Aoki Lock
The Aoki lock — an inside heel hook and ankle lock combined, attacked from the outside line. The mirror of the Woj lock.
Adapted from the original page. Grappling.Games did not write this. Sources.
Manage injuries →Position map Connects to 4 positions across 3 relationshipsOpen in the map →1234←Attacked from
The Aoki lock is an inside heel hook and an ankle lock applied at once, and what makes it unusual is that it is attacked from the outside line. The attacker sits outside the leg, traps the heel under the armpit in a reverse configuration, and produces the rotation an inside heel hook produces — internal rotation of the tibia, loading the medial knee. The ankle is loaded in the same grip rather than incidentally.
★ The line is not the rotation. Sitting on the outside line does not make this an outside heel hook — the reverse configuration turns the leg so that an outside seat delivers an inside rotation. That distinction is the whole technique, and conflating the two is the most common way this lock is described wrongly. The heel trapped under the armpit is the control point, and the configuration resembles a reverse ashi garami, which accounts for one of its alternative names.
Its mirror is the Woj lock: the same pairing of a heel hook with an ankle lock, run the other way round — inside line, outside rotation. Learning either one is most efficient as learning the pair.
It is a proficient-level technique because it requires precise leg configuration and an understanding of medial knee anatomy. The injury potential is high relative to its recognition among practitioners, which increases risk in training environments.
Elevated RiskAoki Lock is an elevated risk technique. Two joints load together. The rotation is an inside heel hook’s — internal rotation of the tibia against a fixed femur, loading the MCL and the ACL — and the same grip loads the ankle, where the deltoid ligament takes the medial side. Because the attack arrives from the outside line, a defender reading the attacker’s position rather than the rotation will expect an outside heel hook and prepare for the wrong direction. It can reach the structural threshold faster than expected given its relatively low recognition among practitioners.
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.