Why are leg locks so effective in high level jiu jitsu right now?

[DanaWhitesButler]

They were undertrained for decades, creating a vulnerability to them that is now being exploited

 

[dmwalking]

Gi based jiu jitsu has been the dominant force in BJJ culture for decades. IBJJF has been the most dominant organization. Most leg locks are illegal in competition so for years people just didn't train them. There was also a cultural stigma behind them. Hence the derogatory term "sapateiro."

So first, for years guy just haven't trained them so the guys who have been training them have an advantage.

Second, like others have said, leg locks have become more strategic and strategized and there is much more information out there for us to absorb.

Now that everyone is training them and they have been adapted to be more effective, they get used more. New guys don't care about the sapateiro stigma. They just want the tap. That's also why face cranks are becoming more popular.

 

[Deleted member 405583]

New positions come in waves. Before leg locks it was berimbolos and dlr/rdlr. Not that they arent effective but as soon as people catch up, itll be on to the next one

 

[method115]

Legs go from 0 to 100 real quick. If you're caught in an arm bar you may tough it out for a little while, when someone hooks a heel you don't have time

I don't really fight submissions as it is but every now and then I try to fight an arm bar or a choke. As soon as someone goes for a any leg techniques I give in right away. I can't afford to be limping and having issues walking with my job and life in general. I got my knee reaped once and it was enough to let me know don't ever let someone hurt my legs it will affect my life way to much.

 

[tekkenfan]

its simple leg locks have gotten deeper as of late and they catch guys who arnt knowledgeable about them its like any gimmick that works at first but then people learn it and it stops being as strong like darce chokes were big in early 2000s

 

[DatCutman]

Everybody hit the broad strokes. Only thing I would add is that you see people now training a nogi game plan for no gi, rather than being a gi guy finding an adaptation. The gap between the two is becoming as different as judo v wrestling. Same principles, hugely different looks and applications.

 

[Alech33]

I don't really fight submissions as it is but every now and then I try to fight an arm bar or a choke. As soon as someone goes for a any leg techniques I give in right away. I can't afford to be limping and having issues walking with my job and life in general. I got my knee reaped once and it was enough to let me know don't ever let someone hurt my legs it will affect my life way to much.

Exactly. In the gym a lot of people just tap when you grab the leg. But for those who don't tap to fear often let it go one second too late do some serious damage. In practice most ppl will be cool when applying it. In competition though I've seen a lot of quick locks and screams

 

[Quebec Nick]

Exactly. In the gym a lot of people just tap when you grab the leg. But for those who don't tap to fear often let it go one second too late do some serious damage. In practice most ppl will be cool when applying it. In competition though I've seen a lot of quick locks and screams

Craig Jones has filmed really good escape videos for the Grapplers Guide and he's really strong on the principle that you need to tap if your opponent has the heel and his two hands locked into the heel hook.

Your job is to control one arm and to manage to escape your heel with various techniques (ballerina foot, aligning your hips, pushing the legs to recover the knee line...) . When you lose control of the hand it's too late and if you're training you better tap as soon as you see the hands lock together.

 

[AZ103]

Craig Jones has filmed really good escape videos for the Grapplers Guide and he's really strong on the principle that you need to tap if your opponent has the heel and his two hands locked into the heel hook.

Your job is to control one arm and to manage to escape your heel with various techniques (ballerina foot, aligning your hips, pushing the legs to recover the knee line...) . When you lose control of the hand it's too late and if you're training you better tap as soon as you see the hands lock together.

This is super interesting to me as well. How do you shut a leg locker down? And what are the fundamental things to do once they have your legs tangled? Probably eventually ill buy a dvd but right now my dvd library is 2 dvds strong and on the basics.

 

[Quebec Nick]

This is super interesting to me as well. How do you shut a leg locker down? And what are the fundamental things to do once they have your legs tangled? Probably eventually ill buy a dvd but right now my dvd library is 2 dvds strong and on the basics.

I think Cummings as something on Digitsu who is a lot on heel hook escape and Craig Jones' stuff is on the Grappler's guide, don't know if he has escape stuff on is BJJ Fanatics dvds. Danaher has nothing for escapes on is Mastering the system DVD.

