Half Guard Kimura And Leglock Dilemma System

A half guard system that chains leg attacks, kimura, and armbar while addressing kimura prevention and top half guard passing options.

Flow outline

  1. Offensive Half Guard Base

    • Bottom half guard base where you control their trapped leg and posture to threaten legs or upper body.
    • Bottom leg clamps tight on their thigh just above the knee to immobilize their trapped leg.
    • Top knee wedges inside their hip line, pointing upward to block their cross-face and heavy chest drop.
    • Inside arm frames across their collarbone or biceps with elbow tight to ribs to prevent deep underhook pressure.
    • Outside arm posts on mat or grips their far lat to help you angle your hips toward their legs.

  2. Initial Leglock Orientation

    • Half guard configuration where your hips and grips are oriented to threaten entries on their near leg.
    • Rotate your hips so your belly faces more toward their feet, aligning your sternum with their knee line instead of their chest.
    • Clamp your outside knee over their trapped thigh while your inside knee pinches from below to isolate their near-side leg segmentally.
    • Use your inside arm to pummel under their near-side hamstring, cupping behind the knee to keep their foot from stepping back.
    • Outside hand controls their ankle or pant cuff, pulling their toes toward your hip to expose their heel line for future attacks.

  3. Leg Attack Extension Trigger

    • As you threaten their leg, they extend arms and posture to defend, exposing kimura entries from bottom half guard.
    • Your hips scoot slightly under their centerline, forcing them to post a hand on your torso or the mat to keep balance over your half guard clamp.
    • Their near-side arm straightens and separates from their ribs as they reach to peel your leg grips around their knee or ankle line.
    • Their shoulders drift forward over your chest, causing their elbow to float above your torso rather than being glued to their hip bone.
    • Their posting hand turns palm-down on the mat or your body, aligning the thumb toward their hip and exposing the kimura rotation path.

  4. Kimura From Half Guard

    • Classic bottom half guard kimura configuration where you isolate their near arm while controlling their posture with your legs.
    • Near-side arm shoots over their triceps and threads back under their arm, grabbing your own wrist to form a tight figure-four grip at their shoulder line.
    • Your elbows pinch toward your ribs and slightly downward, keeping their elbow glued near your chest so they cannot simply straighten and slip out.
    • Top leg climbs high over their back with your knee flared across their spine, using your hamstring as a strap to pull their shoulders forward and break posture.
    • Bottom half guard hook stays tight around their thigh, with your outside foot curling behind their calf to prevent them from freely stepping out.

  5. Hand Behind Back Finish

    • Finishing kimura by dragging their wrist behind their back to force a roll or tap from shoulder rotation.
    • Rotate your torso toward their head while pulling their wrist in an arc so their knuckles travel along the mat toward the back of their belt line.
    • Keep their elbow bent at roughly ninety degrees with your top forearm wedged above their elbow, preventing it from sliding away from their body as you rotate the shoulder.
    • Drive your top knee down into their upper back while curling your heel toward your butt to glue their torso to the mat and increase rotational torque on the shoulder joint.
    • As they begin to forward roll to relieve pressure, keep your chest tight to their triceps and maintain the figure-four, following their rotation without loosening your elbow pinch.

  6. Shoulder Roll Kimura Sweep

    • Kimura-based shoulder roll from half guard that uses leg configuration to tilt them over while keeping their leg trapped.
    • Tuck your head toward the mat beside their trapped knee and round your upper back so your far-side shoulder can become a rolling axis under their weight.
    • Use your butterfly-style inside hook under their thigh to lift their hip as you pull their captured arm across your body, combining elevation with shoulder rotation to tip them forward-diagonally.
    • Alternatively, plant your inside butterfly hook firmly on the mat as a drive leg, pushing off the floor to rotate your hips and roll them while your half guard clamp prevents their leg from escaping backward.
    • Keep your top leg pinched over their back during the roll so their upper body cannot turn freely away from the kimura pressure as you come on top.

  7. Drive-Leg Half Guard Variation

    • Half guard kimura variation where the inside leg posts as a drive leg instead of elevating with a butterfly hook.
    • Inside leg that could butterfly hook instead drops the sole to the mat with the knee still threaded inside their thigh, forming a strong pushing post near your hip line.
    • Outside leg stays clamped over their trapped thigh, with your heel curling behind their knee so their leg remains stuck in half guard even if they try to step out during the roll attempt.
    • Drive off the planted inside foot to rotate your hips and shoulders toward the kimura side, using that ground reaction force instead of pure lifting to tilt their weight forward.
    • Maintain your knees pinched around their thigh so that if the elevation or roll fails, their knee cannot freely slide through to side control.

  8. Inverted Armbar From Kimura

    • Inversion from failed hand-behind-back kimura that swings your head under to attack a juji-gatame style armbar.
    • As they sit back on their heels and retract their elbow, scoot your hips closer and tuck your head under their captured arm, aiming your forehead toward the space behind their far knee or hip pocket.
    • Allow your shoulders to rotate so your chest faces more toward the ceiling, bringing their trapped arm across your centerline while still maintaining the kimura figure-four grip for control during the inversion phase.
    • Use your outside leg to climb higher over their back and then swing it across their face line, placing your hamstring over their head to break their posture as you rotate under.
    • Your bottom leg threads across their torso or hips to catch their far-side shoulder, aligning your hips perpendicular to their trapped arm for the juji-gatame extension.

  9. Juji-Gatame Armbar Finish

    • Fully inverted armbar position where their arm is isolated between your knees for a straight elbow lock.
    • Pinch both knees tightly around their upper arm so your inner thighs squeeze just above their elbow, limiting any ability to rotate their thumb or bend the arm out of alignment with your hips.
    • Curl your heels down toward the mat to keep their shoulders elevated off the floor, preventing them from stacking directly over your hips to relieve pressure on the elbow joint.
    • Control their wrist with both hands, turning their thumb toward the ceiling and pulling their hand toward your chest as you gradually extend your hips upward for the break.
    • Angle your head slightly away from their trapped arm side so your spine aligns diagonally across their body, making your hip extension travel directly through their elbow line.

  10. Return To Leg Attacks

    • Recovery path where, after a broken armbar or kimura, you re-orient to attack their legs again from half guard-style entanglements.
    • If they pull their arm free and posture, immediately rotate your hips back toward their legs, threading your inside knee between their thighs to re-establish a tight clamp on their near-side leg above the knee line.
    • Use your outside foot to hook behind their far knee or calf, dragging their leg across your center so their knee line crosses your hip and exposes entries like knee bar or heel hook configurations.
    • Sit your hips slightly away from their torso so your upper body distance makes it harder for them to cross-face while your hands reconnect to their ankle or hamstring for leg entanglement grips.

  11. Kimura Broken Posture Wrestle-Up

    • Sequence where a failed initial kimura due to their posture is used to come up on a single-leg style wrestle-up from half guard.
    • As they posture their spine upright to slip the kimura threat, release your top leg from over their back and bring your knee under you, creating a base to drive up to your elbow and then to your hand.
    • Keep your chest glued to their near-side hip while your inside arm underhooks or wraps around the back of their trapped leg, pulling their knee toward your chest as you rise to a kneeling position.
    • Maintain your outside knee pinched against their thigh so their leg remains caught between your legs, stopping them from freely backstepping as you wrestle up to the top position.

  12. Counter-Kimura Safe Wrestle-Up

    • Adjusted wrestle-up posture that keeps your arm and shoulder safe from a counter kimura as you come to the top.
    • Keep the arm that was attacking kimura bent tight with your elbow glued to your own ribs, avoiding reaching deep past their hip where they could lock a figure-four on your shoulder line in return.
    • As you rise, drive your head to the outside of their torso and keep your ear close to their floating rib, so your neck and spine stay aligned and your shoulder does not rotate behind your back for them to trap.
    • Use your free hand to post wide on the mat instead of reaching across their body, keeping your support arm vertical under your shoulder to deny them the angle needed to isolate it.

  13. Kimura Defense Head Position

    • Top player head positioning in half guard that makes it difficult for the bottom to wrap a strong kimura.
    • Place your head on the same side of their body as the arm you are threading, touching your temple or forehead near their shoulder so your skull physically blocks their arm from circling over for the kimura grip.
    • Drive your crown slightly forward and down toward the mat, lengthening the side of your neck so your spine and arm form a straight line that is harder for them to bend behind your back mechanically.
    • Keep your ear glued near their jaw or collarbone while your shoulder presses into their chest, limiting the space their top arm has to thread between your head and shoulder for a figure-four.

  14. Palm-Up Kimura Immunity

    • Arm orientation detail for the top player that removes the rotational path needed for the opponent’s kimura on your posting hand.
    • Rotate your forearm so your palm faces the sky with your thumb pointing outward, aligning your elbow pit toward the opponent and closing the shoulder internal-rotation angle required for a kimura lock.
    • Keep your palm-up hand slightly in front of your shoulder rather than behind your torso, so even if they grip your wrist they cannot drag it across your back without first re-orienting your forearm rotation.
    • When reaching to body lock or pummel for underhooks, extend your arm with the thumb rotated upward and elbow pointing down, making their overhook path shallow and difficult to convert into a figure-four.

  15. Palm-Down Kimura Exposure

    • Risky top arm configuration where a palm-down reach invites the bottom player’s kimura entry from half guard or guard passing.
    • Reach with your palm turned toward the mat and thumb pointing inward, which naturally flares your elbow away from your ribs and opens a pocket behind your triceps for them to thread their arm through for the kimura grip.
    • Allow your hand to travel past their torso line so your wrist is roughly level with their hip, making it easier for them to trap your forearm and bend your elbow behind your back as they lock the figure-four.
    • Keep your shoulder slightly internally rotated as you post, which aligns your upper arm in a way that gives them a strong lever to twist your shoulder into the kimura’s finishing direction.

  16. Top Half Underhook Dilemma

    • Top half guard passing phase where you free your knee while balancing between regaining underhook and threatening a kimura on their underhooking arm.
    • Slide your trapped knee line gradually toward their hip by turning your toes outward and windshield-wipering your shin, using your opposite foot as a post to drive your weight through their thigh clamp.
    • With your far arm, pummel for an underhook by threading your elbow tight along their ribs and lifting their near-side shoulder off the mat, trying to replace their underhook with your own shoulder pressure under their armpit.
    • Simultaneously monitor their underhooking arm; if their elbow drifts away from their body, wrap over their triceps and catch their wrist with your other hand to begin forming a kimura grip as you continue freeing the knee.

  17. Top Kimura Pass Threat

    • Top half guard configuration where you actively threaten a kimura on their underhooking arm to aid your guard pass and back takes.
    • Circle your near-side arm over their underhooking arm and thread it back under their triceps, grabbing your own wrist to create a tight figure-four that pins their elbow above their torso line instead of under your body weight.
    • Drop your hip on the kimura side slightly toward the mat while driving your opposite knee across their hips, using the shoulder rotation threat to make them release their half guard and expose their back or far hip for passing.
    • Keep your head posted low on the kimura side of their body to block their ability to roll under you, turning the kimura grip into a lever that steers their shoulders as you step toward side control or back exposure.

Branch conditions