John Danaher is one of BJJ’s most renowned coaches, known for his detailed and system-based instructionals. BJJ Fanatics has released many of his video series covering everything from fundamental escapes to advanced submissions. Below, we’ve ranked all of Danaher’s major instructionals available on BJJFanatics.com by their popularity, effectiveness, and how suitable they are for beginner and intermediate grapplers. Each entry includes what you’ll learn, why it’s useful at your level, pricing, a purchase link, and real user feedback from the BJJ community.
*NEW John Danaher*
How to win when you’re older
1. Pin Escapes & Turtle Escapes (Go Further Faster series)
What You’ll Learn: This is Danaher’s fundamental curriculum for escaping bad positions. Across several hours, he breaks down how to survive and escape from the major pins – side control, mount, north-south – and how to safely turtle and escape back control. You’ll build a solid defensive foundation, learning to frame, bridge, hip escape, and re-guard against stronger opponents. Danaher’s step-by-step system is extremely detailed, but it gives beginners a lifeline for those “stuck” bottom positions that everyone faces. It’s often recommended as the first Danaher instructional to get, because a good defense is crucial for progress.
Why It’s Great for Beginners/Intermediates: Escaping pins is arguably the most important skill for new grapplers – you can’t attack until you can survive. Danaher’s methodical approach helps you understand not just how to escape, but why each technique works, which really accelerates improvement. One Reddit user even said if they could only pick one Danaher video, it would be Pin Escapes & Turtle Escapes, underscoring its value for white and blue belts. Beginners will immediately benefit from spending time on these escapes, and intermediate students can fill any gaps in their defensive game.
Price: Regular price $197 (often on sale for around $98).
Purchase URL: Pin Escapes & Turtle Escapes: BJJ Fundamentals – Go Further Faster by John Danaher (BJJ Fanatics)
Reddit Feedback: “Usually, I train without a gi… The Go Further Faster series is still fantastic. If I can only recommend one John Danaher instructional, it would be Go Further Faster – Pin Escapes & Turtle Escapes.”
2. The Fastest Way: To Develop An Unpassable Guard (Guard Retention)
What You’ll Learn: In this recent release, Danaher focuses exclusively on guard retention – i.e. preventing your guard from being passed. He outlines the core problems guard players face and provides solutions through proper frames, hip movements, and recovery techniques. The instructional teaches 12 essential solo and partner drills to build the reflexes for retaining guard. Danaher covers how to counter all the common guard passes (knee cuts, toreando, bodylock passes, etc.) by using angle changes, shrimping, and recomposing your guard. The goal is to give you a step-by-step formula to make your guard “unpassable.”
Why It’s Great for Beginners/Intermediates: Guard retention is a fundamental skill that many grapplers struggle with. This course is designed for all levels and is very actionable – Danaher gives you a clear gameplan and drills to follow, which newer students will appreciate. It’s also more concise and focused than some older series, making it easier to digest. One reviewer noted that the guard retention DVD from “The Fastest Way” series was “the most helpful one for me”, highlighting how much immediate improvement they saw in their guard defense. If you’re a beginner getting your guard passed often, or an intermediate looking to tighten up your guard game, this instructional’s structured approach will benefit you greatly.
Price: $197 (BJJ Fanatics often runs 50% off sales on these).
Purchase URL: The Fastest Way: To Develop An Unpassable Guard by John Danaher – BJJ Fanatics
Reddit Feedback: “[Danaher’s] guard retention one [from The Fastest Way series] was the most helpful one for me… I saw immediate results in my guard retention.”
3. The Fastest Way: To Become an Effective Guard Passer (No-Gi)
What You’ll Learn: Passing guard is a notoriously complex skill, but Danaher distills it into a practical system here. Aimed at no-gi grappling, this instructional teaches you how to dominate the passing battle by using the greatest advantages a passer has (like top pressure and mobility). Danaher covers multiple passing strategies – from loose passes like toreando, to tight passes like body locks and half-guard passes – and how to link them into a cohesive game. He emphasizes using tripod passing, cross-stepping, leg pummeling, and pressure concepts to shut down guard players. Essentially, it’s a blueprint for systematically breaking through an opponent’s guard as efficiently as possible.
