Key Takeaways
- A Gi BJJ DVD offering a different, but very effective way to learn any Jiu-Jitsu guard.
- Goes over key concepts such as connection and control points, retention, attack tactics, timing, distance and mindset.
- Features technical details and instructions, followed by specific drills/games in each of the volumes.
- BJJ World Expert Rating: 9.5 out of 10.
4 WEEKS TO A BETTER GUARD TRAVIS STEVENS DVD GET HERE:
Wondering how you can improve your guard in the fastest amount of time possible, without having to learn a completely new guard just because it is the latest “most effective’ fad? What you need is to learn guard from someone who does not want to play any more guard than aboslutely necessary.
So, ask a Judoka. Or, even better, ask THE Judoka. The 4 Weeks to a Better Guard Travis Stevens DVD has not just the framework but also all of the drills you’ll need to become a guard master at any (and all) guards faster than you’d be able to even go through the material of your run-of-the-mill guard DVD these days. Here’s why:
BJJ Guard by a Judoka?
The one thing they teach you in Judo from day one is to keep your shoulder blades off the mats. Now, think of a BJJ guard – it does the exact opposite, right? So how can a Judoka, even an Olympian like Travis Stevens, teach you how to develop one the most effective guard game ever?
The answer is time management. Judokas don’t want to spend time with their back to the mats – we already covered that. So, when, like Travis, one of them also has a BJJ black belt, they tend to be super effective off the mats.
Stevens is a master at managing contact and executing guard transitions at the exact moment when the top person is the most vulnerable. It has a lot to do with timing, off-balancing and braking posture.
Sounds familiar? Of course it does, I just described Judo for you. That means that you have an expert at disrupting balance and throwing people to the mats, showing you how to do the same, just from a different level relative to the ground. It’s all in the 4 Weeks to a Better Guard Travis Stevens DVD.
Grappling Giant Travis Stevens
Yeah, it’s a Travis Stevens DVD, and it’s not Judo. And that, somehow, just makes it even better! Travis is a name most people have come across as one of the best coaches in grappling these days. I might even go as far as calling him the new Judo Gene LeBell of the modern grappling world.
Travis is a multiple-time Judo Olympian and a silver medalist, as well as a multiple-time world and national champion in Judo. Stevens is also one of the rare Judokas who picked up BJJ very early in their career, which has provided him with about 15 years of super valuable BJJ experience and a black belt earned from John Danaher.
These days, Travis is known as one of the best coaching minds in BJJ and, arguably, the best one at connecting Judo and BJJ into a cohesive, effective, and fairly quick-to-learn style.
He teaches daily at the Travis Stevens Jiu-Jitsu Academy and is not shy of delivering great video content regularly. His latest effort is the 4-Week Roadmap to the Travis Stevens Guard DVD.
4 Weeks to a Better Guard Travis Stevens DVD Review
The 4 Weeks to a Better Guard Travis Stevens DVD offers over 4 hours of material on building an effective guard game for Gi BJJ in a matter of weeks. It contains six volumes, each offering both technical portions and sections of drill examples.
Part 1 – Connections
Travis has a very interesting system of delivering his information. Throughout the 4 Weeks to a Better Guard Travis Stevens DVD he alternates parts where he breaks moves down with drills that help develop the key skills for masterring those same moves.
In the first volume of this DVD, he talks about what purposeful connections are from the guard, and how to set them up without overcomplicating things. Travis goes over all the points of contact you may encounter, highlighting the three that are most worth pursuing.
The drills include holding the connection points against resistance, trying them out from different guards and getting to tho them against resistance.
Part 2 – Pockets and Inside Space
Second, as it should be, Stevens talks about distance management. Connections serve the purpose of maintaining distance from guard, so in this portion of the Better Guard Travis Stevens DVD you get to learn how to use the three top connections to keep your guard form getting passed.
No attacks yet, just a set of drills that aim to develop your skills in protecting your inside space, opening up the opponent’s inside space, and finding the optimal ‘pocket’ to work from using your connections.
Part 3 – Points of Control
The really surprising (positive) thing about the 4 Weeks to a Better Guard Travis Stevens DVD was that Travis does not mix connections with control. This is a point I’ve been struggling to pass on to students who like to play guard.
Holding on to someone and controlling them are two different things, and in this part of the institution, Travis is going to show you exactly what that difference is. Once again, he teaches concepts like points of connection vs. points of control and how to adjust connections for better control, followed by drills to help you put it all into live practice.
Part 4 – Attacking From Guard
At the halfway point of the 4 Weeks to a Better Guard Travis Stevens DVD, the first attacks emerge. If possible, I’d advise everyone using this DVD to first get comfortable with the content from previous volumes before moving on to the attacks – this will yield the best results.
Travis likes to keep things simple, so attack-wise, he offers concepts that define what you can do without breaking a connection or losing control. He uses the knees as the ‘sight’ that you should aim at your opponent when attacking.
Drills in this part include sweeping (knocking the partner down against resistance) and connecting the control points with attacks that you like to do, but are depended on using the ‘sight’.
Part 5 – Building a Guard Game
For me, this portion of the Travis Stevens Guard DVD was the most valuable one, both as a coach and an athlete. In it, Stevens covers tactics and how to weigh risks and rewards when deciding to go into attack from a guard.
He also goes over the push-pull dynamics that create the ultimate dilemmas from guard by leveraging posture and balance. The drills in this part are mostly focused on these two aspects, with each drill growing in complexity and resistance level.
Part 6 – Attack Combinations
Finally, traces offers the complexities of playing a full-guard game over the course of just under an hour. The final part of the 4 Weeks to a Better Guard Travis Stevens DVD once again begins with tactics, this time helping you recognize the ‘kill shot’ moment and make the most out of it without risking your guard structure.
Lots of reactive attacks appear here, with some very innovative and fun and challenging drills, such as ‘chess’, providing a great set of methods to easily put all the theory that Travis offers into practice.
This part of the DVD lets you adjust the complexity of Travis’ gaurd system to your own abilities and preferences. Travis goes as far as offering attacks on two different planes at the same time, but you can keep it as simple, or complex, as you choose to.
The Simpler – The Better
If you ask me, keeping guards simple is the best way to ensure you don’t get trapped at the bottom and suffer the consequences. This is coming from someone who spent years perfecting the Tornado guard, revelled in the Reverse De la Riva and has done more X guard variations over the years than you know exist.
What you need to know from a guard is what you are doing – retention first, attacks later. Then, you need to know how to do both, and make sure to be able to recognize when you’re entering tunnel vision, because that’s exactly when your best moves tend to fail spectacularly.
Here’s what you probably didn’t hope to read in this article – the specific guard you play doesn’t matter. You can imagine one on the spot, as long as it ticks the what and how boxes. If you want to understand this at a deeper level, the 4 Weeks to a Better Guard Travis Stevens DVD should already be in your checkout basket.
DOWNLOAD HERE: BETTER GUARD TRAVIS STEVENS DVD
It’s Only a Month!
Okay, it may take a bit longer than that. But still, even if it takes two months of drilling, as instructed in the 4 Weeks to a Better Guard Travis Stevens DVD, to become a guard specialist, is it not worth it? Let’s not forget that we’re talking about almost immediate improvements here – imagine what’s going to happen to your guard capabilities after a year of doing the drills!
Travis Stevens’ 3 weeks / 3x per Week Weight Lifting Program for Grapplers
Judo Olympic Medalist Travis Stevens: When I do BJJ I Mostly use Wrestling
