Guys,
I got this DVD a few months back and here are my few comments on it.
- Good quality picture etc no complaints here. A well-produced instructional
- It is ONLY for beginners in jiu jitsu. You don't want to get this one if you've being learning jiu jitsu for more than a year and I cannot stress this enough. The range of techniques is very basic. You will review your fundamentals but if you want to see some new stuff to try out in class, get another DVD.
- Gradings. Roy Dean talks a lot about gradings. Personally I don't really believe in this kind of thing. It is nice to see good technique but I think it is sparring and competition performance that counts. You don't need to know hundreds of techniques in my opinion.
- Limited content. This is a two DVD set, but what you get I though was very limited compared to other double DVD sets that I got. You really only get a few techniques here shown in good detail. What you do not get here is a guard series where the blackbelt demonstrates a series of techniques that interconnect.
Overall I give this DVD a 5.5 out of 10 but I was a little disappointed. An ok DVD for beginners but if you want to develop, I recommend you look elsewhere.
Showing posts with label dvd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dvd. Show all posts
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Thursday, 21 May 2009
Rigan Machado Secrets of the Half Guard Review
Rigan Machado is certainly a specialist expert on the half-guard. I have bought this 3 dvd set and was very much impressed. Before I give a full review of the DVD itself, let me write a little about Rigan himself.
Rigan Machado is a jiu jitsu legend by all accounts. He is an 8th degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Carlos Gracie Jr. He is a former Jiu-Jitsu world champion and is considered one of the greatest grapplers of all time with an unbeatable record of eight consecutive years of winning every belt division from ages 14 to 21. He totaled 365 wins with no losses and performed 19 matches in one day with all of them finishing in submission — a record no one has achieved since.
Firstly what I liked about the instructional set is that it clearly explained the fundamentals of the half guard. I have always been fond of the half-guard especially after watching Saulo Ribeiro's Revolution Series but this set has really shown to me how much there is to the half-guard and that this truly is one of the most fundamental positions in jiu jitsu that every player has to know well.
Rigan's demonstrations are fantastic. His explanations are very well presented and each move is very clearly explained. Importantly in my opinion, Rigan shows no only the half-guard postion on the ground but also gives a good grounding on tactics and transitions i.e. how to move from stand up grappling to the half-guard, how to work on the ground from the half guard when you are on your back and the opponent is standing. He also shows some very nice submissions here, how to finish your opponents and this is done with perfection.
For one, I have particularly enjoyed the leg locks in the series. Rigan shows immaculate transitions into leg locks and I will be sure to build these into my game as I develop my jiu jitsu further.
10 out of 10 a must buy DVD set for intermediate and above. It is not the first DVD set you want to buy but if you are looking to further develop your half-guard game, you must get this!
Rigan Machado is a jiu jitsu legend by all accounts. He is an 8th degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Carlos Gracie Jr. He is a former Jiu-Jitsu world champion and is considered one of the greatest grapplers of all time with an unbeatable record of eight consecutive years of winning every belt division from ages 14 to 21. He totaled 365 wins with no losses and performed 19 matches in one day with all of them finishing in submission — a record no one has achieved since.
Firstly what I liked about the instructional set is that it clearly explained the fundamentals of the half guard. I have always been fond of the half-guard especially after watching Saulo Ribeiro's Revolution Series but this set has really shown to me how much there is to the half-guard and that this truly is one of the most fundamental positions in jiu jitsu that every player has to know well.
Rigan's demonstrations are fantastic. His explanations are very well presented and each move is very clearly explained. Importantly in my opinion, Rigan shows no only the half-guard postion on the ground but also gives a good grounding on tactics and transitions i.e. how to move from stand up grappling to the half-guard, how to work on the ground from the half guard when you are on your back and the opponent is standing. He also shows some very nice submissions here, how to finish your opponents and this is done with perfection.
For one, I have particularly enjoyed the leg locks in the series. Rigan shows immaculate transitions into leg locks and I will be sure to build these into my game as I develop my jiu jitsu further.
10 out of 10 a must buy DVD set for intermediate and above. It is not the first DVD set you want to buy but if you are looking to further develop your half-guard game, you must get this!
