While not the Holy Grail of back defense, this Ethan Crelinsten instructional does offer a lot of value in terms of understanding threats and addressing them using the most optimal methods for the job. The best part is that he shows stuff that won’t get you in more trouble from a different position, once again emphasizing defensive awareness over bunching up random techniques.

Key Takeaways

• A No-Gi BJJ DVD with 7 volumes, lasting just under 5 hours.
• Contains a detailed and organized approach to defending and escaping the back.    
• Features different positional escapes, submissions blocks and how to defend transitions.  
• BJJ World Expert Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

ETHAN CRELINSTEN BACK ESCAPES DVD AVAILABLE HERE!!!

Frustrations of Dealing With the Back Mount

One of the toughest spots to escape in all combat sports that involve grappling is the back mount or back control. The position is designed to allow the person holding it to keep their opponent from turning or disengaging, as they look for a myriad of different submission finishes.

The frustrations people usually have arise from the fact that if someone claws their way to the back, they can easily win a match. The position itself is worth 4 points, plus at least a couple more in getting there. Since there is no better position to conquer, there are no penalties for just stalling from there, which makes it particularly annoying for the one trying to escape.

This is before I even mention the very real threat of submissions that are very easy to set up and combine from the back, and quite difficult to defend. The good news is that there is a way to deal with it. There are several effective open, actually, and the Get The F**k Off Me Back Escapes Ethan Crelinsten DVD presents one of them in great detail.

Canada’s Grappling Hope Ethan Crelinsten 

There are many great Canadian grapplers, but not many have managed to get a hold of major world titles lately, apart from Brianna Ste-Marie, the ADCC winner from 2022. One highly touted prospect for years has been Ethan Crelinsten, a Danaher black belt submission hunter, who failed short of any ADCC glory yet again in 2024.

That doesn’t diminish the quality of Ehtan, who is currently representing the B-team and had a strong competitive runout a few years back. The lightweight grappler won the ADCC East and West Coast Trials in 2017 and 2018 respectively, but placed third in the ADCC EC trials in 2023.

While Ethan’s grappling title cabinet might still be a little light of major silverware, people flock to his classes and seminars as the Canadian has a real knack for teaching the Gentle Art. As a specialist finisher from the back, the Get The F**k Off Me Back Escapes Ethan Crelinsten DVD holds particular value for anyone involved in combat sports.

Get The F**k Off Me Back Escapes Ethan Crelinsten DVD Review. 

The Get The F**k Off Me Back Escapes Ethan Crelinsten DVD contains seven parts, all with different amounts of No-Gi video instructions on back defense. The total running time of the instructional is just under 4 hours.

Part 1 – Defining Strangle Territory

Ethan is a very methodical grappler, perhaps too methodical for his own good when competing. However, that is exactly what makes him an incredible coach, as is evident throughout the Get The F**k Off Me Back Escapes Ethan Crelinsten DVD.

The first volume covers the concept of “strangle territory” a.k.a. situations during back control that pose a direct and real threat of strangles. To capture the point then uses examples that include arm and leg positioning as well as common hand-fighting tactics to deny the possibility of entering this territory.

Part 2 – Danger Awareness

Jsut as crucial as understanding when you’re about to get strangled, is being aware that dangerous attacks are forming while you’re trying to deal with someone hanging on your back. This extends past just strangles, and since there’s a lot to think about, Ethan boils it down to a system that helps you identify whether a threat is in its early-mid or late stage, and how to react to each.

Some of the examples in this part of the Get The F**k Off Me Back Escapes Ethan Crelinsten DVD include belly down escapes, tied in with the monumentally important motion of hip heisting.

Part 3 – Turning Escapes

So far very well organized, the third part of the Get The F**k Off Me Back Escapes Ethan Crelinsten DVD continues in the same fashion, focusing on one of the most effective ways to escape the back (in my humble opinion) – the turning escape.

Crelinsten talks about shoulder and hip positioning that enables you to initiate the turning escape without setting yourself up for a deep choke from the back. There is a lot of talk about angles, alignment, and the all-important strangle territory again, as Ethan explains how to create the momentum you need to get out safely.

Part 4 – Dealing With Seatbelt Variations

Part four of the Get The F**k Off Me Back Escapes Ethan Crelinsten DVD is all about the seatbelt and represents the most detailed seatbelt-counter fighting insturctional I’ve seen. In it, Ethan covers all the most common seat belt configurations and what to focus on when defending each of them.

Danaher might have turned the BJJ world upside down by offering attacks on both sides from the back, but Ehtan does a great job of offering ways to beat all of them, and then some.

Part 5 – The Threat of Arm Switching

Something, not many people factor in is that the person holding back mount, provided they know what they are doing, is going to switch up grips rather than switch sides, in an attempt to create submission openings while staying on your back.

The fifth volume of the Get The F**k Off Me Back Escapes Ethan Crelinsten DVD covers this in detail, covering key aspects such as overcommitting with the arms and posting recklessly. Crelinsten also shares his insights on escaping the cross-body ride (a.k.a. truck/twister) and using Granby rolls in a smart and effective way.

Part 6 – Disrupting Mount Transitions

As we near the end, the final instructional aspect of the Get The F**k Off Me Back Escapes Ethan Crelinsten DVD focuses on follow-ups, which most commonly include mount transitions for the person that had your back.

Once again, awareness is key, as Ethan explains what you need to be wary of when escaping the back, so you don’t have to go into a whole new cycle of mount escapes. I enjoyed his take on using the shoulder grind to cause a strange structure for the top person to control, as you have time to sneak out completely.

Part 7 – Roll Analysis

The very last portion of the Get The F**k Off Me Back Escapes Ethan Crelinsten DVD has Ethan commentating on his back escape tactics while rolling live. Three sparring rounds feature in this portion, with Crelinsten presenting the rolls as they are first, and then going into detailed breakdowns of his actions.

A Systematic Approach to Escapes

The best way to approach escaping is the same as you approach attacking – build a system. If you don’t know or want to build one, then turn to people who have them. There are tons of instructionals out there offering all kinds of material, but the only ones that really matter and can help are those that offer structured systems that make sense.

For example, you can learn the old-school style of back escapes, and try to use them against someone using the Danaher straight jacket system. The result is going to be a tap on your side, whether from a direct back choke or any other rear-based submissions that are available, such as triangles, armlocks leg locks, and spinal locks.

If you focus on making the person from the back struggle to maintain the position and make submission attacks impossible by utilizing smart positioning, precise timing, and specific movements, you have a system you can use against anyone. Pair it with a bit of patience and practice and you’ll be very difficult to hold and finish from the back.

One such system is available in the Get The F**k Off Me Back Escapes Ethan Crelinsten DVD. My verdict is that it is definitely worth checking out.

FULL DOWNLOAD: ETHAN CRELINSTEN BACK ESCAPES DVD

Get Off My Back!

If it is up to me, I’d say that anyone should take a look at the contents of the Get The F**k Off Me Back Escapes Ethan Crelinsten DVD. It may not be the best-organized system, nor the most effective one in terms of back defense, but it does offer an understanding of what the main threats are, as opposed to trying to teach you moves that will most likely fail.

A very good investment in your long-term BJJ game, in my opinion. I know I will be going through it at least several more times in the near future.

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Moreover, after you take a look at the dissected, step-by-step instructions on how to perform this BJJ triangle escape to a leg lock, you’ll gain an understanding of how the best grapplers bind together submissions and escapes. This is why Tonon has such courage to go for crazy things at the highest level – he can escape submission if it fails!

Why Watch Garry Tonon? 

Garry Tonon, dubbed “The Lion Killer” is one of the most recognizable names associated with John Danaher and his Death Squad. He’s a multiple World No-Gi & Pan Ams No-Gi Champion, and gunning for his first-ever ADCC title again in 2024. He’s simply one of the best No-Gi BJJ practitioners in the world at specializing in submissions and No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu.

His specialist style of Jiu-Jitsu has benefited Garry enormously in MMA. It’s best defined as relentless submission hunting mixed with scramble initiation. It has helped Garry achieve a 9-1 record in MMA, fighting under the ONE FC banner.

With such a style, though, the art of escape gets sharpened daily. Garry’s style has landed him in some difficult situations such as losing to Tye Ruotolo and Sean McNally. Garry does have an incredibly effective escapes system, built upon his submission-hunting prowess.

Garry is hunting for submissions all the time and he also gets himself into bad positions probably more often than anyone else, but ends up getting out and tapping more people than he taps to. We’ll take a look at how you can integrate his tactics into your game today.

Turning Escapes into Attacks

Whenever you do just one thing in BJJ, you set yourself up for failure. For example, trying to hold mount using everything you know, even against a first–day student is eventually going to fail – they’ll find a way out, even if it is by pure luck.

Threatening submissions while you try to retain mount, such as the Americana will most likely not end up with you tapping the bottom person. However, keeping them busy with arm lock defense means you can easily stay in the mount, which is a smart and efficient tactic to win matches.

