Hi there, and thank you for visiting my site!

My name is Stephan Kesting and I operate Grapplearts.com and Beginning BJJ.com. Through my DVDs, articles and newsletters, I have helped tens of thousands of grapplers all over the world improve their Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and submission grappling skills.

Grappling is my passion, and I want to help it become yours too. Whether your goal is to compete, challenge yourself, improve your fitness level, lose weight, or acquire some serious self defense skills I truly think that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) has a lot to offer you. I’m not kidding when I call it the most sophisticated martial art in the world.

Why should you listen to what I say? Here’s my brief biography and Martial Arts resume:

I’m a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, and have been doing martial arts for over 30 years. I am also a certified instructor in Erik Paulson’s Combat Submission Wrestling, a black belt in Kajukenbo Karate, an instructor in Dan Inosanto’s Jun Fan JKD, Maphalindo Silat and Filipino Martial Arts program. I’ve also studied Japanese Judo, Russian Sambo, various Chinese Kung Fu systems, Brazilian Capoeira, Muay Thai Kickboxing, and many other martial arts.

More than 20 of my articles have been published in print magazines like Black Belt, Ultimate Grappling, Tapout Magazine and Ultimate Athlete, and been interviewed by The Fightworks Podcast and Lockflow.com. You can see a small sample of the magazines in which my articles have been published on the left side of this page.

I have been interviewed many times by blogs, radio shows, podcasts and news organizations. Click here to see links to some of those interviews.

Here’s a 5 minute video where I talk about my martial arts history and training background in more detail:

In addition to my print articles, I also publish two online newsletters, The Beginning BJJ Newsletter and the Grapplearts Grappling Tips Newsletter. Thousands of grapplers, from rank beginners to advanced black belts, have already subscribed to these newsletters to become better grapplers, better teachers, and better martial artists.

Since 2002 I’ve released a series of best-selling instructional DVDs covering a wide range of topics including Sports-specific Grappling Drills Footlocks and Kneebars Guard and Half Guard Sweeps MMA techniques Unorthodox Positions & Attacks The Roadmap for BJJ Yoga for martial arts

I have a Masters of Science degree from UBC, which may help explain my systematic approach to learning and teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. In addition to all this theory stuff, I’ve also competed successfully in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission wrestling and Judo tournaments.

I train both with and without the gi, and have been a sparring partner for some top MMA fighters. Yes, that’s still me on the far right, back before I shaved my scalp down to the bone and went with the whole bald look.

While I have your attention, I’d like to tell you about the Grappling Tips Newsletter. Since 2004 I have sent out over 250 newsletters to grapplers all around the world. This service is free, and you can discontinue it at any point with a few simple clicks of your mouse.

In order for you not to miss any material I will send out to my readership in the future I suggest that you sign up for the Grappling Tips Newsletter right now by entering your email in the box below: