Greg Souders is an American jiu-jitsu black belt and the founder of Standard Jiu-Jitsu in Rockville, Maryland. He is best known for his coaching method. Rather than demonstrating techniques for students to drill, he builds classes around games. BJJ Heroes ties the approach to ecological dynamics and ecological psychology. His Instagram and podcast appearances explain how it works.

Background

Souders was born on 26 April 1984 in Washington, DC, and grew up in Maryland. Pride FC and the UFC drew him to grappling, along with the Gracies in Action tape. He started jiu-jitsu at 20 with Mike Moses. Lloyd Irvin then took over his training and promoted him from white to brown belt.

As a purple belt he turned his focus from competing to coaching. He left Team Lloyd Irvin in 2013, joined David Jacobs' affiliation, and received his black belt from Jacobs in 2015. His lineage runs through Mario Yamasaki and Marcelo Behring to Rickson Gracie.

Coaching approach

BJJ Heroes says Souders studied ecological psychology through the work of Dr Rob Gray. The idea of teaching through games rather than drills came from a volleyball coach. Stephan Kesting wrote in 2023 that Souders runs his academy "without teaching any techniques", arguing that jiu-jitsu training has not kept up with the science of learning. Kesting points to his students' medals at black belt Pans and Worlds as evidence that the method works. Athletes he has developed include Deandre Corbe, Gavin Corbe and Alex Nguyen.

Podcasts

Souders has explained his method on episode 382 of Kesting's The Strenuous Life Podcast (2023) and on episode 288 of the Chewjitsu podcast.

Related pages

Games-based classes still revolve around positions. Our grip fighting, distance management and timing and rhythm pages cover skills his games train. Follower counts are curated snapshots, not live data.