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

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Home » Gi

Gi

Some High Percentage Pin Escapes from the North South Position

October 11, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

One of the most common questions I get asked is "how do I escape from north south?" It's a totally understandable question, because the north south position is a TERRIBLE place to be stuck in! On the bottom your arms are dangling out ripe for armlocking, your neck is just waiting to be choked, and the whole time your opponent is smashing you with heavy pressure from the top. Some of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Escapes, Gi, No Gi, North-South, Rob Biernacki, Techniques, Video

Podcast Episode 85 – Ritchie Yip Discusses Transitioning from Gi to No Gi

June 17, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

No gi grappling is very popular these days, and a lot of people find making the transition from training with the gi to training without it tricky and difficult.  In this episode Ritchie Yip and I go over some tricks and tips to make this an easier transition and to give you a fighting chance when you can't grip cloth to control your opponent. To listen to this conversation you could press play … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interviews, Podcasts, Training Tagged With: BJJ, Gi, Grapplearts, Grappling, Interviews, No Gi, Ritchie Yip, Stephan Kesting, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training

Mount Escape to Ankle Lock Position

January 1, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

mount escape to ankle lock

If you're caught in mount the first thing you want to try are the conventional bridging and shrimping movements to escape. These are two of the gold standard escapes for a good reason; they work all the time. But as the old saying goes, man makes plans and God laughs.  Even the best techniques are going to fail against some opponents and in certain situations so it's always good to have some … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Self Defense, Uncategorized Tagged With: Bridge, Escapes, Gi, MMA, Mount, Mount Escape, No Gi, Self Defense, Techniques, Video

Christmas Office Party Jiu-Jitsu

December 19, 2017 by Stephan Kesting

Office party jiu-jitsu

Tis the season, and there's a very good chance that you'll be going to one or more Christmas parties in the next few weeks. I hope those parties stay friendly, but you can never be too careful.  Let's just say that things can go sideways QUICKLY! A little bit too much rum in the eggnog... The wrong person under the mistletoe... Accidentally giving your girlfriend an oversized piece of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Miscellaneous Tagged With: BJJ, Collar Chokes, Gi, Gripfighting, Guard Passes, Judo, Self Defense, Sleeve Choke, Techniques, Throws, Video

Lapel Drag from Butterfly Guard and from Standing

November 15, 2017 by Stephan Kesting

Lapel Drag Breakdown

The lapel drag (aka collar drag) is an incredibly important move from the butterfly guard.  It's a legitimate sweep, but it's also an amazing setup for many other attacks. It's also low risk and doesn't require an elaborate grip to set it up. In this Youtube video Rob Biernacki shows some of the black belt details that'll make this sweep MUCH more effective, even against skilled, larger … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Bernardo Faria, BJJ, Cobrinha, Gi, Gripfighting, Judo, Lapel Drag, Ritchie Yip, Takedowns, Techniques, Video, Wrestling

New Strenuous Life Podcast Episode with 5 x BJJ World Champion Bernardo Faria

September 27, 2017 by Stephan Kesting

Bernardo Faria on my Strenuous Life Podcast

I've just released a KILLER new podcast episode with 5 x BJJ World Champion on my Strenuous Life Podcast. (This is episode 086 of the podcast for anyone keeping track.) In this episode we talk about Bernardo's 'kidnapping' in the Philippines two years ago His thoughts on the results of ADCC 2017 The toughest guys he has ever rolled with Whether you can get your BJJ black belt … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interviews, Podcasts, Training Tagged With: Bernardo Faria, BJJ, Competition, Conditioning, Gi, Self Defense, Teachers, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training

3 Spider Guard Drills to Improve Your Sweeping and Submissions

September 25, 2017 by Stephan Kesting

spider guard drill

The last time I had a filming session with my friend and training partner Ritchie Yip who runs a BJJ school in Vancouver, BC, he showed me something really cool... It was a series of 3 drills to improve your spider guard sweeps and submissions. The first drill is a relatively easy one to that develops hip mobility and leg dexterity.  Spider guard is NOT a static position; as your opponent … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Training Tagged With: Armbar, BJJ, Drills, Gi, Guard Sweeps, Omoplata, Open Guard, Spider Guard, Submission, Video

Old School Closed Guard Pressure Pass

July 6, 2017 by Stephan Kesting

old school closed guard pressure pass

In the era of the inverted inside-out de la worm guard it's sometimes easy to forget how brutally effective the closed guard is. Until someone puts you in it, shuts down your guard passes, chokes you silly and armlocks you until you want to rip your belt off and throw it across the mat. The closed guard is old school but it still works. And for self defense and MMA it's still an incredibly … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: BJJ, Closed Guard, Gi, Guard Passes, Marcus Soares, Open Guard

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

How to Finish the Rear Naked Choke

May 10, 2017 by Stephan Kesting

How to finish the Rear Naked Choke

This article is about the details you'll need to finish the Rear Naked Choke against quality opponents.  This submission, also called the RNC or the Lion Killer, is one of the most dominant, powerful and important chokes in BJJ, MMA and No Gi Grappling. If you get on your opponent's back, especially in a no gi situation, the Rear Naked Choke should be your number one finisher. However your … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Grappling Techniques, Training Tagged With: Chokes, Emily Kwok, Gi, No Gi, Rear Mount, Rear Naked Choke, Rob Biernacki, Submission, Techniques, Video

