This week my couple client completed their latest 10-hour course in submission grappling. The theme was passing mid-range guards. That means dealing with the awkward space where the bottom person still has useful legs, frames, grips, and angles, but the top person is close enough to apply pressure and start breaking those defences down.

Hour nine of my couple client’s Submission Grappling course returned to a familiar position with a more demanding lens. We were not chasing the pass itself. We were revising the preconditions that make passing possible.

Poster of two green-lit grapplers demonstrating guard, with text: Master Your Guard, essential training games for beginners.

The best rounds in grappling don’t always look like sparring. Sometimes they look like a tiny fight inside one position, with clear rules, short time limits, and one simple question: can you solve this problem before the other person does? Tonight’s session was a good example.

Back control seems simple when explained from the finish: chest behind their back, seatbelt grip, hooks in, staying glued to them. Easy enough. Then the person underneath starts moving. They get to their knees, hide their neck, peel your hands, and turn into you. Suddenly, the “best position in grappling” becomes a scramble, and the person escapes. This was the focus of hour nine in my client’s first personal training course.

The kimura grip looks simple until somebody refuses to give you their arm. That was the theme of this private lesson. My couple client continued their submission grappling work with the same bigger goal we’ve been chasing for a while: better hip control. This time, we used that goal to build something more specific, getting to the kimura grip from three common places: North South, guard, and turtle.

Lesson eight showed clear progress. The client’s top control is becoming smoother. His transitions between pins are less forced. His escapes are also improving because he is starting to recognise pressure, frames, and timing earlier. That matters. In grappling, control comes before submission. A choke or lock is hard to apply if the position is loose. This session kept that order: hold the position, move between pins, isolate the back, then attack the choke.

Hour four of my client Mixed Martial Arts Personal Training took our focus onto outfighting. Last week we recapped the Jeff Chan seminar material, which worked a lot at long range attack and defence. Therefore, it made sense to go through our cross-training and look at ways to isolate outfighting strategies