Due to research, the knee joint is the second joint in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to be injured, right after elbow joint. The reason may lie in a fact that heel hooks are forbidden in IBJJF and North American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation events.
Heel Hook is probably the most dangerous submission and that’s exactly the reason why it’s sanctioned in many jiu-jitsu competitions. If not released on time heel hook can do some severe damage to your legs.
Although heel hook is applied at the ankle the real damage comes from the rotation of the tibia on the femur that produces structural knee damage. Once the ankle is locked and the rotation starts the fibia will rotate on an almost fixed femur. Since knee joints range of motion is limited to flexion and extension there’s little to no room for any kind of rotation. It’s only about a few degrees available of internal rotation before damage will occur.
In a video below we can see a catastrophic leg break. According to a sound that the snap produced both fibia and tibula are broken and it’s not easy to tell what else broke in the knee.
WARNING: Terrible Leg Break and Extremely loud Fracture as a result of Heel Hook
It is perfectly ok to really be into something, but it’s completely another to throw it into everyone’s faces. I wouldn’t want to listen about sewing all night long. Well, surprisingly some people haven’t gone the slightest interest in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This is one major aspect of BJJ in a social sense that we often miss. The amount of time we like to discuss anything BJJ related is, well, all the time. And this doesn’t bode well in social circles.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu also tends to form strong relationships between people in the gym. After a while, people become teammates first. Then, they become great friends. Trying to beat each other up, going on tournament road trips etc tends to do that to people. The glaring issue with this is that you’re forming a social circle of people with the same “addiction” as you. This rarely has a positive effect on the social life you have outside of the academy, which is where you need to look for balance.
Next up is a really important benefit for Jiu-Jitsu. As you know by know, the neck takes a lot of abuse in BJJ and most grapplers end up with a neck injury or two in their career. Neck conditioning is a huge benefit form break falls. Most importantly you get to develop a strong neck specific for BJJ situations. As an added bonus, you get in neck work without having to do it on its own.
Let’s look at some basic tips about break falling. If you’re going for a backward break fall, you should start with your feet hip-wide apart. Bend the knees as much as possible, aiming to go deep into a squat. The deeper you squat, the easier the fall is going to be. From there on, you need to curl up in a ball. Fall backward, allowing the curvature of the spine to roll on the ground. You should always stop rolling before your neck touches the mats. There should be absolutely no contact between the neck and mats at any point during a break fall.
First order of business is head control. The dreaded cross-face is the ultimate weapon of choice here. That means one of your arms is going to go under the opponent’s head. Your shoulder is then going to drop onto their chin, blocking their movement. The hand of the arm can stay on the mats, or go into the opponent’s opposite side armpit for extra discomfort.
For the 100 kg position, you’re pretty much in the same starting position as with the classic, You still need the cross-face, of course. The main difference is in leg positioning. For the 100 kg side control, you want both your legs sprawled behind you. You also have to pay attention to where your chest is positioned. You have to keep your chest right in the middle of the opponent’s torso. Actually, being a bit more towards your side is even better. If you go too far over you’ll be light as s feather and easy to topple over.
The Kesa Ggatame is a Judo classic, but in Jiu-Jitsu this position is only used sporadically. However, in terms of transitioning in between side control variations, the Kesa Gatame is the ultimate pit stop. Kesa Gatame Jiu-Jitsu basics are head control, trapping the near side arm and leg positioning. For this variation, you need to be on your hip/butt, legs pointing towards the opponent’s head. Furthermore, you need to have your legs spladeled and keep your head low next to the opponent’s head. It is dangerous to stay in this position long in BJJ, because an opponent might get your back if they know how.
The reverse Kesa Gatame is a much more viable position for BJJ. As the name suggests, it is pretty much the same as Kesa Gatame, only done in reverse. That means that for this position. you’ll be facing the opponent’s legs. The position is also called 
Another solid option is preventing the opponent from extending their hips. For this, you’ll first have to triangle your legs, in order to have enough time to get your upper body into position. From there on, the goal is to place a seatbelt grip around your opponent. However, instead of keeping it in a traditional back control manner, you want it to be more like an arm triangle. When you have everything in place, simply lay to your side and open up your legs. There’s no knee bar for your opponent since the angle of your body, because of the seatbelt grip is now different. You’ll end up in a leg drag-like position and get out with ease, ending up on top.
Jiu-Jitsu submissions will not work unless you have inch-perfect positioning. You’ll need to have everything in alignment if you truly want a submission to work. A thing to remember is that no detail is to mall here. How your head lies, where your fingers are pointing, shrugging the shoulder on the right side, are all as key to finishing a submission as they sound insignificant. So, after finishing mechanics, positioning is the second thing on your checklist.
The main principle behind the 20-second rule is that when you have a fully locked guillotine, you do not let go for 20 seconds no matter what. And, by fully locked I mean you’re in perfect position, squeezing to get the tap. The thing with the Guillotine (and all BJJ chokes for that matter) is that they are slow submissions by trait. You can’t blitz someone with a choke like you can with a wristlock, for example. So, remain in position and keep yourself calm. As long as there’s no way out, proceed to count down from 20. Since chokes get progressively tighter with every breath your opponent manages to squeeze in, you’ll most likely get most taps in the 12-18 seconds range.
