VIDEO: How to do the Stack Pass with Jake Whitfield

Stack Pass By Jake Whitfield

Jacob Whitfield's stack pass is nasty. Ever wanted to learn how to do it? He shows you in this video! Want to know how to defend it? Go to his Jake Whitfield Seminar – Stack Pass Defense on April 29 at Chapel Hill Gracie Jiu-Jitsu! Listen to the show this week with Jake to hear some of the most common mistakes people make defending the stack pass as a preview for the seminar!

Posted by Dirty White Belt Radio on Monday, April 17, 2017

Video: DLR sweep from combat base

My friend Roy Marsh asked me to come teach an open guard series at his school last week, and I stuck around to make a video for his YouTube channel. This simple De La Riva guard technique is my highest-percentage sweep when my opponent takes the combat base (one knee up) position, and I hope you dig it.

I had fun doing the video, and I know Roy’s going to be posting a bunch of great stuff from guys better than I am, so if you like this technique, please consider subscribing.

 

DVD Review: Caio Terra’s Modern Jiu-Jitsu

The bad thing about a vacation: you miss class. The good thing about a vacation: you get to spend more time with instructional DVDs that you neglected when you were training regularly.

(Also, you are on vacation. That’s also a good thing about a vacation. But never mind that for now.)

I own a lot of instructionals, and one of my favorites is Caio Terra’s Modern Jiu-Jitsu. It’s a four DVD set of more than 140 techniques, all of which I had watched before this trip. Since repetition is key to my learning style, though, it’s really helpful for me to revisit stuff I’ve watched before.

And the Caio DVDs are a pleasure to revisit. Let’s get the two most obvious points out of the way: first, Caio’s technique is spectacular; and second, this DVD is beautifully filmed.

Just check out this screenshot from Modern Jiu-Jitsu:

The soft light of this DVD takes me on gossamer wings to BJJ Valhalla.

Compared to this screenshot from Caio’s 111 Half-Guard Techniques DVD:

Great DVD content that looks pretty good.

111 Half-Guard Techniques is a great DVD, too, and it doesn’t look bad. But compared to Modern Jiu-Jitsu, it’s no contest. I think the next step in BJJ instructionals involves improving production values. There are a lot of amazing instructors out there, but very few of them are producing materials that look this good.

As good as the product looks, the actual instruction is even better. Modern Jiu-Jitsu is aimed at beginning- to intermediate-level BJJ players, which makes it perfect for me, but I’ve heard higher-level guys say they learned a lot of details from this material, too. That’s not surprising, because Caio does some very fundamental techniques in a slightly different way from the standard method.

Sometimes, this will leave you wondering “I wonder if that will work for me.” Many times, it will leave you saying “Wow, I can’t wait to try that out in rolling.”

You can see an example of the techniques on the DVD here.

If you pay any attention to competition jiu-jitsu, you know you can’t argue with Caio’s results. For a guy like me — a smaller person who tries to be detail-oriented — his DVDs are top-notch.

Plus, Mobile Black Belt has the product on sale, so you can get it for cheaper than I did! Run, don’t walk to your Internet browser, buy it, watch it again and again, and come back leaving a comment thanking me later.

Also, if anybody from Mobile Black Belt winds up reading this: when are Caio’s iPhone and iPad apps coming out? If they’re anything like Modern Jiu-Jitsu, they’ll quickly become a part of my collection as well.

“Hey, Jeff, would you mind reviewing my DVD? I could really use the support from some random blue belt on the Internet.” “Sure thing, Caio. Let’s be best friends.”

THE BOTTOM LINE

PRODUCT: Caio Terra, Modern Jiu-Jitsu
PRICE: $129.95 for 4 DVDs, or $34-95-$44.95 for individual DVDs
ON A SCALE OF 1-10: 9

Lovato’s new site: July 4

Rafael Lovato Jr. is one of only two American black belts to win the worlds in the gi. So what better date for his new online instructional site to open than July 4?

He’s also a terrific instructor, as you can see from the embedded video at the link. I’m a little sad that I won’t be back in the states for another month (the Internet is too slow here to access the site), because guard passing is going to be my main training focus when I get back. The site is called “Ultimate Pressure Passing System,” and I imagine it’s relevant to my interests.

Chances I check it out when I get home: 100%.