Bob Bass and Rick Williams - Advance Brazilian Jiu-jitsu

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I finally found a true "intermediate" sport BJJ tape set! This is a tape set that will help you bridge the gap between Pedro Carvalho's tapes (Which are the best place to start) and Mario Sperry's Master Series. Finding a decent intermediate tape set is very rare. I can't think of another set that fits into this intermediate category. Companies seem to go for the extremes with their sets. Either they are very basic or they are very advanced. To quote the little bear, "This one is just right."

Bob Bass and Rick Williams (B&R) do a fine job explaining the moves. This set assumes that you know the basic positions and moves of sport BJJ. There is little overlap with other sets on the market. It is also worth mentioning that both Bob Bass and Rick Williams are students of the Machado Brothers.

About the only criticism of this tape set, and the only thing that held me back from giving them a 5 star rating, is the fact that most of the moves are taught in isolation. B&R did little to string the moves together and show how they fit into an overall game plan. Actually, one might argue that this is what makes this an level set of tapes and not an advanced one. Otherwise, this is an excellent intermediate tapes set.

One small point on filler. Each of these tapes is about 40 minutes. Straight Blast used interviews, a long opening (About 7 minutes), long closing credits (another 4 minutes), slow motion replays, and sparring to kill time. Some of the interviews are repeated on several tapes. This is kind of a "no-no" in my book. The sparring sessions shown had little to do with the moves demonstrated on the tapes. Another no-no. All this stuff is OK to a point, but Straight Blast crossed the line from value add to backfilling.

Bottom Line:
This is a great tape set and the only true intermediate tape set on the market. This is the place to look when trying to bridge the gulf between basic moves and more advance tape sets. B&R have built that bridge for you, and all you have to do is cross it by learning the moves on this tape set.

In keeping with the fact that these are intermediate tapes, B&R jump right in and started talking about passing the guard. For the most part, they assume that you know the basics and understand what the guard is. B&R walk through how to open your opponent's guard and then how to pass the guard while sitting and standing. Most of these moves are fairly original material that you won't see on other tapes. Even stuff that you have seen before, they have their own spin on things. For example, most people are taught, when trying to pass the open guard while standing, to grab the inside of your opponent's knees and work from there. B&R suggest that you don't grab at the knees, but instead, grab the top of the shins. They make some interesting arguments for this. You will just have to try it and see if it works for you.

All in all, a nice tape, I would have liked to have seen them string the moves together more. I have been spoiled by Sperry connecting the moves together.

This tape covers how to hold the side control. B&R cover side control theory and then put it into practice. B&R cover a wide variety of ways to keep your opponent from escaping your side control. Also thrown into the mix is a wide variety of submission from the side control. This tape is a must for anyone who has trouble holding an opponent in the side control. This is very good tape. However, the name is misleading. The real title should be, "Getting and holding the Knee on Chest and the Mount. ¾ of the tape is spent on things other than maintaining the mount. To me, it seems like they should have just made a tape devoted to knee on chest. All that aside, B&R keep up standards with a sold set of intermediate moves. They even state that they would not cover the basic submission from the mount. Too many tapes fall into the trap or retracing very basic stuff to move into more complex moves. As a result, this tape should not be where a beginner learns about getting the mount, etc. The real quality of the tape shines by taking the basics and adding details that make them work better. This tape assumes that you know the basics and want to deepen our understanding of the mount and knee on chest.

A good example is what I call the "around the world" armbar from the knee on chest. This is where you have knee on chest and your opponent tries to push your knee off his chest with his hand. A common counter is to scope his elbow (on the arm that is pushing on your knee) and spin 180 degrees into juji-gatame. I have seen this move taught on many tape sets. However, the devil is in the details. The detail that is added here is that to be more successful with this move you need to roll your opponent up onto his side more before swing 180 degrees. This prevents your opponent from pulling his elbow to the ground preventing the armbar. B&R have taken something that was, granted a "harder" basic move (if that makes sense) and given us a single detail that will increase the move's effectiveness dramatically. This detail has never been mentioned on any other tape set and is something I learned only through trial and error.

Again, things that might appear to be basics are raised to the intermediate category. B&R show how to get the mount. They go into greater detail on arm control and how this will help incapacitate your opponent so that you can get the mount.

