• How to prepare for Jiu Jitsu competition

    By Shane McCarthy

    Jiu Jitsu competition is an excellent opportunity to test your skills against live, resisting opponents who share the same passion for the sport. Whether you’re a first-time competitor or a seasoned veteran, success hinges on your preparation. In this guide, we’ll delve into the specifics of each crucial step to ensure you’re well-equipped […]

  • BJJ School culture: Essential qualities for any Jiu jitsu academy

    By Emily Kwok

    For most of us who decide to take an art on, we tend to prioritize things like location, price, aesthetics and instructor qualifications in our pursuit of learning. While these things are important, their influence wanes over time and can have less impact on our long term satisfaction and growth trajectory. What isn’t […]

  • Your Complete Guide to Princeton Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Kids Classes

    By Matthew Neiditch

    While we all come to BJJ for a variety of reasons, be it for self-defense, exercise, or confidence-building, jiu jitsu can have a marked effect on our holistic self-development long term. As parents, we undoubtedly want to expose and equip our children with tools that will help them successfully navigate the peaks and […]

  • Jiu Jitsu after 30: How to stay in the game

    By Joe Hannan

    The body keeps the score. In my case, the score is one torn MCL, one irreparably dislocated floating rib, torn rotator cuffs, several QL strains, four or five corneal abrasions, countless staph infections, and a litany of other damage my brain can’t recall but my ligaments, tendons, muscle, bones, and fascia won’t forget.

    The […]

  • How to prepare for your first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) class

    By PBJJ Staff

    The hardest step on any journey is often the first step, and the journey of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is no different. Think of how many people never take the first step of signing up to train. Making the commitment to train BJJ is the start of the journey toward personal growth and […]

  • To Win or Learn? Competing Commitments

    By Emily Kwok

    All students oscillate between being the hammer and the nail. Idealistically, we aim to be the hammer any time we choose against anyone we choose, but few ever arrive in that place without strain. 

    When we are the nail, it often feels like we are desperately fighting to survive, which makes it difficult to […]

  • How fatherhood is transforming my Jiu Jitsu

    By Joe Hannan

    Everything changed, and nothing changed. When people ask me what it’s like being a new father, the best answer I can offer is a paradox. In some ways, it feels like I’ve always been a father. That’s not to say that I was born to be a father, and every moment leading up […]

  • Do you need Jiu Jitsu anymore?

    The last year and a half  has been a slog. 

    Ask anyone who owns a brick-and-mortar business that depends on patrons to walk through their doors and they’ll tell you it was a year of dragging a dead horse toward a fake horizon. And while dragging a dead horse around for a year, the sun kept […]

  • Knowing Your ‘Why’: Warming Up to Warmups

    “Why am I doing leg circles … again?”

    We all find ourselves asking this question at some point during Jiu Jitsu. Newly minted white belts ask this question when their hip adductors are burning and their core is screaming for relief. Their bodies are unfamiliar with this essential movement for grappling. The advanced students have done […]

  • Follow Me Down the Rabbit Hole: A Jiu Jitsu Workshop Series

    There are 15 seconds left on the clock. I frantically work to finish my transition to the back. My partner’s hips hit the floor and I invert to enter the basic bolo position. Ten seconds left. My partner defends by going stiff as a board, shoulders and hips to the mat, preventing any possible avenue […]