Martial Arts Books

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Martial Arts Book Review:
A Roadmap for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Author: Stephan Kesting

Stephan Kesting’s works have been on my radar since I picked up his excellent Grappling Drills DVD a few years back. Impressed with the breadth and quality of material on the video, I kept an eye out for future releases…

As someone who enjoys grappling but has limited opportunity to train it, I am always on the look out for any training resources that might help me learn at a more rapid pace. Leave it to Stephan to come out with a free product that can help any beginner learn Brazilian jiu jitsu faster and with less frustration.

A Roadmap for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a free downloadable ebook and course. The book maps out a very complex and often confusing art in a way that provides beginners with a clear and simple path to developing the basic skills of the art.

Rather than teach basic moves such as the upa, armbar from the guard, and so on (material that has been covered ad nauseum by other authors) Kesting has instead provided the reader with explanations of the principles underlying jiu jitsu practice and training… a “why” rather than a “how to” book, if you will.

As anyone who has started from scratch in Brazilian jiu jitsu knows, this is information that the new student typically either stumbles upon by accident, or if they’re extremely fortunate they learn it piecemeal from benevolent senior students.

Rarely do you find instructors who are willing to go into this material in basic classes; mainly this has to do with time constraints, as well as a desire to keep classes fast-paced and exciting so students keep coming back for more (your instructor has to pay the bills, folks – keep that in mind before you decide they’re holding back on you).

In light of this, a work like Kesting’s Beginning BJJ (the alternate title for the book and course) is a welcome resource for anyone who is new to the gentle art, Brazilian-style. After I read it, I was quite surprised that Stephan had decided to give such an excellent resource away…

Be advised; he does require that you subscribe to his email newsletter, which of course provides him the opportunity to sell other products down the road (school owners, take notes – you should be doing the same). I consider it a small price to pay for this quality of material, and to be frank the quality of the tips he sends out are worth getting an offer every now and again.

So, if you train in BJJ or you are new to grappling… or if you’re an experienced grappler who is always looking for new perspectives on your art – get this book as it’s easily worth the cost of a decent paperback manual on the same topic.

Just a final word of advice… it’s best if you print the book out and place it in your training notebook for quick referencing. Although the ebook is very well laid out and fairly easy to read on the screen, it’s a lot easier to have it in a hard copy than it is to try to read it on your iPod during training (sweat tends to destroy electronics – trust me on that one).

Download the Roadmap for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by clicking here…

- M. Massie