martial arts

Ground Fighting Basics I - Master Your Foundation

Ground Fighting Basics I - Master Your Foundation
  • Gain core strength.

  • Improve mobility and program your reflexes.

  • Master the building blocks to win the day.

Sweeps - Throws on the Ground - BJJ Training Course

Sweeps - Throws on the Ground - BJJ Training Course

Tossing an opponent like a salad. Pulling off a sweep in ground fighting is an exhilarating moment that fills us with monumental sense of victory. What comes next? These powerful moves are fundamental to our jiu-jitsu arsenal, yet are so often applied at the wrong time, or wrong place. In this course I’ll give you the tools to not only train your sweeps on your own, or with a partner, but how to successfully pull them off in live rolling.

As One Thing Ends, Another Begins...

Hello Everyone,

We have spent countless hours over these past weeks trying to find a way to keep martial arts alive in the current environment, and post-pandemic. We are located in one of the major hot spots in the United States, and additionally, the county within the state with the highest number of COVID-19 cases by almost double the 2nd place county.

How to Defeat the BJJ Guard in 4 Easy Steps

How to Defeat the BJJ Guard in 4 Easy Steps

End the frustration!

Have you ever wanted to try one of the amazing submissions or sweeps from Brazilian jiu-jitsu and instead, spent the entire class stuck in guard? Do you find it impossible to pass guard because you cannot even break the guard in the first place? Do you routinely break guard on people your own size, only to be shutdown and back to square one against a larger opponent?

Size Matters in BJJ!!! - The Omaplata Submission

Size Matters in BJJ!!! - The Omaplata Submission

Here are a few tips if you are a smaller grappler trying to submit larger opponents with the omoplata submission from Brazilian jiu-jitsu. This can drastically alter our success rate for finishing, rather than struggling to combat height, strength, and counters.

"Don't Touch Me" - Why I Hated BJJ

"Don't Touch Me" - Why I Hated BJJ

As I’m sure some of you can understand, the idea of having to work closely with someone else, especially on the ground, used to 'skeeve me out'. There is a stark differential between what I was accustomed to - striking, kicking, and takedowns, in contrast to rolling around on the ground with another human being while wearing pajamas, or skin tight clothing. In the world of hindsight is 20/20…

Size Matters in BJJ!!! - Part 3 - Breaking Closed Guard

Size Matters in BJJ!!! - Part 3 - Breaking Closed Guard

Here's one of my favorite closed guard breaks, and why it is horrible for taller vs. smaller. If you do use this BJJ escape, here is the answer to 'why isn't my closed guard break working?' Enjoy this next installments in our Size Matters series. This is a must see if you are trying to break a smaller grapplers closed guard.

A Dark Start: What Happened in My Early Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Journey?

A Dark Start: What Happened in My Early Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Journey?

What I am about to share with you, is my early journey into Brazilian jiu-jitsu. My first attempts were not exactly a ringing endorsement of the art. What happened to me? What can you learn from my experience? Why did I keep trying after all of this?

Size Matters!!! - Part 2 - Spider Guard

Size Matters!!! - Part 2 - Spider Guard

Part 2 of our new series on how size affects your martial arts. This is another one for BJJ - Spider Guard. There are some important…

Size Matters!!! - Part 1 - Turtle Position

Size Matters!!! - Part 1 - Turtle Position

New series we're releasing on size matters. When doing martial arts of any kind, size is a determining factor in what moves will work, and what…

6 Submission for 6 Positions - Side Control

6 Submission for 6 Positions - Side Control

Part of your journey in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the transition from surviving, to defending, to getting to a dominant position. Position before submission is crucial for getting a successful submission on our opponent. But what happens when we first…

Essay: Rise from the Ruins

Essay: Rise from the Ruins

An Essay on my Early Years in Chinese Boxing Dance

Martial arts forms (kata, tào lù) are more plentiful today than in any time in history. They are widely disseminated in a variety of martial arts schools/styles across the United States, and around the world. A majority of ‘traditional martial arts’ competitions today, are centered around stylists competing with their form of choice. One is hard pressed to enter a school of karate, kung fu; kempo, tae kwon do; or tang soo do, etc. that isn’t consumed by a curricula filled with form after form. Once you complete one form, you’ve earned the ‘privilege’ to learn another...and another...and another.

Years into my training, I went on to scorn these empty shells. For quite some time actually. One reason I held such admonishment toward ‘forms’, was having…

The CHAINS of CLOSED GUARD - An Attack Strategy for Resistant BJJ Opponents

The CHAINS of CLOSED GUARD - An Attack Strategy for Resistant BJJ Opponents

The closed guard is considered a dominant position in BJJ. Unfortunately, for most of us as we progress in the art, it devolves into nothing more than holding someone in place. We try the basic attacks we learn, but someone with very little knowledge can…

Inner Demons #1: "Why Do I Suck At This?"

Inner Demons #1: "Why Do I Suck At This?"

Another article on the ‘inner demons’ that hinder our training. “I’m not getting any better…”, or “Why do I suck at this?”

I want to take a few minutes today and try to shed some light on this obscure 'suck zone' we go through, and perhaps offer you some perspective to help you not only get through it, but optimize your progression. “Arrrrgghh!!! Why Can't I Get This!?!?!", "Why is that person getting this so much faster than I am?", "Why do I feel so stupid, or uncoordinated?"

These are common questions I hear, or see, as a coach/mentor/instructor. In order to understand why martial arts, or any