What is Reaping the Knee? Jiu Jitsu Tutorial

What is “Reaping the Knee”?
In simple terms, reaping the knee is when your leg crosses over your opponent’s leg in a way that twists their knee inward — toward the centerline of their body — while their foot is trapped or stuck against your body.

That twisting pressure can put a lot of torque on the knee joint, which is why it’s considered dangerous and illegal.

As stated in the video, reaping is almost never legal in the gi, even at the Black Belt level.

Reaping the knee is legal, however, in higher experience-level NoGi divisions- usually Purple or Brown Belt and up.

How It Happens
As shown in the video, a common example is when you're playing Single-Leg X guard. In SLX, your foot will be wrapping around the outside of your opponent's leg so that the arch of that foot is driving into their hip bone. If you continue driving that foot across their hip bone towards their centerline, you are now applying inward lateral pressure on your opponent's knee- which constitutes a reap.

What happens if you reap someone's knee at a tournament?
Straight to Jail.

But seriously, you can get instantly disqualified and lose the match depending on the tournament you're competing at. IBJJF is notoriously strict about this. Other more lenient organizations/referees will generally stop the match, issue a warning about the position which may include a penalty, and reset you to the nearest legal position before resuming the action.

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Instructor Bio: Professor Michael South is a 2nd Degree Black Belt under Renato Tavares (Carlson Gracie Lineage). Michael has been an extremely dedicated instructor of kids and adults for over 17 years now, and has been featured in instructional courses in Krav Maga and Jiu Jitsu that have been sold in 44 countries.Born and raised in Oklahoma, he started teaching in his home town (Norman, OK) in 2008 and opened National Martial Arts in Oklahoma City in 2013.
He has also competed at multiple belt levels in Jiu Jitsu and is a Fight2Win Pro veteran with a professional record of 2 wins and no losses. https://www.instagram.com/southiejiuj...