De La Riva Sweep 5

1: Boca decides to try and pass the guard by cross-sliding his right knee over De La Riva’s right leg



2: De la Riva places his hooking foot on the ground, grabs his other leg by the knee to support his leg and pivots the foot under Boca’s far thigh.



3: He kicks his right leg up and lifts his hips to raise Boca’s leg…



4: … and now switches legs, placing his left foot under Boca’s thigh, grabbing the leg and sleeve, and sweeps Boca to his right



5: He follows Boca and gains cross side.

De La Riva Sweep 4

1: Boca attempts to escape De la Riva’s guard by standing up



2: De la Riva counters by sitting up using his hooking leg and …



3: …traps Boca’s right arm and leg.



4: He places his left hand on the ground and sit up into Boca causing him to fall backwards.



5: He now comes to the top, clears the guard and achieves cross side position.

De La Riva Sweep 3

1: Boca is back in de la Riva’s open guard.



2: Boca removes de la Riva’s hook by pointing his knee to the outside.



3: De La Riva reacts by swinging his other leg over Boca’s arm and hooking his foot under Boca’s thigh.



4: De la Riva places his other foot on the ground and shifts his hip away from Boca and kicks his hook straight up to sweep him.



5: De la Riva pulls his sweeping leg free and comes to the top position

De La Riva Sweep 2

Part two in the sweep series continues below;



1: De la Riva starts the sweep by controlling Boca’s sleeves and inserting his hook behind Boca’s knee.



2: He proceeds by shifting his hip away from the hooking leg and switching his right hand from the sleeve to the lapel



3: He starts the sweep by pulling Boca towards him…



4: …and then rolling him to his left, immediately working to pass Boca’s guard.



Alternate Finish, Photo 1: if Boca resists by backing out, de la Riva will place his left hand behind him on the ground and sit up…



Alternate Finish, Photo 2: …sweeping Boca backwards, passing his legs as before

De La Riva Sweep 1

I have decided I want to continue to work on my deep half guard, as if I can get it to a competitive level in a school where deep half guard is the speciality, then it will be pretty hard to beat against people who have only come across it a couple times. So thats what I 'should' do. But I am going to do what I want to do and also work on the de la riva! These two positions seem to go hand in hand quite well and I think I should be able to drill them together quite nicely. Here are a few cool sweeps I found courtisy of www.grapplearts.com:

TECHNIQUE 1: BASIC DE LA RIVA SWEEP



1: De la Riva has Boca in the open guard with both feet on his hips controlling both his sleeves with his hands.



2: De la Riva shifts his hips over to one side to hook his foot behind Boca’s knee on the inside of the thigh.



3: He places his other foot on Boca’s knee and grabs his far sleeve with both hands…



4: …straightens his hooking leg, pushes on Boca’s knee with the other foot and pulls on his sleeve to get the sweep.



5: De la Riva swims under Boca’s armpit with his far arm and switches his hip to disengage his legs…



6: …and slides his hip out to gain cross side

Update

Serious blog neglect going on over the past few weeks! Hopefully that will change starting today. Life has been pretty hectic since I left the UK and arrived in sunny Bahrain!

Life has changed quite a bit over the last few months. I got a job doing public relations for the Bahrain International Circuit, hosts of the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix, which is turning out to be quite enjoyable. It’s a fast paced and hectic atmosphere but I seem to work well under pressure and with deadlines so its all good. The down side is that by the time I finish work at 5pm (8am start), I am usually pretty tired and it is quite an effort to complete the 20 minute drive to pick up Rach and 15 minute drive to the academy, straight from work. But I am slowly getting back to training 5+ times a week! The first two weeks was very frustrating as I wanted to continue with my old training schedule but just couldn’t hack it. But over the last week or two, things have got a lot better as I have found a new routine and tried to make my day as accommodating as possible for evening training. This means making sure I get to sleep by 11pm at the absolute latest, as otherwise by the time 5pm rolls around I only have energy to fall asleep! I also try to keep a bunch of healthy snacks at my desk – stuff like nuts, fruit, alpine bars, etc (hopefully will be adding protein shakes to this once I get paid). One thing that was really letting me down in the first couple weeks was my liquid intake, or lack of. Sitting at a desk all day seems to convince my brain that I don’t need to hydrate! So lots of tea and water through out the day also helps me feel good to go come training time. This week things have come together a bit more and training has been a bit better, and I think next week it will be pretty much back to normal.

Training at RMAC is going pretty good! Brazilian black belt Rodrigo Mangabeira is teaching the class at the moment so I am picking up some great moves. In terms of personal development I have not been focusing on anything in particular for the last month, but due to a majority of the guys pulling guard, I have found my top and passing game is coming along quite nicely. This I should probably save for another post, but I am feeling a bit lost in terms of game plans at the moment. I mean, I still know what I am doing, but I don’t seem to be pushing my game plan on my opponents, and am instead responding to their game. I think this is probably due to life being so hectic and not having time to think up my own little plan for class – before working, I would always have time to know exactly what I wanted to practice during sparring.

Logically, since my take downs are not great, I should focus my game on sweeping from bottom and then implement my new found passing skills to eventually transition to North/ South, where I feel very comfortable. So for the next few weeks I will be focusing on sweeps. Great that’s decided then. But sweeps from what position? Half guard? Closed guard? Open guard? Decisions, decisions….

Io Sto Con Forme!

A bit of blog neglect over the past few weeks! Things have been busy around here with lots going on, both in jiujitsu and in normal life. I finally got a job, which will mean a slight change to my training routine. I am a bit relieved to actually start working as the last few weeks have been without any sort of regular routine and it will be nice to have a bit of a structured day again. It does mean I won't be able to take advantage of the newly introduced morning BJJ classes, but at least I will be able to afford some new gis and rash guards! It also means daily life is going to get a bit hectic with work starting at 8am and finishing at 5pm and then training from 7-9pm. And repeat. 5 days a week.

Training is going good at the moment! The academy recently became an affiliate of the Alliance Team and therefore will get regular black belts coming over, including yearly seminars from Fabio Gurgel! Also, ANOTHER black belt will be arriving around mid November because of this affiliation, bringing the total black belt count per BJJ class to three! Currently, the new flavour brought to the class by Rodrigo Mangabeira has been great, with some great moves being demonstrated. We have been working on a combination of closed guard and guarda arangia sweeps/ submissions. Training time has also changed and has increased from 90 minutes to two hours!

Bit of a dramatic week at RMAC, with an aggressive blue belt going too hard on a new white belt and dislocating his elbow with a triangle/ arm bar lock. It is a shame as this person was just starting out and very keen on his training, which will now be delayed by a minimum of at least a few months! I think higher belts have a responsibility to help new students out and not just use them as 'fresh meat'. I personally don't see any benefit to me when if I was to go hard with a new person. And it is usually the case, with higher belts providing tips and insight to those with less ability. I had my own little scare this week too when I got arm-barred but couldn't tap and heard my elbow make a very scary 'tearing' noise. Maybe my own jiujitsu karma was out of whack. Whatever. Thankfully, after a few days of not being able to straighten it or completely bend it, I have been able to train on it and it wasn't too bad. I think I probably hyper extended it quite badly and, with a bit of rest, it will be ok in a week or two. Need to watch out for those arm bars!