Key Takeaways
- A Gi BJJ insturctional outlining a complete fundamentals curriculum used by Eliot Marshall.
- Includes attacks, defenses, standing, and groundwork, along with punch defense and awareness.
- Features headlock and bear hug defenses that are more suited for an Aikido instructional than a BJJ DVD.
- BJJ World Expert Rating: 4 out of 10.
FUNDAMENTALS CURRICULUM ELIOT MARSHALL DVD GET HERE:
I really like it when people organize their teaching, as most coaches don’t really pay too much attention to methods and training structure, but rather to how good they sound while demonstrating. Sometimes, coaches manage to organize their curriculums in an effective way that helps both students to learn faster and other coaches to coach better.
The Complete Fundamentals Curriculum Eliot Marshall DVD sounds like it delivers exactly that. While it does contain a fairly long and detailed curriculum, there are flaws to it that make it almost useless to a beginner student, and very limited in terms of quality info for coaches. Read on.
The Roadmap I Never Had
When I started training BJJ instructionals were pretty scarce, especially ones that delivered full curriculums. I would’ve really enjoyed supplementing my daily training with some digital details back then, especially organized by level and experience.
Later on, as I turned to lots of teaching when I became a purple belt, I became curious about curriculums, believing that they were the only way to organize training and gauge results. It turns out that, while you do need a roadmap, curriculums rarely offer it.
Just like you can’t use the school system from the 80s to teach kids about what they need today, you can’t use all the old school BJ stuff, exactly as it was before the 2000s, and try to teach people today. Apart from a few timeless things most of that stuff is useless, which also explains the role of repetitive curriculums in BJJ.
Unfortunately, the Complete Fundamentals Curriculum Eliot Marshall DVD is the perfect example of the point I am trying to make here. Check out the play-by-play review to learn more about it.
UFC Veteran Eliot Marshall
Eliot Marshall has been a part of martial arts since he discovered Karate Kid during his childhood. Initially a Soo Bahk Do striker, Marshall turned to BJJ in the late 90s and has never looked back.
These days, Eliot is the owner and head coach at Easton Training Center, where he covers most of the grappling classes. With several Pans titles to his name, as well as a stint in the UFC to top off an impressive 17-5 professional MMA record, there’s little dispute that he knows what he’s talking about.
BJJ-wise, Eliot began training with Amal Eason in Colorado in 1999, and received all his belts from him, following in the Renzo Gracie lineage. Marshal is also the first American to win the Pans at blue, purple, and brown belts. The superheavyweight is now dedicated to teaching full time, offering his experience and knowledge even outside the bounds of his gym, with the likes of the Fundamentals Curriculum Eliot Marshall DVD.
Complete Fundamentals Curriculum Eliot Marshall DVD Review
The Complete Fundamentals Curriculum Eliot Marshall DVD contains eight volumes and has no real structure to it. I can see how some things are beneficial for beginners, but this entire instructional is like a chaotic version of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu curriculums, with perhaps a third of the material offering anything useful. The length of the DVD is just under 5 hours.
Part 1 – Warm Ups and Self-Defense Basics
As this instruction opened up, there was a promise in the approach that Marshall utilized. I liked the fact that he integrated punching into his Jiu-Jitsu, as it really provides a different perspective to grappling exchanges, one that’s mostly missing nowadays.
That said, the first part of the Complete Fundamentals Curriculum Eliot Marshall DVD immediately sets the stage for a pretty chaotic approach to the material that Marshall demonstrated. He starts with the intro to his system, offering some interesting warm-up options, and then talking immediately about punch defense from various positions.
He offers technical stand-ups, sweeping, posture control, front headlock chokes, and more in the span of 15 or so minutes, all condensed into a couple of scenarios that are hardly relatable to one another.
Part 2 – Back to the Mats Scenarios
From the beginning of the second portion of the Eliot Marshall Fundamentals DVD, it is clear that the structure is different from every other BJJ DVD so far, and not in a good way. Part two offers mostly guarded situations, with some stuff like the concept of the self-defense open guard offering valuable information.
Other chapters involved in this portion, such as the buck & roll are a direct waste of time, and they’ll do more damage than good to someone looking to figure out the fundamentals of grappling.
The Kesa Gatame escape is good though, as is the basic knee to elbow defensive application Eliot shows here.
Part 3 – Back Attacks & Subs
Arguably, one of the best bits of the Fundamentals Curriculum Eliot Marshall DVD. In this volume, Marshall at least sticks to one area. Once again there is a a Kesa Garame defense that involves going back to guard and standing up just like every volume so far.
