Hammerlock

Last updated: June 17, 2026

What is a hammerlock?

The hammerlock takes a single arm and folds it behind the back. From there the attacker drives the hand up toward the shoulder blades and neck, and because the shoulder can only rotate so far, that upward pull loads the joint and the surrounding rotator cuff. Push past what the shoulder wants to give, and the person on the receiving end either taps, complies, or risks an injury.

The move comes out of wrestling, and it has lived a double life ever since. Catch wrestlers used it to control and punish an arm. Police and military instructors adopted a version of it as a restraint, the kind of “come-along” hold used to move an uncooperative person under control. Grapplers know it as a relative of the chicken wing, and it sits in the same family as the kimura, the most famous shoulder lock in jiu-jitsu.

What sets it apart from those cousins is the geometry. A hammerlock isolates one arm behind the back and pulls it up the spine. The threat is the shoulder, almost entirely. That single detail is what separates a hammerlock from the locks people most often confuse it with.

How the hammerlock works

Picture an arm pinned behind the back, elbow bent, hand sitting somewhere near the lower spine. The attacker controls the wrist and lifts. As the hand climbs toward the neck, the shoulder runs out of room to rotate, and the joint takes the strain.

The deeper the hand travels up the back, the tighter it gets. A flexible shoulder buys some time. A stiff one taps fast. Nothing clever is happening underneath, only a joint being pushed past its comfortable range, which is exactly why it doubles so well as a restraint. It does not have to be finished to be useful. Held at a moderate height, it controls a person without hurting them. Pulled higher, it becomes a submission.

Hammerlock vs. kimura

This is the comparison that trips people up, and for good reason. Both are shoulder locks, both push the opponent’s wrist toward their back, and both can end with the arm pinned behind the body. Watch them quickly and they blur together.

The grip and the direction of force are where they split. A kimura uses a figure-four, two arms wrapping the opponent’s one, and finishes with a rotation. According to BJJ Heroes, that double-wrist grip lets the attacker load both the shoulder and the elbow, though the shoulder takes most of it. A hammerlock skips the figure-four. The attacker controls the wrist more directly and pulls the arm up the back rather than rotating it, which keeps the pressure on the shoulder alone.

	Hammerlock	Kimura
Grip	Direct wrist control, arm pulled up the back	Figure-four, two arms on one
Main target	Shoulder	Shoulder (elbow secondary)
Finishing action	Upward pull behind the back	Rotation
Common home	Wrestling, restraint, no-gi	BJJ, judo, MMA

The two can even become each other mid-scramble. Wikipedia’s entry on armlocks notes that a kimura, depending on the angle, can end in a position that looks like a hammerlock once the arm is brought behind the back. They sit a single adjustment apart.

Where the hammerlock shows up

In folkstyle and catch wrestling, the hammerlock is a control position more than a finish. Coaching materials from Human Kinetics describe it as a basic control used after breaking an opponent down, a way to turn them toward their back and work toward a pin. Used at that level, it steers rather than damages.

Law enforcement borrowed the same mechanics. Black Belt Wiki notes that the hammerlock is commonly used as a restraining or “come-along” technique, and Wikipedia’s pro wrestling holds entry points out it is a legitimate controlling hold used by police to subdue uncooperative people. The arm-behind-the-back seen in countless arrest scenes is, in effect, a hammerlock held at low pressure.

In MMA and submission grappling it is the rarer guest. Chokes and armbars finish far more fights, and the kimura family covers most of the shoulder-lock work. The hammerlock tends to surface as control or a transition rather than the headline submission. It also shares DNA with the Dagestani handcuff, the arm-trap control Khabib Nurmagomedov made familiar, which keeps the idea circulating even when the textbook version rarely ends a fight.

Is the hammerlock legal?

It depends on the ruleset in play. In folkstyle wrestling the hammerlock is legal as a control, but it crosses into an illegal hold the moment the arm gets pulled too high on the back or away from the back, language that appears almost word for word in high school and college rule glossaries. The concern is the same one that has followed the move for a century. Wikipedia’s armlock entry cites the 1928 NCAA rulebook warning that a double wristlock taken up into a twisting hammerlock becomes illegal and must be stopped by the referee.

The grappling world treats it cautiously too. The Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Bible describes the hammerlock as restricted in IBJJF competition over rotator cuff injury concerns, while finding more acceptance in no-gi and ADCC-style rulesets. Rules shift by organization and belt level, so the only reliable answer is to check the specific ruleset before trying it in competition.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a hammerlock the same as a kimura?

No. They are close relatives, but a kimura uses a figure-four grip and finishes with rotation, while a hammerlock controls the wrist directly and pulls the arm up the back. The kimura also threatens the elbow; the hammerlock mostly threatens the shoulder.

Why is the hammerlock dangerous?

It forces the shoulder past its normal range of rotation, loading the joint and rotator cuff. Pushed far enough, it can damage the shoulder, which is why wrestling rules cap how high the arm may be pulled.

Is the hammerlock used in MMA?

Rarely as a finish. Chokes, armbars, and the kimura account for most submissions. The hammerlock shows up more as control or a transition than as a fight-ender.

What is the difference between a hammerlock and a chicken wing?

They overlap heavily. “Chicken wing” is a loose grappling term for trapping a bent arm, and a hammerlock is one specific way to do it, with the hand driven up the back. Many grapplers use the names interchangeably.

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Sources

1. Wikipedia. “Armlock.”
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armlock. Accessed June 2026.
2. Wikipedia. “Professional wrestling holds.”
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_holds. Accessed June 2026.
3. Evolve Daily. “BJJ 101: Hammer Lock.”
   https://evolve-mma.com/blog/bjj-101-hammer-lock/. Accessed June 2026.
4. Black Belt Wiki. “Hammerlock.”
   https://blackbeltwiki.com/hammerlock. Accessed June 2026.
5. BJJ Heroes. “Kimura Lock (Submission).”
   https://www.bjjheroes.com/techniques/kimura-lock. Accessed June 2026.
6. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Bible. “Hammerlock.”
   https://brazilianjiujitsubible.com/submissions/hammerlock. Accessed June 2026.
7. Human Kinetics. “Coaching Youth Wrestling.”
   https://s3.amazonaws.com/my.llfiles.com/00224751/hammerlock.pdf. Accessed June 2026.

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