The butterfly guard offers your opponent two different types of control that set up his attacks and make it difficult for you to pass his guard.
Screw up even a little bit and you’ll find yourself hoisted into the air and swept or caught in a devastating leglock.
To shut him down and pass his guard you first need to understand the control points he potentially has in butterfly guard…
The first type of control in butterfly guard are the grips, for example, collar ties on your neck, grips on your wrist, the underhook controlling your shoulder, belt grips, the 2-on-1 grip or the armdrag grip.
To deal with his grips you have to handfight, handfight, handfight! Do not concede superior grips to your opponent because you’ll be giving him a HUGE advantage.
The second type control are his instep hooks between your legs. The insteps are the heavy hitters of the butterfly guard because they lift and off-balance you, as well as making it very hard for you to run around his guard since he can just keep his hooks sticky against the inside of your legs and track you.
Neutralising the Butterfly Hooks
To pass butterfly guard without backing away you have two basic options…
First, you can break any grips and back out. Now that his hooks are detached, getting to a dominant position involves guard passes like the toreando, the kick pass, the knee cut, the leg drag, and submission-based passes usually involving the guillotine or Kimura controls.
Typically, this detach-and-pass approach requires faster, more explosive passing movements.
The second approach is to stay close but use leg pummelling and hip shifts to nullify the effectiveness of his guard. Since you often can’t see what’s going on with his feet at this close range this approach often requires more sensitivity but less speed, and often results in pressure-based guard passes to get past his legs.
Neutralising the Butterfly Hooks While Staying Close
Let’s focus on three different ways to shut down the effectiveness of his instep hooks without backing all the way out of butterfly guard.
First, you can use a floating approach…
In the floating approach you’ll force your opponent onto his back (i.e. recumbent butterfly guard) and put your weight on his insteps and shins. Now actively pour arms to keep your balance, then use a combination of hip shifting, » Continue Reading.
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2025-07-03 17:57:26
On today’s episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast, I’m joined by wrestler, jiu-jitsuka, and author Chris Jessulat (https://www.thewrongsideof35.com/) to discuss the best practices for staying relevant on the mats as you enter your fourth decade and beyond…
00:00 Training as an Older Grappler 02:48 The Transition from Competitive to Recreational Training 05:46 Physical Changes and Changing to a Mobility Focus 08:34 Quantifying Progress in Jiu-Jitsu 11:47 Breaking Through Training Plateaus 14:23 Comfort in Unfamiliar Positions 17:11 Training Strategies for Older Grapplers 29:35 Creating Positive Training Environments 31:12 The Impact of Focussing on Recovery and Positive Lifestyle Choices 33:41 Proactive Injury Management and Recovery Strategies 37:44 Navigating Injury Diagnosis and Treatment 40:51 Adapting Techniques and Mindset in Trainng 44:22 Reflections on Writing and Sharing Martial Arts Experiences 48:26 Lessons Learned from Martial Arts Training 51:20 The Importance of Community in Martial Arts
You can check this Episode 426 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 Chris’s great book on his site thewrongsideof35.com and/or follow him on instagram at @thewrongsideof35.
Cheers! Stephan Kesting
Related Resources BJJ For Old F***s, the 2-for-1 Deal!
The two BJJ for Old F***s volumes are two Grapplearts bestsellers featuring BJJ black belt instructors Rob Biernacki and Stephan Kesting.
These instructionals are your guide to surviving and thriving in BJJ after age 40. Every technique is chosen to work to be as low risk and high reward as possible because we know that if you get injured then you can’t train.
You’ll get our very best shortcuts gleaned from 55 years of jiu-jitsu training (and 70 years of martial arts training) by the two authors combined.
Click here to find out more about our best-selling program for older grapplers.
Perseverance, Life and Death in the Subarctic, The Book by Stephan Kesting
Perseverance, Life and Death in the Subarctic is my best-selling book covering the most difficult adventure in my life and the mindset hacks I used to develop grit, perseverance, and a never-quit attitude. It’s set in the deep wilderness but has many lessons directly relevant to anyone pursuing difficult enterprises, including BJJ.
Click here to check the book on Amazon.
The post BJJ After Age 35 appeared first on Grapplearts.
» Continue Reading.2025-06-24 16:36:10
Rob Biernacki has some very impressive competition victories, including black belt masters gold at both No Gi Worlds and ADCC.
In this podcast episode he reveals…
Why people sometimes just don’t perform up to their potential and how to fix it, How to reframe tournament nerves, The optimal state of arousal for competition, Building and executing on gameplans, Why some people just shouldn’t compete, His best advice for first-time competitors And more.
If you compete (or are thinking about competing), then this is a must listen!
You can check this Episode 425 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…
Related Resources
Resources referred to in this video include:
Gripfighting and Kuzushi with Rob Biernacki
As we discussed in the podcast, gripfighting is the tool that allows you to control the pace of a match and force your opponent to play your game instead of imposing his. This instructional will show you exactly how to add this great equaliser to your game!
Click here to take your gi and no gi gripfighting to the next level!
Omoplata 2.0 with Stephan Kesting
Omoplata 2.0 is my complete system for the most versatile submission in BJJ. The entries, finishes, combinations and drills in this instructional will make you an omoplata master!
Click here to check out the most detailed breakdown of BJJ’s most versatile technique.
Rob’s competition success against opponents much younger, stronger, and heavier than him are proof his training methods work. People come from all over the world to learn the games and drills he uses at his academy, and now you can get them yourself in this amazing instructional!
Click here to check out BJJ Games!
Perseverance, Life and Death in the Subarctic, The Book by Stephan Kesting
Perseverance, Life and Death in the Subarctic is my best-selling book covering the most difficult adventure in my life and the mindset hacks I used to develop grit, perseverance, and a never-quit attitude. It’s set in the deep wilderness but has many lessons directly relevant to anyone pursuing difficult enterprises, including BJJ.
Click here to check the book on Amazon.
The post Optimal Competition Mindset for BJJ Competition appeared first on Grapplearts.
» Continue Reading.2025-06-09 17:53:34
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.
2025-06-04 05:32:58
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.