BjjSkills

Mastering a new technique can seem overwhelming. There are so many steps, and for every action you take, your opponent might have 10 different reactions.

But there’s a relatively simple solution to the paralysing amount of material you need to internalise…

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and so does adding a new technique to your game. Start by mastering the first chunk of that technique!

This begs the question: what’s the first chunk?

Usually, it involves getting the arm position or grip you’ll need to perform the rest of the technique.

For example, if you’re doing an offensive technique, then the grip will allow you to disrupt your opponent’s alignment enough to begin your attack.

Say you’re in the butterfly guard and you want to attack with a triangle choke. Here’s my favourite way to set up the triangle choke…

The first chunk in this triangle attack sequence is getting the 2-on-1 control.

Once you have that grip you can focus on kicking out one of your opponent’s legs to further disrupt his base and structure. Then you can lock your egs into place and do all the adjustments you need to tighten the choke to get the submission.

BUT DON’T GET GREEDY AND DEMAND MASTERY OF THE WHOLE TECHNIQUE IN ONE TRAINING SESSION!

Instead of trying to hit the triangle choke from butterfly guard as many times as possible in a round, spend the whole round – heck, the whole training session – focusing almost exclusively on getting and maintaining that 2-on-1 grip.

Count each second of holding that grip as a victory, and don’t worry if you don’t finish a single triangle.

FIRST good at that chunk number one and THEN proceed to chunk number two.

Let’s take a look at another example: escaping from side control (taken from No Gi Pin Escapes)…

Chunk number one for this escape is getting your arms into position so you can disrupt your opponent’s posture, create a bit of space, and threaten to re-establish elbow-knee control.

Therefore, if you’re working on side control escapes, then count getting your near arm and your far arm into the right position as a victory, even if you don’t pull off any complete escapes.

In this case, the first chunk you need to master is achieving and maintaining your arm frames.

Then step two, three and four, but » Continue Reading.

The post Training Your Techniques in Chunks for Faster Learning appeared first on Grapplearts.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the Ultimate Illustrated Guidebook started as an April Fool’s joke and then morphed into a BEAST of a book complete with 967 illustrations.

In episode 424 of The Strenuous Life Podcast I chat with the authors of this awesome new book: renowned BJJ black belt, illustrator and designer Seymour Yang (better known as Meerkatsu) and his partner in crime Graham Barlow (the creator of the Tai Chi Notebook) about the core techniques of BJJ, modern vs traditional jiu-jitsu, and the process of bringing a new book into the world.

You can check this Episode 424 of The Strenuous Life Podcast anywhere you get your podcasts, including

Apple Podcasts Spotify Overcast  Player FM Etc.

Or you can listen to it on the embedded player below…

Check out Meerkatsu’s and Graham’s book here: https://www.meerkatsu.com/product/brazilian-jiu-jitsu-the-ultimate-illustrated-guidebook/

Cheers, Stephan

P.S. And while we’re on the topic of books check out Perseverance, Life and Death in the Subarctic.  While this isn’t a BJJ book specifically, it does contain many of the lessons I learned about endurance, perseverance, and grit on the toughest expedition of my life.

This is a memoir of my toughest solo trip ever, a 42 day solo expedition into the remote Canadian North where I dodged forest fires, stared down bears, and canoed raging rapids completely alone.  Check out “Perseverance, Life and Death in the Subarctic” in hardcover, anywhere you get your books including at the links below:

Perseverance on Amazon.com Perseverance on Barnes and Noble Perseverance on Indigo.ca Any independent bookstore

The post Meerkatsu Draws A BJJ Book! appeared first on Grapplearts.

It’s just a matter of time but if you’re training, then you’ll eventually run into an untrained guy who wants to test his skills by brawling on the mats.

These are usually the “In a fight, I just see red, bro!” guys.

They’re never very skilled, but the problem is that even the reddest of the just-seeing-red bros present some danger.

That’s because they’ll go zero to one hundred in the first moments of the match. Deep down, they know they have no gas tank, and so they gamble everything on winning in the first few seconds.

If this were a street fight, they’d have one flurry of wild, desperate, untrained punches.

There’s no skill or strategy here, but if one of those haymakers catches you on the chin, it could still knock you out.

