⚠️ SAFETY: Triangle from Guard targets the Carotid arteries and jugular veins. Risk: Carotid artery compression leading to loss of consciousness. Release immediately upon tap.
The Triangle from Guard is one of the most fundamental and highest-percentage submissions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, representing the perfect marriage of positional control and finishing mechanics. From the guard position, the practitioner uses their legs to create a figure-four configuration around the opponent’s neck and arm, compressing the carotid arteries while using the opponent’s own shoulder to complete the strangle. This submission is particularly effective because it can be applied from numerous guard variations, creates a powerful dilemma for the opponent, and allows the bottom player to maintain dominant control throughout the finishing sequence. The triangle’s versatility makes it a cornerstone technique from white belt through black belt, with applications in gi and no-gi grappling. Understanding proper angle creation, hip positioning, and leg configuration is essential for maximizing effectiveness while minimizing the risk of escape. The triangle also serves as an excellent platform for transitioning to other submissions like armbars and omoplatas when the opponent defends, making it a critical component of any guard player’s systematic approach to finishing from the bottom position.
Category: Choke Type: Blood Choke Target Area: Carotid arteries and jugular veins Starting Position: Closed Guard Success Rates: Beginner 35%, Intermediate 50%, Advanced 65%
Safety Guide
Injury Risks:
| Injury | Severity | Recovery Time |
|---|---|---|
| Carotid artery compression leading to loss of consciousness | High | Immediate (if released promptly) to several minutes for full recovery |
| Cervical spine strain from improper angle or jerking motion | Medium | 1-2 weeks with proper rest |
| Shoulder joint stress from trapped arm position | Low | Few days to 1 week |
Application Speed: SLOW and progressive - 3-5 seconds minimum from initial triangle lock to full compression
Tap Signals:
- Verbal tap (say ‘tap’ or make any verbal sound)
- Physical hand tap on partner’s body or mat
- Physical foot tap on mat or partner
- Any distress signal including facial expression changes
- Loss of resistance or going limp
Release Protocol:
- Immediately open legs and release figure-four configuration
- Pull opponent’s head out of triangle while opening legs
- Release arm trap and allow opponent to posture up
- Check on partner’s condition and ensure full recovery before continuing
- Never maintain pressure after tap signal
Training Restrictions:
- Never apply full pressure to unconscious or unresponsive partners
- Never use competition speed or sudden jerking motions in training
- Always ensure training partner has clear access to tap with at least one limb
- Never hold triangle after tap to ‘teach a lesson’ or prove a point
- Beginners must drill with zero resistance before live application
- Always communicate verbally during positional training drills
Key Principles
- Break opponent’s posture before attempting triangle entry
- Create proper angle (45 degrees) to maximize compression and prevent escape
- Lock triangle deep with opponent’s shoulder touching your hip
- Use opponent’s trapped arm as part of the choke mechanism
- Control opponent’s posture throughout by pulling head down and controlling arm
- Squeeze knees together while pulling down to create maximum pressure
- Adjust angle continuously based on opponent’s defensive movements
Prerequisites
- Opponent’s posture must be broken forward (head and shoulders pulled down)
- Clear control of at least one sleeve or wrist to prevent posting
- Sufficient hip mobility to bring leg over opponent’s shoulder
- Opponent’s weight shifted forward or to one side to create angle
- Guard retention skills to maintain connection if initial attempt fails
- Understanding of proper leg positioning for figure-four lock
Execution Steps
- Break Posture and Control Arm: From closed guard, establish a strong collar grip with one hand and sleeve grip with the other. Break the opponent’s posture by pulling down on the collar while simultaneously pulling one arm across your centerline. The opponent’s elbow should cross your body’s midline, creating the angle needed for triangle entry. Use your legs to squeeze and assist in breaking posture if needed. (Timing: 2-3 seconds of sustained pulling pressure) [Pressure: Moderate]
- Create Angle and Swing Leg Over: While maintaining the broken posture, use your hips to create a 45-degree angle to the side of the arm you’re attacking. Open your guard and immediately swing your leg (same side as the attacking arm) high over the opponent’s shoulder and behind their head. The back of your knee should touch the side of their neck. Keep the other leg active on their hip to prevent them from posturing up or passing. (Timing: 1-2 seconds - must be quick to prevent escape) [Pressure: Light]
- Lock the Triangle Configuration: Bring your opposite leg across to create the figure-four lock. Place your ankle behind the knee of the leg that’s over their shoulder. Ensure the opponent’s shoulder is pulled tight to your hip - this is critical as their own shoulder will be compressing one side of their neck. The trapped arm should be pulled across your body, keeping their elbow tight to your centerline. (Timing: 2-3 seconds to establish secure lock) [Pressure: Moderate]
- Adjust Angle for Optimal Compression: Once locked, immediately adjust your angle to approximately 45 degrees from your opponent’s centerline. This angle is crucial - being too square allows them to stack you, being too perpendicular reduces pressure. Scoot your hips toward the side of their trapped arm while simultaneously pulling their head down. Your legs should form a straight line from their shoulder through their neck. (Timing: 1-2 seconds of angle adjustment) [Pressure: Moderate]
- Secure Head Control: Grab behind the opponent’s head with both hands, interlacing fingers or using a gable grip. Pull their head down toward your chest while keeping their trapped arm tight across your body. The pulling motion should be smooth and controlled, not jerking. Some practitioners prefer to control the arm at the wrist or triceps instead of grabbing the head directly. (Timing: Maintain throughout finish - 3-5 seconds) [Pressure: Firm]
- Squeeze and Finish: Squeeze your knees together while simultaneously pulling down on the head and lifting your hips slightly. The pressure comes from three directions: legs squeezing together, hips lifting, and hands pulling head down. Apply pressure progressively over 3-5 seconds in training. Monitor partner’s reaction closely and release immediately upon tap. The choke works by compressing both carotid arteries - one against their own shoulder, one against your leg. (Timing: 3-5 seconds progressive squeeze in training) [Pressure: Maximum]
Opponent Defenses
- Posturing up aggressively to create space (Effectiveness: High) - Your Adjustment: Immediately pull head down with collar grip while using legs to squeeze and break posture. If they succeed in posturing, transition to armbar or omoplata rather than fighting to maintain compromised triangle.
