How to Do a Rear Naked Choke: The Most Important Submission in BJJ

The rear naked choke, usually shortened to RNC, is the most reliable submission in BJJ. It works in the gi, in no-gi, in MMA, and in real situations. It does not require strength, flexibility, or fancy setups. Once you have the position, the choke is almost a matter of patience.

Here is how to do it well and what stops most beginners from finishing.

The Position First

The choke comes from the back. To set it up, you need both of your hooks in. A hook is when one of your feet is inside their thigh, with the heel pulling back. Two hooks plus an over-under or seatbelt grip is what people mean by back control.

If you do not have the back yet, the choke is not the priority. Get the position first. Most failed RNCs are not choke problems. They are back-control problems. If your hooks are loose, your seatbelt is wrong, or your chest is not glued to their back, the choke will not finish no matter how good your arm position is.

The Choking Arm

The arm that does the choke slides under their chin and around the neck. The crook of your elbow lines up with the center of their throat. The hand of that arm grabs the bicep of your other arm. The other hand goes behind their head and presses forward.

That shape is the figure-four behind the neck. When you tighten it, both sides of the neck get pressure from your forearm and bicep. The carotids get cut off and the choke finishes in about ten seconds.

Note that the choke is on the sides of the neck, not the windpipe. It is a blood choke, not an air choke. Done correctly, it does not crush the throat. It puts pressure on the arteries that feed the brain.

The Hard Part Is Getting the Arm In

Your opponent knows the choke is coming. They will fight your hand. They will pull down on your wrist. They will tuck their chin to block the path. This grip fight is where most RNCs are won or lost.

The trick is to be patient. Do not try to ram the arm under the chin. Instead, use the opposite hand to break their grip, peel their fingers, or attack their face. The moment they react with a defending hand, your choking arm slides in.

The other technique is to swim the hand. You give them a target on top of their head with the choking hand, and when they reach to defend, you drop the hand and slide it under the chin. Drilling these little games is how you actually finish RNCs against people who know what they are doing.

Once the Arm Is In

The moment your forearm is under their chin, the fight changes. Grab your bicep. Get the other hand behind their head. Squeeze your elbows toward each other, not down. Imagine you are trying to make your two elbows touch in front of their chest. That motion is what tightens the choke.

If you cannot grab your own bicep, you can still use the gable grip variation. Hands clasped together with the palms touching, finishing by pulling the elbows together. The gable grip is slightly less tight, but for many beginners it is more reliable because it is harder to lose mid-choke.

Common Mistakes

Reaching for the choke with no setup. If you stick your arm under their chin while they are calm and defending, they trap your wrist and the choke is done before it starts. Set it up. Make them react to something else first.

Losing the back. People get so focused on the choke that they forget about the position. The opponent shrugs a hook out, turns into you, and ends up on top. Always prioritize the position over the choke. If you feel the back slipping, fix the position before you continue.

Squeezing with bad arm position. If the chin is in your elbow crease properly, the choke needs almost no squeeze. If the chin is on your bicep, you are wasting energy. Reposition before you keep cranking.

Letting them face down. If they roll to their stomach with you on their back, they buy time and they can spin out. Stay on your side, control their hips, and force them to face up or sideways.

For other common errors at the beginner stage, read 7 common mistakes beginners make in BJJ.

The Bow and Arrow Variation

In the gi, the bow and arrow is a high-percentage variant. You take a collar grip with one hand, pull their head and shoulder toward you, and pull one of their legs the other way. The shape ends up looking like an archer drawing a bow, with you at one end and their head and leg at the other.

This is sometimes easier to finish in the gi because the collar grip does not slip, while a bare-arm RNC can be defended by tucking the chin hard. The mechanics are similar enough that drilling one helps the other.

How to Drill It

Start in back control with your seatbelt set. Have your partner defend the choke at 50 percent. Work through the swim, the grip fights, and the finish. Do it for two minutes per side, then switch.

Then increase resistance. The RNC is one of those techniques where the difficulty is the live defense. Drilling it without resistance is fine for the first session but stops working quickly. You have to feel a real defending hand to learn how to beat it.

If you want a deeper structure for working on submissions like this, our Fundamentals program is built around the high-percentage techniques that actually finish at white and blue belt.

One Last Note

The choke is dangerous. Tap when you feel it locking in. People can go unconscious in seconds, and you do not want to find out by passing out. As the person finishing, release the choke the moment they tap. The RNC is fast and unforgiving, and a good training partner respects that.

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