Grappling Tips Newsletter

April 29, 2009

Win a 32 GB iPod Touch

As you might already know, I have two main websites: Grapplearts.com and BeginningBJJ.com.

I want to help spread the word about BeginningBJJ.com because that's where I offer a free eCourse tailored for the new BJJ student. Every single day I hear from people telling me how much that information has helped them (including, ironically, many higher BJJ belts and even some teachers).

One of my big plans to spread the word about BJJ in general, and about that site in particular, was to put up a lot more Youtube videos. I've done a bit on this front, but unfortunately I'm too busy to do as much as I want...

But now I think I've figured out a way to get more videos up online. There's tons of people these days with video cameras, or web cams, and almost everyone has a friend with a video camera...

So I'll bribe YOU to do it! A win-win-win proposition!

You'll win because we'll have a big draw for prizes. I'll win because it'll help promote my BeginningBJJ site. And BJJ newbies will win because there'll be some helpful new content out there.

Basically I want you to shoot a short video about a single topic that could help a BJJ beginner, and I want it posted on Youtube before May 15th, 2009 (with one catch - see below).

After May 15th, when all the videos are up, I'll give away at least 11 prizes.

The big prize is a brand new, never-been-used 32 GB iPod Touch complete with the Grapplearts Submissions app. That's more than a $400 value. AND I'll also send you every Grappling, BJJ or MMA app I produce in the future.

In addition I'm also giving away at least 10 Grapplearts DVDs (and if only 5 people submit videos then that means that everyone will get 2 DVDs).

Right now I KNOW that there are some of you who are saying "what could I put on video? I've just been doing BJJ for 2 months..." Well in those two months I'm sure that you've learned something that you didn't know before. And I'm equally sure that it would be a revelation to someone else.

Your video can be as bare-bones or as fancy as you like. Crazy transitions, slow motion and text are cool, but won't influence the judging (since it's a draw).

Entries by beginners AND and advanced students AND grappling instructors are all welcome.

I want you to show something that really helped you when you started OR something that makes your students progress faster.

You can show a technique OR a detail OR a concept OR a mistake to avoid.

What you show can be something that you figured out for yourself OR something that someone else showed you (feel free to give credit where credit is due).

4 SIMPLE RULES FOR WINNING AN IPOD...

Shoot a short video with at least one tip, technique, detail or concept useful to the new grappler. It DOESN'T need to be fancy, just informative or helpful
Upload your video to Youtube (it's easy, see the tutorial here)
Find a way to work this url into the Description box on the first upload page: http://www.beginningbjj.com (see below for examples). YOU CAN SAY WHATEVER YOU WANT, just include that url!
Shoot me an email with your name, your address and a link to the video on Youtube.

Here are two examples of how you might make reference to http://www.beginningbjj.com and fulfill step 3

Example 1 (click to enlarge)

Example 2 (click to enlarge)

Thank you and good luck to all the participants. Have fun!

Labels: contest

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 10:10 PM

April 26, 2009

Tradeoffs in Conditioning for Grappling

I first got serious about physical conditioning when I got involved in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Sure, I'd lifted weights and done some running before that point, but there was just something about grappling that drove home how very important conditioning was.

To research the topic of conditioning for grappling I mostly read books, scavenged magazine articles and picked the brains of athletes from different sports. This was back in the very early days of the internet, so I couldn't use that resource nearly as much.

Anyhow, from this research I got lots of tips, ideas and suggestions about how to structure a training program. Of course a lot of it was contradictory, but that was to be expected.

One thing that really bothered and worried me though. It seemed that different exercise modalities could conflict with each other.

For example, when it came to stretching, various studies claimed that it didn't reduce injuries, and that pre-exercise stretching reduced maximal strength, vertical leap performance and sprinting ability.

Another example was the suggestion that endurance training could reduce the gains of strength training.

All these tradeoffs (and many more) were worrying and frustrating. No matter what area of conditioning I looked at, it seemed that it would have negative effects on some other aspect of my fitness.

