The Estima Lock is one of BJJ’s most effective leg locks. You’ll be able to perform it from many variations after you finish reading this article. It can also be the first leg lock you learn, although learning the Heel Hook, Kneebar, and Straight Foot Lock first—is better.
The Estima Lock utilizes ankle and toe pressure. If you apply the pressure in the right direction, there won’t be a lot the opponent will be able to react with. Your partner will be forced to tap out if he isn’t interested in you breaking his foot.
There’s no way your partner won’t tap quickly. You can break someone’s foot using this leg lock exceptionally quickly. We’ll review some safety precautions you must know before even thinking about learning it since you can cause insane damage using it.
What will this article teach you? First, this piece will review 4 variations of the Estima Lock. Likewise, it’ll break down one of these variations (in the 2nd part, the last one.)
I always include mistakes that novice grapplers make when they first learn this submission. Therefore, I encourage you not to skip any section of this article, as reading everything will ensure you understand this leg lock perfectly.
So without further ado, let’s dive into the variations:
Estima Lock Variations
The Estima Lock has many variations. However, we’ll focus on 4 primary ones in this section, so you can start your learning journey and get more results sooner.
You want to choose one variation and focus on it. I also recommend bookmarking this article and returning to it whenever you feel ready to learn the next variation. Doing so—will allow you to build proper muscle memory, which should be your primary goal.
So it’ll be best not to focus on learning all the variations simultaneously. Instead, you want to start small and expand your knowledge over time.
Without further introduction, let’s dive into the 4 variations!
Estima Lock From Reverse De La Riva Guard
You want to target the foot managing the distance between you and the opponent. Your training partner won’t expect you to target it, as the Reverse De La Riva Guard is a highly effective, advanced type of guard.
But you can go ahead and target it. Here’s how to perform this Estima Lock variation:
- Your opponent is in the Reverse De La Rive Guard
- Wrap your arm around the opponent’s ankle
- Lock your hands
- Lean back
- Sit
- Raise your elbow
- Crunch to apply more pressure
- Wait for the tap
You want to create pressure using your abs. Most of the pressure you apply will come from it. The primary mistake grapplers who learn the Estima Lock for the first time make is using their arms for pressure. That sabotages them moving forward.
This variation is deadly. You want to use it whenever the opponent has a Reverse De La Riva Guard on you. Eventually, that will occur mainly in the advanced leagues.
But you can use this leg lock against this guard and win more fights!
Estima Lock From Half Guard
Perhaps this variation is the one you’ll use most often, as it’s not from the Reverse De La Rive guard, which is less common than the half guard. And eventually, you’ll be able to use it in more situations, making you a more capable fighter.
Here are the steps to performing it appropriately:
- Start in half guard (top)
- Step to the side
- Block the opponent’s Lasso guard
- Step forward, trying to pass
- Wait for the opponent to push you
- Lean back and sit
- Secure your leg around the opponent’s leg (your target)
- Wrap your arm over the opponent’s ankle
- Lock your hands
- Apply pressure
- Wait for the tap
This variation is the one you’ll use the most, as the half-guard is a favored position you’ll get into. From there, you can use this variation to surprise your opponent and begin submitting more.
This leg lock is one of BJJ’s most unintuitive leg locks. Learning will be challenging, so take your time with it, and don’t get discouraged—it should take more than the average time to learn.
Estima Lock From Leg Drag Pass
The Leg Drag is an excellent guard pass in BJJ. However, before we break down this variation, follow this link if you want to learn more about the Leg Drag guard pass and how to perform it flawlessly.
Anyways, here are the steps to performing the Estima Lock from the Leg Drag Pass:
- Start in the Leg Drag pass
- Start sweeping
- Wait for the opponent to pull his knee to his chest
- Lean back
- Bend the opponent’s foot
- Wrap one arm around his ankle
- Lock a Rear Naked Choke grip
- Apply pressure in a circular motion
- Wait for the tap
This variation is beneficial, especially if you like using the Leg Drag pass. You’ll be using your opponent to guide his foot and lock it in place.
Your training partner will not expect you to leave this position for the Estima Lock. However, this is why I’m sure you’ll be able to get many results if you use it properly and effectively.
Let’s now dive into the last variation you want to know about.
Estima Lock From a Standing Position
This is the most straightforward variation out of all 4, as it allows you to break the opponent’s foot from a standing position. This is excellent news because everyone should be familiar with the standing position, as it’s one of the first ones you’ll learn to use when you begin your BJJ journey.
Anyways, here are the steps to performing the Estima Lock from a standing position:
- Start standing up
- Plant your foot between the opponent’s legs
- Wait for the opponent to go for the Lasso Guard
- Slide your forearm up
- Turn your hip
- Lock your hands together
- Squeeze downward
- Wait for the tap
So this is a nasty submission. You can apply tons of pressure if you use it properly. Few submissions allow you to finish a fight from when you’re standing as quickly as this one.
Therefore, this can be a variation you learn that will eventually help you submit more people and win more fights. It won’t be long before you can use it ideally.
Estima Lock Step-By-Step Breakdown
This part will break down the 2nd variation, the Estima Lock, from half guard. My goal here is to help you avoid making as many mistakes as possible.
It’ll be best if you stick through all the steps, even if a step seems rather obvious to you because I break down each step and point out mistakes that people make and how to avoid making the same mistakes.
