In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), survival is about more than just escaping bad positions; it’s about controlling your opponent long enough to counter their attacks. One of the most underutilized yet highly effective tools for survival is the lockdown. Though often overlooked in favor of other techniques, the lockdown can save you from a bad position, stalling your opponent’s progress and creating opportunities for sweeps and submissions. It’s particularly useful for avoiding aggressive pressure tactics like the crossface or head and arm chokes.
Let’s break down what the lockdown is, how you end up there, and how it can turn the tide when you’re under pressure.
What Is the Lockdown?
The lockdown is a variation of half guard where you trap and control your opponent’s leg, making it extremely difficult for them to pass your guard or advance to more dominant positions. Instead of simply wrapping their leg between yours (as in traditional half guard), you hook your outside leg over your opponent’s trapped leg while using your inside leg to hook underneath their ankle. Once secured, you extend both legs, effectively immobilizing their leg and hips.
This configuration locks down their movement and forces them to work much harder to escape or progress.
Losing the Knee Shield and Entering Lockdown
Many BJJ practitioners, especially beginners, tend to start with a knee shield in half guard, which creates distance and keeps your opponent from advancing. But what happens when your opponent pressures forward, collapses your knee shield, and starts to flatten you out? This is when you need to transition into the lockdown.
Once your opponent closes the gap and begins smashing through your knee shield, you’ll likely feel the pressure intensifying. As they move to pass, they may pin your shoulders down or establish a brutal crossface, making it incredibly uncomfortable to move. This is where the lockdown shines.
By quickly hooking your legs into the lockdown configuration, you trap their leg, limiting their ability to use their hips to pass or apply pressure effectively. The key is to make the transition as soon as you feel your knee shield starting to collapse. Once you’ve established lockdown, you’ve neutralized their forward pressure and bought yourself time to recover.
How Lockdown Prevents Guard Passing and Pressure
One of the greatest benefits of the lockdown is its ability to control your opponent’s hips. In BJJ, hip control is everything—whoever controls the hips generally controls the movement and flow of the fight. The lockdown locks down one of your opponent’s legs, severely limiting their mobility and preventing them from passing your guard or advancing into dominant positions like mount or side control.
For instance, in a typical half guard situation, your opponent might try to knee slice through your guard or backstep to escape and pass. With the lockdown, their leg is trapped and their hips are compromised, giving them far fewer passing options. This forces them to focus on freeing their leg rather than continuing their attack, which shifts the momentum in your favor.
Saving Yourself from the Crossface and Head and Arm Choke
If you’ve spent any time in BJJ, you’ve likely experienced the discomfort of a strong crossface—where your opponent drives their forearm across your face, turning your head away and making it difficult to defend. Worse still, if they manage to lock up a head and arm choke, you’re in serious trouble, as this position isolates your head and shoulder while cutting off blood flow to the brain.
The lockdown is a perfect defensive tool to counter these aggressive tactics. When your opponent is setting up a crossface or a head and arm choke, they rely heavily on the control of your upper body and head to lock in their submission or pin you down. However, with the lockdown, you prevent them from fully committing to these attacks by trapping their leg and destabilizing their base.
Once you’ve hooked their leg and straightened it out in the lockdown, their ability to generate the torque needed for a strong crossface diminishes. They can still try to apply pressure, but they’ll struggle to maintain control because their hips and legs are compromised. The head and arm choke requires them to solidify their control over your upper body while driving through with their hips. With the lockdown in place, they can’t generate the same level of hip pressure, making it much harder for them to finish the choke.
From here, you can focus on framing with your arms, creating space, and working your escapes without worrying about being crushed under their weight or submitted.
Recovering Lockdown After Guard is Passed
Sometimes, despite your best efforts, your opponent passes your guard and establishes a dominant position, such as side control. This can feel like a losing battle, especially when they’re applying heavy pressure. However, the lockdown can still be your salvation.
If you find yourself in side control, your first goal should be to create space. Use your arms to frame against their neck or hip, making it uncomfortable for them to settle into the position fully. Once you’ve created enough space, start shrimping to recover half guard. As soon as you trap their leg again, transition directly into the lockdown. The lockdown allows you to regain control and prevent them from advancing further, giving you the time to set up sweeps or regain full guard.
What to Do After Securing Lockdown: Sweeps and Submissions
The lockdown isn’t just a stalling technique; it opens up a world of offensive opportunities, particularly when it comes to sweeps and submissions. Once you’ve locked down your opponent’s leg, you can begin attacking with confidence. Here are a few of the best options to explore:
1. The Electric Chair Sweep and Submission
One of the most popular techniques from the lockdown is the electric chair. This move can be a sweep or a submission, depending on how your opponent reacts. From the lockdown, secure an underhook on your opponent’s far arm or control their upper body with a strong grip. Then, extend their trapped leg by stretching it out with your lockdown. This off-balances them and opens up the opportunity to sweep them onto their back.
If they resist the sweep, you can turn it into a submission by continuing to stretch their leg, causing intense pressure on their groin and hamstring area—this is where the electric chair submission comes into play.
2. Old School Sweep
Another high-percentage move from the lockdown is the old school sweep. Once you’ve trapped your opponent’s leg, reach under their body with your inside arm and grab their far ankle. Use the lockdown to roll them over by pulling their trapped leg toward you while using your upper body to push them. This straightforward sweep allows you to reverse the position and end up on top, where you can control or attack.
3. Transition to Full Guard
Sometimes, rather than attempting a sweep or submission directly from lockdown, your goal might be to transition to full guard. Once you’ve trapped your opponent’s leg and immobilized them, begin freeing your upper body by establishing an underhook or strong grip on their upper body. From there, you can start shifting your hips to transition out of the lockdown and pull your opponent into your full guard or butterfly guard. This gives you more options for attacking submissions or sweeps while keeping them on the defensive.
Conclusion: The Lockdown Deserves More Attention
While it may not have the flash of more advanced techniques, the lockdown is an invaluable survival tool that can save you from aggressive pressure, stalling your opponent’s progress and giving you control. Whether you're defending against a crossface, avoiding a head and arm choke, or preventing a guard pass, the lockdown’s ability to control your opponent’s hips makes it a must-have in your BJJ arsenal. As you continue to develop your game, don’t overlook the power of the lockdown—it might just be the move that keeps you in the fight.