the essence of brazilian jiu jitsu by regan machado

I eagerly awaited my book by Rigan Machado, as he is one of the pioneers of BJJ in the world today. However far from being a priceless addition to my library it is one of the least informative books I have ever seen on BJJ.

I was not quite sure what market Rigan was thinking of when he put this book together, would it be for beginners or for the advanced student. Neither I'm afraid, it seems he went for the 'sucker' market which I have just unwittingly joined from ordering his book. Inside we have five bleak chapters and 128 pages of Rigan pulling faces and an array of corpses flopping about demonstrating Machado Jiu Jitsu.

Most of the techniques are workable but only as long as Fred Ettish is your opponent. The book is described as 'a veritable treasure trove of BJJ techniques'! Sorry, but I would be hard pushed to think of a single technique that I have not seen and explained a whole lot better elsewhere.

Well, there are techniques that you would normally see in BJJ but only the most basic of basics. The descriptions are incredibly bad, like when showing a 'simple triangle' (which is a fairly complicated choke in order to do it right) the text goes like this;

1) Defender opens his guard.
2) Pressing outward on the opponents arms.
3) Then brings his leg up.
4) And down to...
5) Trap the head.
6) And locks the triangle.

Marvellous.

So if you want a book that shows a rear choke with a gi then challenges your thinking by demonstrating, wait for it, without a gi a few chapters later, then this is indeed a goldmine of never before seen secret information.

The book is bad and I think even insulting to think that someone as highly regarded as Rigan Machado has churned out this piece of work and has the audacity to describe it as, 'a definitive reference for everyone, from beginning to the advanced level'. I was assuming that with the flood of good books and videos on the market that this would be something a little special coming from Rigan himself but alas no.

The phrase 'a fast buck', quickly springs to mind and I'm sure Rigan will do very nicely out of it too, but in terms of credibility I'm not so sure. Comical descriptions, poor photographs, no structure or relevent tips give this bundle of pages a big fat thumbs down from me. Sorry Rigan.

Jon Hegan , Krav Maga UK , 14 May 2002