There are some essential BJJ gross motor movements that need to be trained over and over until they're smooth and instinctive. Most of the time we train these transitions on our training partners, either in drilling or as part of sparring. But some of the most important movements can actually be trained on your own - before class, after class, or at home - using a heavy punching bag. Here … [Read more...]
The 6 Steps of a Good Submission
Did you know that there's an actual physics and biomechanics-based procedure that'll definitely help you tap out many more people in BJJ? At a high level there's so much more more to getting a choke or an armlock than simply seeing an opportunity and jumping on it. That approach rarely works against good people. Instead it's about gradually manoeuvring your opponent into worse and worse … [Read more...]
5 Counters to Your Opponent Standing in Your Triangle Choke
If you've got someone in the triangle choke then you want them on their knees. You really don't want them standing up while they're in your choke. Here are the main reasons why you don't want them to stand... There are more counters and escapes to the triangle choke when someone is on their feet... If it's an MMA or self defense situation they can punch you much harder... If they're … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 113 – A Close Call, and Avoiding Injuries!
The other day I almost tore a partner’s ACL off the bone, which would have required him to have surgery and many months of rehabilitation. What happened exactly? I was more experienced and a bit bigger than my training partner that day and we were doing some no gi sparring. Because of the experience discrepancy I was hyper-focusing on a couple of very specific positions, namely Ashi … [Read more...]
BJJ Wristlocks Everywhere!
For some reasons wristlocks in BJJ just don't get no respect. Many grapplers consider it OK to tap out to armlocks, triangle chokes, shoulder locks or lapel chokes, but for some reason wristlocks are considered super cheesy. However the wrist is just as legitimate a joint to attack as the elbow, shoulder or knee. In fact there's a meme going around the online BJJ community right now. I … [Read more...]
Five Triangle Chokes You Should Know
This video and article was inspired after a run of triangle chokes in MMA in 2010, including those used by Fabricio Werdum against Fedor Emelianenko, Chris Lytle against Matt Brown, and Brock Lesnar against Shane Carwin. But the term 'triangle choke' can be used for several different submissions, and this can be confusing to the novice or intermediate-level grappler. So to make sense of the five … [Read more...]
A Surprise Triangle Choke from Butterfly Guard
This transition from butterfly guard to triangle choke is one of my new favourite techniques. I learned it from BJJ black belt Rob Biernacki and it starts sitting up in the butterfly guard, and fighting for the powerful two-on-one grip. In the two-on-one I use both of my own hands to control one of my opponents arms which then isolates that side of his body. The next step is to kick out one … [Read more...]
The 10 Second Rule for Effective Choking
How many times have you been trying to choke out a training partner, straining and straining, then give up in disgust only to have him say, "Man, I was SO close to tapping out!!" Or what about those times when you've been caught in a choke, see no way out, and your only defense is to hunker down and hope that your opponent will give up before you run out of air or blood to the brain? The … [Read more...]
A Simple Tweak for a Killer Triangle Choke
In the late 1990's I had the pleasure of training with UFC fighter and Sambo champion Oleg Tartarov a number of times. And it turned out that not only was he a tough, skilled and relentless competitor, but he was also a very skilled teacher. Here's a detail about the triangle choke that he showed me that I share just about every time I ever teach this move. It's all about how hiding the … [Read more...]
Defense vs the Over-Under Guard Pass
The 'over-under' pass is a pressure-based technique for passing the guard which is used quite successfully in high level competition. In part it's a great pass because you don't have to be particularly fast or nimble to pull it off. When you're on the bottom and defending this pass, however, life can really suck... Not only is it an effective pass, but it's a tiring one to defend. You're … [Read more...]
Keep It Simple Stupid When Learning New Techniques
Have you heard of the acronym K.I.S.S? It stands for “Keep It Simple Stupid.” (It was later made politically correct by changing it to “Keep It Short and Simple” but that never really caught on, especially me.) Anyway, K.I.S.S. is a good rule to live by when fighting, sparring and training. You want to simplify as much as possible and not try to keep track of too many things at … [Read more...]
Weak Side Rear Mount – The Ultimate Free Guide
In the Rear Mount you can end up on either the ‘strong side’ (your overhook side) or on the ‘weak side’ (your underhook side) (In fact here's a link to an article on Grapplearts.com about the strong side vs weak side debate) Ultimately though, the bottom line is that you can’t always be in charge of where you end up; your opponent gets a vote too! So sometimes you’re going to end up on the … [Read more...]
The 10 Second Choke Fix (or How to Tap Out More People)
How many times has a sparring partner told you "Man, I was SO close to tapping" after you'd been squeezing their neck like crazy in a desperate attempt to choke them, but then decided that it wasn't working and gave up on the submission? Frustrating, isn't it? Or have you ever held a choke for so long that you completely burn out your grips and have to fight the rest of the match with jello … [Read more...]
How to Make Your Chokes Tighter
Psst, wanna tap out more people with chokes, including that super-tough guy with the giant neck? Success in choking is all about the details and getting the underlying mechanics correct. Yes, you can get chokes to work with bad technique - people do it all the time. But it's difficult, wastes a lot of energy, and isn't very high percentage. But on the other hand as soon as you get the … [Read more...]
Are my legs too short to apply the triangle choke?
The first time I ever saw the triangle choke in action was in 1994, during the last match of UFC 4. Royce Gracie had just squared off against Dan Severn, a seemingly unstoppable wrestler with a huge weight advantage. I remember thinking, 'There's just no possible way that Royce is gonna win this one.' The fight went to the ground quickly, and after 15 minutes of getting manhandled Royce … [Read more...]
A Triangle Choke Escape that Requires Almost No Training…
Years ago I came back from an Indonesian Silat training camp led by Dan Inosanto. I showed up at BJJ class the next day and was telling a few guys about how much I had enjoyed the training. One guy with a slightly smartass tone asked me, "How would a Silat guy escape from my triangle choke then?" It turns out that there IS a very effective, super high percentage Silat escape to the … [Read more...]
Three BJJ Guard Posture Mistakes That’ll Get You KILLED on the Mats
Using the Power of Posture and Positioning to Prevent Problems (Note to the reader: this lesson #5 from of the Beginning BJJ Course. To receive the other lessons by email please sign up for the free email-based course) Whenever I've got someone in my guard I watch them very carefully for mistakes. If they make a mistake (and if I can capitalize on it quickly) then - boom - they're gonna get … [Read more...]
Pre-planning the Tap and Climbing Everest…
We'll get to the Mount Everest part later, but first let me tell you a story about the other day when I was sparring with a black belt training partner... My partner was using the spider guard, a position he's spent quite a bit of time developing in the last year. I got sloppy for a second and he slammed on a triangle choke from the double biceps spider guard position (using a variation of … [Read more...]
A de la Riva Guard Submission: the Triangle Choke
The de la Riva guard is often thought of as primarily being a sweeping tool. But you can also land a lot of different submissions from de la Riva guard too! The main submissions include the triangle choke, omoplata, armbar and a few leglocks. Here's one of my very favorite de la Riva guard submissions demonstrated by Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins. But before I go on I have to confess … [Read more...]
New T-Shirts: Keep Calm and Grapple On
We just released these brand new shirts. I had fun looking into the history of the classic 'Keep Calm and Carry On' meme - turns out it comes from just before World War 2 where the British government was trying to bolster the public morale in the face of imminent war. They might boost your morale too, but hopefully your situation is a little bit less dire than Europe in 1939... There are … [Read more...]