The Amazing Wrestling Cradle System for BJJ

Cradles are a category of wrestling techniques used for both pinning and mat returns, which often end up highly underestimated in BJJ. As someone who discovered the power of wresting for Jiu Jitsu through the study of wrestling cradles, I will attempt to shed some light on this beautiful aspect of grappling for everyone who is (still) ignoring it. 

What is a Cradle in Wrestling?

A wrestling cradle is a position in which the top person controls the head of the bottom person on one end and their leg on another. The top person achieves this control with their arms, cradling both the head and legs.

A general use of the cradle in wrestling is to pin an opponent down. Pinning is achieved in wrestling when your opponent’s shoulder blades reach the mats. Wrestlers are incredibly difficult to pin when a pin ends a wrestling match, just like a submission ends a BJJ match. 

The cradle is one of the best ways to ensure a pin, since it controls an opponent’s entire body by utilizing a key concept in wrestling – bunching. 

Bunching refers to a position where an opponent’s head and legs come in close proximity. This is where things get interesting. If you imagine the BJJ shrimp, you’ll notice that the head and the knees come very close together at the end range of the movement. 

This means that in BJJ, people on the bottom intentionally bunch up when hip escaping, opening up the opportunity for using the wrestling cradle a lot to the person on top. 

While the cradle in itself does not provide a pin, it does provide incredible control for the top person as a result of direct control over both ends of the body (head and legs). In BJJ, this also leads to many submission options since the legs, arms, and neck are all bunched together in one place. 

Depending on positioning, there are several different types of wrestling cradles. 

Types of Wrestling Cradles 

The wrestling cradle works the same regardless of where the top person is, with small details in grip positioning and body alignment. You can cradle someone starting from standing, but in most cases, the best application of wrestling cradle in BJJ is against a person already lying on the bottom on their side. 

If you imagine someone’s hip escaping away from you, their legs and head end up bunched right in front of you (i.e., you’re in top side control). This is a near-side cradle. 

During a near-side cradle, you grab the top leg with the arm closest to them, looking to place your elbow behind the opponent’s knee, but aiming to have it located more toward the beginning of the calf rather than the ending of the hamstring. This neutralizes the incredible muscular power of the hamstring. 

The other arm goes around the head, trying to get as much of the head with it, similar to a Guillotine choke. Both arms connect via the S-grip, giving you complete control over the opponent. 

The far-side cradle is when an opponent turns away from you in side control, exposing their back. When people bunch up during such motions (for example, going to turtle), you can once again get a wrestling cradle. 

Like the near-side cradle, you place one arm around the top leg at the exact same position. The other arm goes around the head, but this time, you opt for the ball-in-socket grip, 

Wrestling Cradle Attacks for BJJ 

Depending on whether you’re in a near or far side wrestling cradle, different attacking opportunities open up in Jiu Jitsu; From both these positions, there are ample submission attacks. 

The cradle can also be used to pass certain guards, like the half guard, and can even work to take somebody down. 

Far-Side Cradle

Once you place your opponent in a far-side cradle, their top arm will be in one of two positions: either sticking out around your waist or bunched in front of the opponent with its bottom arm. 

In the first scenario, you will set up a straight armbar by stepping your leg over their head. Once you have the leg in place, you can let go of the head with your arm and transition it over your leg to get in an arm lock. There is a finish right there, but you can also sit back for a tighter armbar as well.

When the arm is in the front, bunched up with the rest of the limbs, you already have an exposed back and a better position with your arms than just the regular BJJ seatbelt. 

A great means of attack from the far-side cradle is to tilt the opponent up, so they sit upright as you slide the arms to accommodate them, never letting go of the ball-in-socket grip. 

From there, you put your hooks in one by one, and you can proceed to finish any way you want, from rear naked chokes to rear triangles. 

Near-Side Cradle

The near-side wrestling cradle offers more immediate submission options and transitions, given your near-pin position and that all the limbs and neck are right in front of you “for the taking.”

To submit someone from the near-side cradle, you will need to let go of either the leg or the neck, but never let go of both simultaneously. 

Going for front headlock chokes, mostly in the form of the Darce choke and neckties (Japanese, German), are great ways of quickly tapping people out from the near-side cradle. 

You can also get creative and put in a brutally effective and tight knee-on-neck choke, which is known in catch wrestling as the Butcher choke. 

There are also different leg locking transitions and options from the near-side cradle and entries to the Kimura trap. 

Cradle Passing

The cradle is perfect for passing tedious guards like the half guard, which can keep you stuck for long periods of time. In fact, given that the bottom person in half guard often tends to bunch up anyway, the wrestling cradle opportunity presents itself.

The perfect example is the Z-guard, where the bottom person usually puts both their head and their top leg within reach for a near-side cradle. You must grab the top leg first, keep your hips back, and be patient with grabbing the neck.

Once you connect the S-grip, though, there is not much left of the opponent’s half guard, and you can simply sprawl to break their guard and pass with easy straight into a high-control position. 

Cradle Takedowns

Taking people down with the wrestling cradle requires a bit more fitness and practice, but the general idea behind it is not difficult to comprehend. 

Whether you’re wearing a Gi or not, you will need to establish a front headlock or, at the very least, a chin-strap grip. From there, you want t make sure you circle toward the opponent’s leg on the other side of the headlock. 

Depending on their size, you’ll either have to drop to your knee to connect your hand in an S-grip, or you’ll be able to do it immediately after you change the angle, 

Taking people down requires no strength, as you can tip them over into a near-side cradle. 

In Conclusion

The wrestling cradle offers exciting fresh opportunities to control, attack, and transition from the top position. Wrestlers even set them up from bottom positions for reversals, and it is easy to transition in between the far and near side cradle variation as you switch up your attacks to keep your opponent guessing.