I am sure that this thread has been done a thousand times, however none of them are in my threads.
I am going to start training with a gi pretty soon after previously training primarily no-gi and was wondering what some of the better books and DVDs are for BJJ with a gi? I have heard "Path to a Black Belt" is a good one and am thinking about getting it, any others that are must haves?
As far as DVDs goes I have heard Marcelo 1 and 3 are good, but not so much about 2 which happens to be his gi series. Anybody got any good advice for a young student of the game?
I have trained for about a year no-gi, and about four months before that with a gi. Couple months of judo also. So while I am still not very experienced I do have a decent understanding of basics.
Cesar's stuff happened to be what I was looking into getting. Maia's new one sounds good too, but I don't think I'll get it until hearing some more reviews from people who buy it.
"BJJ for Beginners Book & DVD by Mitsuyoshi Hayakawa looks really good and you can't beat the price(www.budovideos.com)"
Totally agree.
Other than that, I would strongly recommend Jean Jacques Machado's online training. There must be over 500 video clips, addressing nearly every conceivable issue and technique. Join for just $25 a month, then quit whenever you like.
If you're interested, check it out. Eddie Bravo likes the half guard position and some guys I roll with love to use the half guard to bait you to try to pass then go to side position. They'll attack from the half guard. I still like the fact Gordo did a 3 vol set unlike Dela Riva who never did a complete instructional set of his eponymous guard. A friend got me a copy of this set as a present and I already have a copy so hopefully it will find a happy owner. I just find Gordo's presentation to be very complete and amazing how he developed the position. It's one of my favorite instructional set.
Margarida is good for beginners. Saulo's set is great if you understand the fundamentals and he expresses his personal take on the principles that he believes are superior. So it's great to have him explain why his philosophy of positions etc. It's great to get that sort of insight and not just "techniques."
I think there is a way to save them, but you have to pay extra for it. So you can't just join for a month and download everything to your computer, then quit. They thought of that. ;D