Youtube has a ton of stuff, but I don't think that someone has made a well structured DVD / video series about escapes

 

[SHAOLINMONK420]

You can't really train heel hooks properly until you get to a certain rank in my gym. It's a gracie gym maybe it's just gracie style gyms or something.

 

[dsdoubled]

Looks like the question was thoroughly answered here by other posters.

Short version, a few years back someone realized that nobody on the circuit had truly mastered and taken leg locks to the next level. This was seen as an opportunity to hold a sizeable advantage over the competition if some time was invested in leading the charge.

 

[trustdoesntrust]

This is super interesting to me as well. How do you shut a leg locker down? And what are the fundamental things to do once they have your legs tangled? Probably eventually ill buy a dvd but right now my dvd library is 2 dvds strong and on the basics.

this is to my analogy of the modern leglock game being like the closed guard. back in the day everybody wanted to know how to "shut down" the Gracie guard, and even today you still see little TMA anti-guard tricks. the truth, of course, is that you can't shut anything down, you can just learn appropriate posture, exercise sound escape technique, and have general awareness of potential pitfalls. think of it this way: by week 1 everybody learns a closed guard escape, and by week 2 everybody learns not to have one arm in and one arm out, yet how long does it take before that person can reliably stay safe in somebody's guard? years???

 

[Quebec Nick]

You can't really train heel hooks properly until you get to a certain rank in my gym. It's a gracie gym maybe it's just gracie style gyms or something.

My coach is super liberal for this, we are a Nova Uniao affiliate and they usually follow the IBJJF ruleset.

My coach loves no gi and he loves leglocks. He decriminalized all leg locks and reaping from blue belt and up.

 

[yetanother]

yet how long does it take before that person can reliably stay safe in somebody's guard? years???

Depends if it's gi or no-gi.
Without the gi it's not that hard to stall in someones guard. If you know how to put your arms in safe spots and kill the hips when in danger it's extremely hard for the bottom guy do anything.
With the gi staying there is a lot harder to defend the better attacks not just the traditional shit variants.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

Exactly. In the gym a lot of people just tap when you grab the leg. But for those who don't tap to fear often let it go one second too late do some serious damage. In practice most ppl will be cool when applying it. In competition though I've seen a lot of quick locks and screams

Why would you tap right away to an ankle lock knee bar ? Toe holds can be tricky but still you can defend well, hh are the only ones that you should tap in training as soon as someone has a deep hook and a good control of your leg.

 

[mataleaos]

This is super interesting to me as well. How do you shut a leg locker down? And what are the fundamental things to do once they have your legs tangled? Probably eventually ill buy a dvd but right now my dvd library is 2 dvds strong and on the basics.

Everything you described is the exact focus of the $20 Eddie Cummings instructional. It covers the main offensive and defensive goals for both the outside and inside heel hooks. It's my favorite set so far because it's the only one that truly addresses what the offensive athlete needs to do to finish the leg locks as well as what the defensive athlete needs to do. He doesn't talk too much and is right to the point but also very detailed and thorough.

Also Craig Jones just dropped some good stuff on Grapplers Guide for heel hook defense too. I haven't seen it yet but I'm assuming it's good since it's Craig Jones.

 

[Alech33]

Why would you tap right away to an ankle lock knee bar ? Toe holds can be tricky but still you can defend well, hh are the only ones that you should tap in training as soon as someone has a deep hook and a good control of your leg.

Most newer people don't even know the difference between them all. Leg locks are all heel hooks in some people's eyes. It's funny because ankle locks are my favorite leg locks and I always have training Partners say "those damn heel hooks"
I'm like bro I didn't even do any heel hooks lol

 

[jaysculls]

Also Craig Jones just dropped some good stuff on Grapplers Guide for heel hook defense too. I haven't seen it yet but I'm assuming it's good since it's Craig Jones.

The Craig Jones heel hook defense content on the Grapplers Guide is awesome!. Of course I'm biased being that I own the Grapplers Guide but it's an extremely good compliment to the Eddie Cummings content as it goes into additional details and concepts along with dealing with many heel hook situations that you'll come across.

 

[Spoken]

As a few there have noted, not everyone trains with the innovations. I certainly don’t, lol.

Another piece, I think, is lack of grips. No underhooks and the like. Just makes a difference for defense it seems.