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Sunday, March 21, 2010

Legs a Locking

Leg Locks. I hates them. But they loves me.

I like to work a lot of open and inverted guard. This usually means my legs are exposed. And lately, people have been happily taking advantage of my sloppiness. I know the traditional escape. You grab one of their arms/sleeves and do the twisty roll. But lately, I've been attempting to learn how to defend by coming up on top.

Only problem is, when I grab a sleeve and come up, getting my imperiled foot flat on the ground, I have barrier between me and mount: the other guy's knee. I asked Fabio and Ben about it, and they gave me four strategies for getting around that knee.

1. Slide your attacked leg down their side and get into top half guard. This is the easiest one for me to do. But the problem is, when I go to slide my leg down their side, if I'm not careful, they can get my ankle again when I lift my heel off the mat.

2. Keep your foot still flat on the mat. Flare you knee out a little bit to help keep it flat. Reach around the knee that is blocking you and grab the opposite lapel. Keep pressure on their leg and break your hip around their knee. This one, I've had problems with. Mostly because it requires coordination. :) I'll have to practice it more.

3. This one's hard to explain. If your opponent is blocking you from breaking around the side, turn your knee out and put it flat to the mat in front of their knee. Your heel will be in towards their body, but you will be leaning over them. Bring your hips forward and slide over his other knee. I've tried this one and ended up successfully passing this way only once. The other (few) times, I've been rolled over the person's head. But at least I wasn't being leg locked again and I was able to get my knees in as I rolled, so I ended up in a butterfly guard.

4. If someone is pushing against you with their knee, keep pressure against their knee, then pop up and over their knee when they are pushing against you. It seems too simple. But it actually works, especially if you've normally try the other escapes.

What are your strategies for escaping leg locks by coming up on top?

7 comments:

slideyfoot said...

I hate leglocks too, mainly because of the high injury risk. I normally try the escape Roy Dean shows here, where the idea is basically straighten out your leg and curl your foot, bounce your hips over their foot, then sit up and come forward.

A.D. McClish said...

Interesting. I am having a hard time picturing exactly what that looks like, but I think I have the general idea. Thanks, Can. :)

slideyfoot said...

Heh - then I suggest you click the link, as there's a sequence of pictures. ;p

A.D. McClish said...

lol, I did click the link but I only read the text about the leg lock. Either the pictures along the side didn't load the first time or I am exceptionally unobservant! ;)

Georgette said...

Great post. I would love to see some of your techniques, Allie-- how about a couple pictures? :)

HomeImprovementNinja said...

Seems simple, but I generally just reach for whichever elbow of theirs is closest to me and PULL. For every leg lock that I know of, you need both arms to finish it, so disupting one arm and (hopefully) breaking a grip will make them switch to something else.

A.D. McClish said...

Yeah, Tom, you're absolutely right. I've been told that no one can finish a leg lock with just one arm. I was trying to learn to work out ways to come up on top and work out from there, as opposed to twisting out. Not that I don't like the twisty, rolly escape. I just wanted to learn some other options. But in all of the escapes I'm trying, having a hold of at least one arm is always key. It's a very important point, which I completely forgot to say that in my blog!! Thanks!