Glossary /// Alias
Near-arm armbar
Also known as Near-Side Armbar — the canonical term used on this site.
Training background: Names the limb it takes, which is the first of the two questions that separate the pin armbars
Descriptive — names the limb, the first question that sorts the pin armbars
Near-arm armbar names the near-side armbar by the limb it takes: the arm closest to the attacker’s hips under a top pin, rather than the far one.
Etymology. Coaches teaching from side control routinely present the near and far arm attacks as a pair, because the two cover opposite reactions from the same pin, and the shorthand follows. It is only half a name on this site, though — three separate attacks take the near arm from the pins, and they differ in what sits under the elbow: the attacker’s hip, their own forearm, or their thigh. This one is the hip.
Mechanics. The near arm on a pin usually starts flat to the mat and unavailable, so the attack begins by making it available. The attacker leans the head across, rises onto the knees to lift the arm clear, and threads the instep of the bottom foot into the armpit in the same motion. That shin is the isolation: it holds the shoulder away from the torso so the arm cannot be drawn back down.
Cross-reference. “Shin-in-the-armpit armbar” names the detail that does the isolating. Full mechanical coverage on Near-Side Armbar.