Only Way Out: Front Headlock and Turtle Escapes
Brian Glick, black belt under John Danaher. Six volumes on escaping front headlock and turtle.
Instructor: Brian Glick, black belt under John Danaher. Lineage: Danaher system. Volumes: 6. Why I'm studying this: I keep getting caught in front headlock and turtle. I want a framework for escaping them, not a bag of scrambles.
The series is dedicated to Mr. Danaher. Volume 01 is conceptual — three overarching principles and four foundational skills that sit underneath every specific technique in Volumes 02 through 06. Volumes 02–05 are the technique library proper; Volume 06 is an executive summary of the whole course.
Volumes
- Volume 01 — Conceptual Foundations & Core Skills Dedication. Position overviews (front headlock, turtle). Three core principles. Four foundational skills. How to use the video.
- Volume 02 — Front Headlock: Technique Series Sit-through to half guard. Knee lever (locked hands). Trilemma (scoop sweep, take the back, knee slide). Two-on-one method. Arm drag series (back take, Sumi Gaeshi, Hiza Guruma). Snap-down reversal. Thumb-post drag and sucker drag (locked hands that won't open).
- Volume 03 — Early-Stage Strangle Defenses (not yet transcribed) Guillotines (High Elbow, Seated Kata Gatame, Arm In). Anaconda (Elbow Kip, Sucker Drag). D'Arce / Inverted Katagatame (Power Half, Locked On).
- Volume 04 — Go-Behind Defenses From Front Headlock (not yet transcribed) No Connection (Far Hip Drop, Shoulder Roll). Single Leg Control (Half Guard Trilemma, Double Leg, Ashi Garami). Tight Waist. Knee Block Counters (Outside, Cross, Armdrag).
- Volume 05 — Escaping Turtle Position (not yet transcribed) 2-on-1 wrist entries, pass-off methods. Near-side and far-side shoulder rolls against open hands, chest lock, body lock, seatbelt. Standing-up escapes hip-first and head-first. Special cases.
- Volume 06 — Executive Summary (not yet transcribed) Condensed review of every technique across Volumes 02–05.
The spine of the whole course
Volume 01 sets the conceptual spine. Every technique in the later volumes is the same three principles and four skills, recombined under different conditions. The principles: back to the floor, inside position, retract. The skills: grip fighting, the elbow cut, the shoulder roll, standing up. Reading Volume 01 first is the prerequisite for making sense of anything else.
Watching along
Every timestamp button on this site opens the Bilibili upload of Volume 01 at the exact second referenced. You can click any [00:32:07] inside a transcript, any timestamp button on a principle or skill page, and land at the moment of the source video that the note was taken from.
High Percentage Leg Locks — Volume 07: Reverse De La Hiva and Top-Position Entries
Lachlan Giles teaches the Reverse De La Hiva bottom game — positioning, inversion drills, attacking sequences for varying partner distances, and recovery via late-stage inversion — then closes the series with the top-position entries to leg entanglements: leg drag, forced leg drag, sit-down recovery, back step from half-guard, straight ankle sit-down, and the under-the-legs stack to saddle. This is the final volume of the series.
Defense and Escapes to Turtle Position and Front Headlock — Volume 01
Conceptual foundations + core principles + foundational skills + learning guide. Transcribed verbatim from the video by Brian Glick (Danaher system).