Here’s a simple trick that Erik Paulson recently showed to me to get your opponent to lift his chin so you can sink the Rear Naked Choke properly.

(And here’s a link to the original 10 minute tutorial on the RNC)

Give it a try. Sometimes simple is good.

You see, I don’t sell T-shirts…

But I over the years I’ve received a ton of positive feedback on one particular design, namely a charcoal gray shirt with a classy silver dragon on the back.

(You can see more angles of this shirt design in the pictures at the very top of the Grapplearts Facebook page).

That particular T-shirt was about as far removed as you can get from the designs so popular nowadays in the meathead MMA crowd (i.e. the axe-wielding Viking warrior with a Rampage-style chain around his neck standing on a mountain of blood-drenched skulls).

So many people have asked me for this shirt that on March 13th I’m going to be giving away 50 of them.

These 50 shirts will be the draw prizes for the Grapplearts World’s Easiest Contest (TM).  And it’s super-easy to being eligible for this draw.

There are only two things you need to do, and it’ll probably take a grand total of about 30 seconds…

1. First, you need to be signed up to one of my newsletters. If you haven’t done this already then I’d suggest signing up for free at www.beginningbjj.com.

When you do that you get to download a free book about BJJ, and you also get a free email-based course about the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.  And if you don’t like what I’m sending you then you can unsubscribe with a single click on the link at the bottom of every single email.  (You may want to wait until AFTER the contest to do this though..)

2. The second thing you need to do is to have ‘Liked’ the Grapplearts Page on Facebook.  This is even easier than the first step: simply go to www.facebook.com/grapplearts, log in, and hit the ‘Like’ button.

Like what’s written on the big red button at the office supply store: “That was easy!”

On March 13th – which isn’t very far away – I’ll choose 50 newsletter readers at random. If that’s you then I’ll first check to make sure that you ‘Liked’ us on Facebook before the cut-off date, then find out your T-Shirt size, and send it to you about a week later.  (In order to be fair I’m going to have to be pretty strict.  No Facebook ‘Like’ before I get in touch, then no T-shirt, sorry.)

So that’s the Grapplearts World’s Easiest Contest!  I hope that you’ll be one of the 50 lucky people getting their hands on one of these super-rare shirts.

Take care, and good luck!

Stephan Kesting

Things have really changed.

Not only are there a lot more schools everywhere, but many of big names from the submission grappling, BJJ, and MMA world spend time on the road teaching seminars, workshops and clinics.

Nowadays you’ve got the internet, instructional videos and BJJ schools cropping up all over the place.  But seminars are still important, because they allow you to get that personal touch from someone whom you don’t have regular access to.

Even so, you might have a few concerns about attending one of these sessions.  That’s why I’m going to address four important questions about grappling seminars.

1, “Can I really learn grappling at a seminar?”

My answer is an enthusiastic, unqualified YES!!

I’ve not only given seminars, but I’m also a seminar attendee.

(That sounds a bit like the Hair Club for Men advertisement, doesn’t it?)

In fact I’ve learned techniques, drills, concepts and training methods at more than 50 seminars in the United States and Canada taught by more than 20 different grappling teachers.

Here’s a partial list of grapplers that I’ve trained with at seminars: Amal Easton, Marco Feitosa, Philip Gelinas, Carlson Gracie Sr., Roy Harris, Dan Inosanto, Denis Kang, Emily Kwok, Marc Laimon, Rafael Lovato Jr., Jean Jacques Machado, Rigan Machado, Roger Machado, Carlos Newton, Erik Paulson, Bob Reish, Marcus ‘Conan’ Silveira, Marcus Soares, Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Ribeiro, Oleg Taktarov, Nick Ugoalah, and Yasuhiro Yamashita.

(My apologies if I missed anyone; a lot of people have practiced their chokes on me over the years.)

I’ve driven up to 6 hours each way, or bought plane tickets, to attend certain seminars. And I continue to go to martial arts and grappling seminars to this day.

Sometimes I end up learning that one killer detail that I need to finally unstick a technique that I just haven’t been able to get working. And sometimes I end up with more of a big picture breakthrough just from seeing how other people do things. But there’s no doubt that going to these things been incredibly useful to my development as a grappler.

Plus I’ve met some really cool people and developed friendships with some of them.

