Jiu-Jitsu & Grappling

This hub brings together my work on Jiu-Jitsu, No-Gi grappling, wrestling, submissions, training methods, coaching and the history of grappling arts.

The focus is not on collecting isolated techniques. It is on understanding the problems that appear in live grappling, how athletes learn to solve them, and how different systems, concepts and training methods fit together.

Learning and coaching Jiu-Jitsu

Much of my work looks at how Jiu-Jitsu is taught and learned. That includes concepts, mental models, representative practice, live games, self-directed learning and different approaches to lesson design.

Start with Greg Souders on teaching Jiu-Jitsu without teaching techniques, Steve Kwan on learning techniques and mental models for BJJ and Rob Biernacki on pedagogy, BJJ concepts and gamification.

No-Gi grappling, submissions and positional skill

No-Gi grappling demands adaptable control of position, connection, pressure, movement and submission opportunities. The archive includes work on guard systems, leg entanglements, defensive structures, offensive cycles and the relationship between wrestling and submission grappling.

Useful examples include Robert Degle on leg locks and the leg entanglement meta, Offence vs Defence for Jiu-Jitsu and Mastering the Art of Flow Rolling for Grapplers.

Wrestling and takedowns

Grappling skill also depends on what happens before and around the takedown. Wrestling, clinch work and transitions between standing and ground phases are important parts of both Jiu-Jitsu and MMA.

See A Game Sense Style Pedagogy for Teaching Beach Wrestling, The History of Folk Wrestling Styles and Sam Kressin on combining Catch Wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu.

Jiu-Jitsu history and culture

The history of grappling is full of myths, borrowed traditions and evolving rulesets. I have written and recorded work on Mitsuyo Maeda, Jigoro Kano, catch wrestling and the development of modern Jiu-Jitsu.

See Top 20 Myths about Mitsuyo Maeda, Kano Jigoro as Educator & Founder of Judo and The Underground History of Catch Wrestling.