But eventually I realized two things

1 - Grapplers are generalists. Compared to grappling, it's hard to think of another sport that requires more of a blend of strength, endurance, explosiveness, flexibility, aerobic endurance, anaerobic endurance and muscular endurance.

We need strength like a powerlifter, but we ALSO need aerobic endurance (I firmly believe that running helps my jiu-jitsu).
We need speed like a sprinter, but we ALSO need flexibility (ditto).
We need explosiveness like an olympic lifter but we ALSO need to withstand muscular fatigue.

I believe that grapplers need to be generalists in their training. You can't focus only on one aspect of conditioning to the exclusion of all the others.

2 - Most grapplers will benefit from doing any conditioning, and most of the trade-offs between different aspects of fitness really only apply to elite-level athletes.

Someone competing in a sport that requires raw strength (like powerlifting) needs to do everything he can to increase strength.

Victory at the elite level in sports that rely primarily on one attribute is decided by fractions of a second, an inch or two, or a few pounds. In this context, the danger of inhibiting even a tiny bit of that primary attribute by doing the wrong exercises is a real concern.

The thing is that most grapplers are nowhere near the limits of their physical development!

Most recreational grapplers could easily become more flexible AND stronger AND more explosive AND develop better endurance (all the while also working on their techniques).

Your real concern when it comes to conditioning is overtraining/under-resting, not the danger of reducing your vertical jump by an inch because you were trying to improve your legwork in the guard by doing some Yoga stretches.

There are people out there who enjoy running but then get freaked out when they hear that George St. Pierre's conditioning coach doesn't want any of his athletes to do long cardio sessions.

My suggestion is to not worry about it! Doing something is almost always better than doing nothing, and you're much more likely to continue doing something that you enjoy.

When you get to GSP's level and the UFC offers you a title shot, then shoot me an email and we'll talk. Until then don't throw away your running shoes!

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 9:31 PM

April 22, 2009

A Lifetime of Learning

At my recent seminar on Unorthodox Positions I thought that I would be doing all the teaching, and that the students would be doing all the learning. Well I was wrong...

One of the things I taught was a cool entry into the north-south choke from the offside kesa gatame position.

The north-south choke is something I've worked on a LOT over the last couple of years. After many mistakes and false leads I finally 'get it," and feel comfortable teaching it to others.

My demonstration partner for this technique was fellow Carlson Gracie black belt Adam Ryan.

After I taught the 'traditional' north-south choke Adam came up to me and discretely inquired if he could show me something. He then proceeded to demonstrate a killer variation that makes the choke come on INSTANTLY!

It would have been hypocritical of me to keep this technique to myself. So I asked Adam to also teach his variation to the group. I figured that if I hadn't seen it before then chances were pretty good that not too many other people knew about it either.

At the end of day I was very happy.

Not only had the students learned a ton of new material that I knew would work for them, but I had came away with something too! In fact I used it to submit a tough opponent on my very next training day.

Of course Adam is a formidable competitor, a great teacher and a BJJ black belt. Therefore it's not surprising that he has lots of tricks to show me. But in my experience, most blue belts also have a trick or two they can show me.

Most schools, after all, have only one instructor, but if you keep an open mind then you can have a whole army of people - your fellow students - teaching you stuff, all the time.

There is nothing sadder than an 'expert' who has closed his mind to learning. When I stop learning then please start shoveling the dirt down on top of my grave.

Labels: chokes, teaching, unorthodox strategies

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 9:57 PM

Boring? Why I thought UFC 97 was Great!

OK, I admit it. UFC 97 did have a few boring fights.

The worst, hands down, was the debacle between Anderson Silva and Thales Leites. (I find it hard to blame Leites, because he was outclassed by an opponent who clearly didn't want to engage or push the pace of the fight).

But it really doesn't matter who was to blame: I'll just never get those 25 minutes back...

Despite the incredibly lame title fight I was very excited by UFC 97. That's because this was the first time that I'd personally trained with more than one of the competitors fighting on the same UFC event.

The first fighter was Denis Kang, who I first met at more than 10 years ago. He now trains mostly in Florida and Montreal, but before that we logged a TON of training sessions together (click here for an early profile of Denis with MMA techniques).