Now, it’s true that if you attend enough seminars, then once in a while you’re going to get skunked. Shut out. Or even cheated and bilked.

It’s possible that you’ll pay for a seminar, move heaven and earth to create the time to attend the damn thing, and at the end of it you won’t have learned a darn thing.

Sometimes this happens because a famous grappler may not be a good teacher. Not every competitor can teach well. Let’s do a quick quiz; would you rather learn boxing from Mike Tyson or his original coach, Cus D’Amato?

Right, I thought so…

Sometimes you might not get much out of a seminar because the instructor is still actively competing and doesn’t want to share the real details behind his ‘go-to’ moves. He might be afraid that he’ll lose the edge he uses to dominate his opponents. In this case the person might might just share a bunch of fancy fluffy moves that won’t really work against a quality opponent.

Sometimes it’s because the celebrity instructor is only paying attention to the cute girls at the seminar, or spending the whole time on his phone (don’t laugh, I’ve seen both).

When this happens, there’s no way around it. IT SUCKS!

But the good news is that it doesn’t happen very often.

Most of the people teaching seminars are genuine about wanting you to learn. They’re serious about spreading the art. They’ll try to help you, if for no other reason than they know you’ll never come back to them if you don’t get your money’s worth.

So boycott people who give crappy seminars. And tell your friends about it so that they don’t go either.

But rest assured, this doesn’t happen very often. I’ve come away with good, useful and practical material from over 95% of the grappling seminars I’ve attended.

In the grand scheme of things, a 95% success rate is pretty good!!

2, “How am I going to remember all this material”

At some seminars the instructor shows a LOT of material. This can be a little overwhelming; you end up thinking, “how on earth am I going to remember all this?”

Here are some tips and tricks to help you retain as much as possible.

First of all, make sure you use repetition training. Don’t just hang out on the mat discussing the techniques: actively rep them out. If your body learns how to do a technique through repetition then your brain is probably going to remember it too!

In addition to the practice time allotted by the instructor, try to sneak in some extra time too.

For example, let’s say that everyone breaks for lunch. Before you head out, grab your training partner and bang off an extra 10 reps before you join the hungry herd. And when you get back, before the seminar gets going again, do a few more reps once again.

This is partially about the repetition, but it’s also about forcing yourself to recall the techniques several times throughout the day. This really helps get them into your brain.

For bonus points make sure to meet up with your seminar training partner on another day – later on that week maybe – and do more repetition training. Once again, revisiting the material will really help hardwire the techniques into your brain.

But what about just video taping the seminar so that you can review it anytime you want?

This is a good idea if your guest instructor and the seminar host are OK with it, but most seminars don’t allow participants to use video cameras.

In a way this is understandable – the instructor wants to control what material, if any, ends up on Youtube. Plus he might think that other people who haven’t paid for the seminar shouldn’t have access to the material.

Regardless, if you’re not allowed to film the material then there’s another way to remember more stuff. Take notes. Lots and lots of notes.

Sometimes it’s possible to take neat tidy notes during the seminar, but that’s NOT what I usually do. Typically I just scribble stuff down as fast as possible during the seminar using my own illegible shorthand, and then I return to those rough notes and re-write everything later on that week.

Making notes forces you to pay attention. It’s harder to zone out. And if you choose to rewrite the notes at some point, well, that forces you to think about the material all over again doesn’t it?

Another good trick is to take notes and then meet up with your training partner later on that week. You may not have been allowed to film the seminar, but they can’t stop you from filming yourself! Put a camera on a tripod, hit ‘record,’ and then go through your notes re-enacting all the techniques you can remember. You’ll be making a guerrilla video notebook for the seminar while also getting a few more reps in!

The reality of note-taking and filming yourself is that you probably WON’T be going back to your notes or videos frequently, but it doesn’t matter…

The very act of physically taking notes and making post-seminar-video-summaries ensures that the material get lodged in your brain instead of it all fading away in a blur of cool stuff that you saw once but now just can’t remember…

In a few extreme cases, seminar instructors might not allow you to take notes. The reason for this escapes me, because the WHOLE POINT of teaching is to help the seminar attendees learn something, right?

I’ve only been to one seminar that had that absurd rule, and needless to say I’ll NEVER train with that person again.

In fact I was so irritated that it spurred me on to not forget a single thing: I ended up taking covert notes in the washroom multiple times throughout the seminar, and then I re-wrote the whole thing as soon as I got home. I ended up with maybe the most detailed set of notes I’ve ever written. Hah!

