Mastering The 21 Immutable Principles Of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: The Ultimate Handbook for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Students Paperback – June 1, 2015

5 out of 5 stars. And a must-read (and meditate on, and embody in practice!) for any white belt and probably all the other belts as well (if I were a black belt then I would love to make that bold statement). And folks, boy are we lucky to have access to the instruction of a multi-time World Gi and Pan American Champion in Paulo Guillobel.I have been BJJ training for about 6 months, so I am a white belt, a beginner. It is likely that many of you reading this are where I was several months ago - full of spirit and energy but totally inept and slightly confused (to probably say the least). I began by relying on brute strength and raw intensity. I learned that in order to move toward my goals, I need to silence my ego (to the furthest extent possible). Gotta learn to relax to truly give what I've got. I realized that whether I want to merely survive, learn or polish a new technique, or defeat my opponent, I need to relax - not loose and inert, but active, flowing, and powerful like the river. To calm down and silence the mind. Zen, if you will.The 21 Immutable Principles was both a catalyst and a seedbed for these important realizations. It really articulated what my professor and my high ranked fellow students were telling me, and what I knew deep down. This book will articulate what is implicitly, invisibly true to this art. Professor Paulo Guillobel makes the invisible visible.Sensei Guillobel does even more than the aforementioned, however. He demonstrates HOW to become an effective, skilled, and masterful artist of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. If you want to master any art or sport, you had better build a solid foundation. What constitutes the foundation? FUNDAMENTALS. Those that without which, there could be no [desired result]. Whenever I am watching any pro sport, or especially MMA, BJJ, or Muay Thai/Kickboxing, I notice that the loss of position, points, match, game, or whatnot, is often due to a failure of the great athlete, if even momentarily, to exhibit the fundamentals. Sometimes, the loss is because one athlete or artist's super advanced game was just slightly better. Kudos to them! But ay, what a shame it must feel when the fighter/athlete/artist knows that they had a big hole in their game.Fundamental: serving as, or being an essential part of, a foundation or basis; basic; underlying:a basic principle, rule, law, or the like, that serves as the groundwork of a system; essential part. He could very well have titled this book as the fundamental (and immutable!) Principles of BJJ, but alas, the title would have probably gotten a little too long. This book will give you a comprehensive list, and then detailed explanations, with helpful analogies, to be able to build those fundamentals into your fundamental BJJ practice. (And I should mention all the clear, detailed, instructional videos exhibiting these fundamental principles!) I think that whether you want to become better at self defense or enjoy this as a hobby, or you want to become a highly accomplished BJJ competitor, you will get both more enjoyment and far more development if you adhere to and embody these fundamental principles.Before I move to my final thoughts, I want to deal briefly a couple fallacies that under-girded some of the less enthusiastic reviews or that some people might have. "There is nothing/there is little groundbreaking/new/original here." Well, I doubt that this is true, but I must say that that is at least irrelevant. Sensei Guillobel does a stellar job distilling all of these fundamental principles into one coherent, comprehensive, and fully explanatory book - and that is probably groundbreaking in itself. Also, this book is not designed to be an instructional on specific techniques, and it does not need to be. For that, there is Saulo Ribeiro's Jiu-Jitsu University.So lastly, how has this actually helped me? I began to focus on working on one or two principles per class, or several classes if needed, and then, right away, and even more now, higher ranked belts started telling me things like "nice defense," "great improvement" or "could have had me there if you just did this little thing." I started noticing substantive improvements, and I became less awkward and inept immediately. My defense is improving quickly, my hip movement has improved markedly, and I am moving with my opponent better. To be sure: I am still a white belt! But to be equally sure: I am a more competent white belt (and I am building my foundation to progress to the higher belts) as a direct result of beginning to embody and develop these FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES that Sensei Paulo Guillobel was so kind to share with us. Thank you, Sensei Guillobel.-Joe Farnish of Gracie 717.

I don’t leave many reviews, but felt this book was worth the time. I have been practicing Jiu Jitsu for about 1.5 years now and found this book very helpful. It is written clearly, and covers what you would expect from the title: fundamental principles. I have probably heard all or most of it before, but this book does a nice job of summarizing and explaining the how and why. The videos that accompany the book (link to the videos are provided in the book, just need a quick registration) are great too, although there isn’t any new information provided in the videos, the visual and auditory intake of the information helps to lock the information into your memory. I would recommend reading this in pieces, one chapter a week, so that you can focus a few practices on each principle before moving to the next. I also think this would be an excellent book to read on a regular basis, say once per year, as your skills develop.

good content, respectable authorprint quality is the bad.these books look 5 years worn out after a brief brisk read

At the time of the writing of this review, I am new to BJJ as a sport, wearing a white belt, but I come to it with 15 years of experience practicing a high-end competitive Judo and instructing in Judo a superb, 6x BJJ world champion, another BJJ black belt, and several upper degree BJJ practitioners. In other words, I am new to the art/sport as a formal practitioner, but I am fairly experienced and qualified to judge, and with plenty of "hours" in submission grappling to know what I am looking for when it comes to a BJJ book.With all of these experiences in mind, when I started BJJ I started looking for the source that is not showing me the umptieth complicated technique and the latest variation of the x,y,z guard, but the one that tells me what makes BJJ really work. What are the principles of the sport/art ... what fundamentals underlie the techniques. What is the closest to the essence of BJJ as one can find.I looked for this because I looked before and found similar sources for Judo which really helped me "made" my Judo,(Judo has dozens of techniques too, but there are also some core principles that are far more valuable to learn to become an expert than to learn every variation of every nage or ne waza technique).This book gave mostly did accomplish to give me that access to the "wisdom" that I was looking for it.Not talking about the particular variations of techniques but really teaching you what makes BJJ a BJJ, what is its practical philosophy, what makes it work, and how should you absorb it.It is also an interesting general read. Paulo Guillobel loves chess, and he quotes the chess masters throughout the book, which I find it extremely fitting, and just satisfying.Furthermore, he truly decomposes the principles and gives a very good breakdown of the fundamentals in every area - positioning, techniques, anatomy, etc.Beware, it is a short book, and it is more a book of practical wisdoms than a in-depth tutorial. It complements very nicely Saulo Ribeiro's Jiu Jitsu University.Finally, it is also well written. Non-pretentious, but competent and engaging. Only thing left desired are better photos, but the book comes with a free access to videos of the demonstrated principles which more than compensates for the OK photos.With all this said -- I give it an easy five.For fellow Judoka or those familiar with Judo books - I would compare this book to "Judo Heart and Soul" by Hayward Nishioka.