BJJ Judo

WOD

2012-02-10T11:30:00.001-08:00

Posting on this site have been few and far between, but today's CrossFit workout was posting worthy.

21 Deadlifts (225 lbs)
21 Hand Stand Pushups
25 Overhead Power Snatches (75lbs)

15 Deadlifts (225 lbs)
15 Hand Stand Pushups
25 Overhead Power Snatches (75lbs)

9 Deadlifts (225 lbs)
9 Hand Stand Pushups
25 Overhead Power Snatches (75lbs)

Puke (optional)

Lots of Changes

2012-01-19T07:40:00.000-08:00

There have been lots of changes over the last couple of months and I have kept very very busy. I will probably move to a once a month update on this site so here is my update for this month. For more frequent random thoughts check out my posts at www.osagame.net/blog

Updates
Judo promotion to Black Belt - Check
BJJ promotion to Brown Belt - Check

Next on the list

Judo - Focus on grip fighting and footsweeps
BJJ - Focus on no gi bottom game
Fitness - Crossfit 3 - 5 times per week

Northeastern Judo Championships

2011-12-05T12:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Lex and I made the long haul up to Patterson NJ for the Northeastern Judo Championships. Just to get it out of the way, my performance absolutely sucked! 0-2on the day without scoring a single point.

Now for the excuses.
1) I spent most of the week cutting weight trying to get down to 198. We got to the tournament around 10am so I could weigh in and start rehydrating and eating. I made weight coming in at 196. Turns out there was only 1 other guy in my division and he didn’t show so they bumped me up to 220.

2) The cutoff for masters was either 35 or 40 instead of the usually 30. So I was the lightest and oldest guy in my division.

3) I lost by a yoko scored very late in the match. Once he scored he played very defensively and ran down the clock.

4) I almost pinned him but the ref stopped the match just as I got on top of him. I haven’t had a chance to watch the footage yet to determine if it was a controversial stoppage. The ref may have called time earlier and I just didn’t hear it but as long as I am listing the lame ass excuses I thought I would throw in something about the ref.

5) After my first match I had to sit around for almost an hour before my second match which really really sucked.

6) We got to the tournament around 10am and didn’t leave until 6:30ish which is unusual for a Judo tournament.

The excuses sound good as far as excuses go but the reality is age/weight/time was not a factor, at least not in my first fight. I had a beatable opponent that I played very poorly against period. I did not play my game, I was very tentative, I avoided Newaza (I have NO idea why) and I was rushing to try to get my throws in without a thought of setting anything up. I didn’t pay any attention to grip fighting, I didn’t pay attention what he was trying to do, I didn’t alter my strategy when the lame ass throws I was trying weren’t working….I basically just played shitty judo. I was very disappointed in myself and my performance, but I guess that is part of the game sometimes.

In the second match size was definitely a factor. I had a very big very strong guy that probably cut to make 220. He got a very dominant belt grip and threw right threw my hip check landing me squarely on my head. I am not sure I could have done too much differently against that guy.

On a more positive note:

Even though my Judo looked more like shit-udo there was some amazing Judo by other Judokas. There were several top ranked Judo black belts at yesterday’s tournament and it was a pleasure watching them play. There were 4 or 5 top ranked guys that have Olympic potential so watching them go head to head for the grand champion award was pretty cool. There was also a pretty big women’s division which is unusual. The girls in our club should really think about putting this tournament on their calendars next year.

Burnt Lung

2011-11-10T06:32:00.000-08:00

I made it out to crossfit yesterday for the first time on a Wed. It seems the current weekly routine is strength and conditioning on Mon with the emphasis on strength, strength and conditioning on Wed with the emphasis on conditioning and strength on Fridays with little emphasis on conditioning.

Yesterday’s workout was called the “Burnt Lung” and as soon as a saw the name of the workout I knew I was in trouble.

Usual warm-up

WOD
20 wallballs
5 Burpees
400 meter run

10 ROUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Wall balls – Explode out of a deep squat position with a 20 lb medicine ball and throw the ball up in the air to a line on a wall that is about 15 – 20 feet high.

Every WOD has one exercise that I think of as the “make or break” exercise of the WOD. That exercise has the biggest impact on the overall time to complete the WOD. In this WOD there was no doubt about what the make or break exercise was going to be, obviously managing the run was going to be the key. The person with the fastest time would be the person how could get through each round without walking. Run to fast and you’ll burn out forcing yourself to walk so you can catch your breath, run too slow and you might as well be walking. My strategy for this WOD was managing the run at a slow pace that allowed my legs to actively recover during the run.

So we start the WOD and right out of the gate everyone else takes off into the wallballs, rips through the burpees and sprints out the door into the run. I was the last to finish the wallballs, last to finish the burpees , walked from my burpee station to the door for the run and began my long slow jog solidly bringing up the rear in 10th. I kept up my pace and by round 3 I was in 3rd. During the run of round 4 I noticed the guy ahead of me slowing down a little so I lengthened my stride ever so slightly to close the distance. About mid way through the run on round 5 I pasted the guy ahead of me and took command of 2nd place. Now the only guy ahead of me was a little guy who was clearly a very strong running. He had a tougher time with the wall balls then me but he tore around the track. At the end of round 7 he was about 50 paces ahead of me on the run. When we finished the run on round 8 he stopped for a quick sip of water. I closed the distance by NOT walking from the door of the gym to my wallball station but instead I ran that short distance while he was taking his drink. This short extra bit of energy was enough to bring us neck and neck. I could tell he was not looking forward to the wall balls on round 9 so I gave him a little shout of encouragement that kicked him back into gear. Not the best strategy for winning the crossfit Olympics but who gives a shit. We got through the wallballs at about the same time but he ripped through the burpees then took off for the run at a sprinting pace. I could not keep up, going into the run on round 10 he was about half a lap ahead of me but I was still really really happy to come in 2nd out of 10 in our class. I finished the workout in 39 min which put me fairly high on the leader board for the day but nowhere near the top. Someone in the morning class finished the WOD in 29:45. I can’t even imagine getting through that WOD at that pace.

After I class I was desperately in need to massive amounts of calories so I skipped the tuna lunch I had planned and decided to eat fried chicken allow with a box of fries. Lately I have been doing research on the benefits of eating fast food after a super intense workout. It turns out the benefit is the feel of wanting to throw up for the rest of the afternoon…..perhaps not my best meal choice.

Fast forward to Thr morning. My entire body is sore, I am hobbling around like a 98 year old man that got run over by a truck. How will I get through BJJ and Judo tonight? I suspect I will be playing a lot of fetal position guard.

11/8 - 202

2011-11-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

I made it through class last night but I was in a complete fog the entire time. By the time Judo randori rolled around I was completed drained both mentally and physically. Mondays are really the only days where I will have crossfit, BJJ and Judo all on the same day. while it would be easy to skip one of these activites I dont get to any of them often enough to warrant skipping a class so I need to figure out how to suck it up and make through all 3 classes.

I had some really good training in both BJJ and Judo. In BJJ I had some very technical sets with Lex who is moving up EXTREMLY quickly. In Judo I had a chance to work some of the throws I will need to demonstrate during my Shodan exam and I got to practice my drop Koshi Guruma. I do this technique a little bit differently then how I have seen it shown in the past. I have been experimenting with a few different grips and styles and I think I have finally settled on one I can use in no gi. The next time I get up to JWs I will put it to the test.

Weight – I am slowly making my way down to 200 from around 210. I want to drop a few more pounds before the holidays because I figure I will gain at least 5 pounds during the holidays and there are some tournaments near the beginning of the year I want to compete in. I figure 205 will be a lot easier to turn into 198 then 215 so this is a bit of a preemptive strike.

11/7/11

2011-11-07T12:48:00.000-08:00

Todays Crossfit workout

Usual warmup

for todays workout the recommended mens weight was 95 pounds for the over head squats and 53 lbs for the kettbell swings. I scaled the overhead squats down to 75 pounds

wod
21 OHS
21 pullups
21 Kettle bell swings
30 Double unders

15 OHS
15 pullups
15 Kettle bell swings
30 Double unders

9 OHS
9 pullups
9 Kettle bell swings
30 Double unders

I completed it in a respectable 15:45. The gym is starting to get pretty crowded and there are lots of new faces but only a few old faces. I wonder how many can stick with these workouts over the long haul, or perhaps I should say how many other will be able to stick with these workouts over the long haul.

I have no idea how I am going to get through BJJ and Judo tonight. My legs are dead.

My new friend from Bulgaria

2011-11-03T10:47:00.000-07:00

Despite an overwhelming workload, a sick baby and life in general doing its best to keep me out of the gym I have gotten some really good training in lately. Let's recap:

Thr 10-20-11

Thursday’s Judo practice was a killer. My intention going in was to skip randori and focus on practicing the throws I will need to demonstrate for my Shodan test (I will be testing for my Judo Black Belt soon). When it came time to randori Ray wanted to do a kind of round robin sparring where everyone faces everyone one after another. I rounded out the group nicely so I took the hint and joined the randori group. The plan was 6 3 minute rounds. Well do to a SNFU with the timer and a time keeper that wasn’t paying close attention each round turned into an unknown time (felt like around 5 – 6 min per round). So 18 min of randori turned into around 30 to 40 min of randori. At first I was a little annoyed by the SNFU but in the end the training was just what I needed. Part of the Shodan test is nonstop rounds of randori against fresh partners every few min, so this was good preparation for that part of the test.

10-22-11

My first attempt at a how made Bulgarian bag. There are plenty of do it yourself videos on youtube if you are interested in making one. There were 2 pieces of advice I stuck to while making my first bag.

1) Don’t fill the bag with sand, it will be too heavy use wood pellets instead
2) Give yourself generous handles

When I got done making filing and taping I picked up the bag and thought “this feels really light”. So I took it inside and put it on the scale….15 lbs CRAP too light. Ok, no problem I will use this one to get used to the exercises then make a heavier one later. I identified 4 swings I liked and attempted to do 100 reps per swing. Let me just say, holly crap that thing will WEAR YOU OUT. I am up to 50 reps per swing and climbing. Ultimately this bag was too light and I made another one last Sat but I can certainly get a hell of a conditioning workout with this thing. Bag number two is 30 pounds and probably still an intermediate stop. My goal is to work myself up to a 50 lbs bag. According to http://www.suples.com/bulgarian-training-bags/ I should be using a 37 lbs bag so the second bag is in the ball park.

10-26-11

No gi team training at JWs. The guys at JWs are all getting ready for no gi worlds so the training there was really intense. I rarely get a chance to work my no gi game so when I do I really try to make the best of it. I was really happy with how I did, both from the feet and on the ground. Off the feet I hit a few cross ankle picks, a few o’uchi garis, one snap down to front headlock takedown and one “almost” koshi guruma. I may give no gi a try in competition next year. The last time I competed in no gi was when I was a White belt so I am definitely overdue.

Crossfit

Won’t go into the details but I have been going and getting better and better.

10-29-11

Weekend workout – I decided on a new routine of 8 min rounds. So far I like it.