3, “What if the material doesn’t apply to me?”

People sometimes worry that a seminar instructor is going to show a whole bunch of material that won’t be useable, or applicable.

In a strange way this really doesn’t matter too much…

First of all, it’s good to keep an open mind. You just never know when a technique or position might suddenly start working for you. I recently told a story about a submission that I was pretty certain would never, ever work, and then without warning it suddenly became an effective technique for me.

So you can never be too sure about what is and what is not going to work.

Secondly, at least 90% of the techniques you learn will never make it into your ‘A Game’ (or even your ‘B Game’). And that’s perfectly OK.

A person’s ‘A Game’ is always a subset of all the techniques they know.

Marcelo Garcia knows how to do transition from rear mount to the straight armbar, but he’s probably never going to use that technique against a serious opponent. It’s just not one of his go-to moves. And he chooses not to use that particular technique because it doesn’t mesh well with his strategy and the rest of his game.

But even if some material doesn’t fit your game or your body type, then it’s still good to have physically trained that technique a bit at some point.

Knowledge is power. And the best way to learn how to defend against something is by practicing it yourself a few times.

I can’t promise you that a technique you learn in a grappling seminar will become part of your ‘A Game,’ but knowing how other people do things is really important so that you don’t get surprised by something new on the mats.

4, “How else can I get the most out of a seminar?”

Recently I went to a fantastic 2 day Combat Submission Wrestling seminar taught by my friend and coach Erik Paulson. At one point, late in the day, he asked if anyone had any questions. And the room went quiet.

Quiet as in crickets-chirping quiet.

I was amazed.

Erik is an incredible resource. I mean this guy is willing to share his secrets on just about any area of grappling or MMA competition. Erik has met and/or trained with almost everyone in the game. He studied with the Gracies in the garage days when the UFC was just a twinkle in Rorion Gracie’s eye. He’s been around the fight game forever and has competed himself.

And nobody had any questions… Really?

(The reason I myself stayed silent at this point is that I’d already asked Erik at least 25 questions that weekend, so I thought I should shut up for a while and give other people a chance to talk.)

Here’s the bottom line. If you train then I’m 99.99999% sure that you DO have questions!

Are you clear about what to do in every single position you’ve ever ended up in on the mats? No way!

Is there a certain technique that you get caught with again and again? (If not, then you should probably find some more challenging training partners.)

Are you crystal clear on all aspects of how you should be arranging your training time? How to divide your time between repetition, sparring and conditioning? I’m guessing not so much…

Do you know everything there is to know about competition, dealing with nerves, cutting weight, and coming up with strategies against specific opponents? I’m pretty sure you don’t, because everybody – superstar coaches included – is learning new stuff in this area all the time.

So go ahead, ask your questions. If you’re wondering about something then probably someone else is wondering about it too.

And when you ask your questions at a grappling seminar, be specific.

• Ask, “what is YOUR strategy when you’re in this specific situation?”
• Ask, “what your highest percentage techniques to pass the guard?”
• Ask, “what are the techniques I should learn first from this position?”
• Ask, “can I feel you do that technique on me please?”

Another hint. Ask whatever you want, but at some point try quizzing your guest instructor about some of his bread and butter stuff.

I’m always most excited when I learn some new critical details from a high-level guy’s ‘A Game,’ because in my experience that’s when I have my own biggest breakthroughs.

In fact, I’d suggest that you prepare some questions beforehand. Before the seminar. Do a bit of research on the instructor and go there with at least ONE BURNING QUESTION that you must ask that instructor. Pretty much force him to help you with it!

Mark Laimon once wrapped up a seminar this way…

First he asked, “Does anyone have any questions about the technique we’ve just been practicing?

Then he asked, “Are there any questions about any of the material we’ve covered in this entire seminar?”

Then he asked, “Does anyone have any questions about anything in BJJ or submission grappling?”

It’s pretty cool when a teacher is this encouraging about asking questions, but not everybody does this. Most people need a tiny, friendly nudge in order to know how to best help you. So don’t be shy – gather up your courage and ask those questions that I know you have.

Have a good BJJ, submission grappling or MMA seminar! I hope you learn lots!!

When most people start using the Butterfly Guard in BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) and/or submission grappling, they make one or all of these 3 mistakes.

