I remember the first time I experienced the De La Riva Guard. The moment my train partner set in the De La Riva grips, I knew I was in trouble. My balance was weakened, my knee was buckling, and my posture was horribly broken.
Inevitably, he swept me moments later all while chuckling to himself. It felt like some sort of Jiu Jitsu magic. However, this was the early days of BJJ in the U.K. and closed guard and half guard where still considered cutting edge positions.
Over the years, the De La Riva guard has grown in popularity, and it’s now one of the most common guards in Jiu Jitsu. Go to any competition, and you’ll see white belts to black belts using it with varying degrees of success.
That’s because the De La Riva guard is simple to set up, and offers a huge variety of attacks.
Enter Chelsea Leah…
The De La Riva guard is what Chelsea Leah taught during her recent seminar at my academy.
In case you don’t know who Chelsea is, here’s a quick bio: she’s a Black Belt under Andre Galvao, a Brown Belt World Champion, a Black Belt World, Pan Am, and European medalist, and she’s an instructor at the Art of Jiu Jitsu Academy.
Here’s a video of her beating me and some of her training partners up:
As you can see, she has some serious Jiu Jitsu skills and she’s an excellent instructor. I want to share the whole seminar Chelsea taught with you now.
Part 1: De La Riva Control
The first area Chelsea taught was how to control the De La Riva guard. After all, if you can’t control the position, you’ll struggle to apply any techniques effectively.
Here’s part one of Chelsea seminar. The section includes basic De La Riva Control, a recovery drill, and a simple sweep.
Part 2: The Simple Way to Berimbolo
The Berimbolo has become one of the most recognised modern Jiu Jitsu techniques, not to mention a fantastic way to attack your opponent.
However, a lot of people struggle to learn the Berimbolo and give up on this technique.
Thankfully, there is a simple but very effective way to perform the Berimbolo. And don’t worry, it doesn’t require a lot of flexibility.
This simple way to set up the Berimbolo is what Chelsea shows in the second part of the seminar plus two ways to complete it.
Part 3: The Berimbolo Backup Plan
As the Berimbolo has become more popular, people have gotten very good at understanding how to defending it. That’s why you need a backup plan if your opponent defends your new-found Berimbolo skills.
And when you can effortlessly combine your attacks and counters it becomes incredibly difficult for your opponents to defend.
In the third video from Chelsea’s seminar, you’ll discover how to use your opponents Berimbolo counter against them to either sweep or submit them.
Part 4: The Knee Slide and Baseball Bat Choke
The knee slide is an excellent pass to use against the De La Riva guard as it works against the week part of the position.
When you combine the knee slide with the Baseball Bat choke you can put your opponent in a position where they’re either forced to tap or give up the pass.
This is what Chelsea’s covered in the final part of her seminar. Check it out below.
Want To Learn More Of Chelsea’s Jiu Jitsu?
While Chelsea was here she film two full-length instructionals. One on her Guard Passing strategies and one on her Guard Attacking strategies.
Both instructional’s are jam-packed with techniques and concepts that will improve your Jiu Jitsu. Here’s what Chelsea covers:
Part 1: Modern Guard Attacks
- The correct way to pull De La Riva and avoid being instantly passed.
- How to sweep your opponent over your head even if they weigh significantly more than you.
- What to do when the overhead sweep goes wrong
- Simple ways to countering your opponents pass attempts
- Setting up the Waiter Sweep off your opponents pass
- How to attack the back from the waiter sweep.
- Transitioning from the waiter sweep to X-Guard
- Combining a simple X-Guard sweep with the Leg Drag
- A super tight Knee Bar from X-Guard
- The Knee Bar / Toe Hold combination from X-Guard and why they work so well together.
- Using your opponents Knee Bar counter to establish the 50 / 50 guard and instantly sweep
- How to avoid getting caught in the 50/50
In total, the instructional runs for around 40 minutes and each technique is shown from multiple angles.
Part 2: Modern Guard Passing
- The essential Torreando drill to make your passing tighter.
- A high percent knee slide pass from open guard.
- Setting up the knee slide from the De La Riva guard.
- The Leg Weave Pass that allow to smash your partners hips to the mat.
- A simple position to combine the knee slide and leg weave for maximum effect.
- How to ‘float’ through your partner’s guard retention attempts
- How to set up the Inverse Leg Drag
- A simple pass from the Inverse Leg Drag
- How to use your opponents the Berimbolo to pass.
- Passing the near side lapel guard
- Passing the far side lapel guard
- Smashing through the worm guard.
This instructional runs for around 40 minutes and each technique is shown from multiple angles.
So how much does it cost?
Like I said, both instructionals are packed with information and could easily sell for between $77-97. However, you don’t have to pay that… for a limited time you can get Chelsea’s instructionals for only
£27
Click the button and complete your purchase to get instant access to Chelsea’s Modern Jiu Jitsu Instructional for only £27