Triangle Escapes

I needed last night's technique. When I get submitted, it is usually by triangle. So, when Fabio said we were going over triangle escapes, I was really happy. I forget so many of the little details that make triangle escapes work. This time, I am writing them down step-by-step so I can reference them! By the way, I am making up all these names for these escapes. I don't know if they have other names.

Escape One: Stack and Block.

- When the person goes for the triangle, immediately look up and brace the elbow of your trapped arm on their pelvic bone, at their hip/led socket. Wrap your other arm around your own arm for more support.
- Stack toward their head, bringing your back knee up behind their butt and hip to block their hip movement.
- At the same time, swim their head with your free arm. A variation is using the bone in your forearm across their jaw or neck. But that's not as nice. :)
- Break your hip towards their head, always keeping your hips lower than your head as your hips come around.
- You should break free.

Escape Two: The Reach Around
- Begins the same as the first one. Look up. Brace your elbow. Support with your other arm.
- Instead of stacking, bring your free arm around to their opposite hip, breaking your hip toward their head at the same time.
- When I practiced this one, I found that the more I hugged the person's leg with my head, looking up at the same time, the easier my head and arm came free.
- This one was the hardest for me to do against a resisting partner.

Escape Three: Pressure Break
- If the person pulls your arm across their body, don't fight them trying to pull back. Go with them to that side, locking your arms in a gable grip and bracing on the ground. Always look up.
- This will put their bottom leg flat on the ground with their other hip facing up.
- Put your far hip right on top of theirs and drop your hip into them.
- Their legs will open.
- If they don't go after your arm trying to armbar it, come around the back and establish side control.
- If you think they will go for your arm, slide their top leg off your neck when their triangle breaks and slide your hips over both legs, rotating around to the front while keeping pressure on their hips.
- As you rotate around the front, swim their head.
- Your arm will be out of danger then.

Rolling went a lot better tonight. I am starting to see slow progress in adapting to not being able to go inverted.

Went with Rhino, a big, strong blue belt guy who is really technical. He is one of the biggest guys in the gym, but he never crushes me when we grapple. A few times, when he was sweeping me or something, I noticed him being careful not to roll on my spindly little limbs. He somehow manages to look out for me while he is grappling the crap out of me.

I did laugh at one point though because I tried this guard pass where I bring both legs together with my arms, shove them down to one side, break my hip around and then basically push the person's upper body flat with my hip as I come up. Usually, it works. When my hip hit his torso it was like slamming my butt into a brick wall. He was sitting almost upright. My "hip pressure" did nothing. I started laughing and he just kind of smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He's a good guy to practice things with because, if a technique works on Rhino, it will most certainly work on a smaller guy. If it doesn't...well, it probably needs some tweaking. ;)