I haven’t posted on this site in quite a while, partially because I am lazy, partially because I am busy but mostly because for some reason blogspot does not work well from where I work anymore. I will probably need to find a new posting site soon. In any event, here are some recent updates.
April
I competed in the NY Open and won my division. Truth be told I didn’t fight very well but it was nice to get my first tournament victory at Brown belt out of the way. I am starting to get more comfortable at Brown and look forward to more competitions.
May
May, as usual was a “take it easy” month for me. I always have a lot going on in May. We have my wife’s birthday, Mother’s Day, our usually Memorial Day BBQ and there is always one other thing that pops up. That means every weekend in the month is booked and at least one or two days during the week is spent getting ready for whatever is going on that weekend. So instead of stressing about getting my training in I use May as a rest and recover from the tuff training I did to get ready for the NY Open. I still train, I just take it easy and go when I can.
Jun
There is an In House tournament that is being hosted by JW on Jun 16th. I am happy to say we have a bunch of guys that are planning on competing. I believe we have 3 or 4 White belts, 2 or 3 Blue belts and 1 or 2 Brown belts that plan on going. I am a big believer in In House tournaments, especially for White and Blue belts. This In House will be especially good for a few reasons:
1) Very fairly priced, $30 for preregistered, $40 day of
2) Very high level of competition
3) Safe friendly atmosphere with fair judging
I can guarantee that at every rank the competition will be better than any standard Grapplers Quest or NAGA, the tournament will be run much better, it will finish at a reasonable time and it will cost less than half as much.
Jul – Aug
My summertime focus will turn toward getting ready for the fall Judo season. I still haven’t competed as a Judo Black belt yet so I figure it is time to take the new belt for a test run. I have been competing against Black belts for quite a while so that is nothing new but I know competing AS a Black belt will have some added pressure. A big part of getting ready is going to be conditioning. My Judo skills are not yet high enough to win on technique alone. I need to win on technique and SUPERIOR conditioning.
Conditioning Goals for the Summer
Legs Legs Legs – It has become painfully obvious that my leg power, specifically my squatting power is ridiculously week. So this summer is project legs. I don’t plan on turning into a quadzilla as functionality is as important if not more important than raw power. However I do think powerful legs can be a huge advantage in grappling, especially Judo so I need to find the right balance between power and functionality.
Goals for Sep Oct Nov
Compete in at least 3 Judo tournaments