Jiu-Jitsu University

I have been a wrestling coach for 25 years and started Jiu Jitsu with my son 6 months ago at the local Martial Arts School after the wrestling season ended. We train 6 days a week for 2-3 hours. I have several BJJ books and DVDs but this has become my go to reference book. I decided to write my first book review today when I bought a second copy of it to give to a frend - because I was unwilling to lend him my copy. The book is laid out by belts with White Belt learning survival on the bottom from back, mount, side control, etc. Blue belt learns escapes, Purple belt the guard, Brown belt the mount, and Black belt learns submissions. The layout makes it easy to find techniques in the book, even if your school does not follow a similar format. There are about 200 techniques covered in the book with most of the major techniques covered (though as you know, there are multiple different names for different moves and you still might need to figure out what your school calls a particular move). The photographs are well done with Saulo Ruberio in a blue Gi and his partner in a White Gi which makes the pictures easier to understand. The explanations are very thorough and well done(well edited by Kevin Howell)with only a few places difficult to understand. There are also drills for the techniques, combinations and set ups for many moves. Saulo also gives just enough anecdotes to make it personal without distracting from the purpose and flow of the book. This book has given me a strategy for learning, training and rolling with an emphasis on proper technique(rather than accumulation of a large number of moves). Highly recommended for beginners. Update: I have been training Jiujitsu now for 2 years (blue belt 1 stripe) and this is still my go to reference book. Good solid basics for Gi and no-Gi. I have not seen the survival techniques for white belts taught elsewhere and this strategy helped me more than anything to survive against bigger, stronger, younger and more experienced Jiu jitsu players. This book if studied and learned will give a good solid foundation for any school you train with. The only major hole I see is that no take downs are taught. This book also focuses on competition Jiu jitsu - not self defense or MMA. I read from it nearly daily to help refine my techniques. Best Jiujitsu book I have found yet for beginners.

If this is not the best book on Jiu-Jitsu then I want to buy whatever is better. Everyone has pretty much given the run-down on this superb book so I will just touch on a few points that are of particular importance to me: The breakdown by CHAPTER==BELT COLOR==GOAL, e.g., white=survival, blue=escape, is ESPECIALLY useful for those just starting jiu-jitsu or those teaching. The white belt "survival postures" and the blue belt escapes from those postures are worth the cost of the book alone. Saulo Ribeiro has managed to keep the survival postures to a minimum (even for side mount where there are numerous top pinning styles and arm positions) and they all seem to work off the same principals and even a similar pattern. Frequently, Ribeiro shows a better (according to him and his also multi-time world champion brother Xande [shandee]) way to do common techniques, and also shows the common mistakes including what is wrong with the usually given methods for that same technique. This book immediately made me almost happy to have my back taken (by a similarly experienced and sized opponent) since the very simple defenses and escapes to those positions worked on the first try even though I messed up some of the details. (Really! -- my training partner is a bit stronger, heavier, younger than I am and he has quite a bit of judo training, but he can no longer hold me FROM THE BACK.) Although the book stands alone, it is especially useful if you have any of Saulo Ribeiro's Jiu-Jitsu Revolution 1 or 2, or Freestyle Revolution DVD sets. Although you don't "need" one to benefit from the other, the text gives the few CRITICAL points which is good for memorizing the techniques, while the videos show the moving details in case you are having trouble or something doesn't make sense. Although the DVDs and book overlap, their is no sense of wasting time or money when using both. (BTW, he in no sense means that you must wait to become a purple belt to learn the guard, but rather that the FOCUS is on a particular goal or position for each belt level. In the case of a purple belt, he is saying this is where you focus on MASTERING the guard.) Is there anything wrong with it? No index, but the contents is so good this is not a deficiency and the book runs the content RIGHT to the last page wasting no space. Crappy font for cover title but how picky can I get? A VERY FEW mistakes in left-right or picture correspondence -- or maybe clarity and I misunderstood, but that isn't very detracting, although I would offer to edit the 2nd edition if they ever re-publish it.) The techniques WORKS right out of the box (i.e., book) and if you practice it then it is even more valuable. Much of it is SPECIFICS on HOW to grapple using the techniques as examples rather than as the only answers -- he is teaching grappling using techniques, not JUST a bunch of (useful) techniques. Saulo is teaching us to fish (do jiu-jitsu) WHILE he feeds us some very fine fish (techniques). If you are a low rank jiu-jitsu play you MUST buy this book if you buy anything. If you are teaching jiu-jitsu, you owe it to yourself and your students to have and understand this book. I am reasonably sure that anyone in between (i.e., teacher and low level) will find this book superb, and probably the best, as well.

