John Frankl · Combo
Fundamental Movement Series: Iron Pillow System by John Frankl reviews
Fundamental Movement Series: Iron Pillow System by John Frankl has 63 customer reviews in this archive, averaging 4.98 out of 5. 98% are five-star and 0 are one or two stars. Reviews run from September 24, 2021 to March 26, 2026. All of them are published below in full, unedited.
Who reviewed Fundamental Movement Series: Iron Pillow System by John Frankl
30 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.
| Belt | Reviews | Average rating |
|---|---|---|
| Purple | 13 | 4.92 |
| Black | 6 | 5.0 |
| Blue | 5 | 5.0 |
| White | 4 | 5.0 |
| Brown | 2 | 5.0 |
Where to buy it
Fundamental Movement Series: Iron Pillow System by John Frankl is currently listed on the BJJ Fanatics storefront at $79.00 USD. View Fundamental Movement Series: Iron Pillow System by John Frankl on BJJ Fanatics
The reviews
Iron Pillow Defense: Detailed, Practical, and Built for Longevity
I train under one of Professor Frankl's black belts here in South Korea. The iron pillow has been one of my go-to defenses since my first couple months of training, and this instructional gives an excellent overview of how, when, and why to use it, as well as where to go from there. Very detailed and engaging content, some of it is reviewed and updated in his newer release on tripod passing. Particularly good for those of us who are older or not particularly athletic.
Fundamental Movement Series:Iron pillow system
Excellent position and instructional, improved my defense
Solid Instructional!
This is really good in dealing with guard passing and side control
ZPL
Great Details
Good instructional
Well explained
Great course
Helpful concepts, well explained. Frankl needs to keep adding more courses for bjjfanatics.
Great defensive system
Really enjoyed this easy watching series. I now feel comfortable on the bottom knowing I’m “safe” resting on my iron pillow.
Nice conceptual approach
A really cerebral approach that helps expand how to think about BJJ - much better than just techniques.
Awesome
Great defense
Really great
This instructional is awesome. If you’re looking at it then buy it. It’s a game changer for defense from bottom.
Escapes
Deep dive on the iron pillow tech
Iron Pillow
Excellent position. Great details.
good fundamental
i can make my frame.
good theory.
i need basic and fundamental .
Great video
interesting techniques
Simple but high level
I like the way these techniques are simple to remember but trustworthy because you can tell they come from someone who has thought them through carefully.
The Real Deal
Space vs Base conceptual review is worth the price of admission. The Iron Pillow works! I have been using a version of this for years, as now a black belt in BJJ who is 59 and smaller, I can attest that this really works! I learned many important details in this video and John is an excellent professor.
Highly recommend, can’t go wrong here.
Amazing defensive jiujitsu instructional. He mentions it will be part of a series. I can’t wait for the next one.
excellent
All about prevention of bad situations
Be confidently safe under side control
Fundamental pasture in surviving bottom of cross side and pressure-focused side control. Likely best for those already passed blue belt spaz ing and ready to learn efficient principles of connection over speed.
fundamental movement:iron pillow system
excellent video for defensive positioning and escapes
John Frankl's Iron Pillow System
Incredible series. I was able to add this material to my game almost immediately. Five stars!
excellent series
very well explained
Excellent
I was curious as to what the system was but glad I stumbled across it. Great find !
A new tool for your BJJ defensive game
Great instructional from a natural teacher. Clear concise explanations and well thought out game plan. Hope he makes another video on the Iron Pillow
Fundamental Movement series by John Frankl
I wanted ro learn basic techniques and skills like Henry Akins. This video is great to learn such techniques.
Best thing to do is learn concepts
I love this kind of instructional that teaches you concepts to apply to your game and understanding of the art, this goes further and gives you examples of application too. This instructional is an absolute find! and so worth the cost! This concept will help you transition better between survival, escapes and counters. very pleased with this purchase.
Fundamental Movement Series by John Frankl
Interesting and useful defensive concepts!
Great
This is similar to Akins's first-principle approach.
iron pillow
Amazing concept, never seen this before. Great insights from a long time bjj black belt. This will definitely help my defence against bigger and stringer opponents.
Great course with lots of details
The transition from passing to side control was always hard for me to defend and this course covers it well, with lots of details! If you like old school jiu jitsu like myself this is the crouse for you!
Amazing
Great discovery. I knew iron pillow but didn’t know professor Frankl. He’s one of the best teacher i’ve ever seen. A great system around a concept
Excellent Instructional
I wish I understood this concept over 30 yrs ago when I came across it the first time. .Prof Frankl does an excellent job in this course. There is something for every level of practitioner in this course.
Great Instructional from One of the Best
John Frankl is easily one of the best teacher of BJJ you will come across. He is a pioneer in demonstrating how to move and position your body to maximize your ability. Extremely valuable instructional.
Highly technical
Highly technical and conceptual tutorial
learning after seeing
Interesting position to prevent and limit common attacks. Picked up the video to learn after seeing it in action.
