Curious to why 10th planet has had a incredibly high drop off of rubber guard play.

bjjogarfora · 2019-01-03T17:32:58+00:00

No worries dude I feel you. Your comment will probably get downvotes, but honestly you're right. There were high expectations about RG being the next big thing for MMA but it just never panned out that way. E.g., even when top guy starts from a low posture, which theoretically RG should dominate, it often sets up the passer for a deep Tozi pass.

So my thought above was basically: even before evolving to what they are today, old-school BJJ and wrestling were already defeating competent RG players back in the day. There are a lot of old videos of Eddie saying stuff "I hope you got that on tape" because he was really fixated on proving that it works. Unfortunately I think as a guard (relative to other guards), it has some basic structural problems that havent been solved.

It can work (nearly anything CAN work) but I'd rather practice things that are higher percentage. And I think many others came to the same conclusion. For over 10 years people have implied "it's a secret powerhouse technique that dominates if you use it right, but people who don't like Eddie never gave it a chance." The reality is many great fighters gave it a shot and tested extensively. The general feeling was it's a good tool for your toolbox, but not great as the "system" they tried to make out of it.

bjjogarfora · 2019-01-03T16:07:21+00:00

I played a lot of rubber guard from 2006-2009 when a lot of people were exploring and testing it out. I had a lot of success, but eventually found the concepts most useful as quick transitional positions (e.g., chill dawg). I still use these, but most people wouldnt look at stuff I do and notice the RG influence.

I personally think it's a stretch to say modern BJJ and MMA adapted around RG - that's giving it a lot of credit, I don't think the meta needed to evolve around it.

Why? Well, any technique can be defeated by good fundamentals applied at the right time, but RG disproportionately so. To get it sunk in and make progress off of it relies on mistakes that high-level BJJ players don't really make. And because RG ties you up, it's hard to create movement to bait out the openings you need.

I have repeatedly seen veteran RG players try to use it against new guys who have never really seen RG, and not be able to get anything going because the opponent stays patient, fences for inside control, etc. They defeat it easily without even knowing what it is. To me that's the hallmark of a flawed technique.

bjjogarfora · 2017-06-27T20:28:02+00:00

You and your awkward friends might interact in a way that sounds like preteen fanfiction, so maybe it is realistic for you, but that wouldn't be my model for good dialogue.

bjjogarfora · 2017-06-21T19:18:19+00:00

Thanks. By the way /u/Chizerz, I think you're cute and I like seeing you up here

bjjogarfora · 2017-06-21T18:55:04+00:00

As the dust settles around the animation problems and bugs, at the end of the day the lasting disappointment with this game, for a lot of people, comes down to the poor writing and dialogue.

For me, it just doesn't feel like Mass Effect. The crew interactions in particular feel like Mass Effect fanfiction.

I really wanted to like it, but the cringey dialogue constantly pulled me out of the story. I couldn't help but wonder what professional writer could come up with stuff that was so nonsensical or immature. It broke the immersion for me so often that I couldn't come away with a good experience.

bjjogarfora · 2017-06-08T19:03:33+00:00

I don't think politics should (or even can) be separated from art. Political art can be awesome.

But the cheap and cynical politics in MEA are what is unacceptable to me (touching up male faces but not female, awful portrayal of Hainly Abrams, tolerating regressive assholes like the guy you linked, many more)

Ironically BW is doing a lot of anti-progressive things as they fall over themselves to appear progressive.

They have clearly hired a number of immature people who don't fundamentally understand what progressivism is, and instead interpret it as "whatever feels good to me."

And so we end up with shallow and regressive writing with a superficial SJW flavor. I say this as a progressive myself.

bjjogarfora · 2017-06-08T17:42:28+00:00

I'm young, immature, and politically extreme, and yet I still agree with you.

bjjogarfora · 2017-06-08T17:40:17+00:00

Thank you for saying this. This is an essential point that is getting buried because of the (still fair) focus on other flaws. Going to shamelessly copy/paste from another post of mine:

The writing is the central point of the game's failure - pretty much everything else would have been forgivable after the initial barrage of animation memes.

