The Turtle to Back Take represents one of the most fundamental and high-percentage transitions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. When an opponent assumes the turtle position, they create a defensive shell that protects against many attacks but simultaneously exposes their back. This transition capitalizes on that exposure by systematically breaking down the turtle structure and establishing dominant back control. The technique involves controlling the opponent’s hips, preventing their escape to guard, inserting hooks methodically, and securing the seatbelt grip configuration. Mastery of this transition is essential for any grappler, as the turtle position appears frequently during scrambles, failed takedown attempts, guard passing sequences, and submission escapes. The back take from turtle offers multiple entry points and can be achieved through various methods including the chair sit, crab ride, crucifix threat, and direct hook insertion. Understanding the timing, weight distribution, and grip fighting elements of this transition dramatically increases finishing rates and overall positional dominance.
Starting Position: Turtle Ending Position: Back Control Success Rates: Beginner 45%, Intermediate 60%, Advanced 75%
Key Principles
- Control the hips to prevent opponent’s escape to guard or standing
- Establish chest-to-back connection before inserting hooks
- Insert bottom hook first while maintaining weight pressure
- Use seatbelt grip to break opponent’s defensive posture
- Transition smoothly between back take variations based on opponent’s reactions
- Maintain constant forward pressure to flatten opponent
- Protect against opponent’s sit-through and elbow escape attempts
Prerequisites
- Opponent in turtle position with hands and knees on mat
- Your chest positioned over opponent’s back or side
- At least one controlling grip established (collar, belt, or wrist)
- Hip control established to prevent opponent standing or recovering guard
- Weight distributed to prevent opponent’s forward roll escape
- Clear awareness of opponent’s defensive hand positions
Execution Steps
- Establish chest pressure: Position your chest directly on opponent’s upper back, driving weight downward to flatten their posture. Keep your hips heavy and base wide to prevent them from standing or turning into you. Your weight should make it difficult for them to maintain the turtle structure. (Timing: Initial control phase)
- Secure seatbelt grip: Thread your choking-side arm under their near armpit and across their chest, while your other arm goes over their far shoulder. Lock your hands together in a seatbelt configuration with your choking hand gripping your own wrist or bicep. This grip prevents their rotation and creates offensive threats. (Timing: As they react to pressure)
- Control the near hip: Use your leg closest to their hips to hook over their near hip, blocking their ability to sit back to guard. Your knee should be tight to their body, and your foot should hook inside their thigh. This is critical for preventing their primary escape route. (Timing: Before inserting first hook)
- Insert bottom hook: Slide your bottom leg (the leg on the mat side) underneath their body, threading your foot between their inner thigh and the mat. Your shin should be perpendicular to their body with your heel pulling toward their centerline. This hook is your anchor point for the entire position. (Timing: When hip is controlled)
- Clear the top leg: Use your free leg to step over their back and clear their defensive hand if necessary. If they’re defending the second hook with their elbow, use your seatbelt grip to lift their upper body slightly, creating space for your top hook to slide across their hip and into position. (Timing: After bottom hook secured)
- Insert top hook and establish full back control: Thread your top leg over their hip and insert your second hook, bringing both heels to their centerline. Pull with both hooks while maintaining the seatbelt grip. Adjust your hips underneath theirs and lean back slightly to establish full back control with both hooks and upper body control secured. (Timing: Final establishment)
Opponent Counters
- Opponent sits through to face you and recover guard (Effectiveness: High) - Your Response: Maintain heavy chest pressure and control the far hip with your leg. If they begin sitting through, follow their rotation while maintaining seatbelt grip and transition to modified mount or front headlock position.
- Opponent stands up explosively to escape (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Response: Keep your chest connection and seatbelt grip while following them up. Transition to standing rear clinch position, then use your body weight to drag them back down while maintaining back control throughout.
- Opponent rolls forward to escape hooks (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Response: Follow their roll while maintaining upper body control with seatbelt. Allow the roll but keep connection, then reestablish hooks as they complete the rotation or transition to crucifix position if they expose their arms.
- Opponent defends hooks with strong elbow frames (Effectiveness: High) - Your Response: Use seatbelt grip to lift their upper body and create space for hook insertion. Alternatively, transition to crab ride or crucifix position to attack their defensive structure from a different angle before returning to back take.
