A friend recently complained that his training partners were forever just "running around" his guard. We got onto the mat and figured out that this wasn't the whole story. It turned out that his opponents were first pinning both his feet to the floor and then running around his guard, essentially a variation of the toreando pass. There are late stage defenses to the toreando, but - as … [Read more...]
Techniques
Three Cheats for Escaping a Tough Mount
The basic mount escapes like the elbow-knee and upa escape are classics for a reason, but if you go back to the well too often, then your opponent inevitably gets wise to it and figures out how to shut it down. That's why you need to be able to mix things up. Start with one escape, then switch to another. Jab, then cross. Fake east, go west. Here are three unexpected techniques for … [Read more...]
The 4 Most Common Errors For The ‘Upa’ Mount Escape
The 'Upa' (or 'Bridge and Roll') is probably the very first mount escape that a beginner ever learns. It's taught as part of the basic curriculum for a very simple reason: it works! You see this escape in MMA, submission grappling, and BJJ competition with the gi. I've used it as a white belt, blue belt, purple belt, brown belt and black belt. Contrary to what some people will tell you is … [Read more...]
A New School Knee Ride Escape
Every once in a while, a new way of doing things comes along that is so much better that it has to get added to your repertoire right away. The Uno Reverse Card Escape vs the knee ride is one such technique! You start on the bottom of the knee ride, unable to breathe as your opponent spears his weight into your diaphragm... ...then, a few simple moves later, you spin into a leglock and/or … [Read more...]
Half Guard Leg Position Drill for BJJ & Submission Grappling
The Half Guard is a very powerful position from which to sweep or submit your opponent. But just like all other forms of guard, it's really important to know how to move your hips and your legs correctly. No movement = no guard!!! Here's a half-guard drill that teaches you the basic leg and hip movements to manoeuvre into position to apply your techniques and prevent him from passing your … [Read more...]
What is a Crossface in BJJ
The crossface is one of the keys to a brutally effective side control. You can use the crossface to turn his jaw into a lever to turn his head and limit the directions he can turn. This makes it so much harder for your opponent to escape, tires him out, and kills his will to fight. A properly applied crossface is a tool you can use in the gi, no gi, and MMA to double how heavy you feel on top; … [Read more...]
How to Reset the Back When Your Opponent Has Almost Escaped
Being on someone's back is the crown jewel of BJJ. From this position, all your weapons are pointed towards his throat and all his weapons are pointed away from you. Life is good! The trouble is that once you're on the other guy's back he's going to do everything he can to escape. He'll try technical escapes like going to the weak side and using the ground to scrape you off of him. And if … [Read more...]
Gold Medal Judo Techniques that Work in BJJ
I've previously written about why you probably shouldn’t use the top-scoring judo throw - Seio Otoshi - in your BJJ practice. (To recap, this throw requires a TON of reps, potentially exposes you to back takes, is gi-dependent, and there’s a high chance you'll roll over your opponent to end up on the bottom.) But don't throw the Judo baby out with the bathwater!! There IS a heck of a lot … [Read more...]
Revolutionary Omoplata
A Technique that Bridges the Gap between Sweep and Submission By Stephan Kesting Originally published in Grappling Magazine in 2002. The omoplata is all the rage these days: it's a submission, a sweep, and a setup for other submissions and sweeps. If you go to a high-level grappling competition tomorrow, you will almost certainly see it used multiple times. The omoplata is a little bit … [Read more...]
How to Do the Von Flue Choke
The guillotine choke is the second most popular submission in MMA (after the rear naked choke) and an omnipresent threat in no gi grappling and gi jiu-jitsu, so you need a solid guillotine defense game! But the only thing better than defending against a guillotine is reversing it and using his choke attempt to set up a submission of your own. That's where the Von Flue choke comes in! This … [Read more...]
Kneebar from Side Control
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...]
Your New Technique (Probably) Isn’t Going To Work
You know that new choke you saw the other day and hope to use in class tonight? Yeah... about that. That shiny new choke probably isn't going to work. The truth is that any signature moves you develop in your jiu-jitsu career will be the lone survivors standing on top of a mountain of discarded techniques that you just couldn't get to click. Every time I try something new, I think, … [Read more...]
Innovation and Technical Refinement in Jiu-Jitsu
Rob Biernacki is my guest today to talk about how injury and physical limitations have led to some of the fastest technical development of his career and the refinement of entirely new techniques like the Roadhouse Choke. Since some form of injury is inevitable there are a LOT of takeaways in this episode. We also discuss... Risk vs reward in your choice of techniques, How new … [Read more...]
D’Arce Choke Defense
The D'Arce choke is super-popular right now. This is a choke that traps your opponent's neck and arm inside your figure-foured arms and you can apply it against the half guard, against turtle, from guard passing, and in a ton of scrambles. (Click here for a detailed breakd0wn for applying the D'Arce choke.) This choke is especially popular in no gi grappling because the decreased friction … [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...]
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...]
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...]