So back in 2003 I launched the two VHS set ‘Omoplata and the Dynamic Guard’ on this forum (I think my handle might still have been ‘exjudoka’ back in those days).
Well I’m still at it, rolling around with men in pajamas and spandex. A whole lot of mileage on the body and a big more knowledge.
Given that history I think it’s appropriate to return to the scene of the crime and announce the launch of my newest instructional Omoplata 2.0, which takes everything I’ve learned about this position in the intervening 19 years and tries to make it as accessible and easy to digest as possible.
Hey . Bit of a fan here. Really liked your stuff on line back in the day when I first started getting into bjj. Thank you for the content.
I to totally fucked my knee attempting a go go plata as a beginner white belt. It came right . Took about 7 years.
I know I’m going to get ragged on hard for what I’m going to say next. I don’t mean to come across as a blue belt that doesn’t even train anymore trying to learn a blackbelt with over 20 year experience, but that’s what will probably happen. So I say this with the utmost humility.
The omaplata was my pet move. I submitted heaps of guy’s with it. It’s a sub that doesn’t get anywhere near the respect it deserves. It’s almost in a category of thing that " don’t work against good guys".
The thing about that sub is, it’s the one sub that really needs for all the steps to be done simultaneously to highly improve the chances.
The way I do it is either from the guard or the triangle mix. With no set-up. ( there is but that’s taking away from the concept. ) starting from guard, without any wrist control, if the opponent is at a 45° angle. I’ll feed an arm in between their arm and chest and do a wax off motion. As I’m doing that im kicking one leg out and one leg up. As their coming forward I’m sitting up and my hand is reaching over their back to their hip on the opposite side. Ending up in the classic hip to hip ( almost) position of the omoplata. From there it’s the battle to finish it( typically scooting out and away to flatten them out).
The key is all the movements happen at the same time and should be executed within about a second. And if the wax off arm comes through and straight for the back/far hip , there’s really no need ( and in fact it’s a totally unnecessary complication ) to have any kind of wrist control. Just by virtue of sitting up and reaching for the far hip , that should keep the space tight enough that they’re not going to be able to pull their arm through/ out.
Speed is the key and simultaneous movements.
I see all these variations but rarely if ever see anyone do it the way I describe. Getting to the hip control position is key. People grabbing the wrist or reaching for the ankle , People can roll out and often do.
If you have any feedback good or bad I’d appreciate. I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t know. Maybe there’s a reason " it doesn’t work on good guy’s ".
I know I’m being " that guy " .
Hope everything’s going well for you in life and thanks for dropping in.
First of all, buggering your knee from attempted rubber guarding is a very common story. I’ve done it, you’ve done it, tons of people have done it. It’s why I don’t rubber guard anymore.
And I agree that the Omoplata is a legitimate submission IF you know the right details for breaking his posture and alignment. In fact when it becomes a sweep that only happens because of the threat of the submission
Focusing on wrist control during the Omoplata is generally a distraction. To set it up you need to achieve the trigger position for the Omoplata, which is essentially forming a sandwich between his elbow/upper arm, your thigh, and his body. And to maintain and control the Omoplata you need to focus on controlling the elbow. In both of these situations control of the wrist is only useful as a way to control the elbow.
Finally, I am having difficulty visualizing your Omoplata entry. There are five basic mechanisms for entering into the Omoplata from the bottom position (not counting advanced entries). I’ll post a video of that below. Tell me which one it most closely approximates
Thanks for the reply Stephan.
I’ll try to explain myself a little better later if you’re still about. Just about to start a busy work day. (Australia time)
Nice handlebar mo mate. It’s definitely a change up , and looks alright.
I’ve watched the videos again and keyed into what I think is the problem ( different to how I do it ).
The main difference is you( attacker) should never be laying on your back. Not at all . As soon as the omopaplata is initiated by the attacker the leg swing ( over the shoulder, the pulling the bottom leg out) there should be a sit up motion.
By the time the attacking leg is near the neck/ear of the opponent the attacker should be almost sitting up straight.
Eg. The drill you showed at the start of the second video.
Instead of doing that. Incorporate sitting up and reaching for the far hip.
It’s definitely doable. It’s not a flexibility thing.
It’s the one sub that can’t really be done step by step. ( lowers the probability of success from 60% to about 10%. It just gives the opponent to many opportunities to escape).
