BJJ, Strength & Air Traffic Control

Besides the changes in diet you should research the differences in altitude, temperature and humidity. All of those things can drastically alter performance.

So are you saying people at your new gym seem to generally roll to a higher standard for each of their belt levels?

Also wondering if you notice more fat people here than in Jersey.
 
LSD Cardio
Treadmill, 20 minutes, 12.0% incline

Got a heart rate monitor for Christmas, so I used it to keep my heart rate between 135-160 the whole time. Doubt this was ever an issue for HIIT with a 2:1 work:rest ratio so maybe I'm overcomplicating things.

Ran a little bit at 8.0mph, a few minutes only. First time running in weeks, and boy did a cramp come on quickly. Forget why I stopped running...It's back on now for sure.
 
Besides the changes in diet you should research the differences in altitude, temperature and humidity. All of those things can drastically alter performance.

So are you saying people at your new gym seem to generally roll to a higher standard for each of their belt levels?

Also wondering if you notice more fat people here than in Jersey.

Drastically, though? I mean I'll look it up but I don't know man.

Hm, well I've seen such a ridiculous amount of inconsistency with belts/skills levels at the maybe 10 gyms I've trained at ever. My new gym is very big compared to the one in New Jersey with many higher belts. Over all though yes it seems that people roll to a higher standard here, which is great. I removed all stripes from my blue belt before arriving, perhaps rightfully so.

Nah I haven't noticed any more fat people here, there are fat people everywhere in this country.

Did I tell you I met Goon and Dani a few weeks ago at NAGA in Newark? This is probably old news. They are awesome people, wish I had a chance to chill with them more before moving.
 
aw, too sweet Snitz. Someday we'll visit you! I've never been to Texas.

Also, is it considered "not cool" to remove stripes in the eyes of an instructor?
 
I just typed out some really long shit and then decided not to Ath out in your log.
 
Oh yeah, and I mean the combination of all of those things together could cause this drastic of a change.
 
08Jan12

DB Incline Bench
50'sx10
60'sx10
60'sx10
60'sx10

DB Nosebreakers
35x8
40x6
40x7
40x6

Weighted Chins
5
+45x5
+55x5
+65x5
+65x5
+65x5
+45x5

Cable Curlz
50x10
57x10



Notes

-Everything felt good but got some of that achey arm pain during chins. Kind of what it was like at BJJ the other day.

BJJ

Small class tonight, just myself, a female white belt, a TINY novice white belt and a smaller white belt. lol I felt big today.

We warmed up with drills and went over an ankle pick takedown. You get both hands on lapels, and have a low stance as if you're going to pull guard. Pick your left foot up and start putting it to their hip as if you're sitting down, and as they base in preparation, swing your left foot back and drop your knee to the mat. Simultaneously drop the left hand from their lapel to the back of their ankle, nice and low. Pull the ankle and push into their chest with the right grip for the takedown. I didn't get this at first, but we drilled a good amount and finally did.

Then some rolling; with the female and novice white belts, I pretty much did whatever at will. With the other white belt, I had to work hard for everything but tapped him maybe 6-7 times over 2 rounds, never felt in much danger. With our black belt instructor, he usually will lower his skillset to being that of a purple belt maybe when he rolls with us lower belts. At least, that's how it FEELs because I feel like I can work some things, sometimes, but then when he wants to, he can tap me instantly from anywhere. He showed us a choke from half guard that was very cool, involved using your shoulder on top of a trapped arm in conjunction with a lapel grip around the head. Kind of complicated but cool.
 
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I used this calculator IF Calculator and have found some disturbing truths.

Truth 1: I haven't been eating NEAR enough carbs. No wonder I am so weak now.

Truth 2: I need to carb cycle for this body recomposition to work. The calculator puts me at about 3000 calories (300g carbs) on strength training days, and around 2200 calories on non-strength training days (200g carbs).

Truth 3: I haven't been eating enough protein OR total calories. I think I've been averaging maybe 2200 calories per day, EVERY day. I never mix it up.

So with that being said, I spent about an hour this morning setting up some Google documents that list the micronutrients for all the things I usually eat. It was shocking how much I need to eat on training days. I've realized how important it is to break down calorie intake to see how much you really are taking in, versus how much it "feels like".

Here is an example of a training day meal plan. So far I have the workout protein and Chipotle PWO meal knocked out and I am not hungry at all lol.

Here is a small little database of meal macros that I eat regularly. I pick meals from this database. It is very incomplete as of now.

Finally, here is a list of micronutrients for almost everything in my kitchen. I use this to put meals together.

Armed with this new information and plan of attack, I feel that 1) strength gains will come back and continue, 2) lean mass gains will actually start happening for once in my life and 3) bodyfat *should* drop as well.
 
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aw, too sweet Snitz. Someday we'll visit you! I've never been to Texas.

Also, is it considered "not cool" to remove stripes in the eyes of an instructor?

Oh you guys would love it, there are like no laws whatsoever but people drive like absolute shit. Everyone has guns too.

