- Joined
- Nov 1, 2004
- Messages
- 32,494
- Reaction score
- 0
I got my copy from Digitsu (who sent my my DVD set right away), and as promised, if not a bit late, here is my review.
First, about myself. I'm a purple belt, have been training BJJ for over 6 years, some times much less frequently than others due to injuries and personal reasons. And before that I wrestled. So I've been around grappling for a long time, and that's the perspective I have on this DVD set. I was interested in this one in particular because I felt that my guard passing was not very technical for certain types of guards, and I wanted to diversify my passing game and learn some new approaches.
General observations: So this is a 2 DVD set. You get about 3 hours total content. The DVD is straight-forward, you get a title menu where you can play the whole thing, or go to individual "chapters" aka techniques, which are in turn grouped by the type of guard that he's teaching the pass for. Lucas' English is fine, and you can understand what he's communicating. The camera work is a single camera, usually stationary but sometimes moves to show an angle of the technique that you can't see from where the cameraman is standing. Sometimes the also do a dual screen to show two angles simultaneously, which I liked. It doesn't have that super high tech feel of Caio Terra's set, but I really don't care about all those frills. So it's very much a no frills DVD set.
Technical content: The techniques themselves are solid. I've had a chance to drill a few of them, and it feels like they would work. A few of the passes I don't think would work with my particular game, but that's just me. Lucas demonstrates and walks you through the technique 2-3 times, and after that they show about 4 replays, each from different angles, first in regular speed and then slow motion. It can be a bit tedious, but I feel that the multiple angles were a big benefit, and the repetition helped me with "mental drilling" so that I don't forget it. Each technique/chapter is about 7 minutes, half of which is instruction and half of which is replays.
The techniques are broken down by guard type. Lucas shows a few passes for each guard (I'd guess there are about 25 overall passes on the DVD), but he spends the most time on DLR, which accounts for probably 7-8 of the passes he shows. He even has one specifically for the Berimbolo. Other guards he covers include butterfly, spider, x-guard, RDLR, deep half, and he even has a closed guard pass.
His passing style is nothing too fancy imo, and is probably useful if you're blue belt or up. I think some of the movements might throw off a raw beginner. He seems to be big on pressure, and a lot of the passes have more of an old school feel, but I mean that in a good way. He's not rolling or flipping or using speed to finish the passes. He breaks the opponent's grips, shuts down their means of using that particular guard, and passes. Solid stuff overall. I'm a lightweight but I think the techniques will work for me.
Criticisms: The thing that jumps out at you is that the techniques tend to be very gi-centric. A couple can be done no gi, and maybe some others can be modified for no gi, as far as the grips, but I'm not sure how. For example his DLR passing relies a lot of gripping the pants. So if you're considering getting this, just know that this is pretty much just a gi guard passing DVD.
Another thing that some people might not like is his teaching style, although I was fine with it. I've heard a lot of talk about Ryan Hall's DVD's and how he talks about concepts and principles for certain things he's doing, and I've seen some others like that. Lucas doesn't teach that way. You're literally getting a bunch of techniques, there's no common thread or concepts that he focuses on, aside from maybe proper gripping since he always emphasizes the grips when he's teaching. So it's not like "whenever you're in DLR, you want to be sure to ____." It's more like "Okay I'm in DLR, I'm going to do X Y and Z and then I pass." So you're getting effective techniques, but if you're looking for more of that conceptual or strategic approach, you're not getting that. And maybe that's a consequence of the format. He's teaching passes for all different types of guards, so he can't really hone in on one area and focus on strategies. It's a generalist's DVD.
My last criticism is also not a big one, but it's one of the reasons I don't suggest this for raw beginners. At times, it seems like Lucas just assumes you know certain details that he's doing, such as proper posture, or little things like how to do a proper knee slide pass. I would say you need to have some basic competence in the basic passes in order to get the most out of this DVD. He provided plenty of detail for me, but I'm a more experienced practitioner.
My overall impression: I liked it. I'm not a big buyer of DVD instructionals, although I get a lot from Youtube, so I can't really compare it to other sets. I think the techniques are useful, and the presentation is fine. I did have some criticisms, but overall I think this DVD will help my passing game improve. The techniques he showed definitely will fill in some gaps in my passing game, and will definitely give me some new approaches to guards that I was already comfortable passing.
Who might benefit from this set?: Anyone who feels there are guards they have trouble passing, or who feels their passing game is stale. I would say that it's good for blue belts, purple belts, and maybe more advanced white belts. Maybe even brown belts can benefit, but I don't know, since I'm not a brown belt. I'd say that less experienced white belts probably wouldn't benefit much from this. Also if you are someone who needs themes or concepts to make things work, this wouldn't be for you. But if you want a solid collection of guard passes for all different types of guards, this DVD set might be of some use for you. So read about my complaints, and if those aren't issues for you, and you feel you can benefit from the things that I described, I would say this set is worth a look.
