BJJ Mental Models

This week, we're joined again by Jake Luigi! Jake is a jiu-jitsu analyst who made his name studying professional match footage, and he runs OutlierDB, an analytics database for grappling. In this episode, Jake lays out a three-part framework for managing risk: name the worst-case scenario, watch for the key indicators that it's coming, and only attack hard once those indicators are in your favor. Topics include: risk-reward analysis, points of control, grip fighting, terminal positions, and Goodhart's Law.

Subscribe to Less Impressed More Involved on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@LIMIBJJ

Check out OutlierDB:
https://outlierdb.com


Mental models discussed in this episode:

• Return on Investment
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/return-on-investment
  
  
• Building Your Triggers
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/building-your-triggers
  
  
• Double Trouble
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/double-trouble
  
  
• Cognitive Load
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/cognitive-load
  
  
• Constraints-Led Approach
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/constraints-led-approach
  
  
• Availability Heuristic
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/availability-heuristic
  
  
• Points of Control
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/points-of-control
  
  
• Terminal Positions
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/terminal-positions
  
  
• Invariants
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/invariants
  
  
• Grips Dictate Position
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/grips-dictate-position
  
  
• Kuzushi
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/kuzushi
  
  
• Rotational Control
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/rotational-control
  
  
• Goodhart's Law
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/goodharts-law
  
  

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Music by Enterprize:
https://enterprize.bandcamp.com

In this mini-episode, we discuss coiling, or retracting your limbs and neck. It denies access to our body's vulnerable levers and positions us to explosively generate force.

Staying coiled is a smart "default" position if you're not sure what to do. But there are times when you need to uncoil, and that is when:

#1: there's a productive reason to do so, and
#2: you can do so safely and without giving up a lever.

Get our Intro to Mechanics audio course, normally $79, FREE:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/freeintro


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This week, we're joined by Will Weisser! Will is a jiu-jitsu black belt, co-founder of the competition-tracking site JiuJitsu.net, and author of the new book Scientific Jiu-Jitsu: A Unified Theory of Grappling. In this episode, Will lays out that unified theory: the idea that every jiu-jitsu technique exists to raise your own strength or reduce your opponent's. Topics include: relative strength, frames and misdirection, body alignment, and why being strong works.

Get Will's book, Scientific Jiu-Jitsu: A Unified Theory of Grappling:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594390355

Check out JiuJitsu.net:
https://jiujitsu.net

Follow Will on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/weisserwill


Mental models discussed in this episode:

• Theory of Alignment
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/theory-of-alignment
  
  
• Dominant Angles
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/dominant-angles
  
  
• Anatomic Hierarchy
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/anatomic-hierarchy
  
  
• Kuzushi
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/kuzushi
  
  
• Controlling the Distance
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/controlling-the-distance
  
  
• Dilemmas
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/dilemma
  
  
• Kinetic Chains
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/kinetic-chains
  
  
• Overwhelming Force
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/overwhelming-force
  
  
  

⬆️ LEVEL UP with BJJ Mental Models Premium!

The world's LARGEST library of jiu-jitsu audio lessons, our complete podcast network, online coaching, and much more! Your first week is free:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com


Need more BJJ Mental Models?

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Learn more mental models in our online database:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/database

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https://bjjmentalmodels.bsky.social
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Music by Enterprize:
https://enterprize.bandcamp.com

In this mini-episode, we discuss porcupine strategy: the art of making your defense so painful that your aggressors think twice.

Get our Intro to Mechanics audio course, normally $79, FREE:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/freeintro


⬆️ LEVEL UP with BJJ Mental Models Premium!

The world's LARGEST library of jiu-jitsu audio lessons, our complete podcast network, online coaching, and much more! Your first week is free:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com


Need more BJJ Mental Models?

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Learn more mental models in our online database:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/database

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This week, we're joined by Jesse Walker! Jesse is the head coach and co-founder of Rough Hands BJJ in Louisville, Kentucky, and a frequent BJJ Mental Models collaborator. In this episode, Jesse makes the case for loading a joint with tension before you ever start the breaking mechanics, so the finish takes a fraction of the effort. Topics include: adding traction before the break, the order of operations of a joint lock, backing up to retighten a loose position, fixing the much-maligned Americana, and leglock safety through control.

Train with Jesse at Rough Hands BJJ:
https://roughhandsbjj.com

Follow Rough Hands on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/roughhandsbjj


Mental models discussed in this episode:

• Breaking Mechanics
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/breaking-mechanics
  
  
• 3 Joint Rule
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/3-joint-rule
  
  
• Double Trouble
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/double-trouble
  
  
• Core Mechanics
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/core-mechanics
  
  
  

⬆️ LEVEL UP with BJJ Mental Models Premium!

The world's LARGEST library of jiu-jitsu audio lessons, our complete podcast network, online coaching, and much more! Your first week is free:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com


Need more BJJ Mental Models?