Four de la Riva Guard Grips You Need to Know

March 7, 2017 by Stephan Kesting

basic de la riva leg position

  The de la Riva guard is very powerful and effective form of guard, often used in modern BJJ.  It can be an intimidatingly complex position though, with a large number of grips, variations, sweeps, attacks and other techniques available for you to use. The point of today's article is to simplify the de la Riva guard for you.  The way we're going to do that is by breaking it down on the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: For Beginners, Grappling Techniques Tagged With: BJJ, de la Riva Guard, Gi, Gripfighting, Guard Sweeps, Jeff Meszaros, Ricardo de la Riva, Techniques, Video

How to Break a Tight Sleeve Grip on Your Gi

February 9, 2017 by Stephan Kesting

The single best thing you can do to stop your opponent from dominating you in grappling is to get rid of his grips on you. But against someone with strong hands and a powerful grip this can be tough to do. That's why I want to share a super-powerful way to break a sleeve grip with you.  It's illegal in Judo but still totally allowed in BJJ. I've seen small women use … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Competition, For Beginners, Grappling Techniques Tagged With: BJJ, Gi, Gripfighting, Techniques, Video

The Training and Competition Strategies of Bernardo Faria

February 3, 2017 by Stephan Kesting

  Bernardo Faria is a 5 x BJJ World Champion (and a good friend) so I was very excited to sit down with him and have an in-depth conversation about his competition, training and conditioning routine. The full transcript, audio and video are below on this page, but here's a quick preview of some of the things talked about: Exactly what a world champion's day to day training regimen … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Competition, Interviews Tagged With: Bernardo Faria, BJJ, Competition, Conditioning, Gi, Guard Passes, Guard Sweeps, Half Guard, Injuries, Sparring, Strategy, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training

A Powerful Judo Pinning Trick You Can Use in BJJ

January 5, 2017 by Stephan Kesting

A Judo Pin for BJJ

  In Judo you win the match if you pin your opponent for 20 seconds, and so Judoka can have some pretty ferocious 'osaekomi' (Japanese for  pinning someone's back to the mat). To help them get to a pin and then hold down frantically struggling opponents Judo players have quite a few tricks up their sleeve. Today I want to talk about one of these moves that creates a handle on one of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: BJJ, Chokes, Gi, Judo, Katsuhiko Kashiwazaki, North-South, Sidemount, Unorthodox Strategies, Video

The Miyao Brothers’ 5 Step BJJ Competition Strategy

January 4, 2017 by Stephan Kesting

by Jeff Meszaros Every now and then, someone comes along who takes a sport by storm and revolutionizes the game by playing it differently... The Gracies famously changed the world of martial arts by showing the importance of ground work. Wayne Gretzky changed hockey with his "go around the net" trick.  Mike Tyson dominated boxing by using a "peekaboo" style that hadn't been used like that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Competition Tagged With: Berimbolo, BJJ, Collar Chokes, Competition, de la Riva Guard, Gameplan, Gi, IBJJF, Joao Miyao, Miyao Brothers, Paulo Miyao, Rear Mount, Ricardo de la Riva, Strategy, Submission, Unorthodox Strategies, Video

A 4 x World Champion Teaches the Omoplata from Closed Guard

August 29, 2016 by Stephan Kesting

omoplata from the closed guard by Bernardo Faria

In this video my friend (and 4 x world champion) Bernardo Faria takes you through the old school omoplata armlock from the closed guard. I have seen Bernardo tap out everybody, from white belt to black belt, using ONLY the omoplata armlock at one of his seminars. It was incredible.  So needless to say he's really bloody good with the omoplata and a great person to study for this attack! As … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Bernardo Faria, Closed Guard, Gi, Omoplata, Submission, Techniques, Video

How to do the Reverse Butterfly Sweep

March 22, 2016 by Stephan Kesting

How to do the reverse butterfly sweep

I talk a lot about the butterfly guard around here; it's one of my very favourite guard positions.  It's powerful, it's mobile, and it's fun. There's no doubt that the workhorse of the butterfly guard is the 'basic' butterfly sweep.  It's a tool that newcomers to jiu-jitsu can learn quickly, but is still being used by the top BJJ competitors on the planet. Now there's a move called the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Butterfly Guard, Denis Kang, Gi, Guard Sweeps, No Gi, Techniques, Video

Finger Pain in BJJ and What to Do About It

March 16, 2016 by Stephan Kesting

Hand and finger pain in BJJ

"My Fingers Hurt..." I get a lot of emails, tweets and messages from BJJ practitioners about fingers hurting all the time. For example, I asked a question about BJJ hand pain on Twitter got a ton of responses (click here to see them on Twitter), including a disconcerting number of white belts who had this problem. So it's a real problem, and not only for people who've been doing the sport a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, For Beginners, Health & Nutrition, Training Tagged With: BJJ, Butterfly Guard, de la Riva Guard, Gi, Gripfighting, Injuries, Joao Miyao, Judo, Keenan Cornelius, Miyao Brothers, Spider Guard, Taping

How To Do The Lapel-Based Brabo Choke in the Gi

February 16, 2016 by Stephan Kesting

Brabo choke inside the half guard with the lapel of your opponent

From our very first day on the mat we're taught to pass the guard before attacking with a submission. Pass... Establish position... And only then try to submit! So when a technique like the gi-based Brabo choke comes along it seems very counterinintuitive. Because in it you stay in his half guard, you don't try to pass, and you still attack with a choke. Every rule - including the primacy … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Brabo choke, Chokes, Denis Kang, Gi, Guard Passes, Half Guard, Techniques, 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

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