Thursday, September 30, 2010

Weightlifting 9/28

Squats! WHOOT!

The first day of my second week of 5/3/1.
3x115 (113.5)
3x135 (133.5)
10x150 (153.5)

I felt pretty good about 10 reps at my bodyweight. Tonight is Benchpress, I'll be trying to hit 9 reps or better with 157.5.

UGA Grappling Club 9/27

We had a total of six girls show up to the class, which was awesome. I think only 2 or 3 of them will stay on as regulars, but that's still good. I continued my normal warmup of Shrimping, Upa, Sitouts, then had the folks who had been there before working on Situp sweep to mount, then Knee to Elbow escape, then Situp sweep, repeat...

After that we move on to some a halfguard sweep and a halfguard pass. I taught my go-to moves for both of those. The sweep is 99% similar to the Upa mount escape. You overhook the arm on the same side as the the trapped leg, then plant your inside foot as close to your butt as possible, put your hand on their hip, and upa. You push with your arm at the same time to increase the amount of separation between you and your opponent so that you can try to land in side control top instead of halfguard top.

The pass was the basic shoulder of justice pass. Underhook + arm under head, good shoulder pressure, walk your foot up to their butt, then pop their knee down and drive through to 1/4 guard, put your other foot up on their hip and drive your trapped foot the rest of the way through to mount.

After that we did Americana from side control.

Next week we'll work on Armbar from Mount, and Side Control Escapes, then I'm going to start them working on the "Boring" parts of jiujitsu. We'll be doing positional rolling starting in full guard with the top person working to pass, and the bottom person looking to sweep. No submissions. I'll probably have them do 10 reps of the situp or scissor sweep and 10 reps of a guard pass right before hand so they have something fresh in their mind.

I think I'll start waxing a little philosophical on them as well... Time to get them to start settling down when rolling instead of trying to out muscle and out run each other.

The one sour note was that I had to call out one of the guys for some inappropriate remarks while a couple of the girls were rolling. I suppose I could have done it quietly later, but I wanted everyone to know that I don't tolerate that kind of shit. He seemed to understand, so I don't think it will be a problem in the future.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Weightlifting 9/26

Did overhead press, had my max set at 115 instead of 110 and I was rounding up with my weights, so I ended up with an extra 7.5lbs on my final set, was able to do 6 reps. Fixed the weights, waited about an hour and redid the set at 87.5 instead of 93.5 and was able to hit 10 reps. Both of those are good sets for me considering a year ago 93.5 was my max and I was struggling with it.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

JiuJitsu 9/24 and Weighlifting 9/25

Friday is Takedowns as usual, we're working on the deep underhook and wrist control which is a position I like, but one I rarely end up in because people fight so hard to stay away from me. I find that silly because my takedowns are so bad, but whatever. We worked High Crotch to Single leg and High Crotch to duckunder some more. People are getting ready for NAGA, so we're refining techniques instead of learning new ones.

We did standup sparring and I got two nice takedowns. I got the best throw of my life on Antony and it got videoed, so it should be available sometime soon. It was awesome. And I got Rugby when he tried to tackle me and I rolled him backwards and took mount. That one got some applause too.

I find that when I can get some kind of grip and close the distance with my opponent I can actually get the takedowns, but I'm so rarely able to close that distance and I don't shoot very well from outside. I'll keep workin on it.

Weightlifting 9/25

Today was Deadlifts, did 125x5, 145x5, and 165x15. My hands were giving out on the last couple of reps, but I think I could have pulled out one or two more, but the program says not to go to failure. I'll probably do OHP today instead of monday since I have the UGA Club on Monday so I'll be out late.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Weightlifting 9/24

Second day of 5/3/1, first day was Squats, today was Bench Press. Again did no warmup sets or any of the support exercises, might try to work those in next week. Started with 107.5x5, then 127.5x5, then 143.5x9. The last rep at 143.5 was extremely difficult to finish for some reason. I think the height of my bench is really going to start to bother me soon and I'll have to find some way to get my feet up higher so I can support myself properly.

I'm looking forward to how this program plays out for increasing my work capacity, it's a lot more reps than I've been using up to now and I'll actually be working my lower body properly for the first time in almost a year.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

JiuJitsu 9/22

Had horrible stomach problems all day, pretty sure I ate some expired Yogurt. Manage to fight my way through class anyways, felt like I was sleep walking.

