Rigan Machado's The Triangle

Rigan Machado's The Triangle (Book Review)

Rigan Machado's The Triangle

Author: Rigan Machado with David Meyer

Publisher: Total Xtreme Sports Inc. (July, 2004)

Ordering information:

Number of Pages: 208

Cost: $35

Level: Beginner to Advanced

ISBN: 0975476807

Book Rating: 5 Stars

Bonus DVD Rating: 4 Stars

Year book was released: 2004

Craaaack!! Rigan has hit his first home run with his book devoted to just the triangle choke. Not surprisingly the book is entitled, "The Triangle." For a lot of people, including myself, the first time they saw the triangle was when Royce Gracie submitted Dan Severn. Royce appeared to be getting his ass kicked until he some how won. Then it was like, "what the hell was that?" The discussion boards on the Internet exploded with practitioners wondering what that technique was. Knowledgeable Judo guys were quick to answer that the "some how" was called Sankaku Jime or the triangle choke in English. The triangle choke gets its name from the shape your legs make when the choke is locked in.

Rolls Gracie learned the triangle choke from Judo and he in turn taught the move to Rigan. Now Rigan has devoted a whole book to this single choke. Not only just a single choke, but only the sport version of the choke is covered. So this book and DVD combo is very specialized.

For those unfamiliar with Rigan Machado he is a 3 time Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Champion, Abu Dhabi Champion and 7th Degree Black Belt. Rigan's partner for this book is David Meyer. David is black belt under Rigan.

The Triangle has everything you could want, plus a DVD. I have to really hand it to the people who put this book together. This book will take you by the hand and walk you through the fundamentals of the triangle all the way through advanced triangle setups and submissions. What I liked best about The Triangle and the thing that sets it apart from most other books is the logical progression from page to page. The book starts with basic stretches designed to improve your triangle. Rigan then breaks down the components of a successful triangle - Getting the arm across, cutting your leg across their neck, the lock, and lifting the hips while pulling down on your opponent's head. If anyone of these components of your triangle fails, your choke's effectiveness decreases proportionately.

It is nice to know the theory, but when you get on the mat with a live opponent, theory only gets you so far. Recognizing this, the next section in the book is called "Clearing Obstacles." How to break your opponent's posture, fix your body angle, and force the arm across are the real world obstacles that Rigan shows you how to overcome.

The next section covering Drills is the weakest part of the book and has only 2 drills. They needed to put a little more time into finding more aspect of different triangle chokes to drill.

From there Rigan launches into the bulk of the book which covers 59 different triangle chokes from "every angle." Rigan delivers on his promise. You get triangle attacks from the mount, guard, side control, when your opponent is standing, reverse triangles, flying triangles. Triangle, triangles and more triangles. Rigan has more triangles than Euclid and Pythagoras put together.

Just as important as the section on how to apply the triangle in its many forms is the last section covering defenses. Rigan covers the 9 most common defenses.

When all is said and done, you get a pretty deep treatment of the triangle and its complexities between the covers of this book.

Now let's talk about the DVD. Yep, this book comes with a "bonus" DVD. The DVD is pretty good too. I like the DVD to a point. I wish there was more of it; however, you pretty much get the DVD for free with book, so I can't complain too much.

The DVD follows the same format as the book section for the mechanics of the triangle and drills. Then the DVD covers 14 of the triangles out of the 59 covered in the book. This is where they stopped. You don't get any of the counters. In my mind, this is a major flaw. What they do show is well done.

Rigan's English is fairly good and he shows the moves from several angles. There were a couple minor distractions. Someone had their child off camera. Repeat after me, I will not use a closed set in place of day care. Also, get a better back drop or use tighter shots. Nothing screams low budget more than a sagging backdrop. And one last point, the DVD is advertised as being 2 hours long. The techniques and the fight commentaries barely make it to 1 ½ hours.

Second half of the DVD is devoted to "Fight Commentaries." I have been wishing someone would do this for years. Rigan compiled 20 minutes of sport jiu-jitsu fights from Mundials, Pan-Ams, and other international championships. You get to see some top competitor submit and be submitted by the triangle choke. Very nice.

The fights alone are great, but it is the addition of Rigan's commentary that really make this section. I would recommend that tape companies take this a step further and do a John Madden telestrator break down. You could also break into the fight footage and have Rigan demonstrate what is going on in the fight and then cut back to the fight. You might also have taken each of these fights and placed the footage and commentary with the relevant triangle instructional footage. These are just suggestions. I think this a great section. We all talk about instructors holding back moves, etc, but when you see a top guy caught in a triangle; you get to see what escapes really work. You also get to see what triangle sets really work against high caliber opponents.

Overall, the DVD is a great addition to the book and really brings it to life.

Bottom line:
The combination of a high quality book with a DVD is hard pair to beat and a great value. Either one could be sold separately. However, the book is better than the movie, so to speak. This is a very specialized book focusing on just the sport version of one choke. That being said, everyone from the beginner to advance practitioner could benefit from this book and DVD. Studying this book/DVD is the best way to round out your repertoire of triangle attacks.

P.S. I thought I would give a plug to David Meyer's www site 1-800-Save-A-Pet.com. It seems like a great cause and it's better than buying a dog from a puppy mill pet store.