9/27/11 Competition

We have a few guys planning to compete at an In House tournament in a few weeks. So last night I deviated from the normal routine. We spent a lot of time on sprawling and catching then passing someone when they jump closed guard. Once the sprawling drills we done we moved on to jumping guard. Jumping guard from a player safety perspective in my opinion deserves a little more attention than most people give it. We covered how to catch a larger person by using your hips. I also really emphasized the importance of not allowing yourself to be knocked over backwards or to one of your back corners as it can result in a bad knee injury. Once I was satisfied everyone could safely catch their opponent we moved on to passing right off the jump. Basic stuff but stuff they were likely to see at the In House. I also covered a few things from the mount. How to get there, how to hold it and 1 submission. Overall I think the guys that are going can do well but most importantly they can all compete safely.

Judo - for some reason everyone was really "off" during kata practice last night. Not sure what it was, the only why I can really describe it is to say it felt like there was a lot of bad energy in the room. Anyway I bring it up because rather than sticking with the usual routine AQ recognized what was going on and switched things up a little.

I am going to try to keep an eye out for this in my classes going forward. It isn't enough to just pay attention to how people are rolling I need to also pay attention to who is mentally "with it" and who isn't.

On a blogging side note there has been some internet politics floating around on various blogs lately. Glad to see stupid politics are still alive and kicking. Imagine the anarchy if we were all rowing in the same direction at the same time.

Are you Game?

Today’s crossfit workout was certain not tailor made for the heavy weight division….and that is why I like it. I am really trying to up my conditioning as I truly believe it can be a major advantage in the heavy weight masters division. Of course I want perfect technique but if everyone is fighting at the right level then the technique of my opponent should be at about the same as mine. Technique being equal conditioning will often be the difference in the outcome of the match. My goal is to having the conditioning of a 185 pounder. When today’s workout really tested me. With limited shoulder flexibility and limited ankle flexibility over head squats are a killer. When we do them we really go very deep into the squat. Pretty much heals to butt.

Warm Up
400 meter run
50 Double Unders
20 cow grazers
20 scorpians
20 air squats
10 Toes to Bar (pullup position, swing your legs up until your toes touch the bar)
15 Hang Squats
20 Over Head Squats

Work Out
5 Rounds
400 meter run
15 Over Head Squats - 95 pounds for men 65 pounds for women

For extra fun at the end : Over Head weighted lungs across the room, 5 times.

Like I said, not exactly a workout for heavy weights but it sure will test your gameness.

9/21/11 - 208

Another good turnout for last night's BJJ class. I really like the routine I have gotten the class into.

Warm up - 15 min
Takedowns - 15 min
Instruction - 30 min
Live Training 25 - 30 min
Sneak in a few min at the end for a quick stretch if possible.

Last night I added sprawling drills to the warm up in place of the armbar omaplata drill. I will probably stick with the sprawling for a few more weeks.

I also added a third piece to the takedown portion of class that went much better than I expected. We are now practicing 3 takedowns. The first is the takedown shown the previous month. I do a quick review and then have them practice 5 throws per person. Second is the takedown we are working on this month, again a short review then 5 more reps per person. Third is a takedown of their choice. So far so good. Last month's takedown was a cross ankle pick off the high collar grip, this months takedown is the drop O Uchi Gari, otherwise known as O Uchi Gake.

We continued working on guard passing fundamentals. Last night I covered the details of the knee across pass and how to do it with and without controling the sleeve. Once they got the pass I showed a setup for the Americana off the pass. We finished up by combining the takedown (O Uchi Gake) with the knee across pass directly into our Americana setup and finish.

I continue to be impressed by the progress everyone is making. Next week I will move on to passing the butterfly guard.

Side Note: There is an In House Tournament at NJMA in New Jersy on Oct 15th. NJMA is a safe friendly envirnoment and a perfect opportunity for anyone looking to knock off the ring rust or even try out a tournament for the first time.

Count Down

Lately I have been doing crossfit workouts at lunch. They have two lunchtime classes that fit my schedule one on Mon and one on Fri. These workouts are not for the faint of heart. Today's workout is below

Warm Up
400 meter run
50 Double Unders (Jumping rope - Send the rope under twice on each jump)
20 Free squats
20 Scorpions
20 Cow Grazers (a type of stretch)
15 Pushups
10 Push presses with the bar only
15 Pullups (5 Strick, 5 Wide Grip, 5 Kipping) - Kipping means using a leg swing


WOD - Workout Of the Day( no rest between sets)
10 reps Snatch Balance
10 Kipping Pullups

9 reps Snatch Balance
9 Kipping Pullups

8 reps Snatch Balance
8 Kipping Pullups

7 reps Snatch Balance
7 Kipping Pullups

6 reps Snatch Balance
6 Kipping Pullups

5 reps Snatch Balance
5 Kipping Pullups

4 reps Snatch Balance
4 Kipping Pullups

3 reps Snatch Balance
3 Kipping Pullups

2 reps Snatch Balance
2 Kipping Pullups

1 reps Snatch Balance
1 Kipping Pullup

Post workout workout
As many handstand pushups as you can do in 3 min. I did 17, time was not really a factor for me on the handstand pushups. I simply didnt have anything left in my shoulders.