Well, you can reverse-engineer this entire approach to use when you’re escaping as well. In fact, the most success I’ve had with escapes is when I wasn’t trying to get out of bad spots but rather hunted for counter-submissions. The D’arce choke off a Ghost escape and the Squirrel Lock Kimura comes to mind.

There are plenty of similar examples of how you can use submission threats to get out of escapes or turn escapes into submission attacks halfway through when the opponent is busy trying to keep a hold of you. You can be as creative as you want as long as you set up everything you do as at least a dilemma.

Technique Breakdown: Garry Tonon Triangle Escape To Leg Lock Finish

Triangle chokes are very tricky to get out of. It is not defending them that gets you in trouble, though, as much as the final stages of escaping do, when a lot of different attacking follow-ups open up to your opponent.

One way of countering these is to go for a counter yourself, well before such opportunities present themselves to your opponent. Here Garry Tonon shows a pretty slick triangle escape to leg lock combo that will catch anyone by surprise.

Moreover, he has created plenty of additional options to finish his opponent after he escapes toward Ashi. Let’s break down the entire sequence, along with the foundational idea behind it:

Keypoint 1: Posture is not Enough

While Garry agrees that posture is important during any BJJ triangle escape, he states that not jsut any posturing is going to help you. Instead of trying to pull up with your neck, focus on wedging your hips underneath the opponent’s hips. This soveling motion will provide you with all the posture you need to fend off the choke, as you set up your way out.

Keypoint 2: Don’t Go Forward, Go Up

Another key aspect of posture during a triangle escape from guard is getting up to your feet. Many people take the easy route of trying to stack the bottom person by leaning forward. This is a trap that only gets you deeper into the triangle, or potentially in a mounted triangle choke.

Instead, focus on standing straight up. Stepping to the side of your trapped arm is going to provide you with both the drive and the essential angle to stand up while not straining your neck and look to set up your triangle escape to leg lock combo.

Keypoint 3: Angle for the Step Over

We used to learn the basic triangle defense as jsut finding a way to sit back and throw both legs over the opponent’s belly. This still works, but Garry dissects the “just find a way to stand up” part in a very methodical way.

Yes, his route is longer. and does not employ both legs, which is a lot more effective, believe it or not. Once up, he steps over on the side of his trapped arm, and carefully sits back rather than throw himself on the mats. This latter is only going to pull the bottom person on top of you.

Keypoint 4: Open the Legs

A plus side of Carfull descending to the mats in a controlled fashion is that the opponent’s legs are still closed in the triangle. No this is not a bad thing, as now you can easily open them up while immediately gaining control over them.

This step is crucial as this is when your opponent will be looking for follow-ups since the triangle cannot work anymore. Even if you don’t open the legs immediately, use your free arm to control the one on your neck, as it will buy you all the time you need to set up Ashi Garami.

Keypoint 5: But-to-Butt 

The final aspect of this Garry Tonon triangle escape to leg lock combo is to remember that your butt needs to stay close to the opponent’s butt at all times. This is the first step we went over (wedging) and still makes or breaks this sequence.

Being butt-to-butt means you can work towards any Ashi Garami configuration that you want. In fact, Garry offers two options as a way to tap your opponent:

1. Outside Hell Hook: Immediately available off this modified staple BJJ triangle escape is the Game Over leg locking position, a.k.a. the Sambo Knot. Garry demonstrates an outside heel hook but you can go for a bunch of different locks from there.
2. Straight Ankle Lock: For the PG version that those IBJJF leg lockers are after, Tonon provides an alternative finishing, utilizing the most powerful version of a straight ankle lock – the belly-down finish.

How to Apply Submissions to All Your BJJ Escapes

Garry’s incredible rendition of a triangle escape to leg lock, as effective as it is to immediately add to your game, is a lot more than jsut a copy-paste tactic. It provides you with an entirely differnet way of thinking about escapes, as the means not just to get out, but to win.

This does not mean that you do not need to practice complete escapes any longer. On the contrary, you need to research and dissect them even more, so that you’re able to pinpoint the best time for transition into a counter as opposed to jsut running back to safety. it wil undoubtedly turn you into a true high-level grappling competitor!

If you’re interested in all kinds of escapes from numerous submissions make sure to check out Tom DeBlass’s DVD instructional. It’s called Submission Escapes! It can really improve your escape skills. And when we talk about Tom DeBlass, he’s the guy who hasn’t submitted to competition for more than 10 years.

Not even mention that Tom DeBlass’s guard is almost impossible to pass. He’s been working on it for the last 15 years and it’s nearly perfect. Check Tom DeBlass’ Half Guard DVD Instructional named Half Domination

There is also another Great Escape Instructional from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Legend Dean Lister. He’s very well known for his leg locks and intentionally giving legs to people so he could defend them and submit them. He’s the guy who inspired John Danaher with his legendary sentence “Why would you ignore 50% of the human body”. Dean Lister gathered all of his best escapes and put them in this instructional.

It’s called Worry-Free Escapes. And it’s something that will get your escapes to another level. And once you’re not afraid of being submitted you’re more offensive and that can be the game changer in your BJJ. So, check out the technique List and Dean Lister’s Worry-Free Escapes Instructional. 

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The post Garry Tonon Triangle Escape To Leg Lock Finish Breakdown appeared first on BJJ World.

While you shouldn’t take any escape instruction for granted, as escaa[ping is so much more harder and specific than attacking, there are some BJJ DVDs out there that offer value in that department. Whether this Brian Glick DVD can join that select circle is going to be decided at the end of this review.

Key Takeaways

• A 7-part BJJ DVD containing 6 hours of applicable BJJ pin escape material.  
• Covers all major pins in BJJ exploring movement-based escape tactics. 
• Contains a volume that sums everything up in 40 minutes, providing a blueprint for using the system. 
• BJJ World Expert Rating: 7 out of 10.

AVAILABLE NOW: BRIAN GLICK DYNAMIC PIN ESCAPES DVD

Dealing With BJJ Pins

One of the toughest things people encounter in BJJ when they start is the reality of pins. The fact that someone can hold you down against your will and there’s not much you can do about it is enough to send even grown meant into fits. I’ve seen it happen.

The thing most people do not understand is that it does not get any easier. Pins are one of the integral aspects of learning BJJ and as such are always going to be a part of the game. That also means that pin defense and escapes are imperative if you want to have any hope of at the very least enjoying BJJ in the long run.

Another significant differnece between pins in BJJ and other grappling martial arts is that in Jiu-Jitu you get to hold pins for as long as you can, rather than getting an immediate victory. That means the top person is going to have an elaborate style of control, preventing escapes, counters, and breaking up defense.

So where does that leave you? I’d suggest you look into defending from bad spots first, by placing yourself in them intentionally and doing the research while taking the suffering. Alternatively, you can try and skip that step and go straight into practicing escape, such as the Dynamic Pin Escapes Brian Glick DVD Review suggests you do.

Escape Artist Brian Glick

When John Danaher awards a black belt in BJJ to someone, then they really do know how to grapple. Brian Glick had the honor of receiving the coveted BJJ rank of black belt directly from Danaher, after spending years under the Evil Mastermind’s tutelage.

Glick’s feat is made that much more memorable and impressively the fact that he is no Gordon Ryan. HE is smaller, older, and has no huge athletic attributes to boats. That just means he really got the essence of everything Danaher taught as he turned out to be one of the most technically accomplished grapplers alive.

Brian has been training since the late 1990s, persevering through the rough times of early BJJ in the US. Having access to monsters such as Renzo Gracie, GSP, and Chirs Weidman made a huge difference in how Brian approached his game and his longevity-based system clearly works – he is still very much active as a coach in Brooklyn BJJ.

He also has several BJJ instructional out, outlining different aspects that can help you build a longevity-based game. One of his efforts includes the Dynamic Pin Escapes Brian Glick DVD which is up for review today.

Dynamic Pin Escapes Brian Glick DVD Review

An interesting 7-part BJJ instructional looking into the difficult art of escaping pins in grappling. The Dynamic Pin Escapes Brian Glick DVD contains 6 hours of escape material organized by pins and presented through concepts and principles. Here’s the full Brain Glick DVD review:

Part 1 – Understanding Pin Escapes

The first volume of the Dynamic Pin Escapes Brian Glick DVD features an hour-long introduction to the concepts and principles he likes to use when escaping. Brian decided to build a principle and situational-based escape system rather than try and match positions with different escapes.

The key aspects of his approach are the inside position, arm and leg frames, how and when to use those frames as well as several key movements that are at the foundations of every escape. Motion-wise he covers bridging, kipping, rocking and the knee-elbow connection to achieve all of his dynamic pins escapes.

Part 2 – Knee On Belly Escapes

Part two goes into more specificity, with Brian addressing the dreaded knee on belly position first. There is a lot of pressure for the bottom person from this one, especially if they are smaller and lighter, so Brain helps you deflect the weight factor by offering different directions of escaping.

Keeping things dynamic at all times Glick advocates for turning into counters, whether you go towards a single leg, into the half guard, or try to invert to an Ashi Garami. In fact, he shares a few very insightful things about Ashi setups, including how to frame with the legs until you’re ready to spring a trap.

