The bow and arrow choke: how it works and how to do it
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By Scott Flear, founder of JitsAI.
The bow and arrow choke is a collar choke from the back: one hand takes a deep grip on your opponent’s far collar, the other grabs their leg, and you stretch them out across your lap so their own lapel tightens around the neck. It’s a blood choke: the collar and your wrist squeeze both sides of the neck, so blood flow to the brain drops. It only exists in the gi. Tap early, and let go the moment your partner taps.
What is a bow and arrow choke?
The bow and arrow is one of the strongest chokes from back control in gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu. You hold their collar with one hand and their leg with the other, then pull in opposite directions. Their body bends like a bow, and the collar is the string.
It’s a lapel choke, which means the gi does the squeezing: the lapel is wrapped round the neck and pulled tight (Hasegawa et al. 2026). No collar, no choke, so there’s no no-gi version. In no-gi, the rear naked choke does the same job from the same position.
How does a bow and arrow choke work?
Two opposite pulls do the work: the collar up towards their head and the leg down towards their feet.
- The collar is the string. Your choking hand goes across the throat and grips deep in the far collar. When you stretch their body out, the lapel cinches round the neck like a noose.
- Both sides of the neck. The collar presses one side of the neck and your wrist the other. Squeezing the carotid arteries cuts blood flow to the brain, and that’s what puts someone out, not a blocked windpipe (Mitchell et al. 2012).
- Bend them, stay straight yourself. Your body stays long while theirs bends across your lap. The further apart the collar and the leg go, the tighter the choke, so the power comes from your posture, not your forearm.
A deep grip matters more than a hard pull. A shallow grip leaves the collar loose and you end up wrenching on the jaw.
Episode 17 of our Anatomy Series explains why blood chokes like the bow and arrow work in seconds while air chokes are slow.
How do you do a bow and arrow choke?
The classic version starts from back control. Steps 2 and 5 are the ones that make it work.
- Step 1: Take the back. Get your chest on their back with your hooks in or a seatbelt grip, so they can’t turn into you.
- Step 2: Grip deep in the far collar. Use your other hand to pull their lapel down and open, then feed your choking hand across their throat and grip the far collar as deep as you can, fingers inside.
- Step 3: Scoot out to the side. Take your hook out on the side of your choking arm and swing your hips out that way, so their body lands across your lap.
- Step 4: Grab the leg. Let go of the lapel and grab their far knee or the trouser leg, or hug the leg.
- Step 5: Collar up, leg down. Pull the collar towards their head and the leg towards their feet, and straighten your body. Squeeze slowly, and let go the moment they tap or go limp.
Common bow and arrow mistakes
- A shallow collar grip. If your hand sits near the front of the lapel, there’s no string to pull. Feed it deep first, before you move anything else.
- Staying behind them. From flat behind them you can’t stretch them out. Scoot your hips out to the side so they end up across your lap.
- Pulling with your arm only. An arm pull tires you out. The finish comes from the collar and the leg going in opposite directions while your body straightens.
- Cranking fast. The choke tightens quickly once the angle is right. Squeeze slowly and give your partner time to tap.
If they fight the collar grip, switch to the rear naked choke. If they escape to their back, the armbar is often there.
What happens if you don’t tap to a bow and arrow choke?
You go to sleep. Across 81 chokes in real fights, people went unconscious about 9 seconds on average once the choke was fully locked (95% confidence interval 8.3 to 9.9 seconds; Stellpflug et al. 2020). That figure covers chokes in general, not the bow and arrow on its own.
Lapel chokes can also leave skin scrapes and cuts on the neck from the gi rubbing, and the injuries reported from chokes are mostly neck muscle strains and minor sprains, plus the blackout itself (Hasegawa et al. 2026).
Being choked out in training isn’t rare. In a self-reported survey of 4,307 grapplers, 27.8% said they’d been choked unconscious, and 2 people (0.05%) reported symptoms that didn’t go away (Stellpflug et al. 2020). That survey was self-selected, so treat the numbers as a rough picture.
Serious injuries are rare, but they happen. One case series described 10 injuries from grappling chokes, including 5 carotid and 3 vertebral artery dissections, tears in the wall of a neck artery (Stellpflug et al. 2022).
How to train the bow and arrow choke safely
- Tap early. Tap when you feel the choke lock, not when you feel yourself going.
- Let go on the tap. Release straight away when your partner taps, or if they go limp or stop responding.
- Train under a qualified coach. Learn and drill chokes in a class, never as a game or a dare.
