Building the Leglocker

[khrys]

I'm searching for advice on how to progress in leg locking. Please share details that you wished you focused on when starting out your leglocks. I want to make this a guide for people who want to get into leg locks and just don't know what direction to go in. Do they focus on learning to pass first? Do they build their passes from the leg locks? Do they forego passing altogether and focus on transitioning through different leg lock position? (ex. ashi to captain morgan to honey hole.) What type of guard should they focus on in the beginning and which guards will compliment this type of absolute focus later on? Are there pieces of the anti leg lock game that leglocks should be exploiting on a regular basis? Do you learn positions in a certain order or can you start with whatever you want. (ex. I started with ashi and straight ankles and started building into x-guard and honey hole out of necessity to prevent guard passing and gaining the ability to sweep into more dominant leg lock postitions.) Can you provide a hierarchy for the dominance of the leg lock postions? Did you find you stopped using a position because it stops becoming as effective as you progressed through the ranks? All opinions are welcome there is no wrong answer. This is simply how you would build a future leglocker. Try to format answers like so. (First, I would start with. . . Then move on to ___ because. . . ) Please help speed the progress of lower belts with your answer. Thx in advance!

Key Points For Progress So Far:

*Heelhook is king
*Entanglements are like pins! Control is Key
*Understand Control Hierarchy
*Learn Zog's Reaper
*B1, D3 and G2 Warm Ups have some solid leg lock entries and finishes
*HIP CONNECTION

[Josh Yelverton]

Your progress will move much further when you just start viewing leglocks as a part of your jiu-jitsu instead if it being another facet. There are principals behind all the entanglements and finishes, as well as contexts to certain entries. Its still basic joint manipulation and body control at the end of the day. Ashi Garami tends to be the starting point. There's actually a figure-8 flow drill that is very good at showing the progression and transition of all of the major entanglements, Sean has us drill it pretty often. 411/Honey Hole/Inside Senkaku would probably be the most efficient kill position if I had say. Also kinda important to note that all efficient entanglements are also pins first and foremeost. I believe Sean said he plans to start visiting you guys pretty regularly. Best to pick his brain in person on this subject. He'll get you on the right track.

[khrys]

Can you expand on these principles and maybe other practitioners who apply them well for visual examples.

[Mike Nall]

Your progress will move much further when you just start viewing leglocks as a part of your jiu-jitsu instead if it being another facet. There are principals behind all the entanglements and finishes, as well as contexts to certain entries. Its still basic joint manipulation and body control at the end of the day. Ashi Garami tends to be the starting point. There's actually a figure-8 flow drill that is very good at showing the progression and transition of all of the major entanglements, Sean has us drill it pretty often. 411/Honey Hole/Inside Senkaku would probably be the most efficient kill position if I had say. Also kinda important to note that all efficient entanglements are also pins first and foremeost. I believe Sean said he plans to start visiting you guys pretty regularly. Best to pick his brain in person on this subject. He'll get you on the right track.

Excellent post. I would also say the saddle/4-11/honey hole/inside sankaku is the strongest leg lock position, followed by the outside ashi garami. Although people might argue that.

[Mike Nall]

Can you expand on these principles and maybe other practitioners who apply them well for visual examples.

I'll do my best to help. When it comes to heel hooks there are tons of good names to watch. The best 3 right now to watch are the ones from the "Danaher Death Squad". Eddie Cummings (the best of the bunch), Gordon Ryan, and Garry Tonon. The majority of leg locks you'll see from them are the inside heel hook from the saddle/honeyhole/4-11/inside sankaku and the outside heel hook for outside ashi and ashi. They don't do very many other leg locks. Garry Tonon does the occasional toe hold, and Tonon and Ryan sometimes do under the armpit kneebars but it's only by accident if the other person is trying to escape the 4-11 and end up kneebarring themselves. If you want a great MMA example I would say virtually all of Rousimar Palhares' finishes are outside heel hooks from the outside ashi. Dean Lister is also the heel hook OG. He's forgotten more about them than most will ever learn.

If you want to look at the 50/50 I would look at Ryan Hall's UFC/Ultimate Fighter fights so far and his old no gi matches. He does a lot more 4-11 and outside ashi now, but in the late 00's and early 10's he was known for his 50/50 heel hooks and he made a dvd set on it.

For kneebars I would say to watch Jeff Glover, Claudio Calasans, Braulio Estima, Keenan Cornelius, and Dillon Danis.

For toe hold I would watch Davi Ramos, Joao Assis, Buchecha, Garry Tonon, Dillon Danis, and Felipe Pena.

For the straight foot lock /ankle lock/Achilles lock I would check out Cavaca, Dean Lister, Edwin Najmi, Victor Estima, Shinya Aoki, and Reilly Bodycomb.

For the Estima lock, check out Victor Estima and Braulio Estima.

For calf slicers I would watch Geo Martinez and Justin Rader.

I'll find some videos for you.

[NameLikeNoOther]

After the the last EBI, I have picked up Josh Hayden's 80/20 leg lock series to add to my knowledge.

Don't forget Zog's Reaper and Knee Knot stuff I end up there a lot. The Knee Knot is great finishing position.

[Arman Fathi]

Invest in a good x-guard and you'll notice a lot of connections between footlock configurations and sweeps.

[sean applegate]

Learning control and connection is the first key detail. Understanding that the heel hook is king, is also going to help you progress faster. Listen to the folks who are competitive with leg locks. Focusing on people proving what they teach will help you to drown out the noise a little easier.

[khrys]

I definitely watch rousimar , Cummings n Geo alot. But thx Mike Nall coming in clutch with the name list. I saw Zogs reaper n was planning on adding it later but i can front load it.

[Jarrell Garcia]

Leg locks are the dark arts and should be stay away from.......if you're not a savage that is.lol. To echo Sean's point, first and foremost is control and connection. To many people when working on strengthening a specific submission, they purely focus on the finish and not the key components that lead to the finish. Once you find the position/technique (50/50, Ashi,DOA,etc) learn the key components that make and break each move.