I’m very excited about Submeta.io. B Team is now online on Submeta, and Lachlan Giles is my favorite instructor in BJJ and he always puts lots of effort into his instructional content. In this Submeta review I tell you exactly what’s available on Submeta and what I think of the platform. Let’s get into it!
I asked Lachlan if I could PLEASE promote Submeta because it’s so good, and he gave me this promo code 🙂
Get 64% off Submeta
Use the discount code ‘BJJMORE‘ at checkout to get $16 off your first month.
New: B Team on Submeta
The B Team is now on Submeta! You can find there page here. Don’t forget to use promo code ‘BJJMORE’ when you sign up for $16 off.
B Team is the team of Craig Jones, Nicky Ryan, Nicky Rodriguez, Jay Rod, Ethan Crelinstein, Haisam Rida and more. They will be contributing to the already enormous Submeta library. This is a very happy moment for jiu jitsu :D.
What is submeta?
Submeta is the new online learning platform for Brazilian jiu jitsu and grappling from Lachlan Giles. It contains videos and courses about many different BJJ techniques and can be accessed on a subscription basis. Currently, Lachlan teaches all the courses on the platform. In the video below you can watch Lachlan give a walkthrough of the platform himself.
Who is Lachlan Giles?
Lachlan Giles is a top tier competitor and the best instructor in BJJ, in my opinion. (If you browse around on this website, you’ll see that I feature his technique videos everywhere.) He has one of the biggest libraries of technique videos on YouTube, several best selling courses on BJJFanatics and now his own learning platform.
Also read: The 7 Best BJJ Instructors: Choose wisely who to learn from
What’s included in Submeta?
Submeta includes a huge content library. The content can be divided in three main categories:
- Videos
- Courses
- Gameplans
Courses
There’s 68 courses on Submeta right now (scroll down for a list of all of them). Each of these courses consist of a series of videos that explain different aspects of a certain topic.
The courses are usually about 1.5 to 3 hours in length (although a few are shorter). So this is shorter than Lachlan’s super long instructionals on Fanatics (which are like, 8,000 hours long). But they’re still as in depth as they need to be.
And they also contain exercises to test your knowledge as you go through the course. So say goodbye to watching BJJ instructionals without actually paying attention!
Videos
The submeta library also contains over 2000 videos. Most of these are about a single jiu jitsu technique, but there’s also videos with rolling footage, match breakdowns and discussions.
Techniques
The technique videos are what you’re used to from a BJJ platform. The videos are taped during Lachlan’s regular classes that he teaches at his gym.
Breakdowns
The breakdowns discuss recent matches and trends in BJJ. For example, I watched the breakdown of how Mikey Musumeci got passed by Jackson Souza at WNO, and the trend analysis of half guard underhook sweeps at the ADCC North America trials this year. I think these breakdowns are extremely interesting and I hope he adds more of them.
Discussions
Currently there’s 1 proper discussion video listed about the role of specific sparring in your training, and there’s several Q&A videos. (And there’s more discussion videos in the courses, but they aren’t listed separately under the videos tab yet.) I watched the Q&A’s about passing the knee shield, which was very helpful for me. I’d like to see Lachlan do more of these kinds of videos.
Rolls
The rolling footage is fun and interesting to watch. It features Lachlan in his gym with his students and with Craig Jones. Personally, I don’t know if I’m going to watch these videos all that much, unless they make them more topic specific (as in ‘Sparring focused on single x and leg locks’).
Game plan
There’s also a Game Plan tab on Submeta, but it’s not available yet. Lachlan says this will be released soon. It will help students to choose a set of techniques that go well together, so they can build an effective game plan for themselves. But we don’t know exactly what this functionality is going to look like yet.
What courses are there right now on Submeta.io?
There are so many courses available already on Submeta!
I’m just going to list all of them here, so you can scan if there’s any that interest you.
And keep in mind that these are not just videos but courses, which contain a comprehensive series of videos covering the same topic, advice on how best to train the techniques and quizzes to test your knowledge.
These are all the courses available on submeta right now:
- Foundational courses
- Foundations I – Escapes
- Foundations II – Guard
- Foundations III – Takedowns
- Foundations IV – Passing
- Foundations V – Controls & Submissions
- Foundations VI – Expanding Your Game
- Guard courses
- Reverse closed guard (new, added on september 29th, 2022)
- Sit up guard
- Half butterfly
- Single leg x and x guard
- Deep half guard
- DLR for Berimbolo
- Closed guard
- Shin to shin
- K-guard
- Jedi mind trick
- Half guard retention
- Open guard retention
- Reverse de la riva
- Butterfly guard
- No gi de la riva
- seated guard
- Knee shield
- Half guard
- 50/50 and 90/10 seated guard
- Collar sleeve guard
- Berimbolo
- Passing courses
- Around the legs passing gi
- Stripping grips to pass
- Passing reverse de la riva
- Cross knee through
- Headquarters
- Passing half guard
- Passing deep half guard
- Defeating the knee shield
- Passing x guard
- Under the legs passing
- Passing sit up guard
- Passing shin on shin guard
- Passing de la riva
- Around the legs passing no-gi
- Opening closed guard
- Smash pass
- Passing butterfly
- Passing single leg X
- Passing waiter
- Escape courses
- Side control escapes
- Mount escapes
- Escaping back control
- Side control escapes: switch base variants
- Control
- Side control
- Taking the back
- Mount
- Back control
- Crab ride
- Submissions:
- Triangle
- Face choke
- Straight ankle lock
- Armbar
- Kimura
- Front headlock
- Understanding heel hooks
And Lachlan isn’t done yet! He says that he’ll add courses until he’s covered every major position and technique in BJJ.
