Q: “Hi Stephan. Will you analyze Palhares’ sick heelhooks and combinations or is it more thanks to his bull strength that he’s so successful. Or maybe do already you teach that in your leglocks DVD. Thanks for all your stuff and for responding my previous mail! Jonathan”

A: Thanks for an interesting question Jonathan!

UFC fans might be familiar with Rousimar Palhares because he recently showcased his skills in UFC 142, tapping out Mike Massenzio with a slick heelhook in round 1.

This is a relatively common occurrence in Palhares’s fights.  In fact, he has 14 MMA victories, 7 of which are by leglock.  And he’s not limiting his exploits just to MMA either: in 2011 at the most prestigious submission grappling competition in the world – the Abu Dhabi Combat Championships – Palhares finished 3 matches in a row with heel hooks!

So his leglocking credentials are impeccable.

As you point out he is an absolute bull.  In fact, his nickname in Brazil is Toquinho, which is Portuguese for “little tree stump.” He’s covered in slabs of muscle, and could probably compete successfully in bodybuilding if he wasn’t ripping people’s legs apart in MMA.

Both Palhares’s physique and his single-minded pursuit of the submission are evident in the highlight video below:

The idea of someone as powerful as Palhares using all his strength to twist your leg, shredding the tiny ligaments that hold your knee and ankle together, should send shivers down your spine.

We’re talking serious, permanent, damage here folks…

(At this point I have to belabor the obvious and point out that heelhooks really are dangerous.  But if you want a relatively safe way to get better at heelhooks, first work on the basic ankle lock!  Doing this will build your heelhooking foundation, because it teaches you how to control your opponent’s foot and leg in a relatively safe position.  Once you’ve mastered the ankle lock, upgrading your attacks to the heel hook will require only relatively small modifications.)

OK, so now we’ve talked a little bit about Palhares.  But there are actually TWO currently-active MMA fighters changing the game with leglocks…

In fact, you can’t discuss leglocking in modern MMA without also talking about another leg locking master: Masakazu Imanari.

Fighting mostly in Japan, Imanari has 24 wins in MMA, 9 of which come from a dizzying variety of leg locks attacks.

He has an insane ability to jump onto someone’s legs and then relentlessly pursue the leglock finish. No wonder that his nickname is “Ashikan Judan” which, in English, means “10th Dan of Leglocks”

For a quick taste of Imanari’s fighting style (and some fantastic leg locking combinations) check out the highly entertaining video below

So there we have the two undisputed best leglockers active in MMA today: Palhares and Imanari…

Isn’t it interesting that these two fighters have such different body types?

Palhares, as I’ve said, is an absolute powerhouse who could probably do well in bodybuilding contests.  Imanari, although obviously fit, is much slimmer and lankier.

Two entirely different body types.  One identical, relentless strategy.

The fact is that heel hooks work for all kinds of bodytypes, physiques and strength levels.  Palhares’s athleticism and ability to benchpress 400 lbs certainly doesn’t hurt his ability to finish the heelhook, but it’s NOT the major thing he’s got going for him…

It’s technique!

Some people write off leg locks as not being lowbrow techniques and not very technical…

But clearly, both Imanari and Palhares are ultra-technical.  They both use basic leg lock entries as the foundation of their game, and then build on that to apply some truly spectacular spinning, jumping, upside-down leg lock attacks from unexpected angles and positions.

If you’re a grappler you’ve GOT to be familiar with the most common lower body attacks (ankle locks, toe holds, heel hooks and kneebars).  You don’t necessarily need to be an expert leglocker, but you’ve got to have played with them a bit, understand the mechanics, know how to counter them, etc.

First of all, if someone attacks you with a leglock you don’t recognize it, and don’t know how to counter it (or even realize that you should be tapping out) you could be in a world of hurt…

And also consider this: heel hooks are the great equalizer.

Strength and power are nice to have of course, but you DON’T need much strength to finish larger, stronger opponents with a heel hook.

In fact, if I was facing someone 100 lbs heavier than me I’d be thinking about two main submissions: the rear naked choke, and the heel hook!

Before I wrap up I have to throw in an important caveat!

The sad fact is that when it comes to submitting much larger opponents, not all leglocks are created equal.

I love the kneebar.  But if your opponent is a LOT bigger and stronger than you, then kneebars might not be the best submissions to use.

With the heel hook you’re mainly attacking the small and vulnerable cruciate ligaments of the knee.  Even someone as large as Brock Lesnar is still going to have relatively small cruciate ligaments, making the heel hook a perfect tool with which to bring down a Goliath.

