The basic idea behind BJJ is submitting people through the use of various submissions. And, with the exception of chokes, all submissions involve attacking the other person’s joint.
But how are you supposed to submit someone – especially in competition – if you aren’t able to hyperextend the joint? Yes, it probably won’t happen… Which is why you need to focus on developing this ability.
John Danaher explains why it’s important to hyperextend the opponent’s joint when attacking it:
When you go to attack with a joint lock, it is important to understand the idea of “follow through”.
To THREATEN a joint you need to EXTEND it. To BREAK a joint, you need to HYPEREXTEND it. This means that you must position yourself in such a way that you can extend the relevant parts of your body THROUGH the opponents joint.
Just as a boxer doesn’t punch AT the jaw, but rather THROUGH the jaw, so to with your joint locks. There must always be some extra extension available for you, so that if you had to, you could have taken the joint beyond it’s range of motion into damage.
Professor Danaher emphasizes that, of course, you shouldn’t hyperextend your training partner’s joints. But you should, nevertheless, put yourself into such a situation that you’re able to do it:
Of course, it goes without saying that in training you should NEVER MAKE USE OF THIS FOLLOW THROUGH DISTANCE; as it will injure training partners.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be cognizant of it. And train yourself to create it, should it ever be necessary to use one day.
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