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48 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bravo Jiu-Jitsu & Boo-Hoo Intro, January 18, 2007
This review is from: Mastering the Rubber Guard: Jiu Jitsu for Mixed Martial Arts Competition (Paperback)
You're writing the definitive textbook on repairing transmissions for 1960's General Motors Muscle Cars. Your audience loves 1960's General Motors Muscle Cars, and they are anxious to learn about how you repair the transmissions so well. Now what kind of introduction would you write to prepare your audience for your brilliant and innovative transmission repair manual? How about 10 pages full or ramblings about your pet chihuahua?
Here Eddie told us all about his pet chihuahua, except Eddie's chihuahua is an illegal drug. The audience for his book does not care and does not want to learn about Eddie's hobbies un-related to the subject matter of the book they just bought. Although I applaud Eddie for coming out of his druggie closet, he failed completely in his choice of forum for it. If he so strongly wanted to spread his message about drugs, he should have written a book specifically about drugs to target an audience that cares about that topic. I care about grappling, and that's why I bought the book. If Eddie thinks that he "owes" drugs for his success, then he could do like every other writer and list drugs as one of his acknowledgements.
Now, about the rubber guard. This is much better than his Twister book in that this book is very focused on one position where the Twister book is focused on a general introduction to Eddie's system. The pictures are very good quality and in color. The paper is glossy high quality. Both the color pictures and paper quality are an upgrade from the Twister book.
There are a lot of moves and counters shown in this book, which makes it valuable to a grappler. The descriptions for the pictures are excellent, however they are in too small a font. Don't try reading this small print in dim light, or while in a moving car. The overviews before the pictures for each move, which are written in larger font than the descriptions, could be trimmed to about half as much text and still convey the same points.
The names for the moves don't mean anything to anyone except Eddie, which makes the names hard to remember and assimilate to anyone with a traditional judo, BJJ, sambo or wrestling background. "Old School" could better be named "basic half-guard sweep" or "half-guard foot sweep," and the Eddie-names for dozens of other moves would be more useful if the moves were named to describe what they do. The screw-driver in your toolbox was so-named because it drives screws, but Eddie might rename it an "Okatomo." What does Okatomo mean? Nothing, and that's the point with Eddie's names for these moves.
So, as big a fan of Eddie's BJJ as I am, the druggie rant, egotistical naming of moves, and small print for the descriptions brings his 5 star rating for the brilliance of his rubber guard game down to 3 stars overall for this book, Mastering the Rubber Guard.
SS Barra BJJ Seattle
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rebel Jiu-Jitsu, June 2, 2007
This review is from: Mastering the Rubber Guard: Jiu Jitsu for Mixed Martial Arts Competition (Paperback)
This is not your average Jiu-Jitsu instructional book. Written by a heavily tattooed ex-musician, every aspect of the book seems designed to attack the traditional foundations of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. From the firm no-gi stance of the author, to the open marijuana advocacy (even going so far as to recommend marijuana usage during training!) to the, um, rather colloquial naming of moves and positions ("Retard Control", "Crack Head Control", "Jiu-Claw", "Night of the Living Dead"), Eddie Bravo questions and overturns seemingly every established dogma in BJJ.
After deeper analysis, however, one realizes that behind the silly names and cannabis activism there is real and valuable martial arts research in these techniques. Transforming guard into an offensive position via Rubber Guard (especially when the standard 'triangle choke or arm bar from guard' sequence stops working) has the potential to COMPLETELY change your game. Bravo not only demonstrates Rubber Guard but beforehand explains how to turn half-guard into an equally powerful position, and outlines many sweeps and defensive counters. I found the Troubleshooting sections to be valuable, as they explain common errors and mistakes made when learning these techniques and how to overcome them.
The book is well laid-out with many clear color pictures with alternate angles, in a sensible sequence from stretching to half guard Lockdown, to Butterfly Guard to Rubber Guard and more advances techniques building on the prior sections. The writing makes the strategy and progression clear, instead of simply being a catalog of individual moves. I recommend this to any BJJ practitioner, from white belt on up, particularly if you train at a more traditional gi school. You'll have fun surprising and tapping your classmates with the unorthodox techniques, and that alone is worth the price of this book.
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22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Jujitsu Info: Didn't need the pro-pot diatribe, June 23, 2007
This review is from: Mastering the Rubber Guard: Jiu Jitsu for Mixed Martial Arts Competition (Paperback)
This has great jujitsu information from a guy who has made it a practice of making the unorthodox work for him. His photos and explanations are excellent, and make you want to try the stuff out. Some (I would say a lot) of his stuff requires you to drill it thoroughly before you are able to pull it off in randori or tournament, but some of the concepts are interesting enough to just tweak what you already do.
On the minus side, he spends way way too much time giving us his viewpoint on his pro-pothead lifestyle (a view apparently shared by Joe Rogan, his friend and training partner). Personally, I would like to see pot legalized, but the argument in favor of doing so is one I would rather see argued by someone a great deal more qualified than Eddie Bravo. Why spend time in a jujitsu text to go on and on (and he really does, by the way) about how great pot has been to him? Biographical sections can add to a martial arts text, but not when they're just polemics, and the stuff he's into makes him sound like a high school pothead constantly either toking or chasing tail, and consequently much less interesting. Who cares what he thinks about girls or pot? I sure don't; I could have gotten the same insight from those same high school potheads if I wanted.
Additionally, the names of his moves make no sense except to boost his bloated ego, which seems convinced that he's reinvented the wheel. It makes working the material a little tougher.
Oh, if you want to see how he teaches and talks (pretty much like a pothead, imho), check out some of his seminars on YouTube.
All that aside, though, his jujitsu instruction is excellent and for real, and easily propels this to 4 stars (5 without the pro-pot stuff). If you can skip over it, it's well worth the effort.
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