Get the legendary BJJMM newsletter:
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Learn more mental models in our online database:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/database

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https://instagram.com/bjjmentalmodels
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https://bjjmentalmodels.bsky.social
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Music by Enterprize:
https://enterprize.bandcamp.com

In this mini-episode, we discuss "mind the gap:" a no-gi gripping concept that prevents your opponent from pulling or circling their hand free.

Get our Intro to Mechanics audio course, normally $79, FREE:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/freeintro


⬆️ LEVEL UP with BJJ Mental Models Premium!

The world's LARGEST library of jiu-jitsu audio lessons, our complete podcast network, online coaching, and much more! Your first week is free:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com


Need more BJJ Mental Models?

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Learn more mental models in our online database:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/database

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https://instagram.com/bjjmentalmodels
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https://bjjmentalmodels.bsky.social
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This week we're joined again by Rob Biernacki! Rob is the head instructor of Island Top Team and the mind behind BJJ Concepts. In this episode, Rob breaks down how he built a working no-gi version of the lasso, a position long considered gi-only. Topics include: minding the gap in no-gi grips, the inverted grip, the omoplata as a control system, wedging, and hybrid lasso guards.

Rob on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/islandtopteam

Learn from Rob at BJJ Concepts:
https://bjjconcepts.net

Get Rob's No-Gi Lasso instructional:
https://bjjconcepts.net/instructionals


Mental models discussed in this episode:

• Do What Works
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/do-what-works
  
  
• Grips Dictate Position
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/grips-dictate-position
  
  
• Prioritize Longevity
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/prioritize-longevity
  
  
• Mind the Gap
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/mind-the-gap
  
  
• Kinetic Chains
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/kinetic-chains
  
  
• Core Mechanics
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/core-mechanics
  
  
• Scientific Method
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/scientific-method
  
  
  

⬆️ LEVEL UP with BJJ Mental Models Premium!

The world's LARGEST library of jiu-jitsu audio lessons, our complete podcast network, online coaching, and much more! Your first week is free:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com


Need more BJJ Mental Models?

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Learn more mental models in our online database:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/database

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Music by Enterprize:
https://enterprize.bandcamp.com

In this mini-episode, we discuss overwhelming force: the idea that we maximize our power by using the most of our body's weapons against the least of our opponent's.

Get our Intro to Mechanics audio course, normally $79, FREE:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/freeintro


⬆️ LEVEL UP with BJJ Mental Models Premium!

The world's LARGEST library of jiu-jitsu audio lessons, our complete podcast network, online coaching, and much more! Your first week is free:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com


Need more BJJ Mental Models?

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Learn more mental models in our online database:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/database

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This week, we're joined again by Chris Wojcik! In this episode, Chris rebuilds his approach to the Woj Lock around a few guiding concepts instead of a catalog of techniques. Topics include: the three points of control, proximal vs. distal control, redefining what counts as fundamental, and training leg locks through games instead of memorization.

Get Woj Lock 2.0 from BJJ Fanatics:
https://bjjfanatics.com/products/woj-lock-2-0-completing-the-leg-lock-game-by-chris-wojcik

Subscribe to the Grappler's Diary:
https://thegrapplersdiary.substack.com

Get the Grappler's Diary book:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DRS9K6LQ

Follow Chris Wojcik on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/chrismwojcik


Mental models discussed in this episode:

• Constraints-Led Approach
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/constraints-led-approach
  
  
• 3 Joint Rule
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/3-joint-rule
  
  
• Proximal and Distal Pathways
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/proximal-and-distal-pathways
  
  
• Kuzushi
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/kuzushi
  
  
  

⬆️ LEVEL UP with BJJ Mental Models Premium!

The world's LARGEST library of jiu-jitsu audio lessons, our complete podcast network, online coaching, and much more! Your first week is free:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com


Need more BJJ Mental Models?

Get the legendary BJJMM newsletter:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/newsletter

Learn more mental models in our online database:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/database

Follow us on social:
https://instagram.com/bjjmentalmodels
https://threads.com/@bjjmentalmodels
https://bjjmentalmodels.bsky.social
https://youtube.com/@bjjmentalmodels

Music by Enterprize:
https://enterprize.bandcamp.com

In this mini-episode, we discuss inertia: a concept from physics explaining that objects are resistant to changes in velocity.

Get our Intro to Mechanics audio course, normally $79, FREE:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/freeintro


⬆️ LEVEL UP with BJJ Mental Models Premium!

The world's LARGEST library of jiu-jitsu audio lessons, our complete podcast network, online coaching, and much more! Your first week is free:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com


Need more BJJ Mental Models?

Get the legendary BJJMM newsletter:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/newsletter

Learn more mental models in our online database:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/database

Follow us on social:
https://instagram.com/bjjmentalmodels
https://threads.com/@bjjmentalmodels
https://bjjmentalmodels.bsky.social
https://youtube.com/@bjjmentalmodels