Leg Locks —
The Complete No-Gi System

What Are Leg Locks?

Leg locks are a family of submission techniques that target the joints and soft tissue of the lower extremities — primarily the knee, ankle, and hip. In no-gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and submission wrestling, they represent the most strategically rich territory on the mat: a system of positions, entries, and finishes that rewards precise mechanics over athleticism.

For decades, leg locks were treated as dirty tricks — forbidden at recreational levels, misunderstood even by experienced practitioners. That changed dramatically in the 2010s with the rise of Danaher Death Squad methodology and events like ADCC and EBI, which provided live evidence that a complete leg lock game could dominate the world's best grapplers.

Today, leg locks are not optional. Any serious no-gi competitor needs to both attack and defend them fluently. This guide covers the entire system — positions, submissions, IBJJF rules, and the strategic logic that ties them together.

The Four Positional Pillars

The leg lock system is built on four core positions. Everything else — the entries, transitions, and finishes — flows from understanding these four. They are not isolated techniques but a connected web: each position threatens specific submissions and creates access to the others.

Each position controls the opponent's hip alignment relative to your body. Hip alignment determines which heel hook is available, which direction the knee is vulnerable, and which transitions your opponent can attempt to escape. Understanding this is the core insight that separates leg lock competence from leg lock mastery.

Ashi Garami — The Foundation

Ashi garami (足絡み — literally "leg entanglement" in Japanese) is the positional root from which all other leg lock positions grow. You control one of the opponent's legs between both of yours, with your inside leg posting on their hip and your outside leg hooking behind their knee.

From basic ashi garami, the straight ankle lock is immediately available. More importantly, the position creates the conditions to transition into inside ashi and saddle — the higher-control positions where inside heel hooks become accessible.

The historical lineage of ashi garami runs from traditional judo (where it appeared as early as the 1800s) through catch wrestling, into modern no-gi grappling where John Danaher and the Danaher Death Squad systematised it into a coherent attacking framework taught globally.

Heel Hooks — Inside and Outside

The heel hook is the most powerful submission in the leg lock system — and the most frequently misunderstood in terms of safety and legality. The mechanics are straightforward: you control the heel and rotate it to create torque on the knee's medial (inside) or lateral (outside) ligaments.

The distinction between inside heel hook and outside heel hook matters both mechanically and in terms of IBJJF rules. The inside heel hook (performed from the saddle or inside ashi position) attacks the medial knee structures and is considered more powerful and higher-risk. The outside heel hook (performed from standard ashi garami or 50/50) attacks the lateral structures.

Both are high-risk submissions that require trained submission recognition from both practitioners. The most common injuries occur not from the technique itself but from defensive reactions — specifically, when a practitioner rolls or spins to escape without first creating hip alignment that protects the knee.

The Saddle — Maximum Control

The saddle goes by many names — 411, honeyhole, inside sankaku — and this multiplicity of terms reflects how recently the position entered mainstream BJJ vocabulary. All refer to the same position: you control the opponent's leg in a figure-four configuration, with your inside leg cutting across their hip and your outside leg hooking over their thigh.

The saddle is the dominant position in the leg lock system because it creates the tightest hip control while simultaneously positioning your arm perfectly to finish the inside heel hook. From the saddle, escaping without exposing yourself to the heel hook is extremely difficult for an untrained partner.

Entry to the saddle typically flows from inside ashi garami — you drive your inside knee through the opponent's legs to convert the position. Alternatively, direct entries exist from guard pulls, shot defence, and scramble situations.

IBJJF Rules — What Is and Isn't Legal

IBJJF rules on leg locks are more nuanced than most practitioners realise, and the common narrative of "heel hooks are banned" is only partially correct. Legality depends on three variables: the type of lock, the belt level, and whether the match is gi or no-gi.

The current reference is the IBJJF 2021 ruleset (V6.0). Key points:

Source: IBJJF 2021 ruleset V6.0. Always verify current rules at ibjjf.com before competition. Rules may be updated; this table reflects the last confirmed version.

Knee Reaping — The Most Misunderstood Rule

Knee reaping (also called "reaping" or přeseknutí kolena) is one of the most contested concepts in IBJJF competition because it describes a positional configuration rather than a specific technique. You are reaping when your leg passes over the opponent's leg and creates a crossed configuration where their knee is exposed to lateral force without proper alignment.

The confusion arises because reaping can occur accidentally during scrambles, and because the exact boundary of what constitutes reaping versus a legal position is not always visually obvious to referees or competitors. As a general principle: if your leg passes over the outside of their knee and your foot is on the wrong side, you are in reaping territory.

Reaping is forbidden at all belt levels in gi competition and at most no-gi levels. It becomes legal only at brown and black belt no-gi under IBJJF rules — the same level at which heel hooks are permitted.

Why It's a System, Not Just Submissions

The most common mistake practitioners make when approaching leg locks is treating them as a collection of isolated finishing techniques. They are not. The heel hook finishes from the saddle. The saddle is entered from inside ashi. Inside ashi is created from outside ashi or direct entry. Each transition follows logically from the previous — and each has a defensive counter that creates the next attacking opportunity.

This is why studying individual submissions without studying the positional system produces fragile skill. You might hit a heel hook in a scramble, but you won't be able to replicate it systematically, defend against it when the roles reverse, or chain it with other attacks when the first attempt is defended.

The Ragnar Academy approach is to build the system from the foundation up: first understand ashi garami control, then inside ashi, then saddle entries, then the heel hook finish as the natural conclusion of a sequence — not as a standalone trick. This is the same framework Ragnar uses in competition and teaches in seminars across Europe.

Glossary — Every Term Explained

Each position and submission in the leg lock system has its own dedicated page with the full definition, synonyms, IBJJF rule context, and technical breakdown. This is the reference library:

Core Positions

Submissions

Full BJJ Glossary

Looking for a term not listed above? The complete BJJ glossary covers 45+ terms with definitions, synonyms and rule context: