Ultimate Guide to the Half Nelson in BJJ

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a game that is growing very fast in popularity among martial arts fans. Every year, many new fans around the world join the game and start training for it. Unlike other martial arts, in BJJ, everyone can join BJJ and excel in their career. Whether you are short or tall, muscular or lean, strong or weak, you can get into the most popular martial arts game. You just have to focus and work hard in learning techniques and skills that you will utilize against your opponent in a BJJ game. The techniques are going to help you win the BJJ game against your opponent.

BJJ is a martial art that has incorporated and used some techniques that are legal and allowed in various other martial arts. Examples of these martial arts include Judo, Sambo, and wrestling. From wrestling, you can use half nelson in BJJ, which is a very powerful technique. The article discussed a comprehensive guide on Half Nelson, its method, significance, and uses.

Half Nelson or Half Nelson hold is a wrestling technique that is also allowed and used in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to control and grab an opponent fighter’s head and neck with your arm. Half Nelson is performed just like the Nelson hold in which a fighter uses one arm only for grabbing and controlling their opponent’s neck and head.

You might be thinking that if there is a half nelson, then there must be a full nelson. Yes! There is also a full Nelson technique. In a full Nelson technique, you use both your arms to control and grab your opponent’s head and neck. Half Nelson hold is a reduction technique derived from the full Nelson hold. In half nelson, you use your one arm only for grabbing your opponent’s head and neck. There is one plus point for you and one negative when you compare the Half Nelson wrestling move with the Full Nelson wrestling move. The negative point is that you cannot keep your opponent in one place forcefully, and the plus point is that you can make a lot of transitions and attack your opponent from a lot of different angles. And you can definitely make a lot of submissions from Half Nelson.

There are four positions of Nelson. Following are those four positions;

• Full Nelson Wrestling Move

• Half Nelson Wrestling Move

• Three Quarter Nelson Wrestling Move

• Quarter Nelson Wrestling Move

All these four positions are incorporated from wrestling. Now, these all are allowed and can be used in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Three quarter Nelson wrestling move is a type of Nelson in which you use both of your arms. It is the same as Half Nelson but with the addition of one more arm around your opponent’s body. You place both your arms around your opponent’s neck, and it allows you to apply more pressure on them. Whereas a quarter Nelson wrestling move is a type of Nelson hold in which put your one arm or hand on your opponent’s neck or grab their chin and pass your other arm across your opponent and clasp both your hand’s wrists.

The method and technique for doing the Half Nelson hold depends on the position you are in against your opponent when you want to do the Half Nelson wrestling move. The most important thing to keep in mind is don’t keep your hands at the back of your opponent’s neck. Instead, keep your hand at the back of your opponent’s head. This will help you put more pressure on your opponent and will keep your opponent in your control. Following is the method in detail for doing the Half Nelson for beginners.

Suppose you are at the back of your opponent and have a seatbelt grip on your opponent. The best position for doing the BJJ Half Nelson is when you are at the back of your opponent. Try to open your opponent’s collar with one of your hands. Grip their collar strongly. Move your other hand across the back of your opponent’s head. Your one hand is at your opponent’s collar, and your other hand is at the back of your opponent’s head. Apply pressure from your hand at the back of your opponent’s head. So now you have applied Half Nelson on your opponent.

The second position from which you can apply Half Nelson BJJ on your opponent is side control. To do this from side control, move your one hand and arm and place it beneath your opponent’s arm. For grabbing your opponent’s neck, move your other arm across your opponent’s neck and grab their neck tightly. With your other hand, grab their wrists. With that, move your opponent so that they are on their back and hold their neck tightly.

The steps are the same for applying Half Nelson BJJ on your opponent when you are in the turtle position. Opening their collar and then securing the collar grip and then grabbing their head from the back, and then applying pressure on their head.

