Forgive me if this is a stupid newb question.

I saw a little kid attempting to use the rubber guard on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBHiHiQSwTs

Is there anyone in the NY area that teaches the rubber guard or is it mostly self taught?

Most people I've talked to about it has either learned it from reading the book or videos on youtube. His DVD is coming out in a few months. I could probably just get that but I was really more curious to understand how people are learning it besides going out to hollywood to train at 10th planet.

I'm learning it by reading the book and drilling the moves with whoever else in my gym is interested in learning it. Right now, that's about the only way to do it.

In the Fall, I'll be moving to L.A. and training at 10th Planet.

Also, Eddie has another book coming out called Mastering the Twister that promises to be pretty good. But again, the best way to learn rubber guard is to study the book over and over, and drill the moves over and over.

Mastering Rubber Guard is much better than Jiu Jitsu Unleashed.

There's a lot to be gained from just reading Eddie's overall strategies for each position.

Some moves and positions are easier to figure out from the book, others are harder (D'oh!). It'll become obvious which are which. It helps if you are already rolling no gi or have a no gi instructor or practice partner to work with; Rubber Guard has more in common with no gi moves from another school than gi moves from any school ("D'oh!").

Sometimes the simple things that Eddie talks about are more important than they look. For example I wanted to jump into Mission Control which is "real" Rubber Guard, but you can't get there unless you can "break someone down" out of their posture, but who wants to read about that boring stuff? However when you run into someone with thick, strong arms, right there you have a lot of drilling to do. Do that drilling, and when the DVD comes out you'll be much better positioned to get to the "advanced" parts of the sequences. (Ditto on Jaws of Life, Whip Up from Half Guard, vs. the sweeps that follow. Double ditto on Lockdown.)

The average gi newbie is always posting arms when they are pulled into guard. That's a no no if you do Rubber Guard, hence a lot of material on how to get people to post, because people quickly learn to avoid Rubber Guard by laying and praying. There's so much more, as I try to work the book I'm just at the stage where my head's still spinning with how detailed and powerful this game is. But the book lays it all out, just work your way through it, if you get stuck, grab a partner and practice then re-read the book and it will be clearer - getting internet advice in a vacuum isn't as good as the book itself, which really does anticipate common problems.

www.aesopian.com has some very useful essays on Eddie's game, some of the best. Aesopian attended one of Eddie's seminars and his notes and analysis are superb. A lot of Aesopian's older material is also in a subforum located one level above this one.

There are some clips of Eddie rolling on the 10th Planet website and maybe still on Aesopian's website. Just Google for the location.

There's an old saying that 90% of success is just showing up. That's probably true about playing with Rubber Guard. 90% of making any headway is just working through the lessons in the book. An instructor is golden, but the absence of one shouldn't stop you from beginning.

P.S. - trying to learn from the book is do-able. Trying to learn from an internet article here, a clip there, isn't. IMHO the book was designed just for people who didn't have an instructor - that's why it's one of the clearest instruction manuals around - compared to many bjj manuals, that are more like refresher or tweaker courses for people who already know what they are doing.

Amen brother olddog you said it all post over.

i think i see the light. thanks guys.

http://individual.utoronto.ca/shumagorath/images/DHS_delete.png

P.S. - trying to learn from the book is do-able. Trying to learn from an internet article here, a clip there, isn't. IMHO the book was designed just for people who didn't have an instructor - that's why it's one of the clearest instruction manuals around - compared to many bjj manuals, that are more like refresher or tweaker courses for people who already know what they are doing.

Make sure this is in context. You shouldn't be learning BJJ from a book. However, I think you once you have a grasp of the fundamentals, you can build on it by learning variations such as rubber guard.

I've tried applying some of the techniques and every time I screw them up I'm back to reading the technique to see what I over looked or if I tried it during the wrong situation (you will understand that confusion if you've read any Bravo books). Olddog is very right in the boring details we skim over are the most important parts.

More no-gi instructors are learning from Eddie and the Machado schools are adapting a lot of Eddie's techniques but not on a grand scale.

We've been taught some basic rubber guard at our gym. I actually like it a lot. Being a bigger guy, most people don't expect me to be that flexible. I've used it to set up the omoplata a lot, and even subbed someone with a gogoplata from it.

You're right about those little details. Breaking someone's posture might be the hardest part of the rubber guard for me right now. I went back and read over that section again, and realized that Eddie recommended throwing combos of the breakdown moves and faking one move to set up the one you want. I don't think I was doing that before.

I've worked on his half guard game and rubber guard game from the book and from some videos posted around, some by him. Better people can get their weight down around my hips and nullify a lot of half guard stuff. I'm sure he has more details drilling it - I've heard his classes focus on a couple things for 2 weeks at a time and he drills all the positions and transitions until everyone can hit them. I'd really like to take the time to learn it live from him or somebody. He's used all this in high levels of competition so I know you can get it to work better than I can right now.

I did overhear one tip recently from a pretty darn reliable source, and that is to work on "squeezing," a part of conditioning that is neglected (Aesopian actually also mentioned this back in the age of baby dinosaurs in his Eddie articles and reviews, but I forgot.)

Gable grip the hands and develop sustained squeeze around your training partner's trunk (or a spare punching bag or inflatable ball of appropriate dimension). While keeping the palms together, reverse your gable grip while keeping the squeeze on.

Squeeze with your legs in guard. Sustain the squeeze. Squeeze until you die. Squeeze like a scissors; squeeze and pull your partner towards you, squeeze and push your partner down.

Half open your guard - one leg across partner's back, other leg dropped to side with foot on their hip. Squeeze the top leg down, like you've got to use that to hold them down; squeeze the side leg in, like you've got to keep them from pushing your knee down on that side. Squeeze until you die, reverse leg positions and start over.

Leg squeezing has to include the obvious scissors direction; "pull-ups;" and "closing knees." All the muscles need to strengthen. As a side benefit, arm locks and triangles get easier.

It's nice to be able to squeeze harder, but the goal is to hold the squeeze for a long time.

The hard gable grip squeeze can come up in half guard when you get double underhooks. You squeeze tight just under their rib cage.

The leg squeezes are essential or they'll sit up when you are trying to grab your ankle for Mission Control etc. or they'll pass by pushing the side leg down and stepping over it.

The leg squeezes are essential or they'll sit up when you are trying to grab your ankle for Mission Control etc. or they'll pass by pushing the side leg down and stepping over it.

Good advice on the squeezing part. Bravo says the same stuff in "Troubleshooting Mission Control" in his book. I actually don't have too much problem with posturing up before Mission Control as I usually slap it on right after I break their posture and have a decent squeeze. I can hit New York right from the breakdown OK too. I know I just need more mat time with working his progressive finishes from there. I also probably need some live instruction to help with troubleshooting / transition elements.

I am having a little harder time with his half guard game. I can get lockdown pretty consistently, and get an underhook or do jaws of life ok. This helps prevent the pass and takes away opponents base. However, I get stuck in the Whip Up, step 3. Bravo explains it in the book "in one explosive movement, I elevate Joe's leg using the Lockdown and push his body upward with my hands... Basically pushing opponent towards your head to create space and escape out the side. Bravo also says "this technique is not easy to master. I currently get stuck in that step. However, if I don't have lockdown, I can get one underhook and rock with my top free leg to inch out the side a little better, so that's my current half guard game.

Any Bravo experts out there, feel free to pitch in with advice.

Same Whip Up problem.

My problem with the rubber guard has been in getting my other foot on my opponent's hip and keeping it there. Most of the guys I roll with keep their hips really tight to me when I have them in my guard, and even if I do manage to create some space and get my foot on the hip, it doesn't take them too long to shuck it off and I have to go back to closed guard.

i had to re-read it and go back to the mat with a new understanding numerous times before grasping even a single move, i have jiu-jitsu unleashed and i couldn't get barely a single thing to work, and then i got master the rubber guard and it all became clear, it describes so much extra stuff that isn't mentioned in the first book... Can't wait for mastering the Twister, i already have it on pre-order