Craig Jones turns the wrestler’s habit of standing up into a full system: escape the turtle to your feet, then borrow wrestling rides and pins to hold down everyone who tries it back.
The Bottom Line
A genuinely different escape system. The first two volumes teach you to stand up out of turtle the way a wrestler does; the last two teach the rides and pins (Turk, staples, arm triangle, North-South choke) that stop other people from doing it back. BJJ World rated it 9/10. The catch: it is intermediate-level and no-gi only, and the stand-up half is shorter than the title suggests.
⚡ Quick facts
Best for: Intermediate no-gi grapplers who get stuck in turtle or struggle to hold wrestlers down
Skip if: You are a white belt who wants step-by-step fundamentals, or you only train gi
Tech focus: Turtle stand-ups, Granby, seatbelt hip-sit, the Turk, staples, arm triangle, North-South choke
Runtime: ~3.5 hours across 4 volumes, no-gi
Biggest takeaway: The threat of standing up forces reactions that hand you back exposure and front-headlock attacks.
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What You’ll Learn
The premise is a Craig Jones joke that turns out to be serious advice. In wrestling, the first thing you learn when you are taken down is how to get back to your feet. In jiu-jitsu nobody teaches that, so wrestlers run over grapplers who sit in turtle and wait. Just Stand Up fixes both sides of that problem.
The first half is the escape system: a re-built turtle (tight elbows, protected feet) that lets you build height and stand up vertically instead of getting flattened, hand-fighting from turtle, and the Granby roll to scramble out when standing is not available. The threat of standing forces your opponent to overcommit, which is where back exposure and front-headlock counters open up.
The second half flips it. Once you understand how people stand up, Craig shows the rides and pins that shut it down: the seatbelt and hip-sit, the Turk (a one-leg wrestling ride that smothers turtle), staples and underhooks, and submissions that double as pins. It pairs directly with his Power Ride set, which covers the top game in far more depth, so the two together cover both ends of the scramble.
Volume-by-Volume Breakdown
Four volumes, each running roughly an hour. The split is clean: volumes 1-2 are escaping, volumes 3-4 are pinning and finishing.
Craig opens with why jiu-jitsu pins you against yourself and why side control is a weak position against a wrestler. Then the rebuilt turtle: tucking the elbows, protecting the feet, turtle hand-fighting, and building height so you can come up vertically. He finishes with the Granby roll (solo drill plus the knee-slide-to-Granby chain) as the scramble option when standing is shut down.
The seatbelt hip-sit is the anchor: one motion that controls the power half, turtled-up opponents, and bodylocks with or without a hook. Then he introduces the Turk, a wrestling leg ride that pins with one leg and your weight, in basic, top-lockdown, and outside variations. His recurring line here is “the answer is always half guard,” meaning you force opponents back down into half rather than letting them escape.
The offensive engine. Single- and double-leg staples, the crossface, and the under-used near-side and far-side underhook pins straight out of wrestling. The turning point is combining upper-body controls with the Turk to burrow through any defense and at minimum force half guard. He closes with submissions that are also pins and a re-worked arm triangle (“you’ve been taught the arm triangle wrong”) with the finishing details.
The unorthodox stuff. The North-South choke used as a pinning tool plus the finish and a North-South pass-off, the karate-chop kimura exposure, and a case for not fearing the front headlock. The headline techniques are the Sucker Drag and the Barrel Roll Dump (with a nod to wrestler Austin DeSanto), rounded out by two bonuses: the Saitiev reversal and the Schultz choke.
Primary Techniques You’ll Drill
- Rebuilt turtle: tight elbows, foot protection, building height
- Turtle hand-fighting and vertical stand-ups
- Granby roll and knee-slide-to-Granby
- Seatbelt hip-sit vs power half, turtle and bodylocks
- The Turk: basic, top-lockdown and outside variations
- Single/double-leg staples and crossface
- Near-side and far-side underhook pins
- Re-worked arm triangle finish
- North-South choke as a pin, plus the finish
- Sucker Drag and Barrel Roll Dump
- Bonus: Saitiev reversal and Schultz choke
Format & Level
- Instructional style: Conceptual and system-based, taught in distinct chapters
- Skill level: Intermediate (assumes you know Granby rolls, front headlock, sit-outs)
- Format: No-Gi
- Runtime: About 3.5 hours; BJJ World describes the four volumes as roughly an hour each
- Volumes: 4
- Released: 2022
- BJJ World rating: (Technical Quality 10/10, Quality of Content 9/10)
Should You Buy It?
