Here’s some irony for you.
My very first instructor was a Danaher Black Belt (13+ years ago) where, as a white belt, I was learning X Guard, Ashi Garami and all sorts of leg entanglements and leglocks.
I trained at an “MMA” gym where everything pretty much went. Heel Hooks, Neck Cranks, Twisters, you name it. It was all more or less fair game except for certain techniques my instructor didn’t allow in training such as the Kani Basami.
[Interesting side note, I found out what a “can opener” was when I tapped to my head being pulled and my 240lb Pro MMA fighter training partner called me a pussy for tapping lol]
In just under a year, I’d move across the country and settle into a more “traditional” jiu-jitsu school. The head aches from the constant twisters would disappear and I would train almost exclusively in the Gi.
One day, I got chewed out for heel-hooking my training partner —a blue belt and son of my Professor’s friend. I was still a white belt and this is when the trajectory of my jiu-jitsu would change from the things I did really well (leg entanglements) to focusing on more “fundamental” jiu-jitsu.
How far we’ve come!
See, back in the day, leglocks (Even foot-locks) were frowned upon. I happened to start training jiu-jitsu around the time when Danaher was sewing the seeds to the leglock game for his students (about 5+ years before the “death squad” would start making a name for themselves). Nobody knew how big NoGi jiu-jitsu would be (except maybe John himself) and in many respects, I think the jiu-jitsu world resisted against it.
So that trajectory continued for me, as an instructor, teaching more “fundamental” gi jiu-jitsu and resisting against NoGi as much as I could. It wasn’t until I was a brown belt that I revisited the leg entanglement stuff. And it wasn’t until a month or so ago that I decided to dive back in, head first, into NoGi training (which is now taking up most of my jiu-jitsu volume).
NoGi jiu-jitsu is huge right now. I think this trend will continue but I don’t necessarily it will take over Gi as the primary method of training (for many reasons). No less, it’s important to follow trends and use them to your advantage. And in my case, training leglocks AND wrestling are the two big movers in my own person regimen.
This all brings us to today’s email.
Today’s article is going to dive into the basics of leg entanglements (NoGi) and will finish with a mini-tutorial on how I get to Ashi Garami with a Gi. I’ll also throw in an attack video (Toe Hold from the X Guard) that I really enjoy using. There will be about 20+ minutes of video instruction and what you’ll learn is:
The very basics of leg entanglements: Demarcation lines and space under the legs
How to use hand-fighting and “Connection” to enter the legs
How to set up your leg entanglements with Wrestling, De La Riva and Reverse DLR (Gi tutorial but applicable to NoGi)
A nice little Toe-Hold from the trending “Bear trap” position I learned from Felipe Pena when I was a brown belt.
Alright, let’s dive in!
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