Well, every fucking time, some ass (mostly one of the other noobs) cranks my neck pretty hard in practise. It doesn't hurt too bad when they crank it, but it sucks to be sore the following days. I'm guessing I make some kind of rookie mistake to make myself susceptible for cranks, so if any of you have tips for avoiding cranks, I'd be thankful. Now to the question: are neck cranks allowed when you're sparring, and do you use them? Oh, and on a side note: I finally got to spar a decent judoka. All the other guys use double/single leg or trip takedowns (or really, really sloppy judo throws), and seeing as I've got pretty good (pretty good for a noob, that is) at stuffing those, it was a great and humbling experience to get tossed high and low by this guy. Now I'd really, really want to go train judo, but my stiff ass would most probably be hospitalized the first week (playing hockey as a youngster really doesn't do very well for your flexibility). Major respect to judo, and I hope the judoka becomes a regular.
I use neck cranks when sparring, i just try to be a careful as possible with them and if the person i'm trying to submit is'nt prepared to tap, I'll just let go and transition to something else amd make sure I have a word with them later. Same thing if someone is being overly aggressive with them. I'd rahter be thought of as a wuss, than the guy with the fused vertabrae.
At our place, we never have to say what is what. We are just told to spar. There are guys at my place who like to go all out & are quite comfortable to go for leg subs, alot of newbies are expected to focus on upper body subs, but there is a guy in particular I train with who is cool with doing other subs. As for cranks, similar to heel hooks, these are two techniques we do not use (like an unvoiced rule, it simply expected you don't attempt these). However, newbies are prone to use these, even some of the regular guys still try cranks. The thing that sucks about cranks is they come pretty much anywhere; sidemount, mount, in YOUR guard. All I can say is don't give em a chance. It is a bitch move to say "you can't that", so just keep punishing them with pretty armbars till you convert to drop the cranks.
That is smart. As a note, I often go for the anaconda & arm guilotine if my opponent is turtling which both have a crank effect I find.
Well, what I call 'neck cranks' are moves that target your neck. There have been some can openers from the heavier guys, and the smallest guy in the class always goes for my neck and pulls away randomly at 100 percent (yes, he's an ass). Last practise, I didn't let the small guy come even close to grabbing my neck. But of course then another guy grabbed my neck during an attempted sweep by me and cranked me over his knee (hard to describe, but it was mainly due to me putting myself in a stupid situation). These moves often feel like bully-jitsu and pretty dangerous to me, so I'm not surprised other gyms don't use them.
We don't care at our school. We generally attack the neck and legs with the same intensity that we attack the rest of the body. I've left many times with a completely fucked neck because I didn't want to tap for whatever reason. Generally, when coach sees that there's a dangerous technique he shouts out how to escape, just like anything else and watches me try to work it, or he may request that I stop and tap. Sometimes I do, sometimes I refuse. Either way, its all good. Now, some people in the gym are powerful enouh that their cranks are inescapable, and in those cases I tap immediately. Regardless, its always on me.
in no gi, all is fair - heelhooks, neck cranks, other twisting knee locks - in gi neckcranks and twisting knee locks are sketchy but i understand/dont mind if people go for them. i dislike meathead neck cranks, can opener in particular, but there are also some really good ones that don't require you too be a lot stronger and more aggressive.
Thats pretty much the same at my school. I dont hardly ever do a neck crank even in the no gi class, maybe out of my last 500 spars Ive attempted maybe 1. I also dont really go for foot locks (except the toe hold) but that is mainly cause Im not good at them and need to work on them more during technique time, but I will roll for kneebars a lot, especially from turtle.
I think there are so many different neck cranks that you miss out a lot by not doing them. Actually, a lot of the chokes can be improved by a neck crank, for example the guillotine (try to make your elbow touch your tigh on the side where you have his head). As long as you've learned how to do the move properly and give the guy time to tap it should be ok. Don't do like a guy that once just tried to grab my head and twist it sideways while I was in his guard...
Training is meant to improve technique. It is hard to improve technique if some idiot beefcake white belt just grabs your neck and twists it as hard as they can (leaving you with a pulled neck for 2 weeks). If you do them, do them correctly and slow. Necks are too precious to let some steroid freak injure you and keep you away from training. If they don't know how to train, find another partner.
Don't get me wrong. We don't just grab the neck and twist. We train real and legit techniques, some of which are neck cranks. While we don't restrict the techniques we use much, we do have the sense to respect our training partners and not injure anyone. Since the school's opened we've only had two real injuries, none involving neck cranks and only one directly involving leg locks.
We don't train leg locks or neck cranks. I'm happy with that at the moment, there is still lots to learn with respect to the upper body submissions and control aspects of BJJ.
Umm.. since I'm a white belt, I have much more things to learn rather than gay neckcranks which can leave someone paralyzed. Neckcranks are too dagnerous and some can be done by anyone.
i always just straightened out my legs and pushed my hips up and forward as much as i could and no one can break my guard when they use the can opener.
