Positional Game · GAME-BACK-06
Finishing the Strangle — From the Back
The won rung of the back-attack ladder, run finish-first. The attacker starts with the strangle already threaded and only has to finish — compress the carotids before the defender strips the arm — so they feel a completed strangle before learning to hunt one.
Start position
POS-BACK-TOP-HARNESS
Round length
1:30 rounds
Reset rule
Reset when the strangle forces the tap, or the bottom player clears the arm and protects the neck or turns to face-to-face. Role rotates after each reset.
Top wins by
Force the tap by compressing the carotids.
Bottom wins by
Clear the strangling arm and protect the neck, or turn in to a face-to-face position.
Game Description
This is the top rung of the back-attack ladder, and it starts at the finish. The attacker begins with full back control and the strangling arm already threaded under the chin — the place a strangle is won from. All that remains is to complete it: compress both sides of the neck before the defender can strip the arm. Starting here lets an attacker feel a finished strangle before they ever have to hunt one down, which is the whole point of running the ladder in reverse.
How to Run This Game
Setup: Full back control — seatbelt and at least one hook in. The attacker’s strangling arm is already under the chin, the hand past the far side of the neck. The defender’s hands are on the attacking arm, fighting it.
Top wins by forcing the tap — closing the strangle by compressing both carotids at once. The work is to finish the connection while controlling or removing the defending hands, the secondary anchor between the strangle and the tap.
Bottom wins by clearing the strangling arm and protecting the neck, or by turning in to a face-to-face position.
Score: One point per win condition. Role rotates each reset.
Coaching Notes
The rung isolates the finish from the hunt. Most failures here are the attacker squeezing before the structure is set — reaching for the tap with the arms while the hand-fight is still open, so the defender peels the arm clear. Win the secondary anchor first: pin or strip the defending hands, then close. A strangle is a connection problem, not a strength contest. Standard tier: the tap comes fast from a sound strangle — release it the instant it arrives.
Progressions
Down the ladder the control gets worse and the finish has to be earned. The next rung is keeping the back and finding the finish against a defender with every escape available. For how the rungs fit together, see reverse phase progression and the phase-ladder library.