Part 3 – Escaping the Mount

In part 3 of the Dynamic Pin Escapes Brian Glick DVD we get to learn his take on beating the mount, which is not an easy thing to achieve. I like that Brain’s approach is more through the knee-elbow combination as opposed to bridging.

he does include kipping variations that help him protect and re-conquer his inside position, which allows for different ways out, some of the unorthodox suc has Garry Tonon’s turning escape featured in this instructional.

There is a particularly useful chapter on troubleshooting the high mount which I am sure many will find solves lots of pin issues, which, in turn, will make armbar attacks impossible.

Part 4 – North-South Solutions

The one position I get more questions about than any other in terms of escapes and defense is the North-South. As “specific” as it is, there are proven ways to deal with the position, some of which Glick covers and even upgrades in the DVD.

The main thing he addresses is the importance of movement, as escapes work much better in transition, no matter how small it is. Of course, most of the escapes are based on getting back control over the inside position using pummels at every level from your wrists and elbows to your knees.

He also addresses some late escapes that will help you deal with an already-established pin. This section is one of the most useful in the entire Dynamic Pin Escapes Brian Glick DVD

Part 5 – Beating Side Control

This is where things take sort of Saturn. Sider control escapes can be really easy, at least at the level of principles and Glick decided to complicate them. a bit too much for my taste. In the fifth part of the Dynamic Pin Escapes Brian Glick DVD he dedicates an hour and a half to different turns and twists that end up being overwhelming as a bunch.

There are some highly useful and interesting ideas such as using the lower leg shift, something I haven’t seen since Ryan Hall fought competitively. He also explores the use of a headlock to get out of side control, but the jury is still out on that one.

All in all, the inclusion of sit-throughs, different stances and posts, underhooks, and tight waist control all spell a bit too much, given that he doesn’t spend too long on any of these concepts.

Part 6 – Executive Summary

In part six of the Dynamic Pin Escapes Brian Glick DVD, Brian does something I really appreciate seeing in instructional – he sums everything up, connecting the dots between the different pin escapes and how they all work together.

This volume is a cheat sheet where the entirety of the DVD is connected in a system covering 40 minutes’ worth of scenarios and connections. WHiel it is hugely useful to watch after you see the entire content, and perhaps the only one you need to rewatch. seeing just this one is far from enough to rally grasp Glick’s escape system.

Part 7 – Ottakes

Another fun and innovative way to break the mold of standard BJJ instructionals by Glick is to include a dedicated volume in the Dynamic Pin Escapes Brian Glick DVD for the key outtakes you can base your entire escapes on, from white to black belt. These are the most important 10 or so minutes in this instructional.

The Secret to Being Unpinnable

You can’t hold something that keeps moving. When you are the ‘something’ this becomes even more important, which is why dynamic defense is the foundation for all pin escapes in BJJ. If you want to be difficult to hold, even after people achieve a certain top-pinning position against you, you’ll need to keep moving.

When Isay moving, I don’t mean trying to run or crawl around the mats while someone’s trying to get to your back. Instead, I mean creating space by turning, twisting framing, posting, rocking, etc, to force the top person into re-adjusting. Once they move, you can too, as their weight and body positioning are no longer an issue.

BJJ is a game of inches, and whenever you can create an inch of space, you can mess up the other person’s plans, top or bottom. Getting an inch of space while you’re on the receiving end of side control or mount is huge, and you can learn a lot about creating those inches from the Dynamic Pin Escapes Brian Glick DVD.

DYNAMIC PIN ESCAPES BRIAN GLICK DVD DOWNLOAD

Only Way Out!

No need to wait (literally) as you yearn to escape pin in BJJ! The Dynamic Pin Escapes Brian Glick DVD is a solid resource to at least, introduce you to a practical way of looking at escapes and organizing them together in a system.

The time of like-for-like escapes is gone, given the variety of top pinning positions in BJJ and the follow-up threats they create. What you need is as smart, replicable way that works for all large audiences and won’t leave you reaching for the ice pack once you get home. I think Brian Glick delivers, with varying levels of success, on all these aspects in this instruction.

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The post Dynamic Pin Escapes Brian Glick DVD Review appeared first on BJJ World.

All of the above is available in the Simple Steps To Escape Side Control Charlie Vinch DVD instructional. By using proven and effective techniques that work for escaping side control under the barrage of strikes and submission threats in MMA, Vinch has come up with a blueprint to deal with side control quickly and with a high success rate. 

Key Takeaways

• 3-part No-Gi BJJ instructional with a total running length of just under 2 hours.
• An escape system that blends traditional and modern bottom side control solutions. 
• Offers counterattacking traps mixed with the escapes.  
• BJJ World Expert Rating: 7/8 out of 10.

SIMPLE SIDE CONTROL ESCAPES DVD  AVAILABLE HERE!!!

Stop Giving Up in Bottom Side Control!

The one single thing that pisses me off more than anything else is when I see someone in the bottom of side control just lay down and give up. Once you decide to “get into position” like during technique demonstration, with both shoulder blades on the mats and no meaningful grips, you deserve to suffer at the bottom. 

You should never accept side control fully, under no terms. That does not mean people will not get you in it, nor does it mean you’ll get away easily. However, you need to give yourself every little advantage that you can to sneak out as soon as possible. And, believe it or not, it all begins by turning to your side. 

It doesn’t matter if you expose your back as you turn from the bottom of the side control. Your grips will save you (as long as you know how to palace them) and help you to get out without all lthe huffing and puffing you probably usually go through before you concede mount or back. 

The Simple Steps To Escape Side Control Charlie Vinch DVD claims to have a solution for all these issues. Given that Vinche’s main focus is not getting obliterated in MMA, it may even deliver on that. Let’s see. 

MMA Coach and BJJ Black Belt Charlie Vinch

When you want to learn how to grapple in No-Gi, it is best to learn from a coach who works exclusively without the Gi. If you have access to a world-class black belt who also does MMA, then you can rest assured that you’re getting the most effective tactics to succeed in grappling. 

Charlie Vinch is exactly that – a black belt under the Migliarese brothers, a professional MMA fighter, and owner of Budo Martial Arts Studio in Ewing, NJ. In his quest to best understand and master grappling for MMA purposes, Vinch also spent a considerable time training in Brazil, at the infamous Chute Boxe academy. 

Charlie’s take on grappling is similar to Chris Haueter’s in the sense that he likes to put an emphasis on the realistic side of BJJ, rather than the fancy stuff. He likes to prepare his students for the streets, then the MMA cage, and finally for sports Jiu-Jitsu, which, they’re more than ready for after experiencing his systematized style of teaching. 

The Simple Steps To Escape Side Control Charlie Vinch DVD is one of several instructional by coach Vinch that compares traditional and practical escapes, aiming to remove all the unnecessary movement we see in bottom side control. 

Control Charlie Vinch DVD Review: Simple Steps To Escape Side

The Simple Steps To Escape Side Control Charlie Vinch DVD is a No-Gi instructional with the material divided into three distinct volumes. The total running time is just under two hours, with the focus being on practical effects that lead to counters as opposed to elaborate BJJ-style solutions to get out of side control: 

Part 1 – Traditional Frame Escapes

As an MMA coach, Charlie likes to be direct, so he begins with an overview of side control and the multiple threats that lurk there. He does not waste any time, and immediately addresses, distance, and the make-or-brake concepts when it comes to getting out of side control. 

The first part of this Simple Steps To Escape Side Control Charlie Vinch DVD breaks down an escape we’ve all used and failed at – the frame escape. In fact, it covers several, looking into different angles, arm configurations, and directions of escape. 

A highly effective sneaky escape dubbed the ‘Darth Vader’ escape brings the first part of this instructional to a close. 

Part 2 – Back Door Shrugs and Heisman

In the second part of the Escape Side Control Charlie Vinch DVD the attention turns to more effective and practical ways of dealing with side control, introducing smart use of the lower body to the system. Here, he shows different leg blocks, and how they integrate together with back door escapes made possible by shrugging your shoulders. 

This is a proven wrestling technique to hide your neck and make gripping difficult, and Vinch has applied it perfectly to grappling. A few more innovative ways out, such as the dump truck and machine gun wrestle-up build on the back door shrug escape. 

That brings us to the final part of this volume, which explains what the Heisman escape is, offering different ways of setting it into motion as you literally slide out of side control. 

Part 3 – Sneaky No-Gi Side Control Escapes

Even if this instructional stopped at two volumes, there would be plenty of material to consider for building your side control escape game. However, the Simple Steps To Escape Side Control Charlie Vinch DVD has more to offer, with some real gems appearing in the final volume. 

Here, frames make an appearance again, but this time, in a way more practical fashion featuring the single and double under escape. Not stopping there, Vinch also offers great ways to escape the crossface, as well as remove North-South as being a dangerous position once and for all. 

Unnoticeable Side Control Escapes

The best way to escape side control is either to trick the top person into thinking you’re not trying to, or force them to move away themselves by frustrating them with your positioning. Both these directions have their uses, but if I had to pick, I’d go for tricking the opponent into thinking I am not actively trying to get out.

