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Dean Lister’s Sick Calf Slicer From Half Guard
Dean Lister is the godfather of leg locks here in the states. Back when leg locks were considered dirty, Dean was leg locking his way to championship titles. Starting with his straight foot locks at blue belt, he later developed a dangerous heel hook game at the higher ranks and soon was winning matches in ADCC. In modern day, Dean is a well respected teacher of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and a high authority on every leg attack technique. Dean is also a fella that when given the chance at passing your guard, he will usually submit you with a leg submission instead. Here is one of those instances. Instead of passing half guard, Dean shows how to submit your opponent with a sick calf slicer. Let’s check it out…
As you see in the video, Dean is in his opponent’s half guard, playing the top. From half guard top, most people will work their butts off to try and pass guard. But you don’t always have to. At this point, you can begin to work for your calf slicer. What you need to do first is to angle your body towards your free leg. When you first are training this set up, you can actually post your free leg, but that is up to you. Now turn your body towards your free leg, and roll on your shoulder away from your opponent’s hips with your same side shoulder as your trapped leg.
Once you roll, you’ll end up in the truck-style position with your legs intertwined with your opponent’s legs. From here you have two options. You can triangle your legs together as Dean does, or you can use your free foot to push your trapped leg forward (Eddie Bravo style). Grab the opponent’s foot up by his toes and pull down. This is a devastating leg attack. At first, your opponent will feel pain in his calf, but if he does not tap, he can incur a terrible knee injury.
This is a set up and attack that I do all the time. I opt to go after the legs instead of passing guard. It is effective, it’s usually unexpected, and can throw someone off completely. Dean has more leg set ups and submissions to make you a killer in that aspect of the game. If you want to improve your leg game then check out his K.A.T.C.H. DVD set.
Click here to see Dean Lister’s K.A.T.C.H DVD set!
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