Why It’s Great for Beginners/Intermediates: Guard passing can feel overwhelming for beginners, but this course provides a clear roadmap. Danaher gives you a focused plan of attack instead of a random collection of passes. Reviewers have noted that “it really gives you a plan you can implement when you’re guard passing”. The instruction is more concise and less meandering than some older sets, which keeps newer students engaged. In fact, experienced users on Reddit recommend this guard passing set “over the old one for sure, especially for beginners”, because it’s so much more to-the-point. If you’re a white or blue belt frustrated with getting swept or stalled in guard, this will rapidly improve your passing success by teaching you fundamental passing mechanics and tactics in an accessible way.
Price: $197 (check for discount codes or sales).
Purchase URL: The Fastest Way: To Become an Effective Guard Passer (No-Gi) by John Danaher – BJJ Fanatics
Reddit Feedback: “Go with The Fastest Way one for guard passing. It is way more focused… I’d recommend the Fastest Way guard passing one over the old one for sure, especially for beginners.”
4. Back Attacks: Enter The System
What You’ll Learn: This is Danaher’s famed system for attacking the back, featuring his “straight jacket” control system that revolutionized back attacks in BJJ. In this instructional, Danaher teaches how to secure back control from various positions (including turtle) and then systematically finish with chokes. Major topics include the mechanics of the rear naked choke (RNC), setting up strangles when an opponent defends the choke (using techniques like arm traps and cross-grips), and controlling an opponent’s back so they can’t escape. It’s a comprehensive blueprint for dominating one of BJJ’s most dominant positions. You’ll also learn entries to the back (e.g. chair-sit and crucifix transitions) and how to deal with common defenses. This series is known for its detail on grip fighting and the step-by-step layering of attacks to break down a tough opponent’s defenses.
Why It’s Great for Beginners/Intermediates: Taking the back and finishing a choke is a high-percentage path to victory, so learning Danaher’s back attack system is incredibly effective for any level. Intermediate grapplers will especially benefit from the nuanced details that can elevate their back control success. While Danaher’s teaching style is lengthy, many find this particular instructional more engaging than others – one Reddit user said Danaher’s Back Attacks was “the only Danaher instructional I’ve watched that didn’t bore me half to death. It definitely upped my back control game by a huge margin.” Another experienced grappler described it as a “must watch” for its systematic approach to getting and finishing from the back. Beginners might not be taking backs frequently yet, but learning these concepts early means you’ll capitalize when you do get the back. Overall, this set is extremely popular and considered essential viewing for building a strong submission game.
Price: $197 (often available at ~$98 during promotions).
Purchase URL: Back Attacks: Enter The System by John Danaher – BJJ Fanatics
Reddit Feedback: “Danaher: [It’s a] good overview of getting to the back from turtle and a systematic approach of attacking from the back… Must watch. …Danaher helped me maintain and finish from the back.”
5. The Fastest Way: To Increase Your Submission Percentage (No-Gi)
What You’ll Learn: This instructional is all about finishing fights. Danaher analyzes which submissions have the highest success rate in no-gi grappling and teaches you how to funnel your game toward those high-percentage finishes. In practice, this means a heavy focus on rear naked chokes, along with other reliably effective submissions like guillotines and arm triangles (and perhaps leg locks, though leg locks are covered in depth elsewhere). Danaher shows how to “get to the back more often, hold it, and finish” as well as capitalize on other common submission opportunities. Essentially, it’s a condensed course on the most efficient ways to submit your opponents, eliminating low-percentage moves and sticking to strategies that work most consistently at all levels of competition.
Why It’s Great for Beginners/Intermediates: This video gives you a big-picture strategy for grappling: prioritize getting the back or other dominant positions that lead to the best submissions. For a newer student, this is invaluable because it steers you toward techniques that will actually tap people out (rather than chasing flashy moves that often fail). Despite being an advanced concept, Danaher presents it as “the fastest way” to improve – meaning it’s meant to rapidly boost anyone’s finishing ability. One experienced commenter said “you really only need 2 [Danaher videos]: the Fastest Way to increase submission rate and Danaher’s Back Attacks (Enter the System).” This speaks to how effective this submission course is when combined with the back attack knowledge. Intermediate grapplers will find that it fills in any gaps in their submission game and helps them convert dominant positions into actual tap-outs more reliably.
