BJJ DVD Review: Roy Dean Black Belt Requirements

Roy Dean: Black Belt Requirements:

Please purchase this volume here.

Disc 1

What does it mean to be a black belt?: 
A beautiful and very poetic expression of how Roy sees the art of jiujitsu and the black belt milestone of it. (3min28sec)

Stand up: 
Here Roy demonstrates a few expressions of the principles of jiujitsu in the standup phase. This is modern jiujitsu with grip fighting, armdrags and throws / takedowns transitioning straight into submissions on the ground. It's not judo as the new rules of judo have moved away from the method of grip fighting Roy advocates nor is it wrestling as Roy uses the gi to connect his weight to the opponent's spine in most techniques. Very interesting segment and the focus on ending with a submission is, in my opinion, what earmarks this as a black belt DVD. (7min14sec)

Tripod Sweep:
Roy alluded to the idea of taking a technique then building a sequence of techniques / scenarios around it and he starts us off with the tripod sweep building all the way to the top position and finishing with an array of submissions. As usual, Roy's articulate explanation makes these sequences useful to anyone from white all the way to black belt. A nice bonus, Roy looks at counters to the tripod sweep and a tight bow and arrow entry that I've not seen before. (7min38sec)

BJJ tips: Pressure, gravity and winning from the bottom

One of the best BJJ concepts I took from reviewing Roy Dean's excellent production: Brown Belt Requirements last year, was that a brown belt in BJJ needs to create pressure from every angle. This is something I've been working on for the past 1.5 years.

Every good grappler /BJJ player will tell you that when you are on top, gravity is your friend. If used correctly, it will fuel your submissions, enhance your positional control and add tonnes to your pressure, generally making life very difficult for the poor soul training with you.

Of course, this is all true. However, I would like to add that gravity should always be your friend whether you are on the top or the bottom. Actually, it should be your friend even in the standing phase. A great mindset I picked up ages ago is that you should never feel alone in the fight. Whether it’s BJJ, No Gi Grappling, MMA you should always look for that trusted friend: Gravity.

“But how can I use gravity in BJJ / Grappling when I’m under someone?”, I hear you ask.

Well, it’s very easy. You shouldn’t really be under them!

At least not lying flat under them. Go to a bookstore and pick up any BJJ / Grappling / MMA book or watch a few matches on Youtube. I challenge you to find a fighter winning when he is directly under their opponent.*

A perfect example is the Butterfly Sweep as demonstrated below: Lying flat under your opponent when attempting this sweep will deprive you of all leverage and put gravity your opponent's side.

In short, you want gravity to be on your side when grappling even (or especially) when you are on the bottom and you can do that by:

Breaking your opponent’s posture: Pull his head. Don’t let him rest his hands on you.

Anchoring your weight to where he doesn’t want you to anchor it: Armdrag Armdrag Armdrag!

Constantly disrupting his base and balance: Your feet / knees / thighs should be pushing his hips and knees. Your hips should be moving freely around him.

Get out from under your opponent: Don’t let him apply his weight directly through you. Deprive him of the opportunity to use gravity against you.

By always applying the above, a smaller person can leverage their way around a larger person.

In my next post, I will talk a little more about how to use gravity to apply pressure from the top in BJJ / Grappling.


* I know I know. Some deep half guard and X-guard sweeps put you directly under your opponent but in those few cases you are that much in control of the opponet's base and balance, it makes up for it. He is hardly applying his weight through you. He’s just trying to survive and not get swept.


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ZHOO ZHITSU IS FOR EVERYONE!

Liam "The Part Time Grappler" Wandi

Proudly sponsored by Predator Fightwear: Built for the kill and Brutal TShirt: Made By Grapplers For Fighters

BJJ / Grappling tips: depth vs breadth of game. Should I focus on technical details or learning more techniques and counters?

How can you defeat your opponent's defences? Are you struggling to make your jiu jitsu submissions work? Do you find yourself attempting submissions but struggling to finish with them?

