jiujitsu: escaping (fixed)
ok here’s the real post sorry ya’ll — i accidentally published when it was like 5% done
escaping is one of the most important things you’re going to have to master
the earlier you get good at this, the better off you’ll be
why?
if you can confidently escape any position, then nothing is really a threat, and you can take more risks
it also means more time hanging out in the pocket in specific positions
really good players will always follow up with more attacks, which means you will have to perform a series of escape chains to get out of shit
at any point in that chain you could turn it around on your opponent
harder to submit means longer move phrases means more opportunity
there’s nothing more satisfying than knowing that even if your opponent gets really good finishing positions, you can confidently leave
the two main threats in jiujitsu are breaks and strangles
under breaks you got your armbars, kimuras / shoulder locks / hip locks, heel hooks, kneebars, toeholds, wrist locks
under strangles you have your triangle, head n’ arms / darces / anacondas / neckties, guillotines, rear-naked chokes / other blood chokes
i’m not going to give you exact instructions on every positional configuration, no one would read that shit
the more useful question is — what conditions make a [threat] effective?
if we know that, we can do the opposite
as a bonus, studying this also makes your submissions better
breaks
all breaks are basically some version of a playground see-saw
one, you have a fulcrum point in the middle, where the lever pivots around
two, you put a boulder on one end for control, weighing it down
three, you pull down on the other end like a lever and the platform breaks
a lateral pulling force on the lever can also be a rotational force, and you can hold the lever instead and add force to the fulcrum as well, but it’s all the same
the easiest one to see is the armbar
aaron uses his legs to control the posture and rotation of the upper torso, his hip acts as the fulcrum where the arm rests, and he breaks at the elbow when he levers the other end of the arm under his armpit, plus a hip-in
another view — alan has clear control of the head and shoulders using his legs, fulcrum at his hip, lever forces at the thumb, wrist, and hip, break occurs at the elbow
kimuras implement rotational force, but are conceptually similar
lachy uses his body to control the rotation of the upper torso, the locked out and pinned shoulder of his opponent acts as the fulcrum, and he breaks at the shoulder using a rotational force through his opponent’s elbow
there’s some additional knowledge of how shoulder mechanics work, but similar framework
heel hooks are a combination of rotational and lateral forces, but again, the same concepts apply
jason uses his legs to pinch and control the rotation of the thigh and hips, the dorsiflexed foot causes the shin to lock into the bent knee, and together, this is the fulcrum — rotational and lateral force applied both at the legs and at the foot causes a break at the knee first, then spirally through the shin if you’re stubborn
straight ankles are a nice example of a straightforward break, even though nothing about them is straightforward to master
mateusz’s legs control the rotation of the thigh and hips, the fulcrum is his forearm across the achilles, and the lever is both his hip extension and armpit through the toes — he breaks the ligaments at the top of the ankle first, then the shin if you’re a tough cookie
if you look at break escapes they’re all some version of:
prevent your opponent from using the lever (prevent hipping in or levering force)
misalign or remove the fulcrum (where the lever pivots, sometimes the breakpoint)
add movement and rotation at the control point (remove control wedges and start moving)
these don’t have to happen in that order, and they can occur at any time together or solo
one of my favorite escape artists, garry tonin, demonstrates a series of armbar escapes
his first turn adds rotation at the control point, which starts to change the angle of the fulcrum, the break is gone
until chris stops him from turning, garry then switches to a frame, keeping his ability to move and rotate up to his knees
then garry stacks, which prevents chris from extending his body and using his hips to put force through the arm, he’s basically gotten squashed — no meaningful force can be generated
hello again garry, this time, for a kimura escape
his first action is to prevent isolation, keeping his hand in his stomach and leaning in — what this really does is make it difficult for chris to really push the wrist behind the back and pull the elbow towards himself to create the rotational force necessary to break the shoulder
garry then postures and straightens his arm, not only killing the shoulder fulcrum, but also the control over his upper body
who better to explain heel hook escapes than our favorite jiujiteiro ghost, eddie cummings
eddie talks about the push pull to “slip” the heel — this is essentially removing the lever — his foot now cannot be the lever for rotational forces into his knee
then, he pushes olivia’s knee away, freeing some control of his thigh and hip, allowing him to rotate and achieve an angle to push pull his entire knee out — goodbye fulcrum
this angle also makes the foot hard to catch again, so it’s a triple whammy, it prevents your foot from becoming a lever again
garry’s back again, hey garry
here he demonstrates three actions that directly kill the straight ankle footlock — removing the control on his hip and thigh, placing the sole of his foot on the mat to kill the toe lever, and messing up the location of the fulcrum by booting his foot
so again, to escape breaks, at least one of these have to happen, and ideally all three, in no particular order
prevent your opponent from using the lever (prevent hipping in or levering force)
misalign or remove the fulcrum (where the lever pivots, sometimes the breakpoint)
add movement and rotation at the control point (remove control wedges and start moving)
chokes
ok, so what conditions make a good choke?