1 min jump rope
1 min Bulgarian bag swings in large circles
1 min continuous curls from a Sumo Squat position
1 min Bulgarian bag swings in an arching motion from one foot to the other
1 min Push press jumping jacks
1 min ultra wide grip bent over rows
1 min of sandbag squat, clean and presses
1 min sledge hammer swings (swinging like a baseball bat)

Rest
Repeat

Work and Killer Workouts

2011-10-21T06:14:00.000-07:00

Work has been absolutely killing me lately. Pretty much every day for the past two weeks has been 12 - 14 hour days. On Mon I knew i had a ton of work to do and I knew I probably would get to the Osagame like I planned so I forced myself to get away from my desk and go to crossfit at lunch. As usual I was not disappointed.

Warm up
400 meter run
50 double unders
20 cow grazers
30 scorpions
10 box jumps
10 Over Head Squats (OHS)
10 Pullups

The workout was actually a double crossfit workout. This was a first for me...

Workout #1
3 Rounds of in under 9 min
5 OHS
10 Pullups
15 Box Jumps (30 inch box)

I got it done just under the wire in 8:57.

3 min rest

Workout #2
21 Thrusters (squat clean press)
21 Pullups
15 Thrusters
15 Pullups
9 Thrusters
9 Pullups

my time 4:12

Optional - passout on the sidewalk in front of the building.

This was Monday's workout, today is Friday and I am still feeling the box jumps in my quads.

In House at NJMA

2011-10-16T18:59:00.001-07:00

We took a few guys to an In House tournament at NJMA this weekend. First off, thanks to Marco at NJMA for extending the invitation to his In House tournament. I train at NJMA every once in a while, they have top notch instruction and a very friendly atmosphere. If you live in Jersey anywhere near Cherry Hill you should check them out.

On to the tournament! I was really happy with how everyone did. It was the first competition for a lot of our guys and they came through. They showed good technique, good strategy and used a lot of the stuff we have been working so diligently on. The work we do from the feet clearly showed and was a strong advantage for our club. We only gave up 1 takedown all day and those were the only points scored against us. We had 1 Ko Uchi Gari a couple of Kosto Gari's and a few forced guard pulls that put our opponents into bad situations from the start. We sent 4 guys and went 6 and 1 on the day.

Of course there are a few things to work on but I was really proud of how everyone fought. It really makes me feel good to see my guys using the stuff I show them. Teaching has really shown me a whole new aspect of the game.

To see some of the matches check out Lex's video here lexfridman.com/blogs/training. Some of the commentary is a little painful but it is worth watching just to see what a fool I look like on video.

Side note - I had myself convinced that I added 5 - 8 pounds of muscle doing crossfit lately. Lex's video now has me convinced I have 10 pounds of FAT to lose. Thanks Lex.

10/14/2011

2011-10-16T14:49:00.000-07:00

Friday's crossfit workout was anther kill

warm up

400 meter run
50 double unders
20 cow grazers
30 scrpions
10 burpees
10 kettle bell swings
15 pullups
10 ring dips
20 hang cleans
2 muscle ups (which I cant do yet)
build power cleans

Work out
So the workout included muscle ups. To do a muscle up you jump up to a pair of rings and host yourself up over the rings with your elbows locked out. I cant do them yet but I did a little youtube research this weekend on the technique and I think I might be able to get some next week. Anyway, in place of muscle up we were allow to do ring dips with a scale of 3 ring dips to every muscle up we were supposed to do. The workout is below and my chest is still a little sore.

5 power cleans (cleans from the floor)
15 ring dips

4 power cleans
12 ring dips

3 power cleans
9 ring dips

2 power cleans
6 ring dips

1 power clean
3 ring dips

75 double unders

I was proud of my time, second on the leader board at 10:04 but really want those muscle ups.

Why Why Why

2011-10-07T19:29:00.000-07:00

Why did I waste so much time learning BJJ and Judo. All those hours doing reps, the tournaments, the heart aches and the injuries. It all seems like such a waste when I could have spent that time learning THE FINGER LOCK KO! Now that I know this underground secret I will be unstoppable. I can't wait to use this at Worlds, those fools won't know what hit em. Check it out for yourself.

THE FINGER LOCK KO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I__Yrhkb3qE&feature=related

Climbing the Leader Board

2011-10-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

I had another really good time on my crossift workout today.

I dont remember the warmup but it was pretty standard. I am starting to really get the hang of the double unders and I put up a pretty decent time.

Workout

Round Double Unders GTO Wall Ball Throws
1 30 15 15
2 30 12 12
3 30 9 9
4 30 6 6
5 30 3 3

Terms
Double unders - Twice around with the jump rope on each jump.

GTO - Weighted bar starting from the ground on each rep and pick it up to a locked out position overhead. The pickup can be anyway you like.

Wall Ball Throws - From a deep squat explode upward and throw the medicine ball over a line marked on the wall. I think our line is about 20 feet up but I am not a good judge of height.

I really like these workouts but I have noticed they leave me pretty worn out for the fundementals/bjj/judo marathon I normal do on Mon nights.

Working out like a Man

2011-10-04T12:58:00.001-07:00

Up until Fri when I did my Crossfit workouts I was "scaling the workout". In each workout the trainer gives a recommended weight for men and a recommended weight for women. Being the "macho man" that I am I couldn't uses the girls recommended weight but I wasn't able to uses the recommended men's weight either. At least not without gassing out before the workout was over. So my solution was to use something in between. Well Friday's workout was one that I felt pretty comfortable with so I took a stab at the men's weight and I was quite happy with the results. In case I didnt mention it before, for those of you unfamiliar with crossfit. All of these workouts are for time, you go all out with no rest until you are done with the entire workout. No rest between rounds, sets or exercises.

Friday's workout

Warm up
400 meter run
50 Double Unders
20 Cow Grazers
20 Scorpions
20 Leg Swings
20 Shoulder rotations
15 pushups
20 Kettle Bell Swings

3 sets
15 Push presses build more weight for each set
5 Kettlebell swings
200 meter sprint 70%

Workout
5 Rounds
10 Push Press 115 pounds
200 meter sprint
10 Kettle Bell Swings 53 pounds

I was quite pleased with my time 9:50

9/27/11 Competition

2011-09-28T10:15:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-09-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-21T07:46:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-19T11:28:00.001-07:00

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

2011-09-14T10:48:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-09-06T07:01:00.001-07:00

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.

Small World

2011-05-31T07:27:00.001-07:00

It was one hell of a hard training day and I am really glad I went. A few notes from my matches. The Brown Belt match was a really good one. The Brown Belt probably outweighed me by at least 70 pounds and was probably twice as strong as me so I had to rely 100% on technique and positioning. I find it very helpful to NOT be able to fall back on using power as it can become a crutch. It is also a dangerous habit for a guy my size because I am not a “big guy” by BJJ “big guy” standards. I will always be paired in the “big guy” group, but I will never be the biggest of the big guys. In fact I am usually the smallest of the “big guys” so that set was particularly useful for me.

The last match was against I Purple Belt with the body type and game that typically gives me a lot of trouble. This was a really fun match. We did a double set because I didnt realize the timer went off until about have way through the second set. You can bet I was keeping my eye on the clock for the next buzzer. I think I lost 5 pounds of water weight in that set alone!

So why is it such a small world? One of the Black Belts I was training with was a guy I trained with wayyyyyy back in the day in a galaxy far far away. We trained together for a short time when I was at Ricardo's in NJ (back in the days when Richardo's was out of Flex Gym). At time he was a Blue Belt and I was a White Belt. It was fun training with him and it is always fun seeing a face that brings back memories.

I also ended up training with someone that knows my step daughter. I didnt know it at the time but apparently he recognized me from the parent student days (man am I old).

All in all a really fun day. We rarly close our gym for the holidays but when we do I might make NJMA my default holiday spot.

Cookie Dough

2011-05-24T09:26:00.000-07:00

So apparently sitting on your butt NOT working out and NOT going to class while drinking beer and eating cookie dough = about 7 pounds.

Lot's and Lot's of BS

2011-05-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

It seems like all of my posts are catch-up posts so why bother putting it in the title.

Sat The Good Fight

Mike and I went out to Ocean city for The Good Fight. The tournament was much much small then the one in NY. Mike only had one other guy in his division, I had 4 people in my division. When they put out the brackets it was just me and one other guy, but I guess two other Purple belts came out of the wood work so they put us all in one division. There was 1 skinny guy, 1 middle weight, me (a generous medium heavy at 198) and 1 heavy weight claiming to be 215/220 but I suspect he was more in the 225 range. Mike and I both fought at the same time during all of our fights which was disappointing because he didnt have anyone to coach him.

My first fight was against the middle weight and not to sound cocky, but I knew I was going to beat him the second I grabbed onto him. I scored one takedown with an O Uchi Gari but he got back to his feet. I moved him around a little and scored another takedown with the same technique. From there it was guard pass and mount putting me up 11 - 0. I tried to get fancy going for a mounted triangle and then an armlock off the position. He ended up coming up but it made no difference. I finished him with a Kimura from half guard. Not sure when it happened but at some point I hurt my neck and it got stiffer and stiffer as time went by.

My second match was against the heavy weight. I watched his first fight. He fought the skinny guy and scored a takedown with a nice Uchi Mata. Off the takedown he held the skinny guy down in Kesa Gatma for over half the match. Having seen his style I was leery of giving up a takedown and letting him get to a strong position. In retrospect I probably had too much respect for his takedowns. I was moving him around but when he pulled me in for a Russian tie I quickly pulled half guard. All was going well, I got my underhook he worked back to his feet and I hit a Tani O'Tosh, just like I showed that exact sequence in class a few weeks before (actually the class was going through my head as we were going througt the sequence, it was kind of cool). Anyway, I threw the Tani O'toshi pretty hard and he kind of bounced away from me when he hit the mat. He was able to scramble up to his feet and get back on top. I grabbed a half guard but I did not have a good bite and he was able to pass. From there he held me down inside control until he got warned for stalling. I managed to turn to a turtle toward the end but time ran out, he won 3 -0. This was my first tournament loss since I began instructing. It actually feels good to get it out of the way but I really was not happy with my performance. I also was not thrilled with my conditioning. I didnt get tired but it was not in as good of condition as I thought. If it was a Judo match I would have run out of gas.

some catching up

2011-05-12T10:07:00.000-07:00

Tue - I made Tue a light training class. I showed a closed guard pass that I have shown once before but find most still have trouble with it. Then I gave them time to drill whatever technique they wanted. This is something we do quite a lot in Judo but it is hardly ever done in BJJ. Some schools have an open mat session, others allow students to stay after class to drill but most do not set aside time during class for students to choose what they want to work on. I really do think giving this time every once in a while is a good idea, but so far I have tried it twice and each time I was disappointed with the outcome. I will have to put a little more thought into what I need to do the next time I want to try this. After the tokui waza time we did 6 min training sets.

Wed - Light cardio workout combined with high rep light weight pulling exercises. Not a very intense workout, just trying to break a sweat and keep the muscles loose for Sat.

