BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU – Brazilian Jiu-jitsu – is one of the most difficult martial arts in the world.
BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU is about ground and pound, locks, and chokes to force the opponents to submit the fight at its earliest.
It is considered as one of the best weapons for self-defense where a person nullifies the reach and the height advantages of the bullies or assailants.
Since it focuses on the ground and pound factor, it is one the best techniques to tackle a street fight. Because we know, a street fight usually ends on the ground where two people end up on the earth and start manhandling each other.
Take a look if the strenght matter in jiu jitsu before continue
But our today’s topic is not about hitting on the ground, we are going to focus on the BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU chokes and locks.
Let us see the difference between a choke and a lock.
What is the difference between choke and lock in Brazilian jiu-jitsu ?
The Chokes
Choking is a trick where a person blocks the air supply of the opponent. And forces him to tap or go into an unconscious state by blocking his breathes.
If the chokes are applied for a long time, they can kill a person by blocking the oxygen for a long time.
The Lock or Joint locks
The locks and the joint locks are the techniques where a fighter blocks the opponent’s blood supply of a body part or moves or rotates a joint into its opposite direction where there is no joint.
Blood blockage is not too dangerous because once the lock is released the blood flows normally, and the organ comes back into the normal position.
But in the case of Joint locks, there are chances of dislocation of the joints or muscular damage.
If we see the variants of BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU, we find there are two; Gi and No-Gi.
In the Gi variant, the practitioners wear the special suit and learn how to grapple the opponents while holding them from their clothes, while in No-Gi, holding clothes is not allowed.
But in the case of locks and Chokes, Gi or No-Gi does not matter, the only thing matters are the points where a joint lock or a choke is applied.
So let’s dig more into the BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU Chokes and Locks. Furthermore, as we know BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU is derived from Judo and the Japanese Jujutsu, so there are some common locks between all three fighting styles.
So one must not be confused if sees the same things in a Judo or Jujutsu training session.
Disclaimer Note:
All the information mentioned in this article is for knowledge purposes only. I highly recommend learning these tricks by a certified coach. And one should never try it at home with friends and family as the results of any sort of choke or joint lock can be so harmful. It is really difficult for a layman to figure out the pressure that only chokes the other for a moment, a continuous pressure may cause some swear injury, or even it can result in death. Any damages caused by any BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU lock or chokes should not be linked to me and/or my website/organization, even someone read that from here. Because my only purpose is to spread knowledge and awareness, and I never recommend anyone to use any of the locks or chokes without proper training.
Main Types of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Chokes And Locks
The Rear Naked Choke
In RNC or Rear Nake Choke, a fighter performs a few steps to apply this choke. The first one starts right after having the rear mount. In the first step, a fighter catches the opponent from his neck, where one arm rolls around the throat while the other tights the grip with the other hand. This technique usually takes not more than a few seconds to turn anyone into an unconscious state. The rear-naked choke can be applied while standing, sitting, or on the ground.
The Triangle Choke
It is also one of the common BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU chokes and is referred to as the signature move of this fighting style. To apply a triangle choke, one leg of the fighter is wrapped around the opponent, and the other leg is placed on that wrapped leg’s foot. Then the fighter pulls down with the upper leg causing a swear air choking to the opponent.
The Straight Armbar
The Straight armbar is one of the most powerful and common submission styles in BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU. The Armbar can be applied from any position, whether it is a top mount, rear mount, side mount. The fighter grabs the opponent’s arm with both hands into his legs where one leg passing from the opponent’s face while the other going through his chest. Once the lock is applied, the fighter makes it worse by pulling the arm of the opponent and pressing him with legs.
The Bow and Arrow Choke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cJ4ZIZ96gY
This choke is the best against an opponent who is small in size. In Bow and Arrow Choke, a person grabs the lapel of the opponent and rotates his body using the other arm, this movement tightens the choke and results in a sure submission if applied with full potential. Bow and Arrow choke’s ideal position is the rear mount, but it can be applied from other angles.
The Ezekiel Choke or Sleeve Choke
The Speciality of Sleeve Choke is one can apply it from any position especially, from those where many other chokes can not be applied. It is one of the simplest chokes, a person just grabs the head of the opponent into both the sleeve and keeps tightening the choke until the opponent taps to get rid of this situation.
The V Armlock or Americana Armlock
V Amrlock is usually the very first submission trick a fighter learns during the training of BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU. This lock is usually applied from the side mount and back mount. Doing it from the guard or kesa gatame is also possible. In Americana Armlock, a fighter presses down the opponent with his chest while neutralizing the opponent’s one arm under his body. This situation gives a fighter the top mount from the side, and he catches the other arm of the opponent with both hands while placing one of his own arms under the arm of the opponent and pulls that upward from the elbow. This twisting submission trick causes a lock to the shoulder joint.
The Guillotine Choke
The Guillotine choke is usually applied from the standing position or the closed guard. In this choke, the head of the opponent is captured under the armpit while wrapping the arm around his neck. And then the fighter lays on the ground and wrapped his legs around the waist of the opponent.
The Kneebar Lock
The kneebar is one of those special locks of BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU where a fighter puts his whole body’s pressure on a single joint of the opponent. This is a versatile submission trick and can be applied from the bottom or top or even while standing. The trick is to capture the leg of the opponent inside own legs tightly, then the fighter controls the opponent’s ability to move or rotate and then pressure from hips and hands is applied on the knee joint. the result is an easy submission. The opponent can do nothing even his hands remain free during the entire process.
