Tag Archives: Drills
How to Train BJJ, even with an Injured Arm (Drill)
This article and video are about how to train and continue to make progress in BJJ when you’re dealing with an arm injury.
Now I hope that you go through your entire BJJ career without ever suffering a single injury. But this is a contact sport, and therefore you’re probably going to get a little banged up from time to time. (more…)
What is the X Guard?
Depending on how you look at it, the X Guard can be be classified as either a form of Open Guard or a form of Half Guard. Maybe that’s why the BOTH those positions transition so well into the X Guard.
But how about an alternative perspective… (more…)
A reader writes: Hi Stephan, I’ve been doing BJJ for about 6 months and am wondering if you have any advice about what to do when you’re starting on the knees?
I find that most wrestling-style takedowns are very difficult to do from the knees, especially because my opponents are really good at sprawling. (more…)
A Fancy-Pants Z Guard Pass that Never Worked Until...
There’s this one impressive, fancy-pants guard pass that I’ve seen in competition many times. It makes everybody go ‘oooh’ and ‘aaaah’, but despite its dramatic nature it’s undeniably effective and has won a LOT of matches at the highest levels of competition.
I tried to imitate this technique, of course, but it was always a complete disaster. I never managed to figure out exactly what these high-level guys were doing. (more…)
5 Ways You Can Best use Open Mat in BJJ
A Guest Article by Mark Mullen
The majority of most BJJ’ers training time is spent attending structured classes at their academy. And most academies divide their structured classes into 3 portions: (more…)
What To Do When Your Guard Attacks Fail
It’s my very favorite quote from the movie ‘The Avengers’ which I saw last night:
Captain America: We need a plan of attack!
Iron man: I have a plan… Attack!! (more…)
Half Guard Leg Position Drill for BJJ & Submission Grappling
The Half Guard is a very powerful position from which to sweep or submit your opponent. But just like all other forms of guard, it’s really important to know how to move your hips and your legs correctly. No movement = no guard!!! (more…)
The Deep Half Guard
The Deep Half Guard is a position that I’ve been working with for the past year or so. I often end up using it to counter various guard passes to the ‘regular’ half guard.
In the Deep Half Guard you jack your opponent’s leg up onto your shoulder. (more…)
Tips for training when training partners are hard to find
Maybe you travel a lot. Maybe you live in a really small town. Maybe the club you used to train at closed down. Maybe it’s just too far to go to train regularly. In any case, training partners or good training environments are sometimes hard to find. So what do you do? (more…)
Gracie Magazine Jiu-Jitsu manual
20 tips to enhance your play
If you only read and keep the teachings presented here, you’re not going anywhere with your ground techniques. The following advices – useful in tournaments with gi, grappling, MMA and for the athletes personal evolution – ought to be studied between trainings. (more…)
The Way to Train
The Way to Train – Jiu-jitsu Idealism
An article by Tal Williams of Elite Martial Arts.
I was put to task to write something about Brazilian jiu jitsu. I’m not going to teach you any bad ass moves that will ensure metaphoric death to your foes because I don’t know them, and it also doesn’t go with the title. (more…)
In December, 2008, I sent out a Grappling Tip Email with a tip about not letting your opponent control your hips (see the first tip below). I asked readers to share their best tips for preventing or blocking the guard pass…
Pulling Guard in MMA
Q: Hello Stephan,
I’m a big fan of your website – I’ve been following it since 2009. I compete in BJJ and No-Gi submission wrestling.
I’ve also been training MMA with hopes of having my first amateur fight within the year. (more…)
Two Drills on Video to Improve your Guard Sweeps
Many of the most powerful guard sweeps rely on your hips being underneath your opponent’s center of gravity.
This makes him very unstable – think of the difference between
1. standing on the floor beside one of those stability balls, and
2. trying to stand on top of that same stability ball. (more…)
Best Type of BJJ Guard for Beginners
Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Ribeiro is a four time World BJJ Champion. In MMA he held the welterweight title in Japanese Shooto. And he has the Cage Rage lightweight championship belt proudly mounted on the wall too… (more…)
Today I’m not going to talk about a technique per se. Instead I’m going to share a cool training method with you. (Training methods are the ways in which you practice, hone and internalize the techniques you’re learning. (more…)
I shot a new video about a concept that makes it so much harder for someone to pass your guard. Figuring this one out was was a major “aha!” moment for me.
And it works in the closed guard AND the open guard, both with the gi AND without the gi.
Erik Paulson; an MMA Master Coach Shares His Secrets
Erik Paulson is an MMA Master Coach. He’s trained tons of fighters competing at the highest levels of Mixed Martial Arts. And he held the Shooto light-heavyweight title in Japan for 5 years.
He’s also my friend and a mentor. (more…)
I got some good feedback on the last post (Advice for a Frustrated, Clumsy and Uncoordinated Grappler) and want to share a couple of tidbits with you today.
Here’s what one anonymous Australian BJJ student in his thirties had to say (more…)
Sorry, It's Gonna Get Worse...
As you improve as a grappler you’ll go through phases of adding new techniques and strategies to your game. These are exciting times, but the sad truth is that you’re usually gonna get worse before you get better. (more…)
Training MMA Skills Under Pressure
It’s easy to train an activity when you’re calm, relaxed and not tired. But being able to execute those same movements correctly when you’re fatigued and gasping for breath is something entirely different. (more…)
Sensitivity Training for Grappling
Physical attributes are really important for Brazilian jiu-jitsu and submission grappling (a point further discussed in this article about physical attributes and BJJ).
Being able to feel your opponent’s intent and react to it even before he moves (like when he’s trying to bridge his way out of your mount) requires sensitivity. (more…)
Flow Sparring
Robot Legs Drill (video)
Today I want to show you a fun and effective way to improve your guard passes that I call the ‘robot legs’ drill. (more…)
The Deep Half Guard (video)
Nowadays you often see the Deep Half Guard at the highest levels of BJJ and submission grappling competition. But there are a lot of important details to the Deep Half Guard that you need to know before it becomes a powerful sweeping weapon.
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