Before we leave this topic I want to point out that not all chokes occur at the neck. Of course squeezing the windpipe is the most common form of choking, but you can also impair breathing by applying pressure to the torso.

The diaphragm is a powerful sheet of muscle that lies between your heart and lungs in the upper part of your torso, and your stomach, intestines and other organs in the lower part of your torso. The diaphragm is the primary muscle responsible for moving air in and out of the body by inflating your lungs.

Typically diaphragmatic choking is accomplished using the knee-on-belly position. The knee is placed fairly high on the belly, usually just near the solar plexus. To increase pressure the arms are anchored on your opponent and pulling him into you.

This pressure means that the diaphragm and lungs can’t operate properly and that his breathing becomes labored and ineffective. Maintain this pressure on the diaphragm and lungs, and he will be forced to submit from lack of air reaching his lungs. It might be a little bit slower than closing down the windpipe, but the final effect is the same.

This week we will discuss strangles and strangulations; this will be the start of series of articles on the topic of chokes, strangles and other submissions attacking the neck. I define a “strangle” as a grappling technique that restricts the flow of blood through the carotid arteries, giving your opponent the choice of submitting or becoming unconscious.

First it is important to understand a little bit of anatomy. Try turning your head to one side and then pinch the big long muscle on the opposite side of your neck. This muscle runs from just behind your ear to the top of your breastbone, and is called the “Sternocleidomastoid”. The carotid artery is roughly located underneath this muscle.

The take-home message of the above anatomy lesson is that proper strangles attack mainly the SIDES of the neck. When these arteries are compressed by a choke the brain doesn’t receive enough blood and the person becomes unconscious. In the hands of an expert this can take as little as 5 to 10 seconds. Most properly applied strangles are not usually very painful, although there are a few exceptions to this rule.

Resisting a strangle is not a question of toughness. Because you are temporarily restricting the flow of blood to the brain, even if the person high on PCP, or has superhuman pain tolerance, they should go unconscious. As with all techniques there are a few freaks of nature that have necks strong enough to resist most strangles – but you should know that these people are VERY few and far between.

Next week we will discuss some very important choking and strangling safety tips, including what to expect when someone has been rendered fully unconscious.

The so-called rear naked choke (also known as “hadaka-jime” in Japanese) is one of the most powerful submissions in grappling. Properly applied, this choke should give your opponent no way out except to tap or go to sleep.

When using this choke I often think about the angles at which I am applying pressure. Keeping these angles in mind has made my rear naked choke much more powerful:

First squeeze DOWN (ie bring your arms down towards your belly button a bit)

Then squeeze IN (i.e. bring your arms towards his spine)

Then squeeze UP (towards the top of his head).

This 3 part sequence helps gets your forearm and wrist under his chin and helps you dig deep into his neck. My visual picture is popping the head off of a daisy…

If you want a visual for this choke check out the Grapplearts picture of the week from March 28th, 2004. Incidentally, the two combatants in this picture (Castro and MacDonald) are now teammates on Epic Fight Team!