The first mistake in the Butterfly Guard is to lie flat. Although a few very talented people CAN play guard in this way, you are much more mobile and powerful when you’re sitting up, and your guard is also much harder to pass.

The second most common Butterfly Guard mistake is not gripfighting. Anytime you allow your opponent to get a grip on you, you give him an opportunity to control you and pass your guard. So, regardless of whether he’s grabbing your feet, legs, head, wrist or lapel you should gripfight, gripfight, gripfight.

The third most common error is not having a plan for each range of the Butterfly Guard. You need to know how to be offensive (i.e. which primarily means having sweeping options) at long, medium and close range.

Once you fix the three mistakes in this video  your guard game will improve by leaps and bounds, and you’ll be sweeping opponents all over the place.

In the midst of the rising popularity of Mixed Martial Arts with mainstream viewers has come a surge in a new kind of martial artist: the self-taught via television screen and computer monitor.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) began to rise in popularity during the early 1990’s, but due to lack of regulations including weight classes and rules in the cage, it was less popular with average viewer and considered by many to be human cock fighting. That image began to evolve over the next decade or so with implantation of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, creating less of the violent blood-bath many would-be viewers avoided.

Today MMA widely accepted as a sport made up of numerous components extracted from a plethora of disciplines. Most practitioners of the game undergo training in a gym or dojo either specific to a single disciple or combined as an “MMA gym.” Either way, typical training across the board consists of cardio, strength, conditioning and of course technique. But today gyms are beginning to see an increasing number of students coming in to the sport with a background in “video martial arts.”

The increase in MMA’s popularity has triggered a boost in interest for many specific disciplines with some of the major players being Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai and Karate, but instead of heading straight to the dojo some students are finding technique in the comfort of their own homes.

Youtube

Richard Bown Jr. trains at The Arena MMA in San Diego, California where he is endearingly referred to by his teammates as “Chavez” a nickname he was given by a teammate. His interest in training was sparked like that of many others. “I would watch it on T.V. and record anything U.F.C., W.E.C. or MMA related,” said Chavez. “In the beginning, for the first six months to a year the only training I got was on my own.  I got started because I use to play a lot of sports, but I was too small to play in college. With combat sports it’s different because you can find people your size.”

Being from the small town of Calexico, California Chavez did not have many options for training, so he resorted to other methods. “I watched a lot of Youtube,” said Chavez. “I would type in G.S.P. training and would watch how G.S.P. trains, or what someone like Freddie Roach is teaching. I would find out what the best people were doing for workout and I would do what they were doing.”

To practice the moves Chavez would borrow workout mats from the school where his father was a teacher. “They were the little yoga workout mats and I would have to tape them together on the bottom so they wouldn’t come apart. Then I would invite friends over and whoever wanted to come would come.”

Two years into training Chavez (shirtless in the photo) has competed in two Jiu Jitsu competitions and one amateur MMA bout.  One of his favorite moves learned from Youtube is the Peruvian Necktie, which most Jiu Jitsu practitioners will contend is a difficult move to master from a hands-on instructor, let alone a computer screen.

Jai Troche trains at No Remorse in Honolulu, Hawaii. Despite being only 17, Jai has a wealth of martial arts knowledge well beyond his years, most of which has come from hands-on instruction, but has been complemented by external sources. He has nearly 20 fights/matches already under his belt.

“The Eddie Bravo stuff is pretty slick,” said Jai. “But if you have him as a coach you I’m pretty sure you would be able to do it a lot more successfully. There are certain techniques that work and certain techniques that don’t work for your own personal body type.”

So yes, fighters can and do supplement their training with techniques learned from Youtube, and so can you.  But now let’s look at an even more unlikely source of technical instruction…

Video Games

In addition to Youtube, student are also tightening up their skills via Xbox and Playstation. The UFC and E.A. Sports both have well-developed MMA video games which encompass virtually all the details you would find in a real bout. Players who have never touched foot a mat learn how to take down and past the guard to set up for the submission.

“One of the best things I learned from the UFC video game (UFC Undisputed) was the importance of distance,” said Chavez. “Throwing some punches and circling out.”

E.A. Sports Game Designer Victor Lugo shared the same sentiment in an exclusive interview with GrappleArts.com, “One of the things that is really stressed is the importance of circling.” said Lugo. “In the game if you circle into the opponent’s strong side you are going to be significantly more damaged than if you had circled away.”

