Eddie Cummings, a BJJ black belt under John Danaher and the first big name to emerge from the Danaher Death Squad (DDS), is known as a revolutionary figure in this sport.

Particularly for his contribution in improving Leg Lock positions such as the Heel Hook, Saddle (411) and Ashi Garami.

So, it should come as no surprise that Cummings has spent a lot of time learning about and thinking about Leg Locks…
So much so, actually, that he lost sleep over them.

This was revealed in a past interview with John Danaher, where the interviewer heard about Cummings literally not sleeping due to his Leg Locks obsession:

After class one morning, the Danaher Death Squad lounged on the mat.
Cummings was bemoaning his fate.

His study of leg locks was becoming too obsessive, and his training partner Ottavia Bourdain was trying to save him from himself.

“I haven’t slept in a few days, and it’s, like, two in the morning,” Cummings said. “She’s, like, ‘You know, it’s such a slippery slope. A couple times this week—you’re starting to go down that road.’

I’m sitting there, looking, watching more tape, I’ve got three computers going.”

Cummings was getting worked up and asked Danaher for his experience:

“As I descend into insanity, I come up with game plans, like, I said, ‘I didn’t test against the knee slip,’ or something, something stupid.
I see what’s happening. Did you ever go through that phase, John?”

But Danaher was, in fact, not having those sorts of issues:

No, I managed to remain relatively sane by sleeping once a day, and eating regular meals, and conversing with people outside of Jiu-Jitsu on a regular basis.

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