Regular marked price: $34.95Discount Price: $23.07
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How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN num: 9780977731596
ISBN number: 0977731596
Label: Victory Belt Publishing
Manufacturer: Victory Belt Publishing
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 272
Printing Date: September 15, 2006
Publishing house: Victory Belt Publishing
Sale Popularity Level: 44902
Studio: Victory Belt Publishing
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Product Description:
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 colour 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.
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Rated by buyers 
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Most people in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu know who Eddie Bravo is. There's a pretty obvious "love him or hate him" feel around. I'm happy to note, though that I'm one of the less boisterous people who fall into neither category. I just like anyone who can explain a concept to me so that I pick it up. And Eddie does that for me in this book.
A quick word, firstly, on Eddie's very first book - 'Jiu-Jitsu Unleashed'. I was going to give it a separate review until I received 'Mastering the Rubber Guard'. 'Jiu Jitsu Unleashed' was a reasonable book until the new one came along. 'Jiu Jitsu Unleashed' is a collection of techniques that Bravo uses in his game. It's got a good collection of anecdotes and shows Eddie's game and how it has come to be quite well. That said, the overlap with 'Mastering the Rubber Guard' is too much to warrant buying both - if you were wondering about that.
In fact, I felt quite disappointed in myself when 'Mastering' turned up. Why? Because I'd paid good money for 'Unleashed' just a couple of months before and this was so much better. Ultimately, though, I got a book that was twice as good, anyway. The exception is tht 'Unleashed' takes a bigger look at the Twister and Eddie's top game. Hold on, though. Victory Belt (the publishers) have 'Mastering the Twister' on the horizon.
Like 'Unleashed', 'Mastering' covers the main areas of Bravo's game. There are sections on the half guard and, obviously, the rubber guard. This time, however,we get sections on the butterfly guard, recovering the guard, Bravo's "Spider Web" control and a section on stretching.
Kudos to Bravo for realising not everyone has his flexibility and that they need to develop that attribute to make all the techniques work. Putting my S&C coach hat on (especially with my knees), I shake my head in disapproval of some of the stretches. Still, it's what Bravo does and they are all applicable to his game and the book. Just exercise some critical thinking. If you're in the group the stretches are likely to injure - don't do them.
I'm not going to get into details of the moves. What I am going to say is that they work for Bravo and his guys. They work for a lot of others, too. They might even work for you. The technique names have always been a bone of contention for some, too. Bravo is quick to explain that the names are devloped for coaching in competitions, so the opponent doesn't understand advice being given. I do the same thing with my guys to a large extent.
The book flows well, with a strategy for each position and a series of ideas to help achieve the techniques. For example, the "Whip Up" has been a bit of a boon for my half guard, depite it not being a technique, per se.
The book also contains a flow chart to help guide you through the Rubber Guard game. I've beeen flow charting for a couple of years now and can attest to the improvement and insights it gives you. Eddie gives you his own, personal flowchart.
I'm never going to use Eddie's whole game. I'm 6'7" and weigh the best part of 300 inflexible pounds. I bought the book to help my students and training partners. I've been pleasantly surprised to take some techniques and insights away, along with a better understanding of the 10th Planet system.
Insofar as production, it's good. It's colourful with good quality stock. Photographs are clear and plentiful. Since I'm a bit anal, I picked up some spelling and grammar errors and I hope they'll be picked up with better editing in future Victory Belt productions. But, ultimately, it's content I care about and this book has plenty of it.
Victory Belt's 'Mastering the Rubber Guard' Page
After giving this review to a couple of friends to look over for me, one pointed out the obvious philosophical differences between Eddie and myself and expressed surprise I'd give such a flattering review. Especially due to the drug references.
Let me say this..... Some of the language in the anecdotes is foreign to me and I find some analogies a little trite. I have never taken any illicit drug, including marijuana and am strictly anti-drug.
If you can't put these things behind you and they stand in the way of you buying the book, then too bad. You'll miss out on some quality instruction.
Rated by buyers 
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This book is a must for any Jiu Jitsu practioner wanting to take his or her ground game to the subsequent level.
Rated by buyers -
This is the best martial arts book I have ever read. Very entertaining and informative. Descriptions, and transitions are thoroughly and thoughtfully laid out with great pictures of the positions. The quality of this book, the shear volume of valuable information, make this edition an absolute steal at the price offered here.
Bravo attributes pot smoking with much of his sucess at BJJ. I am not convinced, but Kudos to this gappling Genius in any case. If you have any fragile sensibilities then you might be offended by his introduction. If you can look past this then you will love what this information can do to your grappling game.
If you always find yourself getting demolished on your back, or you just can't seem to maintain a solid guard system whilst defending, then you definitely need this book. It is a problem solving manual, that presents many clear and succint tools that work a HIGH PERCENTAGE of the time. I think this point is critical when learning any system, that is, you want the technique to be effective most of the time with most opponents.
Bravo starts off teaching you his half guard defense game, which when you apply his methods, becomes an extremely offensive approach for sweeping, submitting, and transitioning to other positions.
He also covers his butterfly guard, pyramid guard (which I have never seen anywhere else), and also half guard dog fight positions (very wrestling orientated).
Later he walks you through his Rubber Guard game which is just amazing. I have tried his lock down methods and they really work. However it will still take me time and practice to get the techniques really tight and to improve my flexibility. I would say the Rubber Guard techniques may be a bit beyond some peoples anatomy at very first (i.e. flexibility plays a big part here). However Bravo does outline some very good stretches to slowly develop this flexibility over time.
I think Bravo's methods are cutting edge and possibly revolutionary. If you do not take the time to learn this stuff now, then you will surely find yourself on the receiving end of it at some stage in the near future. I say get in there now before everyone else, and make it an integral part of your grappling game.
Rated by buyers -
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 sucess 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".
Rated by buyers 
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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.
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