It’s a real pleasure to have students massing together and asking for one specific submission.  Like the Americana or the Ezekiel, the omoplata can easily take two classes to teach what I feel are the fundamentals of the attack.

There was no way to cover everything I wanted to cover in the last class.  The Americana from scarf hold was a favorite that I heard more than one person say they were going to add that right away.  I introduced the concepts of the Americana and demonstrated half a dozen variations to start the […]

I’m excited about this one.  I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about Americanas lately.  After a roll last week I had a short discussion with a student about Americanas, then the following day my black belt taught the basic side control Americana, then two days later a brand newly promoted black belt at […]

One of the things that’s really fun about BJJ is using the gi as a weapon in ways that your opponent does not anticipate.  No, I’m not talking as a biochemical offensive weapon.  Wash your gi after every class.  We are going to use our gi like a garrote, and use their gi like a […]

Tonight we take a look at two variations of escaping the mount.  First, we have the classic Upa.  This is usually the first escape from mount that is taught.  Next, we will cover the elbow escape.  I’ve chosen these two escapes from mount because they demonstrate two different ways of thinking about a mount escape.

Tonight we cover the basic frame side control escape and a choke that I honestly don’t know the name of.  Sorry about the missing choke name.  A red belt taught it without naming it, and I’ve used it on guys my level and below ever since.