Buy it if you are an intermediate no-gi grappler who keeps getting stuck in turtle or who cannot hold down a scrambly wrestler. The ideas here are not in many other instructionals, and the best part is conceptual: once you start threatening to stand, opponents overreact and hand you back exposure, front-headlock entries, and half guard. The pinning half (Turk, staples, arm triangle) connects straight into Power Ride for a complete top game.
I would hold off if you are a white belt looking for structured fundamentals, or if you only train gi. The material assumes some wrestling literacy, and Craig teaches it entirely no-gi.
Honest Weaknesses
The stand-up half is shorter than the title implies. The actual “just stand up” content is roughly the first two volumes, and the standing-from-turtle material inside that is fairly compact. If your only goal is a deep turtle and stand-up defense system, John Danaher’s Pin Escapes & Turtle Escapes (Go Further Faster) spends 10+ hours on escapes alone and is built for white and blue belts, where Craig assumes you already move well.
It is intermediate and no-gi only. This is exactly the point BJJ World docked for: the material expects a working knowledge of Granby rolls, sit-outs and the front headlock, and every rep is shown without the gi. Gi players will need to adapt the grips themselves.
It is half an escape course and half a pinning course. The back two volumes pivot hard into top-game riding and submissions. That is great value, but if you came purely for escapes you are paying for content you did not ask for. For the pinning half specifically, Craig’s own Power Ride goes far deeper on leg rides and the turk, so owners of that set will see some overlap.
Why Craig Jones?
Craig Jones broke through at EBI with a near-finish armbar on Gordon Ryan in the final, then spent years as one of the top no-gi grapplers in the world across multiple rulesets. He learned under Lachlan Giles, took a leg-lock-first approach that contrasted with the Danaher Death Squad, and later co-founded the B-Team after leaving that camp.
His teaching reputation is built on simple, high-yield tactics shown with a lot of personality. He favors live applicability over theory, and he is fluent in the wrestling-meets-submission style that this set is built on. Just Stand Up is one of around 16 instructionals he has released through BJJ Fanatics, and it reflects his core view that the threat of escape creates openings everywhere.
What Reviewers Say
The strongest published review is from BJJ World. Verified buyer quotes below are from the BJJ Fanatics product page (5.0 across 271 reviews at the time of writing).
“Beginners and intermediate grapplers will get a lot of technical ideas on how to approach pinning in Jiu-Jitsu, while seasoned, advanced grapplers are going to get a complete change of perspective on the subject by integrating these wrestling principles.”
BJJ World review (Overall 9/10)
“Just Stand Up by Craig Jones is a grappling DVD more than worth having in your collection. Instead of trying to learn wrestling on your own outside of Jiu-Jitsu, why not get a digested version of very specific aspects of wrestling from BJJ from the best second-place grappler in the world himself?”
BJJ World review (Overall 9/10)
“Half the instructional is about getting up and the other half is about keeping them down. This sounds simple but this kind of thing can give BJJ practitioners fits, especially if you grapple with an MMA fighter. This, like a lot of Craig’s stuff, will make your BJJ more cage effective. I highly recommend it.”
Ian B. (verified buyer, BJJ Fanatics)
“Lots of new information that really helped me look at the standard top player / bottom player scenario in a new light. Craig briefly touches upon some MMA concepts as well. All in all, a very well done and interesting instructional.”
fleming b. (verified buyer, BJJ Fanatics)
Smart Alternatives
- Want a deeper escape-only system? Pin Escapes & Turtle Escapes by John Danaher spends 10+ hours purely on escaping pins and turtle, and is built for beginners through intermediate. Slower and more systematic than Craig.
- Want the top-game / pinning half in depth? Craig Jones’ own Power Ride takes the riding and turk material from volumes 2-4 and turns it into a full top-game system.
- Want more bottom-game scrambling from Craig? The B-Team Bottom Game by Craig Jones covers stand-ups, four-point positions, turtle, the reverse Z-guard and the false half guard, a broader take on the same wrestle-up idea.
Sources & References
Official listing: View Just Stand Up on BJJ Fanatics (chapter list, runtime, 271 verified reviews).
Independent review: BJJ World, “Craig Jones Just Stand Up BJJ DVD Review” (Overall 9/10, full volume-by-volume breakdown).
Your next step
You have the volume breakdown, the named reviews, and an honest read on the weaknesses. If you are an intermediate no-gi grappler who wants to stop getting stuck in turtle, this one delivers.