Stranglehold or chokehold? My long suffering students will attest that I often show a fastidiousness that can make me a rather unpleasant person to be around at times. One mistake that is guaranteed to evoke a nasty reaction is the very common tendency for students of jiu jitsu to confuse strangleholds and chokes. It is of the greatest importance that students gain a deep understanding of the workings of the human body – this is an art – and your canvas is the human body – learn as much as you can about it and your jiu jitsu will improve. A choke refers to the act of obstructing the passage of air to the lungs. So for example, if you swallow food too clumsily, you can be choked. Strangulation refers to the very different action of cutting off blood to the brain, usually by constricting the carotid arteries in the neck. Chokes can take up to several minutes to render a well conditioned person unconscious. Strangles will do the same in around ten seconds. Due to the fact that the airways are in close proximity to the carotid arteries, most strangleholds will also incidentally have a choking effect and vice versa – but always it is the intention of the jiu jitsu player to strangle, rather than choke, an opponent due to the much greater efficiency of the former. Therefore, it ought to be standard practice to refer to our attacks to the neck as strangles rather than chokes (and please avoid the nonsensical phrase blood choke”) Here
