davey123's blog

How does a Sleeper hold feel?
Somehow being trapped and held in a rear naked choke is a weird and wonderful thing. Maybe it is an acquired taste. Does it depend on who applies it? I don’t really know. Of course you can’t see the guy who is applying the hold. But I guess, knowing that he is powerful, muscled, determined, mean and strong with a body which is hard and solid makes it more of a totally overwhelming submission. You know, once he gets behind you and however he does it, you feel his chest against your back as he fights to get your arms out of the way of the choke, that you are going to go under. The end is inevitable, but you are determined to fight it as long as possible.
On top of you, flat on the mat, he has tight hold of one or your wrists but is using his weight to crush you. Trying to resist means that your other hand and arm is occupied pushing against the mat uselessly. You feel him sliding his hooks into position to control your hips and upper legs, this effectively lets him double the weight on top of you, already forcing the air out of your lungs. But worse than that, it means he can slide the blade of his free hand over your throat and begin to wrap it onto your shoulder, deeply encircling your neck with his thick, striated forearm. He is experienced…you sense this. He tucks your larynx deep into the welcoming crook of his elbow. This will not be a quick choke, crudely bruising your larynx and making you gag as your airway is shut. No, no. This, you already know, is going to be a blood choke, and already you can feel his bicep swelling and hardening against the side of your neck.
He wrenches his other hand out of the grasp of your hand. You can feel him thrusting his hips deeply into you to keeping total control, flat against the mat. He shakes your head a little – it is aggressive but also has the effect of removing any lingering looseness out of the encirclement which that brawny arm, with its hairy forearm, has accomplished. Now you start to beg instinctively, ‘no, no, please no. Please…. don’t put me out…please, no, no!’ But the reply that comes gives no hope, ‘shut up boy, you are going under now, I am gonna crush you into sleep, fucker’. He is now sliding his other arm behind the back of your head. You struggle furiously and the pair of you locked together roll onto your sides, which at least relieves you of his heavy weight – he is bigger than you and all that weight on you was both crushing and exciting. Instantly he changes his leg position to hook just one of your legs with both of his. This means that despite your struggles you cannot turn in the hold to escape. He clamps his powerful thighs down on your leg so hard that it makes you yelp, but you soon have something else to think of.
That arm behind your head is pushing past the back of your head, making the hold punishingly tight. You are trying to punch the arm which is now tight and hard round the front of your neck. It is so thick with muscle and so hard, that your punches have zero effect, though you keep pounding on the arm which is killing you so effectively. You can feel his breath on the side of your face and head, his mouth is right next to your ear. He is saying something to you, but you cannot take it in because your mind is now going to that place where it knows nothing but the pain and torture which this hold is inflicting on you. You are being taken over wholly by this hold and this man.
With a clunk his arm behind your head slots onto the shape of the nape of your neck and he joins his hand to his own bicep behind your right ear.
Yes. This guy knows how to apply this. Now with a surge of power he pulls you back so that you are lying on top of him, completely trapped now in the fully applied rear naked choke. He is tightening up powerfully pulling his shoulders back, and you feel his chest flexing against your back. Speech is no longer possible, but you mouth ‘no,… please, please, no, no’. All he hears is your contorted breathing. He is inexorable in tightening the hold. He will not stop until you are out now. You pull uselessly at the muscular coil of arms around your neck and marvel at how wonderful they feel, even whilst they deal out this weirdly exciting agony. Your peripheral sight is going. You have only seconds to go before passing out, but those seconds seem to take minutes. It is like coming with a shudder of climax…..the arrival of total unconsciousness. You are limp. Defenceless. You are overcome. You are completely at the mercy of the power of the man who has trapped you. You love it. It is wonderful. The warmth and trust and pain and ecstasy of this hold, of this moment. You have been forced to trust another man’s arms to hold you tight, to the point of this mini-death and now all your limbs and your whole body are softly held in his arms whilst he waits for you to come back. The moment of passing out is the most alive you ever feel. And it is also the thing which fills your loins with the most urgent lust and animal pump. Almost as soon as you are aware of your surroundings and can begin to re-orientate yourself, losing that fleeting sense of confusion and other-worldly quality you want it to begin again. You are aware of your hands lying loosely on his now relaxed but ever-powerful huge thighs, you run your hand over the muscle appreciatively. Now instead of being the brutal determined source of the hold which delivers total domination, your man is all concerned soft intimacy asking, ‘you ok?’. You moan and mumble back ‘Yeah’ even whilst remaining folded into his still hard body which instead of now holding you in a steel embrace, is warm and comforting. There is no place which is as secure as this. There is no way of being closer to another guy than to allow him, which is actually what you do, to take you over so wholly that for a few brief seconds you are unconscious at his demand. This is the Sleeper Hold. Brutal, effective, one of wrestling’s arsenal of devastating holds for overpowering and subduing and opponent. Yet somehow in the doing of it, bringing two men closer in intimacy and shared understanding than you would have thought possible. ‘Give it up boy…or I’ll put you out.’
Warning: If you have never tried the Sleeper hold, either receiving or giving, be aware of the obvious…that it is potentially dangerous. Best would be to find someone with experience who can show you safely how it is done. But in any case always make sure that you are not cutting off your opponent’s air. The larynx does not need to be compressed, you are cutting of the victim’s blood supply to the brain with your bicep and forearm at the sides of his neck. Properly applied you don’t need to squeeze much, just bring your elbows together and draw your shoulders back and he will go out in less than ten seconds. ALWAYS MONITOR YOUR OPPONENT CAREFULLY AND LET GO WHEN HE GOES LIMP! Usually he will come back round in as little as a couple of seconds, but if he doesn’t, elevate his legs so that blood flow to the brain is helpfully restored. Sometimes you need to give him a tap to bring him fully awake. The man may be temporarily confused about where he is and what is happening (which can be quite funny!). When it was first applied on me, I was totally astonished at how little pain there was and had no idea where I was when I came round. But now I am the one doing the applying usually. It’s a great hold, but be safe.