Your first, worst, and surprising vhs or dvd purchased?

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First & Worst - Nick Sparks shoot fighting techniques VHS, 1995. Got it out of an ad in Black Belt Magazine. I'm not sure if that was his name, best I can remember. He listed his phone number in the ad. He was a prick on the phone. I was mesmerized by the "rolling knee bar."

Fabio Gurgel's VHS set was fantastic! 9 tapes. 1997? The only issue was the guitar music between techniques. I recall seeing the x-guard back take thinking no way can this work.. Great set! Ahead of the times.

Rick L (can't remember his last name) VHS set was called Wrestler Killer. Not bad, surprised.

I met a dude on the "in the guard" BJJ forum (late 90's) we traded and copy everything out there!

GUILTY of having Gene Simco Jiu-Jitsu for the street.......
 
I can't imagine having to watch bad video quality instructionals from the 90s in VHS. Some online videos from the mid to late 2000s is bad enough, I could only imagine how awful the ones made in the 90s are. I understand it's made limited by technology and all that and I'm not that young either.
 
Worst instructional...probably Little Tony's Sao Paulo Passing series. Not so much because the technique was terrible (it was pretty mediocre but whatever), but largely because the audio and video quality were so bad and the DVD so cheaply made that I could only watch it a few times trying to hear what he was saying before the DVD stopped working.

First was Braulio's first set. I still use some things from that set, especially how he recomposes open guard against the pass. It was great.

Best...that's hard to say. I usually buy sets just for a few positions, I haven't ever really had one where I used everything or was totally blown away by all the material. Lucas Lepri's Modern Guard Passing was one where pretty much everything on it was gold, I'd recommend it to anyone looking to improve their gi passing.
 
Worst- I got some dynamic kicking / sparring thing out of black belt back in the late 80's early 90's- I've pretty much wiped it out of my memory.

Best- probably Ryan Hall's deep half guard. Also the first DVD set I bought once I finally started taking BJJ formally.

I have a set for each position-
Turtle = Telles
1/2 guard = Faria
Triangle = Hall
Arm triangle = hall
DHG = Hall
50/50 = Hall
411 = Jones (just got it, haven't opened it yet though)
Spider = kesting / bayev set
passing = hall
defensive guard = hall
DLR = Grippo
Closed = Marte
Back = hall

I MAY have a problem...
 
Forceof1 - There's worst things one can spend money on!

How do you rank the listed dvd's? Say, top 5?
 
I can't imagine having to watch bad video quality instructionals from the 90s in VHS. Some online videos from the mid to late 2000s is bad enough, I could only imagine how awful the ones made in the 90s are. I understand it's made limited by technology and all that and I'm not that young either.

My favorite DVD of this description is Josh Russell "The Turtle." It's filmed in the corner of somebody's office, and you can loudly hear big city traffic sounds the whole time. The editing cuts in and out abruptly, the titles are inconsistent, and the clips are sometimes edited out of sequence (like you'll suddenly see the second option of a move he showed 7 moves ago). Russell himself is very nervous, has a thick Canadian accent, and seems to have gone a bit too far down the BJJ rabbit hole for sanity's sake (his story is that he went to Brazil and spent several months training at Gracie Barra HQ, where he spent so much time getting his ass kicked that he became amazingly good from the turtle). The moves he shows are really good though, more of a down-and-dirty contrast to Telles.
 
Forceof1 - There's worst things one can spend money on!

How do you rank the listed dvd's? Say, top 5?

Hmm, remind me in a bout a month or two and I'll post a better review / ranking. I just got the turtle, 50/50, 411, and faria dvds for black friday / christmas presents. I also forgot that I have two riley bodycomb sets (top rock and sambo leg locks) along with the aforementioned josh russell dvd (haven't watched that one yet either).
 
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