The Cow Hand or The Wrist Lock
Usually, everyone is ready for this and can avoid it while staying busy with strikes during a fight, but once this unexpected lock is applied, the game is over. In this submission trick, the wrist of the opponent is twisted in a way where it does not move, for example, outward or inward rotation. Or compression or extension of the wrist. The formula is simple: capture the opponent’s elbow and then catch his hand of the same arm and then move the wrist downward or upward while pressing from the elbow side. The other variant of Cow Hand is catching the hand from the opponent’s back and moving the wrist in an unusual way. This way only one hand can serve the purpose because the opponent’s elbow is already locked.
The Neck Crank or Cervical Choke
Neck crank is not easy to apply choke because the opponent gets the idea of what’s coming next when you win the top mount from behind. He tries to hide his neck as much as possible. The fighter captures the chin of the opponent and pushes it down toward the chest while holding his body inside the legs.
The other variant of Neck Crank is called the Can Opener. When the neck crank is applied from inside the guard, it is called the Can Opener.
The Clock Choke
The Clock choke is applied while the opponent is in the turtle position. One fighter catches the far collar of the other with his wrist going across the throat. Once the opponent is under control, the one on the top uses his body to pin the opponent with great pressure to the neck to win a quick submission.
The Achilles lock or Straight Ankle lock
This is the basic lock and is considered as the foundation of many other locks like toe hold, steering wheel, or heel hook. The reason is all of these involve the leglocks where one masters how to control the movement using the opponent’s leg. In Straight Ankle lock, a fighter controls the leg of the opponent with his own legs, and then he applies the pressure on the foot and ankle using arms. This technique is very powerful and can dislocate the ankle, so it should be applied with great care and must be released as soon as the opponent submits to avoid any further damage.
Hadaka Jime or Short Choke
Sometimes there’s no chance for a rear-naked choke or going for the neck crank, so one can simply go for Hadaka Jime or Short Choke. Short Choke is just about getting the forearm across the throat of the opponent and pressing it like a windpipe that results in a very quick submission. This is also a very very dangerous one and can kill a person if one keeps him under this choke for a long time so it must be applied carefully.
D’Arce Choke Or No-Gi Brabo Choke
This is an old lock, but now it is famous with the name of Joe D’Arce, who popularized it by applying it many times.
In D’Arce Choke, a fighter catches the opponent while having a guard, top mount, or a side mount and then triangles his arms around the opponent’s undercooking arm and his neck. It is its effectiveness that rarely a fighter can get rid of this choke, otherwise, it usually results in an unconscious body laying on the ground.
The X Choke or Cross Collar Choke
This Choke can be applied from the guard position or the top mount. A fighter places one hand in the opponent’s lapel and stands on his own knees because sitting on the opponent’s belly can result in losing the mount after a well-timed upward movement by the opponent. So standing on the knees is the ideal position while catching the lapel. Then with the other hand, the other side of the lapel is captured, this way forearms are making a cross shape right over the throat of the opponent. Now forcing all the weight on the throat will result in a sure submission or unconsciousness.
The Baseball Choke
The Baseball choke is a copy of the X Choke or Cross choke, but the difference is the cross, in the X Choke, the arms make a cross shape over the throat, while in Baseball choke, there is no cross on the opponent.
The Knee Slicer or the Calf Crusher
This lock cannot be applied to the one in the turtle position, the ideal position is when the opponent is in the horse position. Once found in this position, one passes his leg through both the legs of the opponent from the front side and keeps it behind the knee of the opponent, and then lifts the opponent’s foot. Simply, it is like placing own leg into the opponent’s thigh and calf and pressing the opponent’s feet. It causes a swear pain in the knee and calf at the same time.
The Bicep slicer
The Bicep slicer is the same as the Calf Crusher or the knee slicer, the only difference is, it is applied on the arm instead of the leg of the opponent. Both the tricks are too dangerous and can cause swear damages like dislocation of bones or breaking the muscles of the opponents. So both the Bicep slicer and the calf slicer should be applied very carefully, and the lock should be released at its earliest.
The Chicken Wing, Firgure four or Kimura Armlock
Kimura is so effective lock and can be seen in any fight. Because almost everyone applying it during a street fight, the difference is they do by only twisting an arm behind the back, but it is more than arms twisting. Let us see its detail. In Kimura or the chicken wing lock, a fighter wins a side mount and wraps his legs around the waist of the opponent. And then, brings the opponent’s arm toward his back while the opponent is almost in a turtle position. Once the opponent is in full control, his arm is moved toward his shoulder by stressing the elbow and shoulder joint. Along with the other names, The Kimura armlock is more famous for this lock because of Masahiko Kimuro, who used or attempted it in different fights.
The Omoplata lock
This joint lock is applied on the arm of the opponent. In this lock, a fighter is down, and the other is trying to get the mount. In the meantime, the one on the ground takes the arm of the opponent into both the legs, where the opponent turns into a turtle position. Now the arm of the opponent is twisted against the elbow joint or the shoulder joint. The kneeled opponent has no option other than tapping the ground to get rid of this painful situation, resulting in the dislocation of the joints.
That’s all about today’s topic. There are many other locks and chokes, and there is a different variant of the ones I discussed here. I only covered the famous ones here, to make you understand the science behind the famous locks or chokes. The other locks and chokes can be covered in a different article or series of articles that you can only find here on this website, covering every aspect of self-defense in depth.
