Leg Locks Complete System: Heel Hooks, Kneebars, and Every Submission Below the Waist

Leg locks are joint and compression attacks targeting the knee, ankle, and hip from below the waist. The family spans five distinct submission types — heel hooks, kneebars, straight ankle locks, toe holds, and calf slicers — applied from seven recognized leg entanglement positions. At the ADCC 2022 World Championships, 23% of all submission victories came from leg lock attacks, compared to under 8% in 2009, marking a structural shift in elite submission grappling. This article covers every variation, the positional system that underlies them, competitive legality across rulesets, and the most common errors that cause practitioners to injure training partners or miss finishes.

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Leg locks are not a modern invention. They appear in the oldest documented grappling systems and were central to catch wrestling — the dominant professional grappling discipline of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Catch Wrestling Foundations (1870s–1950s)

Catch-as-catch-can wrestling, which became the standardized form of professional wrestling by the 1870s in Britain and North America, explicitly permitted leg locks. The ankle lock, heel hook, and toe hold were standard finishing techniques in carnival wrestling and professional matches. Karl Gotch (born Karl Istaz, 1924–2007), the Belgian-born grappler who trained at the Wigan Snake Pit in England under Billy Riley and later became the "God of Wrestling" in Japan, considered the toe hold his signature submission. Billy Robinson, another Wigan Snake Pit graduate, taught both toehold and kneebar as primary submissions.

The Snake Pit Wigan, operating from approximately 1900 to the 1970s, is the traceable origin of systematic leg lock instruction in the English-speaking world. Its curriculum distinguished between leg attacks that produce a tap through pain (straight ankle lock, toe hold) and leg attacks that produce catastrophic tissue damage with minimal pain warning (inside heel hook) — a distinction that remains central to leg lock safety protocols today.

Judo's Rejection and Sambo's Preservation (1900s–1960s)

Judo, codified by Jigoro Kano from 1882 onward, originally included leg locks. The 1916 Kodokan revision removed most leg entanglement attacks from randori practice on safety grounds. Ashi-garami (leg entanglement) was retained but restricted — legal only in shiai (competition) for senior dan grades, and only through the straight ankle lock form of kansetsu-waza (joint lock). Heel hooks were removed entirely from Kodokan competition.

Soviet sambo, codified in the 1930s by Vasili Oshchepkov and Anatoly Kharlampiev from a synthesis of judo, Central Asian folk wrestling, and other grappling arts, retained leg locks as a central competitive element. Sport sambo permits the straight ankle lock (bolshoi zakhvat) and kneebar but excludes heel hooks in FIAS-sanctioned international competition. Combat sambo, a separate ruleset, permits heel hooks. This divergence — sambo as the primary non-Japanese competitive laboratory for leg locks through the Soviet era — meant that by the 1990s, the most sophisticated leg lock practitioners outside catch wrestling were sambo competitors.

BJJ's Hostile Period and the Danaher Revolution (1990s–2010s)

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) largely suppressed leg lock development from the 1980s through the mid-2010s. The IBJJF competition ruleset banned heel hooks at all levels, restricted toehold attacks, and created a competition environment where ankle locks were permitted but rarely trained as a primary finishing system. The cultural explanation: early BJJ came from judo (which had removed leg locks) and its practitioners evolved within guard-centric positional hierarchies that placed leg lock entries as low-percentage departures from the guard.

The reversal began with the Danaher Death Squad (DDS) — a group of New York-based no-gi grapplers coached by John Danaher at the Renzo Gracie Academy. From approximately 2014, Eddie Cummings, Garry Tonon, and Gordon Ryan demonstrated that a systematic leg lock game built around inside sankaku (the honey hole) and the 50/50 position could dominate elite submission grappling competition. Cummings won EBI (Eddie Bravo Invitational) 2 (2015) almost entirely via heel hooks. Ryan went on to win ADCC absolute in 2019 and 2022, using leg locks as a primary offensive system.

John Danaher's instructional series Leg Lock Anthology: Enter the System (BJJ Fanatics, 2018) provided the first publicly accessible systematic framework for leg locks, covering entries, positions, and finishing mechanics in technical detail. It is the foundational reference for the modern approach.

All leg locks attack one or more of the joints of the lower extremity. Understanding which joint each technique targets determines both its danger rating and the speed of the tap.

