What I've learned

It's been a while, over two years, since I've written on this blog. I can't promise you (I say you with the pretentious notion that I'm speaking to someone other than myself) that I will update regularly but having the app on my phone will certainly help. I have been trying to compile this list for a while now. Adding bits and pieces as I think of them and somehow hoping they will form something resembling a cohesive thought when I'm done. I don't think I managed anything cohesive but I do have a list so read it and enjoy!

Here's a list of some of the things I've learned in my short time in jiu-jitsu:

• The worst answer to the question "How do I get out of this?" is "Don't get there."

•  "Don't get there" is a perfectly acceptable answer to "How do I get out of this?"

• Establish dominance with new people otherwise they will always think they can beat you if they just go harder.

• Never, ever trust a whitebelt to not hurt you.

• Belt promotions are the worst thing that can happen to you. Your friends become thirsty for your freshly belted blood and the big goobers go twice as hard to catch you in the muscle-cana.

• Politics run rampant in jiu-jitsu. Stay out of them. You won't be able to but try anyway.

• Training in the heat is miserable but training in the cold is dangerous. Toes don't like cold mats.

• Rolling is the most important thing you will do in class. It is what separates bjj from all the other martial arts. What we do is only effective if you can do it while rolling.

• Sport jiu-jitsu is very different from self defense jiu-jitsu but that doesn't mean a sport jiu-jitsu practitioner couldn't defend themselves on the street.

• Jiu-Jitsu has peaks and valleys. Better put, sometimes you're the hammer other times you're the nail(Renzo Gracie). Though I've always found my game to improve after a week or two of getting beat up.

• It is a higher belt's prerogative to stop any submission they may be caught in, explain why you would never catch them in said submission, teach them the "right" way to do it, then escape and punish them for trying to submit you. 

• Knee on face/neck is only a jerk move if done by a lower rank than you. 

Last and maybe the most important...

• Always get the underhook...unless you shouldn't

These are just some of the things that I've discovered. They may not be true for everyone, your mileage may vary as they say but probably not.

Insanity...again.

So today marked week 5 of the Insanity workout. Though for me it was more like week three since I was out the first week on vacation and another week from a knee injury. I was apprehensive about this test because I couldn't train like I wanted. Despite my reservations, I did well. Hell, I did better than well, I improved. Here are the numbers for posterity:

3rd Fit test
Weight-177 lbs
Awesomeness- 116

Switch Kicks – 115/120/130
Power Jacks – 30/32/42
Power Knees – 102/103/95 (I slacked when I got to 95 thinking I beat my old score of 93)
Power Jumps – 20/20/21
Globe Jumps – 6/7/8
Suicide Jumps – 10/10/10
Push-up Jacks – 11/12/20
Low Plank Obliques – 11/16/20

Feeling good and I hope I can avoid injury to keep the progress going.

Still Crazy

Tonight marked our first Insanity fit test since starting this crazy workout. I was unsure how I would perform since we did jiu-jitsu first whereas last time we did the test first. I was sure I wasn't going to improve. However, much to my surprise, I did. Here are the numbers after only four days of training:

2nd Fit test
Weight-176 lbs
Awesomeness- 101

Switch Kicks – 115/120
Power Jacks – 30/32
Power Knees – 102/103
Power Jumps – 20/20
Globe Jumps – 6/7
Suicide Jumps – 10/10
Push-up Jacks – 11/12
Low Plank Obliques – 11/16

I'm really impressed with myself. I know they weren't huge improvements but with only 4 days of training and doing jiu-jitsu first (which for most people is an extremely exhausting workout in and of itself) I was sure they would be low. Looking forward to two weeks from today to see a bigger jump in my numbers.

Deep hooks hurt toes

Started the night off by rolling with a couple of the new guys. One of the younger guys seems to have some potential, no technique, but some potential. I rolled with a guy who is new to our class but is a 4 stripe white belt. Whilst on his back with some awesome hooks in I may have inadvertently broke my big toe. If not broke it, I certainly sprained the mess out if it. Either way it's painful.

Tonight marked my 3rd night of Insanity. Our workout this time would be the cardio recovery. This was much less intense than the other workouts we've been doing but it was by no means easy. There was more stretching and yoga as opposed to hard cardio. This was almost as challenging as the regular workouts for me though since it required you to get in various positions and hold them. This was made even more difficult since I felt like my toe was going to snap off. I was surprised that the whole program took more strength than I thought it would. I'll be logging another workout tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Day One All Over Again

Due to a few days of vacation over Memorial day weekend I did not have the chance to start my Insanity workout until yesterday. I was really anxious. I was worried about what it would be like but at the same time I was excited that it would really help my game. The format of our normal jiu-jitsu classes was altered a bit. We will begin with no warm-up only individual warm-ups. Read: Do what you need to do to get ready. We immediately go into technique, drill then roll. All this is about an hour long. We begin the Insanity workout promptly at 8.

