We all know what it is like to get paired up with bigger guys in the academy. When approaching a roll with someone who has a substantial amount of weight on you, it is important to have strategies in place. Typically bigger opponents...

At the end of the day, to pass someone's guard means to simply avoid and get around an opponent's legs.  Pretty simple and straight forward, right?  If only.  Just as there are countless ways to use one's legs or one's guard to control...

Jiu Jitsu training teaches one to explore and find the most efficient way to use one's body against another body to control and ultimately submit one's opponent.  Strength is typically eschewed as not the most important element of one's arsenal when learning, but...

Leg locks are quickly becoming the most popular choice of submissions in both the gi and in nogi, they are even becoming more prevalent in MMA.  What makes the leg lock such a popular choice of submission?  Why is it becoming a necessity...

 One of the most frustrating positions an opponent or sparring partner can assume is the turtle position.  Think about it, they are perfectly balled up and if they're smart they are keeping their elbows tight and behind the thighs.  Though generally frowned upon...

The journey to black belt is a long and winding road that will find you having many moments of frustration and many more of ecstatic joy and move through the various color belts achieving what few people ever attempt.  You participate in one...

Pressure passing is one of the best ways to deal with a tricky guard player.  Pressure passing has a common misconception of being a strength application.  Many bjj practitioners also assume that pressure passing is utilized more by heavier people. That is simple...

Much has been written about the painful shoulder submission, the Kimura.  The powerful technique where one controls the wrist of their opponent with a powerful figure-four grip on one's own wrist and utilizes leverage to torque the shoulder by driving the opponent's wrist...

Every world class jiu jitsu competitor has a particular style or technique they are known for and makes up the foundation of their BJJ game.  Lucas Leite is a multiple time world jiu jitsu champion who fights for the Checkmat affiliation under Professor...

The triangle choke is one of the highest percentage submissions in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA.  It is one of the first submissions that bjj practitioners learn, and one of the last that they perfect. The versatile BJJ triangle choke or sankaku jime...

In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu it is extremely important to have confidence in your escapes.  An aggressive offence will stem from a confident defense.  In bjj, in order to establish a good defense, you have to know your escapes.  Some people notoriously say in...

The history and development of jiu jitsu can have some very interesting parallels to one's personal development.  In the beginning, most beginners are exposed to closed guard and the submissions and sweeps that can be initiated from this fundamental position.  As we begin...

Today in the jiu jitsu and grappling world, there are more competitions, more rule sets, and more disagreement about what is the best rule set for these competitions than there has ever been in history.  Up until very recently, the juggernaut organizations behind...

One of the best guards in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu today is the Single Leg X Guard.   The Single Leg X guard has several benefits and has proven itself effective at the highest levels of competition.  Many World Champion Black Belts utilize the Single...

The cross choke is one of the first gi chokes that you learn in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  Many people say that “it is the first choke you learn and the last one that you master.”  Bjj has a multitude of different gi chokes,...