Escaping the Body Triangle
Posted by Ismail Safi on
The back position is already hard enough to escape, but when someone locks on that body triangle, it can feel like death. The body triangle from back is as the name suggests, the person who has someone’s back taken locks up their legs in a triangle just like the one we use when attacking a triangle choke. The body triangle is extremely powerful and helps the person on the back immobilize the hips of the defender, making very hard to escape using the standard back escape.
Too many students (especially blue belts) focus on the new fancy techniques, guard sweeps, etc. But don't ignore the old school fundamental jiu jitsu that just works.
To see how powerful the body triangle is, go watch any of the EBI matches that went to overtime. You’ll immediately notice that when someone starts on the back, they immediately lock up this triangle. Why do they do this? Its because they know they can wrack up lots of time on the back, which can help them win the match.
Its not all good, however, because the body triangle can make getting submissions more difficult. When locking up the body triangle, the attacker is usually immobilizing their own legs, meaning they can’t use them to trap the arm or switch to the armbar nearly as quickly as they would with traditional back control.
So what do you do when you get stuck in someone’s body triangle? The first thing is to relax;the body triangle can cause defender’s to freak out, especially if the attacker is squeezing tightly. But if you do freak out, you will be giving them what they want, the choke. After successfully relaxing, you can move on to escape. In the following video, legendary Tom Deblass explains how you can effectively escape the body triangle.
The first thing you should do when trapped in a body triangle, after not freaking out of course, is fall to the side with the straight leg. This will create space around your torso and alleviate some of the pressure from the triangle. This is also the better side to fall to because you can get your back to the ground. When bridging, the attacker is forced to losen up their legs because if they don’t, they can hurt their ankle. You might even be able to tap them if you do it quickly enough and they refuse to let go.
You’ll be able to start surprising everyone in your gym with old school brilliance that still works and with Kurt’s unmatched style that can include excellent details and even some well placed shouting and swearing – you’ll remember well what you learned..
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