BASIC DEFENSES TO LEG ATTACKS:
( for Brazilian Jiujitsu, Grappling, Submission Fighting/Wrestling and NHB)

In lesson one we discussed that you need to learn basic anatomy to make leg locks work correctly.  We are now going to give you information on defeating basic leg attacks.  Here is a list of normal leg attacks that most fighters use:

1. Ankle and Foot Locks

2. Heel Hooks

3. Knee Bars

4. Calf Crunches

Lets discuss defending the normal ankle and foot lock.  If you have not seen a normal ankle or foot lock or do not know what they are you should go to our video library to see how the attack happens. (Instructed by Brazilian Jiujitsu Black Belt Eduardo Delima)

Now in all defenses to leg locks we have to understand basic concepts of

• the leverage points

• the control points

In a normal grappling match the ankle lock situation your opponent falls back or to his side while capturing your foot and ankle.  He then leans either to the back or to the side placing pressure on the top portion of your foot. [leverage points]  Pressure is also placed on the bottom portion of your Achilles or calf muscles.  [you can view this defense on our video tape series or in our members only section] Your opponent is also trapping the leg he is attacking with his legs to keep you under control [control point]  

In any defense to a leg lock, or any joint lock, you must defeat his leverage points.  If he cannot apply leverage onto the joint he cannot lock it out and cause pain or damage.  In the case of an ankle lock the leverage is pushing your toes down.  

One of the simplest ways to defeat and frustrate your opponent is to not let him control your toes and place them in this downward position.  I have trained many fighters who will bitch at me up and down that this is hard to do in the heat of the battle.  They complain that their opponents throw these leg locks on quickly and then they have to take pain to fight out of them.  So I am going to give you a simple concept and defense which does not take much thought to use.  [ This defense is shown in depth on our tapes and members section]

Here is the simple defense.  

ALWAYS KEEP YOUR HEELS IN AND YOUR TOES POINTED OUT.

Let me explain this.  Your opponent must push your toes down in order to exert leverage.  He traps your toes under his arm to exert force on the leverage point being your foot.  If you turn your heel into your opponent and your toes out (being away from his arm) you defeat his leverage point.  He can no longer push your toes down and cause you pain.  Also as an added bonus you will find that opponents actually fall off your foot and leg when they try and fall back into this lock.  Finally, there is never, never a reason to turn your heel out as you expose yourself to a heel hook ...that's the next lesson.

After you defeat the leverage point you next must defeat his control points.  Remember you don't want to lay their on your ass while he try's to rip your leg off.  So you have to clear the legs.  Now this is always a pain in the ass because your opponent is trying to kick or push you back flat.  Remember once your heel is turned inward you can punch your heel into his ribs to make space.  You can then work on clearing the legs and rising up onto your opponent.

I know this is hard to visualize and you may want to go to the video library or our members section to see it done.  It has always been easier for me to learn something after I have seen it done.

Now lets move to the heel hook defense.

The first thing you must realize is that it is always easier to stay out of a heel hook than defend against or counter it.  Therefore you must always try and be aware that a leg attack can come from any angle.

Next you must again look at the leverage that the opponent needs to exert on you to get the lock.  In a heel hook he is trying to isolate and trap your heel with his arms.  He then applies pressure in the direction that the heel does not move normally.  Most people concern themselves with the heel but the heel is only the control point the knee is the leverage point.  Try this with your training partner:

• Have your partner put on a heel hook without isolating or trapping the knee.

• As he puts it on see how easily you can move out of the attack. 

See without isolating the leg and knee their is no leverage point for the heel attack to work. I therefore work on defeating the leverage point by clearing and freeing the knee.  This can be done the Brazilian Jiujitsu way of spinning out of the heel hook and kicking the ass or the simple way of opening the legs and popping the knee out.  I know that this is a lot to try and understand by reading but if you work slow on the basic anatomy of the legs, knee and ankle you should be able to defeat this attack.

How to defeat knee bars

In reality knee bars are often the easiest to defend against and defeat.  If you view the way a knee bar is applied you will notice that it is what I call a long move.  This move requires that you isolate the knee joint with your legs.  Again the simplest defense is to avoid the knee bar but if you are placed in one you must defend the leverage point.  

In this move the leverage point is the actual knee.  Just like in an arm bar once the knee slips past the leverage point the move is basically over.  [Check our training library for this defuse]

How to defeat Calf Crunches:

I find that this type of leg attack is one that is not very effective.  If we dissect the attack we are basically compressing the muscle to cause pain.  If you think of submission fighting techniques in general there are not many submission which solely attack a muscle.  If an opponent can take pain a calf crunch becomes an ineffective submission. 

That said getting caught in one still sucks as they are painful.  The major defense to calf crunches are keeping the leg from being isolated and keeping the opponent from using control to exact pain on you.  I will not explain the defenses as they are to hard to put into words and those defenses are best left for video explanation.

Good luck in your training and remember it is better to avoid a leg attack then have to defend against one.  BE AWARE

I have tried to make this section applicable to Brazilian Jiujitsu, Grappling, Catch Wrestling and Submission Fighting and NHB of course each one of the above arts has their own variations of these attacks which you need to train for.  Remember 

EVERY FIGHTER ATTACKS A LITTLE DIFFERENT

To ask any question that we will humbly try and answer  click here to email us.

A.J. Comparetto

P.S. I you want to learn more about  BJJ and Submission Fighting Leglocks click here.