Basic Triangle Choke
When learning and finishing a basic triangle choke, there's a bunch of details that can fall to the wayside. This is a really fun and effective technique that novice to advanced athletes can learn alike. A common phenomenon is athletes initiating, but being unable to finish the triangle choke. The video that follows will help raise your level of understanding of what it takes to actually finish your triangle choke. Most athletes “know” how to do a triangle choke but tend to skip over the important details. The details are where the meat and potatoes of this technique lie. If you truly want to get good and raise the percentage of finished with a basic triangle choke you should drill, drill, drill. And then drill again. And drill one more time.
When you are drilling this new technique, it is super important that you focus on the basics of the triangle choke. It’s very easy to focus on the first few techniques but as you speed up and get comfortable with the movements we tend to drop off when it comes to the true form of the technique. Below you can find some of the key details that you should be focusing on while drilling. Make sure that you take your time drilling and add speed as you become more proficient.
The Triangle Choke Breakdown
Triangle Choke Step 1:
Start by setting up the triangle choke with proper grips and foot placements. This is going to set up the rest of the technique and where you start is where you finish. Meaning start flawlessly, finish perfectly.
Triangle Choke Step 2:
Take the foot on the bicep and shoot it to your opponent's neck. Use your hands to pull your opponent down. Grips are important, as is hand placement. Drill it early and drill it often.
Triangle Choke Step 3:
Lock the triangle down by locking your legs and getting an under hook with your far arm. Once this is done, you're in charge, now be unrelenting and get ready to finish it.
Triangle Choke Step 4:
Make sure you make the adjustment and cut the right angle. At first, it’s okay to put your foot on the floor but try and get to a point where you don’t have to do that. Mobility helps, always! Make sure you can look down your opponents’ ear. When you can, you know you're in the right position.
Triangle Choke Step 5:
When you are looking to finish the choke, you want to make sure that your foot gets behind your knee. You can see that in this image here really well. If you can mimic that in your drilling, and then in competition, you're in a good spot!
Pulling it All Together:
One of the things you should focus on when you drill is short repetitions in duration, but a lot of reps. When initially learning techniques, try spending more time being a partner rather than doing the actual drill. One of my favorite drills is a three person drill where one person does a triangle choke for one minute with two partners. The idea here is to give two people and active rest while working. This type of drilling helps athletes remember the steps repeatedly.
So, for the white and blue belts who don’t have all the basic Jiu-Jitsu techniques down perfectly this type of drilling will help them remember the techniques more times in one session. Normally athletes drill it one time or two times in a session. This drill for a basic triangle gets athletes to not only think about what they need to do quickly multiple times. It also focuses on teaching athletes what they need to do to help their training partners learn the techniques. Hoping in turn that they understand what they need to look for to get and finish the basic triangle.
Repetition, of technique, of mantras, of form and so on, is ultimately what will guide you to the podium. Good, quality reps will ensure that you improve gradually to the point where you become a champion.
Training Program for Triangle Choke - Visit FUJI Fit's website here: Fitness
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Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
| A | X |
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B |
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X |
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| C | X |
X = The training partner who is doing the choke
One minute working time set on the clock with a 15-second break
That means that each set only takes 3:45 to complete (with room for a collective 15-second break at the end). In that time span, you'll average about 10 techniques, which comes out to a lot of reps. The rest period serves as a more active rest where they recover but are still participating in the drill. I like this drill because it forces my white belts to remember quickly what the steps are that they need to do immediately. Ultimately, this will reinforce muscle and technical memory and the retention of the basic triangle choke.
