Rambling thoughts of a hobbyist. I'll try not to write too much.
who are they to say half guard is bad? it's a jiu jitsu position since forever, and people are winning worlds and fighting MMA based on it.
It's ok for them not to play half, but it's a basic and fundamental position, that should be teached everywhere.
But again, who am I to say what they should teach...just being curious
I see the logic in this. And I like @Uchi Mata's opinion that it should be taught to some degree. I like learning from people that are able to show the entire picture and let students find and develop their own game. It is a martial art after all, and the art part is crucial. People with different body types, styles, movements, and personalities will all find their own game regardless. I see both sides of the argument though, because the Mendes Bros have a very good reason for why they don't like half guard. Marcelo Garcia has a similar reasoning I believe. Marcelo also doesn't really teach much DLR or RDLR (although I'm sure Bernardo Faria does).
So Mendes Bros and Marcelo both will teach what they teach because they believe it works best against all people of all sizes, yet they both have some big differences with what they prefer. I tend to think this drives home that earlier point that ultimately most grappling is relative, and most people can make almost anything work for them on a long enough timeline.
I also don't know enough to know. Maybe there's a perfect game out there. I do know that anyone that can train under the Mendes Bros or Marcelo Garcia, or anyone that doesn't really focus on half guard is still going to develop some bad ass jiu-jitsu no matter what if they train hard.
BTW does anyone know if the "half guard isn't worth it" is a common opinion? I know the Mendes Bros are big on this but I've seen other friends of theirs like Andre Galvao and Bruno Frazatto teach and compete with deep half for example.
they are world champs themselves, and they don't just say it's bad, they actually have a pretty good explanation for it.
their system is based around DLR/RDLR, and once you play around with it, you notice it's awesome because it prevents your opponent from putting any kind of significant weight on you. when you weigh 150lbs in a gym full of people well over 200lbs, that kind of game comes in handy.
trust me, controlling the distance with your legs will save you so much energy, it's not even funny.
I'm at a crossroads with this. I was in your shoes, and used to play a lot of half. The past couple years I've moved to more RDLR instead of half and it's been great. But I trained with Jeff Glover for a few days back in April and really saw deep half in a new light. He fixed some things that used to get me crushed. He taught a more "shallow" version of it (my favorite uncle half guard), and even though that's an oxymoron, I've been able to use it without feeling smashed with so much weight on me. I've even been able to tie it in decently when my RDLR fails. There's a degree of distance control with it too, but it's just not as extreme as a foot on the hip or torso. So I'll just proceed and keep winging it, because it's working pretty well.
