the triangle brazilian jiu jitsu by regan machado

Firstly, after watching the DVD, you'll get the impression that Rigan is a seriously funny man. The kind of guy that you want as your uncle, cracking jokes the one minute and then sorting out any troublemaking dude the next. And in a way, that's the nice thing about his presentation

The A4 layout of the book isn't really necessary, as the information from each page could easily be compacted. It looks like a graphic designer has gone to town. That said, I personally like this layout, as clarity of image and information is very good. (My assessment of image and info, is always based on having the physical memory, a feeling of form as you see an image, a kind of, my body knows just how that feels. And in this book' case the visuals are very succinct.)

Although I would say that most triangle specialists aren't going to learn much new here (though I did smile at the Triangle entry from the back), the foundations are rock solid, and everyone will find something of use. (My personal focus was on the reverse triangle from the back, which marries well with choke specialists)

The contents in Brief: A section on stretching - nothing new and the guy in it looks really pissed off, like this guy doesn't like stretching one bit

Key point section and Clearing Obstacles section: Very basic, but very comprehensive. it's also good to think BJJ as solving problems rather than just giving the impression that it is a series of techniques that just need to be executed

Drills - from the DVD this is good. I did this with a friend and thought fantastic. Basic, but better than the drills that we do at present.

section 5 looks at your armbar, arm crank and omoplata in brief, but is then followed by 59 setups for the triangle from every angle.

My only criticism would be that Rigan, being the big man he is, sometimes uses the "drag your opponent in the jaws of your waiting triangle" method, which big, strong guys can do on lesser sized people. Whilst I prefer more of the unbalance, push/pull, or strategic trapping sequences. Of course all techniques need to be looked upon in context, and for most part you'll be looking to take a bigger opponents back.

Finally, there's a section on Defenses against the Triangle

All in all good stuff with the DVD included. But beware, only some of the techniques from the book are included.

Note, very pro BJJ, but also covers the favoured Judo entries. Misses out, though, on a classic marcelo triangle switch which is shear beauty (Marcelo's instructional DVD set).