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Rear Naked Choke: The Highest-Percentage Submission
Written in collaboration with Espen Mathiessen
If there's one submission every jiu-jitsu practitioner should have in their toolbox, it's the rear naked choke. It's one of the most basic submissions in the sport and one of the most effective in both the gi and no-gi. The beauty of the rear naked choke is that it doesn't rely on strength. With the right technique, a smaller athlete can tap a bigger, stronger opponent every time.
Here's a full breakdown of how to set it up, finish it, and avoid the most common mistakes along the way.
Step 1: Get to the Back and Establish the Seatbelt
Once you reach your opponent's back, your first priority is the seatbelt grip. Stay tightly connected before you think about the choke.
Here is a key detail that many practitioners miss: protect your choking hand. Keep it tucked and out of reach. If your opponent manages to peel your top hand away, you still want to be able to go straight for the choke without resetting your position.
Step 2: Find the Chin (Without Relying on Force)
Your goal is to slide your hand underneath the chin. Sometimes your opponent's chin will be up, which makes this easier. Most of the time, though, they'll know what's coming and tuck their chin down to defend.
This is where the technique matters most. Instead of muscling your hand through, make your fingers sharp and approach from the side of the chin. Add rotational motion to create just enough space to slip your hand underneath; you don’t need to use brutal force.
Step 3: Commit to the Position
Once your hand is through, don't stay shallow. Reach all the way behind the head and grab your own bicep. If you stop short, it's far too easy for your opponent to grab your wrist and peel the choke off.
A couple of details that make the difference between a tight choke and a blown position:
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Chin on top: Bring your chin over your arm. This makes it much harder for your opponent to peel the choke away.
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Cross your hands, then connect: Instead of reaching for the head in an obvious way, cross your hands first, then grab behind the head. It's sneakier and harder to defend.
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Go all the way through: Get your fingers past the far side of the head. Stopping halfway leaves space for your opponent to grip and escape.
Step 4: Finish With Technique, Not Strength
This is where most people go wrong, even advanced practitioners. They try to squeeze the choke shut with pure grip strength. Instead, you need to expand your chest to tighten the choke, rotate your elbow in a rowing motion as you expand, and let the combination of chest expansion and elbow rotation finish the choke – not your grip.
The Body Lock Setup
In live rolling, you're rarely starting from a static position with a seat belt, for example. Most of the time, you're building the choke from full back control. Here's a useful setup:
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Underhook with your bottom hand, choking hand on top and protected.
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Instead of just hooking with your feet, lock a body lock with your legs around the belly. This limits your opponent's ability to rotate — which is exactly how most people escape back control. With just hooks, they can rotate and create space they need to peel you off. With the body lock, that rotation disappears.
Dealing With Defensive Hands
Once you start working for the choke, your opponent will grip and defend with both hands. Fighting both hands at once is a losing battle — so don't do this. Instead:
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Start prying at one of the defending hands.
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Once you get a cross grip on it, control it and tuck it into their own chest or belly. If you leave your hands floating in space, there's a gap to peel through. Locking their hand against their own body removes that space entirely.
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Push that hand down and hook it — either crossing your feet or reaching all the way around the back and hooking there. It's tighter, harder to escape, and gives you more mobility to move your opponent into position.
The key idea: turn a two-hand battle into a one-hand battle. Trap one arm completely, and you're only fighting the other.
The Tricky Part: Connecting the Choke From the Top-Hand Position
Here's the catch with the setup above — because your choking hand starts on top, actually connecting the rear naked choke gets tricky, especially against a resisting opponent.
To solve this:
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Build height by posturing up and opening your shoulder.
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Use that height to create space for your hand to move.
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Stay glued to your opponent's back as you shoot your hand through to complete the grip.
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From there, it's the same finish: expand the chest, rotate, and roll through to tap.
Key Takeaways
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The rear naked choke is about technique over strength — sharp hand positioning, rotation, and body mechanics do the work.
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Always protect your choking hand throughout the setup.
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Commit fully to your grips — shallow positioning gets you peeled off.
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Use a body lock, not just hooks, to control your opponent's rotation and prevent escapes. If you are competing in a specific ruleset where a back take scores four points, make sure to use your hooks first, score, and then transition to the body lock.
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Isolate one hand at a time instead of fighting a two-handed defense.
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Finish with chest expansion and elbow rotation, not squeezing harder.
Drill this sequence slowly with a partner before adding resistance, and it'll become second nature. It's called the "basic" choke for a reason, but basic doesn't mean easy to defend when it's done right.
FAQ
Is the rear naked choke legal in all jiu-jitsu rulesets?
Yes, the rear naked choke is legal at every belt level and in essentially every ruleset, including IBJJF, ADCC, and no-gi competitions. It's one of the few submissions with no age or belt restrictions.
Why is the rear naked choke considered so effective against bigger opponents?
Because it doesn't rely on strength. The finish comes from chest expansion and elbow rotation, not grip force, so a technically sound smaller athlete can finish a much larger opponent.
What's the most common mistake when going for the choke?
Staying too shallow when you reach for the head. If you stop short instead of reaching all the way through to grab your bicep, your opponent has an easy angle to peel your arm off and escape.
Should I use hooks or a body lock for back control?
It depends on context. If you're competing in a ruleset where a back take scores points with hooks, secure the hooks first to get the points, then transition to the body lock for a tighter, more controlled position to work the choke.
How do I stop my opponent from defending with both hands?
Don't fight both hands at once. Isolate one hand, control the wrist, and tuck it into their own chest or belly so there's no space to peel through. That turns it into a one-hand battle instead of two.
Do I need to finish from a static position?
No — most of the time you'll be building the choke from full back control with your hand starting on top. You create space by posturing up and opening your shoulder, then shoot your hand through before finishing.