Small class last night, only 7 of us. After warming up, Gabriel started talking about the omaplata. He explained a little bit about his philosophy. If you earn a position, you must keep it or finish at all costs. The most common escape from the omaplata is to do a somersault to relieve the pressure on the shoulder. And many people will release the lock there, switch to side control, accept their 2 points for a sweep and keep going. Not Gabriel. He’s got you in an omaplata, he’s going to finish it.

We drilled the basic omaplata a bit. Then we added in a clock choke back up. If raising your hips doesn’t get the guy to tap, you can reach under his neck, grab his far collar, and apply the choke. Then we moved on to what to do after he rolls. You get a grip on his near side knee, shift to sit on his chest, and then roll yourself, starting the omaplata again. But this time, because of your grip on his knee, he’s flattened out. Much tougher to escape.

For rolling, we started with three pairs in. First guy to score points, stays. New guy comes in into the old position. Dumi and Brady went back and forth for the better part of 20 minutes. Chim and Brown Belt Matt were the other two. Long, Crosby, and I rotated in constantly. And due to the rules, we were never starting in a good position. Chim and Long would start, Chim would pass. I’d go in, staring in side control. Chim would knee on belly me, Long would come in. Chim would mount, I’d come in. Over and over again. At least it was quick. At the end of class, we were all pretty gassed.