Alias · Armbar
Violin armlock
Also known as Inverted Armbar — the canonical term used on this site.
Training background: Descriptive name for the violin-position variant — arm held alongside the head like a bow arm
Descriptive — opponent's arm held alongside the head
Violin armlock is a descriptive name for an inverted-armbar variant in which the opponent’s controlled arm is held alongside the head — the geometry visually resembling a violinist’s bow arm in playing position.
Etymology. The “violin” metaphor refers to the resemblance between the attacker holding the opponent’s arm extended alongside their head and a violinist’s bow arm extended across the strings. The descriptive label appears in coaching vocabulary where the writer wants to distinguish a specific inverted-armbar geometry from the chest-fulcrum or hip-axis variants. The term is informal and less common in published instructional material than “inverted armbar,” which encompasses the variant.
Mechanics. The configuration loads the elbow against its natural range from the inverted vector — the head-side geometry produces a different fulcrum-arm-resistance triangle than the standard inverted armbar but the joint-axis loading is mechanically the same.
Cross-reference. “Inverted armbar,” “reverse armbar,” and “arm crush” all reference related configurations under different descriptive emphases. Full mechanical coverage on Inverted Armbar.