When you first start BJJ training, it can be overwhelming. There is so much going on and it’s confusing about where to start.

I experienced this issue when I began training. And it is a question one of my new White Belts named Taylor had a question about.

His question was essentially asking what to focus on as a new BJJ White Belt.

So in this video, I share several tips about how I personally went about Brazilian Jiu-jitsu as a brand new White Belt with little to no submissions in my useable technique arsenal.

I share some tips for people who are more comfortable on the bottom playing form Full Guard and I share some options for people who are more comfortable playing from the top positions.

The general idea in this video is that if you’re new to Brazilian Jiujitsu. Your goal should be to just be able to control position as best you can and survive initially.

If you can control the basic positions (holding full guard, maintaining top position, etc) then overtime you’ll find that you’ll be able to mount some sort of offense attacks afterwards.

But in the beginning, if you don’t have the ability to maintain positions properly. You’ll be hard pressed to mount any submission attacks or offense techniques.

So for all the newcomers to BJJ, I hope this video is useful to you!
-Chewy
—————–
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The right control and setup can make all the difference with Takedowns. In this video I show a takedown I’ve used since High School Wrestling and still use as a Black Belt in BJJ.

This particular take down is going to me more focused on No Gi. And the grip and positioning will reflect that.

In Wrestling a basic name you could use for this would be a High Crotch to Double Leg.

I included a video from one of our no gi sessions of me using the setup. Not the exact same takedown, but the setup is the same. Just to give people an idea.

What I like a lot about this takedown is that it often times makes the person want to attack with a Guillotine choke. The only issue with that is that if done right, I should already be cutting my angle.

I’ve used this setup and finish against people in Brazilian Jiujitsu competitions or just rolling. Some of these people are those with nasty Guillotine chokes.

But again, creating the angle will keep me out of trouble.

So give the takedown a try, see if it works with your BJJ takedown game. If it does, awesome!

Thanks!
-Chewy
—————–
Free Ebook: http://www.chewjitsu.net/focused-jiu-jitsu-13-page-ebook/

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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

Do you ever get to Back Mount in BJJ but are unable to finish the choke because someone is gripping onto your gi and you’re unable to free your other hand?

This is a common issue with Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in the gi. Recently one of the viewers, Nick, had a similar issue and jokingly asked if he should quit gi Brazilian Jiujitsu all together and do 10th Planet BJJ.

I answered the question in one of my Chewy ramble videos:
Watch it here: https://youtu.be/I8AQII5nUC4

In that video I talked about letting go of the frustration associated with grips and just continuing to work hard.

In this video I give some more tactical advice on how to maneuver around the grip while going for the submission in Back Mount.

1. One option is to use your hips and body to break the grip so you can come back in for the choke.

2. Another option I show actually involves choking with 1 arm.

3. The last option involves switching the hips to change the Back Mount position and change the choking arm side to finish the choke.

If you’re having the same problem Nick is having with your BJJ training or competition rolling. I hope this video and the tips in it helps!

-Chewy
—————–
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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

Running out of steam in a BJJ tournament is not something that anyone looks forward too. Cardio is always an important factor for Brazilian Jiu-jitsu competitions.

But in addition to just having a high baseline of cardiovascular fitness is the management and expenditure of that energy, and the ability to keep pushing forward even when you think you’ve reached your threshold.

In this video I answer a question from one of our viewers who is worried about his cardio for upcoming BJJ competitions.

During his normal Brazilian Jiujitsu training he plays disciplined and conservative with his energy output. And in the early portion of rolling. He is on the defensive and isn’t able to be assertive on his training partners.

Overtime his opponents tire down and he comes back.

His worry comes from the fact that in a competition. He may only have 1 match. And he will have to win that BJJ match to stay in the tournament.

And if he isn’t able to be aggressive and assert himself on his opponent. He’ll get knocked out of the competition right out of the gate.

In this video I touch on the issue of being too conservative with energy and being a bit more liberal with it. And I start by simply saying roll differently to be more assertive.

