The Reverse de la Riva Guard is a variation of the regular de la Riva Guard, but with your inside leg entangling your opponent's lead leg instead of your outside leg. This picture should make it a little clearer what the difference is... Why Use the Reverse de la Riva? Most of the time players use both the regular and the reverse de la Riva positions, because they complement each … [Read more...]
Dealing with the Gi in Grappling
Are you coming from a background in submission grappling or training mostly without the gi and trying to get into BJJ? Are you frustrated by the cloth prison (the gi) that's stifling your movements and allowing your opponent to wrap you up? I'm a big fan of being competent in both gi and no gi grappling, if for no other reason than self defense. Yes, you might get attacked on the beach … [Read more...]
5 Techniques for Knee Cut Guard Pass Defense and Prevention
It doesn't matter if you use closed guard, spider guard, butterfly guard, half guard or any other type of guard... At some point someone WILL try to knife through your legs using the Knee Cut Guard Pass! The Knee Cut is one of the most popular, most powerful guard passes out there. Every serious competitor uses some version of it, so you'll absolutely run into it!This is a promise, not a … [Read more...]
The Critical Importance of ‘Kuzushi’ in the Guard
Of all the articles and tips I've shared this year, today's might be the most important one... This concept and strategy has the potential to completely revolutionise your guard game. Ready? Good! Here it is... Use 'Kuzushi' (which is Japanese for 'offbalancing') before every single guard attack you launch! Here's a video on the topic of using Kuzushi from guard that you really should … [Read more...]
de la Riva guard Basic Grips
The de la Riva guard is a super-powerful position in modern jiu-jitsu, and many competitors use it as their primary open guard option, especially when they need to control a standing opponent. But this position is very grip dependent. Different grips open up different attacks. Want to dump him on his face with the ball and chain sweep? Better get your hands on that far sleeve! Want to … [Read more...]
3 Fixes for Sore Fingers in BJJ
So I got a question the other day from someone looking for advice about the pain and inflammation they have in their fingers from training BJJ. I sent them back a super-quick email response with 3 suggestions, but now want to elaborate on my suggestions in hopes that this info will be useful to someone else too. First, here is a video I shot about exactly this … [Read more...]
Your Open Guard Options vs. Standing Opponents
If you end up on the bottom with your opponent standing up and detached from you then be prepared for a very frantic and dangerous scramble. Unhindered by your grips and hooks he can deploy his favourite Open Guard passes on you without having to feel endangered by your own attacks. Now of course one option is to use the separation and stand back up to your own feet using the technical … [Read more...]
Four de la Riva Guard Grips You Need to Know
The de la Riva guard is very powerful and effective form of guard, often used in modern BJJ. It can be an intimidatingly complex position though, with a large number of grips, variations, sweeps, attacks and other techniques available for you to use. The point of today's article is to simplify the de la Riva guard for you. The way we're going to do that is by breaking it down on the … [Read more...]
Which New Techniques Can You Learn the Fastest?
Note: The content in this article was drawn from a Youtube video and an audio podcast (Episode 042 on iTunes, Soundcloud, GooglePlay and Stitcher) on the same topic. Check those out if you prefer your information in video or audio form! After a friend of mine saw a cool Rafa Mendes highlight video I had posted my Facebook page he announced that he wanted to add a berimbolo attack to his … [Read more...]
The Miyao Brothers’ 5 Step BJJ Competition Strategy
by Jeff Meszaros Every now and then, someone comes along who takes a sport by storm and revolutionizes the game by playing it differently... The Gracies famously changed the world of martial arts by showing the importance of ground work. Wayne Gretzky changed hockey with his "go around the net" trick. Mike Tyson dominated boxing by using a "peekaboo" style that hadn't been used like that … [Read more...]
Here’s Why Your Guard Attacks Don’t Work
When you first learn an sweep or a submission from the guard you usually learn the steps in a 1, 2, 3 manner. "First grab the sleeve and lapel like this... Then open your legs and escape your hips... Now put your foot on the hip and pull him forward...." And so on Then you go ahead, learn all the steps, and get your repetitions in. You do all the prep work. But then, when you try to … [Read more...]
A de la Riva Guard Submission: the Triangle Choke
The de la Riva guard is often thought of as primarily being a sweeping tool. But you can also land a lot of different submissions from de la Riva guard too! The main submissions include the triangle choke, omoplata, armbar and a few leglocks. Here's one of my very favorite de la Riva guard submissions demonstrated by Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins. But before I go on I have to confess … [Read more...]
What is de la Riva Guard?
The de la Riva guard was initially created by and popularised by Ricardo de la Riva, but in the past few years it has exploded in popularity. Many world titles have been won entirely due to the competitor's skill in the de la Riva guard position. And that's because of a couple of things... First of all, if done correctly it offers an extraordinary level of control over your opponent, … [Read more...]
Non-Stop de la Riva Guard Instructional App Now Available!
We've just put out a brand new app that could add an entirely new aspect to your guard game! It's the 'Non-Stop de la Riva Guard' instructional app by Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins and myself. And it's available for iOS, Android and Kindle devices. The focus of this app is on giving you a simple and easy-to deploy system for the de la Riva guard. A gameplan that DOESN'T require you to be … [Read more...]
The de la Riva Guard
By Don Whitefield and Stephan Kesting We asked BJJ legend Ricardo de la Riva to show us the Five Most Imporant Techniques from the 'de la Riva Guard! Here's what he showed us, and we'll go through each one of them! The Basic de la Riva Sweep The Reverse de la Riva Sweep The Entangled Leg Sweep The Back Trip Sweep The Cross Knee Guard Pass Counter Ricardo de la Riva is a slight … [Read more...]
The Easiest Way to Develop Fast Guard Sweeps
Speed kills! When it comes to blowing through your opponent's defenses there's nothing like being just a little bit faster than him. That way you're always a step or two ahead, and he never has the chance to catch up. But how exactly do you do this? Well, have you ever heard of something called Hick's Law? It's an idea that comes from academic research, and has been applied to areas as … [Read more...]
The Two Highest Percentage Leglocks vs. de la Riva Guard
The de la Riva guard has exploded in popularity in recent years. Since it was popularised by Ricardo de la Riva there have always been sweeps and submission available from this position but the ascent of the berimbolo (a spinning-and-upside-down method of taking the back) has made it even more popular among the BJJ competition crowd. So even if you never ever plan to use this style guard … [Read more...]
Joao Miyao teaching the Ninja Armlock from Berimbolo
Here's some seriously advanced stuff for you: renowned black belt competitor Joao Miyao breaking down the Ninja Armlock from Berimbolo. In the exclusive Grapplearts Field Reports Video Miyao uses his bread and butter move - the Berimbolo sweep - from the leg lasso position to spin into an unexpected and hard to defend armbar. If you're completely new to the Berimbolo sweep then you might be … [Read more...]
Lapeloplatas, Feet on Lapel Spider Guards, & Other Gi BJJ Tricks
My friend Ostap Manastyrski and I recently shot a video about the evolving trend in the competitive Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world that involves playing with the lapels of your opponent. People are now doing spider guard on the lapels, attacking with omoplata-style movements against the lapels, and developing all kinds of new gi-based tricks and strategies to manipulate and off balance their … [Read more...]
The 3 Steps of Berimbolo
Sometimes the best way to really understand something is to teach it. When it comes to jiu-jitsu, breaking a technique down into steps (not too many, not too few) and finding the best way to convey the underlying principles often helps clarify things in your mind. I've been doing a lot of this with the berimbolo sweep recently. For example, yesterday I was training with my friend Chad. He's … [Read more...]