Guys,
Sorry for the late review, i've been battling the stomach flu, and this is the first chance I've gotten to be able to sit up without fluid having to exit my body . With that being said, lets get started.
The set is broken down into 6 discs:
Disc 1: Escapes from Bottom
Disc 2: Countering the Guard
Disc 3: The Guard
Disc 4: Passing the Guard & Back Game
Disc 5: Top Game
Disc 6: Standing Game
Disc 1 was decent at best. Its a basic overview of the standard escapes we all learn from Day 1, and all of which can be easily found freely on Youtube. There were no earth shattering details present that will drastically up your escape game (If you guys want a DVD set for that, just ask, and I can give you insight on a set that has that later). Disc 1 starts out talking about Shrimping (and I can see that Fowler, nor any of Irvin's guys were present during Rickson's seminar, lol), then begins with an example of escaping side control. It was ok, but the focus was on shrimping, not escaping side control, so alot of detail wasnt conveyed to the audience as far as how to properly escape side control. Next we moved on to escaping mount. This was also fairly decent, went over the usual suspects and Mike covered them in fairly sufficient detail. Ironically the video of Rhadi's Half Guard sweep was on this DVD, and *NOT* the Guard DVD. I think it should've been there instead of here.
From there we move on to a slew of Headlock escapes. Now if anyone has the Gracie Combatives set, i'd suggest watching that for Headlock escapes from the bottom of Side Control, because they are covered in much more detail, with much more depth. The next portion covers Knee on Belly escapes. The 1st 2 being shrimping away to escape (I've seen these before, and are VERY tough to do on anyone above Blue Belt level), and the last 2 being fairly nice (If you have his NoGi Made Easy set, then you've seen these before).
Next he shows countering a guard pass, which in all honesty was just getting the underhook, going to your knee's, and doing the knee tap takedown. Nothing new there. Next was escaping the back. Now this was the spot that I figured would shine, considering that Lloyd focus alot on the back position. Surprisingly this portion wasnt very good either. Both escapes were the typical bridge and escape your hips, then either come to your knee's, or replace Half Guard.
Finally we have 3 submission escapes, Armlock, Guillotine, and Guillotine when inside their guard. Same song here, nothing new, same stuff, no new details.
All in all if I could give this disc a rating of 1 to 5, I would give it a 2.5. It could've gotten a 3, but not enough time was spent focusing on the details, and the do's and dont's from these positions, which is VERY important in the beginning. If you want a set that focuses entirely on these, with better detail (and technique), check out Michael Jen's Ultimate Pin Escapes. That set has been a staple to my escaping dominant position game.
Quite frankly, this disc pretty much has nothing new, and you could get everything off of this disc, for free at Youtube.