Submission profile

Kimura: how often it lands in real training

The kimura is the #4 submission in BJJBuddy logs, finished by 1,530 people and tapped to by 1,187. How the shoulder lock works, gi vs no-gi, and by belt.

People who finished it1,530Logged it as their submission
People caught by it1,187Logged tapping to it
Rank#04Among 36 submissions
Gi share43%Of finishes on a logged gi day
Both sides of the exchange

Finished it. Got caught by it.

Finished it1,530
Caught by it1,187

The same person can be in both groups. Across all logs, 4,362 finishes and 2,651 taps were recorded on separate training days.

Training format

Gi vs no-gi

43%gi
Gi 43%No-gi 57%

3,327 finishes on days with a logged gi or no-gi session. Across all sessions the split is 51.5% gi.

The kimura is a shoulder lock: a figure-four grip on the wrist rotates the arm behind your partner’s back. It works from guard, half guard, side control and north-south, and the grip doubles as a control position for sweeps and back takes.

How the kimura works

  1. Grab your partner’s wrist with the hand on the same side.
  2. Reach your other arm over their upper arm and grab your own wrist to make the figure-four.
  3. Keep their elbow bent at about 90 degrees and close to your body.
  4. Rotate the hand away from you, behind their back, slowly. From guard, angle your hips out first.

Common mistakes

  • Letting the elbow straighten, which takes the pressure off the shoulder.
  • Cranking with your arms instead of turning your whole body.
  • Applying it quickly: shoulders can be hurt before a partner has time to tap.

Learn and drill techniques with a qualified coach and a cooperative partner, and let go the moment your partner taps. This overview is not a substitute for live instruction.

How often each belt finishes it

White belt28.8%
Blue belt35.4%
Purple belt42.9%
Brown belt43%
Black belt34.4%

Share of each belt’s users (among those who logged any submission) who have finished with it. Belt is the rank set in the app today.

How to read these figures

“Finished it” means a user logged this move as a submission they got. “Caught by it” means they logged tapping to it. The rank orders all 36 submissions by how many different people logged them either way. From BJJBuddy training logs, November 2015 to November 2026. Duplicate uploads are removed, so a session is one person on one training day. Each person counts once per technique. Groups smaller than 10 people are not shown.