Are leg locks cheap techniques?
It’s true that foot locks don’t let the game flow as nice as it can flow, but they are moves just like any other moves. The only thing we tell our students not to use is anything that rotates the knee to the inside. It’s not that we don’t like that move; it’s because it can damage your partner. With the rotation, when you feel the pain, your knee is already injured, so that is why we stopped teaching this move. We also don’t teach the cervical (spine lock) because you can hurt someone really bad with it. It’s true that some people don’t like leg locks, but they work. You’ve got to use them, so you learn to defend against them. You tend to see more leg locks in no-gi grappling. Yes. It is harder to get an arm because it’s so slippery—and other things, too. When you train foot locks with a gi, you must be more technical because the other guy will grab your collar and be able to defend much better. If he does this, you can get tired trying to pull his foot all the time. Without a gi, it’s
