BJJ, Strength & Air Traffic Control

[TheJewBear]

BJJ (gi)

Trained at a place near my dad's house, made up of mostly tough Russian-Americans. The instructor is a brown belt under some of my original lineage.

We did a warmup of calisthenics and jogging, and 3 minute rounds of pummeling from the feet for bodylocks. Went with a giant Russian blue belt, got bodylocked once. Then switched and went with a smaller blue belt, where we were about evenly matched. Then did guard passing from open guard; with the same smaller blue belt and he was very aggressive and tough though we were evenly matched again both top and bottom.

Went over a step over choke from side control, though it's with your opponent's lapel control under their armpit. Odd variation from the step over choke I know, but good because it translates into an arm bar too. We drilled this a lot, then did 3 minute rounds from the knees. Went with a blue belt about my size; performance was so-so, ended up in his half guard keeping him flattened out and controlled but time ran out before I could submit or pass. Went with the smaller blue belt from earlier and sort of a similar situation, though I passed to mount and finished the match there. Finally went with the giant blue belt, got swept but regained half guard, didn't get submitted amazingly. Went with him again for a 5 minute round and got a sweep once, worked passing his knee shield half guard. Got mounted and escaped back to my guard, swept him to his guard and got triangled. Overall I was happy how I did with him just based on the size/strength difference.

Overall a tough, long night of almost 2 hours of training. Last time I trained at this gym I got smashed by one of their white belts (that was about 2 years ago right after I got my blue belt) so obvious improvement, but my guard passing needs a LOT of work. I really need to review some videos online about passing open and half guard because I'm getting stuck there a lot. Even in my tournament videos I never pass half guard in any of my matches.

 

[Corrosion]

I really try to emulate Marcelo when I pass half guard, and it made a huuuuge difference to my game. It helps to have a system.

If the guy has the knee shield, that is usually my first priority. I'll either stand in his half guard, angle my knee, and "slap" his knees while knee sliding my knee out. This leaves you with poor control so try to get knee on belly or an underhook right away. Another good way is to attack a toehold on that leg, they'll usually kick it hard and give up the knee shield so you can pummel in for an underhook. Sometimes, if I'm bigger than the guy (rare) I'll just muscle through his knee shield.

Once the knee is clear, I try to get an underhook. If I can, I go to the over/under pass. I grab the back of his gi collar with my underhooking hand, put my head to the mat on the opposite side while pulling up on his arm, and walk my hips out to the side until I can put my foot on the leg holding me in half guard, then pushing out. The highest % pass, IMO.

If I can't get the underhook, or he underhooks me, I turn my hips and pass from there. Some people backstep, I haven't quite got that down yet.

 

[calvus]

Nice job in the tournament!

 

[TheJewBear]

I really try to emulate Marcelo when I pass half guard, and it made a huuuuge difference to my game. It helps to have a system.

If the guy has the knee shield, that is usually my first priority. I'll either stand in his half guard, angle my knee, and "slap" his knees while knee sliding my knee out. This leaves you with poor control so try to get knee on belly or an underhook right away. Another good way is to attack a toehold on that leg, they'll usually kick it hard and give up the knee shield so you can pummel in for an underhook. Sometimes, if I'm bigger than the guy (rare) I'll just muscle through his knee shield.

Once the knee is clear, I try to get an underhook. If I can, I go to the over/under pass. I grab the back of his gi collar with my underhooking hand, put my head to the mat on the opposite side while pulling up on his arm, and walk my hips out to the side until I can put my foot on the leg holding me in half guard, then pushing out. The highest % pass, IMO.

If I can't get the underhook, or he underhooks me, I turn my hips and pass from there. Some people backstep, I haven't quite got that down yet.

What do you mean emulate Marcelo, does he pass half guard a particular way?

I often go for the last pass you mention, minus the detail of grabbing back of the gi collar. I'll have to try that. Sometimes go for toe holds on the knee shield foot, or at least threaten it like you said by putting a hand on it and starting to push in.

When you stand, do you stand with both feet, and does it matter which goes up first?

Going on Youtube now that I have some precious free time.

 

[TheJewBear]

18July12

Weighted Push Ups
+60x15 (PR)
+50x13
+50x12

Hammerstrength Iso-Lateral Incline Press (gay I know)
180x8
150x10
130x10
110x10
110x12

DB Side Raises
(25'sx12)x5

Incline EZ Bar Skullcrushers
40x12
50x12
50x12
50x7

Notes

-Bodybuilding shit. I'm actually enjoying doing this kinda stuff for variety's sake. Plus, I realllly don't like how the bench/barbells are set up at this particular gym so I avoid benching here anyway.

-Missed BJJ yesterday and tonight unfortunately, but back to my old gym tomorrow and maybe Fri or Sat.

 

[TheJewBear]

19July12

BJJ (gi)

Trained at my old place, small group just open mat. Did get some good tips from my instructor to clean up my darce from half guard. Trained about an hour and a half.

