Ever had an Armbar but were unable to finish whether in a BJJ competition or just rolling?

Of course you have. . . we all have!

After training the other day 1 of my purple belts asked me about some tips on how to break a strong grip when finishing the Armbar.

So I figured I’d pull up the camera and show the details with you too!

In the video I identify some simple tactics you can use in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu when you run into a strong grip when finishing the Armbar submission.

1 which is always a good option is to attack the wrist with a wrist lock. Even if the wrist lock isn’t successful as a finish. The Armbar defense they were putting up typically falls apart and you can move in to the submission.

But assuming that you can’t use wrist locks or can’t get them to work either. One of my favorite Armbar grip breaks is to stuff the elbow into the armpit and then rock to the side.

Along with placing a lot of heavy weight on the persons face, which is uncomfortable, it also creates torque on the elblow and should and will force them to let go of the grip defense.

Watch the grip break video and if you’re experiencing this sort of problem in your Brazilian Jiujitsu training or competition. Give it a try!

I hope the video is helpful!
-Chewy

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Do I need to be in shape before I start BJJ?

This has to be one of the most commonly asked question I get from people who are new to Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.

Most commonly it stems from fear of the unknown. People often build a Brazilian Jiujitsu class up into something in their head. Then once they try it for the first time they realize it’s nothing like they expect.

I’ve spoken to many people who finally tried their first Brazilian Jiujitsu class and loved it. And many of them tell me that they wanted to train a long time ago. But didn’t because of fear of different things.

One of the fears that pops up a lot is not being in good enough shape.

But like many people will find. You can’t really get into the kind of shape you need to be in for BJJ until you start training BJJ.

So if you’re in the same boat as our friend Will. And you want to start BJJ training but you’re nervous about not being in good enough shape.

Don’t WAIT! Start training now.

Hope the video was helpful!
– Chewy

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Do you get hung on getting promoted as a BJJ White Belt? Do you see others get promoted but wonder why you weren’t picked?

I got this question recently. Our friend has been training Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and is doing really well. He’s winning BJJ competitions and smashing people in training.

BUT!

He’s still a 1 stripe White Belt and isn’t sure what’s up. He says that he even gives the Blue Belts in his Brazilian Jiujitsu gym a good run for their money. But yet he is still passed up for training.

My answer in this video is a little more direct. And I speak from more of the vantage point of a coach.

And in this situation I would tell anyone to let go of promotions and fall in love with the grind of BJJ training. Fall in love with the day to day cool stuff that happens. Rather than being fixated on getting the next stripe or belt.

Because you don’t have control over that.

And most importantly. It will fail you in the long term. The acquirement of a belt isn’t as meaningful as you think. The most meaningful part about the belt is the journey that was required to reach it.

I look back at my belts and I don’t really remember the promotions that much. Instead I remember the training and all the work that went into it.

That’s what’s important.

Hope the video helps!
-Chewy

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I’ve often heard White Belts in BJJ say they are going backwards in their training. And from the vantage point of an experience coach. I can see that this is simply not true.

But why do these newer White Belts in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu feel this way?

So many students have expressed this feeling to me over the years that I’ve settled on what I think is the culprit.

In many cases when a new White Belt starts their BJJ training. They often do all sorts of weird things that are technically unsound. They squeeze when they should push, move when they should remain in position and zig when they should zag.

This is often just due to inexperience and stress. While they get acclimated to the training and learn the rules of Jiujitsu they often just make up for the lack of knowledge with all sorts of mistakes.

Here’s the kicker though. Because they engage in this odd way. It often buys them a little time or at least throws off their opponent. This is because they are doing things that people are not trained to do. So it throws off the rhythm of their more experienced counterpart.

Eventually after the White Belt begins to settle down and use the techniques that have been shown to them. They find themselves getting picked apart.

This is due the fact that they are engaging in the territory of their more experienced training partners and will leave them sitting ducks for a while till they get better.

This is a must though. Everyone has to go through this learning face with their BJJ training. Because while the inexperienced spazzing out might buy you time. It will not ever allow you to win.

In this video I share some insights on this issue that many White Belts in BJJ face.

If you’re a newcomer to Brazilian Jiujitsu. I hope the video is helpful to you in your grappling training!

-Chewy

P.S. Excuse the jump cutting. There were a bunch of trains passing by!

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During one of our takedown BJJ classes. We covered the Clock Choke from the Turtle position. I showed this technique during a takedown class as it can often be used together with a snap down from the feet.

After class one of my BJJ students had a few questions regarding the Clock Choke and the 2 variations we did.

In the video you’ll see some subtle changes from his original choke and the 2nd he did.

In his case, he wasn’t placing proper hip pressure on me. But most importantly. His first grip, the kill grip, was off a little.

