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BJJ Technique of the Week

Aces Jiu Jitsu Club Technique of the Week | Americana

In this video you get to learn the MOST “PATRIOTIC” of all shoulder locks, THE AMERICANA.

Learn the finer details here and then work with a coach on how to pull it off on someone 2x your size!

On the Americana, BJJHeroes writes:

The Americana lock, also known as the bent armlock, keylock, top wristlock and figure four armlock in catch wrestling, or ude garami in judo, is a common grappling submission consisting of the attacker controlling his opponent’s arm (bent in an “L” shape), by using a clever double wrist control which leaves the adversary’s elbow and shoulder joints vulnerable to the submission. The position is commonly associated with the side mount (side control), being applied by the grappler on top, although it can be successfully utilized from many other positions such as mount. The difference between the americana and the kimura lock relies on which way the forearm is pointing, if the forearm is pointing downwards (towards the hip) the position is called a kimura, when the forearm is pointing up it is called an americana.

The name “americana” is often referred to Rolls Gracie and his friendship with the american wrestler Bob Anderson in the mid 1970s. The fable goes that Anderson showed the position to Rolls who labeled it as the “americana” in Anderson’s honor. Although this story is heavily publicized, showing in books such as “Jiu-Jitsu in the South Zone, 1997-2008”, or even Bob Anderson’s wikipedia page, it is 100% false.

This lock was utilized in Brazilian jiu jitsu before the birth of Bob Anderson. The terminology “americana” was also used in Rio de Janeiro for the “figure four” type submissions (ude garami) since the early beginnings of the martial art. In fact the name is mentioned in 1951 to describe Masahiko Kimura’s victory over Helio Gracie.