The material covering maintaining the mount has fresh additions to many of the standard strategies. I never felt for one moment that this was all retread material. You will improve your game with the solid set of moves covered on this tape.

This tape assumes that you know the basics of holding someone's back. B&R show a series of attacks for when you have your opponent's back. They cover when your opponent is on top of you and when your opponent is on all fours. Some of the moves get overly fancy, but most are practical moves to defeat your opponent's defenses. Again, like all the tapes, interviews are scattered throughout.

This is a tape that many people will look forward so seeing. Anything to help you escape the back mount is welcome. This tape delivers what it promises, but leaves you wanting more. There are only 8 moves on this tape and that really does not do the subject justice. There is, however, more interviews and sparing footage that fill the extra time. Well actually, this is the "director's cut" of the interviews. All the interviews on this tape can be found in abbreviated form on other tapes in the series.

This tape divides things into two types of back mounts. 1) Where both of you are sitting upright and 2) where both or you are on your backs. The moves are split between these two categories. The moves that are shown are all good and worth examining closely. There are many nice tips and tricks that you will learn a long the way as these moves are explained. Despite the few moves, this is a tape worth having.

This tape straddles the beginner to intermediate level of moves. B&R cover how to break your opponent (who is sitting in your guard) down so you can initiate a series of attacks. The attacks are the usual suspects, with chokes, armbars and sweeps being the order of the day. All the moves are well explained and realistic.

This is best tape of the set. This tape deals with when your opponent is standing in your open guard. One of the most common ways to pass the guard, in this situation, is to grab your opponent's knees and shove them aside on your way to passing. There aren't many tapes that deal with countering this effectively. That is what makes this a special tape.

For those who keep asking me what the best ways to escape the side control are, here is a tape for you. This tape is one of the best on the topic. Sticking with the Intermediate nature of these tapes, B&R don't cover the basic elbow escapes in any real detail and when they do, it is a more advance version. B&R break down the different escapes based on the way your opponent is holding you. To their credit, they don't require your opponent to be retarded. This is a common flaw in many side control escape tapes. You won't find most of this material on any other tape set. This is by no means an exhaustive tape, but you have a good move for each of the common ways you can be held in the side control. The end of the tape has 4 escapes from the north/south position. Yes, I know, once you try to escape the side control, your opponent commonly moves into the North/South position. However, I would have rather seen them dig a little deeper into side control escapes.

Not too much all that exciting on this tape. For the most part, it's just all run of the mill mount escapes. The tape starts with some strategies to prevent the mount and moves into a series of moves for escaping the mount depending on how your opponent is holding you. This assumes that you have an understanding of the basic mount escapes.

This is one of the best tapes I have seen for defeating the "Turtle" position. B&R give you a solid strategy for defeating your opponent's defenses. The first half of the tape deals with attacking an opponent who is tightly balled up. The second half of the tape deals with an opponent that has spread his knees to make a wider base. B&R show you how to exploit each position's weaknesses.

This tape covers how to escape when you are stuck in the turtle position. This the most in-depth tape in this set. B&R stay focused on one position for the whole set (except for a little diversion at the end). The moves covered on this tape seem to lean more towards the world of wresting, than to BJJ. The bottom line is that you go with what works. The flaw in this tape comes near the end. B&R cut from teaching in the studio, to footage of them teaching at their school. My first thought was, "why do you need this footage, why not just teach these moves in the studio." This kind of footage, which shows up on different tapes, is low budget camcorder stuff. However, I just shook my head when I saw that B&R were teaching how to defeat the turtle position. Doh! Wrong tape.

This is a sold drills tape. People often write and ask how they can improve their game. The simple answer is drill, drill and drill some more. Practice a single move until you can't stand it anymore and then do it some more. As B&R say on the tape, you do drills for muscle memory and quickness. This tape has most of the basic drills that you need to do each day. Drills for passing the guard, triangle choke, arm bars, leg locks, shrimping are all covered on this tape. I was glad to see that B&R resisted the temptation to do overly fancy and unpractical drills. I have a tape from Japan (in Japanese) that shows the Machado Brothers doing some of the craziest drill you will ever see. It was fun to watch, but not very practical.

Bill Lewis BJJ33@aol.com
© Copyright Bill Lewis 2003 all rights reserved.