Lapel Choke

Last updated: June 18, 2026

What is a lapel choke?

The lapel is the strip of reinforced cloth that runs vertically down each side of a BJJ gi jacket, from the collar to the hem. A lapel choke turns that cloth into a weapon. The attacker feeds it around the opponent’s neck and uses it like a rope, tightening it against the sides of the neck until the opponent taps or goes to sleep.

These chokes only exist because the gi exists. In no-gi grappling, there is no jacket to grab, so practitioners rely on chokes that wrap the arms or legs around the neck instead. With a gi on, the jacket becomes a set of built-in handles. That single difference opens up a whole family of attacks unavailable to the no-gi grappler, which is why gi BJJ leans so heavily on collar and lapel work.

The family has deep roots. Gi strangles come from judo’s shime-waza, the choking techniques catalogued at the Kodokan long before Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu took shape, and several lapel attacks still carry their Japanese names in academic circles. The cloth changed colour and the rules changed, but the underlying mechanics travelled from judo into BJJ more or less intact.

How a lapel choke works

Almost every lapel choke is a blood choke, which grapplers and judoka often call a strangle. The fabric presses into the sides of the neck and squeezes the carotid arteries, the vessels that carry oxygenated blood to the brain. Starve the brain of that blood, and it shuts down within seconds. Barcelona’s Circle Academy describes the same mechanism in its breakdown of choke physiology. An air choke is a different animal: it crushes the windpipe at the front of the throat, so it hurts far more and works much slower.

The distinction matters for safety. Wikipedia’s entry on chokeholds notes that air chokes have been linked to fractures of the larynx and hyoid bone and are considered less safe to practice than blood chokes. A correctly applied lapel choke avoids the windpipe entirely and goes straight for the arteries, which is part of why it is trusted in everyday training: released the moment the person taps, they recover quickly.

There is a second reason coaches love it: the choke runs on leverage rather than muscle, so size barely matters. The gi is the lever, and bodyweight or hip position supplies the force. A smaller grappler can strangle a much larger one, the principle behind Helio Gracie’s old line that no opponent is ever too tough to be choked.

Lapel choke vs collar choke

In almost any academy, “lapel choke” and “collar choke” get used as if they mean the same thing. Most of the time, nobody is wrong to do so, because the two overlap heavily and many finishes use both parts of the jacket at once. There is a small technical difference worth knowing.

The collar is the part of the jacket that sits around the neck. The lapel is the longer flap that continues down the chest. A collar choke grips near the neck and bites quickly with a short range of motion; a lapel choke often feeds the longer fabric under an arm or across the body first, trading speed for reach and angles the collar grip can’t reach.

	Collar choke	Lapel choke
Part of gi used	Reinforced edge around the neck	Long flap running down the chest
Typical setup	Grip near the throat, finish fast	Feed fabric around the neck or under an arm first
Strength	Quick and direct, with few moving parts	Longer reach and more setup angles
Example	Cross collar choke	Baseball bat choke, loop choke

In day-to-day conversation, the terms blur, and that is fine. The cross collar choke, for instance, is sometimes called the cross lapel choke, and both names point at the same submission.

Common types of lapel chokes

Lapel and collar work covers a wide spread of submissions. A handful show up constantly, and recognising them by name is enough to follow most gi commentary.

Choke	What sets it apart
Cross collar choke	The first gi choke most beginners learn; hands cross to grip both collars, and the wrists close on the neck. Famously simple to learn and hard to master.
Bow and arrow choke	A back attack that grips the collar while the legs trap a leg, bending the opponent into a bow shape. Its power comes from the legs and hips, not the arms, which is why it finishes so many gi matches.
Loop choke	A sneaky front choke where the arm loops over the neck through the gap made by the gripping arm; it arrives fast and is often used to punish a low head during a takedown or pass.
Baseball bat choke	Both hands stack on one lapel like a grip on a bat, with the neck trapped between the forearms; usually hit from side control or a scarf-hold position.
Clock choke	A pressure strangle on a turtled opponent, using the collar and bodyweight as the attacker walks around the head like the hands of a clock.

Each of these has its own setups and counters, and a dedicated guide is the place to learn the step-by-step. For the purpose of understanding the term, the through-line is simple: all of them turn the jacket into the choking surface.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a lapel choke a blood choke or an air choke?

Almost always a blood choke, also called a strangle. It compresses the carotid arteries on the sides of the neck rather than the windpipe, which is why it works quickly and is relatively safe when released on time.

Are lapel chokes dangerous?

A blood choke is reasonably safe in a supervised setting, and people recover within seconds once it is released. The danger comes from holding it long after a partner taps or loses consciousness, so respecting the tap is everything.

Can you do a lapel choke in no-gi?

No. Lapel chokes need the jacket. In no-gi, grapplers swap to chokes that use the arms or legs, such as the rear naked choke or the triangle.

Is the cross collar choke a lapel choke?

Effectively yes. It is sometimes called the cross lapel choke, and the names are used interchangeably, even though it grips closer to the collar than the chest.

Where do lapel chokes come from?

They trace back to judo’s shime-waza, the strangulation techniques organised at the Kodokan, and carried into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as the gi game developed.

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Sources

1. BJJ Heroes. “Bow and Arrow & Sliding Collar Choke.” Accessed June 2026.
   https://www.bjjheroes.com/techniques/bow-and-arrow-standard-choke-from-back
2. Circle Academy. “The Physiology of Chokes in BJJ.” Accessed June 2026.
   https://circleacademy.es/en/blog/bjj-choke-physiology/
3. Digitsu. “BJJ Chokes vs Strangles: What’s the Difference?” Accessed June 2026.
   https://digitsu.com/a/bjj-chokes-vs-strangles-what-s-the-difference-and-which-one-to-use
4. Find Your Gi. “Blood Chokes: How Do They Work?” Accessed June 2026.
   https://findyourgi.com/blood-chokes/
5. Wikipedia. “Chokehold.” Accessed June 2026.
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chokehold
6. Evolve Daily. “4 Must Know Lapel Chokes For BJJ.” Accessed June 2026.
   https://evolve-mma.com/blog/4-must-know-lapel-chokes-for-bjj/

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