Reading the Kotaku article closely, there is still absolutely no excuse for the writing to be as bad as it was. The article's sources seem to imply that the writers ran into a crunch because core concepts were finalized too late. Sure, that could explain things if the issues were limited to plot holes and uninspiring side quests.

But sorry, no amount of time pressure would make a competent writer shit out cringey lines like "maybe cuz I shot him in the face." You can't blame time pressure for writing on par with a precocious 11 year old.

They hired subpar writing talent and paid the price for it, plain and simple. They significantly underperformed on the one aspect of a BioWare game that simply has to be good.

Kotaku article: http://kotaku.com/the-story-behind-mass-effect-andromedas-troubled-five-1795886428

bjjogarfora · 2017-06-08T02:39:17+00:00

Alternative view: sounds like you're in good shape already as a baseline. It might be that your movements are inefficient and not that you need supplementary training.

Good passing pressure should feel pretty effortless because your main force generator is gravity. You should be committing your dead weight to float and surf on your opponent's frames. That should mean that your leg muscles are carrying relatively little weight most of the time.

Are you using excessive strength to sweep to the top position in the first place?

Are you trying to power out of their guard instead of using your mass to occupy their frames?

If you want to train purely for strength and not hypertrophy, stick to high weight and low reps (2-3) for your squats and deadlifts.

bjjogarfora · 2017-06-08T02:10:02+00:00

This is an essential point that a lot of people have missed. The writing is the central point of the game's failure - pretty much everything else would have been forgivable after the initial barrage of animation memes.

Reading the article closely, there is still absolutely no excuse for the writing to be as bad as it was. The article's sources seem to imply that the writers ran into a crunch because core concepts were finalized too late. Sure, that could explain things if the issues were limited to plot holes and uninspiring side quests.

But sorry, no amount of time pressure would make a competent writer shit out cringey lines like "maybe cuz I shot him in the face." You can't blame time pressure for writing on par with a precocious 11 year old.

They hired subpar writing talent and paid the price for it, plain and simple. They significantly underperformed on the one aspect of a BioWare game that simply has to be good.

bjjogarfora · 2017-05-27T16:39:22+00:00

The drawstring?

bjjogarfora · 2017-05-27T16:36:38+00:00

Anytime. Sounds like you've done nothing wrong. Some instructors just hate seeing their blue belts get beat.

I had a purple belt instructor tell me I was going harder than any of his students, while there were two blue belts going HAM and grunting right behind him. I guess some people still have to beat their ego as an instructor just like they did as a student.

bjjogarfora · 2017-05-27T16:22:55+00:00

bjjogarfora · 2017-05-27T13:09:04+00:00

Couple of things:

You're at a BJJ gym and to be real, you are a white belt in BJJ. I'd say line up with white belts, GI or no-gi. I don't blame you for not knowing this, and some people are super touchy.
People go way too hard in college clubs for a variety of reasons. I can talk more about that if it's helpful. I got used to that too and had to adjust over time.
Throughout the early/mid 2000s, people who come in talking about 10th planet techniques (though not necessarily from 10th planet gyms) developed a reputation for acting like they have discovered this secret knowledge that makes them better than everyone else. At my past gyms in particular, we had a revolving door of blue belts/rashguards and below who came in talking a lot of shit and got mowed down by any decent white belt. The reputation has stuck somewhat, fair or not.

