I’m currently going through the Leg Lock Prevention course and trying to understand the “other side” of the equation: where leg lock entries typically come from.
From my experience, I tend to get caught when approaching sitting guard or during transitions in open guard, but I’m not fully sure which positions are considered the most dangerous overall.
Are there specific guards or situations (e.g., shin-on-shin, reverse De La Riva, double guard pull, etc.) that consistently lead into leg entanglements (FWIW, I mostly do gi)?
Also, are there any key early warning signs I should be looking for before the actual leg attack happens (besides what was covered in the leg lock prevention course, lol!)?
3 Comments
In my experience it’s less about one magic guard and more about when your leg gets isolated and your knee line starts drifting into danger.
The most common feeders are usually:
shin-on-shin
SLX / X-guard
RDLR / K-guard style entries
seated guard when you step in carelessly
open guard transitions / double guard pull scrambles
In the gi, I’d still treat those as the main danger zones even if the rules limit some finishes.
Early warning signs for me are:
they’ve controlled one foot/ankle
their hips are getting under or close to yours
your knee line is crossing their centreline
they’re starting to connect their legs around your thigh
your free leg is no longer helping you post, clear, or hide
So I’d say the “dangerous positions” are really any positions where someone can isolate one leg, control your secondary leg, and get their hips attached before you react. By the time they’re on the foot, you were usually late already.
When low passing, be aware of butterfly hooks, which can be used to elevate and then lead into the positions mentioned in yours and pred500's post. I haven't watched the leg lock prevention content, but good weight distribution and being heavy on top as a general rule can significantly help prevent leg attacks. The attacker needs to gain access to your legs, so making that difficult by using gravity and angles to break through the butterfly or half-butterfly guard is exactly what I would try to do. This all comes down to skill development, so isolating these positions while creating specific parameters for the bottom person is likely the best way to improve.