A “No Obligations” Experiment

It’s approaching the end of a self-imposed one year exile from regular jiu-jitsu teaching duties, so it’s time for some reflection. For those that don’t know, I took a break after ten years of weekly teaching duties. I wanted and enjoyed all of those years. I even took on more than I (and my family) […]

Using Defensive Jiu-Jitsu and Its Rules

Defensive Jiu-Jitsu is as important as offensive jiu-jitsu, but sometimes it turns into anti-jiu-jitsu. Context and general rules can help you improve your jiu-jitsu and incorporate defensive jiu-jitsu into your overall game.

How to Ride the Line of Failure

There are many areas of life where our goal should be 100% success, like travel from point A to B, or ethical behavior. Learning and training jiu-jitsu first appears to be something in which you want complete success by submitting your opponent. It’s certainly true in competition where we are rewarded for winning. In training, […]

So You Want To Learn Jiu-Jitsu. . .

If you are interested in learning jiu-jitsu, it’s a good idea to know what you are getting into and what’s expected. This guide is meant to be the first thing a new student should read before joining a class or participating in sparring.

Guiding the First Timers in BJJ

People try jiu-jitsu for all kinds of reasons. People also quit jiu-jitsu for all kinds of reasons. For those of us that are already committed, our job is to help the first timers see why they shouldn’t quit. As we gain experience in jiu-jitsu, we see that the things that we worried about at first […]

Jiu-Jitsu Happiness

Finding happiness in jiu-jitsu is something we can cultivate over time based on recognizing patterns that are both negative and positive. Research into the science of Happiness gives us a template to improve our outlook on our jiu-jitsu.

Self-defense is a State of Mind

I was walking down the street by myself and I noticed someone look at me as they were walking towards me. The guy abruptly turned around and in about ten steps he made a comment to a second guy. The second guy made eye contact and the first thing that came to mind is to […]

Solving Jiu-Jitsu Puzzles

Solving Jiu-Jitsu Puzzles

The jiu-jitsu challenge is to rapidly identify, classify, prioritize, and solve an evolving set of positional puzzles. How we approach these puzzles helps us solve any situation we encounter.