Kyra Gracie with the omoplata. Photo: Ivan Trindade

The omoplata submission is one of the most common arm attacks in Jiu-Jitsu. Similar to the kimura, it attacks the shoulder by locking up an arm with your legs. It is often used as a transitional position rather than a straight submission.

Here are seven breakdowns of the omoplata to brush up on or learn how to secure, how to transition and how to take advantage of the position:

1. Draculino teaches how to secure the omoplata from the spider guard:

2. Get the omoplata from knee on belly with Nino Schembri:

3. Your opponent is turtled? Christian Uflacker shows the inverted omoplata from this position:

4. Another way to finish the omoplata is with the horseshoe technique as explained by New Breed’s Johnny Ramirez:

5. Jackson Sousa shows how to spin under to secure the omoplata and sweep:

6. Once you’ve swept with the omoplata, go for the triangle from mount with Ricardo Cavalcanti:

7. If you’ve been caught in an omoplata, Robson Moura teaches how to defend and escape the submission:

The triangle in action. Photo: Erin Herle

The triangle choke is a basic submission that is successful from white to black. It’s a good fit for most anyone and can be set up from most positions, top or bottom.

But sometimes when we’ve secured the submission we still can’t get the opponent to tap.

Here are four tips to get the finish:

Draculino grabs and pulls the head down to complete the choke:

Add a kimura if the opponent is resisting as shown by Caio Terra:

Dennis Asche suggests you grab the arm for an armbar:

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

The Gracie Barra academies in the Houston area came together on Saturday, August 31 for the kids to earn experience in competition. The internal Gracie Barra tournament gathered kids from their schools all around the area to meet at GMA member Ulpiano Malachias’ Gracie Barra Westchase location. GB Katy, GB Champions and Draculino’s Gracie Barra Texas all came with their kids to participate alongside the Westchase group.

There were a total of 115 kids in attendance ranging from age three to thirteen.

See more information about the kids program at Gracie Barra Westchase here: http://www.gbwestchase.com/

The Gracie Barra Houston area community invests heavily in their children. See photos below:

One of the matches at the competition. Photo: Ed Lauron

Warm-ups. Photo: Ed Lauron

Students show off their medals. Photo: Ed Lauron

Draculino at the GB Jiu-Jitsu training camp

Professor Vinicius Magalhaes, leader of GMA member school Gracie Barra Texas, travelled to Irvine, California, the week before the IBJJF Worlds Masters & Seniors to teach a special training camp.

We paid a visit to him during one of the classes and captured him teaching three guard pass techniques.

Read more about the training camp here.

Vinicius Draculino to teach training camp at GB America

The 1st ever World Championship for Master & Senior athletes is coming up next October 7th, in Long Beach, California.

With that in view, GMA member team Gracie Barra decided to offer a very special training camp for its students.

Professor Vinícius “Draculino” Magalhães, leader of GB Texas, will be at GB America, in Irvine, to conduct the training.

The fifth degree black belt will be teaching in California from October 1st to October 5th.

The cost is $125 and there is a limit of 50 spots.

Only blue belts and up can participate.

For more info, go to graciebarra.com.

Draculino and his team of black belts in Texas

GMA member Vinicius Draculino had a very special ceremony last August 30th.

The 5th degree black belt gathered some of his black belts for a graduation evening at Gracie Barra Texas.

GMA member Ulpiano Malachias (GB Westchase) and Brandon Mulins got their 2nd degree; Pablo Silva and Tyler B got their 1st degree to the black belt.

The event had the presence of 12 black belts in total, including Erik Wanderley, Tammy Greco and Ted stickel.

Overall, over 100 students were present.

Each professor awarded with new degrees taught the group his favorite position.

For more info, go to graciebarratx.com

Um dos mais consagrados professores de Jiu-Jitsu do planeta, Vinícius Draculino está de passagem por Belo Horizonte. O faixa-preta que comanda a Gracie Barra Texas dá um pulo na capital mineira após acompanhar seus alunos que competiram no Rio Open, campeonato realizado no fim de semana passado.

E para a alegria de quem quer absorver um pouco do conhecimento da fera, Draculino ministrará um concorrido seminário no sábado, dia 4, na academia Rio Sport Center.

Vale lembrar que restam poucas vagas. Portanto, quem se interessar em participar é melhor não perder tempo.

O valor da entrada é R$ 80 e mais informações podem ser obtidas através do email marcelosports@hotmail.com.