Unlike his first fight in the UFC - which was hampered by a serious ankle injury - in UFC 97 we saw the 'real' Denis Kang as he took on and dominated a very dangerous opponent (Xavier Foupa-Pokam).

The second fighter on the card that I was very eagerly watching was T.J. Grant.

I've met and trained with T.J a few times when I visited his home town of Halifax, Nova Scotia. To call him an "up and coming fighter" would be to do him a disservice. His opponent was Ryo Chonan, who has defeated MANY high level fighters.

Both my friends put in great performances and I think it's a real shame that their fights weren't televised in North America.

And their fights were made all the sweeter by the fact that both of 'my' guys won.

Congratulations!

Labels: MMA, UFC

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 9:20 PM

April 18, 2009

Can't Get Underhooks in Butterfly Guard?

Underhooks in the butterfly guard postion are super important!

I was on a popular BJJ forum this afternoon when a thread about one of my favorite BJJ positions - the butterfly guard - caught my eye. As it turns out, someone was having problems.

Here's what he said:

"In the last few months I have really been concentrating on trying to get a solid butterfly guard. I bought Kesting's Butterfly and X guard DVD (which is excellent) and have been working on it every class. While I definitely feel that my butterfly is getting better, I am still having a very hard time establishing the guard.

What I mean by that is that if I can get one of the good butterfly positions (for me they are: 1) an underhook and an overhook, and 2) double underhooks). I can work some sweeps and pass prevention pretty well from there.

The problem is that I have a very hard getting into these positions and it's quite frustrating. It seems that while I fight for those clinches my opponent will generally just grab my pants (I only do gi BJJ) and runaround or just push me down and flatten me out."

Now I feel this guy's pain, because these are legitimate problems. I struggled with the exact same concerns myself for a long time until I found some answers.

The thing is, after you've swept a training partner with the 'basic' butterfly guard sweep 10 times in a row he'll figure out that you want the single or double underhooks. Then he'll make it his mission in life NOT to give those positions to you.

Usually this means that he'll back up, and that's when he starts grabbing for your legs.

Letting your opponent control your pant legs in the butterfly guard is not a good idea. If he does this then you have to stop everything and strip his grip off of your pants RIGHT NOW (unless you're setting him up with specific advanced sweeps).

Now on to the solutions...

If you're fighting with the gi, then sometimes you can attack with the same basic sweep using an overhook, especially if your overhooking arm also grips his cross lapel to keep everything tight. I hear that Jean-Jacques Machado is very good at this.

But if you can't get close enough to grip then the armdrag is a great help. If he's pushing you away then he's giving you the arm to attack. And if you're always armdragging him then he usually stops pushing you...

Another strategy that works is to use one arm to stiffarm his neck/collar bone area. This is long range butterfly guard with a stiffarm is basically what some people call the "Sitting Guard" (click for a description).

One good attack from here involves gently pulling with the gripping hand, and then - suddently - changing directions, pushing forward with that hand while grabbing his heel with the other hand.

Another great technique involves pushing slightly with the stiffarming hand, waiting until you feel resistance, and then yanking him forward. You pull him down to the ground while shifting your hips out to the side.

When you get the timing for this move right he just falls on his face and then you can scramble and get on top.

Just watch out for flying armbar and triangle attacks when you're using the stiff arm long range butterfly guard!

I also REALLY like mixing up my butterfly guard with the X guard, both vs. standing and kneeling opponents.

If you're not using the X guard then you're really limiting the power and versatility of the butterfly guard.

And here's one final idea

I often like starting in ANOTHER position with the underhook already secured and then moving into the butterfly guard.

One excellent position to do this from is the half butterfly guard. Start there, pushing your opponent away with your butterfly hook (or move your hips away) and end up in the butterfly guard.

All the while you've maintained your underhook while moving everything else into position. And when your legs finally get there - boom - you're ready to sweep him!

The funny thing about all of this is that if you're attacking your opponent with armdrags, stiff arms, heel picks, etc. then he'll often give you the opportunity to get the underhook (or underhooks) that you wanted so much in the first place...

