I'm writing this on June 29th, 2019, on the eve of setting out on a 1000 mile journey by canoe, alone across the northern boreal forest and Canadian tundra. More information about my plans here: grapplearts.com/1000-miles-by-canoe. This page is (hopefully) going to serve as a repository of updates from the field, assuming that I can keep all my electronic devices charged and connecting to … [Read more...]
1000 Miles by Canoe in the Arctic, Alone
In this episode I talk about a 1,000 mile solo trip through Canada's arctic that I'm planning to do from July 1st to mid August 2019. This trip is both to celebrate having survived a kidney transplant and to bring awareness to organ donation (click here for the full story on that). If f you have Google Earth installed on your computer then here's a Google Drive link for the kmz file for … [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. Cnsequently 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...]
Modern Jiu-Jitsu Instructional with Matt Kwan Out Today!
Hey guys, the brand new instructional Modern Jiu-Jitsu is now LIVE on Grapplearts!! It's a deep dive into the techniques that have had the biggest effects on gi and no gi jiu-jitsu in the last 10 years and that are now required knowledge for any serious competitor. It's available in online streaming, DVD and app format. And right now it's available at an absolutely KILLER … [Read more...]
How To Do The Crab Ride in BJJ and No Gi Grappling
The Crab Ride is one of the hottest new positions in BJJ used by competitors like Rafa Mendes, Gianni Grippo, the Miyao brothers, Mikey Musumeci and more. It looks kind of like you're doing the butterfly guard on the back of your opponent's legs with your insteps behind his knees... except that you're upside down while doing it! The cool thing is that from that strange position there are a … [Read more...]
Mindset and Motivation in the Martial Arts and the Rest of Life
Brett Piperni has spoken about mindset and motivation on the TED stage and I was very happy to get him on my podcast because he shared some great tips! I particularly his approach to creating 'have-to' situations in life. His story is that he was a nationally ranked Taekwondo competitor when he came down very serious illness that threatened his life and left him crippled. Multiple … [Read more...]
Defending and Escaping When Someone is On Your Back!
Having someone on your back in rear mount is an absolutely terrible situation. It doesn't matter if you're doing BJJ, no gi submission grappling, MMA, or are in a self defense situation. When someone is behind you with the hooks in and his arms locked in the seatbelt position then you're really very close to getting choked into a drooling mess. There's a reason that being caught in rear … [Read more...]
Date-Almond Energy Balls
Yes I'm sharing a recipe today but don't worry, there's no danger of this turning into a cooking blog!!! It's just that I've been asked for this recipe so many times that it would be silly not to have a post I can point people to. Obviously do lot of jiu-jitsu and fitness stuff, but the outdoors are a big part of my life as well. For example, after my kidney transplant in 2015 a huge … [Read more...]
A Detailed Account of my Kidney Transplant and Recovery
In 2015 I was dying of a kidney disease. I was down to 12% of normal kidney function, my blood pressure was soaring out of control, and my electrolytes were completely haywire. But then on June 8th I had a major, life-saving surgery. The red bag in the picture above was sitting on the shelf as I was rolled into the operating room. It contained my brother's kidney which had been cut out of … [Read more...]
Three Steps to Mastering Any Technique
Some people look at grappling as a giant grab-bag of techniques. They may learn hundreds of techniques, but there's no rhyme, reason or organizing framework to guide what they learn or work on next. If you're very physically talented then maybe you can get away with this approach, but I find it much easier to learn, retain, and use techniques if they're coherently organized. Here are the … [Read more...]
How to Escape Cross Side Mount
Getting crushed on the bottom of the cross-side mount is one of the most terrible feelings in jiu-jitsu. In the worst case situation his weight is heavy upon your chest making it hard to breathe. Your limbs are completely out of position making it impossible for you to frame or push him away. And his arm is anchored under your head allowing him to drive his shoulder into your jaw with a … [Read more...]
Discipline and Mental Toughness with Brett Piperni {Podcast}
In this episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast I talk to TEDx speaker Brett Piperni about discipline, decision making, and deliberately putting yourself into situations where you have no options other than going forward. Brett was a nationally ranked Taekwondo competitor who was diagnosed with an illness that crippled him which specialists told him was incurable. He fought through it, returned … [Read more...]
How to Do the Rolling Backtake
The rolling backtake started gaining acceptance on the mats about 10 years ago, and since then has become a mainstay of modern jiu-jitsu. Watch any Rafa Mendes match and you'll more than likely see him teleport to someone's back using a variation of this move. The fact that he does it again and again, against people who know it's coming and are doing everything they can to stop it, means … [Read more...]
