baby steps

that I've not updated in over a month is less a testament to inactivity than it is spare time to do so.

In starting back to more serious training, I reeled back everything else I was doing in terms of exercise. I hit the reset button, and elected to instead pursue bjj practice, and little else, until my body re-acquainted itself to those rigors and demands.

several weeks later, I'm ready to start adding things back in. Some weight training, but chiefly some interval training for cardio. Right now, that's only being paired with my lift days. ~24-30 minutes of HIIT cardio followed by sets of maybe 2-3 exercises per major body part/mechanism to failure. A friend recommended it to me after I whined about my quads crapping out on me/filling with lactic acid - enzymatic training.

Since everything I've tried doesn't seem to elicit the results I want, I'm taking his advice for a few months. Or at least, I'm going to try to. I need to add more HIIT sessions of just cardio, since really my primary goal is weight loss at this point. I'm way too heavy to execute, and it's also impeding my flexibility. And I'm sure it's probably inviting injury as well. I've just been lucky with that.

and aside from recovery drinks/shakes, no carbs after 7pm. This will be hard. It will mean dinner = muscle milk or some similar derivative for the foreseeable future. Evenings that I am training bjj/etc I rarely get home before 830pm. But carb restriction is also something I've yet to try, so I'm certainly not going to pass judgment on it until I have at least given it its fair shot.

I would like to be able to do HIIT in the mornings, but I'm not precisely sure whether that means getting up doubly early to go to the gym for cardio machines, or if maybe I'll do something along the ilk of CST/flow-fit/bodyweight activities. Or even going downstairs to do some bas rutten thai boxing on the heavy bag.

I'm also going to have to figure out a means of getting to sleep faster on my bjj nights. None of this will be as effective if I don't get rest.

ON A MORE BJJ RELATED RANT... training has been going okay. I'm still a little overwhelmed really with all of the material, and last week was derailed by a family emergency that feels as though it lasted weeks in terms of interrupting my training. But hopefully all will get back on track soon. I'm hoping to get to start attending the judo class followed perhaps by muay thai, since I'm never really certain if/when I'll train bjj on weekends.

Trying to do private lessons at least every other week, and I think it is helping, but it's just difficult to see sometimes. With so many people intent on going full bore (when they are already stronger than me), that nullifies some of my new technique. I don't want to stoop to she-hulking my way through things, but the temptation to do so is always there.

with injury usually lurking close behind it.

that said, time to suit up and go do HIIT and pick some new upper/mid back lifts to torture myself with.

change is very, very good.

In between work and overtraining, I've not taken the time to blog. Which should not at all be taken to mean I've had nothing worth blogging about.

Quite the contrary.

My first couple of weeks back, I plodded through the first hour of class, maybe a little over, but nothing resembling rolling. Took the other nights off to go do hamster wheel cardio or what not.

Then it kicked back in. Two nights a week quickly turned back into as many nights as available, which quickly turned into sore knee joints, troubled shoulders, and a host of gis drying from every doorframe.

I'm sure the local water company is elated.

I'm learning so much, not absorbing enough. I want more drill time, but need more rest time. My notebook is filling up, but I insist on researching one more move and detailing it.

Ah yes, welcome back to the obsession. How I missed it.

But now I'm realizing that while the will may be strong, the flesh is weak. I can't train every night. Not yet. I'm in no shape for it. And there's no sense pouting about it, it is what it is.

So I'm trying to figure out how to maximize my ground work time while minimizing the effects of overtraining. Sadly, I think I'm going to have to give up the tuesday/friday MMA class. While I love doing it, it isn't bringing my ground game to anyplace I really need to take it. I'm not going to be cage fighting any time soon. And my stand up is okay. As okay as it needs to be really. And I'm not sure that the class isn't causing undue wear and tear on my already beleaguered joints.

I have a lot of ground to make up (no pun intended), and I really shouldn't donate training time to something that isn't maximizing my improvement.

but dammit, I like hitting things sometimes.

