06/09/2012 - GrappleThon Is Just Two Weeks Away! Also, Triangle Set-Ups

Teaching #71
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 06/09/2012

We've managed to raise over £1000 for Meningitis UK so far! It's wonderful to see so many members of Gracie Barra Bristol coming together to raise some funds for charity. If you're reading this and you'd like to help, JustGiving accepts donations from anywhere in the world: the main team page is here, while my personal donation page is here (I'm still hoping to hit my personal target of £350, so it would be awesome if you're able to push me over it! ;D). The mighty Seymour 'Meerkatsu' Yang, who provided the excellent custom design for the t-shirts and posters, will also be taking part: his fundraising page is here. Finally, don't forget the whole thing will be streamed live over at Justin.TV, starting 9am BST on Saturday 22nd September. :D
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In my class tonight, I continued with the triangle, as that's still the theme for all classes at the moment. This time, I wanted to cover some basic set-ups for the triangle. To refer to Ryan Hall yet again, he groups set-ups into three broad categories: the tap through triangle, the kick through triangle and the rotational triangle. In this lesson I wanted to look at the first two.

Starting with the most simple variant of the tap-through triangle, grip both of their wrists, or sleeves if you prefer. Alternatively, you could grip one wrist and then either their lapel or behind their head. Push their same side wrist into their stomach (some instructors advise pushing higher into the chest instead), then bring your same side leg up over their shoulder, effectively putting them into position. It's important you clear that arm, as you don't want them wriggling the arm back inside.

Put your other foot on their hip, then raise your own hips. This should cause their arm to extend and lift in front of you, ready to be pulled across your body. Of course, as you may remember from last week, Hall disagrees that this element of the triangle is all that important, emphasising that posture control should always be the priority rather than an unnecessary focus on the arm. Grab your shin and swing the back of your other leg over that shin, then swivel round to the side, squeezing for the submission.

As ever, Ryan Hall has a slightly different approach to the tap-through triangle. In keeping with his insistence on the importance of getting an efficient angle, he suggests shrimping out slightly to get on your side. By doing so you should knock them off-balance. If they try to square back up, that's when you can use their momentum to push their arm between your legs and lock in the triangle.

A simple option for the kick-through triangle is to again grab their wrist or sleeve, but this time shove it outwards rather than between your legs. Your other hand will be gripping either their lapel or behind their neck. You can then bring your knee through the gap created by shoving their arm, then kick straight up to begin locking up your triangle. Make sure to also raise your hips, as otherwise you may find it hard to lock your feet, unless you have especially long legs. It's even possible that if you can keep pushing the arm out, a kimura may become a possibility, meaning you can threaten a triangle and a keylock at the same time.

Again, Hall suggests getting onto your side to avoid facing their strength square-on. He feels it is then easier to push their arm out. Once there, shrimp out, in order to get your leg out and then kick through into the triangle set-up. It's also worth noting - as Hall points out - that you can combine the kick through and the tap through: when you try to push their arm out, they may manage to square back up and push their arm in, leading right back to the tap through set-up.