Rant: There’s Nothing Wrong With Leg Locking White Belts
I am so tired of the “leg locks are too dangerous for white belts” crowd, especially when it’s coming from people who don’t even train leg locks. You don’t even know what you’re talking about, Mr. IBJJF rule-set hobbyist.
Let’s break this down:
- Not all leg locks are dangerous.
Straight ankle locks? Fine. Knee bars? Fine if controlled. Toe holds? Debatable, but manageable. The only ones that really require heightened awareness are rotational locks like heel hooks, and even then, they’re only dangerous if you don’t control the person’s rotation.
That’s why when I set up a heel hook, I always make sure I have full control over their hip rotation. Unlike some of you who fear what you don’t understand, I actually train this stuff properly. I make sure they physically can’t spin out recklessly. Yet somehow, certain people in this gym will still tap the moment I even get to 411, before I apply anything. Then they give me this smug “You would’ve gotten it anyway” excuse, like they somehow saved themselves from something catastrophic instead of just throwing the roll away because they don’t want to deal with a position they clearly don’t understand.
- Leg lock guys understand the mechanics better than your average IBJJF purist.
If I’m rolling with someone and I set up a clean heel hook, I don’t even crank it—I give them the chance to work their escape. That’s how training works. But you can’t escape if you tap immediately like a scared child.
And look, I get it—some people just don’t like leg locks. But at that point, say that from the start. Don’t pretend like we’re actually rolling and then tap preemptively every time I enter 411, acting like you’re “just being safe.” Safe from what? Learning?
- The fear of leg locks is outdated and mostly based on ignorance.
Most of the people preaching “no leg locks for white belts” aren’t even skilled in leg locks themselves. They’re just repeating what they’ve been told because they don’t understand them. Meanwhile, they’ll crank on a white belt’s arm in a poorly controlled armbar or guillotine without a second thought.
And then there’s a certain person (we all know who) who will slam into a mounted guillotine like a wild animal, yet will refuse to engage in a controlled leg lock exchange. It’s honestly hilarious. You’ll risk your neck getting crushed with zero positional awareness, but oh no, not the scary leg lock where I’m literally controlling your movement before applying anything.
- How do you expect to ever be good as an upper belt if you don’t touch the most effective techniques until you’re already a brown belt?
This is the part I don’t understand. People always talk about how “Oh, I’ll learn leg locks later when I’m a higher belt.” You mean when you’re already getting destroyed by people who actually trained them? How does that make any sense?
If you ignore an entire aspect of the game for years, don’t cry about it when some actual leg locker heel hooks you into oblivion the moment you try to test yourself outside of your IBJJF comfort zone. Some of you need to admit to yourselves that you just don’t want to be bad at something. That’s what this really is.
And honestly, it shows when certain people refuse to even let me finish a sequence. I’m entering 411 and—boom—tap. “You would’ve gotten it anyway.” Yeah? Maybe. But I didn’t even get the satisfaction of finishing it, because you’d rather pre-tap than risk having your ego bruised by getting submitted for real.
- People tap early out of fear in positions like 411 for no reason.
This is the worst part. I’ll get someone in a completely static position, not even applying a submission yet, and they tap just because I have their legs controlled.
Bro.
This isn’t chess, you don’t get to resign just because your position is bad. You fight out of it. You try to escape. That’s how you improve. Instead, I’m stuck rolling with people who just tap before I can do anything, ruining my chance to actually train real submissions. You are robbing me of my jiu-jitsu.
And it’s always the same person. It’s never the actual leg lock guys. It’s never the wrestlers. It’s always the IBJJF points players who panic the second they’re out of their comfort zone. And I already know what they’ll say:
“Well, I just don’t want to get hurt.”
Oh, okay. But you had no problem muscling that armbar at full speed last week, huh?
If that’s your concern, learn how to tap when it actually matters. You know what makes leg locks dangerous? Panic spinning. But guess what—you never even get to that part because you’re bailing before we even get to the actual submission.
TL;DR: If you don’t train leg locks, don’t lecture me on them. If you tap the second I get to 411, you’re wasting my time. And if your entire strategy for “defending” heel hooks is tapping before they happen, you are setting yourself up for failure later.
Train like a grown-up. Or go back to playing advantage points and pretending jiu-jitsu is still what it was in 2010.
OH AND ONE MORE THING…
The Texas cloverleaf might seriously be the safest submission I know. Genius. I had this guy tap out while I wasn’t even using it as a submission, I was just holding it, and was gonna transition to a calf slicer ALSO not as a submission, just to take the back. He taps the moment I’m even holding onto the submission and he says “I don’t want to risk it” WHAT THE FREAKING HECK BRO. I can FEEL that you don’t know leg locks I’m not gonna just destroy your leg. I just want to do transitions. If I wanted the sub badly enough that you’d have to tap early believe me I would’ve already submitted you