What belt level should you start training leg locks at? It depends a little bit on what your goals are and whether you're doing gi or no gi, but it's a lot sooner than you think EVEN if you're competing only in the IBJJF rule set. This podcast episode is excerpted from a 17 minute long Youtube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GQZPtpsg_U which takes you through how to do the actual … [Read more...]
A 3 Step Process for Making an Angle (and Getting a Big Advantage) in the Closed Guard
When you’re fighting your opponent in the Closed Guard, you don’t want to be facing straight towards your opponent creating a big rectangle. Ideally, you want to be doing a Closed Guard with him off the side. This is analogous to being to the side of your opponent in a boxing match: all all of his weapons aren't aimed at you and all your weapons are pointing straight at him! If you can make … [Read more...]
Combining BJJ and Wrestling with ‘Chewy’ from Chewjitsu
Wrestling is a fantastic background for anyone who wants to train BJJ. The powerful takedowns, the determined scrambling, the level of conditioning and a tough mindset are a winning combination that work in any combat sport. But transitioning from wrestling to BJJ and combining the best of both arts isn't necessarily an easy process... In fact it can be downright difficult and … [Read more...]
Getting the Underhook in BJJ
Getting the underhook in the guard, especially in positions like the Butterfly guard and the Half guard, is incredibly important. Entire matches have changed momentum just because the guy on the bottom got this one grip! The underhook gives you a huge amount of control over your opponent's body and also gives you a route to his back. But your opponent won't just give you this grip - he'll … [Read more...]
3 Spider Guard Drills to Improve Your Sweeping and Submissions
The last time I had a filming session with my friend and training partner Ritchie Yip he showed 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 moves and tries to pass your guard you need … [Read more...]
de la Riva guard Basic Grips
The de la Riva guard is a super-powerful position in modern jiu-jitsu, and many competitors use it as their primary open guard option, especially when they need to control a standing opponent. But this position is very grip dependent. Different grips open up different attacks. Want to dump him on his face with the ball and chain sweep? Better get your hands on that far sleeve! Want to … [Read more...]
The Styles of X Guard
I'm a huge fan of the family of guards known as the X Guard. This type of guard has saved my butt so many times it's not even funny, and has allowed me to sweep opponents that were otherwise almost entirely unsweepable. But there are still some people out there who haven't heard about the X Guard position. And there are other people who might not know that there are actually different styles … [Read more...]
Four de la Riva Guard Grips You Need to Know
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...]
The Training and Competition Strategies of Bernardo Faria
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...]
A Strategy for Getting 15 Points in a BJJ Tournament Fast
The ultimate goal of BJJ competition is to tap your opponent out, not to win by points. That being said, the point system is still a very important part of the game and you have to understand how to use it! Here's why... First of all, the point system in BJJ tournaments generally reflects what would work in a real fight. For example, its better to be on top than on bottom in a fight, … [Read more...]
Here’s Why Your Guard Attacks Don’t Work
When you first learn an sweep or a submission from the guard you usually learn the steps in a 1, 2, 3 manner. "First grab the sleeve and lapel like this... Then open your legs and escape your hips... Now put your foot on the hip and pull him forward...." And so on Then you go ahead, learn all the steps, and get your repetitions in. You do all the prep work. But then, when you try to … [Read more...]
Butterfly Guard Sweep Counter
The Butterfly Sweep is one of those fundamental moves that you see everywhere. In every dojo and at every major tournament there's someone who specialises in the Butterfly Guard. And every Butterfly Guard specialist uses the basic Butterfly Sweep as one of their bread and butter moves. This sweep just plain works. It can be used in gi or no gi. It can be used against small, fast people or … [Read more...]
Passing the Guard like Leandro Lo
If you’re passing the guard then the very first thing you need to worry about is avoiding getting swept or submitted. After all, it’s pretty hard to use your killer guard passing techniques if your opponent hits a sweep on you and takes you to the bottom right away… That’s why in our recent instructional on passing the guard the first thing Rob Biernacki and I teach is how NOT to get swept or … [Read more...]
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...]
Dealing with Big, Strong Wrestlers in Your Guard
I got the following question on Twitter where I hang out as @stephankesting. I think it's a question worth exploring because a lot of people find dealing with strong, large and aggressive wrestlers very difficult. Question: Hi Stephan, I’ve been training BJJ for a few years now, but I get frustrated when I roll with one particular bigger, stronger whitebelt coming from a wrestling … [Read more...]
Non-Stop de la Riva Guard Instructional App Now Available!
We've just put out a brand new app that could add an entirely new aspect to your guard game! It's the 'Non-Stop de la Riva Guard' instructional app by Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins and myself. And it's available for iOS, Android and Kindle devices. The focus of this app is on giving you a simple and easy-to deploy system for the de la Riva guard. A gameplan that DOESN'T require you to be … [Read more...]
The de la Riva Guard
By Don Whitefield and Stephan Kesting We asked BJJ legend Ricardo de la Riva to show us the Five Most Imporant Techniques from the 'de la Riva Guard! Here's what he showed us, and we'll go through each one of them! The Basic de la Riva Sweep The Reverse de la Riva Sweep The Entangled Leg Sweep The Back Trip Sweep The Cross Knee Guard Pass Counter Ricardo de la Riva is a slight … [Read more...]
How to Take the Back from X Guard
It's almost impossible to use the Butterfly Guard without also using the X Guard... When you attack with the Butterfly Guard your opponent is going to be doing his absolute best to shut you down. For example, that means that he'll be posting hands and feet all over the place to stop you from sweeping him. When he posts his hands or otherwise gets them out of position it opens up … [Read more...]
The 16 Most Important Techniques for the BJJ Beginner
What's the most common problem (aside from getting caught under side control) facing the BJJ beginner? It's probably feeling overwhelmed by the staggering number of techniques that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu contains! There are a thousand variations of sweeps and locks and chokes and pins and escapes and guard passes. It's enough to make your head spin! So where then do you start? Which … [Read more...]
How To Use Moves You Already Know to Do Advanced Techniques
We've just launched the latest Grapplearts BJJ instructional mobile app with my friend Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins. It's called Advanced BJJ Fundamentals. The name of this app isn't accidental, because it's all about using the fundamental building blocks of jiu-jitsu to make learning easier, to amplify the effectiveness and reliability of your techniques, and to build an advanced … [Read more...]