill BJJ is a small full time BJJ gym in north London. Despite its size we produce some of the best talent in the country. This is largely down to the mentality installed in all students by Nick Brooks. Nick, despite being in his late 40’s with a broken body still leads from the front, hes on the mats everyday rolling with EVERYONE and take thats to competitions and kicks arse. Not only is Nick one of the most accomplished British black belts around but he is widely respected for his incredible teaching style and knowledge. In my (attempted unbiased) opinion he is undoubtably one of the best instructors in the UK. Another unique thing about Mill Hill is that we are lucky enough to have a full time strength and conditioning coach, making all of our fighters big and strong!

What are your goals in BJJ/grappling and do you plan on moving to MMA?

In BJJ I want to win the world nogi at black belt and the ADCC. Those would be the dreams. Because I don’t have the same passion for the Gi, realistically i’m not going to win it. You don’t get to win the mundials at black belt unless you are 100%. When I am happy with my accomplishments in grappling I intend to look to MMA.
What’s next for you in 2013?
The euro nogi this weekend. Then my big goal is the world nogi in November.

If you want to thank somebody or sponsors, feel free.

Want to thank my sponsors Bad Boy. My coaches and training partners at Mill Hill. My parents who are very supportive, also my Mum habitually punched me in the stomach when I was a child to “toughen me up”. She is convinced that this is the reason for my success.

One more question, how did you get the nickname: Raspberry ape?

During WW2 my great grandfather used to work as a mercenary. He was employed by a very famous Swiss politician to rescue his brother who had been held as a prisoner of war in korea. It was known as Operation: Raspberry. To cut a long story short, when there he used his awesome stealth and knowledge of the grappling arts to infiltrate the camp disguised as a gorilla. He saved the day, and was heralded as a hero in Switzerland were the mayor of Bern gave him the key to the city and dubbed him “The Raspberry Ape ”. There is obviously more to the story but its confidential and must be kept top secret. If you’re wondering why it was called Operation: Raspberry. You see, the brother who was being held prisoner was the principle importer of raspberry to the entire swiss region, and in his absence not a single raspberry had be seen, as he had his whole contact list on his phone, and it was in his pocket when he was captured. Ever since this event the first born son of the first born son has always carried the nickname “Raspberry Ape ”. As I do, as did my father and his father before him.

Thanks Daniel and all the best.

Cheers bro. You to.