davey123's blog

Taking a Boston
I’ve made no secret of the fact that doling out a punishing Boston is a favourite move of mine and I’ve written about applying the hold before. That remains true. I love using the hold to punish, subdue and eventually submit an opponent (lovingly and slowly heh heh!), always with care about my opponent’s safety and listening to sense his limits and response when I have him in this awesome, gruelling hold. I still think it is one of wrestling’s most punishing/painful holds….depending of course on how it is applied. And for all BJJ/MMA/catch wrestling/submission wrestling purists out there who think this is just a fake pro move (….it can be of course) take a look at what pops up now on YouTube when you put in a search ‘Boston Crab’. The two top items are first Jonno Mears using it in a serious BJJ match to submit his opponent without any doubt about it, and the second one is Ramsey Dewey telling you clearly it’s not a fake move with an instructional vid about applying it (https://youtu.be/cfKesjb35C8). It’s great to hear such a prominent authority for legit action saying at the end of his vid,
“I know it’s not all that common. I use it all the time. Anytime I run into someone at the gym bad-mouthing the Boston Crab, I make sure they know what it feels like!”
Nice. I think I’d like his gym!! But, I have been asked quite a few times now why do I, as someone who in fun fights likes to be a heel, actually really like being caught in a good Boston and being made to submit (….um, preferably multiple times!)?
Needless to say, I think this hold is mega hot! I’ve wondered why that is the case. I guess the answer to that is not really very complicated. First, I love the turn….when my opponent grabs my ankles and clamps them under his armpits lifting me up high, so that only my shoulders are on the mat (I am 92kg of mostly solid muscle so that is not always easy for a lighter opponent!) I usually get a great view of his torso and legs working hard to hold me there before he starts to try and flip me over onto my chest. If it’s a fun, give-n-take kind of match I will resist a bit to make him work more to get me over and that is a bit of excitement in itself, especially as I definitely know that once he succeeds in turning me over, I am going to have a hard time! Once I am on my front I have several decisions to make. Some of these depend on how much I can trust the man above me and what his weight is. If he is really heavy (…I have been crabbed by guys up to around 110kg/240lbs) I might put one of my arms deliberately under my own chest/ribs so that I can continue to breathe when he sits on me. But, for my level of flexibility (not much….too much muscle and I haven’t spent enough time stretching over the years in the gym, hah hah!) I have found that generally I can give the impression at least of bending and the opponent can sit better, if I just put my arms in traditional ‘push-up’ position so that I can brace myself against the weight and cranking of the hold from my opponent. That also means the bending/stretching position doesn’t go to my neck quite so much, and I can fight back at least a bit!
But oh fuck, that moment when the man on top sits down either on my ass (easy-ish, depending on who he is), or on my lower back just above my speedos! Either way it is incredibly hot. If he sits heavily just beyond my speedos, on my lower back, that is the most agonizing place for me especially if he starts to pull my legs back. I love to feel his hands roaming around my trapped heavy thighs. The bend in my back is very localized with his weight acting as a precise fulcrum for breaking my back. Or he might try to sit higher up my back….he might succeed in that if he avoids putting his full weight on me immediately, by maintaining his squat position. If he pushes his feet outwards and sits heavily on my upper back, I’m toasted within a few seconds. As he arches me up like that it always seems to crank my neck also. But the good guys will lower themselves carefully to find out how much I can bend that day (it varies a lot, depending for one thing on when I last did a heavy gym session). And they avoid putting all their weight down immediately, getting balanced first with skilled placement of their legs. Nevertheless, once I am in the hold and it is on, I will be immediately aware that the man on top has me virtually nearly helpless in a very painful position where I can feel his power on me. His ass. His legs. His arms wrapped around my legs. Perhaps he flairs his chest wide causing a pull backwards on my legs as his lats fill out and widen. I moan….so he knows what the effect is. Maybe by twisting a little I can see his calves and feet. Being so fucking helpless and knowing that the guy on top is going to work me, until I really have to say I submit is a huge turn-on for me. If he bounces at all….even gently, then I will be yelling the place down and cursing him. I sometimes reach back with one hand and can feel his calves or maybe even his hamstrings. In a futile attempt to lessen the pressure maybe I’ll push at his Achilles tendon area of his foot. If I try that I am usually punished with a vicious bounce or more pressure as the man on top stretches me even more. Then I know just how solid his position is. The hold is a complete mind-blow for me. The more skilled the guy on top is at delivering it, the better! I love it when he says, ‘Take it boy! Take the hold,….c’mon you can take more than this. I haven’t even begun yet.’ That makes me want to be as stubborn as hell.