Thr - Same theme as yesterday, light cardio and a few high reps low weight exercises, nothing major.

Upcoming Sat - The tournament this Sat is not a big one so my level of motivation is not as high as it was for the NY Open, but I feel good. My conditioning is good and my timing is good, I will try to start getting mentally motivated on Fri. Initially I had a bunch of people expressing interest in this tournament, but I am afraid the interest may be waning.

After Sat - This will probably be the last BJJ tournament I do for a while. After Sat I am going to start putting Judo tournaments back on the calendar.

I am back

2011-05-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

Ok, I tried blogging on WordPress for a while and I pretty much hate everything about WordPress so I made the decision to come back to BlogSpot. The WordPress site served its purpose and I will probably continue to post a few things on it but if you want to see my updates this is the site for it.

My New Blog Site

2011-03-25T09:54:00.000-07:00

If you are still following me at this site be sure to check out my new location at
http://www.phillyjudoandbjj.com/judobjj/

For better or worse I started posting again.

Jumping to a new Fish Bowl

2011-02-27T11:55:00.001-08:00

I decided to move my blog to http://www.phillyjudoandbjj.com/judobjj/ See you there!

Post Tournament Assessment

2011-01-19T07:05:00.000-08:00

Jan 15th was the Maryland open. We had 3 people from our club (including me) and one person friend hitching a ride with us. As a team we did really well, I believe Lex went 5-2 on the day. He won the 178 division and took 3rd at 198, both in the advanced division. Sara took first in her division going 2-0 on the day. I was less than pleased with my performance. I fought at 198 and 220. I won my first match at 198 with a clock choke. I lost my second match at 220 by getting pinned, which was really very disappointing since Newaza is my strength. The pin was a total lack of focus on my part combined with a lack of respect for my opponents Newaza. The result was getting pinned in north/south. My third match was at 220 against a Black belt. I spent the first part of the match attacking, attacking attacking. He started to wear down but he was up one Shido to none. I am not really sure why they Shido'd me, perhaps they thought my attacks were false attacks? Anyway, he was sitting on that Shido and not engaging me on the ground after I attacked. About half way through the match he went for a left sided Maki Komi. Now, I have lost 2 separate matches because of that throw and both times I did not think it should have been an ippon because both times I landed on my side. So I was determined not to get ipponed with that throw again. I responded by over twisting my body in the air to ensure I landed fully on my stomach. Good news, I succeeded in landing on my stomach and I dont think he got a score out of it. Bad news, I came down VERY awkwardly on my ankle and twisted it very very badly. I knew I was hurt so I just laid there and let him pin me. I suppose I could have tapped, but I don’t like tapping to a pin. I suppose it would have been ok since I was hurt, but sine he didn’t "earn" the pin I was not tapping to it.

Fast forward to today. The top of my foot is black and blue from the base of my toes to my ankle. Both sides of my foot are DARK black and blue and my ankle is still swollen. I am on crutches and soaking my foot in a bucket of ice water every night. 20 min on 20 min off. The ice water is helping and each day my foot is getting better. Last night I was able to start putting weight on it. I hope to be back in the gym next week and back to training hard the week after.

How do I know it's not broken? Simple, if it were broken I wouldn't be able to compete for the next few months, so it must be just a sprain.

Pre Tournament

2011-01-12T10:34:00.000-08:00

Lately I have not had any spare time to keep up with my blog, but I have been doing a good job of keeping up with training. The last few weeks have been spent getting both my team and I ready for various upcoming tournaments. I am a big believer in focusing on fitness for tournament preparation. My philosophy is forget about learning something new and using it next week in the tournament, practice what you already know and work on your conditioning. Along those lines the Tue practice consisted of a fairly tough warm-up then I reviewed some smash pass defense options. What I thought would be a review was really something new for some of the people which goes against my general philosophy, but I kept it very basic so they should be able to use some of it if the situation presents itself. I mostly focused on shoulder walking away from the opponent to create space and getting back in the game. Some of the people in class are doing a Judo tournament this weekend and some are doing a BJJ tournament, so the smash pass defense seemed like something everyone could benefit from.

My personal progress - I am competing in the Maryland Open this weekend, which is a Judo tournament. It is not a huge tournament and I dont expect a big turnout, but I really need to put in my best effort at every Judo tournament I go to this year. Right now I still dont do very well against Judo Black belts (which should be expected since I am still a Brown belt) and the tournaments I will be attending (with the possible exception of one) will almost always lump the Brown and Black belts together.

After thinking it through I came to the following conclusions. Judo Black belts are like everything else, some are really good, some are good and some are not so good. It sounds simple and rudimentary but it works for me. Right now I can beat the Black belts that fall into the "not so good category" but those are few and far between. The "mid level Black belts typically beat me and the "high level" Black belts destroy me. There is not much I can do against the "high level" Black belts right now so I am not going to worry about them. My focus this year is going to be on beating the "mid level" Black belts. Right now I can give them a good fight, but I tend to come up short. My goal for the next few tournaments will be to level the playing field against the mid level Black belts with conditioning. If I can run them down I have a good chance and anytime I can get the fight to the ground I have a very good chance.

On the conditioning front I have 4 separate routines. My goal is to be able to complete each routine. If I can get through each routine I will be "ready".

The first 2 routines are my lunch time workouts:
Day 1
10 - 15 min on the recumbent bike as a warm up

10 reps dumb bell bench press
2 min ALL OUT sprint on the recumbent bike
10 pull ups
Rest
Repeat
My goal for this routine is to do 5 rounds with 10 pull-ups on each round.
I did 3 rounds on Monday with 2 rounds of 10 pull-ups and 1 round of 8 pull-ups. not bad, after the Judo tournament this weekend I will up the number of rounds to 5 and slowly work on increasing the pull-ups to 10 in each round.

Day 2
10 min run as a warm-up

10 seated lat pulls
2 min ALL OUT sprint on the treadmill
10 dips
Rest
Repeat

Again, the goal is to get 5 rounds. On Tues I got 3 full rounds in so I will up it to 5 next week. I probably need to up the lat pulls and dips to 15 on each round.

Non-training nights - I have a kettle bell routine I like to do with about 15 different exercises and I do standing free squats between each exercise. My goal is to get 25 reps on each exercise with 10 squats between each exercise. The workout has gotten a little boring lately so I may need to fine some different exercises, or perhaps up the squats to 15 or 20.

Weekends
3 min Jump rope
10 reps Clean and Press
3 min Jump rope
10 reps Clean and Press
Rest
Repeat

Yes, the goal is to get 5 rounds. This workout is extremely difficult. Right now I am doing the Clean and Press on the first half of the first round and only doing the Cleans for the rest of the workout. I also cannot do the second half of each round without the rest in between. So right now the workout is basically Jump Rope for 3 min followed by 10 Cleans followed by a short rest. I may have bitten off a little more than I can chew with this workout, but I like pushing myself with it. Did I mention I do this work out in my detached garage with no heat?

I am ready for the Judo tournament this weekend, I am going in with a positive attitude, a high fitness level and in a good frame of mind. I WILL be ready for the New York open.

Fighting Tired

2011-01-07T17:47:00.000-08:00

I covered teh BJJ class for Ray on Thr. Not a big turnout, but the people I had were the core group and I was happy with the effort they put in. My focus for Thr class was conditioning conditioning conditioning.

I started the class off with a fairly intense warm up. Running, sprints, sit-ups, leg extensions, more running plus jump squats (which I think are a nice addition). We also did arm bar / omaplata drills. I followed the warm ups with some rooting exercises. I like the rooting exercises, they are low intensity but good for balance and good for all the stabilizer muscles in the feet knees and hips.

We followed those exercises with some sprawling/double leg drills. My emphases is on defending the double leg not using it as a takedown. I dont have anything against the double leg, but unless you drill it over and over and over (just like anything else) you are not going to be very successful at it. For our club, we are better off using our Judo for BJJ standup.

After all the drills were over I let everyone practice whatever technique they were working on lately. No new techniques tonight, just perfecting what we already know.

Last but not least, fighting tired. I have never done this drill before so I was interested to see how well it would work. We paired up with the higher rank on all fours and the lower rank standing behind the higher rank. Higher rank does 30 seconds of high intensity mountain climbers, at the end of 30 seconds the lower rank attacks with everything they have and goes for the kill. The idea is, you are tired, you are hurting, you're out of breath and you're coming to the end of the match. You're up on points but in a bad position. You need to figure out how to survive, catch your breath and get back in the game. For the attacker, you are down on points, but you have your opponent on the run. He/she is more tired then you (which I always tell myself, no matter how tired I am) and you need to go for the kill.

The drill worked really well, I was really happy with the energy level in class. The other thing these types of drills do is build the fighting spirit, which I think is particularly strong in our club.

My biggest challenge right now is striking the right balance between pushing the conditioning line and over doing it. Not only do I need to pay attention to my level of exertion, but I need to monitor everyone else too. This is harder than it sounds. The challenge is my fitness level is different from everyone else’s in class. Our club has everyone from the big powerhouse to the skinny cardio machine so different drills will affect everyone's energy level in a different ways.

Time

2011-01-04T18:34:00.000-08:00

I have decided NOT to compete in Pan Ams this year. There are two main issues at play, time and money. Money is an issue but really TIME is the major factor. For me to justify flying across the country to compete with some of the best in the country I really need to feel like I am FULLY prepared. I can live with losing to someone who is better (however you define better). What I have an issue with is losing because I am not prepared. In order to feel prepared I would need to train at least 4 days per week with some 5 or 6 day weeks and workout at least 5 days per week. The reality is I can barely train 2 to 3 times a week right now and I am lucky if I lift 3 times a week. Sorry, but training twice a week and lifting twice a week just wont get it done for Pan Ams.

The really frustrating part is I wont have MORE time next year, or the year after that or the year after that....the harsh reality is with each passing year I have less and less time. My wife thinks I should just train as much as I can and go, but I would not be happy going and losing when I am not prepared. To me that is worse then just not going.

I still have the New York open on my calendar. I can get my lunch time workouts in, train as much as I can, lift as much as I can and justify a 2 or 3 hour car ride much more easily then a $1,000 trip across the country for a single elimination tournament.

Since I am punting Pan Ams I am going to put the extra focus on getting my Judo work in. I am not big on new years resolutions, but one of my goals for this year is to get my Black Belt in Judo so I need to make Judo tournaments as they become available.

On the immediate horizon will be the Maryland Open on January 15th. There are other bigger Judo tournaments in Jan that would be better to go to, but this is the one I can make.

For Feb I have my eye on Tech Judo on Feb 6th and The Good Fight on Feb 19th (BJJ), but those are not "on the calendar yet".

Assessing the Damage

2010-12-29T19:13:00.000-08:00

I got on the scale this morning and I figure I put on about 5 pounds over the last week or so. Not great but not terrible. We had class on Thr and I covered BJJ. There was an interesting mix in class on Thr, actually it was my first all girls class :) AQ was invaluable as a training partner for one of the newer girls to the club. We also had a new face in Judo, both very positive signs.

