week of 5/14/12

Monday: AM weight 186.4, PM weight 182.0
Lots of pooping today. Had a weekend of eating and drinking, which I need to get under control.

MT: Same combos as last week. Totally smoked. The warmups are what I should be noting, as I'll have to get my work in when I'm training in the basement.
Warmup: 3- 3min rounds of jump rope, last 30 seconds high knees. 20 pushups/squats in between
50 kicks each leg
2-3 x 200 punches (high, med, low depending on day)
Jamal mentioned working punches for a round, kicks for a round, then combine them for the last round (5 min rounds) vary cadence, power, footwork, so on.
Worked combos - check, sidestep a teep variations

Tuesday:
BJJ:
sweeps from spider guard:
get spider guard hook, use other leg to butterfly hook same side as spider hook. Swim other arm under opponents bottom leg, pull his weight on top. sweep to side.

same as above, if he posts leg to base, switch grip from spider guard sleeve hold, to the posted ankle, drive forward, and end up on top.

same as above, but instead of getting butterfly hook, slide shin across (similar to reverse scissor sweep, shin on belly), and sweep as usual.

Wednesday:
AM weight 182.0

MT:
Same combos as Monday. Good workout.

Thursday: Took Off ( I can't be skipping BJJ, but just couldn't go)

Friday:
Weights.
Deadlift 295 3,2,2 w/ jumps in between
Pullups 4sets of 8ish
Shoulder press - 60lb dumbbells, seated, 4,4,4 (amazing how weak this is for me)
weighted carry - 60 lbs in front of squash courts, waiters carry, suitcase carry
quick abs
jog back to Verco.

Saturday:
No Gi
1/2 guard sweep - underhook on 1/2 guard side, on side, get underhook on leg, bring weight on top of you. get outside leg along side of inside leg, grab ankle, sweep towards your feet.

sweep from 'scissor' position pass. If you have your knee across their belly, and they reach BETWEEN you legs to try to step around, grab that wrist, and sweep them.

to pass correctly if someone is in scissor position. reach under BOTH legs, pin them together, sprawl and walk around to side.

Loved training no gi. Much faster and slicker. submissions seem to be mostly chokes and triangles. Saw fewe arm bars. I got caught in a darce choke about 3 times by the blue belt that came to train. He would get it from side control every time. I need to learn that choke so I know what I'm doing to feed it to him. I was reading aesopians blog about it.

Packing to go to WI for the week. Yee haw!

Well, I'm going to be a (tactical) father. part 1

On a strong hunch, my wife decided to get a pregnancy test over the weekend. She is pregnant! I'll be a dad in about 8 months. That's mind blowing to me. I'm still in shock, to be sure. My oncologist told me the stem cell transplant would leave me sterile for the rest of my life and to have kids would cost $20,000 in in-utero fertilization, and drugs, etc. To quote Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic park, "Nature finds a way".

My goal with this entry is to try to lay a framework of how I *THINK* it will work, how I plan to do it, my priorities during the pregnancy, my expectations, and generally working things out. I realize that to all the current fathers, this will probably be laughable, and that my expectations and goals will be unrealistic, and that you'll be able to say "I told you so". But either way, this should be a cool thing to look back at in a year.

Upon hearing the news, I was in disbelief. I was impossible for me to have viable sperm after getting nuked 4 years ago during the stem cell transplant. My wife and I had had many discussions about how "if it happened, it happened", but I wasn't holding out hope for that. I assumed I would continue to live the life of a DINK (dual income no kid) with Sarah until we were in our early 30's. Drop the cash on the procedure, and get her preggo. All very technical and planned. In this case, I'm very glad everything didn't go according to plan. This is going to be good.

I realize my priorities will have to change. I was just getting used to having the health and freedom to train heavily in my hobbies and improve at a pretty rapid pace. I know it's greedy, but I'm going to miss being selfish with my time and disposable income. I have been called selfish and uncaring with how much time I spend on my hobbies and on cultivating friendships. I'm going to try my best to continue my path, while still giving my wife and kid as much support as they could need or want. I'm prepared to be spread thin. I've been through harder times.

I'm feeling scared, and nervous about everything, but I know we'll be ok. I have fears about my health degrading unexpectedly or losing my job or something, but it's all wasted energy. I have to remind myself to focus on the present, and be mindful of the things I want to come to pass. Also, if people can have babies in mud huts and keep them alive, I should be able to figure it out.

