The fundamental laws of the triangle choke

  • September 20, 2015

One of the biggest issues beginners face when learning the triangle choke is locking their legs in the proper way.That’s especially true when physical attributes hinder the process like when you have shorter legs. There are ways to work around that issue though, and when you learn how, the fundamental laws of the choke will be revealed.

First of all, some assumptions have to be thrown away:

  • You do not have to properly triangle your legs to finish the choke.
  • And you do not have to pull their trapped arm across your body.

Instead, your focus must always remain on the fact that your intent is to choke someone out, and to accomplish that, the only thing that you must do is cut off blood flow to the brain.

Old School Choking Mechanics

The old school method focused on the position of the arm because of how force was generated with the legs. It was either squeezing the knees tight (adduction) or pulling the head down and elevating with the hip.

Both methods work, and they were chokes, but they required significant amounts of force which easily led to muscle strain.

If you increase the amount of force that can be generated without effort though, the arm position becomes irrelevant.

The Four Stages of a Triangle

An early philosophy that I was exposed to was the four stages of a triangle. It’s a conceptual framework for understanding the triangle both offensively and defensively, and it’s been a part of my thought process ever since white belt.

The Stages:

  • Threaten – The first moment when the legs going over the shoulder, trapping one arm inside and one arm outside.
  • Lock – When the legs are triangled, strengthening the stability of the position and the threat of the choke.
  • Angle – When the ideal angle for the finish has been found.
  • Tap – All hope is lost, and there’s no escape in sight.

There are exceptions to this progression, but overall, it’s solid framework to work with.

The wiggle room lies in the middle two stages. How you configure your legs and the angle you use to finish can be changed without losing the effectiveness of the choke.

What Must Happen

There are many triangle variations but even among them all, there are some things that must happen in order for the choke to work:

  • You must control posture. (Because otherwise your opponent will be able to posture hard and escape easy.)
  • You must control distance. (Because otherwise you will be stacked hard and that will make generating force harder.)
  • You must apply pressure as soon as possible. (Because otherwise you will leave openings for escape setups.)
  • You must effectively block the carotid arteries on both sides of the neck. (Because that’s only way to choke someone out.)

Those laws are simple and irrefutable, but how you accomplish them will depend on your knowledge and imagination.