To loosely quote John Danaher, everyone agrees that the fundamentals of Jiu Jitsu are the most important and deserve to be focused on daily. However, there is a lot of controversy regarding what constitutes the “fundamentals”.   We can likely all agree that the...

One of the most frequently asked questions in regard to the arm bar is when and why you should cross your legs. Various high-level instructors will tell you to never cross your legs while others will tell you that you should. With this...

As a white belt, we are constantly looking for tips, tricks, and advice from the professionals on how to be more efficient, how to go further faster, ultimately, just how to survive our time as a white belt and come out the other...

Guard retention. Its quite possibly the most important skill in BJJ. Whether you’re speaking in terms of self defense or sport, failing to properly retain the guard can have disastrous consequences. In a self-defense situation, your guard retention is your first line of...

What is the most important thing you need to be good at to be good at Jiu Jitsu?  Is it takedowns, attacks from a certain position, mount or back mount perhaps? Professor John Danaher and Professor Bernardo Faria would argue that the most...

I always found it interesting that it seemed the fundamental techniques I first learned, I’m talking the very basics, the ones I had to know to get my first stripe, seemed to only work on the new students and would continually see them...

When should you be crossing your feet and when should you not? It seems there are so many conflicting thoughts on this, enough in fact that Professor John Danaher has dedicated his time to create a short video to review the facts of...

There is no disputing, whether you prefer sport Jiu Jitsu, Self Defense Jiu Jitsu, or simply feel, as many do that Jiu Jitsu is Jiu Jitsu and when trained properly the vast majority of techniques are transferable from the mats, to the streets,...

Everyone agrees that when you first start training learning the fundamentals is the first, and only priority.   Many of the best instructors in Jiu Jitsu have gone as far as to say that your entire time as a white belt, and most...

Is having control of your opponent’s back the best possible position in Jiu Jitsu? Could it be the most sought after position of all controlling positions? If we look at Jiu Jitsu as a sport, in point based tournaments you will always see...

Takedowns are often the least trained concepts in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu schools, but are some of the most important in both competition and real life scenarios. The two key factors in a takedown are getting the best grip and being the person in...

Everyone has been there: you’re playing your guard game, get an arm isolated, open your guard and go for the armbar. …and something didn’t go right and now you’re getting your guard passed instead finishing the submission. It is frustrating and demoralizing. Systematic...

Wouldn’t it be nice if every submission attempt was successful every time?  Imagine, you get the Kimura set up and the opponent does nothing to defend it.  I’m not sure if that would really make things better, or if it would just make...

  It’s likely when you started training someone told you that Jiu Jitsu would change your life.  It’s also likely you blew them off and didn’t think anything of it. That is, until you realized it is changing your life.  Day after day,...

It’s all about that grip.  Gripping in Jiu Jitsu CAN be everything… It can also be completely useless.  I’ll never forget, mainly because it still happens every time we roll it seems, training with a good friend of mine and feeling like I...