Price: $197 (watch for sales to save).
Purchase URL: The Fastest Way: To Increase Your Submission Percentage (No-Gi) by John Danaher – BJJ Fanatics
Reddit Feedback: “You really only need 2. Danaher’s TFW [The Fastest Way] to increase submission rate (this goes over many roads to get to the back) and Danaher’s ETS Back Attacks (this covers back control, retention, and attacks).”
6. Leg Locks: Enter The System
What You’ll Learn: This is the groundbreaking 8-hour series that put the grappling world on notice about lower-body submissions. In Leg Locks: Enter The System, Danaher unveils his leg locking system in a very structured way. He starts with the foundational positions (Ashigurami leg entanglements) and explains how to control an opponent’s lower body. The instructional covers all the major leg locks: heel hooks (inside and outside), straight ankle locks, knee bars, etc., but the real value is in the system of entering into these positions and finishing methodically. You’ll learn the differentiation between positions like single-leg X (Ashigurami), outside Ashi, 50/50, and the infamous “inside sankaku” (honeyhole), and how to transition between them. Danaher also addresses defense and counters to leg locks. It’s a complete lower-body submission curriculum that changed how many people approach leg attacks.
Why It’s Great for Beginners/Intermediates: Leg locks were once considered advanced or “dirty,” but Danaher’s system made them accessible to everyone. He emphasizes control and safety, which is important for beginners venturing into leg attacks. While a brand-new grappler might find the depth overwhelming, even intermediate students have found that this DVD can “change your entire game”. It’s extremely popular – Danaher’s students used these techniques to dominate high-level competition, and many hobbyist grapplers have reported big improvements after studying this system. One Redditor went so far as to call Danaher’s leglock instructional “already a classic”. For a blue belt or above looking to add leglocks to their arsenal, this is the gold standard. Even beginners can benefit from understanding leg lock mechanics and defenses early on (just be sure to train them safely). Given its fame and influence, Leglocks: Enter The System is often one of the first Danaher sets people buy, though we rank it below the fundamentals because leglocks require a bit of baseline skill to apply effectively.
Price: $197 (often on sale for around $98.50)
Purchase URL: Leglocks: Enter The System by John Danaher – BJJ Fanatics
Reddit Feedback: “I have worked extensively [with] Danaher’s leglock DVD and think it’s brilliant… the leglock one is already a classic for me.”
7. Closed Guard: BJJ Fundamentals – Go Further Faster
What You’ll Learn: This installment of the Go Further Faster (GFF) fundamentals series is all about the closed guard, which is often the first guard taught in BJJ. Danaher explores how to break your opponent’s posture, control them, and attack from closed guard. He demonstrates classic closed guard attacks (like the cross-collar choke, kimura, guillotine, and hip-bump sweep) as well as modern tricks to keep the guard closed or funnel into other attacks. Even though some techniques involve the gi (e.g. cross-collar chokes), Danaher often notes no-gi adaptations. The instructional also covers breaking your opponent’s grips, setting up combinations (for example, threatening a sweep to open up a submission), and when to transition to open guard. Essentially, it’s a deep dive into how to fight from bottom closed guard effectively, which is a crucial skill for beginners.
Why It’s Great for Beginners/Intermediates: Closed guard is a position every beginner finds themselves in – either you have someone in your guard or you’re stuck inside someone’s guard. This video gives beginners a solid roadmap for the offensive side of closed guard. It’s very relevant to early progression: you learn how to not just hold on, but actually threaten sweeps and submissions off your back. Intermediate grapplers (especially if you mostly train no-gi) will still pick up details on breaking posture and chaining attacks. While part of the material uses gi grips, the majority of the concepts (like controlling posture and attacking arms or neck) apply in no-gi as well. By studying Danaher’s closed guard fundamentals, you’ll develop a closed guard that is active and threatening, not just stalling. It’s worth noting that Danaher’s instruction is thorough, so he covers even seemingly basic moves with great detail – helpful if you want to understand the mechanics deeply. This GFF Closed Guard set is often recommended alongside the other fundamentals for a well-rounded foundation.
Price: $197 (watch for 50% off deals).
