How InGrappling Works

CurriculumHow InGrappling WorksThe three-layer model — invariants, technique, and concepts — wrapped by the curriculum sequencing layer. How to use the site and why it's structured…

InGrappling teaches no-gi submission grappling through four interlocking layers. This page explains what each layer is for, how they connect, and how to read a technique page in the context of where you are in your training. If you’re new to the site, read this before anything else.

Most grappling sites pick one content mode and stick with it. They’re a technique library, or a philosophy essay collection, or a curriculum, or a set of training-partner drills. Each mode has strengths and weaknesses. A pure technique library shows you what to do but not why. A pure concept collection tells you why but doesn’t show how. A pure curriculum shows the sequence but not the detail. We don’t pick one — we use three, with a fourth sequencing layer that wraps the others.

The three content layers, from most general to most specific:

Invariants — the mechanical principles that make every technique work. Twelve universals (connection eliminates space through rotation around a fixed point) plus domain-specific sets for leg entanglements and other specialised areas. Invariants do not change with technique, lineage, or ruleset.

Technique library — the mechanical details of individual techniques. How to do a kimura, a triangle, a knee-cut pass, a butterfly sweep. The how.

Concepts — the connective tissue. How techniques chain, which positions force dilemmas, how grips escalate, why some submissions work from a family of positions. The why and the when.

Wrapping all three is the curriculum — the sequencing layer. The curriculum decides what should be learned, in what order, and why. It draws on all three content layers to sequence learning by ability level.

The invariants are the mechanical laws that explain why techniques work. They are the deepest layer of the site because they change the least — they are true regardless of technique, style, or ruleset. A kimura works because of inside position (structural alignment) and frames redirect perpendicular (angle of force). A rear naked choke works because of connection eliminates space (connection) and space is contested (two-contact-point control). A butterfly sweep works because of force angle (hip engagement) and connection precedes control (level change).

Understanding the invariant behind a technique is what transforms learning from memorisation to comprehension. A student who has only learned the steps of a kimura has a movement pattern. A student who has learned the steps and the invariant has a framework — they can diagnose why the kimura failed, they can see a kimura opportunity in a position they have never drilled, and they can transfer the principle to related techniques like the omoplata or the straight wristlock.

The invariants are the first thing the foundations curriculum introduces, even before individual techniques. This ordering is deliberate — it is the first of the three sequencing principles (see below).

The technique library covers the mechanics of individual techniques. Each technique page has the same structure: what it is, the entry, the mechanics, common errors, the counter, and the invariant it depends on. Every technique page is cross-referenced to the invariants it relies on and the concept systems it participates in.

Technique pages are not tutorials to be read once. They are reference documents. When you encounter a technique in your school’s curriculum, look up the page to understand the invariant, the common errors, and the counter. When a training partner catches you with something, look up the page to understand what the entry looked like and where your defence could have interrupted it.