Labels: butterfly guard, the guard

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 3:39 PM

April 14, 2009

Unorthodox Positions DVD Update

Recently I taught a seminar on Unorthodox BJJ Positions. The success of this seminar inspired me to write a series of newsletters on how touse unusual positions to confuse, frustrate and ultimately submit your opponent.

If you missed those posts you can read them again here:

At this seminar I actually had a camera crew film the whole affair with HD cameras. I didn't dwell on this earlier because I wanted to see what the footage looked like before I made a decision to release it or not.

We've been editing this footage in secret, and I got to have a look at the rough cut last night. Now I'm convinced that it's going to be a very useful and informative product. I'd forgotten how many techniques, concepts and details I shared at that seminar!

So if everything continues to go well with the production process then the final DVD should be released in a couple of weeks.

Labels: Grapplearts DVDs, unorthodox strategies

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 4:00 PM

Brabo Choke Defense

A fan of the half guard recently asked me how they could avoid getting caught in the Brabo choke:

"I like going for the foot grab sweep from half guard. My problem is that I always get caught in a guillotine choke or Brabo choke when I go for the leg of my opponent. What can I do to stop getting choked all the time?"

The first step of defending any technique is to understand the technique. Once you know how an attack yourself then your spider sense starts tingling when your opponent starts to set it up on you.

Brabo choke specialists typically like to attack when their opponent has an underhook. Here's one example of how to apply the Brabo choke.

So it's true that getting choked from the half guard is a legitimate concern. But that doesn't mean that the half guard or the foot grab sweep is useless.

Every single position and technique has its vulnerabilities: if you throw a jab your opponent might slip it and counter with an uppercut, if you use the open guard your opponent might have an opportunity to footlock you, and if you use the half guard you have to watch out for the Brabo choke (aka the "D'Arce choke").

The trick is to be aware of the potential dangers of a position and taking precautions to prevent the counterattacks!

So let's get back to the half guard. In order to attack with the foot grab sweep you need to first secure the underhook with the top arm. BUT once you get the underhook you shouldn't just hang out there.

The underhook is a means to an end, NOT an end in itself.

And a related mistake is to get the underhook and then start grabbing for your opponent's foot. This is incorrect. To do it properly you first need to move down, down down.

You should have your ear resting on his hip and your face almost in *ahem* his crotch before you grab the foot and go for the sweep.

And if you're down that far then it's very hard for him to get his arms into position to choke you.

But let's say that you screw up, give him the opening and he attacks with that darn Brabo choke. If you own it, I suggest you check out the series of defenses to this choke that I covered in my Dynamic Half Guard DVD.

If you don't have that DVD then one simple Brabo defense is to throw yourself hard, flat on your back, BEFORE he finalizes his hand position. To avoid getting rolled he has to release and post his hands, which also gets you out of the choke.

With regards to the guillotine, the most likely time for your opponent to lock it on is once the sweep is already happening and he's falling back onto his butt. So keep your awareness high at all times: if he slaps on a guillotine during the sweep, as he's falling, then scramble to the correct side to counter the choke.

Hope this helps...

Labels: chokes, half guard, techniques

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 3:55 PM

April 07, 2009

How to Stay Fit on Holiday

The view of the ocean from the hills above my cabaña

How many people do you know who gained 10 lbs or more over a relatively short trip to an all-inclusive resort, or a week of Christmas celebration? I bet it's a fair number.

Well I've just come back from 7 days in the sunny Caribbean and had to put this to the test. I thought I'd share some ideas about staying ready for returning to training, even while you're away from your regular training routine.

Here are my candidates for the four top factors creating the fitness implosions (and decrease in grappling skills) that often happen to both regular people and athletic types while they're away on holidays:

Lack of general exercise
Over-eating
Over-drinking
Lack of sports-specific training

1. LACK OF GENERAL EXERCISE

On a holiday it's often a struggle to get your exercise gear on and get sweaty. There are a lot of factors conspiring to keep you on the couch or on the poolside deck chair.

