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As the year 2026 dawns upon all of us I took a minute to look back at the fact that this year will be my 25th year of Jiu-jitsu. Yes, that means I started Jiu-jitsu in 2001 as a teenager. It seems weird to think about the fact that I have been training for a quarter century and at this point the majority of my life, also to contrast that with the fact that I have shared the mats with people who got their black belt before I was born. Despite the fact that I have trained for t

Ego has killed more BJJ careers than injuries. Ego is a tough thing to deal with in Jiu-jitsu, it has always been a tough thing to deal with and we as humans are not great at dealing with it in the first place. The thing with Jiu-jitsu is it is a very difficult sport, not just because it is mechanically complex but because it places you in direct conflict albeit controlled conflict with other people almost every single day. As much as we want to talk about how much it doesn’t

Leglocks, they’re so hot right now. There are literally hundreds of leglock tutorials available for purchase from practically every big name competitor from the last 15 years. The thing is though leglocks are not some magic bullet that are better than any other technique. They actually are all fairly similar mechanically and if you can master a few principles you can become a strong leglocker and save yourself a dollar or two on instructionals. I accidentally became the go to

Hygiene! The most important thing you can do for your training partners. If you do not have good hygiene, I don’t really want to grapple with you. Hygiene does not just involve washing your gear so you don’t stink, but all sorts of cleaning to ensure your partners want to keep training with you. To get the big thing off the table, if you do not keep yourself clean you can contract a myriad of pretty nasty skin diseases from the mildly annoying ringworm to the potentially fata

Grip fighting is one of the most under rated skills for Jiu-jitsu in both Gi and No-Gi grappling. It also happens to be one that Jiu-jitsu practitioners ignore more than most other grapplers. Grip fighting can be the reason between victory and defeat as the person who gets their preferred grips first can act first. When I am grip fighting I focus on a few little things that help me gain position and control of my opponent as I advance my position. These skills have helped me

Blue belt, widely recognized as the belt that most people quit Jiu-jitsu. The joke about blue belts disappearing has been going on for at least 22 years. Because I can remember someone telling me not to disappear right after I got my blue belt that long ago. How is it that we can get more people to stick it out in Jiu-jitsu and move past blue belt? One of the biggest barriers for people when getting their blue belt are plateaus. When you are a white belt you are constantly le

The Mat Enforcer we have all heard of it and some of us have probably been it at some point in our lives. A grappler, usually an upper belt that comes in to “regulate” anyone (usually an outsider or drop in) not treating the lower belts correctly. However, the Mat Enforcer is really not a good way to handle that and is not a responsible way to create a training environment that is safe, beneficial, and welcoming to everyone. Instead of regulating after the fact and punishing

Arm bars are one of the most recognizable and versatile attacks in Jiu-jitsu. The arm bar is usually one of the first submissions you learn as a new white belt. This means that almost everyone in Jiu-jitsu knows this move and is on the lookout to defend against the arm bar. Because of this fact the arm bar can be one of the most difficult moves to master. I used to be really bad at the arm bar, even as a black belt I barely finished the arm bar when trying it and often lost p

I spend a decent amount of time visiting other academies here in my area and I always try and drop in at places when I travel to get some mat time and experience with people I do not normally grapple with. Visiting other academies can be a very beneficial way to improve your grappling and point out areas where you may be deficient. Every Jiu-jitsu school has their own unique style of grappling, this is largely influenced by the head instructor and their preferred style. That

Accountability is a difficult thing. It is something that is both external and internal. Something that we struggle with as people but something that is essential to a high trust functional society. As a country has failed as a society to hold people accountable. America, for better or worse, sees itself collectively as a shining beacon on a hill, however it is hard to remain illustriously shining if no one is accountable for polishing. Many people come into martial arts, mys

Here is the thing, I want to talk about Jiu-jitsu, the problem is that there are a bunch of shitheads currently shoving themselves into...

Keep Politics out of Jiu-jitsu is a phrase that is commonly used in the community often to stifle any discussion on political discourse...

This is a controversial statement; it shouldn’t be but somehow it is. Let me be clear, I am a deeply unserious person. What I mean by...

Introduction The scissor sweep is one of the first sweeps many people lean in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. I would consider it one of the...

Pressure is one of the most versatile tools in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Many people believe that having titanic pressure is all about being...

The Promise of Team Format This format promised the best teams of No-Gi competitors battling it out for a 1 million dollar prize. The...