Lugo explained that he and a number of the other designers for the game were brought on the team because of their background in specific martial arts disciplines. “We are able to capture how a fighter actually trains,” said Lugo, “Because so many of us train we can take the player through that process. There are real drills and real combinations that players have to work on to prepare for the fight in the game. It gives anyone starting in the sport a good idea of what to really expect when they get to the gym.”

Even though the work is being done through the push of a button, those buttons still force players to have knowledge of what will work situational. If one player shoots in, the other has to know how to sprawl. If a player gets mounted on the ground he needs to know the escape. To be successful in the game, players have to have a general knowledge of the techniques. They may not be developing muscle memory, but they are developing a mind set.

After the release of the UFC game Undisputed 2010 Producer Neven Dravinski stated in an interview with Game Focus, “Each match has this inherent tension to it. When you watch two really skilled jiu-jitsu fighters go at it, you can always see that attempt to gain position. . . When you see two people playing who really know the game, it’s scary how much like a real fight it looks like. There’s a really cool cat and mouse game going on that is really indicative of the tension and strategy in a real fight.”

Jai considers the best move he picked up from a game to be the rolling arm bar from back mount. “I thought it was a cool move.”

“The video games are really realistic these days,” said Jai. “So it teaches you decent technique. Not really great, but it’s a way to get knowledge of a position.”

About the Author:  Grapplearts.com correspondent Bryanna Fissori is the 135lb belt title holder for Fight Girls, Hawaii and also has a successful track record in BJJ and submission grappling competition. She trains at South Oahu MMA and Relson Gracie Waterfront Jiu Jitsu in Honolulu, Hawaii, and has been known to supplement her training with techniques she’s learned online.

IF YOU LIKED THIS ARTICLE YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE STEPHAN KESTING’S INTERVIEW WITH MARSHALL CARPENTER FROM LOCKFLOW.COM: “LEARNING BJJ IN A DIGITAL AGE“

Sometimes you just gotta have faith…

In the first few years of my BJJ career I was shown the armlock in the video above multiple times.  And I always thought it was hogwash; that any good opponent would simply twist out of it and I’d end up in a terrible position.

I was always polite about it, of course: when someone taught it to me I would practice it a few times.  The whole time, however, I’d be inwardly groaning about how this ‘stupid’ technique would never work on a quality opponent.

Of course I never used it in sparring, and consequently I  never tapped out anybody with it, not even the scrawniest beginner whitebelt.

Then one day I was competing in a local tournament…

I tried to throw my opponent with a throw called Tai Otoshi, and when that didn’t work I pulled guard.  I then swept my opponent using the omoplata log roll sweep, and got to the top. Once in side mount I noticed that his arm was in the exact position for this attack that I’d written off so many times.  Almost in slow motion I shifted my grips, moved my body, and applied the submission.  He tapped out right away, and I was kind of blown away.

But my trust in this submission didn’t last.

Before long I’d convinced myself that this was a one-time fluke.   A coincidence.

And so, once again, I never even attempted that armlock in sparring.

(Despite my success using it against a tough opponent, and despite my 5th degree black belt instructor telling me it was a good attack, deep down I still ‘knew’ that it wasn’t a legitimate attack).

So there I was, secure in my knowledge that this was an ineffective attack.

Let’s fast forward to the next tournament. In that tournament I ended up fighting a big, strong, aggressive guy.  When we got our grips on our feet I remember thinking, ‘holy crap, this dude is strong.’

Somehow I got him to the ground and secured side mount.

Once again I noticed that his arm was in exactly the correct position to attack with this same armlock.  Slowly, methodically (and with an overwhelming sense of déjà vu all over again) I applied it.  Once again, it worked and he tapped out!

I might be a slow learner, but I’m not completely stupid.  It’s pretty hard to write off two successful attacks in a row leading to two tournament victories against big, strong, motivated opponents. I had to admit that this technique worked.  And that I’d been a bit of bonehead for writing it off.

Obviously when you’re building your game you can’t concentrate on everything all at once.  There just isn’t enough time. And that means that you’ve got to ignore certain aspects of grappling while concentrating on other aspects of your game.

So after a certain point in your development you SHOULD focus on your best moves.  Train with a purpose and don’t dilute your game by trying to get good at absolutely every technique, every position and every strategy.

