Folks who follow me on social media (and guys I've trained with previously but we're now in different states et cetera) will DM me and ask me how best to learn leg locks if they're somewhere/at a school where there's limited knowledge. This question on their part in and of itself shows me an important distinction.
I see a lot of guys on the good ole Igram who think you can literally just watch a series of moves and put together a leg lock game. On the one hand, before I moved, I reverse engineered parts of moves/games from watching famous guys (baseball bat choke from Gui Mendes, Reverse de la Riva from Bruno Frazatto, deep half and over/under pass from Bernardo Faria, Kneebars from Bendy and Ninja) due a lack of higher end competition where I was and did I put things in my game? Sure. Was it always, in fact, a poor man's version of something? Yes. The difference between access to real high end tournament tested information and also a room full of guys all getting that information and training on a daily basis is.......hard to articulate. The accrued advantage of that interest compounding day after day, month after month....well, you do the math. This is the unpalatable truth. But, in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.
The short answer is that, there's no short cut. Spoiler alert, right? The long(er) answer is for a great conceptual understanding of leg locks, and some tried and true sequences that will show results both in training and in competition, get Danaher's leg locks because his is the most comprehensive coverage of the subject. The other, the one I actually used to start and did a ton of trial and error with was Kneebar king of leg locks by Bendy Casimir and Ninja. The other more helpful piece of advice, if you're actually serious about learning leg locks is......
I started having some success in training with these before I ever moved and began training at Renzo's in the city.
More specifically, a friend recently DM'd me asking how to go about learning leg locks/instructionals or at least making a start, and I told him the hands on approach is find a guy who IS ACTUALLY ABLE TO LEG LOCK PEOPLE IN COMPETITION and pay him for a private on one leg lock: basic ankle lock. You'll find out in a private on just one leg lock the depth of their knowledge about the bite, finishing mechanics, entries, and some basic concepts rather than waste a ton of money for 6 months et cetera. A good teacher, can show you a basic entry, some basic finishing details, a basic series to drill to finish, and given the lack of understanding of leg locks, something you should have success with within a few weeks to be honest. If they show it to you, and a month goes by and you can't even ankle lock a blue belt, then either you didn't pick up enough to learn anything meaningful and/or what they taught you is subpar or borderline wrong.
I see a ton of content online taught by guys who the defenses are plain wrong, or no longer are reliable as there's enough good content about breaking mechanics available, that those escapes simply are not high percentage: see the Darce counter to the heel hook, the handfighting, and leg triangle to buy time once your legs are entangled. See also the dive on the toe hold counter to a lot of leg lock entries. This is like the days of the toe hold counter the berimbolo. Works great against low level guys but inevitably, at the higher levels just gets your back taken.
These things are all options, but as you watch enough footage, you've hopefully realized that these alone, are not enough to reliably invest in to prepare and rely on against a guy really trying to structurally damage your knee/ankle/leg.
Below is a short highlight of me hitting an outside heel hook, an outside heel hook with both legs inside, a kneebar, et al. My point is, it's all advanced division submissions and displays a propensity to attack the leg in a variety of ways. I made a point in 2018 to hit every leg lock there is in competition. I can't tell the guys I coach or offer criticism on leg locks online if I don't feel like I'm speaking from experience and demonstrable experience. If I've reliably been able to finish people in competition with a variety of leg attack submissions, at the advanced division level (I had 40 matches for the year and finished 20 opponents regardless of event format), I feel confident in saying the things that I do. This is to say nothing of the training room time both at Renzos in the city, Renzo Gracie Brooklyn, Bancho MMA, and training time with guys both experienced at attacking legs but also defending and escaping. But training time is behind closed doors and I could say a lot of things with little or no recourse if they are untrue. Tournaments are for everyone to see.
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Option B: I would get Danaher's instructional, start drilling, and start paying your dues by dropping into schools where they have open mats and their guys compete advanced nogi and start paying your dues. I spent what felt like forever in the blue basement (first 6 months plus doing NoGi 2x a day most days) getting relentlessly leg locked sometimes 3-5x some rounds. Guys want to learn how to cook but don't wanna get burned. Same as any part of JiuJitsu. Good guard passers gonna pass your guard. Good leg lockers gonna leg lock you and slowly over time you'll start to recognize the basic positions and transitions, and learn to hang on a bit longer to tap so you're not just panic tapping to every single leg entanglement.
I think a lot of guys want to jump to heel hooks, but never picked up basic mechanics of an ankle lock or kneebar, then wonder why their whole ability to control the leg and the transitions is sh*t. Because you wanted to learn the RNC day 1 instead of some fundamentals. Leg locks are the same, man. Start with the basics, start with the one that's most available (ankle lock), and you can attack it Gi and NoGi, and you'll start to pick up the body awareness, anticipation, and bite/leg control mechanics that will serve you well in attacking the heel hook later on.
