Which DVDs: Cobrinha, Maia or Cyborg?

Cardio

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I'm looking for a set that I can use to improve my game.... I'm 5"7 168lbs, high blue - pretty well rounded but don't really stand out in one aspect (passing, sweeping, subbing) - Just something that'll help me kick mah game up a notch.

There are no privates where I'm training / no really advanced classes either, so I'm just looking to expand my knowledge a bit.

Cobrinha 7 vols, Maia 1 & 2 or Cyborg?
 
I think the Maia DVDs are great for all around and especially for general principles that are applicable in grappling. Although I have only watched huge chunks and don't own them, I have a buddy who is a purple belt says that this is his "stranded on a desert island and can only bring one DVD" choice.

Cobrinha's stuff is great, but it's pretty high level and some of it is difficult to work depending on your body type. He's does a lot of great basic stuff from guard, but he also does stuff like inverted DLR, that requires some body control that most struggle with (myself included).

Cyborg's... don't know. Would like to get it, but I thought it was mostly focused on tornado guard.

I think most of us would like to have all of them. Hard to go wrong given how good all these jokers are.
 
Maia's 2 volumes are very good and the focus is on theory and concepts which will tighten your game up.

It's also pretty cool that on one DVD he breaks the lockdown with the Indian Death Lock :icon_chee
 
I have all of them. They cover very different areas - the Maia sets, particularly SJJ1, deal with a lot of basics and universally applicable concepts. Definitely a 'must have' if you want to learn the fundamental principles of things like escaping side control, guard passing, guard retention, triangles, omoplatas etc.

The Cyborg set is quite different, as it focuses exclusively on techniques from different types of guards. The positions covered are closed guard and half guard variations, with the tornado guard (inverted half guard) being the 'selling point' of the DVD set. This instructional is one of my favorites, as the instruction itself is very good, the techniques extremely useful, and perhaps most importantly, Cyborg gives you an entire game to work with depending on your opponent's different reactions and counters, as opposed to just a bag of cool-looking tricks.

The Cobrinha set is similar to the Cyborg set in that it only covers various guard games. The major differences lie in the Cobrinha set covering a greater variety of guard types, and although it does offer step-by-step replays of each technique from different angles, the instruction itself lacks a bit in detail IMO.
 
I can only repeat what has been posted above. All sets are great.

- Maia will tighten up your game

- Cobrinha will give you great sparks of inspiration, but better for people who like to spin and really enjoy the movement aspects of playing guard.

- Cyborg is guard only. Tornado Guard is upside down guard, so depends on if you like that sort of game, as it takes time to get it to work. The Half Guard set is GREAT, at least very useful to my type of Halfguard. The full guard set is good too, but again very special.
 
I have the Maia and Cobrinha set. I have not gone through them yet. Just a little of the Cobrinha one. His started off very advance (flying stuff) and than went into some good guard stuff. A purple at my gym loves the Maia ones. He said he breaks down the moves and talks to you step by step in great detail.
 
Man, I don't have Cyborg's yet, but there is deep half guard, two legs on back guard, and tornado guard...

If you want basics, Maia is really, really, really solid.

Cobrinha's is a little more advanced, and even though it has closed and butterfly guard stuff, it has a lot of DLR, reverse DLR, upside down inverted stuff, and some really crazy cool, but complicated sweeps. The bonus with the Cobrinha footage, as with any Cryo/Budovideos product, you get bonus Gi and No-Gi matches from the competitor. There's like an hour and a half of Cobrinha matches. The World Martial Arts company that makes Maia, Cyborg, Hall, Drysdale, karo, etc, only has instructional footage.

here are links to all 3. World MA lets you preview the DVDs too.

1. Budovideos.com - Cobrinha BJJ 7 Volume DVD Set with Rubens Charles

2. Demian Maia Science of Jiu-Jitsu Instructional DVDs and Demian Maia Science of Jiu-Jitsu 2 Instructional DVDs

3. Roberto Cyborg Abreu Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu DVDs
 
If you want Cyborg's DVD, get it if you want to improve your half. Some great stuff for your half/deep and passing half guard.
Tornado guard, you better be flexible..
 
Thanks for all the replies guys - I think the Maia ones win this round.
 
Would be pretty nice to have a sticky with summaries/reviews of all the various BJJ instructionals.
 
For someone 5'7 and 168 lbs, you'd find a lot of the stuff from the Cobrinha set applicable. Certainly more than a heavier guy would. I walk around at 200+, so I like to learn from middleweight+ guys, as I can be pretty much assured that their games should translate to mine. Hence Maia, Saulo, etc. It's probably a good question - can a big guy use small guy techniques (and vice versa)? Big guys generally don't have the speed that makes it easier for a small guy to pull off some more elaborate stuff. Their rolling typically looks different.

You might find stuff from Robson Moura applicable too. He has won 6 Mundials, IIRC.
 
for sheer fundamentals, gotta go with maia's sets. Fundamentals work at every level. some of the techniques that cyborg and cobrinha use take a lot more time to master, so I would go with Maia's sets. Lots of useful techniques on there
 
I should probably rephrase what I said. Go fundamentals (Maia) if you haven't developed them. At least at your size, you would find the Cobrinha stuff more useful than I would (which is probably not very).
 
Has Lundell done any instructionals? I've heard great things about his coaching.
 
Maia's sets are great. Science of JJ 1 is the first set I bought and never regretted it.

My primary focus when I got that set was escapes and that set tightened up my escapes.

His second set is very good too, but has a different set of techniques. I am a big sucker for escapes, so I like the first set the most.

Cobrinha's set is very good. Like somebody else said, it is very dynamic and can be look very complicated, but I think you will be fine.
I remember the first time I saw Marcelo do X-Guard and I just completely was stunned how complicated it looked. A couple of months later I started getting into the initial position for X without even trying. It is probably my strongest open guard now.

Cyborg's DVD has great half guard stuff. Since I have been working on deep half guard, this has helped me a whole lot. The dental cloth stuff is awesome and I have been hitting those sweeps in training. Most people don't know whats going on and you get it.

Tornado guard is really nice, but I have not been able to hit it due to 2 reasons:
1. Getting inverted and into position is not very easy for me. I get around 3/4 and get blocked.
2. If I do get inverted, the persons backs up and sits on the leg, which doesnt give me much leverage to sweep.

The other thing if I do get the sweep is the control after the sweep. I don't control my opponent well after it, so it becomes a big scramble.

There are some great resources these days and I would check these out for sure.
1. MMAVault.com- Basically the Netflix of BJJ instructionals. Check it out.
2. MGinAction.com- I love this site and would recommend it to anybody that likes BJJ. Marcelo does a great job of explaining all the techniques and he keeps it fairly simple when it comes to moves.
 
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