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.