Teaching #962
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 28/07/2021
When they have the standard grips from closed guard, with one hand grabbing your collars by your chest and the other back by the hip, the two-on-one grip break is a good one to try. Gather their sleeve in your fist (i.e., a pistol grip), then your other hand goes underneath their arm, grabbing your own wrist. The positioning here matters: you want to get the sleeve grip with your arm on the inside.
With that configuration, you can either punch straight up to break their grip, or angle your hips away slightly. Make sure that you maintain your grip on their sleeve, straightening your arm. You want to push their arm across their body, while simultaneously pulling in with your knees. The intention is to collapse them on top of their arm. Due to the grip configuration, your outside hand can reach around to their far armpit. Hook your fingers in for a solid hold, then twist your elbow in firmly. Combined with your stiff-arming sleeve grip, that should rotate their torso and make it hard for them to turn back towards you.
If their head is on your chest, that's the time to go for the swivel kick sweep. If you've dropped them by your armpit, the back take is a better option. You can then shrimp slightly away from them, keeping your bottom foot in tight to act as your first hook. Make sure your chest stays glued to their back, while your hips move away to create a space to drop them into. If shrimping isn't enough, use the heel of your top foot to dig into their hip, spinning them into back control. Also be sure to leave enough space by the hips for them to drop into, while also staying tight with your chest to their back.
If for reason you can't complete the back take that way, you can also try coming up and swivelling around onto their back. Another alternative, from Andre Anderson's old SWEEP DVD, is to base out on both your hands. Walk those hands back, which will put you straight into technical mount. You already have the hook due to the previous position, which becomes the leg blocking their hip in technical mount.
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Teaching Notes: As ever, emphasise moving hips back as you're shifting away with your legs to get the back. You need to drop into that space, so have to create it with your lower body, while still keeping your chest tight to back. You don't want to drop them onto your leg. Could spend more time on tech mount switch, also swivelling to the back.
Showing posts with label teaching closed guard attacks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching closed guard attacks. Show all posts
28 July 2021
22 July 2021
21/07/2021 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Swivel Kick Sweep
Teaching #960
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 21/07/2021
What I've so far been calling the windscreen wiper sweep is something I was first shown by Ciaran at the Belfast Throwdown. That's also the terminology he used. I next saw it demonstrated on Andre Anderson's closed guard DVD, where he called it the 'Rey Diogo sweep', naming it after his instructor. John Will does something similar he dubs the 'bearhug ankle lift', except that his grips are different. I think I'm going to start referring to it as a 'swivel kick sweep' from now on in the interests of being descriptive. It also highlights the part of the sweep most people forget to do, so hopefully calling it that will help students remember the important bit.
You have various options for grips, but I tend to start by grabbing their same side trouser leg. Another common variation is off the two on one grip break. It starts much the same as the back take from the same grip break (and indeed combines well, you can switch between those techniques). Gather their sleeve in your fist (i.e., a pistol grip), then your other hand goes underneath their arm, grabbing your own wrist. The positioning here matters: you want to get the sleeve grip with your arm on the inside.
With that configuration, you can either punch straight up to break their grip, or angle your hips away slightly. Make sure that you maintain your grip on their sleeve, straightening your arm. You want to push their arm across their body, while simultaneously pulling in with your knees. The intention is to collapse them on top of their arm. Due to the grip configuration, your outside hand can reach around to their far armpit. Hook your fingers in for a solid hold, then twist your elbow in firmly. Combined with your stiff-arming sleeve grip, that should rotate their torso and make it hard for them to turn back towards you.
Grab either the outside of their knee or the lower part of their trousers (keeping in mind you don't want your fingers inside the cuff of their trousers). Be careful, as if your opponent knows this sweep, they may post their other leg out to stop you. Put your same side foot by that other leg, keeping it tight so there is no room for them to wriggle. If you can get their wrist up in order to grab it and pull the arm around their head (known as a gift wrap), that will make the switch much easier, but it is possible to do the sweep without.
To get an optimal angle for this sweep, swivel your body perpendicular. You should end up looking into their ear, in a similar motion to Ryan Hall's triangle finish, or the armbar. You can then kick your leg into their side, fitting with Hall's theory of bringing larger muscle groups to bear rather than small ones. You are kicking directly forwards, using your hamstring, rather than swinging your leg over, which would use your abductors. Lift their leg (either a trouser grip or hooking under the leg, if they step up) and roll into mount.
You should end up in a solid low mount. I'd suggest immediately staying low and grabbing their head, focusing on solidifying the mount before you continue. Keep hold of their leg, as well as the sleeve if you gripped it earlier, extending that sleeve forwards. Holding the leg makes it hard for them to bridge, while holding the sleeve and straightening the arm could lead directly into a submission, such as an americana. To further help with that, slide your knee up on the sleeve grip side, so they can't bring their elbow back to their side.
That's the variation I find works best for me, hence calling it swivel kick. It works well off the leg clamp too, as well as off other ways of getting to a back take from closed guard.
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Teaching Notes: Nothing much to add, I'm pretty confident about this one. As ever I'm emphasising the gift wrap, so for next time it would be good to practice other grips a bunch, as well as follow ups when things go wrong. I'm going to teach an armbar from that same position, that should bring up some more stuff to think about for next time.
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 21/07/2021
What I've so far been calling the windscreen wiper sweep is something I was first shown by Ciaran at the Belfast Throwdown. That's also the terminology he used. I next saw it demonstrated on Andre Anderson's closed guard DVD, where he called it the 'Rey Diogo sweep', naming it after his instructor. John Will does something similar he dubs the 'bearhug ankle lift', except that his grips are different. I think I'm going to start referring to it as a 'swivel kick sweep' from now on in the interests of being descriptive. It also highlights the part of the sweep most people forget to do, so hopefully calling it that will help students remember the important bit.
You have various options for grips, but I tend to start by grabbing their same side trouser leg. Another common variation is off the two on one grip break. It starts much the same as the back take from the same grip break (and indeed combines well, you can switch between those techniques). Gather their sleeve in your fist (i.e., a pistol grip), then your other hand goes underneath their arm, grabbing your own wrist. The positioning here matters: you want to get the sleeve grip with your arm on the inside.
With that configuration, you can either punch straight up to break their grip, or angle your hips away slightly. Make sure that you maintain your grip on their sleeve, straightening your arm. You want to push their arm across their body, while simultaneously pulling in with your knees. The intention is to collapse them on top of their arm. Due to the grip configuration, your outside hand can reach around to their far armpit. Hook your fingers in for a solid hold, then twist your elbow in firmly. Combined with your stiff-arming sleeve grip, that should rotate their torso and make it hard for them to turn back towards you.
Grab either the outside of their knee or the lower part of their trousers (keeping in mind you don't want your fingers inside the cuff of their trousers). Be careful, as if your opponent knows this sweep, they may post their other leg out to stop you. Put your same side foot by that other leg, keeping it tight so there is no room for them to wriggle. If you can get their wrist up in order to grab it and pull the arm around their head (known as a gift wrap), that will make the switch much easier, but it is possible to do the sweep without.
To get an optimal angle for this sweep, swivel your body perpendicular. You should end up looking into their ear, in a similar motion to Ryan Hall's triangle finish, or the armbar. You can then kick your leg into their side, fitting with Hall's theory of bringing larger muscle groups to bear rather than small ones. You are kicking directly forwards, using your hamstring, rather than swinging your leg over, which would use your abductors. Lift their leg (either a trouser grip or hooking under the leg, if they step up) and roll into mount.
You should end up in a solid low mount. I'd suggest immediately staying low and grabbing their head, focusing on solidifying the mount before you continue. Keep hold of their leg, as well as the sleeve if you gripped it earlier, extending that sleeve forwards. Holding the leg makes it hard for them to bridge, while holding the sleeve and straightening the arm could lead directly into a submission, such as an americana. To further help with that, slide your knee up on the sleeve grip side, so they can't bring their elbow back to their side.
That's the variation I find works best for me, hence calling it swivel kick. It works well off the leg clamp too, as well as off other ways of getting to a back take from closed guard.
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Teaching Notes: Nothing much to add, I'm pretty confident about this one. As ever I'm emphasising the gift wrap, so for next time it would be good to practice other grips a bunch, as well as follow ups when things go wrong. I'm going to teach an armbar from that same position, that should bring up some more stuff to think about for next time.
19 February 2020
19/02/2020 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Cross choke (palm up palm up)
Teaching #940
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 19/02/2020
The classic cross choke from guard starts with a grip on their opposite collar, up high past their neck, getting your elbow to their chest. This can lead to all sorts of attacks and sweeps, but the cross choke is probably the most traditional. However, it can also be tough to finish, not least because everybody is expecting the attack. Make sure you've broken down their posture when you go for this, as it will be really hard to submit with a cross choke if they are still upright and have their arms in place.
It is the second grip that generally proves to be challenging. Jason Scully has a good tip here, recommending that you angle off to help shoot your second arm underneath the first. You're aiming to get both hands together behind their neck: in practice, you are unlikely to get them to touch, but get as close as you can. Suck your elbows in, pulling their head down in the process. Do not flare out your elbows: they can easily defend that by simply wrapping over your elbows and bringing them back together. To finish, twist your hands inwards to press the sharp bony part of your arm (i.e., the side your thumb is on) into their carotid arteries.
There is a handy Roy Dean trick you can try if your grip has slipped down too low to apply the choke. Shoot your arms up straight, aiming to get your thumbs touching behind their neck at the back of their collar (ideally, gripping right by the tag), then pull them back down. Your grips can then progress as normal: don't try to choke with your arms extended. Also, remember to turn your thumbs inwards rather than out (or to put it another way, turn them away from your face rather than towards it. Imagine they've been tied together with a string, so you can't open up any space between them). Turning them outwards will work too, but inwards should be tighter.
A handy variation is to get a really deep grasp of the collar. I learned this from Roy Dean's demonstration on his Brown Belt Requirements DVD, where he calls it the 'Relson' choke: I've been using it regularly ever since. To get the deep grip choke, first establish that grip. You may find it helps to sit up to get it in really deep. As Dean discusses on his DVD, an especially deep grip can help your choke as well as give you authoritative control.
Often people will let you get a grip on their collar from guard, unlike the same situation from under mount, despite the threat being similar. If possible, it's a good idea to open up the collar with your same side hand to help get your other hand in as deep as possible. Like John Will says, this will also take the slack out of their gi.
Once you have it, this deep grip provides three main advantages. Firstly, you get great control, as you can pull them down towards you. Secondly, it could be the beginning of a choke. Lift their chin with your forearm to make some space, then insert your other grip. Due to the depth of your first grip, the second hand doesn't need to go as far. Turn your thumbs inwards (away from you, towards them) for the choke, pulling in with your elbows (don't flare them out).
Jason Scully has a number of great tips over on The Grapplers Guide, with a couple of videos about collar chokes from closed guard. He suggests angling off to help get that second grip in, rather than staying square on. He also advises grabbing their collar with both hands to pull them down and insert your first grip, should you have trouble breaking their posture. As Scully points out, you can also push with your initial grip, towards their neck, to help open up the space.
Secondly, even if you don't land the choke, just having the grip will make them start to worry about that choke rather than thinking about passing. Thirdly, it means you can establish a collar and elbow grip. There are various attacks you can do from there, the most common of which are probably armbars, scissor and push sweeps. Should that grip slip, then you still have a more orthodox collar choke available, or the numerous options from a collar and elbow/sleeve grip, if you established that hold.
It is the second grip that generally proves to be challenging. The 'palm up, palm down' variation goes some way to solving this problem, as your second hand grabs their opposite shoulder rather than having to fight through for a collar grip. Drive your forearm into the neck from there, making sure that with both arms, you are cutting into the neck with the sharp part of your arm next to your wrist. It shouldn't be the back of your arm, as that's squishy and flat. By contrast, the side of the arm is sharp and narrow.
Another Jason Scully tip from The Grapplers Guide at this point is to bring the elbow of your second arm up high by your head, preventing them from blocking it as easily or pinning that arm to your chest. If they do try to block with their same side hand, you can dig your elbow straight past their hand and into the neck. He again recommends angling off, this time towards the shoulder you're trying to grab. To help that spin, punch your initial collar grip away from you, towards their far shoulder. That will expose their neck and help you swivel into position, plus it connects well with an armbar.
In order to save my fingers, my preference is to use the gi tail for this choke. The application is the same, except that rather than establishing a tight collar grip, you pull out their gi and pull it back across. Feed that to your other hand, grasping the gi tail and locking your forearm tight to their neck. Your other hand comes over the top, grabbing the gi you've pulled over. Pressing both forearms into the neck, twist your arms and squeeze for the finish. The arm placement is the same, again getting that acute angle with the wrist bone to press into their arteries. Be careful you are only twisting your arms, not their neck. Twisting their neck will end up in a crank (which can do lasting damage), not a choke (which won't).
