Under hook

April’s BJJ theme is the under hook. What’s that? Well, anytime you get a grip under your partner’s arm, it’s usually called an under hook. If it helps, anytime you get a grip over your partner’s arm, it’s usually called an over hook.
Why is the under hook important? It’s a good initial grip. If you’re working with a partner who has no skill at all, it is 100% possible to “do a move” to them without any setup. You don’t need to do anything other than the move itself. However, if you’re working against someone with skill, or even someone strong or with some athletic ability, in order to “do a move” it is often very helpful to do some preliminary work first.
The under hook is preliminary work. The even better news is because the under hook is often the first step in many moves, that means if you prioritize getting it, you are actually set up to do any number of moves depending on how your partner reacts.
So, while there are no absolutes in martial arts, there are some pretty solid ideas. One of them, in BJJ, is to get the under hook.
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