I recently picked up a copy of Move-A-Day BJJ by Darin Reisler.  As the name implies, the book provides a simple description of a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu move or concept each day.  It’s a text that fills the gap left by huge, multi-disc sets of instructional DVDs, scattered YouTube videos, and dense books.  You can learn a lot from those sources, but there’s one drawback–they take a lot of time to digest.  To carry the food metaphor a little further, and to show you what this book is all about, here’s the author’s description:

There are several great books available on this topic that offer extensive instruction.  This particular book is unique because it presents the reader with a bare bones approach.  A new “move” is presented, in a shorthand fashion, for each calendar day of the year.  Its purpose is best realized as a supplement, secondary to the classroom environment.  To extrapolate on an old analogy, the material doesn’t give you the proverbial fish. Rather, the book is designed to guide you, day-by-day, in your experience of learning how to fish.

If BJJ is a meal, and your classroom instruction is the main course, this book is a multivitamin.

As promised, Move-A-Day BJJ supplements your regular training regimen.  It’s actually formatted like a desk calendar, and you can follow the lessons sequentially each day.  Topics span the general BJJ curriculum but include some more advanced material like leglocks, takedowns, and the De La Riva guard.  As this is not a definite program of study, strategies, drills, techniques, and positions appear spread throughout the book.  This may seem different at first, but the mission here is not to guide readers through formal instruction but to aid them in their overall learning.

That’s one of the reasons for the nifty table of contents–in case you want to easily skip around.  This is particularly useful if you want to review a move just learned in class, to refresh your memory regarding something from a while back, or to add a few interesting techniques to your repertoire.  This is how I brushed up on Darin’s infamous baseball bat choke from the guard.  (Thank, man!)

Aside from the excellent, bite-sized instructional content, this book is also very well put together.  Seriously, it’s pretty much bombproof: its hard cover and nice, tight binding lets you take this book from your desk, to the bathroom, and even in your gym bag without coming apart.  You can’t do that with those oversize softcover books from Victory Belt.

I fully recommend this book to anyone studying jiu-jitsu or to those who practice other styles who want to learn about “the gentle art.”  Priced at $19.95, it’s a great buy that should serve you well for years to come.

Visit www.moveadaybjj.com for more information and a free preview!