BJJ question

[Yung Apprentice]

In bjj, I know they focus on chokes and submissions with arms and such, but what about the legs? I know Sambo supposedly is good for doing leg locks, but I was wondering how proficient are bjj students at this? When I went to a couple different schools, there where times where it seems a leg lock or ankle lock or something to do with the leg, would have been appropriate, but they didn't do them.

[LeeCasebolt]

BJJ has a long tradition of being anti-leg locks. Pro-BJJers will tell you it's because they're dangerous to practice and force you to give up position. Anti-BJJers will tell you it's because the locks make guard work that much more dangerous and the BJJ players don't know how to do them properly. As a more-or-less neutral outsider, I'd suggest it's a little from column A, a little from column B.

That said, BJJ has evolved significantly in the last 10 years after being exposed to high level sambo, wrestling, and other grappling styles with a different mindset than the traditional BJJ approach. One of the changes is an increased appreciation for, and proficiency in, leg locks. Roy Harris and Rener(?) Gracie, in particular, seem to favor the achilles lock in competition.

As with anything, proficiency varies between schools and students within schools. I would think you'd see more leg locks from open competition-oriented schools than from those more traditionally-minded, but that would be a gross generalization.