JT Shows Lycan How to Make Your Leglocks BulletProof

Welcome to the very first post on the Lycan Jiu Jitsu blog! We are starting this new series by sharing a quick recap of an incredibly special night on our Berkeley mats.

On Tuesday, our academy family hosted James "JT" Tomlinson, co-host of the BulletProof for BJJ podcast, for an extensive seminar on the modern leglock game.

If you’ve ever tuned into his show, you already know JT is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to submission grappling, sports performance, and physical longevity for athletes. But what really made the night special for our community was his ability to explain highly technical concepts (as expected of a Lachlan Giles-black belt) while combining his unique sense of humor. He had the whole mat laughing between reps, making some pretty advanced concepts feel accessible and fun for everyone, from our white belts to advanced practitioners.

Key Leglock Techniques Covered

We spent the evening diving deep into two highly effective lower-body attacks that are essential to modern No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu:

• The Straight Ankle Lock: JT broke down the subtle breaking mechanics and hip positioning adjustments that take a classic, fundamental submission and make it completely undeniable.
• K-Guard to Backside 50/50 Heel Hook: We tackled the smooth entry sequence that Lachlan Giles famously used to shock the world during his legendary 2019 ADCC Absolute run.

Seeing the mats packed with Lycans as well as visiting grapplers—huge shoutout to our training friends from Ronin Submission Grappling and Rooted Jiu Jitsu—everyone helping each other out with the tricky details, and the shared laughter at JT's antics is exactly what our academy is all about.

A massive thank you to JT for sharing his time and wisdom with us, and an even bigger thank you to everyone in our Berkeley/East Bay BJJ community who showed up to roll.

Support Our Grappling Community

If you want to keep your body feeling bulletproof so you can keep training hard with the team, definitely check out JT’s work outside of seminars:

• Pop over to BulletProof for BJJ to subscribe to the podcast.
• Check out their custom strength and mobility app designed specifically to keep grapplers healthy, mobile, and injury-free on the mats.

We’re excited to use this blog to keep you updated on technique tips, student spotlights, and  jiu jitsu gym news. See you all at the next class! Newcomers don't forget to sign up your free trial week.