This book was designed and built to be a real working text book . It functions in three ways , an instruction manual/reference guide/and curriculum .
Its a comprehensive chronicle of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu's ground moves using 2800+ photos to illustrate 500+ techniques .
As an instruction manual it provides an innovative page layout that fans out the photos to aid in the flow of the technique and its comprehention . The moves are easy to understand with expert set up and execution . The text explaining the techniques is as needed .
As a reference guide , the mountain of information provided in the book is well organized for ease in finding techniques .
As a curriculum it is a great resource for the instructor wishing to add Jiu-jitsu to their academy's studys , providing them with a comprehensive view from basic movements to the most advanced techniques .
And for the student , a lesson plan to challenge their studies , and as a constsant reference to aid in review of the techniques they have practiced .
The book is divided into chapters that illustrate the many possible positions in! a ground exchange .
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Great Buy for the BJJ Guy (or Girl) Comment: I'm a Ralph Gracie purple belt* and have been studying BJJ for (cough) nine years. Unlike many of my jiu-jitsu compatriots, I had never watched an instructional DVD or picked up a BJJ book until a couple of years ago. This wasn't because I thought my game didn't need improvement. There was no question it did. I simply never thought it worth the money when I was already blessed with so many great training partners and teachers at the Ralph Gracie Academy.
But I finally splurged and bought some DVDs and books after realizing that my JJ was stagnating...and immediately saw what I'd been missing. What I'd been missing was this: You can learn an awful lot of BJJ from instructional DVDs and books. Don't let anyone tell you differently.
Since then I've put together a nice little library of BJJ DVDs and books. The books include most of the volumes co-authored by Kid Peligro and Rigan Machado's Encyclopedia of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. These books are hard to beat in terms of number of techniques, level of detail and production values (Machado's Encyclopedia is lacking in detail but makes up for this in terms of the sheer number of moves).
So The Techniques of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ("TTBJJ") had a lot to live up to in my mind. Still, I risked the wrath of my wife ("Another book!?!") and shelled out the $45.00. What I got in the mail a few days later took me by surprise, despite having read the other reviews here. This is a wonderful book.
Is this a highly polished book by a "big name" BJJ guy with glossy photos and slick cover art? No. Do you get tons of written detail a la Jean Jacques Machado's books or Royler Gracie's submission grappling volume? No.
What you do get, however, is more techniques than you will know what to do with and just enough detail to be able to figure out the missing parts for yourself on the mat. This book is massive - I sat down with it the other day looking at "attacks from the guard" and ended up spending two hours without even realizing it...and hadn't read more than 10-15 pages.
Some of the techniques you will have seen before either on the mat or in other books or videos -- this is unavoidable. But there is a lot here you likely haven't seen -- new variations of old moves or new moves altogether -- and this is what makes it so fun to just sit and flip through this book. It really is a "jiu jitsu bible" of sorts.
TTBJJ is self-published and was obviously a labor of love. This is another reason I like the book so much. As another reviewer mentions here, TTBJJ has the feel of a notebook, and Montanha confirms on the back cover that it's actually based on his own training notes. He must have taken a hell of a lot of notes.
The explanations in the book are sparse at times, but on the whole they are better than what you'll find in Rigan Machado's Encyclopedia. And Montanha could definitely have used an editor. I was going to say a good editor, but any editing would have been an improvement. Moreover, the photos aren't great -- they really are photocopies, as one reviewer here points out. But they aren't that bad either. You should be able to figure things out with the help of the explanations.
This is a special book, and if you are a BJJ devotee, it belongs on your bookshelf. The $45.00 is well worth it, especially given that the book isn't put out by some big publishing company.
*Montanha has trained under both Ralph and Cesar Gracie. Just for the record, I've never met him.
Customer Rating: Summary: Catie Zaro here, reviewing BJJ Book, Players! Comment: this book was full of open mats and stuff hehe. I like it when renzo played goofy games with relson and then armbarred the heck out of him and rocco (lol). Come on guys, you like BJJ too, right? Please say yes! Just read this book, slaves! Customer Rating: Summary: Great book - many fantastic techniques Comment: This may be the first jiu jitsu technique book with so many techniques you will not have time to practice them all. With 500+ moves and 3000+ pictures, you are presented with an enormous brain dump of jiu jitsu as Montanha learned it.
The price is steep but keep it in perspective. A tape set will cost you the same, but you'll be lucky to get 100 techniques from it. Other books are cheaper, but also much thinner. The value you get will be literally years of added positions and techniques to work on.
The book is money well spent for any student of jiu jitsu. Customer Rating: Summary: The biggest, but not nearly the best Comment: This book is huge! It's over five hundred pages long, and is packed with attacks, escapes and counters from every position, including the mount, guard, side mount, throwing and use of the sprawl. I give it 3 stars just for covering so much material.
There are, however, quite a few areas where the book could stand some improvement. First of all, the photos are black and white photocopies, and it is often hard to see what is going on. Also, the descriptions accompanying the photo sequences are very vague and hard to follow. Finally, the book is so big, it needs to be a lot more organized.
This book is basically the notebook of an advanced student. If you are an intermediate/advanced level bjj player with a lot of money to spend, go for it, but if you're just starting out, I'd suggest getting the Renzo/Royler book or a beginner-level video or DVD instructional series.
Customer Rating: Summary: Not complete Comment: The Brazilian jiu-jitsu is most expensive bjj book on the market. What do you get for that price? More then 500 pages with black and white photos of just positions on the ground. This two things (price and just the ground positions) created two stars less then five.