I have not trained as hard as I wanted to the past week, but I got a few good days in.

I got a garage workout in over the weekend (which was a killer), no class on Mon due to the weather (but lots of shoving), pre-class kettle bell workout on Tue followed by Tue BJJ and a light kettle bell workout Wed night. As I start heading into the new year I need to really up the intensity of my workouts to get ready the the tournaments I want to do. Getting to more classes is going to be extremly difficult so I need to make the classes I do get to really really count. I also need to buckle down on the off night training routine and make it a MUST due on non-class nights.

Tue Training

2010-12-22T06:45:00.001-08:00

I had 4 people in class on Tue including a cameo appearance from an old friend that would be a strong addition to the club. Hopefully he continues to come on a regular basis and gets back into the game. I was also very happy to see Lori in class. BJJ will help her overall game. She is aggresive and has good instincts, we just need to polish a few things. She also provides a much needed girl to guy ratio. I had her working with Sarah most of the night and Sarah did a good job helping her through a few sticking points. Hopefully the new faces from last night will stick and some of the irregulars will join the ranks of the regulars. We could have a really nice mix of size, rank and gender if I can get everyone in on the same night.

Onto class, I did a quick review of the double lapel choke from closed guard, then moved on to the scissor sweep followed by the scissor sweep to triangle setup. Overall the class did well with it and saw how the three different positions tied together. The scissor to triangle setup was the most difficult of the three positions but I am glad I got it in and for the most part they did well with it. I might be teaching this Thr, if I do i will show the hip bump sweep series. I want to get the hip bump sweep in now because you need it as plan B to the scissor sweep when the person is leaning backwards and you cannot get the off balance to the front.

I like to show positions and moves in a logical order and this is a perfect example of various moves and positions that naturally flow into one another.

Mon Marathon

2010-12-21T09:38:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning feeling every bit of Sun's workout, yesterday's lunch time training and ALL of last night's BJJ/Judo classes. It was the good kind of soreness and it reminds me of the work I have to do to get ready for the upcoming tournament session.

During class last night Ray showed some fundamentals and I helped one of the newbie's through the moves. The newbie did one Judo class over the weekend and this was her first BJJ class.

Side note - we need gi pants that fit skinny people or a pair of white sweat pants (no offense Ray, but she was swimming in your old gi pants).

Class was good and it is always good to review the fundamentals. I think for some this may have been the first time some of the moves were broken down with such detail. For me, it always helps to be reminded of the finer points so it was helpful all the way around. I will also use yesterday's closed guard gi choke as my segue into tonight's scissor sweep class. I think it helps if people understand why the fundamentals are so important and how they can used to set up the next positions.

Training was good, I had a great set with Ray. I started from a bad position and was able to work back into the game. I hit a sweep with a second effort but I dont think he would have gone over if he was not already run down from the kettle bell class before hand. After I got the sweep I tried to press the action but I couldnt make anything happen. I got close to points but he defended every effort. It was a really good set for me despite losing by a lopsided score. I will have to ask AQ to up the intensity of the next kettle bell class :)

Good set with Peter, I got a lazy when I was in his half guard and he hip bumped me over. He is progressing quite nicely.

Also had good sets with Lex and Sarah. Sarah keeps going for the scissor sweep and keeps making the same mistake. I keep promising to do a class on it and I keep not getting around to it. ---> I will be sure to cover the position tonight and point out the key detail of the sweep that makes it work. <---- (Shameless, unfair, not nice way to boost class attendance? Yes, but what can I say.)

Fun set with Lex as well. He had a good attempt at moving into x-guard but I was able to stop it by grabbing head control. Lex....STOP GIVING UP HEAD CONTROL!!!!!

Judo Class
Ray put us through some tough drills working on speed and conditioning. He pushed us but didnt over do it. I think the pace and drills were just right for where the class is right now conditioning wise. No doubt the drills will get more difficult and more intense as we get closer and closer to tournament time. I had a good standup set with Ray and others. I didnt score at all against Ray, but I stayed aggressive the whole time and got some good attacks in. I was also happy with being able to do all three randori sets. I was tired coming into BJJ and exhausted after the drills so I had to knuckle down for randori.

A Dangerous Habit

2010-12-21T07:17:00.000-08:00

I think it has been 2 or maybe two and a half years since I got hit with MRSA. For those of that dont know what MRSA is you need to read up on it. MRSA is basically a super strong antibiotic resistant infection. Usually starts as an infected pimple around the hind quarters (but can be anywhere on the body). The infection is often found in the grappling arts because of the close body to body contact.

My do I bring this up? Well it has come to my attention that some people in our gym (guys and girls) are leaving their Gis at the gym to "air out" rather than bringing their gear home to be washed. Not only is this gross, but it is dangerous. MRSA is no joke, when I got MRSA I was in my early 30s and in prime physical condition. I was laid up in the hospital for over a week, out of training for a few months and I still have a hole in my leg from where the doctors had to cut into the infection to let it drain. I am not talking about a pin hole either, the scar is about the size of a half dollar now, but at the time the infection the area was the size of a cantaloupe, the hole was the size of a dollar coin and about 1/2 inch deep. I caught the infection early because I knew what to look for, but death from MRSA is absolutely NOT unheard of so dont F-around with it. There are other skin infections that are less dangerous but unsightly and annoying that no one wants either.

Hopefully I have made my point. It is not just about how much YOU sweat during class, you are rolling with everyone else in class too. You might not even get an infection, but your Gi could have something on it that you pass to someone else next class.

A note on ring worm:

I know someone that INSISTS they are immune to skin infections. Well the fact is no one is immune to ring worm because it is not a virus it is a fungus. Your body might be able to fight it off because your immune system is strong that day, but it does not mean you are immune. It just means you were a carrier for the short period of time when you HAD ringworm and didnt know it. To put it another way, saying you are immune to ringworm is like saying you are immune to bear attacks because you dont get attacked by bears. Sorry it just does not work that way.

http://ringworm-treatment-center.com/2008/02/ringworm-treatment-and-immunity.html

Lunch Time Workout

2010-12-20T11:43:00.000-08:00

I got my lunch time workout in today and I was pleasantly surprised by how well I did. I will probably be dragging during tonight’s class, but I have a starting point to build on.

Garage Workout

2010-12-20T08:27:00.000-08:00

I got a desent workout in yesterday. My garage is a detached garage with no heat or electricity so it was pretty cold. I have been slacking on my workouts lately and it really showed yesterday. I am planning on hitting as many tournaments as possible in 2011 so I need to get back in fighting shape. I thought about waiting until the new year, but why wait? I figure if I start back on the workout path now I can knock of a few holiday pounds before I put them on. there are also a few tournaments in Jan and early next year I want to hit so I might as well get a jump start.

Late to my own class

2010-12-15T18:10:00.000-08:00

Last Tue I was getting absolutly overwhelmed with work and a "THE SKY IS FALLING" disaster that took an unexpected 3.5 hours to work through. At 3 one of the big dogs asked if I could review some info with him at 5. Even if I could get in and out of there in 10 min I knew I would be late to class. I got Ray to cover for me, but I dont like being late to my own class it really sets a bad example. As it turned out the meeting got moved up to 4:30, but took 40 min so I was still late :(

On the bright side I accepted a NEW JOB!!! I am still working for the same company but I will be in a different role starting Jan 1. This new position will be much more focused on data mining and report building with (hopefully) much less time dealing with ridiculous BS. I am excited and a little nervous at the same time. I am the type of person that needs to switch things up every once in a while and this change was long over due. I dont think this will impact my ability to teach class as there is very little travel invovled but there could be some late nights and that could effect my ability to get in and train. We will have to see how everything plays out, but I am excited no the less.

When I walked in I saw my buddy Mat, Peter and Sarah were already there and Ray was showing grip breaks from the "almost on" straight arm bar. Once I changed and taped up Ray turned the class over to me. I decided to pick up where he left off. I quickly reviewed a few other grip breaks and the theory behind falling toward the legs vs falling toward the head. My preference is to fall toward the head. I also covered my favorate grip break which I consider the answer to all the various grips but one.

After grip breaks we did sets of attacking the back followed by randori sets. It was a good training session but my head was not in the game. Work turned my brain into absolute mush.

12/7 Tue Class

2010-12-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

A very small class on Tue. I think some of the regulars have finals and what not at school so that could explain the light attendance on Mon as well. As 6 o'clock rolled around I was a little disappointed b/c I was the only one in the gym. I to take advantage of the time alone and do a kettle bell workout in the front lobby. I got lots of looks from people walking bye. I figured a little free advertising doesnt hurt. I felt a little weird at first. I workout at the gym all the time, and I run through the neighborhood all the time so why was doing a kettle bell workout in the lobby any different. I am not really sure, but regardless it felt a little weird at first. Perhaps some kind of cross between self consciencness and ????. Not really sure I could place my finger on it but I have certainly doen much much much more embrassing things then working out fully clothed. Anyway I got dress and ready to leave at 6:30 when Peter walked in. I decided to put the Gi back on and give him a class. 6:30 has been his usual time the past few weeks due to his work schedule so I think he got there as soon as he could. We reviewd the half guard sweeps that I consider the "basics" then moved on to the more fancy sweeps. In my head they are my 1,2,3 go to half guard sweeps from the more advanced series. He seemed to get number 1. 2 and 3 will take more partice, which is exactly what I told him would be the result before I showed him any of the sweeps. I was statisfied with his progress and he will be ahead of the game the next time I how the 1,2,3 combination. I stress that he should use the basic series as his " go to" series until he get more comfortable with half guard. Peter is very coachable and I am glad to have him.

12/6 BJJ - Judo

2010-12-06T20:25:00.000-08:00

BJJ

Small class tonight for both BJJ and Judo. I was a little disappointed by the BJJ turnout, I was really hoping to have all the Tue regulars plus some of the Mon night regulars. As it was it was just Mike and I for the first part of class with Peter showing up late. I stuck with the plan and showed half guard sweeps. Since the class was so small I was able to cover a lot of matterial in great detail. Both Mike and Peter did really well with everything. We started with the basic underhook back grabs and underhook sweeps by shooting in deep and grabbing the foot. Like I said they did really well with everything so I gave them a sneak peak at the fancier half guard sweeps we will be covering tomorrow. At the beginning of class Mike expressed an interest in competeting at various BJJ tournaments. I support the idea and I think all the BJJ regulars could do well in the tournament setting.

Hopefully I will get a better turnout tomorrow. I am going to start upping the conditioning aspet of class. I want to start getting everyone (including myself) in competition shape.

Judo

Also a small class, but with one new comer. He was a green belt and said he did some Judo at Penn State. Alma showed Tai Otoshi, I showed a few basic tutle reversals the person on the bottom can use to turn the tables on the top player. After I showed the reversals we did some turtle attacking and I saw the technique use 3 times! I really love it when I see a TOD (technquie of the day) and I can not remember the last time I saw 3 TODs in one D.

