Key Takeaways
- A No-Gi DVD presnting a new version of finishing toe holds and plenty of ways to make shin locks potent submissions.
- Features a very detailed overview on how to execute both attacks from just about any position in BJJ.
- Offers attacking, counterattacking, and defensive tactics that center around the element of lightning-fast and painful finishes.
- BJJ World Expert Rating: 7.5 out of 10.
TOE FOLD AND SHIN LOCKS JOSHUA YOU DVD GET HERE
I am a fan of catch wrestling submissions, but I tend to shy away from modern modifications of proven leg locks, which often end up being more valuable as a one-time threat than a reliable finishing move. Well, the Toe Fold And Shin Locks Joshua You DVD offers a couple of moves that are not catch wrestling moves and offer actual improvements to staple leg locks.
Joshua You has managed to completely change my mind, at least on the subject of his signature toe folds. He offers the efficiency of catch wrestling moves but delivers it with the depth of detail we’re accustomed to seeing in BJJ. A very solid and innovative instructional that is a bit unorthodox even by 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu standards.
Toe Folds Instead of Toe Holds?
Yeah, you read that right. I messed it up more than a few times when writing this review, thanks to the habit of writing about, teaching, and doing toe holds for so long. For the most part, I’d call bull excrement on such a move, but I am familiar with Joshua You and his work, so I was curious beyond my usual doubt and pessimism.
What Joshua managed to achieve with the Toe Fold and Shin Locks Joshua You DVD is to breathe new life into toe holds. For me, these are still more or less the same, and even though he deserves the credit for offering a ton of different finishes, I doubt I’ll be referring to them as toe folds too often.
That said, this instruction will make you extremely annoying to roll with. Every time you can access a foot with your arms, and oftentimes with your legs (which is pretty much all the time in BJJ), you’ll be able to submit instantly. No figure fours, rolling setups, or being launched in the air by those who squat three times their bodyweight.
10th Planet Magic with Joshua You
Folkes’ training in the 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu system has an astorng tendency to go for the obscure when it comes to BJJ moves, and, quite often, there is substance to their efforts. One example is shin locks, which are actually a lot more useful than they seem.
Leading an innovative edge in the 10th Planet universe is Eric Ramey black belt Joshua You. Also known online as Chef BJJ, he has been cooking up crazy but effective moves for quite a while now, well before he got his much-deserved black belt.
Joshua’s grappling style is unorthodox and weird even by 20th Planet Jiu-Jitsu standards. He has a very strong defensive game, which he tops off with super-unusual counter-attacking submissions. Among those, he has a real knack for finding a way to tap people out with shin locks and foot bends, which he calls ‘to folds’ from literally anywhere.
For those who are not in the vicinity of Ramey’s 10 Planet Thousand Oaks school, the Toe Fold and Shin Locks Joshua You DVD is a great way to jump on the weird submissions train and ride it to success like Joshua does.
Toe Fold And Shin Locks Joshua You DVD Review
This innovative Joshua You DVD is a No-Gi instructional, offering just over four hours of very entertaining and useful material on a different way to get taps with leg locks. It contains six different volumes and several mini systems you can combine and cycle through:
Part 1 – What is a Toe Fold?
Joshua You’s twisting foot submission is similar to the toe hold in more than just the name, and those differences are up first for this instructional. After explaining how toe folds are easier to get and can be done with one limb, You goes into the fundamental details on finishing, sticking to three essential aspects.
A few finishing examples follow, covering the directions in which you can finish a toe fold, which include inside and outside. The first volume of the Toe Fold and Shin Locks Joshua You DVD wraps up with the intriguing Abe Lock, which was completely new for me.
Part 2 – Countering Back Mount with Toe Folds
A big part of the system outlined in the Joshua You Shin Locks DVD revolves around using shin locks and toe folds to deal with the back mount. While it may seem over the board and ineffective (I thought the same), the methods Joshua presents reach a lot further than just trying to bend your opponent’s foot using your legs.