But at the same time keep an open mind…

Have you heard of the “70/20/10 rule” that has helped make Google a multi-billion dollar company?  Briefly, it goes like this:

• You dedicate about 70% of your time to your core business tasks
• You dedicate about 20% of your time to other projects that still relate to your core business
• You dedicate about 10% of your time to projects that don’t have anything to do with your core business.

I’m equating your bread and butter grappling game to Google’s core business tasks…

And I’m saying it’s worthwhile to spend about 10%  of your training time playing with different techniques and strategies that might seem really weird and wacky at first.  I’m officially giving you a ‘hall pass’ to occasionally creatively explore areas that have nothing to with your main game.

If one of the most successful companies in the world thinks that it’s OK for its employees to work on projects that usually lead to dead ends, then it’s OK for you to explore sweeps, submissions, escapes, reversals and other techniques that may seem exotic, impractical, or even foolish.

Being focused is a good thing. But keeping an open mind is good too!  Who knows, maybe that ‘stupid’ technique that would never work in a million bazillion years will save your butt someday…

Just like that stupid armlock that I ‘knew’ wouldn’t work saved my butt two tournaments in a row!

Click here for a video breakdown of this specific armlock, including the normal way it’s taught and a not-so-friendly, tournament-only version that puts incredible pressure on your opponent.

However if your opponent gets his grips, flattens you out and drives all his weight onto you it really sucks. And then it’s only a matter of time till he passes your guard…

But even if you get flattened out, don’t give up hope.  There is something that you can do that not only gets you out of trouble, but often puts you on top as well.

Here’s a video clip in which I teach the ‘Kamikaze’ half guard sweep for that exact situation. Plus I also show you a hidden detail that is often overlooked. And finally I introduce you to a related, very powerful sweep I learned from a top BJJ competitor.

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!

Let me explain…

There is no shortage of different submission attacks from the bottom position.  Most typically you’d attack from the closed guard, open guard or half guard position, but you can also use submissions if you’re turtled under your opponent, or even pinned in side mount.

Of course if you finish a submission from the bottom and your opponent taps out, that’s great!  End of story.  Move along folks, nothing to see here…

But have you ever burned yourself out trying to finish a a choke or a jointlock?  It happens to everyone, and it’s especially common from the bottom!

Here’s what typically happens…

You see a good submission opportunity and lock in your grips, but try as you might your opponent just won’t tap out.

You strain and strain and strain, trying to finish the submission, but you just can’t finalize it.  Maybe your grips are just a little out of position, or you don’t have the right angle, or maybe your opponent is freakishly strong, or flexible, or stubborn, or whatever…

The bottom line is that if you keep on straining and don’t submit him, then before long you’ll be exhausted, your arms will turn into jello and your fingers into useless collections of limp sausages, unable to grip to grip anything at all…

(I’ve made this mistake lots of times and it sucks.)

Instead of ending up like this, sometimes it’s better to cut your losses!

Let’s say that you’re trying to apply a submission but you realize that you probably WON’T be able to finish it from the bottom.

Before you abandon the technique entirely, consider whether you can convert the submission attack into a sweep.

Sometimes you can use the leverage generated by your attacking position to power your opponent from the top to the bottom. And sometimes you can trick your opponent by letting him roll out and  partially ‘escape.’  If you anticipate his frantic rolling then you can follow him to the top and then promptly take away his mobility, locking him down and solidifying your top position.

If you use your submission as a ‘persuader’ in this way, then the best case scenario is that you end up on top and finish the submission from there.  And what’s great is that many submissions are actually more powerful if you’re on top, which then makes it easier to tap your opponent out!

But even if your opponent manages to slither out of the attack and avoids getting submitted, you’ll still often end up on top.  That’s kind of beginning to look like a guard sweep, isn’t it?  You might not have finished the submission, but that’s a pretty good worst-case scenario!

There are lots of specific examples of what I’m talking about…

The Arm Triangle Choke (aka “Kata Gatame”) from the closed guard is a submission that can be very useful if an opponent decides to play the bully and grind into your throat with one of his forearms.  It’s relatively easy to slap on the Arm Triangle Choke from there, but the sad truth is that sometimes this choke can be hard to finish from the bottom unless you’ve got strong, muscular arms.

