Are John Danaher Books Suitable For BJJ Beginners To Learn?

Honestly, John Danaher's material reads more like a set of engineering blueprints than a typical how-to catalog, and that hit me the first time I sat down with one of his instructionals. Where many manuals present a long list of sexy moves—photos, a short paragraph, and a story about how someone landed it in competition—Danaher breaks things into systems, principles, and decision trees. I found myself mapping out chains: entry → control template → submission family → counters. That structure means his books and series prioritize 'why' and 'when' as much as 'how.' For someone who likes to understand mechanics and why a certain hip angle or knee line matters, it’s immensely satisfying. Technically, his explanations tend to be precise and dense. He loves taxonomy: naming positions, classifying grips, and isolating the minimal mechanical inputs that make a technique work. That can feel clinical compared to more narrative-focused texts like 'Jiu-Jitsu University,' which walks you through a growth path from white belt to black belt with lots of photos and progressive structure. Danaher’s stuff assumes you’ll spend hours drilling the same template until it becomes a reflex. He also pushed the community by systematizing leg locks, turning what used to be a niche set of techniques into a coherent, trainable subsystem—so if you’ve been frustrated by scattered leg-lock advice elsewhere, his approach ties the pieces together. On the flip side, this depth means his pages (or lectures) can be intimidating. If you’re brand-new and want quick, flashy moves to take to open mat, some other manuals with step-by-step photos and simpler cueing might suit you better at first. I learned to read his work like a textbook: take notes, draw flowcharts, and then practice the loops slowly with partners who will play along. The payoff is huge: once the templates sink in, your reactions become proactive rather than reactive. Personally, I alternate—when I want conceptual clarity I dig into Danaher-style breakdowns; when I want to build a fun repertoire for casual rolls I flip through more image-heavy guides. It’s become my favorite combo for long-term improvement and for actually enjoying training, because the clarity makes the repetitions feel purposeful rather than endless busywork.

Honestly, when I scan through reviews of John Danaher’s instructional material I see a mixed but mostly respectful chorus. A lot of reviewers—especially those who’ve tested the techniques in live rolling or competition—tend to trust what he teaches because it’s systematized and consistent. Danaher doesn’t throw out isolated moves; he builds frameworks: control, entry, destabilize, finish. That kind of internal logic makes it easier for critics to verify step-by-step. I’ve rolled with training partners who applied his leg-lock progressions and back-control chains, and the moves worked best when the practitioner understood the underlying control concepts rather than just memorizing positions. Reviewers who value pedagogy often praise the clarity, camera angles, and layered drills that let you practice gradually, which raises their confidence in the techniques. On the flip side, I’ve read and heard thoughtful pushback from reviewers who are more match-oriented or who focus on chaotic, live-sparring realism. Their skepticism usually isn’t about whether the mechanics are correct; it’s about transferability. Some techniques look pristine in a step-by-step clinic but require high positional control, partner compliance, or a certain body type to execute reliably under heavy resistance. A common critique is that Danaher’s work assumes optimal control positions before transitions—critics will test what happens when that control is imperfect. So reviewers who do extensive pressure-testing sometimes say, “Yes, the technique is sound, but it needs adaptation.” That’s not distrust of the concept, more a caution about expectations. Ultimately I trust the techniques as valid material to learn from, but I also pay attention to who’s reviewing them and how they test them. Longform reviewers who include rolling footage, different body types, and match contexts tend to be more persuasive to me than short takes that only summarize. I try to balance what I learn by drilling the steps, experimenting live, and checking other instructors’ takes. If you want a practical tip: study the principles first—control and sequencing—and then layer the finishing mechanics; the reviews are most trustworthy when they show both the system and the messy, real-world outcomes.

If you’re picky about buying the real deal (guilty here), I usually start by aiming straight for the official sellers and trusted retail platforms. The most consistent place I’ve seen John Danaher’s instructional material offered legitimately is BJJ Fanatics — they carry his big digital courses and DVDs, and their product pages usually list author/publisher details, runtime, and sample clips. Amazon can be safe too, but I always check the seller: prefer listings sold by the publisher or by BJJ Fanatics themselves rather than third-party sellers. For physical books or DVDs, look for clear publisher info, an ISBN or UPC, and crisp product photos; the absence of those details is a red flag to me. When I’m unsure about a particular listing, I do a few verification steps. First, inspect the seller’s ratings and recent reviews — a pattern of slow shipping or fake-looking photos is a dealbreaker. Second, check for secure checkout (HTTPS) and use a payment method that offers buyer protection like a credit card or PayPal. Third, compare the product description and cover art with official images from the seller’s or publisher’s site; subtle differences in cover text or packaging can mean a knockoff. If the price is suspiciously low, I treat it with suspicion: genuine instructional sets and print runs aren’t usually given away at tiny prices. I also buy from local academies or instructors sometimes — they often stock legitimate DVDs or will point me to authorized digital links. Libraries and interlibrary loans have surprised me too; you can sometimes borrow related technique books if you’re researching before a purchase. For used marketplaces like eBay or Mercari, I’ll message the seller for high-resolution photos of the actual item, check the listing’s return policy, and verify their seller history. Lastly, follow John Danaher’s official social accounts or the official outlets tied to him; they often post links to new releases and authorized sellers. Bottom line: prefer official storefronts, verify seller credibility, protect your payment, and don’t be tempted by deals that look too good to be true — that’s how I’ve avoided fakes and enjoyed the real instructional content.

