Have you ever wondered if your BJJ would stand up in a self defense situation against an opponent determined to clean your clock with his fists? By the end of this article I'm hoping you'll have a much better idea of what to focus on to sharpen your BJJ skills for self defense purposes... The self defense implications of grappling are important to me (click here to see my other posts on the … [Read more...]
Does MMA Make You Stupid? Impact, Concussions and Brain Damage in Mixed Martial Arts
MMA has been my guilty pleasure for a long time. On the one hand, I'm a huge fan. I've been watching the UFC since its inauguration in 1993, and have enjoyed fights in Pride FC, Shooto, WEC, Strikeforce, Bellator, and many other organisations. I have good friends who are professional fighters, and have helped them prepare for their fights. And I have nothing but respect for the skill, … [Read more...]
Taking Responsibility for Your Own BJJ Training
A Guest Article by Kaeli Sweigard When you choose your actions, you choose your consequences. I used to work with “at risk” youth, and this was something I constantly re-iterated to them. They would break into cars, and then complain about having to go to court. I wanted them to really grasp the fact that they could make a different decision, and they would get different results. I wanted them … [Read more...]
A Roadmap for BJJ – This Book Now Available on Kindle
I've just taken my BJJ Manifesto - A Roadmap for BJJ - and turned it into a Kindle book! So now you can take it with you on your Kindle device, or using the Kindle app for your smartphones and tablets (which is how I consume most of my digital book content). The Roadmap for BJJ book is the most concentrated approach to learning the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu I can give you. In the book you'll … [Read more...]
ARCHIVE The FREE Roadmap for BJJ App!
Here's something brand new that I've been working on for a whole year. It's available right now and I think you're really going to like it!! How would you like a top-to-bottom game plan for the closed guard position? What about a complete roadmap for the Open Guard? And while we’re at it, would a game plan for the modern Half Guard help you out? … [Read more...]
The Real Secret to Mastering a Skill
New Year's eve is just around the corner, making this the traditional time for drawing up plans, making resolutions, and setting your goals for the upcoming year. "This year I'm gonna do this… I'm gonna stop doing that…" Goal setting is super important and I'm all for it. I hope that you have your goals for the year clearly written out and displayed in a prominent place. But the problem is … [Read more...]
Ronda Rousey and the Power of Gameplans
In case you were hiding under a rock, Ronda Rousey fought Liz Carmouche last night at UFC 157. She both validated her UFC Women's Bantamweight title, and made history by being in the first-ever women's match in the the UFC. And just in case you were under that aforementioned rock, despite a very spirited fight by Liz Carmouche, Ronda won the match with an armbar at 4:49 of the first … [Read more...]
BJJ Training Strategies
Having the right assortment of techniques is pretty darn important in BJJ. But having the right training strategies is even more important... By 'training strategies' I'm talking about the big picture. Like knowing which techniques to use, when to use them, and how to correctly train those techniques in the first place. … [Read more...]
Podcast EP12: BJJ Competition and Training Strategies with Brandon ‘Wolverine’ Mullins
In this interview 2 x World No Gi Champion Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins shares his best competition and training advice. The questions come from my newsletter readership, who I polled to see if they had any questions for Brandon, especially about training, competing or holding their own against bigger opponents. Boy, did they ever! We then sifted and sorted hundreds of emails to pick out the … [Read more...]
Podcast EP09: Ryan Hall Interview and Transcript
Stephan's note: This is the transcript of an interview I did with noted Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, über-competitor and teacher Ryan Hall. To listen to this conversation you could press play on the embedded audio player below, but then you might miss out on future episodes, wouldn’t you? So the best thing to do is to subscribe to The Strenuous Life Podcast using … [Read more...]
The Three Kneebars You Need to Know!
The kneebar is one of my favorite submissions. But I studied it for years before it became a 'go to' move. Some of my major leglocking influences includede Erik Paulson, Oleg Taktarov and Marcus Soares. Each of these teachers contributed important pieces of the puzzle. And each person I trained with also had their own entries to get into the kneebar position. In fact, it's incredible … [Read more...]
How to Cut and Make Weight
by Martin Rooney, MHS, PT, CSCS, NASM Have any of you ever watched a weight class fight in which one fighter looks far bigger and heavier than the other even though they weighed exactly the same amount the day before? … [Read more...]
A Glossary of Guards Part 3: The Half Guard
By Stephan Kesting and Elliott Bayev Principal Photography by Keith Haist Originally Published in Ultimate Grappling Magazine This is the third and final article in a series introducing a wide variety of guard positions. … [Read more...]
A Glossary of Guards Part 2: The Open Guard
By Stephan Kesting and Elliott Bayev Principal Photography by Keith Haist Originally Published in Ultimate Grappling Magazine This is the second of three articles discussing variations of the Brazilian Jiu-jitsu guard position. In this article we are going to focus on the Open Guard, where your legs are NOT locked around your opponent’s torso (the other articles cover the Closed Guard and the … [Read more...]
A Glossary of Guards Part 1: The Closed Guard
By Stephan Kesting and Elliott Bayev Principal Photography by Keith Haist Originally Published in Ultimate Grappling Magazine … [Read more...]
Top Articles on Grapplearts: Number 1 of 10
Obviously I've been building up content on Grapplearts for quite some time now. Nevertheless I was recently surprised to see that there are now more than 500 articles, tips and blog posts on here now! Not all of them are by me - some are articles by guest authors - but that's still a heck of a lot of content! … [Read more...]
Podcast EP5: A Woman’s Jiu-Jitsu Journey from White Belt to Black Belt
In this feature interview I talk with Emily Kwok who is a very smart, very talented jiu-jitsu practitioner. She's been involved in the woman's competition circuit for a long time, having competed both with and without the gi, and in MMA overseas. Her ability as a teacher of jiu-jitsu - to both men and women - is proved every time she steps on the mats at her BJJ Academy in Princeton, … [Read more...]
Belugas, Bears and an Offshore Tide on Hudson Bay
Fair warning: what I’m talking about today has absolutely nothing to do with martial arts training. But – in keeping with a previous theme – it has everything to do with deliberately facing self-imposed challenges, whatever they may be. This article is really a continuation of a previous one discussing why martial arts training provides some of the few ‘real’ rites of passage in today’s society … [Read more...]
Successfully Dealing with Claustrophobia in Grappling
Once upon a time I had an MRI. For those of you who've never had this diagnostic procedure, you start by lying down on a narrow board. Then they slide you into a narrow hole within a gigantic donut-shaped machine. … [Read more...]
The Most Important Thing For Improving Your Grappling
I used to think that if I just learned enough ways to pass the guard, mastered enough submissions, memorized enough pin escapes, pick up enough guard sweeps, received enough tactics and just had enough techniques at my fingertips, then... someday... I would master the art of grappling. … [Read more...]