There's a useful phrase that my friend and champion competitor Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins uses all the time... "Correct the position." Let's say you launch your opponent through the air with an absolutely perfect butterfly guard sweep. He lands flat on his back, and you race to the top and get to sidemount. … [Read more...]
Triangle Choke
How NOT to Get Triangle Choked While Passing the Guard
The very first guard pass I learned was the stacking guard pass (also known as the smashing guard pass or sometimes the 'over under' pass). Initially I was doing this pass all wrong, and I can't even begin to count how many times I got triangle choked trying it. But eventually I learned a few tweaks that made it much harder for my opponents to apply the triangle choke, and now it's one of my … [Read more...]
Five Great Followups to a Failed Triangle Choke
The Triangle Choke is definitely another one of those Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu signature moves. It's a super-powerful submission and it is responsible for ending a LOT of BJJ, MMA and submission grappling matches. But the sad fact is that no submission works for everyone, or on every opponent all the time... For example, sometimes your legs can be too short to apply an effective triangle … [Read more...]
Three Keys to Escaping Any Submission
Some people might not be the greatest grapplers but are still notoriously hard to submit. Obviously technique is important, but there's more to slipping out of submission than just knowing the escape techniques. In fact the most important thing is knowing WHEN to apply your techniques. If you use the right technique at the wrong time then it won't work. For example I remember rolling with a … [Read more...]
My 2 Best Triangle Choke Escapes
Today I want to share my two best triangle choke escapes with you. I've experimented with lots of different triangle escapes. Unfortunately I've found that many commonly-taught techniques rely on either your opponent being totally incompetent, or you having an 18" neck, gigantic traps and high levels of pain tolerance.... By contrast the counters and escapes in this video work fairly well … [Read more...]
The Easiest Triangle Choke Followup
One of my newsletter readers recently had an interesting question for me: Q: "Hi Stephan, I have this training partner with a huge neck who is incredibly resistant to chokes. Everybody in class has problems choking him. The problem is that my favorite submission is the triangle choke - what's a simple way to finish the choke on someone like that? Thanks - Dave from England." A: There's … [Read more...]
Fifty Ways to Improve Your Grappling Almost Immediately
Sometimes the best way to get better is simply to stop doing things wrong. Over the years I've shot quite a few guerilla-style videos breaking down many of the most common mistakes that I see for different positions and submissions. I get a lot of positive feedback on these videos, because apparently I'm not the only person to have made all these mistakes on the mat! Here, all in one post, are … [Read more...]
Advanced Triangle Choke Details
Today's tip is about the details of the Triangle Choke, one of the very highest percentage submissions at every level of competition. Have you ever noticed how some people can catch EVERYBODY in their signature submission, again and again? Once they've got their setup position it's pretty much a done deal (this applies whether that signature submission is an armbar, a triangle choke, a kneebar, … [Read more...]
Podcast EP12: BJJ Competition and Training Strategies with Brandon ‘Wolverine’ Mullins
In this interview 2 x World No Gi Champion Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins shares his best competition and training advice. The questions come from my newsletter readership, who I polled to see if they had any questions for Brandon, especially about training, competing or holding their own against bigger opponents. Boy, did they ever! We then sifted and sorted hundreds of emails to pick out the … [Read more...]
Podcast EP09: Ryan Hall Interview and Transcript
Stephan's note: This is the transcript of an interview I did with noted Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, über-competitor and teacher Ryan Hall. To listen to this conversation you could press play on the embedded audio player below, but then you might miss out on future episodes, wouldn’t you? So the best thing to do is to subscribe to The Strenuous Life Podcast using … [Read more...]
Technique 1: Triangle choke to Omoplata
The omoplata can be an attack in its own right, or a great followup to another technique. Here Stephan shows you how the omoplata can be used to salvage a failed triangle choke... Stephan attacks his opponent with a loose triangle choke. His opponent counters the choke by wrapping his right arm around Stephan's left thigh, preventing the choke from tightening. He controls his … [Read more...]
Eddie Bravo’s Rubber Guard “The NewSchool”
In this sequence Eddie 'Twister' Bravo shows yet another one of his innovative rubber guard setups to lock on the diviangle choke. Hold your opponent's head down by headlocking him with your left arm. Use the classic wrestling grip with your right hand. Shift your hips by pushing off your opponent's right hip. ONLY while your opponent's right hand is on the mat, bring your … [Read more...]
Eddie Bravo’s Rubber Guard “The Meathook”
Here, with permission from Eddie 'Twister' Bravo, the man who submitted Royler Gracie with a triangle choke at Abu Dhabi 2003, is a step, by step breakdown of one of his rubberguard setups. Step One: Hold the opponent's head down as tight as possible with your left arm Step Two: Shift your hips to the side, putting your left foot on your opponents right hip. Step Three: As fast as … [Read more...]
Triangle Chokes for People with Short Legs
The triangle choke is one of the signature submissions of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Just about everyone takes a stab at perfecting it during their grappling career. But you can run into problems with the triangle choke if your legs are short. Just like the reader below... Q: Hi Stephan, I've been having problems with the triangle choke. I have rather thick, maybe even short, legs and I just … [Read more...]
Toby Imada’s Amazing MMA Triangle Broken Down For You
A lot of people thought that Toby Imada's triangle choke was the best MMA submission of 2009. And they may be right - it was a stunning display of quick thinking and 'sticktoitness' on Toby's part. Here's the clip of the match highlights including the spectacular submission: Last week I uploaded posted an article and video called 5 Triangle Chokes You Need To Know, and shortly … [Read more...]
Jiu-jitsu and Physical Attributes
Physical attributes are things like balance, neck strength, limb length, explosiveness, leg flexibility, and percent body fat. Your physical attributes are the foundation of what you can do with your body, and are influenced by genetics, training, age and injuries. Some instructors teach as if everyone, regardless of age, build and flexibility, can use the same techniques. Well I'm here to tell … [Read more...]