Welcome to Headnod: Home of American Jiu-Jitsu

If you’re reading this, you’ve just taken your first step into something different. At Headnod, we don’t teach Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the traditional sense—we teach American Jiu-Jitsu.

That’s not just a flag-waving rebrand. It’s a philosophy.

 

What Is American Jiu-Jitsu?

American Jiu-Jitsu is rooted in the same core principles of leverage, timing, and control—but it’s built on a foundation of freedom, creativity, and innovation.

We take what works—from wrestling, judo, and traditional Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu—and refine it for modern athletes, law enforcement, and everyday people. That means:

• Wrestling roots. In America, grappling starts with wrestling(meaning it starts from the feet). It’s in our DNA. Our stand-up game emphasizes simple takedowns, effective control, and pressure—skills that translate everywhere, not just in tournaments.
• Top pressure is king. We prioritize universal control systems—positions and strategies that work in gi, no-gi, MMA, self-defense, or law enforcement. Whether you’re wearing a kimono, a rash guard, or a badge, control is control and understanding control is the foundation of understanding grappling.
• No uniforms, no nonsense. We train both gi and no-gi because real mastery means your game works anywhere, with or without grips. So here you can wear any colored gi, or any colored rash guard we care way more about the person wearing the clothes and much less about keeping tradition

It’s not tradition for tradition’s sake. We respect the past—but we’re not here to cosplay martial arts movies. You won’t be bowing to a photo on the wall or calling someone “Master.” You will be learning how to pass guard, apply pressure, and stay safe under fire.

 

Our Method: Built on Concepts, Not Ritual

We believe in critical thinking over blind repetition. That means we train with clarity, intention, and a little fun.

• Designated Winner Training. This is how we drill. You don’t “practice” the move 50 times like a robot—you solve the problem live, with just enough resistance to actually learn the timing. You’ll hear the word “play” a lot around here. That’s on purpose. Note, Headnod is actually the first team in the world to use the DW training Method and now it is used all over the world by tons of High Level Coaches.
• Conceptual learning. We teach universal grappling principles like distance, connection, pressure, and base. Once you understand how to build a strong defense or break someone else’s defense, you can apply those ideas to any position, rule set, or scenario.
• Freedom to evolve. We don’t teach “our style” and ban everything else. We build your Jiu-Jitsu around your strengths, and encourage cross-training, question-asking, and the pursuit of actual understanding over memorization.

 

• Positional Sparring. We believe that if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Positional Sparring has been the foundation of our training method since before “Headnod” was even a thing and we were just a group of grapplers training in a garage in Madison IL in 2011.

Live Training. We know that jiu-jitsu isn’t proven until it can be performed at full speed. Live training in a safe environment is the best way to expose the holes that an individual needs to fix in their jiu-jitsu. We then can utilize all of the methods above to fix those holes.

 

Why We Train Like This

You’ll hear us say this a lot: “The best Jiu-Jitsu works anywhere.” That means, under IBJJF rules, in a parking lot, or with a badge on your chest.

That’s why we focus on:

• Controlling Yourself, Your Opponent, and the Clock – controlling a fight is the first(and safest) win condition and the most important one in any grappling art
• Universal mechanics – every idea that we teach works in multiple contexts.
• Adaptability over tradition – Our Jiu-Jitsu isn’t a list of moves on a wall that you must master to get your next promotion. It’s a list of ideas and skills that you must develop to become a great grappler.

Whether your goal is to compete, get in shape, defend yourself, or just stop getting crushed in side control, American Jiu-Jitsu is designed to get you there without the fluff.

 

Culture Over Cult

Let’s be honest: some martial arts schools can be a little… culty.

If you love hierarchy, chanting, and bowing to a picture of someone you’ve never met, there are a lot places for that. But if you want:

• Coaches who explain why, not just how
• A team that celebrates progress, not rank
• An environment where ideas are welcome and everyone’s job is to get better, not to worship the coach…

Then you’re probably gonna like it here.

 

Final Word: This Is Your Jiu-Jitsu

American Jiu-Jitsu at Headnod is built on one idea: Jiu-Jitsu is yours.

Whether you’re 17 or 57, a cop, a competitor, or a complete beginner—we’re here to help you build a system that works for you, not one that forces you to fit into a box.

Train hard. Stay curious. Suck less every day.

We’ll take care of the rest.