Once we adjusted his initial grip. He was set and ready to go.

If you’re trying to use the Clock Choke in Brazilian Jiujitsu. I hope this video helps you in some way.

If nothing else I hope it helps you realize the importance of the first grip. Once that grip is establish in the Turtle position. There are a ton of finishes, adjustments and attacks even if you don’t get the Clock Choke itself.

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One of the more frustrating positions for me at times has been breaking the Full Guard. You could make it case to call it Escaping the Full Guard.

Either way, it’s a position that I find more frustrating than most and always have. The person on the bottom of Guard is in the dominant position and has such a strong ability to control movement. And I like to move a lot so this bothers me.

Recently I got a question from John who was asking about tips on breaking and passing the Full Guard during his BJJ training and he made reference to a video I posted.

The previous video was one of my Chewjitsu White Belt tips. Which is here: https://youtu.be/y_XH2Qknulo

In that previous video I show a couple tips and mistakes when it comes to breaking the Full Guard open.

In John’s question he asked for technical advice for his Brazilian Jiu-jitsu related problem. What I share in this video is more of a mindset change.

The reason for this is that my frustration and issues breaking the guard open were reduced dramatically once I changed the way I went about breaking the Guard and the way I thought about the position.

In the past while doing Brazilian Jiujitsu. I sort of saw myself in a good spot when I was on top in the Guard. But a quick look at the positioning of the hips will reveal that in BJJ, it’s actually not a good position.

If you were to flip the position over. You’d be in the bottom of Mount.

So if you’re someone that is experiencing issues and frustration working on the top of someones Full Guard. Hopefully the tips in this video will help!

Thanks!
-Chewy

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Should you have to give up your rank when you join a new gym?

If you’re a Blue, Purple or Brown Belt should you have to restart over if your instructor thinks that you don’t know enough about their system?

What do you think?

In this video I answer that question.

The question comes from someone who has been training Brazilian Jiu-jitsu for a number of years and received his Blue Belt from a legitimate affiliation. I did not list any of the details of this person or his training to keep it private for him.

Because of work he’s had to move all over the place and hasn’t been able to train consistently at one Brazilian Jiujitsu gym for a long time.

Recently he started training BJJ at a new gym and really likes the instructor and the gym overall.

The problem he’s running into is that the instructor wants him to start over because he doesn’t know his system as well.

Our friend feels that this is a bit unfair and doesn’t want to restart his BJJ journey all over again. He adds that the frustrating part about this is that he’s doing very well during rolling against the instructors students and feels fine with the techniques he’s showing.

In this BJJ video I share a story about how I personally gave up my Purple Belt when I came to a new gym to train Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. It was a new instructor who didn’t care for me or felt threatened by me.

I’ve also had students who I didn’t quite think were up to par with our Blue Belts. And I share whether or not I made them give up their rank. If you watch my BJJ videos you probably know what I did.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the video. And if you’re in the process of changing BJJ gyms. I hope this video is helpful to you or gives you some insight into any problems you might have.

Thanks!
-Chewy

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What you I focus on as a Blue Belt? This was the BJJ question I received from Twitter. Recently one of the viewers received his BJJ Blue Belt and he’s not wondering “What now?” What should he focus on to progress.

As I share in this video. Ultimately, it would be wise to consult your Brazilian Jiujitsu coach or instructor to determine their requirement for the belt. Because they may be different than mine.

One of the beautiful things about BJJ is that it’s treated in many cases like an art form. With certain, at times unwritten, rules that govern the system and a self-regulatory aspect to fakers. But ultimately, we are free to sort of go about it as we please.

With that said, there is no standardization amongst the whole of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu coaches about what each belt should be exactly.

A lot is left to interpretation.

But if you were one of my Bjj Blue Belts, as I say in the video, I would jump on the technical buffet line.

Now that you have a strong foundation that you built as a BJJ White Belt, it’s time to experiment and see the different things that could work for you. Instead of being focused solely on surviving, as is often the objective of white belt.

You can now test out all the stuff that’s out there. Keep the things you want and discard the options that don’t seem to be for you. Which will set you up nicely as a BJJ Purple Belt. Which is where I think people begin to specialize to some degree. The only way you’ll know what to specialize in is to test out as much as possible.

Also, be careful not to be too worried about the newly acquired target on your back as a Blue Belt. It’s no secret that when we roll with higher belts. We judge ourselves partly based on our performance with this higher ranks.

So as a new Blue Belt, BJJ White Belts are going to be pushing themselves to do well against you. Make sure you don’t get too wrapped up in the need to always win against your jr training partners. Because in order to develop new weapons and test out all of the options. You’ve got to become ok with failing and making mistakes. It’s simply how it is.