Response from BJJ Fanatics🤗perfect
It teaches you techniques that can be used by ordinary people without being strong or flexible to defend wisely and escape in a guard-passed situation
Response from BJJ Fanatics🤗Iron Pillow
John Frankl created an outstanding series about a complete movment linking system. It is all about thunneling your opponent´s movements into the iron pillow system that you can decrease his attacking options into a predictable variaty of options that you can be well prepared for. Furthermore it gives you the option to put it in on several spots and points of the game so that if you miss a detail in your gaurd game or your escapes you can always put the iron pillow inbetween to create options to reset or progress your game by first inhibiting your opponent´s game. What I also really like is his philosophical approach "to love jiu jitsu more than to win" as well as his 50+ % approach in terms of the relation between propper posture and movement. I could make it work immediately in certain situations! Highly recommend!
Response from BJJ Fanatics🤗Unique approach to Defense
Unique theoretical DVD. Might take a while to get use to the training approach but it's definitely invaluable.
Response from BJJ Fanatics🤗Amazing and Effective
John Frankl says something interesting right from the start. If you're being attacked, simplify the scenario. Funnel the attacker into a very limited window of options to make him predictable and easy to counter. When you assume the iron pillow position, there's really only a few things he can try and they're all easily countered. It almost makes you WANT to get your guard passed, just so you can go into the iron pillow and counter attack into a superior position.
Response from BJJ Fanatics🤗Clear and concise
Really great instructional with clear and concise information. Very helpful to build a defensive game.
Response from BJJ Fanatics🤗Made a difference right away
An excellent way to improve your defense from bottom. Great techniques for reguarding and also for counter wrestling into attacks. Highly recommend.
Response from BJJ Fanatics🤗Iron Pillow
Nice fundamental
Response from BJJ Fanatics🤗🤙🏻Get This!
This has invaluable information about a key transitional position. I highly recommend it.
Response from BJJ Fanatics🤗🤙🏻If you wrestle in pyjamas, learn the Iron Pillow before someone else beats you over the head with it.
The general idea of that was running through my mind while watching this instructional was, so *that's* how that [expletive deleted]er has been shutting down so easily! Kinda sorta, in that I already knew what he was working on, and that he had learned the fundamentals of it from Coach Frankl himself at an SBG camp or two. I'm the bigger, heavier, and lankier guy, while he's the smaller, younger, more athletic guy. We are at the same belt level, and have trained together from white/blue through to purple. I used to smash him at will. It's not much of a boast, but the differential was there. Until it wasn't. Basically, all of my go to stuff has been nullified. I think that I'm still safe, and fairly solid on defence, but I'm finding that that has been put to the test a smidge more often than I'd like during a competitive roll or positional drill. I could crack his attempts at using the Iron Pillow in the beginning, but noticed that my typical Pass the Guard, Control with Soul-crushing Pressure, Strangle pathway has slowly turned into Pass the Guard Kinda But Not Really, Attempt to Apply Pressure that seems to go Nowhere, Unwanted Scramble With Smaller but Younger and more Athletic Training Partner. It's been absolutely frustrating, in the absolute bet way possible; I bought this instructional to help me catch up in this arms race. I already knew from seeing previous material, that Coach John Frankl teaches in a manner that just works for me. I've had the chance to train with Coach Whittier, and have bought instructionals from him as well (endorsement within an endorsement!), so my confidence was high when buying this, and quite justified. There things that can be implemented immediately into your game, but I think that this is going to get more and more value as it simmers and melds with your game. Easy Buy
Mind blowing instructional about the iron pillow movement system
Professor John Frankl created an outstanding series about a complete movment linking system. It is all about channeling your opponent´s movements into the iron pillow system that you can decrease his attacking options into a predictable variaty of options that you can be well prepared for. Furthermore it gives you the option to put it in on several spots and points of the game so that if you miss a detail in your gaurd game or your escapes you can always put the iron pillow inbetween to create options to reset or progress your game by first inhibiting your opponent´s game. What I also really like is J. F. philosophical approach "to love jiu jitsu more than to win" as well as his 50+ % approach in terms of the relation between propper posture and movement. It could make it work immediately in certain situations and still working on it for the rest of my future! Highly recommend!!
Must have technique for everyone
This is a fundamental technique that everyone will benefit from. Coach John does an excellent job at explaining the technique in detail and use cases. He also makes it clear what is technique and skill, and focuses on the former, as the latter is developed individually. As the technique is fundamentally based on posture, I could understand the concepts well and try them while sparring. I found it to be efficient (no energy wasting) and effective as a defensive position. Highly recommended.
Response from BJJ Fanatics🤗🤙🏻This is worth buying
This material is clearly articulated and highly functional. It substantially improved the energy efficiency of my survival/escape game and changed how I articulate some core concepts as a coach. I'm interested to see how Frankl presents others principles/positions and look forward to further instructional material from him.
Response from BJJ Fanatics🤗👍🏻easy to follow
Great explainations of how to develop a jiujitsu game. Easy to follow and implement immediately.
Response from BJJ Fanatics🤗👍🏻Iron Pillow
John is a master of explaining and demonstrating the fundamentals that make jiu-jitsu work. Excellent body of work here and changed the way I look at defense!
Response from BJJ Fanatics🤗🤙🏻