The power of side control is in the attachment the top person has either at the level of your shoulders or the level of your hips. The word ‘either’ is key here, as that indicates which body part you can use to initiate escapes. 

You see now why laying flat on the ground is a bad idea – you’re taking away your ability to move purposefully without the top person noticing any threats. Instead, when you have to concede side control, accept it, but on your terms, keeping your body in a position that already sets you up for escapes, without you having to flail your limbs all over the mats.  

The Simple Steps To Escape Side Control Charlie Vinch DVD is going to help you figure all this out quickly and with minimal time spent suffering at the bottom of side control. 

CHARLIE VINCH CONTROL ESCAPES FULL DVD DOWNLOAD

Slid out of Side Control! 

Just slide out! If it was only that easy, though. While not easy, sliding out of side control is not particularly difficult either. It is all about how early you start setting up escapes and using the most efficient escapes that suit your game and physical abilities. 

In the Simple Steps To Escape Side Control Charlie Vinch DVD you get a no-nonsense overview of very effective side control methods, along with detailed instructions on how to use them. If you’re into BJJ it will be helpful, but if you are into MMA this resource can turn out to be a lifesaver. Don’t miss out! 

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Of course, you’ll need a plan. That is where going for the Defensive Connection Chain Marcos Tinoco BJJ DVD might prove to be a smart move. Despite not offering the latest helpful insights into BJJ defense, the instructional is solid at organizing the defense most people are already aware of. In fact, I think it may prove to be highly effective exactly because of this. 

Key Takeaways

• Two-hour long Gi BJJ instructional containing four volumes of instructions. 
• Covers the principles of defense, mostly focusing on different guards.
• Explores both top and bottom aspects of defense, exploring defensive chains. 
• BJJ World Expert Rating: 8 out of 10.

 MARCOS TINOCO DEFENSIVE CHAINS DVD AVAILABLE HERE!!!

When To Move and When to Be Still

How do you set up your defense/? If you are doing anything but arranging your defensive system similarly to your offensive one, then you’re picking the more difficult and complicated road. It will work, but you’ll never end up feeling comfortable while defending if you base your defense on what your opponent does in attack. 

Organizing your defensive efforts around positions that allow you to deter differnet types of attacks, while compromising the attacking person’s superior position is what you’re after. These safe zones should be the foundation of your defensive game, but you must not forget that having each of them alone is far from enough. 

How, and more importantly when you move between them is where the true skill of an expert defensive grappler lies. If you ever want to have a hope of becoming a high-level grappler, you’ll need to attain it as well. One option that lays out a very simplistic defensive system you can use, is the Defensive Connection Chain Marcos Tinoco BJJ DVD.

Marcos “Lekinho” Tinoco

As a Marcelo Garcia black belt, Tinoco is a name associated with a level of Jiu-Jitsu and the Brazilian does not disappoint in delivering exactly that. His competitive record, which includes at least one title in almost each of the toughest competitions in the world (except for ADCC), speaks for itself. 

Marcos has been with Marcelo Garcia since brown belt, representing the army of modern-day black belt assassins that have come out of MG Jiu-Jitsu in New York. Initially, Tinoco started training with Juarez Soares and the GFTeam in Brazil. After meeting his wife and swapping Brazil for the US, Marcos ended up at the MG Academy, a year before he got his black belt from Marcelo. 

Tinoco’s competition record is more than impressive, with the 35-year-old already claiming nearly 80 victories. Popular as a deadly effective points fighter as opposed to his mentor;s submission-heavy style, Tinoco made a name for himself in the highest levels of BJJ. 

Some of the victims of Marcos “Lekinho” Tinoco’s style throughout the years include grappling titans such as Tommy Langaker, Romulo Barral, Murilo Santana, and Oliver Geddes. In the Defensive Connection Chain Marcos Tinoco BJJ DVD he demonstrates exactly why he was able to be so dominant in world-class BJJ tournaments.

Full Marcos Tinoco DVD Review: Defensive Connection Chain

In this Gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructional, Marcos Tinoco shares just over two hours of material, divided between four volumes. The Defensive Connection Chain Marcos Tinoco BJJ DVD does not offer too much in terms of innovation, but it does help connect some well-known BJJ concepts and positions. 

Part 1 – Bottom Positions

In the opening salvo of this instructional, Marcos Tinoco goes over a variety of different escapes, mostly focusing on how to move when on the bottom. His system revolves around defensive checkpoints which help him take a break as he moves through grappling defense. 

The starting focus in the Defensive Connection Chain: A Marcos Tinoco BJJ DVD is side control, with chapters covering reversals, elbow escapes, and guard recoveries. Marcos also covers side control follow-ups you may end up in, such as knee on belly and mount, with a bunch of defensive options that tie into the original side control/North-South escapes. 

Part 2 – Dealing with the Closed Guard

Arguably, the most useful section of this Marcos Tinoco DVD is the second volume, which covers how to position yourself side the closed guard so that you’re invulnerable to attacks. Strong defense inside the closed guard is the best way to force the opponent to open it, making it easier to pass. 

The list of movies Tinoco shows how to defeat starts with the Kimura, taking us through hip bump sweeps and addressing the sneaky scissor sweep with direct counterattacks. Most of his tactics are nothing new, he just connects them all into a logical system. 

Part 3 – Half Guard 

In terms of the half guard, I appreciated that Tinoco goes over both top and bottom tactics to deal with it. He addresses sweeps as well as wrestling up from guard with sneaky moves that end up with even sneakier submissions, like lapel armbars. 

Throughout the deconstruction of the dangers of half-guard and how you can defeat them, Tinoco also covers the deep half-guard, a subject many instructors fail to recognize as dangerous. 

Given how close the bottom half guard is to the mount position, Tinoco offers ways to connect some of the previously used mount defenses. In this part of the Defensive Connection Chain DVD, though, he expands on it to include armbar and choke defenses. 

Part 4 – Open Guards

The final part of the Defensive Connection Chain Marcos Tinoco BJJ DVD continues where the last volume stops, addressing the dreaded head and arm (a.k.a. Arm triangle) choke from the mount and how to defend it. 

Before concluding his instructional, Tinoco goes over the spider guard as one of the timeless threats from the bottom in Gi Jiu-Jitsu, offering hope to those suffering from triangles, Omoplatas, and sweeps. Dealing with the lapel guard also finds a place in this portion of the instructional. 

Defense As a Flow Concept

Everyone raves about flow in Jiu-Jitsu, but when you ask people about what they mean by it, you get either idea about effortless transitions between top positions or fluid guard juggling. But what about defense? Can you even think about ‘flowing’ when you’re trying to fight from a bad spot in BJJ?

If you organize your defense around checkpoints, which allows you to transition back and forth, then you’re building a system that allows you to move when you want, rather than being hopelessly pinned. The more checkpoints you introduce to the system, the more you can move since the distance between the two is generally shorter. That’s how defense begins to flow.  

Having checkpoints ready, and being able to stop direct attacks is not enough. You want to be able to move towards a position that allows you to attack and for that, you’ll need to figure out when to move in between positions. 

This is where the crucial concept of timing your movement comes into play. The Defensive Connection Chain: A Marcos Tinoco BJJ DVD is a solid resource to help you get some ideas.  

DEFENSIVE CONNECTION CHAIN FULL DVD DOWNLOAD

Become Fearless on the Mats! 

The best way to become attack-proof in BJJ is to be comfortable being in the bottom of a mount, having your back taken, or being deep on the receiving end of an Ashi Garami. Achieving requires you to spend a lot of time in all those situations, but also have a blueprint that is proven to work at all levels of the game. 

The Marcos Tinoco BJJ DVD “Defensive Connection Chain” can help you with the second aspect of this conundrum. It offers several different positional tactics, and, even though the focus is on defensive positioning, but rather on how to break up offensive ones, it is a helpful resource to start you on the path to an effective defense. 

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If you have rolled at least once in your life, you know how important offense and defense are in the sport. Essentially, you’re doing one of them at all times for most of the duration of every match and roll.

But, how do these opposing aspects of BJJ relate to one another, and how can you make the most out of understanding that relationship? These are the answers we’re looking for today.

Key Takeaways

• 5-part No-Gi DVD with just under two and a half hours of game-changing concepts.
• Covers the principles of offense and defense in BJJ from both top and bottom.
• Defines and simplifies how and when you can turn defense into attacks effectively. 
• BJJ World Expert Rating: 9 out of 10.

CHRIS PAINES DEFENSE TO OFFENSE BJJ DVD AVAILABLE HERE!!!

The Art of Attacking While Defending

Why do we defend in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? The short-term answers that most of you are probably thinking about are along the lines of “preventing submissions” and “recovering superior positions”. The long-term goal, most people are not connecting with defense is attacking.

defense serves as a means to help you establish positions you can launch attacks from while being safe from the opponent’s offense at the same time. Without defense, it would be a battle of attacks that will benefit whoever is in a superior position.

