Among the lower body submissions common in BJJ, the toehold is one of the most frequently used to attack the ankle. Within the toehold family, there is a unique version called the Estima Lock - named after the creator Victor Estima.
I first started experimenting with this back in 2010 when Victor and Braulio Estima were effectively using it in competition. After they set up the submission it seemed their opponents would tap really quickly! After trying it out I realized just how dangerous it was. The person applying the submission can generate a lot of torque. During sparring at the gym I would apply it very lightly as I didn’t want to injure a training partner.
Surprisingly, back then the Estima Lock was legal for blue belts and up in IBJJF competitions! It made no sense to me as it was clearly a toehold - just that it was applied with the stomach rather than the hands. Nowadays, IBJJF has made it only legal for brown belts and up.
A few years ago I sought out Victor Estima to make an instructional on the Estima Lock. It was fascinating to see Victor apply the submission from a variety of positions. He covers all the fine details in the instructional that’s available on DVD, On Demand or on the Budovideos iOS app.
After submitting many of my training partners I started finding myself on the receiving end of the submission as well! Being a fan of using inversions (see my Going Upside Down instructional) I instinctively used an inversion to escape the submission.
Check out the video and let me know how the escape works for you!
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