Even though the Ashi Garmi was introduced to the sport fairly recently it has already gone through several major ‘renovations’. Lachlan Giles was the first to offer significant innovations to Danaher’s system which eventually paid off.
The likes of Robert Degle, Craig Jones, and Jaine Fragoso keep the flame burning, innovating further and introducing new concepts and uses for the Ashi Garami game. With the Cross My Heart And Hope To Ashi DVD By Kade Tsitos, on the back of impressive performances that earned him a No-Gi world title, Kade Tsitos now joins this group, offering valuable input on how to take the Ashi game further than you’ve ever thought.
Key Takeaways
- 3-part No-Gi BJJ DVD containing 2 hours of modern-day Ashi Garami material.
- Innovative take on the double trouble principle and Cloverleaf leg locks.
- Organized to cover braking mechanics, positional maintenance, and entries.
- BJJ World Expert Rating: 9 out of 10.
HOPE TO ASHI KADE TSITOS DVD AVAILABLE HERE!!!
The Versatility of Ashi Garami
Back when I began BJJ almost 15 years ago, Japanese terms in the sport were not a thing. Apart from the Kimura, and a few Judo throws, everything else was either English or Portuguese. John Danaher changed all that single-handedly, and now we have terms like Ashi garami and Ude Sankaku to deal with.
Personally, coming from Japanese martial arts myself, I didn’t mind this, but it does confuse people trying to comprehend the already overly complex art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. So, why did Ashi Garami stick as a term?
Mostly because it works. Leg entanglements opened a new dimension in the sport, one which put lower body attacks into the forefront. But it did al to more than that, improving people’s passing, guards, sweeps, and even standing game by introducing threats we were missing before.
The other thing that ensured the term ‘Ashi Garami” sticks is the fact that saying “leg entanglements” is far less practical to use than just saying “Ashi”. But let’s stop there with the Japanisation of the BJJ vocabulary.
Ashi Garami nowadays is a staple in the sport, allowing people to quickly rise through the competitive ranks by organizing a game around this powerful set of positional variations. One such person is young Kade Tsitos, who has an instructional outlining his take on the Ashi Garami leg lock system which is pretty original.
Who is Kade Tsitos?
Kade Tsitos is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Vagner Rocha and one of the people to watch in the world of professional Jiu-Jitsu. Already a world champion in 2022 at the brown belt level, the young South Florida native has a very strong submission game, mostly focused on attacking the legs.
His road to the IBJJF World No-Gi title in 2022 was marked by something very few grapplers have achieved at a high level – a 100 % submission rate. His results are not surprising given his full-time training under Rocha, as well as his meticulous study of Danaher’s work and Gordon Ryan’s performances.
Namely, Kade used to spend 6 hours a day studying competition footage of Ryan and all other world champions, looking for that edge that would set him apart from his opponents. He seems to have found it in leg locks, and particularly heel hooks by pulling a Bruce Lee on the material available and only taking what is absolutely maximally efficient while removing the fluff.
The Cross My Heart And Hope To Ashi DVD By Kade Tsitos is his attempt at presenting his work to the BJJ community, as well as presenting his teaching style and establishing himself as a competitor-instructor.
Cross My Heart And Hope To Ashi DVD By Kade Tsitos
In the Cross My Heart And Hope To Ashi DVD By Kade Tsitos you get three volumes of No-Gi material explaining the system Tsitos himself used to become a world champion. The instructional is organized incredibly well, and Kade provides around 2 hours of high-quality content inside:
Part 1 – How to Finish Heel Hooks
Kade Tsitos begins his instructional by applying the modern approach to learning grappling techniques and that is from the endpoint and goes towards the start. Instead of talking about entries first, Kade starts by offering instructions on how to finish heel hooks both belly up and belly down.
A standout principle is the three-second rule he applied to finishes, which is a great way to gauge if a heel hook is worth pursuing or not without losing the Ashi. These principles provide a goal that makes it easy for anyone to understand the different entries that come next in this volume of the Ashi DVD By Kade Tsitos.
He covers both standing, top and bottom entries, mainly focusing on the cross Ashi Garami, a.k.a. the Honeyhole.
Part 2 – Positional Principles
Once in the Ashi, the key aspect that ensures success with heel hook finishes is not losing the position. Kade’s progression takes us to positional maintenance in this volume of the Kade Tsitos BJJ DVD, covering all the best options in terms of leg placement.
Apart from a very detailed analysis of the usual cross-feet, triangle, and foot-to-foot positions, Tsitos also explores open-foot control concepts. He puts a strong emphasis on how your grips help you improve your Ashi Garami retention, laying the foundations for the material that follows in the next volume.
Part 3 – Shoelace & Tombstone
Part three of the Cross My Heart And Hope To Ashi DVD By Kade Tsitos lifts the veil on Kade’s own complete leg locking system, based on innovation in terms of the Cloverleaf position. He splits his control and attack checkpoints between the Shoelace and Tombstone positions, which he presents in detail.
His concept is all about the double-rouble principle, which gives him access to both legs, but not just for control. Tsitos like to attack both legs with submissions at all times, entering mostly from the bottom. He also connects kneebars and heel hooks beautifully, constantly threatening both legs with both submissions.
The instructional wraps up with several key points on how to defend the Cloverleaf position, and solve the double trouble problem that high-level Ashi players bring. All in all, it is a very useful Ashi Garami instructional.
Taking Ashi Beyond Leg Locks
the one thing that emerged as Ashi Garami took its rightful place in the BJJ hierarchy was the fact you could use the position for a lot more than just leg locks. Of course, leg locks are the primary threat from there, but so is the rear naked choke from the back, and we don’t use the back just to choke people out.
One very practical aspect of Ahsi Garami is using it as sort of a guard. I say sort of because the positioning requires both players to have their hips on the mats, at least for a while, which is not common with guards. But, this is exactly why Ashi is an improved guard, allowing you to hold your opponent in kind of a half-sweep position.
moreover, Ashi Garami emerged as a very powerful transitional position that is available for a person escaping from bad spots during positional battles in grappling. Getting out of the mount or the back presents Ashi opportunities halfway, which literally cuts the effort required to escape in half.
The Ashi also turned the turtle position into a very offensive one, completely changing the way we play the positional game in the sport. And that is not the end. Innovative sources such as the Cross My Heart And Hope To Ashi DVD By Kade Tsitos provide us with even more ideas and options on how to use Ashi in different aspects of Jiu-Jitsu.
CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO ASHI KADE TSITOS DVD DOWNLOAD
What is Your Favorite Ashi?
We all have our favorite Ashi game, and we should have a mini system that revolves around it. Mine is the outside Ashi and I have my little tweaks that work for me. The difference between me and Kade Tsitos, apart from a World Title in BJJ is that the Cross My Heart And Hope To Ashi DVD By Kade Tsitos contains a system that is applicable to everyone as opposed to just Kade.
Not many modern BJJ instructionals stake this claim, and even fewer deliver on it, so it is a literal breath of fresh air to have this instructional available. I’d recommend it to everyone, as everyone is a leg locker as much as a “triangle choker” or “arm locker” these days. Why not try the latest best thing that is proven to work?