So, while the initial answers are correct, in a way, they all lead to the same goal – gaining an offensive edge over your opponent. Having an attacking mindset while you are defending bad positions and even submission attacks, means you are working towards a very clear goal and you’ll start recognizing options to launch those attacks much earlier than conventional Jiu-Jitsu behavior has taught you so far.

I’ve only seen sporadic mentions of this crucial concept in Jiu-Jitsu until now when an instructional directly covering the subject became available. Is the Chris Paines DVD: Turning Defensive Cycles into Offensive Cycles going to deliver, though? Check out the review that follows:

British BJJ Mastermind Chris Paines

I’ve had the pleasure of attending some of Chris Paines’ classes and I’ve always left with more ideas, material, and questions than a year of BJJ training. The man is simply not afraid to challenge all the stuff we’re taking for granted, in, what I interpret to be, an attempt to simplify Jiu-Jitsu.

Chirs is a fairly recent black belt, under defensive expert Priit Mihkelson, and you already probably know of him. A few years ago, one of Chris’ classes exploded in the BJJ World, available for free on YouTube and dubbed “How to defend everything“. And that is not even his best work!

Chris has been meticulously growing and breaking down Jiu-Jitsu since then, some of it available on his YouTube channel, but most of his most cohesive knowledge of grappling put into instructional format. The BJJ and Japanese Jiu-Jitsu black belt, one of the lead instructors at Fighting Fit in Staffordshire has several enticing and highly informative instructional to his name.

Turning BJJ Defense Into Offense is the latest Chris Paines DVD, and one that arrives with almost perfect timing, as I spend the last 9 months trying to teach this elusive skill to my advanced class.

Detailed Chris Paines DVD Review: Defense Into Offense

If you’ve ever seen Chris teach or you’ve watched any of his DVDs, you know that you’re in for an unorthodox experience. Chris likes to “dumb down” Jiu-Jitsu using lots of analogies you probably never thought of, which ends up being an extremely effective way of delivering key points to a large audience.

The Turning BJJ Defense Into Offense Chris Paines DVD is a 5-volume No-Gi BJJ instructional that features just under 2 and half hours of very informative and original material.

Part 1 – Why We Do Jiu-Jitsu

This incredible Chris Paines DVD opens up with an introduction, during which Chris decides to cover the subject of why we do BJJ from the perspective of gaining and taking away power. It is a slightly strange way of explaining the sport, but when you stop and think about it, it just makes so much sense!

Paines builds on his fundamental concept of Jiu-Jitsu, at least in the realm of defensive and offensive cycles, by addressing another staple of success in the Gentle Art – balance. He explains precisely what it is, how to keep a hold of it, and how to take it away from your opponent.

Part 2 – Guard Essentials

Defensive guards first emerged as a concept when Ryan Hall decided to issue a series of DVDs on the subject more than a decade ago. Since then, the concept remained a part of the sport but has never really been addressed in-depth.

Chris who has a very strong defensive background courtesy of the work he did with Mihkelson, has attempted to deconstruct both the defensive and offensive prowess of guards by breaking them down to their bare essentials.

That is exactly what he shares in this portion of his Turning BJJ Defense Into Offense DVD, starting with one of the staple concepts of wrestling – the tree trunk/pole concept. A lot of attention goes towards hand-fighting the key components of defense, and offense and combining both of them.

Chris covers open guards in this volume, addressing both how to use them as a guard plater and how to set yourself up to pass them.

Part 3 – Just Stand Up

Sticking to the tree trunk concepts which he dubbs “Bonsai”, Paines goes into one of the most useful, yet frustrating concepts of modern BJJ – standing up from guard. It is highly useful because it introduced another dimension to BJJ, one previously heavily used in wrestling.

Frustrating, because it can be extremely difficult to stand up while someone is not allowing you to, effectively focusing only on that task to the detriment of actually grappling. This usually results in chaos and loss of positions. Paines goes over the hand-fighting principles that are essential for standing up safely and effectively, before addressing some key defensive postures from bottom positions.

This part of the Chris Paines DVD mostly covers the defensive cycle, targeting the use of the turtle position and its relation to the ‘running man’ defensive posture. Chris’ goal is to guide us to standing without risking joint locks and chokes, all the while opening your own counter-submission opportunities.

Part 4 – Distance Management

past the halfway point of the Turning BJJ Defense Into Offense instructional, Paines switches his attention almost exclusively to offense, by presenting different methods that annoy people who attack you so much that they end up doing their worst, allowing you to capitalize.

That is exactly what his ‘sugar in the gas tank’ concepts cover – how to stop people dead in their tracks while they’re attacking you. The vital aspect, you guessed it – hand fighting. This time, however, it is distance that makes offensive hand fighting possible and Chris does a marvelous job explaining how it works in BJJ.

The turtle position features a lot in this volume again, with the focus now on the spine – both yours and that of your opponents. More precisely, Chris talks about alignment and misalignment of the spine and how it affects grappling.

Part 5 – Pressure

Wrapping this Chris Paines DVD up is a volume covering pressure, which, as I’ve discovered during my own experiments, can come from the bottom person (a.k.a. the one defending) as much as the one on top.

Paines’ final volume covers the use of shot points and counterweights, as the main components of having a pressure-based game that stops attacks and allows you to turn the tables in just a few moves. The cherry on the top, and the final chapter in the story, is a section covering Apex chokes.

Turning Defense into Offense 

One of the most difficult things I’ve ever managed to achieve in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is to figure out how to turn the tables when I am defending. The challenge was not to initiate scrambles while I was defending, nor look for low-percentage submissions, like bottom-side control Amaericanas. It was to play defense in a way that slowly and methodically opens up high-percentage attacks with the attacker remaining oblivious to my intentions, but unable to achieve anything.

Suffice it to say, I spent countless rounds tapping out to silly stuff and stewing under the pressure of top players until things started to click. Of course, I had help along the way, and Chris was actually one of the few people who covered this subject in some of his earlier work.

Having the ability to defend confidently puts you in a position where you never feel panicked or threatened again – you’re in control even when you’re “losing” which is a very powerful position to be in. Once you master that shift in the grappling mindset, you will find out that attacking from defense is actually much closer than you thought.

DEFENSE TO OFFENSE CHRIS PAINES DVD DOWNLOAD

Attack, Attack, Attack!

You might say I am biased toward Chris Paines’ work in grappling because I am a fan of intelligent approaches to the sport that challenge unnecessary fluff which has overtaken the sport lately. That said, I really can’t see how anyone would go wrong with picking up the Turning BJJ Defense Into Offense Chris Paines DVD.

While you will need a solid foundation of defense, an you can only get that by placing yourself in bad spots and finding ways out, this resource is immense in providing a conceptual framework of where all your defense leads. I’d jump on this as soon as possible so that you have more time than your opponents to break it down and use it.

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The”Breaking The Triangle” Joshua You BJJ DVD is a great resource that offers an insight into the modern approach to defense that renders old-school BJJ positions like the triangel more or less powerless. Instead of panicking your way out immediately, now you get to figure out how to chill inside a triangle, choosing to open it up and pass, or even better, submit the bottom person indirectly. Yeah, you read that right.

Key Takeaways

• 3-part No-Gi DVD by 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu defensive expert Joshua You. 
• Features an original organization system using letters from the alphabet. 
• Explains defense vs. escapes and contains viable submission counterattacks.  
• BJJ World Expert Rating: 9 out of 10.

BREAKING THE TRIANGLE DVD AVAILABLE HERE!!!

Trailer for Breaking The Triangle Joshua You DVD

Beating The Triangle Trap

Getting stuck in a triangle is about a lot more than just being choked out. Okay, the strangle is the elephant in the room, presenting the most dangerous outcome. However, chokes in BJJ require time to work, which means you have tens of seconds, and if you position yourself well, even minutes to find your way out.

That brings me to the crucial piece of information on triangles which is present in the “Breaking The Triangle” DVD, but I also have to point out here: defense and escaping are two very different things.

The triangle is not as straightforward as people think. Let’s put it like this – think of the triangle as a guard you can use to sweep and set up armlocks and chokes, instead of just a structure that allows you to strangle someone. Now you understand how much potential the position has.

Beating a triangle is not like stopping an Ezekiel choke. You have to consider how to fend off the choke, prevent the opponent from sweeping you, considering they have one of your arms trapped, and also be wary of follow-up submissions like punch chokes and armbars.

Only when you can defend against all of these attacks can you think about moving and escaping. This will require careful weight placement and choice of directions, as it is even easier for the bottom person to attack when you start moving inside their triangle with no clear idea of what you’re trying to achieve.

10th Planet’s Chef BJJ

A 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Eric Ramey. Despite getting his black belt only a couple of months ago in May of 2024, Joshua, a.k.a. Chef BJJ has a wealth of grappling knowledge, skill, and unmatched passion for the Gentle Art. He is completely in love with the sport, teaching full-time at his own Chef BJJ in West LA and helping out at Ramey’s 10 Planet Thousand Oaks.

He is very strong at defense, particularly an expert about the turtle and he has developed into a kind of defensive guard. He leaves people to pass and countersuits from everywhere. He has taken submission counters and re-counters to a whole new level, fortifying his air-tight defensive game with dangerous finishes.

