Leglocks: Enter the System by John Danaher – In-Depth Review

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Why this instructional changed BJJ forever

Before Enter the System, leg locks were widely dismissed as low-percentage desperation moves. After it, they became the centerpiece of competitive no-gi grappling. No other instructional has had this kind of impact on the sport.

The Dean Lister origin story

When Danaher was a purple belt at Renzo Gracie Academy, 2-time ADCC champion Dean Lister visited and asked a question that would reshape the sport: “Why would you ignore 50% of the human body?” Danaher later described the impact: “He didn’t teach me a technique, he taught me a point of view.” That single conversation launched Danaher’s decades-long study of lower-body submissions, starting from a time when the broader BJJ community considered leg locks “garbage jiu-jitsu.”

The paradigm shift

Traditional BJJ followed a linear four-step framework: take down, pass legs, advance through the pin hierarchy, submit. Leg locks didn’t fit this model, so most schools ignored them. Danaher’s innovation was reconceptualizing BJJ from a “mono-directional” game (attacking legs-to-head) into a “two-directional” game where attacks flow toward either the head or the legs. He eliminated the need to pass guard, abandoned the positional hierarchy, and created a parallel attack structure built on control.

The DDS proved it worked

Danaher built the Danaher Death Squad (Eddie Cummings, Garry Tonon, Gordon Ryan, Nicky Ryan) to pressure-test the system in competition. The results speak for themselves:

• 2014-17: Eddie Cummings dominated the early EBI events with heel hooks that opponents had never seen before. The DDS held most EBI titles.
• 2017: Gordon Ryan won ADCC trials at 21, submitting opponents with the system. Garry Tonon continued his EBI dominance.
• 2018: Danaher released Enter the System: Leglocks, his first-ever instructional, filmed in the BJJ Fanatics basement with Bernardo Faria and Michael Zenga.
• 2019: Gordon Ryan won double gold at ADCC. The leg lock game Danaher built was now mainstream. Eddie Bravo said of the DDS: “Whoever’s number one right now, the DDS guys are most people up.”

Two myths Danaher debunked

1. Safety concern: Critics claimed leg locks cause career-ending injuries. Danaher pointed out that the most common career-ending injuries in BJJ come from takedowns and jumping guard, not controlled leg lock applications.
2. Low success rate: The DDS’s competition dominance directly contradicted the claim that leg locks don’t work at the highest levels. Their ADCC and EBI records are among the best in the sport’s history.

Core system architecture

Enter the System is built on a foundation of principles rather than isolated techniques. Danaher established what he calls “a control-based leg lock game, rather than an opportunistic or desperation-based one.” The system runs on four force-multiplying principles and three positional families.

Four force-multiplying principles

1. Lever and fulcrum: Mechanical advantage through limb positioning and body angles
2. Wedge (inclined plane): Creating angles of attack that maximize force with minimal effort
3. Directionality of force: Applying breaking pressure in the anatomically correct direction
4. Kuzushi (off-balancing): Disrupting the opponent’s base to prevent escape before the submission is applied

Three ashi garami families

Straight Ashi Garami – the foundational control position. Both legs on one side of the opponent. Covered in Volume 3, with entries, heel hook grips, and finish mechanics.

Cross Ashi Garami (aka “Honey Hole” / Inside Sankaku) – the highest-percentage position in the system. Crossed leg control that creates the “double trouble” principle. Volume 5 covers turnout escape prevention, the release problem, and double heel hook attacks.

Reverse Ashi Garami – inverted control for kneebars and figure-four toe holds. Volume 6 details the “dilemma theories” that create inescapable positional chains between knee bars and heel hooks.

Key concept: “Double Trouble”

One of Danaher’s most important teachings: 90% of your opponent’s resistance comes from their free leg. Controlling both legs eliminates almost all escape options. This principle runs through every volume and distinguishes Danaher’s system from older leg lock approaches that focused only on the attacking leg.

Volume-by-volume breakdown

Volume 1: Introduction to the System (Foundational Principles)

The theoretical foundation that makes everything else work. Danaher covers lever/fulcrum mechanics, kuzushi (off-balancing), the three ashi garami families, and an exhaustive breakdown of grip fighting. This volume alone runs over an hour and includes chapters on the “immovable elbow” concept, push-pull dynamics, torso controls, shin-to-shin gripping, and ankle gripping. If you skip this volume, the rest of the system won’t make sense. Danaher builds every subsequent technique on these principles.

Volume 2: Inside Control

Establishing inside position with both legs. This volume covers leg pummeling strategies from standing and seated positions, the De La Riva connection to leg locks, “irimi ashi” (entering with the legs), and Danaher’s signature “gravity drills” for weight distribution in ashi garami. The connection and penetration drills in the second half are designed for partner practice and build the muscle memory needed for live sparring.

Volume 3: Straight Ashi Garami

The first positional family in detail. Danaher covers single leg ashi, double leg ashi, and cross ashi entries. The volume breaks down lifting, centerline, and tilting methods for entering the position, then moves into heel hook mechanics: outside heel hook, inside heel hook, grip placement, and the critical concept of “slack removal” that separates controlled finishes from sloppy ones.

Volume 4: Breaking Mechanics

The finishing details that most leg lock instructionals skip. Danaher explains tension application throughout the entire limb (not just the foot), grip combinations with specific pros and cons for each, leg positioning for maximum breaking force, and counters to the spiral escape. The “cycles of inside/outside dominance” chapter explains why some grips fail against experienced opponents and what to use instead.

