BJJ (12/31/08 9:00AM)

So this was it. The last training of 2008. There were four of us on the mats today. Myself, hence the post, David (previously Dan/Dave) and Neil. Which reminds me, I forgot to mention why Neil failed to show up to train yesterday. It seems that somehow during rolling on Monday morning his toe got hurt and looks like it might have one of those pesky hairline fractures that we have all had. To use his words, yesterday it looked like he had a “sausage toe”. Today the swelling had subsided enough and given way to bruising so, time to train.

Warm-ups:
We began warm-ups as normal. But today we were being led by Kazeka. Our head instructor, our coach, our general. After the “easy” part of warm-ups (where my brain malfunctioned yesterday) rather than heading to the wall for the traditional rolls, shrimps, monkeys and the like, our fearless leader had something else in store for us.

Kazeka announced that we would be doing “50/50’s” meaning that the first fella would pick a type of push-up and we would do 50 of them, the next guy would pick a type of ab exercise and we would do 50 of those, then guy number three picks yet another push-up variant for 50 more reps of joy to lead us into guy number four’s final 50 amorous abdominal adventures.

It went like this:
50 Standard push-ups
50 Kick-outs
50 Push-ups with the hands making little diamonds
50 Bicycles

Kazeka stood there in a state of Schadenfreude, watching our bodies collapse. He asked “Was that enough or do you want to do one more round?” Being that we are not very bright and we were all feeling pretty gung ho, we said of course we want to do one more.

It went like this:
50 Kunckle push-ups
25 Kick-outs to the right 25 Kick-outs to the left
50 Side to Side push-ups
50 Banana boats (which ended up being about 70)

My arms are still like over cooked pasta as I sit here typing. I have NO upper body strength as it is, and this exercise in arm destruction was particularly brutal. But I love these days. We may all complain and cry, but really, who doesn’t love to push and see just how much they can do?

Drills:
Then we started training, wrecked bodies and all. Kazeka showed us wrist locks from a standing position. Starting when an opponent grabs your lapels (or shirt in a practical application) to secure the wrist with one hand, come behind the elbow with the other to apply pressure then with both hands drive that pressure into you to finish the lock.

This move was very reminiscent of my Japanese Jujutsu days. But in that training, we would have never let go of the wrist. I must admit that I have really come a long way in being able to “unlearn” what I have learned from other systems when int comes to my BJJ training. In the beginning I used to get hung up quite a bit between the way the Japanese art did things versus BJJ. Now, I have a deeper understanding of the “why” behind the “how” so it is a lot easier to just do it.

Kazeka then showed us how this wrist lock can be used from virtually any position. He showed it to us from the guard, from side control really anywhere that your opponent grabs on to you. I love this lock. Being on a quest to ever improve my guard game, this gives me yet another weapon to have at my disposal. One thing I loved when I was working with Neil from my guard on this was, if I would go for the lock and miss there was something else there.

There was an instance in going for the lock that it slipped and I had an Oma Plata. There was another time when going for it when if it failed I could have finished with a triangle. So many options. Its great to have another tool in my limited tool belt to pick from. It gives a bit of confidence that when I attempt something and it fails, not all is lost.

We worked on drilling this technique for the entire rest of the class. When we looked up it was already fifteen minutes past the scheduled end of class. David had already left. Neil and I told Kazeka, who had snuck behind the desk, that we needed to be getting on with the day. He came back to the mats, sat down and we all sat there for a few minutes having a pretty informal chat. One of those moments you typically don’t get enough of with Kazeka. We sat and laughed, helped move some mats so that our new Octagon MMA cage can be properly set up by Monday, and called it a day; a year. No rolling, no epic battles. A pretty mild, relaxed day.

All and all, great way to spend the last class of the year!

This is the third highlight I’ve tried to make with the few competition clips I have from 2008.The Tournaments Featured, in order, are:>>Joe Moreira’s Winter Groundfighting Tournament>>California State Pankration Championship>>South Bay Open>>2nd World…

Tomorrow the title of my blog, BJJ Vision Quest 2006, will be 3 years out of date. I had no idea I would be journeying well past 2006. I guess life is a journey, but I never thought I would be continuing to write about mine. That’s why you have to live your life, because you never know what it will bring.

I’m excited for New Year’s Eve tonight. I’ll be hanging out with some CrossFit pals at the Improv, I think, watching Joe Rogan’s comedic stylings. For those of you who don’t know, he also provides color commentary for the UFC, so I’m wondering if he’ll work some of that into it.

