DVD Review: Saulo Ribeiro - Freestyle Revolution

Over the past decade, Saulo Ribeiro has been crowned champion of every major brazilian jiu-jitsu event, both gi and no-gi, including two victories at ADCC. Saulo is also known for his attention to detail as a teacher, using his deep bjj knowledge to drive students towards a more efficient and smooth grappling game.

This six dvd set is Saulo's first submission grappling set. Prospective viewers might wonder, is this a game plan type of instructional, or is it a collection of techniques? It's not exactly either - instead, it's designed more to clean up common mistakes that Saulo perceives are somewhat widespread, while adding linked techniques onto this discussion.

Some of the highlights of this set include: a broad look at takedowns and guard sweeps, valuable positioning details from top-half guard, interesting bottom half guard options, smooth passes for a variety of situations, and a nice variety of guillotine options. Since it may be difficult to really get a handle on what this set is all about, we've mapped out a chapter-by-chapter look at each DVD. Check them out if you're curious:

Chapter-by-Chapter Maps (Click on the Titles for the PDFs)

• Disc 1 - Submission Takedowns
• Disc 2 - Sweeps
  
• Disc 3 - Half Guard
  
• Disc 4 - Passing the Guard
  
• Disc 5 - Submissions
• Disc 6 - Escapes
  

or CLICK HERE for the entire series map in pdf

This dvd series is well produced (another World Martial Arts production) and Saulo's english, although not perfect, is easy to understand and fine for the purposes of instruction. Although we think this is a good video series, in our opinion, we would have liked more discussion on Saulo's philosophies on gi versus no-gi in certain positions, as well as a better gameplan style layout of how Saulo thinks and attacks from each position. Also, the escapes dvd is quite small compared to others in the market.

That being said, we recommend Saulo's Freestyle Revolution dvd set for submission grapplers looking to tune up their game and add some interesting techniques to the mix. Freestyle Revolution, though not totally revolutionary, is a solid instructional series and shows some of the smooth technique details and concepts that make the difference between success and failure.

For further information on purchasing this dvd instructional series, check out the product page on World Martial Art's website [click here for the link]

Enjoy it.