Though I participated in our in-house "tournament" my head wasn't really in the game. Corey promptly whooped me with a kimura but only after having to bite me and threaten my unborn children first.

The Insanity workout mainly consisted of doing the warm-up three times with each subsequent heat getting faster. There were a few other circuits that included such things as power jacks and push-up jacks. The whole program lasts about 40 min and you are moving every one of those 40 minutes (well, except for the 30 second breaks that come only every 10 minutes). I will also say that even the people in the workout video had to take unscheduled breaks. That made me feel less like a weenie for having to take them too. Overall, it was tough, really tough. Having the other guys, and girls, there really helped motivate everyone.

Tonight marked my second day and we're still on the cardio portion of the workout. Since it changes every day I was unsure about what would be coming my way. All I knew is my calves were shot. Not that I do a lot of working out, but when I did I was never able to get them to hurt like they do now. Unfortunately for me, tonight was more of the same. I pushed through though and even rolled some jiu-jitsu afterward with Sid and a new guy (who I had a deep armbar on but let go because I was lazy and didn't want to break his arm). I felt really good afterward until, that is, I sat in the car for a 30 min ride home. Ashley got a kick out of me walking like I was an 80 year old hooker. Looking forward to my third workout tomorrow.

Going Crazy

This was originally posted on 5/25/10 but facebook wanted to be retarded.

So it's been a while since I've had both the time and the desire to write on this thing. I suppose I should apologize to all the people on the Internet for not updating but I find that a bit pretentious. Now that that's out of the way, lets get started.

The meat and potatoes (so to speak) of this post is Shaun T's Insanity workout. This will be our jiu-jitsu warm-up for the next 60 days and hopefully I'll have the desire to update this as we progress. We began with the test that everyone takes at the beginning of the program. You track your progress and test every two weeks to see how you have improved. I'm the first to admit I was not looking forward to doing this but I was excited about the results I would receive, especially with regards to my jiu-jitsu game.

It all begins with an annoyingly chipper Shaun T explaining how basically you're gonna be the next Chuck Norris after the 60 days are up. We then start with a short warm-up that consists of a little in-place jogging, high knees, stretching, and some jumping jacks. Our normal warm-ups used to be pretty tough but even this got me breaking a little sweat. We then dive right into the actual test. The format is do as many as you can for 60 seconds, record the amount, and go to the next after a 60 second break.

It was certainly rough. It was difficult to peel myself off the floor to do the cool down which consisted of stretching. So here are my numbers. They're not great but not horrible either.

Fit test day-1
Weight-178 lbs
Awesomeness- 99

Switch Kicks – 115
Power Jacks – 30
Power Knees – 102
Power Jumps – 20
Globe Jumps – 6
Suicide Jumps – 10
Push-up Jacks – 11
Low Plank Obliques – 11

Tomorrow starts the first workout and I'm a little intimidated. We'll be doing this test every two weeks and hopefully after 6 days a week of this craziness I'll be able to post near hulkish results.

A Blue Christmas

This past week has been very trying. I missed jiu-jitsu last night because I was slammed at work. I was slammed again today. Though I cannot complain about being busy at work (I own my own business so busy is great) everything seems to have been much harder than it needed to be. I have only three Christmas presents for the wife and we're leaving to Middle-of-Nowhere, Tennessee tomorrow. Today I made the responsible choice and decided to go Christmas shopping...after jiu-jitsu.

I stumbled into class about 5 minutes late. Everyone was sitting on the mat and we got ready to start the warm-up. Donny made fun of me for still wearing my watch. I had completely not noticed. I never wear my watch while at jiu-jitsu. I could tell this night was going to be as rough as the rest of the week has been. So, the evening progressed as we all lined up to bow in. Donny announces that he has something to say to us before we get started.

After some joking and some jiu-jitsu wisdom he begins to talk about a certain person and how the first time he saw them he thought, "This guy is going to pay for a month and never come back." He then announces that tonight there will be a belt ranking.

I knew immediately that it was for me. I know, it's a bit pretentious of me to assume that out of all the awesome guys there, I'm the only one to be promoted but I just knew it was me. Sure enough, he calls the Awesome Possum to the front and presents me with my blue belt. I couldn't believe it. I was so shocked. I knew I was close but I didn't know I was that close.

I'm honored that Donny thinks that highly of me and I hope I can do him proud. I haven't had the best competition record and I'm glad that he can see past that. Though I don't think I deserve it, I completely trust Donny and I will be the best damn blue belt I can be. It's amazing how much your game is stepped up just by placing that blue piece of cloth around your waist. My only regret is that the wife wasn't there to see it but I'm sure she'll be there for the purple. Thanks to everyone for the support. I especially need to thank my training partners because without you guys (and girls) I would never have gotten this far.

Here's to another safe and healthy new year.