70/30 (also 80/20)

What This Is

70/30 from the defending side — 50/50 with the hips offset, and the offset is the whole difference. That change of angle is what frees the inside heel.

A defender who reads this as a slightly worse 50/50 has misread it. Symmetry is what made 50/50 survivable; the offset removes it.

You still have real options here, which is why the differential is 2 rather than 4. What you do not have is time to think about which one.

Safety First

70/30 (also 80/20) (Defending) is an elevated risk technique. The inside heel hook becomes available as the hips offset, loading the knee through internal rotation. The ligaments fail before pain registers. Serious injury can occur Short once the heel is available. The offset is the warning, and it happens before the attack..

If you are new to this technique: read this section before anything else. Understanding the danger is part of understanding the technique.

Tap early — before pain, not because of it.
The person applying the technique is responsible for releasing immediately.
Communicate before drilling. Know your partner's experience level with this position.
Do not train this technique while fatigued or in live rolling without established mat culture.

Tapping culture and why it matters → Injury guide for this technique →

The inside heel hook is what the offset is for. Treat the hips moving as the cue, not the grip arriving.

The Two Sides Compared

The same position read from each side. Advantage is one number and it hides most of what matters — the asymmetry worth seeing is in what the position costs each player and how long it lasts.

Axis	Attacking	Defending
Position type	Controlling	Defensive
Risk level	Medium	High
Energy cost	Medium	High
Time horizon	Medium	Short

The key difference: A small change in hip angle off 50/50, and a large change in who is in danger.

Both sides sit at medium risk, which is the shared entanglement showing up in the numbers — your legs remain on the attacker throughout. What separates the two of you is the angle, and angle is cheaper to hold than to recover.

How You End Up Here

Both paths run through 50/50 or its neighbourhood, and the second one skips the phase where you would have felt safe.

From 50/50, as the attacker offsets

This is the normal path and the offset is a movement you can feel. Feeling it is the defence.

From an inside entry that arrives here directly

Some entries build the offset from the start rather than passing through the symmetrical position.

The Invariant in Action

The offset is the attacker taking inside space that 50/50 shared.

A small change in configuration, a large change in the submission set. This position is the clearest example in the family.

The inside heel is the handle the offset exposes.

Angle is the mechanism here, not strength — which is also why the correction is an angle rather than a fight.

Escape Mechanics

Restore the symmetry

Chasing the offset — following the attacker’s hips so the angle returns toward square — takes the position back toward 50/50, where you are much safer.

Hide the inside heel

The offset exists to expose it. Flexed foot and heel turned in denies what the movement was for.

Come up and forward

Sitting up toward your own trapped leg shortens the lever and makes the offset harder to maintain.

Untangle

The configuration is shared. Leaving it entirely is available and often quicker than out-positioning.

What Causes Escapes to Fail

Treating the offset as cosmetic. It is the position changing character, and it is the only warning you get.

Defending 50/50 habits. The symmetrical answers stop working the moment the hips move.

Staying square to where they were. The attacker has moved. Defending their old position defends nothing.

Counter-Offensive Options

Genuine. The entanglement is shared, so your legs remain on the attacker, and an attacker mid-offset has traded stability for angle. Following them and taking the offset yourself is a real option for a defender who reacts early.

Common Errors

Waiting to confirm. The offset is confirmation.

Bending the trapped knee. It shortens the lever for them, not for you.

Fighting hands. The position is hips. Their hands come later.

Drilling Notes

Drill the transition from square 50/50 to offset with the defender chasing the angle. The whole skill is in the first half-second.

Drill it from both sides, since understanding why the attacker wants the offset makes it much easier to feel.

Ability Level Guidance

Advanced. Not because the answer is complex — chase the angle — but because the cue is subtle and the consequence of missing it is an inside heel hook.