We’ve been delving into the dark arts of breaking legs and popping lower leg joints lately at the HJJ.

There’s a rich history of technique, and also thoughts and opinions about leg locks and their effectiveness. While other martial arts have practiced breaking legs for years in the likes of Japan, Russia, and the world over, leg locks have tended to go in and out of prominence within jiu jitsu circles, for a number of reasons.

With this said here is a basic guideline of how to approach them. This is also assuming we aren’t competing in the ADCC or high level competition anytime soon.

The Supposed Cons

+ Legs have less feeling than arms so someone tugging at joints of the legs would be less painful than upper body submissions thus giving less signals of danger and more chance of injury.

+ Injury is more devastating to quality of life – you can go to work with a sore shoulder, or elbow. A leg joint means being extremely immobile and unable to walk.

+ Sometimes you need to get undeneath people’s base in order to get them into leg entanglement positions and most of the time if the top person was able to strike you would be vulnerable.

 

Supposed Pros

+ Who would ignore 50% of the human body?

+ Everyone else is doing it so don’t get left behind. It’s the ‘meta’, if you will.

+ You can chain lower body controls and submissions to upper body ones and create a multitude of opportunities for counter attacks.

 

For every supposed con comes a supposed pro – the arguments of one side vs the other creates a dichotomy of identity which makes one either a ‘leg locker’ or not a ‘leg locker’. I don’t think this helps anyone.

 

Here at Higher we love learning.

And we’re smart about how we do it.

When there is a whole world of jiu jitsu to learn via the leg entanglements, it is merely one more aspect of the pie that is jiu jitsu.

And when you apply a jiu jitsu lense to that you see that we’ll always be learning and growing and if for 2 weeks or more our focus goes there then we’ll be better off for it.

Here are a few guidelines to make the most of your leg lock classes for the next week:

 

Note the lingo, know what position is what.

Ashi this, garami that. Give it a name in any language you want, but know the formation of body against body and how it creates control.

Then consider all the alternatives. Mere ways of orientation against another person.

The drill we’ve worked on has been:

1 Irimi standard ashi garami

2. Cross ashi

3. 50/50

4. Outside ashi

5. Reverse ashi

6. Butterfly ashi

Within these moves there are variations of them, all with various names. All of them are ways of entangling legs and creating hip control.

 

Defence First! And ONE Escape and ONE Attack from each position.

Defence in each of these positions is first for you. As the defence becomes better understood and embodied we can work on counter attacks from the positions. With sound defence we can build one escape and one attack from each of the above positions.

 

Understand Mechanics

When you are exploring each position you will come to see that there is a big emphasis on pulling mechanics with your legs, as well as pushing mechanics.

+ Understanding hamstring flexing dominant muscle mechanics will be a big factor in your success.

+ You will be more careful of extending your legs when playing guard on bottom.

+ Know what inside control is vs outside control, as per upper body takedowns – only this time with the legs.

 

Play the Game – Tag & Release

Don’t look for the tap. A panic tap doesn’t give you as much data to work with. Instead, look to control the position and the joint in a way that you could extend or rotate and apply finishes. It isn’t so much about winning in training, but in learning and improving skills.

One great way leg entanglements can be trained is with the game of Tag & Release. When you think you’re caught in a submission, tap on your partner. The difference is they don’t completely release the position, but stop the breaking mechanic, and you have the chance to reverse it, practice your defence, and escape and keep going. This takes the ego and the danger out of the game and allows learning to prosper.

In competition? Of course you’re looking for the tap, but in a local tournament if you know you’re in a check mate position, at least let the person tap before ripping through the leg. Granted, if their intentions are to break your legs, then that’s a moral pickle for you to decide for yourself.

 

Sorry Doesn’t Cut it

If your friend and training partner doesn’t know they’re in trouble and attempts a sloppy, dangerous escape, release tension, and allow it to move to avoid injury. I’ve let go of so many potential submissions like this, and sometimes I’m left wondering if it was actually a submission or not. But im ok with not popping someone’s knee. I don’t want to be that person. Do you?

A foot pop or a knee bust puts people out for weeks. Then come the doctors, and MRIs, and physios for recovery, and no training. Injuries suck. So that cool move you tried that turned into an injury for your training partner might not be so cool after all. By all means, try the move, but keep safety as the priority.

When the milk has spilt already, sorry doesn’t cut it, so slow down and avoid injuries.

 

Know when to play and when to stop.

There may be opportunities for attack but ensure the doors of counter attack are closed first. Your job is to keep your own pieces of the puzzle safe first. Tunnel vision can easily result in downfall. When you understand what you and your opponent need to get a submission you are more likely to make an educated decision about when to try an escape and when to tap.

 

All in all, minus the broo ha ha, leg locks are an exciting aspect of jiu jitsu. When two players keep their own as well as their partner’s wellbeing centre stage leg locks create a whole new realm of possibilities and if you don’t know the ins and outs of them then your jiu jitsu understanding is incomplete.

So keep enjoying the study of them now and always, without becoming a one trick pony, and while respecting our friends and training partners.