Turtle 🐢

Gracie Barra St Peters turns the shell into a trap: from the bottom of turtle, the player catches the head and arm of the partner circling to attack, and locks a reverse triangle instead of defending. It opens this card with the position's best lesson — turtle is a pause, not a surrender, and reaching in carelessly gets you submitted.

Watch the reel

Part two of Alex Lam's turtle series. Lam — a Gracie black belt teaching in La Palma, California, under the banner "Jiu-Jitsu for the long game" — builds around positions built to last, and this instalment adds another layer to the shell. The reel presents the work without naming a single move, so it is filed under his own series title.

Watch the reel

Logged descriptively: the caption is an invitation to comment and share, in Portuguese, and names no technique. What the record gives is the man — Marrom Jaguar, a Brazilian black belt and IBJJF South American champion — working from the turtle, the shell this shelf exists for. The entry logs his turtle game under his name and takes a technique title if one ever surfaces.

Watch the reel

"5 chokes from turtle." Davin Soh — Sabah's first BJJ black belt, under Prof Julien Castanier — runs a five-choke menu against the turtled opponent: one position, five finishes. Filed on the Turtle shelf at your label, the way the lapel choke opened Side Control — the chokes are the payload, the position is the address.

Watch the reel

"Defesa dos 4 apoios" — defense of the four supports: hands and knees, the turtle by its Portuguese name. Samuel De Ferro (creator of Cardio Deitado, cardio built from jiu-jitsu ground movement) works the position as home base: stay on four supports, concede nothing.

Watch the reel