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Review of Jiu Jitsu Bresilien Collection by Ze Marcello
Ze Marcello is the Head UK Brazilian Top Team (BTT) Instructor, a BJJ black belt under Sergio ''Bolao'' Souza. Having retired from competing professionally in 2002, Ze has since dedicated his time to teaching Jiu Jitsu
His list of achievements include:
1st place - Mundials world championship 97
1st place - Brazilian team tournament 96 and 97
1st place - Pan American champion 97
1st place - Rio De Janiero 96 and 97
1st place - Urban Gorillaz UK 06
2nd place - Mundials world championship 98 and 02
2nd place - Pan American champion 96
3rd place - Mundials world championship 96 and 99
3rd place - Pan American champion 98 and 00
3rd place - Brazilian team tournament 95
My opinion is as follows. The DVD set is great if you would like to see a good set of techniques in 3 main categories i.e. beginner, intermediate and advanced. The demonstrations are rather good but what is lacking is the explanations of the techniques. The DVD demonstrates superb technique visually but without any instruction on how to perform the moves correctly. Its more of a demonstration of jiu jitsu rather than an instructional DVD.
Nevertheless I think it still gives one a good set of interesting moves to then go and try out during sparring or practice. The first 2 DVDs contain roughly 35 techniques each while the 3rd only I think 21. The advanced series I found more interesting as it showed some new lapel chokes from cross-body position which I was not aware of and certainly would like to practice. The techniques shown are also unstructured and you don't really see the logic why they have decided to select these moves as sometimes I have seen is done in other instructional DVDs. (I will perhaps review at another time but in Saulo Ribeiro's Revolution box set for example you really learn a set of specific techniques very well as Saulo gives a very technical explanation of the details involved and that is something that Jiu Jitsu Bresilien lacks in my opinion)
Its also a shame that Ze Marcello does not talk a little about his jiu jitsu experience and give some advice.
Probably I would give this DVD a 7 out of 10 but if you are a beginner and would like to learn a few good submission and sweeps very well, then probably you should look elsewhere.
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Leglocks
Leglocks are great. They just increase your arsenal of submission moves and at the same time help develop the jiu jitsu game further, taking it to a new level.
I have to say that I know only a few moves at the moment and I guess this is partly because leglocks tend to be a more advanced area of focus. Judo does not allow them at all, while Sambo perhaps overemphasizes them, at least in some classes.
That said, if you are roughly aware of them, you can evade them and dominate using just judo newaza techniques.
When I think about the effectiveness of leglocks and their importance in jiu jitsu, I think of Mauricio Shogun Rua's fight against Kevin Randelman. Shogun is a brazilian jiu jitsu black belt and really knows his leglocks. Randelman was caught by Rua and simply did not do anything. An amazing fight in my opinion, proving that leglocks are a crucial part of mma, grappling and even street fighting.
For the moment, I am not comfortable doing leglocks because I have not had enough practice. I tap out quickly as soon as one is performed correctly on me and it feels that if I do go for a leglock in a sparring match, the fight may end in a draw with both me and my opponent competing who is more resistant to pain. It just seems that most of the time, my opponent will also be able to get me in a leg lock as soon as I go for one. I will surely need to work on this further.
I am also thinking of buying some instructional DVD materials on the subject. The number of leglocks available is incredible and I think knowing 5-6 well would be very helpful. There are plenty of materials out there worth taking a look at.
I have to say that I know only a few moves at the moment and I guess this is partly because leglocks tend to be a more advanced area of focus. Judo does not allow them at all, while Sambo perhaps overemphasizes them, at least in some classes.
That said, if you are roughly aware of them, you can evade them and dominate using just judo newaza techniques.
When I think about the effectiveness of leglocks and their importance in jiu jitsu, I think of Mauricio Shogun Rua's fight against Kevin Randelman. Shogun is a brazilian jiu jitsu black belt and really knows his leglocks. Randelman was caught by Rua and simply did not do anything. An amazing fight in my opinion, proving that leglocks are a crucial part of mma, grappling and even street fighting.