I see a lot of guys on the good ole Igram who think you can literally just watch a series of moves and put together a leg lock game. On the one hand, before I moved, I reverse engineered parts of moves/games from watching famous guys (baseball bat choke from Gui Mendes, Reverse de la Riva from Bruno Frazatto, deep half and over/under pass from Bernardo Faria, Kneebars from Bendy and Ninja) due a lack of higher end competition where I was and did I put things in my game? Sure. Was it always, in fact, a poor man's version of something? Yes. The difference between access to real high end tournament tested information and also a room full of guys all getting that information and training on a daily basis is.......hard to articulate. The accrued advantage of that interest compounding day after day, month after month....well, you do the math. This is the unpalatable truth. But, in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.
The short answer is that, there's no short cut. Spoiler alert, right? The long(er) answer is for a great conceptual understanding of leg locks, and some tried and true sequences that will show results both in training and in competition, get Danaher's leg locks because his is the most comprehensive coverage of the subject. The other, the one I actually used to start and did a ton of trial and error with was Kneebar king of leg locks by Bendy Casimir and Ninja. The other more helpful piece of advice, if you're actually serious about learning leg locks is......
I started having some success in training with these before I ever moved and began training at Renzo's in the city.
More specifically, a friend recently DM'd me asking how to go about learning leg locks/instructionals or at least making a start, and I told him the hands on approach is find a guy who IS ACTUALLY ABLE TO LEG LOCK PEOPLE IN COMPETITION and pay him for a private on one leg lock: basic ankle lock. You'll find out in a private on just one leg lock the depth of their knowledge about the bite, finishing mechanics, entries, and some basic concepts rather than waste a ton of money for 6 months et cetera. A good teacher, can show you a basic entry, some basic finishing details, a basic series to drill to finish, and given the lack of understanding of leg locks, something you should have success with within a few weeks to be honest. If they show it to you, and a month goes by and you can't even ankle lock a blue belt, then either you didn't pick up enough to learn anything meaningful and/or what they taught you is subpar or borderline wrong.
I see a ton of content online taught by guys who the defenses are plain wrong, or no longer are reliable as there's enough good content about breaking mechanics available, that those escapes simply are not high percentage: see the Darce counter to the heel hook, the handfighting, and leg triangle to buy time once your legs are entangled. See also the dive on the toe hold counter to a lot of leg lock entries. This is like the days of the toe hold counter the berimbolo. Works great against low level guys but inevitably, at the higher levels just gets your back taken.
These things are all options, but as you watch enough footage, you've hopefully realized that these alone, are not enough to reliably invest in to prepare and rely on against a guy really trying to structurally damage your knee/ankle/leg.
Below is a short highlight of me hitting an outside heel hook, an outside heel hook with both legs inside, a kneebar, et al. My point is, it's all advanced division submissions and displays a propensity to attack the leg in a variety of ways. I made a point in 2018 to hit every leg lock there is in competition. I can't tell the guys I coach or offer criticism on leg locks online if I don't feel like I'm speaking from experience and demonstrable experience. If I've reliably been able to finish people in competition with a variety of leg attack submissions, at the advanced division level (I had 40 matches for the year and finished 20 opponents regardless of event format), I feel confident in saying the things that I do. This is to say nothing of the training room time both at Renzos in the city, Renzo Gracie Brooklyn, Bancho MMA, and training time with guys both experienced at attacking legs but also defending and escaping. But training time is behind closed doors and I could say a lot of things with little or no recourse if they are untrue. Tournaments are for everyone to see.
br />
Option B: I would get Danaher's instructional, start drilling, and start paying your dues by dropping into schools where they have open mats and their guys compete advanced nogi and start paying your dues. I spent what felt like forever in the blue basement (first 6 months plus doing NoGi 2x a day most days) getting relentlessly leg locked sometimes 3-5x some rounds. Guys want to learn how to cook but don't wanna get burned. Same as any part of JiuJitsu. Good guard passers gonna pass your guard. Good leg lockers gonna leg lock you and slowly over time you'll start to recognize the basic positions and transitions, and learn to hang on a bit longer to tap so you're not just panic tapping to every single leg entanglement.
I think a lot of guys want to jump to heel hooks, but never picked up basic mechanics of an ankle lock or kneebar, then wonder why their whole ability to control the leg and the transitions is sh*t. Because you wanted to learn the RNC day 1 instead of some fundamentals. Leg locks are the same, man. Start with the basics, start with the one that's most available (ankle lock), and you can attack it Gi and NoGi, and you'll start to pick up the body awareness, anticipation, and bite/leg control mechanics that will serve you well in attacking the heel hook later on.
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