Comp Team training today. Rough. Spent most of it trying not to puke on the mat. Diet has been strict all week and I can feel the cut. Gassed early and hard. Sticking with it. Two more tricky weeks and I'll adjust.
Showing posts with label BJJ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BJJ. Show all posts
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Compete with your strengths, train with your weaknesses.
Training in BJJ requires the use of many different aspects of physical well being. I'm going to break them into 5 categories to make them more easily quantifiable. My list, in order of personal greatest to least ability is:
(1) Strength. This is force applied statically or with slow movements. Examples would be grip, ability to maintain posture against guard attacks, resisting the manipulation of your arm by kimura, etc.
(2) Power. Force applied explosively including moves like upas, hip escapes, sit outs, or breaking an opponents grip with a fast spin out.
(3) Endurance. Being able to train into the second or third hour greatly increases your time on the mat and can make the difference in a long round. I am also including your ability to recover between both rounds and training days.
4) Flexibility and agility. I believe these two go together; a deficiency in one will limit the other. BJJ rewards those who flow like water - quickly and smoothly.
(5) Technique. This is why we are here. This builds the bond between your training brothers and sisters. This separates us from simply being "fit".
However, if I were to make this list in the order that I beleive is most important it would be in the opposite progression.
Most important <<----->> Least important.
Technique - Flexibility and Agility - Endurance - Power - Strength.
I believe this to be true, yet when I consider extra training my mind goes immediately to pull-ups, ring dips, and cleans. Why? Because I've logged a lot of hours lifting weights I'm good at these and they are easier for me. But...I'm not getting beat because I'm too weak. There are times when my strength is not enough to overcome someone - but it's because I'm doing the move wrong, or I didn't set it up properly, or I'm in the wrong position, or I'm simply outsized.
Be proud of your strengths, but fix your weaknesses.
Training in BJJ requires the use of many different aspects of physical well being. I'm going to break them into 5 categories to make them more easily quantifiable. My list, in order of personal greatest to least ability is:
(1) Strength. This is force applied statically or with slow movements. Examples would be grip, ability to maintain posture against guard attacks, resisting the manipulation of your arm by kimura, etc.
(2) Power. Force applied explosively including moves like upas, hip escapes, sit outs, or breaking an opponents grip with a fast spin out.
(3) Endurance. Being able to train into the second or third hour greatly increases your time on the mat and can make the difference in a long round. I am also including your ability to recover between both rounds and training days.
4) Flexibility and agility. I believe these two go together; a deficiency in one will limit the other. BJJ rewards those who flow like water - quickly and smoothly.
(5) Technique. This is why we are here. This builds the bond between your training brothers and sisters. This separates us from simply being "fit".
However, if I were to make this list in the order that I beleive is most important it would be in the opposite progression.
Most important <<----->> Least important.
Technique - Flexibility and Agility - Endurance - Power - Strength.
I believe this to be true, yet when I consider extra training my mind goes immediately to pull-ups, ring dips, and cleans. Why? Because I've logged a lot of hours lifting weights I'm good at these and they are easier for me. But...I'm not getting beat because I'm too weak. There are times when my strength is not enough to overcome someone - but it's because I'm doing the move wrong, or I didn't set it up properly, or I'm in the wrong position, or I'm simply outsized.
Be proud of your strengths, but fix your weaknesses.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Back to open guard...
Several months ago I decided to never close my guard and my game went up. When I began to develop my half guard lock down game I slipped back into a closed guard mindset. Time to move on. Kevin told me to open it up and work on spider guard. Not my best position yet. I can hold it OK, but I can't complete the sweeps with any authority. Practice, practice, practice.
Several months ago I decided to never close my guard and my game went up. When I began to develop my half guard lock down game I slipped back into a closed guard mindset. Time to move on. Kevin told me to open it up and work on spider guard. Not my best position yet. I can hold it OK, but I can't complete the sweeps with any authority. Practice, practice, practice.
I'm excited about transitioning from straight up kick boxing to Muay Thai. The most difficult part so far is the transition from throwing a hand - mostly hooks - and not returning to my peek a boo guard. I spent a lot of time making sure that I didn't drop my hands or leave them hanging out, but I now I want to have a more open stance with the traditional Muay Thai hand position. The kicks seem to be coming easier, but I am staying low until I feel like I hitting them most of the time.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Got up and ran this morning - first time in over two years that I have run anywhere except on the mat. Mat running is really just part of the warm up, involves things like sprawls and side/backward movements, and is pretty short.
I was able to complete almost three miles - and the only reason I stopped is because of several hot spots on my feet. Definitely don't want blisters first day out. My pace was probably around 9 min miles with low effort.
So...does this mean that running is useful for my training or not? If my BJJ and kick boxing is enough to keep me fit enough to run 3 miles no problem then perhaps running by itself is superfluous. Regardless, I enjoyed it and will continue for now.
To be fair, Emily, http://www.momonthemat.com/, bullied me out of bed, otherwise I would slept in.
I was able to complete almost three miles - and the only reason I stopped is because of several hot spots on my feet. Definitely don't want blisters first day out. My pace was probably around 9 min miles with low effort.
So...does this mean that running is useful for my training or not? If my BJJ and kick boxing is enough to keep me fit enough to run 3 miles no problem then perhaps running by itself is superfluous. Regardless, I enjoyed it and will continue for now.
