I started training some De La Riva Guard techniques the other day for the
first time. Any recommendations for DVD's that cover the subject?
Thanks!
I absolutely recommend the disc by Rey Diogo on the DLR guard. It can be found at www.islandmartialarts.com.
Diogo is clear and easy to understand. His accent is not difficult at all. His DVD is well scripted and his explanations are to-the-point.
I also own William Bittencourt's DVD series on the DLR guard, but do not really recommend them. There is more shown on these DVDs, but I'd take Diogo's quality over Bittencourt's quantity. Bittencourt is not very clear in his explanations (he often sounds confused himself).
A great starter for a great price is Rey Diogo's set from islandmartialarts.com - it covers a lot of sweeps from De La Riva guard and is a good price at 25 bucks. William Bittencourt has a more detailed set from ultimateimports.com which covers the de la riva guard over 3 dvds. There are a few others by de la riva (chess on the mat) which was just "OK" and didnt cover the de la riva guard specifically, and the De La Riva documentary which is in portuguese - I havent seen that one.
Rey Diogos De La Riva DVD is the best..
I fourth Rey Diogo's video. Mine was "permanently borrowed" by an old training partner a few years back, I only got to actually watch it once. I am convinced that is why my DLR guard still sucks, and my friend's is devastating. :(
Definitely recommend Rey Diogo's DVD. There's also some De La Riva stuff on Rodrigo Medeiros' open guard DVD (also from Island) which is worth getting as well.
Bittencourt's set is pretty decent but I thought that, by comparison, some of the moves were overly complex and probably more low percentage as a result. Having a whole tape devoted to submissions from DLR guard seems a bit of a stretch as it lends itself more to sweeps than subs.
Thanks for the info! I have Rey's other DVD's from Island and forgot that
he has the De La Riva dvd.
JRockwell, I know what it is like to have stuff "permanently borrowed". I
lost a few tapes/dvd's that way.
The Dela Riva documentary also covers some good moves
that he shows in the middle of the tape.
His Chess on the mat dvd is good. But to be honest I expected more from it and wasnt completely happy with it. It starts off showing one move, then a counter to
that then a counter to that counter..and so on. Its a
good way to train but he doesnt really go into the DLR
sweeps that I personally wanted to see more of.
I got a chance to train with him and what amazed me is
the fact that he covered some really good sweeps and all the moves were new to me..even though I thought I had seen alot of his stuff on DVDs.