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Knucklepit’s Book & DVD Reviews Knucklepit only publishes reviews of books it strongly recommends.
BJ
PENN Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu: The Closed Guard with
Dave Camarillo, Erich Krauss & Glen Cordoza (Victory Belt)
© Marc Wickert
As
soon as you turn the first page of BJ Penn’s
Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu: The Closed Guard
you
know you’re opening a can of pure dynamite. This is a book that
will fast-forward your game completely.
BJ
Penn was the first American to become Jiu-Jitsu World Champion. He
is also UFC’s current Lightweight Champion and best-selling author of Mixed
Martial Arts: The Book of Knowledge. In his latest publication
Penn focuses on the most essential and most basic guard – the closed
guard.
The
book begins with practical warm-up and submission drills to increase
fluid attacks and transitions, before illustrating how to break and
control an opponent’s posture whilst keeping him on the defensive.
BJ
demonstrates a number of sweeps and transitions executed from closed
guard. He also shows how to apply chokes and arm attacks while
using your opponent’s defense of your initial attack to set up
subsequent attacks.
“In
order to catch an experienced grappler in a finishing hold, you must
become a master at stringing your attacks together in fluid combinations
until you land a submission or execute a sweep,” says Penn.
This
is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at its best, flavored with the intensity and
brutality traditional Hawaiian fighters are renowned for.
As
the back cover promises, in Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu: The Closed Guard,
BJ Penn “demonstrates how to apply bone-breaking pressure to your
opponent’s wrist, elbow, and shoulder using his most ruthless straight
arm bars, inverted arm bars, kimura locks, Americana locks, and omaplata
locks.”
MIXED
MARTIAL ARTS by
BJ PENN with
Glen Cordoza & Erich Krauss (Victory Belt)
©
Marc Wickert
BJ
Penn is the grand sorcerer of ultimate fighting who blends together a
lethal brew of strikes, takedowns and submissions, making him the true
alchemist of mixed martial arts.
This
former UFC Welterweight Champion is not only one of MMA’s most
respected practitioners, but BJ captured the imagination of all martial
artists around the world in 2000 when he became the only non-Brazilian
to win the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championships.
“BJ
Penn is one of the most talented athletes I’ve ever had the honor to
train with. Any techniques you learn from this book will be time
well spent,” says Randy Couture.
In
Mixed Martial Arts
–
The
Book of Knowledge,
Penn divides his publication into two parts: ‘The Stand-Up Game’ and
‘The Ground Game’, thoroughly explaining both areas clearly to his
apprentices.
One
of the main features of the book is that BJ doesn’t try to convert
people to any particular fighting style, but works with the reader
“Meshing techniques from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, kickboxing, and
wrestling… that beginners and experienced practitioners can follow,”
says Penn.
And
while The Prodigy encourages athletes to develop a well-rounded game he
also encourages them to work primarily from their home base, whether
that be stand-up or ground warfare.
“If
you’re already an accomplished grappler or kickboxer, you don’t have
to go searching for your base. It is important that you rely upon
the techniques that have been ingrained into your DNA… Now, if
you’re entering the sport of MMA without a background in wrestling or
kickboxing or jiu-jitsu, you’re going to have to find what aspect you
gravitate toward.”
BJ
also presents a number of different programs for circuit training that
are MMA sport-specific, and after providing a wealth of knowledge on
offensive techniques, Penn then supplies the antidote for these
techniques to his readers/students.
A
superb book from this incredible master of the fighting arts.
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