Grappling Techniques

Grappling techniques form the basis of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, submission grappling and MMA. This page lists all the video and photographic grappling technique tutorials on Grapplearts.com. Some of these techniques were first published in magazines like Black Belt and Ultimate Grappling, others are excerpts from our instructional videos, and some were created just for the readers of this site. How to find out when new material is posted, and get access to exclusive members-only content for free!

See all the Submission Grappling and BJJ Instructional videos we've put onto Youtube (both excerpts from our DVD's and stand-alone instructionals)

Selected Lessons from Stephan Kesting's Free Beginning BJJ eCourse

• Lesson 6: BJJ Guard Posture Mistakes That'll Get You Killed on the Mats
• Lesson 16: the Biggest Mistake People Make with Gi Chokes
• Lesson 24: This is NOT the Closed Guard (and the correct way to transition to Open Guard)

The Five Most Important Attacks from the de la Riva Guard

From Fluke to Trusted Technique: the Evolution of the Logsplitter Sweep and Leglock Position

Straight from Brazil: BJJ Black Belt Oscar Daniotti shares some cool sweeps

• A Sweep from the Deep Half Guard
• A BJJ Half Guard Sweep using the Belt Grip

The amazing No-Gi Closed Guard Scenarios and Game Plan by Jason Scully, which includes 29 pages of detailed strategies and solutions for sparring without the gi. This document also includes a HUGE positional strategy map to help you decipher the closed guard position.

An introduction to the Deep Half Guard position

Guillotine offensive and defensive positioning, and how to use the Von Flue Choke to counter the guillotine (covered in a series of 3 posts on my newsletter)

• Never Get Guillotined Again
• Everybody Was Von Flue Fighting
• One More Von Flue Choke

Ed Beneville and Tim Cartmell, authors of "Passing the Guard", show some techniques for passing the guard in MMA or self defense: 4 different techniques in one PDF article

Chris Brennan's Ten Finger Guillotine: The 'Ten Finger' guillotine is the Loch Ness monster of grappling: find out how to apply it properly from three different positions

The Rear Naked Choke is arguably one of the most important grappling techniques in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but it can be difficult to finish when your opponent is resisting: How to Finish the Rear Naked Choke against Resistance (video)

Assorted clips from the Dynamic Half Guard DVD (video)

• Leg position partner drill
• Finishing the backclimb from half guard
• Finishing the Kimura from the half guard

Eduardo de Lima and Matt Kirtley demonstrate some unusual, but effective, jiu-jitsu techniques

• A confusion of crucifixes
• Rolling crucifix
• Cattle catch neck crank
• Step-by-step reverse omoplata
• Side ride arm trapping details
• Standing guard pass to reverse omoplata
• Double underhook guard pass to reverse omoplata
• Quicky under pass to reverse omoplata
• Comedy reverse omoplata from rear mount

Denis Kang shares 3 guard passes that work in the wild world of mixed martial arts (from the Passing the MMA Guard Article)

• Arm behind back pass
• Leg swing guard pass
• Knee slide guard pass

Marc Laimon takes you through some of the techniques used in his match with Ryron Gracie

• Armdrag to high double leg
• Counter to ankle lock
• Sliding knee guard pass

Marcio Feitosa demonstrates 4 submissions to counter the half guard:

• Brabo gi choke
• Brabo no-gi choke
• Americana vs half guard
• Kimura vs half guard

Andreh Anderson and Perry Hauck show some of their favorite Brazilian Jiu-jitsu sequences

• Advanced Choke from Mount
• Knee Grip Sweep from Guard
• Armbar to Reverse Roll Sweep
• Sneaky Lapel Choke from Guard
• Half Guard Sweep when Crossfaced
• Kimura/Bicep Lock from Guard
• Getting to Mount from North-South
• Single Leg Sweep
• Advanced Guard Pass
• Margaria Guard Pass
• Ninja Gi Choke
• Shaolin Gi Choke
• Half guard sweep series
• Wallid Ismael butterfly guard pass

Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro shows some of the techniques that have made him famous

• Jump to Butterfly Guard
• Jump to Half Guard with Sweep
• Guard Pass to Rear Mount
• Rear Mount to Armbar

Information about the X guard position and some variations: The 'X Guard'

The 'basic' butterfly guard sweep is anything but basic: Two powerful variations of the butterfly guard sweep

How grappling complements striking and striking complements grappling (from the MMA Formula article)

• Baiting shoot takedown vs. punching
• Sprawl and knees vs. shoot
• Clinch and inside trip vs. punching
• Leg catch and takedown vs. Thai kick
• Counter to leg catch

Denis Kang shows off his dynamic style (from the Jiu-jitsu Cross Training article)

• Counter to Knee Strikes in the Clinch
• Cartwheel Guard Pass
• Spine Lock Counter to Double Leg Takedown
• Achilles Ankle Lock and Followup

Rubber guard techniques from Eddie 'Twister' Bravo, ADCC 2003 standout!

• The "Meathook"
• The "New School"

From the 'Revolutionary Omo Plata' article

• Omo Plata Technique 1: Triangle choke to OmoPlata
• Omo Plata Technique 2: Omo Plata to wristlock
• Omo Plata Technique 3: Scissor sweep to Omo Plata
• Omo Plata Technique 4: Omoplata to Footlock

From the 'Mastering the Kimura' article

• Kimura 1:from Closed Guard
• Kimura 2:from Mount
• Kimura 3:from North-South Position
• Kimura 4:from Open Guard

From the Marcus Soares Interview

• Half Guard Pass and Cervical Choke
• Reverse Clock Choke
• Reverse Shoulder Lock

And finally, some more grappling techniques:

• Armbarring with one arm
• Three postures to help you escape side mount
• Ankle lock attack, counter, and recounter
• Shootwrestling counter to the armbar

All materials & images Copyright 2002 to 2009, Stephan Kesting
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