ASHI GARAMI BJJ
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a highly effective, and strategic form of combat. Since the beginning of the Brazilian arts inception into the wider community, the innovation has grown significantly. The bjj building blocks used to be all about top pressure, passing the guard, takedown maneuvers, and basic guard principles. These days the art has branched out into new directions like extensive lapel guards, modified versions of high calibre submissions, and a comprehensive leg entanglement game. All of these new modern traits are becoming fundamental processes in the modern day athlete's game style.
What this article covers:
- Why Is the Ashi Garami so Popular
- The Origin of the Ashi Garami
- What Submissions Can Be Achieved from the Ashi Garami
- Using the Invert to Access the Ashi Garami
- How to Defend the Ashi Garami Position
The modern day athlete has become involved more predominantly in the No Gi discipline of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This has built a pathway towards the rise of jiu jitsu leg locks in competitive events like the ADCC, the Eddie Bravo Invitational, Who's Number One, Fight 2 Win, and Metamoris.
The heel hook has become the most formidable submission outside of the rear naked choke, and the amount of innovative ways to enter into a leg entanglement position is exponential. The ashi garami position is one of the most popular attack positions, and has different variations of attack from the traditional ashi garami, to the outside ashi garami, and the cross ashi garami.
THE LEG ENTANGLEMENT POSITIONS
There are many different versions of a leg entanglement position, with most of them extremely similar to each other. It is really only the leg positioning that separates each ashi garami position. The traditional ashi garami position involves a practitioner to secure an opponent's leg, by using their knee pinching on the inside of their thigh, while their other leg wraps around clamping the thigh in place, as the foot is planted in the hip. This position is highly effective in achieving not only a heel hook, but the bjj ankle lock. The only difference between this position, and the outside ashi garami is that instead of a knee pinching the inside of the thigh, the inside leg is threaded towards the outside of the leg, and is connected with their other hook.
The cross ashi garami is completely different, and involves the outside leg to wrap over the thigh, and hook under the inside of the opposite thigh. While the other leg comes from the outside to the inside, and also hooks the inside of the opposite thigh. This is an extremely threatening leg position, which can lead to extensive leg lock submissions. The inside ashi garami, is the same move as an inside sankaku. This is exactly like the cross ashi garami, except instead of both feet hooking the opposite thigh, they will make a triangle position, with one foot hooking into the opposite thigh. This is one of the most dangerous positions in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, as it can lead to an inside heel hook.
There are other leg entanglement positions like the lockdown, and the truck position. These systems were specifically designed by Eddie Bravo to link many of his movements from his rubber guard, and twister side control positions. The lockdown is a great method of neutralising an opponent's guard pass, and shoulder pressure from the top position. The lockdown is a great defensive tool that will enable an athlete to transition into other positions of attack. The truck is an incredible attacking position that allows the athlete to comprehensively control their opponent's posture, while they trap them into a wide variety of leg attacks. Submissions like the heel hook, the calf slicer, the knee bar, the ankle lock, the toe hold, and various groin stretches are all highly accessible, and effective submission attacks from the truck position.
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WHY IS THE ASHI GARAMI SO POPULAR
The popularity of the ashi garami position has only risen in the last few years, as superstar Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athletes like Gordon Ryan, Craig Jones, Gary Tonan, Andre Galvao, and Lachlan Giles are all headlining on a global scale. In the modern format of grappling the leg entanglement position has become the new normal offensive attack. From the old days where athletes used to attack the guard with dynamic, and pressure passing, and guard players would look for triangles, and arm bars from the closed guard, the new offensive measures have taken an extremely technical advancement. Even though all of those traditional concepts still remain active, the technical invert game of the berimbolo, the ashi garami variants, and the high calibre of submission locks like the bjj knee bar, the ankle lock, the toe hold, the inside, and the outside heel hooks are becoming extremely deadly, and efficient in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu matches.