Purchase URL: Closed Guard: BJJ Fundamentals – Go Further Faster by John Danaher (BJJ Fanatics)
Reddit Feedback: Community consensus is that the Go Further Faster series (which includes closed guard) is very beginner-friendly and applicable even in no-gi. Danaher covers timeless concepts that “the majority of those apply to no-gi as well,” making this closed guard instructional useful for all newcomers. (In other words, don’t be put off by any gi-specific sections – the principles you learn here will serve you in any setting.)
8. Open Guard: BJJ Fundamentals – Go Further Faster
What You’ll Learn: In this GFF volume, Danaher turns to open guard – the wide range of guard positions used when you can’t (or don’t) have your legs closed around your opponent. The instructional is split into two volumes and covers fundamental open guard positions like butterfly guard, seated guard, spider guard (with gi grips), and even some De La Riva and lasso concepts. Danaher emphasizes the common skills needed for all open guards: maintaining distance with your feet and shins, controlling sleeves or wrists, and the technical stand-up (stand-up sweep). He demonstrates how to transition between guards (e.g. from butterfly to X-guard) and discusses when to off-balance (kazushi) vs. when to attack submissions. Key techniques taught include basic hook sweeps, arm drags from guard, and entries into leg locks or sweeps from open guard scenarios. Essentially, this set gives you a broad overview of how to play guard when you can’t just lock your legs closed – which is most of the time in no-gi or once opponents start opening your closed guard.
Why It’s Great for Beginners/Intermediates: Open guard can be very tricky for beginners – it’s easy to get passed if you don’t know how to use your legs as shields and frames. This instructional provides that fundamental toolkit. Beginners will learn how to retain guard in open scenarios and set up basic sweeps, which is critical as they progress (since you won’t always be able to keep closed guard). Intermediate grapplers who skipped formal open guard instruction will find a lot of value in Danaher’s systematic approach to guard concepts. He gives general principles that make all your open guards better (like maintaining an elbow-knee connection, controlling inside space, etc.). Although some parts use gi-specific grips, most concepts have no-gi equivalents. The Open Guard GFF series is frequently cited as a bit of a “slog” to get through (it’s very long), but those who do report “immediate results in my guard retention” and sweeping. If you pair this with the Guard Retention set (#2 on our list), you’ll have both offense and defense from your guard covered. This makes it highly relevant for the serious intermediate student.
Price: $197 (often discounted to ~$98 during promotions).
Purchase URL: Open Guard: BJJ Fundamentals – Go Further Faster by John Danaher – BJJ Fanatics
Reddit Feedback: One user noted that Danaher’s open guard material is dense (“definitely a slog”), but said “I saw immediate results in my guard retention though” when applying the concepts. This highlights that while it requires patience to study, the effectiveness for your game is quickly apparent. Another community member comparing open guard instructionals mentioned that Danaher’s approach gives a better overview of basic guard principles, making it a strong guide for learning open guard fundamentals.
9. Half Guard: BJJ Fundamentals – Go Further Faster
What You’ll Learn: This instructional covers bottom half guard – a position everyone ends up in when an opponent starts passing. Danaher systematically teaches how to turn half guard into an offensive platform rather than just a stalling position. Key topics include the use of the knee shield (Z-guard), establishing underhooks, the coyote half guard (an active half guard used to come up on singles or sweeps), and transitioning between half guard variations. You’ll learn classic sweeps like the old-school half guard sweep, the Shaolin sweep, and entries to the back or legs from half guard. Danaher also discusses escaping bad half guard scenarios (like when flattened out) and introduces the concept of half guard as a way to slow down an opponent’s pass and force a neutral or advantageous position. Essentially, it’s a complete gameplan for half guard bottom – how to survive, recover guard, or sweep/submit from there.
Why It’s Great for Beginners/Intermediates: Half guard is often a newer grappler’s safety net – when your guard is getting passed, you cling onto half guard. This video teaches you to do that intelligently and to attack from half guard, which is a big step in skill. Beginners can greatly benefit by learning proper half-guard framing and escapes (so they don’t get smashed), while intermediates will start using half guard proactively to sweep. Danaher’s half guard fundamentals are filled with concepts that will carry through to advanced techniques. Many users compare Danaher’s half guard favorably with other instructors’; one Redditor commented that Danaher’s instructional “is better for an overarching guide to playing half guard. There’s a better overview of basic principles…”. This means if you want to build a half guard game from scratch, Danaher gives you the concepts and moves to do it. Additionally, his details on connection and Kuzushi (off-balancing) from half guard can level-up an intermediate player’s success rate with sweeps. Overall, this GFF Half Guard set ensures you’re not clueless when stuck in half guard – instead, you’ll have a plan to improve position or even attack from bottom.