I believe I'll resolve to occasionally take the class on fridays, when I know I'm not going to be training on saturday. I've got to recover. There are only so many pills from GNC to take, so many pain reliefs gels and creams to paint myself in, before I simply have to acknowledge that I'm pushing too hard.

As for bjj study, I've had ah-ha moments involving s-mount, half open guard, guard passing, open guard, omoplatas, diamond guard, armbars, triangles, hell... more than I can count. And my notebook is filling up so fast it's unamusing. And by unamusing I mean completely awesome.

change, for me, has been exceptionally good. I hope this continues for a long, long time.

first full week back at it

Accomplished three days of training this week - two of bjj, one of beginner's mma.

While I have plenty of improvement to make, I'll celebrate the tiny victories of NOT gassing out after the first hour, the hallmark of my other scattered visits this month.

For bjj, I'm looking at reprogramming a lot of moves/positions. Granted, this happens all the time over the course of anyone's bjj practice, but damned if it didn't initially make me wonder what the sam hell I've been doing/learning/half-assing up until now. But I've trained with so many different gyms/schools/people to know that there is NO definitive armbar, guard pass, or scarf hold. And every time I think I've found the new ultimate variant, I'm proven wrong.

But that's cool. Refinement is key.

And I surely won't be getting bored anytime soon, not that that's much of a threat with bjj. I have plenty of refinements to make. How I set in kesa getame (and how my school's theories on it compare with the new Kesting vid I've been watching on it). Utilizing the cross grips when applying the armbar from guard (maybe I'm lazy, maybe it's my short arms, but I tend to rely more on applying an armbar via leg/hip mobility - a trend that pervades probably the vast majority of my techniques... damn I need to work on shoulder instability so I can grow some balls about my arm strength). Utilizing pants grips.

MMA class is mostly for ego gratification. I'll admit it. I came from stand up, and it's something that I'm not necessarily wanting to focus on full time, but it's something I can feel some degree of aptitude at and have less reason to be critical of myself. I say that now, but I'm sure I'll find a way to start tearing apart my stand up in due time.

I haven't had my boxing gloves on in probably the better part of a year. I didn't expect to last long at all. I managed a round on the mitts, five on the heavy bag, and another round doing ground and pound on a grounded bag. Sure, my biceps are a little sore today, handwriting has been tough, and the spread across my back from shoulder to shoulder is fatigued, but other than that, all is well. I'd forgotten how much fun it was.

We also worked on some throws that I'm assuming were judo based, but I recognized more from my study of Gracie self defense. Those were fun as well, especially with the advantage of having a crash pad to land/throw on. Takes the apprehension out of being tossed. Well, it did until my partner misjudged the distance and plopped me down on the floor.

I finished my first full 4x7 protocol this week as well. I will certainly stick to this idea when I can, although I really can't control the intensity of bjj/mma training. I can, however, control the supplemental training, and maybe that will do. I've not yet started a new 4x7 but I plan to soon. I'm just trying to suss out what aspects of CST I will encorporate this go round.

the first protocol was a bodyweight exercised based one for fat loss. Being that I ballooned up 10-15 lbs. on prednisone in the middle of the protocol, I have no idea what the effectiveness was. I'm nearing my pre-prednisone weight now, so I can surely attribute the protocol's work to that. However, I honestly felt as though I could've been doing more this whole time. Maybe not on the low and no intensity days, but on the moderate and high intensity days, I felt as though I should've been doing more.

The next protocol will involve weight-bearing exercises for sure. That may only be clubbell work, or it may be clubbells and going back to doing some lifting at the regular gym. I'm also abandoning hamster wheel cardio. LSD cardio isn't doing much for me besides burning calories in a slow and boring manner. I will, however, try to shift to interval cardio. I know the ArcTrainer has a dandy interval program or two, but the elliptical machine does not. I may alternate the arctrainer with rowing or the airdyne for intervals and see how that goes.

I'm also re-reading John Berardi's Precision Nutrition. I did some cleaning up of my basic diet a year or so ago, and the few (very few) changes I made yielded great results-- consistently lower cholesterol, and just feeling better overall. Clearly I have more work to do. Being that my new job will keep me in a controlled setting, that means I can better control what I'm consuming. I need to figure out what the smart things to pack in my lunch pail to graze on all day are.

other training/suck it up.