GMA member Vinícius “Draculino” Magalhães will be in Marbella, Spain, on November 16th.

The four degrees black belt and leader of Gracie Barra Texas will be teaching a three hour seminar at Dynamic Training Center.

Draculino’s class will be divided in 1h30 for Jiu-Jitsu and 1h30 for MMA.

The cost is $60 for both and $50 for one of them.

For more info, go to dynamicmarbella.com.

To know more about Draculino, go to graciebarratx.com

Black belt Vinícius “Draculino” Magalhães welcomed old friend and fellow GMA Renzo Gracie.

Draculino did not miss the opportunity to register the occasion.

Take a look.

For more info, go to graciebarratx.com

Ellwanger with master Carlos Gracie Jr. Photo: Luca Atalla.

GB Louisiana’s Rafael Ellwenger is an excited man. He’s been pushing to have a big GB Tournament in the Southeast for a while, and the time has finally come. On October 23, 2010, the GB Competition Network 6 Southeast Tournament will be held in New Orleans, LA, at the University of New Orleans.

It’s the first GB Compnet event outside of California. Ellwenger thinks having the tournament in New Orleans is going to bring in a lot of people. “It’s central to all the southern schools and it’s a tourist city,” he says, “I think a lot of people will come – it’s a fun city to be in.”

The tournament targets all the GB schools in the Southeast and will draw in students from Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Texas. Ellwenger hopes that even some people from California might show up because of the great venue.

We’re not going to New Orleans to party,” Ellwenger says, “We’re going to compete, but it’s a fun place to visit and there’s lots to do once you get there. People need to come out and support this event. If it’s successful, we’ll have more in the future.”

Ellwenger wants a lot of students to register for the tournament to show how organized and united GB is in the Southeast. “That’s my main goal,” he says, “I threw the biggest Carlos Gracie, Jr. seminar ever two years ago and I’m expecting to do great things again with this competition.”

Ellwenger says that these internal GB tournaments make everyone better. “You have fun, make new friends, and break barriers between states,” he says, “The whole purpose is to show everyone that we are a team and a family. It’s not Louisiana against Florida. We all make up one big GB team. This tournament is about socializing, having fun, making new friends, and trading email addresses and FB names.”

Ellwanger says once you make new connections at these GB tournaments, whenever you go to other GB schools to train, you have friends there. “That’s how we did it in Brazil, and that’s how we want to do it here,” he says.

Professor Marcio Feitosa, Professor Draculino, Professor Patrick Head, Professor Fabio Costa, Professor Rafael Ellwanger, Professor Mathias Meister, Professor Marco Macera, Professor Eddie Lirette, Professor Joe Hurst, Professor Joshua Miller, Professor Brian Davis, Professor Eder Persiliano, Professor Fabio Vilella, Professor Marcelo Ribeiro, and Professor Marcelo Souza are all confirmed and will be attending the event.

For registration information for the GB Competition Network 6 Southeast Tournament, please contact Gbcompnet.com.

Jeremy had a tough childhood. He grew up with a single mom and an absent dad, and was always moving and having to start over in new towns and at different schools. He had several “dads” come in and out of his life and at one point, he and his mom lived in a battered women’s shelter to escape an abusive situation. When he was in 6^th grade, his mom remarried and Henderson settled down in Cocoa Beach, Florida, where he stayed until he graduated from high school in 2000.

Jeremy (right) with Cyborg. Photo: Personal archive

“I had no direction,” he says, “I wasn’t an angry kid; I never started the fights. I just always seemed to attract trouble.” Although he didn’t like to fight, it was at that time he began to find himself drawn to the world of MMA.

Henderson graduated from high school early, at 17, and asked his mom to sign him into the Air Force. He thought maybe the military would provide him with the direction he needed so badly. “I wanted to get out of Florida,” he says, “I knew I didn’t want to stay there, but I didn’t have any idea what I wanted to do.”

It turns out the Air Force wasn’t it. Henderson signed up for six years and in 2001 he was stationed at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas. “The Air Force was not into MMA training,” Henderson says, “They didn’t want me to fight or compete, but I knew when I started training it was the only thing I wanted to do.” Henderson had finally found his direction, only to discover it wasn’t considered “acceptable” by Air Force standards.

He was determined to train in MMA regardless of the disapproval of his employer. About a year later, Henderson went to Dallas to watch a local MMA event. One person who really stood out that night was Marcus Hicks. “I was impressed with his fight and decided to meet him and start learning from him,” Henderson says, “He lived about 3 ½ hours away. I drove to his gym every weekend and learned more in a few hours than I did training every day back at Dyess.”

