There’s nothing better than getting free stuff that’s genuinely useful. In a combination of altruism and good marketing — they want to get you on their mailing list, which can actually be a good thing for you, since they give away great material — some of the foremost personalities in the BJJ online instructional community offer free e-books for you to download. Here are three of the best.

The Beginner’s Guide to BJJ: Get A Head Start On Your Jiu-Jitsu Journey, by Nic Gregoriades

Nic Gregoriades is famous for taking only four years to attain his black belt, something that usually takes about ten, and for being very conceptual in his approach to training. He also has his own association, Jiu-Jitsu Brotherhood.

In his 56-page The Beginner’s Guide to BJJ, Nic gives a little history of BJJ, talks about the equipment you need, what to look for in a good school, and describes and discusses the key positions in BJJ — side mount, knee on chest, turtle, etc. He talks about ‘position before submission’ — the idea that you should look to improve your position all the time rather than try and get submissions straight off the bat, something beginners tend to try to do. At the end, he gives some useful and very specific tips to beginners, such as learn to pass closed guard by standing, and learn to breathe and relax when you’re underneath your opponent.

Download The Beginner’s Guide to BJJ here

A Roadmap For Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, by Stephan Kesting

The highly likeable Canadian black belt Stephan Kesting is a one-man whirlwind of instructional activity. Drawing on his huge experience in martial arts, in the 34-page A Roadmap For Brazilian Jiu-jitsu he talks about how complex BJJ is compared with other martial arts, and the fact that when they start out, beginners can feel a little lost and confused by the complexity of it all. He addresses that issue, outlining the main positions, talking about how they interlink, and giving some specific advice about what you need to learn — for example, two submissions from each position.

Download A Roadmap For Brazilian Jiu-jitsu here (scroll down the page, on the left)

Focused Jiu-Jitsu: 8 Drilling Strategies To Destroy Training Plateaus And Effectively Implement New Techniques, by Nick ‘Chewy’ Albin

Kentucky-based black belt Nick ‘Chewy’ Albin is a huge advocate of drilling (repeating techniques again and again), saying that it was when he really embraced putting in the repetitions that his BJJ took off. The problem of training plateaus — those times when you feel like you’re not progressing — is not really a beginner issue, but the sooner you embrace drilling, the better your BJJ will become. Chewy talks about the different types of drilling — for example, drilling slowly against no resistance when you’re learning a new technique, and drilling against resistance when you’re trying to apply that technique more realistically — and describes how the different types of drilling should fit together. He also talks about how it’s important to get rid of the fear of losing so that you can work on your B game, rather than always go to your A game because you want to win — which, in the long run, will inhibit your development, since you won’t work on your weaknesses.

Download Focused Jiu-Jitsu here