Key Takeaways
- An eight-part instructional deconstructing the Ginastica Natural grappling conditioning system.
- Features detailed demonstrations of ground flows, rolling movements, jumps, animal movements, and standing exercises.
- Offers a system of warm-ups and details specific breathing patterns.
- BJJ World Expert Rating: 7 out of 10.
GINASTICA NATURAL ALVARO ROMANO DVD GET HERE
When I started BJJ a decade and a half ago, Ginastica Natural was pretty popular as a supplemental training method. Not many people outside of Gracie schools and affiliates used it, but most of us knew what it was and tried to figure out how to put together flows without having access to qualified instructors.
The Ginastica Natural Alvaro Romano DVD is not a first on the subject by the founder of the system, but this one is definitely a lot more refined and detailed than the original one. In the first few DVDs Alvaro demonstrated a lot of flows, but he did it at full speed without much explanation of the moves. This new instructional takes care of this lapse, finally making Ginastica Natural easily accessible to everyone in the BJJ world.
Movement in Grappling
What is the most basic foundation of grappling exchanges? Movement. If two grapplers face each other and nobody moves, there is no match or roll. So, everything we do comes down to movement.
There are two aspects of movement that are important to people in grappling – creating movement and preventing movement. It makes sense and seems easy when delivered like this, but in practice, it’s what BJJ is all about.
Moreover, you have two sources of motion to consider. One is your own body, which you need to be able to control and direct at will. The other is the body of the opponent, which you’re trying to move or prevent from moving.
This second aspect is a lot more difficult to figure out if you are not able to control your body first. Luckily, that’s an area you can improve in with the help of resources such as the Ginastica Natural Alvaro Romano DVD. All it takes is some practice.
BJJ Black Belt Alvaro Romano and Ginastica Natural
Have you heard of Alvaro Romano? He is a 4-th degree BJJ black belt under Rolls Gracie, Carlos Gracie Jr., and Rickson Gracie – quite an impressive teaching squad of BJJ legends. He is also a physical education professor who found a way to connect motor training with BJJ in a quest to create a movement-based training system for longevity.
He began to share his findings with the public in the 80s which led to the formation of the Ginastica Natural system which is fairly popular to this day. The blend of BJJ movement, gymnastics, and yoga ended up consuming Alvaro’s attention more than BJJ’s, although he kept grappling actively to constantly feed and upgrade his system.
The Ginastica Natural system made it to the curriculums in several Brazilian universities, some of which were taught by Alvaro himself. Many BJJ gyms, especially those with Gracie roots practice aspects of it actively, mostly during warmups. Now, the Ginastica Natural Alvaro Romano DVD makes it possible for you to enter and practice the system on your own.
Full Ginastica Natural Alvaro Romano DVD Review
The Alvaro Romano Ginastica Natural DVD is a conditioning instructional that offers a BJJ motion-based system you can do solo or with a partner. It combines BJJ, Yoga and gymnastics into flow-based classes, with the system’s founder, Alvaro, explaining every aspect of putting together these flows in this DVD.
The instructional has eight volumes, each targeting a specific area of Ginastrica Natural, and lasts around 4 hours.
Part 1 – Warming Up
Despite people only using Ginastica Natural for warm-ups in BJJ gyms these days, the system is actually a complete one, featuring mobility, strength, and conditioning components. The very first part of the Ginastica Natural Alvaro Romano DVD starts with the specific warmups that prime you to do the more demanding moves further on.
Alvaro explains some of the basic positions first, such as the cross leg and leg slide stretch, movements used a lot later on in the DVD. He also covers level changes in this opening part, as he explains how to put together basic combinations using the principles of the Ginastica Natural system.
Part 2 – Basic Movement
Part two is what most people who have an idea of what Ginastica Natural is associate with the term. It is broken down into several classes, offering some of the basic movements. For example, there is a class on hip switching, rolling, and grappling without a partner. He also shares Ginastica’s basic breathing patterns here.