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Teaching Notes: I can't remember if I've ever gotten this choke in sparring, but that's kinda a moot point now because it mashes up my fingers too much for me to try it much. Still, it's good to throw it in as a technique, given it's an important fundamental. I think the class feels pretty good at this stage: angle off is usual, so is shooting the hands up Roy Dean style. I also always emphasise that it's a good platform for trying other attacks (especially armbars), plus sweeps.
I did also show the palm up palm down choke, which I think you can combine in one class, plus the gi tail variation.
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 19/02/2020
The classic cross choke from guard starts with a grip on their opposite collar, up high past their neck, getting your elbow to their chest. This can lead to all sorts of attacks and sweeps, but the cross choke is probably the most traditional. However, it can also be tough to finish, not least because everybody is expecting the attack. Make sure you've broken down their posture when you go for this, as it will be really hard to submit with a cross choke if they are still upright and have their arms in place.
It is the second grip that generally proves to be challenging. Jason Scully has a good tip here, recommending that you angle off to help shoot your second arm underneath the first. You're aiming to get both hands together behind their neck: in practice, you are unlikely to get them to touch, but get as close as you can. Suck your elbows in, pulling their head down in the process. Do not flare out your elbows: they can easily defend that by simply wrapping over your elbows and bringing them back together. To finish, twist your hands inwards to press the sharp bony part of your arm (i.e., the side your thumb is on) into their carotid arteries.
There is a handy Roy Dean trick you can try if your grip has slipped down too low to apply the choke. Shoot your arms up straight, aiming to get your thumbs touching behind their neck at the back of their collar (ideally, gripping right by the tag), then pull them back down. Your grips can then progress as normal: don't try to choke with your arms extended. Also, remember to turn your thumbs inwards rather than out (or to put it another way, turn them away from your face rather than towards it. Imagine they've been tied together with a string, so you can't open up any space between them). Turning them outwards will work too, but inwards should be tighter.
A handy variation is to get a really deep grasp of the collar. I learned this from Roy Dean's demonstration on his Brown Belt Requirements DVD, where he calls it the 'Relson' choke: I've been using it regularly ever since. To get the deep grip choke, first establish that grip. You may find it helps to sit up to get it in really deep. As Dean discusses on his DVD, an especially deep grip can help your choke as well as give you authoritative control.
Often people will let you get a grip on their collar from guard, unlike the same situation from under mount, despite the threat being similar. If possible, it's a good idea to open up the collar with your same side hand to help get your other hand in as deep as possible. Like John Will says, this will also take the slack out of their gi.
Once you have it, this deep grip provides three main advantages. Firstly, you get great control, as you can pull them down towards you. Secondly, it could be the beginning of a choke. Lift their chin with your forearm to make some space, then insert your other grip. Due to the depth of your first grip, the second hand doesn't need to go as far. Turn your thumbs inwards (away from you, towards them) for the choke, pulling in with your elbows (don't flare them out).
Jason Scully has a number of great tips over on The Grapplers Guide, with a couple of videos about collar chokes from closed guard. He suggests angling off to help get that second grip in, rather than staying square on. He also advises grabbing their collar with both hands to pull them down and insert your first grip, should you have trouble breaking their posture. As Scully points out, you can also push with your initial grip, towards their neck, to help open up the space.
Secondly, even if you don't land the choke, just having the grip will make them start to worry about that choke rather than thinking about passing. Thirdly, it means you can establish a collar and elbow grip. There are various attacks you can do from there, the most common of which are probably armbars, scissor and push sweeps. Should that grip slip, then you still have a more orthodox collar choke available, or the numerous options from a collar and elbow/sleeve grip, if you established that hold.
It is the second grip that generally proves to be challenging. The 'palm up, palm down' variation goes some way to solving this problem, as your second hand grabs their opposite shoulder rather than having to fight through for a collar grip. Drive your forearm into the neck from there, making sure that with both arms, you are cutting into the neck with the sharp part of your arm next to your wrist. It shouldn't be the back of your arm, as that's squishy and flat. By contrast, the side of the arm is sharp and narrow.
Another Jason Scully tip from The Grapplers Guide at this point is to bring the elbow of your second arm up high by your head, preventing them from blocking it as easily or pinning that arm to your chest. If they do try to block with their same side hand, you can dig your elbow straight past their hand and into the neck. He again recommends angling off, this time towards the shoulder you're trying to grab. To help that spin, punch your initial collar grip away from you, towards their far shoulder. That will expose their neck and help you swivel into position, plus it connects well with an armbar.
In order to save my fingers, my preference is to use the gi tail for this choke. The application is the same, except that rather than establishing a tight collar grip, you pull out their gi and pull it back across. Feed that to your other hand, grasping the gi tail and locking your forearm tight to their neck. Your other hand comes over the top, grabbing the gi you've pulled over. Pressing both forearms into the neck, twist your arms and squeeze for the finish. The arm placement is the same, again getting that acute angle with the wrist bone to press into their arteries. Be careful you are only twisting your arms, not their neck. Twisting their neck will end up in a crank (which can do lasting damage), not a choke (which won't).
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Teaching Notes: I can't remember if I've ever gotten this choke in sparring, but that's kinda a moot point now because it mashes up my fingers too much for me to try it much. Still, it's good to throw it in as a technique, given it's an important fundamental. I think the class feels pretty good at this stage: angle off is usual, so is shooting the hands up Roy Dean style. I also always emphasise that it's a good platform for trying other attacks (especially armbars), plus sweeps.
I did also show the palm up palm down choke, which I think you can combine in one class, plus the gi tail variation.
17 February 2020
17/02/2020 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Hip bump sweep
Teaching #939
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/02/2020
Personally the hip bump sweep (also sometimes known as the sit-up sweep) has been my highest percentage sweep from closed guard. It also fits well with the discussion on posture I've taught previously, because the reaction you'll get when you try to break somebody's posture is often that they will lean back. That's a perfect time to go for the sit-up sweep. Handily, it also makes for a classic offensive combination with the kimura, triangle and guillotine, which I'll show in future lessons.
Come up on your elbow, then open your guard, keeping your legs squeezed. Your other arm reaches over their opposite shoulder. Keep moving diagonally, progressing from basing on your elbow to your hand. This also makes it easier to lift your hips. Your second base point is your foot, on the opposite side to your basing hand. Your remaining knee is on the ground: you'll be pivoting around that. Use the two base points of your hand and foot to stay close to your partner, smacking them with your basing leg side hip. Keep swivelling, reaching further with your shoulder-arm to grab their triceps. If they try to put that hand behind them, you can pull back with your triceps-hand.