As I mentioned, he is extremely versatile at defense and escapes, so all the finishes featured in this part of the instructional are available from different back mount situations. Whether the opponent has you in an RNC, traditional back control, or the Straight Jacket, Joshua has a toe fold waiting to set you free immediately.
He organizes his attacks in categories based on the essential mechanics of back escapes, similarly to his approach in explaining the braking mechanics of toe folds in part one of the instructional. And yes, a version of the ‘no hands’ toe fold appears in this video, albeit it seems to be one that actually works.
Part 3 – Top Half Locks & Folds
One of the best positions for attacking toe holds is the top half guard, something we haven’t really seen since Dean Lister and Rober Drysdale were actively competing. Well, Joshua taps into this leg looking nostalgia (for the OGs) but builds it up with his own twist on things.
Toe folds allow you to have a free arm when attacking, which provides more stability and versatility from the top half. Moreover, this portion of the Toe Fold and Shin Locks Joshua You DVD contains a lot fewer rolling entries than most toe hold options from the position that you know of.
Part 4 – Shin Locking from Guard
In one of the more innovative parts of the Toe Fold and Shin Locks Joshua You DVD, Joshua covers numerous ways in which you can start recognizing toe folds and shin locks as a guard player, with examples from a bunch of common open guards.
The usual culprits, such a the De la Riva guard and X guard, make an appearance, along with the RDL, shin-to-shin, and even wrestling-inspired crab rides. All roads, as expected, lead to shin locks, which come with optional pinning, or toe folds, which are literally everywhere. Be sure to try the double shin lock from this volume – it got me a few great taps in rolling.
Part 5 – Ashi Options
At this point, I thought there wasn’t too much left to offer in the Joshua You Toe Fold DVD after all the detailed content in the preceding volumes, but I was wrong. Joshua has found a way to integrate shin locks and, of course, his toe folds, into the Ahsi Garami way in a similar fashion to calf slicers.
Namely, you can finish with either or both of the aforementioned leg lock finishes as a counter to an Ashi entanglement, or you can use it to ensure you finish even when the opponent is defending a more recognizable attack, like a heel hook or an ankle lock.
Positions included in this part range from the 50/50, through cross and outside Ashi Garami, to Inside Ashi. For each, Joshua offers defending (read: counterattacking) and attacking applications of his submissions.
Part 6 – Positional Applications
Finally, as the Toe Fold and Shin Locks Joshua You DVD concludes, Joshua talks position before submission… literally. The best way to describe the content in this final volume is positional awareness for the opportunity to finish with a toe fold or shin lock.
Positions include top side control, the turtle (one of Joshua You’s signature positions), armbars, rear triangle, knee on belly, and, of course, 10th Planet staples Truck and Lockdown.
Just a Tactical Threat or Real Subs?
The one thought on my mind before I analyzed the contents of the Toe Fold and Shin Locks Joshua You DVD with as much attention to detail as I could muster (it’s a long one) was that this is another DVD containing more viable threats than actual submissions.
I was wrong, even though that doesn’t apply to every bit of the material delivered in the instructional. The toe folds and shin locks in this DVD are as legit as they come, and come in so many different varieties that you’re bound to make at least a couple of them work with a high degree of reliability.
That said, let’s not underestimate the tactical value of threats in BJJ. Any combination you do, from takedowns to submissions, which includes more than one move, works mostly because of the threat that one of those moves presents. Whenever that threat is also a legitimate way to submit someone, you get double the value for your efforts.
DOWNLOAD HERE: TOE FOLD AND SHIN LOCKS JOSHUA YOU DVD
Fold the Feet!
The way Joshua presents the information in the Toe Fold and Shin Locks Joshua You DVD, you end up learning everything you need about his moves, even if you’re not going to use it all.
What sets this DVD apart from others is that when it comes to setting stuff up, Joshua teaches you how to get the submissions like a catch wrestler – just grab and pull. The combination of easy access and complete understanding of the move will make you a very dangerous grappler.
