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

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Home » Submission

Submission

How to Safely Practice Dangerous Leglocks

March 20, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

how to train dangerous leglocks

Q: Given that leglocks are dangerous, how do you train them safely and still have confidence that they will work in a 'live' setting. A: Although ANY submission is potentially dangerous, cranking someone with a heel hook or toehold can not only end the match, it can end your opponent's athletic career. Go here if you don't know what a heel hook is. . If you don't know what a toehold is, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Health & Nutrition, Training Tagged With: Injuries, Leglocks, Sparring, Submission, Training

Revolutionary Omoplata

August 1, 2024 by Stephan Kesting

A Technique that Bridges the Gap between Sweep and Submission By Stephan Kesting Originally published in Grappling Magazine in 2002. The omoplata is all the rage these days: it's a submission, a sweep, and a setup for other submissions and sweeps. If you go to a high-level grappling competition tomorrow, you will almost certainly see it used multiple times. The omoplata is a little bit … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Miscellaneous Tagged With: Closed Guard, Gi, Guard Sweeps, Omoplata, Open Guard, Submission, Submission Grappling, Techniques

Train the Kimura as a Position, Not Just a Submission!

May 6, 2024 by Stephan Kesting

Kimura Control

The Kimura is a powerful bent armlock that primarily attacks the shoulder joint, but in addition to being a very powerful armlock it's also a control position. Here's the condensed form of this argument in video format. Check it out and then scroll down for many concrete examples of new ways to use the Kimura. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/B-XT1JfhTF4 The Kimura is Both a Submission AND a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: BJJ, Brandon Mullins, Concepts, Drills, Elliott Bayev, Guard Passes, Kimura, No Gi, Rob Biernacki, Submission, Video

Kneebar Mastery: Fixing the Most Common Mistakes

April 8, 2024 by Stephan Kesting

kneebar mastery

The kneebar is the king of leg submissions: you are attacking one of the largest joints in the body and demonstrating mastery over your opponent. Unlike heelhooks and toeholds, which often have to be applied gently in training to avoid injury, a successful kneebar leaves no doubt or debate as to its effectiveness. The kneebar is a fairly safe submission when applied properly, but is also a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Kneebars, Leglocks, Submission

Countering The Standing Kimura Armlock

November 6, 2023 by Stephan Kesting

Countering Sakura's Standing Kimura

The standing Kimura armlock is now an established and respected submission, but it wasn't always like this.  In fact, when someone showed me this submission in the early 1990's I thought they were kidding and had run out of legitimate material to share. But then in 1999 and 2000, a Japanese pro-wrestler called Kazushi Sakuraba did something that many thought was impossible.  In just over a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Mixed Martial Arts Tagged With: Catch Wrestling, Gracie Brothers, History, Kazushi Sakuraba, Kimura, MMA, Pride FC, Submission, Video

BJJ Trigger Positions

May 28, 2023 by Stephan Kesting

BJJ Trigger Positions

A trigger position is an alignment of your body and your opponent’s body that immediately invites a specific technique, be it a sweep, submission or guard pass.. Once you're there, all you need to do is pull the metaphorical trigger and - BOOM - you're deep into the attack. This concept makes it easy for you to know when it's time to attack in jiu-jitsu. Knowing the Trigger Position for a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Armbar, Omoplata, Submission, Techniques, Training, Triangle Choke, Video

How To Do The ‘Imanari Roll’

May 27, 2023 by Stephan Kesting

Imanari Roll in UFC video game

The Imanari roll is absolutely one of the coolest submission attacks out there. It's unorthodox, it's fancy, but unlike many other flashy moves it's it's also quite high percentage. If you do it correctly you get straight into the 411 leglock position, which is the most powerful leglocking position we have. So there's definitely a huge upside if you land it. This move has been used … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Mixed Martial Arts Tagged With: 411 Position, Butterfly Guard, Drills, Heel Hook, Leglocks, Masakazu Imanari, Submission, Submission Grappling, Techniques, Video

How to Set Up Submissions So Your Opponent Gives You His Neck, Arm, or Leg on a Platter

January 8, 2023 by Stephan Kesting

How to Set Up Submissions

A reader of my free email newsletter recently had a question about how to become better at setting up his submissions.  The thing is, once you get past white belt, submissions don't just happen anymore. Chokes and joint locks need to be set up, which means taking your opponent out of alignment somehow and breaking his base, posture or structure.  Once his alignment is broken, it's 100 times … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Training Tagged With: Armlocks, Heel Hook, Kimura, North-South Choke, Strategy, Submission, Techniques, Video

NEW INSTRUCTIONAL!! 30 Second Fight Finishes

November 3, 2022 by Stephan Kesting

30 Second Fight Finishes - Online Streaming, DVD and App Format

Elliott Bayev is one of the most detail-oriented instructors I've ever met. His first instructional with Grapplearts was The Spider Guard Masterclass, which many people called the best BJJ instructional they've ever seen. Elliott is now back with 30 Second Fight Finishes. In this instructional you'll learn the absolute fastest ways to end your match, regardless of whether you’re on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 30 Second Fight Finishes, Armlocks, Chokes, Elliott Bayev, Heel Hook, Kimura, Leglocks, No Gi, Submission, Submission Grappling, Takedowns

