The first time someone showed me the standing Kimura attack I was pretty skeptical... I was like, "yeah, that would never work, not in a million years!" Whoops, was I ever wrong. You see, shortly after I was introduced to that supposedly 'useless' technique, a Japanese fighter named Kazushi Sakuraba started used the standing Kimura to tear a bloody swath through MMA world, besting a … [Read more...]
The 6 Ranges of Half Guard
The half guard is one of the three fundamental classifications of guard (closed, open, half). It can be used as both an offensive and a defensive position. There are many different variations of half guard, and one way to categorise those variations is by how far away you are from your opponent's hips. If there's a big space between your hips and his then you're at long range. If your hips … [Read more...]
5 Counters to Your Opponent Standing in Your Triangle Choke
If you've got someone in the triangle choke then you want them on their knees. You really don't want them standing up while they're in your choke. Here are the main reasons why you don't want them to stand... There are more counters and escapes to the triangle choke when someone is on their feet... If it's an MMA or self defense situation they can punch you much harder... If they're … [Read more...]
A Throw and Leglock Combination
In the video above my friend and training partner Ritchie Yip shows a really cool throw that goes directly into a match-ending submission. Specifically it's a combination of a throw called Yoko Sumi Gaeshi and the kneebar submission. Yoko Sumi Gaeshi is one of my very favourite throws, and I learned the details of it from UFC champion and Sambo practitioner Oleg Taktarov. This throw … [Read more...]
The Butterfly Sweep from Half Guard
The half butterfly guard is a variation of half guard where you entangle one of your opponent's legs with your inside leg and then insert a single butterfly hook under his thigh with your outside leg. As such this position combines aspects of both the traditional half guard AND the butterfly guard. Two of the most popular attacks in the half butterfly position are Sweeping your opponent … [Read more...]
The Ultimate Guide to the Guillotine Choke in BJJ
The guillotine choke is a powerful submission in BJJ, no gi grappling, and mixed martial arts. At first glance it seems like a simple submission - you just wrap your opponent's neck with your arms, pull up and squeeze, right? Not so fast... There are a LOT of subtleties that you need to master before this submission starts being reliable for you, especially if you don't spend 4 hours a … [Read more...]
Robot Legs Drill (video)
Today I want to show you a fun and effective way to improve your guard passes that I call the 'robot legs' drill. Using this drill you make a super-powerful guard passing movement totally instinctive. And once you get comfortable with this drill you can also get a good cardio workout by going faster - start with 3 sets of one minute at full speed and tell me how you feel afterwards! But … [Read more...]
How to Do the Estima Lock
The Estima Lock is a footlock attack you can use against the open guard, especially modern forms of guard like the reverse de la riva, inverted guard, and others. You can basically use it any time your opponent uses a side kick style foot position against your chest or belly. And - BOOM - it comes on super quickly so he better tap fast! It was developed by two brothers, Victor and Braulio … [Read more...]
Setting Up and Finishing the Single Leg Takedown in BJJ with the Gi
The single leg takedown is one of the main moves in freestyle wrestling, but it becomes considerably harder to pull off when you put the gi on. That's because with the gi your opponent usually just grabs your lapel and sleeve, stiff-arms away, and makes it hard to get at his legs. This can be very frustrating for people looking for single and double leg wrestling takedowns in BJJ. Now judo … [Read more...]
Standing Guillotine Choke Escapes
Standing guillotine chokes are really tough to escape, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to get out! I recently met up with my friend Ando Mierzwa, and we shot something on the topic of guillotine prevention and escape for his martial arts oriented Youtube channel. It's a video in 3 parts... The first part of the video is about guillotine prevention. It's always easier to … [Read more...]
Getting Back to Your Feet in BJJ
If you boil down the thousands of guard techniques in BJJ they really fall into one of five categories... Sweeps that allow you to reverse the position and get to the top Submissions where you choke or jointlock your opponent Strikes with your hands, elbows, knees and feet Survival where you maintain your guard and keep yourself against your opponent's attacks, and Standing back … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 74 – Analysis of Leglock Game with Rob Biernacki
An 80/20 analysis of the leglocking game based on high level no gi competition, leglock safety, how to learn BJJ efficiently, best practises when teaching jiu-jitsu, and a ton more with BJJ black belt Rob Biernacki, my co-author of The Modern Leglock Formula available now at Grapplearts.com/leglocks https://youtu.be/jMMDD2EVn0w To hear this podcast episode in full, you have a couple of … [Read more...]
My Favourite Omoplata Escape
The omoplata is one of my very favourite techniques - it's a submission, a sweep, and a setup for other sweeps and submissions. That's why I've got a ton of articles about this technique on Grappearts! But much as I love the omoplata I absolutely HATE getting caught in it myself. I want to show you my favourite omoplata escapes right now... First of all though, let's talk about the … [Read more...]
Advanced Omoplata Finish
Jiu-jitsu is so cool! As you might know, the omoplata armlock is one of my very favorite techniques. But even after 10 years of studying this position, I'm still learning new stuff about it... Today I want to share a variation of the omoplata that I learned this summer working with Brandon Mullins. Of course this finish works great on larger people, but even though I'm 6'2' and 215 lbs I'm … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 80 – When Should Leglock Training Start?
What belt level should you start training leg locks at? It depends a little bit on what your goals are and whether you're doing gi or no gi, but it's a lot sooner than you think EVEN if you're competing only in the IBJJF rule set. This podcast episode is excerpted from a 17 minute long Youtube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GQZPtpsg_U which takes you through how to do the actual … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode #73 – Grappling VS Striking
If you could only do one which would be better for self defense: striking or grappling? The answer is grappling of course, but the reasons why might surprise you... This podcast episode, along with all my others, are available on my Strenuous Life Podcast, which you can subscribe to with a few easy clicks! Choose your audio player below and click on it to open up The Strenuous Life Podcast and … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode #71 – BJJ and Training Q&A With Stephan
What would I do different as a white belt if I could go back in time? What are the best guards that go together with the butterfly guard? Can you become an elite level grappler if you have both a job and a family? And you've choked someone out in a streetfight... what now? All this and more in today's Q&A episode. In this episode I make reference to articles on Grapplearts which can be … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 68 – Post Workout Routine: Staying in Shape While Travelling
Recorded right after my hotel room workout, this episode talks about the 3 things you need to do to stay in jiu-jitsu shape when you're travelling so you don't suck as bad when you get back to your regular training schedule. To hear this podcast episode in full, you have a couple of options. The first one is to just press play on the embedded player below - easy as 1,2,3! The second (and … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode #66 – Functional Training
Regardless of whether you train BJJ, MMA or a self-defense oriented martial art you're faced with the same dilemma: how do you take a technique you're shown in class and actually make it work against someone who is resisting you 100%? The key is progressive resistance, and in this episode I go into the 5 training modalities you should use to functionalise your techniques. You can listen to … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 55 – Interview with James Foster on the Spartan Underground
I really enjoyed being on James '300' Foster's podcast where we talked about figuring out grappling from scratch, why fighters fight injured, PEDs in the MMA, how jiu-jitsu will always be there for you after a long layoff, and a lot more! I hope you enjoy it too! Check out Jame's podcast on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-spartan-underground/id1070092297?mt=2 To hear this … [Read more...]