We worked on some halfguard passes, a couple of which I liked, one of which I didn't. Specific sparring was from guard, we had a new guy who is an ex rugby player in the class, he tried to collar choke me inside my guard so I swept him. Guy is monster strong though, once he has a few months under his belt he's going to be a force.

Rolled with Ian and Ankor again today, not anything like the slickness I had last time I rolled with them. I could barely control Ankor and couldn't do anything with Ian. I made it through though and that's all good.

Still having stomach issues today, was late for work because of it and feel incredibly dehydrated. I weighed in at 143 and it's been months since I was that low.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Weightlifting 9/21

First day of the 5/3/1 Program. Started out with Squats. Doing a 4 day program since I have Jits 3 days a week I'll lift on the days when I don't have jits.

Started with squats today.
5x105, 5x120, and 10x135. I think I could have pulled a couple of extra reps out on the last set without any real trouble, but I don't want to push too much early. It felt good to be squatting again though.

UGA Grappling Club 9/20

Got to the club early and sat around watching the Kendo people whack at each other with sticks while I stretched.

Turn out was good, we had 12 repeats and 6 new faces. 18 people showing up is great. Again we had 4-5 people from Megalodon there, which was good. I opened up by grabbing the new people and showing them how to Shrimp, Upa, and Sitout while the repeats all hit the wall for shrimp+upa+sitout warmup.
Next I taught the Knee to Elbow escape from mount, then the Scissor Sweep. Then I showed them the drill that combines the two. So one person would start in mount, the other would knee to elbow escape, then scissor sweep. Now the other person escapes from mount and sweeps, repeat. I had them do that a few times to get used to it.
Next I showed the knee-through guard pass. I went over the basic guard break again to reinforce the concept and for the people who didn't see it before. Several people had trouble with this pass because they kept turning their backs to their partner when moving around to side control. Had to remind them to get the underhook before moving, which solved that issue.
Finally I gave them a submission to play with. Rear Naked Choke time. I chose that one because I want to force them to work for position instead of trying to crank subs on each other all the time. So I gave them a sub which only exists at the very TOP of the positional hierarchy. Everyone seemed to have fun with that and we moved on to rolling.

This time in order to try to be a little more organized I counted everyone off and had the even numbers take places on the mat, then paired them up with an odd number and had one set of numbers rotate each round. Now that everyone has had a taste of rolling with a variety of people I'll probably set them up in 3s next time and let them do 2 rounds in, 1 round out.

I spent the time working nice and controlled and making it a point to perform the techniques I had shown them and letting some of them sweep me, etc...

Everyone seemed to enjoy it and overall I thought it was a good class.

JiuJitsu 9/15

I apparently forgot to write about this class.

Casey was tied up with something so arrived late, in the mean time Darnell showed a couple of guard passes based around grabbing the gi. They are "gracie gift" style passes with one arm in and one arm out, which can be dangerous, but if you keep the grip on the gi then you are protected from the triangle.

We did some positional rolling, then I got paired up with Ian and Ankor. I love rolling with these guys because both are insanely athletic, so they are kind of my benchmark for how I handle athletic people. I was able to control both of them and generally impose my game well. My integration phase is coming along nicely and the combination of the leg hook, butterfly guard, spider guard, armdrags, and technical mount transitions are serving me well. I spend most of the time in top position after hitting a sweep. I'm rarely stuck on the bottom.

I'm very pleased with my progression and really think I have a good shot at earning my purple belt by the end of next summer.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

UGA Grappling club 9/13

It was fun to be teaching again. We had (including me) 8 people from Megalodon at the club and about 10 others. I opened up teaching everyone how to shrimp, upa, and sitout then had them do a bunch of each as a warmup. After that I showed how the Upa and Shrimp became escapes from mount and sidecontrol. Parterned the up and had the work escapes for a while. Next it was on to breaking the guard and moving to combat base and the double underhook pass. Finally I introduced the situp sweep and we drilled that for a little while.

Then we rolled 3 minute rounds for about 45 minutes. I used that time to gauge folks intensity as I rolled with everyone. We had a couple of people with previous experience which is nice, but most of the non Megalodon guys were complete noobs. I let folks work, swept them let them escape, let a couple pass my guard with the double under. Generally just had a bunch of smooth and controlled rolls.
Also rolled with Ankor and caught him in the reverse inverted triangle and was able to finish it. A very good first class I think.

