At lower ranks, exposing your back by going to turtle to defend guard can be a bad option since one might not be skilled at staying tight and escaping back into a guard. However, we often see black belts turtle and get to...

Why BJJ Practitioners Should Consider Adding Wrestling to their Training. Ricky Lundell: Why should BJJ practitioners add wrestling techniques to their training. Neil Melanson: Wrestling is so much more than strength and a scramble.  The techniques are designed to teach the art of...

Most grapplers associate butterfly guard with sweeping, or as a transition to other guards. Sure, there is the arm drag back take and the basic butterfly sweep, but most people are aware of those threats and are ready for them in rolling. Your...

One of the biggest struggles new students experience when beginning Jiu Jitsu is guard retention. Guard retention is the way grapplers can prevent their opponent from passing their legs and hips and ending up in a superior position such as side control, mount,...

Passing the guard of a skilled Jiu Jitsu grappler is one of the most frustrating things ever. In last year’s World No Gi championship, we saw Yuri Simoes try to pass Gordon Ryan’s guard for nearly the entire match, with each time getting...

A good wrestling shot, including a solid penetration, is a must know for any grappler. The ability to enter int to a takedown scenario efficiently without getting caught in a bad position or giving up precious position is paramount. Hesitation can also be...

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is tough. And at times injuries do happen. Below are some tips to negate the possibility of getting trapped in an injury, subsequently losing progress. The gentle art moniker sometimes gets muffled. Injuries do happen and at times not only your...

Ogoshi, or major hip throw in Japanese, was one of the original forty throws that Kano taught when he founded Judo in the nineteenth century. Today it often taught as one of the first hip throws a student learns, and in competition used...

The Western World is a world where we are trained to think in terms of binary opposites.  Something is good or it is evil. The weather is hot or cold. We vote Republican or Democrat.  We root for the Yankees or the Red...

Jiu Jitsu can be an invaluable key to meeting new people and to discovering authentic communities when you hit the road. Over the past four years, I have trained in places like Maui, Iceland, Barcelona and San Francisco, and I am always amazed...

If you ask the majority of people that are actively practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu why they started to train, you’ll get a variety of answers. Some will say to learn how to protect themselves, some wanted a stress outlet; others were more interested...

Back at it again fellow Jiu jitsu nerds, today we are talking closed guard. Every white belt on their first week of Jiu jitsu learns certain things, you’re going to learn how to break fall, self-defense techniques, a technical stand up, a judo throw, and...

Progressing along our Jiu Jitsu journey we are certainly going to run into challenges.  It seems to be a lot of the same challenges repeated time and time again, just at a higher level each time.  Allow me to explain. When we first...

With the evolution of Jiu Jitsu through digital content availability creating access to the highest level techniques out there today it makes sense that everyone is searching for the next “secret move”.  Let’s face it, we live in a time where if you...

Understanding the Difference Between Motivation and Discipline is Key to Your Success The internet and social media are filled with motivation memes.  It's like you can't scroll through Facebook or Instagram without seeing photos of lions, mountains, and shirtless athletes with less than...