Oftentimes, people will train with a mindset of saving some in the tank for the next round.

If they know they have another roll, they’ll wait and save some for later.

In my experience, if you’re trying to push yourself. You need to push past that and try to tire yourself out early. This way you get to that painful threshold.

That point where you feel tired and you don’t necessarily want to roll any further, but you keep going anyways.

I share other Bjj training related tips with rolling in the gym. Hopefully they’re helpful for you and your Brazilian Jiu-jitsu training or competition preparation.

-Chewy

—————–
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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

The Reverse Half Guard position can be a terrible position for the bottom Half Guard player.

When used correctly, the reverse Half Guard position provides the Brazilian Jiu-jitsu practitioner on top with the ability to put some massive pressure down as well as open up options for submissions as well as guard passes.

And like many escaping scenarios in BJJ. If you’re slow to react. The bad position goes from bad to worse.

So in this video, at the request of one of my Brazilian Jiujitsu students. I’m showing one of my favorite BJJ techniques to counter or escape this nasty Half Guard position which can be incredibly frustrating.

The basic idea of the position is to move the top person around just enough so that you can hip out and get Back Mount. Being able to take the back and escape the threat of a guard pass or submission at the same time is pretty sweet.

A fun story about this is that I show this move to a friend of mine once on the warm up mats during a tournament.

Later that day he actually used this technique successfully to take someone’s back and win his BJJ tournament.

Hope the move helps you too!
-Chewy

—————–
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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

I find it interesting how divisive people are about every little subject. Instead of live and let live, and being open to the possibility that they might not be right about everything. People want to draw a line in the sand and bark across the people on the other side.

I was reading the comments this morning and noticed all of the BJJ Gi Hate. People saying how unrealistic it is, and how it’s stupid and an old tradition.

And I understand what they are talking about. When people say realistic I think they mean MMA. And in that case, I suppose the Gi is not directly realistic to an MMA fight.

However, I think for a basic fighting situation. Understanding how to manipulate clothing is realistic and useful.

The one thing I would add to this is that a lot of what we do in BJJ isn’t all that realistic or useful for a fight.

We do it though, because it’s fun.

And so, stop drawing the line in the sand about which one is better. Gi Brazilian Jiu-jitsu or No Gi Grappling.

It’s all good. It’s all grappling. You should practice both.

-Chewy
—————–
Free Ebook: http://www.chewjitsu.net/focused-jiu-jitsu-13-page-ebook/

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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

Do you ever get frustrated with the Gi in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu ? I’m sure you probably do, and if you don’t, give it time.

For me with my wrestling background and my incessant desire to move around. Have you ever noticed how much I rock around in the videos?

I hate the Gi when I first started BJJ. And I’ve had a love hate relationship with the kimono.

In this video, one of our friend’s has a specific question about dealing with a Grip from Back Mount during rolling in his gym. And I will talk about this at a later time. In his message he words it as, “should I give up the gi and just do 10th planet?” Meaning, should I just do No Gi BJJ training.

But in the meantime I wanted to share some thoughts on how to approach BJJ training and the various frustrations that come with it. Because if it isn’t the gi, it will be something else.

In this video I share a couple of stories of how I got frustrated with the gi. 1 story in particular was kind of funny because I ended up destroying a beautiful BJJ gi in the process.

If you’re experiencing some trouble with the gi in BJJ. I hope this video is helpful to you and your BJJ training.

Thanks!
-Chewy
—————–
Free Ebook: http://www.chewjitsu.net/focused-jiu-jitsu-13-page-ebook/

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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

Have you ever done a BJJ private lesson? How did you go about it? Did you ask the coach to solve a particular problem you were having or help you work towards a new position, or did you let them just show you whatever they wanted to show you?

This is kind of the question I received from Casey recently. He is a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu purple belt. And along wanting to travel more for BJJ. He’s also planning on getting a bunch of private lessons from various Brazilian Jiujitsu coaches.