There’s more information about my thoughts as a BJJ Blue Belt in the video.

I hope the video is useful to you. And Thomas, thanks for the question brother!

-Chewy

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Earlier this summer I did a set of BJJ solo drills for guard passing that you could do on a heavy bag. Using the heavy bag to mimic our opponent’s body in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

The BJJ guard passing drills can be see here: https://youtu.be/IRUtpYQ0c6E

One of the questions or requests I received from this BJJ drills video was if I could show when these movements would be used during a match.

So I picked 3 of the BJJ solo drills and included them in the video.

The three BJJ drills I chose are

– Spike pressure

– Hop Over

– Step Over

These 3 BJJ movements are incredibly helpful for developing a nasty Guard passing game in Brazilian Jiujitsu.

I also go into deeper explanation of how these drills might work or the concepts behind them.

You can use these movements as a part of your BJJ training. Whether to build up better agility and speed, or if you need some time off and use them as a supplement for training while you rest. As I was doing at the time of filming the video.

I hope this BJJ solo drills video is helpful as I know many of you don’t have a ton of time in the gym.

Thanks for watching!
-Chewy

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A lot of people have this misconception that you can’t improve on only 2 – 3 days a week of BJJ training.

And these people feel like they need to either train more or do more outside of the gym to get better at Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.

And this is the question I received for this video. Recently I was asked about this same subject. The question was about what someone can do outside of the gym to get better inside the gym.

There are numerous options. But what I focused on for this video was the idea of maximizing the training time effectively when it’s limited.

I have a bunch of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu students who can only training 2-3 days a week. And they’re monsters. They are super tough. They win competitions and give me fits when I roll with them.

And over the years I’ve noticed certain traits these people share. So in this video I describe those traits and hopefully give you some advice on how you can still get better and improve with only 2-3 days a week of BJJ training.

I hope the video helps! Thank for watching.

– Chewy

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There are some fairly simple concepts that you can use to effectively hold Side Control. While I don’t share all of them. I at least touch on some of the basics in this video.

Starting at the hips and moving up to the shoulders and neck.

In side control you need to have something connected or controlling the hips. Whether that’s a regular side control, 100 kilos, kesa gatame, reverse kesa gatame. It all has something that is controlling the hips.

Moving up to the idea of shoulders for side control. If you control the shoulders. You force the back to stay flat. If the person is flat on their back, it will be very difficult to escape. Most escapes from side control in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu involve coming up to the side to imitate the escape.

The last side control concept I share in this video is that of the neck. By controlling the persons face and neck. They are locked in place. If the person is facing away from you and is unable to turn towards you. They will not be able to get their escapes going effectively. At least not by turning towards you.

So if you’re looking for some ideas for side control in BJJ. Watch the video and hopefully some of the concepts listed in this video will be helpful to you.

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The kimura from side control is one of my all time favorite submissions in BJJ. For whatever reason, I believe it’s my short arms, I’ve always favored the kimura from side control as well as straight armlocks. I’ve been using the submission in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu successful since I was a white belt and still use it as a black belt in rolling and BJJ competitions.

In this video I answer a problem one of our friends on Youtube has. He says that he goes for them but only gets them maybe 5% of the time.

So in this video I show a few tips and tricks I use to make the arm available for the kimura attack, and make my kimura more effective. I also go into detail about securing the double wrist lock which I believe is the most important thing when finishing a kimura from side control.

If you training Brazilian Jiu jitsu and you’re looking for a relatively safe submission, or you’re looking for a submission from cross side. Then watch the video and give this technique a try.

As always, I hope the video helps!
-Chewy

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How can you catch up to the people in front of you in BJJ as a white belt? How do you stick it out in training when you get frustrating because nothing is working?

These are the questions our friend Jeff asked concerning his BJJ training.

He’s being doing Brazilian Jiu-jitsu for about 2 months and says everyone in his gym is either a 2 stripe white belt or above. No matter what he does, he just continues to get smashed.

Getting smashed into the mat as a white belt in Brazilian Jiu jitsu is one of the most frustrating things in BJJ.

It’s fun at first but it becomes aggravating when you don’t feel like you’re not making progress. You just feel stuck.

In the video I share a story from my personal BJJ journey about how I got beat on for nearly 6 months of my BJJ training. Then eventually things started to “click” and I started to make noticeable progress.

This turned Brazilian Jiu-jitsu into something completely different.

If you’re someone who is experienced a rough patch in BJJ. Even if you’re not a white belt. Watch the video and see if you’re able to take some of the advice and apply to your situation and avoid getting frustrated, or at least have a way to work through it.

Thanks for watching! I hope the video helps!
-Chewy

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