Training Journal 5.16.08

I’ve been kind of down in the dumps lately. After taking most of a week off to recover from the tournament, I got back into the full swing of things this week, and it’s left me good and sore, physically and otherwise.

Morning workouts have gone well, at least – I’ve made new innovations in the field of using common household objects as weightlifting gear, that I’ll post on later. The grip workouts feel good, and the protein powder is delicious. ON Chocolate Casein tastes like the milk from a bowl of Cocoa Krispies – mmmmm. No report yet on the creatine, though.

Jiu Jitsu practice is what’s been bugging me lately – I’ve been trying to work more guard passes, sweeps, butterfly/open guard, and stuff that generally doesn’t involve the triangle. I’m having one hell of a time, though. I guess it’s good for me, but it’s kind of disappointing to feel like my progress is stalling. On the plus side, I watched one of Marcelo Garcia’s X-Guard instructionals and it’s given me a little kick-start in the right direction for training today. It’s also gotten me fired up to write a post about the role that instructional DVDs play in one’s BJJ education. But that too is for another day.

Highlight of the day: I hit a slick arm drag -> RNC in no-gi sparring today. Woooooo.

pat m.