I don't know if it's considered not cool or not. I know of one high-level black belt who demoted himself to brown because he felt his wrestling sucked. There was a threat in F12 about it a while back.

I'd prefer to under-represent myself. Once my new instructor feels I deserve stripes I'm sure I'll receive 'em. Until then, I am one of the weaker blue belts in the gym so it feels right.
 
I used this calculator IF Calculator and have found some disturbing truths.

Truth 1: I haven't been eating NEAR enough carbs. No wonder I am so weak now.

Truth 2: I need to carb cycle for this body recomposition to work. The calculator puts me at about 3000 calories (300g carbs) on strength training days, and around 2200 calories on non-strength training days (200g carbs).

Truth 3: I haven't been eating enough protein OR total calories. I think I've been averaging maybe 2200 calories per day, EVERY day. I never mix it up.

So with that being said, I spent about an hour this morning setting up some Google documents that list the micronutrients for all the things I usually eat. It was shocking how much I need to eat on training days. I've realized how important it is to break down calorie intake to see how much you really are taking in, versus how much it "feels like".

Here is an example of a training day meal plan. So far I have the workout protein and Chipotle PWO meal knocked out and I am not hungry at all lol.

Here is a small little database of meal macros that I eat regularly. I pick meals from this database. It is very incomplete as of now.

Finally, here is a list of micronutrients for almost everything in my kitchen. I use this to put meals together.

Armed with this new information and plan of attack, I feel that 1) strength gains will come back and continue, 2) lean mass gains will actually start happening for once in my life and 3) bodyfat *should* drop as well.

I find that, if I want to see any strength gains (even if I am just doing so while maintaining weight) I need to eat even when I feel full. And in order to get enough total calories on a "reasonable" budget (though I still spend quite a bit of money on food), I have to up my carb intake quite a bit.
 
Oh you guys would love it, there are like no laws whatsoever but people drive like absolute shit. Everyone has guns too.

I don't know if it's considered not cool or not. I know of one high-level black belt who demoted himself to brown because he felt his wrestling sucked. There was a threat in F12 about it a while back.

I'd prefer to under-represent myself. Once my new instructor feels I deserve stripes I'm sure I'll receive 'em. Until then, I am one of the weaker blue belts in the gym so it feels right.

Sounds like my kind of place!

I highly doubt you're one of the weaker blues. You're always so hard on yourself. Either way, good luck with the new school.
 
I find that, if I want to see any strength gains (even if I am just doing so while maintaining weight) I need to eat even when I feel full. And in order to get enough total calories on a "reasonable" budget (though I still spend quite a bit of money on food), I have to up my carb intake quite a bit.

Yeah, I'd forgotten what it's like. My skinny-fat self over here has been totally lacking significant carbs, thinking I'd get skinny-jacked but instead I'm just getting weak :(


Sounds like my kind of place!

I highly doubt you're one of the weaker blues. You're always so hard on yourself. Either way, good luck with the new school.

Thanks dude. My girl says the same thing, but idk I feel like I need to be.
 
Added some more meals to the database. If anyone has any good meal suggestions, please let me know! I'm really into baking lately, especially cheesecakes and other healthy treat alternatives.

This video channel has been a godsend, I fucking love all of the recipes this guy posts. HIGHLY recommend. leanbodylifestyle's Channel - YouTube
 
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09Jan12

Deadlift
135x5
185x5
205x5
225x5

RDL
135x5
135x5
135x5

DB Side Bends
95x10
95x7
95x8

Notes

-Deload; exhausted and irritable...Didn't sleep well last night.
 
10Jan12

BJJ

Same takedown we learned Sunday, got to drill with a bigger partner though and extra reps never hurt.

Then right into rolling. We did 7-minute rounds because the team is entering a tournament this weekend. Didn't perform too hotly, got tapped a good number of times by blues and purples. Tapped a white belt a few times, performed strongly against a purple belt and got wrecked by a small, ultra-aggressive tournament-style blue belt. Finally went with a big blue belt who tapped me once, then I choked him unconscious with the baseball bat choke from guard. I told him afterwards "it's my only choke, it has to work!"
 
Put em to sleep!

My long post was just about me realizing my question is too subjective. Even at my small school there are vast differences between people of the same belt level. My Coach is a purple but has been doing no gi/mma for over ten years so while I can catch him sometimes, he can hang with just about anyone it seems. Then we have another guy who was basically given a gift purple belt and he sucks. Meanwhile I'm a blue, but there's a pretty large gap between me and the other blues.

At the same time styles have a lot to do with it. Theres a purple from another school who can't do anything with me but he's competive with guys that give me fits, and at the same time he gets tapped by one of our 6 month white belts about every time they roll.

Belts can be confusing. I 100% support you taking off your stripes too. The longer I do this the less I care about some stripes or a belt. Really, what's the big deal with being a blue belt another 12 months anyway? The skill level is what matters.
 
Yeah I knew you'd understand. Despite what WC said, I without a doubt am way in the lower ranks of the blues at this new school and zero-stripes is very appropriate, I feel like.
 
Oh was wondering, how does your coach fair rolling with the head BB of your association?
 
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