You're essentially swivelling on the spot around your knee. This should cause them to fall off balance. As you move on top, twist your upper body so that you're effectively doing a take down. Ideally, you'll end up directly into mount. Even if this doesn't work because they're resisting so much and knock you back, you should be able to follow up with a kimura, triangle or guillotine.
If when you go for the hip bump, they forcefully drive forwards to prevent your sweep, that sets you up for the kimura. As they drive into you, quickly switch to attack their arm instead, using their momentum to swivel into position. You could also try for the guillotine, for which you'll need to shoot your hips back and sit up. If they instead manage to base securely enough that you can't dislodge their arm, that's an opportunity to switch to a triangle. Bring your leg through to gap between their basing arm and their body, switching your free hand to their head. Hanging off their head, kick into a triangle.
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Teaching Notes: Don't forget high hips, up in the air then rolling them over. Think I remembered everything apart from that. Rotating around the knee on the spot worth emphasising too, which I did. ;D
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/02/2020
Personally the hip bump sweep (also sometimes known as the sit-up sweep) has been my highest percentage sweep from closed guard. It also fits well with the discussion on posture I've taught previously, because the reaction you'll get when you try to break somebody's posture is often that they will lean back. That's a perfect time to go for the sit-up sweep. Handily, it also makes for a classic offensive combination with the kimura, triangle and guillotine, which I'll show in future lessons.
Come up on your elbow, then open your guard, keeping your legs squeezed. Your other arm reaches over their opposite shoulder. Keep moving diagonally, progressing from basing on your elbow to your hand. This also makes it easier to lift your hips. Your second base point is your foot, on the opposite side to your basing hand. Your remaining knee is on the ground: you'll be pivoting around that. Use the two base points of your hand and foot to stay close to your partner, smacking them with your basing leg side hip. Keep swivelling, reaching further with your shoulder-arm to grab their triceps. If they try to put that hand behind them, you can pull back with your triceps-hand.
You're essentially swivelling on the spot around your knee. This should cause them to fall off balance. As you move on top, twist your upper body so that you're effectively doing a take down. Ideally, you'll end up directly into mount. Even if this doesn't work because they're resisting so much and knock you back, you should be able to follow up with a kimura, triangle or guillotine.
If when you go for the hip bump, they forcefully drive forwards to prevent your sweep, that sets you up for the kimura. As they drive into you, quickly switch to attack their arm instead, using their momentum to swivel into position. You could also try for the guillotine, for which you'll need to shoot your hips back and sit up. If they instead manage to base securely enough that you can't dislodge their arm, that's an opportunity to switch to a triangle. Bring your leg through to gap between their basing arm and their body, switching your free hand to their head. Hanging off their head, kick into a triangle.
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Teaching Notes: Don't forget high hips, up in the air then rolling them over. Think I remembered everything apart from that. Rotating around the knee on the spot worth emphasising too, which I did. ;D
14 August 2019
14/08/2019 - Teaching | Lapel Guard | Overwrap to Push kick sweep
Teaching #895
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 14/08/2019
Lapel guard has numerous variations. The one I learned from Mario at the 2019 BJJ Globetrotters Heidelcamp is what is commonly known as squid guard. Given that's a rather unhelpful name, I'm choosing to refer to the position in a more descriptive way, so a lapel overwrap. Start off by getting a grip of their lapel, putting your same side foot into their hip and shoving.
You then want to grasp the lapel with your other hand too. The hand on the same side of the lapel should be on the bottom, in order to facilitate transferring the grip later on. Be aware that this can put a lot of strain on the gi, so an old gi might not enjoy the tension much (as I discovered when I taught this ;D).
You are then going to let go with your same side hand, underhooking their leg. You may need to swivel sideways slightly for this. Bring your same side foot slightly past their hip at this point, while also bringing their lapel over the top of both your leg and their leg. Pass the lapel to your underhooking hand, securing the position.
This is now a very strong guard. That's because your foot is firmly attached to them, meaning they can't shove it to the side for the usual pass. If you foot was not wrapped in the gi, they would have a number of options to go over, around and under the leg. Wrapping it with the gi removes all of those routes to a pass: they have to disentangle themselves first.
At this point, you can now go for one of the simplest sweeps in BJJ, a variation of what I call the double ankle grab sweep. Grab the outside of both their ankles, then retract both your feet so they are on your partners hips. Note that you don't want to hang out here: as soon as you bring your lapel overwrap foot away from the overwrap, your leg is much more vulnerable to getting shoved out the way and thereby losing the position and perhaps even getting passed.
Push them over, as you do so bringing your knees towards your chest and immediately sitting up into a crouch. From there you're in a great position to pass. There are numerous other ways you could get up, that's just the simplest. You could also keep hold of an ankle, rotating your hand to push down on the top, then do a technical stand up to get up and move into a pass. Or, you could switch your grip to their trouser cuff and shove it into the air, passing to knee on belly. Or, you could try and diagonally slide through to mount. Etc. ;)
Mario has a video on this (taken at the camp) over @mariodrills on his Instagram:
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Teaching Notes: Is this more of a closed guard technique, appropriate to that? Not really I guess, because of the set up I've been showing, though you could go from closed guard. Next time, good to show some other ways of getting up, potentially, though I like the simplicity of the one I typically use.
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 14/08/2019
Lapel guard has numerous variations. The one I learned from Mario at the 2019 BJJ Globetrotters Heidelcamp is what is commonly known as squid guard. Given that's a rather unhelpful name, I'm choosing to refer to the position in a more descriptive way, so a lapel overwrap. Start off by getting a grip of their lapel, putting your same side foot into their hip and shoving.
You then want to grasp the lapel with your other hand too. The hand on the same side of the lapel should be on the bottom, in order to facilitate transferring the grip later on. Be aware that this can put a lot of strain on the gi, so an old gi might not enjoy the tension much (as I discovered when I taught this ;D).
You are then going to let go with your same side hand, underhooking their leg. You may need to swivel sideways slightly for this. Bring your same side foot slightly past their hip at this point, while also bringing their lapel over the top of both your leg and their leg. Pass the lapel to your underhooking hand, securing the position.
This is now a very strong guard. That's because your foot is firmly attached to them, meaning they can't shove it to the side for the usual pass. If you foot was not wrapped in the gi, they would have a number of options to go over, around and under the leg. Wrapping it with the gi removes all of those routes to a pass: they have to disentangle themselves first.
At this point, you can now go for one of the simplest sweeps in BJJ, a variation of what I call the double ankle grab sweep. Grab the outside of both their ankles, then retract both your feet so they are on your partners hips. Note that you don't want to hang out here: as soon as you bring your lapel overwrap foot away from the overwrap, your leg is much more vulnerable to getting shoved out the way and thereby losing the position and perhaps even getting passed.
