Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Theory and Technique (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu series) [ILLUSTRATED]

[mrgoshthereturn]

Ok to start with I'm a beginner at BJJ, i been training a mere 6 months now so this is from a begineners point of view. After borrowing several books this is the one i decided to buy.


The good.


First off it's by Royler and Renzo, arguably two of the best bodies of grappleing knowledge to write on bjj, especially from a more traditional point of view.

The book is laid out as follows, and intro to the writers, which is dynamically written, if a little hyped. This is followed by a clear history of bjj and its fighting theory. All well and good but what about technique?

Well the book is set out in belts ie, examples of what you would need for each belt if you were training in a gracie club. This is by no means a complete guite but it illustrates the teaching method and is great for revision. You could even build a core game from the book (one of my clubs purple belts did).

Techniques start with basics, breaking grips, drills, upa and shrimping, and a few holds from guard or mount, and as the belts progress they increase in complexity. The book also gives clues on what techniques mix well. The book is thorough and includes sweeps, escapes, holds, locks even standing moves, something rare in bjj.

All techniques are in full colour, and more complex techniques are in several photo's from several angles. I can't see how this could be done better as a book.

Bad points.

The book is not complete. Gracie jiujitsu has hundreds of techniques, other bjj schools have hundreds more, and in that respect this book only touches the surface. Though the variety is exceptional you'll need way more than this to grade, let alone compete (even if the classic guillotine choke and armbar will win tournaments you need to have a few surprises and lots of feigns).

The book is a very traditional bjj game, though it's tried and tested, there are other approaches and bjj continually evolves. The book is quite old now and many experienced practicioners know every move in it off by heart.

The book is hugely biased towards rolling with a gi, in the gracie style. Well ehat would you expect?

Conclusion

The book was recommended by the purple and brown belts at my club, and a few guys who do sub grappling and mma also used it, which is how i heard of it.

On the whole I love this book and view it as an essential for anyone getting into bjj. I'd reccommend it to any sub grappler though its still no substitute for classes, it really helps, specially if you have to train at home for a while.

I'd like to see a review on this from a more experienced point of view

[joe adonis]

cool review. i just received mine today and look forward to reading on the different transitions

[battlefields]

I pretty much agree with you on this review. I am a beginner, have less opportunity to roll than I would like and found this book to be really good for gi jiujitsu, though I concentrated on the blue and purple belt sections only (otherwise it would mean an information overload, I need the basics for now). Its explanations are good, but what struck me as excellent was the visual breakdown of techniques. They seem to put in that one extra picture, or take it from a better angle, that other books I am reading neglect and it seems to make all the difference due to the attention to detail.

Granted I am way too many BJJ classes short of giving an informed opinion relating to the effectiveness of the BJJ techniques, however, I am well read and capable of distinguishing decent instruction from a quick attempt at a buck.