On the rise, De la riva and diseases,

Things are going well, oh yes.

Today I went to the Docs to get vaccinations for my trip, so by the time I was going to training my arm was really hurting from the mini war being conducted therein. But it didnt seem to impair the muscle function at all so I ignored it. Apparently tomorrow Im gonna feel shit though, so will have to see how training goes then.

Todays training focused on De la riva guard, he didnt invent it but I like the name so Im sticking to it!. We did a series of 3 sweeps, all shiny and awesome. Going down in percentage, is it strange that I much preffered the last 2 though?.

1st:


From the De la riva position grip the far away arm, sit up and put it towards the leg closest to you . Grip it with your other hand thats passed under their leg. With your free arm grip over their shoulder or top of the collar, whichever With your foot on their far knee you push them out and roll them down and over their shoulder. As you have taken away their posting arm and unbalanced them with your legs.


2nd:

You do this after they have pulled their far arm out of your grip. So focusing onto their other arm.




3rd:
This one you do if they pull both sleeves free.

Sit up and hug their knee (sitting on their foot). Swing your foot that was on their knee underneath there legs and stand up, taking the single leg as your swinging foot brings it up.

We then did sparring with the condition that we start with De la riva and going to full closed guard counted as a loss. As is if they pass my guard. I like open guard and I can keep it, but I find it very hard to sub my opponents using it if they are standing. If they are lower down then armbars, triangles and omoplata's are plentifull. I dont have big long legs and I find de la riva difficult but thats more reason to focus on it, and I love sweeps so its a must for me.

First I had to pass though! - which I like. I like to get low and close while keeping my hips away. Then I work a pass normally using some sort of underhook, although I do switch directions and/or chain pass attempts together depending on my opponent. My new found base felt solid and there was no way I was getting swept or submitted. Prevention rather than cure is my motto for dealing with subs and sweeps.

Now I was on my back starting with de la riva. First guy comes in and he quickly tries a knee through the middle approach, going for pressure. I shrimp away sit up and sweep him backwards, holding a sleeve so he cant post. We decide to be cheeky and go again as he was abit confused why he did that. This roll is alot harder with him getting double underhooks a few times. But Im good at defending them as I keep my hips heavy and keep active and work on breaking his posture. When he did pass I kept enough room so I could quick get my legs back in the way. In the end got him with a half guard sweep where I sat into him again.

Next guy is another tough dude, and he goes for underhooks as well. I defend and we go for quite a while but he wears me down and gets the pass where I cant re establish. I definitely needed to push him away abit more with my legs and pull him down with my sleeve grips. At one point I duck underneath one of his grips and get all the way to his back but I dont put in a controlling arm and he spins into me. At one point I was trying to lock his leg straight so I could sweep him backwards while he was standing. But Andy pointed out the way I was trying to do it was Illegal (atleast at my level) as it was endangering his knee to much as I was trying to get the angle. Something which a ref has warned me about mid fight (Brighton) thinking I was going for a submission.

So back to the que with me anyway.

Back on and Im passing again. Big mma guy, good solid defense passing but still learning the ropes on his back. I break grips and get control, slight opening for a triangle but Ive got my eyes on it and my arms are in safe. I go one way and he shrimps so I quickly duck underneath his leg and go the other way, he plays catch up and I swap again with some nifty footwork. I get side control and he bucks hard to escape but my new found pressure keeps me stable and in control. Andy tells me well done. He doesnt give out compliments on technique cheaply, so it meant alot to me.

Back to my back!. Adam comes in, and is in my opinion one of our best passers. So I gotta work hard on this one. He keeps very good pressure and negates my angle of the de la riva, very nearly passing a few times I goto half guard to slow him down. Ive only just got him by the ankle. But I get control of his other foot and I sit up and take him over backwards, sliding into side control for the sweep. Very chuffed with that.

Big Lee steps up. And I chuckle at my impending state of discomfort. He chuckles to. Buzzer goes! whew!

Normal sparring next up.

I do well and dont get submitted or swept, but perhaps abit to laid back. I dont land anything fantastic. Have noticed that Ive been sparring newer guys recently. Nothing conscious perhaps my body is being sly in making me lazy. But I really noticed how much I get out of sparring some of these guys. Its given me a great opportunity to really notice tiny details of my techniques, and a great chance to work on stuff Im less familiar with. Ive also recently had the confidence to let them pass and even get mount, so that I can work escapes and defenses. Today was even happy with them putting on a few subs and then countering or escaping. Mostly Guillotines oddly enough. Slowing everything down has really put a magnifying glass over myself. Tapped one guy from mount by putting in the leg vines and using my pelvis to crush my weight down on his diaphragm, which is a novel first. I could get used to this "pressure" malarkey.

Even with guys my own level now Ive kept this chilled out demeanour, sometimes I think its abit to relaxed but its really helped my mental game. Im much more aware of myself and them. Definitely feel my game on the rise.