I have been ruminating on the past year and the upcoming year a lot for the past couple days and here’s what I will likely be writing about in the near future:

1. I am terrible at retiring from competition, so I may be back at it in 2009. I’m getting a twitch.
2. I have some CrossFit goals for the year, the main one of which is to perform a muscle-up. I can do many pullups and enough ring dips that I think it’s within my grasp. So now it’s all about technique!
3. I want to write more. As I mentioned in a recent post, I like the story I am currently living, and I want to capture it for myself and for whoever else might be interested in reading it. I’m working on that and will share developments when there are some.
4. I want to continue to strike a balance between feeling like an athlete and feeling like a woman. The two shouldn’t be mutually exclusive, but I err on the side of athlete–and after the holidays, chubby athlete. I learned this the hard way yesterday as I was shopping for an outfit to wear tonight. I used to care about fashion, believe it or not, and was not terrible at putting “looks” together. Well, that muscle has atrophied. I picked out an outfit but I don’t know if it will look great or horrible. We’ll see.

And I want to continue to put friends and family at the top of the priority list, as opposed to fitting them in around the other stuff, which is never the most important.

So, to all of you, I wish a happy, healthy, fulfilling 2009! Insert eloquent admonition to realize your potential and make it everything you want it to be!

having the opportunity to live your life to your fullest potential.

having the courage to take opportunities that arise.

overcoming fear and having the willingness to change by taking steps forward…often into an unknown abyss.

Returned from Switzerland.
Won the silver medal at the FILA World Championships.
Ate a ton of pastries and croissants in Paris. Mmmmm…..stuffed.
Chocolate is yummy.

Observe: A gringa in her natural habitat. Watch as she blends in so effortlessly with the florescent white snow drifts. Note her reckless abandon as she hurdles herself down the face of the mountain.

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Since Day 2, I’ve managed to spend all day, every day, on the slopes by myself. Rather, by myself but usually with strangers that I’ve met on the chairlift (don’t ski alone, kids, that’s very dangerous). It’s been therapeutic.

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I balanced with my sticks parallel to the edge of a cliff overlooking a 70-80% grade slope covered in moguls with a spattering of trees and a few rocks for good measure. I turned to my skiing buddy, Chase, who had the same greenish-pale look about him.

“Oh ja, that’ll sure make you’re jitsu better!” I remarked. He didn’t ask what that meant before we both chose our lines and dove right in.

BJJ (12/30/08 9:00am)

Didn’t sleep very well last night. BJJ on the brain. But I woke up surprisingly well rested and ready to roll. I was really focused on Jiu Jitsu this morning. Today I was prepared to let it all hang out when rolling. I was going to initiate, take chances, be loose and be aggressive. Basically, I was in a good place mentally. Lets head to class!

When I arrived at the gym, I noticed that Neil wasn’t there. I figured that something must be wrong, we’ll get to that later on. There were four other guys in the line up this morning plus Fritz and Carl leading us. The gym was a meat locker this morning. I like it on the cold side, so that’s fine with me but its fun to watch the warm weather guys struggle.

We began warm-ups. Nothing out of the ordinary. Jogging, high knees, high heels, sideways, push ups, jumping jacks, jumping jacks to the front, jumping jacks kicking to the front, to the side, clapping under the legs, rotating wrists and ankles…….and then it happened. I realized that I couldn’t see anything.

There goes my brain again, getting in the way. For those who don’t know, I suffer from too many neurological conditions among them are Migraine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migraine) with Aura (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migraine_with_aura). The Aura precedes the onset of the pain phase of a migraine with delightful disturbances in vision that in my case look like geometrically formed lightening bolts across my field of view. It starts off small and gradually increases in size until it overwhelms the entire field of view. The fun part is that, you still see these lightening bolts with your eyes closed. Because its in the brain, not in the eyes.

So, I had to excuse myself from the mats, pop my rescue med (which is always in a handy container on my key chain) and sit in the cool, dark, heavy bag area with my head covered until my vision cleared up. How embarrassing. I hate it when my condition takes me away from doing things I love, but I hate it even more when it makes a spectacle of me. I don’t want that kind of attention and when you tell people “I cant see” or “I’m getting a migraine” they don’t understand.

When people hear the term migraine, they often think of the diluted word that is used by many to describe common headaches rather than sever clinical, neurological bombs. I am always fearful that people are lumping me into that group. That they don’t understand the realities of my condition.

