Get On the Insider List

Join Over 300 Other Insiders Receiving Tips, Exclusive Downloads, and Insight to Help Your Grappling Improve.

In Addition, Insiders Periodically Receive Coupons and Discounts Just for Them. (It's Free!)

Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing is so gentle as real strength.
- Frances de Sales

BJJ White Belt Tips: Trust Your Instructor

By Leave a Comment

No need to elaborate. Trust your instructor.

If you think, you are late. If you are late, you use strength. If you use strength, you tire. And if you tire, you die.
- Saulo Ribeiro

Hip Stretches for Jiu-Jitsu via Yoga

By Leave a Comment

Rickson made yoga a priority for a reason…

Just a quick one here for you guys. Yoga was a big reason I was able to rehab my injuries enough to train again. And, as we all know, it’s better to be proactive than reactive. So, check out this video and see if you can incorporate it into your own pre-training warm up.

Continue Reading

“People love the idea of winning an Olympic medal or a world title. But, what few people realize is that pretty much every second leading up to the actual win is uncomfortable, painful, and impossibly daunting both physically and mentally. Most people focus on the wrong thing: they focus on the result, not the process. The process is the sacrifice; it is all the hard parts - the sweat, the pain, the tears, the losses. You make the sacrifices anyway. You learn to enjoy them, or at least embrace them. In the end, it is the sacrifice that must fulfill you.”
- Ronda Rousey

Gui Mendes Retires from Competition

By Leave a Comment

Whoa! I did not see this one coming.

Gui Mendes has retired from jiu-jitsu competition.

He made the announcement yesterday via Instagram:

We all have different goals that we set up for our lives. When I started Jiu Jitsu at 12 years old my goal was to become really good at it, because I knew that being really good at something would provide me a chance to have a good future and build a family. When I got my black belt I realized that slowly my dream was turning into reality. Last year I won my 4th World title in the black belt division, the number that the IBJJF requires to make you eligible to enter the Jiu Jitsu Hall of Fame. My life has changed a lot and I feel very blessed to have the option to redirect my goals, dedicating myself to do something bigger than just competing. It’s a new chapter in my life and to achieve my goals I’ll put the same effort that I’ve put to become the athlete that I am today. I want to lead my team, become the best I can be as a leader and professor, work to create the best athletes in the sport, keep innovating the art and build a team of champions that people have never seen before. Today, this is what drives me forward. I know that winning another gold medal would feel good for the moment, would make me proud of myself one more time, but I’m ready to do something bigger now and I know that I can do it.

A photo posted by RAFAEL & GUILHERME MENDES (@mendesbros) on

This is going to change the competitive landscape considerably in the light weight divisions for years to come.

What’s your take on the matter?