Snatch balance - Start in traditional squat position with the weight on your shoulders and a wide grip on the bar. In one motion drop underneath the weight lowering your hips to the point where your butt almost touches your heals. While you are dropping you are pushing the weight upwards so your finishing position is a deep deep squat with an overhead press. From there drive back up to a standing position and lower the weight back down to your shoulders.

The workout was pretty intense. While we were working out we had an observer come in to check out class. I doubt she will be coming back. I really like the crossfit workouts but I honestly dont know how they stay in business. So far all of the workouts have been extremely challenging. I really dont see a beginner walking in off the street and making it through a typical workout. For me the workouts are perfect. They tend to average about twice the time of a typical BJJ or Judo match and I am usually going at about 95% the entire time.

9/10/11 - Visit

I was having a really ruff week last week so I decided to take a trip up to our friends at BJJU for some really hard training. Of course they didn't disappoint, I left feeling completely exhausted and much happier! During the drive home I was thinking about why I was so tired and it took me a while to put my finger on it. One of the differences I noticed between the way I have been training lately and the way they train at BJJU is the rest period between sets. At BJJU IF you get a rest period between sets you barely have enough time to get a swallow of water before you are back on the mat getting ready for the next set. At Osagame we tend to dilly dally a little more. Over the next few weeks I am going to pay particular attention to this bad habit we have gotten into and do my best to stomp it out.

9/13/11 Tue BJJ

I had another really good turnout. Last week and for the next few weeks we are working on guard passing. I am a big believer in the fundamentals so that is what I am focusing on with my Tue class. I think once you have the fundamental principles you can deal with whatever new fancy move or style becomes the latest fad. Last week we went over the windshield wiper step using the knee cut pass. This week we did two passes, the first pass used the scorpion step off the knee cut pass the second pass was a classic other knee across pass. Once they had the passes down I had them start from their feet, execute this month's takedown (drop O Uchi Gari), transition directly into the pass and finish with a collar choke from knee on belly. For a class of mostly white belts I was very happy with what I saw. This group is a lot further ahead of where I was when I only had a few months of training!

Where have you been?

It has been quite a long time since I posted anything on this blog. I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I just have not had ANY spare time the last couple of months. Work has been invading every corner of spare time I have and some of the corners I don't have. So here goes the update:

Tue BJJ:
Tue classes have been growing steadily and I am really happy with the progress I am seeing in the students. We are starting to have 6 - 8 in BJJ on a fairly regular basis with body types ranging from teeny tiny to 230ish. I am still introducing 1 new takedown per month and having the class practice the new takedown and the previous months takedown at the start of each class. I like this method and I am going to stick with it. I have always thought the standup fight was an underappreciated part of a BJJ match and I want my students to have an advantage in that area. There are about 10 throws in all that I will show on a rotating basis that I think are particularly useful for BJJ.

Standup I have shown so far:
Outside Uchi Mata
Outside Uchi Mata to Ko Uchi Gari
Ken Ai yotsu Sumi Gaeshi (righty vs lefty)
Cross Ankle Pick off the sleeve grip
Cross Ankle Pick off the high collar grip

Next up for Standup
Drop O Uchi Gari

Groundwork in August focused mostly on spider guard and various sweeps from that position.
Next up some guard passing fundamentals.


My own development
Unfortunately work has kept me from going to as many class as I would like too. I don’t think I have made it out to BJJU in about 2 months, which is really disappointing. I also haven't made it to the last two Judo tournaments I had on the calendar. I am trying to really focus on my Judo for the last part of this year.

My Judo goals are as follows:
Judo Tournament in Oct
Focus on the last two sets of Nage No Kata for my BB test
Start practicing all of the throws I need to demonstrate for my BB test

My BJJ Goals
There are not any BJJ tournaments I am focusing on right now, but I am starting to put together a schedule of tournaments that begins in Feb which means increased training begins in Jan. At this point my biggest BJJ goal is the continued development of my students.

Fitness
I have gained a little (ok, more like a lot) of weight over the summer. Right now I am hovering around 210 (up from 195 at the start of the summer) and I like to be just under 200 so I have some work to do. I have been taking some cross fit classes which has been going well and some running, but I need to step up the running and weight loss if I am going to enter a Judo tournament next month.

I am not sure how often I will update this site, but when I do update it I think I am going to shift more to how things are going in my classes as opposed to how things are going in my training.