Even if you can’t make him tap out, however, the good news is that in this position you’ve tied up one of his arms.  If he’s caught in the Arm Triangle Choke it’s physically impossible for him to post with the arm that’s trapped , so rolling him towards that side becomes a very powerful option for you.

And once on  top you end up in a great position to finish the match with the very same choke, except it’s now a LOT more effective than when using it from the bottom!

Using the Kimura Armlock position as a lever to ‘encourage’ your opponent to roll to his back is another very effective way to use a submission as a sweep.  This is a strategy that works from the closed guard, half guard, or even from the bottom of side mount.

A great example of this is the Kimura that was used by Frank Mir at UFC 140. At one point Frank was completely sidemounted, but he maintained the grip on Nogueira’s arm, used it to lever himself to the top, and then finished the armlock with devastating effectiveness.

Click here for a breakdown of the Kimura being used in MMA by Frank Mir.

The Omo Plata Armlock is a very versatile attack that leads into a lot of sweeps and other submissions.  The funny thing about this sweep is that as you face more and more advanced opponents you often start using it MORE as a sweep, and LESS as an actual submission…

One of my favorite sweep followups to an initial Omo Plata attack involves underhooking the near leg and rolling your opponent over top of you.   I call this the “Log Roll” Sweep, and if you have faith in it you can use it on significantly larger opponents.

I use the Log Roll Sweep all the time in actual rolling, and it’s featured in my first, somewhat-dated-but-still informative instructional DVD called ‘Omo Plata and the Dynamic Guard.’

Finally let’s talk about the Rolling Kneebar Submission from the turtle position.  This is a really good technique to add to your toolkit because it presents a constant submission threat to your opponent when you’re in a bad position (i.e. turtled).

Once again, even if you don’t end up in a successful knee bar, this rolling attack often lands you on top and in a great position to pass the guard.

Interestingly, there are number of advanced sweeps from the half guard and inverted guard that don’t typically finish with kneebars, but use very similar mechanics to the rolling kneebar.

So the rolling kneebar is definitely a good attack to learn – check out this link  and take a look at the technique #3 of the comic format introduction to the kneebar!

Don’t let me put you off of submissions from the bottom.  By all means, go for them with conviction!

But also remember that not all attacks starting from under your opponent require your opponent to tap out in order to be successful.  Sometimes getting to the top is enough!!

P.S.  If you want to be notified when I publish future articles like this one (and you don’t already receive my email newsletter) then I strongly suggest that you sign up right away.  I will never share or sell your email address, and you can unsubscribe with one click if you don’t like what I’m sending you. Finally it’s free and always will be: click here to sign up right now.

I’m a big fan of your website – I’ve been following it since 2009.  I compete in BJJ and No-Gi submission wrestling.

I’ve also been training MMA with hopes of having my first amateur fight within the year.  I’ve been very successful working my guard when I compete, and I’ve been able to often score submissions from there when I spar MMA.

With some MMA fighters pulling guard I was wondering if there’s a particular guard pull that works well in MMA (I’m not as comfortable in the half guard yet).

Thanks
Jerry

A: Hi there Jerry,

Thanks for your kind words about my website.  I never thought it would grow as big as it has become when I started it way back in 2002!

Now, with regards to pulling guard in Mixed Martial Arts competition…

The simplest thing to say is: don’t do it!!!!!!!

With one exception, I’m completely against pulling guard in MMA!

If you manage to successfully pull guard (and successfully pulling guard in MMA is definitely not a given) then the simple fact is that you’re on the bottom and your opponent is on top.

This gives him at least three advantages…

First of all, he can rest his weight on you.  All things being equal, that means that you’ll get tired faster than him.

And getting tired in MMA is a very bad thing.

As I said in my very first Grapplearts blog post ever, if you’re tired then you’re not fast, you’re not strong, you’re not explosive and you’re not even smart!

Secondly, he’ll have gravity on his side and that means he’ll be able to hit you much harder than you can hit him.

It’s true that sometimes your opponent trying to take your head off with his fists and elbows does opens up submission and sweeping opportunities.  But against a knowledgeable opponent in the slippery and sweaty world of MMA that can be a long shot.

(It’s also possible that your previous successes with submissions from the bottom during MMA sparring came, in part, from your training partners not punching you full force. Don’t underestimate how much getting punched in the face really hard will mess up your submission game!)

