Rolling Knee Bar by Neil Melanson

The knee bar is a hyperextending leg lock which, as the name suggests, works by hyperextending the leg at the knee joint. The knee bar used to be one of the most popular leg submissions in Jiu Jitsu until the heel hook started making waves.

The reason the knee bar was popular for so many years was because it was effective but still allowed in tournaments. Depending on how long you have been training, you might not have know that there was a time where heel hooks were barred from pretty much every tournament. 

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The knee bar can be attacked from a wide variety of positions, just like all leg locks. The most common positions to attack leg locks from are guards like half guard. The knee bar can be attacked from half guard, both top and bottom. 

Oddly enough, the knee bar is one of the leg locks that can be attacked from a standing position. The only other leg lock that can be entered from a standing position is the heel hook. This is because the heel hook and knee bar share a distinct positional relationship.

The knee bar can be attack from anywhere a heel hook can be attacked and vice versa. This is great for us because we are taught so many different heel hook entries which we can easily apply to knee bars.

The position relationship between the two positions is able the attacks angle towards the leg they are attacking. In the knee bar, our torso should be faced directly towards the knee cap. In the heel hook, our torso is on the side of the leg.

In the following video, Neil Melanson will show a really cool knee bar entry from standing that very much resembles a heel hook entry from standing. See below:

If you have ever seen a leg scissor takedown, a technique Garry Tonon used a lot in competition to get the heel hook, you will see a strong resemblance to this entry Neil is showing. 

With all standing leg entries, it is important to technically develop them through repetition before attempting them in rolling or competition as there is a high risk for injuries if the attacker makes a mistake.

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