So I'm kinda thinking that I may as well document my "side" training in CST - circular strength training - as well since it's quite aligned with my bjj training.

Last week I started my first dedicated attempt at a 4x7 protocol on intensity cycling that I really think may be of benefit to me, since it keeps me from redlining all the time. You're basically starting on a moderate day, then a high intensity day, then NO intensity, low intensity, then repeat.

Note: rest is forced. I need this in my world. I am an idiot and will go go go until I mess up a knee, shoulder, spleen, whatever. This was a fine procedure to follow back when I was in high school, and maybe through my 20s, but those days, sadly, are long over.

The hilarity I'm finding in this 4x7 thing is that I have the most difficulty out of my low intensity days. Those are reserved for prasara yoga flows and maybe some intu-flow sequences. But mostly, it's the yoga. And yoga is kicking my ass.

Yoga isn't hard in the conventional sense, but it has brought a new humiliating factor to training for me. It's like going from playing an overdriven electric guitar to a 6-string acoustic. All of your sloppiness is going to be blatantly obvious, if not amplified by the lack of noise to cover it up. You cannot force your way through yoga, there is no muscling through it, nor rushing. You do either, you're probably going to eff yourself up nicely.

and then you're going to feel ultra stupid explaining that no, you can't roll or whatever because you hurt yourself doing yoga. you've spent the prior 3 days doing jumping squats, spinal rocks, leg swoops, clubbell swings, etc. but NO, you hurt yourself trying to hold a pose for a few breaths. You wiped out, pranged your wrist or tweaked an elbow and now you're all zen injured. idiot.

it's been a long while since yoga was a regular part of my training, and I know why now. because it doesn't have that immediate gratification of say lifting, or swinging clubbells or kettlebells, or ripping off 400 calories in 20 minutes on the cybex machine, etc. you don't necessarily emerge from yoga with your shirt discolored with sweat, in a pattern that says "I can pick up really heavy things and crush them in my mighty hands" and if there's a high five involved, you're giving it to yourself internally. such celebration might seem, I don't know, brutish and eff up everyone's chakra. or something.

but here's the thing: yoga forces your lazy ass to be present in the moment of what you're doing. It forces you to see what parts of your structure are faulty, and no amount of muscle is going to fix it for you. you're just going to have to deal with it, work around it, and work up to it.

because it is giving me this much grief, maybe that's my sign to work a little harder on it. and so I will.


in other quasi-related blabbering, I think I will go back to bjj this week. my burnout isn't getting any better sitting at home. I didn't use to structure bjj around whatever was going on in my life. it WAS my life, and things got scheduled around bjj. I'm making myself more bummed out staying away than I could possibly feel going back.

I've spent all weekend reading updates on the world championships in CA this weekend, so clearly the interest is still there. I finally plowed through that Gracie mag, too. All good signs. :)

burnout/lost muse

while it's far from the first time I've experienced it, I'm amidst one of those horrid burned out phases.

and the timing sucks. I'm starting to go to a whole `nuther gym to train at. Plenty of new people to roll with, new things to learn, etc. and I can't seem to generate the usual compulsive level of interest for training. A new Gracie Mag showed up in my mailbox today, and all I can think is "Gee, I haven't even finished the last two issues."

Normally I tear through those the day they arrive. I leafed through mine a little while, but then sat it down.

It's still the reason I drag myself onto a hamster wheel cardio machine at the gym for boring half hours upon half hours. Why I lift heavy things and put them back down until my body whines for me to stop, and then do it a few more times. Why I subsidize several supplement companies with my purchases. Why I keep looking into new means of improvement to flexibility, recovery rates, endurance, stamina, functional strength. Why I have no room for regular clothes. Why my truck windows are littered with bjj/mma stickers until it looks like a Nascar contender. Why I no longer bruise easily (and rarely care when I do).

