Make turtle safe with posture, frames, and timing before you attack.
The Bottom Line
You learn how to stop the harness, truck, and common chokes. You get frames and movement that buy time and paths back to guard or stand-ups. You will not get a full offense curriculum.
⚡️ Quick facts
Best for: Defense-minded grapplers
Skip if: You want flashy subs
Tech focus: Posture, Hand Fighting, Guard Recovery
Biggest takeaway: Defense first, offense later
📋 Jump to a section (Click to expand)
What You'll Learn
Concept-first defense that makes turtle survivable for older, less explosive grapplers. Priit shows posture, head/shoulder framing, and hand-fighting to neutralize chokes, trucks, and harness before recovering.
Primary Techniques You'll Drill
- Posture
- Hand Fighting
- Clock Choke Defense
- Truck Defense
- Granby
- Guard Recovery
Format & Level
- Instructional style: Conceptual, System Based
- Skill level: All Levels
- Format: Both
- Runtime: 2 hours and 38 minutes
- Volumes: 4
Should You Buy It?
Wait for daily deal. I rated this high because it fixes the fear of turtling, which unlocks every other turtle system.
Why Priit Mihkelson?
Priit Mihkelson is a black belt under Matt Thornton known for a principles-first defensive system used in seminars worldwide and adopted by many older or time-crunched practitioners.
Community feedback
Here’s a summary of common feedback from platforms like Reddit’s r/bjj.
😍 Why People Love It
- Principles-first approach that improves turtle immediately.
- Great coverage of harness and truck prevention.
- Excellent for older or less explosive athletes.
- Pairs well with offense-focused courses like Telles or wrestling sets.
🤔 Common Criticisms
- Title oversells offense; content is mostly defense.
- Organization can feel scattered across related clips.
- Relatively short compared to mega-sets; value debate pops up.
- Conceptual delivery may frustrate technique collectors.
Smart Alternatives
- The Sitting Turtle – Priit's panda-style entries and counters built on the same principles. (Price: $79.00)
- Crack The Turtle – More aggressive no-gi offense to complement Priit's defense. (Price: $127.00, 4 vols)
- The Turtle Guard Revisited – Add classic gi offense once you feel safe in turtle. (Price: $47.00, 2 vols)
Sources & References
Official listing: View Protecting & Generating Dynamic Offense From The Turtle on BJJ Fanatics
Additional References
Your next step
You have the breakdown, community feedback, and my final thoughts. Now it’s your move.