• The BJJ Half Nelson provides you with the best control over your opponent. You have complete control of their posture, and you can change it in any direction you want. You are grabbing their neck and head, which means that they are in your direct control and you are holding them firmly. The second thing is you are also controlling their one arm with your other hand. This makes you control their upper body taking away their ability to move. Their arm, head, and neck are in your direct control. But you are also controlling their posture indirectly.

• In fact you are controlling their entire body. Because with all these controls, they cannot move into a good defensive position. They cannot move themselves to attack you. It is very difficult for them to do this. All these controls allow you to change their posture as you want to open some room for yourself to make transitions, attacks, and submissions. Also, you have controlled their one arm only. You have their other arm and two legs to make any other attacks or transition Half Nelson into some other submissive position.

• The power half-nelson wrestling move is a variation of the BJJ half-nelson, which is a folk-style wrestling move used to break down an opponent and turn them over for back exposure and a pin. While the half-nelson uses one arm on the back of the opponent's head, the power half-nelson hold uses two arms. One arm faces palm down and underhooks the opponent from behind while the other faces palms up so that the bones of the forearm are levering against the back of the opponent's head. The grip used when securing the power Half Nelson wrestling move can be an S-grip, a gable grip, or a wrist-to-wrist grip as long as you can put pressure on the back of the head of the opponent.

• More leverage can then be gained by sliding the grip up the opponent's head, forcing their chin to their chest. If the opponent is turtling or tries to stand, you can then slide off them and place all your body weight onto the back of their neck as a means to break them back down to the mat. The amount of pressure that can then be put on the opponent's neck is extremely painful but is relieved when they turn with the hold. Kenny Robinson was able to secure a submission with the power half-nelson hold at Bellator 25 when his opponent refused to turn and instead tapped to the pressure being placed onto his neck and shoulder.

• Although getting a submission with the BJJ power Half Nelson is rare, it is much more likely that the opponent will be broken down, and you can then switch back to the seat belt grip to look for a choke. Now although the technique is not seen as much in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitions, it is one favored by Gordon Ryan. In conclusion, the power Half Nelson is a very efficient move to use when you want to break down an opponent from the back, and that concludes the topic on the power half-nelson.

• Nelson holds are the techniques used in BJJ and wrestling by which you can get a dominant position over your opponent by grabbing their neck, head, and arms. Nelson holds are of various types depending on the arms you use for grabbing your opponent. They are primarily used for positional control of your opponent and being dominant over them.

• Nelson holds allow you to make many other moves and techniques to take your opponent to submission. You can make chokes, submissions, and attacks. You can also transition your opponent from Nelson holds to many other techniques.

Nelson Hold provides you with various types of controls for taking your opponent to positional control. You can use your one arm or both arms. Both have their own benefits and disadvantages. This was the technique that was originally started in catch wrestling. Later on, it was allowed and used by fighters in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Learn techniques from other martial arts and use them in BJJ, which are allowed and not illegal. This will help you get an advantage over your opponent, and it will become easy for you to defeat them.

Suppose you are at the back of your opponent and have a seatbelt grip on your opponent. The best position for doing the BJJ Half Nelson is when you are at the back of your opponent. Try to open your opponent’s collar with one of your hands. Grip their collar strongly. Move your other hand across the back of your opponent’s head. Your one hand is at your opponent’s collar, and your other hand is at the back of your opponent’s head. Apply pressure from your hand at the back of your opponent’s head. So now you have applied Half Nelson on your opponent.

In a full Nelson technique, you use both your arms to control and grab your opponent’s head and neck.

Half Nelson hold and Full Nelson hold are the other names used for Half Nelson wrestling move and Full Nelson wrestling move. Half Nelson or Half Nelson hold is a wrestling technique that is also allowed and used in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to control and grab an opponent fighter’s head and neck with your arm. In a full Nelson technique, you use both your arms to control and grab your opponent’s head and neck. Half Nelson hold is a reduction technique derived from the full Nelson hold. In half nelson, you use your one arm only for grabbing your opponent’s head and neck.