Let's face it, there are many different teaching styles and different students will gravitate towards certain instructors. Some students like to be shown techniques with minimal verbal instruction. Maybe are experienced students who can pick things up quickly. They see it, and they can easily put it into their game.
On the other extreme, there are some students that need to understand all the "hows" and "whys" of the technique before they can begin to get their body to do it. These students thrive on verbal instruction.
Besides just teaching techniques however, conceptual teaching is a teaching style that attempts to give overarching philosophies that can be put to work in not just one technique, but in many different situations.
Many students find that by learning concepts, they can be more effective in a shorter amount of time. It is this approach that BJJ black belts Nic Gregoriades and Kit Dale expound on in their new instructional titled "Beyond Technique".
Just a quick note before I get into my review, if you click on any of the links in this article and purchase the instructional, I will get a small commission. This helps me continue to provide more content for you!
Early on in the video Kit says something interesting:
"We don't want to give you techniques and try to mold you into cheap casts of our own. We want to give you the tools so you can develop your own jiu-jitsu, your own style."
I think that's really important. Many of the best BJJ guys do not have the same "style" as their instructor. Everyone has to figure out what THEIR jiu-jitsu is. What works for me very well might not work for you.
Each chapter starts off with some detailed explanations of the concept. Then either Nic or Kit will demonstrate the concept through a few techniques. There is not a lot of time wasted on replays. The moves are usually only shown once so it moves along at a good pace.
Some viewers might prefer more detail on a particular chapter but the tradeoff is that this pacing is more likely to hold your attention. Afterall, the idea is that they introduce many concepts, it's up to you to deepen your understanding of them through your own training.
The concepts in Beyond Technique cover many different aspects of jiu-jitsu and I'm sure you'll find something that helps you. Clocking in at just under one hour, there's a lot of material covered.
Here are just a few concepts that I really enjoyed:
- How to stop your opponent from pulling guard
- How to use the hard parts of your body against the weakest parts of your opponents body (no matter how big and strong he is)
- The 3 keys to being able to sweep your opponent
- How to make his spider hooks just fall off your biceps
- How spinal torque affects your ability make moves work
- Hipcentric movement
The real strength of this instructional in my opinion is getting access to two very intelligent Jiu-jitsu black belts. Of course there are many amazingly talented athletes, but not all of them can really explain in clear English, what they are doing. It's clear that Nic and Kit have put a lot of thought into their teaching methods.
Beyond Technique is available as a DVD or as a digital download. Get your copy here!
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