It’s no secret that John Danaher and the whole Danaher Death Squad are leg locking machines. Danaher, the philosophical instructor at Renzo Gracie’s Academy in New York City, has been instrumental in developing his fight team’s leg locking skills.
John Danaher tells the story of how he began learning leg locks:
Dean Lister had been invited to their gym, and was having success submitting people with Achilles locks. This was new to Danaher at the time so he spoke to Lister after class.
Danaher: “That’s interesting what’s your doing with these Achilles locks, I don’t really do that at all, it’s not something I do”
Lister: “Why would you ignore 50 percent of the human body?”
According to Danaher, that one sentence completely changed his view on jiu jitsu.
Lately at our school the instructor has been focused on teaching leg locks after getting Danaher’s instructional DVD’s. I personally am really excited to learn as much as I can about leg locks. Leg locks are sneaky attacks and seem to have the ability to really negate any athleticism your opponent might have.
Check out this video where Danaher is showing how to attack a heel hook by feigning an ankle lock from cross ashi garami (“leg entanglement”):