Ep. 25: Instructor Series: Maintaining and Growing your Gym

This week we're joined by Nick Volpe! Nick is the black belt head coach at Dark Bear Jiu-Jitsu in Staten Island, New York. In this episode, Nick explains how he makes Jiu-Jitsu coaching accessible to ...

14 Apr 20251h 3min

In this week's mini-episode we explain the phases of guard, as taught by Rob Biernacki: engagement, maintenance, and retention. Resources mentioned in this episode: BJJMM Ep. 16: Guard Series: Engag...

10 Apr 202511min

This week we're joined by Mo Black! As of this writing, Mo is a reigning champion at Main Character Jiu-Jitsu and an instructor at Tabula Rasa BJJ in Colorado Springs. In this episode, Mo shares key c...

7 Apr 202559min

In this week's mini-episode we explain kaizen, a Japanese concept translating roughly to "continuous improvement." Get our Intro to Mechanics audio course, normally $79, FREE: https://bjjmentalmodels...

3 Apr 20256min

In this bonus emergency episode, we're joined by legendary Jiu-Jitsu instructor Stephan Kesting to discuss the immediate dangers of the lapel guard position, why it is so harmful, and why the IBJJF mu...

1 Apr 202534min

This week we're joined by Noah Shaffner and Greg Souders from Standard Jiu-Jitsu in Maryland! Noah shares his unique perspective as a competitor trained exclusively under the constraints-led approach ...

31 Mars 20251h 8min

In this week's mini-episode we explain investing in loss, a learning mindset often attributed to Tai Chi and other internal martial arts. In his excellent book The Art of Learning, Josh Waitzkin discu...

27 Mars 20256min

This week we're joined by Paul Kindzia, a BJJ black belt under Emily Kwok training out of Atlanta, Georgia. Most notably, he's a "homeschooled" black belt who carved out his own path in the art. Paul ...

24 Mars 20251h 4min