If you've got your opponent in side control then you're definitely dominating the match, but if he's being defensive then it can still be hard to finish from there. A smart opponent will keep his arms in and protect his neck with his hands, making it challenging to catch an armlock or force a choke. This is where deception comes in. You've got to lure your opponent into a trap by giving him … [Read more...]
Kneebar Mastery: Fixing the Most Common Mistakes
The kneebar is the king of leg submissions: you are attacking one of the largest joints in the body and demonstrating mastery over your opponent. Unlike heelhooks and toeholds, which often have to be applied gently in training to avoid injury, a successful kneebar leaves no doubt or debate as to its effectiveness. The kneebar is a fairly safe submission when applied properly, but is also a … [Read more...]
Don’t be that Peaked-in-High-School Jiu-Jitsu Practitioner
I don’t think we can deny that jiu-jitsu is evolving really fast. Whether it’s the false reap, the buggy choke, the Aoki lock, the berimbolo, the roadhouse choke, or the upside-down-inside-out-caterpillar guard, new techniques and strategies are popping up all the time. Even if you don’t want (or can’t) learn the berimbolo (or whatever) shouldn’t you at least know how to counter it? So … [Read more...]
BJJ Foundations for Apple and Android
The best-selling BJJ Foundations instructional is finally available on your phone. This ground-breaking instructional is the best training guide I've ever seen if you want to do extra training outside of class, structure your sparring to be more productive in class, or even teach a class of your own. In this app module you'll get all the techniques, details, drills and combinations on the … [Read more...]
A Training Plan to Improve Your Jiu-Jitsu Skills
This is BIG! I’ve been studying Jiu-Jitsu since the late 1980’s and have trained at many different schools and with hundreds of different instructors. Recently I've been working on a new instructional with BJJ black belt Cal MacDonald, and I'm just SO impressed with what he's put together. His 8-volume instructional called BJJ Foundations covers the exact techniques and movements that … [Read more...]
About That Leglock-Shaped Hole in Your Game
There was a time when you could be good at jiu-jitsu and not know anything about leglocks. (I miss this era because knowing a few leglocks back then made it relatively easy to ambush and tap out even high-level black belts.) But now jiu-jitsu has changed. Everyone and their dog is busy ankle locking and heel hooking and kneebarring and toeholding. I'd go so far as to say that if you … [Read more...]
Competition Kneebar Breakdown
Rob Biernacki recently won gold at black belt in master's ADCC Canada and in black M4 division at IBJJF NoGi Worlds. In a critical match, he swept the reigning champion, came up on top, got entangled in an X guard situation, and then pulled a kneebar out of nowhere to get the submission. The video below breaks down the unorthodox kneebar and finishing mechanics he used at IBJJF No Gi … [Read more...]
Four Lapel-Based Attacks from Side Control
If you train BJJ, knowing some tricks with the lapels to attack your opponent can be very useful, so don't disregard the advantages the gi offers you. Some people don't like training with the gi. I have no problem with that if your only focus is no-gi competition; if that's you, then by all means, train specifically for your sport. But if self-defense is important to you, then you should … [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...]
The Four Simplest Armdrags for BJJ and Submission Grappling
The armdrag is one of the most important attacks in BJJ and submission grappling. Not only does hitting the armdrag give you a route to your opponent's back, it's also a great probing attack that sets up a whole host of other techniques. The armdrag can be performed in both gi-based BJJ and no gi submission grappling. It was popularised in BJJ when Marcelo Garcia burst onto the scene in 2003, … [Read more...]
Training Methods Are More Important Than Techniques!
The art of jiu-jitsu includes LOTS of techniques. There are so many different armlocks, chokes, leglocks, sweeps, guard passes, throws, transitions and escapes. So the question then becomes, what's the best way to learn these moves and to incorporate them into your game? Back when I started jiu-jitsu, there was a very standard class format: a long warmup, then you'd be shown two or three new … [Read more...]
Knee Mount Escape to Backside 50/50
If you can do the basic backward somersault, then I've got a pretty spectacular and highly effective kneemount escape for you. The Wu Tang escape takes you from the receiving end of eating pressure under a terrible position to one of the strongest positions in leglocking - the backside 50/50. Here's a detailed video about how to add this escape to your game, even if you're NOT … [Read more...]
What is Elbow-Knee Connection
One of the most important skills in jiu-jitsu is guard retention. Think of guard retention as a toolbox containing a whole bunch of tools to solve the problem of your opponent passing your guard. Of all the many guard retention tools in that toolbox possibly the most universally useful one is something known as 'elbow-knee connection. Most guard passes end in side control, and side … [Read more...]
Countering The Standing Kimura Armlock
The standing Kimura armlock is now an established and respected submission, but it wasn't always like this. In fact, when someone showed me this submission in the early 1990's I thought they were kidding and had run out of legitimate material to share. But then in 1999 and 2000, a Japanese pro-wrestler called Kazushi Sakuraba did something that many thought was impossible. In just over a … [Read more...]
How to Do the Rolling Backtake the Easiest Way
In this article, you'll get a step-by-step system that anyone can use for hitting your first rolling backtake. The mechanics, details, and steps are all here, so scroll down and check them out! How to Do the Rolling Backtake (Video) Here's a video I shot breaking down the three essential steps for doing your first rolling backtake. Watch the video below, practice the steps, hit it in … [Read more...]
Rolling Backtake from Mount
The back is the most dominant position in jiu-jitsu, with chokes from the back accounting for nearly half of all finishes at the black belt level in gi competition. Same for no gi competition. The Rear Naked Choke from the back has been the top submission at ADCC multiple years in a row, surpassing both the heel hook and the armbar in frequency. Given the effectiveness of being … [Read more...]
The Fastest Armbar Escape
One of the most powerful late-stage armbar defenses is the Hitchhiker escape. You see this escape being used all the time, typically by someone who is flat on their back and being attacked by an armbar that is almost completed. But how many times have you been attacked by the armbar from guard in your jiu-jitsu career? If you're like most people, I bet it's quite frequently, like every … [Read more...]
Step by Step D’Arce Choke vs the Half Guard
If someone has you in their half guard and they have a strong underhook you're in trouble; they're DEFINITELY thinking about taking your back, sweeping your, or setting up a submission like a triangle choke. A great weapon to shut all that nonsense down is the D'Arce Choke (also known as the no gi Brabo choke). This choke is an absolute staple of modern no gi grappling, and you have to know … [Read more...]
How to Attack the Half Guard with the Kimura Armlock
If you're caught in your opponent's half guard then you have to be careful not to get swept, submitted, or have your back taken. That being said, you have attack options on top too! Here's how to use the Kimura, an amazingly versatile submission, to pass the guard and tap out your opponent when you're in the top half guard position... Let's break this technique down step by … [Read more...]
Not a Fair Fight At All!
The 50/50 is a leglock entanglement and guard position that’s pretty unavoidable in modern jiu-jitsu. With the gi it’s a powerful sweeping and backtaking position, and in no gi matches it leads to a TON of leglock submissions. The 50/50 is a seemingly symmetrical position where, superficially at least, it looks like both people have the same set of options. People mistakenly think of it … [Read more...]