Positional Game · GAME-LEO-05

Single-Leg X — Enter the Outside Game

The hardest working rung of the outside-position leg-entanglement ladder. The attacker starts in single-leg X and must enter a one-sided dominant entanglement, come up to top, or finish.

Developing Top-advantage 3:00 rounds Elevated safety tier

Start position

POS-GRD-SLX-BOT

Round length

3:00 rounds

Reset rule

Reset when the attacker enters a dominant entanglement, comes up to top, or forces a tap, or the defender strips the X to neutral or flattens the player. Role rotates after each reset.

Top wins by

From single-leg X, secure a confirmed one-sided dominant entanglement (outside ashi), come up to top, or force a lower-limb tap — and hold five seconds.

Bottom wins by

Strip the X and free the leg to a neutral 50/50, or flatten the bottom player and begin to pass.

Game Description

The hardest working rung — the entry from underneath. The attacker starts in single-leg X, controlling one leg from below with the hips low. It is the furthest the outside game starts from a finish while still owning a control: the rung asks the attacker to convert single-leg X into a dominant outside entanglement, come up to top, or finish from the entry. By the time a grappler solves this, the gripped and locked rungs above are theirs.

How to Run This Game

Setup: Attacker in single-leg X, one leg controlled, hips underneath the defender’s base.

Top wins — the single-leg-X player — by securing a confirmed one-sided dominant entanglement (outside ashi), coming up to top, or forcing a lower-limb tap, and holding five seconds. The inside space on the controlled leg is the line everything else is built from.

Bottom wins — the standing player — by stripping the X and freeing the leg to a neutral 50/50, or flattening the bottom player and beginning to pass.

Score: One point per win condition. Role rotates. Default: no heel hooks unless agreed with established tap-release reliability.

Coaching Notes

The rung trains the entry decision — single-leg X offers the come-up and the entanglement at once, and the attacker who commits to neither loses both. Reward a clear choice held with the hip line, not a half-elevation that gets flattened. Elevated tier: the entanglements it enters are live heel-hook positions.

Progressions

This is the bottom working rung of the outside-position ladder; below it is the neutral 50/50, which both branches share. Its mirror is the inside-position ladder. For the full picture, see reverse phase progression and the phase-ladder library.