Catch up Post

2010-12-05T18:46:00.001-08:00

Nov 29 - Mon BJJ and Judo, nothing particular of note both were good classes. While watching some of the mat work I noticed some people having trouble with the mount so I decided the Tue class would be mount escapes.

Nov 30 - Tue Class - The orginal plan for the Tue class was mount escapes. I had a brand new student show up and I thought about changing things up but decided against it. Mount escapes is often a first class and the elbow escape was the primary mount escape I was planning on showing so I decided to stick to the plan. Things worked out well, the new student did fine and the rest of the class started getting the hang of things. I showed the bridge escape, elbow escape and ankle scrap escape. I emphasized the elbow escape as the best option but I recongize most will use the bump n roll until they get stuffed and need to figure out a plan b. Oldly enough when we started doing simi live training most had the best sucess with the ankle scrape. The ankle scrap is ok, but also has a low ceiling. Unfortunantly the elbow escape is really hard to make work until you get good at it so the position can be frustrating at first. All in all I thought everyone did well with it and in future classes I am going to work the mount position into the class schedule on occasion.

Dec 2 - Thr was a good class but I was not "feeling it". I am not sure why not, Judo was fun I just did not have my fighting spirt. I think all the BS at work was really getting me down. There are lost of potential explainations, my elbow was really hurting me, my knee was bothering me, the mats were a little cold but all of that is really crap. I think work is effecting my more than I like to admit. There are a lot of big tournaments I want to do next year so I need to snap out of it.

Next weeks plan - I am teaching on Mon and Tue. Since I have both days back to back I am going to show some half guard stuff. Half guard is something that takes a lot of classes and a lot of practice. My plan is to show the fundementals on Mon and the cool stuff on Tue. I know I will have more people in Mon's class and probably only beginners in Tue class but I cannot show the cool stuff without showing the fundemental sweeps first. The fundementals are key, without them the cool moves just dont work.

For the more advanced students reading this post, come to class on Mon AND Tue it will be worth it!

Friday open Mat

2010-12-01T17:52:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a long one so strap yourself in.

One of the Black Belts that has been visiting our club on Thr invited us to his club on Friday for open mat training. Since I had the rare day off I decided to take advantage. I had not met the instructor before but I was immediately welcomed onto the mat when I arrived at the club. Before arriving at the club I was not sure what to expect. Sometimes when you go to a new club you have a bull's eye on your back. I am happy to say everyone at this club was respectful, welcoming, sportsmen like and all around fun to work with.

As I pulled into the parking lot I concidered not tapping anyone because I did not want to be the guy that walks into someone else's club and starts a battle. I quickly realized three things 1) This was not the type of club where I had to worry about causing a "brew ha ha" because I tapped someone 2) They like the marathon training style. For those that dont know what marathon training is, in a nutshell you keep goning until someone quits, 3) I walked in with my gi ready to train and realized everyone was training no gi that day....SURPRISE!!! Since I walked out with my Gi and my belt everyone knew I was a purple belt, but I had no idea what belt most of the other guys were.

I used to train no gi quite a bit and I enjoy no gi, I just dont get a chance to train no gi. Luckily I train with a rash guard so I simply did no gi training with gi pants and a rash guard top. As a side note I have always had a theory that wearing pants in no gi was an advantage. When I wear pants I feel like I have a better grip on my oppenents when they are in my guard. My pants wipe some of their sweat off and makes it a little harder for them to slip away from me. Of course there is the disadvantage of my opponent being able to grab my pant legs but so what, people grab my pant legs all the time in gi training.

On to the sets, I am going to intentionally remember them out of order to avoid insulting anyone that might stumble along this blog at a later date. I had 6 sets in all. I do not know the rank of my oppenents because it was no gi, so I am just guessing.

Set - Shortly after starting this set I felt like my oppenent was probably a white belt. I spent almost the entire set just moving through positions. Throughout the set the buzzer went off over and over and over and over. I think the timer was set to sound at the start of a 5 min round, sound at the 2 min mark, the 1 min mark and the 10 sec mark. I might be wrong about the settings but to me it seemed like it was constantly buzzing. After 1 or two buzzes I tuned the timer out completly. After SEVERAL minutes of moving through various positions I realized we probably had about 3 full 5 min rounds (although it could have been 2). I also realized my opponent was not going to ask to stop or quit without being tapped. So I finished him with an armlock. He went after lots of gulitines and was pretty aggresive. I like the "no quit" attitude and it was fun training with him.

Set - This opponent felt more like a blue belt. He was constantly hunting for ankle locks and constantly trying for gulitines. At one point he was really "giving me" the triangle. When I went for it he immediatly exploded upward, hipped into me and attempted a smash pass. He did this all in one quick explosive motion. I was able to turtle, turn and face and reguard but man he was close to putting me in a very bad spot. He was clearly setting me up by making me think he was exposed for the triangle when he wasn't. He anticipated my move and I was pretty impressed. He had me in a bad spot for a second and he obviously practiced that move over and over in the gym. It will serve him well in the future and I must say, not too many blue belts have the guts to give a purple belt a shot at a triangle. Hell, I dont like to give white belts a shot at a triangle. Again I moved through various positions with him and again after a while went by I realized we had been training for more than 1 set and possibly two sets. He was not going to quit without being tapped and I was starting to tire. I finished him with an arm lock, but it was no easy task. Another fun set against a game opponent with a "no quit" attitude.

Set - Not really sure about the rank of this opponent. He may have been a purple belt, not really sure. He had some good pass attemps and it was difficult to advance on him. Eventually I finished with a head and arm choke but, this was not a set where I was free to move through positions. He had good defense and made me earn every inch.

Set - This guy was bigger than me but not as experienced. It was a fun set and by this time I was a little more mindful of the clock because I wanted to get as many sets with as many different opponents as possible. I worked for an arm drag to back control. From there I was able to finish with a rear nake choke.

Gi Set - There was an ENORMOUS mountain of a brown belt training that day. Initally he was training no gi but he saw I brought my gi with me and asked if I would like to train with the gi. I really appreciated the offer and was happy to oblige.

Side note - That fact that he offered to train with me is a real teastement to the positive atmosphere at this gym. From a BJJ politics perspective - I am a purple belt visiting their gym, he is a Brown belt training in front of the lower ranks at his school. He was at least 240 pounds (although I think close to to 250/260). I had nothing to loose by training with him, but he had a lot to risk by training with me. If he was one of those BIG EGO BJJ types he simply would not have offered to train. Clearly he was not the BIG EGO type and I respect that. There are a lot of schools out there and a lot of BJJ players out there that dont train with lower ranked unknown oppoents because they think if you tap to someone lower ranked then you it is the end of the world. I did not see ANY of the BIG EGO at this school. He welcomed the new challenge and the new player while disregarding the BJJ politicals that so often comes into play. I know that was a long side note, but it was worth pointing out.

Originally I wrote a really long discription about the set with the Brown Belt but after re-reading it I decided to delete it. It was a great set, I am glad he gave me the opportunity to roll with him and I look forward to rolling with him again.

The last set was a no gi match with the instructor. Again, a really fun set and I was really happy to have the opportuntiy. I plan on visiting the school again when I can get out there.

Kata Class

2010-11-24T11:49:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot about Kata, I have been going the last couple of weeks. Kata is right after my BJJ class and I want to support as many classes as I can. I really dont take criticism well, even constructive criticism it really hard for me. So for me Kata is real mental and emotional challenge.

11/24 Tue Class

2010-11-24T11:23:00.000-08:00

Light attendance for the Tue class but I was able to give very focused attention to the folks that came. Ray showed his favorite x-guard entry last night so I built on that during the Tue class. Normally I would not have shown x-guard to this group as they were mostly beginner level white belts but they did really well with it. I stressed that x-guard is an advanced position that takes time to develop so they should not get frustrated if they cannot make it work right away.

After warm-ups we did some arm drag drills and butt scoot drills to help with the setups we reviewed on Mon. We made a few adjustments along the way and there was significant improvement from the beginning of the drills to the end of class. I did not spend as much time on the 2 or 3 techniques leading up to the x-guard entry, instead I quickly reviewed them and then focused on the entry itself.

For those not in either class the x-guard entry we were using was from the butterfly guard with a cross collar grip. Straighten one leg underneath of your opponent, jump your butt in, pull your leg back up to your body, swim your arm under the leg to pull the leg onto the shoulder andddddd X-GUARD. Wow as I re-read that description I realize how terrible it is and how much more complicated it is then my discription.

Anyway, there are a lot of little details that you need to get right to make the entry work so we broke them all down and drilled each little step. By the end of class they looked pretty good and I am betting we will see a few x-guards next week. For sweeps and attacks I kept it very very basic. I showed how to come up when the person let's their weight go to the back corner and I showed how to stand up in base from x-guard. I also showed the fine details of how to make the x-guard work, where to place the feet, how to off balance ect. I would have liked to have shown more actually sweeps but they needed the foundation of the position before they could make the fancy stuff work. Now that they have a base to build off of they should pick up the sweeps very quickly.

As an extra incentive to encourage them to keep coming (and perhaps entice a few others to start coming) I showed a little bit of x-guard defense. Normally I dont show how to defend against a technique right after I show it because it stifles the attacker too much. However, in this case I think you really need to understand what the person on the bottom needs to make the position effective, so learning how to defend when someone is under them should also help them learn how to attack when they are underneath. ---> It will also give them an edge over the people who didn't come to my class when we show x-guard again :) <--- (another shameless attempt to boost class attendance).

11/22 BJJ and Judo

2010-11-24T10:56:00.000-08:00

Work has really been a real grind lately, combine that with a baby that has learned how to climb out of her crib and refuses to sleep and what do you get? A miserable grumpy SOB! That is how I feel before class, after class things seem to rest a little and fall back into perspective....

Mon BJJ was very productive, Ray covered his favorite X-Guard entry and all the techniques he runs through on his way to the X-guard entry. Too much to cover in one post but everyone seemed to do fairly well with it. I know there is at least one blue belt trying X-guard every chance he gets so hopefully this class helped him a little. ----> Too bad he was not at the Tue class, we really focused on all of the fine details that make the position work <--- (shameless guilt trip aimed at boosting Tue attendance).

Judo was good as well, lots of good randori. Lately I have started to feel my standup clicking again. Switching back to the high lapel/high collar grip has made a significant improvement in my throwing percentage. I like the double lapel, and I still use it but the high collar feels really good right now.

Special thanks to Lex for posting video of the Mon BJJ and Judo class. I really gain a lot from watching myself train. I might ask Hanukah Harry for a new video camera this year.

Side Note - Lately I have observed people using the techniques I am showing in the Tue class during the Mon/Thr mat work and Judo Newaza sessions. It really makes me feel good when I see someone use a technque I just showed. I saw Mike P use the triangle to mount transition the other day and I saw Sarah use the same triangle to mount transition on Lex's video (you have to look for it, she is in the back part of the room on one of the clips). Anyway, I am glad the people coming are getting something out of the class.

