We've just launched the latest Grapplearts BJJ instructional mobile app with my friend Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins. It's called Advanced BJJ Fundamentals. The name of this app isn't accidental, because it's all about using the fundamental building blocks of jiu-jitsu to make learning easier, to amplify the effectiveness and reliability of your techniques, and to build an advanced … [Read more...]
Drills
Podcast EP30: BJJ Q&A – Popular Reader Questions Answered
I recently did the second-ever Grapplearts Radio Q&A format podcast. In it I answered questions from my newsletter readers. In this particular podcast we cover many topics, including How to come back to BJJ training after an injury... and not lose your mind while you're rehabbing... Options for transitioning out of Z guard (and half guard in general) to open guard How to improve … [Read more...]
Podcast EP26: Perspectives on BJJ Drilling – An Interview with SBG’s Steve Whittier
Steve Whittier from SBG East Coast is a cool guy. He manages to combine both thoughtful analyses and controversial opinions into one eloquent package. In this interview we talked about lots of different BJJ and MMA related topics, but the main emphasis and recurring theme was functional drilling and the efficacy of different types of BJJ training methods but we also covered self defense vs. … [Read more...]
Shutting Down the Guard Pass
It's called 'rolling' for a reason: if you're doing BJJ then you're going to be somersaulting all over the place. And there are three types of rolls that you encounter all the time on the mats: The forward roll, The backwards roll The side roll In the video below BJJ world champion Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins shows how you can use the third movement - the side roll - to defend … [Read more...]
Some Tweaks for Tightening the Armbar from Closed Guard
Chances are that the armbar from guard is one of the first techniques you ever learned in BJJ. In fact the closed guard armbar is one of those fundamental techniques that results in submissions every day at every BJJ school in the world (in fact it's the fifth most popular submission in a poll of 533 Grapplearts readers). But just because you learned it early in your career, and just because … [Read more...]
How To Do the Cartwheel Guard Pass
The cartwheel guard pass is one of the most spectacular guard passes out there. But it's not as difficult to do as you might think. In the video below I show you an easy four step progression, including some drills you can do on your own, to incorporate this exciting move into your repertoire. … [Read more...]
The Easiest Way to Teach (and Learn) the Armbar from Guard
The armbar from guard is one of those bread-and-butter techniques in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. A signature move, if you will. Unfortunately it can also be difficult for some people execute the mechanics of the armbar from the guard correctly. It's easy to get confused with all that gripping, shifting, adjusting and swivelling, and then completely botch the whole technique. But I've found a way to … [Read more...]
How to Incorporate a New Technique into Your Arsenal
Incorporating a new move into your sparring and competition repertoire can be tricky. Too many people go and and try their nifty new technique on everybody right away, hoping that it will work at least some of the time. But this may not actually be the best way to do it. In fact, this scattershot method, and not having a concrete plan for rolling out new moves, can even be … [Read more...]
A Cool X Guard Drill and Sweep
In recent years the X Guard has become one of the bread and butter positions in the open guard repertoire. It's an incredibly powerful position, both in gi and no gi grappling (click here for an intro to the X Guard). There are a ton of great techniques, sweeps, and drills that revolve around the X guard, but today I want to share a new drill with you that I recently learned from Clark Gracie … [Read more...]
What Do White Belts Need to Learn in Their 1st Year of BJJ?
by guest author Mark Mullen I'm currently in Rio de Janeiro doing a little training in BJJ. While here I have met a number of white belts at the Connection Rio BJJ hostel. Sitting around the pool or over acai after training, inevitably the topic of conversation turns to BJJ and the struggles of the white belts trying to find their way in the art suave. … [Read more...]
Home Drilling for BJJ Skill Development
I often get questions from BJJ and submission grappling practitioners about whether they can benefit from doing additional drills at home. Often the people asking these questions are either extremely time-constrained and can't make it to the class as often as they would like. Or they are just very serious students of the art and want to improve as fast as humanly possible. My answer is that … [Read more...]
3 Drills for Passing & Defending Butterfly Guard
Drilling is critical to skill development in BJJ in general, which is why we talk about it so often in this blog (click here to see some past articles about drilling). Drilling and technique repetition become even more important if you're dealing with a position like the butterfly guard. This is because the butterfly guard can be a very fast-paced game with much less time to think about your … [Read 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... … [Read 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 … [Read 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: … [Read 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!! It's a funny moment in the movie, but there's a lot of truth to that statement. For example, wouldn't having an continuous, irresistible and relentless offense from the guard would be great in BJJ? In an ideal world you'd be … [Read 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!!! … [Read 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? … [Read 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. … [Read 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. … [Read more...]