Brooklyn — 28F brown, want to drill leg locks 2x/week

The emergence of the heel hook, particularly the inside heel hook from positions like *ashi garami* and 50/50, as a widely accepted and drilled submission in mainstream no-gi competition represents a significant, relatively recent shift in the broader grappling landscape, moving beyond what was for many years a highly specialized or even proscribed technique. While some might suggest its rise was a "revolution," it was more of a gradual integration, driven by a confluence of rule set evolutions and the demonstrable effectiveness of the hold in competitions that permitted it.

For instance, the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Submission Fighting World Championship, founded in 1998, permitted heel hooks from its inception, categorizing them alongside other joint locks like kneebars and toe holds. However, their prevalence in the early tournaments was not as pronounced as it is today; early ADCC champions often relied on chokes and armlocks, with leg attacks typically being kneebars or straight ankle locks. The focus on what some practitioners refer to as "lower-body attacks" or "leg entanglements" began to gain more widespread attention in the mid-to-late 2000s, with athletes like Dean Lister, who notably won the 2003 ADCC absolute division primarily utilizing leg submissions, often cited as an early pioneer in demonstrating their efficacy at the highest levels.

However, the real inflection point for the heel hook's mainstream adoption, particularly for brown and black belts, often points to the proliferation of rule sets such as those employed by Eddie Bravo Invitational (EBI) and later Combat Jiu-Jitsu (CJJ) in the 2010s. These organizations explicitly permitted heel hooks, often encouraging a more aggressive, submission-focused approach to grappling. Before this period, particularly within the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) rules, heel hooks were explicitly forbidden at all belt levels, a restriction that remains in place for most of their events to this day. This created a bifurcated grappling culture, where athletes training for IBJJF competition might never even practice the technique, while those preparing for ADCC or EBI events would consider it a fundamental part of their arsenal.

The integration of specific leg entanglement positions like K-guard or various *ashi garami* configurations, often associated with a subset of grappling that emerged in the early 2010s, further cemented the heel hook's status. It allowed for systematic entries and control, moving the technique from an opportunistic finish to a structured offensive pathway. It is worth noting that while the "sickly Helio" narrative is often contested as promotional material, the story of rule sets evolving to address specific techniques is a constant throughout grappling history.

Given this historical context, one might ask: will the increasing popularity of drilling specific heel hook entries lead to further differentiation in training methodologies between no-gi and gi practitioners, or will we see a gradual relaxation of leg lock restrictions in gi competitions as well, perhaps starting at the black belt level?

The widespread acceptance of the heel hook, especially the inside heel hook from *ashi garami* and 50/50, as described by Mat Historian, is indeed a relatively recent development in mainstream no-gi competition, yet its origins and gradual integration into high-level grappling extend further back than some might assume, and its "proscribed" status was far from universal across all rulesets. While organizations like the IBJJF have historically banned heel hooks for all belts below brown and black, and even then only permitted them under specific conditions, other federations and events had different approaches.

One notable early instance of the heel hook in a prominent competitive setting was the first Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Submission Fighting World Championship in 1998. The ruleset for ADCC allowed heel hooks for all competitors, regardless of belt level, right from its inception. This meant that athletes who had trained primarily in a BJJ context under IBJJF-style rules suddenly found themselves competing in a format where what was often considered a "dirty" or "dangerous" technique was perfectly legal and, by extension, strategically valuable. While the general understanding and systematic entry methods for heel hooks, particularly the inside heel hook, were arguably not as refined in 1998 as they became in the 2010s, their presence in the sport's premier no-gi event immediately set a different trajectory for leg lock development outside of the more conservative BJJ establishment.

The perception of the heel hook as "proscribed" largely stems from its exclusion or restricted use within the dominant IBJJF rule set, which has a significant influence on how many practitioners, particularly those in the gi, perceive legal submissions. However, the rise of events like Eddie Bravo Invitational (EBI) starting in 2014, with its submission-only format and very liberal leg lock rules, including full allowance for heel hooks, significantly accelerated their integration into mainstream no-gi training and competition. This shift in exposure and legality across different rulesets highlights how various organizational philosophies have shaped the technical evolution and social acceptance of certain techniques within grappling.

The question of whether the development of intricate leg lock systems, as seen today, would have occurred as rapidly if ADCC or EBI had adopted more restrictive leg lock rules from the outset remains an interesting historical counterfactual to consider.

Totally get wanting to hyper-focus on one position. My coach, Coach M, always says that's how you really own something. We spent like two months straight on triangle entries earlier this year, just different setups from guard, mount, everywhere.

That said, 2x/week just on inside heel hooks sounds intense, even for me as a software engineer who likes to get deep on things. I'm a blue belt for about three years now, and I’m still figuring out the basics of just getting to a solid ashi garami without giving up the back. I bet Mat Historian or HoG Historian would have thoughts on when most people start to really dial in the leg lock game. I still feel like I'm building the foundation before going too crazy on specialized finishes.

2x a week for specific entries is actually super standard for high-level prep. Marcus, focusing on triangles for two months is cool for a blue belt, but if you're trying to win against legit brown or black belts, you need way more reps on specific sequences. I drilled outside heel hook entries from single leg X and k-guard with Diogo for like six months straight before Pans in 2023. We were doing 20-30 minutes just on entries and finishing mechanics every single day after our main training. If you're not doing hundreds of reps on something you want to hit in a comp, you're just not going to hit it cleanly when it counts. The amount of drilling she's talking about is what it takes.

This thread about specific drilling reminds me of the constant push-pull between what a student *wants* to do and what's actually productive for their overall game. Alex is right that high-level prep demands focused drilling. But in a typical gym, where most of your students are hobbyists or newer competitors, giving someone 2x/week dedicated attention on one sequence like inside heel hook entries from ashi is a huge bandwidth sink. It just isn't feasible when you've got thirty people on the mat, all paying for a class that's supposed to cover a broader curriculum. If every one of my 100 students requested highly specialized drilling, my gym would collapse. You'd need private instruction for that level of focus.

Two extra drilling sessions a week on top of regular classes is a tough ask for most adults, especially if you have a family or work more than 40 hours. I’m already trying to fit in three regular classes at Alliance each week and that takes up about 9 hours with travel and changing. To add another 4-5 hours just for focused leg lock drilling would mean cutting into family time or sleep. Alex's take on "super standard for high-level prep" is accurate for someone with fewer commitments, but that's not the reality for the majority of people training BJJ. When I was a purple belt back in 2017, I tried adding an extra open mat and it just wasn’t sustainable with two young kids at home. There's also the extra mat fee if you're not drilling at your home gym.