Hot Link Trifecta

First: my buddy Diego wrote this over at his blog. It’s called “Training in a Time-Starved World” and it’s a good bit about prioritizing training.

Second: I wrote a piece on Japanese Pro Wrestling (puroresu) over at Giant Realm. It’s called “Sweaty Guys In Spandex Go International” which is going to get me some awesome spam comments over here. Check it out and post a comment!

Third: I ate a hot link yesterday, and it was delicious. No pics – it disappeared quickly. 

pat m.

Self-evaluation, Part 1

So I wrote in my earlier post that competing in and preparing for the Rickson Gracie Cup was a good opportunity to evaluate myself as a BJJ player and a fighter in general. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far.

Perhaps the most significant gain I got out of competing in the Rickson Gracie Cup was confidence – specifically, confidence in my gameplan. While I had competed in four tournaments before this, my performance in those tournaments wasn’t really indicative of the way I like to play the game. Even when I won two matches as a white belt in the Pan Ams, I didn’t do a whole lot of work from the guard, which is generally where I like to be. Since I’ve come to Japan, I’ve entered tournaments with the aim of shaking those competition jitters, and for me, that was mostly about knowing that the game I play every day on the mats is the same game that happens in a tournament. I needed to be able to know I could win in a match like I win in practice all the time. I needed to have confidence that my moves would work when I wanted them to. This was actually a harder process than I imagined. While I’ve known for the last few years now that I’m most comfortable fighting off of my back, and that my triangle is my strongest submission by far, I had two mental blocks to get through before I could build my confidence.

The first block was the fear of jumping to guard. My first BJJ/MMA instructor was Gabriel Ruediger – yes, that Gabe Ruediger – and since he’s an MMA fighter who specializes in BJJ, he tends to try and teach in a way that emphasizes the techniques and mindsets that easily cross between BJJ, submission wrestling, and MMA. Which means that he hated it whenever I’d jump to guard, because it’s not as aggressive as he likes to play, and it’s not something he’d want to do in an MMA match for fear of getting pounded out.

In a BJJ competition though, it makes sense for me to jump to guard. I have no significant standup grappling experience other than the basic Judo throws and wrestling takedowns I’ve learned through BJJ, no experience learning how to adapt those to my body type, and my guard-passing game is average at best. Jumping to guard lets me work off my back, which is where I’m most comfortable anyway, while denying my opponent the chance to score points from a takedown, and it gives me the chance to end the match via submission without expending nearly as much energy as I would fighting for a takedown, fighting to pass, and then winning by points. This is ideal for me because my conditioning has always been one of my weaker points, and if I’m fighting to win the tournament, not just the match, it’s in my interest to minimize my exertion as best I can.

The second block had to do with my confidence in the moves themselves. Training with the same people day in and day out forces you to expand your game – well, if they’re good, anyway. If you’re training with the right people, they should adapt themselves to your strengths and make you learn to work new things. Holistically, this is great for one’s growth as a BJJ player, but without the right perspective, it can be a little harder to put a gameplan together.

The guys at Alive are good. From Amazon all the way down to the white belts, everyone’s got a solid game in some way, and the guys that let me control the match however I want are few and far between. Which is great, because it forces me to diversify my game. It does mean, however, that what used to be my B-game becomes my A-game, my C-game my B-game, and my A-game, my C-game. Or, more simply, my spider guard -> triangle gets shut down more often than not.

It wasn’t until I got to roll with other players from other Alive gyms, as well as the Brazilian heads over at Rocha Toyokawa, that I realized my triangle was still alive and well and as competition-viable as ever. But then I fought in the Chubu Senshiken and lost twice to Kuriyama – the other Alive blue belt middleweight – and while I felt a little better about working my guard in a competition, I didn’t get to play the game I wanted to play.

That’s enough on evaluation for now – I’ll write more tomorrow, maybe.

Before I forget: here’s a few links that have caught my eye.

One is the Bull Terrier blog, which put up a few pictures from the Rickson Gracie Cup, including fellow Alive buddy Akira Hosokawa’s fight against Max Fernandes, and his fight against Kron Gracie. Check it out here.

Two and three are a pair of articles from a nutrition site I just found from Sherdog today called “Raise the Barr” – one of the articles is called “21st Century Eating” and has to do with the once-every-3-hours rule of thumb, and the other is called “Top 10 Post Workout Myths”. Definitely worth taking a look at.

Finally, for today’s food porn picture: breakfast.

That’s right. A big old stack of banana + blueberry whole wheat pancakes, and some Japanese fried chicken (“karaage”), all with a good dose of maple syrup. Yum.

