While there’s loads of cool set ups for the triangle, unusual finishes and substitutes out there, it’s the fundamentals which need to be sorted before anything else, and whenever a triangle fails, it’s down to the fundamentals.
The simplest way to set up a triangle is to push you’re opponents arm back into their chest. Here, I’ve got control of Kev’s wrists and I’m starting from a closed guard, although you can do the exact same set up from an open guard.
Once you’ve pushed the arm back, throw your leg up on their shoulder (not just on their arm) and cross your ankles. Crossing your ankles gives you some temporary security/a hold on your opponent so that you can transition to a tighter hold. The key mistake people make in a triangle is to let go of the head. Keeping the head down is imperative to securing a triangle! I cannot stress this enough, yet it’s the most common mistake.
To move your legs from a simple ankle-crossed grip to a true triangle, underhook with you left hand and turn to look in your opponent’s ear. Pushing off your opponent’s hip with your right leg helps you turn. Since you’ve released the grip with your legs you need to keep your right hand on your opponent’s head.
Better view of pushing off the hip to rotate your body. If you lack the flexibility, you can put your foot on the floor to turn.
Proper triangle grip: note how the shin of my left foot is behind my knees (I kept the colourful socks on for the purposes of illustration!). Once this grip is on, it’s what John Kavanagh calls mechanical – it’s a structural hold that requires very little to no muscular strength to keep in place. Note how my calf is across the back of his neck, and not across his upper back. The higher up your leg is, the tighter the triangle will be. To finish the triangle, pull down on the head, push up with your hips, and squeeze your knees together.
An incorrect grip is show here, just barely catching the toes. This puts a lot of pressure on your ankle, and is very weak as grips go.
If you lack the flexibility/muscular control to fully move your leg into position, pull on you shin with your right hand to move it into place. DO NOT pull on your toes. You can toe-hold yourself and severely damaged the tendons in your ankle if you do this.
Other Considerations Note the angle you want to create while doing a triangle. Most people will only move their torso to a slight angle, just enough to get the proper triangle grip.
You should aim to move to at least 90 degrees in relation to your opp. This naturally tightens and strengthens your triangle.
If your opponent stands up to get out of the triangle or pass through it, underhook their leg instead of their arm. This essentially makes them very heavy and disturbs their balance.
Finally, on the arm in the triangle. Personally, the arm is such a small consideration in comparison with controlling the head that I avoid teaching it until someone has understood everything else. If they’ve all the other points covered and they can’t get the tap, THEN it’s time to worry about the arm.
In this picture, Kev has his arm on the safe side. With his arm on this side, he’s safer against the strangulation pressure of the triangle.
To get the arm over to the other side, catch his wrist, lift your hips up and use that for the switch. The danger here is that you’ve taken pressure off his head and allowed him to straighten up. Although, if you’re triangle is mechanical/structural, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Again, I need to stress that the arm is less important than the head for a successful triangle.
Finished position, with the arm on the correct side (across his neck)
