During the last decade, the martial arts world has looked to innovative mixed martial arts competitions such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship to determine which fighting style is the best. These contests have repeatedly shown the grappling style of martial arts, headed by Brazilian jiu-jitsu, to dominate. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu style stems from the premise, garnered from analysis of actual street fights, that the outcome of any fight is decided on the ground. While most martial arts deal only with the initial punching and kicking stages of combat, Brazilian jiu-jitsu concentrates on ground combat. This guide shows how to use Brazilian jiu-jitsu to increase combat effectiveness. Photographs and step-by-step instructions show how to master the techniques used in this exciting new form of combat.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Excellent Book Comment: I purchased this book on the recommendation of a guy that I ran into in the martial arts section of Barnes and Noble (purchased it on Amazon...it's $10 cheaper) and I will definitely be providing the same recommendation to others. I began taking jiu jitsu classes approximately 3 weeks prior to my purchase of this book and I was becoming quickly frustrated with my inability beat anyone in my class. While I am blessed to have a fantastic instructor, I'm not the most patient person so I purchased this book and read it the weekend between my 3rd and 4th weeks of being in class in the hopes that I could speed my technical progress. The book opens with a nice introduction to the sport as well as a description of the basic positions that are fundamental building blocks for a begininer but may be overlooked in a class where everyone is already familiar with the basics. The book clearly explains every move and provides large color pictures to highlight every aspect of a technique from start to finish. Additionally, for some of the more complicated maneuvers a reverse picture is shown along side the normal description with extra hints to make the technique more adaptable. After just one time reading this book, I felt exponentially more confident the first time that I rolled in class afterwards and I had significantly greater success on the mats than I was having just 3 days prior. As a female, I like the component of jiu jitsu that allows for a smaller, weaker opponent to dominate a larger, stronger player simply by relying on technique and forethought rather than brute strength, and after the purchase of this book, I was enlightened on dozens of techniques that allow for exactly that. If I wore a gi in class, I would have given this book 5 stars, however I do not, so some of the techniques aren't applicable to me and there is no non-gi alternative described for some of the moves that hinge directly on the capability of maneuvering an opponent by the handling of his clothing. Conclusively, I highly recommend this book to the beginner who has never taken a ground fighting class before. It also serves as a decent refresher for returning participants as well as a bridge for people who previously have experience in wrestling but not in jiu jitsu. Customer Rating: Summary: Helpful aide to the Gracie curriculum Comment: I recently started training in Gracie Jiujitsu. The Gracie system has a structured curriculum i.e. so many lessons at each level, and I found this book to be helpful. After training, I come home, find the technique I learned in the book, and flag the page. I then have a visual reference to go over the techniques in my head when there is no training for the day. It's easy to understand, the pictures are clear and show the important steps, and the pages are color coded to belt level (though I found this wasn't exactly accurate).
Overall, it is a good purchase for anyone studying this martial art. Customer Rating: Summary: Resurection of the Gracie Gift Comment: Overall i think the book is very good and worth buying. However there are a few baffling decision made by the authors in the book. Escape from half guard for instance, where much is made of how common a position it is, and then they include it in the Black belt syllabus?? I would have had it in the blue belt section, personally, seeing as it is so commonly used. Also the Gracies continue to churn out the very useless standard guard pass in this book, a pass nobody in their right mind would try and use if their opponent has even heard of the triangle choke. Surely they could have put a more useful guard pass in? To their credit at least they mention its limitations. (Unlike Rorions instruction video!) Customer Rating: Summary: Excellent and to the point Comment: I liked the step by step narative with pictures. I liked how the art is explained in the first few chapters. The writers didnt talked over my head and it was easy enough to understand. I get a distinct feeling that the Gracie family actually cares that this art is passed along correctly, which shows in this book. Not alot of "extra" garbage, They get to the point and do a great job of teaching it.
Being a student of BJJ, I found this very helpful in understanding the art and the techniques presented. Well Done.
Customer Rating: Summary: exellence Comment: very good manual, seems to be useful in the practice, which is what i desperatelly needed:)