one, closure — someone cuts off your carotid arteries supplying blood on the sides of your neck
two, controlling rotation — if you control their movement, they are less likely to rotate and screw up the angle of the pressure on the arteries
danaher positions his knee pit on one artery, the internal shoulder or tricep is on the other wedged in with the leg, with a scoop grip near danaher’s head to prevent posturing or angle changes, we know this as the triangle
craig closes off jozef’s carotid arteries using his elbow pit and the bicep of jozef, then drapes his leg across the body to prevent rollbacks or turning, and finishes by rotating his head into jozef to close space — this is the head and arm choke — darces, anacondas, and other head n’ arms follow similar mechanics
guillotines are a little bit of a special case because it is a choke but it surprisingly follows a lever-fulcrum-control type of finish with closure
alan demonstrates near perfect guillotines all the time
he has his opponent’s head closed up using a forearm in the trachea as the fulcrum, armpit lever control at the top of the head, and lower body control with his legs
a mounted side crunch adds force both at the top of the head and at the fulcrum point, sealing the deal
high wrist/elbow guillotines are a closure on the arteries by forearm and bicep, with control of the body using your legs so they can’t turn or roll
craig places his opponent’s head on the ground to lever the chin down into the fulcrum — he doesn’t even bring his legs into play, demonstrating that if you have really tight closure, it really doesn’t take much to make people go out
rear naked chokes are one of the most common — closure by forearm and bicep with legs to control rotation and movement
if you look at choke escapes they’re all some version of:
start moving and rotating
fuck up closure around the arteries
and again, not necessarily in that order, and can occur at any time together or solo
nick demonstrates a triangle escape, moving and stepping up on the trapped side to get the angle where it’s more difficult to close off space using the triangle
he then throws his legs over which provides a strong wedge to extend and completely break closure
gordon and craig both demonstrate head and arm escapes where they use movement to facilitate punching a shoulder into the choke to ruin closure
the special guillotine case is back — lever-fulcrum-control with closure
gordon escapes the arm-in guillotine by first handfighting the fulcrum and placing his forehead on the mat so there’s no longer space to crunch his head down as a lever
he then moves his head to the center as he is rolling, ruining closure
same with high elbow, just a rotation to remove the threat of the head lever and a shift of the head to ruin closure
garry, the king of escapes, also does it this way
he has an extra bridge motion under mount to remove the leg controls from chris, otherwise, pretty similar beginnings
i’ll share the same rear naked choke video from before because craig talks about escapes too — elbow pushes or grabbing the hands are a direct way to ruin closure
if your partner does not have any leg hooks, it is also possible to rotate and screw up the alignment along your carotid arteries even if things are locked in tight — there’s a guy named dennis at my gym who does this to everyone — just as you think you have him, he turns and leaves 😒
so again, to escape chokes, at least one of these have to happen, and ideally all, in no particular order
start moving and rotating
fuck up closure around the arteries
last words
if you want to abstract it even more, submissions basically utilize isolation, restriction of movement and rotation, and some finishing mechanic that follows the law of physics
your job is to prevent these physics, undo the knots so you can rotate and move, and prevent the isolation of body parts
this post is not meant to replace a deep study of submission escapes, because the conditions change as you get deeper and more in danger
study the finer details because they matter — this post is just sharing patterns that i see after many hours of studying, mat time, and refining micro-details
it’s useful to spot your own patterns across escapes and slot them into your own interpretation — remember, this is simply my framework
hopefully, these summarized cues can be helpful in problem solving before consulting experts or instructionals
after you master the fundamentals, get creative
sources
rob biernacki bjj concepts
jason scully’s grappler’s guide — aaron milam
ebi 22 with 2-time champ alan sanchez
submeta.io — lachlan giles
jason rau’s patreon
bteam youtube channel
garry tonin’s escaping the system instructional
eddie cummings ashi garami instructional
john danaher’s enter the system triangle instructional
jozef & craig seminar somewhere in asia 😂
craig jones anti-wrestling equation instructional
nick ortiz youtube
gordan ryan’s systematically attacking from top pins instructional