The use of the ashi garami position has fast tracked the development of the leg entanglement position, as the attack has left the defense in its wake. From the outside, the ashi garami variations look extremely complicated, and hard to grasp the technical nature of the movements. Once an athlete begins learning the leg entanglement systems they soon realise they are actually simplistic in their set up. Utilising an easy single leg x guard to trap an opponent into the ashi garami can be really productive, and there are many other positions that can help the entry into these leg locking positions. The de la riva guard, the x guard, the reverse de la riva guard, the z guard, the k guard, and the 50/50 guard are all excellent entry points into variations of the ashi garami position. Whether it is an inside, outside, cross, or traditional ashi garami, they all have comprehensive application processes that will entangle an opponent, and trap them into a heel hook, or other deadly leg lock submissions.
THE ORIGIN OF THE ASHI GARAMI
The ashi garami position was one of the official 29 grappling techniques of the Kodokan Judo art form. Ashi garami means leg entanglement in Japanese, and it refers to the entanglement of legs that a practitioner will use in order to submit their opponent with different leg locks. In Judo the ashi garami is one of the nine joint locking techniques in the Kansetsu Waza list, which was passed on through Mitsuyo Maeda to the Gracie Clan. The development of these leg locking positions did not exactly flourish in the early days, as the game was more about takedowns, guard passing, and high percentage chokes like triangles, arm bars, and the rear naked choke. Although some leg locks were utilised by the Gracie family, the significant development of the ashi garami system didn't happen until later on down the track.
There have been many innovators that have had a hand in this high percentage series of leg entanglements. Bas Rutten, and Ken Shamrock were two athletes that utilised many different leg locks during their Mixed Martial Arts careers. Dean Lister can also be credited for his comprehensive understanding of the leg entanglement position, and many different leg lock entries. He also convinced John Danaher to look at the system, as he became highly efficient with the ashi garami position. John's innovation also led to further development of the leg entanglement position, as athletes that trained under him like Gordon Ryan, Craig Jones, Nicky Ryan, Eddie Cummings, Gary Tonan, and Nicky Rodriguez all became masterful with the sorcery of the leg lock. John Danaher's unique methodology of the ashi garami offers the simple understanding that two of his legs control one of his opponent's legs, and because the legs are responsible for movement they can be used as a controlling method to administer a high percentage of submission attacks.
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WHAT SUBMISSIONS CAN BE ACHIEVED FROM THE ASHI GARAMI
Accessing submissions from the ashi garami is different from looking for arm locks like the bjj omoplata, the kimura, the arm bar, or even the bjj americana. Ashi garami is mainly used to attack the legs, and there is a wide range of leg lock submissions that can be achieved. The heel hook is the most dangerous submission in the leg entanglement playbook. When the heel hook is applied it can affect multiple joints within the knee. Any twisting style of leg lock like the heel hook, can put significant pressure, and torque into the knee joint, which can result in damage to the meniscus, the anterior cruciate ligament, the posterior cruciate ligament, the medial collateral ligament, and the lateral cruciate ligament. There are different types of heel hooks like the inside, the inverted, and the outside versions, and all of which can be extremely effective, but dangerous. The basic application of a heel hook is to secure an opponent's leg above the knee line with a two leg to one ratio, as they trap their opponent's toes underneath the armpit, and execute a twisting action by accessing a strong grip on the heel.
The ashi garami position can be used to access all leg lock submissions, like the knee bar. This is another leg lock that can be extremely decimating to the knee joint, due to the hyperextension involved in the submission. The leverage point of the knee bar is similar to accessing an arm lock, as the hyperextension is more of a straight move, as opposed to the twisting action of a heel hook. To finish a knee bar submission an athlete will need to secure an opponent's leg by wrapping both of theirs above the knee joint of their opponent. From here they need to place their toes on their shoulder with the knee joint firmly against their abdomen, as they pull back on the foot, while extending their hips to create the hyperextension needed to get the tap.
The ankle lock is the most common submission used from the ashi garami position, and this is because of the easy angle to fall back into the lock. An ankle lock can be easy to apply, but also easy to defend, which makes this submission the least threatening from a leg entanglement stand point. The ankle lock causes a significant compression to the achilles tendon, and the ankle bone. It is the hyperextension of the talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular joint that will cause pain in an athlete's foot. To execute the basic mechanics of the ankle lock, the athlete will secure their opponent's foot on the inside of their armpit, while they use their forearm to grip onto the foot. The forearm works like a fulcrum, as the athlete applies pressure by extending their hips, and biting into the achilles tendon with their forearm.
