BJJ is a fantastically fun sport that's also undeniably hard on the body. The key to getting better is to train consistently. To train consistently you need to avoid injuries as much as possible. And in this video (and podcast) you'll learn my single biggest tip for people in their 30's and 40's who want to keep on training into their 50's and 60's Check it out - I'm sure it'll help you in … [Read more...]
17 BJJ Drills You Can Do At Home By Yourself
Let's face it... BJJ requires you to become adept at using many highly specialised movements that you hardly ever use in the rest of your life. The more smooth and instinctive these movements become then the better you'll be able to flow on the mats. Drilling is the secret sauce when it comes to internalising unfamiliar motions, but it can be hard to get to the dojo as often as you would like … [Read more...]
How Often Should You Train BJJ to Get Really Good?
Historically I've always said that doing something is better than doing nothing, and that training BJJ one day a week is a million times better than not training at all. But we're NOT talking about bare minimums today... Let's say that you're super serious about jiu-jitsu, a competitor or super dedicated student. Then how often should you train to get really good? 4 days a week? 5 days a … [Read more...]
How to Counter the Toreando Guard Pass
So there you are, on your back and fighting your opponent with your legs. Maybe you're using the Spider Guard, the Butterfly Guard, or any other variation of Open Guard, but regardless, both you and he are jockeying for grips and position. You’re trying to set up your guard sweeps and submissions, and he’s trying to pass your guard. Then - disaster! Your opponent grips both your pant … [Read more...]
7 Tips for Maintaining Motivation
Do you ever find yourself struggling to stay on track and complete a task that you've wanted to do for a long time? Of course you have, and it's completely normal! We all have moments where we just can't seem to find any motivation. Let's talk about how to maintain motivation over the long haul. How to Achieve Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals Here's the truth of the matter... Achieving any … [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...]
Why You MUST Regularly Calibrate Your Skills Against People Better Than You!
This is a short rant about the dichotomy of individuality in the martial arts. On the one hand you absolutely have to take responsibility for finding techniques and strategies that fit your body, your physical attributes, and your personality. On the other hand if you spend too much time training in a small group without the opportunity to calibrate your skills against people much better … [Read more...]
BJJ Strength Training, The Top 6 Exercises
Many jiu-jitsu students want to know about strength training exercises for BJJ. Time is precious, people want to focus on the exercises that will give them the best results fastest! To help answer this question I met up with my friend Ben Zhuang who is a strength and conditioning coach, personal trainer, nutritionist and BJJ black belt. Ben has also been a guest on my podcast - click here … [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...]
The ‘Head Mount’ – A Secret Position to Pin a Squirmy Opponent Flat on his Back
Don't you hate those super-squirmy guys? Even if you pass their guards they just shimmy their flexible gumby legs around and you're right back in guard where you started from. Here's one of my biggest tips on how how to shut down their game and pin them to the floor like a butterfly on a lepidopterist's museum display board! The central concept is to pike up and use what I call the ‘Head … [Read more...]
A Guard Passing Drill You Can Do At Home on a Heavy Bag
It's hard when you want to train but there aren't any bodies handy right at that moment. Here's how you can drill a guard pass called the kickpass (aka X pass) by yourself. This is a standing guard pass where you force your way into a loose half guard position and then use a dynamic backwards swinging kick to free your leg and come forward directly into a dominant position like knee … [Read more...]
Back Attacks 3: How to Trap the Arm and Leave Your Opponent Defenseless
Trapping one of your opponent's arms when you're in rearmount gives you a HUGE advantage and makes it much easier to finish him. Here's Rob Biernacki of BJJ Formula fame showing exactly how to do that. This is part 3 in a series on the so-called 'weak side' of the back we're releasing on Youtube and is a small part of the Back Control module of the BJJ Formula instructional. You can get The … [Read more...]
Back Attacks 1: A Critical Concept That Stops Your Opponent from Escaping Rear Mount
If you end up on your opponent's back in rearmount then he'll be doing his very best to escape! Here's how to shut him down and stay glued on his back using cross body rotational control! This is part 1 in a series on the so-called 'weak side' of the back we're releasing on Youtube and is a small part of the Back Control module of the BJJ Formula instructional. You can get The Back Attacks Formula … [Read more...]
Back Attacks: Best Way to Control the Back in BJJ
Rob Biernacki breaks down the strong and the weak side of back control for BJJ and no gi. This is the introduction to series on the so-called 'weak side' of the back which we will be releasing on Youtube and is a small part of the Back Control module of the BJJ Formula instructional. This is the introduction in a series on the so-called 'weak side' of the back we're releasing on Youtube and is a … [Read more...]
How to Defend and Escape the 411 (aka Honeyhole, Saddle, or Inside Sankaku)
The 411 (also called the 'Honeyhole', the 'Saddle' and the 'Inside Sankaku') is the most powerful position in leglocking. Here's a clip from https://www.grapplearts.com/modern with BJJ black belt Matt Kwan showing how to defend and escape it! https://youtu.be/oUFjr-JDyPw … [Read more...]
How to Drill Your BJJ Guard Passing on a Heavy Bag
You can use a heavy bag to drill your BJJ movements! In this video you'll learn how to perfect the footwork for a powerful guard pass used all the time in high level competition... https://youtu.be/Lkt7ca5Uems While I've got you here, click here to grab my free guide to learning BJJ fast. It's completely free and has already been used by more than 100,000 grapplers to improve their … [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...]
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...]
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...]
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...]