Greetings, I was wondering if there is a good book on Brazilian Ju-jitsu. I know the Gracie Brothers had one out a while back, but I heard that there was a better on by a student of Gracie. Any information will be appreciated. Thank you. Saki
Books are a poor source of technical information on Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. It's a style that is heavily dependent on muscle memory - if you want to learn it you need to practice it under a legit instructor with partners. If you just want to learn the history and general feel of the style, then Brazilian Jiu-jitsu: Theory and Technique by Renzo, Royler, Danaher, and Peligro is good.
I just saw your other thread and you reasons for getting the book - DON'T. You cannot learn grappling from a book. It simply does not work that way. You can't learn chess by reading a book, you learn chess by playing chess (though reading can help you start out if you are also playing chess and not just reading!). Chess is simple and two dimensional compared to grappling.
Look for a Brazilian Jiujitsu school in your area - if you can't find one, try Sambo or Judo (I'm pretty sure every YMCA in America has a judo club). They're pretty similar.
I would echo what everyone else is saying. The best and most effective way to learn BJJ is to learn it in a school with a qualified instructor. If there is no school within any reasonable distance and you have several people who are all committed to learning, you could consider something like JJ Machado's online training. I subscribe to this service, but only as a supplement. It's been extremelly helpful to me. I know some guys on there train consistently, but have no local instruction available and they seem to really like it. I will say that it's better than any DVD instruction I've seen and would be a damn site better than trying to learn from a book.
yeah... books are there to give you a different perspective on things you already know, not to learn new things from. learning without a qualified instructor only leads to crappling.
If you are determined to learn via book and experimentation, Theory and Technique is far from complete. The Essential Guard by Peligro covers, well, the guard, in good detail and has been a fine supplement to my training, and you could look into other books by Peligro. But really - you can self-train all you want for years and the average BJJ blue belt will still be capable of easily outgrappling you. There are so many mistakes that every beginner makes that can only be corrected by someone who's already been through all of it, and if you don't correct them early, they don't get corrected. edit: Huh? I could have sworn I saw a post by sakimoto here a second ago...
I use Submission Grappling by Royler, and the Eddie Bravo books. I doubt you will be able to make heads or tails of them without a BJJ class. That goes pretty much for most books.
Thanks for the info! I live in a remote area of SW Texas and the nearest city is 150 miles away San Antonio. It would not be feasable for me to go and learn. Dont get me wrong about my Chinese Kenpo. Before anyone is going to take me down they are going to eat alot of elbows and knees, plus get alot of things ripped out like eyes and groin. But I got beat in a tournament, where there is limits to what you can do. Of course you cannot use eye strikes, groin strike etc etc. There was a challange to the superiority of B. Ju-jitsu agains any other system. I was one of the persons that got beat because I thought that my strikes would be effective. Of course when the young man faked to my head and then threw himself at me about waist high. He came at me with a tackle and grabbed the back of my leg and took me down. Once down I could not do anything that was legal in a tournament. My instructor fought a grappler once, but it was a challenge in the street. The man came at him with the same type of movement and my instructor caught him with a knee to the outer edge of his eye socket, breaking the socket and knocking him out immediatly! I was listed as self defense by the police because the guy had a record of assulting people. I also heard he was a pretty good grappler. If you were to see my instructor you would see what I am taking about. The guy probably thought he had the fight in the bag. 61 years old, and weighs about 150 pounds, but he stopped the grappler immediatly. This all happenened out in the street where there was no rules! What happened to me was at a tournament, with limitations on your strikes. The B. ju-jitsu guy beat me, a sifu in Kung-Fu, and a friend that is a blk belt in tae kwondo. They were leg locks, chokes and arm locks. There was nothing we could do once we were on the ground and he was on top of us with the limited striking capabilities. That is why I would like to learn some type of basic techniques, in case I am ever taken to the ground. At least i could have a good chance. I like the website that you gave me and I will defenitly look into it. I studied chinese kenpo in another state and brought it back home. I live in a small border town in texas and there is nothing going on. The kids are bored, there is alot of teenage preganacy and there is nothing to do for the youth. I have a small garage dojo that is slowly getting bigger, but I liked the brazilian ju-jitsu style. I think it is superior to just about anything that I have seen, especially if one incorporates the strikes and kicks of the other martial arts. thanks again for your time and information. Sakimoto
You're story is highly reminiscent of this thread. I think you should probably take a look at it. The short of it is, fighting dirty doesn't nullify grappling. Allowing eye gouging, hair pulling, etc. will work to the benefit of the person with better ground control skills, not worse.
Listen to this man, sakimoto. also: This is completely legal in mixed martial arts competitions yet extremely rare. And believe me, a lot of people have tried it. There is no substitute or cure-all to protect you from having to know grappling if you claim to be a complete fighter, or to have a significant chance of defeating a skilled grappler.
Submission Grappling by Royler Gracie is what got my on my feet before I began formally training. Though I assure you, no matter how awesome you think you are reading a book and choking out friends, you WILL get owned by white belts within your first week. And you will learn to enjoy it....and soon....your sweaty beaten body will learn to submit..and love it....your passion for training will thrive and the flames within you will soar as you beg for more! The feeling of blood chokes draining consciousness from you will feel exquisite....um.......dammit.....Ninja's rubbed off on me it seems
Guys, thank you for your advice! All of you! I am not trying to get under anybodys skin. Those were not my intentions! I am admitting the superiority to B. Jujitsu. I wish I would have studied that when I was younger. Thanks for all the advice and I wish we had a school in this part of the US, but we dont and sometimes as the bible says the dogs will eat the scraps that fall under the table (I am reffering to me and the guys here where I live). I ment no offense or insults, but I was just explaining a true incident that happened to me, and my opinion. Once again I ment no insult and I will admit that B. jujitsu is a superiour martial arts. Thanks again for your advice and you opinions. Keep up the good work,,,,,and forgive my spelling as I am still learning english. Thanks again.
If you are really isolated, then I would suggest getting a couple of like-minded friends together, finding some BJJ dvds, and working through the techniques on them. Make sure you cover basic techniques first, such as escapes, moving round positions, sweeps and basic submissions. Good, brutally honest reviews of grappling dvds can be found here: http://members.aol.com/bjj33/billmain.htm When you get the chance, you should try to go to a class or a seminar somewhere, write down all you learn and drill just that for the next two months afterwards. When BJJ began in the UK and Europe, most people could only attend a seminar every month and would just train with friends in between to learn the moves thoroughly. You should also consider what you have available down there. Texas is well known for wrestling and developing skill in that will make you an awesome grappler even without BJJ.
I know that I'm just a filthy Hapkido guy, but I have a book that is actually pretty good(I think anyway).. It's Renzo and Royler.. It's simply titled "Brazilian Jiu Jitsu - Theory and Technique". It covers the core aspects of the art from blue to black belt..
From the first reply: That said.. Theory and Technique is fine for learning the history and "feeling" of BJJ - but its technical information is woefully inadequate. Not a good primer or even reference for techniques.
LOL.. i guess it would do me well to actually read these posts.. lol.. .. :bang: Ummmm.. what he said..