11/9 and 11/16 Tue Classes

2010-11-16T19:32:00.000-08:00

11/9

Doing some catching up, for the 11/9 class I showed a variation of the Ude Gatme arm lock from side control. My preference is to NOT come up to the knee on belly Ude Gatme. Instead I stay low in side control and use my body to pressure the arm downward. I showed the attack and how to use it as a transition into the americana when the person bends their arm to defend. Next I briefly reviewed how to use the ude gatme from inside the closed guard and transitioned from there into how to stop the person from choking you when they are on top and in your closed guard. It was a good class with a lot of techniques but I think they took it all in. I felt a litte all over the place but last class someone asked if there were any attacks from on top inside closed guard. I wanted to show why we dont do that and it tied (at least lously) in with the ude gatme from closed guard.

11/16

On Mon Ray showed how to sit back into guard when you are turtled and the person is on top of you. As a follow-up for tonight's class I showed how to reguard from turtle with the "tuck and roll and turn toward the opponent" movement. Not really sure how to discribe it, but most would know it when they see it. Basically summersault and spinning like a top on your shoulder blades to turn toward the opponent. I started the lesson with a few drills. We did tight rolls down the mat, followed by wall walking. then we did the roll from every position the person might be in while you are in turtle ie tori in front, on the side, from behind, from the corner. Once the had the idea and the roll down I showed how to use the roll to attack with a triangle instead of just reguarding. From there I showed some details of the triangle, some options for when you cannot quite get into the triangle and a triangle smash defense. Again it was a lot, but I think they technques flowed together fairly well.

Overall I have been a little disappointed with the class size. I expected more people to cross train then what we are seeing so far. That said, I am really happy with the few that are supoprting the class. I can already see their ground game improving, I just hope they dont get discouraged by the small number of training partners. I know if we can push through these first few months classes will begin to grow. It is also really fun to see someone try the technique I showed no Tue in class on Thr!

Tue BJJ

2010-11-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday was my first class teaching BJJ at Osagame. I have lead various classes on a one off basis in the past but Tue classes represent my first formalized coaching opportunity. Overall I was happy with how the class progressed. I started everyone off with some standard warm-ups. After the warm-ups I took a few minutes to explain why we do the warm-ups and what attributes we are trying to develop with each warm-up. I know I get a lot more out of the drills when I understand the "why" behind the drills.

After warm-ups I did a review of Monday's technique (De La Hiva in the Arm). My plan was to do a brief review then move on to a related technique but folks were still having a little trouble making Monday's sweep work so we spent extra time on it. After reviewing the sweep we went on to the omaplate option. Again, there was a little more trouble with the option then I anticipated so we took some extra time.

The related technique I choose to show was the kick over sweep from spider guard where you let one leg come off the arm and kick into the other arm when the person comes in for head control. The two sweeps are very similar in timing, direction and setup so I thought they went well together. That took us to about 7pm. From 7 to around 7:20 I paired everyone up for ground work sets. I only had 4, I considered jumping in to give SB better sets but I decided against it. I wanted to watch everyone roll so I could identify things to address in future classes. All the sets went fine and took us to around 7:23. At 7:23 I answered a brief question from MP then took the last 5 minutes to end with a quick stretch and bow out. We ended exactly at 7:30 which is something I plan on watching very closely. I also like the idea of ending with a stretch, I think it helps prevent injuries and speeds recovery time. Hopefully the class sizes grow as people settle into the new schedule.

Opening Night

2010-11-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

This post is going to be a little "all over the place", and maybe a little longggg.

Last night was our first night at the new club. Folks trickled in throughout the night signed the new waivers ect. Everything went very smoothly. The BJJ class was a good size and the Judo class was HUGE. The foam sprung floor got high praises from everyone I spoke to and I am really happy with how it turned out. As more and more people got on the mat the slight springiness of the floor became more apparent. I am convinced the floor will "break in" over time and become even softer as the foam beneath it loosens up. Ray got the tatami's down and everyone helped out with finishing touches to bring everything together. We still have a bunch of weekend warrior type projects, but overall I am very happy with how everything is coming together.

My long time friend Matt Reid showed up and joined the club as well. I am really happy he decided to get back on the mat. He will be a great addition to our club. Matt got me started in BJJ and has been one of the biggest victims of "Rank Politics" I have ever seen. As he gets back into the game, gets back into BJJ shape and gets his timing back he will be an absolute monster on the mat. I suspect he will move up very very quickly.

Another notable was one of the Brown belts on the mat last night. I am really glad he decided to come out and train last night. I dont think people realize how hard it is for higher ranked players to come back after a long layoff. They really put themselves out there and it takes a lot of guts. I have a lot of respect for people like that and I hope he continues to train with us.

We had some of the usual cross trainers plus a few new Judo cross over’s which is really encouraging. I honestly believe we have the making of a really stong team and I am excited to watch everyone grow.

Technique - Ray showed the De Le Hiva (in the arm) attacks. This is one of my favorite series of attacks. My plan for tonight’s class is to review the technique shown last night and build on it with a similar sweep. I like the idea of doing a quick review of the previous technique than showing a follow-up technique. My only concern is that there will not be enough time to show and drill the follow-up technique. I will have to see how it goes and make adjustments as necessary.

Judo went really well, the place was packed with familiar faces both from our club and from friends that have moved on to opening their own clubs. That kind of support goes a long way.

Counting the numbers

2010-10-29T11:42:00.001-07:00

I spent most of my lunch counting the number of people I think will try BJJ at the new club. There are a few people I know will cross train but most are a question marks. As I sit here writing this post I realize I am spending too much time worrying about it. Hopefully the people that cross train now will continue to cross train and serve as leaders in a growing program.

Thr Class - Last night was open mat followed by Judo. I arrived in time for open mat but did not take full advantage of the time. I got some throws in and I drilled a particular sweep I have been working on, but I cannot say I was really WORKING. I certainly could have joined in on crash pad throws or done a little live training on the ground but I did not push myself. I find open mat is always more successful with a designated leader, at least for me it is.

Judo Class - The TOD was the Hari from the high collar lapel. This is one of my preferred grips and my preferred throw so I enjoyed the work. We then did some Toki Waza followed by randori. I always found it odd that we never did any kind of Toki Waza in BJJ. This is something I may incorpate into my classes. For those that dont know what Toki Waza is, Toki Waza is "your favorite technique". The idea is to give the player a little time to drill whatever they would like to work on.

Often in BJJ we learn a technique, drill it a bunch of times in that class and move on. It is up to each player to try it during training. The problem is most techniques take a lot of reps to make work. As a consequence new players either get smashed several hundred times before figure out what they are doing wrong or they throw out the technique and stick to the few they are already decent at. Toki Waza give you the time and fits to figure out the technique you were shown last week but have not gotten the feel of yet.

Anyway, randori was good. First set was with one of the lighter Black belts. i did well and had some good attacks but nothing spectacular. Second set was the visiting Green belt. He was pretty strong but played too defensively. When I went for my Hari he telegraphed going for the suplex. In response I faked the Hari and when he tried to pull me backwards I simply pushed him down flat on the mat. I figured one or two of those and he would stop sitting on the Hari. Unfortunately (for him), he did not stop so I just kept faking the Hari and pushing him flat. It was a decent set, after a while I tried to thrown other stuff anyway but it was hard with him pulling back so much. Third set was with one of the girls in the club. During open mat I noticed she was practicing her grip fighting and she used those grip fighting techniques against me in randori. I have to say it was messing me up a little. I could use a more work on grip fighting, I know it is important at the higher levels.

Ground work was fun, we did the pin off the trap and roll where yo are facing away from your opponent and you have their arm trapped in your armpit. I found a flaw in my holding technique. Anytime I can find a hole in my game it makes the whole night/week/month worthwhile. It was a small adjustment in how I place my hips but the little things make a big difference.

I had two newaza sets, both were fun, I got some triangles, some arm locks, some sweeps. Nothing really of particualr note.

New Club New Location

2010-10-29T07:12:00.000-07:00

By now most of the people following me both publicly and anonymously know the Judo club is moving to a new location. For those of you that didnt know it...the Judo club is moving to a new location :). Last night was the last official night the Judo club trained at Maxercise. While I am sure we will be back for team training, in houses and just "one off" type training sessions it still felt a little weird as we bowed out last night. Maxercise has been good to me over the years but I decided it was time for something different. I will be helping Ray by teaching BJJ on Tue and some Saturdays. I also plan to attend as many classes (both BJJ and Judo) as humanly possible. Just having the numbers in class will help us grow.

About the Club - The location is great. We are offering Judo, BJJ and Kettle Bell classes to start with other programs to come. We are steps from a subway stop and we have a big glass window in the front that is very welcoming. The building is really old so we have been working on it A LOT over the past month to get things "up to snuff". My main area of focus this month has been building a foam sprung floor for the club. Big thanks to the Denver Judo Club for providing detailed instructions on how to build a foam sprung floor. See the links below

http://www.judocalendar.com/denverdojo/Floor/How%20to%20build%20a%20floating%20Denver%20Dojo%20floating%20floor.pdf

http://judoinfo.com/tatami.htm

So far the floor is coming along exactly as planned. I made a few modifications to the instructions the Dever Judo Club provided and I cannot wait to take some falls on it. Truth be told, I am a little nervous. I really hope it the floor lives up to the hype. After the floor is done there will be plenty of "weekend warrior" project to do.

After class we all went to our favorite watering hole to celebrate the move. I always liked a beer after class, but last night the beer tasted particularly good.

Jumping around a little but, I am a little nervous we wont get enough bodies in the BJJ classes. There are lot's of folks in the Judo club that would benefit from cross training, but I am not sure they will actually make the commitment. The fact is the Judo guys like standup more than ground work. If the BJJ portion of the club is going to be successful we will need to retain the few people that cross train, perhaps convince a few more to cross train, but most importantly attract new people to the club that are primarily interested in BJJ.

I am really hoping the girls in Judo step up and cross train in BJJ. I have always thought the mark of a strong BJJ club is a club with a strong women’s program. A club with no girls or just 1 or 2 girls is usually a snake pit.

I am willing to do what it takes to make the club a success, I can only hope we catch a few break here and there to help us out.

10/25 Judo

2010-10-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

Judo was primarily a randori / newaza night. On the feet we did a little Uchi Mata practice before randori. I had more trouble with the Uchi Mata than I should have so I will need to put in a little time on that technique. I prefer the outside Uchi Mata to the inside Uchi Mata. But that is not a good excuse for sloppy technique. I shouldn’t be having trouble with such a basic technique.

Randori was fine, I was not really in the mood for it but I am glad I did it. I had a bunch of different sets but there were only two things that stood out for me. First, one of the other Brown belts has switched to a left sided game. This is great for me because there is a Judo guy on the tournament circut that plays a very strong left sided game. I attempted Yoko Tomo Nage a bunch of times but I didnt really get close on any of them. I need to focus more on the hand movement when I attempt it. I may put in a bunch of right and left sided Yoko Tomo Nage fits. That technique would blend well with my game for BJJ and Judo.

