Customer Reviews

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Theory and Technique (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu series)

5 star:		(100)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've got a few BJJ books, but this one takes the cake. It's a virtual bible of technique, clearly explained and demonstrated (hard in a book sometimes) and with a typical Gracie attention to detail. You won't be able to learn BJJ from a book, but if you're a student--like me--you'll LOVE this because how many times have you learned a new technique and then forgotten it? Or at least a key element to it? You've got it just... up... to... this... point... and then you can't remember the finish.

That's why this book rocks: go look it up! You'll find yourself saying "AHHHH... dammit! THAT'S it! That's what I forgot!" It's awesome for that reason.

It's not particularly loaded with super-advanced techniques, but you ought not be worried about those until you've mastered all these--and this will keep you busy for a long, long time.

I saw this book at my BJJ school and came home to order it ASAP. This is as good as it gets. I know the Grappler's Manual is also supposed to be incredible, too, but I have not yet seen that.

Buy it. You'll be using it for years.

This is arguably one of the best books on the subject. As an author of 13 books on the martial arts and a collector of over 300, I feel it's money well spent if I can learn one technique or concept from a book or video. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Theory & Technique contains dozens of techniques that are easy to understand and easy to follow.

The photography is clear and the descriptions are easy to grasp. If you train in Brazilian jiu-jitsu you must have this book, and if you follow one of the many punch/kick arts, you will find this an outstanding text that shows you what to do when the fight turns to grappling.

I highly recommend this one.

I have been involved in the martial arts for most of my life and I teach both Judo(black belt) and Brazillian Jiu Jitsu(blue belt) and this is the best book I have every seen on Brazillian Jiu Jitsu. In fact this is one of the best martial arts books I have ever read, period! The quality is top notch, color pictures, great background information, theory, excellent explanations of over a hundred techniques, and authored by two members of the Gracie family. Since the Gracies created Brazillain Jiu Jitsu you can't get a better source.

I am at a satellite school under Rickson Gracie and I do not always have a black belt to ask questions so this book is an excellent reference. I recommend this book to anyone interested in Brazillian Jiu Jitsu or grappling. If you are a Brazillian Jiu Jitsu practitioner then this book is a Must! Usually I do not write reviews but this book is so good I thought I should.

The only drawback to this book would be if you just want to learn grappling without a kimono(uniform). All the moves are based on using the Kimono. Although there are explanations on what you would do to modify some of the techniques to be used without the uniform. I would still recommend this book even to those who just care about kimono-less grappling(no uniform). Most of the moves can still be used without the uniform you just have to know how to apply them.

Brazillian Jiu Jitsu has the changed the face of the martial arts. This book will teach you what makes this art so effective.

This book is wonderful. I use it everyday after class to see what I could have done wrong and what are the little things you can do to truly lock a submission or gain the sweeps you need. For example: I always had a problem quickly executing the "Americana." I would always end up getting it but not quick enough. I flipped through this book and discovered that if you rotate your opponents wrist slightly while applying the lock like you would reve a motorcycle, you create a much more painful lock causing the opponent to tap immediately. That tip alone helped me to actually master not only the Americana, but has helped my Kimuras as well.
And that is just one of hundreds of little pointers that can help your game. I have been doing BJJ for a few years now but I know that I will always refer to this book even if I reach Black Belt.

Also check out Carlson Gracie's book, "For Experts Only." It is another must own.

The first in what has become a rapidly growing series (mostly co-written by Kid Pelligro) from Invisible Cities Press, backed by the same UAE Shiek who holds the ADCC Submission Grappling Championships (now every two years), Royler (son of Helio) and cousin Renzo Gracie (son of Robson and grandson of Carlos sr.) begin with what is supposed to be an overview of their family's Jiu Jitsu system.

The text section is good, giving some history and some basic concepts of strategy, including positional dominance. The bulk of the book, however, are the techniques. There is a large range here, from quite good, simple, high percentage stuff that many would consider their bread and butter, to some movements that require higher skill, coordination, and timing to pull off.

