Free Form Jiu Jitsu

Some of you have more invested in jiu-jitsu than your coach does.

Some of them like to control and demean you.

Or they are checked out and lazy— haven’t stayed up with the game, and maybe haven’t even taught a helpful class in a while.

Or they are grifters— presenting themselves as gurus, selling fake techniques or fake philosophies, presenting themselves as your friend so that it becomes difficult for you (and your money) to move on.

They’ll do anything but work in cooperation with you; work alongside you.

If you are putting more into this than your coach— you need to think through what that means.

📸 taran molnar

INTRODUCING yoshyorner 🙌

Two weeks ago, I attended a pop-up at addendum gallery in Bay View.

On display was the work of a young and talented local designer. He had hand-beaded denim, salvaged and patched one-offs, and a limited run t-shirt pressing.

I was deeply impressed with his commitment to the HUMAN WORK of design and creation. No shortcuts , no AI, no quick profit— just patience with the process and thoughtfulness throughout.

We have to do work that means something to us.
The loss of meaning is the loss of our lives.

Two days later, I contacted him with a crazy request: Can you design and deliver a t-shirt for our seminar with Tainan? I need it in hand IN SIX DAYS.

And I want it done well— just like the designs I saw at your display. No cheap Hanes tee, no cookie cutter design.

He delivered. 15 pieces for sale, no reprints, sold out in two minutes. Not to make money— we broke even— but to celebrate an important day in the life of our team.

This t-shirt is to commemorate the one-day collaboration between FREEFORM and Tainan Dalpra. That’s how I view a seminar: We share our mats, they share their knowledge. We share our money, they share their time. We make something together.

On the chest you see the flag of Milwaukee and the flag of Brazil, brought together by the FREEFORM logo.

On the sleeve, you see 1828 (the number of days we have been open as a gym) over 6:15 (the total time it took Professor Tainan to win all four matches at the 2026 World Championships. A record that may never be broken.)

On the back, you see an image that looks like Tainan standing on our mats. The words “KEY DECISIONS” are printed next to him. This is a phrase that Tainan uses several times in his recent AOJ Masterclass.

Champions make decisions. They are not passive observers of their lives. They exercise the agency that they have. They reject fatalism and do the work.

We are trying to build champions. That requires Key Decisions every single day.

Thank you yoshyorner for helping bring our vision to fruition in such a creative and professional way. 🙇‍♂️ I highly recommend his work.

Tainan Dalpra Seminar - August 15, 2026

We would like to give a sincere word of thanks to Professor TAINAN DALPRA for taking the time to be with us on Saturday. He packed up, left home, traveled across the country, and used his weekend to teach us jiu jitsu. We do not take for granted all of the work that goes into a seminar like this!! Thank you, Professor 🙇‍♂️

Obviously, his accomplishments speak for themselves. So does his movement and control. He’s so smooth, it’s incredible. 😮‍💨 I’ve heard people’s feet slapping as they walk across the mats — louder than he spars 😂

But what really stood out to me was his jiu jitsu intellect. He has thought through every single position, situation, and variable. He has evaluated, calculated, pruned and refined his game so meticulously, that what you see now truly is art.

And— as it pertains to us— he has taken all of that hard won knowledge, systematized it, and passed it along to those who are willing to learn. This is the mark of TRUE EXPERTISE: the ability to communicate complex things in simple ways.

Thank you to everyone from the team, and from around the area, who came to the seminar. We cannot do these without you— without one another. Thank you 🙌

Finally, congratulations to Coach Andy Lueneburg, who recently completed his requirements to earn the second degree on his black belt. He is fully recognized, according to the high standards of the IBJJF

Congratulations PROFESSOR ANDY 🙇‍♂️ This is an enormous moment in your life and jiu jitsu vocation— one that you have spent nearly two decades working towards.

Congratulations as well, to Andy’s first black belt: our friend and teammate Jordan. He’s not on social media, so you’ll have to congratulate him in person. I could say a lot about Jordan, but he won’t see it, so I’ll just repeat what he said on Saturday: “This doesn’t come easy to me”

If you are reading this, I invite you to consider what it means when someone spends 12+ years, every week, three times a week, doing something that doesn’t come easy to them.

