Escape from Ankle Lock

**EternalRage** · Posted On: 1/17/2006 5:37pm

I'm a total BJJ newbie, only been crosstraining it for about a year now.

The bane of my rolling experience so far has been the ankle lock. Do any of you guys have any good escapes or counters to the ankle lock? And by ankle lock I mean something like the following:

The more senior students in my class showed me a couple that don't seem to work for me, but they said it was only pain and to not tap to it and try not to get into it in the first place (which my sensitivity isn't that great yet, so I can't anticipate it).

***Cassius*** · Posted On: 1/17/2006 5:47pm

Are you rolling with a gi on? If so, the most effective way to counter an ankle lock that I've found is to grab ahold of the lapel (or keep ahold of it when they sit back) and sit up. As a bonus, you can likely get position on the person when their ankle lock fails.

Edit for more random tips:

Don't let your opponent roll over, don't let him straighten your leg out, keep your body close to his, and don't let him lace your legs or any of that funny business.

If you don't have a gi on, you can grip the back of his head instead of the lapel.

Edit numero dos: I should mention that I have somewhat short legs that are built like tree trunks. My ankles are kind of hard to achilles' lock anyway.

**JohnnyS** · Posted On: 1/17/2006 6:38pm

It is NOT just pain. If they do the ankle-lock correctly it will break your foot, or tear tendons/ligaments.

Apart from what's already been said, try to maintain an L-shape. ie. if you're both laying back he can apply the lock, so when he leans back you come up. This also works when your opponent is in your guard and trying for ankle-locks.

**EternalRage** · Posted On: 1/17/2006 6:51pm

The BJJ I do is at a university and most of the time it is no-gi.

So what should I do when someone triangles my legs with their legs while doing an ankle lock, or more generally when they put a leg or something to prevent me from coming back up, or is that too late?

***DerAuslander*** · Posted On: 1/17/2006 8:46pm

Hopkins is offering BJJ now?

Damn...I knew I went to the wrong school...

**bwerb** · Posted On: 1/17/2006 8:47pm

Another thing you can do is to push your foot deeper into the hold pushing it past the danger zone.

When I'm rolling, if you have my ankle, I basically tap unless I can do something immediately. I've seen too many "rip-pop---oh ****'s" to risk letting someone accidentally do some permanant damage in the course of training...just isn't worth it to me.

**FictionPimp** · Posted On: 1/17/2006 9:35pm

Originally Posted by bwerb

Another thing you can do is to push your foot deeper into the hold pushing it past the danger zone.

When I'm rolling, if you have my ankle, I basically tap unless I can do something immediately. I've seen too many "rip-pop---oh ****'s" to risk letting someone accidentally do some permanant damage in the course of training...just isn't worth it to me.

I'm a huge bjj noob with only about 5 classes under my belt. But what I've done in the few situations I've been in an ankle lock is what you described. I try to trust my foot past their arms. Usually by grabbing the gi and pulling myself to them. Then I just sit on their foot nearest the leg they are trying to lock or hop over it while I try to get position.

I really suck at bjj being a noob and all. But that has gotten me out of a couple situations.

***Cassius*** · Posted On: 1/17/2006 10:27pm

Originally Posted by omega

Yeah you guys kinda have the right idea what you want to really do is push and flex the leg. The other thing to do is unlock the triangle around the leg while scrambling and not allowing him to secure the position, takes a lot of practice but gets you into a better position.

As for the original question how to do the ankle lock, there are three securing positions. If I had the time I'd go over it right now. At this time, I'll see if anybody else nails it on the head and get back to this later.

Actually, if you have the time to go over the three securing positions, that would be a great addition to the DHS sub-forum . . .

This is assuming you haven't already gone over this a million times on here already. If you have, then I shall STFU, because I've never done a search for that particular topic.

**Hedgehogey** · Posted On: 1/17/2006 10:30pm

The key barrier to pass is the knee that's between your legs. If you can pass that knee, by pushing it down with your palms or circling your free side leg in, between theirs, you're in much less danger.

It's easiest to do this if you do the gracie standup thing and stand. Drop your knee across their body at a 90 degree angle, reaching across and controlling that arm to prevent other foot subs. Push the knee between your legs down and past your legs, then leapfrog to mount.

**EternalRage** · Posted On: 1/18/2006 1:35am

Looks like there's a bit of a central theme here with the pushing leg through more, passing any obstructions, and either sitting up or standing up. Thanks, I'll put more effort into those things next time I hit the mat.

Originally Posted by DesAuslander108

Hopkins is offering BJJ now?

Damn...I knew I went to the wrong school...

Yeah. The Hopkins BJJ club started I think in fall 2002 or spring 2003, it was originally run by a Machado purple belt, a friend of mine from back home in Texas who also came to JHU. He graduated and left, and the club has found a new instructor, Lee Synowski (http://www.baltimorebjj.com/page6.html), a Maguilla purple belt, who so far has been a wonderful teacher.