We can be our own harshest critic, or we tell lies to ourselves Most of our instructors help us with assessing our game. This should be the most trusted voice we listen to. That said, we can also self-analyze our progress. When we...

Great Foundations Build Great Grapplers! In my early years of practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I was often keen on quickly moving through the fundamental techniques of the curriculum to progress to complicated techniques and weird guards. The grapplers I watched mostly, the Mendes...

Technical Jiu-Jitsu Always Wins... How many game changing details do you think it’s possible to learn in one 10-minute video? Every time I’m treated to some instruction with John Danaher, I’m immediately glued to the screen, and making a list of phenomenal details that...

The Mood Swing that comes with the End of Daylight Saving Time Most of us enjoyed the extra hour of sleep this weekend due to “falling back” with the end of Daylight Saving Time, but what about losing those daylight hours much earlier?...

Toughness. Do We Have It? Or Can We Develop It? This weekend I attended the ADCC North American Qualifier in Bayville, NJ. This is the second time I was able to make the trip to one of the most exciting, and challenging grappling...

Add this popular modern guard variation to your game  Making your guard game more dynamic is one of the best investments you can make in your BJJ game.  As a new student, those first few times opening your guard can be scary, frustrating...

Passing The Guard Can Become A Game Of Will... Be Relentless The days of passing the guard easily on first attempt is very rare except when done on brand new white belts. In fact, passing the guard on the second or even third attempt...

Simple Technique For A Quick Sweep The shin-on-shin guard in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a very versatile position to sweep and enter into more dominant positions. This unique guard can be used against standing and seated partners. This position is effective and consistently...

A lot of BJJ practitioners will cross-train wrestling to help improve their takedowns. What good is your top game if you can't get the fight there, right? While you are working on those important single legs and double legs, you might actually be...

There's nothing that says "you will die... if you don't tap" more than a good jiu jitsu choke :) Lachlan Giles is considered one of Australia's best grapplers - especially know for this coaching and training with other top Aussies:  Livia Gluchowska and...

When John Danaher gives a guard its own name AND it's named after one of the most iconic American Grapplers: Shawn Williams, you pay attention to the transitions. Shawn Williams was the 5th USA black belt under Renzo Gracie and John Danaher (awarded...

What is spatial awareness? Spatial awareness: Spatial awareness is the ability to be aware of oneself in space. It is an organised knowledge of objects in relation to oneself in that given space. Spatial awareness also involves understanding the relationship of these objects...

You Have A Great Base...Now Believe In The Technique! Wrestling is just about the best background you can have when starting jiu-jitsu. You have at least a little knowledge on the ground, you know how to control your own/others body, and you are...

The Often Overlooked Idea of Training Structure. Lately, the words training structure have been infinitely exciting to me. In the same way a leg lockers eyes light up when he hears wedges or Ashi Garmi. In the same fashion as it was for...

Should Toolish Behavior Delay Promotion to Blue Belt? There is often a morality clause before promotion to black belt. It is a common statement, “I won’t give a black belt to someone with poor moral character.” It makes sense. That individual as a...