BJJ TECHNIQUES

Bow and Arrow Choke – The Ultimate Finishing move

There are a number of chokes that you can execute in BJJ. Asides from the classic rear naked choke, there are a few others as well. And the situation gets a lot more complicated if you are doing gi BJJ. The gi can be used to perform a dozen or so of different chokes on your opponent. One of the best known, most widely used, most effective chokes that you can perform with the gi on is the bow and arrow choke. If you wanted to learn some details about this choke and how to perform it – then you have come to the right place

Basics of the Bow and Arrow Choke

The bow and arrow choke is a blood choke. It means that if you perform it properly – your opponent will have no other choice but to go to sleep. You need to grab your opponent’s opposite collar with one hand and create pressure on his neck. The end position will very much look like you using your opponent like a bow and arrow – and this is why this choke is known by this name. We will discuss about how to execute this move below.

The Bow and Arrow Choke from back-control

The main way in which you can perform this choke is from the back. Of course, you may be tempted to go for the rear naked choke if you have already taken the back of your opponent. You may think that it’s a simple variant. Most people that train BJJ will expect the rear naked choke though and they will defend it properly.

But if you go for the bow and arrow choke – then many of your opponents will be thrown off by your maneuver. The starting position from this move is back-control with a seatbelt on. Make sure that your legs are hooked properly and that your opponent is trapped. After this, you will need to slide your hand and grab your opponent’s opposite collar, over his throat – just like we explained in one of the previous paragraphs.

The next thing to do is to start pulling on the collar. If you do this, you will note that many of your opponents are tapping out right then and there – this is more than enough to create sufficient pressure for a choke in some cases. However, not all of your opponents will tap out here, which means that you will need to continue with the bow and arrow setup.

As you’re pulling your opponent’s collar, you will find that it’s easy for you to remove your leg from underneath your opponent. This will make it so that you will be sitting to the side of your opponent. From here, all you need to do is use your free hand to grab your opponent’s trousers at the knee. You can use your leg that’s nearer to the head of your opponent in order to trap his hand. All you need to do now is pull with both of your hands. This will create a devastating pressure on your opponent’s throat and it will force him to tap out. There are many cases when the opponents aren’t tapping out to this choke – and they go to sleep promptly.

If you want to see a video demonstration of this move, then we suggest that you see Marcus Almeida Buchecha himself explaining the bow and arrow choke:

Bow and Arrow Choke Defense

If you are caught in the back-control position, then you are in a very bad position. But the worst thing to do here is to lose hope. You will see that there are various techniques that you can use in order to escape from the back-control position. But the thing to be aware of here is that you are in the worst possible position and that you should be on the lookout for getting submitted.

The first thing to do if you wish to defend the bow and arrow choke is to never let your opponent grab your opposite collar. Always strive to break the grips in BJJ – and this is a very important thing to do this scenario. If you break your opponent’s grip before he tries to finish the bow and arrow choke – you will prevent him from submitting you with this move.

The bow and arrow choke is one of the most effective chokes that you can perform if your opponent is wearing a gi. This is a very popular technique – so make sure that you will not get choked out with it yourself. But if you invest the time and effort that you will need to invest in order to master this move, then you will find out that it’s very easy to implement it in your BJJ game.

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