The only thing BJJ guys like to talk about more than acai bowls recipes and black belt Twitter feuds is how messed up their bodies are. If someone complains about a popped elbow or tweaked knee, it become show-and-tell for everyone in the room to share their lingering pains and biggest, baddest battle scars. Being in shambles is almost a matter of pride. You must not be training hard enough if you’re not limping around with blown out ACLs or unable to lift your arms high enough to pull your own rashguard off.Let’s change that. You don’t need to destroy your body to do BJJ. But you do need to figure out what to do to keep yourself whole. This...

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Brazilian jiu-jitsu is frustrating and humbling. I’ve got five pieces of advice if you want to make it a lifelong pursuit. Aim for the top of the mountain, but keep your feet on the trail. The path to black belt takes many years, and when you finally reach it, you realize the path toward mastery continues on for decades and then lifetimes (I’ll leave it to the Buddhists to figure out how to be reincarnated with all our jiu-jitsu skills still intact). Setting your sights on a distant goal will help you stay on the path toward it. The mountain path metaphor is a particularly good illustration, if you imagine it accurately. You don’t simply starting at the bottom and...

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When looking for what drives success--in BJJ or elsewhere--many traits are important: perseverance, grit, intelligence, talent, determination, and more. But which is most important? Over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that the biggest difference between the wannabes and the experts is self-discipline and focus. So what are these traits and how can you develop them? Self-discipline is defined as “the ability to control one's feelings and overcome one's weaknesses” and “the ability to pursue what one thinks is right despite temptations to abandon it.” To have focus is to be “able to direct your attention and efforts.” Examples of self-discipline and focus: Showing up to practice when it would be easier to take a night off. Pushing yourself...

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If you’re interested in starting BJJ, you’ve come to the right place. This guide will arm you with the knowledge you need to pick the right BJJ school for you. When evaluating BJJ schools, these are the key factors to consider: Location - What schools are closest to you and how far are you willing to travel? Schedule - Do they run classes at times that are convenient for you? Classes - Do they offer what you want to learn: gi, no-gi, MMA, judo, wrestling, etc.? Instructor - Are the coaches qualified and do they have good reputations? Culture - Are the instructors and students friendly and helpful? Facility - Is the school clean and does it have any amenities?...

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10th Planet Chicago after 3 hours of crucifix shenanigans. This past weekend I had the adventure of teaching two Mastering the Crucifix seminars in Chicago--a gi seminar at Chicago Martial Arts and a no-gi one at 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu Chicago. I owe a big thanks to Javi and Dan for organizing this trip after meeting them back at the Rdojo camp, and thanks to Barry from CMA and Josh at 10PJJC for hosting me. Everyone was welcoming and friendly and eager to train jiu-jitsu. After both seminars, I was happy to get very positive feedback from students, first in person and later through Facebook messages. The most common praise was that they felt they really “got” the material and felt they would retain...

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Back in February of this year, I got to go to the three day Rdojo Camp at Garden State Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Red Bank, NJ. It’s time that I finally wrote a review. Over those days, I shared an Airbnb rental with Nelson and Hillary as well as Reilly Bodycomb and his grappling Pokémon Elliott Hill. We ran several Magic drafts and debated late into the night about medieval battle tactics, but I’ll write about that another time. The Rdojo camp had a major focus on leglocks (big surprise!) but also went into wrestling offense and defense, kneeride and top game, and a widely varied open-ended Q&A session. The entire camp was filmed by Jason Scully for the Grapplers Guide...

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As a student or teacher of jiu-jitsu, it can help to break the martial art into four main contexts: gi, no-gi, self defense, and MMA. These categories let you to analyze the effectiveness of your training methods and inform how you select techniques. It can also help you understand conflicting opinions between people who may not realize they are training for different reasons.Let’s breakdown the four contexts to their specifics: Gi A sport with rulesRefereeNo strikingUniform to gripOne-on-oneNo weaponsNo environmental obstaclesKnowledgeable opponent No-gi A sport with rulesRefereeNo strikingNo uniform to gripOne-on-oneNo weaponsNo environmental obstaclesKnowledgeable opponent MMA A sport with rulesRefereeStrikingNo uniform to gripOne-on-oneNo weaponsCage with a fenceKnowledgeable opponent Self Defense No “rules” but legal concernsNo referee but maybe policePotentially strikingProbably...

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Every white belt has asked a black belt for help only to hear this annoying answer: “Don’t get there in the first place.” You want to scream “I WOULDN’T BE ASKING IF I COULD’VE AVOIDED IT, NOW WOULD I!?” Still, the answer is true. The solution to most problems is “Avoid it.” But how do you learn to do that? That’s what we’re going to discuss now. (Don’t worry, we’ll also talk about what to do when you can’t.) When looking back on a tough situation you found yourself in sparring, ask yourself: “How did I get here and why? “I was crushed under side control.” Why? “Because they passed my guard.” Why? “Because they grabbed my knees and threw...

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In part one of this series, I gave my best advice for newbie white belts and anxious new blue belts. Part two was for blue belts looking to level up to purple and purples figuring out how to keep progressing. Now I finally get to high level purple belts and brown belts on the verge of reaching black belt. As a rank, brown belt can have a very wide spread in what that color represents. Nelson and I talked about this last time we trained together. Every belt can represent different things for different people, but it gets more pronounced the closer you get to black belt. Consider these 3 fictional but common biographies: Brown Belt #1: Started training BJJ as single 20-something, but...

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Photo credit to Mike Calimbas. At the end of “Advice for Newbie White Belts and Anxious Blue Belts” I promised a follow-up for higher belts. Here's my advice for you blues and purples who want to keep making progress. Looking back on it, the path through white to blue belt is fairly straightforward: come to class, learn new techniques, drill, spar, call it a night, and repeat. You’ll never get away from this general structure, but as you rise up through the ranks, especially into purple belt, the old routine can feel stale. The progress comes slower. You feel like you’re getting less out of the “here’s today’s technique, now drill it” approach. You may have felt you got more...

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