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Home » de la Riva Guard

de la Riva Guard

The Easiest Way to Do the Berimbolo

December 22, 2022 by Stephan Kesting

the easiest way to do the berimbolo

At the bottom of this post is a Youtube video I just created to show the easiest way to do the Berimbolo. Now if you're a Berimbolo aficionado then you've probably already scrolled down. But maybe you're on the fence about this move. Or maybe you don't even know what it is and why you should care about it. Well, give me a minute to put it into context for you... Over the last couple of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Competition, Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Berimbolo, Competition, de la Riva Guard, Drills, Guard Sweeps, Open Guard, Rear Mount, Techniques, Video

Taking the Back from the Ball and Chain Sweep in de la Riva Guard

November 18, 2020 by Stephan Kesting

How to take the back from the de la Riva guard position

Over the past few months on this blog I've been sharing a lot of de la Riva guard material. This series has been centered around the Ball and Chain Sweep which is one of the keystone de la Riva attacks that has been used by a lot of top BJJ competitors including Otavio Souza,  Pe de Pano, and Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins. In case you haven't seen it before here's a quick reminder of what the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Ball and Chain Sweep, Brandon Mullins, de la Riva Guard, Nonstop Jiu-Jitsu Book, Rear Mount, Techniques, Turtle Position, Video

How to Set Up the Triangle Choke from Guard

November 9, 2020 by Stephan Kesting

Triangle choke submission

Today we'll cover the real 'secret' to using the triangle choke against higher belts from your guard - it's all about the set up! Tapping out higher belts is a different thing than tapping out beginners... There are certain techniques that serve you well against white and blue belts. But when you climb the ranks and start sparring against higher caliber opponents  some of those moves stop … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Ball and Chain Sweep, Brandon Mullins, Concepts, de la Riva Guard, Gi, Guard Sweeps, Open Guard, Rob Biernacki, Strategy, Techniques, Triangle Choke, Video

How to Connect Your Sweeps and Guard Passes in Order to Dominate More Opponents on the Mat

October 18, 2020 by Stephan Kesting

Guard Sweeps That Lead Into Guard Passes

The concept of connecting your guard sweeps to your guard passes is incredibly useful.  Anytime you can use one technique to set up the next you have an advantage, yet many grapplers fail to follow up after a successful guard sweep. Let's go through both the theory and practice of this concept.  If you start trying to this then we can probably improve your grappling overnight... The Theory of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Training Tagged With: Ball and Chain Sweep, Brandon Mullins, Butterfly Guard, Concepts, de la Riva Guard, Guard Passes, Guard Sweeps, Nonstop Jiu-Jitsu Book, Pressure Passing, Techniques, Video

Why You Need the de la Riva Guard

October 10, 2020 by Stephan Kesting

A podcast about using and training thede la Riva guard

In this latest episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast I talk with BJJ black belt world champion Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins about why you need to have a long range guard, how to build a de la Riva guard game, and finding a way to win no matter what the situation is! Why You Need the de la Riva Guard, in Youtube Format Here's the video of this chat from my main Youtube channel... Why You Need … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Competition, Interviews, Podcasts, Training Tagged With: Ball and Chain Sweep, Brandon Mullins, de la Riva Guard, Interviews, No Gi de la Riva Guard, Nonstop Jiu-Jitsu Book, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training, Video

Nonstop Jiu-Jitsu, the Number One Martial Arts Book on Amazon

September 21, 2020 by Stephan Kesting

Nonstop Jiu-Jitsu is now the number one martial arts book on Amazon

I'm super stoked because I just found out that Nonstop Jiu-Jitsu is now the number one book in the Martial Arts AND the Wrestling category on Amazon.com!! And it seems to be creeping up the Exercise and Fitness section too. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO BOUGHT A COPY!! I appreciate your support immensely, because the risk to reward ratio of publishing a book is very high. Let me know … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: BJJ, Brandon Mullins, de la Riva Guard, Nonstop Jiu-Jitsu Book

The Ball and Chain Sweep

August 9, 2020 by Stephan Kesting

The Ball and Chain Sweep is one of the highest percentage attacks from the de la Riva guard. This sweep has been used again and again by many high level competitors, and is one of the favorite techniques of BJJ World Champion Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins. In simple terms, to do the ball and chin sweep you start in de la Riva Guard, kick the guy's back leg away from you, sit up, feed his near … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Brandon Mullins, de la Riva Guard, Gi, Guard Sweeps, Techniques, Video

A Fast and Easy de la Riva Guard Sweep

July 18, 2020 by Stephan Kesting

de la riva guard sweep

The de la Riva guard is an essential position in today's grappling repertoire. It's a very deep position with a ton of different options. But sometimes you just want an easy win; a reliable technique to give you some confidence with a position before exploring it further. To get you started here's the Easiest Sweep from de la Riva Guard that I just put onto Youtube last night. This is a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: de la Riva Guard, Guard Sweeps, Jon Thomas, Techniques, Video

Range and Distance in Guard

December 14, 2019 by Stephan Kesting

Long range to close range guard in BJJ

There's just something about jiu-jitsu that leads to a proliferation of styles of guard.  From Z Guard to X Guard and from Spider Guard to Half Butterfly there are many, many different forms of closed, open and half guard, and new variations pop up all the time. How do you know which type of guard to use when? The Concept of Range in the Guard There's an organising principle that brings order … [Read more...]

