In BJJ, there are many chokes that you can try on your opponent, but the most basic choke is the guillotine choke. It is highly likely that if you are a beginner, your first attacking choke lesson will be the guillotine choke.
The simplicity of this choke makes it a good option for beginners, but BJJ players with years of experience use it beautifully and make opponents tap the mats.
In this article, I will share all my knowledge about this amazing attacking move. I will talk about how to perform it from different positions, necessary grip techniques, mandatory exercises for performing this choke, and other frequently asked questions about it.
You don’t have to waste your time searching about guillotine choke. Read this article, and you will have everything you need to know about the guillotine choke. Let’s get started.
What is a Guillotine Choke?
Let’s first go back to 1792 and learn some history about Guillotine! In that year, France introduced a huge wooden vertical shape for giving the death penalty.
As you can see from the picture, this tool was called a guillotine where a wooden shape wraps around the subject’s neck and an oblique sharp blade straight over the head.
Now come back to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The guillotine choke comes from its resemblance to the guillotine. In this choke, your arm will be over your opponent’s neck, and you will grip that hand with your other hand.
The tighter you make your grip, the tougher it will become for your opponent to breathe. A successful guillotine choke can cause an opponent to choke within 2 to 3 seconds.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to perform a Guillotine choke?
Now that you know what a Guillotine choke is, let us dive deep into how to perform this amazingly effective choke. You can perform a guillotine choke from 3 positions. These positions are:
- Guillotine choke from closed guard
- Guillotine choke from Side control
- Guillotine choke from mount position
Guillotine choke from closed guard/ Full guard
If you are in a closed guard or full guard position, your opponent will always try to protect his head and neck from getting grabbed from the back or front.
To perform the Guillotine, you can try to use a fake hip bump sweep to your dominant side. When you do that and try to sweep, your opponent will try to make a post with his hand and thus his neck will be opened to grab.
You need to take that chance and try to grab his neck under your armpit. Now the next part is very crucial. You can make the grip and take your opponent on your left or right side and try to squeeze your hands toward your chest.
Another option could be to change your hip position and make a little bit of space. Then take your opponent to your dominant side. Many players prefer to perform this choke by making their elbow a bit higher.
At this point of choke, you can try whatever technique of gripping you are comfortable with.
Just make sure you don’t let your guard loose or your grip weak. If you fail to insert your forearm under the vocal cord of your opponent, it will be pretty difficult to perform this choke.
Guillotine choke from Side control
Performing the guillotine from the side control position is tricky because the head and legs of your opponent will be on different sides of your core.
In this situation, a conventional guillotine choke might not work. To perform this choke from the side control position, you need to adjust either your grip or your body position according to your opponent.
There are lots of variations for performing this technique from the side position. From my experience, I am going to share a variation that seems easy to perform, and the most important part, your opponent will not expect this choke from that position.
Step 1: As you are on the side control position, you need to drop your hips and control one hand of your opponent so that you can neutralize the threat of underhook.
Step 2: Attempt a kimura from this position.
Step 3: As your opponent will focus on your kimura, bring your right hand under your opponent’s head and try to go as deep as you can.
Step 4: Turn your hip and body towards the head of your opponent.
Step 5: Grip both of your hands, tuck down your elbows, drop your shoulders, and finish the choke.
Guillotine choke from mount position
Guillotine from the mount position is a very useful attacking tactic, especially for beginners. The reason I am saying this is because beginner-level fighters have less consciousness about what their opponent is doing.
By using this lacking one can easily try to achieve a guillotine choke from the mount position. In my early days, this was one of the go-to tactics for winning a sparring session. Let me break down the steps for this attack:
Step 1: From the mount position move your hips towards the shoulder of your opponent a bit.
Step 2: From that position lean towards the left/right and try to trap his one arm behind him.
Step 3: While doing this, your opponent is likely to try to free his arm. As you try to rotate towards your hip, your opponent’s head will also move.
Step 4: Take your hand under the head and try to go as deep as possible.
Step 5: At this point, you can slightly up your body and connect your both hands to hold a grip.
Step 6: In the last phase, you need to make the grip stronger and move your head upwards. This will cause an instant tap from your partner.
Guillotine choke: Grip and hand position
The mechanics of the guillotine choke mostly depend on the grip and hand position of the attacker. There are two distinct ways you can grip and perform a guillotine choke.