The moves and breathing instructions in this part of the Ginastica Natural Alvaro Romano DVD serve as a foundation and/or connections between the combinations and flows that follow as you become more proficient in the system.
Part 3 – Rolling
Let’s get one thing clear – by rolling, this part of the Ginastica Natural Alvaro Romano DVD provides instructions on how to do solo drills such as inversions, front and back rolls, and spinning movements. It has nothing to do with BJJ sparring. At least not directly.
For this part of the instructional, Romano stays on the mats. Most of the movements and combinations are inspired by BJJ, although supplemented with gymnastics and yoga moves to add complexity. The flows in this part are useful for guard players in particular.
Part 4 – Hip Escapes
Personally, I don’t like the hip escape practices as a solo drill in BJJ as I find that it makes more problems than it solves, especially when people try to use it for defensive purposes. However, the hip escape class and the flow options offered in this portion of the Ginastica Natural Alvaro Romano DVD make sense.
They don’t change my mind on the subject, but since the hip escape has a role in other aspects of BJJ that don’t involve defense, this flow might actually be useful. The jury is still out, but I like what I saw.
Part 5 – Animal Movements
As the level of practice changes, the fifth portion of the Ginastica Natural Alvaro Romano DVD moves away from the ground, but not quite hitting standing yet. Animal movements, also known as animal drills among grapplers feature here, but in a way different than the endless gym-length practice we usually associate with them.
Instead, Alavaro organizes them in flows that move in 360 degrees, rather than a straight line. He also offers connection points to the ground movements already covered previously in the DVD, beginning to make Ginastica Natural combos look really appealing.
Part 6 – Strength Training and Breathing
The programming of the flows is what will define the physical gains you get from them. That’s the claim made by Alvaro Romano as he demonstrates how to incorporate the moves already demonstrated into a strength-oriented system.
While the Alvaro Romano Ginastica Natural DVD won’t help you increase your bench or deadlift significantly, it might do what conventional strength can’t – strengthen muscles in your body we use in BJJ, but are not accessible through weight training.
Part 7 – Bodyweight Strength
Still, on the subject of strength, the penultimate part of the Ginastica Natural Alvaro Romano DVD delves into the full-body strength exercises that can help you further challenge your body.
Most of the exercises added in this part are derived from gymnastics, making them very difficult to perform for anyone without a gymnastics background. I tried some and was surprised at how demanding they are.
Part 8 – Bonus Lesson
The final part of the Ginastica Natural Alvaro Romano DVD adds to the overall value of the instructional by offering a real-life class taught by Alvaro. Moreover, it is a private class, where ROmano takes Bernardo Faria through some Ginastica Natural flows.
By watching Bernardo and Alvaro it is easy to see both how challenging the system can be even for a multiple-time world champion who still actively trains, but also how the moves benefit anyone, from white to black belt.
The Best Conditioning for BJJ
The best conditioning method for BJJ is BJJ. There is an old Marcelo Garcia video showing exactly how you can use rolling as a conditioning tool, something the GOAT has proved to work for at the highest levels.
Alvaro Romano has used the same principle when coming up with the Ginastica Natural system. It is by far not the most complete or perfect compliment for grapplers, but it does offer a different perspective to training, along with different benefits to more conventional methods.
The biggest value of the Ginastica Natural Alvaro Romano DVD is in the ability to practice BJJ without a partner, as far as that is conceivably possible. Instead of doing mindless drills, Ginastica places you in positions you’ll likely encounter in BJJ, allowing you to identify ways out and around most obstacles.
DOWNLOAD HERE: GINASTICA NATURAL ALVARO ROMANO DVD
Control Your Body First!
Unless you can control your own body, there is little hope you’ll be able to deal with a resisting opponent during BJJ exchanges. The Ginastica Natural Alvaro Romano DVD offers an interesting and unusual way to master your own body for the specific needs of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Plenty of high-level black belts use it to improve their game, so there’s not much to lose and a lot to gain by trying it out.
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