Training BJJ off the mat.
Practical guides on injuries, plateaus, positions and the decision-making side of jiu-jitsu, written by the team building Underhook.
Starting out
BJJ Gym Etiquette and When to Tap
The unwritten rules nobody explains, and the one that matters most: tap early, tap clearly, and let go the instant your partner taps.
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BJJ Terms Glossary
Oss, shrimp, frame, underhook, sweep, pass, guard: the jiu-jitsu vocabulary nobody explains, defined in plain language.
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How Often Should You Train BJJ?
What one, two, three and five sessions a week actually get you, why consistency beats volume, and how to make a light week still count.
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Gi or No-Gi: Which Should a Beginner Start With?
Pace, grips, submissions, cost and what transfers between them, plus a straight answer for someone deciding where to start.
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How Long Does It Take to Get a Blue Belt?
There is no federation minimum at white belt. What actually decides the timeline, in sessions rather than months, and what coaches are looking for.
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BJJ Belt Ranks Explained
The adult and kids belt order, the IBJJF minimum ages and time-in-grade rules, what stripes mean, and what actually gets you promoted.
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What to Expect at Your First BJJ Class
The structure of a beginner class, what to wear, the etiquette nobody explains, and why your first live round feels like a car crash.
Read the guide →Getting better
How to Build a BJJ Game
A game is a small chain of positions with answers, not a highlight reel. How to pick yours, link them, and know when you are ready to add.
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Drilling vs Rolling: What Each One Is For
Why drilling a technique for months does not make it usable, what rolling actually teaches, and the positional work that bridges the two.
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How to Take BJJ Notes You Will Actually Use
Why class transcripts die in a drawer, and the two-list method that turns a notebook into a curriculum you re-read.
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Why People Quit BJJ
The five predictable exit points, why nobody actually decides to quit, and what keeps people training through each one.
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12 White Belt Mistakes That Slow Everyone Down
The habits that keep beginners stuck, from collecting techniques to rolling like every round is a final, and what to do instead.
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The Blue Belt Plateau
Why progress feels like it stops after your first promotion, why that feeling is a measurement problem, and the 90-day fix that actually works.
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Why You're Not Improving at BJJ
You train twice a week and still get smashed by the same people. The real reasons progress stalls, and the one almost nobody addresses.
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Stop Forgetting BJJ Techniques Between Classes
You drill it Tuesday and by Thursday it's gone. Here's why that happens, and the system that actually fixes it.
Read the guide →Positions and escapes
What to Actually Do From Closed Guard
Posture, grips, angle, attack: the order that turns a stalled closed guard into sweeps and submissions, and how to stop the guard being opened.
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How to Escape Back Control
Defend the neck, kill a hook, slide to the mat: the order that makes back escapes work, and the habit that hands over your back in the first place.
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BJJ Positions Explained
Mount, back, side control, guard, half guard and turtle: what each one is, what it threatens, and the hierarchy every roll follows.
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Guard Retention Basics
Why your guard keeps collapsing, the knee line rule, and the three responses that cover most passes at white and blue belt.
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How to Escape Mount in BJJ
Bridge and roll or elbow-knee: which escape to use, why yours keeps failing, and how to stop high mount before it arrives.
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How to Escape Side Control (Without Panicking)
The frames that actually hold, the two real escape routes out of side control, and how to pick between them before the position closes.
Read the guide →Training off the mat
How to Actually Study BJJ Off the Mats
Why watching more instructionals is not studying, and a weekly off-mat routine built on active recall and position review.
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The Cognitive Side of BJJ, Trained Daily
Pattern recognition, retrieval practice, spaced repetition — the science behind getting sharper at BJJ decisions, not just techniques.
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BJJ Is a Decision Tree. Train It Like One.
Every position branches into two or three real options, then a consequence. A look at what that means for how you train between sessions.
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Mental Reps for BJJ, Between Sessions
The mats are two or three hours a week. Here's how to keep training your decisions every day, five focused minutes at a time.
Read the guide →Injured or on a break
The Most Common BJJ Injuries
Knees, shoulders, fingers and elbows: what the research actually says about where BJJ injuries happen, and what that implies for how you roll.
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How Long Before You Lose Your BJJ?
What actually fades during time off the mat, what holds, and a simple test for which one you are actually losing.
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Coming Back to BJJ After a Serious Injury
The three phases of a long layoff, what is trainable in each one, what actually fades while you are out, and how to talk to your coach about the return.
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BJJ While Injured: How to Keep Making Progress Off the Mat
Getting hurt doesn't have to mean losing what you've built. A grounded, weekly plan for the time you can't get on the mat.
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How Much Does BJJ Cost?
Membership, gis, kit, competitions and seminars: the components of a first-year budget, and why almost no gym publishes prices.
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How to Choose a BJJ Gym
What to watch in a trial class, the questions worth asking, and the red flags that are worth walking away from.
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Starting BJJ at 40 (or 50)
What actually changes when you start jiu-jitsu in your forties: recovery, partner selection, how to roll, and what gets easier with age.
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