Back Control Intermediate · Gi and no-gi

The crucifix takes both arms out of the fight

The crucifix traps one arm in your legs and the other in your arms, so the person underneath has no hand left to defend the neck, which is why it is often reached from the top of the turtle.

Position and problem

Your partner has turtled: knees under them, elbows tucked against their thighs, chin down. You work for the seat belt, and each time a hand slides in under their arm, their elbow clamps it against their knee. You try for a hook and the same thing happens lower down. The back is in front of you and you cannot get onto it, because their two elbows guard the only two ways in, and they will hold them as long as it takes. The crucifix stops contesting them. One of their arms goes between your legs, the other is taken in your hands, and when you roll them over they finish face up across your body with neither hand free to protect the neck.

Objective

Trap the near arm between your legs and control the far wrist with your arms, then roll them onto their back across you while keeping both traps closed.

Core concept

The crucifix wins the hand fight before the attack begins. From ordinary back control, a strangle is a contest between your two arms and their two hands, and the defender can stay in it for a long time by fighting the wrists. In the crucifix one of their arms is held by your legs and the other by your arms, so there are no hands left to fight with. It is back exposure in which the defending hands have already been taken away. The position is built in two layers. From beside the turtle, the legs take the near arm, the one on the side where you are kneeling. A leg steps through the gap between that elbow and their knee, and the other leg closes over it above their elbow, crossed at the ankles or folded into a figure-four. The arms then take the far wrist, reaching under their chest for it. Only then do you roll, going under them and bringing their back onto your chest, so that they land face up and across your body, roughly perpendicular to you. Held there, it opens several finishes: a strangle with your free arm around the neck, an armlock on the arm held in your legs, and a shoulder lock on the far arm. Each finish asks you to change one of the traps. That is the position's cost and the whole of its defence: whichever trap you loosen to attack gives them back a hand.

Key mechanics

Wait for the near elbow to come away from their knee before you step the leg in. The gap between elbow and knee is the entry, and a leg forced against a clamped elbow stops at the shin with nothing trapped.
Close the legs above their elbow rather than on the forearm. An upper arm held between your thighs stays put through the roll, while a forearm slides out as soon as their body turns.
Take the far wrist before you roll, reaching under their chest for it. A roll made with the far arm still free gives them a post on the way over and a hand at the neck when they land.
Roll with their back held against your chest. A gap between the two of you during the roll lets them turn toward you and land facing you, which ends the position.
After the roll, keep the leg-trapped arm drawn away from their body. An arm pulled out straight cannot curl back to the ribs, and the elbow coming back to the ribs is how the position unwinds.
Change one trap at a time, and only to attack. Releasing the far wrist to reach for the neck returns one hand to them; loosening the legs at the same moment returns the other.
Expect them to turn their chest toward you and drag the trapped elbow back in. Keep that elbow extended and their shoulders on your chest, since both of those escapes need the elbow to return first.

Common errors

Stepping the leg into the turtle while their elbow is still clamped to the knee, so the leg is caught outside the arm and nothing is trapped.
Trapping the forearm instead of the upper arm, which lets the arm slide free as soon as the roll starts.
Rolling before the far wrist is held, which leaves them a hand to post with during the roll and a hand to defend with afterward.
Letting go of both traps together to chase a finish, which returns both hands to the defence at once.
Allowing space between your chest and their back during the roll, so they turn in and land facing you.

Safety

During the roll your legs hold their upper arm still while their body turns around it, so a fast roll or a heavy landing twists that shoulder against the leg trap before either person can adjust. Roll slowly, and let the legs open if the arm starts turning in a direction their body is not following. Once both arms are held the defender has no free hand to tap with, so the defender taps verbally or with a foot, and the attacker treats a spoken tap, a sound of distress or a foot beating the mat as a tap and releases everything. Some crucifix strangles push the head forward or sideways against the trapped arms instead of closing on the sides of the neck. That is a neck crank, and the attacker lets it go rather than adding pressure to it.

Training progression

Static: partner holds a turtle without moving. Step the leg through the gap between elbow and knee, close the legs above the elbow, and stop. Partner checks whether the arm can slide out.
Cooperative: add the far wrist, taken from under the chest, and the roll. Partner goes with the roll and stays relaxed, and you both land slowly.
Cooperative: from the finished crucifix, partner tries one escape per repetition, either turning toward you or pulling the trapped elbow back in. Hold both traps and attack nothing.
Constrained: start from the turtle with the partner defending the entry only, clamping elbows and moving the knees. Reset if they sit out or stand.
Positional: begin in the crucifix after the roll, with finishes allowed and the defender free to try any escape. Restart on escape or tap.
Live rounds: on top of a turtle, commit to the crucifix only once one elbow has come away from its knee, and keep working the seat belt until then.