It breaks my heart when these phases come into my life. Sure, they've always passed, but damn, never quickly enough.

It's ridiculous. For as many nagging "why don't you just quit" thoughts, there are just a few more "you can't stop now" ones.

hmm. Tarsis Humphreys does look triumphant on that cover, though. Maybe I'll just check out a few more pages of Gracie Mag.

Necessary Items: Cryogel

When I first started training in any sort of combat sport, I thought Tiger Balm was the endgame for pain relief. Joint pain, muscular pain, bruising, anything at all, I was smearing Tiger Balm on it. And while it clears the sinuses nicely, and the heat may feel kinda nice at times, I've since moved on to better things - both in terms of olfactory irritation and actual treatment of pain.

I present, for your consideration, Cryogel.

I first tried Cryogel when a fellow on the Sherdog gear and equipment forums offered to send samples out to anyone who wanted to try the stuff. Hell, no risk there-- it's a no brainer! A few days later, I received a padded envelope with a fistful of sample size packets-- two of each "flavor" of cryogel.

Cryogel is interesting in that it clearly works off of a cooling effect, which makes a little more sense given most ailments from combat sports training is coming from a place of inflammation. Why would you add heat to something that was already inflamed?

However, in my own usage at least, I notice a weird numbing almost heat feel to it as well, as it sinks in. Whatever it is, it's highly soothing. Great for those random bruises you get in training. DOMS too. And there were many times when I was experiencing knee pain that Cryogel allowed me to keep training (since, you know, it was intelligent to keep training on bum joints).

Fortunately, I train a little smarter now, so I don't need to use Cryogel as much, but you best believe I don't allow myself to run low on it. I keep a tube or roll-on of it in my gym bag, and several lying about the house.

Cryogel is available in either squeeze-it-out tubes or roll-on (like deodorant). I use both, but tend to favor the roll-ons since there's less chance for a mess in the gym bag. Three scents are available : original blue (which I'm hearing has been re-tooled to smell a little less medicinal), Island Rain green (my favorite, as it's the least offensive/noticable), and Lavender purple (which also smells nice, but is more noticable. has a slight patchouli/pothead smell that reminds me of college).

You can normally find Cryogel for around ten bucks (USD) apiece. Plenty of other vendors available - you don't have to go direct. However, I also endorse some of the other products available from Cryogel's direct site -- inflamax forte and baldrian plus, both of which I've used for more advanced pain management. All natural, which is also, to me, a preference.

training notes, April 28th - passing open guard

I can't say I was at all enthused about having everyone learn open guard passes, since I love playing open guard. No, I kid: having a group of people who know how to foil my go-to guard position means I either develop a new guard game, or I improve my existing one. And that's win-win stuff right there.

Pass 1: Push away at their hips -- keep your elbows in, NOT flared out; place one knee in their tailbone (as a position, not Pride rules striking) and the other knee opens up to the side; sit back and twist your hips -- their guard should open up/fall apart.

Pass 2: Place both of your hands up into their armpits; scoot your hips back as you push them away. This clearly requires some reach, and as such, I didn't find much success with it this go-round.

Pass 3: Hands placed in their armpits; stand and wedge your knee in at their tailbone; sit back down over that same knee, sliding the opponent down your shin-- should bust apart their guard.

{After the fact, I'm wondering if maybe I would've seen a little better success with these 2 passes by instead placing my hands at belt/hip level and shoving away? If I reached up to my training partners' armpits, my balance was way off, as I was having to over-extend to reach that high. Or maybe I even could have underhooked the legs and grabbed some pants cloth?}

Pass 4: Smash pass. Control their hips. Raise one of your legs, planting the sole of your foot well beyond their reach. Raise your hips, placing one hand on their inside knee, the other hand stays on their hip. Press their leg down to the floor using the inside knee grip. Underhook their other leg. Reach across with that grip to secure a cross-collar grip on opponent. Once you've secured that cross-grip, tripod yourself up to place considerable/all weight on your opponent. Rotate (slowly, if you feel like being a bastard about it), smashing your opponent over into side control.