CURRICULUM, WEEK OF April 27th

This week in CTA classes, we’re shifting our focus to the back — one of the strongest positions in BJJ. We’ll start by learning how to control our opponent through hand fighting to set up a successful rear naked choke. As the week continues, we’ll work on maintaining strong back control even when our opponent tries to escape, focusing on staying tight and adjusting with their movements. To finish the week, we’ll cover a simple but extremely effective back escape to round out your understanding of both offense and defense from this position.

In CTB classes this week, we’ll start by focusing on the intricacies of the turtle position, learning how to escape and recover guard to gain a positional advantage. As the week progresses, we’ll move into our standup game, reviewing a strong double leg takedown and learning how to transition to the back or another takedown if our opponent defends. After the takedown, we'll cover how to properly control our opponent on the ground and finish with an extremely effective ezequiel choke. To wrap up the week, we’ll continue working from standing, learning how to defend takedowns using the sprawl, and attacking with the guillotine and darce choke.

In CTC class this week, we’ll focus on using our opponent’s lapel to control them from top half guard. Lapel control is often overlooked, but it’s one of the strongest ways to keep your opponent pinned and set up powerful attacks. We’ll dive into how to use the lapel to dominate the position and work toward finishing with the brabo choke — one of the most effective submissions in all of BJJ. To end the week, we’ll shift gears and learn the smash pass, one of the hardest and most frustrating guard passes to stop when done correctly.