My usual obsessive learning phase is kicking in, and I'm going to start reading all the books. This is written before I've read anything about child raising or caring for a mom-to-be, so I'm sure this list will change in the next few weeks as I read.

As far as my list of important things to have happen before the baby comes...

• keep wife healthy
• keep wife happy
• keep baby healthy
• save money and pay off as much debt as possible
• continue to train MT and BJJ
• Don't allow myself to put on baby weight.

The first three I am reading about. I won't speak about them.

The money issue seems like it was divinely planned. Sarah and I will have all of our CC debt paid off in about 1 month. My car will be paid off in 3 months. The only debt we will have when the baby arrives will be student loan payments and mortgage payments. This will help HUGELY. A year ago, we had about $10,000 in CC debt. Tightening my belt, and not being frivolous with money, and having my wife get a raise all helped us power down our debt.

Continue to train. I know this one will be hard. I really hope I can get my blue belt before I have my kid. I'd that will put me at 2 solid years of BJJ. If I'm ready, I'll get it. I know taking a significant amount of time off will really hurt my conditioning and technique. I guess it's just how it is. My long term goal is to continue these sports into the distant future. If in the short term, I can't continue, I'll set up a rad home gym on my side of the garage and run and lift as much as possible. We shall see.

I'll make subsequent entries every few weeks as new things arise. Wish me luck.

week of 5/7/12

Monday:
MT:
same combos as last week.
 Sparring went a lot better. I feel like I did better at counter punching, and keeping my eyes open. I saw LOTS of opportunities for counterpunches. Now my job will be to capitalize on them. I need to work the accuracy of my punching, so I'll get the double ended bag out again. Work on speed and accuracy.

Tuesday:
A.M. Wt 180.6#
BJJ:
1/2 guard sweeps:
begins w/ deep underhook on guard side, deep underhook (shoulder behind knee) on other leg. Body perpendicular to his body, and on your side.
variant 1: pull his weight on top of you, if he posts out, use leg underhook to scoot out of back door.
variant 2: pull weight on top, if he drops weight and prevents back door escape, underhook posting arm, and continue to roll on top 1/2 or side
variant 3: from beginning, escape hips, outside leg gets butterfly hook, pull weight on top w/ underhook, use butterfly hook, extend leg to the angle w/ no base. Get on top.

Drill: from butterfly guard, get underhook on side you're siting near, underhook leg as get sideways, bring guy on top and sweep. Switch sides, partners.

Rolling has been going well. I only got tapped by Douglas 2 times in a 6 minute round (the 4th of 6 rounds). I also nearly passed his guard two times that I can think of. I count that as a huge victory. I'd love to earn my blue belt by the time I have my kid. We'll see if it's possible. I was 179.8# after training.

Wednesday: MT Same as Monday. Smoked.

Thursday: way too tired to go to BJJ.

Friday:
Did Larry's recommended 'maintenance strength' program.
Deadlift: 270# 3, 2, 2
then within 1 min of each set, a jump pyramid (1, 2, 3 ,4 ,5 jumps); a 100 yd sprint, then jumps after the last one.
Push Press 115lbs 3, 3, 3
ring pullups 8,8,7

The Perpetuation of Bro-Science in gyms

Bro Science: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Broscience

Broscience is a derogatory term for misconceptions and ideas of questionable scientific credibility, passed around among laymen by word-of-mouth as if factually true.

I have to post about this, because it is getting to the point that I have to vent a little. I have been going to a MMA gym for about 1.3 years at this point, and lifting weights for about 10 years before that, barring a few breaks. In that time, I have heard the constant spreading and perpetuation of bro-science. Some advice I've heard is bad, some is misguided, and some is dangerous. I'll list a few of the choice ones here, and just write about it for a bit.

If you asked me two years ago how to lose weight, before I started digging deeper than surface level about new-findings and published medical studies, I would have said some of the following:

• eat 6 small meals to stoke the metabolic fire
• eat chicken to lose weight, beef to gain
• no more than 30g of protein at each meal
• take up running if you want to lose weight
• avoid eating fats to avoid getting fat
• egg yolks will increase your blood cholesterol levels...