It’s the Ego, Stupid! How to Prevent (Most) BJJ Injuries
I'm just getting over an injury that was completely, utterly, absolutely my own fault. I was taking it easy during a sparring session with an older, lighter lower belt and ended up in caught in a crazy omoplata/kimura/crucifix position. I should just have tapped out and carried on, but instead my ego got in the way and I kept on holding on, looking for a way out for far too long. Yes, I got … [Read more...]
The BJJ Crucifix Position and Your Best Submission Options From There
The crucifix is a very important position in BJJ and No Gi grappling. Like the rearmount the crucifix puts you behind your opponent where all your weapons are pointed at him and he's essentially unable to launch any offense against you. Unlike the rearmount, however, the crucifix ties up both of his arms so that defending your choke and armlock attacks becomes even harder for him. So it’s … [Read more...]
Vanessa Wexler, Black Belt BJJ Champion, Mother, School Owner, and Model
Vanessa Wexler is a BJJ black belt and a multiple no-gi world champion, PanAm champion, and Masters champion. She's also a mother, a school owner, and a model. I caught up with her shortly after she won Gold in the Pan Ams competing with a completely destroyed ankle. We talked dealing with injuries, pre-competition visualisation, how running a school does NOT give you unlimited training … [Read more...]
Single and Double Leg Takedowns for Beginners
My friend Rob Biernacki and I recently shot a video about two of the most important takedowns for grappling: the single and the double leg takedowns. These are deeply complex techniques that can be explored and elaborated on endlessly, but for beginners it's sometimes good to keep things simple. However we let our inner smartasses run wild when we were filming this material, so the … [Read more...]
Kesa Gatame in BJJ
Kesa Gatame in Judo There's a pinning position in Judo known as 'Kesa Gatame' (which translates to 'scarf hold' in Japanese) In a Judo competition a 20 second holddown wins you the match, so Judo competitors often develop fiercely powerful pins. And Kesa Gatame (aka the 'scarf hold') is one of the most classic Judo pinning positions. Kesa Gatame is essentially a headlock on steroids: you … [Read more...]
Monty Collier, Keanu Reeve’s Judo Instructor for John Wick 3, Parabellum
Today's guest on The Strenuous Life Podcast is Monty Collier, a black belt Judoka who worked with Keanu Reeves to get him ready for the amazing fight sequences in the movie John Wick 3, Parabellum. This conversation was fun and we really went detail about stuntwork and gun fu movie fighting including how he taught Keanu highly technical Judo throws that have bedevilled me for years. We … [Read more...]
Situational Sparring and Positional Drilling
Situational sparring and positional drilling is a training method used by virtually every single black belt and high level BJJ competitor. In this type of training you start out in a certain position or situation and define specific end points where you reset and start again. For example, if you were to start in the sitting guard then you might stop if the guy on the bottom gets the sweep or … [Read more...]
One-Armed BJJ with Para-Athlete Jess Munster
Jess Munster was born with a severe brachial plexus injury which left her with only one functional arm. But this disability hasn't stopped her from training BJJ, competing against able-bodied fighters, and travelling the world to compete in para-athletic championships! In this episode I talk with Jess about what drives her past the limits of her disability, how she modifies her training and her … [Read more...]
How to Win Lethwei World Championships,
Today's we're talking about training a fighter to become a world champion in an incredibly intense full contact martial known as Lethwei. Lethwei is from Burma and looks a bit like Muay Thai with a few crazy additions... First of all, in addition to punches, kicks, elbows, and knees they also allow headbutts... If a fighter gets knocked out their cornermen have two minutes tor resuscitate them … [Read more...]
How to Set Traps for Your Opponent in BJJ
Today I want to talk about setting traps for your opponent in BJJ. The idea is that you force your opponent into a position or a situation where he only has a limited number of possible responses. Because you already have a pretty good idea of what he's going to do as soon as he uses one of those responses you spring your trap and go to the next pre-programmed move. This concept allows you … [Read more...]
Don’t Concede the Guard!
I used to make a very specific mistake all up until about purple belt: I would just concede the guard. Conceding the Guard By that I mean that in a competitive roll I would just give my opponent whatever kind of guard he wanted and then go from there. If he wanted to play spider guard, sure, I’d give him spider guard and then try to pass. If he wanted de la Riva I’d give that to him right … [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...]