The Best Gym Towels for 2020
What exactly is a gym towel for? It is not there just to help you wipe some sweat off in between rolls. On the contrary, it's there to help with cleanliness, maintain good hygiene, and stay healthy. After all, hygiene in a BJJ gym is only as good as the personal...
Interview with Gannon Lang – From Passion to Full Time Job
Please introduce yourself Hey there, my name is Gannon Lang. I’m 23 and a Brown Belt under Nakapan Phungephorn (Owner of BETA Academy). I live in Fredericksburg, VA and own Nexus Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. What do you do outside of Jiu Jitsu? Honestly, I don't do much...
8 Things Every Big Athlete Deals with— The “Big Guy Blues”
Complaining about being tall at BJJ gym is like complaining about being rich or handsome at a nightclub. Any comment portraying your height as troublesome elicits sarcastic reactions like: “Yeah it must be terrible being super tall in <insert literally any country...
7 Exercises to Improve Your Flexibility in Jiu Jitsu
What are the defining characteristics of some of the best BJJ athletes in the world? Speed, technique, tactics, strength, experience, flexibility. But which one of these is the most important? The answer to this question depends on your goals. But, if you want to be...
Surfing and BJJ – What Are The Benefits?
What exactly does it mean to live the BJJ lifestyle? The best part about the answer to this question is that it is a bit different for everyone. Individuality plays a big part in BJJ, hence different folks define the BJJ lifestyle differently. However, there are...
The Disrespectful Triangle Choke From 50/50 Guard
There is something special about making moves that shouldn’t work – work. This is not something you can do often in BJJ, and especially not reliably against higher level grapplers. However, these types of moves are often the most fun ones to do. Plus, you never know...
Am I Too Old To Learn BJJ?
One of the most common phrases you’ll hear from your training partners is “I wish I started training earlier.” You may often hear this from twenty-somethings with their whole lives still ahead of them. But, what about people approaching middle age or even older? Is it...
What Makes a Great BJJ Instructional Video?
This generation of Jiu Jitsu players has unprecedented access to countless hours of BJJ instruction. Just 20 years ago, the acquisition of technique was whatever your academy taught, or a VHS instructional that everyone passed around. YouTube alone is a major source...
10 Benefits You Should Expect From Training Jiu Jitsu
Training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is not just good for exercise or learning how to defend yourself. There are plenty of additional benefits that you get from training in a sport as diverse and unique as BJJ. Some of them might be obvious, but there are some you may find...
Biggest Challenges in BJJ and How to Deal With Them
Helio Gracie once said, “Always assume that your opponent is going to be bigger, stronger and faster than you; so that you learn to rely on technique, timing and leverage rather than brute strength.” Anytime you recommend Jiu Jitsu to a friend you probably find...