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So after doing some research, I decided to skip buying the Mastering the Rubber Guard book and picked up Advanced Rubber Guard instead. What swayed me was reading that MRG was older and "outdated". (Very loose quotation use there.) Just curious if I should've picked up MRG first.
I'm a very fresh white belt (I can measure my training in days, not even weeks.) Just wondering if I could get some input from the rest of the 10P inhabitants.
Any resource by a high level black belt is a good resource. The dedication of your time at this point should be focused on understanding the basic positions, movements, and concepts of leverage that make jiu jitsu efficient in an encounter against a stronger, faster, more athletic opponent. It's easy to get inundated with which resource is better over another, but really, the only thing that matters in the grand scheme of things is mat time. Perhaps the resources could give those hours on the mat more understanding and clarity, perhaps with greater direction in sparring, but focus should be less on winning and losing at this point and solely on learning. By focusing on learning, you learn to control your movements, thus leading to less risk of injury and thus, leading to the one thing that is guaranteed to make you great; consistency of mat time. We have a black belt that has trained only 2 days a week, but for 10 years consistently. This dude is the definition of consistency. He can smash people at will and is no less a black belt then anyone I've rolled with. Best of luck
The best introductory book out there in my opinion is The Black Belt Blueprint by Nicolas Gregoriades. It's a comprehensive explanation great if you're just starting out.
I think you could absolutely skip "Mastering the Rubber Guard". The "Advanced" book is rather comprehensive and basically incorporates the main principles of "Mastering". I wouldn't necessarily recommend going about it that way, but if that is the path you are on, I don't think it is wrong.
Def not outdated. Although the system evolves at a high rate there are some key basics that are important in Mastering the Rubber GuardQuote:
Originally Posted by Wade Patterson
Hell, can you even find the original? I haven't seen it in stores for a long time. If that's the case then your only option was the advanced version.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
That's a great book to dig into a little later on (even if you don't have MTRG).
In my opinion though, you'll probably want to get your jiujitsu basics down first, before diving into the techniques in ARG. As a dude who's only trained at non-10p gyms (aside from a few drop-ins during overseas holidays), it's TOUGH getting RG to work right, simply because there probably won't be anyone to troubleshoot your mistakes for you (i.e. you're likely gonna fail at RG a LOT at the beginning. Hang in there though, it'll be worth it!)
All RG techniques of course, are based on solid jiujitsu fundamentals - so getting (really) good at your basics will mean a smoother path through the system in the near future. Good luck!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Friday
...I was going to say, good luck finding MTRG anyways. It is OOP and rare to find for less than $100ish.
I'm very new to this forum .... but have loved Eddie's stuff 'via book' for years.
It definitely worth getting Mastering the Rubber Guard as a starting point.
I always thought that book lays things out in a much more understandable way for beginners.
The same content is sort of in Advanced Rubber Guard but the basics aren't layed out as well (IMO) and the book focuses (per the title) on a lo more advanced content.
While out of print, it is worth just using google to try to find an online store that still has it. I'd long since lost my copy and decided to track down another 6 months ago. I managed to find a site that still had it sitting in stock for $30. With a bit of searching you should be able to find ...and its definitely worth it !
There are a few "outdated" things in the old book like whipping up to your elbow. Your better off not doing that, but still, if you played half guard the exact way Eddie played lockdown in 2003, you'd have one of the better half guards in the world I'd say, so its not like the old book is going to ruin you lol. The new one has ALMOST everything in it the old one had, only they are done the new way in some cases, plus tons of new things and all for way cheaper than you could get the old one most likely.
There are valid arguments above about the old ones layout being just a touch more beginner oriented, but either one will be allot to digest and will take years of revisiting before even really scratching the surface.
By the way, I run a 10th Planet school for a living today and I originally decided to pursue 10th planet as a way to refine my grappling (which was already no-gi) based on how amazing that first book was. So I wouldn't listen to those saying "go with another more basic resource" because that was the ONLY thing I could find at the time that I felt was completely refined for no-gi and refined IS basic imo.
I was so bad... but then rubberguard, so yeah :)
I really appreciate all the input.
I did it this way, I went advanced rubber and twister, as long as you have a basic understanding of Jiu Jitsu it shouldn't do you no harm brother!