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Gi vs No Gi

The Most Successful Gracie Family Fighter of All Time

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Not only is Robert Drysdale a BJJ and ADCC World Champion, he has also conducted extensive research into the history of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. In this interview, he reveals some of what he's discovered, including... 01:54 - The first wave of jiu-jitsu in Brazil - Helio Gracie and Carlos Gracie 04:35 - Exhibition and carnival fighting in Brazil 06:55 - Traditional jiu-jitsu style vs modified … [Read more...]

Seven Reasons Carlson Gracie Was the First Modern MMA Coach and Fighter

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Carlson Gracie fought 18 Vale Tudo in the 1950's and 60's. His 17 wins make him the most successful Gracie fighter to this day. In the course of his long  fighting and coaching career, he innovated many of the MMA training practices that we now take for granted. Here are seven ways in which he was the first modern MMA coach and fighter... Carlson's radical-for-the-time ideas included … [Read more...]

Margot Ciccarelli, Travelling the World While Training Jiu-Jitsu

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Multiple time World and European champion Margot Ciccarelli joins us take us through some of the following topics... Competing at the highest level while spending much of the year on the road, How to feel invincible on the mats, The importance of tempo changes in jiu-jitsu, Transitioning through different guards, Learning faster vs staying in your comfort zone, Switching from a … [Read more...]

How to Counter the Toreando Guard Pass

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So there you are, on your back and fighting your opponent with your legs.  Maybe you're using the Spider Guard, the Butterfly Guard, or any other variation of Open Guard, but regardless, both you and he are jockeying for grips and position. You’re trying to set up your guard sweeps and submissions, and he’s trying to pass your guard. Then - disaster! Your opponent grips both your pant … [Read more...]

5 Tips for Switching from Gi to No Gi

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If you've mostly been grappling with the gi on then transitioning to no gi submission grappling can be difficult. In fact many people find the process super frustrating and end up walking away in disgust. It DOESN'T need to be that way!!  Here are 5 tips that will make the transition to no gi much easier... The 5 Tips in Video and Podcast Form Here's a video from my youtube channel with a lot … [Read more...]

Dealing with the Gi in Grappling

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Are you coming from a background in submission grappling or training mostly without the gi and trying to get into BJJ? Are you frustrated by the cloth prison (the gi) that's stifling your movements and allowing your opponent to wrap you up? I'm a big fan of being competent in both gi and no gi grappling, if for no other reason than self defense. Yes, you might get attacked on the beach … [Read more...]

Standing vs Kneeling Guard Passes

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When you're trying to pass your opponent's guard you can use either standing or kneeling guard passes. (Of course if you're dealing with the closed guard you have an additional decision to make, namely whether you first stand or kneel to break the closed guard open in the first place.) Anyhow, there's a tendency for modern BJJ players to use more standing, mobility based passes, especially … [Read more...]

Stephan Talks to Chewy from Chewjitsu on The Strenuous Life Podcast, Episode 120

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Chewy (aka Nick Albin) is well known for the BJJ advice he gives on his prolific Chewjitsu channel, so I was thrilled to have him on the podcast. It's a great chat and we cover a ton of material, including How he got his nickname, His journey from wrestling to MMA to jiu-jitsu, Gi vs no gi training, Preventing injuries in training, Why he decided to leave tech and go full time … [Read more...]

3 Fixes for Sore Fingers in BJJ

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So I got a question the other day from someone looking for advice about the pain and inflammation they have in their fingers from training BJJ. I sent them back a super-quick email response with 3 suggestions, but now want to elaborate on my suggestions in hopes that this info will be useful to someone else too. First, here is a video I shot about exactly this … [Read more...]

Podcast EP 34: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Principles with Rob Biernacki (plus Ninjas, Insane Martial Arts Instructors and Martial Arts Cults)

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The latest episode of the Grapplearts Radio Podcast is out.  In it I talk with Rob Biernacki, a friend, BJJ black belt, and contributor to Grapplearts (see the videos and articles he's been involved with here). Rob is known for his analytical style of teaching BJJ.  He doesn't focus on being a 'technique collector, but rather specialises in sharing the underlying principles and concepts that … [Read more...]

Podcast EP33: Leglocks with Eddie ‘Wolverine’ Cummings

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In this episode of Grapplearts Radio I quiz Eddie Cummings - one of the very best leglock artists active on the competition scene today - about every detail of his leglock game, including : Why the heel hook is one of the most efficient submissions for self defense How to train leglocks safely How a world class grappling competitor spends his days Dead ends and rabbit holes that … [Read more...]

Does the Spider Guard Translate At All to No Gi?

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TONS of top BJJ practioners use the spider guard as their primary form of guard from the bottom. This position has won many BJJ tournaments, from local competitions to the Mundials. And although you'd think that these champions would be completely lost in no gi submission grappling competitions like ADCC that's usually just not the case.  Even though there aren't any sleeves or collars to hold … [Read more...]

Podcast EP28: How Bernardo Faria Won Double Gold at the BJJ Mundials

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In this in-depth interview I talk with Bernardo Faria, the 99kg BJJ fighter who recently took gold in not only his own weight class but also in the absolute division of the 2015 BJJ Mundials. Some of the highlights of my talk with Bernardo Faria included... His mindset going into big tournaments How he developed and refined his highly individual BJJ gameplan What he's learned … [Read more...]

A Spider Guard Triangle Choke Setup for No Gi

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A lot of people think that Spider Guard is only applicable to BJJ with the gi.  They're kinda right, but they're also mostly wrong. You see, it's more complicated than "no gi equals no Spider Guard..." First of all, if you get good at something as intricate and technical as Spider Guard then it develops your sensitivity, leg dexterity, coordination, strategic and tactical thinking like … [Read more...]

Spider Guard Masterclass is Now Live

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After almost 6 months of planning, filming and editing Spider Guard Masterclass is now ready for release! I'm biased of course, but I think that this is an absolutely amazing project. It's an A to Z reference guide for the Spider Guard, which is arguably the most dominant form of open guard in modern BJJ. Checking out this instructional is also risk free: if you don't absolutely love it, … [Read more...]

Podcast EP19: Clark Gracie on Training, Competing, and Growing up Gracie

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This is a great interview with 2013 Pan Am BJJ Champion Clark Gracie.  He shares a ton of cool info. You can listen to, read, or download this interview in several different ways… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWxI1oKzpV4 To listen to this conversation you could press play on the video above, but then you might miss out on future episodes, wouldn’t you? So the best thing to do is to … [Read more...]

Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Ribeiro on Top of the BJJ World An interview with a grappling legend

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by Stephan Kesting Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Riberio is ranked the number one fighter in the world under 155 lbs, and has multiple prestigious grappling titles. This interview was originally published in Black Belt Magazine (August 2004).  He currently teaches at his academy in New York City. … [Read more...]