- Opponent hand-fights to break seatbelt grip (Effectiveness: Low) - Your Response: Adjust your seatbelt configuration to a high elbow position or switch to a body triangle if hooks are already inserted. Use their grip-fighting energy to advance position or threaten submissions that force them to abandon the defense.
Test Your Knowledge
Q1: Why must the bottom hook be inserted before the top hook when taking the back from turtle? A: The bottom hook serves as your anchor point and base. It prevents opponent from rolling you over and provides the stability needed to safely work for the top hook. Inserting the top hook first compromises your base and makes you vulnerable to being swept or reversed. The bottom hook also blocks opponent’s ability to sit back to guard, which is their most common escape from this position.
Q2: What is the primary purpose of the seatbelt grip during the turtle to back take transition? A: The seatbelt grip serves multiple critical functions: it prevents opponent from rotating to face you, controls their upper body posture making it difficult to stand or roll away, creates immediate submission threats that occupy their defensive attention, and provides the leverage needed to lift their torso when inserting hooks. Without proper seatbelt control, the opponent can easily turn into you and escape before hooks are established.
Q3: How should you respond if your opponent begins to stand up explosively while you’re attempting the back take from turtle? A: Maintain your seatbelt grip and chest connection while following them up to standing. Keep your hooks if already inserted, or transition to standing rear clinch if hooks aren’t yet in. Use your body weight hanging from the seatbelt grip to drag them back down while simultaneously working to reestablish or maintain your hooks. Never release your upper body connection during this transition, as it’s what prevents complete escape.
Q4: What specific technique should you use when your opponent defends the second hook insertion with a strong elbow frame? A: Use your seatbelt grip to lift their upper body slightly, which elevates their elbow and creates space underneath for your top hook. Alternatively, you can transition to crab ride position with one hook in, use that position to off-balance them and force them to post with their free hand, then insert the second hook when their defensive structure breaks. A third option is threatening the crucifix, which forces them to pull their arm in defensively, creating the space needed for hook insertion.
Q5: Explain the biomechanical relationship between hip control and preventing the opponent’s escape to guard during the back take from turtle? A: The opponent’s primary escape from turtle when you’re attacking their back is to sit their hips back toward you, which allows them to recover guard position. By hooking over their near hip with your leg, you create a physical barrier that blocks this hip movement. This forces them to remain extended in turtle position where they’re vulnerable to your back take. Without this hip control, even perfect upper body control and seatbelt grip won’t prevent them from simply sitting back through your legs into guard position. The hip control essentially removes their safest and highest-percentage escape route, allowing you time to methodically work your hooks in.
Q6: When should you prioritize transitioning to crab ride or crucifix instead of continuing to pursue the standard back take from turtle? A: Transition to these alternative positions when your opponent demonstrates exceptional hook defense with consistently tight elbows and strong turtle structure that resists standard back take methods. The crab ride and crucifix create different angles of attack and submission threats that force opponent to adjust their defensive priorities, which then opens opportunities to return to the back take. These positions are also preferable when you’re fatigued and need a more stable control position that requires less energy to maintain while still keeping offensive pressure. Additionally, against opponents who predictably defend hooks using the same pattern, these alternative routes break their defensive rhythm and create surprise.
Safety Considerations
The turtle to back take is a relatively safe transition with minimal injury risk when practiced correctly. Primary safety concerns involve protecting both practitioners’ knees during the drilling phase, as repeated pressure can cause discomfort. The bottom practitioner should avoid posting their hands too far from their body, which can result in hyperextended elbows if the top person drives forward aggressively. When practicing at full resistance, both partners should be aware of potential neck strain from aggressive seatbelt grip fighting. The top person should avoid driving their full body weight onto opponent’s neck or head region. Additionally, if transitioning to submissions from back control, clear communication about tap signals becomes critical, especially when training choke defenses.
