marcelo's book The X-Guard
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Foolkiller
You have meddled with the primal forces of nature!
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An explanation as to what makes it essential, what sections are most likely to improve people's overall games and any innovative techniques/approaches would help convince people it's worth investing in rather than touting as the best thing since sliced bread and using Jay-Z adlibs.
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I have this book, and tho it's sweet, I'm not convinced it's as good as it could have been. Too much of it is devoted to "you can do this and this and this." Not enough is devoted to broader strategy from butterfly/xguard, countering common mistakes, escapes from the counters, re-counters, precise details, etc. Definitely worth buying, but not as good as I'd hoped.
ro1em0de1
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im only a few sections in so its hard for me to give an in depth review so i apologize...the main thing that i appreciate about it so far tho is that for each position it shows three different angles...its a very noob-friendly book of technique...
ro1em0de1
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i agree but honestly marcelo is one of the top 3 grapplers in the world right now i doubt he'd really want to put all of his best kept secrets out for the public...just an opinion..
Foolkiller
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Please take the next week to review and evaulate the book and then post your opinion in this thread so the rest of us can figure out if we want to put the money down to pick this up and add to our collections. Thanks very much.
Zankou, if you can contribute what you feel are the pros and cons, good and bad sections/techniques and maybe it's relevance to no gi grappling vs MMA grappling, I'd be grateful. Nothing too long, just some bullet points might be helpful.
Zankou, if you can contribute what you feel are the pros and cons, good and bad sections/techniques and maybe it's relevance to no gi grappling vs MMA grappling, I'd be grateful. Nothing too long, just some bullet points might be helpful.
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Eh, lemme try. Pros: Awesome biography introduction from Marcelo, very interesting. Beautiful photography throughout the book, multiple angles. Shows butterfly and x-guard, controls, sweeps, and submissions. You really get insight into the moves that Marcelo uses as parts of his game. Shows moves both with the gi and no-gi.
Cons: Too many moves, not enough detail on the individual moves or how they work together. Too much material on elaborate variations of x-guard, not enough on basic things (like "how do I get a deep enough underhook on the leg" or "how do I deal with a cross-face", "what happens if I get hit with a toehold"), stuff that people learning the game struggle with. Not enough strategic overview on how the different moves work together, what you are trying to accomplish.
It's a fine book, like all Victory Belt stuff, just not quite as good as I'd hoped.
Cons: Too many moves, not enough detail on the individual moves or how they work together. Too much material on elaborate variations of x-guard, not enough on basic things (like "how do I get a deep enough underhook on the leg" or "how do I deal with a cross-face", "what happens if I get hit with a toehold"), stuff that people learning the game struggle with. Not enough strategic overview on how the different moves work together, what you are trying to accomplish.
It's a fine book, like all Victory Belt stuff, just not quite as good as I'd hoped.
Foolkiller
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Any details on crooked back mount?
Foolkiller
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Oh fuck.
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I bought the book. 45 bucks where I live.
I didnt want to do a write up on it because I was dissappointed but for a stupid reason. the book only covered the X-guard.
I have Eddie Bravo's MTRG and I love it. I never use Rubber guard and I dont plan to use it in the future but some of the RG stuff was helpful and the book helped me with my halfguard game, knee position game, butterfly game and submission game, It even helped my closed guard. Not to mention it explained the RG so well I actually learned it's limitations hence I have an idea how to approach passing the guard of a good RG player. Bravo is so good at explaining concepts that even though he throws out a bunch of moves, they still work on the same principles.
The X-Guard didnt really work that way. It just showed a lot options to your opponents reactions, but I don't think it explained principles as well. Maybe because the X-guard isn't as complicated as the rubber guard, or maybe I am spoiled.
Pros.
Interesting history of Garcia's life.
Detailed grip breaking strategy. (the best part of the book IMO)
Victory Belt level illustration (multiple angles, clear photos, tons of detail, etc.)
Well marked chapters.
Several entries into the X-guard from many different positions.
Tons of details on X-guard sweeps, especially with the gi
Very good explanation for no gi attacks and differences between their no gi counterparts.
Cons.