That's why you have to make getting some sort of exercise a priority. It doesn't need to be long or super intense - it just needs to be something.

Personally my goal when I'm on holidays is to get some sort of cardiovascular, muscular endurance or strength-based exercise every second day. Sometimes this gets stretched out a bit, and three days go by without an exercise session, but any more than that and I start to go off the deep end.

Exercising while you're traveling or visiting new locations ISN'T about improving your fitness level. You just don't want your body to forget what you're expecting it to do when you get back to your regular life and training routine.

It's great if you can find a gym, but that's not always possible. That's why I always bring my running shoes. You can almost always go for a quick run, and then find a place to do some pushups and pullups.

On this last seven day beach vacation I only got in three exercise sessions:

a six kilometer jog. Foolishly I did this at the hottest part of a of a scorchingly hot day on the open asphalt road, so this was no time to push myself. After the run I spent a few minutes doing bodyweight calisthenics (pushups, pullups, etc.)
a seven kilometer run. This was after I had acclimatized to the heat a bit, and I also didn't go during the hottest part of the day, so I could push myself a little bit harder.
a short-and-easy bodyweight-only workout.

I know, it's not very impressive. Like I said earlier though - the goal at during this sessions wasn't to improve my fitness level. I just want to guard against being totally out of the fitness loop when I get back to my regular world.

2. OVER-EATING

Most people's day-to-day lives are busy, and that means that they don't have hours and hours to stuff their faces. Transplant these same people onto a cruise ship with an all-you-can-eat buffet and you'll often see some truly gluttonous behavior!

This is one of many reasons that I don't like staying at all-inclusive resorts, but it's also a problem if you're visiting people who think that hospitality means never having an empty bowl of chip dip.

So if you want to be ready to get back to the mats and not feel truly gross after the holiday is over, then you somehow have to keep the recreational eating and general gluttony under control.

Find something to amuse you on your holiday other than eating...

3. OVER-DRINKING

Let's be honest - for a lot of people being on holiday means drinking. And drinking. And drinking...

Obviously bingeing on alcohol can have pretty serious health consequences. But even if you don't come down with cirrhosis of the liver then keep in mind that most alcoholic drinks have a LOT of calories.

For example, a 12 oz beer has around 150 quick-to-absorb calories. Given that most of our caloric requirements are somewhere in the 2000 to 3000 calorie per day range, it's easy to see how a few beers a day can significantly bump your total caloric intake.

The amount of calories in mixed drinks and cocktails are even worse.

When it comes to advice in this area, you've really got to find your own way. I don't drink (at all), so I'm not the best person to offer advice in this area other than preaching moderation or abstinence.

Just remember that increased calories from alcohol, combined with overeating and lack of exercise means crappy performance on the mats.

4. LACK OF SPORTS-SPECIFIC TRAINING

The first three points are applicable to just about everyone who wants to avoid the holiday bulge.

However anyone doing BJJ or submission grappling knows that grappling skills also have a shelf life. If you stop training for a week or two then your timing, sensitivity and coordination also start heading south.

Part of the solution is to keep working your skills, even though you're away from your regular training environment. For some ideas you can check out what to do when schools and training partners are hard to find.

On my last trip my plan was to watch a few BJJ instructional DVDs that I own but haven't had the time to watch yet.

I know that watching competition or instructional footage keeps my brain thinking about grappling. This in turn helps keep me sharp even when I can't physically train, and has even led to some technical breakthroughs for me.

(As a side note I should mention that your body has neurons that fire both when your DO something and when you WATCH something. These are called mirror neurons and some people think that they're very, very important for the learning process. In any case, this suggests that watching BJJ might be a heck of lot better than not doing any BJJ at all.)

Unfortunately my plan to use mirror neuron stimulation to achieve world grappling domination failed when my portable DVD player broke, but it was still a good idea...

There's an old joke that goes "take my advice - I'm not using it..."

Well in this case I actually followed my most of my own advice (other than the DVD watching)! Hopefully sharing my advice helps someone avoid the post-holiday grappling blues!

Labels: conditioning, fitness, nutrition

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 9:41 PM