The double leg is a level change

Position and problem

You are standing in a tie and the opponent's hips are square to you, both feet level and within reach. You drop your head toward their belt, dive at their legs, and land on your knees holding nothing, or with an arm already closing around your neck. In a jiu-jitsu room that second outcome happens often, because the person defending a double leg can sit to guard, wrap the neck for a guillotine, or sprawl their hips back and settle their weight onto your shoulders. The double leg takedown, a shot at both legs at once, still earns its place, because a clean one lands you beside the legs rather than between them.

Objective

Lower your hips with your legs, step deep enough that your hips arrive under theirs, and finish at an angle with your head up and pressed to one side of their body.

Core concept

A double leg is a level change followed by a step, and the arms only collect what the legs have already reached. Changing levels means bending the knees and dropping the hips while the back stays upright and the head stays up, so your eyes stay level with their chest instead of with the mat. From that height the penetration step drives the lead knee toward the space between their feet and carries your hips forward with it, and the hips arriving under theirs are what lift and turn them. Bending at the waist to reach the legs does the opposite: the hips stay back, the head goes forward and down, and the neck arrives in front of a person whose arms are free. Both of the defender's best answers, the guillotine and the sprawl, are aimed at exactly that shape, which is why, where submissions are allowed, the head's position when the hands land matters more than the hands. With the head up and pressed to one side of their body, ear against the ribs, the arm that would wrap it has little to close around; with the head centred on the belt line it sits under their chest, inside the arm. The finish follows from the same idea. Driving straight through a jiu-jitsu opponent tends to land them on their back with their legs around you, which is a closed guard rather than a pass. The alternative is to turn the corner: once the legs are held together, step your feet around toward the side your head is on and drive across them rather than into them, so they go down sideways and you arrive beside their hips. The single leg differs mainly in what it catches. One leg leaves the defender a free leg to post and hop on; two legs held together leave them nothing to post with, at the price of a deeper shot and a longer stretch with the head close to their arms.

Key mechanics

1. 01Change levels with the knees and hips, keeping the back upright and the eyes on their chest. A level change made by bending at the waist leaves the hips behind and delivers the head, not the body, to their legs.
2. 02Shoot off a reaction rather than from open space. A cleared tie, a reaching hand or a step forward puts their weight on their feet, and weight committed forward is slower to sprawl away.
3. 03Step deep with the lead knee between their feet so your hips arrive under theirs. A short step leaves you reaching with the arms from outside their base, which is where a sprawl lands.
4. 04Keep the head up and to one side, with the ear tight to their ribs. A head in the centre sits under their chest, where an arm closing around it is already a guillotine grip and their weight can drop onto it.
5. 05Lock the arms behind the knees or high on the thighs and pull the legs together as the hips drive. Legs held together cannot step apart to rebuild a base, so their balance rests on the hips you are already moving.
6. 06Finish at an angle rather than straight through. Turning the corner toward your head's side puts them down on their side with you beside their hips; running through them lands you inside their closed guard.
7. 07Keep hold of the legs as they land and walk your chest past their knees. In jiu-jitsu the position is only settled once you are past the legs, so the landing and the first step of the pass are one motion.

Common errors

• ×Bending at the waist to reach the legs, which drops the head in front of their chest and leaves the hips too far back to lift anything.
• ×Shooting from out of range, so the arms arrive before the hips and the sprawl lands on your shoulders and the back of your head.
• ×Placing the head in the centre of their body, where the arm that wraps it is already in position for a guillotine.
• ×Running straight through the legs and landing between them, which completes the takedown but lands you in their closed guard.
• ×Stopping on the knees after the shot, which leaves you kneeling in front of a standing or sitting opponent with both hands occupied.

Safety

Training progression

1. 01Static: level changes alone, facing a partner or a mirror, dropping the hips until your eyes meet their chest and standing back up without the back rounding.
2. 02Cooperative: partner stands square; you change levels, step the lead knee between their feet and set the head against their ribs, then stop. Partner tells you which side of their ribs your ear is on.
3. 03Finish drill: from the arms locked behind the knees, turn the corner and set the partner down on their side, arriving beside the hips. Work both head positions so both sides are practised.
4. 04Constrained: partner may sprawl or reach for the neck but may not step back. You shoot only when their weight comes forward, and you score only when you arrive past the legs.
5. 05Positional sparring from a collar tie at full resistance; the defender may sprawl, sit to guard or wrap the head. Reset at a landing or a closed guillotine grip.
6. 06Live rounds from standing: keep a count of the shots that ended under a sprawl, and where your head was on each.

Related entries

• The arm drag
• Inside position
• Snap down to the front headlock
• Wrestling up: the technical stand-up