The open guard is one of the most beautiful and complex tools we utilize in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. When you think about it, open guard is actually just an umbrella term for a huge amount of positions that all vary from each...

Many people consider the closed guard to be a limited position, especially when they begin to move up the ranks in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and I get why. You learn the majority of the techniques from closed guard as a white belt, but...

  If you’ve ever been passing the guard and someone throws up rubber guard it can cause a wide array of feelings. For some it can cause a confidence shift because they excel at passing the rubber guard. For a lot of people...

The kimura is my favorite joint lock submission mostly because of its versatility. This extremely powerful shoulder lock can be attacked from closed guard, half guard, side control, and so many other positions. Not only is it versatile in the sense that it...

The closed guard is one of the most difficult positions to defend from in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. While the attacker has a variety of potential options to use against you including sweeps and submissions, the only real option the defender has is escaping....

Acquiring the over hook from bottom guard can lead to an enormous list of options if you know how to control the position properly. Trapping the arm and creating an angle can leave your opponent in a sticky situation. This position has its...

When a new student walks in the door of an academy, they don’t know what to expect. Chances are, if the atmosphere is right, they will stay, and enjoy a nice long journey, just as many who came before them. They will begin...

Deep half guard is a very interesting position in BJJ. I personally enjoy transitioning to deep half from many of the common BJJ escapes. It’s a go to for me when escaping the back, or the mount, and ending up there presents lots...

Learning Wrestling Is The Perfect Way To Cross Train For Brazilian Jiu Jitsu! Nobody Understands This Better Than 3x ALL AMERICAN Wrestler Hudson Taylor Who Uses Wrestling To Beat All The Top BJJ Guys! Hudson Taylor is the founder and executive director of Athlete...

If you love jiu jitsu but you struggle to finish your submissions it is likely you are missing a few key details in your technique. Submissions like wrist locks, arm locks, leg locks, and neck chokes all require a lot of practice and...

No matter how long you have been training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or other grappling martial arts. The fundamentals such as sweeps, chokes, guard passing, turtle, side control, mount, hip escapes, half guard, open guard, under and over hooks, and even something as basic...

SAMBO Master Vlad Koulikov has combined some of the best moves in this Russian combat sport along with jiu jitsu for some amazing grappling! Sambo is a Russian martial art and combat sport. It originated in the Soviet Union. The word “SAMBO” is...

It seems that the aspect of Jiu Jitsu new students struggle with the most, on average, is guard retention. I know I did. Guard retention is unique in grappling because unlike submissions, sweeps, and guard passes, it does not place too much emphasis...

One of the most common phrases uttered in the sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or mixed martial arts is “get under hooks.” Under hooks are a fundamental part of grappling and wrestling that allow the person with the under hook to have substantial...

Let Half Guard Master Tom DeBlass Bring Some Extra Strength to Your Shield in Bottom Half Guard We continually discus the importance of frames in BJJ. It seems no matter the situation a frame will most likely come in to play. Whether we’re...