The omoplata is a shoulder lock from the guard: your leg goes over your partner's arm and shoulder, and your hips turn the arm behind their back. Omoplata is Portuguese for the scapula, the shoulder blade.
- Name: BJJ Heroes gives ashi sankaku garami as the judo name, "leg triangle entanglement", and coil lock as the catch wrestling name.
- In BJJ: an attack from closed guard, spider guard and rubber guard, used both to submit and to sweep.
- History: BJJ Heroes credits Nino Schembri with making it a competition weapon in the mid 1990s.
What is an omoplata?
The omoplata takes the figure-four of the kimura and does it with your legs. Your hamstring sits on the back of their shoulder, your calf traps the arm, and your hips become the hand that turns it. BJJ Heroes quotes Otavio Peixotinho that the position existed in the 1970s and 1980s and was seen as a training move until the rules changed; the same page says the CBJJ rule book of 1994 began awarding points for the sweep from it, after which the position grew fast.
How do you do the omoplata correctly?
- Isolate an arm. From closed guard, break their posture, control one wrist and push it to the mat beside your hip, their elbow outside your body.
- Swing the leg over. Open your guard, lift your hips and bring the leg on that side over their shoulder so your hamstring lies across the back of the shoulder, their arm trapped against your body.
- Turn and sit up. Rotate your body toward their head, post on your free hand and sit up, keeping your legs clamped on the arm.
- Pin the hips. Reach over their back and grab their far hip or belt so they cannot roll forward out of the lock.
- Lean forward slowly. With the trapped arm bent behind their back, lean your chest toward their hips until they tap.
The common mistake is staying flat on your back and trying to finish with the legs alone; the partner simply rolls through. Sit up, control the hip, and only then lean forward, slowly. The shoulder gives little warning before it is hurt, so tap early when you are on the receiving end.
Is the omoplata legal in BJJ?
Under the IBJJF Rules Book's table of illegal moves, the omoplata is illegal for children aged 4 to 15 and legal from age 16, adult white belts included.
Judo knows the position as ashi-sankaku-garami, and the IJF Sport and Organisation Rules allow joint locks on the elbow only, so a shoulder lock is hansoku-make in a judo contest.
Can you sweep with the omoplata?
If they roll to escape, follow them and come up on top; if they stand to pull the arm out, the same position sweeps them backward. BJJ Heroes names the omoplata as one of the most used attacks in modern jiu jitsu for that reason: it wins either way. Grips and bands for drilling the hip turn are in our BJJ training gear.
Sources
- BJJ Heroes gives ashi sankaku garami, BJJ Heroes
- IBJJF Rules Book, IBJJF
- IJF Sport and Organisation Rules, International Judo Federation
Related terms
Closed guard, Spider guard, Rubber guard, Triangle choke, Kimura, Sweep.