- High Elbow position
- Hight wrist position
A high elbow position means your elbow will be high and over the shoulder of your opponent.
When you place your right hand under the neck of your partner, your left hand will connect with your right hand. In a high elbow grip, you use your left hand to pull your right hand up towards your face.
By doing that your left elbow will move upward. This upward left elbow can be used to control the opponent’s shoulder and his counterattack.
In the high wrist position, what players do is twist the wrist and create extra force. Players like Gordon Ryan used this type of guillotine choke.
Exercises for guillotine choke
You know all the basics of the guillotine choke, but when you roll with your partner, you fail to make them tap.
No matter how good your position is, you can’t utilize the advantage. If this is happening to you, you’re not alone!
I used to have this same problem in my early days of BJJ. After facing this issue several times, I talked to one of my senior partners, and he identified my problem quickly!
Although I was training hard, I wasn’t training my grip strength regularly.
Here are some exercises to improve your grip strength:
Push-ups: Do 50 push-ups every day before practice.
GI Pull-ups: After your session, do pull-ups using your gi. Simply throw your gi over the pull-up bar, grab the lower part of the gi, and pull yourself up. This builds immense forearm and grip strength.
Choke Practice: Practice choking with your partner outside of sparring. This will help you develop your agility and gripping technique.
Counter or defense for guillotine choke
After reading about all these ways of attacking guillotine choke, you might wonder if is it possible to counter guillotine choke. Or what should be my defense against such Dark Art!!
To your satisfaction, There are lots of ways you can defend yourself from guillotine choke and you can even use a counter choke against your opponent which is called Von Flu choke.
Let me share some tips for beginners who don’t want to tap the mat from this choke:
Head Position: Maintain a straight head position as long as you can. Avoid bending your neck, as this will make it easier for your opponent to tighten the choke.
Weight Distribution: Another way of defending this choke is to Shift your weight towards your head by trying to stand up and touch the mat with it. This can help break your opponent’s grip.
A famous counterattack against guillotine choke is the Von Flu choke. To perform this choke at first you need to free yourself from guard. For example, if your opponent is on full guard and grabs your neck from behind, try to move your body and hip toward the opposite side of that choke.
If not pass the guard fully, try to at least free your one arm or leg from the grip.
As you move to the opposite side of the choke, use your chin and shoulder to grab the arm of your opponent. Naturally, your opponent will try to reales the hand, but you must not let him free his arm.
After that bring one hand under the neck of your opponent and try to grab it with your other hand. As soon as you connect two hands, make the grip tighter, if this doesn’t work, then you can move your body towards the head of your opponent.
This is called Von Flu choke. The key to performing this technique is lots of practice. What used to do was practice guillotine and Von flu with my partner.
The goal was to choke my opponent with either guillotine or von flu. Such training will help you immensely
Final Thoughts
Finally, the Guillotine choke is one of the most commonly used attacking moves in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Because of its simplicity, beginners frequently practice this choke.
And because many newcomers practice it, they often feel overwhelmed by all the moves and steps of it.
In this article, I tried to provide you with the necessary details for performing a guillotine choke, but how you will perform on the mat is entirely up to you.
No matter how comprehensive the instructions are, without practice, you will not see improvement.
So let’s get started and go to the mat. Spar with your partner and try to choke him with your guillotine. Best of luck!
FAQ
Can a guillotine choke break the neck?
No, a properly executed Guillotine choke in BJJ is designed to cut off blood flow, not to apply direct pressure on the spine or neck bones. The choke targets the Carotid Arteries, causing a quick, safe submission through a temporary loss of blood flow to the brain. However, if you apply excessive force or poor technique, there’s a risk of strain or injury to the neck.
Can guillotine choke kill?
Yes. It Can. While a Guillotine choke is designed to safely restrict blood flow to have a submission, in extreme cases, choking an opponent longer can be dangerous. When held too long, the choke could cause unconsciousness or even asphyxiation.
Can guillotine choke be used in street fights?
Yes, a Guillotine choke can be effective in a street fight, especially if someone tries to tackle or take you down. By wrapping an arm around the opponent’s neck you can effectively counter their attack.
But, If there are multiple attackers or weapons involved, using a Guillotine choke might leave you vulnerable. Thats why the less you engaged in a street fight, the safer it will be for you.
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