What are our criteria in saying “yes” to an article? The prevailing criterion is that it should be useful to you, dear reader.

In this sense, the GRACIEMAG team was keen on this issue. From the cover story to the last line, your favorite magazine serves up a series of the richest of lessons for your Jiu-Jitsu.

What makes a stalwart sweeper? What are the technical qualities a sweeper should have and develop starting at white belt? Physically, what are the attributes indispensible to a sweeper, and how should one work out to properly develop them? How does a sweep become a shortcut to a finish?

Readers seeking answers can’t miss this GRACIEMAG. With the aid of some of the foremost aces in the matter, we offer up a bona fide dossier on the sweep, the technique most evolving in Jiu-Jitsu today.

There are teachings from masters like Michael Langhi, Royler Gracie, Rômulo Barral, Robinho Moura, Rubens Cobrinha, Rafael Mendes, Rafael Lovato, Roberto Cyborg and numerous others. All illustrated with epic scenes featuring Helio Gracie, Bráulio Estima, Roberto Roleta, Bento Ribeiro, Wellington Megaton and Fernando Tererê. Never have you seen such a juicy lesson.

To round things out, gi-clad revelation of 2010 Bernardo Faria teaches an array of sweeps so that you can get the reversal in any match.

In Face to Face, we interview a gentle art phenomenon with sixty-five matches, sixty-five wins, who had her career abruptly interrupted by a “ghost” well known to Jiu-Jitsu practitioners. Dive into the interview to reap your own lessons.

GRACIEMAG also took a spin around the globe and covered the big championships of the period. From Boston to Tokyo, Las Vegas to Hawaii, Long Island to Chicago, we let readers in on the best of what happened. And who stood out, with and without the gi.

How is someone unbeatable in Jiu-Jitsu born? That’s the question we ask in this issue’s PROFILE, when analyzing the solid ascent of Rodolfo Vieira, a new phenomenon of the heavyweight division. To find out, we hopped a train with him and chased down his roots.

If you had to pick just one weight training exercise to upgrade your Jiu-Jitsu, what would it be? Our columnist Martin Rooney has the answer, and teaches a number of variations to put you in peak shape in training.

In the INTRO sections, the unprecedented mission of Ricardo Cachorrão, a lesson in the spider-guard, as well as a great Ginástica Natural workout.

In GMA, find out how to draw women into your academy to train, learn two creative sweeps from Paragon’s latest black belt, check out the GMA’s who won in Las Vegas and Chicago, and much more.

What’s more, there’s what Zé Mario Sperry learned by facing the leviathan that was Mark Kerr in Abu Dhabi.

Enjoyed that? Receive the new GRACIEMAG at home, here!

Speaking of sweeps, what’s your favorite technique for reversing positions with your opponent?