But to apply a kneebar you have to overpower a relatively larger muscle in your opponent’s leg: the hamstring.

Most of the time this isn’t a problem, because if you do the kneebar correctly you end up using the power of BOTH your legs AND your body against your opponent’s one hamstring. These are pretty good odds, and that’s good enough to finish the kneebar on 90% of the opponents you’ll encounter.

But if someone is much stronger than you then you’re going to run into the upper limit of kneebars…

Consider one of the most exciting fights in MMA history, Antonio Nogueira’s epic battle against the Bob Sapp in Pride.  Nogueira was outweighed by at least 100 pounds, and at one point he spun under Sapp, getting into the kneebar position.   Mainly because there was such a big strength and weight difference, Bob Sapp basically ignored the kneebar and then punished Nogueira with a huge drop knee to the face.

You can see that kneebar attempt and Sapp’s Neanderthal counter just after the 11 minute mark of  this video here:

Nogueira’s inhuman toughness and tenacity not only allowed him to survive this fight, but eventually earned him one of the most tenacious victories of all time (watch part two of the fight here).

To wrap up, looking at both Imanari and Palhares competing in MMA leads you to a few different take-home messages…

The first take-home message is that leg locks are just as technical as any other aspect of the sport.  It’s NOT just about grabbing someone’s leg and twisting!  There are specific techniques, drills, principles, counters and combinations that you need to know if you want to get good at leglocks, just like any other submission.

Secondly, there are a lot of leglocks – heel hooks in particular – that can be a devastating part of your arsenal, regardless of your body type.  Short or tall, muscular or lanky, strong or weak: the heelhook can finish just about any opponent.  This makes it a must-have technique, an ace in a hole that can instantly finish just about anybody in a submission grappling match, an MMA fight or a street self defense situation!

The Ryan Hall interview

Ryan is one of North America’s most prolific and successful competitors.

With more than 200 tournaments, countless superfights, and solid performances in the Mundials and ADCC he’s uniquely positioned to give a ton insight into the world of BJJ and submission grappling.

In this 58 minute interview Ryan shares:

•    His tips for dealing with competition nerves,
•    How his game has evolved over time,
•    Specific tips to lock on and finish the triangle choke (which was Ryan’s longtime signature move),
•    The components you need in order to have a ‘complete’ guard game,
•    What’s wrong with the 50-50 guard in BJJ,
•    How he’s structuring his training camp to get ready ADCC 2011,
•    And a lot more…

You listen to it, download it or read a transcript at www.grapplearts.com/ryanhall/index.php

It happens all the time.  In fact, I’m not immune either.  There have been lots of submissions where I initially thought, “oh man, this will never work for me!”

But take heart!  Usually there are just one or two critical details that need to be fixed before you experience that magical quantum leap in your ability to finish people with that submission!

For example, the North-South choke was a problem for me for the longest time.  At least 3 different people broke it down for me in painstaking detail, but it still wouldn’t work…

I’d get to the North-South choke position, I’d wrap the head with my arm, turn his face with my ribs, and shimmy backwards.  But no matter how much I shimmied or how hard I squeezed, I rarely finished the choke on skilled or tough opponents.

But eventually I figured out the detail which made all the difference in the world for me. In the end, that final key detail was all about positioning my arm correctly in relation to his neck.

What I had to do was get the center of my armpit directly above his Adam’s apple before shimmying and squeezing.  With this ‘secret sauce’ my North South choke finally became a serious threat.

Now there are a only a limited number of things you can think about when you’re trying to tap somebody out in the heat of the battle.

So try to focus only on a few key details, rather than trying to make sure everything is absolutely perfect.

But keep these one, two or three critical things in the forefront of your mind when you’re using the submission: they are the cruxes of the move!

In the North South choke, as I maneuver into the final position I’m literally reminding myself, “armpit over the Adam’s apple, armpit over the Adam’s apple…’

Most submissions have at least one crux detail you need to work on before you can start tapping people out.