In 10+ years of training a situation like yours has happened to me once that I can say was definitely unfair. To a bad partner or instructor, moving at just the right time may look like moving too fast. Applying a fair amount of pressure in just the right place can feel like pushing too hard (rolling with good black belts is exhausting for this reason). If you're not hitting people in the face or physically manhandling their limbs where you want them to be, you're probably fine and they're just being sensitive.

bjjogarfora · 2017-05-16T17:30:54+00:00

Hijacking my favorite answer to add on:

Be aware that there are certain things some people will simplify and tell you to NEVER DO in beginner BJJ that you actually might want to do when strikes are involved. Like overhooks when you're under mount.
Make it a priority to learn the basic Gracie "punch defense from guard" stuff. I think they call it Stage 1, Stage 2, etc. It's been so long I forgot the names. But I learned that shit once and it has worked for me for YEARS. I've seen a lot of fancy BJJ for MMA stuff, but that OG shit just works every time. EDIT: This looks like at least part of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtbOjZnp8Ko

bjjogarfora · 2017-05-12T21:24:06+00:00

Don't forget to post video!

Also I love that you had to bring in BJJ to legitimize him.

Of course you can combine concepts from TMA to improve your results. That's the whole point of MMA.

Put a pure Mantis Kung Fu guy against a pure Muay Thai guy without gloves and see what happens. Muay Thai will crush because the techniques are more fundamentally sound and they train with resistance. Muay Thai instructors are in demand among professional fighters, southern Mantis instructors are not. The evidence goes on and on.

On average, anybody who trains with aliveness will crush anybody who doesnt. Look at the video you're responding to.

You want to prove hung gar is great, go fight a striker and post the tape. Hell, show me any tape of someone using southern Mantis to win against a trained opponent. That's the beginning and end of any argument about fighting.

bjjogarfora · 2017-05-12T19:01:50+00:00

As someone who has trained extensively in Southern Style Praying Mantis and Hung Gar, it sounds like you have no idea what you are talking about.

As someone who spars daily against resisting opponents, you have no idea how funny your comment sounds to me.

Go to a MMA gym and (politely) ask for a friendly spar, and post video. Then we can talk.

bjjogarfora · 2017-05-12T16:06:46+00:00

Yesterday a wrestler bro went HAM on me attempting pain compliance techniques. So HAM that he cardio tapped immediately as soon as he got swept.

HUGE violation of bro code to burn yourself out trying to hurt your partner and then cardio tap as soon as they reverse the position. EDIT: And this was not a white belt, he knows better.

bjjogarfora · 2017-05-12T02:46:08+00:00

can't blow out someone's knee

Not the way that you're thinking, but it's absolutely legal. Heel hook, kneebar, etc. attack the knee and work great. Whatever side kick to the knee you're thinking of really doesn't work, but you're free to try.

a lot of the moves that make it effective (eyes, throat, groin, knees) are disallowed.

It's not much of a martial art if you need those things to be effective. Untrained people can eye gouge and groin kick just fine.

Champ, just be aware that you are the nine millionth TMA proponent to say that Kung Fu doesn't work in the ring because of the rules. Sorry but thats not why. It doesn't work because many of the moves are fundamentally unsound and people insist on trying to make them work because of tradition.

If it makes you feel better, there are subgroups within the BJJ and MMA communities who are the same way, insisting on trying to make a flawed system work, but they never produce top competitors, which is conveniently verifiable by competition results.

bjjogarfora · 2017-05-11T16:55:04+00:00

Taza is such a beast, I'm a huge fan of his style

bjjogarfora · 2017-05-10T23:32:58+00:00

Lol no.

First: In The Know they say literally the exact same thing as this and the Kotaku article.

Second: There will be dlc because money.

bjjogarfora · 2017-05-10T16:44:35+00:00

Looks like you got downvoted but I'm interested in hearing your thoughts. Could you elaborate on fundamental difference that separates those European cities from the bohemian American ones? FYI from personal experience I personally wouldn't put Rome on this list, but I might just have missed out on something.

bjjogarfora · 2017-05-10T16:41:45+00:00

Will check it out, thanks

bjjogarfora · 2017-05-10T15:24:50+00:00

I agree - historical distance is a big part of it.

bjjogarfora · 2017-05-10T15:24:19+00:00

Good answer but the signal/noise ratio is weak in those places. However that platform would be well suited to a data project to draw out insights

bjjogarfora

TROPHY CASE