I love being me.

pat m.

Big Ass Update 5.7.08

Back in business! Making fun of white people is always enough to keep me blog-satisfied for a week or so.

Actually, the real reason I was MIA was because I had the Rickson Gracie Cup on Monday. Which went awesomely! Second place awesomely, to be exact – Blue belt, Adult, Middleweight division.

Second Place!

I won my first two matches by submission (triangle choke, natch) against an American and a Brazilian guy, and lost my third by submission (gi choke from the back) to a Brazilian guy who ended up getting his purple belt after he won. Man. I almost caught him with a triangle, too. Just a few inches more and he wouldn’t be a purple. Oh well.

Props go out to my fellow Alive teammate (and All Japan Brown Belt Champion) Akira Hosokawa for moving up to middleweight and making it across the bracket, including a submission win over crowd favorite Max Fernandes, to fight Kron Gracie. He even managed to last a whole minute or two more than Kron’s other opponents. Dang, he’s a beast.

Sadly, all the pictures I took were with my phone camera, so I don’t have a whole lot of good shots, but here’s the rest of them:

Alive Shachou and Amazon waiting for Hosokawa’s match against Kron.

Rickson Gracie (in the window) posing with a Japanese Brazilian family. Awwww.

A bunch of little kids who ended up performing some kind of BJJ kata. Cute, no?

A view from above.

Eduardo Telles, chillin’.

This was a good tournament for multiple reasons. Of course, I did better than I have in the other two tournaments I’ve fought in this year, which is great, and it was nice to show off my triangle in front of all the fellow gym-mates that came to cheer us on. I’ve come a long way – only a year ago, I got basically the same results (two wins, one loss, third place) in the Pan Americans at white belt level – and I think this tournament, as well as the preparation process, was helpful for letting me know both how far I’ve come since then as well as all the things I need to work on before I could possibly have a shot at my purple belt. (That, however, is material for my next post.) A good day, a medal, and a t-shirt; not a bad way to spend $70.

Perhaps the only better way to spend money was breakfast the morning after at C’s Avenue Cafe:

$7.50 of DELICIOUS

Though a big FAIL goes out this order of guacamole dip, which cost us $5.50:

 

Fuck that. I could almost buy another plate of Breakfast Combo instead.

Yes, I’ve been indulging the goddamn hell out of myself since finishing that tournament. Not pictured: Chicken Adobo, Fried Chicken Bento lunches, Indian food, Girl Scout Cookies (shout-out to the lady for sending them! I love you!), this delicious maple cake-bread, tacos, beer, milk tea, and even this weird-ass fluffy fake cheese bread I got at a convenience store. JUST BECAUSE I COULD. Breakfast tomorrow is whole-wheat blueberry pancakes (thanks again love!) with fried chicken. I love being me.

Here’s the links that have caught my eye lately:

A cool little writeup on Shinya Aoki’s win over JZ Calvan in Dream 2 last week and the ways to fight with the guard in MMA, over at Lockflow.

A dope ass video with Andre Galvao and Leo Vieira, highlighting how to use a balance ball in BJJ drills, over at Martial Farts.

Finally, an article on Mexican/Mexican Americans and fighting at Sherdog.

Peace.

pat m.

 

Links 4.30.08

This is the stuff that’s caught my attention lately:

One is a video series called “Underground Wellness” that I came across on YouTube a few days ago. The specific episode that caught my attention was on the amount of sugar that’s in a bottle of Pepsi – complete with a visual aid at the very end – but if you check his other videos, there’s plenty of interesting stuff on diet tips and working out. That’s a lot of sugar.

Two is the first installment of a biographical story about Carlson Gracie – a good read for anyone interested in boning up on their BJJ history, though it sounds a little bit hyperbolic at times.

Three is an hour-long interview with John Berardi that’s up on YouTube. I haven’t watched the whole thing – the first segment or so seems to be mostly just an advertisement and basic explanation of his stuff – but it might be worth checking out if you’re thinking about checking out Precision Nutrition or the Grappler’s Guide to Sport Nutrition.

Four is a list of Fifty Ways to Use Bacon. I don’t think bacon is exactly the best fuel for MMA/BJJ competition, but god damn do I miss it. Mmmmm.

pat m.

Links 4.26.08

Thought I’d throw up a few links on the stuff I’ve been looking at lately.

One goes to Mark’s Daily Apple, a neat blog run by the owner of a supplement company that talks a lot about eating well. It’s got plenty of interesting reading material (community-supported farms! Eating lamb!) and it’s updated surprisingly regularly.