How to Apply the Bow and Arrow Choke in Jiu-Jitsu

July 17, 2022 by Stephan Kesting

How to apply the bow and arrow choke in jiu-jitsu

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...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Bow and Arrow Choke, Chokes, Gi, Rear Mount, Rob Biernacki, Submission, Techniques, Video

The 20 Year History of the Omoplata 2.0 Instructional

December 16, 2021 by Stephan Kesting

Stephan Kesting - Omoplata Flow

I was first exposed to something resembling the omoplata when learning a martial art known as Indonesian Silat from Dan Inosanto.  A move where you use your leg to bend your opponent's arm behind his back is often used in Silat as a finishing move after taking someone to the ground. It turned out that this move (with slight modifications) also worked in the jiu-jitsu and judo training that I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Instructional Videos Tagged With: BJJ, Competition, Dan Inosanto, Gi, Grapplearts DVDs, Guard Sweeps, History, No Gi, Omoplata, Silat, Submission, Techniques, Training, Video

A Deep Dive into the Technical Details of the Omoplata

November 30, 2021 by Stephan Kesting

Omoplata podcast with Steven Kwan

In this episode Steve Kwan from the BJJ Mental Models podcast grills me about the omoplata, the most versatile submission in all of jiu-jitsu. Here's the conversation.  We go pretty deep and get quite technical! And while I've got your attention, check out my latest instructional, Omoplata 2.0, at https://www.grapplearts.com/omoplata. This represents 20 years of research on my part … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Interviews, Podcasts Tagged With: BJJ, Interviews, Omoplata, Podcast, Steve Kwan, Submission, Submission Grappling, Techniques, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training Modalities

The 16 Most Important Techniques for the BJJ Beginner

June 24, 2021 by Stephan Kesting

16 BJJ Beginner Techniques

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...]

Filed Under: For Beginners, Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Americana, Armbar, BJJ, Collar Chokes, Fundamentals, Guard Passes, Guard Sweeps, Guillotine Choke, Mark Mullen, MMA, Rear Naked Choke, Submission, Techniques, Triangle Choke, Video

The Five Types of Triangle Choke You Need to Know

February 27, 2021 by Stephan Kesting

5 Types of Triangle Chokes

The triangle choke is one of the most powerful BJJ submissions. Thousands upon thousands of matches have been ended with it, including in the UFC and other MMA events. Knowing how to do the triangle choke properly is an absolute necessity for every grappler This choke originated in Japanese Ju-jutsu and was then incorporated into Judo in the early 1900's where it is known as sankaku-jime … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Mixed Martial Arts Tagged With: Arm Triangle, Chokes, Japanese Ju-jutsu, Judo, MMA, Submission, Techniques, Triangle Choke, Video

The Step-by-Step Armbar from Mount

December 11, 2020 by Stephan Kesting

the 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...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Armbar, BJJ, Concepts, Mount, No Gi, Rob Biernacki, Submission, Submission Grappling, Techniques, Video

What is Side Control in BJJ and Submission Grappling?

May 23, 2020 by Mark Lovegrove

18 Variations of Side Control

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...]

Filed Under: For Beginners, Grappling Techniques Tagged With: BJJ, Judo, Kesa Gatame, Knee Mount, Positions, Sidemount, Submission, Techniques, Video

How to Get Great at BJJ Defense

December 10, 2019 by Stephan Kesting

submission defense

Want to tap out less? Let's take a look at how to get really good at defending against submission attacks. Today I mostly want to talk about training methodology, not specific techniques per se. Of course there are definitely many specific defenses that you can use to prevent, defend, and counter any possible submission. But too many people think that they just have to learn the defense … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Training Tagged With: BJJ, Erik Paulson, Escapes, Guard Passes, Guard Retention, Leglocks, Napoleon, Submission, Submission Grappling, Training

Free Audio Download of The Roadmap for BJJ

November 24, 2019 by Stephan Kesting

Roadmap for BJJ Free Audiobook

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...]

Filed Under: For Beginners, Grappling Techniques, Podcasts Tagged With: BJJ, Positions, Strategy, Submission, Submission Grappling, Techniques, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training

Bottom Saddle to Heel Hook Transition

November 6, 2019 by Stephan Kesting

Bottom Saddle to Heel Hook

The 'Saddle' - also known as the Inside Sangaku, the Honeyhole, and the 411 position - is probably the most powerful leglock position in all of grappling. This position gives you powerful control over your opponent's ability to move, counter and escape.  It also lets you apply a devastating inside heel hook, which twists the leg in a much worse angle than a regular heel hook. (Here are some … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: 411 Position, Butterfly Guard, Heel Hook, Leglocks, No Gi, Oliver Taza, Submission, Techniques, Video

Near vs Far Side Kimura Armlocks

October 21, 2019 by Stephan Kesting

Far Arm vs Near Side Arm Kimura

Most grapplers know how to apply the Kimura armlock on the far side of their opponent's bodies.  It's an attack taught at white belt that you see in every grappling competition. But many intermediate grapplers don't know that you can actually use the Kimura technique on BOTH sides of your opponent's body. However, the near side Kimura is an absolutely critical position for controlling your … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Armlocks, BJJ, Kimura, No Gi, Rear Mount, Sidemount, Submission, Techniques, Video

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