Have you grappled with bob the builder or a rock climber? Good luck with breaking those grips! Here you have two options to turn defence into an offence. Try it out and and let me know how it went!

Building a gas tank and pushing through your walls is a mindset, and this video demonstrates it perfectly! I promise! Me and @Charlie Christodoulou did not do this exercise to show off. It was a coincidence(proof in the other post "Beat the clock" ) We have our new post comp class ritual to do. MMA class was already running late, so we had to do it knowing our Head Coach @Carlos Gomes wants to share a message with the group. What we didn't know, what he will be talking about😅 You have to make that choice as you step on the mat, that today, you are in charge of your mindset and self-talk. You gotta commit to yourself and your training partners.

There are a few wrestling techniques I believe BJJ world needs to embrace more, and cradle is one of them. Here is a video from my latest wrestling class where you can see how versatile they are. More content on cradles will be posted, but for now, I want you to start thinking and looking for them. Every time you have access to head and behind your opponents knee, there is a cradle. This move gives you a lot of control, allows you to slow down the pace if you need to, and you can progress to subs or better positions like mount or even back takes.

Here is an exercise I do to beat the clock mentally(and improve my cardio). But before I explain what we do in this video, let me tell you why we do it. In the grappling mind, the clock is one of the main distractors and diminishers of your performance. Everyone, unless you train it, keeps on looking at the clock and hopes the round is almost done. Your entire mental energy, in that moment, is directed away from your opponent, and it goes towards the clock. The price you are paying is not just the possibility of being scored. That's not the worst part. Here is the real problem: resisting the urge to look at the clock also bites into your focus and consumes your mental energy. It consumes A LOT of it. You think about how much time is left, which reminds you how tired you are, and you just want it to be over. Then you look at the clock, hoping it's 15 secs left, and you see 45 seconds! Now your mind goes into dark places. Your brain craves certainty, especially when your back is against the wall. That's why you look at the clock. So how do you solve this? Practice being tired and resisting thinking about the time and looking at the clock. The place you want to arrive is noticed and quickly dismissed and need. Which takes me to this exercise: After a long and tough comp class, when everyone is mentally checked out, I set two cones, two minutes on the clock and one goal in mind: Keep on moving! @Charlie Christodoulou joining me was unexpected but a very nice touch. As you can see around 1m15s, my mind had the first urge to look at the clock, but i position myslef in a way that I can't lift my head to see it. I would have to stop the exercise for a second. Yesterday, we beat the clock. That battle was ours! Give it a go. The time you set doesnt have to be 2 mins, it has to be challenging enough to burn your legs and lungs.

First of all i just want to say i won my second match on my first comp against a blue belt from decision/advantages and it was because of my wrestling based off what you said about head position and pressuring forward and attempts. So thanks for your help I’m finding it really valuable. My question is, in my first match my opponent kept getting a strong grip on my left wrist from the top. My reaction was to lift my arm up and try to cut the corner to get around to the back, but I couldn’t get high enough around the corner to secure the position. Looking back, I wondered whether that wrist grip could actually be an entry to a single leg: so If someone has a strong grip on the top of my wrist and I’m already lifting my arm up which was creating an opening to her leg, is it a legitimate setup to level change and shoot a single leg, using the shot itself to break the grip? Or is that unreliable/not sensible 😬 ? Just my game plan is to practice shooting for the first time for my next comp and I was wondering if that was a legit set up to practice?