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Techniques, Tutorials and Gear for BJJ, MMA and Submission Grappling

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Home » Gi vs No Gi

Gi vs No Gi

The Most Successful Gracie Family Fighter of All Time

May 26, 2023 by Stephan Kesting

Robert Drysdale on the history of BJJ and the most successful Gracie family fighter of all time

Not only is Robert Drysdale a BJJ and ADCC World Champion, he has also conducted extensive research into the history of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. In this interview, he reveals some of what he's discovered, including... 01:54 - The first wave of jiu-jitsu in Brazil - Helio Gracie and Carlos Gracie 04:35 - Exhibition and carnival fighting in Brazil 06:55 - Traditional jiu-jitsu style vs modified … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interviews, Mixed Martial Arts, Podcasts, Training Tagged With: BJJ, Carlson Gracie, Gi vs No Gi, History, MMA, MMA training, Robert Drysdale, Takedowns, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Video

Seven Reasons Carlson Gracie Was the First Modern MMA Coach and Fighter

May 24, 2023 by Stephan Kesting

Carlson Gracie, The First Modern MMA Fighter

Carlson Gracie fought 18 Vale Tudo in the 1950's and 60's. His 17 wins make him the most successful Gracie fighter to this day. In the course of his long  fighting and coaching career, he innovated many of the MMA training practices that we now take for granted. Here are seven ways in which he was the first modern MMA coach and fighter... Carlson's radical-for-the-time ideas included … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interviews, Mixed Martial Arts, Podcasts, Training Tagged With: BJJ, Carlson Gracie, Gi vs No Gi, History, MMA, MMA training, Takedowns, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Video

Margot Ciccarelli, Travelling the World While Training Jiu-Jitsu

March 9, 2022 by Stephan Kesting

Margot Ciccarelli, multiple time BJJ world champion

Multiple time World and European champion Margot Ciccarelli joins us take us through some of the following topics... Competing at the highest level while spending much of the year on the road, How to feel invincible on the mats, The importance of tempo changes in jiu-jitsu, Transitioning through different guards, Learning faster vs staying in your comfort zone, Switching from a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Competition, Interviews, Podcasts, Training Tagged With: BJJ, Competition, Gi vs No Gi, Interviews, Margot Ciccarelli, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training Schedule

How to Counter the Toreando Guard Pass

June 11, 2021 by Stephan Kesting

lapel drag counter to toreando 1

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...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Training Tagged With: Butterfly Guard, Elliott Bayev, Gi vs No Gi, Gripfighting, Guard Passes, Guard Retention, Open Guard, Techniques, Thomas Lisboa, Toreando, Video

5 Tips for Switching from Gi to No Gi

March 24, 2019 by Stephan Kesting

Switching from Gi to No Gi

If you've mostly been grappling with the gi on then transitioning to no gi submission grappling can be difficult. In fact many people find the process super frustrating and end up walking away in disgust. It DOESN'T need to be that way!!  Here are 5 tips that will make the transition to no gi much easier... The 5 Tips in Video and Podcast Form Here's a video from my youtube channel with a lot … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Podcasts, Training Tagged With: BJJ, Butterfly Guard, Concepts, Gi vs No Gi, Guillotine Choke, Leglocks, No Gi, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Video

Dealing with the Gi in Grappling

January 5, 2019 by Stephan Kesting

The 5 Most Important Things for Transitioning from No Gi to Gi thumbnail

Are you coming from a background in submission grappling or training mostly without the gi and trying to get into BJJ? Are you frustrated by the cloth prison (the gi) that's stifling your movements and allowing your opponent to wrap you up? I'm a big fan of being competent in both gi and no gi grappling, if for no other reason than self defense. Yes, you might get attacked on the beach … [Read more...]

