So, you’re looking to start reading some books, eh? And not just any books, but actual BJJ TECHNIQUE books? That’s awesome! But… Should you really read them? Given that we’re living in the modern BJJ era, with all these instructionals and Youtube videos available, shouldn’t just these – visual – resources be more than enough?
Well, likely so. However, books are still amazing, and they could come to good use! It just depends on what you prefer and how you use them.

GIVE YOU A SENSE OF HIERARCHY

A lot of Jiu Jitsu instructionals are scattered all over the place. That is to say – they have a lot of techniques inside them! Lots of details, lots of setups… But they aren’t presented in a sensible, hierarchical manner. You just browse through them, finding the ones you like, and using them when you see fit.
In other words, the techniques aren’t presented in any hierarchical context. Neither from basic to advanced, nor from the relevance to position(s).

A lot of BJJ technique books are different from this – such as the famously fantastic „Jiu-Jitsu University“ one. They provide you with a clear hierarchy of techniques and their positions, so that you can navigate your Jiu Jitsu road more easily.

This is especially important for the beginners out there. Having some sort of an importance-context through which they can lead themselves through is vital to a beginner’s progress.

BOOKS ARE MORE ACCESSIBLE THAN VIDEOS

BJJ technique books are, well, more accessible than instructionals are! This is true in terms of the price range; simply enough, BJJ instructionals can be too expensive for some people – like students, for example. So, getting a book that can explain all of these techniques (especially, again, if the student is a white belt) can enable the Jiujiteiro to learn everything that he/she needs to; but for a much lower price.

Secondly, the accessibility issue is true in terms of the places where the book can be read! Particularly if it’s the Kindle format – you can access it from wherever you wish to! On the other hand, however, some (if not most) of the BJJ instructionals are accessible only through online platforms; which means that you need an Internet connection.

When you aren’t „online“, you can always take that book and read up!

SOME JIUJITEIROS GET MORE THOUGHTFUL WITH A BOOK

It can be difficult to really understand what’s happening – and why something is happening – when you watch an instructional. Sure, some Jiujiteiros don’t have an issue with this; but a lot do, feeling as if all of the information is passing them by rather too quickly and unconstructively.

For these BJJ athletes, reading a book can be much more thought-engaging than watching a video. Their mind gets more preoccupied with what’s presented in the written form, rather than on the screen; simply enough, they learn better this way.
It’s precisely due to this reason that you should experiment! Get a BJJ technique book and see how well you retrieve information and details from it, in comparison to the video-based instructionals. You may be surprised that a book does the trick better than videos ever could!

TAKE NOTES MORE INTUITIVELY

For those who want to progress more by writing notes about the setups & techniques inside of their BJJ journals, reading Jiu Jitsu books can be a real treat! They can copy/paste that which was already written down in the book, and then reference back to it later on.
Or, if it’s a print edition, they can write their notes and observations into the book directly – and just how cool is that!

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