In his “Breaking The Triangle” DVD, Joshua demonstrates lots of his defensive prowess that makes him as close to unsubmittable and unpinnable as you can get in grappling. What is different in Joshua’s game is that he is not just a defensive expert, he remains very dangerous everywhere, especially when he is on the defense.

A Joshua You BJJ DVD Review: Breaking The Triangle

“Breaking The Triangle” is a three-part Joshua You BJJ DVD that features a never-before-seen structure. Chef arranges his entire triangle choke defense and counter-attacking system alphabetically, with each chapter in his instructional marked by a letter.

He goes all the way to the letter “L”, but does add a numbers system to certain letters when he shares additional important information. Given his 10th PLanet Jiu-Jitsu background, this is understandably a No-Gi BJJ instructional.

Part 1: A to D – Killing the Triangle Choke

As “Breaking The Triangle” kicks off, Joshua spends a short amount of time explaining his letter-based organizational system and immediately gets to the point. He opens with several “classics” like the pendulum escape, knee pin, and even faking mount access to deal with a closed triangle choke. Each of these is defined by the letters A-C.

While I am not a fan of going forward inside a triangle choke, Chef’s neck stack, designated ‘D” makes sense. Instead of thinking about getting out by going forward, Joshua focuses on putting pressure on the neck, resulting in either a submission for him or an escape because the bottom person decides to let go of the triangle. A smart combo.

Part 2: E to I – Counter Submissions

As the Joshua You BJJ DVD unfolds further, Chef goes on to explore a truly original series of ankle locks he likes to use to submit an opponent that has a triangle on him. There are five different scenarios for this ankle lock, which Joshua organizes as 1-5 under the letter “E”.

The second part of this volume is all about body positioning during triangle defense, dubbed “F”, with Joshua demonstrating what happens when you move your weight in all directions.

As he gets to “G”, “H” and “I”, he goes into actual escapes, showing details on how to do triangle mount reser, get out using the North-SOuth, and a sneaky signature escape dubbed the “Insta do not do”.

Part 3: J to L – Escape Directions

In the final part of “Breaking The Triangle,” the subject matter is a blend of escapes and counter-submissions, which more or less kills off the choke entirely. “J” stands for these combinations that offer a quadrilemma of options, with two escapes and two submissions joining forces to create a loop-based system.

I particularly enjoyed Joshua’s exploration of movement and the directions in which he creates motion, as well as the ones he likes to avoid. Plenty of information on moving and turning left and right is what the letter “K” is all about in this DVD.

Wrapping up with the letter “L”, Chef goes over the defense and escape options for triangel variations, mostly concerning the rear triangle and no arm triangles. He finishes with an overview of the entire system.

Chilling Out in Triangles

Learning how to deal with triangles from a defensive expert like Joshua You is extremely valuable when you’re looking for a complete system to beat specific positions. Essentially, what you can figure out using this Joshua You BJJ DVD is how to chill inside the triangle until you feel like passing or submitting the person attacking you!

The availability of direct counter-attacks in the form of submissions, such as the ankle locks Joshua does is a very valuable and very underused method of breaking open the triangle. Moreover, he is not the first to find the triangle a “safe” spot for launching a top game, with Wim Deputter enjoying pulling off the “King’s Gambit” pass while stuck inside a triangle.

At the end of the day, having a system that helps you stay calm inside a triangle choke, and not rush to bad decisions, offers very important peace of mind. Staying collected means you’re not just safe from tapping and able to play your own counter-attacking game, but also taking a mental toll on an opponent who believes closing a triangle is all they need to get you to tap.

DOWNLOAD DVD: BREAKING THE TRIANGLE by JOSHUA YOU 

Time To Break Out!

If you are looking for ways to become the ultimate counter-fighting grappler, you need to keep working. Joshua’s DVD instructional is not going to turn you into the person who taps everyone out from defensive spots a.k.a. him. What “Breaking The Triangle” is going to teach you is to use the opponent’s position against them by rendering immediate threats useless and not rushing to get out.

This instructional is not just organized in an original manner, it delivers information that the BJJ world desperately needs to move forward. For some reason, the take on defense is still the old “gotta get out ASAP” approach which fades in comparison to what you can do using systems like Joshua You’s “Breaking The Triangle” DVD.

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However, they still appear from time to time, just like Rayron Gracie did with another Gracie Fundamentals DVD, this time targeting the subject of turtle mastery. Most Gracie family members regurgitate the same information over and over again in their instructional, but it seems Rayron decided to break the mold and teach an updated version of how to attack the turtle. It is all in our detailed review below.

Key Takeaways

• A Gi BJJ instructional with nearly 4 hours of footage on how to beat the turtle. 
• Contains a volume of rolling commentary while Rayron focuses on the turtle.  
• Front and Back turtle strategies and key takedown follow-ups. 
• BJJ World Expert Rating: 7 out of 10.

GET THE FULL TURTLE MASTERY DVD HERE!!!

The Most Annoying Position in BJJ

The turtle is one of the most boring positions to practice, but makes up for it in the security and defensive prowess it provides once you master it. In sports grappling, it is the ultimate defensive position to ensure you’re safe from any kind of attack while you’re on the ground.

Moreover, achieving turtle mastery means you can open up your shell whenever you decide and launch a myriad of different counterattacks straight from the position. This takes time to figure out, as your timing in switching from defense to offense has to be very precise. Even if you mess it up, though, the turtle is still accessible and remains a very potent safety net.

With the turtle turning into the quintessential defensive position, attacking it becomes a puzzle we must solve. So far, the latest turtle developments have caused a myriad of issues in terms of just taking the back when someone turtles up, which was the norm. There are ways to beat the turtle, but they don’t come easy as you’ll see in this Gracie Fundamentals DVD.

Rayron Gracie’s Legacy

Rayron Gracie is the latest black belt in the family, promoted by his cousin Kyra Gracie in 2023. He is a 4th generation Gracie family grappler who grew up with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, learning his trade from the likes of Renzo, Roger, Kyra, and Rolles Gracie. Quite the pedigree.

Given how young he is, both as a person and a black belt, Rayorn still has a lot of competition before him. He managed to win bronze at his first Worlds as a black belt in 2024 but has already won the competition at purple and brown, as well as the IBJJF Pans at blue and purple.

Overall, Rayron, who is the son of the late Ryan Gracie, moved to the US in 2015 to, like most of his family, pursue a career in BJJ. He started in Renzo’s gym, where he demonstrated he is dedicated to the sport and has boatloads of the family’s grappling talent.

He went on to dominate the juvenile divisions in all of the biggest tournaments in the world and followed by doing pretty much the same during his colored belts phase. Showing lots of promise as a black belt, Rayron might just be the next big thing to come out of the Gracie family.

Turtle Mastery Gracie Fundamentals DVD Full Review

The Turtle Mastery DVD is a solid resource to open up options on how to deal with the modern BJJ turtle, which is extremely powerful. Rayoren dedicates around 4 hours to covering the different ways in which you can attack the turtle from the back and front, as well as from standing and all top positions:

Part 1 – Getting to the Turtle

Rayron Gracie kicks things off by looking at how you can get to your opponent to turtle up. The main idea here is to ensure you have optimal grips and position before they set the turtle up so that you can use it against them.

Rayrong covers a bunch of different ways to defeat the safety of the turtle, starting from bottom position entries and tying the turtle in with guard passes. He covers side control routes to turtle using ankle frames knee shield variations, and even butterfly hooks.

This Gracie Fundamentals DVD is with the Gi, as expected, but that’s as close as it gets to earlier Gracie instructions. Rayron showcases his evolution and open-minded approach as he shares some really effective turtle strategies in this DVD, that are applicable to modern Jiu-Jitsu.

Part 2 – Dogfight and Pass Prevention

Going forward, the Turtle Mastery DVD explores the intricate ways in which you can follow up on the turtle when it is used to fend off your guard passes. Rayron looks a lot into the Torreando pass, which always leaves room for the bottom person to turtle up, analyzing how this can help you get into a superior position.

A particularly eye-catching part of this volume is the several chapters addressing the dogfight position. The position is directly tied to stalling and causing trouble from the turtle and Gracie offers several different ways to turn the tables by using it.

Part 3 – Takedown & Front Turtle Attacks

The midpoint of this Gracie BJJ DVD covers a creative way to approach takedowns. Rayron takes the turtle a lot further than anyone I’ve seen, using it as the endpoint of his takedowns. His thinking is that if he can’t take an opponent down, he can at least force them to turtle up, which effectively moves the exchange to the ground.

What Rayron did was go through some of the most common takedowns, like the double leg, single leg, and collar drag, offering ways to force the opponent to turtle up as you attack with these takedowns. He even covers what I think is one of the best ways to utilize the body lock and get a mat return that opens up a host of different dangerous attacks.