The pictures are all in color, and often include alternate angles. However, details are sparse, so it might take some mental work to figure out the transitions between some pictures, and some important points might be, intentionally or unintentionally, left out.

The biggest drawback to this book, indeed its fatal flaw, is its extremely poor organization. It is supposedly organized by belt rank, with techniques presented for white, blue, purple, brown, and black belt levels. However, so-called 'self-defense' and sport BJJ are freely intermingled with no distinction between one and the other, and the belt levels assigned each one are perplexing to say the least (with some basics in the higher 'belt' levels and some more difficult stuff early on). There even seem to be some glitches, as the book references as earlier techniques which come later.

It is unfortunate that such total lack of structure and flow mars what could have been a great book. However, it is still important as the first of its series, and if you don't particularly care about organization of material, lots of good stuff can still be found scattered here throughout.

This book is a MUST HAVE for any BJJ practitioner. It's filled with hundreds of color photos and crystal-clear descriptions of techniques. These, in and of themselves, make the book a necessity for students of BJJ. There are also, however, eye-opening sections on theory that clarify, among other things, BJJ's built-in strategy for achieving increasingly advantageous position to the detriment of the opponent. Probably the best-written martial arts book on the market today (certainly, the best one that I've read). If you're a student of BJJ or are otherwise interested in achieving a greater understanding of the art that revolutionized MMA competitions, buy it. You'll be happy you did.

This book has taken some flak from some grapplers for supposedly being 'too simplistic' and 'too old fashioned'. But, these are not fair criticisms. There are far more techniques in this book than you will likely ever need to know, and most strong competitors do not prefer the intricate 'cutting edge' stuff because they want to win, not put on a show. The 'old fashioned' criticism is meaningless, since the stuff is time-tested and proven, and that is what we should want when we learn any kind of combat sport.
Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is an offshoot of Judo that almost exclusively does groundfighting. Thus, this book has little of value to teach about fighting on one's feet; in fact, some of the standing techniques that are included, such as the overkill escape from the bear hug and the use of an elbow strike to defeat a kick, are quite comical. It should be noted too that Judo, which is gently maligned as being 'too restrictive' by the authors, has produced just as many top-notch MMA competitors as BJJ, and not only Judo, but Wrestling and Muay Thai as well. Also, even on the ground the book focusses on techniques that will lead to gaining points according to BJJ rules. 'Sweeps' are the most beautiful and most enjoyable techniques of BJJ, and are in many ways their most distinctive; and it is in this area that BJJ has made some unique contributions to grappling science. There are very many 'sweep' techniques displayed in the book. Strangely, there is only one guard pass shown: odd!
The 'classic' BJJ strategy of fighting is to 'pull guard', which means to wrap one's legs around the opponent's torso and fall down backwards, and from there to try to submit him, and if that is not possible then to sweep him, land on top in a full mount and try for submissions from there. Unfortunately, pulling guard can be problematic if one's opponent is skilled in passing the guard; in this case it may be better to throw the opponent and even potentially knock the wind out of him, land past his guard and pin him. Certainly fighting on one's feet is far more important than the authors would like us to believe.
Regardless, the book contains a great many sweeps, locks, chokes, pins and escapes from pins, and these are what make it great. It makes an excellent reference and learning tool for BJJ and Judo practitioners. Until Renzo comes up with a new edition of this book that has a few more guard passes, this book will remain the best single ground gi-grappling book out there; it is far better than the many 'show off' BJJ books with their long, convoluted and awkward set-ups to the same old techniques. Mind you, some classic Judo books with a major groundfighting focus; "Best Judo" by Inokuma and Sato comes to mind in particular; are probably necessary to complement this book, since they cover guard passing, and half-guard passing in great detail as parts of set-ups to pins or as techniques on their own, and they teach many combinations, defenses, reversals, and entries to submissions that are not covered in this book, and at various angles too. However, Renzo's book is and will probably remain my personal favourite groundfighting book both for its comprehensiveness and for its direct 'go for the kill' simplicity.

