Inside Heel Hook
Submission · Leg Locks
A heel hook from the inside: the heel is turned on your forearm near the wrist, and the twist goes into the knee, loading the anterior cruciate ligament and the inside of the knee. In 50-50 the moment is when his knee is stuck and the heel is open. Control the knee line first: his knee past your hips, your thighs pinching his thigh, so he cannot pull the knee back or spin. Trap his toes under your armpit, cup the heel, clasp palm to palm and pull the elbow to your ribs so arm, heel and chest move as one. Check the knee line once more, then finish slowly: your knee presses his leg down so he cannot lift his hips, and you bridge your hips into the side of his knee as the chest turns away. Keep your own heel hidden: in 50-50 he has the same attack. If he rolls away, switch to the kneebar from 50-50. The knee tears before pain: brown and black belt no-gi only under IBJJF, rotate slowly, tap early.
How to do it
- From inside ashi or the saddle, control their knee line with your legs: their knee sits past your hips and your thighs pinch their thigh, so they cannot pull the knee back or spin.
- Trap their toes under your armpit and catch the heel on your forearm near the wrist, where you wear a watch, not deep in the crook of the elbow: there the heel finds space and slips out.
- Clasp your hands palm to palm, the forearm against the heel, and pull the elbow tight to your ribs: arm, heel and chest now move as one piece.
- Check the knee line once more before any rotation: if their knee has slipped back in front of your hips, re-pin it first.
- Finish: head close to your hands, press your knee down on their leg so they cannot lift their hips, and bridge or lift your hips into the side of their knee as the chest turns away with the grip. The twist goes into the knee, which tears before pain arrives, so go gradually and release at the first tap.
Key details
- Control of the knee line is the hold; the heel is the lever. With a free knee they spin with the rotation and the lock disappears.
- Rotate with the body, never with a jerk: the chest turns the heel smoothly, and the opponent has time to feel it and tap.
- Any entanglement works — inside ashi, saddle, 50-50, cross ashi — if your hips are glued to theirs and their knee is past both your hip pockets; pin that knee line before you touch the heel.
- Toes trapped under the armpit stop them from turning the foot to hide the heel.
Common mistakes
- Rotating with the arms. — Arms alone are weak, and the heel slips out of the grip. — Elbow tight to your ribs, turn your chest and shoulders together with the grip.
- No knee control. — A free knee lets them spin out of the entanglement. — Lock the thigh with your legs, knee past your hips, before grabbing the heel.
- A loose connection to their hips. — With space between your hips and theirs, the knee slides back in front of your hips and they turn out. — Glue your hips to theirs: if they walk backward, they should drag you along with them.
If they defend
- They spin toward the heel. → Follow the spin and keep the knee line.
How to drill it
Heel exposure and grip, no rotation, 10 reps each side; then positional rounds where only control scores.
Safety
The most dangerous submission in BJJ: the knee ligaments tear before pain. Rotate slowly, and tap early when caught.
What comes next
Where it comes from