This part of the instructional also covers how to deal with the front turtle, by utilizing proven methods such as the guillotine chokes and the threat of transitioning to the back turtle

Part 4 – Back Turtle Destruction

The fourth part of the Turtle Mastery DVD by Rayron Gracie addresses how to attack an opponent that has turtled up tightly and is repelling common attacks. He begins with retention concepts that ensure you keep the bottom person turtled and in place.

Rayron then goes into the different arm positions and how to get underhooks and leg hooks in, as well as how to operate went the opponent is actively trying to clear them. I particularly enjoyed the different directions of escape counters, that go past just rolling forward and offer sitting back and standing up as well.

Rayron rounds off this volume by offering a couple of chokes to beat the turtle, in the form of the one-hook choke and the clock choke.

Part 5 – Rolling Commentary

The final portion of the instructional contains rolling footage of Rayron putting his turtle attacks to use. He does a few rolls first, and then goes through them, narrating and breaking down what happened, how his thought process went, and how the entire system ties in together.

Forcing the Turtle Out of the Shell

Many people turn to the turtle as a hub of defensive opportunities in grappling, and the launching pad for multiple differnet escapes. The introduction of wrestling turtle principles into BJJ in the last few years has changed the landscape in favor of those playing the turtle.

I have not seen much instructional covering how to purposefully and effectively break down and attack the turtle in BJJ. This Gracie Fundamentals DVD, although leaving lots of questions unanswered, does offer some ideas and directions on how to solve this very annoying issue. 

Personally, I am looking at the source to learn how to beat the turtle, trying to implement wrestling tactics to combat the wrestling base that gives it the defensive power it has. Regardless of tactics, the endgame remains open, as attacking the turtle in BJJ is not as easy as it was 10 years ago.

That doesn’t mean to just give up and allow people to use it to defend everything. It just means we need a lot more work on the subject and this Rayron Gracie DVD provides some useful information on how to approach it.

DOWNLOAD THE TURTLE MASTERY RAYRON GRACIE DVD HERE!!!

Master the Turtle!

I’d say that to beat the turtle position you need to learn how to hold and defend it first, but that is the long way to Turtle Mastery. If you want a shortcut to defeating the turtle before it shapes up to become a defensive fortress, then the Turtle Mastery Gracie Fundamentals DVD by Rayron Gracie is one of the best resources to help you with your quest, especially with the Gi on. Definitely worth taking a look!

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However, being caught in a triangle choke does not mean that you have to give up or tap out. Learning how to escape a triangle choke is an essential skill for any grappler who wants to improve their defense, confidence, and survival skills.

In this article, we will show you how to escape a triangle choke using two approaches: the “traditional one” and a slightly unorthodox one that is bound to become your favorite triangled defense/guard pass combo.

By the end of this article, you will have a complete guide on how to escape a triangle choke from any situation.

Traditional Steps to Defend Triangle Chokes

The triangle choke has been around since the inception of BJJ, and people have developed effective ways of blocking, disrupting, or flat-out escaping it. The “traditional” principle-based approach works against all kinds of variations like the front triangle and side triangle setup, for example.

The answer to the question of how to escape a triangle choke does not have to stop at the traditional approach, though In fact, you don’t even have to see the triangle as something to escape, but rather as an opportunity for you to counterattack the bottom person, with something like a guard pass, for example.

But, before we go into advanced strategies like that, let’s see what the bread and butter methods of escaping a triangle choke are:

Stage 1: Prevent the Triangle Position

The first stage of escaping a triangle choke is prevention. This means that you want to avoid getting into a situation where your opponent can lock their legs around your neck and one arm in the first place.

This is easier said than done because there are many ways that your opponent can set up a triangle choke from different positions. Some of the common ways that your opponent can set up a triangle choke:

• closed guard,
• open guards,
• top and bottom side control,
• top mount,
• back control, and
• standing.

The versatility of triangle choke setups makes them efficient because they’re unpredictable and available. However, there are also some general tips that you can follow to prevent a triangle choke from happening:

1. Maintain good posture: Keeping your head up and your back straight will make it harder for your opponent to pull your head down or push your arm across your body. It will also make it easier for you to see what they are doing and react accordingly.
2. Keep your elbows close to your body: Keeping your elbows close to your body will prevent your opponent from isolating one of your arms and creating space for their legs. It will also protect your arms from other attacks, such as armbars or kimuras.
3. Control your opponent’s hips and legs: Controlling your opponent’s hips and legs will limit their mobility and ability to create angles and space for their legs. You can use your hands, arms, knees, or feet to control their hips and legs, depending on the position. You can also use your body weight to pin them down and restrict their movement options.
4. Be aware of your opponent’s movements: Being aware of your opponent’s movements will help you anticipate their attacks and defend accordingly. Stay alert not just to the obvious things but also to the placement of limbs key to triangle chokes. For example, if you avoid placing an arm in between the opponent’s legs, you do not have to worry about how to escape a triangle choke.

By following these tips, you will be able to prevent a triangle choke from happening in most cases. Still, sometimes your opponent will be faster, stronger, or more skilled than you, and they may manage to lock their legs around your neck and one arm.

In that case, you need to move on to the next stage of escaping a triangle choke: regaining posture.

Stage 2: Posture is Everything!

The second stage of escaping a triangle choke is posture. This means that you want to regain your posture as soon as possible before your opponent can tighten the choke.

If your opponent manages to lock their legs around your neck and one arm, they have already achieved a strong choking position. However, this does not mean that they have finished the choke yet.

There are still some factors that they need to adjust in order to complete the choke, such as:

• Pulling your head: Pulling your head down will increase the pressure on your neck and make it harder for you to breathe.
• Pushing your arm across your body: Pushing your arm across your body will cut off the blood flow to your brain with your own shoulder.
• Angling their hips out: Angling their hips out will tighten the triangle by reducing the space between their legs.

If your opponent manages to do all these things, they have achieved a full triangle choke, and you are in big trouble. You may only have a few seconds before you pass out or tap out. Therefore, you need to act fast and regain your posture before you can tighten the choke.

There are some common ways that your opponent can break your posture, such as:

• Pulling your torso down with their legs.
• Pulling your head down with their arms.
• Pushing your arm across your body with their legs/arms.

If your opponent manages to break your posture in any of these ways, you need to regain your posture as soon as possible.

This is how to escape a triangle choke in the mid-stage by focusing on your posture:

1. Use smart frames: Framing off your opponent’s hips (or sometimes chest) will create some space between you and them and allow you to lift your head up. You can use your hands, arms, elbows, or forearms to create a frame against their hips or chest, depending on the position.
2. Pushing their knee down: Pushing their knee down will open up their legs and reduce the pressure on your neck. This is (or was) known as the Roger Gracie defense. You can use your hand or arm to push their knee down, depending on the position, or use your head or shoulder.
3. Stacking them up: Stacking will compress the opponent’s chest and make it harder for them to breathe. It will also make it harder for them to angle their hips out or pull your head down. You can use your body weight and momentum to stack them up by driving forward with your legs and shoulders.

Even if you do all of the above perfectly, some people will still manage to have a tight triangle choke sinched in. When you are in this particular predicament, you need to move on to the next (final) stage of defending a triangle choke: a very, very late escape.

Stage 3: Late Triangle Escapes

The third stage of escaping a triangle choke is late escape (a.k.a. a Hail Mary). This means that you want to use some specific techniques to escape the triangle choke before you pass out or tap out.

The finishing mechanics of a traingle choke are specific and if you are wondering how to escape a traingle choke that is fully locked in, you’ll need to reverse engineer the finishing mechanics in order to prevent the pressure from forcing you to submit:

• Squeezing the legs together: Squeezing their legs together will increase the pressure on your neck and make it harder for you to breathe. It will also prevent you from creating any space between their legs.
• Pulling the head down: Pulling your head down will increase the pressure on your neck and make it harder for you to breathe. It will also prevent you from lifting your head up and regaining your posture.
• Lifting the hips: Lifting their hips up will tighten the triangle by reducing the space between their legs. It will also align their legs with your carotid arteries and increase the effectiveness of the choke.

If your opponent manages to do all these things, they have finished the choke, and you are likely to pass out or tap out in seconds. Therefore, you need to act fast and use some specific techniques to escape the triangle choke before they can finish the choke.

