Triangle from Half Guard

Triangle from Half Guard is a finishing attack built around a handful of repeatable controls. The top player is stacked in an over-under passing posture, with one arm under the leg and the other arm over the far hip on the bottom player. Another common starting shape: the bottom player is in reverse half guard but the opponent has shin-blocked, jamming a shin in front of the bottom player's legs to deny the climb above the knee line. The ideas that hold it together are control before attack, use the opponent's reaction to chain to the next technique, and free the knee, then chop over.

The triangle chain is a sequence of small controls, not one athletic burst. Isolate one arm in and one arm out, then close the legs around the neck. Use the hand to free the trapped knee for a moment. Chop the top leg over the opponent's leg past the knee line. Lock a triangle that also captures the opponent's foot inside. Stay heavy above the knee with hips down, then build up to top or chase the back. Feed one of the opponent's arms across their centerline. Trap the head and one arm between the legs and lock the figure-four. Angle off and pull the head down to close the strangle. The attacker has finished the choke with the opponent's neck compressed and the strangle locked.

Later in the triangle, capture the foot inside the triangle, one in, one out, and angle finishes the choke tend to decide whether the position stays on track. Watch for these mistakes: Rushing to the finish before the controlling frames are set. Letting the opponent re-establish base or frames before committing. Trying to climb against the shin block without first freeing the bottom knee. Triangling below the knee line so the opponent can recover. The high-percentage version of triangle from half guard is the one you can still chain when the first squeeze is defended.