Solo Drills in this video: Bridging - Straight Up Bridging - Over Alternating Shoulders Bridging - Turn Over to Knees Bridging - Twist Under to Knees Bridge to Shrimp Sit Outs Sit Out to Swinging Pivots "Brazilian Dance" Sit Outs Box Sit Outs Be careful with box sit outs if you have bad wrists, elbows, or shoulders. The crab walk position is often aggravating if you do. The first video in this series is available here: Solo Drills: Horizontal Movements. My hombre Jason C. Brown has 5 more bridges for you to do in his aptly titled 5 Bridges Every Jiu-Jiteiro Should Do.

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Can you ever have enough solo grappling drills? I don't think so. That's why I filmed my favorite horizontal hip movements for you. Detailed explanations for each drill demonstrated in the video: Shrimping The classic, universal BJJ warm-up drill. It goes by many names: shrimping, hip escapes, elbow escapes, ebi, eep 'scapes. Let's make sure you're doing it right. Lay flat on your back with your knees bent, feet on the floor and elbows bent, hands by your face. Plant one foot firmly and turn to the opposite side. Lift your hip by pressing your foot down and going up on to your shoulder. Shoot your hips back as you fold at the waist. Tuck your bottom knee up to your...

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Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is tough -- physically, mentally, emotionally. Most people quit, and those that don’t can still spend years feeling clueless. If you feel that way, I have good news for you: You’re learning even on those days where nothing seems to go right and you mess up every move you try. We learn a lot from frustrating failures, even when we don’t realize we are. Our brain is chewing on problems, often outside of our awareness, until one day when we have an “a ha!” moment, seemingly out of nowhere. To explain this, let’s talk about your brain and how it learns new skills. First, let me introduce you to two terms: procedural learning and implicit learning. Procedural learning...

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When you first start BJJ, most of your progress comes from simply showing up to class and doing what you’re told to do. While you never get away from that basic formula, as you rise up that ranks, it is common to feel like you’re not making as much progress by just showing up. Purple belts in particular can feel like they are just going through the motions, but not really being driven in any particular direction any more. If you feel this way, then these 5 tips are for you. 1. Don’t waste time while you wait for class to start What do you do while waiting for class to start? Is it awkwardly standing around and pretending to...

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After my post about how to fully develop your grappling gameplan, people asked for help with the nuts and bolts of how to draw their gameplans. This a follow-up visual guide to explain that. I’m going to talk about the building blocks of a gameplan, how to think about combos, and how to look at the big picture. Let’s start with two types of combos. Linear Combos A linear combination progresses as you succeed at points along your way towards a goal. At a beginner level, the progression may be broadly defined, without any special connection existing between each step except that one follows the other. Example: takedown → pass the guard → side control → mount → armbar As...

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A gameplan can be one of the greatest tools for a grappler, especially competitors, but there are right and wrong ways to build one. Follow this advice the next time you revise your gameplan: Build mini gameplans and sub-systems Your gameplan will be more useful as a collection mini gameplans rather than a single 99 technique long chain. By chunking your techniques and combinations into clusters, you will have an easier time both thinking of how the modules fit together and representing them in your visual flowchart. Examples: Back attack system revolving around acquiring a seat belt grip. Open guards that connect to each other to combo sweeps and submissions. Standing guard pass system with answers to specific guards if...

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The world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructionals is bigger and better than ever, but with so many DVDs, books, apps, and subscription sites to choose from, where do you begin? This is a wonderful problem to have, but a problem nonetheless. Consider this quote: “What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.” – Herbert Simon, Recipient of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics As a self-professed instructional junkie, here are my tips for making the best use of all the content available to you: Don’t overload your brain. As...

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Our fearless Panda Nation leaders Hillary and Nelson finally completed their relocation to Allentown, PA, placing them just minutes from Zombie BJJ, the school where I teach and train. That means I now get to see them all the time (or at least when they aren't jet setting to another BJJ Globetrotters camp). This gave me the idea for a new series on the Inverted Gear blog. Every week, the /R/BJJ subreddit runs a White Belt Wednesday thread where you can ask any question, no matter how basic or embarrassing, without fear of judgment or criticism. These are always popular and people are very supportive with their replies. The three of us pandas are going to to film answers to WBW questions. Below I've embedded the Q&A from our first...

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Want to try BJJ but don’t know where to start? New at a BJJ school and struggling to survive the first 6 months? I’m going to lay out a quick and dirty, no frills survival guide for you. Let’s start by assuming you’re not training yet. You probably like watching MMA and have the idea that training BJJ could be cool. Google BJJ gyms in your area and ask on BJJ forums online for good schools to try out. Fill out whatever “take a free trial class” form the school has on their website or call them to schedule a time to go in. Stop making excuses like "I want to get in shape first." Nothing gets you ready for...

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We all want to spend more time on the mats, but inconvenient distractions like our jobs and families and so-called social lives get in the way. These 10 tips will give you ways to improve your BJJ even when you can’t get on the tatami. 1. Practice visualization. Your mind is your most powerful asset. Harness the power of visualization to “practice” even when you can’t get to practice. You can do this in your free moments, like when you’re standing in the shower, laying in bed before you go to sleep, or when you’re doing that thing people call a job where you sit in front of a computer and look at Reddit 8 hours a day. Try these...

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