While there certainly are a ton of instructionals out there for tournament competitors, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Over 40 instructional DVD breaks new ground by focusing on the needs of practitioners who are close to or over the age of forty, have the responsibilities of family and career waiting for them immediately following class and have major concerns regarding the frequency and severity of injuries while sparring. For many of these practitioners, Jiu Jitsu is simply a fun hobby used to help them stay in shape, relieve stress, keep their mind sharp, make friends and have fun!

The Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Over 40 instructional DVD will help these “mature practitioners” lower the frequency and severity of injuries associated with grappling with other practitioners who are ten to twenty years younger than themselves. It will also help them to accomplish their goals through minimized and well timed movements.

Seven areas are addressed on this instructional:

I. Introduction and theory
II. Fundamental movements
III. Defensive postures
IV. Defensive positioning
V. Fundamental techniques
VI. Submission escapes
VII. How to train

The introduction and theory section is brief, but it does offer the student some guidance as to the main focus of the instructional.

The fundamental movements section focuses on the most important movements within Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I stress the importance of “Fundamental Movements” because they lay the foundation of the art. When I write the words “Fundamental Movements”, I am referring to a specific group of movements that are used most often by middle to high level practitioners. For example, horizontal and vertical hip movements are the foundation for any grappling method. Can you perform any of the following fifteen techniques without moving your hips up, down, forward, backward, left or right:

1. Upa escape
2. Elbow/knee escape
3. Bridge and roll
4. Straight arm lock
5. Bent arm lock
6. Straight foot lock
7. Heel hook
8. Straight knee lock
9. Guillotine choke
10. Rear choke
11. Scissor sweep
12. Knee sweep
13. Elevator sweep
14. Going to your knees
15. Sprawl

Aren’t many of these fifteen technique the most commonly used techniques within Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? If so, then do you see the importance of training the fundamental movements (i.e. movements that actually make the techniques work)?

Fundamental movements should not be overlooked because they lay the foundation for the more complicated techniques within Jiu Jitsu. While training these individual movements may not be fun, developing them to a high level will pay HUGE dividends in the practitioner’s future - because they will help you to become more fluid in the execution of your techniques!

The defensive postures section is designed to be combined with the defensive positioning and fundamental techniques sections. The combination of these three sections will not only lower the frequency and severity of injuries, but they will also lower the amount of energy the “Over 40 practitioner” will put into his or her overall game!

The defensive postures will show you how and where to place your arms into a position that will make it hard for your opponent to gain any leverage over your arm or neck without taking his or her weight off of your body.

Defensive positioning will show you how to position your body in such a way as to get the opponent to move in a predictable manner (e.g. forcing him to take his weight off of you so that it will be physically easier for you to escape).

Finally, the defensive postures and positioning, when combined with the ten (10) fundamental techniques taught on this instructional, will lower the amount of force you use to accomplish your objectives. Lowering the amount of energy used to accomplish a specific objective should be the eventual goal for every Over 40 practitioner!

The next section is an important one: Submission escapes. However, I don’t want you (the more mature practitioner) to miss the main point of this section: My goal in presenting this information was not just so you could tap less often. Rather, the goal was to help you to lower the frequency of injuries associated with sparring with the young and the aggressive students at your academy.

From what I have heard and observed over the past decade, it is the frequency and severity of injuries that cause some mature students to lose interest in, get bad attitudes over the injuries and how they occurred, and eventually cause some students to stop training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In my opinion, if students, instructors AND the training environment focused less on the tap, students wouldn’t get hurt as much (and could spend more time learning and enjoying). However, since the tap is perceived as such an important element within Jiu Jitsu, there’s no way that I, or any other instructor, is going to take this element out of the training environment. So, for those of us over forty, a method of training must be devised to help us stay healthy for longer periods of time. This is what the BJJ Over 40 instructional DVD will help you to accomplish!

Finally, in the last chapter of the instructional DVD, I show you how to train. I teach a few methods of combining the movements, techniques, training methods and strategies mentioned in this instructional into something that will not only lower the frequency and severity of injuries, but will also lower the amount of energy you expend to accomplish your objectives and show you how to get more enjoyment out of your Jiu Jitsu training!

NOTE: I developed this program from personal experience! I “observed” in my own life that being 43 years old was different than being 33 years old, which was a heck of a lot different than being 23 years old. Also, because I have seen life “dump” more responsibility upon my shoulders each and evey decade, the amount of time I have to dedicate to training my body has diminished severely.

Also, over the past eighteen years, I have traveled to twenty countries around the world, taught close to 300 seminars, and have grappled with hundreds of students (many of whom were bigger, stronger, faster, younger and had more endurance than me). And, as a result of this experience, I had to devise a means of equalizing the playing field. Obviously, being a black belt gave me a technical advantage at times. Still, that did not always do the trick and help me to accomplish my objectives. So, after a lot of experimentation and trial and error, I found a way to effectively grapple with the young guns and still keep myself healthy. And, it is this experience that I bring to you on this instructional!

So, if you train Jiu Jitsu for fun, to relieve stress, as well as stay in shape and make friends, this instructional has your name all over it.

-Roy Harris