I recently interviewed my friend, training partner, black belt, and school owner Ritchie Yip. The main theme of our discussion was the art and science of teaching martial arts, including how to teach students with different learning styles and experience levels. Not every student learns the same way, and a good teacher knows how to adapt his material and curriculum to help students of all learning … [Read more...]
Teaching
How the Theory of Multiple Intelligence Can Make You a Better BJJ Instructor
by Brendan Hufford When you're teaching, regardless of whether it's BJJ or calculus, there's no such thing as a 'one size fits all' approach. In fact, any experienced teacher knows that different teaching methods are required to get through to different students. … [Read more...]
10 Ways to Improve Your BJJ Coaching
by guest author Brendan Hufford Tournaments are inherently stressful environments. There is always a lot of commotion, and unfortunately, there is also often a lot of disorganization. Assisting our students in navigating such an environment is an essential skill that separates a teacher from a coach. … [Read more...]
How To Get More Women Into Grappling
by guest author Krista Scott-Dixon I am often asked two questions by well-meaning male instructors: How do I get more women to join my school? And once they join, how do I keep them? … [Read more...]
This impressed the hell out of me!
In my early days of martial arts training I ran into quite a few teachers who were so full of themselves that students asking questions was almost unheard of. At first I thought that this was normal. I thought that maybe things would change after I'd paid my dues for 10 or 20 years... … [Read more...]
What Getting Better is Really All About!
I just got in from an awesome training session, but before I head out and enjoy the sun for a couple of hours I've just got to share this with you. You see, a couple of days ago I heard a great quote that's been rattling around in my brain ever since because it's totally applicable to BJJ, MMA and submission grappling. … [Read more...]
Advice for A Frustrated, Clumsy & Uncoordinated Grappler
------------------- A Question ------------------- Hi Stephan I've recently started learning BJJ with some friends at their garage. I am by far the slowest student. We're following a DVD series with very clear & thorough breakdowns of techniques. … [Read more...]
The Four Steps to Master ANY Techique!
Want to learn how to master a technique? Of course you do! There's a really cool concept called "The Four Stages of Learning" that'll help you understand how people learn skills, concepts and techniques. … [Read more...]
Q & A: Should I tape my matches?
==> A QUESTION <== "Do you think there's much benefit to video taping myself in sparring sessions and then watching them later to try and pin point bad/good techniques, or stuff I need to work on? … [Read more...]
How To Attract Women… To Your Grappling School
Krista Scott-Dixon is many things, including being friend of mine, a student of BJJ and the brains behind a great fitness website called Stumptuous.com. She is also a becoming a semi-regular contributor to Grapplearts.com. … [Read more...]
Teaching BJJ to Kids
Game Theory; How I Learned to Teach BJJ to Kids, A Guest article by John Connors and Jon Grayzel … [Read more...]
A Drill to Rescue the Armbar from Guard
At a seminar I attended, martial arts legend Dan Inosanto once distinguished between the techniques used in a martial art, and the training methods used to develop those techniques. These are different things! … [Read more...]
A Video Tutorial on the X Guard
The X Guard is a really powerful open guard position that creates a whole world of trouble for your opponents. Here's an excerpt from my DVD "13 Techniques You Can Use On The Mat Today" which takes you through the most important points of the X Guard... … [Read more...]
Why You MUST Sometimes Kick It Into High Gear
One of the best, and worst, things about grappling is that the feedback is quick, direct and brutally honest. Take ANY technique - be it an armbar, a guard pass or a pin escape - it's easy to find out if you're doing it right: … [Read more...]
A Lifetime of Learning
At my recent seminar on Unorthodox Positions I thought that I would be doing all the teaching, and that the students would be doing all the learning. Well I was wrong... One of the things I taught was a cool entry into the north-south choke from the offside kesa gatame position. … [Read more...]
Using Instructional DVDs
A reader writes: Q: "How does one best utilize instructional video tapes and what are the best out there." A: Let me preface my answer by saying that as someone who spends a lot of time producing and selling instructional grappling DVDs I am not exactly a neutral party! … [Read more...]