He is hoping to expose himself to as many new BJJ techniques and information as possible.

His main questions were,
1. How do I approach a BJJ coach about a private lesson, what’s the proper etiquette?

2. What is the best approach with doing a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu private lesson, should I ask them to just show me something or should I come in with an agenda?

This is obviously relative to everyone. But I share my biggest advice with private lessons in Jiujitsu and come from the point of view of a BJJ instructor.

Hope this video is helpful!
-Chewy

—————–
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=507JvhKGwXA

Here is Eugene’s Podcast The Jiu-jitsu Therapist
https://jiujitsutherapist.com/podcasts/

We talk about everything from my recent diet changes and adding strategically placed carbs that are giving me tons of energy for my BJJ training, to getting submitted by lower belts and losing the ego and multiple aspects of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.

At the end we do a little bit of Q&A with people watching.

We apologize for the audio quality and weird camera angling. This was thrown together pretty quickly.

In the future if we do another YouTube live episode. We will work on doing things more professionally and give you guys better audio quality.

—————–
Free Ebook: http://www.chewjitsu.net/focused-jiu-jitsu-13-page-ebook/

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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

I don’t even know what to say about the situation in this video. Our friend, T, sent in a message about a training session recently in his class. He said that while he was rolling with a young teenager. The teenager’s father screamed out “fuck him up” during the roll.

When I read this message my instant reaction was. . . no way . . . this didn’t happen. But I’ve received several messages similar to this through the videos.

I’ve also experienced a few situations where things like this have happened.

1 such situation was when I was at a BJJ tournament and a father told his son, “Don’t you fucking tap.”

It’s just disgusting. It really is. . . this is a disgusting situation that has no place in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.

The weirdest thing about the situation that came from our friend’s question was that the father is a purple belt n BJJ. I find this so bizarre because most people who actually do Brazilian Jiujitsu know the struggle and understand how hard it is and in turn they are usually very supportive and encouraging rather than negative.

I also share what I think the White Belt who asked this question should do. I don’t know how helpful it will be to anyone. But maybe it’s informative in some way.

Thanks!
-Chewy
—————–
Free Ebook: http://www.chewjitsu.net/focused-jiu-jitsu-13-page-ebook/

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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

What does time have to do with a BJJ Belt Promotion?

Our buddy Edward recently sent in a message asking for advice on the subject of what time has to do with belt promotions. He says that he has quickly become one of the best White Belts in his Brazilian Jiu-jitsu gym after 4 months.

He’s wondering why his coach won’t promote him to Blue Belt.

He says he’s also considering leaving and going to train with his friend who’s a Purple Belt.

In this video I share how I would approach this situation as a Brazilian Jiujitsu coach.

I personally would not promote someone after 4 months. The reason for this is because I want to see commitment from the student and I want people to have time at the top of the pile in their belt level in BJJ.

Commitment is what is necessary to grow in BJJ. Motivation and passion for the martial art can come and go. But commitment is what you need to really stick with it.

And so the reason I believe time is important. 1 is that it helps gives the person more time to train.

But a big reason is that it shows commitment from the practitioner.

—————–
Free Ebook: http://www.chewjitsu.net/focused-jiu-jitsu-13-page-ebook/

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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

Recently I received a question about what to do when someone farts during a roll in BJJ.

The question came from our buddy Jan from the Chewjitsu instagram and he wanted to know how to proceed for his Brazilian Jiu-jitsu training.

In short, if someone farts during Brazilian Jiujitsu training. . . you just keep rolling.

-Chewy
—————–
Free Ebook: http://www.chewjitsu.net/focused-jiu-jitsu-13-page-ebook/

Grip Fighting Videos: http://www.chewjitsu.net/product/get-a-grip/

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If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

Here is a powerful Kimura setup from Guard that works off of a Basic Guard break many White Belts (and just people in general) will use in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.

