Half Guard for Older Grapplers: Why It's the Best ROI Position
Every training partner over 35 who's still on the mats ended up centering their game on half guard. That's not a coincidence — it's the guard with the cheapest maintenance cost.
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More from the journal.
Older posts, in publish order.
What to Study Before ADCC and IBJJF Worlds
A six-week BJJ competition prep plan for ADCC, IBJJF Worlds, or your local open, starting with the no-new-techniques rule.
Submeta vs. BJJ Fanatics vs. Self-Made Notes: Which Actually Improves Your Game?
I subscribe to one and own a folder full of the other. What each is actually for, the integration step both of them skip, and which one I'd keep if forced to choose.
What's the Fastest Way to Learn a New Guard?
I've added two guards to my game with the same four-week protocol, built around a single constraint: the new guard only gets the first five minutes of every round.
The De La Riva Guard Decision Tree: Where Most White Belts Get Lost
I spent a year treating my DLR problem as a technique gap and drilling new sweeps that never landed. The actual problem was routing. Here's the four-branch map.
What's new in Grapple Flows — August 2026
Five new Pro charts mapping a full back attack system, plus a faster canvas, easier creating on mobile, and smoother auto-flows.
The Best BJJ Notebook Apps in 2026 (and Why I Stopped Using Most of Them)
Five years, six note-taking systems, one habit that survived. A tour of where Evernote, Notion, Apple Notes, and the BJJ-specific apps broke down, and what replaced them.
Why Can't I Remember BJJ Techniques?
You can describe Tuesday's technique step by step, then nothing surfaces mid-roll. It's not a memory problem: you kept the steps and threw away the triggers.
Scissor Sweep Not Working? The Four-Branch Closed Guard Fix
The scissor sweep stopped working for me at blue belt. It came back once I treated it as a four-branch closed guard attack tree instead of one sweep.
How to Build a BJJ Game Around One Guard
I spent my first two belts as a generalist with a B-minus version of four guards. Picking one and going deep for six months was the biggest jump my game ever made.
What's new in Grapple Flows — June 2026
Dashboard 2.0, Templates, and a Training Profile that personalizes the app. Plus 9 new Pro flow charts from Danaher's Leglocks Remastered, including a Pro-only Full System Map.
The Best Apps for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Practitioners in 2026
My phone's BJJ folder has survived three purges. What's still installed in 2026, what got deleted and why, and the minimum stack I'd recommend to someone starting fresh.