In a grappling context, they’ll have a rudimentary plan, which is usually to grab onto something, then squeeze and twist as hard as possible.

If they catch a headlock, they’ll hang on for dear life, which means that escaping will be a slow, painful process for you. Alternately, they’ll grab a foot and then try to twist it off with all their strength.

These are low-percentage attacks, but because they’re so unorthodox and uncontrolled, they can still be dangerous.  There’s zero control and zero looking out for your joint health.

The first rule of going against one of these just-see-red bros is to avoid injury.

Therefore get your grips, control their ability to move, and don’t let them get the grip they want.

The second rule is to tire them out.

Once you have a good grip and/or established a dominant position then you should hang on for the ride as they thrash around for 30 seconds and completely gas out.

When they’re completely exhausted, systematically submit them as many times as possible for the rest of the round.

Good luck with your training!

Stephan Kesting

P.S. If you’re looking for gripfighting techniques and strategies then check out The Gripfighting and Kuzushi Formula with Rob Biernacki, available here on this site.

P.P.S. And if you’re looking for ways to defend yourself against much larger man-monsters on the mat then check out How to Defeat the Bigger Stronger Opponent.  This series » Continue Reading.

The post Dealing With The “I Just See Red Bro” Guy! appeared first on Grapplearts.

The fight-or-flight reflex is always lurking just below the surface. When things get sufficiently stressful, our hormonal system dumps enormous amounts of adrenaline into our bloodstream, and — BOOM — suddenly we’re ready for action.

That adrenaline serves a purpose: it elevates your heart rate, makes you much stronger, more pain tolerant, and able to ignore injury. If you ever have to lift a car off a child, you don’t want to be calm. Instead, you want to be mad, scared, enraged—whatever it takes to get into that adrenaline-soaked state of high arousal to lift the damn car with your bare hands.

But that superhuman strength comes at a cost; as adrenaline floods your system, you lose a significant amount of fine motor control and higher brain function. Take whatever IQ you started with and cut it in half.

Episode 422 of The Strenuous Life Podcast may give you some clues about how to manage that adrenaline intelligently. Check it out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, all other podcast players, or stream the audio using the player immediately below…

This episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast is an excerpt from the audiobook version of Perseverance, Life and Death in the Subarctic which you can check out anywhere you get books including the links below:

Perseverance on Amazon.com Perseverance on Barnes and Noble Perseverance on Indigo.ca Any independent bookstore

Good luck with your training and all your endeavors

Stephan Kesting

The post Training to Deal with Adrenaline and Emergency Situations appeared first on Grapplearts.

On episode 421 of The Strenuous Life Podcast, I’m joined by three-time IBJJ World medallist James Deirmendjian and elite personal trainer to discuss optimal training methodologies and the science behind strength and conditioning for sport.

We cover hacks to improve recovery, debunk common myths in the Jiu-Jitsu community, and go deep into the need for a more scientific approach to training and nutrition.

You can check it out as Episode 421 of The Strenuous Life Podcast anywhere you get your podcasts, including

Apple Podcasts Spotify Overcast  Player FM Etc.

Or you can stream the audio on this site with this player:

Follow and/or get in touch with James on Instagram (@fight_fit_training)!

Other Resources BJJ Games

BJJ Games, the New Instructional featuring Rob Biernacki

If you want to delve deeper into training methods that maximize results and minimize injuries check out the ground-breaking BJJ Games instructional I did with Rob Biernacki.

BJJ for Old F***s

BJJ for Old ***s – The Guard Passing Game. The newest instructional by Rob Biernacki and Stephan Kesting, available in online and DVD formats here at Grapplearts.com

For more information about the specific techniques and strategies that allow older grapplers to hold their own against young punks check out the two BJJ for Old F***s instructionals.

Perseverance, Life and Death in the Subarctic

Please check out my book, Perseverance, Life and Death in the Subarctic. It’s packed with the resilience lessons I learned while doing a very difficult 42 day solo trip in the Subarctic after a kidney transplant. It’s available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indigo, or your local bookstore!

Good luck with your training! Stephan Kesting

The post BJJ Training and Conditioning Myths appeared first on Grapplearts.