Home Workout: Guard Work with a Heavy Bag

If you're like a lot of BJJ practitioners you're probably wishing you had more of one very important thing....time to train. Here is a great workout you can do in 15 minutes at home with a heavy bag to develop your guard. I show guard drills, arm lock drills, and even some striking. These drills help a lot because they are simple yet super effective movements that the majority of practitioners either gloss over or skip altogether. Training your body to efficiently perform these movements on a daily or every other day basis will improve your guard game in less than a month!

See the video here!

BJJ Black Belt Brandon Ruiz on Goal Setting for Jiu-Jitsu

BJJ Black Belt Brandon Ruiz on Goal Setting for Jiu-Jitsu
January 19, 2011


by Daniel Mower

Goals have only been marginally successful for me in the past. I always saw them as a list of wishes…nice things to aim for that could possibly happen if I was lucky and didn’t get distracted.


The notion that goals can help you improve your Brazilian jiu-jitsu sounds cool. But goals, like Brazilian jiu-jitsu, work based on principles and techniques. Until you understand the techniques, setting goals is just that…wishful thinking that will end in failure.

Brandon Ruiz is what I would call a “black belt goal setter.” I was introduced to Brandon through my coach, Dave Johnson. Both are BJJ black belts under the Machado flag in Utah. Despite family and work requiring much of his time, Brandon has been a very successful competitor, particularly in no-gi, winning numerous tournaments (most recently at Pancrase and NAGA in 2010). He attributes that success in competition to setting and reaching goals.


The goal-setting techniques Brandon has taught me in the last few months have changed the way I train for the better. I don’t know a single BJJ practitioner (especially a beginner) who doesn’t want to improve at Brazilian jiu-jitsu. And if learning to set goals can speed that process up, who wouldn’t want to at least hear about it?

Click here to read more!

A Boxing Legend: Gene Fullmer

This week my family and I went to The Gale Center of History and Culture in South Jordan, Utah. There were lots of great exhibits for the kids about local Utah and South Jordan/West Jordan history. It was all very nice and interesting but the most exciting thing for me was the exhibit featuring the Fullmer brothers (Gene, Don, and Jay) and their boxing exploits. There was a nice video that talked about their fights and even included some fight footage. Gene was a great Middleweight Champion from the 1950's and 60's era of boxing. He beat the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson to win his first world title. He then lost the title back to Robinson. Later he beat Carmen Basilio for his second world title and successfully defending it 13 times!

The brothers were all very accomplished fighters and won numerous awards and titles. Don beat Emile Griffith to win the American Middleweight title and had 78 professional fights. Jay was a promising welterweight and had 27 professional fights before suffering a career ending injury.

It was exciting to see a group of brothers from a working class family accomplish so much in their craft. It also hits home that you don't need to have all the fancy trimmings in order to work your way to the top. Truly inspiring!

Home Grappling Conditioning #2: How to use the Ten Basic Drills to improve your Grappling

Now that you have a good grasp on the drills that you should be using here are a few quick ideas to help get you started developing your own training sessions with them.


First you will need to find a suitable size area where you can do both ground and standing drills.


Second determine which areas you want to focus on the most. If you can’t decide you can simply do them all and then adjust your focus as you get a better feel for where you are weakest.


Third choose your workout format. Will you do a set and rep type workout or would you rather work through a series of timed rounds? I find that the set and rep workout is better for pure skill development while the timed rounds are great for a combination of skill development and conditioning. Again if you have a hard time choosing just pick which sounds best to you. I have included examples for both in this article.


Ten Basic Drills to improve your Grappling
1. Bridging (Neck and Shoulder)
2. Shrimp
3. Elbow Sit Up
4. Technical Standup
5. Granby Roll
6. Pendulum Swing
7. Sprawl/Burpee
8. Squats
9. Lunges/Level Changes
10. Stance Footwork


Set and Rep Workout (sets are listed first, reps are listed second)
1. Bridging
a. Neck 2 x 15
b. Shoulder 2 x15 to each side
2. Shrimp 3 x 15 to each side
3. Elbow Sit Up 2 x15 to each side
4. Technical Standup 2 x10 to each side
5. Granby Roll 2 x10 to each side
6. Pendulum Swing 2 x15 to each side
7. Sprawl/Burpee 2 x 10
8. Squats 2 x 50
9. Lunges/Level Changes 2 x10 to each side
10. Stance Footwork 2 x 2 directions


Timed Rounds Workout: 3 – 5 rounds
(1 Round = Perform 5 - 10 repetitions of each exercise over a 3 minute period with 1 minute of rest before your next round)
1. Bridging (Neck and Shoulder)
2. Shrimp
3. Elbow Sit Up
4. Technical Standup
5. Granby Roll
6. Pendulum Swing
7. Sprawl/Burpee
8. Squats
9. Lunges/Level Changes
10. Stance Footwork


Working on your skills in this manner not only allows you to get better at the basics but increase your specific strength and conditioning levels. I have found that this type of training is much more effective than other forms of cross training as it is extremely sport specific. I hope these suggestions help you on your quest for grappling greatness.


Click here to see the drills in action!

Home Grappling Conditioning #1: Ten Basic Drills to improve your Grappling

The following drills are very important parts of developing solid basic skills for grappling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Each one has a specific purpose and I can’t think of too many matches where they are not necessary. By incorporating these into your workouts at the BJJ academy and most importantly at home your grappling skills will improve dramatically.

In my personal quest for grappling greatness I have tried to simplify as much as possible by asking: What are the most important skills? What skills and positions show up in every match? What is the most basic and obvious solution to the problem?


These questions help me keep my mind focused on executing the little things and the basic skills consistently. If find that in today’s world of “cyber experts” one has to boil the art down to its most essential components. With so many different fancy techniques out there practitioners can easily become addicted to learning techniques and never grasp the basic principles behind them.


These are my top ten drills for making rapid and consistent improvements in grappling. There is always room for improvement in these drills regardless of if you’re a white belt beginner or a seasoned world class fighter.


Ten Basic Drills to improve your Grappling


1. Bridging (Neck and Shoulder)
2. Shrimp
3. Elbow Sit Up
4. Technical Standup
5. Granby Roll
6. Pendulum Swing
7. Sprawl/Burpee
8. Squats
9. Lunges/Level Changes
10. Stance Footwork


I hope this helps you on your quest for grappling greatness.


Click here to see the drills in action!

Home Grappling Workout

Have you been a white belt forever? For the last 5 years you can’t seem to beat anybody because you don’t have time to train? Do you work odd hours that don’t let you get to the gym? Man that sucks…

I’m going to show you new ways to train and develop your game so that you don’t have to worry about making it to the gym just to get on the mats. There’s so much you can do at home, you won’t even believe it! You don’t need a lot of equipment or a big investment. It will help you get better in your top and bottom game and I’ll even throw in a few tips about how to get better at takedowns.

To Read More Click Here!

Watch the video!