Push them over, as you do so bringing your knees towards your chest and immediately sitting up into a crouch. From there you're in a great position to pass. There are numerous other ways you could get up, that's just the simplest. You could also keep hold of an ankle, rotating your hand to push down on the top, then do a technical stand up to get up and move into a pass. Or, you could switch your grip to their trouser cuff and shove it into the air, passing to knee on belly. Or, you could try and diagonally slide through to mount. Etc. ;)
Mario has a video on this (taken at the camp) over @mariodrills on his Instagram:
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Teaching Notes: Is this more of a closed guard technique, appropriate to that? Not really I guess, because of the set up I've been showing, though you could go from closed guard. Next time, good to show some other ways of getting up, potentially, though I like the simplicity of the one I typically use.
12 August 2019
12/08/2019 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Double ankle grab sweep (knees and feet on hips variations)double ankle grab
Teaching #894
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 12/08/2019
The situation for this is that they have stood up in your closed guard. As they stand up, if you've got a grip on their collar or head, maintain it in order to keep their posture bent forwards. At the moment you let go of that grip (if you have one) and they try to reach an upright position, grab behind their ankles (around the outside: if you grab around the inside, there's an injury risk).
Open your guard (when they stand, they are looking to open it and pass. It's better if when you open your guard, it's on your terms rather than theirs), bringing your knees together under their chest. This is the version that Xande refers to as a 'chair sweep', because it looks a little like you are sitting in a chair. I prefer to refer to this family of sweeps as 'ankle grab', with this particularl variation being a double ankle grab, finishing with the knees.
You can also put your feet on their hips, depending on their height and how much leverage you need. Either way, drive those feet or knees into them. That should knock them over if they aren't prepared for the sweep. One advantage of the knees is you can keep squeezing your legs into their sides, which can help you use their momentum as they fall back (but be careful you don't get your feet under them too much, or you might hurt yourself as you hit the floor).
After they've hit the mat, before they can react, come up on your hand and same side knee. Bring your hips forward on that same side. It's much easier if you move in a diagonal direction, rather than trying to go straight forward. Slide your knee on that side to the mat, keeping your hips low, also grabbing behind their head (or collar). From there, you could go to mount, s-mount, side control etc. It is an awkward position, so takes a bit of getting used to. I used a hip thrust drill during the warm-up to help: you can do a technical stand-up from here too if you find that easier, keeping hold of their leg and passing around to the side.
If you're using the feet in hip variation, then you don't end up with your legs entangled. Instead, you can retract your feet as soon as you feel them falling backwards, ready to move straight into a guard pass. This is what I like to do with any sweep that doesn't require my leg to continue pushing. That way, I can get to my passing position and I don't have to vary it by the sweep. Much less confusing if your legs aren't stuck in some random position, like past their hip, around their leg, wrapped in a gi or whatever. ;)
Another option is to grab their trouser leg, generally easy enough as you're already holding their ankle (or alternatively, you could start with a trouser grip instead of an ankle grip). As you come up, also pull their leg into the air. That sets you up for an immediate pass, as well as preventing them from standing.
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Teaching Notes: I keep forgetting to do that rock forward and hip thrust as a drill, that would be useful. Also, breakfalling is handy to re-emphasise here. Gripping the trouser leg is another good option, so you can thrust their leg into the air as you stand. So, similarities to standing up from the sickle sweep or tripod sweep.
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 12/08/2019
The situation for this is that they have stood up in your closed guard. As they stand up, if you've got a grip on their collar or head, maintain it in order to keep their posture bent forwards. At the moment you let go of that grip (if you have one) and they try to reach an upright position, grab behind their ankles (around the outside: if you grab around the inside, there's an injury risk).Open your guard (when they stand, they are looking to open it and pass. It's better if when you open your guard, it's on your terms rather than theirs), bringing your knees together under their chest. This is the version that Xande refers to as a 'chair sweep', because it looks a little like you are sitting in a chair. I prefer to refer to this family of sweeps as 'ankle grab', with this particularl variation being a double ankle grab, finishing with the knees.
You can also put your feet on their hips, depending on their height and how much leverage you need. Either way, drive those feet or knees into them. That should knock them over if they aren't prepared for the sweep. One advantage of the knees is you can keep squeezing your legs into their sides, which can help you use their momentum as they fall back (but be careful you don't get your feet under them too much, or you might hurt yourself as you hit the floor).
After they've hit the mat, before they can react, come up on your hand and same side knee. Bring your hips forward on that same side. It's much easier if you move in a diagonal direction, rather than trying to go straight forward. Slide your knee on that side to the mat, keeping your hips low, also grabbing behind their head (or collar). From there, you could go to mount, s-mount, side control etc. It is an awkward position, so takes a bit of getting used to. I used a hip thrust drill during the warm-up to help: you can do a technical stand-up from here too if you find that easier, keeping hold of their leg and passing around to the side.
If you're using the feet in hip variation, then you don't end up with your legs entangled. Instead, you can retract your feet as soon as you feel them falling backwards, ready to move straight into a guard pass. This is what I like to do with any sweep that doesn't require my leg to continue pushing. That way, I can get to my passing position and I don't have to vary it by the sweep. Much less confusing if your legs aren't stuck in some random position, like past their hip, around their leg, wrapped in a gi or whatever. ;)
Another option is to grab their trouser leg, generally easy enough as you're already holding their ankle (or alternatively, you could start with a trouser grip instead of an ankle grip). As you come up, also pull their leg into the air. That sets you up for an immediate pass, as well as preventing them from standing.
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Teaching Notes: I keep forgetting to do that rock forward and hip thrust as a drill, that would be useful. Also, breakfalling is handy to re-emphasise here. Gripping the trouser leg is another good option, so you can thrust their leg into the air as you stand. So, similarities to standing up from the sickle sweep or tripod sweep.
09 August 2019
09/08/2019 - Teaching | Lapel Guard | Overwrap to Triangle
Teaching #893
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 09/08/2019
There are lots of ways to set up the triangle, which is one of the fundamental submissions in BJJ. The name comes from the 'triangle' shape you form with your legs, capturing their neck and one arm inside that structure. The basic process is:
1. Get their head and one of their arms inside your legs
2. Put your shin behind your knee to 'lock' the triangle
3. Squeeze your legs into their carotid arteries on either side of their neck.
Of course, there is much more detail to a successful triangle than that, which I'll break down in the rest of this post. Generally I teach this from closed guard, but there are various options from open guard too. The main one is from spider guard: from the lapel guard overwrap, you have a similar option.
