Recently, Aces Jiu Jitsu Club Head Coach, Mikal Abdullah put together this high effective Leg Lasso sweep video in Austin, TX. This technique is particularly effective against aggressive guard passers who have a hard charging game!
Before exploring the technique here are a few key dos and don’ts for this effective Jiu Jitsu technique:
1. Make sure that you take a standard sleeve grip hooking your fingers above the seam tape and not including the thumb in the grip.
2. Do NOT be hasty with your Spider Guard setup, or else they’ll be able to attack you.
3. The “trick/secret” for setting up an effective Leg Lasso setup is making sure that the opposite side hip has been immobilized, -for example by putting the arch of your foot on their hip bone on the opposite side of the arm being attacked whilst extending their body. Do NOT lay your head back but rather extend THEIR body. Do not hang out in the extension.
4. Once their hip is immobilized insert the Lasso with your shin and knee bowing out towards the mat.
5. For this specific technique set a shallow Leg Lasso is preferable.
6. Make sure to lock their wrist in on the other side of your hip/on the inside of your thigh on the Lasso side.
7. As the opponent goes to pass, release the non-Lassoed grip and when you feel read drop the Lasso side knee to the mat while clasping their pant leg, or simply hooking their leg with your arm and guiding them over for the sweep.
8. Even after the sweep is executed keep a hold of their wrist and keep it on the inside of your thigh for control as well as to allow you to execute a wrist lock or a bicep slicer.
9. In the event that slicers aren’t legal in your division, you can just raise your hips and relinquish their arm, however make sure you have control of their head with the arm closest to their head and make sure that the other hand is by the hip to stop them from initiating a guard recovery.
10. BONUS: make sure they don’t look at you! Don’t ever let them look at you!
Some options that may present themselves while executing this technique:
1. In the even that he doesn’t want to pass: you can use your opposite side leg to close the gap by putting it across his body and scooting in, simulating the effect that his guard pass would normally have, thus enabling you to hit the same sweep.
2. In the event that he decides to stand up: the fact that he’s standing means that his ankle is far easier to grab hold of so the sweep will be easier to execute. Simply pass your non lassoed leg to the other side and scoot under either grabbing their pant leg or scooping at his knee and execute the same sweep. You can additionally triangle their arm to further secure it.
The Leg Lasso is very powerful and can be used to successfully manipulate posture, ultimately shutting down your opponent’s ability to safely pass. Leg lasso is not as widely utilized as it should be and most high level instructional are strictly on DVD’s, Aces Jiu Jitsu will be putting together several videos exploring how to use this powerful grip to better your jiu jitsu game. Stay tuned!
Professor Mikal Abdullah is a 2nd Degree BJJ Black Belt, veteran, father, philanthropist, and founder of Aces Jiu Jitsu Club. You can find her personal Instagram account with the handle @cerebralbjj or just stop by one of our locations and get a session in!