- Stacking by driving forward and stacking your shoulders to mat (Effectiveness: High) - Your Adjustment: Adjust angle more perpendicular to opponent’s body (closer to 90 degrees). Use hands to push on their hip while simultaneously scooting your shoulders away from them. Can also transition to omoplata if stack becomes too severe.
- Pulling trapped arm out to create space in triangle (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Adjustment: Immediately switch to armbar on the escaping arm, or if they pull arm completely out, quickly reconfigure triangle on other arm. Maintain leg position around head while transitioning.
- Standing up to slam or create pressure (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Adjustment: Never maintain triangle if opponent successfully stands with you - serious injury risk. Either finish quickly before they stand completely, or release and transition to guard recovery. In competition, can transition to armbar from standing triangle.
- Turning into triangle to relieve pressure on neck (Effectiveness: Low) - Your Adjustment: Allow the turn and follow to mount position while maintaining triangle lock. The turn actually improves your angle and makes escape nearly impossible. Simply follow their movement and maintain pressure.
Test Your Knowledge
Q1: Why must the triangle be locked deep with the opponent’s shoulder pulled to your hip, and what happens if the lock is too high? A: The triangle must be locked deep so the leg is positioned behind the opponent’s neck, not on their head or face. When locked properly with shoulder tight to hip, one carotid artery is compressed by the leg while the other is compressed by the opponent’s own shoulder. If locked too high on the head/face, there is no compression on the carotid arteries, the opponent can breathe normally, and they will easily escape. The shoulder-to-hip connection is critical for creating the compressive force needed for the blood choke to work effectively.
Q2: What is the correct angle to finish the triangle and why is this angle important? A: The correct finishing angle is approximately 45 degrees to the opponent’s centerline, achieved by scooting your hips toward the side of their trapped arm. This angle is critical because being too square (0 degrees) allows the opponent to stack you and pressure your lower back, while being too perpendicular (90 degrees) reduces the compression on the neck. The 45-degree angle maximizes pressure on the carotid arteries while preventing effective defensive counters like stacking or posturing. This angle also aligns your legs optimally for squeezing and makes it nearly impossible for the opponent to turn or escape.
Q3: How should pressure be applied when finishing the triangle in training, and what is the critical safety concern? [SAFETY-CRITICAL] A: In training, pressure must be applied progressively over 3-5 seconds minimum, never with sudden jerking or spiking motions. The choke should be squeezed smoothly by combining three actions: squeezing knees together, pulling head down, and slightly lifting hips. The critical safety concern is that this is a blood choke targeting the carotid arteries, not a neck crank. Jerking or violent application can cause cervical spine injury, neck strain, or panic. You must also release immediately upon any tap signal to prevent loss of consciousness. Competition speed should never be used in training, and beginners should only practice with cooperative drilling before live application.
Q4: What are the three components of creating maximum pressure in the triangle finish? A: Maximum pressure comes from three simultaneous actions working together: (1) Squeezing the knees together to compress the legs around the neck, (2) Pulling the opponent’s head down toward your chest using a grip behind their head or on their collar, and (3) Lifting your hips slightly to create upward pressure while maintaining the 45-degree angle. These three pressure vectors combine to compress both carotid arteries maximally - one against your leg and one against the opponent’s own shoulder. Any one component alone is insufficient; all three must work in coordination.
Q5: Why must posture be broken before attempting the triangle, and what happens if you try to triangle someone in strong posture? A: Posture must be broken first because an opponent in strong upright posture has their base established, their neck is protected, and they can easily prevent your leg from getting over their shoulder. If you attempt triangle entry against good posture, they will simply maintain base, block your leg with their free arm, and pass your guard. Breaking posture with collar and sleeve grips before entry accomplishes several things: brings their head and shoulders forward into range, compromises their base making them vulnerable to being swept or submitted, and creates the forward angle needed for your leg to swing over their shoulder. Patient posture breaking is the foundation of successful triangle entry.