The Knee Joint (Primary Target)

The knee is a hinge joint stabilized by four major ligaments: the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), medial collateral ligament (MCL), and lateral collateral ligament (LCL). Leg locks that attack the knee do so through three mechanical pathways:

1. Rotation — The heel hook rotates the tibia relative to the femur, loading the ACL, MCL, and meniscus simultaneously. The inside heel hook rotates inward (medial rotation); the outside heel hook rotates outward (lateral rotation). Neither produces significant pain before ligament failure, which is why heel hooks are rated the highest-danger submission in grappling.

2. Hyperextension — The kneebar places the opponent's knee over the attacker's hip or shoulder and applies downward force on the heel, extending the knee past its natural range of motion. This stretches the ACL first. Pain warning is clearer than heel hooks, but damage occurs quickly if the defender does not tap.

3. Compression — The calf slicer compresses the calf muscle against the tibia using the attacker's shin or forearm as a wedge. No joint failure is necessary for a submission — the compression pain alone forces a tap.

The Ankle Joint (Secondary Target)

The straight ankle lock (Achilles lock) applies downward pressure on the Achilles tendon by driving the elbow into it while the foot is held at the hip. It targets the ankle joint through hyperextension and the Achilles tendon through direct compression. Pain warning is clear. The technique is low-danger relative to heel hooks because the ankle joint is more mobile and the ligament damage threshold is higher.

The toe hold attacks the ankle through rotation — specifically through inversion and plantar flexion of the foot, loading the lateral ankle ligaments. Applied slowly it gives a clear pain signal; applied fast, it can cause ligament damage before the defender identifies the threat.

The Hip Joint

Hip locks are rare and inconsistently defined across grappling systems. The most common form is the hip lock from 50/50, where the attacker creates a hip extension by control of the opponent's thigh. They appear in competitive sambo but are uncommon in BJJ and MMA.

The Five Leg Lock Submissions

Browse the individual technique pages: heel hook lock · kneebar lock · ankle lock · calf slicer

The Seven Leg Entanglement Positions

The submission is only the endpoint. The entanglement position is where the attack begins and where control is maintained. Modern leg lock systems (Danaher, Renzo Gracie/DDS, New Wave) recognize seven primary leg entanglement positions:

The relationship between position and submission is the core of the Danaher system: every position enables specific submissions and transitions to adjacent positions. Losing a position means losing submission access. This is why modern leg lock practitioners talk about "winning the leg entanglement" before discussing which submission to apply.

Different rulesets govern which leg locks are permitted, creating sharply divergent competitive incentives:

The ADCC ruleset is the highest-prestige testing ground for submission grappling. Its open heel hook rule is why ADCC champions disproportionately train leg locks: any grappler competing at ADCC without a leg lock offense is exploitably incomplete.

The contrast with IBJJF creates a structural divergence in BJJ training culture. Gi BJJ black belts who never compete no-gi often have almost no heel hook training, while the same practitioners' peers in submission grappling circuits train heel hooks weekly.

The following data is drawn from publicly verifiable competition records:

Sources: ADCC official results (adcombat.com); FightMetric/ESPN Stats; EBI event results (BJJ Fanatics streaming records).

The UFC data is instructive: even in a ruleset where all leg locks are legal, MMA fighters use them at a fraction of the rate seen in pure submission grappling. The explanation is context — in MMA, a failed leg lock entry creates a scramble that leaves the attacker's back exposed or upside down, and striking from top position is the competing risk. MMA leg lock rates increase as fighters integrate them more cautiously into combinations rather than primary attacks.

1. Attacking the heel hook from neutral position. The most common beginner error is reaching for a heel hook before establishing a leg entanglement. Without positional control (ashi garami, inside sankaku, or 50/50), the heel hook attempt produces a scramble that benefits the defender. Establish the position first, then attack the submission.

2. Failing to control the knee alignment. The heel hook requires the opponent's knee to be bent at roughly 90 degrees and facing the attacker's chest. If the knee is extended or misaligned, the rotation does not load the ligaments — it loads the hip instead, producing no submission and wasting the position. Squeeze the knees together to maintain alignment before applying rotation.