You want to submit more people using the Estima Lock. Therefore, it’ll be worth reading all the way through, as that’ll be the best way to reach this destination.
So let’s dive into the first step.
Step #1 – Start in the half guard
The first step of performing the Estima Lock will be to start in the half-guard position. This position is one you’re not really in a superior position. You don’t have an advantage by having your opponent in his half-guard.
You want to start on top and start working from there.
Now your opponent will strive to sweep you and go for his own submission. Of course, you want to avoid that—as you can imagine. Nonetheless, your goal will be to try and pass his half-guard. If you want to learn about BJJ’s most effective and dominant guard passes, follow this link.
Anyways, the 2nd step will be about starting to pass the opponent’s guard. That is, to clarify, a fake. You’re not interested in passing the opponent’s guard but isolating his leg and getting the submission.
Step #2 – Step to the side
However, you want to start by stepping to the side to avoid making it obvious. This step involves signaling the opponent: I want to pass your half-guard. Without this step, your tries to isolate the leg will seem too obvious.
And then, fixing your error will be more difficult, as your training partner will get more defensive, and it’ll take more work to isolate his leg now.
The more unexpected you can be, the better.
So you want to take one of your legs and step to either side. Then, you want to lean on this leg and start standing up.
Step #3 – Block the opponent’s Lasso Guard
The opponent’s primary response will be going for the Lasso Guard. He’ll want to block you from passing his guard and getting a more dominant position, such as the side control position.
So he’ll begin going for the Lasso Guard. Here, you block it using your arm. Now you can manage to advance to the following step.
Step #4 – Step forward, trying to pass
Here, you want to create as much pressure as possible on the opponent. The best way to do that is by stepping forward, trying to pass the opponent (but not really :))
Step #5 – Wait for the opponent to push you
The following step is to wait for the opponent to push you. Imagine the following scenario: you’re in your comfortable half-guard, and your training partner is trying to pass it by moving forward—not to one of the sides. What will be your immediate response?
It’ll be to push him as far back as possible. When that happens, you allow your opponent an entry but can’t see it. The entry is already there.
It’s the Estima Lock entry.
Step #6 – Lean back and sit
Once the opponent pushes you back, he opens an opening for you to utilize. You want to use this submission by leaning back and sitting.
You’ve been able to isolate his leg without even targeting it. That’s the beauty of this variation.
You pretended to go for a guard pass, a legitimate response against the opponent’s half-guard. However, he bought it and gave you his leg to protect his guard and try to sweep you later on.
You now need to take this opportunity and sit.
Step #7 – Secure your leg around the targeted leg
The 7th step, the first offensive move here, is to secure your leg around the targeted leg. Just by leaning back and sitting again, you’ll have tons of pressure already.
You must, however, secure his leg to ensure he won’t escape. It’ll be too bad to throw off all your work by not finishing the submission.
So you essentially want to wrap your leg around the opponent’s leg (the one you’re targeting) and ensure he can’t escape.
Step #8 – Wrap your arm over the opponent’s ankle
The next step is to lock your arms over the opponent’s ankle. First, however, you want to wrap just one of your arms, further improving your grip over the opponent’s ankle and not allowing him to escape.
Step #9 – Lock your hands
The following step is to lock your hands. The grip you want to perform resembles the Rear Naked Choke, or Figure 4. It all depends on your preference, so experiment with your grip.
By this point, the opponent is one move away from tapping. He’s in a highly uncomfortable situation, so you want to utilize that by applying a bit more pressure to finish the fight.
Step #10 – Apply pressure
The 10th step is to apply pressure. How do you do that? You have two directions of force you want to utilize.
You’ll first apply by pulling the opponent’s foot to your core. The tighter this will be, the more success you’ll find with it. Secondly, you want to twist your arms and your hips, making for more pressure and forcing the opponent to tap.
The Estima Lock can be highly effective and allow you to force the opponent to tap in just a few seconds. So make sure to learn it properly and utilize the correct pressure directions.
Step #11 – Wait for the tap
I always include this step, as it’s critical for you to understand how dangerous the Estima Lock, and all other leg locks—can be.
You must pay close attention to the opponent when you apply pressure. The last thing you want to do is permanently injure your training partner. An injury that had occurred because you applied pressure and didn’t let go when the opponent tapped.
When your training partner taps, release all pressure at once. UFC fighters don’t relinquish their submissions until the judge approaches them and stops them. You’re not in the UFC and not in the IBJJF finals.
Thus, don’t hurt your training partner—because he’s your partner and not an opponent in self-defense.
Final Words
Learning leg locks is a fantastic thing all grapplers should do. Unfortunately, many grapplers skip learning these techniques, making them less competent.
You want to have as many options as possible, so to be able to finish the fight in many ways; you’ll be able to threaten more entries and, thus, become more capable of finishing the fight in various ways.
Will your opponent react differently if he knew you know or don’t know leg locks? Of course, he would. If you know leg locks, your opponent will not reach his legs out, so as not to help you finish the fight by going for a leg lock.
While the Estima Lock is incredibly effective and can cause a lot of damage, it’s not the most effective one; follow this link if you want to read about the most effective leg locks you must learn to call yourself a grappler.
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And here are other articles you will like reading if you read thus far into this article:
Mastering the Straight Foot Lock in BJJ