BJJ, Strength & Air Traffic Control

[TheJewBear]

Entire training history in Excel form can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmBZ4t6ybCq4dG5hQmY4ajhoY2NXeHlhR3BJM0xxQ2c#gid=2

5'9", 165-175lbs (varies)

BJJ Blue belt

Currently following Intermittent Fasting, with a schedule of fasting for 16 hours and eating for 8 hours. Usually 3 large meals. A good portion of my training is done fasted, in the morning. In these instances I take close to 10g of BCAA or whey protein. There have been zero adverse effects to training fasted and strength has continued to increase.

For strength and hypertrophy, following Martin Berkhan's Reverse Pyramid Training protocol, 3x/week.

PRs at 165lbs bodyweight:

Squat: 360
Deadlift: 420
Chin Ups: +100x3, 20 reps @ bodyweight

 

[WitchCraft]

5'9", 169lbs, ~12% BF

BJJ Blue belt

It's good to be back

First! Welcome back

 

[TheJewBear]

 

[TheJewBear]

First! Welcome back

Good to be here. Steve said you fucked up your knee again, whats your problem wild child?

 

[TheJewBear]

28Dec11

Deadlift
275x3
315x3
350x7 (Rep PR)

RDLs
135x10
155x10
155x10

DB Side Bends
95x10

Weighted Decline Situps
25x10
25x12
25x10

Notes

-None

 

[WitchCraft]

Good to be here. Steve said you fucked up your knee again, whats your problem wild child?

I thought I did! It was hard to walk on in the morning yesterday but now it feels fine. I iced the shit out of it, so maybe that helped.

 

[TheJewBear]

30Dec11

Squat
245x3
285x3
320x2

Good Mornings
125x10
125x10
125x10

Hanging Leg Raises
12
12
12

Leg Extensions
140x12
150x12
160x10

Notes

Trained at a new gym, LA Fitness. The equipment is very limited but workable. I squatted in a Lifefitness rack which was decent, but very close to a mirror. Now I have an issue that I don't know if many people have. But while I was training the past week in California at a different gym and now today at this gym, I felt EXTREMELY weak in the squat. Other lifts feel fine but for some reason, in a foreign squat rack with foreign weights and bars I cannot feel 'in the groove'. Being close to the mirror fucks up my neck position and I feel like I'm sitting down with the weight, not back correctly. I'll take video in the future for further analysis. For now I'm dropping squat training max by 30lbs because I needed 3 reps today and even 1 felt hellish.

 

[TheJewBear]

I thought I did! It was hard to walk on in the morning yesterday but now it feels fine. I iced the shit out of it, so maybe that helped.

Good, stop getting injured skinny.

 

[modena1983]

i thought you died. good to know you didnt.

 

[WitchCraft]

Good, stop getting injured skinny.

You're looking pretty skinny yourself! I'm going to weigh more than you soon.

 

[TheAth-ah-lete]

Awesomeness. Are you "here" yet?

 

[TheJewBear]

Awesomeness. Are you "here" yet?

Yup Moved yesterday. I fucking love it so far! Everyone is super nice, shit is cheap and close to my new place. Can't wait to start at the new BJJ place Monday. It's Genesis Jiu-Jitsu in Fort Worth. The places you mentioned before were closer to Dallas, way farther.

Midland is only a few hours away mwahaha

 

[TheJewBear]

01Jan12

Bench
155x10
155x10
155x10

DB Nosebreakers
35x6
40x6
40x6
40x6

Weighted Chins
+45x6
+55x6
+65x6
+65x6
BWx8

Cable Curls
50x10
57x10

Notes

-Ordered a dip belt because LA Fitness really sucks with equipment.

BJJ

Trained at my new gym in Texas for the first time, amazingly open New Years Day. The owner is a new black belt and Mundials silver medalist. It was only he and I and a 4-stripe white belt about my size. We alternated rolls and one comment the instructor made was that when mounted I keep my hands close to my neck properly but my elbows flare off my ribs too much and he's able to pry them easily. Stick my elbows to my ribs consciously from now on.

With the white belt, I performed as I should. He had 1 year of experience and had a solid wrestling-style base though no wrestling experience I don't think. Both guys were extremely friendly which is always nice.

Afterwards the black belt showed us a triangle escape that the white belt had a hard time with because I tapped him 4-5 times with triangles. It was a little counterintuitive, involving bringing your trapped arm's elbow to his right hip, using it as a crowbar and putting both hands on his right knee. You drive forward, rotating him onto his belly and using your shoulder pressure on his calf to release the hold or at least nullify the choke.

Then we went over the simple ankle pick sweep from open guard that I never was properly taught. Finally, I asked about passes and he showed the torreando (sp?) pass as well as details on how we both were not gripping properly. Need to get fistfuls of material then rotate your grips so that there is zero slack between your hand and their legs. Much better control. I prefer standing passes so this was very helpful to my game.

The hours at this new place are insanely conducive to constant training. They have classes as early as 6:30am and late as 7:30pm. Over the next four months my job schedule will be 8am-4pm so there will be lots of good training at a great gym. Very satisfied.

 

[TheJewBear]

02Jan12

BJJ (no-gi)

Bigger class today, maybe 20 people. The first week of the month is all no-gi which is interesting. We did some agility drills to warm up including 'round the world' where your partner stands in a good base, you take their back and climb around to the front, then back again over and over. Phew tough!