Lapel guard has numerous variations. The one I learned from Mario at the 2019 BJJ Globetrotters Heidelcamp is what is commonly known as squid guard. Given that's a rather unhelpful name, I'm choosing to refer to the position in a more descriptive way, so a lapel overwrap. Start off by getting a grip of their lapel, putting your same side foot into their hip and shoving.
You then want to grasp the lapel with your other hand too. The hand on the same side of the lapel should be on the bottom, in order to facilitate transferring the grip later on. Be aware that this can put a lot of strain on the gi, so an old gi might not enjoy the tension much (as I discovered when I taught this ;D).
You are then going to let go with your same side hand, underhooking their leg. You may need to swivel sideways slightly for this. Bring your same side foot slightly past their hip at this point, while also bringing their lapel over the top of both your leg and their leg. Pass the lapel to your underhooking hand, securing the position.
This is now a very strong guard. That's because your foot is firmly attached to them, meaning they can't shove it to the side for the usual pass. If you foot was not wrapped in the gi, they would have a number of options to go over, around and under the leg. Wrapping it with the gi removes all of those routes to a pass: they have to disentangle themselves first.
From this position, you can go for both sweeps and submissions. For the triangle set up, you're going to move into a sort of spider guard hybrid. Your free foot goes either onto their biceps or their shoulder. As per Neil Owen's advice, I prefer the shoulder because it is harder for them to circle their arm free. Shove up into the arm/shoulder, while your free arm grabs their opposite collar and pulls down.
This should twist their posture. Generate the tension, then kick up over their arm/shoulder and pull them down, dropping them in between your legs. Cross your ankle, and you're ready to go into your triangle. Mario, who taught the class at Heidelberg, has a video on the triangle from overwrap over at his @mariodrills channel:
At this point, you can progress through the usual triangle, same as you would from wherever else you set it up. You've achieved the 'diamond position' with your ankles crossed, so all you need to do now is make sure they can neither get their head nor their arm free.
There are many alternative set-ups to the lapel over wrap, mostly from closed guard. For the first stage (entry), the simplest option is probably to grab both their wrists (or you could try their forearms) with your same side hands. Push their arm into their stomach, while clamping the other to your chest. You can then bring your hips up in order to fling your leg (on the same side as the arm you've pushed back) over their shoulder, locking your feet by the top of their back. Your thigh presses into their neck. The important thing is to clear that hand and arm you've shoved into their stomach, so that you're ready to move into the triangle.
If you can drive your knee into the inside of the arm you want to clear, that can work too: in Gracie Combatives, Rener pushes into their bicep/crook of their elbow with his knee, grabs the wrist, then kicks over to get into position. Alternatively, he also shows how you can circle your leg around the arm to get your leg past. There are many other entries and not just from guard: the triangle is possible from pretty much every other position in BJJ too, whether that's the back, mount or side control.
Once you've got their head and arm trapped between your legs, it's also helpful to move their arm across your body, though not essential. You can still choke them without that arm across, it just tends to be more difficult. Triangle expert Ryan Hall repeatedly states that it isn't necessary, because you're choking them by pressing their shoulder into their neck, not the lower part of their arm (remember, to choke you are pressing into both carotid arteries on either side of the neck. With the triangle, on one side their shoulder blocks the artery, the other is blocked by your leg).
He demonstrates how you can still choke them even if their arm is on the other side. Still, it isn't 'wrong' to bring the arm across, particularly if you are going for a choke where you're square-on, as per the traditional triangle method. The point Hall makes is that you should never prioritise pulling the arm across rather than controlling the head.
That's because controlling the head is absolutely key. Ideally, you want to pull their head into your belly button rather than your chest, to really break down their posture. If they are able to lift their head up, they can regain an upright posture. So, be sure you have some kind of control over their posture before you attempt the triangle. If they are sat fully upright with strong posture, you're going to struggle to get a triangle from there: a different technique would be advisable.
Once you have their posture broken down and their head and arm between your legs, you want to lock that in place. When locking your legs in this second stage (locking), you can sometimes move straight into a locked triangle. If not, especially if you have shorter legs like me, stick with a secure 'diamond' leg formation rather than a sloppy half-locked triangle. From there, pull on your shin to bring your ankle behind your knee, swivelling off at an angle if necessary. Be sure you don't lock over your toes: it must be your ankle. If your leg is locked on your toes, they have a chance to knock your leg off them. More importantly, if you press down while locked over you toes, you're in danger of injuring your ankle.
You might well find you need to adjust to get your legs locked. Opening your guard to do that is easier, which will enable you to push off their hip with your locking leg foot. However, be careful that you don't give them space to escape when you open. You can maintain control by grabbing the leg you have over the back of their head, meaning that you are replacing the control your leg provided with equivalent control from your arm. Ryan Hall doesn't like to unlock his legs at all, but then he has long legs.
You also need to have your neck leg right across the back of their neck, rather than angling down their back. If it is part way down their back, you are no longer pressing into their neck: their body will get in the way of your choke. Similarly, your locking leg does not want to be obstructed by their shoulder. You therefore don't want to see their shoulder once the triangle is locked in: try and get your leg past it, or simply push their trapped shoulder back a little, in order to get your legs more tightly on their carotid arteries. If they have a lot of shoulder inside your legs, that's a chance for them to drive forward and dig out some room to breathe.
Having locked the triangle, you now have two main options for the third stage (finishing). The traditional way to complete the choke is to squeeze your abductors (i.e., the muscles of your inner thighs) into their neck. At this point, you might also want to raise your hips and/or pull down on their head for some extra pressure. Other little details that can help are pulling your toes back to tense your calves, meaning more pressure on their carotid arteries. Angling your locking leg outwards can also help increase that pressure, a nifty tip from Mike Fowler.
The other main option, which again comes from Ryan Hall, is to instead use what he calls the 'stomp and curl' method. The reason for his preference is that he says this uses larger muscle groups than the abductors, which tend to be comparatively weak. First, he attains a perpendicular angle, meaning he is looking at his opponent's ear rather than their face. From there, he can now kick forwards with his neck leg (the stomp) while pulling down with his locking leg (the curl).
Perpendicular angles are good for smaller people too, as it makes it harder for the opponent to stack you (I'll talk more about stacking in a moment) because you aren't straight on. The easiest way to get a perpendicular angle is hooking under their free arm, then grabbing around your own knee. This also has the advantage of clamping you in place: should they try to square back up, you'll stay where you are as they move. There's a second benefit too in that they can no longer use that arm to create a frame by linking their hands, which they could otherwise use to press into your hips and make space.