Submeta cost
Submeta is available now for $25 per month, or $19,95 per month if you sign up for a year. This subscription gives you access to all the content on the platform. And you can get $16 discount with my Submeta discount code ‘BJJMORE’.
Currently this is the only subscription that’s offered. I would like to see Lachlan add more subscription tiers over time. For example, I’d love to get a premium tier in which I can ask Lachlan to make a video about a certain topic, and a super premium tier in which I can send Lachlan my rolling footage so he can give me tips.
Is Submeta the Best Online Learning Platform for BJJ?
Yes, I think submeta is by far the best online learning platform for BJJ. I’ve tried many of the other options (BJJFanatics, Atos online, Roger Gracie tv, Grappler’s guide, and others), and Submeta stands out for several reasons.
Why Submeta is the best place to learn BJJ online
Here’s 3 reasons why I think Submeta is the best place to learn BJJ online:
- Lachlan Giles is the best instructor in BJJ (by far). There are many reasons for this. He explains clearly, he knows more than almost anyone, and he just puts in way more effort than other instructors. His instructionals are longer, better structured, he doesn’t go off topic, he gives you new details, shows techniques in sparring and competition settings, and he makes his content easy to navigate.
- The content library is huge and organized. Most other learning platforms don’t have nearly as much content as Submeta. And if they do, they’re dumps of single technique videos.
- Courses with quizzes are unique in this industry. I’ve never seen BJJ courses that feature quizzes to test your knowledge before. I think that’s such an obvious addition in retrospect, because it helps you test if you understood the material which helps you learn
What could be better?
I already noticed a few things which Lachlan can improve on Submeta. I know that he launched it recently and is still adding features, and I’d like to see the following:
- Even more structure: Lachlan suggests where to start and there’s helpful content filters, but I still find the huge content library a little overwhelming. I know that for his own students, Lachlan assigns them specific videos, based on their game and what they need to improve. I think that he will try to recreate this for all the remote students with the Game Plan functionality, but that hasn’t come online yet.
- More interaction: I’d love to be able to ask Lachlan questions and send him suggestions for videos. And I’d also like to interact with other students, so I can ask questions when I’m having problems with a technique. Perhaps this is what the discussion section is supposed to be for, but I’m not sure about that. Which brings me to the next point.
- The discussion section:
It’s not clear what the discussion section is for. I asked what it’s for in a comment on a video, and I got a reply from one of Lachlan’s black belts. He said that they’ll try to answer questions that I post in the comments. But I don’t know if other people can also read my comments or not, and I doubt that Lachlan will be able to keep up with all the comments when more members sign up. I hope they can make the discussion section more like Reddit or YouTube comments.Edit: The developer tells me that all comments can be viewed by all members, so the discussion section actually is like Reddit. The only suggestion I have then is that I’d like to see the video and the comments on the same page (although to be honest, 90% of the time I probably won’t be interested in the comments, so maybe it’s nice to hide them in the back.)
- Even more content: I know, it’s so greedy, but I want to see even more content! I want more courses, but I especially want more match breakdown and discussion videos. I think it’s super interesting to hear Lachlan’s thoughts about trends in BJJ and how to train. I hope he’ll do many of these kinds of videos after this year’s ADCC.
Submeta alternatives
The main alternative to Submeta is BJJ Fanatics. That’s the biggest platform for BJJ instructionals. Lachlan Giles himself has multiple instructionals on it too.
FAQ
How does Submeta.io compare to buying single courses on BJJ Fanatics (by Lachlan or others)?
Submeta has a combination of courses, classes, rolling footage, specific training footage and breakdowns. The main difference is the structure: the courses are aimed at particular levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and there is a focus on how each of the different systems that are taught in the courses can link together.
Is there a Submeta app?
Not yet, but there will be in the future. And the platform has already been designed to work well on mobile.
Why do I need an invitation to join Submeta?
As it is a new site they want to control the rate of growth and make sure that the email system can handle the increase in users. So at the moment people can only join if they are given an invite by an existing user.
Is Submeta worth it if I already have most of Lachlan’s instructionals?
Yes, there’s lots of content on Submeta that’s not covered in any of the previous instructionals.
Will there be other instructors (Craig Jones) on the platform in the future?
I asked Lachie this question on Reddit, and he said that there probably will be but that he wants to keep that quiet for now. So you heard it hear first! I also asked him who the first guest instructor will be and why it’s Craig Jones, but he declined to comment on this matter.
