FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : The Specialists THE TAPPER'S TOOLBOX: Fixing the little mistakes in your BJJ game - "Little Hinges Open Big Doors"

Aug 6, 2010 - 10:15:36 AM

By: Rob Gramer, MMATorch Specialist

Hi, my name is Rob Gramer. I started bjj when I naively told a wrestler I'd just punch him in the face if he tried to take me down. That didn't end well. A decade and thousands of matches later (a ton of which I still lose, but I'm getting better) I've still got an incurable addiction to this 'gentle art'.

A little about me. I'm a brown belt with a mechanical engineering degree and a passionate study of psychology. While I've been in this game long enough to show you step-by-step techniques here... or the latest new move... I won't.

The internet is full of "how-to's" from guys who are much better than I am.

You should learn techniques from them. Instead, in these pages I'll talk about the little things that help or hinder your game. The tiny "mechanical" mistakes that cost you submissions (hidden within the techniques)... and the mental glitches that slow down your success.

Thanks for checking this column out. Now let's get started...

Triangle Choke Mistakes - Little Hinges Open Big Doors

Have you ever looked at how a door works? There's this big, heavy chunk of wood supported by maybe 9 screws and three little hinges. Even though some doors can weigh 50 pounds or more, these little two to three ounce hinges EASILY swing the door open.

Well, you've got little "hinges" in your game too. And if you get them right, everything else gets easy.

Take the triangle choke for example. There is one specific step of the triangle that is absolutely critical. Get this right and it's an almost automatic game over for the other guy...

...get it wrong and you'll spend the next three minutes struggling to tap the guy (unless he escapes first).

So, what is the "hinge" that makes the triangle choke almost impossible to escape?

Check out the following video and see if you can find it (App users video available at MMATorch.com):



Did you see the difference? Did you see how I completely extended my hips? And threw my leg over like it was a big grappling claw before pulling my opponent down?

You must get your hips super high up onto your opponents shoulders. This helps you finish the choke because it:

• Breaks his posture
• Puts all of your lower body weight high on his shoulder
• And drastically reduces the wiggle room he needs to escape (kind of like a mouse stuck in a snake's death grip.)

If you want to master triangle chokes, you must get those hips off the ground!

So, how do you do it? I've found drilling exaggerated hip-ups is the key. This trains your body to really shoot the hip up before trying to clamp down. Here's how you do it.

1. First, grab a drill partner and pull him in your guard.
2. Second, make sure your drill partner has perfect posture (his spine is completely vertical).
3. Third, without pulling your partner down with your arms, shoot your hips as high as possible to secure the triangle. (Side note: It helps to not grab the gi with your hands to make sure you get this hip thrust right.)

If you do this right you'll notice that your knee hits the guy in the ear, and he almost taps when you pull him down (pretty sweet!).

Try it out, and see if you can feel the difference.

Rob Gramer is a mechanical engineer and BJJ brown belt, and is MMATorch's new BJJ specialist. For more BJJ articles with a scientific bent and a free report revealing the 33 Grips every grappler must know, visit www.bjjmemoir.com.

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