The days of learning from just one instructor if you're a serious martial artist or MMA competitor are over. Nowadays you need at least four different coaches... A jiu-jitsu coach A striking coach A wrestling coach A conditioning coach I go into more detail on this topic, including for whom this applies and for whom it doesn't, in the following video and audio podcast episode … [Read more...]
Striking
Will Grappling Dummy Drills Really Help Your BJJ?
I often get emails from people wanting to know whether drilling with a grappling dummy will help their jiu-jitsu. Dummies are expensive items, and people want to make sure the investment will be worth it. The short answer is no. WATCH AND/OR LISTEN TO MY RANT ON THIS TOPIC Here's a video and podcast with my views on the subject, or if you prefer to read on you can scroll down the page a … [Read more...]
Rehab and Prehab for Martial Arts
It was a pleasure to talk with Dr Mark Cheng about injury rehabilitation and rehabilitation today on The Strenuous Life Podcast. Mark has worked with lots of combat athletes in all sorts of martial arts disciplines. He has also trained with some really good instructors, some of which I know personally. Here are just some of the things we cover in this podcast... The process of … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 181: Why is Sparring So Hard? (Audio + Video)
Ritchie Yip is the brains behind The Precision Kickboxing Masterclass, and in this episode he and I sat down to discuss the path to kickboxing mastery. Too many beginners feel great when they're hitting the pads only to have everything fall apart the very first time they spar. Sparring can be a completely different beast from just drilling technique, and the transition can be incredibly … [Read more...]
Brand New Instructional – The Precision Kickboxing Masterclass
What's a grappler like me doing getting involved with a project like The Precision Kickboxing Masterclass that officially launched today? Totally valid question... First of all I trained in Muay Thai, Jun Fan JKD, and Kajukenbo for years. And dabbled in Savate, Capoeira and Boxing. I like to think that I was pretty good at striking back in the day. One of the things I learned is that … [Read more...]
Grappling and the 5 Ranges of Fighting
I've said many times that BJJ is a fantastic sport and fitness activity, but that at it's core it's a martial art. And it being a martial art means that you have be able to use it to defend yourself. Now it's pretty hard to beat BJJ and submission grappling as a martial art at close range. The ability to move up the positional hierarchy, getting to more and more dominant position, is a HUGE … [Read more...]
How to Manage Fear and Adrenaline in Competition
My friend Shane Fazen has fought Muay Thai in Thailand, competed in boxing, and has even challenged himself in some MMA smokers. In this conversation he and I talk about how to manage fear and adrenaline when you're competing or in a fight. Specific topics include What happens to your body when you experience the fight or flight reflex, How to use an adrenaline dump to your … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode #73 – Grappling VS Striking
If you could only do one which would be better for self defense: striking or grappling? The answer is grappling of course, but the reasons why might surprise you... This podcast episode, along with all my others, are available on my Strenuous Life Podcast, which you can subscribe to with a few easy clicks! Choose your audio player below and click on it to open up The Strenuous Life Podcast and … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 56 – Interview with Budo Jake Discussing Training Around the World, Advice to Newbies, and More…
This is a really good episode in which I talk to my friend, BJJ black belt, and world traveller Budo Jake. We cover a ton of topics including the evolution of Japanese ju-jutsu into BJJ, getting choked unconscious, the effectiveness of wrist locks in grappling, brain damage from striking, yoga and other recover methods, training at different academies, and advice for newbies. Enjoy! This … [Read more...]
Closed Guard to Shin Shield to Technical Standup
Getting back up to your feet against pressure is a critical skill in BJJ. Most fundamentally you use this standup motion to get back to your feet should you find yourself on the bottom in a real fight, but you can also use this exact same movement to finish sweeps, escape bad positions, and counter your opponent's attacks. So it's a movement that you need to know inside out and … [Read more...]
Self Defense vs MMA with John Hackleman
The intersection of MMA and self defense has always been interesting to me, so I was thrilled to have a chat with John 'the Pitmaster' Hackleman recently. John is well known for coaching Chuck Liddell to the UFC light-heavyweight title, but he has mentored many other successful MMA fighters as well. But despite his success as an MMA coach the reason he started training martial arts was very … [Read more...]
Sport BJJ vs Self Defense BJJ
There are many reasons to train BJJ - fitness, camaraderie, having fun, taking on a challenge, spiritual development, learning to deal with challenges, wanting to compete - but at its core, Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a martial art. Martial arts means self defense. Self defense is a very big topic, but it has to include choking an attacker into a unconsciousness if need be. Here are two videos … [Read more...]
The 5 Steps to Training A New Technique
Most of the videos I post online are from my main Youtube channel which focusses quite heavily on BJJ, no gi jiu-jitsu, MMA and other forms of grappling. But what a lot of people don't know is that I also have a second youtube channel called 'Self Defense Tutorials' which - as the title might imply - focuses more on self defense and martial arts training. Here is one of the videos from that … [Read more...]
MMA Weight Cutting with UFC Fighter Alan Belcher (And More)
I just released a new interview with UFC star Alan Belcher who has had some of the most exciting, edge-of-your-seat fights in the UFC. In our chat Alan shares lessons learned from 26 MMA fights including… The details of cutting major amounts of weight before an MMA fight His mindset while fighting Rousimar Palhares, one of the dirtiest and scariest fighter in MMA Lifting … [Read more...]
Eye Gouging, Hair Pulling, and Theodore Roosevelt with Historian Daniele Bolelli
This is definitely one of my very favourite Grapplearts Radio Podcast episodes to date. In it I talk with historian and martial artist Daniele Bolelli. When Daniele isn't training MMA or giving lectures to students he's busy creating episodes of his own podcast, History on Fire, which you should totally check out. Our chat went all over the place, including from the rules (or lack … [Read more...]
Self Defense, Weapons, BJJ, and Mexican Prisons…
BJJ is a great sport but ultimately - and even more important - it's also a martial art. And the core of every martial art has to be about combat; the fitness, discipline, camaraderie and fun is great, but they're all bonuses. It's fantastic to have an awesome spinning triangle from spider guard, but you ALSO need to understand how to use your art in the streets, which might … [Read more...]
New Podcast: Impact, Concussions and Brain Damage in Mixed Martial Arts
I've just released a brand new podcast on Grapplearts Radio called 'Does MMA Make You Stupid?' Now that might sound like a deliberately provocative title, but the topic of brain damage in combat sports is so important that I want to make sure this podcast reaches as many people as possible. This podcast grew from an article I wrote a few years ago about the current state of head impact … [Read more...]
What’s the Right Stance for MMA?
In MMA you see fighters using a variety of stances. Some crouch, some stand upright, some look like wrestlers, others look like kick boxers. And sometimes you see stances straight out of Karate, Capoeira, and Kung Fu... Given all these options how can fighters choose what'll work best for them? Or, in simple terms, what's the best stance for MMA? Of course the answer is never so simple. … [Read more...]
A Big Guard Passing Tip Learned from Boxing
Today I'm going to share a tip which - if you actually use it - should make your guard passes twice as effective as they are right now. I learned this a long time ago from my friend and training partner Ritchie Yip. One day we were sparring, and unlike our previous sparring session he was absolutely demolishing my guard. It was as if I had butter legs and he was wielding a red-hot samurai … [Read more...]
The BJJ Self Defense Experiment
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...]