Next week will be shrimp, upa, sitout warmup. Then teach the knee to elbow escape from mount. Then situp sweep to mount to knee and elbow escape and repeat.
Then the knee through pass.
Then RNC.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Weightlifting Update and UGA Grappling Club

So, I tried 197 on the bench on Thursday and failed. Killed my arms trying to push it up. So instead of trying to force it I'm going to take a break from lifting for a few days (probably until this Thursday) and then go ahead and start 5/3/1 with my max bench as 190.

In other news tonight I have my first session as the instructor for the UGA grappling club. I'll be doing that every Monday night. My curriculum is going to look something like this:

Fundamental Movements:
Shrimp
Upa
Sitout

Guard Passing:
Guard Break
Double Underpass
Knee Through pass
Toreador Pass


Sweeps:
Situp Sweep
Scissor Sweep
Elevator Sweep

Escapes:
Upa Mount Escape
Knee and Elbow Mount Escape
Shrimp Side Control Escape to Knees
Shrimp Side Control Escape to Guard
Escape From Back Control to Guard

Submissions:
Guillotine
Triangle Choke
RNC
Armbar
Kimura
Americana

I'm going to start with the fundamental movements and a couple of passes and sweeps and get everyone comfortable with moving around and using positional control first before I introduce the submissions.

I'm really looking forward to this, I love teaching and as far as I can tell I'm pretty good at it. I'll start adding those updates to here as well.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

JiuJitsu 9/10

Class today was takedowns again as every Friday will be now. We worked on a high crotch to single leg to seio nage sequence which i really liked.
My problem with takedowns is that i always seem to end up with mu opponent death gripping my wrists/sleeves and im unable to do anything from there. I imagine there must be a throw from there, i just have no idea what it is.
I gave my camera to a 10 year old girl to film class, so i have video, but there's no telling what of. Ill post some up on Monday.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Conditioning and Jiujitsu 9/8

Hit up class at 6 for conditioning. Shaved 2 minutes off of my ladder time so added a second 1 minute rest and did another 5 reps, working to get 3 full ladders in 25 minutes eventually.
Judo showed up at 6:30, but we had to wait about 10 minutes for the kids TKD class to finish up before we could roll. I worked on the Roy Dean Scissor Sweep->Triangle->Armbar->Omoplata->Sweep->Armbar combo. Ran through it a couple of times then we worked on his Triangles for a few minutes. After that we rolled for about half an hour straight. We went back and forth a lot tapping each other, I was trying to work my transitions on top and my combos, but mostly I was just trying to exhaust myself before class. It worked.
When class started Casey had us do armbar drills from guard, then sprawl drills, then crunches throwing the medicine ball back and forth.
Technique was attacks from the top of halfguard. The first one was acting like you are going to pass, then handing the lapel off under their arm to your arm which is under their head. Pushing your knee through and posting up, swithing hands, grabbing some fabric on the opposite shoulder, and choke.
Second one was same setup, but they defend the choke so you pull the arm across for a Brabo+Armbar combo.
Third was the same Brabo as #2, but setup from North/South with an over and an underhook. Pass the lapel from the underhooked side across to the other arm, then spen to KoB, snag the leg and pin it. Choke or Pull the Arm across.

Sparring was me Sean (Shawn?) and Mac. Sean and Mac are both around 220. Mac is a blue belt, Sean is about a 6 month white belt. I was mostly able to impose my will on them, broke them down into my guard, moved to the single collar choke, the triangle, or the armbar. Swept Sean a few times and worked on flowing into submissions, hit a few armbars that way. Was throwing up combos and really feeling smooth and connected. One of the best classes I've had in a while for FEELING like I was doing good jiujitsu.

Gonna try to take the camera on Friday and get someone to film, hopefully I'll have another good day.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Weightlifting 9/7

177 x 2, was going to do three, but my right arm was lagging behind for some reason. The weight overall felt easy enough, but my left arm pushed up just fine and my right went up a lot slower, so I stopped at 2 reps. Still going for 197 on thursday.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Weightlifting 9/4

Lifting was 153.5 for 3 sets of 3. That's actually a personal record for reps at that weight I believe.

Today is horseback riding day, tomorrow is a full rest day, then another 3x1 with 173.5, then thursday 197.5.

I can TASTE that 200lb goal...

Friday, September 3, 2010

Jiujitsu And Conditioning 9/3

Got to the gym at about 10 to 6 so got changed and started conditioning a couple of minutes before 6. Did 25/20/15/10/5/ 1 minute break /5/10/15/20/25 for a total of 150 of each of Squats, Pushups, Crunches, and Bent over dumbell Rows (each hand). Took me just over 25 minutes to complete the set.

