The Face Crank… It’s legal in a lot of competitions and tournaments worldwide – and it’s effective, to say the least. Anytime your opponent defends their neck by tucking their chin in and being stubborn about it; not wanting to lift their chin up no matter what you try to do… You can always go for the face crank – from all sorts of positions – and you can then rest assured that you’ll get the tap.
However, what about face cranking your training partners? Should you do it? Or is it something that you should stay away from at all times and circumstances?

Nick “Chewy” Albin shares his opinion.

SHOULD YOU FACE CRANK YOUR TRAINING PARTNERS?

First of all, Chewy says that there’s no denying face crank effectiveness. He’s done it in competitions before and he’ll do them again, whenever he gets the chance – simply because they work.
However, when it comes to training, it’s a completely different story. Namely, he doesn’t face crank his training partners (i.e. his students) because he wants them to stay healthy; so that they can continue making progress together and so that he has someone to train with.

Of course, this logic doesn’t apply only to gym owners who don’t want their students to tell everyone how their BJJ instructor “plays dirty”. This logic should, preferably, be applied by anyone who wants to train in a positive, reinforcing environment for a long time.
On the other hand, it might also be added that you could practice your face cranks – but only if you come to an agreement with your training partners first and let them know what you’ll try ahead of time.

Chewy shares his thoughts on the video below: