Fighter

There is a wide range of martial arts that fall under the term “grappling”, all of which share deep and primal origins in the natural human propensity for hand-to-hand combat. Heck, you could even argue that it goes even deeper than that. Watch any animal in play or competition over mates and you’ll see some variation of grappling.

However, the various grappling arts as we know them – as modern humans practice them – encompass a diverse range of disciplines that focus on controlling one’s opponent. While they share many common characterizes, there are still differences that set them apart from each other. Each grappling art has their own unique set of principles, training methodologies, and applications.

In this blog, we give you a “cheat sheet” of some of the more well-known ones...

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We’ve all seen it. That crumpled, malformed mass of various shapes and sizes hanging off the sides of the heads of fighters of all types. The dreaded – or beloved, depending on your personal stance – cauliflower ear.

In the grappling worlds of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, and MMA, cauliflower ear as ubiquitous as Craig Jones’ trolling of Gordon Ryan. It’s everywhere. Some love it and some hate it. Some athletes wear it as a badge of honor (and some weirdos even actively seek it), while others dread it and do everything they can to avoid it.

But what exactly is cauliflower ear, and why does it happen? We’ve got answers...

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Looking to waste some time? Maybe you’ve exhausted all your recent BJJ Fanatics acquisitions, and your go-to YouTube stars haven’t put out some good content recently. Maybe you’re injured, and you’re trying to resist watching technique videos that will only get you amped up about doing what you probably shouldn’t be doing until you’re fully healed. Or maybe you’re body feels too sore to hit that open mat and the prospect of sitting down for a few hours with a pint of B&J’s sounds more to your pace.

Whatever the reason, if you’re looking for some jiu-jitsu themed movies – and you don’t want to spend hours scrolling through Netflix reading descriptions – we’ve got your back. We’ve compiled this list of ten movies that feature anywhere from a dash to a mega dose of BJJ or MMA moves.

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Welcome back to another installment of BJJ Academy Dreams, where I give you valuable insight into what it takes to start and run a successful academy of your own. If you’re been training long enough, you’ve already started dreaming of the possibility of making your passion – jiu-jitsu – your career.

As exciting as the idea is, it can also be daunting. Where do you even start? Will you be successful? What do you do if [insert random fear here]? How do I get the word out? 

For over 15 years, I’ve trained at and visited hundreds of different academies, all over the world. I’ve taken note about what works and what doesn’t. I’ve created this multi-part series called “BJJ Academy Dreams” to give you tips and ideas that will help your academy thrive… so you can share your passion for jiu-jitsu to others. 

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Welcome to part three on how to create a great kid’s BJJ program. As I mentioned in part one and two, a good kid’s program is one of the most essential parts of a successful jiu-jitsu academy.

If done right, the kid’s program can become the most stable and largest source of revenue, covering the academy’s major expenses, allowing for coaches’ salaries, and becoming the primary source of natural marketing (kids and parents love to tell their friends about this cool martial art they’re learning).

In this series so far, I’ve provided insight into how to craft a good kid’s program, and what it takes to be a good – and eventually great – kid’s BJJ instructor. In part one, I talked about the structure of a good kid’s BJJ program: the importance of a consistent format, a well-planned curriculum, a reasonable coach-to-student ratio and the role of games. In part two, I focused on best practices concerning the instruction of kid’s classes. In this third part, I’ll be covering some of the biggest challenges related to kid’s classes, and tips on how to deal with them. 

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