Onward!

TODAY IS OUR 5-YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

We have been a team for five years.

I wanted to make a post about the way everyone has grown in their practice of jiu jitsu — about the way that you have all become more skilled athletes and more polished artists.

I wanted to show off the competition success we’ve earned in a short time, as a small jiu jitsu gym in a MMA city.

But then I had to clean the gym.

We have a seminar tomorrow, and visitors coming from across the state to share the mats with us. So I have to clean— scrub the toilets, dust the ceiling fans— all the sexy stuff you can’t wait to do when you decide to open a gym.

And look what happened. After our 12:00pm class, Ben Hakes showed up to help me vacuum mats and clean the bathrooms.

I was still going at 5:00pm. Andy Lueneburg pulled up to mop mats and scrub the floor.

I didn’t ask these guys to show up. And I damn sure didn’t pay them. They showed up to help me, and to help the team— like they have done every day since we opened our doors five years ago.

The same goes for TJ Cavender. He is in the gym all week long. He has a career, he has a mortgage, he has three kids and a wife— and he gives more to this team than any man should have energy to give!

It’s remarkable. So this five year post, as lame as it is, because it’s just a post— but it’s all I’ve got to give them— is dedicated in thanks to our unbelievable coaching staff: My co-coaches and friends Andy, TJ, and Ben.

This is, moreover, to thank our Professor Lucas Lepri for all he has given to us over the past five years.

Lucas welcomed us onto Team Lepri when we were a gym of 11 people, when I was just a purple belt. He has helped us develop curriculum, understand how to separate & stack classes, awarded promotions with us, asked for and trusted our judgment, and even — I hope this isn’t an overshare— assisted financially with some costs associated with tournament travel.

We will be forever indebted and grateful to Professor Lucas. He is a 9x world champion, Hall of Fame member, and as the greatest lightweight of all time and most precise guard passer in history— has left a permanent impact on the sport and art of jiu jitsu (cont’d)

Congratulations to Kalia for an outstanding performance in Chicago yesterday!! 🔥

Kalia earned her blue belt in June, and immediately decided to test herself in August. She entered her first IBJJF competition yesterday.

Kalia (aka: Coach Savage as the kids class calls her) went 3-0 in the adult blue belt division 🥇 winning ALL matches by submission in a combined time of 2:00 minutes 🏃‍♀️

She went 2-1 in the open class, taking bronze 🥉 Again, both wins were by submission. Altogether she finished her blue belt debut with a record 5-1 on the day, with 5 subs. 🤯

More importantly, she was determined and composed. She displayed excellent jiu jitsu: technical and athletic.

Congratulations Kalia, we are very proud of you! You worked hard to prepare, and your consistency paid off yesterday 🙇

Onward.

Drilling & CLA: The Wall and The Vine

Many in the CLA crowd shoot themselves in the foot with their all-or-nothing, iconoclastic approach. (To use an analogy, they are arrogant teenagers. Not all teenagers are arrogant, but some are.)

Many in the Traditional crowd shoot themselves in the foot with their all-or-nothing, reactionary approach. (To use an analogy, they are grouchy old men. Not all old men are grouchy, but some are.)

Both camps can be too rigid.

Both camps can be overly ideological.

Leaders from both camps can cling too tightly to their closely held beliefs— at the expense of their students.

CLA is a wonderful and emerging contribution to the conversation on skill acquisition.

Static drilling, with a non-resisting partner, is an important tool, received through humility from the successful practitioners who came before us.

The environments where people do and will build the deepest skills, in the fastest ways, are environments that reject false binaries and implement the insights from both camps.

The vine grows on the wall; the wall is made more complete by the vine.

Seek wisdom wherever it may be found!

Oopsie! Unintended consequences.
Not all growth is progress.

Sorry for party rocking

We are honored and grateful to welcome Professor for a seminar on August 15 🔥 🔥

Register via Venmo, DM, Call/Text, or Email