Drilling is critical to skill development in BJJ in general, which is why we talk about it so often in this blog (click here to see some past articles about drilling). Drilling and technique repetition become even more important if you're dealing with a position like the butterfly guard. This is because the butterfly guard can be a very fast-paced game with much less time to think about your … [Read more...]
Drills
What is the X Guard?
Depending on how you look at it, the X Guard can be be classified as either a form of Open Guard or a form of Half Guard. Maybe that's why the BOTH those positions transition so well into the X Guard. But how about an alternative perspective... I sometimes say that the X Guard isn't a type of guard at all. That's because once you get here you've already done about 80% of the hard work and … [Read more...]
A Fancy-Pants Z Guard Pass that Never Worked Until…
There's this one impressive, fancy-pants guard pass that I've seen in competition many times. It makes everybody go 'oooh' and 'aaaah', but despite its dramatic nature it's undeniably effective and has won a LOT of matches at the highest levels of competition. I tried to imitate this technique, of course, but it was always a complete disaster. I never managed to figure out exactly what these … [Read more...]
5 Ways You Can Best use Open Mat in BJJ
A Guest Article by Mark Mullen The majority of most BJJ'ers training time is spent attending structured classes at their academy. And most academies divide their structured classes into 3 portions: … [Read more...]
What To Do When Your Guard Attacks Fail
It's my very favorite quote from the movie 'The Avengers' which I saw last night: Captain America: We need a plan of attack! Iron man: I have a plan... Attack!! It's a funny moment in the movie, but there's a lot of truth to that statement. For example, wouldn't having an continuous, irresistible and relentless offense from the guard would be great in BJJ? In an ideal world you'd be … [Read more...]
Tips for training when training partners are hard to find
Maybe you travel a lot. Maybe you live in a really small town. Maybe the club you used to train at closed down. Maybe it’s just too far to go to train regularly. In any case, training partners or good training environments are sometimes hard to find. So what do you do? Here are some tips and ideas I have used to keep my grappling skills alive even when I’m hundreds of miles away from a skilled … [Read more...]
Gracie Magazine Jiu-Jitsu manual
20 tips to enhance your play If you only read and keep the teachings presented here, you’re not going anywhere with your ground techniques. The following advices – useful in tournaments with gi, grappling, MMA and for the athletes personal evolution – ought to be studied between trainings. … [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...]
Tricks, Concepts, Techniques and Drills to Stop Your Opponent from Passing Your Guard
In December, 2008, I sent out a Grappling Tip Email with a tip about not letting your opponent control your hips (see the first tip below). I asked readers to share their best tips for preventing or blocking the guard pass... … [Read more...]
Pulling Guard in MMA
Q: Hello Stephan, I'm a big fan of your website - I've been following it since 2009. I compete in BJJ and No-Gi submission wrestling. I've also been training MMA with hopes of having my first amateur fight within the year. … [Read more...]
Two Drills on Video to Improve your Guard Sweeps
Many of the most powerful guard sweeps rely on your hips being underneath your opponent's center of gravity. This makes him very unstable - think of the difference between 1. standing on the floor beside one of those stability balls, and 2. trying to stand on top of that same stability ball. … [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...]
A Drill To Improve ANY Guard Sweep
Today I'm not going to talk about a technique per se. Instead I'm going to share a cool training method with you. (Training methods are the ways in which you practice, hone and internalize the techniques you're learning. … [Read more...]
A concept that makes it MUCH harder to pass your guard
I shot a new video about a concept that makes it so much harder for someone to pass your guard. Figuring this one out was was a major "aha!" moment for me. And it works in the closed guard AND the open guard, both with the gi AND without the gi. … [Read more...]
Podcast EP3: Erik Paulson; an MMA Master Coach Shares His Secrets
Erik Paulson is an MMA Master Coach. He's trained tons of fighters competing at the highest levels of Mixed Martial Arts. And he held the Shooto light-heavyweight title in Japan for 5 years. He's also my friend and a mentor. Click Play Below to Listen to My Conversation with Erik Paulson... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx7gT-EXohM Recently I asked my newsletter readers if there was … [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...]
Sorry, It’s Gonna Get Worse…
As you improve as a grappler you'll go through phases of adding new techniques and strategies to your game. These are exciting times, but the sad truth is that you're usually gonna get worse before you get better. … [Read more...]
Training MMA Skills Under Pressure
It's easy to train an activity when you're calm, relaxed and not tired. But being able to execute those same movements correctly when you're fatigued and gasping for breath is something entirely different. … [Read more...]
Sensitivity Training for Grappling
Physical attributes are really important for Brazilian jiu-jitsu and submission grappling (a point further discussed in this article about physical attributes and BJJ). Being able to feel your opponent's intent and react to it even before he moves (like when he's trying to bridge his way out of your mount) requires sensitivity. … [Read more...]
Flow Sparring
Last week I had a short but fun training session with my friend Ritchie doing what we call 'flow sparring.' The rules of flow sparring are very simple: you have to keep moving, and you can't use strength. … [Read more...]