After watching the The Twister
Reading his first book, Jiu-jitsu Unleashed
I spoke to many others who were studying Eddie Bravo’s half guard and almost all of them had arrived at the same point: all his moves seemed like they should work, but they can never get on their side like they know they should, and the very act of keeping lockdown seemed to kill their own hip movement.
I had one fellow go so far as to say that trying to figure out the lockdown had set his half guard back by 7 months.
So going into the half guard chapter of Eddie Bravo’s Mastering the Rubber Guard
- When I have the lockdown, how do I get double underhooks?
- More importantly, how do I get on my side and have good hip movement while keeping the lockdown?
And it solved them almost immediately:
- The Jaws of Life.
- The Whip Up.
Well, that was anti-climactic.
I simply took these moves from the book, drilled them on an open mat, and ever since I’ve been able keep the lockdown as I get underhooks and whip up on to my side to work old school.
As far as I’m concerned, everything beyond this is gravy.
Eddie’s new book also teaches what to do when you can’t get the underhooks, which revolves around getting butterfly hooks. This does much to flesh out his system, especially with the new chapter on butterfly guard.
All of the sweeps from his first book and many more make an appearance. Only now you can see them in full color and from multiple angles.
I have yet to play with the dogfight or stoner control, other positions that make up different branches of Eddie’s game, but I trust they are as solid as everything else he teaches.
Even if I don’t end up using them, I do find it interesting to see just how thorough Eddie is in breaking down every position in his game, especially the ones no one else uses or teaches. I think the only way he can get away with such an unorthodox game is because he seriously applied himself to understanding how to maintain control and leverage from every “weird” position.
Pros
Solves the common problems of half guard with lockdown; a very systematic approach to half guard strategy; full color, more photos, multiple angles.
Cons
Can be hard to get the hang of Eddie’s half guard game, but this is still the best way to learn it so far.
Overall
Given the chance to go in-depth with his game, Eddie has shown how it is built on solid fundamentals that progress towards high percentage sweeps and submissions.
[rate 5]
A friend is working with one of Eddie’s brown belts and occasionally goes through stuff with me.
He is able to do the Whip Up successfully, using the Lockdown to straighten my leg and his hands on my hips to bring me up, but I have no luck at all. If I hold the Lockdown tight, it’s like I’m pushing down, when I want to pull up. I think there is an art to keeping their leg straightened out and still being able to curl your back and whip them up….
Like you (were before), I end up mostly totally flat on my back and while I can work the Lockdown*, have no success at all with the Whip Up. In fact, the only success I have had getting under my opponent (as opposed to my friend when drilling off-campus) is to relax the Lockdown then scoot back under his body; but this is wrong.
It’s encouraging to hear you’ve been able to get the Whip Up to work for you.
Most of the people I roll with are oblivious to the double underhooks, so getting them is usually easy. They simply aren’t pulling an over/underhook on me and going for head and neck control, although some do hunt for an americana.
Having said that, I DID have someone try to clamp down on me last night and the Jaws of Life DID work, although they didn’t fight me very hard and weren’t wary about the double underhooks.
I am curious about recent reports from alternate half-guard gamers that pushing on the chin works better. From the top position, I have had to face some nasty conventional cross faces and have facial abrasions to show for it (and a stronger neck).
I found a couple of things interesting in MRG on the Half Guard: (1) Half Guard, not Rubber Guard, is the “hub” of Eddie’s system; and (2)a lot more of Half Guard action ends up in the Dog Fight, which wasn’t even mentioned in JU.
JU made it sound like shoving them down to the left (Old School), or pulling them over on top of you to the right, were always high percentage moves, at least if you alternated depending on which way they pushed back, but MRG makes it clear that a lot, if not most, of Eddie’s Half Guard game ends up in Dogfight.
I haven’t yet worked on the “left leg under their right leg” in Dog Figth to tie them up, since at this point its most been their Whizzer against my underhook. As you can expect from my skill level I’ve just plain been losing in Dog Fight, on the rare occasions I can get there.
Last night I did get up into the basic head to navel position (if you don’t have your head there, you get guillotined pretty quickly and mercilessly, at least by my drilling partner) after a half-assed Whip Up, and reached for the foot to do Old School, but my partner posted his left foot away from me as soon as I searched for it, and at the same time I couldn’t reach under his body to go for Electric Chair although I have drilled that and its a REALLY, really slick move. I probably should have limp armed and worked harder at the Dog Fight, but the Lockdown tied me up and I was flat on my back again.
I really think Eddie has something good with his Half Guard game and I think he is right, Full Guard is a bitch to pull and a lot of people will just give you Half Guard so why not take that gift until people catch on as to how effective Half Guard can be.
Now I save the Lockdown until just before trying the Whip Up – hanging out in Lock Down too long just hurts/pisses off my training partners and teaches them too much about it. I find I don’t need a nasty Lockdown until they are in danger of passing. Using conventional cloverleafs etc. seems pretty effective right now (thigh master!).
I did have a serious Lockdown pulled on me by a blue belt when rolling gi-less after class last week. I tried not to show my pain and wanted to tap, but toughed it out; by straightening my leg a lot of pain went away and I don’t think he was aware of just how effective his Lockdown was, so he really didn’t do anything with it. (I’m not going to educate him with grimaces.) I think he’s beeen studying pieces of Eddie’s game too, later he told a buddy he’d had me in Rubber Guard at one point although it felt nothing like the Rubber Guard from Eddie’s brown belt or from the seminar. I keep what I’ve been studying to myself, to avoid embarassment. On the other hand, the fact that other people are trying moves from Eddie’s routines shields me from the “what’s that move” flack I might otherwise get. Half Guard is real easy to sneak into the normal stuff they teach us.
[*Extended Lockdown leads to REALLY nasty bruises on my foot. Just thought would like to hear that.]
Here’s the question:
Have you thought about taking your next vacation to LA to roll at Eddie’s gym for a week? What’s holding you back? Dough, time, or interest?
Hmm, I guess I’ll have to get the books. I’m having a difficult time tracking w/ the dialog given that Eddie names/renames all of his unique techniques.
Good stuff. I have been enjoyed Eddies new book alot. Mostly working on the lockdown/underhooks/whip up and also moving through the various stages of the Rubber Guard. I am able to land the Invisible Collar some of the time.
When you guys do the Whip Up where on your opponents body are you pushing with your hands? I was pushing on his hips at first but studying the book some more it looks like Eddie is pushing on the chest. Seems easier that way, and i have gotten it to work a few times, though it seems like it might be really tough with a heavy opponent.
anton
HELP! I’m flat on my effin’ back again. What happens is I pull halfguard on their right leg, but then they shove their head onto the left side of my head. Now I can’t come up onto my right hip, shoving my butt out to my left.
In other words I am trapped by a diagonal. I can’t come up on my hips unless I can pull my head back under their head.
Are you still having success with lockdown and whip up? Please detail!
I had the exact same problem as you oldDog, loosen off the lockdown, lift their leg up, put your hands on their bottom ribs, one on each side and push like you are trying to roll them over your shoulder (the opposite shoulder to the lockdown), as you do this, slide your hips out and keep your head to their chest, reach around and grab their far hip
I thought all the stuff about pot was kind of inappropriate given the fact that it had nothing to do with BJJ, but everything else was great. I’ve been working my 1/2 guard and frustrating the hell out of people.