Maintaining Inside Leg Control

By Ismail Safi, February 23, 2019

If you have trained Jiu Jitsu for a while, you have probably heard of pummeling, and hopefully a lot. Why is pummeling so important? Why are we told to do it from a variety of positions? Pummeling is a movement that involves bring a limb to the inside position, be it an arm or leg. A concept you hear John Danaher and Gordon Ryan talking about frequently is that the grappler with the inside position will dominate the position.

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Pummeling is common movement used in wrestling in which the two competitors are constantly bringing their arms in the middle to achieve the inside position. Pummeling the arms in wrestling and Jiu Jitsu allows for under hooks, which are invaluable in many different positions such as guard, side control, and mount.

There is a popular drill in Jiu Jitsu where two grapplers will stand up with each other, each with the over under position. This drill requires the grapplers to pummel their arms so that they can switch which arm has the under hook and which one doesn’t. It is a simple drill but great for improving the clinch in wrestling.

Maintaining inside control with leg attacks is just as important as it is with other position. Getting our legs to the middle allows us to enter the necessary leg entanglements to finish submissions like ankle locks, heel hooks, and so on. Maintaining that leg position must be a priority if you want to become a good leg locker.

In the following video, Charles Harriott illustrates how to practice maintaining inside leg control by doing a pummeling drill that reflects the same concepts of the pummeling drill from standing. See below:

Although this drill may seem silly, its actually really important to work on. The concept of bringing the legs to the middle isn’t just important for leg locks, but many other positions. Think of all the different guards we use in Jiu Jitsu. To play butterfly guard, you have to keep the legs in the middle. For spider guard or lasso guard, leg pummeling is a common theme for maintains good control and sweeps. All you have to do is execute this drill a few times a week for a minute so that you develop the muscle memory to use it.

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