I'd be happy to respond to any questions.
First, about myself. I'm a purple belt, have been training BJJ for over 6 years, some times much less frequently than others due to injuries and personal reasons. And before that I wrestled. So I've been around grappling for a long time, and that's the perspective I have on this DVD set. I was interested in this one in particular because I felt that my guard passing was not very technical for certain types of guards, and I wanted to diversify my passing game and learn some new approaches.
General observations: So this is a 2 DVD set. You get about 3 hours total content. The DVD is straight-forward, you get a title menu where you can play the whole thing, or go to individual "chapters" aka techniques, which are in turn grouped by the type of guard that he's teaching the pass for. Lucas' English is fine, and you can understand what he's communicating. The camera work is a single camera, usually stationary but sometimes moves to show an angle of the technique that you can't see from where the cameraman is standing. Sometimes the also do a dual screen to show two angles simultaneously, which I liked. It doesn't have that super high tech feel of Caio Terra's set, but I really don't care about all those frills. So it's very much a no frills DVD set.
Technical content: The techniques themselves are solid. I've had a chance to drill a few of them, and it feels like they would work. A few of the passes I don't think would work with my particular game, but that's just me. Lucas demonstrates and walks you through the technique 2-3 times, and after that they show about 4 replays, each from different angles, first in regular speed and then slow motion. It can be a bit tedious, but I feel that the multiple angles were a big benefit, and the repetition helped me with "mental drilling" so that I don't forget it. Each technique/chapter is about 7 minutes, half of which is instruction and half of which is replays.
The techniques are broken down by guard type. Lucas shows a few passes for each guard (I'd guess there are about 25 overall passes on the DVD), but he spends the most time on DLR, which accounts for probably 7-8 of the passes he shows. He even has one specifically for the Berimbolo. Other guards he covers include butterfly, spider, x-guard, RDLR, deep half, and he even has a closed guard pass.
His passing style is nothing too fancy imo, and is probably useful if you're blue belt or up. I think some of the movements might throw off a raw beginner. He seems to be big on pressure, and a lot of the passes have more of an old school feel, but I mean that in a good way. He's not rolling or flipping or using speed to finish the passes. He breaks the opponent's grips, shuts down their means of using that particular guard, and passes. Solid stuff overall. I'm a lightweight but I think the techniques will work for me.
Criticisms: The thing that jumps out at you is that the techniques tend to be very gi-centric. A couple can be done no gi, and maybe some others can be modified for no gi, as far as the grips, but I'm not sure how. For example his DLR passing relies a lot of gripping the pants. So if you're considering getting this, just know that this is pretty much just a gi guard passing DVD.
Another thing that some people might not like is his teaching style, although I was fine with it. I've heard a lot of talk about Ryan Hall's DVD's and how he talks about concepts and principles for certain things he's doing, and I've seen some others like that. Lucas doesn't teach that way. You're literally getting a bunch of techniques, there's no common thread or concepts that he focuses on, aside from maybe proper gripping since he always emphasizes the grips when he's teaching. So it's not like "whenever you're in DLR, you want to be sure to ____." It's more like "Okay I'm in DLR, I'm going to do X Y and Z and then I pass." So you're getting effective techniques, but if you're looking for more of that conceptual or strategic approach, you're not getting that. And maybe that's a consequence of the format. He's teaching passes for all different types of guards, so he can't really hone in on one area and focus on strategies. It's a generalist's DVD.
My last criticism is also not a big one, but it's one of the reasons I don't suggest this for raw beginners. At times, it seems like Lucas just assumes you know certain details that he's doing, such as proper posture, or little things like how to do a proper knee slide pass. I would say you need to have some basic competence in the basic passes in order to get the most out of this DVD. He provided plenty of detail for me, but I'm a more experienced practitioner.
My overall impression: I liked it. I'm not a big buyer of DVD instructionals, although I get a lot from Youtube, so I can't really compare it to other sets. I think the techniques are useful, and the presentation is fine. I did have some criticisms, but overall I think this DVD will help my passing game improve. The techniques he showed definitely will fill in some gaps in my passing game, and will definitely give me some new approaches to guards that I was already comfortable passing.
Who might benefit from this set?: Anyone who feels there are guards they have trouble passing, or who feels their passing game is stale. I would say that it's good for blue belts, purple belts, and maybe more advanced white belts. Maybe even brown belts can benefit, but I don't know, since I'm not a brown belt. I'd say that less experienced white belts probably wouldn't benefit much from this. Also if you are someone who needs themes or concepts to make things work, this wouldn't be for you. But if you want a solid collection of guard passes for all different types of guards, this DVD set might be of some use for you. So read about my complaints, and if those aren't issues for you, and you feel you can benefit from the things that I described, I would say this set is worth a look.
I'd be happy to respond to any questions.
