Fallen in love with the Leg Knot

[Brent Smith]

[David Rosado]

Ok, forgive me ahead of time cuz I know I'm just an overly critical white belt....but I gotta go with coach Chris' entry and philosophy on this. Disclaimer: I only speak for myself.

I'm don't doubt Riley's version works, but it goes against the fundamentals I've been taught. Coach planted an idea that will stay with me forever. He knows that a lot of things out there work. But he will not teach them if they're not optimized for maximum efficiency.

Falling backward onto your back or butt is no good. It allows the other person a window of opportunity to stand up on top of you a la Royce vs Shamrock 1. The other thing that I can't get with is his leg control on the threatened leg. If you start by overhooking the leg, the other guy is immediately going to put the boot on. Yes, he grabs the opposite leg to control it, but the problem I foresee is that the one leg is stronger than one hand and so it could be kicked free and the guy can get his leg back, put the boot on his threatened leg, and stand. Bringing up the leg to go over the locked leg requires a leg dexterity that some might not have. Will it work? I'm sure it does otherwise I doubt he'd be teaching it. Is it optimized for maximum efficiency by addressing the problems that may arise from that entry? I don't think it is.

The path that Coach Chris teaches based on his philosophy of maximum efficiency is a lot more fluid and, of course, highly efficient. Hugging the knee and threatening the pass offers better control plus a distraction allowing for more ease of entry. Getting to your side eliminates a ton of problems up front, mainly preventing the opponent from standing. It establishes position. The clamp puts you right into finishing territory. The wedge is one step further into excellent control. The knee knot offers ultimate control. And the splits offers a great back up plan to a failed knee knot. What's beautiful is that the series is so fluid that you can flow through the options without having to play stop and go. More often than not, when I go for legs, I get to the wedge in the first second and the knee knot or splits comes only a couple seconds after. I think it's smarter to establish solid control from the beginning as opposed to putting your position at risk in an attempt to rush the knee knot.

All that said, Riley is still a good ass player and has a good instructional. I just think Zog's basics are better habits to practice first. There's a reason why Scott Yockel has been heel hooking black belts since he was a purple. My suggestion, for what it's worth......get savvy to Zog's basic series first, then go for the Bodycomb instructional. By then you'll have good fundamentals to be able to apply to the more fancy stuff.

Please don't flame me for this.

[Chris Herzog]

Ok, forgive me ahead of time cuz I know I'm just an overly critical white belt....but I gotta go with coach Chris' entry and philosophy on this. Disclaimer: I only speak for myself.

I'm don't doubt Riley's version works, but it goes against the fundamentals I've been taught. Coach planted an idea that will stay with me forever. He knows that a lot of things out there work. But he will not teach them if they're not optimized for maximum efficiency.

Falling backward onto your back or butt is no good. It allows the other person a window of opportunity to stand up on top of you a la Royce vs Shamrock 1. The other thing that I can't get with is his leg control on the threatened leg. If you start by overhooking the leg, the other guy is immediately going to put the boot on. Yes, he grabs the opposite leg to control it, but the problem I foresee is that the one leg is stronger than one hand and so it could be kicked free and the guy can get his leg back, put the boot on his threatened leg, and stand. Bringing up the leg to go over the locked leg requires a leg dexterity that some might not have. Will it work? I'm sure it does otherwise I doubt he'd be teaching it. Is it optimized for maximum efficiency by addressing the problems that may arise from that entry? I don't think it is.

The path that Coach Chris teaches based on his philosophy of maximum efficiency is a lot more fluid and, of course, highly efficient. Hugging the knee and threatening the pass offers better control plus a distraction allowing for more ease of entry. Getting to your side eliminates a ton of problems up front, mainly preventing the opponent from standing. It establishes position. The clamp puts you right into finishing territory. The wedge is one step further into excellent control. The knee knot offers ultimate control. And the splits offers a great back up plan to a failed knee knot. What's beautiful is that the series is so fluid that you can flow through the options without having to play stop and go. More often than not, when I go for legs, I get to the wedge in the first second and the knee knot or splits comes only a couple seconds after. I think it's smarter to establish solid control from the beginning as opposed to putting your position at risk in an attempt to rush the knee knot.

All that said, Riley is still a good ass player and has a good instructional. I just think Zog's basics are better habits to practice first. There's a reason why Scott Yockel has been heel hooking black belts since he was a purple. My suggestion, for what it's worth......get savvy to Zog's basic series first, then go for the Bodycomb instructional. By then you'll have good fundamentals to be able to apply to the more fancy stuff.

Please don't flame me for this.

You have it all wrong!!!




Scott tapped his first black belt in competition as a blue belt.

[Brandon Mccaghren]

Obviously, I'm one of the biggest Herzog fans out there; he's probably spent more time at the Decatur Moon than any other in the system behind Rochester. That having been said, I have gleaned a lot of really cool things from seeing Bodycomb's various instructionals. I like some of his attack resets he uses when overhooking the ankle (they aren't in this video). And it's always good to hear a different voice of experience on the same subject.

[David Rosado]

^Same here. In my longwinded way, I'm just saying that getting good with the zog basics will help you adopt and adapt the stuff that Bodycomb shows on his instructional. His instructional is dope as hell for sure though.

[George Katechis]

I know i should probably have read the 500 pages already posted, but i didn't. If you're looking for leglock tips, hit up the ZOG! I dont really mess with 50/50 (because i have a gimpy knee, and im scared as fuck to get my knee blown out.) But obviously sometimes I do. A few years back at the eastcoast training camp, he taught us some wicked heel hook jawn bits, and just the fact that I learned, to be on my side while attacking the heel, and not on my back stepped up my lacking leglock game. THE KNEE KNOT IS INSTANT DEATH! i'm a noob at leglocks, and if i get to knee knot, im finishing, i'd hate to be in the knee knot of any of the rochester dudes, that shit must be super crisp.

[Eddie Bravo]

I have a new set up to the crippler, which is the knee knot without knotting the free leg. I usually get it when I'm being mounted just like in the top half warm ups, but now I have a new set up from the guard, it'll be on MTS soon

[Chris Herzog]

awesome, can't wait to see it!

[Brent Smith]

I have a new set up to the crippler, which is the knee knot without knotting the free leg. I usually get it when I'm being mounted just like in the top half warm ups, but now I have a new set up from the guard, it'll be on MTS soon

Ohh myyyyyyyy

[Brent Smith]

So I see there's: the heel hook, kneebar if their foot slips off your hip, Armenian Handshake, Armenian Twist. Are their any other tricks with it? I like it a lot. I want to marry it but they won't allow me to in Oregon. It's going into my competition bucket list.

I'm also keeping this thread going because I miss the "Ultimate Leg Lock" thread from a few years back.