Two is the GMap-Pedometer, a simple little Google Maps hack that lets you easily plot points to figure out how far you’re running.

Three is a thread on Sherdog Conditioning for people who are doing the 50 Burpee Challenge as a way of working up to the 100. I might do this.

Four is a thread on Lockflow’s forums about training injured. Uh, don’t do it.

pat m.

Training Journal 4.18.08

Yaaaaawn.

Slept a lot better last night thanks to babygirl’s earplugs. Sadly, my morning workout got interrupted early – the same routine as the last cardio day, except I only made it for three rounds. Time to bust my ass extra hard – there’s less than three weeks until the Rickson Gracie Cup!

Evening practice went well – I opted to skip the no-gi technique class, as it’s largely been kind of a waste of time most of the time I go – always just “this is a single leg. This is a double leg.” but with very little useful drilling. Still got reamed in the sparring class though. My no-gi sucks.

Tonight’s links:

Fitness and Exercise Myths from Precision Nutrition- Kinda neat.

Olive Oil Buyer’s Guide – I had no idea the stuff was so complicated.

pat m.

Training Journal 4.14.08

Not much to report. Morning workout went fine – bodyweight dips, towel pull-ups, jump squats, some core work and some stretching. I’ve got to say, after getting used to training in gyms and weight rooms, it’s nice to be out in the sun. I might even get a little tan.

I think I’m getting a little too comfortable in turtle position, because I got choked from the back a lot more than I usually do. I’ll have to work on that – my most comfortable sweep from turtle hasn’t been catching people lately, and it’s kind of an oh-shit move anyway. On the plus side, my half guard feels a lot more safe than it did just two weeks ago.

Kuriyama, the other blue belt middleweight at our gym, called in with a case of chicken pox. However, since I didn’t know what “chicken pox” was in Japanese, I was worried. My instructor described it as something with bumps that you could only get once, so I was pretty sure, but…hell. I ROLLED with the guy just three days ago. I’d be pissed if I got chicken pox. Thankfully, I’ve already had it, so it looks like I’ve got nothing to worry about.

Upon hearing that I train at Alive, people in the know occasionally ask me what it’s like rolling with Daisuke “Amazon” Sugie, or Hatsu Hioki. While I imagine I’ll write more about that later, let me just say that the level of talent in the gym is pretty amazing in general, and I roll with plenty of white, blue, purple, and brown belts that manage to destroy me in all kinds of creative ways even though they’re not pro BJJ/MMA fighters.

Lastly, I thought I’d pass on this link I snagged from the RossTraining.com forums – it’s a basic guide to weightlifting, written with women in mind. The first section asks questions like “why lift weights?” – and talks a little bit about body image, women’s health, and so forth. Neat stuff! Hi scrunchy! I posted this for you!

pat m.

John Berardi Interview

Someone on the Sherdog Diet and Supplements forums posted an interview/teleconference recording with one John Berardi, a sports nutritionist known for books like Precision Nutrition and The Grappler’s Guide to Sport Nutrition. I don’t know if it’s really legal to post the recording – apparently it was free at the time of the broadcast – but no one’s taken it off the forums yet so I’ll post the download link for now.

It’s kind of a long listen – just under 90 minutes – but it’s got some interesting material in it. Highlights include: brief explanations of the importance of nutrient timing, insulin sensitivity, and testosterone levels, adjusting a diet for a specific body type, and the benefits that de-stressing has on physical performance. Says the good doctor, “A lot of bodybuilders and strength athletes smoke pot and play PS2.” To destress, guys. Man, I’m ahead of my time.

pat m.

Reading Material 4.8.08

Thought I’d pass on this article from the New York Times Health blog on the eight worst foods in America. Sounds kind of hyperbolic, but it’s worth a read:

• Worst Fast Food Meal: McDonald’s Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips with creamy ranch sauce. Chicken sounds healthy, but not at 870 calories.
• Worst Drink: Jamba Juice Chocolate Moo’d Power Smoothie. With 166 grams of sugar, you could have had eight servings of Ben & Jerry’s.
• Worst Supermarket Meal: Pepperidge Farm Roasted Chicken Pot Pie. One pie packs 64 grams of fat.

That one about the Jamba Juice Chocolate Moo’d killed me – I think I drank about eight of the Peanut Butter Moo’ds over last summer. 

Also, since I’ve been eating oatmeal for breakfast lately, here’s John Williams on the awesomeness of Oats. Mmmmm. Enjoy.

pat m.