Filed Under: For Beginners, Grappling Techniques Tagged With: 50/50 Guard, Butterfly Guard, Closed Guard, Concepts, de la Riva Guard, Deep Half Guard, Guard, Guard Retention, Open Guard, Reverse de la Riva guard, Rory Van Vliet, Video, X Guard, Z Guard

How To Do The Crab Ride in BJJ and No Gi Grappling

June 8, 2019 by Stephan Kesting

The BJJ Crab Ride

The Crab Ride is one of the hottest new positions in BJJ used by competitors like Rafa Mendes, Gianni Grippo, the Miyao brothers, Mikey Musumeci and more. It looks kind of like you're doing the butterfly guard on the back of your opponent's legs with your insteps behind his knees... except that you're upside down while doing it! The cool thing is that from that strange position there are a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Competition, Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Berimbolo, Crab Ride, de la Riva Guard, Inverted Guard, Rear Mount, Rolling Backtake, Strategy, Submission Grappling, Techniques, Video

Don’t Concede the Guard!

April 3, 2019 by Stephan Kesting

Half Guard Pass

I used to make a very specific mistake all up until about purple belt: I would just concede the guard. Conceding the Guard By that I mean that in a competitive roll I would just give my opponent whatever kind of guard he wanted and then go from there. If he wanted to play spider guard, sure, I’d give him spider guard and then try to pass. If he wanted de la Riva I’d give that to him right … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Training Tagged With: BJJ, Butterfly Guard, Closed Guard, Competition, de la Riva Guard, Guard Passes, Roy Harris, Sparring, Spider Guard, Strategy, Training

How to do the de la Riva Anklelock

March 16, 2019 by Stephan Kesting

The Caio Terra ankle lock

The de la Riva ankle lock is the holy grail of open guard leglocking.  It has been pursued by many, but mastered by few. It's a super effective, IBJJF legal submission from the de la Riva open guard developed by BJJ phenom and 12 time world champion Caio Terra (hence it also being known as the 'Caio Terra anklelock.') So why is it so hard for many people to learn?  It's not that it requires … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: BJJ, Caio Terra, de la Riva Guard, Leglocks, No Gi de la Riva Guard, Open Guard, Rob Biernacki, Techniques, Video

No Gi de la Riva Guard Instructional, Now for Apple & Android Devices!

January 31, 2019 by Stephan Kesting

No Gi de la Riva instructional in App form

Hey there, I've just released The No Gi de la Riva Guard which will give you, I hope, a step-by-step formula for fixing your open guard. The main instructor in this instructional is Rob Biernacki, and having been at the receiving end of his de la Riva guard in no gi sparring I 1000% vouch for this system working. Now on my site it's available in online streaming and DVD formats, which is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Instructional Videos, Training Tagged With: Android, de la Riva Guard, Grapplearts BJJ Master App, Grapplearts DVDs, iOS, No Gi, No Gi de la Riva Guard, Rob Biernacki

A Three Step Open Guard Strategy

January 29, 2019 by Stephan Kesting

3 Step Guard Strategy

Are you flailing around in your guard, trying to react to your opponent, without a clear plan of what to do?  If so then this video and podcast episode is for you! When you're using the open guard there's a definite series of steps and strategies you should be using. Here Rob Biernacki of No Gi de la Riva Formula fame, taking you through the 3 stages of open guard and shows you specific … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Competition, Grappling Techniques, Podcasts Tagged With: BJJ, Butterfly Guard, Competition, de la Riva Guard, Gripfighting, Guard Sweeps, No Gi, No Gi de la Riva Guard, Rob Biernacki, Strategy, Submission, Submission Grappling, Techniques, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Video

Arm Drag from Reverse de la Riva Guard (Simple and Effective)

January 13, 2019 by Amber Little

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...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Arm Drag, de la Riva Guard, Gripfighting, No Gi, No Gi de la Riva Guard, Open Guard, Reverse de la Riva guard, Rob Biernacki, Techniques, Video

Dealing with the Gi in Grappling

January 5, 2019 by Stephan Kesting

The 5 Most Important Things for Transitioning from No Gi to Gi thumbnail

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...]

Filed Under: For Beginners, Grappling Techniques Tagged With: BJJ, Collar Spider Guard, de la Riva Guard, Fundamentals, Gi, Gi vs No Gi, Gripfighting, No Gi, Self Defense, Spider Guard, The Mental Aspect, Video

5 Techniques for Knee Cut Guard Pass Defense and Prevention

December 29, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

5 defenses to the knee cut guard pass

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...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Instructional Videos Tagged With: de la Riva Guard, Guard Passes, Guard Retention, Knee Cut, Rob Biernacki, Techniques, Video

The Critical Importance of ‘Kuzushi’ in the Guard

December 20, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

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...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Concepts, de la Riva Guard, Drills, Guard Sweeps, Kuzushi, No Gi de la Riva Guard, Rob Biernacki, Techniques, Video

de la Riva guard Basic Grips

June 8, 2017 by Stephan Kesting

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...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques Tagged With: Brandon Mullins, de la Riva Guard, Gripfighting, Guard Sweeps, Strategy, Techniques, Video

3 Fixes for Sore Fingers in BJJ

June 6, 2017 by Stephan Kesting

BJJ Finger Pain Tips

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...]

Filed Under: Health & Nutrition, Training Tagged With: Butterfly Guard, Collar Sleeve Grip, de la Riva Guard, Gi, Gi vs No Gi, Grip Training, Half Guard, Injuries, No Gi, Spider Guard, Taping, Video, X Guard

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