The other stand out was I successfully hit the drop O'Uchi Gari a few different times. I am starting to figure out the technique. For me there are two key points to using it correct.

1 - Understanding when to using it and when to use something else. It is not really a "go to" technique that can be used against everyone. For me it seems to work best against a squared up stance where the person DOES NOT have their arms locked out.

2 - My preference is to hold the lapel on the side I am dropping too and think about driving the point of my elbow directly into the ground while I am dropping. I hold the lapel the entire time to avoid a Hansoko Make. Holding the lapel is probably not as good as let go and grabbing the leg, but it does have the benefit of forcing me to apply the downward pressure through the leg I am attacking. I find when I let go I have a tendency to not apply the pressure correctly which allows Uke to step out of the attack. Lastly, I find I can effective trap the leg by hugging it between my elbow and my body without using my whole arm to grab it. I am not sure if this description makes sense, I hope it does.

Newaza - The Newaza sets were fun, I had a Green belt that was visiting our club. During one of the sets I caught a bent arm lock off the modified trap and roll. When he asked what I did I told him I would show him after class. Ray had me show the technique to the entire class and it went well. Some in the class had a tendency to roll over there sides instead of their shoulders so I tried to emphasize that point while showing the move.

Leave your ego at the door

2010-10-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

I felt a little off on Mon. I think the combination of stress at work, not a lot of sleep and not making it to a lot of classes lately may have added up. The TOD was the old school double lapel choke from the mount. I had a little trouble with it because the fingers on my left hand are jacked up. But the trouble I had with the TOD was just the beginning of my troubles for the night.

BJJ - I had 3 training sets. The first was with one of the other Purple belts. I started well getting my sweep when he tried a standing pass and controlling the position by smashing his legs together. I was trying to implement what Xande talked about during his private with us. In my head I was thinking control the position with my hips not my arms and it was working. Then for some reason I started lifting my hips and using all arms. I was THINKING, all hips and USING all arms. I think there was a short circuit somewhere between my brain and my body. It was pretty freaking annoying b/c I was actually thinking, "stop using your arms you idiot, drop your ass and use your hips". O well, it was a good set. He was eventually able to get back to guard and regain hip control. Later in the set I lost elbow discipline and gave my back eventually tapping to a collar choke. I was ticked with myself for making dumb mistakes but I don’t want to take anything away from my partner either. He capitalized and came back form being behind in the set.

Second set was with one of the White belts. The set went fine, he goes for leg locks too often. He would be better off working on positioning then leg locks but that is just my humble opinion.

Third set was with one of the bigger blue belts. His size makes him a real handful, but his technique is improving as well. I tried to get a little fancy at the start and paid for it. He ended up making me give my back and when I tried to regain half guard he got to side control on me. I re-turtled but I did not respect his back attack enough and he sunk his hands into my collar fairly deeply. The set ended just after he got my collar but if he had more time it may have been a problem.

Mon was really not my night but I am glad I want because John reminded the c lass of something I needed to hear. The comment was not directed at me, but I would be wise to heed his advice. He told the class not to fight with emotion, it hurts your training and stifles your progress. Tapping to lower ranks is something people often say is ok to do, but no one likes to do it. I will have a pretty big target on my back at the new club, I need to take my own advice and remind myself I am not invincible. It is ok to have an off day.

10/18 BJJ Judo

2010-10-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

Mon was a really good class for me, I had a long weekend and I have not had the opportunity to make as many classes as I would like to have made this month. I really needed Mon to blow off some stream.

John covered a pretty standard series of sweeps for when the opponent stands in your closed guard. I like all three and it was a good series for the experience level in the class.

Sets - All my sets were good sets and I felt like I got something out of each set so I was very pleased.

First set was with one of the bigger white belts. I have been playing with different places to put the knee when I do knee on belly. Mon showed me a flaw in what I have been doing. For the past few months I have been positioning my knee on Uke's far hip with my shin cutting directly over the opponents hips. I liked this placement b/c it made it difficult for my opponent to roll in either direction. Oddly enough no one ever bothered to just sit straight up until my white belt opponent last night. That is the great thing about rolling with white belts, since they dont always know the "correct answer" they come up with unusual answers to different situations. So anyway it was good b/c it showed me the old school knee on the ziphod processor(however you spell it) might be best but I am going to experiment with putting it on the floating rib a little before I make up my mind.

Second set ws with an even bigger white belt. He has better ground work than most give him credit for so I always like rolling with him. His size and strenght expose any little mistakes I might be making in positioning and I cannot get away with relying on my strength to make a position work against him. If I am even a little off balance he can throw me clear off of him :). Like I said it was a good set, I got my sweeps and held the positions I wanted.

Third set was with a blue belt. Also a good set, he managed to get behind me with a sit out and he put me on the defense a little when he tried to reverse my turtle. I always enjoy going with him and I see him trying the stuff we work on.

Forth set was with one of the other purple belts. This was a really great set. We really pushed the pace and I was really happy with my fitness level. I was able to keep a very high pace the whole match without allowing my technique to break down. That set alone made up for a whole weekend of wiping noises and sleepless nights.

Judo

We did a little work on Hari and using it when the person is driving forward. I had two sets on the feet and two on the ground.

Randori - My randori sets were with Ray and Yoni. The set with Ray was both fun and productive, the set with Yoni was good too. Yoni is a young and very promising Judoka. I think he is around 15 or 16ish but I am not good at guessing age. He has really really good techniques and he is fast. He will be a real handful once he puts on some size. As for now the 50 or 60 pounds I have on him served me well, but in 5 or 6years it will be a whole different ball game.

Princeton Judo Inventational

2010-10-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

I went to the Princeton Judo Invitational on Sun. It was a good little tournament that ended up being bigger than I thought it would be. I weighed in at 192 and fought men’s 198 and masters. I wanted to fight 198 and 220 but they dint have any 220 guys. All of their heavy weights were 220+. I have been in a bit of a Judo slump lately so my goal for this tournament was simply, WIN MATCHES! I know it sounds silly because winning matches always the goal, right?

Well not really, not for me anyway. I try to win my Judo matches with throws instead of ground work. I have come to the realization that relying on my ground work to win Judo matches has been holding back my standup a little. In the novice divisions there are lots and lots of bad throw attempts that lead to groundwork. However, in the advanced division most throw attempts are at least "good attempts" and often end up with either a score or an ippon.

Yesterday was different yesterday I was willing to win ugly as long as the result was a win.

Men’s 198 Division

Match 1 - My first match was against a yellow belt that was killing guys in the novice division. He was around 6'5 or 6'6 but very skinny and wiry. I watched him fight I think everyone was underestimating him. At first glance he looked very vulnerable to O' Ochi Gari or Kosoto Gake. But I saw three different people try those throws on him and each ended the same way. He did a "mini sprawl" and used his long arms to leverage the guy over and land him flat on his back. So when we fought my strategy was drop Seio Nage. I surprised him a little with the drop but he didnt go over cleanly. Once on the ground I turned toward him, over hooked his outside leg with my right hand, and blocked his other leg with my left hand essentially double legging him over. Once on top I finished with a pin. I actually get this move quite a bit in Judo. It does not look very technical but I am setting it up and doing the moves in a particular order going for a particular finish. So technical or not it gets the job done. Lex has a video of me on you tube doing this exact move during the Beltsville Open.

Match 2 - Second match was against a Brown belt from Liberty Bell Judo. He was ok, he liked to throw Tai Otoshi from both the right and left side. We were going back and forth for a while before he hit me with a left sided Tai Otoshi. I didnt think it should have been an ippon I thought it was a wazari. The head ref actually called Yuko, but the two side refs called ippon so that was that. The left handers continue to give me trouble, but I am working on a game plan for them. The truth is this was one match were I should have just thrown Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, instead I was playing to defensively so I deserved to lose.

Match 3 - My third match was against a Shodan. I was watching his other matches and I noticed he played with a weird stance. Most of the time he played a standard left sided stance (great another lefty) but he would occasionally switch to a left sided stance with right sided grips. I also notice he didnt really attack, instead he waited for his opponent to attack and then he would drop his ass and counter them backward. I was not having any of that countering crap so I decided right off the bat, Hari and no Uchi Mata. Everything was going to be drop Seio, Tomo Nage and Yoko Tomo Nage. When the match started he went right into his standard left sided stance so I went for the Yoko Tomo Nage I have been working on specifically for lefties. It actually worked perfectly!!! I dropped in, he lowered his base and then his back leg popped out from under him and he spun right to his back. The only problem was they didnt give me a score for it, not even a Yuko! To make matters worse while I was waiting for the score to be called I didnt get up and get on top of him so I missed my opportunity to pin. I was pissed but would not be deterred. I spent the rest of the match relentless attacking with drop Seio and Tomo Nage. I tried to set up the Yoko tomo Nage again but after the first attempt he played with a very squared up stance and refused to give the far sleeve when grip fighting. At this point I was pretty tired.
Even thought I am describing this as my third match it was really my 5th match of the day. I already had my master division matches at this point. This match was my third match in the mens division. Despite being tired I continued to push the pace and frustrate him. The match finally ended with no score, but I got the decision victory. I thought I clearly earned the decision, I think he had one lame Uchi Mata attempt the whole match.

Masters Division

Match 1 - First match was against a Shodan. He scored a VERY questionable yuko early in the match. I thought the throw started out of bounds and I landed on my stomach. None the less they gave him the small score. He spent the rest of the match playing defense on his feet and literally running out of bounds every time we went to the ground. I had two really good opportunities on the ground but couldnt capitalize on either. I had 1 arm bar attempt from close guard that I turned into a belly down armbar than transitioned into the Jui Gatme turnover. Everything was going perfectly until the end of the turnover when he yanked his arm free (crap). Second opportunity was when he tried to flat turtle. Originally I was attacking his up turtle so he transitioned to a flat turtle thinking he was safe. I immediately tried my flat turtle reversal but I was very rushed. The refs weren't giving me any time on the ground so I really did not have a chance to properly set my position before attempting the reversal. I went for it anyway and I almost got it but not quite. He was really taken off guard by it. After the flat turtle reversal and almost armbar he wanted NO part of the ground. Whenever we went to the ground he would instantly jump up or quickly crawl out of bounds.

This is one part of the rules I really disagree with. If it is a penalty to run out of bounds on your feet it should be a penalty to run out of bounds on the ground. Breaking a hold by going out of bounds is one thing, but sprinting out of bounds to avoid the ground game is an embarrassment to the sport. After all it is a grappling art. He ended up winning 1 yuko (and one shido for stalling) to none.

2nd masters match was against a young guy who was very good. They just found someone willing to fight and made the division even though he was nowhere close to 30. The tournament director asked me if it was ok and I agreed to it. He was very good, I overheard his coach talking about his matches at the junior Olympics.

The only comment I am going to make about this match is that his gi was the stiffest gi I every felt. It took 3 false attacks just to pull it out and I was never able to get the left lapel out. It was like trying to grab a flat piece of cardboard. I am not accusing him of cheating I am just saying….What’s with the stiff gi dude, did you pick that up from the armory on your way to the tournament?

