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Coaching & Teaching
Curriculum, feedback, culture, and the responsibilities of the person at the front of the class. Written for coaches and serious training partners.
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The Art Isn't Alive. The People Are.
Jiu-jitsu has never taught a single class. Every technique you know, every habit on the mat, every unwritten rule reached you through a person. For a little while, you are one of the people carrying it.
· 4 min read
More in Coaching & Teaching (14)
Your Belt Is Not a Waiting Room: What "Relax" Really Means in Jiu-Jitsu
When experienced grapplers tell you to relax, they are not asking you to care less. They are asking you to stop treating every round as a verdict. Your current belt is not a waiting room for the next one. It has its own work, its own problems, and its own questions.
· 4 min read
Would You Still Train If No One Ever Saw You Do It?
If the belts, medals, and audience disappeared tomorrow, would your training still matter? A look at what actually holds a practice together once the applause stops.
· 4 min read
Loyalty Is Earned, Not Owed: Healthy vs. Unhealthy Gym Culture in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
A grounded look at loyalty, pressure, and psychological safety in BJJ gyms, and how to tell demanding training apart from coercive culture.
· 4 min read
Appearance Is Not Evidence: Testing Jiu-Jitsu Under Resistance
A technique can look flawless in drilling and still fall apart the moment someone refuses to cooperate. This is an exploration of what separates the two, and why the difference has nothing to do with how a movement looks.
· 4 min read
The Pedestal Problem: Why We Admire a Snapshot, Not the Whole Person
An exploration of why martial artists idolize a single moment in someone's career, and what happens when the real person keeps changing after the snapshot was taken.
· 4 min read
The Deliberate Grappler: Evolving Jiu-Jitsu Mechanics Through the Years
Discover how aging in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu shifts a practitioner's focus from athletic compensation to deliberate efficiency, structural control, and tactical decision-making.
· 4 min read
The Top Is Borrowed: A Jiu-Jitsu Reality Check on Ego
The top of jiu-jitsu was never a place to live. It is a position you pass through, held for as long as your honesty and adaptation allow. This is what that actually means.
· 4 min read
Why Mastering One Technique Beats Ten Half-Learned Moves
A technique is never truly yours just because you have seen it executed or drilled it compliantly. True ownership only occurs when you understand a movement deeply enough to deploy it under immense pressure, adjust when it fails, and trust it when the chaos begins.
· 4 min read
A Coach Cannot Want It for You
A coach can teach you, guide you, sharpen you. But no coach can manufacture your hunger or install your discipline. An open letter to students, hobbyists, and competitors.
· 4 min read
Skill Without Maturity Is Dangerous in Jiu-Jitsu
When skill outpaces maturity on the mat, injuries and broken trust follow. An essay on power, restraint, and character.
· 4 min read
Shuhari: The Hidden Code That Separates Beginners from Masters in Jiu-Jitsu and in Life
There’s a moment on the mat that every Jiu-Jitsu student knows well. You’re stuck. Trapped under pressure. You’re sweating, breathing heavy, trying to remember what your coach…
· 6 min read
Correct. Effective. Efficient. The Three Pillars of Smart Training and Living
In a world obsessed with doing more, faster, louder, we often forget to ask one important question: Are we doing it right? When it comes to training, growth, or any kind of…
· 3 min read
10 Types of Rolls in BJJ: What They Are and Why They Matter
When people think of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, most picture high-intensity sparring, two bodies tangled in a chess match of grips and sweeps, trying to tap or survive. But what many…
· 4 min read
Leading the Dance of Technique and Strategy
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art that often conjures images of intense grappling, joint locks, and submissions. However, beneath the surface of the physical exchanges…
· 3 min read
Method and Books on Coaching & Teaching
The principles and books that treat this topic in depth.
- Principle 03Understanding before memorizationA memorized sequence collapses the first time an opponent refuses to cooperate.Read
- BookThe 12 Principles of Jiu-Jitsu MovementThe 12 principles that anchor the Simplex Motus curriculum. A practical framework for training, coaching, and understanding the mat.Read
- BookThree Stages of Jiu-JitsuThe Japanese learning model Shu Ha Ri mapped onto the path of a grappler, obedience, departure, transcendence.Read
- BookThe Shadows of the DojoAn honest look at the parts of dojo culture nobody puts on the highlight reel. Politics, hierarchy, and the human side of training.Read
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