Double-wrist lock escape

Double-wrist lock escape is the catch-wrestling name for the defence against the figure-four shoulder-rotation submission — the configuration BJJ calls the kimura and judo calls ude garami.

Etymology. “Double wrist lock” predates “kimura” by decades and refers specifically to the attacker’s two-handed grip configuration: one hand on the opponent’s wrist, the second hand reinforcing it via a figure-four wrap around the opponent’s own arm. The term entered submission grappling vocabulary through the Lancashire-rooted catch-as-catch-can lineage — Karl Gotch, Billy Robinson, Lou Thesz — and predominates in catch-wrestling and pro-wrestling instructional vocabulary. The escape term carries the parent technique forward in catch-style submission curricula.

Mechanics. The escape’s priority is undoing the limb isolation that the figure-four creates: the defending player must connect the trapped arm back to their body’s defensive frame — by hiding the elbow tight to the ribs, by hand-fighting the wrist grip, or by rotating their shoulder to neutralise the rotational load — before the humerus reaches structural failure.

Cross-reference. Judo retains ude garami escape; wrestling uses “chicken wing escape”; BJJ uses “kimura escape.” Full mechanical coverage on Kimura Escape.