Then we learned escapes from rear mount. Really just one escape but we drilled it heavily and went over a lot of details. One thing I took away was that I need to use my own hip movement more to escape and move myself from under their choking arm, while stiff-arming it but it's not all arm strength at all.

Then we rolled for about 6 rounds I think. Started with an average-sized female, moved like a blue belt I'd guess. Controlled the pace well but limited my aggression and tapped her once only with a toe hold. Next with a blue belt wrestler type who tapped me several times with arm bars from knee on belly. Tough dude. Next a smaller, older purple belt who I controlled well I think, tapped him once with a toe hold. Then a heavyweight white belt, tougher time than the purple due to strength and size but still did fine. Then a couple of big guys whose rank I don't know, got tapped once or twice but returned them as well with arm bars from rear mount. All around everyone in the gym has a great attitude and technical jiu-jitsu. Really good day of training.

 

[TheJewBear]

4Jan11

Bench
Worked up to two singles with 240 that felt heavy as shit.

Some cable rows, tricep work

BJJ (no-gi)

Learned an arm bar escape from already on your back and the arm trapped; grab your trapped arm's bicep, your opponent's hooking tricep, and...I forget the details. We learned a variation of it as well but I felt like I didn't get the details cleaned up or retained in my head as well on that either.

Rolled 6 rounds or so, everyone was tough as hell including many with much less exp than me, and a purple belt who felt like a black belt. I asked for feedback from him and he mentioned I moved slowly which he thought was good (surprised by that) but that I need to maintain proper posture better and more often. Everyone continues to be really friendly and team-like at this gym and I'm all about it.

 

[TheJewBear]

6Jan11

Squat
265x5
300x1
135x10
135x10
135x10

Good Morning
135x7
135x7
135x7

Hanging Leg Raises
15

Notes

-Something is wrong with me. My strength levels have consistently plummetted since I left New Jersey. At first I thought maybe the bars or weights were heavier here. They do seem thicker legitimately, but come on a milimeter or two or even a few pounds wouldn't make this much of a difference in performance. I feel half as strong as I did before Christmas.

One thing that has been different is my diet has been VERY low carb since I arrived. I wanted to lose some bodyfat, and I don't have my scale yet so I'm not positive but definitely see more veins and abs defined, which is nice but at what cost? I feel weak as a kitten. Going to increase carbs while keeping protein high, see if I can recoup my losses.

In the meantime, I need a plan of attack for regrouping and re-attacking weights. I just can't handle the same loads and my training maxes are impossible to work with now.

BJJ (no-gi)

Fundamentals night taught by a purple belt. Did some warmup drills and went over escaping side control, including a couple of cool variations I hadn't seen before and finally the spin out to top position, then darce finish. Got a solid hour of drilling in before rolling even began, nice! Rolled with white belts and the instructor, went accordingly. Went with one brand-new guy who got me in a headlock that I sat out of, and because he kept it on and I was stepping out over his head, it torqued his shoulder into a self-induced shoulder lock and he screamed in pain. Very ridiculous.

One thing I'm taking away from rolling with the instructor was he told me when I am mounted and he is working arm bars/triangles on me, to try to get an elbow to the mat to stay safer. Don't let him get underneath both arms then you're fucked.

 

[modena1983]

Lower your maxs a bit.

 

[TheJewBear]

Going to morning BJJ in a little bit, but some unsettling news. According to my new fancy bodyfat scale, my weight this morning was a sickening 165lbs and bodyfat was 13.5%.

The bodpod machine back in New Jersey always put me ridiculously low, and while an ego boost, always left me feeling dubious about the accuracy. This feels much more correct, though the weight is the lightest I've been in close to 4 years. Skinny-fat!

Going to keep carbs relatively low but increase 'em slightly, as well as overrall calorie intake. I thought I was eating enough at around ~700-800 calories per meal, 3 meals a day. Maybe increase to ~1000 calories a meal, 3x a day? Intermittent fasting has lowered my bodyfat I feel like, and for a while my strength was still increasing too so I must have dropped calories too much.

 

[TheJewBear]

Lower your maxs a bit.

Yeah, definitely doing this. Maybe 30lbs or so.

 

[TheJewBear]

07Jan12

BJJ (no-gi)

Fasted training

Competition class, so basically just straight rolling. Hard to say what rank guys I went with were, since the skill levels have been so varied; white belts that felt like blues, purples that felt like blacks, blues that felt like purples etc. Pretty sure I didn't roll with anyone above purple.

Good rounds in, couple things to take away were a nice back-take from guard that a small purple belt showed me. Cross grip his right wrist with your right hand, push it into his left pocket, then overhook with left hand to a kimura grip and stiff arm to the right as you take the back. Simple but I had a very hard time defending it.

With another guy I was reminded that when I spin for knee bars from bottom, I often do not get my lazy lazy hips up high enough to land them on the knee, thus I always lose it. Also when attacking the feet, remember the rule of thumb never to let your own feet get higher than their hips. Keep them buried, hidden or hugged.

Kind of felt some tendonitis in my right arm after class, I think from people prying and ripping at my arm from mount. Feeling better already though, will get some conditioning in in a little bit.