The heel hook is not a popular step in BJJ and the international body BJJ has declared it illegal at all levels. A heel hook is a leg lock in which the foot is pinched at a certain angle and a rotational movement is applied to the knee joint. Ashi Garami is one of the most popular positions in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, as it uses precision and timing to secure an opponent`s leg. To reach this position, a practitioner secures his opponent`s leg by pulling his cross knee from inside the guard onto his opponent`s hip while threading his opposite leg around the outside of his opponent`s leg and pinching the hip in place. This position creates a triangular lock because the heel connects to the knee. Many advanced pliers use this position to look for heel hooks and toe handles. Suplex can potentially cause back pain, shortness of breath and paralysis. These results led the IBJJF to consider this technique illegal. The Inside Ashi Garami is another very effective position to secure the heel hook, with a common entrance from the Reverse Guard of the Riva. It is a matter of control, and if the practitioner can effectively control his opponent from his Reverse guard of the Riva, then he can easily turn under his opponent before changing his legs and securing his opponent`s leg. Once they have an inner Ashi position, it becomes increasingly difficult to defend the heel hooks.
There are many dangerous submissions in the arsenal of a BJJ practitioner as there is a large list of illegal BJJ movements. While some of these submissions are legal in some areas, such as one of the deadliest submissions, the heel hook. More recently, the series of different heel hook maneuvers has become extremely popular. Since heel hooks are an incredibly dangerous movement, it is understandable to know that they are illegal in most areas of jiu jitsu. While a practitioner participates in BJJ tournaments, using any form of heel hook while wearing the Gi is completely illegal. The execution of heel hooks is only legal at the IBJJF level, for brown and black belts in the No Gi division. There are other organizations that allow heel hooks at the intermediate level of a blue and purple belt, but again, this is only in No Gi divisions. With the advent of international competition, where exceptional athletes were eliminated by heel techniques, popularity and the need to learn these submissions became one of the main priorities of the modern grappler. Although adult blue and purple belts have a much better understanding of leg locks than most white belts, the IBJJF rules for these ranks remain very restrictive. Like white belts, blue and purple belts for adults are only allowed to attach ankle locks in the IBJJF competition. With a right ankle lock, the competitor of the blue or purple belt must turn away from the knee of the ankle he is attacking.
Turning to the knee is illegal. And like white belts, adult blue and purple belts are only allowed to perform the right ankle lock from the right Ashi-Garami, outside the Ashi-Garami and 50/50 positions. This applies to both GI and no-gi competitions. Knee harvesting is illegal in Gi competition at all belt levels. For many years, the IBJJF organization has been accused of eliminating these techniques from the legal framework and removing a very important part of the technical game from many BJJ players. This year`s changes could spark a major revolution in the no-gi scene and bring a lot of new blood to the scene. In addition, it is now legal to turn to the defender`s free leg while applying a right foot lock and apply pressure on the outside on a toe handle. As of January 1, 2021, adult brown and black belts will no longer be able to use heel hooks and leg tangles in the brown and black belt adult departments in any GI competition.
The world`s largest BJJ organization, IBJJF, has updated the list of regulations for 2021 that include one of the most discussed topics – knee harvests, hooks and heel hooks. For adult brown and black belts, the IBJJF gi leg blocking rules are less restrictive. In addition to straight ankle locks, adult Gi brown and black belt participants in the IBJJF competition can use toe handles, knee bars and calf cutters. As with lower belts, with a right ankle lock, the brown or black belt competitor must turn away from the knee of the ankle they are attacking. Knee harvests remain illegal with brown and black belts in the Gi competition. With a toe handle, it is illegal to exert external pressure on the foot. In addition, heel hooks are illegal at all belt levels in the IBJJF-Gi competition. However, as we discuss below, the IBJJF recently made headlines when it announced that it plans to update its knee harvest and heel hook rules for brown and black belt no-gi competitors. Harvesting leg tangles was legal when I started jiu-jitsu, but it was then banned for over 10 years. A “harvest” usually occurs when you entangle your opponent`s legs with yours and bring your outer leg over his leg and through his midline. Forbidden long heel hooks are rotating leg locks in which the hips and/or knee are held in place while the foot is bent and turned. They are incredibly effective because they attack the smaller ligaments of the foot and knee instead of the much larger muscles of the leg.
Tradition. They have been in GI matches illegally for a long time. The ADCC allows heel hooks, so they are not accepted in any GI. Heel hooks are illegal in IBJJF rules tournaments due to the GI origin of the rules. Some tournaments allow gi to brown/black heel hooks This year, adult participants with brown and black belts are allowed to use heel hooks and harvesting techniques in no-gi divisions. Hooks and heel harvests remain illegal for Masters competitors and for purple, blue and white belts. Given the effectiveness of heel hooks compared to other submissions, you`ll obviously see a lot of them in the competition and on the battle mat. Imanari`s role is also illegal for all participants, as it violates the IBJJF rule of not pulling a guard without first establishing a hold. The heel hook position quickly became one of the most popular and complicated technical systems available in grappling. Completing the submission is relatively easy, as the practitioner only has to fix the leg with a firm grip, pinch the toes in his armpit, and use a heel hook handle to turn the knee in an opposite direction.
Although the submission mechanics are relatively simple, it is the entries that are extremely complicated. There are many ways to get into a tangled leg position, as the modern styles of 50/50 Guard, K-Guard, and Z-Guard are great platforms to start with in different leg pads such as heel hooks, knee bars, ankle locks, toe handles, and calf clippers.