- Get checked if something’s wrong. Seek medical care if you have neck pain, a headache, or changes in your vision or speech after a choke.
Does your bow and arrow land on everyone, or only on beginners?
Finishing a white belt and finishing a resisting blue belt are different results. JitsAI scores each technique against a nine-level ladder by partner size and experience, so you know who your bow and arrow really works on.
- One Focus a week, with pinned lessons from Henrique Rezende’s 74-lesson fundamentals course.
- A nine-level ladder for every technique, from partners less experienced than you to more experienced ones, each split lighter, same weight and heavier.
- Land it once and it’s a hit; 3 wins across 2 sessions and it’s proven.
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Video transcripts
Transcript: What happens if you don’t tap to a bow and arrow choke
What happens if you don't tap to a bow and arrow choke? You go to sleep. Your own collar cuts the blood to your brain. They take your back, reach across your throat and grab your collar nice and deep. They scoot out to the side, then grab your knee or hug your leg. And you land across their lap. Collar up, leg down. They stay straight, you get bent like a bow. That bend cinches your own collar round your neck. The collar and their wrist squeeze both sides. Under there run the brain's fuel lines, your carotids. And the drains, your jugular veins. The drains shut first, then the fuel lines. Your windpipe has stiff rings, so it shuts last. But the collar can still lean on your voice box. In judo lab tests of a similar collar choke, people were out in about 6 to 10 seconds. Squeeze on after they go limp, and in judo, fits and wobbles on waking got way more likely. So let go at the tap. Tap early. Train tomorrow.
Transcript: Blood vs air chokes
Why do blood chokes work fast and air chokes slow? A blood choke squeezes the sides of the neck where the arteries feed the brain. An air choke presses on the windpipe at the front. In one study, experts reviewed 81 chokes on fully resisting, highly trained fighters. Once the choke was locked in, they went unconscious in about 9 seconds on average. Older judo lab studies found similar times. Air is different. Block the windpipe and the oxygen already in your lungs and blood keeps your brain going longer. We couldn't find a good study timing air chokes, so we won't give you a number. Your brain needs a steady blood supply. Cut the supply and it seconds. Cut the air and the tank empties more slowly. Train under supervision. Tap early and let go the moment they tap. Next up, can small beat big?
Bow and arrow choke questions
Is the bow and arrow a blood choke or an air choke?
A blood choke. The collar and your wrist squeeze the sides of the neck, so blood flow to the brain drops (Mitchell et al. 2012). A badly set grip can press on the throat too, which hurts but finishes far more slowly.
Can you do a bow and arrow choke in no-gi?
No. The choke is the collar, so it needs a gi. The rear naked choke is the no-gi choke from the same position.
Which hand grabs the collar?
The hand that goes across the front of their throat grips the far collar. Your other hand opens the lapel for it, then lets go and grabs the leg.
How long does a bow and arrow choke take to put someone out?
The best figure is for chokes in general: about 9 seconds on average once fully locked, across 81 chokes in real fights (Stellpflug et al. 2020). We haven’t found a time measured for the bow and arrow on its own.
Why doesn’t my bow and arrow finish?
Usually the collar grip is too shallow or you haven’t got out to the side. Feed the grip deep, scoot your hips out so they’re across your lap, then straighten your body.
Sources
- Hasegawa et al. (2026), Common grappling submissions, Hawaiʻi Journal of Health & Social Welfare 85(6): 132–141. Lapel chokes use the gi’s lapel to compress the neck; skin abrasions or cuts from the lapel; most choke injuries are muscle strains, minor neck sprains and loss of consciousness, with vascular injuries reported.
- Mitchell et al. (2012), Journal of Applied Physiology 112(3): 396–402; Nimura et al. (2022), review. Compressing the carotid arteries cuts blood flow to the brain; the carotid-sinus reflex is not the main cause of unconsciousness.
- Stellpflug et al. (2020), International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport 20(4): 720–728. About 9 seconds on average to unconsciousness once a choke was fully locked, across 81 choke sequences in real fights (95% CI 8.3–9.9 s). Chokes in general, not one technique.
- Stellpflug et al. (2020), The Physician and Sportsmedicine. Self-selected, self-reported survey of 4,307 grapplers: 27.8% had been choked unconscious; 2 (0.05%) reported ongoing symptoms.
- Stellpflug et al. (2022), Journal of Emergency Medicine 63(1). A case series of 10 injuries from grappling chokes, including 5 carotid and 3 vertebral artery dissections.
This page explains a sport technique. It isn’t medical advice.