For the moment, I am not comfortable doing leglocks because I have not had enough practice. I tap out quickly as soon as one is performed correctly on me and it feels that if I do go for a leglock in a sparring match, the fight may end in a draw with both me and my opponent competing who is more resistant to pain. It just seems that most of the time, my opponent will also be able to get me in a leg lock as soon as I go for one. I will surely need to work on this further.
I am also thinking of buying some instructional DVD materials on the subject. The number of leglocks available is incredible and I think knowing 5-6 well would be very helpful. There are plenty of materials out there worth taking a look at.
Friday, 20 February 2009
A brief note on Instructional DVDs
One of the most useful materials I have found very helpful in aiding my progression in terms of
technical abilities are instructional dvds. Unlike books, they are easier to digest for me and are excellent in serving the purpose of enriching the technique list of any bjj fighter.
I am able to go over and over again, the techniques that are shown on the DVD at a convenient time. The teaching is excellent. For example one of my favourite DVDs I have is Saulo Ribeiro's Jiu Jitsu Revolution DVD set. I have returned to it time and time again. The more I learnt the art, the deeper my understanding became of Saulo's teachings and this DVD has improved my game tremendously. ( and still is) I mean every time I watch one of the DVDs in this set, I pick out some small detail, some aspect that will improve my game in a certain area.
I first became interested in instructional DVD when I started doing Judo after a long break. I felt that I could significantly improve my newaza (ground work) game by just enriching my arsenal of moves. This enabled me to catch up with a lot of the guys at my club relatively quickly. I trained more than them and I watched bjj and judo instructional dvds (for breakfast! :) )
The one thing I have always thought about doing in terms of approach to progressing is learning a new technique a day. If I can learn 4-5 new teachniques every week and also have time to revise the existing ones, the pace at which I am learning is relatively rapid for a non-professional sports person. I only training in the evening after work and on saturdays, so I can never expect to progress as fast as someone who does judo/bjj full-time, but I think as a casual martial artist, who trains at least 3-4 times a week, you can expect to achieve good results by focusing on what you need to know and not just leave the process of development entirely to the teacher's discretion. I think total teacher discretion is only good if you have one teacher who works on a one-on-one basis with you to develop your grappling skill. In a normal class with ten or more students, the teacher simply cannot commit to any one student.
Anyway, instruction dvds are great. You have to continuously practice each move you see with a partner, but if you do add the extra effort before or after the training session, it is extremely beneficial.
technical abilities are instructional dvds. Unlike books, they are easier to digest for me and are excellent in serving the purpose of enriching the technique list of any bjj fighter.
I am able to go over and over again, the techniques that are shown on the DVD at a convenient time. The teaching is excellent. For example one of my favourite DVDs I have is Saulo Ribeiro's Jiu Jitsu Revolution DVD set. I have returned to it time and time again. The more I learnt the art, the deeper my understanding became of Saulo's teachings and this DVD has improved my game tremendously. ( and still is) I mean every time I watch one of the DVDs in this set, I pick out some small detail, some aspect that will improve my game in a certain area.
I first became interested in instructional DVD when I started doing Judo after a long break. I felt that I could significantly improve my newaza (ground work) game by just enriching my arsenal of moves. This enabled me to catch up with a lot of the guys at my club relatively quickly. I trained more than them and I watched bjj and judo instructional dvds (for breakfast! :) )
The one thing I have always thought about doing in terms of approach to progressing is learning a new technique a day. If I can learn 4-5 new teachniques every week and also have time to revise the existing ones, the pace at which I am learning is relatively rapid for a non-professional sports person. I only training in the evening after work and on saturdays, so I can never expect to progress as fast as someone who does judo/bjj full-time, but I think as a casual martial artist, who trains at least 3-4 times a week, you can expect to achieve good results by focusing on what you need to know and not just leave the process of development entirely to the teacher's discretion. I think total teacher discretion is only good if you have one teacher who works on a one-on-one basis with you to develop your grappling skill. In a normal class with ten or more students, the teacher simply cannot commit to any one student.
Anyway, instruction dvds are great. You have to continuously practice each move you see with a partner, but if you do add the extra effort before or after the training session, it is extremely beneficial.
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