Q6: What should you immediately do if your training partner taps while you have a triangle locked, and why is this response critical? [SAFETY-CRITICAL] A: You must immediately release all pressure and open the triangle configuration the instant you feel or hear any tap signal. This means opening your legs, releasing the figure-four lock, pulling their head out of the triangle, and allowing them to posture up and recover. This immediate release is critical because the triangle is a blood choke that can cause loss of consciousness within seconds if pressure continues after tap. Maintaining pressure after tap serves no training purpose and creates serious injury risk including unconsciousness, panic, neck injury, or long-term damage to the training relationship. There is absolutely zero legitimate reason to hold a submission after tap in any training context.
Q7: If the opponent successfully stacks you during triangle finish, what adjustments should you make? A: If the opponent succeeds in stacking you by driving forward and pressuring your shoulders toward the mat, you must immediately adjust your angle to become more perpendicular to their body (closer to 90 degrees from original 45-degree angle). Use your hands to push on their hip while simultaneously scooting your shoulders away from them to relieve the stack pressure. If the stack becomes too severe and you can’t maintain effective triangle, transition to omoplata by releasing one leg and swinging it over their back while controlling their trapped arm. Fighting to maintain a badly stacked triangle wastes energy and increases lower back injury risk. Smooth transition to omoplata or armbar is more effective than stubbornly maintaining compromised triangle.
From Which Positions?
Expert Insights
- Danaher System: The triangle from guard represents one of the most elegant examples of using skeletal structure rather than muscular strength to create a submission. The beauty of the triangle lies in its geometric efficiency - once properly locked with the correct angle, even a much larger and stronger opponent cannot generate the force needed to escape because the mechanism doesn’t rely on your strength squeezing their neck, but rather on your skeletal structure (locked legs) using their own shoulder to compress one carotid artery while your leg compresses the other. The critical technical detail that separates effective triangles from weak attempts is the depth of the lock and the angle of finish. Your leg must be positioned behind their neck with their shoulder pulled tight to your hip - this creates the necessary compression geometry. The 45-degree angle is not arbitrary; it’s the optimal angle that prevents both the stacking defense and the posturing defense while maximizing pressure vectors. In training, develop the discipline to establish perfect position before applying pressure. A properly positioned triangle requires minimal squeezing force - if you’re using maximum muscular effort to finish, your position is incorrect. The triangle also serves as an excellent laboratory for understanding submission chains, as the defensive patterns it creates (posturing, stacking, arm extraction) each open specific transitions to armbar or omoplata. This interconnection is fundamental to systematic guard work.
- Gordon Ryan: In high-level competition, the triangle from guard is one of the highest percentage submissions because it simultaneously controls the opponent while attacking the finish, unlike many submissions where you must choose between control and finishing pressure. My approach to triangle differs between gi and no-gi contexts. In gi, I use collar and sleeve grips to break posture and create the initial angle before entry. In no-gi, I rely more on overhook control or wrist control combined with leg positioning to break posture. The key competition detail most people miss is that you must finish the triangle before the opponent establishes their stacking defense - this means your angle adjustment must be instantaneous, not gradual. I adjust angle while locking the triangle, not after. Against elite opposition, you have perhaps one second after locking before they begin their escape sequence. The other crucial competition element is recognizing when to abandon triangle and transition to armbar. If the opponent succeeds in any of three defensive actions - pulling the trapped arm free, establishing a severe stack, or posturing significantly - transition immediately rather than burning energy fighting for a compromised position. In my experience, the triangle-armbar combination from guard has the highest finishing rate at black belt because defending one opens the other. When training triangle specifically for competition application, practice transitioning at the first sign of effective defense rather than stubbornly maintaining position. This reactive transition capability is what separates competitors who finish from guard versus those who merely threaten.
- Eddie Bravo: The triangle from guard is absolutely fundamental in the 10th Planet system, and we approach it with some key differences from traditional methodology. From rubber guard positions like Mission Control and New York, we have direct triangle setups that bypass the traditional posture-breaking requirement because rubber guard inherently keeps the opponent broken down. From Mission Control, the triangle is right there - you just transition your lockdown into triangle configuration while maintaining head control. What’s critical in our approach is that we never stop moving. If the triangle isn’t there, we flow to omoplata. If omoplata is defended, we return to triangle or go to gogoplata or baratoplata. This constant flow keeps the opponent defending rather than escaping. One innovation I emphasize is using the triangle as a control position rather than rushing to finish. Sometimes I’ll lock triangle, control the position, work for better angle, threaten armbar, let them defend, then finish triangle when they’re exhausted. The psychological component is huge - when someone is in your triangle, they know they’re in trouble, and that panic creates opportunities. For no-gi application, the triangle becomes even more essential because you don’t have gi grips to control posture, so the leg configuration itself must do that work. In training, I want people drilling triangle entries from every possible guard position - not just closed guard, but from half guard, spider, de la riva, everywhere. The more entry pathways you have, the more unpredictable you become. Safety-wise, the triangle is actually one of the safer submissions to train hard because it’s a clean blood choke with clear tap signals, but you must develop the discipline to release instantly on tap - in training, ego has no place when someone’s consciousness is at stake.