The good stuff starts when he takes punch defense toward back exposure. I leave the punching up to you to decide whether you’ll use it as an opening. However, what Marshall demonstrates in terms of getting and attacking from the back is sound, from a fundamental perspective.
He shares some fairly details RNC finishing mechanics, explains how to get to the back after getting to a front headlock (he uses a snap down from standing) and also covers grip work that leads to chokes and armbars from behind. Not at all bad.
Part 4 – Mount and Side Control
Bear hugs really have no place in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, but for some reason, Marshall seems to think we need to defend against them. While the attack is Aikido-esque, the over-under solution he offers I actually useful as a clinching position for grapplers.
If we skip over the bear hug portion the points made about pinning in this part of the Complete Fundamentals Curriculum Eliot Marshall DVD are quite straightforward and easy for beginners to figure out. This includes just enough details on mount and side control maintenance.
Part 5 – Headlocks
Another rollercoaster of a volume in the Fundamentals Curriculum Eliot Marshall DVD that covers lots of headlock scenarios, mostly from a defensive aspect that is reminiscent of early 2000s self-defense instructionals. All that’s missing are the heavy red curtains in the back.
Some moves are useful, or at least the idea behind them, such as hunting for armlocks after escaping a headlock. The inevitable Kesa Gatame appears again, with yet another idea on how to get out and back up to standing.
The incredibly complex subject of frames and pummels features very shortly, just enough to cause massive confusion in a new grappling student. More open guard self defense and headlock escapes conclude this 45 minutes long part of the instructional.
Part 6 – Passing and Bear Hug Defense
More bear hug defense, separated from the other martial in this DVD on the subject by an entire volume. Just saying.
Part six of the Complete Fundamentals Curriculum Eliot Marshall DVD goes into passing, looking at how to perform the Torreando pass and how to attack from side control. useful content, including the following sections on standing closed guard passing using the knee slice.
I’ll skip over the bear hug stuff completely. There is also a standing Osoto Gari in this portion, but with no context whatsoever that will make it viable to use.
Part 7 – Overhook Guard Attacks
Along with the portion on back attacks, this is another part of the Eliot Marshall Fundamentals DVD that I found enjoyable to watch, and took some useful insights from it. The overhook guard is something that’s just as useful in BJJ as it is in MMA or self-defense, especially when paired with traingle and Omoplata attacks. Well, triangles do feature in this part of the DVD.
There’s also a bit of passing under the legs, which adds the final useful dimension to passing around and through the legs as mentioned in the previous volume. I think they could’ve all easily featured in the same one for consistency.
Part 8 – More Back Attacks & Defense
As we reach the final part of the Fundamentals Curriculum Eliot Marshall DVD, which was confusing and even tiresome at some points, the focus is on more back mount work. Most of it has to do with attacks, which include rear naked choke variations and armbars, but also some examples and a glance over the role of grip fighting in escaping.
How to Use BJJ Instructionals as a Newbie
If you’re starting BJJ in teh 2020s you’re starting with just about every bit of information available to you – and that is a lot. No one person can hold, process, or deliver that knowledge to you, but the internet can, and it often leaves beginners confused to the point where they just give up on BJJ and leave.
What you need to know as a beginner in the whirlwind of DVDs and instruction is that you need structure. All the information is useful, but what you do with it matters the most, and in that regard, not all information provided by instructionals is helpful, at least not at the starting point of your grappling journey.
While you can learn from any instructional at any belt level, don’t expect to learn everything in it. This is true for every DVD, but especially for the Complete Fundamentals Curriculum Eliot Marshall DVD. A few bits and pieces are definitely worth the time to watch and maybe re-watch, but as a whole, this instructional won’t teach you much.
The same thing applies to all instructionals you’ll ever watch, although as you specialize more, you’ll be able to pinpoint specific ones that carry only the information you need and get more in return than you would with a general one like Marshall’s.
DOWNLOAD: FUNDAMENTALS CURRICULUM ELIOT MARSHALL DVD
Start Here!
The rallying cry of the Complete Fundamentals Curriculum Eliot Marshall DVD is to ‘Start here” but here is highly confusing in this DVD. Is this the BJJ instructions to get you going? Nope. Is this the instructional to help an instructor set up their fundamentals curriculum? While it has some good points, I hope nobody tries to use it in that regard. it is good, however, to see what it was like to teach 20+ years ago and what not to do today.
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