The toe hold is another submission that is usually applied on a failed heel hook, or knee bar submission. Athletes can also hunt straight for a toe hold from the ashi garami position. In Judo the toe hold is known as the ashi dori garami, and is an extremely dangerous, but effective submission maneuver. To finish a toe hold the athlete will apply pressure to the foot of an opponent, by gripping the toes with one hand, and using their second hand as a fulcrum behind the foot, as they lock into a figure four grip by grabbing their own wrist. The toe hold puts a significant amount of torque into the foot, which will cause a substantial amount of damage if left undefended. There is only so much pressure the foot can take in terms of twisting, as the bones will become significantly damaged, so there needs to be an immediate response to this submission.
Another submission that can be rather successful is the calf slicer bjj submission. However, attacking this submission directly from an ashi garami position is not necessarily the primary attack. The calf slicer is one of those submissions that can be a sneak attack, or applied during a transition. Usually an opponent will attempt to free their heel from a heel hook, and as they spin the athlete can trap them into a calf slicer. This submission is predominantly applied from the closed guard, the bjj lockdown position, or the truck position, but there are significant applications from an ashi garami position. To finish a calf slicer the athlete only needs to use their shin as a fulcrum behind the knee of an opponent, as they pull their foot down towards their shin. This can cause significant pain to the calf muscle of an opponent, and may even cause more serious damage to the knee area.
USING THE INVERT TO ACCESS THE ASHI GARAMI
One of the most successful ways to enter into an ashi garami position is by using inversion techniques. To invert means to roll over onto an athlete's shoulders, as they thread their legs in to secure, and attack an opponent's legs. Many world class athletes will use the invert to berimbolo into their opponents, to access the leg entanglement position, or to take the back. An invert can be used as an attacking measure straight from an open guard position, but it can also be used defensively to escape from positions, and counter attack into ashi garami positions. Learning how to invert is extremely important for an athlete in the modern era, as this technique can make defending substantially harder. Athletes like Lachlan Giles, Craig Jones, Gordon Ryan, Jeff Glover, Tye Rutuolo, Masakazu Imanari all use the invert to access the legs of their opponents. The success rate of inverting is extremely high, but athletes do need to be cautious, because if a heavier opponent knows how to trap an athlete during their invert, then they can apply a lot of pressure to the neck. Attacking with the invert is one aspect, but all athletes need to know how to bail out of trouble and regain the guard position.
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HOW TO DEFEND THE ASHI GARAMI POSITION
Defending the ashi garami position has multiple ways to succeed. The defense will highly depend on which ashi garami is applied, as there are slight variations in the defense mechanism. The way an ashi garami can be successful is that an athlete basically needs both of their opponent's hips on the ground, however if one hip is grounded then the position can still be executed. In terms of defense, lifting one, or both of an athlete's hips higher, can help to change the angle of the entanglement, and allow an athlete to spin out of the position. Successful leg lockers are known to control both legs, even though they are only attacking one, so this means having one leg free will help an athlete defend the angle of their leg, and the depth of their trapped heel, or ankle. This can be as simple as using their free leg to push into the locking mechanism of the attack, allowing an athlete to escape their foot.
The secondary leg is vitally important to keep clear of an opponent's grasp, because this will help to elevate their hips off the mat, so they can chase the angle of escape. The first threat is the ashi garami itself, and this position must be escaped before an opponent can lock on the submission. To escape the ashi garami position the athlete needs to keep their knee outside of their opponent's knee line, because this will make it significantly harder to attack any submission until they control the inside space. An athlete needs to defend their knee line, and not allow any rotation on the leg, and this is made possible by shooting their heel deeper into their opponent's arm, and using their elevation to straighten their leg. Athletes can also use preventative measures like grabbing hold of their own foot, or securing grips on their opponent's arms, or head, as this will realistically only buy them some time. Above all else an athlete needs to stay calm, and not panic, because if they can stay vigilant, and use these techniques correctly, then escaping the ashi garami position, or leg locks can become extremely easy.
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