Some specific techniques that you can use to escape a triangle choke include:

• Elbow down: The elbow down escape is a great go-to as soon as you realize your posture has been compromised. For starters, your opponent will have a much easier time choking you if your arm is across your body, thus cutting off your carotid artery with your own shoulder. If the elbow of your trapped arm is pointed out and downward, you will be considerably harder to choke.As soon as your opponent locks in the triangle, even if they have a figure four configuration with their legs, open your elbow out and bring your chest forward. Be sure to protect your arm (the arm that’s inside the triangle), as this is likely to be a secondary attack for your opponent. Slowly walk your shoulders and feet in the direction of your opponent’s ankles until they come open.Remember: even if the ankles don’t open up, you’re still surviving, likely for far longer than you otherwise might!
• Knee pin: The knee pin escape is a good option if you are caught in a super deep triangle, and not only does your opponent have the figure four with their legs, but they’ve also managed to get your arm across your body so that your own shoulder is completing the choke across your carotid artery.In this situation, you need to create some space between their legs and relieve some pressure on your neck. To do this, you can use your free arm to grab their knee and pin it to the ground. This will prevent them from squeezing their legs together or lifting their hips up.Then, you can use your head or shoulder to push their other leg down and create more space. Once there is enough space, you can slide your trapped arm out or your other arm back into the guard.
• Shoulder walk: The shoulder walk escape is a simple but effective way to escape a triangle choke by using your legs and shoulders to create distance and open up their legs.To do this, you need to place both of your hands on their hips and push them away from you. Then, you need to walk your shoulders back and away from them as well. This will create some space between you and them and make it harder for them to tighten the triangle.Once their legs come loose, you can slide your trapped arm out or your other arm back into the guard.
• Leg over: The leg over escape is a risky but rewarding way to escape a triangle choke by using your leg to break their grip and pass their guard.To do this, you need to lift your free leg over their head and hook it under their chin. Then, you need to pull the opponents head back with your leg and push their leg up with your arm. This will break their grip and open up their legs.Then, you can slide your trapped arm out and pass their guard to side control or mount.

These are some of the specific techniques that you can use to escape a triangle choke from different positions. They will work for different triangles universally, like an inverted triangle or rear triangle choke. Still, how to escape a triangle choke is an art, and you don’t have to stop at the escape.

How to Escape a Triangle Choke Using Wim Deputter’s King’s Gambit

Wim Deputter is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt from Belgium who has competed more than 600 times in BJJ, grappling, and MMA. He is also a renowned instructor who has produced many instructional videos and courses on various aspects of grappling.

Wim Deputter uses the “King’s Gambit” approach to defend the triangle choke and takes it further to pass the guard with it. A gambit is a chess move where you sacrifice a piece in order to gain tactical, positional, or other advantage. In other words, Deputter deliberately gives up his arm or his posture in order to create an opening for his escape or his pass when his opponent goes for a triangle.

Wim Deputter’s gambit triangle defense is based on three main principles:

1. Pushing the knee down with both hands: This technique is similar to the knee pin escape, but instead of using one hand to pin the knee down, Wim Deputter uses both hands to push the knee down with force.This creates a lot of space between his opponent’s legs and relieves a lot of pressure on his neck. It also exposes his opponent’s back or side for him to pass.
2. Grabbing both ankles and lifting them up: This technique is similar to the shoulder walk escape, but instead of using his hands on his opponent’s hips, Wim Deputter uses his hands to grab both of his opponent’s ankles and lift them up.By doing this he creates a lot of space between him and his opponent and makes it harder for them to tighten the triangle. It also exposes their legs or hips for him to pass.
3. Grabbing one ankle and driving forward: For this, Deputter uses his hand to grab one of his opponent’s ankles and drive forward. This breaks his opponent’s leg grip and opens up their legs. It also exposes their back or side for him to pass.

These are some of the gambit defense techniques that Wim Deputter uses to defend the triangle choke and use it to pass the guard. They are risky but rewarding, and they require a lot of practice and timing to execute.

Conclusion

In this article, we have shown you how to escape a triangle choke in the traditional way, using the three-stage method: prevention, posture, and escape.

We have also shown you some of the common mistakes to avoid when defending a triangle choke, and some of the best tips and techniques to escape a triangle choke from different positions.

Finally, we introduced you to some of the triangle defense concepts from Wim Deputter, more precisely, his gambit approach to defend the triangle choke and use it to pass the guard.

Learning how to escape a triangle choke is an essential skill for any grappler who wants to improve their defense, confidence, and survival skills. However, learning how to escape a triangle choke is not enough. You also need to practice these techniques regularly with a partner and seek feedback from your coach or instructor. Only then will you be able to master these techniques and apply them in real situations.

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The post How to Escape a Triangle Choke: Two Effective Approaches appeared first on BJJ World.

Understanding The BJJ Heel Hook

Where is the power of the heel hook coming from? Is it the twist of the heel? Is it the grips? Oh no, wait, it has to be the Ash Garami positions Danaher put together. While all of these help, none of them are directly responsible for the catastrophic damage the knee endures during heel hooks, particularly inside heel hook variations.

Similar to most things in Jiu-Jitsu, it is the hips that are responsible for the success of heel hooks. In fact, if you look at a heel hook similarly to how you look at an armbar or a kneebar, you’ll actually have a lot more success with it. Simply put, the “break” in the knee during a heel hook comes from projecting your hips to either side of the knee, depending on the variation you’re using.

Imagine you’re in a very tight Honeyhole position, heel hook grips wrapped up and everything in order. You can twist as much and eventually, you’ll get someone to tap out just before you feel like you’re at your end range of motion and your control is about to fall apart. What would happen if instead, you focused on getting the grip, twisting a bit, and then projecting your hips into the knee? A very efficient and very quick tap, that’s what.

Think about it this way. We talk about applying twisting motions to all straight submissions, like armbars, kneebars, and ankle locks. Why wouldn’t we apply straight pressure to twisting submissions to accentuate the pressure on the joint we are attacking? That’s precisely why heel hook BJJ attacks work so well, and exactly what you need to prevent/defend in order to escape them.

Heel Hook BJJ Escapes: Timing

When you’re looking to perfect heel hook BJJ escapes, your focus should be on remaining calm enough to know when to move and when to stay put. Timing is everything in leg lock defense and you can really mess up epically if you miss your window. And by mess up, I mean end up injuring yourself.

First things first – forget about trying to break their grips with your hands. No amount of grip fighting will get you out of a tight heel hook grip done from a solid Ashi Garami. Instead, think about what makes heel hooks strong and take it away from your opponent. before we go into the nuts and bolts of it, though, let’s talk about when you need to go for your heel hook escapes.

Your first checkpoint for escaping should be the moment you use someone going for an Ashi Garami. This is when you’re going to look for early ways out i.e. preventing the Ashi Garami from becoming a controlling position for your opponent.

The second checkpoint is when you’ve missed out on early defense, and now have to be content with getting out really really late. By late, I mean the moment they start applying breaking pressure. This is when you’ll use the power of heel hook mechanics against the submission, thus forcing a safe and reliable way out for yourself.

In both cases, you have chances to go immediately into counter leg locks once you’re safe. If you’re a leg locker yourself, that is.

Early Heel Hook Defense

Speaking of dealing with heel hooks BJJ attacks early, you should never let anyone grab a heel hook grip (or any leg locking finishing grip) from a solidified Ashi Garami position. Dealing with the Ashi Garami early is a lot easier than you might imagine – simply hold on to the knee of the leg under attack with the same side arm. Seriously, just hug your knee and watch as your partner effortlessly attempts to do any sort of leg lock.

The reasoning behind this type of defense is simple – no hip control means no breaking mechanics. Given that many people are too eager when they hunt leg locks and focus more on trying to grip a heel hook grip first and then find an Ashi Garami, this type of defense is extremely easy to set up and will annoy even seasoned leg lockers.

The only catch is that you need to time it right. The moment someone locks a tight Ashi around your hip, if your arm is not already threaded you won’t get a chance to do so and you should shift your attention to late-stage defense instead.

Eddie Cummings Approved Late Heel Hook Escapes 

Back in the day when the Danaher Death Squad popularized heel hooks, Eddie Cummings was unbeatable in the department. He did not only fight a bunch of people who were thought to be leg lockers and submit them but never tapped himself. the secret to his success was understanding the mechanics of the Ashi Garami position and its relation to heel hooks.

The way the “Wolverine” approached heel hook BJJ escapes was to remove the knee of the leg under attack away from the opponent’s hips. There are a couple of very important things to know before you attempt this, though.

The first is that you actually need to wait for your opponent to establish a heel hook grip. Don’t worry, you’ll have time to get away, although not too much (after all, it is a late escape). The second is that you can’t just get the knee away from them in a simple motion.

Let’s analyze the position of your leg. Whether it is an inside or outside heel hook, your knee needs to be close to the opponent’s hips. If you draw an imaginary line from your ankle to your hip, your knee is not going to be on that line, but rather to one side of it. Your goal with late-stage heel hook BJJ defense – get it to the other side.

Simply trying to move the knee across this imaginary line will blow your knee out. However, if you get your butt near to your opponent and then shift (do a small hip escape) so that the leg under attack is not on the bottom, the knee will safely end up on the opposite side of the line. In other words, it’ll be very far away from the reach of the opponent’s hips, and you’ll be safe(ish).

In order to completely get away, you’ll need to straighten your foot (like a ballerina) and use a small land repeated see-saw motion to do a “heel slip”. The moment the heel is out of danger, you don’t have to actually escape the position. You can turn to your favorite heel hook BJJ counterattacks instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEUk2K1QgaE

In Conclusion

Heel hook BJJ escapes do not have to be complicated. It does not take a different way to escape every heel hook variation out there. All you need is one battle-tested way to beat the most feared submission in BJJ history. And who better to learn from than the original modern heel hook master himself – Eddie Cummings?

The post Learn The Heel Hook BJJ Escapes Used By The Best appeared first on BJJ World.