Changing Course

2010-10-08T13:21:00.001-07:00

I have been on the weight loss path for quite some time now and I have made significant progress. I am down from 215 to 190 (188 this morning), but I am stuck at in this high 180 low 190 range. Initially I wanted to go all the way down to 175 for Pan Ams but that really means going all the way down to 170 so I can weigh in with the gi on. At this point I have come to terms with the reality...170 is just not realistic. I am already very trim and very fit, I have more fat I could lose, but not 20 pounds worth. Even 15 pounds would be very very difficult.

So I am going to try to climb back up to 198, but I want to do it the smart way. I spent all this time cutting the fat away and I really like my current fitness level so I am not about to "fatten" back up to 198. Instead I am going to try to pack on some muscle pounds. 10 pounds of muscle at 33 is not going to be easy especially while keeping up my fitness level. I am going to need to figure out a workout routine that lets me pack on power without sacrificing fitness. I have not figured it out yet but I am working on a plan....

Philly Judo and BJJ Cup - Competition

2010-10-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

Judo

I only had one other guy in my division and he was much better than me. He is a left hander with a strong left sided stance. I was talking to Lex and he said this guy has been running through everyone at 198 for a few months now. I am normally very critical of my performance and I often get really mad if I lose to someone I think I should have beaten. That is not the case here, in this case this guy was just better than I am right now. I think if we had 10 matches I would have gone 0-10 against him. I need a strategy to get this guy on the ground and work a ground attack. That is probably my only chance against him right now.

BJJ

We started out with 2 decent sized purple belt divisions. I we had 3 middle weights and 3 heavy weights. Unfortunately due to various reason one had to drop from each division. That left us with 2 really light guys and two really heavy guys. We probably could have done 1 absolute division if we knew ahead of time, but the lighter guys were a lot lighter so I am not sure how well that would have gone over. Instead we did it best of three style. My opponent was another guy from my club. I really give him a lot of props for stepping up an fighting, it would have been really easy for him to back out and ask for his money back. He also agreed to a best o three rather than a simple one and done.

I was happy with the matches and I won them both. I threw in the first match and pulled guard in the second. I am pretty comfortable pulling guard , but getting a throw and landing on top will always be my primary strategy. This was only my third time ever pulling guard in a tournament. I bet I am one of the few BJJ purple belts that can count the number of tournament guard pulls on one hand. I am not really sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing... :)

Philly Judo and BJJ Cup Ref-ing

2010-10-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

Ref'ing - Ref-ing at this weekends tournament went well, I ran a bunch of the kids matches and some of the teens and adults. For me the kids were the most nerve racking. Some kids put a lot of pressure on themselves and they hate losing in front of their parents. I tapped for 1 of the kids on two separate occasions. Both times there was no screaming or caring on by anyone, my decision to tap for the kid was excepted by both the kid, the parents and the coach. I really dont care how much complaining anyone does, I am not letting a kid get hurt on my mat, but it is nice to not have to deal with screaming parents. Oddly enough the kids were the hardest to score, they move so fast and furiously!

The level of BJJ in the kids division was really impressive. There where armbars and triangles everywhere. One of the kids was really really good. He was one of the smaller kids in the division and he ran through everyone. I think he was around 9, and if he keeps at it he will be a total monster in 10 years. Thank goodness for masters divisions!

I had a few people disputing calls in a couple of teens and adult matches but for the most part I think I got most of the calls. Ray said I got one of the back mount calls wrong, and someone else disputed a guard pass call. Overall I was happy, I gave some points too quickly but I dont think any of my calls questionable calls changed the outcome of any matches.

Philly Judo/BJJ Cup

2010-10-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a long one.....

This past weekend was the Philadelphia 1st annual BJJ and Judo cup. Liberty Bell held the tournament as a Judo only tournament last year. This year Maxercise and Liberty decided to get together and run a BJJ tournament concurrently with the Judo tournament. I thought it was a great idea, combining saves money and spreads the costs over more students. It also (hopefully) advocates the benefits of cross training between the two sports. For my part I ref'd some of the BJJ matches, competed in BJJ and competed in Judo. Overall I think the tournament was a big success.

On the tournament itself

What we did right

Combining forces and forming alliances with the Judo community. I am sick of the political bull. I am convinced that praticing both is the best way to training.

Making accommodations for competitors in both Judo and BJJ. Both sides did what was necessary to make sure players were not running directly from one mat to another and no one was DQ'd for not showing up to their match b/c they were in the middle of another match.

Price was very reasonable, I think $40 to enter plus $20 for each additional division. So for me it was $60.

The rules were very clear - BJJ = CBJJ rules, Judo = standard USJA rules. If you want to compete you need to know the rules.

Location - Easy to find, clean, temperature controlled AND it had showers!

What we did wrong

I dont think we really did anything "wrong" but I did make three observations for improvement.

1) The Judo side of the tournament had a lot more competitors and they were still able to finish about 2 hours ahead of BJJ. I am not really sure why, but I suspect we had more down time between matches. That said there may be an opportunity to further educate some folks on how to run the tables from a bracketing and division management perspective. Basically, a 101 on how do you run a mat with as little deadtime as possible. Speaking for myself, I have never put together a bracket or decided who would fight when so when decisions had to be made those decisions took extra time.

Side Note: BJJ had Gi and No Gi, but I still think Judo had more total matches.

2) We ran Judo kids, teen and adult at the same time we ran BJJ kids, teen and adult. If we mix up the order it might encourage more cross competition and there would be less running back and forth between sides of the gym. My recommendation would be run

Judo BJJ
Kids Teen
Adult Kids
Teen Adult

3) We need to take the other BJJ and Judo tournaments running at the same time into consideration. This tournament conflicted with the NY no-gi open. October is packeted full of tournaments, but we may have gotten more BJJ competitors if it was on a different weekend.

Over all I think the tournament went very well and I hope it turns into an annual event I can attend for many years to come.

My Second First Post

2010-10-01T13:15:00.001-07:00

I decided to take down all of my previous posts. I didn't delete them they are saved in an "edit" mode. I re-read a lot of my old posts and I decided to take my blog in a different direction. My future posts will be more focused on what we are learning in class, what challenges I am having and what my plans are to overcome the challenges.

I will continue to publish how I am doing in my quest to lose weight. I left up my post on what my strategy has been and it is relativly unchanged. Right now I am stuck at 190ish. My next milestone is holding 185, the long term goal is 175 by Apr. I want to see if I can compete at Pan Ams at 175, so I actually need to get down to 172ish to account for the Gi.

My standard disclaimers:

I do not pretend to have invented any moves. Sometimes I will write about moves I came up with on my own. When I write that I mean, no one showed me that particular movement but it does not mean I invented the move. I have no doubt that someone, somewhere has probably already done the move I stumbled upon.

This is a record of my training, if you dont like what I am writing please feel free to read something else.

Please post your feedback whenver you have something to say. I welcome feedback, advice or just random comments.

I do not claim to know everything or be an expert in anything. What I write is just my opinion.

How I lost the weight?

2010-07-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

I have had a bunch of people ask me how I lost the weight and I generally respond with "eating right and exercise". Too be honest I did not really notice a difference in the mirror until my daughter showed me a picture of the two of us taken around the time of her winter dance. I was right around my peak weigh of 215 at the time. I guess I just fluffed off the "what have you been doing?" question because have not reached my goal yet and I could not see the difference in my appearance. The truth is when I think about everything I have been doing I have really been busting my butt, LITERALLY! Below is the outline of my weight loss routine. I am not an expert, I know there are a bunch of theories, I know there are people that say you should do "this or that". I am not claiming this is the magic formula, I am just saying this is what I am doing.

Workouts -

I start my day with a very quick and very light exercise while I am waiting for the shower to warm up. I do a set up 100 incline pushups against the bathroom counter top. This is not really a workout, I am just trying to get the blood flowing. It takes about a minute or so and the incline is fairly high. I read somewhere that even a very moderate amount of exercise will boost your resting metabolism for hours after exercising. It makes sense to me, so I added it to my routine. I did have to work my way up to 100 so there is some level of difficulty involved.

Using the same moderate exercise boosting your metabolism theory I started walking the stairs at work. I walk from the 10th floor of my building down to the first, back up to the 18th, then back down to the 10th. Again, not really "working out" but I do get the blood flowing. By the time I get back to my desk I am just barely starting to break a sweat. I cannot go to meetings looking like a sweaty pig so I need to watch my pace.

Lunch time workout - I try to get in my lunch time run whenever possible but it is highly dependent on my workload. Once or twice a week is about all I can squeeze in. Recently I upped the intensity by adding jump squats and incline pushups at the mid-way point. The run is not super long, but it gets the job done in the time allotted.

BJJ and Judo - I train twice a week on Mon and Thr, each night is BJJ followed by Judo. Lately I added the team training on Tue for a third night, but I am going to back that off to an every other week schedule. I can add it back in every week when tournaments approach.

Off nights – On nights I am not training I try to get my kettle bell workout in. Try as a may life often gets in the way, but I do what I can. I probably get the kettle bell workout in 1 – 3 times per week depending on what else is going on. Recently I upped the intensity by adding free squats between exercises.

Eating Right
A big part of my new eating habits revolve around preparing my food in advance. On Sundays I cut up and smash a few Avocados for freezing. I scoop the Avocado into an ice cube tray for freezing. I use a baby food tray because it has a cover and the cube sizes turn out to be a perfect serving size. Basically I use the Avocado as a substitute for other spreads such as butter, mayo and blue cheese. I also prepare eggs on Sundays, I pour egg beaters into a muffin tray and bake them for 15- 20 min. Each morning I have one muffin sized omelet on a mini bagel with Avocado spread. In addition to the Avocado and eggs, I make fruit smoothies for the week and freeze them in individual thermoses. 1 have one fruit smoothie per day around 3pm.

Lunch – No more chicken cheese steaks and no more garbage. For the most part I have 1 tuna pack with crackers, 1 Avocado cube and a little bit of mayo. This is a major change and a major decrease in my calorie intake.

Dinners are light and I try not to have seconds. This is also a major decrease in calorie intake. Cutting out seconds cuts my dinner calories in half, or almost in half. This was a hard one for me, the trick has been adding a fruit or salad before every meal. Adding a big serving of salad leaves me with a fuller feeling cutting down the urge for seconds.

Drinking calories – I don’t drink a lot of soda was not an issue. However, I did significantly cut down on drinking beer. I am not a big drinker, but I would have a beer at night before bed. Now I substitute a mixed drink for the beer. Not sure if this really helps since I am adding a sugary juice, but like I said before this is what I am doing.

Setting a goal and having a reason – I have a long term weigh goal that will take several more months to hit and a short term goal that should only take another few weeks. The trick for me is making the goal time bound and having a good reason to go after the goal. Setting my weight goals based on upcoming tournaments works best. It just is not enough to say “I want to lose weight”, for me it has to be “I am going to lose XXlbs by XX date because xxxxx”.

Starting weight 215
Weight at the time of this post 187
Goal 175 by Apr 2011