I'm a white belt and have only been going to Jiu Jitsu for about a month. However, my black belt instructor said this would be the one book he recommended. I bought the book and have been studying it 2-3 days per week in addition to going to class 3 times per week and I have noticed a HUGE improvement on my skills. The main reason is because the book has helped me understand what my roll is as a white belt. Studying the book has helped me understand how I should be positioning myself defensively and keeping myself away from making mistakes that expose me to my opponent. In addition, it's presented in a very logical, easy to understand process that builds on itself. It's also helped me understand what my opponent is trying to accomplish in different positions and helped me understand what position I want to get to from wherever I'm at as I'm starting to see which positions are better versus worse. Lastly, it's reinforcing my understanding of what I need to do to escape movements my opponent is making and providing me with great questions for when I go to class. I was getting submitted 2-3 times per 6 minute roll before this book and now I'm typically only getting submitted once if at all from blue belts. Not a huge accomplishment but I can see myself moving in the right direction and this book is helping a ton with that. Not sure about the book for more experienced practitioners, however I believe it will have more than enough to help me for years to come.

Awesome book

This is the first book I purchased upon starting BJJ - disclaimer, I'm only at year two now. It should be clear that this book covers NO-STRIKING grappling. This is not Japanese Jiu Jitsu, this is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This does not cover self-defense or MMA but could carry over with modification - first and foremost this is an instructional on, I would say, "competition" BJJ. For example, when you are in bottom mount, you know he is not going to punch you in the face so you can and should keep your elbows down and close to your body. If it were self-defense/MMA - you'd probably want to bridge as soon as possible and trap and roll but I don't know enough about that. I do not doubt that Saulo or any competent BJJer could handle himself in a striking environment but that is not what this book is about. Overall the book is beautiful, printed on thick paper with large color photos. The book is divided up by belt and the techniques Saulo associated with each belt: White - Survival, just concentrate on not getting tapped. Blue - Escaping Purple - Guard Positions Brown - Passing the Guard Black - Submissions I think his rationale is genius. Everyone's natural talents and skills differ, but I know for me, I spent a whole lot of time in inferior positions when I first started and rarely got the chance to even try for a submission. So reading from a Pro that the art of survival was worth mastering in of itself gave me a great perspective, helped with motivation and setting expectations. It became that much more fun to go train with an eye on mastering survival first and paying my dues before expecting that I would hit submissions and reversals. His rationale in a nutshell for mastering your survival positions: Once you are confident your opponent cannot tap you, you are more relaxed and this frees up your energy and time to concentrate on escaping, passing, positioning, and submitting. Saulo points out many details about his survival positions: your preemptive position so that you can safely chill out while in an inferior position - or at least really make the other guy work for the tap. When I first started, I grappled nearly exclusively in no-gi. Yet, while this book is 100% gi, I would say most of the book's concepts do well for no-gi, save for the submission section which is gi focused of course. The basics are valid for no-gi and gi. For example, escaping with no-gi is just like with gi - it's even easier since there is less friction. I have to say, some of his points are subtle and are hidden in the photos - I wish these were a little clearer. For example, in his section covering bottom mount survival, he lies slightly on his side [instead of completely on his back] - at first glance, this was imperceptible to me, perhaps because the gi is naturally baggy and so that subtly is lost. That point and other similar points could have been more explicit, perhaps with no-gi complementary photos or written in text. I wish there were bullet points of key points, that would have been great. Overall though, you can glean a lot of information from the photos if you go over them again and again. It's all the little things! The book is huge. There are many positions and techniques that have never even presented themselves to me yet - he gives you a whole lot to think about and work on week after week. At least one time in the book, the Point of View of instruction changes from Saulo to his brother - this was VERY confusing to me until I figured out what was going on. In other words, for most of the book, the text is describing what Saulo is doing or should do - then in another technique it switches to Xande's perspective. That's fine to switch it up, but there was no notice to the reader that I can recall. No biggie if you know this. Now that I've had a bit more experience and have, hopefully, learned a few things, I know some of the techniques taught in the book do not work for me, or just aren't my specialty and I've found other tools that better suit me. Everyone's game is a little different. For example, there are more than a few ways to escape side mount or get the clock choke [ all the little things] and everyone has his favorite particular way that works for him. So Saulo is showing what works for him but it might not work for you. I wouldn't expect any book to show me THE definitive way to do BJJ, but this definitively a worthwhile foundation. My personal example here is that Saulo emphasizes the bridge a whole bunch for his escapes. If you are bottom side mount he would say to bridge, hip escape to make room, then recover guard. I've found this can be difficult if your opponent is a reasonable size bigger than you and really know has to weigh down. The solution is to combo your escape techniques, not just depend on the standard bridge. Prefacing each chapter is some great writing on his fighting philosophy and some nice stories - great addition to the book and really gives it character and intimacy. Overall, a solid book. I would give it 5 stars if there were more text on individual techniques in the form of bullet points and the switch between Saulo and Xande was absent. The Survival chapter is worth the price of the book itself. Beginners would do well to get this book just for that section.

