The bow and arrow choke is one of the highest percentage finishing techniques in all of jiu-jitsu. Statistically it's used to finish a very large number of matches at high level BJJ competition like the Mundials, the Pan-Ams, and more. But some ways of applying the bow and arrow are better than others. Some methods are tighter, some finishes are more powerful, and certain tweaks make it MUCH … [Read more...]
Rob Biernacki
Reverse Armbar from Closed Guard
The reverse armbar from closed guard is a great way to attack from the closed guard, especially against a younger, more athletic opponent. Using this submission is a two step process.... The first step is to get him under control and take away his movement privileges. The second step is to methodically advance your position until he's all out of options and you finish the … [Read more...]
A Simple Counter When Your Opponent Controls Your Pant Legs
Nothing good happens if you let your opponent control your pant legs in jiu-jitsu. Once he has those grips he can start his guard passing sequences with torreando passes, leg drags, stack passes and more. Here's how to use the cross lapel grip to shut that nonsense down before it begins! There's a cheat code that allows most people to jump up a full belt level almost overnight. You … [Read more...]
Why Older, Slower, Stiff, and Broken Grapplers Should Use the Butterfly Guard Against Standing Opponents
If you're an older grappler playing guard against a standing opponent then you should start in the seated or butterfly guard rather than starting flat on your back. Sitting up will give you the best chance of getting your grips and setting up your preferred guard of choice. If you lie down into a recumbent guard (i.e. with your back flat on the floor) then you're essentially conceding the … [Read more...]
How to Defend and Counter the Crossface from Bottom Half Guard
Getting flattened out, crossfaced, and smashed when you're in the half guard sucks, and in this article we're going to learn how to prevent that from happening. The key is to use your upper body frames to stop your opponent from getting chest to chest and flattening you out. Doing this also allows you to get back to offense from the bottom again. First, here's a breakdown of how not to get … [Read more...]
Key Tips and Strategies for Older Grapplers
Rob Biernacki and I have just released BJJ for Old F***s, and from that instructional here are some of the most important tips for the older grappler. Specifically in this episode Rob Biernacki (age 46) and I (age 52) discuss... The two things that change most about your training as you get older How to improve as fast as possible by limiting your training Why base, posture and … [Read more...]
How to Find the High Percentage Jiu-Jitsu Techniques, with Rob Biernacki
This podcast I did with BJJ black belt Rob Biernacki covers quite a bit of ground, including, How to find the high percentage techniques in jiu-jitsu, False positives when you observe lower belts, The standards of jiu-jitsu evidence, MMA vs gi BJJ vs submission grappling, Attribute based techniques, How to know what the next big thing is in jiu-jitsu And much more! To … [Read more...]
Armbars Don’t Work and the Great Scambar Conspiracy
This is a special report by the inventor of the armbar and the founder of the Armbar Freedom Coalition who have liberated The Strenuous Life Podcast from science shill and former biologist Stephan Kesting for episode 356. Listen or watch to find out why armbars are a scam and how learning armbar defense is actually the VERY WORST thing you can do. Don't live in fear of a technique that … [Read more...]
The Engagement Phase Game, A Drill to Take Your Gripfighting to the Next Level!
I've written a LOT about gripfighting on my blog, and that's because I really do believe it's one of the highest leverage skills in BJJ. That means a little bit of gripfighting knowledge can have a huge influence on your actual mat skills. For example, if you're going against a bigger, stronger opponent then one of the most important things you can do is control the grips. Now controlling … [Read more...]
The BJJ Arm Drag
The arm drag is one of the most versatile BJJ techniques. You can use it to take the back, sweep your opponent, set up a barrage of chokes, sweeps and submissions, defend your guard, and even just spam your opponent so he's reacting to you rather than planning his own offense If you're thinking about adding the the arm drag to your game then starting in the butterfly guard is the way to … [Read more...]
No Gi Gripfighting Sequence
Let's talk about a plan and a sequence to get a good grip in no gi grappling, rather than just conceding the initial grip (which you should never do). The importance of having a plan in combat has been emphasised so many times in so many different ways. Consider some of these pithy sayings... 'Plan beats no plan every time", and "Fail to plan, plan to fail", and "Proper planning and … [Read more...]
What is Kuzushi in BJJ and What Can It Do For You?
Let's talk about Kuzushi in BJJ, and why it's a critical skill to develop if you want to have good guard sweeps, submissions and backclimbs. When you learn a technique from the guard like a new sweep it usually works great at first. You'll be sweeping your training partners all over the place with your shiny new toy. But then your training partners stop making whatever mistake they were … [Read more...]
Don’t Concede the Initial Grip!!
When people are playing from the guard it's WAY too common that they just let their opponents get whatever grip they want. Once they've given the other guy the grips they're now on the defensive and have to fight out of whatever passing position they end up in. That's why the first thing you should do when you end up in the guard is to gripfight like crazy. Whoever dominates the grips is … [Read more...]
Intuition in BJJ with Rob Biernacki
How to get better at predicting what your opponent is going to do, develop faster reactions and train your intuition with Rob Biernacki. In episode 304 of The Strenuous Life Podcast I meet with Rob Biernacki to discuss the situations on the mat when your intuition will serve you well and when it will serve you poorly, drills to develop the correct instinctive movements in a scramble, the … [Read more...]
The Step-by-Step Armbar from Mount
The armbar from mount is often taught as the 'CPR' armbar where you're mounted on your opponent, he sticks his arms straight up, you put both your hands on his chest and swing around into the armbar. It's slick, it's smooth, and it looks great. But the only reason the CPR armbar works is because your opponent has broken his own structure by pushing on your chest. Good opponents will almost … [Read more...]
How to Set Up the Triangle Choke from Guard
Today we'll cover the real 'secret' to using the triangle choke against higher belts from your guard - it's all about the set up! Tapping out higher belts is a different thing than tapping out beginners... There are certain techniques that serve you well against white and blue belts. But when you climb the ranks and start sparring against higher caliber opponents some of those moves stop … [Read more...]
Submissions and Attacks from the North South Position
The north south position is a variation of side control where you're lined up at roughly 180 degrees to your opponent; your head is pointing towards his feet and vice versa. If you're skilled at the north south position you can make life hell for your opponent, especially since many of his standard side control escapes won't work in this configuration. And it also opens up some very … [Read more...]
A Primer for Inversions in BJJ
Inversions and going upside down have become part of mainstream jiu-jitsu. There are now many techniques where you flip upside down temporarily to achieve your defensive or offensive goals Now can you train BJJ without ever inverting? Absolutely! But can you compete at a high level without inverting? Probably not. I think it's safe to say that every high level competitive blackbelt today … [Read more...]
Making the Armbar from Guard Harder to Escape
How many times have you gone for an armbar from the guard only to have your opponent escape your attack, pass your guard, and then smash you from a dominant position? This is an incredibly common scenario, but it really doesn't need to happen nearly as often! The truth is that by making some simple tweaks to your technique and the sequence in which you apply that technique you'll make the … [Read more...]
3 Tips to Tighten Any Joint Lock Technique
It' s not easy to tap out a high level grappler with a joint lock. First of all their submission prevention is tight. They do everything they can to stop you from getting the submission in the first place. Next, their defense and escape techniques are also top notch. If you give them even an inch of slack they'll use that space to wiggle out of the submission. Finally elite grapplers are … [Read more...]