The pros: The book has a nice layout, separating techniques by belt level. The photographs are sufficiently clear and close-up, and the authors do a good job of drawing the reader's attention to important details of each technique. The techniques are sufficiently varied that the reader is presented with 2 or 3 options for each position rather than dozens of minor variations for a couple of scenarios.

The cons: Even though the book lists approximately 100 techniques, a few merely present very simple training drills or even the proper way to tie a belt. The book could have benefited from a more thorough edit: a few techniques are presented assuming that the reader is already familiar with another technique that isn't outlined until later in the book.

Bottom line: While people interested in mixed martial arts will likely be better of with The Fighter's Notebook, this title is a good review tool for students preparing for belt advancement in the Gracie system. At Amazon's reduced price, it's a good buy.

This is a book about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, an art that has revolutionised the martial arts world. Royce Gracie's incredible performances in the first four Ultimate Fighting Championships showed just how important ground fighting was to "real world" combat situations.

There are a number of things that I like about this book. The first half of the book is titled "Theory" and provides a great introduction to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It provides a good background information as well as dispelling myths such as "You can take on two or more skilled attackers at the same time". The next section is "Technique". The photos are large, clear and in colour. The text is also clear and easy to understand.

The book suffers from lack of organisation and limited techniques. The techniques do not appear to be laid out in a well thought out manner. The book is laid out according to belt levels. However the distinction between techniques seems rather arbitrary. For example the "kimura" lock is not shown until purple belt even though this is quite a fundamental technique. Brazilian jiu jitsu and striking techniques are interwoven in no logical manner.

Some fundamental techniques are also missing from the book. For example, only two guard passes are covered. To those are unfamiliar with BJJ, guard passing is one of the most important aspects. If you cannot pass the guard, then you cannot attain superior positioning from which to apply submissions. All techniques a done with a gi (uniform). The blurb boldly states "A Fighting Style for the Real World". Techniques should also be shown without the gi. Modern day mixed martial arts tournaments do not involve the uniform. Fighters square off in a pair of trunks only. The art has evolved a lot in the last ten years unfortunately this is not reflected in the book.

Overall a decent introduction to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. However there are certainly better books out there. I'm waiting for Gene Simco's book by the looks of things it holds a lot of promise.

As an update to this review I'd like to say that the more I look over it, the more holes I find. I wish the book had some more information about the basic control positions. For example, the book lists the basic positions (mount, side control, knee ride, back mount and so forth) but unfortunately does not describe how to properly attain them. It's frustrating to attain a dominant position such as side control and then lose it due to insufficient knowledge of correct technique.

Another deficiency is lack of escapes. On numerous occasions I've been caught on arm bars and triangles and have not had the faintest idea how to escape. Although tapping out is an important part of the learning process in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, my training has been much more satisfying since learning how to escape from these common submissions.

At 255 pages, this volume on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu eclipses virtually every other book on the topic. The amount of knowledge is superb, the presentation is terrific. Color photography throughout, an average of 6-10 photos per technique (including close-ups), and easily understood narrative descriptions which cover not just how to move, but why to do certain "little things" that make the difference between an effective technique and wasted energy.

Although this book groups techniques by belt (recommended knowledge from white to blue, purple, brown, and black), authors Renzo and Royler Gracie, John Danaher, and Peligro describe rank in BJJ as an informal proceedure which does not include formal tests or specific techniques required, but rather continuous displays of proficient application and understanding which can be gleaned only through continuous and dedicated practice. It seems that BJJ, with its emphasis on ability rather than (buying) belts, is where other martial arts in the US, Canada, and Japan were 40 or more years ago.

The only omission I can think of would be tournament rules for BJJ, but that again is something one would pick up from going to tournaments and classes regularly. This book is a terrific value, the best of the grappling books on the market today, in my estimation. A quality product well worth the asking price. I hope there is a volume II somewhere in the works, maybe even a biography of the Gracie family (looong overdue!). My other recommendation for those with an interest in NHB / MMA history would be the recently published "Brawl" by Erich Krauss. Good reading & good practice to you!