Many times setting up the Kimura from closed Guard can be tough because people are very conscious of their hands and arms and don’t allow someone to isolate them. If you’ve train Brazilian Jiujitsu you get a 6th sense about not letting your arms get over extended or pulled away from your body.

This is why you 1st have to focus on breaking the posture of the person rather than attempting a submission. It’s similar to the way a Judo player will explain a throw.

In Judo, before you can worry about the actual throwing technique. You have to focus on Kuzushi. Which is the pushing and pulling that causes a person to be off balance and open up the attack.

Attacking from the Guard on the ground is the same way. Before you begin to attempt the throw. You 1st have to knock the person off balance and break their posture.

Once the posture is broken. We can then attempt our actual attack.

In this video I try to share some of the simple details that can make the kimura from Full Guard work.

1. Isolate the arm.
2. Secure the figure 4 armlock for the Kimura / Ude Garami.
3.Move the body to the finishing position.
4. Use the WHOLE body to finish! Don’t just focus on pushing with the arms.

To drive home the idea of the 4th part of that list. When doing a submission in BJJ. Remember that the idea of a submission is to attack a part of our opponent’s body (arm, shoulder, knee, etc) with our WHOLE body. In the case of the Kimura. Recruiting as many muscles as possible will help to overwhelm our opponent’s strength with our shoulder lock.

If you’re a BJJ White Belt or you just enjoy the Kimura. I hope this video is helpful!

Thanks!
-Chewy
—————–
Free Ebook: http://www.chewjitsu.net/focused-jiu-jitsu-13-page-ebook/

Grip Fighting Videos: http://www.chewjitsu.net/product/get-a-grip/

T shirts: http://www.chewjitsu.net/shop/

http://www.Facebook.com/Chewjitsu

http://www.instagram.com/Chewjitsu

Tweets by chewjitsu

Intro/Outtro Music : http://www.thesoundproviders.com/#/

If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.

Here is a powerful Kimura setup from Guard that works off of a Basic Guard break many White Belts (and just people in general) will use in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.

Many times setting up the Kimura from closed Guard can be tough because people are very conscious of their hands and arms and don’t allow someone to isolate them. If you’ve train Brazilian Jiujitsu you get a 6th sense about not letting your arms get over extended or pulled away from your body.

This is why you 1st have to focus on breaking the posture of the person rather than attempting a submission. It’s similar to the way a Judo player will explain a throw.

In Judo, before you can worry about the actual throwing technique. You have to focus on Kuzushi. Which is the pushing and pulling that causes a person to be off balance and open up the attack.

Attacking from the Guard on the ground is the same way. Before you begin to attempt the throw. You 1st have to knock the person off balance and break their posture.

Once the posture is broken. We can then attempt our actual attack.

In this video I try to share some of the simple details that can make the kimura from Full Guard work.

1. Isolate the arm.
2. Secure the figure 4 armlock for the Kimura / Ude Garami.
3.Move the body to the finishing position.
4. Use the WHOLE body to finish! Don’t just focus on pushing with the arms.

To drive home the idea of the 4th part of that list. When doing a submission in BJJ. Remember that the idea of a submission is to attack a part of our opponent’s body (arm, shoulder, knee, etc) with our WHOLE body. In the case of the Kimura. Recruiting as many muscles as possible will help to overwhelm our opponent’s strength with our shoulder lock.

If you’re a BJJ White Belt or you just enjoy the Kimura. I hope this video is helpful!

Thanks!
-Chewy
—————–
Free Ebook: http://www.chewjitsu.net/focused-jiu-jitsu-13-page-ebook/

Grip Fighting Videos: http://www.chewjitsu.net/product/get-a-grip/

T shirts: http://www.chewjitsu.net/shop/

http://www.Facebook.com/Chewjitsu

http://www.instagram.com/Chewjitsu

Tweets by chewjitsu

Intro/Outtro Music : http://www.thesoundproviders.com/#/

If you’d ever like to train with the team and I. Check out my gym Derby City MMA in Louisville,KY.