Got my Sweeps DVD today!

The Bus Driver sweep is money...congrats on a great DVD
 
damn it...knew I should have gotten in on the free shipping. shipping to Canada is balls.
 
Question that may have already been answered in another thread:

Is this DVD gi intensive? I'm down for half and half, or "might work with adjusted grips", but I currently have little use for pure gi stuffs.
 
Gi gripping but likely everything else, grips can be adjusted
 
only had time to watch another 30 minutes tonight. i'm about an hour in. very good stuff. getting a lot of insight into many different things. i like andreh's approach to the hip bump sweep. his emphasis on attacking for the sweep during your opponent's transition movements is making things click for me.

so far i'm also liking how all the techniques transition from each other. the flow and order of all the techniques shown seem very natural.

the instruction is top notch. andreh seems to be very talented as a teacher as well.

30 dollars well spent. this will definitely be my go to reference material for the guard. this dvd should be a standard for the type of quality expected in instructionals.

on a side note my high praise of the video might also be because i have only been training since jun08 and am a very low rung on the blue belt ladder . . . so if you are a very seasoned grappler you might not take away as much as i did.

andreh, how long was the whole planning process for this dvd? i'm always curious as to the whole process of making these instructionals. what made you want to focus on the closed guard, and sweeps in particular? is it something you are good at? is it something you focused on because you feel it is neglected? was it because this type of dvd fills a niche in the instructional market?

after you decided on doing a dvd about sweeps, how did you end up selecting which sweeps you wanted to show? are these moves that you excel at? or did you want to show them because you felt you had unique insight into these moves?
 
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Got mine today. Nice hip bump sweep tip early on (something everybody SHOULD be doing, but I had forgotten to emphasize.)

HONK!

Interesting doing some of the lecture from flat on your back in the guard. Saves either transition time to getting back in position, or editing. Makes it feel a bit more like an actual class instead of an edited/sewn together product.
 
only had time to watch another 30 minutes tonight. i'm about an hour in. very good stuff. getting a lot of insight into many different things. i like andreh's approach to the hip bump sweep. his emphasis on attacking for the sweep during your opponent's transition movements is making things click for me.

so far i'm also liking how all the techniques transition from each other. the flow and order of all the techniques shown seem very natural.

the instruction is top notch. andreh seems to be very talented as a teacher as well.

30 dollars well spent. this will definitely be my go to reference material for the guard. this dvd should be a standard for the type of quality expected in instructionals.

on a side note my high praise of the video might also be because i have only been training since jun08 and am a very low rung on the blue belt ladder . . . so if you are a very seasoned grappler you might not take away as much as i did.

andreh, how long was the whole planning process for this dvd? i'm always curious as to the whole process of making these instructionals. what made you want to focus on the closed guard, and sweeps in particular? is it something you are good at? is it something you focused on because you feel it is neglected? was it because this type of dvd fills a niche in the instructional market?

after you decided on doing a dvd about sweeps, how did you end up selecting which sweeps you wanted to show? are these moves that you excel at? or did you want to show them because you felt you had unique insight into these moves?

First, thank you so much for the great review. I really appreciate the kind words, and I'm so happy that you got your money's worth.

Now on to your questions:
"andreh, how long was the whole planning process for this dvd?"

It's tough to give an accurate amount of time because I had been thinking about doing a DVD on sweeps in general for a long time, and taking notes when I taught or sparred so that I could use the information if I ever got around to really doing a DVD. I would say that from the moment I resolved to do one to the time I shipped out my first DVD was about 5 months.

"what made you want to focus on the closed guard, and sweeps in particular? "
Here is where it gets to be a long story, but I'll try to be concise. In 1998, while training, I suffered a pretty bad injury to my rib and it punctured my lung and the lung scarred up. Since that time, my lung simply doesnt work as efficiently as it should, and it's extremely hard for me to breathe not long after I start rolling. I've tried to improve my cardio and I can usually make it decent, but it's really hard work and the end result isnt much better than if someone without the injury never worked out at all. So as I was coming up in the belts, I found that if I ended up on the bottom I would suffocate quickly and if I scrambled too much I would gas quickly. But I still loved training so I found ways to use my opponent's momentum or mistakes to reverse and get on top where I could stall until I could breathe again. I dont want you to think I invented anything, because I didnt, but out of desperation I think I became a little more aware of moments when the opportunity to sweep was at its best. So it became one of the parts of my game that I think stood out from the rest of the parts.

