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A Good Single Leg is Worth its Weight in Gold
This take down is the single most important.
When you think of the takedown game in BJJ, what comes to mind? Are you more a judo player? Do you like a good wrestling base? Maybe you prefer to pull guard. We all gravitate to different ideas based on our history, our academy, and what we’re exposed to. When we’re molding our game from the feet it’s good to learn different methods of getting the fight to the floor from all different arts. But as I’ve stated before, especially in a situation where there is no prior takedown experience, make it a priority to learn some basic wrestling.
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I highly recommend learning the single leg first. I find that it lends itself to BJJ more readily than almost any other wrestling-based takedown. This is my opinion of course, based on my experience. You’ll find thousands of videos and instructional content on YouTube, but let’s take a look at this video from Yuri Simoes. He has a unique way of picking up the single leg. Check it out!
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One of the common issues with the single leg is posture. Many times, when we manage to capture the leg our head tends to drop into an unsafe area where the neck can be easily snagged. We then find ourselves defending a submission instead of securing a takedown.
Simoes keeps constant watch over his posture during this entire process. The take down begins and ends with perfect posture, making this version ideal for BJJ. At no point does Simoes put his neck in danger. The finish is reminiscent of traditional single leg mechanics, with Simoes employing his head to direct his partner, and turning his body in a circular motion towards the leg he’s captured.
This is great single leg that’s been highly adapted for BJJ. Give it a shot, and see if you can put it to work in your game! Get to work!
For more from Yuri Simoes, check out his High Efficiency No Gi: Top Game series from BJJ Fanatics! Get all of this ADCC champs secrets here!
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