Cesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu Instructional DVD Review

This is a review on my favorite Instructional DVD for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu – Cesar Gracie’s Gracie Jiu Jitsu Instructional DVD. Before I get into what I like about it, I have a caveat on instructional DVDs for Jiu Jitsu – they are a great supplement to jiu jitsu training but should never replace actual training in a BJJ school with real opponents. You can watch the moves all you want and even understand the physics and technique, but you will never fully grasp it until you practice it repeatedly and build the muscle memory. But like I said, a highly recommended supplement as you will learn moves not taught in class while still being able to practice it in class with other students. They will be impressed, and then they will ask you to teach them. Not only will this build good camaraderie (and street cred), teaching is the best way to solidify your own understanding of jiu jitsu technique, and teaching BJJ becomes important as you promote through the different belt ranks.

So here is what I like about this instructional series:

• Great for all levels: the series teaches you anything from beginner to advanced moves, but the entire series is relevant to all levels. I found that it is good for the advanced student to review the beginner moves because even if you know how to do it, it never hurts to reinforce what is important about the technique (what works and why, what not to do, etc.) to improve your game and make your moves even tighter. For the beginner watching the advanced moves – you may not be able to pull off the moves but at least you will gain an understanding of some of the moves being pulled off on you. Also, you will also build an overall understanding of BJJ technique.
• Cesar’s teaching approach is great. He fully explains the technique (in a way that makes sense) as he goes through the same move repeatedly from different angles. A key part of this is not only explaining how to do it right, but also how to do it wrong. He teaches you how not to lose the advantage when executing by having his opponent show the type of reversals that can be done if you execute the technique wrong. He gets into the level of detail of explaining exactly where each part of your body should be, and more importantly, he explains why through demonstration.
• Cesar is very easy to understand. Don’t get me wrong, I wish I had a cool Portuguese accent, but it is sometimes hard to understand. Cesar sounds more American than not.
• The ordering makes sense, and he goes through a wide range of jiu jitsu technique: takedowns, guard passing, guard attacks, mount escapes, side control, open guard, sweeps, back mounts, full mount, etc.
• It covers a good amount of no-gi BJJ technique through both separate instruction as well as factoring it into his instruction on BJJ technique with a gi (as he is going through the technique he will show you how to vary it for no-gi).
• It even goes a step further and factors in real-life fighting situations, where there will be strikes and defending from strikes. I now feel that I know how to defend from punches whether from the guard, mount, etc. Not only that, I know how to kick the crap out of somebody (literally – kick the crap out of their kidneys) while having them in guard and preventing them from doing much damage to me. Great stuff to know.

Give this instructional DVD a try and you won’t be sorry!