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Archive for the ‘iphone’ Category


*Ahem* I actually have three apps right now…

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

A funny thing happened to me at training today…

I was finishing up drilling some new guard passes when someone came up to me and said “I’m a big fan, I read your newsletters and I have both your apps…”

First of all, I want to tell you that it’s always nice when readers come up and introduce themselves.  So please come over and say ‘hi’ if we’re ever walking down the same street together.

But it was also a wake-up call for me that I haven’t been doing my marketing well…

You see, this was the third time in two days that someone has come up to me and told me that they love both my apps.

There’s only one small problem…

I don’t have two apps: there are actually THREE Grapplearts apps not two!!!

Here’s what I’ve got for your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch:

1) Grapplearts Submissions.Learn how to do the most powerful submissions in grappling, including the key details that allow you to tap out bigger, stronger opponents.

2) Grapplearts Sweeps. Covers 29 powerful sweeps from closed guard, open guard, half guard, spider guard, butterfly guard and X guard to get you from the bottom to the top in any grappling match.

3) Grapplearts Pin Escapes. Easily escape bad positions and get back in control of a match…

If you have an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, you should totally pick up these three apps.  There’s an entire DVD’s worth of information on each app and using the indexing system you can get access to the exact technique you need anytime.

(Well, maybe looking techniques up while sparring would be a little awkward, but you can still can look up what you should have done in the locker room afterwards…)

Seriously, at $3.99 each these apps are a great value.  Get one, get ‘em all!

Posted in armlocks, guillotine, half guard, iphone, leglocks, no gi, omo plata, positions, submission grappling, sweeps, techniques, the guard, triangle choke | No Comments »

How To Escape the Headlock and Kesa-Gatame

Sunday, December 5th, 2010

Headlocks are often overlooked in BJJ – they’re not considered to be a very technical pinning position.

But not training your headlock escapes is a HUGE mistake!

First of all, when an untrained person ends up on the ground, then nine out of ten times he’ll wrap his arm around your head and hold on for dear life.

And because this is that untrained fighter’s ONLY strategy he’ll be ferociously single-minded about hanging onto the headlock. This determination in itself can make escaping the headlock quite difficult.

Just like everything else in BJJ, in order to get good at something you need to do it ‘for real’ in sparring.

Since you hardly ever encounter headlocks in BJJ class dealing with them can be awkward. You might not know what to do and won’t be used to dealing with that particular energy.

Also there are other grappling arts (like Judo, Sambo and wrestling) which DO have pinning positions that look a LOT like headlocks. These positions may have fancy names like ‘kesa-gatame’ or ‘head and arm pin,’ but they’re basically just headlock variations.

(What’s even worse is that there are lots of ways to choke, armlock and leglock somebody from kesa-gatame. In fact, if you know what to do from there and your opponent doesn’t then it’s like taking candy from a baby…)

You ABSOLUTELY NEED NEED TO HAVE some good headlock escapes you can rely on!!!

Here’s my very favorite headlock escape. It also works against kesa-gatame and most headlock variations. If you know all the details and do it correctly you can send a larger, heavier opponent flying!

Make sure to practice the technique in this video below!!

P.S. Check out my Unorthodox Positions and Attacks DVD to find out what your OFFENSIVE options are from the headlock and kesa gatame postions!

P.P.S. If you own an iPhone, iPad or iPpod Touch and haven’t downloaded the three Grapplearts apps yet then what are you waiting for??? Each app has a ton of top-notch video instruction, and at only $3.99 each they’re an incredible value!!!

Posted in bjj, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, escapes, headlock, iphone, judo, kesa gatame, self defense, techniques | No Comments »

How To Escape Side Mount

Sunday, December 5th, 2010

Knowing the little details behind escaping the side mount is critical if you want to be able to deal with Side Mount, arguably the most common pinning position in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, submission grappling and MMA.

A while ago I shared something about the two fundamental techniques and the three most important movements for escaping side mount (click here for the original blog post).