Volume 5: Cross Ashi Garami (The “Honey Hole”)

The highest-percentage position in the system gets its own volume. Danaher covers the “turnout problem” (how opponents escape), the “double trouble” principle for controlling both legs, and two distinct attack strategies depending on whether you release the secondary leg. Includes the ankle lace ashi variation, splitter hand technique, elbow slicer option, and double cross method. This is where most practitioners report the biggest improvement in their finishing rate.

Volume 6: Reverse Ashi Garami

Kneebar and figure-four toe hold territory. Danaher introduces “dilemma theories” that create inescapable chains: defend the kneebar and you expose the heel hook, defend the heel hook and you give up the kneebar. The volume also covers transitions to outside ashi for outside heel hook attacks, giving you a complete decision tree for every opponent reaction.

Volume 7: Entries into Ashi Garami I

Guard-based entries including sliding ashi, double leg and single leg entries, front headlock to leg lock transitions, arm drag entries, inversions from knee shield, X-guard transitions, and the “shoelace breakdown.” This volume is technique-heavy with 16 separate chapters covering different entry scenarios. Most practitioners find 2-3 entries that match their existing game and build from there.

Volume 8: Entries into Ashi Garami II

Advanced entries including deep half guard rolling heel hooks, the sitback entry, inside-out and outside-in entries, kani basami (scissor takedown to leg lock), and entries from double seated position. This volume rounds out the system by connecting leg locks to positions most practitioners already play. The half guard entries are particularly valuable for players who use half guard as their primary guard.

• The three ashi garami families: straight ashi, cross ashi (“honey hole” / inside sankaku), and reverse ashi garami
• Heel hook mechanics: outside heel hook, inside heel hook, grip placement, and “slack removal”
• Breaking mechanics: tension through the entire limb, grip combinations, and counters to the spiral escape
• The “double trouble” principle for controlling both legs and shutting down the free-leg escape
• Reverse ashi “dilemma theories”: kneebar and figure-four toe hold chains between knee bars and heel hooks
• Guard-based entries: sliding ashi, X-guard transitions, front headlock, arm drag, and the “shoelace breakdown”
• Advanced entries: deep half guard rolling heel hooks, the sitback, kani basami, and double seated entries

“I’m getting more out of Danaher than I am from any other teacher in a video instructional so far.”

Bridget Jack Jeffries, BeltChecker Forum

“Excellent insight into leg locking theory/concepts. Ties leglock knowledge together and complements other instructionals.”

Daniel Siriphongs (Ronin @ Ion BJJ, Sulphur Springs, TX), 10th Planet Forum

“It’s outstanding.”

Brandon Mccaghren (10th Planet Decatur/Muscle Shoals), 10th Planet Forum

“Fine details and the amount of wholistic information… absolutely going to help your game.”

Mike Dewitt Jr (10th Planet Springfield), 10th Planet Forum

BJJ World rating: 5/5. Their review describes the instructional as covering “control that leads to submission” philosophy, with 9+ hours of progressive, systematic instruction and a visual system chart included.

A note on pacing: Multiple reviewers mention that Danaher takes 2-3x longer to explain concepts than other instructors. Slideyfoot (BeltChecker) says he’s “unwatchable at normal speed” and recommends 2x playback. Anthony Restuccia says Danaher’s voice puts him to sleep within 30 minutes. The depth is real, but you need patience to extract it.

The original 2018 release had notoriously poor audio quality. Daniel Siriphongs noted: “Current version has poor audio, but they are re-recording it.” BJJ Fanatics has since released a remastered version with improved audio.

If you’re buying today, you’ll get the remastered version by default. The content is the same, but the listening experience is significantly better. Brandon Mccaghren of 10th Planet specifically mentioned being “excited about the remastered version with additional content.”

If you bought the original version through BJJ Fanatics, check your account. Remastered versions are typically made available to existing purchasers at no extra cost.

This is the most common question about an instructional released in 2018. The answer: yes, with context.

The foundational principles haven’t changed. Ashi garami taxonomy, heel hook mechanics, the “double trouble” concept, and the three positional families are just as relevant in 2026 as they were in 2018. The physics of the human knee hasn’t changed.

What has evolved is the meta-game around leg locks. Since Enter the System, competitors have developed more sophisticated 50/50 exchanges, better defensive awareness, and advanced entries that Danaher didn’t cover. Lachlan Giles’ 50/50 material and Craig Jones’ updated Battle Tested Down Under Leglocks address these developments.

The best approach in 2026: use Enter the System to build your foundational understanding, then supplement with more recent material for specific positions. Think of it as the textbook. Giles and Jones are the advanced seminars.

One important note: Danaher’s own system has evolved since 2018 through his New Wave Jiu-Jitsu teaching. But the core architecture from Enter the System remains the base that everything else is built on.

The key differentiator: Enter the System provides the most comprehensive foundational framework. Competitors tend to be more focused (Giles = 50/50, Jones = saddle) or more concise. If you want to understand the entire architecture of lower-body submissions, this is the starting point. If you want to sharpen a specific position, the specialized sets are better supplements.

Enter the System: Leglocks was the first in Danaher’s Enter the System series. Here’s how it connects to his other work:

• Complete Danaher Instructionals Guide – our full ranking and guide to all 40+ Danaher instructionals, including the complete Enter the System and New Wave series.
• Enter the System: Back Attacks – Danaher’s back attack system. Many consider this the best in the entire Enter the System series.
• Feet to Floor (New Wave) – Danaher’s takedown system from the New Wave series. Connects standing work to the leg lock entries covered in volumes 7-8.
• Best Leg Lock Instructionals (Full Ranking) – our complete ranking of all leg lock instructionals, including Danaher, Giles, Jones, and Lister.