Achieving a blue belt level of Jiu Jitsu may take only a year or two. But what if you’re not content with intermediate Jiu Jitsu skills? What if your goal is to get your black belt and become a submission machine? … [Read more...]
Starting BJJ: What to Expect on your First Class
The purpose of this article is to answer any questions you might have about starting to train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and your first class in particular. Every school is different, but this article will help you understand how MOST Brazilian Jiu-jitsu schools operate. … [Read more...]
A Girl’s Guide to Grappling What You Need to Know Before You Start Rolling
Although the sport and art of grappling is currently mostly a male activity, many female readers have commented on how important it is for women to learn to grapple (see Why Should Women Grapple?). In this article Liz Bader, an active mixed martial art competitor and instructor, explains what women should be aware of before they step onto the mat for the first time. … [Read more...]
Why Should Women Grapple?
Most Brazilian jiu-jitsu and submission grappling students are male, and in most grappling schools females are the exception, not the rule. My foundation in the martial arts was self-defense oriented, not competition oriented. … [Read more...]
A Glossary of Guards Part 3: The Half Guard
By Stephan Kesting and Elliott Bayev Principal Photography by Keith Haist Originally Published in Ultimate Grappling Magazine This is the third and final article in a series introducing a wide variety of guard positions. … [Read more...]
A Glossary of Guards Part 2: The Open Guard
By Stephan Kesting and Elliott Bayev Principal Photography by Keith Haist Originally Published in Ultimate Grappling Magazine This is the second of three articles discussing variations of the Brazilian Jiu-jitsu guard position. In this article we are going to focus on the Open Guard, where your legs are NOT locked around your opponent’s torso (the other articles cover the Closed Guard and the … [Read more...]
A Glossary of Guards Part 1: The Closed Guard
By Stephan Kesting and Elliott Bayev Principal Photography by Keith Haist Originally Published in Ultimate Grappling Magazine … [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...]
BJJ Video Tips for Beginners
In the spring of 2009 I asked my readers to send in video tips to help BJJ beginners. The idea was to augment and complement the work I'm doing with the BeginningBJJ.com site. … [Read more...]
The 3 Most Common First-Time Competition Errors
I was recently asked "what are the most common mistakes that first-time competitors make?" BJJ tournaments in general, and ESPECIALLY your first competition, are likely to be a little bit chaotic. … [Read more...]
Best Type of BJJ Guard for Beginners
Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro is a four time World BJJ Champion. In MMA he held the welterweight title in Japanese Shooto. And he has the Cage Rage lightweight championship belt proudly mounted on the wall too... … [Read more...]
Confessions of a Reformed ‘Unco’
I got some good feedback on the last post (Advice for a Frustrated, Clumsy and Uncoordinated Grappler) and want to share a couple of tidbits with you today. Here's what one anonymous Australian BJJ student in his thirties had to say … [Read more...]
Advice for A Frustrated, Clumsy & Uncoordinated Grappler
------------------- A Question ------------------- Hi Stephan I've recently started learning BJJ with some friends at their garage. I am by far the slowest student. We're following a DVD series with very clear & thorough breakdowns of techniques. … [Read more...]
Teaching BJJ to Kids
Game Theory; How I Learned to Teach BJJ to Kids, A Guest article by John Connors and Jon Grayzel … [Read more...]
Successfully Dealing with Claustrophobia in Grappling
Once upon a time I had an MRI. For those of you who've never had this diagnostic procedure, you start by lying down on a narrow board. Then they slide you into a narrow hole within a gigantic donut-shaped machine. … [Read more...]
How to Pick the Right Sparring Partner
A while ago I got an email asking me how to pick sparring partners. The gentleman wrote: "I am a BJJ blue belt, and I want to know how much time I should spend sparring people of my own level, vs people who are better or not as good as I am?" … [Read more...]
Seven Things I Wish I’d Known…
I'm on the road this week, and tonight, on the eve of UFC 99, I find myself in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. I'm excited about tonight's UFC for number of reasons. First of all the card itself looks great. … [Read more...]
Free Book About the Guard for Grapplearts Readers
Heres's a really cool resource for you, something that I've received a TON of positive feedback on. It's a free, downloadable book that breaks down the many different variations of the Guard position with detailed descriptions and lots of pretty pictures! And you can grab it super easily, for free... … [Read more...]
Beginning BJJ Tips and Behind-the-Scenes at a DVD Shoot
Recently I had a contest where readers sent in their best video tips for BJJ newbies on video. An absolute TON of great tips, techniques, and concepts got sent in, and I was amazed at how little overlap there was. … [Read more...]
Three Keys to Progressing In BJJ
On my road to BJJ black belt I've seen the same mistakes made again and again (and I've also made a few of them myself). That, in a nutshell, is why I created the Roadmap For Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Package. … [Read more...]