BJJ conditioning video

Discussion in 'Ju Jitsu' started by dredleviathan, Dec 17, 2002.

  1. dredleviathan

    dredleviathan New Member

    Hi I was wondering if anyone had come across this video at all and whether they thought it was any good?

    I don't know much about BJJ specifically and haven't heard of the Vacirca Brothers. I'm interested in the tape as it sounds like it woudl be very applicable to the grappling that I do.


    Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Conditioning
    By Vacirca-Brothers
    Demetrio, like his brother Franco, has trained with the best: Rickson, Machados, Behring,etc. He has integrated his knowledge of the "gentle art" with his practice of Yoga. Masters like Rickson had this mix for many years in their syllabus along with other exercises that strengthen and stretch the muscles to prepare them for the specific movements that Jiu Jitsu requires on the floor. All Judo practitioners can benefit from this exercises too. Master Demetrio offers us this different way of improving our training in Jiu Jitsu.

    http://www.immortal.co.uk/brazilian_jiu_jitsu.html

    Cheers.

    Dred
     
  2. dredleviathan

    dredleviathan New Member

    OK for anyone interested - my initial impressions of the Vacirca Bros, BJJ conditioning tape available from Budo International (£20).

    I ordered it mid-last week and it arrived yesterday which isn't too shabby (5 days). Credit card orders taken over the phone although a secure website is promised in the future.

    The tape itself is a pretty basic format with Demetrio Vacirca performing the exercises in front of a blank drop sheet. However the production quality in general is good in comparison to similar products that I've seen. Sound quality is also good although the 'new age' music makes it a little bit too "yoga-ish" for my liking (no problem with yoga just hate of the new-age crap that gets sold along with it).

    The voice-over detailing the exercises is pretty good too (and sounds a bit like Jean Reno in Leon mode). I would have liked more explanation of some exercises but its fairly easy to follow (my main criticism is that no detail of how one should breathe was included for some postures).

    The content is split into 4 basic sections: Breathing (respiration), Flexibility/Stability, Cardio (think conditioning) and Stretching.

    1. Breathing - contains what looks likee a number of basic Chi Gung exercises. This is the area that I would have liked more detail of the actual breathing that should accompany each exercise. If indeed these are Chi Gung exercises I think this is very important and a bit of an oversight. You can follow along and work out breathing patterns from watching the demo.

    2. Flexibility/Stability - a basic selection of Yoga asanas starting with the Sun Salutation. I would have liked to have seen some more or the exercises developed to have a BJJ/grappling flavour - as they are they're pretty much what you might find on a Yoga tape. Finishes with several shoulder stands and some bridging work - both of which are very relevant to the grappling arts for fexibility and control. A minor comment on one position which looks pretty dangerous to the knees and I have been warned away from before!

    3. Cardio section. A selection of basic conditioning exercises that you might find at the begining of a grappling/BJJ class. Not having the luxury of a BJJ teacher I found some of these quite interesting. Not sure if this would be better definied as the conditioning section rather than 'cardio'. Exercises include, situp variations, pushup variations, the lizard (sometimes know as stalking tiger), body drag (gonna leave you with carpet burns if you try this at home), various movement exercises on the floor (most BJJ-oriented of all the material), bridging exercises, shrimping (snaking - call it what you will), sweeping and moving from floor to regain feet and down again.

    4. Stretching - a few basic stretches to finish off with. I thought the final section was rather rushed but guess it was because there was stretching earlier in the yoga stuff.

    Video runs at about 45 mins.

    Overall impression: I thought it was pretty good value when compared with some other videos I've seen (and unfortunately bought). None of the exercises are particularly original if you've knocked around in various MAs or have done some Yoga. However, they are all collected together into a farily interesting workout.

    Its not going to blast your muscles into oblivion (try Scrapper's bodyweight routines for that) and its not really got that much Yoga in it (try David Swenson's Short Forms video for a 15min, 30 min and 45 min routine if you haven't got time to so the complete form).

    It will make an interesting variant on the home workouts that I do and does at least have more MA application than many.

    Could also be split up to make good warm-up / cool-down routines for the beginning and end of classes.

    Plus / minus points: depends how you view it. Demtrio isn't one of these spindly legs round the back of his head balancing on his tongue guys or girls. I think this is a plus point. It is however also the main minus if you are looking for a video containing a bunch of scantily-clad yoga-enhanced lovelies.

    Major plus - no f***ing Geri Halliwell.

    Oh and by the way the Vacirca Bros come from Switzerland and have supposedly trianed with the Gracies, Machados etc:

    Vacirca Jiu-Jitsu Academy
    Zurich, Switzerland

    www.vacirca-jiu-jitsu.de
    www.vjj-bros.ch

    Oh and for the cynical amongst you - I have no association with them whatsoever.
     
  3. Jim

    Jim New Member

    Aparently there was going to be but it would've changed the rating :)
     
  4. dredleviathan

    dredleviathan New Member

    True! And the exercises would probably be slightly different too!
     
  5. Mr Heel Hook

    Mr Heel Hook New Member

    There is ...geez what's it called. The Day of Zen or something by Mario Sperry. Tha's alright.
     

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