Now your crux details may not be my details: maybe you’re already doing everything correctly that I was doing wrong, or maybe you’re making entirely different mistakes…

Nevertheless, examples are always useful, so here are some crux details that have really helped my BJJ career:

• North South Choke: center your armpit directly over the Adam’s apple, the middle of your opponent’s throat (click here for a video of Marcelo Garcia teaching me the North South Choke),

• Clock Choke: slide the side of your ribscage onto the back of your opponent’s neck,

• Rear Naked Choke: line up the elbow of your choking arm directly with the tip of your opponent’s  chin (here’s a video on finishing the RNC and here’s some ideas if your opponent is keeping his chin down)

• Armbar: glue his little finger to your chest chest, so his thumb points away from you (also see this blog post about the three armbar fundamentals),

• Straight Ankle Lock: put your forearm or wrist on top of the little wrinkles where his heel meets his Achilles tendon (click here for a breakdown of the ankle lock)

• Toehold: make sure that the little-finger edge of your hand is lined up with the tips of his toes, no less, no more (cool pic of a toehold in action here)

• Cross Collar Choke:  get your first hand in super deep; even if you can’t actually do it, aim for getting all the way to the seam at the back of his gi (photos of deep vs shallow cross collar grips here),

• Kneebar: squeeze your knees together, squeeze your knees together, squeeze your knees together (want to develop effective kneebars?  Read this article about Kneebar Mastery)

The funny thing is that two different people can use different sets of instructions to express the same detail…

Consider the ‘Clock Choke,’ a great attack to use against a turtled opponent wearing a gi.

When my BJJ coach Marcus Soares teaches this choke he often tells people to “put your head onto the ground” just before finalizing the choke.

But when I use the same move I don’t put my head on the ground.  Instead I think about sliding the side of my ribcage onto the back of his neck.  This is where an executioner’s axe would come down! (Can you tell that I’ve been reading too much Game of Thrones?)

So, ribs on the neck vs. head on the ground: who’s right?

Well he’s a 7th degree black belt who specialized in clock chokes!  So if you do it his way you’re going to be OK for sure.  But I still like to think that we’re both right…

Both ways of doing it end up sliding your weight off of your opponent’s body and pinning your his head on to the mat.  That’s the real key, and the reason why you’re moving all around.

For whatever reason, though, it’s just faster and easier for me to tell myself, “ribs on neck, ribs on neck…”

You can take two different routes to the same destination.  You can also have two different wordings to finalize the submission.

Ultimately it comes down to personal preference and whatever works for you. So go forth and find some simple words to describe the crux details for your own submissions!

(What I didn’t say on that post is that the topic of getting out of submissions is really near and dear to my heart just now, because it ties in well with a really cool product I’m getting ready to release.  But more about that another day…)

Anyway, here’s something that a lot of people don’t realize about countering or defending submissions:  there are at least three distinct timings you can use

1, You can shut down a submission early, or preemptively.  Let’s say that you’re using your guard and your opponent starts going for an ankle lock.  He encircles your ankle with his arm, and you can see what’s coming, but he hasn’t  You rotate your leg (the right way, of course) and your foot pops out before you’re ever in any real danger.

This is an early escape, BEFORE he applies the lock.  If you have a choice then shutting down a submission early, before it ever really gets started, is definitely the best way to go!

2, You can escape as your opponent is applying the submission. Back to the ankle lock: let’s say that he’s locked it on and is falling backwards.  If you can ‘hitch a ride’ and get to the top as he falls back and then squish him like a bug, then you’ve just countered it DURING the attack.

Escaping submissions as they’re being applied is the most under-utilized timing, but it can be very useful.  It’s just so much easier to do it now rather than during the next stage (i.e. when it’s fully locked on).

3, Finally  you can do a late, or AFTER THE FACT escape.  These aren’t as easy or as high percentage as escaping before or during, but you still need to know them.

Back to the ankle lock for sec; let’s say that he falls all the way back into a good position, gets on his side, starts arching, etc.  At this point you might be trying to uncross his legs and escape your hips out sideways, or (if it’s legal) apply a heel hook to one of his legs, etc.  Last minute, hail mary type of stuff

So there you go; I’ve just tripled what you need to know!  You might’ve thought you only needed one good counter to the triangle choke, the spinning armbar or the inside-out, upside-down, cross-collar Jehoshaphat choke.  But now you know that you actually need to learn THREE defenses, early, middle and late.

I was finishing up drilling some new guard passes when someone came up to me and said “I’m a big fan, I read your newsletters and I have both your apps…”

First of all, I want to tell you that it’s always nice when readers come up and introduce themselves.  So please come over and say ‘hi’ if we’re ever walking down the same street together.

But it was also a wake-up call for me that I haven’t been doing my marketing well…

You see, this was the third time in two days that someone has come up to me and told me that they love both my apps.

There’s only one small problem…

I don’t have two apps: there are actually THREE Grapplearts apps not two!!!