The main concept should be sitting up and reaching for that far hip ASAP. That keeps everything tight by nature and wrist control is redundant. ( It’s always a tell whenever you’re grabbing someone’s wrists ).
The entry’s I tend to use is
1- when ( they pretty much always have to be at approximately 45° ) they are coming in from a postured position to a double bicep head on the chest control.
2- anytime I’m off balancing them ( moving my hips to an angle and they’re trying to square up )
3- from the triangle mix .
I set this up from guard. Laying flay on my back. If I’m not getting smothered and they’re postured up . 90% 0f the time their wrists are out there to be grabbed. ( Never for long ). So instead of forcing anything I know they’re going to usually pull their hands back through the legs and break the grip by slipping out ( they’re usually thinking about a double under pass ) . ( this is no gi in this situation).
So when I have the wrists, instead of trying to stuff one arm in and pull one out , I’ll jiggle them around. They never pull both at the same time equally as hard.
As soon as they start leaning/ pulling, I’ll help and stuff n pull. ( I got a decent triangle on both sides since I buggered my favourite knee)
It’s a feel and speed thing.
From there it’s easier to manipulate the arm and get the leg out ( it’s already out ) when they try and escape, to switch to the omoplata.
Sorry for the over explanation. I was only a blue belt going against simmeler levels.
Sitting up is the key. Block the roll before it begins.
It’s not like the moves you’re showing are redundant. ( from the clips I ve seen )
It’s just like teaching someone how to not slide off a slippery cliff .
Don’t jump off the cliff unless you have a rope attached.
That means. Have a game plan and execute it as efficiently and effectively as possible.
The game plan should always be to adapt the quickest.
Not every move should be broken into steps . That’s an ease of learning/ teaching / understanding/thing .
The key with everything in life is efficiency.
If that involves setting traps.so be it. But there’s no point t setting a million traps if you can achieve the same result on the first try.
Technique, speed and tenacity
While I totally agree that the best case omoplata takes you right past the lying flat on your back stage sometimes your opponent, life, and the mat gods have other plans.
It’s like saying “you should always go directly to the triangle choke with your legs fully triangled and your body already pivoted 90 degrees and underhooking an arm or a leg”. While that’s ideal your opponent gets a vote too. And many triangle specialists have had to start with a loosely triangled opponent who is completely upright and then had to fight to break posture, fix their legs, and get the angle.
I’m guessing that we would agree that it’s totally worthwhile to have a plan (get right to the dominant omoplata position) but you also have to have backup plans in case that doesn’t work.
I like omoplata because it levels the playing field against bigger guys. I listened to you on the Mental Models podcast and my take home was control the elbow. That’s what I focused on last night - you can really follow them everywhere they go.
Fully agree with everything you said Stephan, and thanks for the reply.
I apologise if came across like I was talking at you rather than to you last night whilst pontificating.
I’m not gonna lie. It was hot as hell yesterday in the roof and I’d had a few knock off cold one’s on a Friday .
I guess the main point I should have emphasised is , when drilling.ie first example of the video of the five entry’s. It would be prudent to incorporate sitting up and reaching across the back to control the hips and prevent the roll. It’s pretty much teaching bad habits to spin to parallel while still flat on your back.
It’s just a pet peve of mine that every time I see someone go for an omoplata they end up in the wrong position due to negligence on their part.
I’ve had a few beers today after work to so I’ll leave it there.
Omoplata was the first submission I learned in jiujitsu. It’s one of the only submissions I use from my back to this day. It’s a great submission that like people have said on here, including the op, doesn’t get enough love.
So many times the finer points of getting the submission get glossed over in favour of the sweeping aspect of the technique. I find many instructors and instructional stuff teach more about using it as a sweep than a sub. Maybe that’s just in the person’s attitude towards the technique.
I’m from a Carlson Gracie/Marcus Soares school and in my first Marcus seminar he taught omoplata and very much stressed that it’s a submission first and sweep second. That’s always stuck with me.
Americana is another technique that doesn’t get enough love if you ask me.
The thing is that it is the threat of the submission that sets up the sweep and/or other submissions. So you really have go for the omoplata as a submission to get it as a submission AND you need to go for the omoplata as a submission to get the most effective sweeps
It’s similar to the jab in boxing. Yes, the jab sets up a lot of knockouts BUT it’s the actual threat of getting punched in the face by the jab that sets up the right hand or the hook. The only difference is that the omoplata is more of a match-ender than the jab (at least in the hands of someone who knows how to apply it correctly)
Im a huge fan.