Some people will tell you never, ever to pull guard. "Fight from the top," they tell you... In general that's good advice, but what if you run into someone with vastly superior takedown skills? Or someone who is good at defending takedowns and determined to fight a completely defensive battle? It's good to have some takedowns in your arsenal. But it's also good to have some other ways to get … [Read more...]
Submission
A Surprising Kimura Setup from Kesa Gatame
I don't know what exactly went wrong with the settings on the camera the night we filmed this. The colour in this video is far from perfect: things are weirdly washed out and at the same time it looks like I've got a horrible sunburn. But it really doesn't matter, because the teaching is really solid. In this video, under the guise of teaching a fancy and surprising setup for the Kimura, my … [Read more...]
My Favourite Spider Guard Variation and Triangle Choke Setup
The Spider Guard is a very diverse position. Normally you start with the Double Feet on Biceps variation, but after that there are a TON of variations (including the Leg Lasso, de la Spider, Reverse de la Spider, Spider X, Collar-Spider, and Collar-Sleeve variations). Of all these Spider Guard Variations the Collar-Spider is probably my very favourite. We'll go into more detail about it in … [Read more...]
Spinning Triangle Choke from Leg Lasso Spider Guard
The first time I saw this triangle choke setup was about 15 years ago when I was still working as a field biologist. At the time I was on a contract 3,000 miles away from home, and living out of a motel. To stay in shape I went for runs and lifted weights on alternate days, but once a week I would drive for 2 hours each way (4 hours in the car total) to go to the nearest BJJ school. Training … [Read more...]
A Spider Guard Triangle Choke Setup for No Gi
A lot of people think that Spider Guard is only applicable to BJJ with the gi. They're kinda right, but they're also mostly wrong. You see, it's more complicated than "no gi equals no Spider Guard..." First of all, if you get good at something as intricate and technical as Spider Guard then it develops your sensitivity, leg dexterity, coordination, strategic and tactical thinking like … [Read more...]
How To Do the Twister the Easiest Way
The Twister is a flashy and hellishly effective submission made famous by Eddie Bravo. It's now illegal in IBJJF competition, but it shows up sometimes in submission grappling and you're even starting to see it in MMA! If you catch your training partners in it - carefully and gently of course - then you get major bragging rights and some instant 'mat cred.' There are lots of advanced ways … [Read more...]
Kimura Armlock Grips Explained!
The Kimura, much like any other technique, is usually taught as a series of steps. First do this... Then move your hand here... Then adjust your body this way... Then finish by doing this other thing. It can be a lot to remember, but it's always easier to remember all the steps and adjustments if you understand WHY you're doing them. When I first learned about the Kimura armlock attack … [Read more...]
The Three Ways to Escape ANY Submission…
Jiu-jitsu has hundreds of submissions including chokes, cranks, armlocks, wristlocks, kneebars, footlocks, crushes, and many other ways to make people tap out. But if you're caught in a submission - any submission - there are only three ways to get out. This relates to the timing of the defense: before, during or after. Let's go through them, one by one...\ 1, You can shut down a … [Read more...]
A Super-Powerful Omoplata Finish
If you grapple then you have to use the omoplata. After all, it's one of the 'big five' attacks from the guard (armbar, kimura, triangle, guillotine and omoplata). Much of the time the omoplata ends up functioning as a sweep - your opponent rolls out of it to escape, you follow him, and get to the top. That's not a problem - you're now on top after all - but wouldn't it have been nice to get … [Read more...]
The Easiest Move in Jiu-Jitsu
This is the easiest move in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It's a move that you can learn today and use tomorrow (especially if you've been drilling your triangle choke details that we covered in another recent blog post). Hint: it's from the Double Biceps Spider Guard. Check out the video below - Elliott reminds me of a trapdoor spider exploding out of it's lair when he slams it on. Then give the … [Read more...]