Filed Under: For Beginners, Grappling Techniques Tagged With: BJJ, Collar Spider Guard, de la Riva Guard, Fundamentals, Gi, Gi vs No Gi, Gripfighting, No Gi, Self Defense, Spider Guard, The Mental Aspect, Video

Standing vs Kneeling Guard Passes

November 12, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

standing vs guard passing in bjj

When you're trying to pass your opponent's guard you can use either standing or kneeling guard passes. (Of course if you're dealing with the closed guard you have an additional decision to make, namely whether you first stand or kneel to break the closed guard open in the first place.) Anyhow, there's a tendency for modern BJJ players to use more standing, mobility based passes, especially … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Podcasts Tagged With: Gi vs No Gi, Guard Passes, Rob Biernacki, Techniques, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting

Stephan Talks to Chewy from Chewjitsu on The Strenuous Life Podcast, Episode 120

February 24, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

Chewy from Chewjitsu on the Strenuous Life podcast

Chewy (aka Nick Albin) is well known for the BJJ advice he gives on his prolific Chewjitsu channel, so I was thrilled to have him on the podcast. It's a great chat and we cover a ton of material, including How he got his nickname, His journey from wrestling to MMA to jiu-jitsu, Gi vs no gi training, Preventing injuries in training, Why he decided to leave tech and go full time … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interviews, Podcasts Tagged With: BJJ, Chewy, Gi vs No Gi, MMA, MMA training, Nick Albin, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Wrestling

3 Fixes for Sore Fingers in BJJ

June 6, 2017 by Stephan Kesting

BJJ Finger Pain Tips

So I got a question the other day from someone looking for advice about the pain and inflammation they have in their fingers from training BJJ. I sent them back a super-quick email response with 3 suggestions, but now want to elaborate on my suggestions in hopes that this info will be useful to someone else too. First, here is a video I shot about exactly this … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Health & Nutrition, Training Tagged With: Butterfly Guard, Collar Sleeve Grip, de la Riva Guard, Gi, Gi vs No Gi, Grip Training, Half Guard, Injuries, No Gi, Spider Guard, Taping, Video, X Guard

Podcast EP 34: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Principles with Rob Biernacki (plus Ninjas, Insane Martial Arts Instructors and Martial Arts Cults)

March 29, 2016 by Stephan Kesting

Brazilian Jiu-jitsu principles with Rob Biernacki

The latest episode of the Grapplearts Radio Podcast is out.  In it I talk with Rob Biernacki, a friend, BJJ black belt, and contributor to Grapplearts (see the videos and articles he's been involved with here). Rob is known for his analytical style of teaching BJJ.  He doesn't focus on being a 'technique collector, but rather specialises in sharing the underlying principles and concepts that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interviews, Podcasts, Self Defense Tagged With: BJJ, Competition, Gi vs No Gi, Interviews, Leglocks, MMA, Rob Biernacki, Sparring, Teachers, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Video

Podcast EP33: Leglocks with Eddie ‘Wolverine’ Cummings

February 24, 2016 by Stephan Kesting

Leglocks with Eddie Cummings

In this episode of Grapplearts Radio I quiz Eddie Cummings - one of the very best leglock artists active on the competition scene today - about every detail of his leglock game, including : Why the heel hook is one of the most efficient submissions for self defense How to train leglocks safely How a world class grappling competitor spends his days Dead ends and rabbit holes that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Competition, Interviews, Podcasts Tagged With: Competition, Eddie Cummings, Gi vs No Gi, Heel Hook, Interviews, John Danaher, Leglocks, No Gi, Renzo Gracie, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting

Does the Spider Guard Translate At All to No Gi?

September 19, 2015 by Stephan Kesting

No gi Spider Guard

TONS of top BJJ practioners use the spider guard as their primary form of guard from the bottom. This position has won many BJJ tournaments, from local competitions to the Mundials. And although you'd think that these champions would be completely lost in no gi submission grappling competitions like ADCC that's usually just not the case.  Even though there aren't any sleeves or collars to hold … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: ADCC, Butterfly Guard, Elliott Bayev, Gi vs No Gi, No Gi, Spider Guard, Techniques, Triangle Choke, Video