Sometimes the combined weight of the man on top of me, plus my own body weight driving through my crushed chest in the Boston, with my legs being pulled back resulting in my abs being taut, means that I just cannot breathe. It is devastating. I don’t want to submit. I will take it as long as I possibly can. I’ll maybe try to push up a bit on my hands if they are both free. If my tormentor is not alert maybe I can create enough momentum by simultaneously straightening my legs that I flip him off, causing him to fall forwards. But if I’ve been trapped in the hold for more than about half a minute this becomes decreasingly possible. Times goes very slowly indeed when you are being worked in a full Boston Crab. Five seconds can seem like an age. My lower back muscles begin to burn. If he drives the hold on more in response to my struggles I find his determination to force me to yield to him a turn-on, as my spine starts to scream at me and my trapped feet will involuntarily start to flap about. I start to tremble with exertion. I know I should relax my body will not do that. My quads are stretched hard and maybe he wraps his hands around my inner thigh for even more dominant control. Though when the man on top has his hands in a ‘butcher’ S-grip in front of his own belly that is also a very powerful position, and he can start to turn his hips more into me. His ass weight feels like a planet is sitting on me. I can feel his glutes tense and relax. The slightest movement like that from a skilled guy on top can grind the hold on agonizingly and very, very effectively. Maybe it’s at that point that he makes the solid decision to get me to submit. Even a light guy of around 70kg/154lbs can make this hold extremely punishing. As the angle and torque in the hold causes my face to be flat against the mat, maybe he shifts his weight further back on me. He knows I will have to submit. He can hear it in my groans and sense it in the extreme tightness of my body and rapid, panting breathing under him.
Having initially been defiant and abusive, saying ‘Fuck you!’, there comes the point where I just cannot take it any longer and I yell out rapidly and urgently, ‘I give, I give, yes yes!’. What happens next is up to him. Does he back it off a little and ask me, ‘You give up? You submit?’…..? If he does and has backed off some pressure I will definitely respond with, ‘No way, you bastard. I’m not submitting!’. That’s of course his invitation to go again and show me what he can really do. I can take it quite well for an extended period if the man on top stands up periodically and then waits a moment before sitting again. It gives me just enough respite to take the brutal hold again for a few moments. Maybe now when he sits he will wrap his hands around the front of my knees. Then I know my position is truly hopeless because like that he has tremendous power available to crank the hold back. All I can do is grit my teeth and take it, trying to delay my submission. As my back is arched and my abs pulled up off the mat my package is exposed totally and I have sometimes heard other wrestler’s watching the action say ‘Oh shit’….because they know what it feels like. I might smack the mat violently to try and get some distraction from the pain….some BJJ guys will immediately think that is a submission but they usually ask for a verbal confirmation. I’ll swear a lot whilst I’m trapped – it comes naturally. (Is there anyone who doesn’t say ‘Oh fuck!’ once this hold is locked on??)
It’s strange, but really the worst Bostons I have endured have come not from the heaviest, strongest guys (with the biggest asses!), but from the guys in the mid-weight range around 79kg/175lbs. For some reason, these seem to be the guys who can get the hold on, really lock it into position, muscle-down and drive their feet into the mat to pull my legs back effectively and they seem to find that point where I am just on the very edge of submission, and keep it there, making tiny adjustments to the torture. They know how to be sadistic. Taking that hold I am totally helpless and hopeless. I know I can’t escape. He has me. He owns me. He can do whatever he likes. Keep me in extreme pain, or play with the weight and stretching of my body which the hold exerts, making me respond like an instrument under him. My mind is wiped clear of everything except knowing that I am being forced to accept what is not acceptable. One man literally bending and crushing another man to subjugate him and perhaps even forcing him to say trash like ‘I submit, SIR!’. Humiliation. A full test of my body and mind. Stretching every part of my hips, legs, abs and spine, crushing my ribs. I am being ripped apart. Demanding the full submission from me, my opponent is showing who the Alpha is without a doubt. He is exultant and rampant. I did my best but was defeated. That’s wrestling.
Always have a safe word guys! You may well need it for this experience.