Hicks taught Henderson No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu and MMA. “Marcus was very quiet,” Henderson says, “He didn’t talk to many people, but we hit it off. He ended up becoming my roommate and best friend.” In 2005, Henderson was temporarily stationed in Dallas for six months and he began training with Hicks full-time.

“In 2006 I had my first amateur MMA fight in Missouri for an organization called Cage of Honor,” Henderson says, “I won my fight in 55 seconds. It was ground and pound from the guard and ended in a TKO.” There was no real Jiu-Jitsu in that match, but Henderson says he doesn’t think he even really understood what Jiu-Jitsu was at the time. He’d trained mostly in submission fighting and No-Gi for MMA.

Three months later Henderson had a second fight and lost to a Jiu-Jitsu guy.  “I was a huge fan of Randy Couture,” Henderson says, “So, with $300 in my pocket, some clothes, and my gym bag, I moved to Portland, Oregon to train out of Team Quest. I gave my apartment and everything in it to a guy I’d been working with in Dallas.”

But Henderson still wanted to train in Jiu-Jitsu. “Not too long after training at Team Quest I was driving to work one day and saw a local Jiu-Jitsu school, New Breed Academy, owned by Johnny Ramirez,” Henderson says, “I decided to stop in and see what it was all about. I fell in love with Jiu-Jitsu and training in the Gi.” Henderson started training with Ramirez, who let him move in above his academy. He slept and trained there full-time for five months.

That year, Ramirez took Henderson and some of the other students to California to compete in the Pan. “When we arrived in L.A. I knew that California was the place I wanted to live,” Henderson says, “When we got back to Portland I talked to Johnny about my training experience and he offered to let me stay at his academy in Santa Fe Springs, California, and teach the kids program there.”

Henderson happily moved to CA and enjoyed the life of training, teaching, and living by the beach. “It was amazing,” he says, “I got a chance to train with a lot of really great guys, like Andre Galvao, Marcelo Garcia, Leo Vieira, Marcel Louzado, Vitor Shaolin Ribeiro, and many more.”

In 2007, Henderson was feeling homesick for his family. His mom had moved to Abilene, Texas, in 2004, and so he decided to move back and open a school there, since he knew there were no Jiu-Jitsu schools in town. He leased a small 1500 square foot building and started “Redstar MMA.” “I was a blue belt at the time,” he says, “My school specialized in Jiu-Jitsu, Gi and No-Gi training, and MMA. I taught all the classes. A lot of my Jiu-Jitsu was No-Gi, so I traveled a lot to train with other Jiu-Jitsu practitioners to learn more about Gi training.”

One of those people was Vinicius “Draculino” Magalhaes, who had just moved to Houston to open up a Gracie Barra School. “I have been the biggest fan of his and his students Romulo Barral and Samuel Braga since putting on the gi, and I knew that he was the person I wanted to learn from the most,” Henderson says, “I contacted Gracie Barra about becoming an affiliate and flew Draculino to my school in Abilene for the first time in 2007.” Henderson’s academy is now officially called GB Abilene and Draculino is his professor.

Henderson received his purple belt from Draculino at the end of 2007. “Draculino has a true talent for showing details and the invisible Jiu-Jitsu that a lot of teachers understand, but have a hard time teaching. I think that’s what makes Draculino so great. He can compete with the best of them, but he can also teach the information that he uses in tournaments by showing you every little detail”, he tells.

Today, Henderson still travels around training with some of the world’s best Jiu-Jitsu practitioners to learn more about the art, but now he’s also flying them in to give seminars at his school. Most recently, Roberto Cyborg gave a class, while his next big seminar is on October 8^th and 9^th with Draculino and Romulo Barral. After that, he says he’s got his sights set on Kayron Gracie.

GB Abilene has outgrown two locations and they are now in their third and nicest location, a 4,500 square foot academy in a busy shopping center. “I’m so excited to be part of the GB team and to have Professor Draculino to learn from. It’s the most rewarding feeling to have a great academy and to be able to teach my students what I have learned over the years.” As far as his training is concerned, he is focusing solely on the Gi now. He will compete in the 2011 Pan and Worlds.

While Henderson’s life may have settled down and changed dramatically, his ability to attract trouble has not. It was after a seminar at Henderson’s GB Abilene school that he and Braulio Estima heard some shots at outside a bar. It’s nice to know that some things never change!