Side control is a pinning position in Brazilian jiu-jitsu when you're perpendicular to your opponent and are not entangled in their legs. Typically but not always you're chest to chest with your opponent. It is one of the 6 main positions in BJJ and it's where you end up most often after passing the guard. But there isn't just one perfect version of side control. Depending on what you're … [Read more...]
Sparring vs Competition Strategies
Optimal Competition Strategy There's an old saying that goes... "Don't do what's best for you. Instead do what's worst for your opponent." There's a lot of truth there. In a competition your odds of victory go way up if you can prevent your opponent doing the things that he is best at. Back in the day I once competed against MMA fighter Chris Leben in a submission grappling … [Read more...]
2 Concepts for the Absolute BJJ Beginner
A Guest Article by Ritchie Yip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeXg51hrgqE Brazilian Jiu Jitsu can be a confusing and frustrating martial art for the absolute beginner. Today we’re going to oversimplify BJJ with 2 basic concepts; so that if you’re just starting out you’ll be able to understand this complex and confusing martial art a little bit more easily... BJJ Beginner Concept … [Read more...]
Free Audio Download of The Roadmap for BJJ
The Roadmap for BJJ book tries to help you make sense of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by breaking down the underlying 6 fundamental positions of art. It focusses the hierarchy of BJJ positions (i.e. which positions are better than others) and then breaks down the relationships and transitions between the positions. If you're new to the art then you should come away with a new understanding of what's … [Read more...]
The Cheat Code for BJJ Turtle Escapes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmz1ID3VgGU The turtle is a terrible position! Being on all fours is an invitation for your opponent to apply the clock choke, take your back and choke you out, or attack you with other submissions. And if you're talking about an MMA or self defense situation it's even worse. Now your opponent can elbow, knee and hammerfist you into oblivion without even … [Read more...]
Back Attacks 4: How to Systematically Apply the Triangle Choke from Rear Mount
The rear triangle choke, also known as 'ura sangaku' is a fantastic way to submit your opponent when you're on his back in rear mount. Here's Rob Biernacki of BJJ Formula fame showing exactly how to do that. This is part 4 in a series on the so-called 'weak side' of the back we're releasing on Youtube and is a small part of the Back Control module of the BJJ Formula instructional. You can get … [Read more...]
How to Set Traps for Your Opponent in BJJ
Today I want to talk about setting traps for your opponent in BJJ. The idea is that you force your opponent into a position or a situation where he only has a limited number of possible responses. Because you already have a pretty good idea of what he's going to do as soon as he uses one of those responses you spring your trap and go to the next pre-programmed move. This concept allows you … [Read more...]
Kneel Or Stand to Pass the Guard?
I once drilled technique with a big, strong rock climber who had a grip from hell and tenacious isometric strength. I noticed how much he liked controlling my gi, breaking my posture and attacking with collar chokes. Since I knew we were going to spar soon I formulated a simple sparring strategy: I told myself that as soon as I ended up in his guard I would stand up and not go back down onto my … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 125: Reilly Bodycomb on Sambo, Leglocks, MMA, Jiu-Jitsu and No Gi Grappling
I loved doing this interview with Reilly Bodycomb. Reilly is a Russian sambo and leglock expert who has competed in a TON of different rulesets including BJJ, no gi submission grappling, MMA, Russian Sambo, and Chinese San Shou. He is the Pan-American Sport SAMBO Champion (2016), USA Sport SAMBO Champion (2016), Dutch Combat SAMBO Champion (2016), recently competed in Japan and is a BJJ black … [Read more...]
Podcast Rant: Why You Have to do Jiu-Jitsu, and How to Get Good at It Fast
Here's a quick 10 minute audio rant I released on my Strenuous Life Podcast recently. I start out by talking about why you absolutely have to train some form of grappling if you consider yourself a martial artist. Then we go into the 6 basic position of traditional BJJ - the positions that you'll be spending 80% of your time in when you're rolling around on the mat. And then I cover the … [Read more...]
The Main Positions of Modern Leglocking
One of the biggest changes in the modern approach to leg locking is the emphasis on controlling the underlying leglock positions rather than going straight for the submission. In some ways this is an old approach; jiu-jitsu been preaching Position before Submission an this is exactly the same philosophy applied to leglocks. I've put together free PDF book for you with a checklist of the 12 … [Read more...]
On Starting Sparring from the Knees…
A reader writes: Hi Stephan, I've been doing BJJ for about 6 months and am wondering if you have any advice about what to do when you're starting on the knees? I find that most wrestling-style takedowns are very difficult to do from the knees, especially because my opponents are really good at sprawling. And if I get my grips then inevitably my opponent also gets his grips and the whole … [Read more...]
Five Tricks to Tighten Up Your Sidemount
There's nothing worse than weathering the storm in someone's guard, passing their guard by fighting your way past their legs, finally getting to sidemount, making one tiny mistake and then - boom - you're back in their guard. It's tiring, demoralising, and leaves you open to getting swept or tapped out. No! After doing all that work you want to stay in sidemount, make them pay for giving … [Read more...]
How to Defend Strikes on the Ground
You're walking down the street, someone bumps you, words are exchanged, you get pushed to the ground, and now some big gorilla is trying to knock your teeth down your throat. No matter how focused you are on the sportive aspects of grappling you've still GOTTA know how to defend strikes on the ground!!! It doesn't matter if your goal is casual recreation or if you wanna be the next UFC … [Read more...]
How to Stabilise Mount Against a Bigger, Stronger Opponent
Many smaller grapplers avoid the mount position because they feel it's too easy for a larger opponent to simply throw them off or roll them to the bottom. It usually takes a TON of work to get to the mount, and it really sucks when some big doofus simply sits up and rolls you to the bottom where you have to start all over again!= But there ARE ways to shut down this silliness, and allow you to … [Read more...]
How to Defeat a Smaller Opponent
Smaller opponents can become big nuisances, especially if they have legitimate skills. You would think that the very fact that you're bigger than your opponent means you should be able to go full-Conan on them every time... Mongol General: "Conan! What is best in life?" Conan: "To crush your enemies, see them driffen before you, and to hear the lamentation of their vimmen." … [Read more...]
What a Spider Guard Fail Teaches You About How to Train Any Technique!
Today's tip comes was inspired from some training I did with a smaller grappler, let's call him 'Stu.' Stu wanted to learn some sweeps from the Spider Guard (an open guard position where you control both of your opponent's sleeves and have one or both feet on his biceps). Anyway we worked on what I call the Baiting Sweep.' (Those of you who have purchased the Spider Guard Masterclass … [Read more...]
4 Mistakes That’ll KILL Your Half Guard…
Whether you want to or not, you ARE going to end up in the half guard! Some people simply use the half guard as a last resort when their guard is being passed. Their opponent is blasting around their guard, so without even thinking about it they lash out with their legs and trap one of his legs between their own. … [Read more...]
The X guard position
The 'X guard is a position that I've been using a lot recently. It is either a form of the open guard or the half guard, depending on your point of view. You end up here a lot when you use the butterfly guard, especially when your opponent posts his foot to stop your sweeps. … [Read more...]
North-South to Mount Transition, by Perry Hauck
Here's a great way to transition into the Mount, one of the most dominant positions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This technique is by Perry Hauck, who was a brown belt under Rey Diogo at the time of this photo shoot. … [Read more...]