The false reap is the newest and most popular leg lock position in grappling, and Craig Jones will teach you how to do it. I watched his instructional and in this review I’ll tell you about the 2 biggest lessons I learned. And I’ll tell you whether or not this instructional is worth your money.
| Title | False Reap Accusations: a deep dive on the false reap position |
| Instructor | Craig Jones |
| Total duration | 1 hour and 59 minutes |
| Publication year | 2022 |
| Where to buy | Here on BJJ Fanatics |
Learn the newest leg lock position from Craig Jones
Reap like Craig
What’s the false reap?
The false reap is the newest leg lock entry. It’s hot in no gi competition right now. Among the people that use it most successfully are Kieran Kichuk , Diego Pato, Jacob Couch and Craig Jones.
Lesson 1: Advanatges of the false reap
Craig explains why he thinks the false reap is so popular right now. It has some unique advantages:
- Less risk of counter back takes. This is the #1 advantage compared to other leg entries. Craig says that he hardly uses other entries anymore, because as everybody’s defense got better, the risk reward ratio for these entries isn’t worth it anymore.
- More stickiness. Because you attach all 4 of your limbs to 1 limb of your opponent. Craig says that this is the only leg entry that Nicky Rod can’t explode out off.
- Helps expose the heel. With the false reap you get to expose the heel during the transition. Now that everybody hides the heel, this is a necessity.
- Less risk to get squashed. Getting squashed is a very common problem with traditional saddle entries, but not with the false reap.
- Options for knee bars and wrestle ups. This is in line with a trend in Craig’s recent work, where hr focuses more on wrestling and getting on top.
Lesson 2: Craig Jones’ new philosophy for heel hooks
To me the most interesting part of this instructional isn’t even the false reap itself. Rather, it’s that Craig Jones shares so many thoughts about the leg lock game in general. He’s obbiously a very experienced leg locker, and his insights are invaluable.
Most fascintating I found Craig’s philosophy for heel hooks: try to expose the heel once, otherwise take the sweep or backtake.
Craig says that back in the day he would stay in saddle for as long as it took him to expose the heel. And this strategy was justified because people were bad at hiding their heel. So he would always expose the heel and win the match with a heel hook.
But nowadays people are way better at hiding the heel. And as long as you are searching for heel exposure in the saddle, you’re vulnerable to counter back takes. Therefore, Craig tries to expose the heel 1 time, just to check if his opponent knows how to defend it. And if it doesn’t work, he won’t chase the heel, he’ll switch to something else.
Moreover, Craig says that almost everybody nowadays overdefend heel exposure. So instead of hiding the heel slightly, they basically try to turn their back towards you. This leaves them vulnerable to your backtakes and sweeps. (In his ADCC 2022 match against Nicholas Meregali you also saw Craig attack the heel briefly and then turn his attack into a sweep.)
Is False Reap Accusations worth it?
I lean towards saying that this instructional isn’t worth the full $197. I have 3 basic thoughts on the dvd:
- It’s current. This instructional is super current. I look at it as a heel hook trend report. Craig constantly makes super interesting remarks about the leg lock game (such as ‘I don’t even try this anymore’, ‘This is the reason why the K guard became very popular for a while’, etc.). Those remarks are what I love the most about this instructional.
- It’s short. Of course the main topic of this instructional is the false reap. This instructional is a PhD thesis into the most popular leg lock position in competition right now. It’s very focused in its subject area, and as a consequence it’s a very short instructional. This isn’t bad (I often prefer short instructionals over overly long ones), but in a way you might feel like it’s not as much value for your money as other instructionals.
- Is it a fad? Honestly it’s very hard for me to judge whether the false reap will be a permanent part of the leg lock game. It’s very popular now, but it still looks off to me. The false reap reminds me of backside 50/50. After Lachlan Giles had his ADCC run, the backside 50/50 became very popular for a while. But now it’s a very small part of the leg lock game, because people figured out they can just back step to normal 50/50. Will the false reap still be effective after people have the time to learn how to defend it? I don’t know…
My verdict
In the end the feel of this product is… unfinished. Craig even says at one point that there will be rolling footage at the end of the instructional, but there isn’t. I’m not sure what went wrong there, but I definitely don’t think this is Craig’s best product.
Also read: Top 10 Best Craig Jones Instructionals (& 6 to Avoid)
Who is false reap accusations for?
Leg lock fanatics should buy this instructional. Even though I don’t love it. The false reap is the hottest leg lock technique right now, and I’m sure it will always be a valuable part of your leg lock game. And a lot of the principles that Craig explains to make the false reap work, apply to leg lock positions in general.
If you’re new to leg locks, this instructional isn’t for you. It’s not a comprehensive overview of leg locks. I would say that you should first learn the traditional leg lock positions (saddle, 50/50, single x/straight ashi garami), and this isn’t the instructional to help you with that.
Learn the newest leg lock position from Craig Jones
Reap like craig
FAQ
Is the false reap IBJJF legal in the gi?
No, the false reap isn’t legal in the gi in IBJJF competition if your opponent is standing. It is legal on the ground. This is explained on rule 32 of the rulebook. The only exception is that for brown and black belts, if you have the saddle and your opponent stands up, you can keep going (lower belts have to let the reap go if the opponent stands up).
