On the Mat Day 537: Omoplata

Here I am as Uke in omoplata

Last night we studied omoplata. In closed guard the opponent put his hands on the mat to make it easier to work with this move. You push your knees against his arms, hip out to one side and bring your top knee towards your face (crunching). This will force his head to the ground and then you can move the leg to the omoplata position. At the end we also did this with a spider double sleeve grip for more realism. One important point I picked up was to pull both arms of the opponent forcefully towards me once my one of my knees is on the inside. This will connect his chest to my shin/knee so I can easily open my knee to the floor and force his head towards the mat then omoplata on the other side. It seems really important to keep a tight (no gaps) hold between your leg and the opponent.

There were a lot of guys came to class. James wanted to start off with no-gi so I obliged and found myself in defense the entire time. Guillotine, front ankle lock and armbar. He feels much better and stronger without the gi. I need to be more careful with my head in nogi (i.e. not lower it and keep my spine straight). It is so easy to slip on a choke.

I am also looking for the Japanese necktie and got it once. It seems to be a very good trick when they turtle from bottom side control or half-guard.

A new guy came to try out the class. I rolled with him after K-sensei, going super light because he was so thin and frail. I was shocked how weird his movement was. He simply fell to the floor most times at a single touch of my foot. It was comical and I almost just wanted to give up and walk away in disgust. My son actually does a much better job when we spar on the rare occasion. It would be nice for this guy to start coming but damn he needs a lot of work.