In episode 427 of The Strenuous Life Podcast I pick the brain of sports psychologist Dr. Haley Perlis, who delves into the competition mindset, developing mental toughness, managing stress, avoiding burnout, the psychology of extreme sports, and how your core values shape your life and sport. Episode 427 is available right now in audio and video formats here: Apple Podcasts … [Read more...]
Video
3 Great Ways to Pass Butterfly Guard
The butterfly guard offers your opponent two different types of control that set up his attacks and make it difficult for you to pass his guard. Screw up even a little bit and you'll find yourself hoisted into the air and swept or caught in a devastating leglock. To shut him down and pass his guard you first need to understand the control points he potentially has in butterfly … [Read more...]
K Guard Leglock Entry
The K Guard is really hot right now because it solves three very difficult problems. These problems include... How do you maintain control of your opponent if you don't have a strong grip on his arms or upper body (especially in no gi)? How do you deal with opponents who stand up in your guard (the most popular form of guard passing right now)? How do you attack with leglocks when … [Read more...]
BJJ After Age 35
On today's episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast, I'm joined by wrestler, jiu-jitsuka, and author Chris Jessulat (https://www.thewrongsideof35.com/) to discuss the best practices for staying relevant on the mats as you enter your fourth decade and beyond... 00:00 Training as an Older Grappler 02:48 The Transition from Competitive to Recreational Training 05:46 Physical Changes and … [Read more...]
Training Your Techniques in Chunks for Faster Learning
Mastering a new technique can seem overwhelming. There are so many steps, and for every action you take, your opponent might have 10 different reactions. But there's a relatively simple solution to the paralysing amount of material you need to internalise... A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and so does adding a new technique to your game. Start by mastering the first … [Read more...]
Inside vs Outside Leglock Entries
Leglock entries can be divided into inside and outside entries, and you need them both to be a high-level leglocker! Essentially, inside entries involve you bringing a leg between your opponent's legs, whereas an outside entry involves moving into a leglock position by going around your opponent's legs. Examples of inside entries might include using the instep guard to shoot for the SLX or … [Read more...]
How to Reverse the Twister Hook
The twister hook is one of the main mechanisms used to take the back, especially in no gi grappling, where it is quite common. (So if you do no gi you should probably practice it because at some point it WILL be used against you.) Fundamentally, the twister hook is a method of entangling one of your opponent's legs with two of your own in a double triangle configuration. Once fully locked … [Read more...]
Top Crucifix Attacks in No Gi and MMA
The top crucifix shows up a LOT in MMA, and when one fighter gets it the other guy is usually in a HUGE amount of trouble. Here's the thing, though... I really like the top crucifix in submission grappling as well. It opens up some REALLY powerful submission attacks that have served me well in sparring and jiu-jitsu competition. Here's a video of me breaking down the position and those … [Read more...]
How to Get Your Black Belt Without Being Affiliated With Any One Specific School
Paul Kindzia describes himself as a "homeschooled, non-denominational, it takes a village black belt" and had a very unique route to getting his BJJ black belt. He was a ronin, training at different schools and did a lot of his training in his home dojo. This paid off because he was a top IBJJF Masters competitor at blue, purple, and brown belt, before being awarded his black belt by a … [Read more...]
How to Escape Kesa Gatame and the Headlock
Kesa Gatame is one of the most under-utilized positions in BJJ. People in jiu-jitsu tend to ignore this position but generations of judo players and wrestlers have proved that Kesa Gatame IS a powerful and effective way to pin someone. And - even worse for someone caught in it - Kesa Gatame is also a great entry into some very effective armlocks, leglocks, neck cranks and diaphragm … [Read more...]
BJJ and Self Defense, What Does the Data Say?
Tyson Larone is a BJJ belt, a Muay Thai teacher, TEDx speaker, and a strongman competitor. In this episode he and I dive deep into exploring how BJJ can be used for self defense. Topics include how context changes everything in self defense… adaptations that women and smaller people need to make…the problems with the one time self defense seminar model… the need for force-multipliers and … [Read more...]
How to Get Started with Leglocks
To the uninitiated, leglocking can seem like a confusing black art; a spinning tangle of legs resulting in sudden match-winning submissions. But you can't just stick your head in the sand and ignore them because but leglocks have become HUGE in jiu-jitsu, especially in no gi grappling. To become a complete grappler (and to avoid tapping out 10 times per match to some young punk who just … [Read more...]
How to Flow Roll
If you don't spar then all you're doing is LARPing. Sparring and training against resistance is the secret sauce that makes jiu-jitsu work. Of course you need to do hard sparring once in a while, not every training session needs to be a death roll!! There is a type of BJJ sparring known as 'Flow Rolling' which allows you to train with anyone safely and productively while creating room for … [Read more...]
Kesa Gatame in BJJ
Kesa Gatame is the name for a DEADLY position also known as the Scarf Hold or the Head and Arm pin. It's a staple pin in Judo, Sambo and Freestyle Wrestling. All these arts have honed kesa gatame as a pinning position. The only problem is that they don't use or teach very many submissions from here. In those particular sports the submission is redundant - if you pin your opponent for 3 … [Read more...]
“My Opponent Is Just Running Around My Guard”
A friend recently complained that his training partners were forever just "running around" his guard. We got onto the mat and figured out that this wasn't the whole story. It turned out that his opponents were first pinning both his feet to the floor and then running around his guard, essentially a variation of the toreando pass. There are late stage defenses to the toreando, but - as … [Read more...]
Stephan Kesting Alone in the Arctic
As I can remember, the twin passions of my life have been the martial arts and the outdoors. This last summer I stepped off the mat, flew for 2 hours in a 72-year-old bush plane, and stepped into a canoe to do a 19 day solo trip through polar bear and caribou country in the Canadian Arctic. I'm finally getting around to releasing the videos from that trip. Here's episode 1... The … [Read more...]
Three Cheats for Escaping a Tough Mount
The basic mount escapes like the elbow-knee and upa escape are classics for a reason, but if you go back to the well too often, then your opponent inevitably gets wise to it and figures out how to shut it down. That's why you need to be able to mix things up. Start with one escape, then switch to another. Jab, then cross. Fake east, go west. Here are three unexpected techniques for … [Read more...]
BJJ in the Nineties, a Time Capsule!
It was the late 1990's, I was a purple belt, and my friend Allan had one of those gigantic $3,000 consumer cameras that recorded directly to a book-sized VHS cassette. He wanted to film some jiu-jitsu, and I wanted to show a few friends some material I'd been working on. So we went down to his condo's fitness room and shot a 12 minute "instructional" for some of my friends. The running joke at … [Read more...]
Ecological Training in Jiu-Jitsu and How to Do It Properly
One of the biggest trends in BJJ right now is the so-called "ecological approach", typically involving the use of constrained two-person games where each participant has one or several outcomes they are trying to achieve. Some of the more severe interpretations of this approach essentially dispense with active instruction, In episode 412 of The Strenuous Life Podcast I'm joined by renowned … [Read more...]
The 4 Most Common Errors For The ‘Upa’ Mount Escape
The 'Upa' (or 'Bridge and Roll') is probably the very first mount escape that a beginner ever learns. It's taught as part of the basic curriculum for a very simple reason: it works! You see this escape in MMA, submission grappling, and BJJ competition with the gi. I've used it as a white belt, blue belt, purple belt, brown belt and black belt. Contrary to what some people will tell you is … [Read more...]