Follow through: When you go to attack with a joint lock it is important to understand the idea of follow through. To THREATEN a joint you need to EXTEND it. To BREAK a joint, you need to HYPEREXTEND it. This means that you must position yourself in such a way that you can extend the relevant parts of your body THROUGH the opponents joint. Just as a boxer doesn't punch AT the jaw, but rather THROUGH the jaw, so to with your joint locks. There must always be some extra extension available for you, so that if you had to, you could have taken the joint beyond it's range of motion into damage. Of course it goes without saying that in training you NEVER MAKE USE OF THIS FOLLOW THROUGH DISTANCE as it will injure training partners, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be cognizant of it and train yourself to create it should it ever be necessary to use one day.
