Just Jiu Jitsu

Few chokes are as quick and powerful as the Baseball Bat Choke. This choke uses an opponent’s eagerness against them. By baiting them to pass your guard, they happily progress to the trap. By the time they realize they’re at risk, it’s too late. In this episode we breakdown the choke in order to understand what makes it so potent.

Carlson Gracie, the eldest son of Carlos Gracie, showed that grit and skill are a dangerous combination. A talented fighter responsible for coaching legends in jiu jitsu and mixed martial arts, Carlson is known as a prolific figure in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Still coming off the high of our one year episode, we decide to answer some listener emails. We touch on topics like retaining information while rolling, jiu jitsu in modern day MMA, and how to escape side control as a big person.

This episode marks one year of the Just Jiu Jitsu podcast. In honor of our special episode we change up the format. Instead of focusing on a particular topic, our conversation is all over the board. We reflect on the past year, look forward to the future, role-play, and take a quiz. If you prefer our usual format, fear not, it will return next week. Thank you for listening to our first 52 episodes!

If last week’s episode was a super hero, it would be Spiderman. That means this week’s episode is Captain America: strong, composed, understated, and great for passing guard. Wait, has Marvel ever confirmed that Captain America is good at passing guard? Moving on, this week we talk about the less flashy, but equally effective Pressure Pass. This style emphasizes control and strategizing. If movement passing isn’t your style, then pressure passing may be your jam.

We’ve walked through Kroyler’s first two stages of passing: good control/nullification of the opponent’s hips and creating an opening in their guard. This episode is on stage three: passing the opponent’s guard. We talk specifically about movement passing. This is a subcategory of passing that emphasizes finesse, agility and craftiness. It involves techniques like long stepping and weaving. If you enjoy keeping your opponents guessing and pretending like your Spiderman dodging enemy bullets then this is the style for you.

A listener says she is small and can’t do much on top, which makes her avoid top mount and spend all of her time on bottom. She asks if she should focus more on her top game. How can she feel heavy and control larger opponents? After discussing some ways to improve top positions, Kroyler uses this topic to talk about going out of your comfort zone in order to work on your weaknesses.

A new segment debuts in the last half of the show: Kroyler’s Competition Corner! A listener sent a video of one of his competitions and Kryoler analyzes it. To follow along with Kroyler’s analysis go to the Just Jiu Jitsu Podcast facebook page for a link to the video.

Levers and fulcrums. Sound familiar? We talk about these often when referencing submissions like arm bars. Well this episode is about knee bars and how we can use the concepts we’ve learned from other positions to better our understanding of this wickedly efficient leg lock.

Collar chokes offer some of the most brutal chokes in jiu jitsu (if you’ve ever had a Helicopter Choke performed on you then you’ll know what we mean). They also can be the hardest submissions to detect. By the time you know you’re in danger, escape is no longer an option. In this episode we learn about this category of submissions and its distinguishing characteristics.

Controlling your opponent is one of the most important parts of jiu jitsu. In order to do this you have to know how to use hooks. There are many different types of hooks and they can be used offensively or defensively. When properly utilized, they create a point of contact and they allow you to control your opponent. In this episode we talk about how to turn your arms and legs into grappling hooks!