Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (7 Easton Rd), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 09/11/2022
The first basic kneebar I ever taught was one I learned from Seymour. You approach the guard as if you are going for a pass, meaning you are in a crouching posture, shuffling forward. Face straight ahead (don't look down), pressing your shin into the back of their leg. Rather than passing, you're instead going to backstep to the outside, so that you are now looking towards their foot.
Sit on them, securing their knee by wrapping your arm. Drop to the side, using their foot as pillow. Cross your arms, triangle your legs, driving the hips through. Make sure their foot is under your head, not above it, You don't want them to be able to rotate, as that facilitates their escape.
Second option from Charles Harriott. This time, do everything the same as before, until you get to the part where you are sat on them and securing their leg with your arm. Instead, grab both legs. As before, drop to the side, but you need to make sure the leg you are attacking is on top. Bring your elbow over the top while still holding their leg (Charles calls his a snapdown guillotine motion), to put their foot in your armpit.
That underarm finish requires their leg to be on the side of your head that is away from the floor. That way is stronger, as your arm and leg can clamp their leg more effectively in place. If you are going underarm with your bottom arm, it would be easier for them to turn their leg.
I'll also keep adding in my safety video, as I don't think this gets emphasised when teaching leglocks nearly enough. Really important: for twisting leglocks (which can happen accidentally, in the not uncommon event that the person being footlocked tries to explosively spin to free their leg), tap to pressure, not to pain.
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Teaching Notes: I could probably do two, as it is essentially just a slight variation rather than a whole new technique. Though yeah, if I want to spread things out, it didn't feel sparse doing just the one variation across two lessons. Then again, if I did put them together, then I could do this on a Monday, followed by the vs knee shield style on a Wednesday (adding in a bit about how spinning through with the knee across, like on the knee shield version, works for lots of entries).
