A basic demand in almost all grappling moves – particularly submission holds – is the demand for tightness of fit between you and your opponent – often called “connection.” The tighter the connection the less likely an opponent will be able to slip out of whatever you are trying to control him with. Now whenever you go to perform a given move, OVERALL connection is important, but LOCAL connection at certain key points is ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL. When you study your favorite moves you must make a point of understanding where the most important POINTS OF CONNECTION are for that move and strongly emphasize them in your training and drilling. So for example, here I am demonstrating the early phases of an outside heel hook. I emphasize the right connection of my opponents shoe laces to my ribs through good elbow position. This will make heel slippage, a common problem associated with heel hooks much less likely and also make the transfer of the power of my hips into breaking power upon my opponent's knee and ankle much more efficient. If you can see daylight around the opponent's foot – the lock will never operate at high efficiency. Make these crucial local areas of connection your study, not just overall connection, and you will soon notice a difference in your finishing ability.