Honestly, if you want a short, blunt take: John Danaher's writings and explanations are a rocket fuel for your understanding, but they won't magically make your body execute techniques overnight. I say that as someone who binged hours of his interviews, notes, and seminar breakdowns between classes and then tried to apply them live — the shift that happened was mostly in my head first. Danaher's stuff reorganizes how you think about position, control, and chaining moves; once my mental map changed, drills felt smarter and sparring started to look like problem-solving instead of frantic technique recycling. What I love about his approach is the obsession with principles over flashy moves. Instead of memorizing a dozen escapes, he drills concepts like 'control the core line', 'reduce opponent options', and 'create continuous threats', and then shows how dozens of variations flow from that. That means if you take one small subsection — for example, his logic around heel hook setups or back takes — and focus obsessively on it for a few weeks, your competition performance can spike in that area. But it’s not just reading: you have to deliberately practice with purpose, annotate notes, test in positional sparring, and measure outcomes. I found pairing his conceptual reading with five high-quality repetitions of a focused drill per session gave way better transfer than brute-forcing dozens of sloppy attempts. Practically, if you're chasing quick competition gains, pick one specific problem you want solved (takedowns, passing, leg locks, guard retention), study Danaher's breakdown of the system behind it, then design micro-sessions: 10 minutes of technical drilling, 15 minutes of controlled situational sparring, and one or two live rounds where you force those positions. Also, pay attention to sequencing and the tiny frames he highlights — it's often the 10-degree adjustments that win matches. Don't forget recovery and match strategy: a simplified game plan built around a few Danaher-style chains is way better than a pantry full of half-learned moves. In short, his material can improve competition performance quickly, but only when paired with focused, intelligent practice and honest feedback from training partners or a coach — otherwise it just becomes cool theory you can't execute.

I get excited just thinking about this topic because Danaher really rewired how a lot of us look at back control and chokes. If you want the straightest path to his material, start with the 'Back Attacks' series — that’s where he lays out the whole conceptual map for controlling the back, hook placements, seatbelt grips, body triangle mechanics, and how to systematically collapse a defender’s escape options. Those videos (often released as multiple volumes or modules) aren’t just a bunch of finishes; they show the ladder from entry to domination to submission. He breaks down the rear naked choke in a surgical way, but also covers collar-based chokes like the bow-and-arrow when we’re in gi contexts, and how to blend control and choking threats so the escape routes vanish. Beyond that core, Danaher released a focused piece often titled 'The Rear Naked Choke' (or similarly named close-up instruction) which drills into grips, head/neck alignment, elbow positioning, and the small lever adjustments that turn a sloppy RNC into a match-ender. I found this one brilliant for correcting little habits — like over-rotating the hips or leaving space with the choking arm — that you’d otherwise only notice when someone slipped out in live rolling. If you train both gi and no-gi, pay attention because he teaches how cloth changes your choke palette and what adaptations you should practice to avoid getting stumped by a turned-in chin or hand-fighting. If you’re putting together a study plan, I personally used the 'Back Attacks' material first for the big picture, then watched the RNC-focused segment over and over while drilling positional sparring (start with back-takes from turtle and guard, then force escapes). Complement those with his more conceptual lectures — sometimes sold under titles like 'Enter the System' — to understand the chaining philosophy: how every back control position is a platform for multiple chokes and transitions. Also, check where the material is sold (BJJ Fanatics often carries his stuff) and read companion notes or transcripts; Danaher’s language is dense and I found written complements helped me retain details. Happy drilling — the more you practice the small positional corrections he emphasizes, the more the chokes stop looking like magic and start looking like inevitable consequences of good control.

