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Marshal D. Carper

Jiu-Jitsu Math: The Part-Time Grappler Equation

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BJ "The Prodigy" Penn

Jiu-Jitsu Math: The Part-Time Grappler Equation

No Cavemen Allowed: The Danger of Instincts

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animal instinct

No Cavemen Allowed: The Danger of Instincts

Whenever I introduce a new student to Brazilian jiu-jitsu, I gently temper expectations. I try to explain that jiu-jitsu is a long journey. I talk about how the learning curve may feel impossibly steep and I let them know that the nature of experimentation is that they will fail; so

Level Up: The RPG Training Model

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Level Up: The RPG Training Model

I grew up playing games. Final Fantasy. Chrono Trigger. Secret of Mana. Dungeons & Dragons. Pokemon. Ultima Online. I spent so much of my formative years immersed in these worlds that they have imprinted themselves into the way that I perceive reality, and that ripple has touched the way that

Living in the Injury Prone Zone

I just came back from an extreme hernia repair. I’ve had two meniscus repairs and one meniscus removal—all on the right knee. I have turf toe. I have nuggets of cauliflower ear. I can’t throw a football with my right arm because it feels like my elbow

Gender Roles in Jiu-Jitsu Valerie Worthington Talks Gender and Respect in Jiu-Jitsu

For many years I believed that jiu-jitsu was a force for good. I believed that jiu-jitsu had changed my life and I believed that the jiu-jitsu community was an open, welcoming place that accepted people from all walks of life. Recently, I learned I was wrong about all of these

Hug A White Belt.

Why Newbies are the Most Important People in the Sport When a new student steps onto the mat for the first time with a sparkling white belt tied incorrectly around his waist, he’s at zero. He has no technical knowledge. No mat sense. No fighting experience. And no real

Find Your Nemesis

Find Your Nemesis

In Guy Ritchie’s 2000 film Snatch, a gangster named Brick Top offers up his definition of nemesis. He says that nemesis means “a righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent.” Even though I loved the film, I never quite understood that part. It wasn’t until I

CONCEPTS IN JIU-JITSU - Passing

YOUR GUARD PASS STARTS FROM YOUR BACK WHEN I TEACH JIU-JITSU CLASSES IN PITTSBURGH, THE MOST COMMON QUESTIONS I GET USUALLY REVOLVE AROUND GUARD PASSING. WHAT GUARD PASS IS THE BEST? Which ones should I learn? Why isn’t this pass working? And on and on. The frustration is understandable.

butterfly guard

The Guard: Essential Vocabulary

The guard is arguably what made jiu-jitsu famous. To the untrained eye, the bottom man is in great danger, but armed with an understanding of the guard, he has the tools to reverse the position or to end the fight right then and there. Royce Gracie put this revelation on

Refocus Your Focus

How much time do you spend on the mat a week? How many of these minutes were focused, deliberate minutes of training? No, really. If you take a 60-minute class, how much time do you spend in the bathroom? How much time do you spend talking instead of drilling? How

jiu-jitsu mindset

Excuse Me: I Need To Go Train

When I was a blue belt, I ran a small University jiu-jitsu club. One fall, we pooled our club budget with our personal funds to fly Matt Kirtley, an Eduardo de Lima black belt and writer behind the long-running Aesopian.com blog, from Florida to Pennsylvania to host a seminar.

Polaris Pro 2 Breakdown: A Night of Dream Match-Ups

Polaris Pro 2 Breakdown: A Night of Dream Match-Ups

In the world of exhibition grappling, Polaris is carving out a niche in the sport that events like Metamoris and FIVE Grappling will find difficult to emulate. Based in the United Kingdom, the very existence of Polaris serves an often-overlooked grappling market: Europe. With most major events taking place on

Can’t we all just get along? Pacifism and Jiu-Jitsu

Can’t we all just get along? Pacifism and Jiu-Jitsu

I teach jiu-jitsu classes. I train MMA fighters. I referee jiu-jitsu matches. I have devoted a writing career to fighting. I even worked the door at a nightclub in Pittsburgh for a brief period to earn some extra money. And I consider myself a practical pacifist. That perplexes many of

Your Drills Should Be Uglier

Your Drills Should Be Uglier

When Trevor Ragan, motor learning advocate and founder of Championship Basketball School, talks to coaches or athletes about how they train and about how they learn, he often starts with a story about two tigers. One tiger is a zoo tiger. This tiger grew up in an enclosure, fenced off

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