To be fair, Emily, http://www.momonthemat.com/, bullied me out of bed, otherwise I would slept in.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Garage workout:
50 push ups
25 pull ups
5 single leg squats - each leg
5 hanging knee to elbows - shoulders say no more.
50 push ups
25 pull ups
5 single leg squats - each leg
50 push ups
12 pull ups - shoulders dodgy
5 single leg squats - each leg
did some heavy bag work, mainly for core. Spinning back kicks were landing pretty well, but my flow is a little off.
50 push ups
25 pull ups
5 single leg squats - each leg
5 hanging knee to elbows - shoulders say no more.
50 push ups
25 pull ups
5 single leg squats - each leg
50 push ups
12 pull ups - shoulders dodgy
5 single leg squats - each leg
did some heavy bag work, mainly for core. Spinning back kicks were landing pretty well, but my flow is a little off.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Another from 10th Planet - I like this one a lot. I'm a big fan of bottom half guard - mostly because I have a good lock down. However, I will stall there working for a Kimura if I don't stay aggressive. This isn't half guard but it's close enough that I think I could transition between the two with some practice.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Had a great roll last night. Stayed for both classes but skipped kick boxing and did BJJ both times because there was an even number for stand-up and Carlos wanted to work with anyone willing. I try not to pass up rolling with Carlos - he is my size but an extremely talented brown belt. It is very different rolling with a guy in my weight class versus my instructor, Mr. Kevin Synan. Kevin is a big, strong, guy and even though he never uses strength against me, I have trouble hitting moves because of the scale.
Frequently when I roll with higher belts I hit that moment of pause. This is the time when they stop for a second and are clearly telling me (without words) "hey, there's something completely obvious staring you right in the face and I'm going to let you go for it". The times I see what they are giving me feel great, the times I don't make me want to train more.
Emily, aka momonthemat.com, aka Mrs. Lemos, stayed for the first class but I didn't get to watch her. I have be careful when we work together because I tend to give too much advice. In reality, she does quite well on her own and gets most of her real advice from Christy Synan.
It is cool having a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu family. Frequently one us will say "put your kimono top for a second, I want to try something" and we have an impromptu session on the living room floor.
Frequently when I roll with higher belts I hit that moment of pause. This is the time when they stop for a second and are clearly telling me (without words) "hey, there's something completely obvious staring you right in the face and I'm going to let you go for it". The times I see what they are giving me feel great, the times I don't make me want to train more.
Emily, aka momonthemat.com, aka Mrs. Lemos, stayed for the first class but I didn't get to watch her. I have be careful when we work together because I tend to give too much advice. In reality, she does quite well on her own and gets most of her real advice from Christy Synan.
It is cool having a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu family. Frequently one us will say "put your kimono top for a second, I want to try something" and we have an impromptu session on the living room floor.
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
I'm sore. Not news really, but I'm sore in a spot I don't like. I don't like pressure on the bottom of my sternum - xiphoid process - in fact, I don't even like writing about it because it makes me nauseated. We worked knee on belly on Monday and I was ranking student so I had the "privilege" on repeatedly experiencing knee on belly from Julian (who does it very well) during the demonstartion. Large class that night with several new guys so I felt obligated to be tough and give them confidence that they could take it. Ugh...Lying in bed last night I had to sleep on my side because it felt wired on my back. Kind of funny really.
Stayed for kick boxing. Not too bad but I skipped a lot of classes recently to focus on NAGA and I feel lik I have lost some snap. It really is the snap - actually the turning over of the hips - that powers the kick. It's an awesome feeling when that comes together and you can feel it.
Stayed for kick boxing. Not too bad but I skipped a lot of classes recently to focus on NAGA and I feel lik I have lost some snap. It really is the snap - actually the turning over of the hips - that powers the kick. It's an awesome feeling when that comes together and you can feel it.
Monday, March 07, 2011
Saturday, March 5th, 2011
Spent most of the day at JaxBJJ with some amazing guys. The school is run by Professor Larry Shealy, a true master in the art. I was there to start my certification in Kid Jitsu, a system devised by Professor Shealy that layouts guidelines, goals, values, and moves for teaching kids of various levels. I can't help but sell in short in text, because you have to experience to really understand what a great system it is.
One of the advantages of being there was to get some tweaks from some high level belts. The most amazing part was the rear naked choke. A simple move, yes? But when done by a legit black belt, it is truly frightening. Professor Shealy explained that it shouldn't hurt and that the opponent should be surprised by the blackout - and I was. There was only a feeling of pressure, then suddenly the blackness closed in around my eyes. It was like I stood up too fast and dropped my blood pressure. Wild.
Spent most of the day at JaxBJJ with some amazing guys. The school is run by Professor Larry Shealy, a true master in the art. I was there to start my certification in Kid Jitsu, a system devised by Professor Shealy that layouts guidelines, goals, values, and moves for teaching kids of various levels. I can't help but sell in short in text, because you have to experience to really understand what a great system it is.
One of the advantages of being there was to get some tweaks from some high level belts. The most amazing part was the rear naked choke. A simple move, yes? But when done by a legit black belt, it is truly frightening. Professor Shealy explained that it shouldn't hurt and that the opponent should be surprised by the blackout - and I was. There was only a feeling of pressure, then suddenly the blackness closed in around my eyes. It was like I stood up too fast and dropped my blood pressure. Wild.
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