BaffledExperts by Adam Norman

10: Leg picks

When your opponent is resisting the upper-body throws successfully, leg picks can be very useful. They're also, as the UFC has shown, just about the only throw that works consistently when your opponent is striking back and not wearing tough clothing.

There are three leg picks in judo, but one is totally impractical. The two that actually work without exposing your nose to your opponent’s knees are kuchiki taioshi and morote gari. They are the single-leg and double-leg takedowns, respectively.

The key to getting a good leg takedown is to get close to your opponent. The key to getting close to your opponent is lunging. Most people reach. Don’t reach. Lunge. You need to lunge so that you can actually pick your opponent’s leg up; if you’re too far away, you can’t get your hips and back into the movement, and your opponent will be able to resist.

Lunge like you would if you were a fencer, or as if you were stretching your quads. Get deep, and try to sink your advancing foot between your opponent’s feet. This will give you the strength and the leverage to pick her up.

Morote Gari
Judoka generally avoid the double-leg takedown. That’s just as well, since they generally do it badly.

Approach your opponent with your right leg forward. Lunge in with your right foot, pushing with your left. Try, as much as possible, to float. Try to keep your head at the same level and pull your front leg up to make space to fall. With a bit of luck, this should give the impression that you are moving in, not moving down.

(While we’re on the topic, some fighters clap their hands or wiggle their fingers in their opponent’s face in an effort to create a distraction. This works precisely once. If your opponent has ever had someone clap in her face before, she will know from your very clear announcement that you are coming in for morote gari. If you are lucky, she’ll merely stuff your throw. If you are unlucky, she will smash you in your exposed face or guillotine choke you until you pee your trousers.)

When you have closed the distance between you and your opponent, simultaneously:

1. Grab behind her legs,
2. Press your ear to her nipple, and
3. Hoist with your arms
4. Push with your head and shoulders

The dumbest mistake that judo fighters make is in the second detail. You must keep your head high. Try to hear your opponent’s heart. If you drop your head to tackle your opponent, she will reach over your head and choke you with the simplest and most effective choke we never learn, the guillotine. Worse, your tackle will pull her legs up and towards you, making the guillotine worse. Even worse, you and she will fall in such a way as to spike your head into the ground.

Morote Gari II
There is a second way to do morote gari, but I haven’t seen it often. Morote gari II does not put you in the same danger, and it puts you in a far better position should the fight continue on the ground. It is harder, though, to execute, as it requires better timing and more athleticism. We may as well call it what is it, though: the double leg takedown.

For the double leg:

1. Lunge forward with your right leg
2. Allow yourself to drop, and aim to smash your right ear to your opponent’s armpit on an upward trajectory
3. Scoop both of your opponent’s legs,
4. And simultaneously push sideways with your head, and
5. Sweep counterclockwise with your hands

This throw should put you in side control (yoko shiho gatame), with your opponent’s legs beside you, not around you. From side control, you are in a much better position to submit him.

It is very important that you close the distance with MGII. To do it, you cannot reach down; your back must be quite straight and your head must be kept quite high. You won’t have the strength to lift him otherwise. Lunch deep, get low, and use your legs.

Kuchiki Taioshi
Clearly, morote gari has a problem: as you lunge in, you drop both hands to reach behind your opponent’s legs. This exposes your head to strikes and chokes. One alternative is the single-leg takedown, kuchiki taioshi.

Instead of using two hands, you will use one hand behind your opponent’s leg. Your other hand will remain on his lapel.

1. Lunge in with your left foot, pushing with your right foot. Move to your opponent's right side. With his right foot is forward, your left foot should be forward, and you should be facing his right ear.
2. Reach with your right hand for your opponent’s right leg and simultaneously push with your left hand and lift with your right

Kuchiki taioshi is a good, simple throw.

Even so, most people attempt an even easier–and much worse– kuchiki taioshi.

Instead of lunging to your opponent's outside and reaching with your right hand for uke's right leg, attack straight on, and reach your right hand for uke's left leg. Push and pull with your left and right hands respectively.

This lazy throw is tempting because your opponent's leg is right there by your hand and little footwork is required. The only problem is that the throw sucks. I prefer the first version because it doesn't end up with you in your opponent's guard and because it actually works.

The trickiest part of both kuchiki taioshi and morote gari is the initial lunge. The greatest danger is exposing your head.

With your opponent at slightly more than arm’s length, practice lunging towards her while keeping your head as high as possible. Don’t jump, of course–that puts you in danger. Just lunge, straight in, pulling your leg up as you come. Ideally, you should feel like you float right in close to uke before you disappear below her.

Defending the takedowns
Both of these throws rely on your opponent pulling your bottom half up while pushing your top half back. Defend them by doing the opposite.

To defend morote gari, plant your forearms on your opponent’s shoulders and sprawl your leg backwards. Let your hips fall low to the ground. The lower your hips are, the harder you will be to throw, and the less likely you are to be caught with a combination. Your arms will stop tori from closing the distance and will brace your upper body forward. Shooting your legs back puts them out of reach and makes them almost impossible to lift.

If you find that your opponent has got one leg, you are still in a good position. The key is to use all four limbs. Using your arms, try to push his body down. Push your free leg away from him. Take your trapped leg and try to brace it against his thigh. Bend your foot up and into a hook, and get right behind his knee or under his thigh. He won’t be able to lift your leg, and he will have to abandon his throw.