I don’t know what the exact statistics are, but I’m guessing that for every successful submission from the guard in MMA there have been three times as many KO’s and TKO’s resulting from the guy on the bottom getting pounded by the fighter on top.

Not great odds…

Finally, should your fight go the distance, most judges in MMA will give the fight to the guy on top because he’s supposedly being the aggressor.  Decisions don’t tend to favor the person on the bottom.

Now, there’s one important exception to all of this…

Let’s say that you’re totally outclassed in the striking or takedown department.  The fight isn’t going well and you’re gonna get knocked out on the feet, or end up completely exhausted by your opponent stuffing your takedown attempts.

If you know that you’re a better grappler, then your only option might be to get the fight to the ground quick. And the only way to do this might involve pulling guard.

So let’s talk about the right way and the wrong way to pull guard, regardless of whether you’re competing in BJJ or MMA…

Many people pull guard by falling backwards to the ground in a lazy kind of way.

This is dangerous because it gives your opponent the option of standing back and disengaging, in which case the referee will probably force you to get back to your feet again.  Or, even worse, he’ll take advantage of your lazy butt-flop and pass your guard, which could be disastrous in a real fight!

So you want to be sure that your guard pull works!

One option is to tie up (clinch) with your opponent and shoot your hips forward ultra-dynamically in an attempt to to get the closed guard.

Think of hitting him so hard that you knock him over backwards.  In all likelihood you won’t knock him over, but you probably will get to the closed guard.

It would also help if you had a solid half guard game.  Many times when you don’t get the full guard you end up in half guard.  And the half guard CAN work in MMA: watch the sweep that Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira (Big Nog) did on Tim Sylvia in UFC 81.

One final option I’m going to talk about today is something that I’ve seen work in both MMA and submission grappling.  Namely jumping to a leglock attack and/or to the single-leg X guard from a standing position!

This is a very surprising attack, with strong followup potential…

The goal is to submit your opponent with the leglock.  But even if that part doesn’t go according to plan, you still get to the ground, often ending up on top as your opponent tries to escape the submission attack.

Here’s a clip from my Leglock DVD taking you through that specific jumping leglock entry:

Before we get carried away talking about the specific techniques to pull guard, let’s make one thing really clear.  Regardless of the technique you’re using, if you’re even thinking about doing this in MMA then you’d better practice it first in sparring!

Here’s a drill that might help you (I previously taught this in “Lesson 4 – Escaping in Transition” of the Grappling Concepts Course).

This game is good for both partners.  It develops: A) effective guard pulling, and B) effective guard passing during the transition.

You and your training partner start on your feet.

Each person only has ONE way of scoring points in this game.

The first person’s goal is to pull guard.  If he can secure a guard position (any guard position, open or closed) for 3 seconds, he gets one point.

The other person’s DOESN’T want get caught in the guard.

His goal is to avoid getting entangled in the guard or half guard, and pass to a dominant position (side mount, kneemount, full mount, etc) as the other person transitions from standing to the the ground. If he passes the guard and maintains a dominant position for 3 seconds then he gets one point.

This is sparring with very limited parameters.

All one person is trying to do is get to the ground and maintain guard (or sweep him) for 3 seconds. All the other person is trying to do is not get caught in the guard and try to pass it even before it gets established.

After a pre-determined length of time you switch roles.

If you want pulling the guard in a match to be a last-ditch emergency option then this drill might be a good starting point for you.

But if your emphasis is MMA then you might want to mix it with some light boxing and/or clinchfighting with takedowns.

Also, you might want to award  the non-guard-pulling person ONE point if he breaks free of your guard and gets back to his feet, and TWO points if he passes your guard (this would reflect the severity of ending up in a bad position in MMA).

One last thing…

We’ve talked about pulling guard as an ace up your sleeve when nothing else is working.

Alright, we’re in agreement that it’s good to have a backup plan…

But if you want to fight MMA these days you need to have a striking game, a takedown game and a ground game!

Of course you’ll always be stronger in some areas than others – that’s completely normal, and is true even for the very best UFC fighters.

But if you only feel comfortable in one range then your opponents will eventually figure this out and clobber you.

Just remember, concussions are bad for you, and dental work is very, very expensive!  Train so that you got some options in all three areas of the game!

Take care, and good luck with your training!

Stephan Kesting

www.grapplearts.com