Here’s what I’ve got for your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch:

1) Grapplearts Submissions.Learn how to do the most powerful submissions in grappling, including the key details that allow you to tap out bigger, stronger opponents.

2) Grapplearts Sweeps. Covers 29 powerful sweeps from closed guard, open guard, half guard, spider guard, butterfly guard and X guard to get you from the bottom to the top in any grappling match.

3) Grapplearts Pin Escapes. Easily escape bad positions and get back in control of a match…

If you have an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, you should totally pick up these three apps.  There’s an entire DVD’s worth of information on each app and using the indexing system you can get access to the exact technique you need anytime.

(Well, maybe looking techniques up while sparring would be a little awkward, but you can still can look up what you should have done in the locker room afterwards…)

Seriously, at $3.99 each these apps are a great value.  Get one, get ‘em all!

The Three Fundamental Kneebars You Need to Know!

Check it out – it’s 100% free.

And here’s my official permission to share this PDF on Kneebar Entries any way you want. This includes Facebook / Twitter / Email / Forums / Blog Posts / Website. No charge; it’s free! Now and forever.

He’s also my friend and a mentor.

Recently I asked my newsletter readers if there was something in particular you wanted to ask Erik.  (Hey, if you were signed up for the FREE Grappling Tips newsletter you’d have been able to ask questions too!).

Anyway, within 5 minutes the email floodgates opened and the deluge of questions started.  At last count there were more than 500 questions in the queue…

We just finished getting the interview ready for you!  Here’s just a bit of what Erik shares:

• What training with the Gracies in their ‘garage days’ was like
• How wrestling can improve your BJJ, and visa versa
• The theory of the jiu-jitsu wheel
• The strategic and tactical differences between catchwrestling and BJJ
• The key to rapid-fire submission attacks
• Erik’s philosophy on training with and without the gi
• What’s the best time to attack with leglocks
• Leglock safety tips
• How to develop a fighter’s gameplan
• Tips for defeating larger, stronger opponents
• What training with Brock Lesnar is like
• The best conditioning exercises for fighting and grappling
• A glaring weakness (and fantastic opportunity) in today’s MMA game

-

There’s at least three ways you can listen to this interview:

1) Hit play on the video below, and/or
2) Right click on this link and select ‘save as’  to download the mp3 file to your computer, and/or
3) Subscribe to the Grapplearts Podcast in iTunes.

Thanks and Merry Christmas!

It’s rare to get an MMA fighter who wants to show you all his best techniques, but Denis is an awesome teacher as well as a great fighter.  That’s why I’ve received some great feedback about these mini-MMA-instructionals.

Today’s video is about a mount escape that’s gaining popularity in MMA.  The escape can lead into a fight-ending leglock, but even if your opponent manages to counter the leglock it still sets you up for a great sweep that gets you to the top (getting to, and staying in, the top position is critically important in MMA).

The sweep portion of this series was completely new to me. I’ve since tried it out on the mat and it works great, so check out this video (it’s just over one minute long).

Then read on to find out what happened AFTER that competition…

Cool, huh? This is a guard variation I now use all the time because it offers both sweeping options and submission options. The best part is that nobody has any clue of what to do when they’re caught in it.

But I didn’t become competent in this position right away. In fact it took about a year for me to start working on it, and that was only because I received an email out of the blue from someone who had also been experimenting with it.

Click here for the whole story – including pictures and more video.

In a competition, or a ‘serious’ match you DON’T want to play the other guy’s game. His game is what he’s good at.

Your goal, instead, should be to change the rules of the duel.

Here are some concrete examples and suggestions to illustrate what I’m talking about:

• Does your opponent have a killer guard game? If so, then maybe YOU should pull guard on HIM, even if that’s not your normal gameplan. Alternately you could start setting up a leglock attack.
• Is your opponent super strong and powerful? Maybe it’s time to switch to a mobility-based game.
• Does he come from a ‘traditional’ BJJ school? Well then leglock him silly, or use positions that come from other grappling arts.
• Maybe your opponent is known for his powerful grips and collar choke attacks – if so, I would strongly recommend standing guard passes.
• Etc.

You’re probably getting the idea by now. Sometimes it’s NOT about using the techniques you do best. Instead it becomes all about doing what’s worst for your opponent.

Usually this will also be a technique or strategy that he doesn’t expect, or a situation that he isn’t faced with in training very often.

Hit ‘em where they least expect it. And where they leastdefend it! ]]> http://www.grapplearts.com/Blog/2009/05/box-a-fighter-fight-a-boxer/feed/ 0