Jean Jacques Machado - Becoming a Champion

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When I first heard about this set of tapes, I was excited to see that one of the Machado brothers finally produced an instructional video series. The Machado's have stayed out of the training tape market until recently (other than a Japanese language training drill tape done years ago). This absence was puzzling to say the least. With the Machado's close attachment to Chuck Norris, I would have figured that they would have been first to market back in 1995 or so. They missed a golden opportunity and left Kukuk and Rorion to make literally millions. Go figure.

The Machado name has to be the best name known in the world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu besides the Gracie's. This set of three videos or DVDs comes from Jean Jacques Machado. I have the videos and can't speak for the DVDs. There is some extra footage on the DVDs. I am not aware of any Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world title wins for Machado with the Kimono but he has been a multiple Abu Dhabi submission champion and is one of the most technical fighters to grace that tournament. Machado delivers a solid tape set with many great moves. Better yet, most of these moves do not appear on any other tape set to date. There is a tape devoted to passing the Guard, another to Sweeps, and the final tape devoted to the Half Guard. A good Half Guard tape has been long overdue and this is a good one.

So why is this a 4 star tape set? All this being said, there were just too many little things wrong that combined to keep this tape set from being given 5 Stars. After much debate and re-watching of the tapes, I settled on 4 stars.

First, the moves are, for the most part, taught in isolation. Creating a move museum is nice. We can all walk by and peer in on the technique huddled in the corner of its cage, just like the zoos of the past. Today we expect more. You have to put the move in context. You have to answer some basic questions. When do you use this move? You also need to answer the question of what does my opponent do that causes me to use this move? How do you set the move up and what comes after you do this move. You have to link the moves together. A single move should be part of a bigger strategy. This is what separates Sperry's tapes from all other. He is setting the bar that all others have to clear. All of these questions go unanswered on this tape set. On the positive side, Machado does show a couple of variation for each move.

Second, the moves are solid on this tape set. But, I was left with the feeling that so much was left unsaid. The moves will work if the opponent reacts like the opponent on the tape set. The opponent's on the tape set did not resist very much. I was constantly saying, "Hey, why don't you do this or that." The opponents just kind of laid there like a hooker at the end of her shift. The grip strength of Machado's opponents in this video set is so weak, their hands seem to be powerless to hang on at the slightest tug. I know this is a training tape and the opponents are not supposed to fight the instructor. Duh. However, many of these move will be shut down or made a lot harder if the guy is able to hang on. It's this overall lack of realism that hurt the tape set.

Third, the camera work. They decided to use a two-camera shoot. This might have been a good idea if they did not stick a stupid "blue" lens on one of the cameras. This makes that second camera totally useless. The picture is distorted and in most cases completely washed out. It hard to tell what is going on or who is who. Whoever came up with that idea should be pimp slapped. After that, they should pimp slap his mother. Forth, the teaching method. In short, the teaching of a technique goes like this: The students demo a move at full speed a couple of times, Machado then walked the two students through the move a couple of times, a variation might be shown and a no gi variation might also be shown. Then Machado demonstrated everything all over again and then at full speed. This killed 20 minutes for 2 techniques!! Too much time for too little info. This is why there is only 26 moves in almost 3 hours of tape.

This is not the first time we have seen the "Teacher and Two Students" format. This format sort of worked in Century's Carlson Gracie Jr. series where Carlson pointed out the techniques as his Black Belt partners did them. In that series, his Black Belts did a fine job. As I described, Machado actually comes on after his students and does the move a whole bunch of times. What was the point of this? Were we supposed to learn something different by watching two less experienced fighters do the move first? If Machado was going to ultimately spend the same time after his students showing the move, there was no point. Machado does not move the students around enough like Carlson Gracie Jr. did and I found myself really working hard to understand all of the details. Machado would say something like, now you kick your hip out. He never says how you are doing this, do I put a foot on the ground, do a push off my opponent's hip, do I wiggle my hip out without using my feet, or does it just not matter. I'll never know. Since Machado does not say, you are left hoping that a proper camera angle will arrive so you can see what is going on. Sometimes that never happens.

When Machado would later step in and do the move himself, he usually did it somewhat differently from the student's example making all of the video footage of the students nearly worthless. This ended up being a huge time killer. This is why there are roughly 10 moves per tape. My advice is to dump the students demos and have Machado teach all the moves himself. Machado, for the most part, did a very good job teaching the moves.

Machado explains that one thing that is certain in a BJJ match and that is that someone will be passing the guard or having their guard passed. Seems to make sense. In the Mario Sperry's Master Series 2, Sperry breaks down the passing the guard like a large automotive book. Part by part. From the moment he is inside the guard, every little detail is explained on how he opens the legs and then begins to pass. Even though Sperry's moves are highly advanced, he breaks them down in such detail in the proper progression that anyone can understand them.

