Many grapplers treat leglocks as the black magic of jiu-jitsu. They fear leglocks and never use them. Consequently never learn how to properly escape them either.
The problem is that if you’re doing any form of no gi grappling you will inevitably run into ankle locks, heel hooks, kneebars and toeholds – sticking your head in the sand like an ostrich and ignoring them is no longer an option!
Knowing how to deal with, defend and counter leglocks, including the devastating heel hook submission, are now essential skills in grappling.
Here’s a high tech way to use the berimbolo to escape and then counter a heel hook from the ‘ashi garami’ leglock position.
(If you don’t know your leglocking positions then check out the completely free PDF I have on the 12 most common leglock positions here.)
Here’s the berimbolo counter to the heel hook from ashi garami!
More Leglock Escapes and Defenses
The method above isn’t the only way to counter the heel hook.
This video below from The Modern Leglock Formula takes you through the most common escape to the heel hook which is, unfortunately, often done incorrectly (sometimes with disastrous results).
And here’s an oldie-but-goodie on escaping the kneebar from the Submission Defense module of the free Grapplearts BJJ Master App…
Finally, remember that when it comes to defending leglocks (and any other submission) the best thing you can do is to learn the basics of how to apply the submission yourself.
Once you know how to do an attack correctly it becomes much easier to deconstruct the technique when someone is doing it on you.
Good luck both with your leglocks AND your leglock defense!
Stephan