* Sep 26, 2022 — I’m currently in the process of uploading 100+ posts.
The articles below were originally sent out as a BJJ Reflections email. They are often not edited properly for the blog post format or categorized well as of now… bear with me.
If you enjoy reading them, sign up for the BJJ Reflections email newsletter. You get emails just like the posts below.
- Passing the Spider Guard: Three Main Weaknesses
- BJJ Grips: Do You Have to Break Them Before Passing the Guard?
- Three Stages & Desired Outcomes of Defense
- How I Learn & Practice New BJJ Techniques
- Ethan Crelinsten’s Wrestling Up Sequence to the Back
- Ethan Crelinsten’s Sneaky Rear Naked Choke Trick
- How to Get the Most Out of Sparring
- Take It Easy, but Make It Hard for Your Opponent
- How Can Tani Otoshi Be Dangerous?
- Jacob Couch’s False Reap Entry vs. Gordon Ryan
- Trick Or Real Treat
- Three Stages: Entry, Control, and Finish
- Develop Your Intuition
- Avoid This Common Mistake in BJJ
- How to Take the Back From the Closed Guard Like Tomoyuki Hashimoto
- What to Learn in Different BJJ Belts
- The J-Point Camping Strategy
- Lucas Lepri’s Back Take Against Lachlan Giles
- The Lack of Stylistic Diversity
- Mateusz Szczeciński’s Belly Down Ankle Lock at ADCC 2022
- What’s Exposed?
- The Curious Case of Eoghan O’Flanagan
- Brianna Ste Marie’s Closed Guard
- What’s the Next Trend in Grappling?
- Two ADCC 2022 Athletes Who Caught My Attention
- How to Avoid Losing Scores Under the ADCC Rules
- One Step at a Time
- Samuel Nagai’s Tripod Sweep
- When Your Favorite Moves Stop Working
- What if You Have No Talent for BJJ?
- How Many Techniques Do You Need to Know?
- Both Sides
- Scoring Points or Going For Submission?
- How Does Size & Weight Difference Matter in BJJ?
- Diego Pato’s False Reap Kneebar
- Nicholas Meregali’s Lasso Pass Against Fellipe Andrew
- Gordon Ryan’s High Step Pass vs. Reverse De La Riva
- Why You Should Compete in BJJ
- Miyao & Mendes: Guarder vs. Passer at the Highest Level
- Slow Submission
- How to Pass the Guard Like Mayssa Bastos
- How to Break Frames
- How to Use A Foot Sweep to Expose Your Opponent’s Back
- Kenta Iwamoto vs. Jozef Chen
- How Tye Ruotolo Passed Levi Jones-Leary’s Guard
- Fatigue
- No One Has Passed His Guard Except Renato Canuto
- Tainan Dalpra’s Leg Trap Example
- Takedowns for BJJ: A New Trend
- The Importance of (Neutral) Self-Talk
- Are You Forcing It?
- Commit to It
- Why Do You Practice BJJ?
- Quick Decisions
- Break Your Opponent’s Posture
- Your Weight
- Mica Galvão’s Secret to Success?
- The Russian Tie: One of the Best Tie-Ups for BJJ
- The “Tiptoe” Trick to Improve Your Guard Passing
- Do You Have to Be Aggressive?
- Jeferson Guaresi
- 5 Adjustments I Made to How I Pass the Guard
- Why You Should Learn Berimbolo
- Beware of False Positives
- Train Like a Maniac
- Panda Express
- How to Get Out of a Plateau
- Tug of War
- Stay Safe
- Red Light, Green Light
- Do Less
- I Love This Controversial Statement
- You Might Be Overlooking It
- Pay Attention to These Things When You Drill New Moves
- How to Worry Less
- Common Guard Mistake
- What It Feels Like to Roll With Heavier Opponents
- Drum Set
- Advice I’d Give to My White Belt Self
- Production Quality?
- I Needed This (BJJ in Crete, Greece)
- Flipped Classroom Model for Teaching & Learning BJJ
- One of the Hardest Submissions to Escape From
- Your Best Friend
- How Good Is Good Enough?
- Tererê
- This Will Improve Your Guard Passing Success Rate
- Wise Words by Bernardo Faria
- Assume the Best
- GOAT
- Hand Fighting
- Patience
- Health Bar
- Why You Should Learn How to Play the Spider Guard
- Stop Freaking Out
- But Does It Work Against Someone Bigger Than You?
