Straight Foot Lock 101

By Corey Kuropas, October 31, 2016

The straight foot lock. Often attempted, but not necessarily completely understood. There are a variety of ways to finish the straight foot lock, but there certain concepts and ideas that need to be followed through to perform the foot lock successfully. If you can follow these three concepts and put them into action with the technique, then you will be able to submit anyone you go against with the straight foot lock attack. This video by BJJ black belt, Roli Delgado will go over these concepts.

Have a strong control/entanglement

This is the first step into having a successful foot lock. You must be able to control your opponent’s leg with a strong control or entanglement. For this, it depends on what you like to do and are allowed to do. There is ashi garami, 50/50, feet on the hips and many more. For this, let’s say you are going for ashi garami. Remember the correct position on inside and out of the opponent’s leg, foot to knee and control the opponent’s knee. If you half ass on a control/entanglement, your opponent will be able to defend easily, and probably slip out of the attack.

Bring your shoulder down

Too many people try to finish the straight foot lock, while upright. But it simply does not work properly that way. You might be able to tap out some newbies that way, but for anyone good, they will take the pressure and work an escape. Let’s say that you are attacking the opponent’s foot with your right arm and side. Then when trying to finish the technique, you need to bring the shoulder down to the mat. This will create the correct pressure you need to set up the last important part of the foot lock, which is…

Bringing your hands to your chest

Another common mistake on the straight foot lock is that people will try finish an opponent with their hands down by their waist or belt line. This is simply too weak. All techniques in BJJ require the right leverage, and the straight foot lock is no different. Once you have the opponent’s achilles locked up, you need to bring your hands up to your chest, usually up by your heart. This will creating the tap attaining pain that you need. It synchs up the achilles even more and puts the pressure on the foot.

The straight foot lock is an awesome technique. While there are more foot lock attacks, the straight is a classic that will win you matches. It also is allowed in some competitions that are more strict with the rules. Master the straight lock as it will become available to yourself more times than you think. Dean Lister has proven this, and has a DVD covering his straight foot lock mastery.

Check out Leg Attacks & Grappling Hacks by Dean Lister for $77.