This week I will feature a review of yet another Blue Belt curriculum series that is incredibly detailed and complete in it's scope of the basics involved in developing a solid BJJ game.
This DVD series is by Marcello Monteiro and is called Brazilian Jiujitsu Curriculum: White To Blue.
As expected all the main areas for developing into a solid Blue Belt are covered;
positional skills, attacking and defending, counters, escapes, guard passes, sweeps, set-ups and submissions.
Most impressively Mr. Monteiro leaves no stone unturned as he covers all the secret tricks, movements and crucial details to allow for the optimal performance of the techniques.
To say that Marcello Monteiro merely teaches techniques would be an understatement as his approach delves much deeper than the learning of a technique into fully understanding and mastering the full scope of the skills presented.
The first of the DVDs is seperated into the four sections of Bottom Game, Top Game, Submissions and Takedowns. It is very easy to navigate through the selections to view each of them individually or you can view them all together consecutively.
The second DVD introduces Escapes as well.
The third and fourth DVDs further build on these five sections and take the student into the more complex techniques required for Blue Belt proficiency.
The approach is seemless as the first DVD introduces the fundamental basics and the following DVDs progress logically into more difficult skills to ensure the development of a solid Blue Belt game.
One aspect of the 4 DVD series that some viewers may question is the way that techniques are seperated. Personally I find that this helps with focusing on the individual material being taught without overwhelming the student. Also, it makes it easier for finding footage you want to review over again without having to search through an extended part of the DVD.
Finally I would like to add that the techniques on the DVD are very current and up to date featuring a thorough introduction to open guard techniques as well as the Butterfly Guard and De La Riva Guard.
I believe the information presented in this series more than justifies the price and makes it well worth it as a well presented and complete encyclopedia of techniques for developing a rock solid foundation for your BJJ game.
For more info go to www.bjjcoach.com
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Brock Lesnar, Grappling, The UFC And The State Of Combat Sports...
It's Saturday night and I've just finished watching UFC 100.
Overall a great show with some impressive performances by GSP and Dan Henderson.
The one thing about the whole event though that compelled me to come home and write this blog post was Brock Lesnar's attitude and antics after his match against Frank Mir.
Brock Lesnar, besides being a phenomenal athlete who has great wrestling and overall grappling skills on top of his huge stature, (He probably fights at around 280-290lbs.) perfomed well and kept Mir trapped on the ground by controlling his head as he rained punches on him. Simply put, he did a great job of negating Mir's skills and keeping him from gaining momentum and control during the fight.
The one thing I feel forced to write about though was the inexcusable anctics of Lesnar after the match.
Yes some people might say that he is just basking in his glory and trying to gain notoriety as a fighter but he should be doing that with his skills in the cage not by belittling his opponent or giving the finger to the crowd.
Maybe someone should quickly remind Lesnar that those very fans who he was flipping off were collectively responsible for paying his earnings that night and without whom he would not have the opportunity he presently does.
The sport of MMA as a whole is worse off from this type of attitude and behaviour and I honestly believe that he should come to his senses and apologize for taking a great sport and degrading it the way he did.
Combat sports in general have been tied in to a culture that ends with respect and integrity for the most part.
It's what seperates these athletes from the majority of the sports world and propels them to an epic status. The fact that so much dedication and sacrifice goes into performing on the level that these guys do engenders and deserves more respect than what Brcok Lesnar demonstrated on this historic night of the 100th event of the UFC and the largest MMA show around today.
Let's hope that this stays as an exception and doesn't drag the UFC down to the level that professional wrestling fell to.
Maybe we should just treat it as an opportunity to remember how important a role mutual respect plays in our training in the grappling arts.
Overall a great show with some impressive performances by GSP and Dan Henderson.
The one thing about the whole event though that compelled me to come home and write this blog post was Brock Lesnar's attitude and antics after his match against Frank Mir.
Brock Lesnar, besides being a phenomenal athlete who has great wrestling and overall grappling skills on top of his huge stature, (He probably fights at around 280-290lbs.) perfomed well and kept Mir trapped on the ground by controlling his head as he rained punches on him. Simply put, he did a great job of negating Mir's skills and keeping him from gaining momentum and control during the fight.
The one thing I feel forced to write about though was the inexcusable anctics of Lesnar after the match.
Yes some people might say that he is just basking in his glory and trying to gain notoriety as a fighter but he should be doing that with his skills in the cage not by belittling his opponent or giving the finger to the crowd.
Maybe someone should quickly remind Lesnar that those very fans who he was flipping off were collectively responsible for paying his earnings that night and without whom he would not have the opportunity he presently does.
The sport of MMA as a whole is worse off from this type of attitude and behaviour and I honestly believe that he should come to his senses and apologize for taking a great sport and degrading it the way he did.
Combat sports in general have been tied in to a culture that ends with respect and integrity for the most part.
It's what seperates these athletes from the majority of the sports world and propels them to an epic status. The fact that so much dedication and sacrifice goes into performing on the level that these guys do engenders and deserves more respect than what Brcok Lesnar demonstrated on this historic night of the 100th event of the UFC and the largest MMA show around today.
Let's hope that this stays as an exception and doesn't drag the UFC down to the level that professional wrestling fell to.
Maybe we should just treat it as an opportunity to remember how important a role mutual respect plays in our training in the grappling arts.
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