Choi Bar Escape
Choi bar escape — centreline arm discipline, bend the elbow against the wrist capture and sit out to guard, hand-clasp stall and roll toward the attack.
Adapted from InGrappling, Choi Bar Escape. System Games did not invent this curriculum.
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The choi bar is a shoulder rotation lock. The defender’s arm is pulled across their own centreline and the shoulder is externally rotated against its range. For the attack, see Choi Bar. It is not an elbow hyperextension, which matters for the defence: the answers that work against an armbar — hitchhiker, stack, elbow-line defence — are aimed at a joint this submission is not attacking.
It is met from turtle, from side control bottom, and from underneath back control when the seatbelt over-hook isolates the near arm. In every case the trigger is the same and it is the defender’s own: the near arm drifting across the midline. An arm that stays on its own side of the body cannot be choi barred, because the submission is defined by the crossing.
It is a low-percentage finish from everywhere it appears, and the attacker has to leave their position to attempt it — side control, the turtle ride or the seatbelt all get abandoned to commit to the arm. A choi bar is therefore a gamble, and a defender who survives the first few seconds is usually handed a scramble on favourable terms.
Elevated RiskChoi Bar (Defence) is an elevated risk technique. The choi bar loads the shoulder in external rotation with the arm drawn across the body, which places the force on the rotator cuff and the anterior capsule rather than on the elbow. Rotational shoulder loads give poor warning: the joint has real range in rotation, so the movement feels survivable well past the point where the capsule and cuff are taking load. Defenders who calibrate on elbow submissions — where pain arrives with the extension — consistently read this one late. Serious injury can occur Seconds once the rotation is applied. The joint's rotational range disguises how much of it has already been spent..
If you are new to this technique: read this section before anything else. Understanding the danger is part of understanding the technique.
The person applying the technique is responsible for releasing immediately.
Communicate before drilling. Know your partner's experience level with this position.