I have seen a lot of leglocks and actively use them.  my big question is how to do leglocks without getting countered.  this specifically involves heel hooks and reverse heel hooks.  you see issue at hand is a very complicated one, i notice that a lot of people jump for leglocks and just try to crank the shit out of it as fast as possible to get the tap.  ok, that is fine and well but it is very hard to train this because you cant go around breaking the legs of your training partners.  my specific question involves the legknot and protecting your own feet and securing your position as you search for a leglock.  as stated i notice that some people just want to grab the leglock as fast as possible but the problem is that you cant go around hurting your partners so thus the legknot control comes into position.  the question is how essential is it to get into the legknot position before commiting to a leglock?

other questions are when going for a regular footlock, how does one protect their own feet from getting countered with heel hooks/reverse heel hooks?  especially when training with an idiot that doesnt want to tap and just decides to grab your own feet as you grab theirs.  Is there any specific position to both hide ones feet from danger and lock down your opponent?

thank you very much for replying brian, the reason i got on the forums is after a long time of watching damage control videos as well as erik paulson videos on youtube.  i am a big fan of leglocks and have faced the same problem your two fighters have.  in my first fight which was a few months ago, i jumped for a heel hook when i was on bottom and wanted to crank before even getting a figure four leg knot as a result i got my nose smashed but eventually rebounded and won.

your post is very enlightening because there are so many people who go hunting for leglocks with the attitude of 'catching' a win.  so much so that they lose position and lose the submission.  many bjj practicioners advocate using leglocks as a means of sweeping or improving position.  i am aware of this concept and furthermore after watching your video on the shinlock pass from butterfly after stuffing a leg, i have been trying to mix in leglocks with passes more often as well.  i suppose it is only natural to then suppose that controlling and being able to defend as well as suck your opponent in while attempting a leglock is also fundamental.  i usually always attempt to protect my feet before trying to complete a leglock but after reading your informative post, it has made me even more aware of the importance of being in a good position before fully going in for a finish.

thank you very much.