- The Importance of Mind Reading
- Be a Good Training Partner
- Not From There
- Slowly and Methodically
- Focus On Your Journey
- Rule of Thumb for Guard Passing
- Things Gi Players Can Do to Prepare for Learning Heel Hooks
- Pressure
- How to Make It Easier to Attack Your Opponent
- Why Your Guard Gets Passed
- Awareness + Safety
- A Good Indicator of Welcoming Gym Culture
- Ditch Your Guard
- Most of the Champions
- “I Can’t Control the Bend of Your Leg”
- Don’t Miss Out on These Learning Opportunities
- What Kind of People Improve Quickly in BJJ?
- This Back Take Is Super Cool
- Marcelo Garcia
- Steps 1, 2, 3, 4…
- Tap Them Out
- Why Your Triangle Choke Is Not Working (Generally Speaking)
- Success (Or Failure) Is Built on This
- Judo Up
- Impossible?
- Why Wrestling Up
- Some Thoughts on Takedowns in BJJ/Grappling
- No One Else
- Lessons Learned
- It’s a Skill
- Don’t Be Too Lazy
- Is This the Easiest Way?
- This Guard Position Is Probably Underrated
- What Does It Take To Get a BJJ Black Belt?
- Beauty
- If You’re Losing Now, but You’re Winning Late…
- “Can/Should I Still Train When I’m Injured?”
- How to Solve BJJ Puzzles
- How to Spar More
- Can’t Fake It
- Critical Moments
- Sanctuary
- After but Not Before
- Explosive Escapes?
- Unknown Legend
- Some Observations About a Local Comp Last Sunday
- Old Friend
- How Heavy Is Your Knee on the Belly?
- “How Good Is My Gym Compared to Other Gyms?”
- How to Give Great Feedback to Your Training Partners
- The Strongest Lion or a Crippled Monkey?
- The Art of Shrimping
- An Unexpected, Long-Term Benefit of Practicing BJJ
- False Dichotomy
- Winning Is Winning
- How They Roll (At PSLPB)
- What’s the Point of It All?
- This Is Really Obvious (But I Still Forgot About It)
- Is No-Gi Spider Guard the Dumbest Idea Ever?
- The Best of the Best Grapplers
- Occupy Your Opponent’s Space
- Necessary Conditions
- Your Grappling Style
- Is It Really That Bad?
- What I’ve Been Teaching These Days (2021)
- On Second Thought
- Rodolfo Vieira vs. Anthony Hernandez
- Slow and Quiet
- How the Butterfly Guard Works
- 7 Tips on Learning How to Do Triangle Choke Effectively
- This Is Crucial, But… Not Taught Much?
- Practice This Too
- Ouch
- Don’t Make This “Domino Effect” Mistake
- Focusing on Triangle?
- All Walks of Life
- Why I Rarely Use Speed Passing Against Bigger Guys
- Mikey Musumeci vs. Mahamed Aly
- Look for Principles
- Start Standing
- White Belt for… 5 Years???
- 100 Submissions
- Quick Tip
- Help Others
- How to Predict the Future
- What Did You Learn This Year in Terms of BJJ?
- BJJ Will Not Go Away
- How Sweeps Work
- Don’t Skip These First Two Steps
- Everything
- My Favorite BJJ Concept Ever
- Simple and Stupid
- The King’s Gambit
- How Would You Roll Against Someone Twice or Three Times Heavier Than You?
- The Modern Leg Lock Game in MMA
- The Joy of Technical Sparring
- Focus on This
- Forward
- _______ Over Quickness
- Unusual (But Common) Way of Improving Your BJJ Skills
- 52 Techniques
- The “Sixth Sense” Experience
- How to “Use” Your Senior Training Partners
- Kashiwazaki
- Training Environment
- A Tiny Little Secret to Maintaining Your Guard
- Hong Kong in 2014
- Details
- Self-Defense (But in a Different Sense)
- Is Jiu Jitsu Easy?
- Khabib
- The Best Body Type for BJJ?
- Gentle Approach
- Purpose and Perspective
- Are You Hitting a Plateau?
- What Would You Say to Someone Completely New to BJJ?
- This or That
- This Way of Thinking Helps
- “Don’t Stop”
- Magic Phrase
- Come to the Light Side
- Belts?
- From Wrestling to BJJ
- Act Early
- Japanese Secret to Keeping the Guard?
- Unexpected
- When Should Beginners Start Learning Leg Locks?
- X + Y = Progress
- Tricky Grips
- A Gift of a Lifetime
- Your Small Wins
- Rest While Rolling
- Not Like That
- I Recommend THIS to Every BJJ Beginner