Product Description

During the last decade, the martial arts world has looked to innovative mixed martial arts competitions such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship to determine which fighting style is the best. These contests have repeatedly shown the grappling style of martial arts, headed by Brazilian jiu-jitsu, to dominate. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu style stems from the premise, garnered from analysis of actual street fights, that the outcome of any fight is decided on the ground. While most martial arts deal only with the initial punching and kicking stages of combat, Brazilian jiu-jitsu concentrates on ground combat. This guide shows how to use Brazilian jiu-jitsu to increase combat effectiveness. Photographs and step-by-step instructions show how to master the techniques used in this exciting new form of combat.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29508 in Books
• Published on: 2001-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

About the Author
Kid Peligro is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the winner of two World Titles. He is a columnist for 'Grappling' and 'Gracie'. He lives in San Diego, California.

Customer Reviews

An excellent technical manual on BJJ
This is the book that I have been waiting for, and it did not disappoint. If only all martial art books were up to this standard. It is a well conceived, well executed treatise on the basics of Brazilian Jiu-Jutsu, one of the most effective fighting systems ever designed.
The level of detail on technique is excellent, never too much, always concise and to the point. One of my main gripes with most martial arts manuals are the poor or non-existent photos/illustrations. This is not the case here however, the photos form the perfect counterpart to the excellent descriptions, with zoom in detail shots of the more subtle intricacies of the technique an inspired touch.
The book is well indexed and finding your chosen technique is never a chore. As the book suggests pick a technique, practice, practice, practice and you have added yet another extremely effective technique to your defensive/offensive arsenal.
The selection of techniques is very comprehensive considering the huge variation of BJJ techniques around. You should be able to find a technique for any situation or readily adapt any of the techniques chosen within. If I had to recommend any one source for self-defence, it would have to be this book (most people in this country at least don't have access to a good BJJ school).
The book also contains advice on the basic theories on which BJJ is based, such as position, when to attack, how to adapt to different fighting styles e.t.c. These are not covered in a great amount of detail and perhaps could have benefited from a more thorough treatment.
Obviously nothing comes close to actual training, but whilst training in Vale Tudo I have found this book indispensable as a training aid and I've developed a new found respect for the Gi! Highly recommended to anyone interested in Self-defence, submission fighting or martial arts in general. If you are a gracie fan then you shouldn't even need to read this!

Inspiring book
As a single source of inspiration, this book was it for me. I bought it out of curiosity, and it fired me up enough to join my local BJJ gym and now I train there regularly.

Renzo and Royler offer a wonderful insight into this powerful combat art and Kid Peligro's writing is a joy (I've seen too many poorly written martial art books).

The authors are clear to point out that the techniques on offer are not there as museum pieces, to be followed to the letter, rather, they offer techniques which are simply one of a possible many for a given situation. Practitioners should learn to move from one technique to another, always looking for the best position.

The 'chapters' are divided into belts, but they stress that the BJJ system of awarding belts is not like other martial arts where superior technical knowledge does not necessarily make a superior fighter.

I would say that this book is the closest one can get to learning BJJ without actually going to a class. Having said that, my experience has shown that nothing beats live training.

Buy it, you won't regret it.

Of limited value for a serious BJJ practitioner
I've been training BJJ for almost a decade and own numerous DVD and Video instructionals, along with a couple of books. This book is well laid out, but the moves are very basic and very limited in number, and the self defence stuff is space filling garbage IMHO. Roylers other book on submission wrestling is far better than this for someone looking to learn techniques, although this might give a total beginner an insight to the sport, the book is more of a souvenir purchase than a real training aid. For somebody looking to learn BJJ i would advise you buy instructional video's or DVD's from someone like Mario Sperry, or Leo Viera.
I will probably put my copy up for sale very soon, as it has no reference value.