Category: Submission

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How To Do a Half Guard Lockdown Calf Slicer in BJJ

The half guard lockdown is a great BJJ position that secures half guard, preventing your opponent from passing while allowing you to work on submissions and sweeps. By simply wrapping your feet around your opponent’s shin, you can prevent their movement and they have to work on passing your lockdown before they can think about passing your half guard. That extra step gives you a chance to work on submissions from half guard lockdown. 

If you’re unsure of how to get the lockdown position in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, check out our writeup How To Do the Half Guard Lockdown in BJJ.

A calf slicer is a brutally painful submission in BJJ that put the shin of your leg into the calf muscle of your opponent, causing immense pressure. This move is illegal to use in gi BJJ competitions but is legal in nogi BJJ and MMA, but this submission can do serious damage so be careful training it in your gym.

Start: Halfguard with lockdown

Step 1: Dive inside hand under opponent’s opposite armpit and sit up so that they are on all fours and your top half is clear of their body on the side of their trapped leg

Step 2: Grab opponent’s trapped shin with your inside hand

Step 3: Abandon the lockdown and figure four your legs with the outside foot on your inside knee

Step 4: With both hands, pull opponent’s foot towards you

Finish: Submission via half guard lockdown calf slicer

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How To Do a Half Guard Lockdown Arm Triangle Choke in BJJ

The half guard lockdown position in BJJ is a strong option to turn what can be overlooked as a transition position into a brutal attack position. With the half guard lockdown, your feet wrap around your opponent’s leg at the shin and prevent them from passing your guard while also limiting their movement so they are unable to prevent your attacks. (check out our writeup on How To Do the Halfguard Lockdown in BJJ here).

The arm triangle choke is a simple yet effective choke that involves wrapping your opponent up and pitting the geometry and strength of both of your arms against the strength of one of their arms (just like the halfguard lockdown).

Start: Half guard bottom with lockdown, opponent has an arm under your head to control your movement

Step 1: Wrap your arm on opposite side of opponent’s controlling arm around opponent’s head

Step 2: Gable grip your hands together

Step 3: Figure four arms with your wrapped hand in the elbow of free arm

Step 4: Grip opponent’s forehead with free hand

Step 5: Squeeze

Finish: Submission via arm triangle from halfguard lockdown

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How To Do An Omoplata From Mount

The omoplata is a fantastic BJJ submission. It pits the strength of your hips against your opponent’s shoulder, which is super effective. The omoplata also involves twisting around so that you’re attacking your opponent from behind and from the side, reducing their options for defenses. 

While the omoplata submission is most often attempted from the closed guard in BJJ where that is an advantageous position, in MMA or a street fight the guard can be a dangerous place to be. The omoplata from mount is a BJJ technique that you can use even when strikes are an option but you still want to end the fight using jiu-jitsu. 

Start: Mount

Step 1: Trap one of opponent’s arms over your hip, this will be the arm you attack

Step 1: Kick your attacking leg forward underneath opponent’s arm

Step 3: Bend opponent’s arm down over your attacking leg

Step 4: Pivot towards your attacking leg, dropping to that knee

Step 5: Drop attacking side shoulder to the mat and step free leg over opponent’s head to attacking side

Step 6: Roll over attacking shoulder

Step 7: Scoot away from opponent’s body

Step 8: Pendulum your attacking leg and drive opponent towards the mat

Step 9: Lean into opponent and push his hand forward

Finish: Submission via omoplata from mount

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How To Do An Omoplata From Side Control

The omoplata is a simple Jiu-Jitsu submission that uses your hips to twist your opponent’s shoulder. Once the omoplata position has been reached it is very quick and easy to complete the submission. Using a strong part of your body against a relatively weak body part, you are able to create a very painful amount of force with relatively little effort with the BJJ omoplata. 

The other reason the omoplata is a great submission is that it looks very cool. The typical omoplata from guard looks pretty cool, but setting up the omoplata from side control involves spinning around on top of your opponent so that you are facing the same way as them and the finish involves sitting over the other person while they are smashed face first into the ground. 

The omoplata from side control is one of those great BJJ submissions that makes you feel like a ninja. 

Start: Side Control

Step 1: Switch to reverse kesa gatame position facing opponent’s feet

Step 2: Hop your butt back and sit on opponent’s shoulder

Step 3: Step your outside leg back, spreading your legs so that you can grab opponent’s arm and trap it between your legs

Step 4: Drive into opponent and drag their arm with you so that you can slide your inside foot below their shoulder

Step 5: Post inside hand on mat next to opponent’s hip and grab your inside shin with your outside hand

Step 6: Continue spinning in that direction around opponent’s head, dragging them onto their stomach with their arm trapped in the omoplata

Finish: Submission via omoplata from side control

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How To Do An Americana From Guard

The americana is a very popular submission in BJJ. The americana armlock in BJJ is a simple submission that involves bending someone’s arm backwards in a way that puts an immense amount of pressure on their elbow and shoulder, and can cause serious damage if they don’t tap. That simplicity along with the pain and damage the americana armlock can cause makes it a very popular submission in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, MMA, and in a real street fight. 

The americana is a popular submission from mount, side control, and half guard, but can also work from the full guard position. The americana from guard doesn’t look exactly like the typical americana submissions, but it does put the same stress on the arm joints and is a useful addition to your guard game.

This is also a great addition to your usual transition between arm bar and triangle and offer another option to get the submission that your opponent may not be looking to defend automatically. It can even be added to your arm bar triangle omoplata drill to keep it in your mind while rolling.