EDIT:

Just some more details on the rolling. Went with a blue belt that always, alllways would smash me and he still does, but not nearly as easily. I was hitting some decent arm drags to the back since reading a chapter in Marcelo's book. One thing that helped was focusing on shoulder-to-shoulder contact, as opposed to grabbing the arm and just whipping around like I used to do (and fail at!). The same blue mentioned he was watching me roll and often when I'm about to get passed, I'll fight it off on my side well with good hip movement but once I'm passed I give it up and get flattened out on my back. His escape from this is using the top arm to frame, bottom on the hip and shrimping but a crucial detail he said was using your elbow to frame their chin up and away. If they can hunker down on your frame it won't work, so using your elbow to pry their chin/head up will give the space necessary.

There are so many wrestlers at my gym, it's a totally different pressure and rolling experience compared to the jiu-jitsu guys out west. Tighter, lower, better base.

On the short roll I did with my brown belt instructor, he was recovering from knee surgery so he took it light but still destroyed me of course. One thing he said is that when I am passing his open guard, my neck and head stay up and exposed instead of raising my shoulders for protecting and staying low/guarded. He loop choked me pretty well because of this and made it a point to tell me. He also said I am diving for leg attacks too much instead of securing the leg first, with my legs/hip position and then attacking a toe hold or knee bar. By jumping for the submission right away without regard for my position, I'm apt to get reversed or submitted myself. I NEED NEED NEED to focus on this.

 

[TheJewBear]

20July12

Squat
265x8
225x10

Walking DB Lunges
(30'sx10)x3

Hanging Leg Raises
(10)x3
8

Leg Extensions
(100x10)x3

Notes

-Squats have been feeling miserable lately. Strength and form feel awful and my back is hurting now?? Just feels like all the bro-excuses minus "my knees hurt." Whatever, starting light but even 265x8 felt heavy. I dunno..

-Triceps are still sore as fuck from skullcrushers on Wednesday.

 

[Sobchak]

It appears as though you haven't squatted since June 29th, prior to your last one. That'll dirty up your form a little. You been doing any mobility/SMR work?

 

[TheJewBear]

It appears as though you haven't squatted since June 29th, prior to your last one. That'll dirty up your form a little. You been doing any mobility/SMR work?

That's a fair assessment I've overlooked. I did do one unlogged squat workout, I think, but it was weak as well. Anyway, I know the smart thing to do is drop the weight some more and get the form back. Thanks for the reminder bro.

 

[TheJewBear]

23July12

Deadlift
(335x3)x6
(335x2)x2
(275x7)x2
275x6

Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns
165x10
165x10
150x10
135x10
135x10

Face Pulls
12
12
12

DB Curlz
30'sx10
30'sx10
30'sx10
25'sx10

EZ Bar Preacher Curlz
40x10
40x10
40x10

Notes

-Tough workout; poor sleep and low energy, felt weak and every rep was hard. Fucked up the Hepburn programming on the 275 sets; it was supposed to be three sets of six. Forgot my Fat Gripz for curls so they were normal and easier.

-Returning to California tomorrow. Fatter but with a gold medal I'll be getting back to my normal training routine of BJJ 4-5x per week with conditioning every other day and staying within my macros like a good boy. My abs have totally disappeared.

-However, I also am going to be preparing my place to move everything into storage and move out to the Northeast. Should be all moved by mid-August at the latest. I'll be driving so it'll cut into training at least 2 days I imagine. Has anyone here done a cross-country road trip before?

 

[TheJewBear]

A great, easy and cheap meal to have with tons of protein, is 2 cups of egg whites, 3 tablespoons of unsweetened baking cocoa, 3 tablespoons of Splenda microwaved for 4 minutes into a protein brownie and topped with 1 cup of FF Greek yogurt. Total calories 370 w/ zero fat and 75g protein. Tastes fucking good too.

 

[TheJewBear]

24July12

LISS Cardio, 40 minutes

-Treadmill and recumbent bike while reading for class really makes the time fly by.

 

[modena1983]

A great, easy and cheap meal to have with tons of protein, is 2 cups of egg whites, 3 tablespoons of unsweetened baking cocoa, 3 tablespoons of Splenda microwaved for 4 minutes into a protein brownie and topped with 1 cup of FF Greek yogurt. Total calories 370 w/ zero fat and 75g protein. Tastes fucking good too.

Why not use all of the egg?

Sounds good.

 

[Sobchak]

Yeah, I'll be trying that. The way LeanGains works, it can be beneficial to have low fat on training days.

 

[TheJewBear]

Why not use all of the egg?

Sounds good.

Because of what our Hebrew friend said here:

Yeah, I'll be trying that. The way LeanGains works, it can be beneficial to have low fat on training days.

Basically we cycle fat and carbs. That meal is perfect for a training day because it's ridiculously high in protein, has carbs and zero fat.

