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Turtle Concepts & Escapes by Dinu Bucalet reviews

Turtle Concepts & Escapes by Dinu Bucalet has 13 customer reviews in this archive, averaging 5.0 out of 5. 100% are five-star and 0 are one or two stars. Reviews run from March 29, 2022 to March 22, 2026. All of them are published below in full, unedited.

Who reviewed Turtle Concepts & Escapes by Dinu Bucalet

3 of these reviewers gave their belt rank when they submitted the review. BJJ Fanatics asks for rank, age and years training at the point of review, so this breakdown is self-reported by the customer.

Where to buy it

Turtle Concepts & Escapes by Dinu Bucalet is currently listed on the BJJ Fanatics storefront at $79.00 USD. View Turtle Concepts & Escapes by Dinu Bucalet on BJJ Fanatics

The reviews

• A complete turtle defence instructional

  Great techniques and useful concepts.

  Rodrigo A.March 22, 2026BrazilVerified buyerPurple belt4-6 yrs training

• Amazing turtle guard

  One of best turtle guard instructional there is. It’s quick and jam packed with basics and advance things to add to your turtle guard.

  Kevin T.August 29, 2025United StatesVerified buyerBlue belt4-6 yrs training

• great details

  great details

  Shane R.April 22, 2025United StatesVerified buyerWhite belt1-3 yrs training

• TOP NOTCH - SIMPLE × EFFECTIVE

  Turtle Concepts & Escapes by Dinu Bucalet

  Markus M.April 17, 2025AustriaVerified buyer4-6 yrs training

• Turtle Guard

  The detailed breakdown of techniques and clear demonstrations really improved my BJJ skills. Highly recommended!

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging:

  Sam S.October 22, 2023CAVerified buyer

• that's,uh,very useful.

  it will improve your game a lot

  Altay P.August 28, 2023TRVerified buyer

• Great Instructional

  Great explanation of the position. It's a great compliment to Priit Mihkelson's instructionals.

  Eric H.August 21, 2023USVerified buyer

• More Wrestle-Jitsu Gold, This Time from Turtle

  TL/DR: Dinu Bucalet's "Turtle Concepts & Escapes" is an incredibly useful, defense-focused instructional for beginners, particularly for anyone who has already been influenced by Priit Mihkelson's non-traditional, wrestling-influenced approach to the turtle position. What makes this instructional unique is the emphasis it places on the turtle player being active and aggressively chasing a dominant position rather than quietly waiting to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes. Dinu Bucalet continues the (really cool) trend of grapplers blending jiu jitsu with wrestling that we've seen from Priit Mihkelson, Neil Melanson, Jake Shields and others. This instructional covers the non-traditional turtle position which is described in-depth in Priit's "Protecting & Generating Dynamic Offense From The Turtle." But whereas Priit's instructional focuses on getting the position just right and maintaining it under pressure -- Priit likens it to a boxing stance -- Dinu focuses on how to actively fight your way out of that stance. While Priit's instructional encourages the learner to develop the ability to "be annoying" (i.e. difficult to break down or submit), Dinu encourages the learner to take the next step and bring the fight to the opponent. The two instructionals pair very well together and I would recommend them both to any beginner trying to develop their turtle game. Both are primarily defensive instructionals and therefore will not lead you to a complete turtle game, but a strong offense is built on the foundation of confident defense and so they are nonetheless invaluable to the beginner. Where Dinu's instructional really shines is in (a) his demonstration of how to use frames from turtle (a concept very rarely covered), and (b) his use of "the line concept" to effectively enter into the turtle and then attack the opponent's position from there. Both the framing and the attacking requires you to open up your position/defenses somewhat, but such risks are necessary if one wants to be more than purely defensive (which is untenable in the long run). Dinu's concepts turn the turtle from a passive, stalling position into an active one, which is absolutely necessary for the student who has gotten a handle on how to survive in the shell (no pun intended) and is ready to start making moves of their own. This also makes Dinu's style markedly different from the traditional jiu jitsu approach, which often focuses on waiting, baiting and trapping. While there is merit to that approach there are also downsides to being overly passive and relying solely on counter-attacks. Taking the initiative is always valuable, even for bottom players. (This is especially true for anyone who has an interest in mixed martial arts or anything which combines grappling with striking.) Therefore even a more advanced turtle practitioner can benefit from what Dinu has to offer, as he provides grapplers with tools for taking the initiative and "getting in the fight." This doesn't necessarily undermine or supplant traditional jiu jitsu skills. Rather it fills in the holes which are left open by the "wait and bait" game. It is worth noting, however, that as the instructional goes on it becomes less and less about turtle specifically and becomes a more general go-from-defense-to-offense instructional. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as Dinu demonstrates how the same concepts he uses in the turtle are applicable to a wide variety of circumstances, as well as how the turtle connects to the other aspects of one's game. However it does mean that for some Dinu's "Turtle Concepts & Escapes" may feel a little light on turtle specific content. Another quibble is that while Dinu covers turtle defense from the side, dogfight, and front-headlock positions in great detail, he doesn't address the most common approach a traditional jiu jitsu player will use to attack the turtle: i.e. in a crouch from behind, slightly off to one side, with one leg down and one up, the down leg going shin-to-shin and the up leg covering the opponent's hips. That being said it is a very minor quibble, for if you are taking Dinu's approach to the turtle seriously you shouldn't allow an opponent to hang out behind you anyway. You should be mobile, active, and looking for an opportunity to grab an arm or a leg and attack, or to put in frames and recover guard. In sum, Dinu's "Turtle Concepts" is a crucial step forward in my development and I recommend it highly, particularly for anyone who has already been influenced by Priit Mihkelson's non-traditional approach to the turtle position (as I have). The "line concept," and framing and guard recovery techniques are particularly useful to a turtle beginner like myself, and I look forward to drilling them extensively.

  Chris B.July 9, 2023USVerified buyer

• great intructional

  Principles I find most useful that i learnt from this video: correct/strongest turtle posture, not letting opponent connect hands, not letting then get behind my turtle, aiming to get two on one grip to reguard or face the opponent. Highly recommend this instructional!

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging::call_me_hand::skin-tone-2:

  Alex S.August 4, 2022USVerified buyer

• Great value

  Dinu’s instructional on turtle counters & escapes is very well-structured and detailed, without being overwhelming. Great value!

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging::call_me_hand::skin-tone-2:

  Yolinde H.May 9, 2022NLVerified buyer

• EXCELLENT TUTORIAL!

  VERY INSPIRATIONAL AND ALSO VERY GOOD IN PRACTICE!

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging::+1::skin-tone-2:

  MARIUS R.April 6, 2022ROVerified buyer

• Gold

  As always Dinu deliveres things that work. The concepts presented here made a huge difference in my game.

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging::call_me_hand::skin-tone-2:

  RazvanMarch 29, 2022ROVerified buyer

• Gold

  Dinu’s Instructionals are always full of gold. Those little details that make the difference between being ahead or behind in a match. Do yourself a solid you won’t regret it.

  Response from BJJ Fanatics:hugging::call_me_hand::skin-tone-2:

  Rufus S.March 29, 2022GBVerified buyer

More reviewed titles from Dinu Bucalet

Every number on this page is computed from the 13 reviews above at build time, out of 87,673 in the full archive. See the methodology for how the corpus is collected and what is excluded.