You often hear about elbow-knee connection in BJJ, but what does it mean and, more importantly, how will it help you? To finalise a guard pass, your opponent must invade the space between your elbow and knee to gain control of your torso. Elbow-knee connection involves keeping your elbow touching your knee when you're in guard. This denies him the space he needs to effectively pass your … [Read more...]
The Four Variations of the BJJ Technical Standup
The technical standup is an absolutely essential movement in BJJ. It's used to get back to your feet in self defense and MMA, but also for finishing guard sweeps, defending against guard sweeps, guard retention, and a thousand other applications. Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins, a BJJ black belt world champion, breaks the technical standup into four different variations... The Full Technical … [Read more...]
3 Open Guard Options vs. Standing Opponents
If you don't have a gameplan from the open guard then this position can quickly become a confusing and ineffective tangle of arms and legs . And open guard chaos gets much, much worse when you don't have a good grip on your opponent. Even a single solid grip on your opponent's arm, neck, foot, heel or gi allows you to control his posture, limit his movement, and set up your own attacks. … [Read more...]
Jiu-Jitsu and Grief
The Grit to Work through Grief: How Martial Arts Gave Me the Tools to Work Through Pregnancy Loss A Guest Post by Rachel Honeyman Imagine 200 pounds of weight holding you down on the ground, compressing your ribs, preventing your lungs from expanding. You panic. You can’t move. You can’t breathe. You feel like you’re going to suffocate. And then, you remember that, while your torso is … [Read more...]
The 16 Most Important Techniques for the BJJ Beginner
What's the most common problem (aside from getting caught under side control) facing the BJJ beginner? It's probably feeling overwhelmed by the staggering number of techniques that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu contains! There are a thousand variations of sweeps and locks and chokes and pins and escapes and guard passes. It's enough to make your head spin! So where then do you start? Which … [Read more...]
Are You in a Jiu-Jitsu Cult?
I've wanted to talk with Matt Kirtley for a LONG time because of his BJJ background, but it just so happens that he's done a ton of research into cults and cult-like practices, so we went off in some pretty interesting directions in this one! Some of what we talked about in episode 310 of The Strenuous Life Podcast includes... Red flags that you might be in a jiu-jitsu cult Changes to … [Read more...]
What is Side Control in BJJ and Submission Grappling?
Side control is a pinning position in Brazilian jiu-jitsu when you're perpendicular to your opponent and are not entangled in their legs. Typically but not always you're chest to chest with your opponent. It is one of the 6 main positions in BJJ and it's where you end up most often after passing the guard. But there isn't just one perfect version of side control. Depending on what you're … [Read more...]
Range and Distance in Guard
There's just something about jiu-jitsu that leads to a proliferation of styles of guard. From Z Guard to X Guard and from Spider Guard to Half Butterfly there are many, many different forms of closed, open and half guard, and new variations pop up all the time. How do you know which type of guard to use when? The Concept of Range in the Guard There's an organising principle that brings order … [Read more...]
2 Concepts for the Absolute BJJ Beginner
A Guest Article by Ritchie Yip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeXg51hrgqE Brazilian Jiu Jitsu can be a confusing and frustrating martial art for the absolute beginner. Today we’re going to oversimplify BJJ with 2 basic concepts; so that if you’re just starting out you’ll be able to understand this complex and confusing martial art a little bit more easily... BJJ Beginner Concept … [Read more...]
Free Audio Download of The Roadmap for BJJ
The Roadmap for BJJ book tries to help you make sense of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by breaking down the underlying 6 fundamental positions of art. It focusses the hierarchy of BJJ positions (i.e. which positions are better than others) and then breaks down the relationships and transitions between the positions. If you're new to the art then you should come away with a new understanding of what's … [Read more...]
How to Find a Good BJJ School (Podcast Episode 216)
One of the most common questions I get is how to find a good BJJ school. This is a REALLY important issue, given that in your martial arts journey you'll potentially be spending thousands of hours training and placing your health in the hands of total strangers. In episode 216 of my podcast (The Strenuous Life Podcast) I give you some of my very best tips for picking the best BJJ school for … [Read more...]
3 Huge But Easy-to-Fix Kimura Armlock Mistakes
Here are 3 tweaks that you can implement immediately to make your Kimura armlock MUCH more effective right away! Add these modifications to your Kimura and you'll find that you tap out a LOT more people. The main mistakes and how to fix them are covered in detail in the video below, but here's the overview... Problem: losing control of the arm you are attacking. Solutions: first choke … [Read more...]
The 2 Most Important Things For The Absolute BJJ Beginner
Jiu-jitsu can be really confusing at first, but fortunately help is on the way! In the video below BJJ black belt Ritchie Yip shares the 2 most important things every white belt beginner should know. https://youtu.be/oeXg51hrgqE The Basic Positional Hierarchy of BJJ in App Form... For Free! Did you know that I have created an app for iPhone and Android phones and tablets that … [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 Get Past a Plateau in BJJ
When you're training and training and training but just NOT getting any better that's called a 'plateau'. It happens to everyone but it's still an INCREDIBLY frustrating experience. You're out there sweating, straining, and maybe even bleeding on the mats but feel like you're stuck in some kind of rut. Everyone you train with becomes wise to your tricks, and seem to know what you're about to … [Read more...]
How to Crush the Younger Grappler
One problem with fighting younger guys is that they're like the Energizer bunny - they keep going and going and going... How can you beat them? To beat them you first need to wear them down and then break their will to fight. This is all well and good in theory, but how exactly do you do this in reality? Think of the young punk's gas tank as completely full. However unless you're in … [Read more...]
New Self Defense Focussed Module for Your iPhone or Android Phone
People have been asking for me to include more self defense material on the Grapplearts BJJ Master App. And, as always, your wish is my command! The Self Defense Guard - a 2 module instructional for iPhone and Android - is now the newest module with the Master App. I did this instructional together with BJJ black belt Elliott Bayev. In it you'll get the techniques and strategies from … [Read more...]
Dealing with the Gi in Grappling
Are you coming from a background in submission grappling or training mostly without the gi and trying to get into BJJ? Are you frustrated by the cloth prison (the gi) that's stifling your movements and allowing your opponent to wrap you up? I'm a big fan of being competent in both gi and no gi grappling, if for no other reason than self defense. Yes, you might get attacked on the beach … [Read more...]
So You Just Got a BJJ Belt Promotion?
So you just got promoted? First of All, CONGRATULATIONS!!!! By the simple act of training you’ve set yourself apart. You’re doing something that 99% of normal people would never do. Armchair quarterbacks sure talk tough, but when it comes to actually putting it on the line and having skin in the game, well, nobody back-pedals faster. But that’s not you. You’ve trained, strained, sweated, … [Read more...]
Grappling and the 5 Ranges of Fighting
I've said many times that BJJ is a fantastic sport and fitness activity, but that at it's core it's a martial art. And it being a martial art means that you have be able to use it to defend yourself. Now it's pretty hard to beat BJJ and submission grappling as a martial art at close range. The ability to move up the positional hierarchy, getting to more and more dominant position, is a HUGE … [Read more...]