Training Journal 6.16.08

Went to BJJ sparring class last night and got a little bit demoralized. It was one of those off days where all the guys who I usually tap more often than they tap me ended up getting me. I’ve had more luck taking the back lately, though my rear naked choke still leaves a little something to be desired.

I’ve been sleeping in more lately (I blame the lady) which means I’m getting started on my day around 12pm or so – which is the hottest time of the day, and in the Japanese summer, well, it practically destroys my motivation to exercise outside of practice. I’ll have to do something about that. I think I want to do more jump-rope work, maybe as a warmup – I need to put some cardio back in the schedule. Living too much of the good life, I suppose.

pat m.

Training Journal 6.15.08

Picked up a neat move on Thursday. If you’ve got side control but your opponent isn’t making it easy to get underarm control or anything like that. Just switch your base so you’re facing your opponent, post up with the far arm, and quickly kind of hop your close leg over their head. Then pull in on one of their arms and tighten up your leg as fast as possible to get a mounted triangle. Had some success working it against some of the white belts on Thursday as well as no-gi sparring on Friday.

Sunday I worked event staff at the Chubu Amateur Shooto Championship. Fun stuff. Made me want to start aiming for an amateur fight, though I think I’ll wait until I get back home to worry about that kind of thing.

Time to watch TV with the lady.

pat m.

Back from the Dead…

…and making the most of it.

It’s kind of ironic that a blog I originally started to write about how to make MMA/BJJ training compatible with a busy life ends up getting sidetracked for a month or so, I suppose. The lady is here, which means that my entire daily routine is being rewritten to fit the needs of another person. Which, really, is a situation that we’ll probably all end up in – a partner, children, a family, etc. – so I’m sure it’ll add some more interesting material for the blog.

Essentially, I’ve gone from a schedule with 45 minutes working out in the morning and 3 hours of skill training/sparring in the evening, 6x/week, to maybe 30 minutes morning workout and 1.5 hours skill training/sparring, 3-5x/week. This means I’ve had to reevaluate my priorities and change my schedule accordingly. Cutting down on the skill training has been the hardest – I can’t make it to the kickboxing classes, and I miss two of the three weekly BJJ technique classes – but I wouldn’t feel nearly as comfortable cutting any of the BJJ/no-gi sparring sessions, because those always feel like I’m getting the most physical bang for my buck, and I want to take advantage of the easy access to talented opponents for as long as I’ve got it. In order to compensate, I’m going to try to spend more time watching DVDs to give me ideas for things to work on. I’ve been trying to work on more X-guard stuff lately; hellooooo Marcelo Garcia DVDs.

Interestingly enough, the chronic lack of “explosiveness” that I’ve worked on over the last few years benefit considerably from cutting down on the training time. Feeling like rolling time is a scarcity makes me want to get the most from the training sessions, which is something I don’t feel quite so strongly when I’m at the gym for over 15 hours a week. Since the Japanese system has people pick their own opponents during a sparring session, it gets all too easy to wait out every round or so because I’m just going to be there again the next day for three hours. Now, I’ve noticed that I’ve got more energy and I’m much less hesitant. And it feels really, really good.

Perhaps the part that has suffered most from my girlfriend’s presence is my diet – I’m eating a lot more junk food, especially ice cream and pastries, than I did without her here. That, I suppose, is the price one must pay for love. I reckon I could stand to gain some weight anyway…

pat m.