I really need to stop there, I'm making myself angry at myself...Not that everything I said above was totally wrong, but it was a bit misguided and misinformed mostly. Ignorance is bliss, and I had everything figured out. But, my results were non-congruent with my knowledge. The problem is, I never had the defined goals I needed to force myself to stick with the diet plans or weight lifting plans that I knew were supposed to work. I floated in a place where I had no defined goal, and therefore no drive to stick with a given 'common knowledge' method, and then prove or disprove it. I was in limbo.

However, thanks to guidance from my mentors, as well as doing a lot of reading by myself, I feel like I've got a handle on the crux of fat loss and conditioning, and I've implemented it for myself with good results over the last 1.75 years or so.

I said the previous stuff to say the next bit. I've heard some of these things passed to others as gospel. Some of them are old bro-science, and some are dangerous advice that could possibly cause health problems. I'll also just blab about them.

• Recommending crossfit style workouts to people trying to build strength. 

Building strength builds strength. The basic lifts. Maximal effort type stuff. Powerlifting stuff. See Dan John, 5/3/1 program, Starting Strength, and so forth. Sometimes I wonder if it's a confusion of terminology, or just that some elite athletes can do all different sorts of things, often wrong, but their drive and work ethic can give them satisfactory results. The common fight workout engages the same energy systems as crossfit does. Or it could be that some of them never realized their potential in a given area of conditioning, but who am I to say. For more info on these things, see http://www.8weeksout.com/

• mysticism in gaining 30 lbs after a weigh-in.

Cutting 'weight' and dieting down 8 weeks out from a fight can cause someone to lose massive amounts of weight. 30-40 lbs is pretty common it seems. Some guys walk around at 210, and fight at 170, for instance.   My bjj coach was shaking his head at how he gained 30-40 lbs 5 days after his fight. The combination of water depletion, carb depletion, and caloric restriction can easily yield these kinds of losses. I swing 5-8 lbs from sunday to tuesday because of weekend beer/pizza indulgence. Water depletion can lose you 15 lbs if done properly. Also, eating chicken and broccoli for 3 weeks leading up can cause you to drop some serious fat, given the amount of training these guys do. Then after a fight, you figure they gorge on sushi, pizza, sodium, whatever, and they bloat back up. The math is there.

• coming in bloated monday, having to work it off every week, and calling it fat.

Guys who come in 6 lbs heavier on Monday (like me) shouldn't be mystified if they had pizza and beer friday, and a hamburger on saturday. Carbohydrates and sodium cause you to retain water, period. You can't eat enough calories in 2 days to put on 6 lbs of fat. That's something like 24,000 Calories. Impossible. It's water, and limiting simple carbohydrate intake will shed this.

• running to lose weight

It is just 'common knowledge' that you have to run to lose weight. Except that's not true. Sure, you burn calories running (say 300 calories in an HOUR on top of your basal metabolic rate). But I, for instance, burn about 75 calories EVERY HOUR I'M ALIVE. Sleeping, pooping, watching TV. It just simply isn't worth trying to run to lose fat. Diet for fat loss, RUN for conditioning. You sort of need to convince yourself of that truth. People who run tend to have a calorically dense shake or meal after a run, often negating any caloric deficit they put themselves in during the run. It's just not worth it. It also helps when counting calories to not count the calories burned during exercise, lest you over estimate your total caloric expenditure for the day. It can cause frustration, "why the hell am I not losing weight, the elliptical machine said I burned 800 Calories..."

• meal composition for fat loss

Not that there isn't an ideal combination of carbohydrate/fat/protein for optimal performance (admittedly I'm  still escaping my bro-science phase of this topic), but for the most part, the fat loss problem should be one of Cals in vs Cals out. Period. Again, I use intermittent fasting for this, but caloric restriction is caloric restriction. My friend Larry L. uses IF, as well as a paleo-ish diet, and is super lean year round. I have yet to jump on a super strict diet plan, as I'm still getting results with simple IF. I intend to eat clean starting soon with my goal being sub 10% body fat for a period of my life.

• 6 meals a day, don't skip breakfast, other diet stuff.

I can't say any of this better or with more accuracy than leangains. http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

• A 14 year old kid saying he was going to use a sauna suit to 'cut weight'.

