I found myself this week, on our way to a BJJ Globetrotters camp in Sardinia.We flew into Rome using a Portuguese airline with a layover in Lisbon, which allowed me to practice my Portuguese… Frango. Vinho tinto. Obrigrado. Chicken. Red wine. Thank you. You know, the essentials.The original plan was to spend a night in our room and head to Sardinia the next morning, but Hillary in her usual wise manner told me that we would need an extra day to explore. She was right.We arrived at the Leonardo da Vinci Airport, which is south of the city, and made our way to our hotel by shuttle. Once we settled in we walked around grabbed lunch. This might sound odd,...

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Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a strange sport. On the one hand, it’s a highly individual pursuit. We often talk about how comparing your progress to the progress of others is dangerous because so many variables can lead to one student advancing faster than other. So focus on yourself rather than the people around. At the same time, however, we talk about the importance of having a team and community. While debates around gym loyalty wage on, we seem to agree to on some level that belonging to something bigger than ourselves—a school or the jiu-jitsu culture at large—is a good thing.So there’s this odd balance between being highly individual and highly communal.Over the years, after swinging from either extreme—at one time...

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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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Last week, my phone exploded.I had been sent or tagged in a video dozens of times, which was unusual because at the time I was spending most of my day hailing cabs and catching flights. At first I thought that perhaps the “Go inverted!” scene from Top Gun was getting a new wave of attention, which always means that the Inverted Gear page gets a flood of GIFs and memes.Nope, that wasn’t it. The video was a Metamoris commercial making a joke about how Ralek owes his competitors money. Maybe their commercial budget was limited because they forgot to make a joke about the tournament staff that they owe money for as well. The community response to the commercial seems...

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Hillary and I have been married for two years, and yesterday was our wedding anniversary. About 4 years ago, we met at a Grapplers Quest event, which is weird because there’s a video of the first time I ever saw my wife. The video shows Hillary turning to address some giant purple belt. She tells him to be quiet or she will DQ him.   After the match, I introduced myself and asked her where she trained. We exchanged numbers and started dating soon after. We have trained together ever since. We have had a few BJJ people ask us for relationship advice over the years, so I thought this was as a good a time as any to write...

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A few weeks ago I was talking with my friend Christian Graugart to coordinate details about a BJJ Globetrotter camp in Italy, on the Island of Sardinia. I was looking forward to some sun and to working on my surfing skills. As is typical for Christian, he had a completely different idea. “I am taking a group of guys to Greenland, you should totally come,” he said. “I'll get you to wrestle a polar bear. It will be great for your brand.” I’m not sure if Christian knows that pandas are different from polar bears, but the invitation struck a chord anyway. I have been somewhat fascinated by Greenland and Iceland since I learned about early settlements in that region...

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As I type this, I am sitting on a plane on my way to Greenland for a BJJ Globetrotter camp. Since there are no direct flights from the U.S., Hillary and I flew into Reykjavik, Iceland yesterday and had a little over 24 hours to kill during a layover. We had been talking about traveling to Reykjavik for a while now, so when Christian Graugart messaged me about coming to Greenland to train I was super excited. I had just renewed my passport and was itching to get new stamps on it, and I saw an excuse to stop off in Iceland along the way.  We arrived at our hotel around 8 am and ate some amazing hotel breakfast. I love...

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When I work with newer students, I often hear some variation of the question “How do I develop my style?” or “What should I specialize in?” This seems to be a natural progression in jiu-jitsu learning. After a few weeks on the mat, we pick up on the fact that upper belts tend to build their own unique games. We might not understand the mechanics or the strategic importance of one technique or style over another, but we recognize that this black belt always does this submission while this other black belt is always looking for this one type of guard. From there, reaching the conclusion that you should have your own style or your own game is not a...

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In the mix of big tournaments taking place, like the Abu Dhabi Pro the week prior and the Eddie Bravo Invitational taking place the same day, you may not have heard about a very special tournament: Tap Cancer Out. Hillary and I spent our Saturday in Stratford, CT. at their tenth event and their fifth in Stratford. This is the longest running TCO tournament and has become the biggest attracting over 450 competitors and raising over $100,000, shattering their goal of $80,000.Inverted Gear has been a TCO sponsor since 2012. I met Jon Thomas, the mastermind behind the organization, when I ordered a shirt and a few patches so I could wear them at the New York Open. My mom...

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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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