False Reap
False reap — outside leg threads across the near leg, mirror of the reap. Access to ashi, outside ashi, cross ashi, and 50/50.
Adapted from InGrappling, False Reap. System Games did not invent this curriculum.
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The false reap is the outside-thread leg entanglement entry. Where the reap threads the inside leg between the opponent’s legs, the false reap threads the outside leg across the front of the opponent’s near leg — the foot passes to the outside of the opponent’s knee rather than to the inside. This geometry creates a different set of entanglement options with the same fundamental purpose: disrupting the opponent’s lower body to enter a leg lock position.
The term “false” does not imply inferiority. The false reap provides broader positional access than the reap in some contexts — it enters ashi garami, outside ashi, cross ashi, and 50/50, covering nearly the full range of LE positions. The choice between reap and false reap depends on the opponent’s stance, their defensive posture, and which entanglement the attacker is specifically pursuing.
Like the reap, the false reap itself carries no elevated injury risk. The positions it creates access to — particularly cross ashi and 50/50 with heel hook threats — are elevated risk. Downstream safety awareness applies.
Elevated RiskThe False Reap is an elevated risk technique. The false reap threads the outside leg across the front of the opponent’s near leg, passing outside the knee. The outside thread produces outside heel hook and lateral knee exposure rather than the inside line — the structures loaded are lateral rather than medial, but the failure mode is the same: rotation applied to a knee the entanglement is already holding still. Serious injury can occur Within a small number of rotational degrees once the heel is controlled..
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.