First of all, this is dangerous. Second, without a competition about 3-5 days out, there is NO NEED to try to sweat out weight (water). It will simply come back when you drink a glass of water tonight. It can cause organ failure, and should only be done with a good knowledge of what you're putting yourself through. The way this advice of "sweat it off" is thrown around makes me a bit angry. The best diuretic is water, so keep drinking water. Your body knows it's going to keep getting fluids, so it doesn't try to retain what it's got. This is why the starting phase of a big water cut is to drink 2-3 gallons of water a day. To wear a plastic bag for any other purpose but to meet a strict weight class is folly.

I know there's tons more, but that's all I could think of when I sat down to write. Any you have heard recently? Please share em.

Cheers guys,
M

Week of 4/30/12

Monday:
PM weight: 180.6lbs

Lunch Run - 1.2 miles

MT: 1,1, 1,2 switch, 2 l kicks, check, evade, 2 r kicks, teep
1,1, 1,2,3,2 r kicks, check evade, 2 l kicks, teep

pads - 1,2, bob, 2, 3, low rt kick, high rt kick
1,2,3,weave, 3,2, switch, low lt, high lt
10 punch, bob, weave, 2,3 step 2

sparring was a mixed bag. I felt sort of slow tonight. I fasted today, so that probably has something to do with it. Ben is back. He hasn't been there for 6 months, and he immediately made me feel silly when we sparred. He's a talented dude, for sure. It's fantastic to have a fighter as a coach. Anthony Nieves seems like a super nice dude, and obviously speaks with experience. I like how he walked around and gave pointers during the spar. I teeped someone while he was bringing his knee up for a check, bruised the bottom of my foot. Icing it now. HURRRTTTSS like a mother.

Tuesday:
AM weight: 183.6lbs
No jits, foot too messed up.

Wednesday: 186.8lbs (had a HUGE dinner, lots of carbs, sue me)
MT: Same combos as monday.
Sparring went a bit better. I still bitch up. I need to try to make it a point to not back up, trust my MT, and just bang a bit. My goal for next monday is to not back up. I will try this in earnest. Instead of covering up, I will punch back.

Thursday: 180.2lbs
BJJ:
I got to the gym early, hit the heavy bag for about 10 minutes, then Jr. wanted to do some light rolls before class. They were probably 6-10 minutes each. So I was thoroughly tired when we started. Then two of Marcel's blue belt buddies came, and I was like "I'm gonna have a bad time". I rolled weak. But I am surviving longer and longer.
De La Riva sweep. DLR hook, grab that side ankle. Shoot hook DEEP across onto opposite thigh. Roll guy forward using the deep hook and sleeve control. come to top or side control
crazy DLR sweep. DLR hook, control same side sleeves. Swim DLR side arm between self and his shin, try to touch shoulder to his foot. Swing non DLR hook out and around. can grab cloth with other non-swimming hand. Get under him and use legs to push him over. You end up in a strange tangle of legs, but mostly on top. Get position.

Week of 4/23/12

Monday:
MT: did "muay knat" drilling where you want to pressure a kicker, and give forward drive.
opponent against ropes: you can elephant walk in place, switch stance, knee
opponent in open space: elephant walk, step through, and knee
opponent retreats: elephant walk, step through, kick
also worked clinch. A.B.C. always be close. One hand on biceps, other in plum, step w/ non plum side, swing plum leg back to off balance while jerking down on plum, bring into plum side knees.

Pads: 1,2,switch, lk lk, check, step, right knees. and reverse

Good sparring. Sheri worked me over with her ninja kickboxing kicks. Coming out of crazy angles. You simply have to have an extremely tight guard against that or get kicked from a weird angle. It's an interesting exercise to be kicked from unexpected angles. I think I'm one of the best guys that regularly comes to train, technically. But still from an aggression standpoint, I am lacking. The same can be said of bjj.

Tuesday:
BJJ:
Drilled swapping knee on belly side positions.
passing open guard to knee on belly. cross grip pants, step around, KoB.
have both pant legs, push back and stack, then explosively straighten and flatten legs, keep arms stiff, fall onto side control
arm bar from KoB:, underhook far arm, pin own elbow in and down. Step outward leg around his head, swing hips around and fall while tucking foot under shoulder. KoB leg stays on top and pins his head. finish.

Ben and I had a great first roll. Lots of back and forth. I stalled his sub attempts, escaped, and he did the same to me. There is a roided out kid that just joined. All aggression, no technique. I dread having to roll with him. I just let him pin me, and work on escaping and maintaining guard. My guess is he'll either get injured, injure someone, or quit in the next 2 months. We'll see.

