People often ask me what the easiest throws or takedowns are for BJJ competition. My usual advice is that takedowns are great. They bring the fight to your opponent, score 2 points, set you up to pass the guard, and allow you to fight from the top. All of which are good things. Now I love wrestling and judo, and think that takedowns are essential skills, but training them to a high level … [Read more...]
Cartwheels in BJJ and Submission Wrestling
So I saw something spectacular the other day... It was a clip from a wrestling match in which 125 lb Ronnie Bresser from Oregon State cartwheels himself over his opponent in a move called 'the Flying Squirrel' to get to a 15 point advantage and win the match by technical fall (thanks to "i like to wrassle" on reddit for giving me the proper name for it)! Here's the move: Of course … [Read more...]
Wrist Locks – Attacking The Most Under-Attacked Joint
Jiu-jitsu and submission grappling offer techniques to attack almost every major joint in the body including the elbow, shoulder, neck, knees, feet, and ankles. These should be your bread and butter submissions because they have a long, proven track record of effectiveness. I think a bit of variety is a good thing, however, so let’s talk about a not-so-common attack: wrist locks! The … [Read more...]
Japanese Jiujitsu vs BJJ
BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-jitsu) is undeniably the most popular grappling system on the planet right now. But BJJ came from Judo, and Judo came from the traditional Japanese Jiujitsu systems. So there's a direct lineage from Japanese Jiujitsu (aka Jujitsu or Jujutsu) to BJJ. Both arts contain chokes, pins, armlocks and leglocks, so what's the difference? There are differences in both the … [Read more...]
Mount Escape to Ankle Lock Position
If you're caught in mount the first thing you want to try are the conventional bridging and shrimping movements to escape. These are two of the gold standard escapes for a good reason; they work all the time. But as the old saying goes, man makes plans and God laughs. Even the best techniques are going to fail against some opponents and in certain situations so it's always good to have some … [Read more...]
Christmas Office Party Jiu-Jitsu
Tis the season, and there's a very good chance that you'll be going to one or more Christmas parties in the next few weeks. I hope those parties stay friendly, but you can never be too careful. Let's just say that things can go sideways QUICKLY! A little bit too much rum in the eggnog... The wrong person under the mistletoe... Accidentally giving your girlfriend an oversized piece of … [Read more...]
An Easy and Effective Guard Retention Drill
There are many guard retention techniques you can use to stop someone from passing your guard, but just like any other technique they require drilling and repetition to become automatic. So that's what we're going to start with; an easy line drill where you can warm your body at the beginning of class and also get in lots of repetition for the 'frame and hip escape' guard retention … [Read more...]
The Step-by-Step North South Choke
The North-South Choke is undeniably effective. Properly applied it's incredibly difficult for your opponent to escape before you put him to sleep. And it's proven at the highest levels in both gi and no gi competition, which is why it's one of the 10 key tactics of many time world champion Marcelo Garcia. That being said, even after having been a black belt for many years I still have a … [Read more...]
The Step-by-Step Clock Choke
The Clock Choke Heard Round the World We're going to go through my favorite step-by-step method for how to do the clock choke, but first let's talk about a the first time I saw the clock choke and a match that changed jiujitsu... It was in 1998 when Royce Gracie squared off against the Carlson Gracie Wallid Ismael. At the time Royce was undefeated in 5 UFC events and, in my eyes at least, … [Read more...]
Kimura Armlock from North-South Position
The first time I saw this Kimura variation from the north-south position I said to myself, "Yeah right, that'll never work in a million, billion years!" And that's because it looked like you had no control over his body, But the funny thing was that when I actually started training it then it felt pretty good... And then I started catching people in it and tapping them out... And now, … [Read more...]
Lapel Drag from Butterfly Guard and from Standing
The lapel drag (aka collar drag) is an incredibly important move from the butterfly guard. It's a legitimate sweep, but it's also an amazing setup for many other attacks. It's also low risk and doesn't require an elaborate grip to set it up. In this Youtube video Rob Biernacki shows some of the black belt details that'll make this sweep MUCH more effective, even against skilled, larger … [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...]
How a Judo Olympian Takes the Back
Travis Stevens is a 3 time Judo Olympian, an Olympic silver medalist, and a BJJ black belt. So he's deadly on his feet but is also really slick on the ground. In fact his ground attacks were a huge part of his very successful run at the 2016 Olympics. He shared 3 really cool ways to take the back while passing the guard with me, and I was fortunate enough to get it on video for you. All … [Read more...]
A Bow and Arrow Choke Escape
The bow and arrow choke is one of the most powerful chokes from the back in the entire BJJ repertoire. Many matches in the black belt division of the Mundials have ended with this choke, so you know it works! This attack is called the 'Bow and Arrow' choke because when you apply it your opponent gets bent sideways into a bow shape, while you stay straight (i.e. an arrow). Bending your … [Read more...]
A High Percentage Half Guard Pass That Works in Gi and No Gi
In the old days the half guard was a position of last resort. You used it when your opponent had almost passed your guard and now only one of your legs was between him and the full mount. Man, have times ever changed! In the last 20 years the half guard has been developed as an offensive position, with many sweeping and attacking options available to you from there (for examples of these … [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...]
Escaping the Reverse Mount the Proper Way
The reverse mount is a tricky position... If you're opponent has you caught in it then he's placing a tremendous amount of pressure on your diaphragm, which makes it hard to breath. He also has lots of entries to kneebars, heel hooks, leg laces, and other submissions available to him. Compounding the problem is the fact that it's not a very common position, meaning that most people don't … [Read more...]
The Figure 4 Straight Armlock: An Easy and Surprising Submission from the Top Position
The straight arm figure 4 was one of the very first armlocks I was ever shown on the ground. But it was super unreliable. In fact, for the next 3 decades, I would only be able to get it to work occasionally and then only against inferior or very tired opponents. Most of the time my sparring partners would simply twist or muscle their way out of it, or - most discouraging of all - just … [Read more...]
Are You Just Not Getting Any Better? Here are 3 Steps to Bust Your Training Plateau
When you're training hard, hitting a training plateau can be incredibly frustrating. But first of all, let's hit on an important distinction. A training 'slump' and a training 'plateau' are two different things... I go into detail about the differences between slumps and plateaus in this article here, but basically a slump is a relatively short-lived event, one to four weeks long, in … [Read more...]
3 Spider Guard Drills to Improve Your Sweeping and Submissions
The last time I had a filming session with my friend and training partner Ritchie Yip he showed something really cool... It was a series of 3 drills to improve your spider guard sweeps and submissions. The first drill is a relatively easy one to that develops hip mobility and leg dexterity. Spider guard is NOT a static position; as your opponent moves and tries to pass your guard you need … [Read more...]