You can also grab right under their body and link your hands, though it is unlikely you'll be able to get to that extreme position. Hooking under their leg is another option, but normally you won't have the space to do that. However, it is important to remember the leg grabbing option. That is the best way to stop yourself from being slammed when triangling, so should you want to use a triangle in a situation where slamming might take place, it would be very advisable to hook a leg.
You may find you keep getting stacked, particularly if you are square on. However, as Renzo Gracie teaches, even with that style of triangle you can submit a larger opponent. The key is preventing them from driving into you and curling your body. Renzo's method is to brace his arms against his knee and shin, something I was first shown by my old training partner, Howard. Should they continue to drive forward, all they are doing is extending themselves, which makes it easier for you to choke them.
BJ Penn teaches something similar, which he refers to as the 'triangle sprawl out'. This time, instead of straight-arming into your own leg, you're going to wriggle back, then come up on your elbows and finally your hands. From here, keep moving backwards until they are almost lying down in front of you, making sure your triangle lock around their head is still tight. To apply the submission, drive your legs down as your lean your upper body forwards.
Generating that habit of moving backwards to stop yourself being crunched up is a good habit in general for the triangle, whether or not you're going for the Renzo or BJ Penn finishes above. It is less of an issue if you have attained a perpendicular angle, but sometimes you might find you need to shoulder-walk back in order to get the space to create that angle.
Finally, keep in mind that the triangle combines very well with the armbar. You will often find that when somebody is defending an armbar, they focus so much on freeing their arm that they when they yank it free, they forget their other arm is still inside your legs. That's the perfect time to swing your leg to the other side of their head and lock up a triangle. Even better, you can still attack the elbow joint from within the triangle, applying choking pressure while also going for the armlock.
Another variation comes from Joey Carta, who taught an excellent lesson on this at the 2017 BJJ Globetrotter's Camp in Leuven. He relies on his leg over the back of their head for postural control. He then reach across to grab the trapped arm tricep with his other hand. If they try to rise up, he pushes with his foot on their hip. If they rise up with the other leg, he releases the tricep and instead hooks by their ankle, 'waving' to then roll them over. Handy variation I'd like to keep in mind for the future, so I must make sure I don't forget it next time around. :)
_____________________
Teaching Notes: It is tricky to teach this without people already understanding the triangle, but not impossible. There were a couple of fairly new beginners in class, who did a fairly good job of both the lapel overwrap and the triangle. The main issue, as ever, is people try and rush the triangle, without getting the proper angle.
So as usual, emphasise getting the leg straight across the back of their neck, avoiding a diagonal angle. I tend to highlight this by pointing to the amount of person left in the triangle if you don't get the angle, plus you'll also frequently find people trying to force their triangle shut by locking over their foot. That leaves a big gap I can stick my arm through. It needs to be shin behind the knee, NOT foot with a leg tenuously over the top.
On a similar note, always grab the shin, not the foot, to avoid ankle injuries. The swivel is what gets you in position, so although I always emphasise that, I will keep emphasising it. ;D
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 09/08/2019
There are lots of ways to set up the triangle, which is one of the fundamental submissions in BJJ. The name comes from the 'triangle' shape you form with your legs, capturing their neck and one arm inside that structure. The basic process is:
1. Get their head and one of their arms inside your legs
2. Put your shin behind your knee to 'lock' the triangle
3. Squeeze your legs into their carotid arteries on either side of their neck.
Of course, there is much more detail to a successful triangle than that, which I'll break down in the rest of this post. Generally I teach this from closed guard, but there are various options from open guard too. The main one is from spider guard: from the lapel guard overwrap, you have a similar option.
Lapel guard has numerous variations. The one I learned from Mario at the 2019 BJJ Globetrotters Heidelcamp is what is commonly known as squid guard. Given that's a rather unhelpful name, I'm choosing to refer to the position in a more descriptive way, so a lapel overwrap. Start off by getting a grip of their lapel, putting your same side foot into their hip and shoving.
You then want to grasp the lapel with your other hand too. The hand on the same side of the lapel should be on the bottom, in order to facilitate transferring the grip later on. Be aware that this can put a lot of strain on the gi, so an old gi might not enjoy the tension much (as I discovered when I taught this ;D).
You are then going to let go with your same side hand, underhooking their leg. You may need to swivel sideways slightly for this. Bring your same side foot slightly past their hip at this point, while also bringing their lapel over the top of both your leg and their leg. Pass the lapel to your underhooking hand, securing the position.
This is now a very strong guard. That's because your foot is firmly attached to them, meaning they can't shove it to the side for the usual pass. If you foot was not wrapped in the gi, they would have a number of options to go over, around and under the leg. Wrapping it with the gi removes all of those routes to a pass: they have to disentangle themselves first.
From this position, you can go for both sweeps and submissions. For the triangle set up, you're going to move into a sort of spider guard hybrid. Your free foot goes either onto their biceps or their shoulder. As per Neil Owen's advice, I prefer the shoulder because it is harder for them to circle their arm free. Shove up into the arm/shoulder, while your free arm grabs their opposite collar and pulls down.
This should twist their posture. Generate the tension, then kick up over their arm/shoulder and pull them down, dropping them in between your legs. Cross your ankle, and you're ready to go into your triangle. Mario, who taught the class at Heidelberg, has a video on the triangle from overwrap over at his @mariodrills channel:
At this point, you can progress through the usual triangle, same as you would from wherever else you set it up. You've achieved the 'diamond position' with your ankles crossed, so all you need to do now is make sure they can neither get their head nor their arm free.
There are many alternative set-ups to the lapel over wrap, mostly from closed guard. For the first stage (entry), the simplest option is probably to grab both their wrists (or you could try their forearms) with your same side hands. Push their arm into their stomach, while clamping the other to your chest. You can then bring your hips up in order to fling your leg (on the same side as the arm you've pushed back) over their shoulder, locking your feet by the top of their back. Your thigh presses into their neck. The important thing is to clear that hand and arm you've shoved into their stomach, so that you're ready to move into the triangle.
If you can drive your knee into the inside of the arm you want to clear, that can work too: in Gracie Combatives, Rener pushes into their bicep/crook of their elbow with his knee, grabs the wrist, then kicks over to get into position. Alternatively, he also shows how you can circle your leg around the arm to get your leg past. There are many other entries and not just from guard: the triangle is possible from pretty much every other position in BJJ too, whether that's the back, mount or side control.
