Armbar - Guard
The most common type of attack you will encounter from an opponent who is trapped inside your guard is a punch to the face. Once they realize that they can’t effectively punch you they will try to get access to your neck or face by any means necessary. Whenever someone attacks your neck or face from within your guard, they are giving you the opportunity to catch them in a Straight Armlock. In this lesson you will learn two variations of the Straight Armlock as well as what to do if the opponent escapes by pulling their arm out.
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Clinch (Aggressive Opponent)
Most martial arts rely heavily on the use of strikes to defeat the opponent. This strategy may work against a smaller opponent, but is very risky against a larger, more athletic opponent who could potentially knock you out each time you put yourself in range to strike them. The best strategy is to establish a clinch and take the fight to the ground where you can conserve energy, neutralize strikes, and win the fight with ease. The key to establishing a clinch on an aggressive opponent is to understand that there are two safe distances in a fight: all the way out, or all the way in.
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Double Underhook Pass - Guard
In sport jiu-jitsu practice, passing the guard is of the utmost importance. But as you know, preparing for a street fight and preparing for a recreational jiu-jitsu tournament are two different things. In a street fight, there is a 99% chance that your opponent will know nothing about jiu-jitsu and, as a result, they will not know how to use the closed guard to their advantage. As a result, you will be able to pass their guard by simply trapping their hips and stepping over their legs as you learned in lesson 1. In the unlikely event that you find yourself in your opponent’s closed guard during a street fight, you can use the Double Underhook Guard Pass to break their guard and get to a more powerful position of control. First, you will learn the Open Guard Variation that will work on 99% of people, and then you’ll learn the Closed Guard Variation that can be used in a fight against someone slightly more versed in the grappling arts.
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Double Leg Takedown (Conservative Opponent)
The advantage of establishing an upper body clinch is that once you take your opponent down you end up in the very dominant mount position, and you can disengage from the clinch if necessary (e.g., in a multiple attacker situation). If you anticipate difficulty in establishing the clinch, however, the Double Leg Takedown is a great alternative. In this lesson you will learn the basic mechanics of the Double Leg Takedown, and then you will learn how to apply it against opponents of varying levels of aggression.
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Trap and Roll Escape
In a real fight, the goal is to achieve the top position once the fight goes to the ground; the problem is that things don’t always go according to plan. Against a larger attacker, you are likely to end up on the bottom of the mount position which is the single worst place to be in a fight. From this position, the top person can strike or strangle you at will and you cannot effectively strike back. The worst part about trying to escape the mount without an effective strategy is the panic you experience and the extreme exhaustion it will inevitably cause.
The Trap and Roll Escape is a simple, reliable way to remove your opponent from atop of you. In this lesson you will learn three variations of the Trap and Roll starting with the Standard Variation.
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Leg Hook Takedown
Your goal in any one-on-one physical altercation should be avoid dangerous punches while standing, and then get the fight to the ground where you can more effectively control and defeat your opponent. The safest place to be in a fight, while standing, is in a clinch. From the clinch, your opponent’s striking power is almost entirely eliminated. You will learn how to close the distance and establish the clinch in a future lesson. In this lesson, we will teach you how to take the opponent down once you get there.
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Reflex Development - Standing Focus Class Preview
In this class we'll bring together all of the standing controls, escapes, and submissions with some extra details, bonus slices, and scripted fight simulation drills that will help prepare you for your transition into Master Cycle!
Gracie Combatives Test -Drill 4: Standing Techniques
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Double Ankle Sweep
Your most important task from the bottom of the guard is to avoid all knockout punches. Depending on what your opponent does from within your guard, there are many techniques you can use to reverse the position or win the fight. One situation in which your opponent is vulnerable for a sweep is when they stand up directly over you to throw punches from within the guard. The Double Ankle sweep is a premium example of how leverage and timing can overcome size and strength. In this lesson you will learn two variations of this powerful sweep.
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Guillotine Choke (Guard Pull)
In a street fight, your opponent will most likely try to defeat you using one of two methods: 1) knock you out while standing, or 2) tackle you and then knock you out on the ground. You have already learned how to establish the clinch if they attempt to knock you out while standing. If instead, they try to tackle you, you should resort immediately to the Guillotine Choke. In this lesson you will learn the Basic Application first, and then you will learn the two variations that you can resort to in a street fight.
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Predators often test their targets’ spatial boundaries to see how close they can get before initiating the assault. In this lesson, we teach you how to use verbal assertiveness to establish and enforce your personal space and what to do if the attacker crosses the boundary and physically assaults you. The natural tendency when being overwhelmed with strikes is to back away from the assailant while protecting your face and head. Once again, the intuitive response in this situation could be the most dangerous response. In this lesson, we further explore the distance management principles and learn how to minimize damage from aggressive strikes in a standing altercation.
Stop-Block-Frame (3 variations):
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Punch Defense (Clinch Entry):
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Clinch (Aggressive Opponent)
Most martial arts rely heavily on the use of strikes to defeat the opponent. This strategy may work against a smaller opponent but is very risky against a larger, more athletic opponent who could just as easily knock you out every time you put yourself in range to strike them. The best strategy is to establish a clinch and take the fight to the ground where you can preserve energy, neutralize punches, and win the fight with ease. The key to establishing a clinch on an aggressive opponent is to understand that there are two safe distances in a fight: all the way out or all the way in.
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Americana Armlock - Mount
The goal in the fight is to achieve the mount, exhaust your opponent, and then win the fight. Punching your opponent from the mount can be effective but is exhausting, risks your balance, and could injure your opponent more seriously than desired. We prefer to use leverage-based submissions instead so that we can maintain better control of our opponent and save energy. The Americana Armlock is a highly effective submission that can be used with minimal effort to defeat a larger opponent. First, you will learn the Basic Application and then two variations that could be used in combat.
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Our natural behavior to protect against strikes when trapped beneath someone is to block our face or try to escape. Unfortunately, these intuitive responses will often put us at the perfect distance for the attacker’s punches to be even more effective. In this lesson, we learn how to use the critical principle of distance management to neutralize strikes and stay safe, all while exhausting the attacker’s energy.
Punch Block Series (Stages 1-5):
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Gracie BullyProof®- Little Champs - Ages 4-7
Gracie BullyProof®- Jr Grapplers - Ages 8-12
Gracie BullyProof®- Black Belt Club - Advanced kids
Gracie Combatives®(Tween/Teen) - 11-14 year old's
Gracie Combatives®- Co-ed beginners ages 13+
Gracie Combatives®-Test Prep - open to white belts with 4 stripes and Master Cycle Students
Master Cycle®- Advanced Gi and No Gi
Reflex Development (RD) - open to white belts who have completed every class twice
Women Empowered®- Women only self-defense
2024 Closure Days
2025 Closure Days
2024 Gracie Game Days (4-6pm)
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