Anyway, there is one last training session for me in this year…I intend to make it count!!! My next post will be an account of that class. Following that post will be a recap of the year and a look at my goals for 2009!

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with our Internet radio and podcasting colleague, Bob Carson, host of Carson’s Corner.

In a lengthy conversation, we offer a highly critical analysis of the latest UFC show and UFC in general, and why and how this company, under its current ownership, is presenting a version of mixed martial arts which is a disgusting and vulgar product modeled after the fake pro “wrestling”. We discuss the state of mixed martial arts and the major promotional companies in America and the world, and go after the many UFC shills in the media. We also comment on how the boxing industry has completely blown an opportunity to attract younger fans who are now watching MMA. We discuss other events and sports which are emerging, such as roller derby and XARM, which tries to combine arm wrestling with kickboxing and jiu-jitsu. And, as expected, we hold nothing back.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called “The Heist”, by musician Ian Carpenter.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

Gladiator Magazine, for in-depth coverage of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission grappling, and MMA, as well as lifestyle articles on surfing, cars, movies, and more. Gladiator Magazine is available at any major bookstore and online at BJJMart.com or Jiu Jitsu Pro Gear.

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

Wrestling 411, providing coverage of the sport of wrestling on TV, the Internet, and radio. Wrestling 411 is produced by Media Sports Productions, whose sole mission is the marketing and promotion of the sport of wrestling.

FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.

Thanks, Eddie Goldman
EddieGoldman.com

It’s my first day of hard training since my Cauliflower Ear has finally been resolved. Let me advise you, that if you get a case of Cauliflower Ear, use your health insurance services to find a plastic surgeon covered under your plan and have him drai…

BJJ (12/29/08 9:00 AM)

So, being off for the week leads to some interesting opportunities. Normally I am hours into a long work day by 9:00am on a Monday, but today I was able to don my Kimono and hit the mats for BJJ class in lieu of my normal 6:00pm time slot.

Traditionally, I am not too much of a “morning athlete”. The last time I attended an early class (6:00am a few months back) I was quite nauseous the entire time and had absolutely no gas. I am one of those people that just cant eat in the early morning, if I do I have a upset stomach all day long. No food before training = no energy for training; so do the math.

Fortunately, 9:00am doesn’t seem to be too bad for my system. I’m used to riding my desk pretty vigorously by that time so what’s a little added exertion?

It seems people are still taking holiday time off from training too. Neil and I made a pact to attend Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 9:00am, this week to finish out the year strong. Besides the two of us there was one other guy I’ve never trained with and being that I am terrific with names, I’ll venture a guess that his was Dan….or was it Dave…..whatever it was, he is one heck of a nice guy and was great to roll with.

We ran a perpetual motion drill for the entire class until it was time to roll. The drill was all about movement and it broke down like this:

Guy #1: Armbar from guard
Guy#2: Defends Armbar, stacks Guy#1, Passes to Side Control
Guy#1: Escapes side control to the knees, shooting taking Guy#2 down to Side Control
Guy#2: Escapes side control by hipping and regaining guard
Drill Repeats with Guy#2 now initiating the Armbar

We rotated among the three of us for a while until Blue Belt Carl came in to help out his brother Fritz (our Purple Belt Instructor); at which point Carl and I drilled. I love these perpetual motion drills because it really helps with the repetition that you need in BJJ.

Rolling:

In my never ending quest to get better at the guard, I started each exchange from the guard. Its great that everyone is always willing to let me pull when I put it out there. If I say “hey I’m working on my guard, do you mind if I pull?” I have never once had anyone disagree.

First I went with Dan/Dave and it was pretty good. I didn’t pull of any of the sweeps or subs I went for but I was feeling pretty comfortable in looking for things and regaining control when my attempts failed.

Second was with Neil and his monkey-like strength. We had a pretty good roll going. Of course my guard game got sloppy and he passed like universal health care in an Obama administration. He got to mount, when I was hipping out of it he half got my back and sunk in a collar choke from the back. Thank god we drilled all those escapes a few weeks ago. I was able to weasel my shoulder in, turn into the choke and get into his guard.

Third I was with Carl who was awesome. He actually coached me into tapping him out. He showed me things as they were developing. He gave me new eyes while we were rolling. Showed me what I was missing and helped me recognize opportunities I was missing because I was too dang tired. THANKS CARL!!!