Game Description

The turtle position is one of the richest positions in the kimura system. The bottom player is on all fours with their back partly exposed; the top player has access to the near arm, the far arm, and the back. This game focuses specifically on using the kimura grip as the primary attacking tool from turtle — not the gut wrench, not the leg hook, not the crab ride — to isolate the figure-four grip as the connection between top position and back control.

The hammerlock is the kimura finish applied when the partner is belly-down or on all fours. It is included as a win condition to make the finish threat credible — a game that has no finish threat becomes a position-holding exercise.

How to Run This Game

Setup: Bottom player in turtle (on all fours, head tucked, elbows driving inward). Top player kneeling beside the bottom player, near the hip, with their weight on the bottom player’s back — the standard turtle top starting position.

Top player’s primary tools:

Establish the figure-four grip on the near or far arm.
Use the grip to drive the bottom player’s shoulder forward and down, creating the rotation that opens the back.
When the grip is on the far arm (reaching under the body), the hammerlock path opens.
When the bottom player raises one knee to stand up, feed their movement into the back-take direction.

Bottom player’s tools:

Drop the shoulder on the gripped arm to deny the figure-four thread.
Stand up explosively before the grip is established.
Rotate away from the top player’s hip connection to create separation.
Grip the far ankle with the free hand to create a mechanical block.

Coaching Notes

The game teaches the top player an important spatial read: where the bottom player’s arm is committed determines which back-take direction is available. If the near arm is available and gripped, the back take goes over the near shoulder. If the far arm is available (the bottom player reaches across their own body), the back take goes under the far shoulder. The correct direction of the back take is determined by which arm the grip is on — not by the top player’s preference.

The bottom player’s most successful defence is usually the stand-up, not the arm defence. A bottom player who stands before the grip is established has escaped the primary threat. This creates an interesting dynamic: the top player must establish the grip before the bottom player recognises it is available. This reads directly to disrupt structural resistance — disrupting structural resistance before submission.

Common pattern: Top players who have not played this position before will attempt to set the grip from directly above the bottom player rather than from the hip. This gives the bottom player’s elbow too much space to drop and block the thread. Require the top player to connect their hip to the bottom player’s hip before reaching for the arm.

Progressions

Allow the top player to use both the near and far arm — now they must decide which arm to target based on what the bottom player is exposing.
Allow the bottom player to roll and attempt to re-guard after standing.
Add the gut wrench as an additional top player tool — the kimura and gut wrench create a secondary dilemma at this position.