Stephen Whittier · Combo

First Principles Escapes: Headlocks, Side Control & North South by Stephen Whittier reviews

First Principles Escapes: Headlocks, Side Control & North South by Stephen Whittier has 35 customer reviews in this archive, averaging 4.89 out of 5. 89% are five-star and 0 are one or two stars. Reviews run from December 30, 2021 to May 21, 2026. All of them are published below in full, unedited.

Who reviewed First Principles Escapes: Headlocks, Side Control & North South by Stephen Whittier

9 of these reviewers gave their belt rank when they submitted the review. BJJ Fanatics asks for rank, age and years training at the point of review, so this breakdown is self-reported by the customer.

Where to buy it

First Principles Escapes: Headlocks, Side Control & North South by Stephen Whittier is currently listed on the BJJ Fanatics storefront at $97.00 USD. View First Principles Escapes: Headlocks, Side Control & North South by Stephen Whittier on BJJ Fanatics

The reviews

• Really useful escape concepts

  There are some handy techniques and approaches for escapes, that I tried and they work. I like the course as a whole. Lots of details

  Gabriel K.May 21, 2026BulgariaVerified buyerBlue belt4-6 yrs training

• Great

  Excellent content

  Shong L.October 15, 2025United StatesVerified buyerPurple belt4-6 yrs training

• Great defensive BJJ

  Excellent defensive concepts to rapidly improve your jiujitsu.

  David H.May 5, 2025United StatesVerified buyerBrown belt10-12 yrs training

• C.J.

  Excellent instructional. I revisit his series as a progress through BJJ. He is years ahead every situation I have witnessed.

  Jason W.May 3, 2025United StatesVerified buyerPurple belt4-6 yrs training

• Wonderful

  Awesome instructional to improve your defense. Details that make fundamental techniques work.

  David H.February 1, 2025United StatesVerified buyerBrown belt7-9 yrs training

• Love it

  The more defense I learn the more fun and less frenetic jiujitsu becomes. I’ve spent the last few years really focusing on defense and it has slowed the game down and I’m much calmer now. I highly recommend this for increasing your enjoyment of the sport.

  David H.January 11, 2025United StatesVerified buyerBrown belt7-9 yrs training

• Review

  A lot of great info for white belts. Highly recommend Stephen’s instructionals.

  Devon G.August 6, 2024CanadaVerified buyerWhite belt1-3 yrs training

• great

  this course expounds on both the Frankl’s course as well as Akins’ system.

  Sirish P.July 10, 2024United StatesVerified buyerWhite belt1-3 yrs training

• Great escapes

  Very complete instructional. Covers all you need to know to escape bad positions on bottom.

  Rodrigo A.June 12, 2024United StatesVerified buyerBlue belt1-3 yrs training

• Fundamentals on Escaping. Excellent.

  There are no flashy escapes in this video. It's not very exciting. It's just simple, effective, fundamental jiu jitsu. And it's the stuff that actually works. If you really want to get good then I think Stephen Whittier's instructionals are all class.

  Steven Q.December 16, 2023USVerified buyer

• Fundamentals on Escaping. Excellent.

  There are no flashy escapes in this video. It's not very exciting. It's just simple, effective, fundamental jiu jitsu. And it's the stuff that actually works. If you really want to get good then I think Stephen Whittier's instructionals are all class.

  Steven Q.December 16, 2023USVerified buyer

• First Princples Escapes

  I liked this instructional because it is pretty detailed. It answered many quesions about the iron pillow that John Frankl's instructional left out. Many instructionals only scratch the surface of the topic of what the instructor is teaching and leaves viewers with much unanswered "what if's" but Whittier did a good job with the iron pillow concept. I do wish though that he would have added live footage of himself using the iron pillow in an actual roll.

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging:

  Hugh N.November 12, 2023USVerified buyer

• First Princples Escapes

  I liked this instructional because it is pretty detailed. It answered many quesions about the iron pillow that John Frankl's instructional left out. Many instructionals only scratch the surface of the topic of what the instructor is teaching and leaves viewers with much unanswered "what if's" but Whittier did a good job with the iron pillow concept. I do wish though that he would have added live footage of himself using the iron pillow in an actual roll.

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging:

  Hugh N.November 12, 2023USVerified buyer

• If you’re done looking for

  If you’re done looking for flashy opportunistic submissions and want to learn the fundamentals that make Jiujitsu work on high level opponents then this is for you. These concepts have changed my game and have given me way more confidence to let myself go into deep waters without getting anxious or stressing. I have been intentionally putting myself in these situations to practice the escapes taught here and they work. And it’s fun!

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging:

  DAVID H.October 17, 2023USVerified buyer

• If you’re done looking for

  If you’re done looking for flashy opportunistic submissions and want to learn the fundamentals that make Jiujitsu work on high level opponents then this is for you. These concepts have changed my game and have given me way more confidence to let myself go into deep waters without getting anxious or stressing. I have been intentionally putting myself in these situations to practice the escapes taught here and they work. And it’s fun!

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging:

  DAVID H.October 17, 2023USVerified buyer

• Thank you!

  absolutely love the detail

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging:

  Shane C.September 29, 2023USVerified buyer

• Thank you!

  absolutely love the detail

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging:

  Shane C.September 29, 2023USVerified buyer

• Solid Defense Foundation

  This series greatly improved my defensive soundness in bottom pins. I highly recommend.

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging:

  Douglas T.June 15, 2023USVerified buyer

• Solid Defense Foundation

  This series greatly improved my defensive soundness in bottom pins. I highly recommend.

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging:

  Douglas T.June 15, 2023USVerified buyer

• Concept base

  concept base escape, very usefull and hard to forget

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging::call_me_hand::skin-tone-2:

  DanteMay 21, 2023ITVerified buyer

• Concept base

  concept base escape, very usefull and hard to forget

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging::call_me_hand::skin-tone-2:

  DanteMay 21, 2023ITVerified buyer

• Perfect defense system for ordinary people

  Very helpful instruction! It makes me very comfortable at side bottom position. Highly recommend!👍�

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging::+1::skin-tone-2:

  Seung-ryul S.February 3, 2023KRVerified buyer

• Perfect defense system for ordinary people

  Very helpful instruction! It makes me very comfortable at side bottom position. Highly recommend!👍�

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging::+1::skin-tone-2:

  Seung-ryul S.February 3, 2023KRVerified buyer

• General approach applied by universal techniques

  S. W. is one of the best coaches when it comes to give you a simple but deep understanding of concepts and techniques. He refers at almost every technique to the general movements and postures of head, shoulders, spine and hips. Based on connection and bridging and iron pillow position and histing this series shows known techniques in a very efficient way! Highly recommend!

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging::+1::skin-tone-2:

  MarkusFebruary 2, 2023ATVerified buyer

• General approach applied by universal techniques

  S. W. is one of the best coaches when it comes to give you a simple but deep understanding of concepts and techniques. He refers at almost every technique to the general movements and postures of head, shoulders, spine and hips. Based on connection and bridging and iron pillow position and histing this series shows known techniques in a very efficient way! Highly recommend!

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging::+1::skin-tone-2:

  MarkusFebruary 2, 2023ATVerified buyer

More reviewed titles from Stephen Whittier

Every number on this page is computed from the 35 reviews above at build time, out of 87,673 in the full archive. See the methodology for how the corpus is collected and what is excluded.