Wednesday:
Helped Claude teach his CCW class, and I'm happy because I was SO SORE from training.

Thursday:
BJJ:
1/2 guard sweeps.
Back Take: get underhook on 1/2 guard side, hide head and bottom arm. Use underhook to bump guy up and away, squirt under arm, take back
Sweep if whizzered: get underhook on leg with bottom arm, roll other way. sweep to 1/2.
Sweep 1: get underhook on 1/2 guard side (if possible), get DEEP underhook w/ bottom arm, pull him on top of you, if his leg stuck in guard posts up and down, grab his ankle, keep your leg on his thigh, don't let it flatten, drive forward, using trapped ankle and thigh to push and sweep.
Sweep 2:same as above, but if trapped leg straightens, use underhooked arm to shuck him, and squirt out the back.

I'm at sort of a strange point in BJJ. I feel like some aspects of my game are getting better (surviving, defending, escaping), but some aspects are stagnating pretty badly. The things I'm lacking still include aggressiveness, takedowns, attacks, basically everything except defense.

Friday.
Lifted weights. Deadlifts 2x5reps something like 225. Superset that w/ 25 kettlebell swings. Did 3x8 sets of military press with 75 lbs. Supersetted more kb swings. Weighted carry, 5 sets. Some 2 handed, suitcase carry, waiter carry. Used 55 lb dumbbells for most things. Walked to orange house's satellite dish and back. That covered Hinge, Press, and weighted carry movements. I need to set up the squat rack so I can at least squat, and the bench so I can work pulls.

Week of 4/16/12

I'm going to start adding my morning weights to the posts. I want to watch fluctuation and see how it trends day by day, and week to week. I also am on a quest for 10% body fat for the summer. My guess is this will put me at 170lbs give or take. This will be an additional incentive to be honest with myself. I may start adding my food choices as well. Here we go.

Monday: 189.2# - Weekend of eating out, chinese food, beer, etc. Feeling VERY bloated. I expect I'll shed 4 lbs of water by Wednesday morning. This week will consist of some very strict fasts, small meals, and relatively low carbohydrate intake compared to recent weeks. This will be my prescription until I plateau on losses.

MT: worked checks and teeps. Always teep with leg he's kicking with. Worked cross blocks. I pulled of a solid hook in sparring. I just sort of punched around his guard and caught him right on the jaw. It was without power, but even that little bit made his biteguard almost fall out of mouth. I was throwing lazy checks, I think because my shins are beat up. I'm trying to diffuse the kicks onto a meaty portion of my legs. This is clearly a no-no. I might wear pads when we do drilling. I bitched up once when  Jeff had me against the ropes. Got to keep moving, got to stay active. My goal will remain to not get bogged down when getting struck, and trying to counter punch while being attacked.

Tuesday 185.0#. I pooped a lot on Monday. haha. After BJJ I was 180.2. Bananas.

BJJ:
Opening guard: control lapels w/ one hand, grip on other sleeve. Post on grabbed sleeve leg first. stand, break guard, flop back down, knee between legs. Use vertical knee to cut to either side.

Opening guard: same as before, instead of going over, swim BOTH hands under, gable grip. stack him. grab lapel, sprawl, pass to side.

push sweep: against standing opponent, get both ankles, feet on hips, push/pull, follow to top position.

Rolling went well. Pulled off the arm bar from rear mount again. That seems to come off pretty well when you can't sink the choke. Pulled an "OLD SCHOOL" sweep from 1/2 guard. as well as playing pretty good guard against Ben and Mike.

Wednesday 180.2#. I KNEW I felt bloated Monday.
MT:
Did some evade work at MT. Knees in the combos.

Thursday 181.2#

BJJ: Armbars and omaplatas to warm up.
Omaplata defense: If he doesn't hide his outward foot, grab that leg, pull it behind neck, hold toes, do an ankle lock on that foot.

Counter to that defense: If he goes for the toe hold, reach up and grab around his shoulder, and pull. Very painful shoulder,back pinch.

Friday:
Plan is to do some shoulder work and weighted carries. Will update. That didn't happen... Oh well. I had another relaxing weekend. Got a 2 miler in Saturday w/ wife.