3. Applying heel hook pressure too fast. The inside heel hook can damage the knee before the defender has time to tap. Controlled training requires slow, incremental pressure. In competition, this becomes a finishing tool. In practice, it is a constant injury risk if rushed.

4. Ignoring the free leg (the one not attacked). The defender's free leg is the escape tool. In outside ashi, the defender can use the free leg to step over the attacker and ratchet out. Control the free leg with the outside arm or by threading it into the entanglement before finishing.

5. Tapping too late on kneebars. The kneebar produces increasing pain as it approaches tissue failure. Unlike the heel hook, there is a pain window — but practitioners who overtrain their pain tolerance sometimes hold longer than safe. Tap when the pressure starts, not when the joint begins to fail.

6. Defending by spinning toward the knee. The classic heel hook escape — spinning toward the knee (inward toward the attack) — only works if the attacker has poor hip control. Against a skilled practitioner, spinning toward the knee increases the rotation and accelerates the submission. The correct escape is stepping over the attacker's body and creating distance from a standing or rolling position.

7. Using leg locks on partners without explicit agreement. Leg locks, particularly heel hooks, are only acceptable training tools when both partners understand the technique, have agreed to drill at reduced intensity, and have established a clear tapping convention. This is not a courtesy — it is a prerequisite for any leg lock training.

The relationship between leg locks and catch wrestling's submission system is direct: many of the defenses and counters derive from catch wrestling practice. The comparison between catch wrestling and BJJ submission grappling philosophy is explored in depth in catch wrestling vs. BJJ.

In MMA, leg locks require adaptations that pure submission grappling does not. Three specific differences:

Entry risk. In submission grappling, dropping to ashi garami carries low positional risk — the worst case is an opponent escape. In MMA, dropping to guard level against a standing opponent exposes the practitioner to ground-and-pound. Entries must be faster and must include striking threats to freeze the opponent's posture.

The stomp defense. An MMA opponent can stomp on the attacker's face during some leg lock entanglements. The Imanari roll entry partially mitigates this by completing the roll before the opponent can adjust. The 50/50 position limits it by pulling the opponent to the ground.

Maintaining striking damage during entanglement. The most effective MMA leg lock attacks combine the submission threat with simultaneous heel strikes to the opponent's thigh or calf. This forces the defender to choose between defending the submission and protecting from strikes, increasing finishing rate.

Ryan Hall's 2018 finish of BJ Penn at UFC 232 remains the most watched elite MMA application of a rolling heel hook entry. For the full ranked history of leg lock finishes in competition, see top-12-leg-lock-finishes-ranked.

BJJ (/martial-arts/bjj): The dominant training context for leg locks in 2025. No-gi BJJ academies, particularly those influenced by Danaher or the New Wave team (Nicky Rodriguez, Nicholas Meregali, Ethan Crelinsten), incorporate systematic ashi garami drilling from white belt. Gi BJJ academies vary enormously — many traditional schools still treat leg locks as advanced techniques not introduced until blue or purple belt.

Catch wrestling (/martial-arts/catch-wrestling): Historically the primary leg lock development context. Modern practitioners (Josh Barnett, Neil Melanson) teach catch wrestling leg locks as a distinct system from BJJ's ashi garami approach, emphasizing toehold and ankle lock attacks from riding positions that don't appear in BJJ's guard-centric framework.

Sambo: Sambo's systematic leg lock training — particularly kneebars and ankle locks from top-riding positions — gave Russian and post-Soviet MMA fighters (Khabib Nurmagomedov's training partners, Fedor Emelianenko's camp) a structural advantage in certain leg lock positions that BJJ competitors rarely encounter.

Q: Are heel hooks allowed in BJJ? A: In IBJJF competition, heel hooks are permitted only at brown and black belt in no-gi divisions. They are banned at all belt levels in gi competition. In non-IBJJF rulesets (ADCC, EBI, Polaris, FloGrappling event rules), heel hooks are typically permitted regardless of experience level. Check the specific rulebook for any event before competing.

Q: How long does it take to learn leg locks? A: Basic ankle lock mechanics can be learned in a single session. The positional system (ashi garami, inside sankaku, 50/50) requires several months of dedicated drilling to internalize. Reliable heel hook attacks in live rolling against resistant opponents typically take 12–24 months of focused training. John Danaher estimates 200–300 hours of specific positional drilling before leg locks become a reliable competitive tool.

