The Danaher Diaries: Over 100 of John Danaher's Musings on Jiu-Jitsu, Kaizen, Training, and Living

by Heroes of the Art

#1 in Multiple Martial Arts Categories on Amazon

Since he burst onto the scene as George St. Pierre's grappling coach in the late 2000's, John Danaher has risen to be recognized as the foremost mind in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and competitive grappling.

More than just a coach, Danaher has garnered a reputation as a philosopher of the art. His social media is read by hundreds of thousands, serving as daily inspiration for students around the world. Danaher is able to take the complex and often contradictory rules of jiu-jitsu and break them down into universal concepts.

And it's not just talk: the infamous "Danaher Death Squad" is a who's who of combat sports. From MMA champions like George St. Pierre to grappling phenoms like Gordon Ryan and Gary Tonon. His work speaks for itself. 

We've assembled John Danaher's most timeless and thought provoking writings, over one hundred passages in short segments. At just a few minutes per passage, they make for the perfect quick read before hitting the gym, a quiet moment during morning coffee, or a long afternoon read.

Included are Danaher's famous concepts of:

Division and Unity The fundamentals of guard passing and retention Kaizen and the mindset of constant improvement Building the perfeect armbars, strangulations, and leg attacks
The power of asymmetry 
Creating systems amongst the choas of daily training.

Scattered throughout are fascinating little stories of John's life, from a philosophy major in college, to a bouncer in New York City. It's and amazing glimpse into the thinking of a modern jiu-jitsu master.

 

Genres: Martial Arts, Sports, Audiobook, Philosophy

242 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 5, 2019

Reviews

[Theo Kokonas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book introduced me to the brilliant BJJ coach that is John Danaher. The content of the book is superb (thanks John Danaher), however it is sorely lacking in the editing department. Each double page spread will give you the game of find the two spelling mistakes (minimum). It's clearly been put together on the cheap and you end up kicking yourself when you realise that all of his musings are actually available for free on Instagram, just follow him!
I'll be passing this copy round my BJJ club nonetheless.

[Frank Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Danaher’s contribution to BJJ can only truly be appreciated by those on the inside of the sport. He sees and explains things with the clarity of an outsider (he’s a New Zealander who studied philosophy). Listen to his podcast with Joe Rogan, take a paper and pen for all the notes you will want to take.

BJJ is the most difficult of martial arts gifted to the world by the Gracie’s but Danaher has come along and sharpened the modality of teaching it and in doing so energised BJJ to rise to another level again.

Thank you John.

[Jackson Meachum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant.

As a student to the martial arts , BJJ being the primary , I took great interest in these writings. Danaher is world renowned as one of the greatest minds to ever coach in the sport of Jiu JItsu and his fundamental breakdowns of every single move and the thought process behind them is why he is so highly regarded. I look forward to book #2.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Noting that it's just a bunch of Instagram posts compiled, it's a succinct read that really gets you thinking about different aspects of jiu-jitsu.

[Victor Volpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Danaher is an extremely good communicator and his capacity to simplify hard concepts into its fundamental pieces is very clear in this book. I enjoyed a lot the read.

For me, all the phrases reflect on 10 laws that can be applied beyond BJJ:

#1 Law of teaching: the best way to learn is to teach. It will sharpen your mind.

#2 Law of vulnerability: every organism has a vulnerable point that can render it inoperative it stricken.

#3 Law of unity and isolation: well applied pressure/force is to unify all strength against an isolated and vulnerable point.

#4 Law of progression: progression in any skill is based on acquiring knowledge and transforming it into skill thru practice.

#5 Law of resistance: resistance will always happen, combating it with more resistance is worthless. Use resistance against it. Deception is a good way to do it.

#6 Law of proximity: you will be heavily influenced by the quality of your peers.

#7 Law of regression: fake/controled scenarios will have a better performance vs. real scenarios. You will always regress from the control.

#8 Law of simplicity: transform complexity into bite size chunks that are simple to execute - later sum them.

#9 Law of opportunity: you can’t take opportunities that you can see. Identifying them is as important as acting on them:

#10 Law of pre-requisites: most actions require motions beforehand. Don’t jump to it before having all requirements in place.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of John Danaher’s Instagram posts. My BJJ career is only a year old so there’s a lot of information here that I’m not yet ready to process. However, there is lots of value in the info presented, even for a newbie like me. The collection reminds me of Miyamoto Musashi’s Book of Five Rings. The fact that Danaher studied philosophy at Columbia University makes me think this is not coincidental. The only critique I would have is that the posts sometimes come across a bit disjointed and repetitive. I’m sure that is because it is not a book written by Danaher, but a collection of posts by him gathered together for a book.

[Terrence D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obviously this isn't a comprehensive training manual on Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, but it could very well be the basis of one. Though I'd highly recommend this book first for White Belts, I think it'd do a lot of Professors and Coaches some good to read it as well, simply for the sake of organizing curricula and prioritizing lessons.

[David Sweeney-Bear · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've now finished narrating and producing this collection of John Danaher's wealth of knowledge in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It was a great pleasure, the audiobook will be available soon and I'm already looking forward to book 2.

[Joe Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book overall was a great thought provoking book. But then again its Danaher. Even if you don't grapple yourself very good read. I love to read sections before drilling or working out.

[K. Ira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting thoughts on both the mental aspects and actual tactics

[Steinbjörn Jónsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A true modern day philosopher in the practical sense, but perhaps best (only?) understood by BJJ practitioners.

[Marcel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of fantastic insights in here. Danaher is the Robert Greene of Jiu Jitsu.

[Rob Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of BJJ wisdom and truth.

[Nikkei · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's all about the Kaizen way of life!

[Andrew Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spoiled a bit with some typos which I guess reflect the original