Position Integration
The turtle to back take serves as a critical connecting technique within the broader BJJ positional hierarchy. Turtle position frequently appears during guard passing sequences when bottom player turns away to prevent being passed, after failed takedown attempts where one person ends up in turtle, during scrambles when both grapplers are transitioning between positions, and as an escape position from side control or mount. Mastering this back take dramatically increases your submission rate because back control is statistically the highest finishing position in BJJ. The technique integrates with multiple systems including the crucifix system, crab ride control, truck position entries, and traditional back control attacks. Understanding this transition also improves your turtle defense, as you’ll recognize the mechanics opponents use against you. The position connects forward to rear naked choke, bow and arrow choke, armbar from back, and numerous other back attack submissions.
Expert Insights
- Danaher System: The back take from turtle represents a fundamental principle of positional hierarchy exploitation in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. When we analyze the turtle position biomechanically, we observe that the defensive player has created a stable base using four points of contact with the mat, but in doing so they have necessarily exposed their entire dorsal surface. This creates what I call a ‘structural paradox’ - the position that feels safest to the defender is simultaneously offering their most valuable target to the attacker. The systematic approach to this transition prioritizes a specific sequence: first establish connection through chest pressure to limit mobility, second secure upper body control via seatbelt configuration which prevents rotation, third control the hip to eliminate the guard recovery escape, and finally insert hooks in the correct order with bottom hook preceding top hook. This sequencing is not arbitrary but rather reflects the hierarchical importance of control points. Many grapplers fail at this transition because they attempt to skip steps or reverse the order, particularly trying to force hooks before establishing proper upper body control. The key mechanical insight is that the seatbelt grip combined with chest pressure creates a ‘control envelope’ that dramatically reduces the defender’s available movement options, making hook insertion a technical formality rather than a scramble. Master this transition and you master one of the most reliable paths to the dominant finishing position in our art.
- Gordon Ryan: In competition, the turtle position is everywhere. People pull turtle when they’re getting passed, after failed takedowns, when they’re tired and defensive - it’s one of the most common positions you’ll encounter. That’s why having a bulletproof back take from turtle is absolutely essential for winning matches. Here’s what actually works at the highest level: you need to be heavy and you need to be fast at the same time. Heavy chest pressure prevents them from moving, but you have to move fast when inserting hooks because that’s when they’re most likely to escape. The seatbelt grip is non-negotiable - if you don’t have that, you don’t have anything. In my matches, I’m looking to establish the seatbelt immediately and I’m constantly threatening to choke from there, which makes them defend their neck instead of defending the hooks. That’s the key - create multiple problems at once. When I’m working the back take, I’m also thinking about the crucifix, the truck, the bow and arrow - all these positions connect and flow together. If they defend the back take too hard, I’ll switch to crucifix. If they defend that, I’ll go back to the back. Keep them guessing. Another critical detail: control that near hip with your leg or they’ll just sit back to guard every single time. That’s the escape everyone uses if you let them. In terms of training this, drill it until the movements are completely automatic, because in a match you’ll be tired and you won’t have time to think through the steps. Your body just needs to know what to do. Get your reps in and this position will score you a ton of points and finishes.
- Eddie Bravo: The back take from turtle is fundamental, but there’s some really creative stuff you can do from here that most people miss. Traditional BJJ teaches you the standard chair sit or the crab ride, and those work great, but in the 10th Planet system we look at turtle as this amazing opportunity to enter into the truck position, which opens up the whole twister system. So when I’m on top of turtle, I’m definitely thinking about the back take, but I’m also thinking about how I can trap that far arm and start working toward the truck. What’s sick about this is that when you threaten multiple positions - back control, crucifix, truck - the guy in turtle doesn’t know what to defend. He’s thinking about his hooks, but you’re actually going for something completely different. In no-gi especially, the body lock is your friend here. Forget about trying to get fancy grips when everything’s sweaty - just lock your hands around their body and you’ve got incredible control. From there you can lift them up slightly and slide those hooks in much easier. Another thing we emphasize is staying connected through all the scrambles. If they try to roll or stand up, go with them. Don’t let go. Some of the sickest positions in 10th Planet came from following someone through a weird scramble from turtle and ending up somewhere completely unexpected. That’s where the innovation happens. Train the basics for sure, but also play around and see what happens when they try weird escapes. That’s how you develop your own game and find techniques nobody else is using.