Matt and Dan do a great job with this DVD set by starting with the basics. And by basics I mean fundamental body movements that are critical to jiu-jitsu. Most schools include some form of basic movement drills during the warm up section of class. They might be called mat drills, or snakies, or shrimps, or something else, but they all focus on helping you to develop muscle memory for certain movements you’ll use in multiple techniques while training.
A lot of people will skip this part of the DVD to move on to something more ‘fun’ but that would be a mistake. The instruction is very clear, and everyone can benefit from doing more of these drills. Dan and Matt take turns demonstrating the drills very slowly and then at full speed. They explain what each drill helps with and why it is important. If your club or school doesn’t do some of these exercises it would be a great idea to include them in your out of school training routine.
After warm ups Dan and Matt move on to escapes, and show how the earlier movement drills are incorporated into actual techniques. Once we get into the techniques you’ll really appreciate the clear and deliberate style of teaching. Each movement is shown at least 3 times at various speeds and with a focus on key details. All of the techniques are rock solid fundamentals, and highly effective when practiced.
The video is nothing too fancy, which matches the material. Dan wears a black gi while Matt wears a white gi and this makes it very easy to see who is who. The lighting, video quality and audio are all very good. Both guys are native English speakers so if your ears aren’t fluent in Brazinglish yet this video will be right up your alley.
This DVD set is a great collection of rock solid fundamental techniques and you should definitely consider adding it to your Jiu-Jitsu library. It’s perfect for anyone just getting started and a good review for those that have been training for a while.
Dan is selling the video on his Ebay site for $43. Dan Camarillo's Ebay Store.