Both of those fundamental techniques referred to in the post above are among the escape techniques broken down for you in my third iPhone app: Grapplearts Pin Escapes.  (This video-based app made it to the number one spot in the sports apps category almost immediately upon release.)

Thanks to the miracle of YouTube and streaming online video, here’s Jennifer Weintz and myself demonstrating the first of those super-important side mount escapes.

Posted in bjj, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, escapes, grapplearts, iphone, MMA, positions, self defense | No Comments »

One Of My Favorite Techniques…

Sunday, December 5th, 2010

Here’s a breakdown one of my favorite techniques: the sitout from turtle position.

It’s a very versatile move: you can use it to finish a pin escape, or recover after a failed takedown attempt, or to get the upper hand during a scramble.  It gets you out of trouble and into a dominant position.

But – like most techniques – there are some very important details. And if you ignore these details then the technique will completely fail.  So watch right to the end of the video, because that’s where I show you the critical details that make the difference between success and failure.

P.S.  This is an excerpt from our number-one selling sports app, Grapplearts Pin Escapes.  If you have an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch you really should download this app – for the amount of information that’s in it I think it’s a fantastic value!

Posted in bjj, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, escapes, iphone, MMA, no gi, self defense | No Comments »

Thanks, and Thanks!

Friday, March 27th, 2009


I want to thank everyone who went and downloaded Grapplearts Submissions from the iTunes store. This app currently only works on the iPhone and the iPod touch (but we’re looking into putting it onto the Blackberry and other platforms).

And I ESPECIALLY want to thank those of you who are helping spread the word about the application. We’ve been the number one or number two paid sports app in iTunes for a while now, and it’s all thanks to you.

If you want to help out, here are some links that you can post, forward on to friends, etc.

*** The app information page on Grapplearts
http://grapplearts.com/iphone/

*** A link that opens the iTunes program right to the Grapplearts Submissions App
http://tinyurl.com/cny5t8

*** The new Grapplearts Facebook page, with lots of info about the app
http://tinyurl.com/d5lxtm

So, for the third time, thank you!

Stephan Kesting

Posted in iphone | No Comments »

A BJJ and MMA Application for the iPhone & iPod Touch

Friday, March 20th, 2009

Today I’d like to tell you about my brand new application for the iPhone and the second generation iPod Touch. It’s called “Grapplearts Submissions“, and it’s the very first tool of it’s kind for learning BJJ, submission grappling or MMA techniques.

(We’re still tweaking the application to work properly with first generation iPod Touch, so if you have one of these stay tuned and I hope to have good news for you soon)

This application is designed so that you can learn grappling anywhere.

The idea is that you can learn the armbar from mount while riding the bus, or remind yourself of the key points for the triangle choke while waiting in line! Now you can bring your techniques with you to class and drill them with your friends!

Click here to see the application page on iTunes (if you have iTunes installed on your computer), or click here for the info page on Grapplearts.com.

This application is designed to be used on your iPhone or second generation iPod Touch. There are 31 different armlock, leglock and choke entries, AND we show you the details that make those submissions work. In addition, we plan to add other techniques to future updates, which you’ll get free!

A quick note: this is a big application because it has LOTS of video instruction. That’s why you need a wifi network if you want to download it to your iphone directly.

If you don’t have a wifi network then just use iTunes to download the app (search for “Grapplearts Submissions” in the iTunes store). Then synch your phone, just like you do for your music, calenders, etc.

About the price: my co-developers begged, whined and pleaded until I agreed to initially release it at at the nominal cost $0.99 (for the first week only). I personally think that this low price is a mistake, but compromise is the soul of partnership…

After March 27th I’ll raise the price for sure.

So here’s how to get the application, and some links to more information about it:

Finally, if you DON’T have an iPhone or an iPod Touch then I’d still be eternally grateful if you could help get the word out to the grapplers and MMA enthusiasts you know who DO have these tools.

Posted in armlocks, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, chokes, iphone, leglocks, training | No Comments »


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