I'm looking for a comprehensive (but not overly 'encyclopedic', like Kukuk's) gi series that I can refer to over and over for basic techniques. There are a few that I am looking at:
1) Cesar Gracie's DVD series
2) Ultimate BJJ compilation by Islandmartialarts.com
3) Gustavo Froes 'Ultimate BJJ' ($129.00 on amazon.com)
4) A few years ago a friend showed me the Pedro Carvalho series from WMA. I remember being impressed with what I saw but at the time didn't have anything to compare it to.
Can anyone give me a red or green light on any of the above, or recommend any others?
I've already got Roy Harris BJJ 101, that's not really comprehensive, but it's a great base.
Saulo's set is not a basics set, I own it and find it to be more of an insight into his game than a linear progression of techniques. Not that that's bad, it is what it is and not what I am seeking right now.
The most comprehensive set you'll get is Jens. Incredible detail and variation... however to get the "complete" set you'll need to shell out some dough.
He teaches everything in a systematic way with each technique leading to the next.
For instance - his half guard starts with general principles and movements before he's flattened you. He shows you all the details to the first technique, then from different angles - then says "OK - what if he defends this way" which leads to another technique etc.
He also adds another dimension by including something called "reference points"
For instance - in his ultimate guard set there's the leg on shoulder reference point, the whizzer, the sit up etc and he doesn't just show you techniques from these positions but how to flow from reference points (the set ups as it were) to sub attempts back to different reference points.
i gotta disagree about Cesar's set. granted there are a ton of moves and
for gi, no-gi, and mma/sd, but the organization and lack of chapters
makes using the set really difficult. i think if the set was reedited and
remastered then it would be perfect.
for the absolute basics with comprehensive detail and linear progression
of the techniques the gracie academy stuff is good as is bolo's stuff, but i
think you'll be happier getting 'specialized' sets and referring to each on
individually depending on what part of bjj you want to work on. so, for
example, if you want to work spider guard then tinguinha's set is the
place to look and it is set up in a linear progression with lots of great
detail.
Dantes set is very good. If you just want a lot of stuff then I would check out Froes's set. Though I haven't seen it, I heard he shows stuff well, each disc goes from basic on up to more advanced and there are just a lot of discs/moves. I also think it's pretty cheap for like 11 discs.