This week-end I went to my old academy in Troyes to attend a seminar. It was taught by the David Pierre-Louis, the professor they are affiliated to. He’s a black belt under DeLaRiva, one of the most successfull french grapplers but above all a great teacher. I remember all of his lessons very well and he might be the reason why I feel so comfortable in the DeLaRiva guard.

As he has already done a couple of times, he walked us through a whole series of attacks and counters. It’s a bit unfortunate that they started from close guard as it’s a position that I find myself less in these days, but anyway. We also did some very simple, high percentage stand up work. I still have to process a number of things he said and showed; typically I still find myelf watching the videos of the first seminar he did with us and learning stuff.

What bothers me is that some things he teachers are the exact opposite of what is taught at my academy — and a number of others, as far as I know. Here are the contradictions with the pro and con arguments (as I understood them) and (lol) my opinion on them (subject to change).

Toes up or down?

First, on the matter of toes in attack mode when you are in someones guard. At my academy, we are in the Caio Tera school of thought — always on the toes for better explosivity and balance. David Pierre-Louis instructed us to be flat on our feet, because being on the toes disbalances you forward. He wasn’t saying to never be on our toes, but that it should only be a response to certain situations.

i have to say, I felt stupid when I explained to hiw why I was with my toes in attack mode. The balance stuff doesn’t make so much sense; sweeps throw you to the side, not to your back — even with the hip bump. Toes aren’t going to prevent much of that. And I do feel my posture gets broken easier since I started placing my toes in attack mode all the time. It helps when I want to drive forward, say during a pass — but otherwise I think I’m going to stop with this.

Better control in mount

Second topic, knees when mounting: In my academy, the rule is to clamp the knees together for a tighter control. David’s instruction was feet together, knees apart for… well, less pressure. The point is to let your opponent roll around, but always staying on top. Now on this one… I’m on the knee together side. When someone tries to shake me off the mount, I have enough time to release some pressure and get into rodeo mode before I get swept. And the way people usually escape my mount is by recovering half guard — defending this with both my feets and my knees feels more right.