I made a rest day version yesterday; used three whole eggs, some extra egg whites, one scoop of the amazing, incredible Trutein Cinnabun whey, some splenda and topped the whole thing with white chocolate natty PB from PB&Co. Amazzzing

 

[TheJewBear]

25July12

Bench
195x9
175x10
155x12

Iso-Lateral Hammerstrength Incline Press
180x8
150x10
130x10
110x10
110x10

Side DB Raises
30'sx12
(25'sx12)x4

Incline DB Nosebreakers
25'sx12
25'sx11
25'sx11
25'sx11
25'sx11

Notes

-I'll be moving early next month, back to the northeast. Good thing I have the nationwide LA Fitness membership.

-Once I get moved, I'll be completely overhauling my strength training and doing a bodybuilding split. My weight training goals have changed, and while RPT 3x/weekly has netted me some muscle gain and the Leangains template led to good recomposition, I feel like since I wanted to pursue bodybuilding I need to have a more focused routine.

The split will basically be increasing my training frequency to hitting each muscle group once every 4-5 days. Ian McCarthy said that your muscles are ready to be trained again after 3 days of protein synthesis (I may be misquoting him here) so that it's optimal to keep frequency high and take advantage of this. My current M-W-F training leaves 6 whole days between training a muscle group, way too much time for optimal muscle growth.

Wrestling

Trained at a local crosstown BJJ gym. The website said no-gi but it was in fact a wrestling class, so that was cool with me because my stand up is very limited. We warmed up and worked doubles off of double wrist control, flare them up and shoot. Then worked off of hands on armpits and using elbows to flare their arms up and shoot.

One thing the coach corrected on my shot, which was big, is that I was connecting my hands behind both of their legs when we were drilling. That is great, he said, if I can get that but in live rolling, it's very very difficult to get. The only reason I get it drilling is because my partner is letting me. He said I should grasp each leg individually, and use more leg drive because I was doing a "scoop" with my arms too much.

This was GREAT coaching because no one has ever mentioned either detail to me before. I definitely feel like I took away good, good things from tonight's training.

Then we did some wrestling from the feet, just for takedowns. King of the mat, did so-so mixed bag with the guys. Afterwards I rolled one match from the knees with a tall dude about my weight. Had a hard time moving smoothly and felt very choppy; got a sloppy triangle and a sloppy heel hook, had to defend against an RNC that almost slid in. Not my best performance, that's for sure.

 

[Sobchak]

Meh. I'd just do Sheiko. Very frequent training of each muscle group, good for strength, and I feel like getting bigger goes hand in hand with getting stronger.

 

[TheJewBear]

26July12

LISS 15 minutes

BJJ (gi)

Trained at the crosstown gym. Class was taught by a big black belt but we were warmed up for like 40 minutes by a blue belt, doing calisthenics and stretching. Did scramble drills then the black belt taught basically a few things from the Ryan Hall DVD; scissor sweep triangle, and pendulum sweep triangle. Good stuff but I didn't really feel like I learned any new details besides one; that is, jump my hips more when I jump the triangle. Like, a lot more.

Rolled with a big blue belt from guard back and forth, about even. Then went with a smaller blue and got a cross collar choke using the details my buddy from Hawaii taught me. Went with a bigger 2-stripe blue and controlled pretty damn well top position. Got the clock choke from knee on belly that I learned at the Ribeiro gym so that was cool. Then went with a white belt that gave me a hell of a time, more so than the blue actually!

Felt absolutely exhausted by end of class. Lungs were on fire and conditioning has taken a hit lately I guess.

Things to improve:

-Use double and triple attacks, not single attacks.
-Always be attacking.
-Use NEW techniques and try NEW things. Stop doing the same few things you've always done.
-Learn and focus on passing open guard and half guard.
-Work arm drags to take big guys' backs. Don't play a bottom game, just get to the fucking back.

Things I am doing well:

-Maintaining top position when I get it.
-Attacking turtle, either with clock chokes, arm bars or back takes.
-Moving to knee on belly and using it better than ever before.
-Fighting for top position all the time, never sit to my butt and give up the top.

 

[TheJewBear]

Meh. I'd just do Sheiko. Very frequent training of each muscle group, good for strength, and I feel like getting bigger goes hand in hand with getting stronger.

I'm not extremely familiar but isn't it pretty taxing? I feel like the bodybuilding split will give me the hypertrophy gains I want and also be low intensity enough not to interfere with BJJ.

 

[TheJewBear]

27July12

Squat
225x8
225x8
225x8

Walking DB Lunges
(25'sx20)x3

Leg Extensions
100x10
90x10
80x10

Straight-Leg Deadlift
(135x10)x3

Hanging Leg Raises
10
10
10
9

Notes

-First time doing the bodybuilding shit. Decided to start it now, so it'll be Chest/Tri/Shoulder, Legs, Back/Bi's, Off, repeat. Big concentration on a slow, controlled negative portion of every lift, every time.

-Skipped BJJ open mat tonight in favor of feasting, and going to class tomorrow morning.

-Nutrition has been perfect since returning to Cali, and already the Philly fat is coming off quick. Calories are 2200 on off days and around 3000 on training days. We'll see how it goes and adjust accordingly.