Top 10 Best John Danaher Instructionals & Which Order to Watch (2024)

You want to buy a Danaher instructional, but you don’t know which one to get? Don’t worry. Danaher has so many instructionals that it’s confusing. In this article you read the best Danaher instructional order to follow to get the most out of his work. But let me first explain how Danaher’s instructionals work.

Who is John Danaher?

John Danaher is the legendary BJJ coach of Gordon Ryan, and previously of the Danaher Death Squad (which included Gary Tonon, Nicky Ryan, Craig Jones, Eddie Cummings and others). He’s considered the best BJJ coach ever by many. And he was also the MMA coach of George St. Pierre before that, in his long career as a martial arts coach.

What’s Danaher’s teaching style?

John Danaher teaches like a university lecturer. He explains a lot of concepts and principles along with many details for his techniques. You’ll learn a lot, but you have to keep paying attention. Many people love his teaching style, but some think it’s too slow.

Danaher has 3 instructional series

John Danaher has 3 series of instructionals that each have many instructionals in them. He also has a few extra instructionals outside of these series. All Danaher’s instructionals are (click on the links to view the instructional in the store):

• One-offs:
  • The fastest way to increase your submission percentage (no gi) (NEW!)
• Ageless Jiu Jitsu (about Winning When You’re Older And Less Athletic):
  • Top Game: Gi
  • Top game: No Gi
  • Bottom game: Gi
  • Bottom game: No Gi
• Enter the system (about submission systems):
  • Leglocks
  • Back attacks
  • Front Headlock
  • Triangles
  • Kimura
  • Arm bar
• Go further faster (about fundamentals in the gi):
  • Pin Escapes & Turtle Escapes
  • Guard Retention
  • Half Guard
  • Closed Guard
  • Open Guard
  • Passing the Guard
  • Half Guard Passing and Dynamic Pins
  • Strangles & Turtle Breakdowns
• New wave jiu jitsu (about fundamentals in no gi):
  • Side attacks
  • Mount attacks
  • No gi guard passing
  • Closed guard
  • Half guard: 3 directions of attack
  • Pin escapes
  • Submission escapes
  • Positional escapes
  • Open guard 1: foundations
  • Open guard 2: sweeps & reversals
• Standing2Ground (about takedowns in no gi)
  • Takedowns & standing skills for jiu jitsu
  • Upper body takedowns
  • Positional dominance & scrimmage wrestling
• Feet to floor (about takedowns in gi):
  • Volume 1: Fundamental standing skills
  • Volume 2: Low risk takedowns
  • Volume 3: A better way to pull guard
• Free Danaher mini-instructionals:
  • Self Mastery Solo drills

In what order to watch Danaher instructionals?

Danaher says that you should start with his pin escapes and guard retention instructionals (from either Go Further Faster if you do gi, or New Wave if you do no gi). After that, you can choose where you want to go. Conventional wisdom is to start with his closed guard instructional, and I think his half guard instructional is another great option. If you’re older, you may also consider starting with his new ageless jiu jitsu series, which is also comprehensive.

Also read: Top 5 Best Half Guard Instructionals You’ll ever Watch

In what order to watch Go Further Faster?

The most important thing is that you start with guard retention and pin escapes, like Danaher recommends. And just to give you a complete watch order, I suggest the following:

1. Guard Retention
2. Pin Escapes & Turtle Escapes
3. Half Guard
4. Closed Guard
5. Open Guard
6. Passing the Guard
7. Half Guard Passing and Dynamic Pins
8. Strangles & Turtle Breakdowns

In what order to watch the New Wave instructionals?

The most important thing is still to follow John’s advice and start with guard retention and pin escapes. For New Wave the full watch order I recommend is:

1. Pin escapes
2. No gi half guard
3. Closed guard
4. Open guard 1: the foundations
5. Open guard 2: sweeps & reversals
6. No gi guard passing
7. Side attacks
8. No gi mount attacks
9. Submission escapes

The Best Danaher instructionals

Every Danaher instructional in the 3 main series are excellent. Some of the instructionals that are apart from the main series are less good in my opinion (although I liked Feet to Floor). But other than that, which Danaher instructional is best for you depends on what you want to learn.

Which are the best Danaher instructionals you ever watched?

Some of the best Danaher instructionals ever are in my opinion: Enter the System: Leg locks and Enter the System: Back Attacks. These instructionals had such a massive impact on jiu jitsu. Every high level competitor copied Danaher’s system completely, and both his leg lock system and his straight jacker system are now used by everyone.

Which are the best Danaher instructionals for beginners?

The best Danaher instructionals for beginners are, in most cases, Go Further Faster: Pin Escapes, New Wave Jiu Jitsu: Positional Escapes and Go Further Faster: Guard Retentions. These are the videos that Danaher himself recommends beginners to start with.

Which are the best Danaher instructionals for no gi?

The best Danaher instructionals for no gi are all his videos in the New Wave jiu jitsu series, as well as all the Enter the System instructional series. His gi instructionals are all in the Go Further Faster series, so avoid that.

Are there any Free Danaher instructionals?

Yes, Danaher has a few small instructionals that are available for free. These are:

• Self Mastery: Solo Drills

And you can get from 50% up to 90% off Danaher instructionals if you get lucky with a great Daily Deal on BJJ Fanatics.