Category Archives: Miscellaneous
The Simplest Way to Avoid Injury
Several years ago I found myself waiting for a Jean Jacques Machado seminar to start: I was sitting on the mat, watching people train, and chatting with a friend. Jean Jacques, the jiu-jitsu superstar, strolled over to us and told me something that I think about almost every time I train. (more…)
A Call for Photos
One of the more popular destinations on Grapplearts.com is the featured photo page, which shows action photos of people training, sparring, and competing in submission grappling, MMA, Judo, BJJ and other grappling sports. Here’s how you can take part…
(more…)
A video review blog called White Collar BJJ recently managed to link Frank Mir, the Spanish Inquisition and yours truly into a single coherent post. Check it out the article here. (more…)
Jiu-jitsu and Physical Attributes
Physical attributes are things like balance, neck strength, limb length, explosiveness, leg flexibility, and percent body fat. Your physical attributes are the foundation of what you can do with your body, and are influenced by genetics, training, age and injuries. (more…)
Training with Erik Paulson
Last weekend I got to train with one of my coaches and friend Erik Paulson, who was hosted in Seattle by Chris Clarke of Northwest Kali.
As usual Erik covered an amazing amount of material that I’ll be digesting for long time. (more…)
Originally uploaded by lauratitian
I don’t like golf. I’ll probably receive a large batch of irate emails because of saying this, but I don’t like playing golf, I don’t like watching golf, and I’m befuddled by its current popularity. (more…)
The Amazing Dan Inosanto doing BJJ
I have to share this footage of one of my instructors, Dan Inosanto, doing some BJJ sparring.
This incredible man is now in his 70′s, and I hope I learn to move that smoothly some day… (more…)
A Game of Inches
I was recently helping someone with their sidemount escapes, and of course we had to discuss posture when trapped in side mount.
As I was working with this person we kept on returning to one particular detail (more…)
Over the last few years there has been an explosion of great blogs devoted to jiu-jitsu, submission grappling and MMA…
Now obviously these things change all the time, and any list is bound to be incomplete. Nevertheless I thought I’d share some of my favorite blogs-de-jour with you today in this list: (more…)
A reader writes:
Q: I would like to own a grappling dummy but all the ones I have looked at are very expensive. Do you have any suggestions?
A: There are many commercially available throwing and grappling dummies available on the market (more…)
Combatting Claustrophobia
At first I thought that this particular question was going to be simple. Someone, let’s call him ‘Bob’, wrote me about extreme claustrophobia when trapped in a bad position:
“I am hoping that you can help me with problems of extreme claustrophobia while grappling. (more…)
How to Find a Grappling School
Every couple of weeks I get an email from a reader asking if there are any good BJJ, MMA or submission grappling schools close to where they live.
Unfortunately I rarely have specific advice for them, because there are just too many good schools out there. (more…)
Teacherless Training
A reader writes:
Q: “I would like to hear you address grappling with no formal teacher or school. What are the benefits/downsides to this? What should we be careful to avoid? This is the situation I am in now, I get to practice with some good guys but have actually never had formal training. ” (more…)
Using Instructional DVDs
A reader writes:
Q: “How does one best utilize instructional video tapes and what are the best out there.”
A: Let me preface my answer by saying that as someone who spends a lot of time producing and selling instructional grappling DVDs I am not exactly a neutral party! (more…)
A reader writes:
Q: “Do you have any advice on how to deal with guys who are ridiculously strong? I’m not necessarily referring to grapplers who are bigger than you, I’m referring to guys that are so strong that when they grab you it’s like a death grip.” (more…)
Several years ago I posted excerpts from a Peter Gzowski book that took research conducted on chess grandmasters and extrapolated it to sports performance. This article was called The Mind of a Champion. (more…)
The 'Elders' Speak
My newsletter last week about grappling with an aging body generated a fair bit of feedback. Some respondents thanked me for the article (you’re welcome). Others called me a candy-ass and that I should work harder and complain less (they were joking, I think). (more…)
The following question was submitted by a subscriber of the Grapplearts newsletter.
Q: What are your views on the ‘aging grappler’ who tries to keep rolling into his thirties and forties? What are some limitations and injuries to watch out for? (more…)
The following question was submitted by a subscriber of the Grapplearts newsletter.
Q: Why did grappling dominate early NHB / MMA events, but now striking seems to have the edge”
A: I think that the increased emphasis on striking is due to several factors. (more…)
The following question was submitted by a subscriber to the Grapplearts newsletter.
Q: Do you have any tips/entries to the arm-drag?
A: The arm drag is a great move (click here for an example of it at work). It works best when his arms are stiff, and/or he is driving into you. (more…)
Ever since I wrote my Royce vs Hughes opinion piece I’ve been getting occasional emails politely accusing me of disrespecting wrestling. Nothing could be further from the truth. I believe that wrestling – freestyle, Greco-Roman and catch – has had a HUGE influence on modern MMA. (more…)
When I was a young man I was approached by a friend with an unusual proposition. Would I be interested, he asked, in training from 6 to 7 am? He was so busy with work and family obligations that he simply had no other open time slots in his schedule. (more…)
On June 4th Denis Kang did it again. Fighting in the Pride Middleweight Grand Prix he took on feared striker Murilo “Ninja” Rua from the Chuteboxe Academy. The fight did not go long: he KO’d Ninja in 12 seconds! (more…)
Last Saturday night Matt Hughes decisively defeated Royce Gracie in a much promoted UFC matchup. One of the most interesting things about this fight was that mixed martial arts have come full circle, with Matt defeating Royce using a strategy first popularized by Royce himself. (more…)
In my recent sparring sessions with the gi I’ve been having great success with a technique I learned on the internet. Actually to be a little more precise, I learned a critical detail about a technique I already knew on the internet, and this has made all the difference to successfully applying this technique. (more…)
Free BJJ Book !
To receive this free report and receive the Grappling Tips Newsletter enter your email below
Featured Grappling MMA Pic
