For white belts — and anyone who still thinks like one
Train for twenty
more years
Most jiu-jitsu content is made for people chasing results. This isn't. It's the simple, low-risk version — what to work on, what to skip, and how to still be on the mat in twenty years. Calm comes before technique.
Who this is for
Everybody starts here. Some people leave the mindset behind at blue belt, and the ones who don't tend to be the ones still improving at forty.
Nothing awkward
No inverting, no scrambles that load your neck, nothing that trades a joint for a result. If it isn't worth the risk, it isn't here.
Calm before technique
Most beginners aren't tired, they're tense — and tension is where the nagging injuries come from. Learning to relax is the actual first skill.
Direction, not more moves
You don't need another technique library. You need one thing to work on when you walk in, and a way to tell whether it worked.
Alongside your gym
This doesn't replace your instructor and isn't trying to. Go train, in person, with a real one.
Mapping out your road to blue belt
A free PDF — the four stripe checkpoints, what each one asks of you, how many days a week to train depending on how long you've been going, and how to pick a gym that will actually get you there.
Sign up once and you get the rest too. Everything written here goes out by email as it's published — one idea at a time, nothing to buy, no schedule to keep up with. Useful whether you tied a white belt on last month or you've been at this ten years.
- What earns your first stripe, and how long it really takes
- How many days a week, by how long you've been training
- Staying calm in bad positions before you learn to escape them
- Ten guiding tips, starting with the only one that matters
- How to tell a real instructor from a guy showing moves
Free. No spam. Unsubscribe whenever you want.
Mapping out your road to blue belt
Free PDF · 15 pages
Start reading
New pieces go up through the autumn. Everyone on the list gets them as they're written.
How to avoid the injuries that take you off the mat
Bumps and bruises come with it. The ones that cost you months mostly don't have to. The whole picture in one place — relaxing, tapping on time, reading what your body tells you, choosing partners, and finding what actually went wrong.
What to think aboutYou're not tired. You're tense.
Why one round wrecks you, why more cardio won't fix it, and why this is also where the nagging injuries come from.
Is this normal?Yes, you're supposed to get tapped this much
Four months in and losing every round. That's not you failing — that's what the first year is. Here's what to measure instead.
Training partnersTap on time — not early, not late
Most advice says tap early. That isn't quite right either. What the punctual tap is, and why people avoid it.
Injury avoidancePain, consciousness, or injury
Three different things are happening to you on a mat, and they call for different decisions. Most people rank them backwards.
Training partnersWhy upper belts are safer than white belts
New people avoid the black belts and roll with each other. It's backwards — and here's what to do when you don't get a choice.
What's being built
This is a new site and I'd rather tell you what's coming than pretend it's already here.
Now — short clips
A few a week on YouTube and Instagram. Survival details, partner etiquette, and what not to try yet.
Through the autumn — written material
The clips become proper written pieces here, organized by what's actually going wrong rather than by technique name. Everyone on the list gets them as they go up.
Early next year — the program
A two-year, week-by-week plan. One focus a week: what to drill, what to give up on purpose, and how to know it's working. It goes to this list first.