I'll say this up front: I am not a competitor. I practice jiujitsu for self-defense and for personal development. Leg attacks are not a big deal for me mainly because I don't compete.
I rarely do them but I am as a brown belt in jiujitsu, only a one or two stripe white belt, so to speak, with leg attacks. I’ve started using straight ankle locks here and there, but I don’t dare to get into the game of knees just yet until I have learned to properly protect myself and protect my training partners. Dave has a very evolved leg methodology that I have to get some more perspective on, probably in private lessons. Inside, outside, high, and low. I’ll put some more notes to this, but it’s a hierarchy of what leg attacks have advantage of the other.
Basically if the opponents spine is the center line, where your legs should be to protect yourself while attacking their legs, and what leg locks have tactical advantages over a potential counter leg attack...in other words who should tap first given a counter attack scenario. More on this as I get better notes and pay him “respect” (as Master Rickson has referred to it) for a private lesson.
There are straight ankle locks, toe holds, knee locks, heel hooks, and one I learned for the first time today, a twisting ankle ...twist? I don’t know, but it’s basically spraining the ankle. All of these locks except for arguably the straight ankle lock, can do quick and cataclysmic damage to the knee or ankle that’s why it is something I practice with caution, particularly on a cold, unprepared body. It’s easy to damage the knees on someone that doesn't know how to protect themselves or if you don’t know what you are doing and apply too much pressure too quickly.
My thoughts are that the basics should start at white belt but only white belts with blue bar (100+ classes) should be able to use them rolling. Since I am not a competitor or a leg lock expert by any means I won’t say what I think should come first or at what belt. I will just say that I think extreme caution should be used for anything that can damage the knees and that blue belts and below should be closely supervised when knee locks are allowed.
I also feel that introducing or allowing straight ankle locks too soon in sparring prevents white and blue belts from developing their guard game on both offense and defense, because a straight ankle lock is the go to for a bad guard passing game. The counter argument is that the person using guard should learn how to protect themselves from the leg lock, and that has some validity to it as well. It’s a complex subject that should be left to the experts. In the meantime, stick to the curriculum and you should be fine one way or another. It’s been developed by far wiser minds of jiujitsu than me.
Part of the issue with leg attacks are the IBJJF rules, which are put together based on safety. Since the largest rank group by far in a gym is white belts, limiting what they can do automatically limits the number of people that can use the leg locks in a gym, if following IBJJF rules for competition.
Another reason is the risk of injury. Arm locks tend to be in areas that have a low pain threshold but do less catastrophic damage, whereas leg locks, particularly against the knees, you don't feel the pain until it is too late. One set of injuries is bad, but the other keeps you from walking, so there’s that.
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