Zen Jiu Jitsu - White to Blue (Volume 3)

This book teaches the mindset you should have when you first start learning jiu-jitsu. It's a great tool for keeping you on the road to your blue belt. There are tons of useful information to get out of. One of the ones that really stuck with me is keeping a training journal. Whenever I get stuck on a technique, i review my journal and work through it. This book teaches more than just keeping a journal, but that's what really stuck with me. I definitely recommend this book for anyone new to BJJ or still a white belt in the combat sport.

This book is a great read very insightful and easy. Its Jiu jitsu minus all the crazy expert jargon,I found this book even better after I read it the second time half way through my white belt and funny with a lot of aha moments after I actually got my blue belt ( thanks mostly to this book )this book was I great reference point to keep dipping to when the whole thing seemed a little to much during the tiredness ,the injuries and lack of motivation and for that I thank you Mr Stark,my journey is just now beginning 😊👏👊

I am a white belt with 4 months of practice. I had fun reading this book. Very precise advice. The best part about the book, in my opinion, was the work-plan. I felt identified with the struggles described and possible solutions provided. Since I finished reading the book, I have been able to correct some of the mistakes that were affecting me during rolls, and in some other cases has provided me with conceptual approach to understand whats is happening (even though, I am not able to stop yet). Overall, a great addition to study and understand Jiu Jitsu.

I liked the simplicity and found guidance here. One of the problems I run into in BJJ is that Day 1 is not a fundamentals class, its just a class like any other. You learn fundamentals along the way, mainly through trial and error. Yes, the coach or instructor will point out not to cross your feet in an armbar or how to trap the foot, trap the arm and bridge, but you learn the hard way that getting cross faced is bad. This fuels the terminator, and I really like how this book touches on how to deal with that terminator as well as fundamental mentalities. Jocko Willink says that guidelines take you further than directions. This book is how to THINK Jiu Jitsu. Everyone should read this and then follow up with Jiu Jitsu University, and I will be coming back to both frequently for sure. Great read!

This book was a quick read. The author is not going to be winning any awards for his writing style, nor did the editor invest much time into fixing the sentence structure and grammar in the book. I found that I had to reread some sentences multiple times in order to understand what the author was trying to say. Once you get past his writing style you will find useful nuggets spread throughout the book. After reading the book I am now seriously contemplating purchasing a training dummy to supplement my in-class drilling sessions. The book is not structured in a standard way. It has something of a table of contents but no pages for each topic/chapter and then each chapter's title font does not differ from the sub-chapters of that chapter, leading me to be confused as to which section I am currently reading. Beware that he also copy/pasted some content from his other Zen series book, including the aforementioned training dummies section and gradient learning sections to name a few. This is not a techniques book as he states in the introduction but it provides some inspiration and war stories from an experienced BJJ player for a white belt who is starting out or has been training for some time.

This is a nicely written book. It gives you some perspective and background of jiujitsu. Not a technical book.

I am a 30 year practitioner of martial arts with high level of rank and experience in several arts including karate, Japanese Jujutsu, and FMA, and now, in my 50s, embarking on a white belt in BJJ. The insights offered in this book by Mr. Staark are universal and essential to progress in any art. I am grateful for the clarity, guidance and perspective offered specific to BJJ training at this early stage. A great read, which I will be adding in hard copy to my library and revisiting often. Thank you for writing this!

Great core foundations book. Highly recommend. As I move up in my white belt journey, the concepts highlighted in this book make more sense as time passes. Sometimes when I’m rolling, pages of the book pop up in my head, which says a lot. Thank you, Staark, for putting this together.

Mycket bra läsning med tydliga ”pekpinnar” om hur man bör tackla nybörjarstadiet. ”Ett steg i taget”

Bought this book years ago and just revisited it as I returned to the mats. Have found it a motivating text to help get me into the jiu jitsu mindset and lifestyle. Encouragement to embrace the rough and the smooth parts of your life long journey ahead! Awesome stuff. Oss.

Compré este libro para mi pareja y es realmente ideal. Las explicaciones son muy claras y la lectura resulta muy amena. Fácil de aplicar a la práctica.

When I got on the mat for my very first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) class, I expected the instructor (or at least a higher belt) to pull me aside and explain what we're doing and why. Instead, I was instructed to do exactly what the other students were doing. After the warm-up drills, which I thought, by themselves, were pretty intense (probably because I'd never done them before), we sat in a circle around the instructor as he showed us one BJJ technique. That day, the technique was passing the De la Riva guard. I had no idea who De la Riva is and what a "guard" is. But I didn't want to sound like an idiot so I sat there and pretended to understand what was being explained. Then we were told to practice the technique. I was able to wing it with the help of a partner, but I had a hard time trying to remember all the moves that we just learned. We went over two more techniques, and then we drilled them again. And then it was time to roll. Again, I had never "rolled" before, so I had no idea what to do. I had no idea what I was doing, while my partner was trying to sweep and mount me. Overall, my first day at the BJJ gym was very confusing and almost miserable. If you're thinking about trying BJJ (or recently just started training), read this book first before you hit the mat so you'll have a much better first day than I did. This book explains the core principles of BJJ and why you're doing what you'll be doing in class. This book does not focus on the techniques (your instructor will do that); instead it gives you the underlying general concepts behind many of the techniques that your instructor will teach you. It also provides a sort of BJJ roadmap to help you develop your own style or "game". My instructor teaches us different techniques, but he doesn't exactly hold our hand so we can put all the different techniques together. I think most BJJ schools are like this -- you learn as you go and you figure out how to put everything together. But before you can get there, you'll need to understand what you're supposed to do and why. This book will help you get there. Good luck on your BJJ journey!

Outstanding, perfect book for bjj beginners. Thank you very much... See you in class or in the next book. Bye