I felt the submissions were kind of limited. The ones shown were ones I already knew.
Redundant. In my opinion the book spent a lot of pages re-explaining no-gi techniques. I would say the book could have been 15 to 20 percent shorter. At least filled with different aspects.
I don't think it rounded out my game at all. Like I mentioned before MTRG had something for everyone. Half guard/Butterfly/and subs. This book is just butterfly and X-guard. Again, that should be obvious because of the title, but I'm stupid.
Overall.
the book is good, but not for me. I prefer books that flesh out an entire strategy, and the book felt like it focused on one very minute position. A lot of the sweeps leave you in a "scramble" like position, so it would have been nice if they did more to explain the follow ups into mount, side, etc. Also an extended basic closed guard section to butterfly/X-guard would have been nice since you pretty much end up at closed guard once you reset. But the book isn't called "The complete game" it is called "The X-guard" and that is what you get. I think the book would have been MUCH better if it had a small section on passing the X-guard.
If you love the X-guard you need this book for reference. If you like the butterfly guard and are considering dabbling in the X-guard, than definitely consider picking it up. If you love picking up instructionals in general, than it's nice to have. If you only pick up instructionals occasionally and aren't sure if you want to work the X-guard into your game, than I would recommend waiting to buy it.
I didnt want to do a write up on it because I was dissappointed but for a stupid reason. the book only covered the X-guard.
I have Eddie Bravo's MTRG and I love it. I never use Rubber guard and I dont plan to use it in the future but some of the RG stuff was helpful and the book helped me with my halfguard game, knee position game, butterfly game and submission game, It even helped my closed guard. Not to mention it explained the RG so well I actually learned it's limitations hence I have an idea how to approach passing the guard of a good RG player. Bravo is so good at explaining concepts that even though he throws out a bunch of moves, they still work on the same principles.
The X-Guard didnt really work that way. It just showed a lot options to your opponents reactions, but I don't think it explained principles as well. Maybe because the X-guard isn't as complicated as the rubber guard, or maybe I am spoiled.
Pros.
Interesting history of Garcia's life.
Detailed grip breaking strategy. (the best part of the book IMO)
Victory Belt level illustration (multiple angles, clear photos, tons of detail, etc.)
Well marked chapters.
Several entries into the X-guard from many different positions.
Tons of details on X-guard sweeps, especially with the gi
Very good explanation for no gi attacks and differences between their no gi counterparts.
Cons.
I felt the submissions were kind of limited. The ones shown were ones I already knew.
Redundant. In my opinion the book spent a lot of pages re-explaining no-gi techniques. I would say the book could have been 15 to 20 percent shorter. At least filled with different aspects.
I don't think it rounded out my game at all. Like I mentioned before MTRG had something for everyone. Half guard/Butterfly/and subs. This book is just butterfly and X-guard. Again, that should be obvious because of the title, but I'm stupid.
Overall.
the book is good, but not for me. I prefer books that flesh out an entire strategy, and the book felt like it focused on one very minute position. A lot of the sweeps leave you in a "scramble" like position, so it would have been nice if they did more to explain the follow ups into mount, side, etc. Also an extended basic closed guard section to butterfly/X-guard would have been nice since you pretty much end up at closed guard once you reset. But the book isn't called "The complete game" it is called "The X-guard" and that is what you get. I think the book would have been MUCH better if it had a small section on passing the X-guard.
If you love the X-guard you need this book for reference. If you like the butterfly guard and are considering dabbling in the X-guard, than definitely consider picking it up. If you love picking up instructionals in general, than it's nice to have. If you only pick up instructionals occasionally and aren't sure if you want to work the X-guard into your game, than I would recommend waiting to buy it.
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awesome book, i can't wait till i can start drilling some of that stuff.
funny side note, i fought the kid that was his uke in that book a couple times. first was in the finals of my first tournament and Babs was reffing, lol
funny side note, i fought the kid that was his uke in that book a couple times. first was in the finals of my first tournament and Babs was reffing, lol
Socal Duck
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I read the book this weekend and I think Zankou has it just about right.
(Zankou when did you joint the Party, Neruda?)
(Zankou when did you joint the Party, Neruda?)