As someone who's rolled BJJ for a few years and recently returned after a four-year break, I was looking for a resource to guide me as I got back on the mats. This book delivered. Honestly, I wish I had read it when I first started training. The first 10 pages alone are worth the price of the book—they're packed with valuable insights that apply to practitioners of all belt levels. The rest of the book serves as an excellent reference, but it's those opening chapters that really stand out. If you're serious about your progression, don’t just read this—study it. Highlight key points, take notes in the margins, and revisit it often. This isn’t just a casual read, it’s a tool that can elevate your training mindset.

I have gone through too many jiu jitsu books (at least 6, not including this one) with no noticeable increase in skill or performance on the mat. Most of them are essentially just a long list of moves in book form. When I was taking jiu jitsu, the blue belts kept telling me to get "Jiu-Jitsu University" because reading it will greatly decrease how often you get submitted (this is what they told me to worry about most as a white belt). I finally caved in and bought it. I wish that I saved my money from buying all the other books and instead just bought this book from the beginning. Unlike the other books I've read, this is the only "How to" jiu-jitsu book I have read. It's not just a list of moves, but HOW to incorporate the useful basics into your game. Saulo Ribeiro has definitely organized the book in such a way that it lives up to its name of 'university'. Class is in session as you start out with "How to survive" for the White belt section (how to not get submitted even though you're in a bad situation). When your skill in that area is up to par, the following Blue Belt chapters will teach you about escapes (getting out of the bad situation and into a better one). The different lessons build on each other and go up to black belt. Also, he doesn't just teach the jiu jitsu game, but once in a while will share some jiu jitsu culture (ethics in the dojo). My ground game greatly improved as I was surviving and escaping (I read ahead ^_^) from people who had been there for some time longer than myself but apparently had not bought the book. It was interesting: you could actually see who had, and had not, read the book simply by watching their ground game - Yes, Saulo's lesson structure, pictures, and descriptions were truly that effective. You can see who bought it. You can actually see it. Save your money, and just buy this book first. After you start leapfrogging your peers by executing the basics, controlling yourself and the opponent, you can then worry about buying other books teaching you fancy moves. Just look at all the 5 stars this book earned! Do more with less: Buy this book!

If you're a beginner, this is the book to get. The white belt/ survival section alone is worth the price.