In episode episode 331 of The Strenuous Life Podcast BJJ black belt competitor Jon Thomas goes deep into the strategies, gameplans and training methods for the closed guard. How to Listen to the Audio-Only Version of this Podcast Episode Featuring Jon Thomas 1) I’ve released this as episode 331 on my podcast (The Strenuous Life Podcast) which you can listen to on all podcast players, … [Read more...]
The Engagement Phase Game, A Drill to Take Your Gripfighting to the Next Level!
I've written a LOT about gripfighting on my blog, and that's because I really do believe it's one of the highest leverage skills in BJJ. That means a little bit of gripfighting knowledge can have a huge influence on your actual mat skills. For example, if you're going against a bigger, stronger opponent then one of the most important things you can do is control the grips. Now controlling … [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...]
How Martial Artists Can Break Into Movie and TV Stuntwork
Steve Koepfer is a Master of Sport in Russian Sambo, and has translated his skills on the mat into a busy career as a stuntman appearing in the John Wick movies, Ray Donovan, The Blacklist, The Punisher and more. In episode of 329 of The Strenuous Life Podcast we go into depth about what doing stuntwork is really like, how fight scenes get choreographed, and Steve's best advice for people … [Read more...]
Combat Sambo and Russian MMA
Steve Koepfer is a Master of Sport of Russia in Combat Sambo and the head coach of New York Combat Sambo. In episode of 328 of The Strenuous Life Podcast we talk about the impending wave of combat sambo specialists coming to the UFC and other MMA events, the differences between training in Russia and North America, the prevalence of leglocks, and much more. I hope you enjoy this conversation … [Read more...]
The Limits of Human Endurance, with Endurance Athlete Mike McCastle
Mike McCastle set a new world record on Jan 23, 2021, immersing himself in ice for 2 hours and 40 minutes and surviving! He joined me on Episode 323 of The Strenuous Life Podcast to talk about this absolutely insane challenge including, The physical preparation and mental strength required to it off, The limits of the human body, Tummo (inner fire) breathing and visualisation, How … [Read more...]
Improving BJJ Training Methods, with Pritt Mihkelson
Priit is a renowned BJJ black belt who has taught his style of defensive jiu-jitsu to thousands of people through his classes, seminars and instructionals. He's particularly known for his unusual approach to teaching jiu-jitsu and structuring classes in such a way that people come away from them with the techniques and concepts they can actually use right away. In episode 321 of The … [Read more...]
BJJ Training Pods
APRIL 18 2021 UPDATE (Originally published August 5th, 2020): With the advances in vaccination I believe there is a role for 'vaccinated training pods' to exist in the BJJ landscape. Essentially these are small groups of fully vaccinated people who are willing to accept the much smaller risk posed by training with other vaccinated people rather than training out in general population. This … [Read more...]
One Breath, One Attack; A Heuristic for Guard Domination
There's a BJJ black belt strategy for the guard that anyone can use... This approach keeps your opponent in danger of getting swept or submitted and makes it hard for him to even think about passing your guard. It's really simple. Ready? Here it is... "One breath, one attack!" This strategy means that you continously try to improve your position, at least one time every time you … [Read more...]
Don’t Concede the Initial Grip!!
When people are playing from the guard it's WAY too common that they just let their opponents get whatever grip they want. Once they've given the other guy the grips they're now on the defensive and have to fight out of whatever passing position they end up in. That's why the first thing you should do when you end up in the guard is to gripfight like crazy. Whoever dominates the grips is … [Read more...]
The Balance Between Stress and Recovery in Training
Your health is like a credit card.. You can definitely put things onto your credit card once in a while. You can even use a credit card to help bridge the gap when you're short on funds. But sooner or later you need to pay it off. But if you keep on making withdrawals against your card without ever putting money back into it then you're going to end up in serious trouble. Your health is … [Read more...]
How to Connect Your Sweeps and Guard Passes in Order to Dominate More Opponents on the Mat
The concept of connecting your guard sweeps to your guard passes is incredibly useful. Anytime you can use one technique to set up the next you have an advantage, yet many grapplers fail to follow up after a successful guard sweep. Let's go through both the theory and practice of this concept. If you start trying to this then we can probably improve your grappling overnight... The Theory of … [Read more...]
Why You Need the de la Riva Guard
In this latest episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast I talk with BJJ black belt world champion Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins about why you need to have a long range guard, how to build a de la Riva guard game, and finding a way to win no matter what the situation is! Why You Need the de la Riva Guard, in Youtube Format Here's the video of this chat from my main Youtube channel... Why You Need … [Read more...]
The Fundamental Movements of BJJ and their Advanced Applications
If you've ever gone to a single BJJ class then you've probably done some kind of warmup that included shrimping, bridging, rolls and other fundamental movements. Some of these movements were probably connected to techniques. The shrimping motion might have been connected to one method of escaping side control, the bridge might have been connected to a mount escape, and so on... But what … [Read more...]
A Quick Podcast and Video About Deliberate Practice
Have you heard the saying, "Practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect!" A big part of perfect practice is being deliberate about your practice. That means having a plan. Knowing why you're training that day, what you're going to be working on, and how long you're going to be working on it. The idea is to break down your training into chunks small enough so that you … [Read more...]
The Cheapest Grappling Mat
I've trained on a lot of different types of mat in my day: wrestling mats, foam core mats, puzzle mats, and rock hard old school Judo straw tatami, just to name a few. And I've also rolled around on a lot of non-matted surfaces including concrete, wood and carpet. (Of all those surfaces, carpet is the WORST by far!! The carpet burns you can get on your head, back and elbows are … [Read more...]
The Open Guard System In App Form
I recently released the The Open Guard System with Jon Thomas. And today it's available in app format for your phone!! The open guard is the most complicated position in BJJ, so this best-selling instructional is designed to completely overhaul and vastly improve your open guard. This instructional gives you a step-by-step plan to dominate your opponent sweeps and submissions while keeping … [Read more...]
Train Hard AND Train Smart!
There's a saying in the British army that goes, 'Proper Preparation and Planning Prevent Piss Poor Performance.' This is called The Seven P's, and it applies just as much to BJJ as it does to military matters. The truth is that any great accomplishment, from winning a tournament to getting your black belt, requires a TON of preparation and planning. Think of the training, the drilling, … [Read more...]
The Ultimate Guide To BJJ Solo Drills
by Ritchie Yip The ultimate guide to BJJ solo drills is a quick reference to exercises you can do on your own to help you with your Jiu Jitsu. The guide was designed for the absolute BJJ beginner in mind. However, even advanced practitioners may see drills in this guide that they haven't seen before or perhaps they've forgotten about. BJJ Solo Drills: Guard and Bottom Position The first … [Read more...]
Feeling Overwhelmed in BJJ?
There are so many techniques to master and so many different areas in BJJ to get good at that jiu-jitsu can seem totally overwhelming. The first step to solving this problem is to use a positional approach to BJJ (click here for a breakdown of what I mean by that). But after you understand the basic positions and how they relate to each other you still need to figure out which techniques - … [Read more...]