Starting Jan 1st 2021 adult brown and black belts will be able to use heel hooks and leg reaping entanglements at the brown and black belt adult divisions in no gi competition. Long banned, heel hooks are rotational leglocks where the hip and/or the knee is held in place while the foot is bent and rotated. They are incredibly efficient because they attack the smaller ligaments of the foot and … [Read more...]
No Gi
An Easy Way to Take the Back
Taking someone's back and achieving rearmount moves you right to the pinnacle of the BJJ positional hierarchy (click here for a downloadable guide to the BJJ positions). From the back you can attack your opponent with chokes and armlocks at will. By contrast he has very, very limited attacks he can use on you since all his weapons are facing away from you. Here's one of my favorite ways to … [Read more...]
The North South Kimura Armlock
Here's a short 1:55 video taking you through the the Kimura armlock attack from the north-south position. This Kimura setup is usually the first attack I go for whenever I'm in the north south position. If you run into resistance then there are a million ways to finish the Kimura or to transition into backtakes, leglocks and armbars. So if you learn this setup it ends up leading you to a … [Read more...]
The Step-by-Step Armbar from Mount
The armbar from mount is often taught as the 'CPR' armbar where you're mounted on your opponent, he sticks his arms straight up, you put both your hands on his chest and swing around into the armbar. It's slick, it's smooth, and it looks great. But the only reason the CPR armbar works is because your opponent has broken his own structure by pushing on your chest. Good opponents will almost … [Read more...]
Training for High Level Competition, with Brandon ‘Wolverine’ Mullins
Today I chat with Black belt no gi world champion Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins about how the most efficient training methods to master the highly complex world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Lots of great takeaways in this one!! 02:18 - Learning technique only vs learning technique and theory 05:42 - Fundamental movements in BJJ 09:24 - Advanced applications of fundamental movements 14:48 - … [Read more...]
The Ultimate Guide To BJJ Solo Drills
by Ritchie Yip The ultimate guide to BJJ solo drills is a quick reference to exercises you can do on your own to help you with your Jiu Jitsu. The guide was designed for the absolute BJJ beginner in mind. However, even advanced practitioners may see drills in this guide that they haven't seen before or perhaps they've forgotten about. BJJ Solo Drills: Guard and Bottom Position The first … [Read more...]
Winning the Grip Battle At The Beginning Of A Match
In a match there's a HUGE advantage for the person who gets their preferred grips first. If you have grips but your opponent does not then you have almost all the offensive options and he has none. But if he gets his grips first then you'll be lucky to avoid his attacks. This is true regardless of whether you're both on your feet, he pulls guard, or you pull guard. The first grip … [Read more...]
The Folding Guard Pass for No Gi and MMA
The folding pass is a bread and butter guard pass that everyone should know. That's because the folding pass can be used in BJJ with the gi, submission grappling without the gi, and in MMA where guard passing is often mixed with ground and pound. Here's an excerpt from The Pressure Passing System with 4 x World Champion Fabio Gurgel breaking down how this exact pass can be used in no gi … [Read more...]
Sparring vs Competition Strategies
Optimal Competition Strategy There's an old saying that goes... "Don't do what's best for you. Instead do what's worst for your opponent." There's a lot of truth there. In a competition your odds of victory go way up if you can prevent your opponent doing the things that he is best at. Back in the day I once competed against MMA fighter Chris Leben in a submission grappling … [Read more...]
The Cheat Code for BJJ Turtle Escapes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmz1ID3VgGU The turtle is a terrible position! Being on all fours is an invitation for your opponent to apply the clock choke, take your back and choke you out, or attack you with other submissions. And if you're talking about an MMA or self defense situation it's even worse. Now your opponent can elbow, knee and hammerfist you into oblivion without even … [Read more...]
Bottom Saddle to Heel Hook Transition
The 'Saddle' - also known as the Inside Sangaku, the Honeyhole, and the 411 position - is probably the most powerful leglock position in all of grappling. This position gives you powerful control over your opponent's ability to move, counter and escape. It also lets you apply a devastating inside heel hook, which twists the leg in a much worse angle than a regular heel hook. (Here are some … [Read more...]
Near vs Far Side Kimura Armlocks
Most grapplers know how to apply the Kimura armlock on the far side of their opponent's bodies. It's an attack taught at white belt that you see in every grappling competition. But many intermediate grapplers don't know that you can actually use the Kimura technique on BOTH sides of your opponent's body. However, the near side Kimura is an absolutely critical position for controlling your … [Read more...]
A Powerful Heel Hook Leglock Escape
Many grapplers treat leglocks as the black magic of jiu-jitsu. They fear leglocks and never use them. Consequently never learn how to properly escape them either. The problem is that if you're doing any form of no gi grappling you will inevitably run into ankle locks, heel hooks, kneebars and toeholds - sticking your head in the sand like an ostrich and ignoring them is no longer an … [Read more...]
The Mental Side of Jiu-Jitsu with Tarsis Humphreys
Tarsis Humphreys is a multiple time BJJ Black Belt world champion and Brazilian National Champion. From 1998 to 2010 he won a medal in whichever Black Belt adult division he entered. In this episode we go DEEP into the mental game of BJJ, including How to keep a match on your preferred terms, The optimal state of mental arousal for a match, Tailoring a strategy to overcome certain … [Read more...]
5 Tips for Switching from Gi to No Gi
If you've mostly been grappling with the gi on then transitioning to no gi submission grappling can be difficult. In fact many people find the process super frustrating and end up walking away in disgust. It DOESN'T need to be that way!! Here are 5 tips that will make the transition to no gi much easier... The 5 Tips in Video and Podcast Form Here's a video from my youtube channel with a lot … [Read more...]
No Gi Butterfly Guard Pass
The butterfly guard is a very popular guard position in no gi grappling because it doesn't rely on fancy sleeve and lapel grips. So if you're going to be competitive in no gi you definitely need to know how to deal with the butterfly guard, how to shut it down, and how to pass it. There are some very athletic speed-based passes for butterfly that involve jumping, spinning, floating, … [Read more...]
No Gi de la Riva Guard Instructional, Now for Apple & Android Devices!
Hey there, I've just released The No Gi de la Riva Guard which will give you, I hope, a step-by-step formula for fixing your open guard. The main instructor in this instructional is Rob Biernacki, and having been at the receiving end of his de la Riva guard in no gi sparring I 1000% vouch for this system working. Now on my site it's available in online streaming and DVD formats, which is … [Read more...]
A Three Step Open Guard Strategy
Are you flailing around in your guard, trying to react to your opponent, without a clear plan of what to do? If so then this video and podcast episode is for you! When you're using the open guard there's a definite series of steps and strategies you should be using. Here Rob Biernacki of No Gi de la Riva Formula fame, taking you through the 3 stages of open guard and shows you specific … [Read more...]
Strength Training and BJJ with Daniel Strauss, AKA The Raspberry Ape!
Daniel Strauss (aka The Raspberry Ape) is a BJJ black belt under 10x World Champion Roger Gracie. But he's also a very serious advocate of strongman training including the development of crazy levels of grip strength. In today's podcast we start with Daniel's victory over Olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii at Polaris 8 and his BJJ competition strategy. View … [Read more...]
Arm Drag from Reverse de la Riva Guard (Simple and Effective)
The Reverse de la Riva Guard is a variation of the regular de la Riva Guard, but with your inside leg entangling your opponent's lead leg instead of your outside leg. This picture should make it a little clearer what the difference is... Why Use the Reverse de la Riva? Most of the time players use both the regular and the reverse de la Riva positions, because they complement each … [Read more...]