The Jiu Jitsu Times Weekly Challenge: Go For Leg Locks!


This past week many of us probably didn’t train as much as usual because of the holiday, and chances are it’ll be the same this coming week.  I don’t care; get on the mat and train!

If you did do the challenge last week, how did you feel with it?  Did you learn anything new about your game?  How was the experience?  Did you find that that 250 pound white belt with a wrestling background was suddenly a lot scarier?  Or were you ready to handle it?

For this week’s challenge, some people will be bored with it and others will have a hard time: attack the feet.  And by attack the legs I mean, go for at least one foot/leg lock during every roll you have, and try to submit at least one person every session with a leg lock.  This may be an easy challenge for many, but I’ve seen a whole lot of people who have no clue how to finish leg locks and when they do go for them, they treat them like they don’t make any sense.

Leglocks are very often treated with a level of disdain in certain circles and academies, this can be a result of perceived danger that they pose, or possibly as a result of the history (Gracie vs. Fadda/ BJJ vs. Luta Livre, look it up if you don’t already know.)  For this reason I’d encourage you to communicate with your training partners should you not be in a school that already embraces Leglocks.

Also, take into account who you are rolling with, it’s not very nice to go for heel hooks on people who don’t understand them and similarly if you rolling at a competition oriented gym reaping the knee may not be socially acceptable.  Stay within the bounds of the rules, whether they are spoken or unspoken, at your gym.  But go for leglocks!

Remember, straight ankle locks are usually legal at white belt, and these are probably some of the most neglected moves in BJJ, knee bars and toe holds are legal at upper belts in IBJJF, and more tournaments are allowing heel hooks every day, so know that you will be inherently bettering your game regardless of how much or how little of this you do..

If you are already a leglock guy/gal, that’s fine I’ll have something for you for next week.  Don’t worry; every week’s challenge will be for you!

Let us know over the course of the week how this works out for you, if it forces any changes, and if you like the challenge.  Remember leglocks, whether or not you use them, are a part of the game and thus going for them will make you more aware of them.  Leave us comments on what you think of these challenges; I’m always looking for cool ideas!


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