Podcast EP28: How Bernardo Faria Won Double Gold at the BJJ Mundials

July 5, 2015 by Stephan Kesting

bernardo-faria-BJJ-Competition

In this in-depth interview I talk with Bernardo Faria, the 99kg BJJ fighter who recently took gold in not only his own weight class but also in the absolute division of the 2015 BJJ Mundials. Some of the highlights of my talk with Bernardo Faria included... His mindset going into big tournaments How he developed and refined his highly individual BJJ gameplan What he's learned … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Competition, Conditioning, Interviews Tagged With: Bernardo Faria, BJJ, Competition, Deep Half Guard, Gi, Gi vs No Gi, Interviews, Marcelo Garcia, No Gi, Omoplata, Takedowns, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Wrestling

A Spider Guard Triangle Choke Setup for No Gi

March 29, 2015 by Stephan Kesting

A lot of people think that Spider Guard is only applicable to BJJ with the gi.  They're kinda right, but they're also mostly wrong. You see, it's more complicated than "no gi equals no Spider Guard..." First of all, if you get good at something as intricate and technical as Spider Guard then it develops your sensitivity, leg dexterity, coordination, strategic and tactical thinking like … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Concepts, Elliott Bayev, Gi vs No Gi, No Gi, Spider Guard, Submission, Techniques, Triangle Choke, Video

Spider Guard Masterclass is Now Live

December 9, 2014 by Stephan Kesting

After almost 6 months of planning, filming and editing Spider Guard Masterclass is now ready for release! I'm biased of course, but I think that this is an absolutely amazing project. It's an A to Z reference guide for the Spider Guard, which is arguably the most dominant form of open guard in modern BJJ. Checking out this instructional is also risk free: if you don't absolutely love it, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Competition, Grappling Techniques, Instructional Videos Tagged With: Collar Spider Guard, Competition, Elliott Bayev, Gi, Gi vs No Gi, Grapplearts, Grapplearts DVDs, Guard Sweeps, Leg Lasso, Omoplata, Open Guard, Reverse de la Riva guard, Spider Guard, Spider X Guard, Submission, Triangle Choke

Podcast EP19: Clark Gracie on Training, Competing, and Growing up Gracie

December 20, 2013 by Stephan Kesting

This is a great interview with 2013 Pan Am BJJ Champion Clark Gracie.  He shares a ton of cool info. You can listen to, read, or download this interview in several different ways… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWxI1oKzpV4 To listen to this conversation you could press play on the video above, but then you might miss out on future episodes, wouldn’t you? So the best thing to do is to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interviews Tagged With: Clark Gracie, Competition, Conditioning, Gi vs No Gi, History, Interviews, Omoplata, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Video

Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Ribeiro on Top of the BJJ World An interview with a grappling legend

April 4, 2012 by Stephan Kesting

by Stephan Kesting Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Riberio is ranked the number one fighter in the world under 155 lbs, and has multiple prestigious grappling titles. This interview was originally published in Black Belt Magazine (August 2004).  He currently teaches at his academy in New York City. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Interviews Tagged With: BJJ, Gi vs No Gi, MMA, Training

Should Older Grapplers Train with the Gi?

December 9, 2011 by Stephan Kesting

Q: Hi, Stephan, I believe it was Erik Paulson who said that older grapplers should focus on gi based grappling compared to no-gi since it was a slower and less explosive game. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Training Tagged With: BJJ, Erik Paulson, Gi vs No Gi, Older Grapplers

Top Article Number Seven: One of my Favorites!

October 3, 2011 by Stephan Kesting

Knowing what your roots are may not translate to kicking butt more effectively on the mats right away, but it's still important! Submission grappling is basically a fusion of wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu... … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Gi vs No Gi, History, Judo, Submission Grappling, Top Articles

Podcast EP6: Judo for BJJ, An Olympian’s Perspective

June 15, 2011 by Stephan Kesting

One of the most neglected areas of BJJ training is takedowns. Which is a shame, for a couple of reasons… … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Competition, Interviews, Training Tagged With: BJJ, Competition, Conditioning, Gi vs No Gi, Judo, Takedowns, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting

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