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Hey guys, I figured I would just post my review of the Rob Biernacki Online Academy that I wrote on Reddit here as well.
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Alright guys, I'll try to review the Rob Biernacki Online Academy as objectively as I can, in order to help some of you out who might be thinking about subscribing with the issue of whether or not it is for you. I'm a purple belt, so take what I have to say about technique with a grain of salt.
The other "in action" type of sites that I have used so far have been "MG in action", "Estima in action" and "Art of Jiu Jitsu". In my opinion, even though all three have been amazing resources for certain areas of the game that I wanted to explore, Rob's online academy is by far my favorite, with only AOJ coming close.
If you're a fan of Ryan Hall DVD's, Rob's website will definitely be your cup of tea. It's like an online, constantly updating Ryan Hall series. Rob credits Ryan Hall for beginning his conceptual journey through jiu jitsu, and the similarities are undeniable. The website is broken down into "modules", with the 101 modules covering what he understands are fundamentals and the 201 covering anything more advanced than that. I find this system to be very good while picking what to drill and try out in training, because every technique is taught as part of a system. So instead of just watching one isolated technique which might not work for you at all if you never or rarely play that position, here you have an entire system presented to you, beginning with grip fighting and control of the position and then advancing into attacking and dealing with their potential defenses. Right now I'm playing with a module called "No Gi Two On 1 Guard" and I'm having immediate success because I started with just the grips and controls and then slowly moved on to the simple attacks once I kind of got the hang of it. If I had just seen one of the more advanced techniques and tried it on someone who isn't a white or new blue belt, I doubt I would have had any success.
I've seen a lot of people ask why anyone would pay for Rob's site, when the other "in action" websites are being run by people who are world champions. I believe that coaching is a completely different skill set, and that one can be an amazing coach without being an amazing competitor, and also vice versa. Marcelo is a much better grappler than Ryan Hall, and I find that Ryan Hall does a much, much better job of explaining techniques. We can make the same comparison between Marcelo and Danaher. I find that Rob is even better at breaking down concepts and explaining techniques than Ryan, which is the main reason why this website is my favorite learning tool. The way he can break down an entire complicated position into a formula/system is second to none, in my opinion. Rob has really dedicated his time to being the best coach he can be, and is a really accessible person, which brings me to the next point. Seeing as though he is not a world class competitor worried about his next tournament and so on, he devotes a lot of time into actually interacting with the people enrolled in the online academy. There is a facebook group where you can vote on what he will film next, and his brown belt Rory Van Vliet (super cool dude, very knowledgeable) is super responsive to ideas and suggestions which he then almost immediately communicates to Rob.
The cons are obviously the lack of content because the site is literally a baby at this point, but it still has a lot of content to keep you busy for months if you want to try out all the modules in training.
I haven't been able to check the pedagogy section out yet, so I can't comment on it, although the demo video looks promising for people who are coaches and want to step up their curriculum.
TLDR; Rob's website will appeal to you a lot if you like Ryan Hall-like instruction. The system he teaches is broken down into modules and conceptually explained and is easy to follow and systematize into your game. It will not appeal to you if you dislike long explanations, if you want to only learn techniques from the best competitors in the world and if you want a website with a massive amount of content. If you're a person who is easily offended by politically incorrect humor, you might also want to rethink getting a subscription, or even better, working on your sense of humor.
PS. Since I know someone will bring this up, I am in no way, shape or form affiliated with Rob or Island Top Team. I'm from Serbia and I've never even been to Canada haha. The motivation for this review was simply to shed light on a resource that is, in my opinion, a hidden gem to my fellow grapplers.
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Edit: I wrote this review more or less as soon as the online academy went live. At this moment, there is a lot more content than when I wrote this review. They added a complete module for single leg x, triangle defense, pressure passing and are in the process of adding a guillotine module as well. The content is phenomenal and I can only increase my original praise for the website.
...
Alright guys, I'll try to review the Rob Biernacki Online Academy as objectively as I can, in order to help some of you out who might be thinking about subscribing with the issue of whether or not it is for you. I'm a purple belt, so take what I have to say about technique with a grain of salt.
The other "in action" type of sites that I have used so far have been "MG in action", "Estima in action" and "Art of Jiu Jitsu". In my opinion, even though all three have been amazing resources for certain areas of the game that I wanted to explore, Rob's online academy is by far my favorite, with only AOJ coming close.
If you're a fan of Ryan Hall DVD's, Rob's website will definitely be your cup of tea. It's like an online, constantly updating Ryan Hall series. Rob credits Ryan Hall for beginning his conceptual journey through jiu jitsu, and the similarities are undeniable. The website is broken down into "modules", with the 101 modules covering what he understands are fundamentals and the 201 covering anything more advanced than that. I find this system to be very good while picking what to drill and try out in training, because every technique is taught as part of a system. So instead of just watching one isolated technique which might not work for you at all if you never or rarely play that position, here you have an entire system presented to you, beginning with grip fighting and control of the position and then advancing into attacking and dealing with their potential defenses. Right now I'm playing with a module called "No Gi Two On 1 Guard" and I'm having immediate success because I started with just the grips and controls and then slowly moved on to the simple attacks once I kind of got the hang of it. If I had just seen one of the more advanced techniques and tried it on someone who isn't a white or new blue belt, I doubt I would have had any success.
I've seen a lot of people ask why anyone would pay for Rob's site, when the other "in action" websites are being run by people who are world champions. I believe that coaching is a completely different skill set, and that one can be an amazing coach without being an amazing competitor, and also vice versa. Marcelo is a much better grappler than Ryan Hall, and I find that Ryan Hall does a much, much better job of explaining techniques. We can make the same comparison between Marcelo and Danaher. I find that Rob is even better at breaking down concepts and explaining techniques than Ryan, which is the main reason why this website is my favorite learning tool. The way he can break down an entire complicated position into a formula/system is second to none, in my opinion. Rob has really dedicated his time to being the best coach he can be, and is a really accessible person, which brings me to the next point. Seeing as though he is not a world class competitor worried about his next tournament and so on, he devotes a lot of time into actually interacting with the people enrolled in the online academy. There is a facebook group where you can vote on what he will film next, and his brown belt Rory Van Vliet (super cool dude, very knowledgeable) is super responsive to ideas and suggestions which he then almost immediately communicates to Rob.
The cons are obviously the lack of content because the site is literally a baby at this point, but it still has a lot of content to keep you busy for months if you want to try out all the modules in training.
I haven't been able to check the pedagogy section out yet, so I can't comment on it, although the demo video looks promising for people who are coaches and want to step up their curriculum.
TLDR; Rob's website will appeal to you a lot if you like Ryan Hall-like instruction. The system he teaches is broken down into modules and conceptually explained and is easy to follow and systematize into your game. It will not appeal to you if you dislike long explanations, if you want to only learn techniques from the best competitors in the world and if you want a website with a massive amount of content. If you're a person who is easily offended by politically incorrect humor, you might also want to rethink getting a subscription, or even better, working on your sense of humor.
PS. Since I know someone will bring this up, I am in no way, shape or form affiliated with Rob or Island Top Team. I'm from Serbia and I've never even been to Canada haha. The motivation for this review was simply to shed light on a resource that is, in my opinion, a hidden gem to my fellow grapplers.
...
Edit: I wrote this review more or less as soon as the online academy went live. At this moment, there is a lot more content than when I wrote this review. They added a complete module for single leg x, triangle defense, pressure passing and are in the process of adding a guillotine module as well. The content is phenomenal and I can only increase my original praise for the website.