Start: Guard

Step 1: Bring one leg up to just under opponent’s armpit and turn it 90 degrees across their body, dragging their shoulder down the same as an armbar from guard setup

Step 2: Bring other up onto opponent’s shoulder and cross feet to secure position

Step 3: When opponent fights arm bar by pivoting towards your lower leg, grip their wrist on the higher leg side pushing out and into your higher leg, keeping their thumb up

Step 4: bridge your hips into your opponent

Finish: Submission via americana from guard

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How To Do A Crucifix Choke From Turtle In BJJ

The turtle position can be one of the most frustrating defensive positions in BJJ. A good Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter can sit in turtle for what seems like forever, wasting your time and making you feel like your advantageous position is a complete waste. Just like a turtle in its shell.

When you’re frustrated by someone who is good at turtling, all you want to do is obliterate them and use their defensive position as a jumping off point for your attacks. One of the greatest attacks for absolutely destroying your opponent from turtle and leaving them completely exposed and vulnerable like a turtle on its back is the crucifix choke which splays your opponent out, arms spread like Jesus on the cross.

Start: Turtle

Step 1: Drive your knee between opponent’s elbow and knee

Step 2: With free leg, hook your foot over opponent’s arm

Step 3: Reach over opponent’s body and secure their free arm by snaking your bottom-side hand underneath their armpit and grabbing their hand

Step 4: Look towards top of opponent’s body and roll over your trapping shoulder, landing on your back with opponent in crucifix position

Step 5: Reach free arm across opponent’s neck and get cross-collar grip and bridge into choke

Finish: Submission via crucifix choke

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How To Do A Ten Finger Guillotine In BJJ

The guillotine is one of the safest submission to attempt in all of BJJ. Going to a guillotine submission in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu doesn’t sacrifice your position or run the risk of leaving you in a weak position if your opponent is able to escape like the triangle from guard or other common submissions. Instead, a missed guillotine leaves you face to face with your opponent, almost exactly the same position you were in when you started. For that reason, the guillotine can be an easy submission to attempt even if you’re unsure of your ability with it.

The ten finger guillotine is one of the variations of the guillotine choke. The ten finger guillotine has the advantage of not requiring one of your opponent’s arms to be trapped, which also means that your opponent can’t use the trapped arm to escape if they’re strong or crafty.

Start: Front headlock position 

Step 1: Grip under opponent’s chin and secure your chest over their head

Step 2: Grip free hand underneath choking hand like a cup and saucer (props to Still Rolling for that delightfully southern way of describing it)

Step 3: Rotate both hands towards your body and into opponent’s neck so that the base of your choking hand thumb pushes up and towards opponent’s chin, keeping your chest and shoulder over opponent’s head

Finish: Submission via ten finger guillotine

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How To Do A Twister in BJJ

The BJJ twister is an absolutely brutal submission. The twister in BJJ involves twisting your opponent’s shoulders and hips in opposite directions, wringing their body out like a wet towel. Add in a crank to their neck to finish the submission and the pain is quickly too much. 

The twister BJJ submission is not allowed under IBJJF rules, but it is a legitimate submission in MMA, many no-gi grappling tournaments, and of course in a street fight (and what better way to win a street fight than a cool looking, utterly devastating and demoralizing BJJ submission like the twister?)

Start: Back

Step 1: Get one leg hook in

Step 2: Without a hook, figure-four the other leg over you hook-side leg’s ankle and hook that ankle under opponent’s trapped ankle

Step 3: Hook under opponent’s non-trapped side arm with your same-side arm (similar to the bottom of a seatbelt position)

Step 4: Weave your opposite-side arm underneath opponent’s hooker armpit

Step 5: Swim arm around top of opponent’s head and chain-grip hands together

Step 6: Pull opponent’s head in

Finish: Submission via twister

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How To Do A Kimura From Side Control in BJJ

The kimura is a legendary submission in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Made famous by Masahiko Kimura when he sunk in the shoulder lock on Helio Gracie during their super fight, the kimura is such a strong submission that Helio’s arm broke when he refused to tap. The Brazilian was so stubborn that his brother Carlos Gracie had to throw in the towel and charge onto the mat to stop the fight.

The kimura from side control that broke Helio Gracie’s arm is not a complicated, hard to master trick submission that comes from left field and surprises people, it is a simple, basic BJJ submission that is still effective at any level.

This video by Bernardo Faria and John Donaher has the basic instructions for the kimura from side control along with a lot of details and explanations that are important to understand in order to actually land the kimura from side control in a BJJ roll.

Start: Side control top

Step 1: Grab opponent’s far-side wrist with your top-side hand by snaking the hand under opponent’s bicep

Step 2: Walk your hips up towards opponent’s head, putting your body at the eleven o’clock position relative to opponent’s body

Step 3: Grip your top-side wrist with your bottom-side hand

Step 4: Pull opponent’s wrist up along the mat towards their head

Finish: Submission via kimura

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How To Do A Neck Hug Americana Armlock Submission

The Americana armlock submission is a versatile sub in BJJ. The Americana submission is available from mount, side control, half guard, guard, and even back.  Basically anywhere you have control of your opponent’s hips, you can complete an Americana armlock and put enough force on their shoulder to make them tap. 

The Americana submission is so common in BJJ that it is one of the essential techniques included in the Gracie BJJ Blue Belt Test.

Start: Mount

Step 1: Get scoop neck hug under opponent’s neck

Step 2: With free hand, grab opponent’s wrist and pin to mat

Step 3: Feed opponent’s hand to your hand behind their head

Step 4: Post out with your knee on the same side as the attack while wrapping opponent’s leg with the other

Step 5: Slide free hand under opponent’s arm and grip your own wrist with an overhand c-grip

Step 6: Slide your elbow behind and around opponent’s head, creating the space to complete the Americana and stopping their head from blocking

Step 7: Suck elbows in towards the attack and paint opponent’s wrist down the mat towards their hips

Finish: Submission via Neck Hug Americana Armlock Submission