I wouldnt say that my closed guard is that much better than my open, but I do think that there are a couple of sweeps that I do from the closed that I can do as well as anyone else who does them. While my whole game isnt world class, I think a few of my sweeps are near that level. Please dont misunderstand... I'm nowhere near the top in even the local BJJ scene, much less the world, and I have no delusions about it.

"after you decided on doing a dvd about sweeps, how did you end up selecting which sweeps you wanted to show? "

My very first instinct was to try to show people something they hadnt seen before. I thought that the DVD would only be good if it had techniques that people were surprised by...stuff that made them think, "Wow...I had no idea you could do that from there." But when I first tried teaching those things I realized I had no unique insight into them. I didnt use them regularly so all I could do was teach them as I learned them, which was step 1, step 2, step 3, done... I realized that there were thousands of DVDs and youtube videos like that so what was the point in adding to that mix.

Then I resolved to only show the things I use everyday because they work reliably for me and I had a lot to say about them. I had to control myself as I was teaching them on DVD to not say TOO much because the viewer would be lost in the details and miss the overall point. I actually shot the entire video once with a different partner (my student Josh) but I wasnt satisfied with the way I presented the info so I deleted the footage and reshot everything (with a different partner because Josh wasnt available).

I would say that all of the sweeps on the DVD are the ones I use all the time. The two that are my best in terms of reliability are the Rey Diogo Sweep (and variation) and the bus driver sweep.

Thanks!
 
AGHHH! I want to buy this fucking dvd so bad right now, but I'm trying to be better about spending lol. I have so many websites in development I am stretching myself thin, but I don't know how much longer I can hold off from buying it. Damn I hate you andreh!

On a side note, I think I read you are experimenting with working on one position for a whole month with your students? How is that going for you? I would love to train that way. I think it would be amazing for my growth.
 
I reviewed the DVD on another thread. Not a profound DVD but definately well worth my money. I probably added five important things or so to my game.
 
"I reviewed the DVD on another thread. Not a profound DVD but definately well worth my money. I probably added five important things or so to my game. "

This is a great way to put it. I think that guys like Saulo, Rickson, Marcelo, Roger, etc... can create really profound instructionals. Theyve seen a level of BJJ that I just don't think many of us will ever see or even begin to see. The depth of knowledge there is insane.

Gene LeBell once told me that he hopes that for every product he sells the buyer will get at least one thing that they can and do end up using reliably on a regular basis. He said that if the buyer couldnt find ANYTHING useful about it, the buyer could get his money's worth by giving it to his worst enemy on the mat. That way the enemy's game suffered and the buyer got the upper hand. lol
 
gannas, thanks for the order!!

Cody, if money is really, really tight, just email me at [email protected] see what I can do.

I hate when money gets in the way when it comes to BJJ. I cant help everyone, but if someone really wants the DVD and is having a hard time, I'll do my best to help.
 
I really appreciate the offer Andreh, but money is not that tight. I have just been spending a grip load on getting some websites off of the ground so trying to watch my spending on things I don't *need*. But now that you mention it, my birthday is next week so I'll slip this in with the other shit my GF is going to buy me lol.
 
I just got my DVD (hand delivered by Andreh!) this afternoon. Will check it out over the next few days, really looking forward to it.

Thanks again, Andreh.
 
i saw the dvd it looks intereasting

good old fashion carlson moves. the guy is a Rey Diego student and very good

has anyone bought off the site

Itsnotballet Media Just another WordPress site

looks like a crappy site I want to know the safety of buying from here

edit

i just bought hope it is good
 
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i saw the dvd it looks intereasting

good old fashion carlson moves. the guy is a Rey Diego student and very good

has anyone bought off the site

Itsnotballet Media Just another WordPress site

looks like a crappy site I want to know the safety of buying from here

edit

i just bought hope it is good

In case you didn't notice, poster andrehbjj is the man who made the DVD. If you have any problems I am sure he would be happy to help you get them corrected. But I doubt you will.
 
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