Starting in the opponent’s full guard, you post one hand on their chest by grabbing the gi’s lapels, then grab a sleeve and bring it across the stomach under the posting arm. Get up by standing first with the leg that is on the side of the sleeve you are holding. Then get up with the other leg, table their thighs using your legs, grab the point of the knee, on the side of your free hand, and push down while stepping back slightly. Lower your base, keep the elbows in, and cheat the knee in as well. Keeping the hand on the knee, the other hand (holding the sleeve), try to keep holding the sleeve, and grab the lapel on that side. Keep the shoulder down to keep your opponents leg from that side from bothering you. Now push the knee down, and step over and put your other knee on their thigh. Slide your knee through, grab the neck and get into side control.

With one foot forward and one foot back you split your opponents legs. The hand opposite the foot that is forward is used to push the knee down to the ground, while the other arm hooks the leg by going under the knee and you grab the opponent’s belt, if not possible grab the gi and keep it tight. You put your head no higher then belt level while looking toward the side with the arm hooked and while keeping your shoulder heavy. Step your back leg over the leg that is down, if they try to hook your leg then sprawl back but keep your base and the shoulder heavy. Work your legs around to the side, and push them away so that you can get the knee closest to their feet under their knee to they can’t turn back into you. If they try to bump or move away, stay heavy and stay with them. Once you have the knee underneath theirs, get one arm under the neck then get your other arm under their arm and hold them so you can secure side control.

As a note, with the De La Riva in place, and when you can get up to get the leg, try to get then pass a sleeve to the arm around the leg, or grab part of the gi, or if you have to grab your own lapel to maintain the grip. If you decide to go for the sweep, make sure you hook the ankle with your foot using the the leg on the outside. Then grab the other leg and go for the sweep.

If they are in your full guard, you try to keep them down on you, never letting them posture up. Starting from the full guard, you grab their neck and keep them down. You maintain with your left while sliding your right underneath their shoulder and start to work the gi out of the belt. Once you have it free you grab a full hand of the gi, and pass it over the back to the left hand. You then get your right arm out and pass the end of the gi from the left to the right (right arm, palm facing you). You then push their head to the right and move your arm over it to get to the left side of the head.

You grab their left arm and try to draw it across your chest while trying to also get it under their throat. Then you grab their left shoulder with your left hand and submit.

If they do not give you the arm then take your left hand and move it to the right side of their head and grab a part of the gi while keeping the arm in the throat. Pull towards you and submit. John Cho also suggested to move your hips to the right so you can get a better angle for your left hand to get to the gi.

Starting from inside your opponent’s half guard you maintain your base by keeping the free leg out a bit to make sure they can’t roll you over. You take the arm that was under the head and move it to the other side of their head, while keeping your wight down. You then slide your free knee next to their hip, under their leg. You start to work your knee free from the half guard. If they try to stop the knee by putting their hand on it, grab the wrist and slide the arm by the head further down the arm so that you can grab your own wrist for the arm lock.

For the submission, you put their hand next to their body and while maintaining your weight on them, you pull the arm up and behind their back.

If they bump and roll you over, keep the arm lock, get into full guard and move your hips to the side of the arm lock. Move the leg of the side you moved to up so they can’t roll in that direction and finish the lock.

If they are really strong and don’t let you bend the elbow to get the arm lock then keep working for the arm lock while sliding your knee out. Once your leg is almost free, the arm that is holding the wrist moves underneath their arm and forces it up while the other arm goes to the other side of the head. Put your shoulder into their face to maintain pressure, and free the leg to get to mount.

On a side note had lunch with the little lady I’m seeing and it seems we share an interest in the wonderful NBC show, The Office. Today being April 1st (April Fool’s Day) I set my FB status to me having Count Choculitis and being diagnosed with spontaneous dental hydroplosion and as we were eating she mentioned the status and asked if it was from the office. I don’t know where this will lead, but I do like this one – she’s different in that she’s way smarter then any of the other women I’ve dated up till now and she’s got a fantastic personality. The fact that she’s a good lookin little lady is a wonderful plus. We haven’t really sat down and talked about us or what’s going to happen, for now we’re just enjoying each other’s company and sharing stories. Heck we only found out what the other does today, we’ve got a long ways to go in terms of getting to know each other before we really get anywhere. Either way, I do enjoy my time with her and I do believe she enjoys her time with me – smiles, giggles and outright laughter generally accompany any of our conversations so I’ll take that as a good sign.

I’ve changed the index page on this site so that, hopefully, people can no longer track me on this blog and it’s just a little outpost in nowhere land. i won’t go private with my posts but at least people won’t be able to track me from here on out. Only problem is if they have the old page in the cache it’ll take a while before it goes away. Guess we’ll just have to see – it’s not like I’m posting anything major here – no names, no places, nothing crazy or detrimental to me or others. Ok, time to get back to my studying – till next time . . I’ll be waiting.

It seems I’m only posting once a quarter now. There have been quite a number of changes since January, I’m now unemployed (but I knew that was coming), I bounced from single to not to dating a lovely lady currently, and I’ve traveled to Rio and back! All sorts of madness going on in my life but at the same time a certain sense of peace. I’ve really enjoyed being unemployed – I was burnt out for a long time and this break has been good for me in a number of ways. I’ve been running more, training more, and just having fun in general. I know I’ll re-enter the rat race soon enough but at the same time, I’m starting to explore other options. I’m trying to figure out what else can I do with my life, how can I truly have a fulfilling life and have the income and time to support that lifestyle. I’m trying to see the big picture and trying to become more while at the same time dealing with the day to day, learning to build on one experience after another. It’s been a long struggle but I’m glad that I’ve come through a stronger and more experienced person for it. Definitely learning to change the way I live and also the way I treat others as well as myself. This is my life, I’m taking charge and I’m making meaningful changes!

There are a lot of things I want to do in the new year from travel, to learning, to dating. There’s alot I want to accomplish and I just have to do it. I wonder what the new year will bring.