Machado did not take this approach, but starts the move right in the midst of the action. Why he took this approach is a mystery. Maybe the possibility of doing a much more in depth guard passing video was too much work. Whatever his motivations were, it hurts this video. This make this set unsuitable for beginners.

Another major problem with this tape is that his partners look like they belong in a wax museum. They hardly ever give any resistance. Poland put up a better fight in 1939. This makes for a very unrealistic feel to the moves. When you are in someone's guard, they are trying to control you. They are grabbing your lapels, they are holding your sleeves, they are doing everything they can to stop you. Machado's partners lay there with their arms in the air doing nothing. I know these are instructional videos, but there has to be some sort of realistic simulated resistance.

In many of the moves, I was watching and thinking why isn't the guy on the bottom doing this or that to stop the move. Every one of the bottom opponents acts like the room was just been stormed by the LAPD's Swat team. Their arms are in the air doing some sort of "I surrender" gesture. I am positive that these move work. That's what is so strange. I tested some of these moves. They do work, to a point. However, there are details missing everywhere. I even attempted to do one of the passes on my opponent where you grab both of his ankles and sort of hop over from a kneeling position. As soon as I did this, my opponent blocked my hip and started to recover leaving me with a completely new set of problems to deal with. Bottom line, I could not do the move. In the video, his partner does not attempt to stop Machado when he does the same pass. I am positive that Jean Jacques has an answer to the next step of the move. Maybe what I need is a sequel tape set that expands on some of these moves showing counters to them and the counters to the counter.

How the duce do you expect me to learn BJJ when you hold Machado like he was my soiled diaper!!On this tape, Machado's opponents react some what more realistically. The techniques seem to be more realistic and functional. There were a couple of no Gi sweeps that I really liked on this tape. I believe that they are textbook Jean Jacques Machado moves. I have not seen them anywhere else.

The Sweeps tape contains 10 sweeps of an opponent that is in your guard. Each of these sweeps is potentially very effective. I think many people will watch this tape and try these sweeps that look so easy. They will find that for some reason the sweep don't work or they are not so easy as shown on the tape set. The problem is not so much with the techniques, as with how they were taught. Machado's opponents sit in his closed guard like they know nothing of BJJ. Watch the first sweep taught on this tape. Machado's opponent just places both hand palm down on his stomach! They does not even grab anything. Then later he kind of holds him properly. However, the sweep required Machado to pull one of his opponent's arms across his body. This is only possible if Machado breaks his opponent's grip or his opponent has the grip strength of an infant. Turns out that Machdo is working with Stewie from Family Guy. That's the problem. The sweep works, you will just never get there with what is taught on the tape set. There was too much left unsaid. Machado need to realistically setup each sweep. First he needs to tell us why and when you would use the sweep and then deal realistically how to setup the sweep. We are all taught a variety of ways to hold the person who has you in their guard. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. Some of these method may shut down this sweeps. Machado knows this and should have taught us this. Teaching a move for the sake of teaching the move is not as useful as it was several years ago. Moves only exist in the context of a match against living opponents.

A good half guard tape has been long overdue. This is a tape for the guy on the bottom who is holding someone in his half guard. This is the best tape of the set and has good set of escapes from the half guard. This is not a tape that teaches how to pass the half guard. That has been covered on many other tape sets. Like the other tapes in this set I was left with the feeling that the opponents did not resist hard enough or realistically enough. There was no discussion of how to stop or temporarily thwart the common half guard pass so as to allow you time to do these moves.

Bottom line:
Jean Jacques Machado has put together a nice collection of moves that are not on any other tape set. He also addresses a tape to the ½ guard, which is sourly needed. However, it is just a collection of moves. Collections of moves are nice, but this alone will not allow you to rise into the elite of the grappling tape market. Today, we have videotapes that cover grappling concepts in incredible detail from start to finish. The real bottom line is that Machado could have done something much better. This is what sort of pisses me off. I would have liked to learn his system of submission

grappling as he does it in Abu Dhabi or in sport BJJ. In Abu Dhabi, the man is awesome. If you don't believe me, look at his fight with Ricardo Arona this past year at ADCC 2001. The potential for a really great set is there. I have to go back to the amount of work it would have taken to do a really complete series of tapes. Instead, we get a decent collection of 26 scattered moves with meager explanations and no overall game plan for their use. While $60 may seem cheap, this tape set is no great deal, there are other tape sets that provide more bang for the buck.

Bill Lewis BJJ33@aol.com
© Copyright Bill Lewis 2002 all rights reserved.