Q: Can you defend a heel hook once it is applied? A: Yes, but the window is narrow. The correct defense depends on which position you are in. From outside ashi, the standard defense is to step over the attacker's hip and create space to disengage the foot. From inside sankaku (honey hole), the position is significantly harder to escape — the standard advice is to not enter it in the first place. Once a skilled practitioner has the heel in their elbow crook with proper body positioning, the margin to tap before damage is measured in seconds.

Q: What is the difference between an inside and outside heel hook? A: The inside heel hook rotates the heel toward the attacker's chest (medial tibial rotation), loading the ACL and MCL. It is applied from inside sankaku (honey hole) or 50/50. The outside heel hook rotates the heel away from the attacker's chest (lateral tibial rotation), loading the LCL and the posterolateral knee complex. It is applied from outside ashi garami. The inside heel hook is generally considered more dangerous because it produces more torque with less defender warning.

Q: Is the kneebar legal in the gi? A: Under IBJJF rules, the kneebar is legal in the gi only at black belt, and only in adult divisions. In no-gi IBJJF, it is permitted from brown belt. Under most other rulesets (ADCC, EBI, open tournaments), the kneebar is legal with no belt restriction.

Q: What is ashi garami? A: Ashi garami (足絡み) is the Japanese term for leg entanglement — the family of positions where the attacker uses their legs to control the opponent's legs from within or around. In modern no-gi grappling, the term is often used specifically for "outside ashi garami" (single leg X), where one of the attacker's feet is on the opponent's hip and the other hooks behind the opponent's thigh. It is the entry position for the straight ankle lock and the transition to inside sankaku for the heel hook.

Q: Why did BJJ avoid leg locks for so long? A: Several converging reasons. The IBJJF competition ruleset incentivized guard retention and passing over leg lock entries, since leg lock attempts often sacrifice guard position under the points system. Helio Gracie publicly discouraged heel hooks as dangerous in training contexts. And early BJJ in Brazil evolved in guard-centric ways that made positional dominance from top more culturally valuable than leg entanglements from bottom. The shift from 2014 onward was largely competitive pressure: practitioners who trained leg locks were winning in no-gi competition, which forced the broader community to update.

Q: How do I start learning leg locks? A: Start with the straight ankle lock from outside ashi garami — it is lower-danger, IBJJF-legal at white belt, and teaches the positional concepts (hip control, knee alignment, foot positioning) that transfer to every other leg lock. Add kneebar and toe hold next. Defer inside heel hooks until you have a structured drilling partner, explicit coaching oversight, and a clear mutual tapping protocol. The Danaher Leg Lock Anthology instructional is the most thorough public reference, though it requires significant mat time to implement.

1. Danaher, J. (2018). Leg Lock Anthology: Enter the System. BJJ Fanatics (instructional video series). The first public systematic framework for modern leg lock positional theory.

2. Kodokan Judo (1956). Kodokan Judo: The Essential Guide to Judo by Its Founder Jigoro Kano. Kodansha International. ISBN 978-0870111518. Documents the 1916 Kodokan revision restricting ashi-garami to competition only.

3. ADCC Combat Sports World Federation. Official results archives 2009, 2017, 2022. Available at adcombat.com. Submission statistics derived from published match results.

4. Camerer, C., & Ho, T.-H. (1999). Experience-weighted attraction learning in normal form games. Econometrica, 67(4), 827–874. DOI:10.1111/1468-0262.00054. Cited for the broader principle of pattern-based skill acquisition that underlies leg lock positional drilling.

5. FIAS (International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles). Sambo Competition Rules and Regulations (2022 edition). Specifies permitted submission techniques by discipline (sport vs. combat sambo), including the explicit exclusion of heel hooks from FIAS sport sambo.

6. FightMetric / ESPN Stats & Information. UFC submission data 2018–2022. Available through ESPN.com/mma statistical breakdowns. Cited for MMA leg lock finish percentage figures.

7. Svinth, J. R. (2003). "A Chronological History of the Martial Arts and Combative Sports." Electronic Journals of Martial Arts and Sciences (EJMAS). URL: ejmas.com. Background on catch wrestling's historical leg lock practice.