The reason I lead with these questions is because I have the privilege of teaching jiu jitsu (2 BJJ Fundamentals classes per week, weekly private sessions and 4-5 Intro-to-Grappling courses per year) and when jiu jitsu students and grapplers attempt a move for the first time against resistance, it is not unheard of that they come across an obstacle they can't figure out. It's only natural that the first time you (or I or anyone) attempt a BJJ submission against a resisting opponent that we forget a small make-it-or-break-it detail and they defend successfully. Sometimes, we do everything correctly but we do it at the wrong time and that gives our training partner the perfect opportunity to block our attack. When that happens, we can do a number of things:

1. Learn a counter to the counter: e.g. I go for an americana from mount but accidently leave enough space for their free arm to slide between us and support the arm that's under attack so I spin to S-mount for an armbar on it

2. Learn a defence to the counter: e.g. I go for a kimura from side control / head mount and they grip their belt so I use a grip break to release their hand and carry on with the original attack (the kimura)

Check out this example by none other than Mr Craig Kukuk (to my knowledge the first American to get a BJJ Black Belt)

3. Learn from my mistake and make sure I have a way to prevent it happening again: I go for a cross choke from guard but my first forearm was not flush against their chest so they managed to sneak a hand under it to defend the neck. I acknowledge that and ensure I do it properly next time (i.e. keep the forearm flush against their chest, control that wrist or at least attack with a sweep so they are forced to use that hand to post)

I'm sure I'm leaving some more options out but you get the point. Every action has a number of potential reactions.

Which answer is the correct answer? Well, let's investigate what would happen if we took each option further:

BJJ DVD: Brown Belt Requirements Review - Roy Dean hits another home-run

As I promised here, this is my review of Roy Dean's latest volume: Brown Belt Requirements.


"After all, this is your personal expression"

The music-lead voice of Roy Dean introduces this giant volume. The brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is quite an advanced rank and rolling with a solid brown belt is quite a humbling experience and that's exactly the feeling you get from watching the 3 minute flow of techniques that starts off this DVD: humbled. Humbled by the skill of presentation but also by the amount of effort and production quality that Roy invested in this product. We are treated to a variety of Roy's personal expressions of the usual techniques of jiu jitsu. Triangles, chokes, sweeps, leg locks and armbars are not just performed, they are expressed.

Roy doesn’t instruct as much in this volume. Rather, he shares. He shares his (and in some cases his instructor’s Mr Roy Harris’) experiences and expectations for the brown belt. I have tried to outline my review to reflect this.

What's the difference between a purple belt and a brown belt in BJJ?

LV Brown / Black Belt Requirements? Money!

I've recently received Roy Dean's fantastic new product "The Brown Belt Requirements". I'm currently in the process of writing a review but if you are impatient, feel free to check out Slidey's take on it here. I agree with a lot in it (not all) and it's a very thorough review so I highly recommend it.  

One thing that really struck me in it is how narrow and focused the BJJ game becomes at the brown belt level. I've always known that from other fields that the more advanced you become the more focused and laser-sharp your details become, but the level required here for a brown belt is something I've never witnessed before in other fields.

Brown belts are required to shift their focus from effectiveness* to efficiency. It's no longer good enough to be able to beat someone (or escape their attack) but you must also be doing it efficiently. If you are unsure what this means, I remind you of Dr Jigoro Kano's words: 

"Minimum effort, maximum output"**

The way this translates to day-to-day training and rolling is

Escaping Side Control

Roy Dean is a very technical 2nd degree black belt in BJJ and a great instructor. His academy blog is a wealth of both instructional and motivational videos. Check this out where he talks about side control escape strategy:



Make sure you read Roy's blog regularly and subscribe to his YouTube channel.


Liam "The Part Time Grappler" Wandi

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BJJ Analysis: Heel Hooks and Foot Locks. My hates = My biggest weaknesses.

Last night's BJJ session at the Labs focused on a least favourite area of mine: heel hooks. At least the biggest chunk of the session was around using sound BJJ principles to prevent, counter, thwart, unravel and finally escape heel hooks. It made me think a lot about why I dislike this subset of BJJ / submission grappling.

Heel Hook City!