Once you've got their head and arm trapped between your legs, it's also helpful to move their arm across your body, though not essential. You can still choke them without that arm across, it just tends to be more difficult. Triangle expert Ryan Hall repeatedly states that it isn't necessary, because you're choking them by pressing their shoulder into their neck, not the lower part of their arm (remember, to choke you are pressing into both carotid arteries on either side of the neck. With the triangle, on one side their shoulder blocks the artery, the other is blocked by your leg).
He demonstrates how you can still choke them even if their arm is on the other side. Still, it isn't 'wrong' to bring the arm across, particularly if you are going for a choke where you're square-on, as per the traditional triangle method. The point Hall makes is that you should never prioritise pulling the arm across rather than controlling the head.
That's because controlling the head is absolutely key. Ideally, you want to pull their head into your belly button rather than your chest, to really break down their posture. If they are able to lift their head up, they can regain an upright posture. So, be sure you have some kind of control over their posture before you attempt the triangle. If they are sat fully upright with strong posture, you're going to struggle to get a triangle from there: a different technique would be advisable.
Once you have their posture broken down and their head and arm between your legs, you want to lock that in place. When locking your legs in this second stage (locking), you can sometimes move straight into a locked triangle. If not, especially if you have shorter legs like me, stick with a secure 'diamond' leg formation rather than a sloppy half-locked triangle. From there, pull on your shin to bring your ankle behind your knee, swivelling off at an angle if necessary. Be sure you don't lock over your toes: it must be your ankle. If your leg is locked on your toes, they have a chance to knock your leg off them. More importantly, if you press down while locked over you toes, you're in danger of injuring your ankle.
You might well find you need to adjust to get your legs locked. Opening your guard to do that is easier, which will enable you to push off their hip with your locking leg foot. However, be careful that you don't give them space to escape when you open. You can maintain control by grabbing the leg you have over the back of their head, meaning that you are replacing the control your leg provided with equivalent control from your arm. Ryan Hall doesn't like to unlock his legs at all, but then he has long legs.
You also need to have your neck leg right across the back of their neck, rather than angling down their back. If it is part way down their back, you are no longer pressing into their neck: their body will get in the way of your choke. Similarly, your locking leg does not want to be obstructed by their shoulder. You therefore don't want to see their shoulder once the triangle is locked in: try and get your leg past it, or simply push their trapped shoulder back a little, in order to get your legs more tightly on their carotid arteries. If they have a lot of shoulder inside your legs, that's a chance for them to drive forward and dig out some room to breathe.
Having locked the triangle, you now have two main options for the third stage (finishing). The traditional way to complete the choke is to squeeze your abductors (i.e., the muscles of your inner thighs) into their neck. At this point, you might also want to raise your hips and/or pull down on their head for some extra pressure. Other little details that can help are pulling your toes back to tense your calves, meaning more pressure on their carotid arteries. Angling your locking leg outwards can also help increase that pressure, a nifty tip from Mike Fowler.
The other main option, which again comes from Ryan Hall, is to instead use what he calls the 'stomp and curl' method. The reason for his preference is that he says this uses larger muscle groups than the abductors, which tend to be comparatively weak. First, he attains a perpendicular angle, meaning he is looking at his opponent's ear rather than their face. From there, he can now kick forwards with his neck leg (the stomp) while pulling down with his locking leg (the curl).
Perpendicular angles are good for smaller people too, as it makes it harder for the opponent to stack you (I'll talk more about stacking in a moment) because you aren't straight on. The easiest way to get a perpendicular angle is hooking under their free arm, then grabbing around your own knee. This also has the advantage of clamping you in place: should they try to square back up, you'll stay where you are as they move. There's a second benefit too in that they can no longer use that arm to create a frame by linking their hands, which they could otherwise use to press into your hips and make space.
You can also grab right under their body and link your hands, though it is unlikely you'll be able to get to that extreme position. Hooking under their leg is another option, but normally you won't have the space to do that. However, it is important to remember the leg grabbing option. That is the best way to stop yourself from being slammed when triangling, so should you want to use a triangle in a situation where slamming might take place, it would be very advisable to hook a leg.
You may find you keep getting stacked, particularly if you are square on. However, as Renzo Gracie teaches, even with that style of triangle you can submit a larger opponent. The key is preventing them from driving into you and curling your body. Renzo's method is to brace his arms against his knee and shin, something I was first shown by my old training partner, Howard. Should they continue to drive forward, all they are doing is extending themselves, which makes it easier for you to choke them.
BJ Penn teaches something similar, which he refers to as the 'triangle sprawl out'. This time, instead of straight-arming into your own leg, you're going to wriggle back, then come up on your elbows and finally your hands. From here, keep moving backwards until they are almost lying down in front of you, making sure your triangle lock around their head is still tight. To apply the submission, drive your legs down as your lean your upper body forwards.
Generating that habit of moving backwards to stop yourself being crunched up is a good habit in general for the triangle, whether or not you're going for the Renzo or BJ Penn finishes above. It is less of an issue if you have attained a perpendicular angle, but sometimes you might find you need to shoulder-walk back in order to get the space to create that angle.
Finally, keep in mind that the triangle combines very well with the armbar. You will often find that when somebody is defending an armbar, they focus so much on freeing their arm that they when they yank it free, they forget their other arm is still inside your legs. That's the perfect time to swing your leg to the other side of their head and lock up a triangle. Even better, you can still attack the elbow joint from within the triangle, applying choking pressure while also going for the armlock.
Another variation comes from Joey Carta, who taught an excellent lesson on this at the 2017 BJJ Globetrotter's Camp in Leuven. He relies on his leg over the back of their head for postural control. He then reach across to grab the trapped arm tricep with his other hand. If they try to rise up, he pushes with his foot on their hip. If they rise up with the other leg, he releases the tricep and instead hooks by their ankle, 'waving' to then roll them over. Handy variation I'd like to keep in mind for the future, so I must make sure I don't forget it next time around. :)
_____________________
Teaching Notes: It is tricky to teach this without people already understanding the triangle, but not impossible. There were a couple of fairly new beginners in class, who did a fairly good job of both the lapel overwrap and the triangle. The main issue, as ever, is people try and rush the triangle, without getting the proper angle.
So as usual, emphasise getting the leg straight across the back of their neck, avoiding a diagonal angle. I tend to highlight this by pointing to the amount of person left in the triangle if you don't get the angle, plus you'll also frequently find people trying to force their triangle shut by locking over their foot. That leaves a big gap I can stick my arm through. It needs to be shin behind the knee, NOT foot with a leg tenuously over the top.
On a similar note, always grab the shin, not the foot, to avoid ankle injuries. The swivel is what gets you in position, so although I always emphasise that, I will keep emphasising it. ;D
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