Price: $197 (standard price; look for sales).
Purchase URL: Half Guard: BJJ Fundamentals – Go Further Faster by John Danaher – BJJ Fanatics
Reddit Feedback: “Danaher’s instructional I think is better for an overarching guide to playing half guard. [It gives] a better overview of basic principles…”. Users also report that even if you know other half guard techniques, Danaher’s details can fill holes – “His Half Guard series floored me with the sheer detail,” one experienced grappler noted, after thinking he’d already seen it all in half guard.
10. Submission Escapes: New Wave Jiu Jitsu
What You’ll Learn: This video is part of Danaher’s New Wave Jiu Jitsu series and focuses on escaping submissions – an area not deeply covered in the earlier fundamentals. It deals with how to properly defend and escape common submission holds: escaping arm bars, triangle chokes, guillotines, heel hooks, rear naked chokes, etc. Danaher breaks down each submission’s control mechanics and the precise escapes/counters you should use (for example, the hitchhiker escape for armbar, stacking out of triangles, hand-fighting RNC defense, etc.). He emphasizes staying safe first (posture and positioning to avoid the break/finish) and then the technical steps to free yourself. This instructional essentially gives you a toolkit to survive bad situations where your opponent is close to finishing a submission – and turn those into escapes or even counters.
Why It’s Great for Beginners/Intermediates: Tapping out is part of learning, but as you progress, you’ll want to start fighting out of tight submissions when possible. This set is highly relevant once you have basic positional defense down. For a beginner, it might be a bit advanced (it’s okay to just tap early when you’re new), but it’s still useful to learn proper defense early – it can prevent a lot of injuries and instill calmness under pressure. Intermediate grapplers will gain a ton from Danaher’s approach here; escaping subs is often less taught in class, so this fills a gap in knowledge. The New Wave Submission Escapes has been highly recommended by experienced practitioners – it’s marked with an asterisk in Danaher’s own recommended progression list, indicating it’s considered essential. With this instructional, you’ll develop confidence that you can get out of arm bars, triangles, and chokes that used to feel inescapable. That confidence and skill is a game-changer at the intermediate level, where matches often become battles of who breaks first. If you’ve ever been caught and thought “I don’t know how to get out!”, this video is for you.
Price: $197 (same pricing as other full-length sets).
Purchase URL: Submission Escapes: New Wave Jiu Jitsu by John Danaher – BJJ Fanatics
Reddit Feedback: Grapplers consider this a must-have in Danaher’s New Wave series. In a suggested curriculum for Danaher videos, Submission Escapes was listed first and marked “highly recommended”. This reflects the community’s view that learning to survive submissions is a crucial skill – one that Danaher addresses in unparalleled detail in this instructional.*
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.
Who is the best instructor in BJJ?
VS.
Read our reviews and decide for yourself!
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 multiple instructional series
John Danaher has multiple 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:
- Ageless Jiu Jitsu (about Winning When You’re Older And Less Athletic):
- Enter the system (about submission systems):
- Go further faster (about fundamentals in the gi):
- New wave jiu jitsu (about fundamentals in no gi):
- Standing2Ground (about takedowns in no gi)
- Feet to floor (about takedowns in gi):
- Free Danaher mini-instructionals:
Watch the only FREE John Danaher instructional
Free Danaher Secrets
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:
- Guard Retention
- Pin Escapes & Turtle Escapes
- Half Guard
- Closed Guard
- Open Guard
- Passing the Guard
- Half Guard Passing and Dynamic Pins
- Strangles & Turtle Breakdowns
Start to build a dangerous guard game today
Danaher closed guard
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:
- Pin escapes
- No gi half guard
- Closed guard
- Open guard 1: the foundations
- Open guard 2: sweeps & reversals
- No gi guard passing
- Side attacks
- No gi mount attacks
- 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:
And you can get from 50% up to 90% off Danaher instructionals if you get lucky with a great Daily Deal on BJJ Fanatics.
