STUDENTS COULD BE TAUGHT THE PRINCIPLES OF PHYSICS, BIOMECHANICS, AND POSTURAL ALIGNMENT IN SIMPLE AND EASY MANNER THAT WOULD ALLOW THEM TO SEE TECHNIQUES IN

THE SAME WAY AS THE BLACK BELTS!

I then noticed another extreme benefit to this intense focus and

new understanding of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I saw…

MY STORY

My life's work has been dedicated to the study and teaching of the physics, biomechanics, and techniques of the grappling arts. I've had two jobs in my life, BJJ instructor and MBF® practitioner. I'm very passionate about my work. Through decades of study and by surrounding myself with great instructors and teaching countless students all over the world, I've been able to become an authority in both these fields. My unique experience and education has allowed me to study, understand, and teach the biomechanics of grappling in way that has never been seen. This is my story…

 

I began training Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (BJJ) back in the summer of 1991. This was right before my freshman year at UCSD. No BJJ schools existed in the area at that time. BJJ was introduced to me within a self-defense class at the university that mixed the techniques of several different martial arts.

 

Today, BJJ students have access to almost an unlimited amount of information and techniques due to Google and YouTube. This is on top of all the DVD’s, books, and online trainings on the market. Back in the early 1990’s, the internet was in its infancy. None of what we take for granted now existed back then.

 

The first and only video of BJJ was “Gracie Jiu-jitsu in Action 1” on VHS tape. For those who have not seen this classic video, it is a compilation of no holds barred challenge matches between members of the Gracie family and other martial arts. A while later, “Gracie Jiu-jitsu in Action 2” was released. I was so thirsty for information that I watched the fights in those videos countless times, examining and analyzing every detail, like it was an instructional..

 

The first instructional videos to come out on the market was by Rorion and Royce Gracie. The techniques were extremely basic by today’s standards, but amazing to an audience who had very little idea what BJJ was about. The instructional videos by Rorion and Royce dominated the market for a while, simply because they were the only ones. As students, we were dying for more. A big change occurred with the release of the instructional series by Renzo Gracie and Craig Kukuk (1st American BJJ black belt). Renzo and Craig taught more information and opened our eyes to the greater possibilities that BJJ had to offer.

 

As the years passed, with BJJ receiving more exposure due to the UFC and other fight organizations, more and more BJJ black belts began to come to the United States. Though the number of black belts in the US grew, the willingness to share more techniques and the deeper “secrets”, to an audience greater than their owns students, was still fairly slow. I believe that many instructors wanted to share techniques, but the amount they shared was understandably limited by not wanting to divulge their secrets to their opponents during a time where it was still “BJJ vs other styles” and while BJJ instructors and their schools were trying to gain notoriety as the best fighters even between themselves.

 

Inevitably, the willingness to divulge more secrets in the instructional video market was forced forward not only by business competition, but American BJJ instructors who began to influence the market by not only teaching a large amount of information, but also adding greater organization and structure.

 

One of my main goals when I entered into BJJ instructional market was to offer a better product than what was already out there by pushing the envelope as far as technique and organization. Those who have followed my work saw this with my instructional videos starting in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.

 

Thousands of copies of Jen BJJ DVD's have been sold throughout the years. I put tremendous amount of thought and work into producing those videos. They were very well-received because of the organization and details of the material presented. Even though they were released over 15 years ago, they are still being purchased today. I still get emails and Facebook messages from BJJ Black Belts thanking me for my efforts, saying that was one of the first instructional sets they own. I find that there is nothing like the reward of being simultaneously disruptive and bringing value to the BJJ community.

 

Now when I look at the instructional market, things have changed so much. We had gone from famine to feast. Students currently have access to more techniques than anyone’s mind can possibly retain. I've been asked for years to release new materials, but I had held off because I wanted to be positive that I would surpass the level of quality that I produced with my first products.

 

I wanted my efforts to go into something not only truly unique, but something that could change the way practitioners see jiu-jitsu. This has led me to combine my passions into my new book, “The Science of Submission: A Principle-Based Approach to Brazilian Jiu-jitsu”. This unique book breaks down BJJ techniques through principles of physics, biomechanics, and postural alignment. You will learn to look at BJJ from a perspective never seen before in any instructional. The content of this e-book is intellectual and scientific, yet simple enough for everyone to understand.

 

REVIEWS

 

Rare it is to find a work that explains a complex, sophisticated art in scientific terms and foundational principles. Such works have the powerful ability to illuminate our understanding of the current practice and to offer a pathway for the art’s advancement. Michael Jen has achieved exactly that for the art of Brazilian Jiu­Jitsu with this book. As a MIT trained mechanical engineer and a blue belt in BJJ, I am attracted to the highly technical nature of BJJ in general, and to Michael Jen’s structured approach in particular. This book bridges the underlying physics and kinematics that explain the nature of human movement with the grappling techniques of Brazilian Jiu­Jitsu. It begins with an examination of these core ideas and proceeds to the analysis of some common BJJ techniques in terms of these principles. For serious students of the art, this book offers a platform to analyze and then perfect techniques, and with that process, become better martial artists.

 

Jay Gurusamy

BS, MS in Mechanical Engineering, MIT

 

 

 

The Science of Submission is a must read for any BJJ practitioner. The techniques demonstrated are basic enough for a beginner to understand, but the real strength of the material is Michael’s breakdown and explanation of the bio-mechanical concepts behind those techniques. Concepts that are universally applicable to a wide range of techniques well beyond those found in the book, and concepts that even experienced grapplers, teachers, and coaches, sometimes have trouble articulating to their students. Many books cover the “how” of BJJ technique, this book covers the “why”. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a thinking man’s game, and The Science of Submission is a thinking man’s manual to that game.

 

Jason Wilhelmsen

Carlos Machado BJJ black belt

 

 

 

So I got a sneak look at the book and so let me give my own thoughts on the book. For background purposes I will state I am a black belt in judo and a black belt in bjj. Note I don't train w Michael either so I can be unbias.

 

One of the major things this book does better than others is really break down the actual science of why moves works. The secret is in biomechanics and weight distribution (or manipulation). People love to rant and rave on Rickson's philosophy of bjj or on how Ryan Hall explains the physics behind why moves works and certain strategies (and I am using these two as a example as in general people normally rave about how they scientifically break things apart). The problem is most books are more a formulaic "how to" approach to bjj, with step by step instruction that is laid out without explanation of WHY you position your body in a certain way. This is probably the beauty of this book as it gives you insight as to why the biomechanics works. So its using actual engineering principles and appropriate language to pass these things on. Don't worry, you don't need to an extensive background in physics to understand it. Just have a open mind and absorb to help take your understanding to a higher level. This is they type of book that will remind you of training w that black belt teacher who was a expert at conveying weight distribution and feel to you to get that "ah ha" light bulb moment instead of a book that is more akin to a instructor that shows you how to do a move by the numbers with little to no insight.

 

So if you want to help gain a better understanding of how to manipulate the body and a better insight on how to pass on that knowledge to others, this is the book for you. I have been training since 2003 and have owned a LOT of bjj books (given the majority away too) but this is one that is a master class textbook of the science behind why this stuff works.

 

David Close

Judo black belt and Alliance BJJ black belt