CompleteMartialArts.com - Mastering the Rubber Guard: Jiu-jitsu for Mixed Martial Arts Competition

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Manufacturer: Victory Belt Publishing

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9780977731596
ISBN: 0977731596
Label: Victory Belt Publishing
Manufacturer: Victory Belt Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: 2006-09-15
Publisher: Victory Belt Publishing
Studio: Victory Belt Publishing

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Editorial Reviews:

In Mastering the Rubber Guard, Eddie Bravo, the only American to submit a member of the legendary Gracie family in jiu-jitsu competition, reveals the techniques and strategy of the Rubber Guard, a revolutionary system of grappling designed specifically for the street and mixed martial arts competition.

Through descriptive narrative and nearly a thousand color photographs, Bravo teaches dozens of unique moves and submissions. Widely regarded as not only the most offensive, but also the most defensive, guard game in existence, the Rubber Guard will change the way you view and play jiu-jitsu.

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: A Whole different twist on "joint" control
Comment: Eddie Bravo may be the most eccentric BJJ teacher and practitioner on the planet, but his system is fascinating.

The book starts with an introduction unlike anything you are likely to find in a martial arts book. Eddie is passionate about three things: Music, BJJ and weed. The rather long introduction to this book is a true believers bible on why everyone should smoke dope in which he ends the intro with: "Be smart, smoke weed", and references his beloved Mary Jane as the "Green brain food". Eddie peppers the intro with stories of his sex life, music career and a little about Jiu Jitsu and how it was all enhanced by toking gonja. All this colorfully described with the liberal use of the F-bomb and interesting, creative slang terms for female reproductive anatomy.

If you don't take yourself (or Eddie) too seriously this is just a kick...sort of a "Tommy Chong does submissions" sort of intro. I found it refreshingly honest and goofy. What does all of the dope smoking have to do with BJJ? Not a lot on it's surface. It's my view that Eddie Bravo has found a way to get his ego out of the way (by lighting up)and reach a "flow state" during practice. Marijuana is his tool, but there are many other paths and Ways that can bring a martial artist and athlete to the same place. If you look at the intro as a description of one man's journey, than there is no need to take it personally and get your undies in a bunch about his pro-marijuana stance.

Now on to the technical aspects of the teaching. Eddie's rubber guard is not for everyone and requires a tremendous amount of hip flexibility which some body types will just never develop. However if you have decent flexiblity and are willing and patient enough to deepen your flexibility into something really special, than Eddie's system is a good one for your to play with. The book's technical quality is outstanding as are he descriptions of the transitions (in my view transitioning is 90% of the game). In the beginning of the book is a Flow Chart for Ground work; I think this is a great idea and have not seen it used in an instructional book before.

A couple of other reviewers have mentioned the difficulty in following the technical aspects of this book; that the instruction is too difficult. I would counter that view with the idea that as in mastering any skill one cannot "dabble"; rather a martial artist must be willing to practice slowly without being focused on the end product. In this way the Journey is the destination and personal insights can be developed from the practice. In other words, There is no short way to developing skill; a willingness to fail and fail again must be cultivated until success is eventually reached. This is a book that is (to use an overused Bruce Lee Cliche') "a finger pointing it's way to the moon".

Customer Rating:

Summary: Not as good as promised....
Comment: I stopped reading this book because the moves are too hard to master and I have since learned many counters to the rubber guard. (sorry I can't tell you) Just like Eddie says.. you better dedicate 2 years to this or forget it. Good pics. I would toke a bowl and roll with him though...he seems like a cool guy.

Customer Rating:

Summary: 10th Planet JJ rocks
Comment: This is the first of two books. I actually broke down and bought this book, after buying his second book "Mastering the Twister" and seeing how good the book is and how it revolutionized my game.

Eddie's bottom game, with the rubber guard is sick. You need to have some flexibility to pull off a lot of these moves. If you don't, follow his stretches and the DO work! Trust me! I could never get my foot anywhere close to my head, but its now nearly behind my head, thanks to doing Eddie's stretches everyday.
You need to have basic jits to understand a lot of these moves and transitions. But, you will love it. There is so much information in here that you brain will hurt from trying to absorb it!
Excellent book and system!

Customer Rating:

Summary: Super
Comment: I can't get enough of this book. I have learned so much from following it's flow charts and it has really upped my guard game. I highly recommend it. I have enjoyed this book so much I'm going to drop the 120.00 on the rubber guard DVD by Eddie Bravo.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Great Book!
Comment: I've been practicing jiu jitsu for a year. We have worked a lot on Oomoplatas and Gogoplatas, that's where I learned about the rubber guard. There is also a large focus on MMA at my dojo, so I picked this book up and started reading it. A couple pages in I knew this was a great book, and it really is. One of the first series of techniques you learn is the Lockdown, Whip up and the subsequent sweeps from Half Guard. Let me tell you, I train with 2 Colorado amateur MMA title holders and I have got them with these moves every time. I am very impressed with the style and the thought that was put into this book, truly genius. I wouldn't say this book is the end all be all, but it is a great addition to anyone's game. I continually roll with people of all different skills, sizes and abilities and I utilize the techniques in this book very often. Another book I've checked out is BJ Penn - Mixed Martial Arts: The Book of Knowledge, again another solid addition to anyone's game.

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