Wristlocks in lockdown?

[Joshua Jarboe]

Good morning!

As a new blue belt, I'm playing around in the new and glorious world of wristlocks. So far, I'm finding it's mostly just keeping people honest; I'm obviously not wristlocking everybody a week into my new belt.

Has anyone else found that playing wristlocks in lockdown makes it more difficult for people to post on your chest to create space? Are there other applications that are useful?

Are there other places you like to play wristlocks? Why?

Help a noob. Your contributions here are tax deductible.

~Joshua

[NameLikeNoOther]

I just use wrist locks to force someone to let go of a grip or make them move. If you grab my forearm and hold on tight I will be putting pressure on your wrist to make you let go or move your position. Very rarely do I get a tap from a wrist lock and most people stop grabbing me after a couple attempts. I use them mostly from standing positions.

[Gary Meek]

I enjoy using wrist locks primarily from guard and initial entry. I find that it helps distract them and opens up other opportunities, as wrist locks are not necessarily high percentage subs. Good luck and enjoy playing with them though, they are a lot of fun and can be very frustrating for folks.

[Brandon Mccaghren]

I love wrist locks. I use them in many positions. Sometimes for very high percentage subs. Sometimes for sweeps. Sometimes for throws.

[Nick Paul]

My instructor is a wrist lock wizard and has gotten me interested in playing with them. If he's in side control and I post my palms on his neck/collar bone to make a frame, he smashes his chin down on the top of my hand and turns my elbow towards my head. It's a wicked high percentage submission if you put the time into it

[Craig Murray]

My instructor is a wrist lock wizard and has gotten me interested in playing with them. If he's in side control and I post my palms on his neck/collar bone to make a frame, he smashes his chin down on the top of my hand and turns my elbow towards my head. It's a wicked high percentage submission if you put the time into it

That sounds really sweet. Video please!

[Nathan Wallner]

I use wrist locks all the time to isolate the arm. It's a great offensive move to motivate them to bend their arm for a Kimura or Americana from side control.

[Damion Shehan]

Not from the Lockdown but a great video on various wristlocks. I don't use them a ton but I have used them from butterfly guard to sweep.

[Sam Davis]

There's a pretty cheesy one that could work from the bottom of lockdown if the opponent has a strong whizzer. Think mechanic grip and then switch to the wrist.

Also, going for a gimpy wrist lock anytime someone is wrapping your head to attempt a choke is a good way to break the grips, but unlikely to get the tap.

[Isaac Atley]

Brent Smith was focusing on them for quite a while, there is a massive ish thread purely on wristlocks lying around somewhere. I find wrist locks from full guard, turtle and probably spiderweb (offensive) are the best places. That's just me personally. there are the meta concepts behind them like bending palm to wrist, backhand to wrist, sideways to wrist, or twist to wrist. Then working on whether or not you want to use it to sweep, submit, throw, or just to stop them annoying you. Because the wrist is at the far end of your arm, cranking the wrist is like usinng a pulley system, you don't need much force to get a lot of movement.

I personally use them to get out of situations, and a sub is just an added bonus.

However, I also found that it made my game a lot more fluid and I don't neccessarily mean this necessarily in a great way. For people who don't have good basics like positional control and base etc might find themselves getting a sweep into some really weird positions.

I suggest working on a wrist lock from a couple of positions at first and getting really good at them before you look everywhere.

And finally, the aikido, hapkido stuff is pretty legit.