How to Adjust Your Triangle for Maximum Tightness and Effectiveness
Some techniques just require a bit more tweaking than others... For example, when I was a whitebelt the armbar was fairly easy to learn. The triangle choke, on the other hand, was relatively easy to apply, but hard to finish, (which was very frustrating). It took a lot of experimentation, coaching and adjusting before I was able to successfully choke out even cooperating, non-resisting … [Read more...]
Spider Guard Masterclass is Now Live
After almost 6 months of planning, filming and editing Spider Guard Masterclass is now ready for release! I'm biased of course, but I think that this is an absolutely amazing project. It's an A to Z reference guide for the Spider Guard, which is arguably the most dominant form of open guard in modern BJJ. Checking out this instructional is also risk free: if you don't absolutely love it, … [Read more...]
Don’t Panic, This is Normal!
I often hear from people distraught about some area of their jiu-jitsu lagging behind. It might be their sweeps from the closed guard, their submissions from side mount, their escapes from rear mount, or their butterfly guard passes, but in that that one specific area they’re just not as good at as they should be. Here's the thing though: there will ALWAYS be areas where you are lagging … [Read more...]
A High Percentage Triangle Choke Attack from Half Guard
Some people are under the mistaken impression that you can only defend or sweep from the Half Guard. But it's a big mistake to ignore the powerful submission attacks that present themselves from that position! One of the most powerful, most effective, and most popular attacks from the Half Guard is the Triangle Choke. You see this in high level competition all the time, both with and without … [Read more...]
A Super Sneaky and Slick Triangle Choke Attack!
This is one of the sneakiest, slickest submission attacks I have ever seen. The first time I saw this technique was when BJJ world champion Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins used it at the IBJJF European Championships in 2013. At first I just didn't understand what I had seen. One minute his opponent was in the X Guard, and the next he was tapping out from a super-tight triangle choke. I had to … [Read more...]
How to Not Get Slammed in Your Closed Guard or Triangle Choke
Getting picked up and slammed when you've got your opponent in the closed guard is one of the most dangerous things that can happen to you in grappling. It's definitely a legitimate technique for big and strong guys to use. And in MMA and self defense slamming an opponent is one of the best ways to open the guard, or to escape a tight triangle choke. Getting power-bombed and then and having … [Read more...]
How NOT to Get Triangle Choked While Passing the Guard
The very first guard pass I learned was the stacking guard pass (also known as the smashing guard pass or sometimes the 'over under' pass). Initially I was doing this pass all wrong, and I can't even begin to count how many times I got triangle choked trying it. But eventually I learned a few tweaks that made it much harder for my opponents to apply the triangle choke, and now it's one of my … [Read more...]
High Percentage Omoplata Setup from Spider Guard
The omoplata armlock is one of the heavy hitters in the jiu-jitsu arsenal. It's a very effective submission in its own right, but it also sets up many other submissions and can be used to sweep an opponent. Here's a 3 1/2 minute video breakdown of a high percentage omoplata entry from Spider Guard. Specifically this is an omoplata entry from the 'leg lasso' variation of Spider Guard, and my … [Read more...]
Some Tweaks for Tightening the Armbar from Closed Guard
Chances are that the armbar from guard is one of the first techniques you ever learned in BJJ. In fact the closed guard armbar is one of those fundamental techniques that results in submissions every day at every BJJ school in the world (in fact it's the fifth most popular submission in a poll of 533 Grapplearts readers). But just because you learned it early in your career, and just because … [Read more...]
How to Do the Head and Arm Choke (aka ‘Kata Gatame’)
The Head and Arm choke is a super-powerful submission that works with and without the gi, with and without strikes, in BJJ, Judo, Submission Grappling and Judo. It's ended a lot of matches and even put a few people to sleep. The Head and Arm choke comes from Judo (where it's known as Kata Gatame) and if you grapple then it's a technique that you need to know! This choke cuts off the blood … [Read more...]