The armbar in BJJ, also called the cross armlock, straightens the opponent's arm against your hips while you trap it between your thighs, until the elbow is forced into hyperextension. You can hit it from closed guard, from mount and from back control. The detail that makes it work everywhere is always the same: their elbow above your hips and their thumb pointing up.
Judokas know it as juji-gatame (cross lock). It is one of the few submissions where a good judoka walks into BJJ already better than many blue belts, because they learned it against opponents who were fighting back.
The three mechanical rules
Whatever the entry, a working armbar follows three rules.
The elbow goes past your hips. If their elbow sits under your butt or level with your belly, there is no lever. Slide the arm up until the joint is above your pubic bone.
Pinch the knees. Your thighs clamp their shoulder. Without that pinch, they rotate the arm in the space you left and escape over the top.
Thumb to the ceiling. If their thumb points sideways, the elbow bends instead of straightening. A quarter turn of the wrist is enough to lock the armbar in.
When all three are in place, a small lift of the hips is enough. Go slowly. Elbows get hurt fast and stay hurt for a long time.
Armbar from closed guard
The classic entry comes when the opponent puts a hand on your chest or your belt.
- Control their wrist with your same-side hand and clamp their elbow to your chest with the other arm.
- Open your guard and put your foot on their hip on the side opposite the attacked arm.
- Push off that foot to pivot on your back until you are perpendicular to them.
- Swing your free leg over their head and bring it down across their face.
- Pinch the knees, thumb up, hips up.
The pivot is the part beginners miss. If you stay square, your leg can't get in front of their face and they posture up. It is the same problem as with the triangle choke, and the two attacks feed each other. When they pull their arm out of the armbar, the other arm often stays in, and the triangle is right there.
Armbar from mount
For a white belt this is the most reliable entry, because the opponent hands you their arms when they push to breathe. From mount:
- Climb high, knees under their armpits.
- When they push, close your arm over their straight arm and hug it to your chest.
- Move to S-mount: the foot on the side of the attacked arm comes up near their head while the other knee stays against their ribs.
- Pivot on your hip, swing the leg over their head and fall back with the arm still hugged tight.
Never let go of the arm during the fall. Half of the failed armbars from mount happen because people fall back and open their elbows.
Armbar from the back
From back control, the opponent defends the neck by holding your wrist with both hands. Both of their arms are busy and pinned to their chest.
Slide your body toward the side where their shoulders aren't touching the mat. Swing your top leg over their face and isolate the near arm. You land straight in the armbar position, often with their hands still locked. Now you have to break the grip: put an arm behind their elbow and pull their arm toward you while pushing with your leg.
The mistakes we correct most often
- Space between their armpit and your butt. Glue your hips to their shoulder. Any gap lets them turn the elbow toward the mat and slip out.
- The leg over the head floating in the air. It has to weigh down on their neck or face. Otherwise they sit up.
- Pulling with the arms. The armbar is finished with the hips. Your arms only hold the wrist against your chest.
- Fighting locked hands. Change the angle or switch attacks: a kimura on the other arm, or the triangle. Ripping at locked hands wears out both partners and teaches nothing.
Our take
The armbar is the least forgiving submission in competition and one of the most dangerous in training. Beginners crank too fast. Lift the hips over a two-second count and give your partner time to tap. And when someone has you in one, tap early, because a damaged elbow can take months to come back. If the pain lingers, see a doctor instead of going back to rolling through it. To place the armbar in the rest of the game, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu overview shows every position it can come from.