Overview
Omoplata is a submission that starts from the bottom position. The general principle of it is to apply force and control your opponent’s shoulder with your leg (your calf, to be exact).
The Setup
From the bottom position, for this move to work properly, the opponent needs to be in a hip-in position instead of squatting, since their center of gravity is leaning forward toward you and is easier to control once you have a grip on their Gi.
The Grips
The ideal and quickest grip is the pocket grip (punch grip) (another option is the pistol grip, but it might be harder and take longer).
The Submission
From the bottom position, use your leg to control their hip, use a collar-sleeve grip, and apply force to move their arm to the side you want to throw your leg over. When you throw your leg over, make sure it is controlling their shoulder (not their spine or bicep—shoulder). Clamp down (1), shrimp away with the other leg so that they don’t fall into your leg, trapping you there.
Rotate your body, moving your head toward their hip; your body should be parallel to theirs.
While still controlling their shoulder (and their wrist), you can sit up, controlling their far-side hip with your arm so they can’t roll over. Scoot to the side to flatten them out (think of the ‘girl on the beach’ pose). Once they are flattened out, take your time while still controlling their hip and shoulder, slowly bridge up with your hips, and wait for the tap.
(1) Transition to Armlock
From here, you can do a figure-4 lock on their shoulder, controlling their arm, and move your body perpendicular to theirs (instead of parallel like in Omoplata). From there, you have isolated their arm, and you can perform an armlock. If they roll over, go with them while maintaining control of the isolated arm, and you will have an armbar.
It’s fun to go over the basics and think about the mechanics of the technique. While writing this, I have a mental showreel of how to do the move playing over and over again in my head. I was also thinking back to when I was in class, where my coach was teaching the technique, to see if I missed anything. It’s a great way to review what I’ve learned after class.
If you have any questions or suggestion regarding this, please send me a message, I’d love to connect and discuss further 🙂