After that I waited around hoping my efforts to bribe people to show up early to roll would be successful, but they were not.

Technique was Takedowns tonight, looks like Friday night is going to be takedown techniques and takedown drills going forward, which is good since my takedown game is weak.

We worked on duck unders to a couple of different finishes and a strong underhook transitioning to a couple of different throws. After that we did specific sparring from standing working for the takedown. I hit a couple of decent judo throws and one double leg.

After that we took it to the ground for a big gauntlet. My arms were shot so I spent most of the first two or three rounds working legs only throwing moving through the Scissor Sweep -> Triangle -> Armbar combination then once my arms were feeling better I switched out to Leg Hook -> Omoplata -> Rollover Omoplata sweep to the top. Really trying to work on my flow.

I still turtle too much against Johnny because he blasts through my guard if I do anything except pure defense, and Coe just crushified me as usual, fun times. Gonna keep the flow goin and continue integrating this month, it's feelin good.

Starting not this coming monday, but the monday after I'll be acting as the "instructor" for the UGA Jiujitsu club (Or sub grappling club or whatever they are calling it) So that should be fun. I don't know how structured they want the classes to be, so at first I'm mostly just going to be there to provide guidance to keep them from killing each other.

The beginner class at Megalodon probably won't start until the beginning of next year.

Ugh, all this typing is making my arms tired. Going for 173.5 3x1 again tomorrow, then Some rest, then going for 197.5 on Tuesday. RRRAAARR!!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Weightlifting 9/2

Got the weights set back up, in the living room this time.

Preparing for my attempt at 197.5 I put 173.5 on the bar and put it up for 3 sets of 1 with a couple of minutes rest between each one. Definitely felt the weight, but that's a new personal best for me for reps with that weight.

Once I hit 200 on the bench I'll start the 5/3/1 program as prescribed (as best I can considering time pressure and lack of pullup apparatus) and start working on getting my PL total up. 900 here I come!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

JiuJitsu 9/1

This month is an integration month. I've got the single collar choke, Butterfly Guard Armdrags, Tornado Guard, Some new sweeping principles, Leg Hook guard, and a whole new Knee On Belly based top game that I've worked separately over the last 4-5 months. This is the month where I bring it all together into my main butterfly guard based game.

Today I hit up class early, but there was still one of the TKD classes in the room we use, so had to wait until 6:40 or so to get in there. Greg a.k.a. Judo was there early and I showed him my personal favorite way to break people down in closed guard. Cross lapel or cross collar grip, same side sleeve grip, then the foot on the same side as the sleeve grip goes to the hip. Shrimp out to that same side while driving your collar gripping elbow to the mat and pushing the sleeve grip across your opponents body. Then pull your sleeve gripping arm back out and block their arm with your body. Let's you work all kinds of nasty things. I primarily use it to set up my single collar choke.
After that we rolled for about 30 minutes. He weighs 190, has endless cardio, and great posture and base from his time doing Judo. He also can crack a turtle with a quickness. Gave me a good chance to warm up and get ready to open up my game. I caught him with a few things, I think he caught me with something... Power guillotine I think. Really well set up too.

After that we worked some takedowns, using a two handed lapel grab to setup a single leg. I hate takedowns and this one was no exception.

After that we move to some side control stuff. Setting up the Kimura, the Armbar, and the paper cutter choke in north south starting from side control.

Specific Sparring was from side control. I escaped a bunch and choke some people. One of our 4 month white belts, Kris, had asked me not to take it easy on him, so the first roll with him he asked what the goals were, I told him that "inverted triangle" was one of my options from the bottom. Then 2 seconds after we started I tapped him with the inverted triangle.

Rolling had me set up with Judo and new wrestler guy. I dunno how heavy he was, but he was bigger than me and probably somewhere in the 180 range. I tossed them both around, got one REALLY SLICK sweep on judo from butterfly guard when he tried to grab a guillotine. A beautiful backwards roll that landed me in side control. Also had another really good sequence where I went for leg hook guard, went for my sweep, he tried to crush me, I spun under him to Omoplata, he spun somehow and gave me a shot at an armbar, he was able to turn out of it and I had to give it up and take side control.

Was an excellent integration night though. I bounced between butterfly and leghook and feet on hips spider guard pretty well, used my sweeps from all three positions, set up my top game and was able to stay on top and look for subs and get them. An excellent night and one that makes me feel like I'm starting to put together a purple belt level game. I've got some road to travel yet for sure, but I think I've got the road map now.