Grappling Tips Newsletter

September 16, 2009

A Video Tutorial on the X Guard

I'm just drowning in email right now, because my new Grappling Concepts course has just launched. I've never seen a response this intense (maybe it's because of the limited number of DVDs available).

But before I get back to taking orders and answering emails, here's a link to an online video X Guard tutorial that I'm using to promote the Grappling Concepts Course

Labels: Brazilian jiu-jitsu, butterfly guard, drills, sweeps, teaching, the guard, x guard

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 10:37 AM

September 13, 2009

The 'Fundamental Five Guard Sweeps' from the de la Riva Guard

Ricardo de la Riva is an incredibly nice and humble man, but don't let that fool you - this man is a BJJ legend. (I mean, how many people have a popular guard position named after them?)

De la Riva started training with Marcus Soares, and then continued under Carlson Gracie at the legendary Carlson Gracie Academy in Rio. He taught Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira, and has had a long and illustrious competition career himself.

He is on the cutting edge of BJJ technology, and could show you fancy techniques until your brain ached and you begged for mercy.

So when I trained with him a while ago I had a seemingly strange question. I asked "what are the five most techniques techniques from the de la Riva Guard?" (I figured that this would be a great starting point for dissecting his elaborate and effective guard game.)

So he showed me his fundamental 5 moves. Then he let me photograph these techniques, step by step... And then he agreed to let me put them online for you guys.

So here are CLICK HERE for the five most important de la Riva Guard Sweeps, as taught by the man himself!

Labels: Brazilian jiu-jitsu, de la Riva, sweeps, the guard

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 11:43 AM

June 30, 2009

Here's a half guard sweep I can personally vouch for. I use it all the time when I'm training with the gi.

www.grapplearts.com/half-guard-sweep-with-bjj-belt.html

I've even used this technique in competition when my opponent stood up to pass my half guard. Passing the belt through his legs stopped the guard pass and gave me the sweep.

Obviously this particular variation relies on you getting a good grip on your opponent's belt. But I think you should study this sweep even if you train mostly without the gi!

That's because this technique is similar to the transition from the half guard to the single leg takedown, which is a bread and butter half guard technique both in 'regular' BJJ and also in no-gi grappling.

Anyway, check out this BJJ Half Guard Sweeping technique, demonstrated on me by Oscar Daniotti, a BJJ Black Belt under Ricardo de la Riva.

Labels: gi, half guard, sweeps

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 10:28 PM

June 20, 2009

Straight From Brazil - a Deep Half Guard Sweep

For the past 2 days I had the pleasure of training with Oscar Daniotti, a black belt under Ricardo de la Riva in Brazil.

Oscar came to North America to cover the 2009 Mundials for Faixa Preta, a Brazilian magazine dedicated to covering the art of BJJ.

While we were shooting the breeze about the deep half guard position Oscar smiled and showed me a really cool variation. I already knew the basic sweep, but the way that he used the gi to entangle my leg made it 10 times more difficult to counter the sweep.

So I got my camera out, handed it to my friend, and asked him to taking pictures. So here - straight from Brazil - is that technique!

Click here to see pictures and get step by step instructions for the new Deep Half Guard Sweep.

Note: of course this sweep is dependent on the gi. There's been a lot of debate about training gi vs. no gi, but I think that most grapplers should should train at least a little bit of both.

If nothing else, learning innovative ways to attack with the gi in BJJ exercises your grappling imagination and keeps your brain active.