Oh man, this is a topic I geek out over — I've bought a few Danaher-related things over the years and poked around every store-front and forum I could find. In short: yes, you can get digital John Danaher material that includes video demos, but the format varies a lot and the phrase "digital John Danaher books" can mean different things depending on where you look. Most of his official instruction is sold as full video courses (streaming and/or downloadable MP4s) from places like BJJ Fanatics, and those courses often come with PDF manuals or companion e-books that summarize the concepts, show diagrams, and provide drill lists. So what feels like a "book" is frequently a PDF paired with high-quality videos rather than a standalone multimedia ebook with embedded playable clips. From my experience, the common setups are: 1) a video-first product where the vendor includes a PDF manual as a supplement; 2) a package where PDFs contain QR codes or links to private Vimeo/YouTube videos for quick demo access; 3) teaching platforms (Teachable, Gumroad-style sellers) that bundle downloadable videos and downloadable PDFs together. Specific Danaher-branded offerings like things in the "leg lock" series or seminar bundles are usually video-based. People sometimes call those downloadable PDFs "books," but the meat of Danaher’s teaching is the motion-by-motion video demo — that’s where the nuance and timing live. A few practical tips from my trial-and-error: always check the product listing for the words "PDF manual", "downloadable videos", "streaming access", or "lifetime access" so you know if you’ll get videos or just a written breakdown. Watch for bundled timestamps and chapter markers — those are lifesavers when you want to watch a single drill. Also be careful with low-cost PDFs floating around forums; piracy is common and files might be low-quality or missing the demo content. If you want the full experience — the way Danaher segments mechanics, counters, and sequences — invest in the official course or a reputable seller. I’ve found the combination of a concise PDF + slow, chaptered video demos helps me drill concepts between mat sessions and actually retain the system better, rather than just reading technique descriptions without seeing thresholds and transitions in motion.

Oh, hunting down used John Danaher materials can feel like a little treasure hunt—and I love that part of it. From what I’ve seen over the last few years, prices vary a lot depending on format, rarity, and where you look. For simple physical items like single-disc DVDs or printed manuals that pop up on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, or local classifieds, you’re usually looking at roughly $10–$60 USD. Sellers often price single-volume instructionals in the $15–40 range if they’re in decent condition, while more complete or multi-disc kits trend toward $50–$100 if they’re well-kept. Where things jump is with collector-level items or bundles. If a set is out of print, signed, or marketed as a boxed collection, prices can climb—commonly $100–$300 or more, depending on demand and how rare the copy is. I’ve personally seen one-off bundles and rare boxed sets listed north of $200 when a seller knows they’ve got something that screams ‘collector’. On the other hand, you’ll sometimes find great deals at gym classifieds or Reddit communities where people just want to move gear and instructionals; those can go for a fraction of the usual listed price if you’re patient. A few practical tips from my own bargain-hunting: always check condition photos and read the description for scratches or missing inserts, factor shipping into the final price (international shipping can add $20–50 easily), and be wary of digital-course resale — many platforms don’t allow transfer. If you’re after a specific title or edition, set alerts on eBay or join BJJ swap groups—those are where I’ve found the best steals. Ultimately, expect a common used item to sit in the $10–60 sweet spot, reserve $100+ for rarities or signed editions, and be ready to wait or negotiate to snag a real bargain. Happy hunting—there’s nothing like the thrill of spotting a nearly-new copy at the right price.

If you're hunting for John Danaher's best material on leg locks, lean into his video and online systems rather than expecting a bunch of traditional printed books. Danaher hasn't really packaged his leg-lock philosophy in the classic paperback format the way some other coaches have; what he did do was distill the mechanics, entries, controls and counters into methodical instructional series and seminar collections. The resources you'll see referenced most often are his older DVD/online set commonly found as 'Leg Locks: Enter the System' and the more comprehensive collections usually labeled 'The Leg Lock System' on platforms like BJJ Fanatics. Those are the ones that lay out the chain of control, entries (ashi, outside ashi, 50/50, saddle/single-leg entanglement), finishing mechanics such as heel hooks, and the positional priorities that keep everything safe and effective. What makes Danaher’s material stand out for me is how mechanical and systematic it is. Instead of a grab-bag of flashy submissions, his lessons focus on the principles: weight distribution, timing, alignment of the knee, how to lock the hips and control rotation so a heel hook actually finishes rather than just hurting a partner. His sequences show how one position naturally flows into another — for example, how failed ashi entries can be routed into outside ashi or the saddle — and he spends a lot of screen time on the little technical details that people usually miss in casual rolling. If you really want to understand why a heel hook works (and why it fails), Danaher’s step-by-step breakdowns are gold: he isolates each joint, shows the force vectors, and then layers in grips and countermeasures. Watching those segments slowly, then drilling them live with a partner, is how the mechanics click for most people I know. If you're building a study plan around his work, start by picking one of those core leg-lock courses and commit to a focused block — a couple of weeks on entries and ashi control, then two weeks on transitions to outside ashi and 50/50, and finally a phase on finishing mechanics and escapes. Supplement that with match footage from his top students so you can see the system at play under pressure. Also, keep safety front and center: heel hooks and certain entanglements can injure training partners quickly, so tap early and drill controlled drills. Personally, mixing Danaher’s instructionals with a few seminar clips and guided sparring sessions was the fastest way I felt the concepts settle into muscle memory. Give it time and repetition, and you’ll start recognizing the positional priorities mid-roll, which is when it all stops being abstract and starts feeling like your own toolkit.