Did you know that judo has had several leg-lock submissions taught in both its official Kodokan curriculum, as well as many other closely related Judo and traditional Jiu-Jitsu curricula? Many will look quite familiar, as they are variants of modern leg-lock submissions still making the rounds in today's grappling environment, but just as many seem like relics from a lost art. They were forbidden fairly early on for competition and even for randori in many cases, but not before they were diligently documented by a number of important teachers of the time.

Having said all that: why study historical leg-locks? Because they still work! Some more, some less, some simply require adaptations.

Also, martial arts history should be preserved for its own sake; its easier to preserve knowledge than to reconstruct it. Presently, there are very few judo schools who still teach these techniques (the danger of many of these techniques has not diminished; leg-locks are just being practiced more in general). A few dojos out there keep the non-Olympic knowledge in circulation though. Add to that the trickle-back of BJJ and Sambo schools re-inserting the same (or similar enough) techniques, and we begin to get a more complete possibility for reviving these seemingly “lost” techniques. You and your school can be part of the revival!

Some these techniques have been improved by modern teachers, but just as many others can be easily re-introduced to competitive play with little tweaks. To that end, this course looks at old text sources and filmstrips to unearth these lost leg-lock techniques, or at least translate them to modern application. The original source material is presented side-by-side with live instruction by a BJJ black belt and Judo black belt Matt Murphy.

Practice with care!