Body Lock Takedown
Takedown · Standing
Takes you from an underhook clinch to side control with a lock around the hips. Use it when their hips are close to yours. Get chest to chest and lock your hands behind their lower back at the belt line, not around the ribs, head on their chest and elbows pinched. Pull their hips into you so they cannot sprawl or frame, step off to an angle, then put your foot behind one of their legs and drive your hips forward over it; a lighter opponent you can lift with the legs and turn down. Follow chest to chest, but open the lock just before they land so they do not fall on your hands, and post or grab the arm to settle on top. Trip rather than lift a heavier partner, and never slam. If they whizzer and turn, take the back; if they push your head away, duck under.
How to do it
- Get to the body: duck under an arm or go through a clinch, closing the distance until you are chest to chest.
- Lock your hands behind their lower back, low at the belt line, not around the ribs. Your head is on their chest, elbows pinched in.
- Pull their hips into you and glue your hips to theirs, so they cannot sprawl or get a frame on you.
- Do not stay square in front: step to an angle, then step your foot behind one of their legs.
- Trip that leg with your foot and drive forward with the hips over it; or, if they are lighter, lift with the legs and a straight back and turn them to the mat.
- Follow them down chest to chest, opening the lock just before they land so they do not fall on your hands; post a hand and grab their arm to settle on top.
Key details
- Lock low, at the belt line, not around the ribs: around the ribs they sprawl the hips away from your hands.
- Glue your hips to theirs and keep chest to chest with the elbows pinched in: any space lets them frame and pummel out.
- Trip rather than lift when they are heavier than you.
- Do not stay square in front: step to an angle, then step behind a leg and drive with the hips. Square, they keep both legs as a base.
- Pull yourself into them, not them into you: step your hips in and lead with the hips, not the chest. Reaching with the chest lets them step in front and hip-throw you.
- Keep them upright or bent back: lock on the lumbar region, pull the hips in so the shoulders go behind the hips, then step forward past them and drop the knee.
Common mistakes
- Locking too high, around the ribs. — They sprawl the hips back and break your posture. — Slide the lock down to their hips and pull them in.
- Lifting with the back. — It is heavy, slow and risky for your spine. — Trip a leg, or lift with the legs and a straight back.
- Head on the wrong side, hanging free of their body. — They catch a guillotine or front headlock. — Keep your head tight against their chest.
How to drill it
From a clinch, lock and trip, 10 each side; then 1 minute of clinch fighting where only this takedown scores.
Safety
Do not lift and slam: trip or turn them down, and never land your full weight on their chest.
What comes next
Where it comes from