The sprawl is the basic defence against a leg attack: you throw your feet back and drop your hips onto your partner's shoulders so the shot dies under you. It is a wrestling movement that every BJJ player needs.
- Japanese name: none. The sprawl is known by its English wrestling name.
- Kodokan classification: none. No technique on the Kodokan list carries this name.
- In BJJ: the first thing to learn once you start standing up in rounds, and the entry to the front headlock, the guillotine, the darce and the go-behind.
What is the sprawl?
A sprawl removes the thing your partner is shooting for. When they change level and drive for your legs, your legs go backward and out of reach while your hips come down hard on their head and shoulders. Their drive runs into your weight with nothing to lift, and their momentum stalls.
It is also a position. A finished sprawl has you chest-down on their upper back, hips low, legs spread wide behind you and your hands fighting their grips. From there you circle behind for the back, or feed their head into a front headlock.
How do you do the sprawl?
The steps below describe the sprawl against a double leg; against a single leg the same movement is done with the attacked leg kicked back and free.
- Read the shot. Keep your stance with knees bent and hands in front of you, so a level change from your partner meets your hands first.
- Throw the legs back. As they shoot, kick both feet back and out, landing on the balls of your feet with your legs wide and straight.
- Drop the hips. Let your hips fall straight down onto their head and shoulders, chest heavy on their upper back. Your weight stops the drive; the arms only steer.
- Fight the hands. Break their grip on your legs by pushing the head down and peeling the hands, or by whizzering the arm with an overhook.
- Move. Circle to the side away from their head and get behind them, or sit back onto their head for a front headlock and attack from there.
The most common mistake is sprawling late or sprawling with bent knees, so your hips stay high and they finish the double anyway. Practise the movement until kicking the legs back is a reflex, and make the hips drop first. Land softly on your partner in drilling; a sprawl dropped at full weight onto a kneeling partner's neck is dangerous. Our BJJ training gear covers the kit for stand-up rounds.
What is illegal when defending a single leg in BJJ?
The IBJJF Rules Book bans, for every age and belt, grabbing the attacker's belt and throwing them onto the head while their head is outside your body, and any suplex that lands the opponent on the head or neck.
Sources
- IBJJF Rules Book, IBJJF
Related terms
Double leg takedown, Single leg takedown, Snap down, Guillotine, Turtle, Base.