Journal
Technique notes
Shorter pieces on single mechanics. The Technique Library is the reference; these are the arguments.
Technique notes
Grip decay, and the half-life of a no-gi grip
A sleeve grip is a latch you can leave holding while you think. A wrist is a loan against your forearm, and almost everything published about grip in grappling measured the latch.
4 August 2026 · Guard Theory editorial · 6 sources
Technique notes
The armbar from closed guard
The leg swinging over the head is the part everybody watches and the part that decides least; by then the arm has either been taken or it has not.
4 August 2026 · Guard Theory editorial · 6 sources
Technique notes
The guillotine from the front headlock
Arm in or arm out changes what the technique is, and the finish comes from the hips in both cases, which is why pulling harder with the arms is the standard way to lose it.
4 August 2026 · Guard Theory editorial · 5 sources
Technique notes
The kimura as a control before it is a finish
The figure-four grip on a wrist is worth more for the arm it removes from the exchange than for the submissions it occasionally produces.
4 August 2026 · Guard Theory editorial · 7 sources
Technique notes
The rear naked strangle from back control
A strangle and a neck crank are separated by a small change in what the second hand is doing, which is why four rule books bothered to write the difference down.
4 August 2026 · Guard Theory editorial · 5 sources
Technique notes
The triangle, and why the angle matters more than the squeeze
A triangle that will not finish is rarely a triangle that needs more effort; it is a triangle applied along the wrong line.
4 August 2026 · Guard Theory editorial · 6 sources
Technique notes
Why the underhook decides half guard
Half guard is taught as one position with a long list of sweeps. Most of the list is closed at any given moment, and one arm decides which part is open.
Draft · 6 sources
Reading connected to this category
Technique Library
- Blood choke versus air choke
Two different mechanics get the same name, and knowing which one your grip is actually applying explains why a strangle finishes quickly, slowly, or not at all.
- Frames versus blocks
A frame holds distance with aligned bone and costs almost nothing to maintain; a block holds distance with muscle and is on a timer, and confusing the two is why defence gets exhausting.
- Inside position
Why the grappler whose limbs are inside the opponent's tends to dictate what happens next, and how that advantage is won and lost.
- Seat belt and hooks
Back control is held by the chest connection first and the legs second, and understanding that ordering explains most of what goes wrong when the back is lost.
- The knee cut pass
Driving a knee diagonally across the opponent's thigh line to arrive chest-to-chest past their legs, and why the upper body decides whether the leg work does anything.
- The knee shield
A shin placed across the opponent's torso turns half guard from a position you are defending into one that holds distance, and the whole thing depends on where the shin sits and where the far leg is.
- The posture battle in closed guard
Almost everything available from closed guard depends on whether the top player's spine is still stacked over their hips, which makes posture the position's real contest.
- The underhook in half guard
From bottom half guard, the near-side underhook decides whether you come up beside the passer or are flattened under them, and it only counts from your side.
Influential Figures
- Helio Gracie
He fought in public across two decades, from 1932 to 1955, under rules that barely existed, and the losses in that record did more to shape what the family taught than the wins did.
- Kyra Gracie
She competed at the top of women's jiu-jitsu against the stated wishes of the family whose name is on the art, at a point when the women's divisions were small enough that visibility and survival were the same problem.
- Marcelo Garcia
He won at the top of no-gi grappling with a deliberately small set of positions, and then taught that set in public, which changed what a competitive game is expected to look like.
- Roger Gracie
He won at the highest level of the gi ruleset with the mount and the cross choke, the two things every beginner is taught in the first month, and made the case that the basics were never the problem.