#joint locks

Hello everyone! I am at Ha Yan Taekwondo with Seong Taehoon. We will assist each other on our final Karate-Taekwondo lesson! The reason for our collab is simple. I need a partner to demonstrate today's technique - a Joint Lock, or Kansetsu Waza.

Karate is said to have hard techniques, such as hitting, thrusting and kicking. But those are not all! In hard, there is soft. In soft, there is hard. Sosai Oyama understood the importance of conserving energy in street fights. Thus, throwing techniques and pressure against joints are included in Kyokushin Karate. They are extremely dangerous and effective.  

🤍 Taehoon: Aren't there three grapplers at XJ Company? 

🖤 Yeonwoo: Yes! I have seen Baek Seongjoon, Lee Jinho and Joo Jisoo demonstrated the prowess in Judo and Jiujitsu. 

🤍 Taehoon: Not effective all the time. 

On the streets, unless the combatant can maintain the range like Taehoon here, and end within seconds with pre-emptive strikes, the best way to finish a fight is to dislocate joints, break bones and knock the opponent unconscious. That is the hidden power of joint locks and throwing techniques.

Unfortunately, it is more difficult than it looks. I cannot teach you everything because I am not a master of vertical fighting. But I will introduce you to the mechanics behind bars and locks of the upper body. After that, I will show you an example of joint lock-and-throw combination - a Hyper-Supination Wrist Lock!

Anatomy Time! 

Excuse me, my dear readers! I will show you without my Karate-gi. (//__//)

There are three main parts we can manipulate on the arm: shoulder, elbow and wrist. There are the finger joints too, but I won't go into that. 

Shoulder (glenohumeral joint): The shoulder motion is complex and wide. There are many ways to bring opponent to submission by locking the shoulder joints. For example, Ude Garami brings excessive external rotation to the shoulder, which is more than 90 degrees. Gyaku Ude Garami brings excessive internal rotation of more than 50 to 70 degrees to the shoulder. 

Elbow (synovial joint): The elbow acts like a lever to the arm, which means it can be locked up easily. The most common technique for elbow lock, for instance, is Jūji Gatame, or known as Arm Bar. In that position, the attacker secures an arm and holds it firmly at the wrist, two legs crossing over the upper body and hyperextending the elbow joint.    

Wrist (radiocarpal joint): The wrist has limited circular motions, flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction movements. The opportunities of wrist lock applications are endless, which include notably Kote Hineri, Kote Gaeshi, Kote Mawashi, and Tekubi Gatame, and more! 

Supinating Wrist Lock - Kote Gaeshi (小手返し)

Today, I chose to show you a type of wrist lock that can help you escape a wrist grab. Supinating movement of the wrist joint means that your wrist will turn outward to the direction of your thumb.  

In this example, I will be the Tori, Taehoon will be the Uke. I will let him attack me first.

Step 1: Get grabbed.

My friend is grabbing my wrist as one of the joint lock applications. In reality, the aggressor can grab anywhere on your body, which includes hair, neck, collar and arm. The possibilities are unlimited. 

Zooming in! If the grip is not tight, you can turn your hand sideway with your thumb pointing outward and escape at the weakest part, which is the space between his fingers. But if his hand is too large and your wrist is too small, you should apply a wrist lock. 

Step 2: Turn my palm up and grab a part of his thumb.

In this step, I’m turning my palm up like I’m holding something in my hand. At the same time, my other hand goes underneath, four fingers dig into his palm and grab the meaty part of his exposed thumb. 

The principle of Kote Gaeshi is the thumb turning down and outward, the wrist will follow. Step 2 is for exposing his thumb for supinating wrist movement. 

Step 3: Escape the grip.

At this point, it is much easier to escape his grip. I only need to turn my wrist up, that is also turning my palm to the side.     

Step 4: Grab his knuckles and get control of his hand. 

My hand just escaped! It is my turn to control his wrist joint. I will grab his hand, which is the part of the knuckles and fingers. His arm is slightly twisted.

Zooming in again! My hands must hold on tightly to prevent him from struggling off.

Step 5: Lock and push. 

Now, I’m going to push his hand back towards his forearm and down to the ground.

Step 6: Throw, stomp, punch, or bring to submission.

This step is optional but it’s highly recommended by me! If your opponent roll down to lessen the impact of Kote Gaeshi, you can do a full-body throw and stomp on them or punch them. Another way is to do an arm bar or wrist lock on the ground.    

Warnings!!!

This is the “static” a.k.a. the easiest version of practising supinating wrist lock. The lesson is for you to understand the unnatural movements of the wrist and how to lock it. There are numerous applications to this type of wrist lock. It can be used to deflect a punch, to escape a rear bear hug, a collar grab, or a weapon! 

In reality, no matter how big they are, if you can escape their grip and quickly apply the lock, they will have no choice but to submit, or get their wrist broken.

🤍 Taehoon: Beginners beware! Don’t stay still! Be vigilant and flexible. Use your footwork in addition to joint locks.

🖤 Yeonwoo: Yes! Beware! If you stand still and you cannot do it on time...if you meet a striker like Taehoon...or a professional grappler (grapplers hate wrist locks too!), you’re as good as dead. Sorry! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That is my final lesson on this blog. Credits go to Sosai Mas Oyama, Shihan Bobby Lowe, my Sensei, my friend Seong Taehoon and artist @krysanthees​. Thank you so much for all of your support! 

Additional resources are here!

The Powerful Kote Gaeshi - Wrist Lock Takedowns For BJJ | MMA | Combat

Kote Gaeshi Japanese Jujutsu - Double Wrist Grab

Practical Kote Gaeshi Aikido 

In jiu-jitsu we learn a lot of joint lots, mainly as part of our restraint and control syllabus.

To apply them for real you need to be more skilful than your opponent because people will try to naturally try to escape, typically by either using muscular resistance or trying to twist themselves out. Part of the art is first breaking your partner's balance, so that (s)he loses the ability to effectively resist, as well as adapting to whatever response they (s)he manages to muster.

But what happens if your opponent is simply much, much better than you? Check it out:

I'll start with an easy one:

What on earth is the technique you’re trying to do in that picture? If it’s ude-giri your hand is too high up his arm (pressing down on his shoulder or the upper part of his arm isn’t going to do much), for waki-gatame you’re standing too upright and it can’t be just kote-mawashi since it’s impossible to put enough pressure on the wrist in that position. Besides that kiba-dachi, while traditional, is not a great stance for that position since he can just plant his knee into yours and you’ll collapse, losing the hold. -- Zara

This is reference to a now retired side-bar image, actually taken from a past post and reproduced below:

In Jiu-Jitsu formal stances are typically used transitionally, and are learned in the context of actual application. For example, in this photo I am applying a reverse-armbar -- a restraint and control technique -- from a horse-riding stance:

A reverse armbar

From here I could take Adam down to the ground or move into a more mobile lock to better escort him to the local police station. Either way I would not need to stay in this position for very long.

Of the techniques listed, I'd say it's closest to waki-gatame:

Standing waki-gatame

Think of it as a variation.

The neat thing about the reverse-armbar is that there are lots of ways to make it work. You can lock the shoulder, elbow, and wrist. If you have difficulty with one joint -- typically resistance or flexibility -- you can switch emphasis to another.

In this case Adam has a fairly flexible elbow -- note the hyper-extension -- so I'm using the wrist and using my ulna bone to painfully slice into his upper arm (an alternative to torquing the shoulder - probably more jiu-jitsu than judo!).