BJJ, Strength & Air Traffic Control

A couple of events coming up:

Powerlifting meet on March 10th
&
Team in-house tournament on March 17th

I found a hardcore powerlifting gym about 15minutes from my place so I'm going there to squat Friday, and sign up for their raw meet in a couple of weeks. I have zero intention of being competitive and only want to set some BW PRs, compete, have fun and see where my 1rm's are. The in-house tourney is low-pressure too.
 
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A couple of events coming up:

Powerlifting meet on March 10th
&
Team in-house tournament on March 17th

I found a hardcore powerlifting gym about 15minutes from my place so I'm going there to squat Friday, and sign up for their raw meet in a couple of weeks. I have zero intention of being competitive and only want to set some BW PRs, compete, have fun and see where my 1rm's are. The in-house tourney is low-pressure too.

Nice! You've only competed in PL once before right?
 
And oh yeah. While my heart agrees with you and part of me has a disdain for Bjj competition only techniques and strategies, realistically I do realize that as a "good person" and martial artist I have a significantly higher chance of competing in a grappling competition than I do of ending up in a self defense situation.

Plus x and spider guard are fun to do to lower belts, because I still believe simple and brutally effective techniques should be your bread and butter, and with some partners crushing with your A-game isn't doing either of you a lot of good.

Jiu jitsu is very subjective though so you could make the argument either way.

Learning it does help with your defense of it also.
 
23Feb12

BJJ (no-gi)

More x-guard stuff. Actually first we warmed up...By playing dodgeball!! I'm going to miss this gym, they mix it up all the time and the atmosphere is fun and cool.

Anyway this x-guard sweep I didn't like but whatever. Still having a hard time with it despite lots of reps.

Rolled with blues and whites, got a ton of cool stuff like heel hooks, guillotines, darces, arm bars galore, toe holds and a couple of neck cranks. People always comment in my gym that I do stuff that nobody else does. I always remind them that it's probably bc I come from the east coast and have had a completely different background/instructor than what they have. Which is true, and they all do stuff I've never seen before too. Just an interesting dynamic.
 
I'm not super-fond of BJJ-sport specific techniques. I prefer stuff that has more carryover to fighting/street self-defense but it's cool.

I feel the same way. I became completely disinterested in comp stuff towards the end of my training. Every time we were learning something like a flying arm bar I would think about trying it in a parking lot lol I'm way more into catch wrestling type grappling now. Love to cut through the bullshit and find the absolute quickest way to get a choke or cause the most amount of pain possible(usually around the neck/chin area). My training partners are hating me lately :redface:

It really boils down freestyle/greco/judo. If a guys good at those and gets past a few punches and grabs you, and you're on pavement... that's it, lights out, bones popping through skin etc.
 
I talked to a guy about his gymnastic rings at the gym the other day. For the first time in my life, I actually heard a grown man say, "Yeah, I mean you're not gonna do this *makes bench press movement in air* in a fight."

Everyone I run into sure seems to get into a lot of street fights.
 
Are you leaving Texas already???

Possibly, yeah...The company may need me in San Bernardino but I don't know yet. I would really prefer to stay. Despite all the really down-syndrome-looking people this state seems to have.

I want to see updated photos of skinny snitz!

Sorry about the breakup with your girl although you don't seem too upset about it.

Update photos coming soon! I feel so good about the progress I'm not ready to show yet :cool:

Thanks man but yeah like I was telling your boy, I think we just didn't have what it takes for long-distance to feel worthwhile. Oh well no biggie.


I feel the same way. I became completely disinterested in comp stuff towards the end of my training. Every time we were learning something like a flying arm bar I would think about trying it in a parking lot lol I'm way more into catch wrestling type grappling now. Love to cut through the bullshit and find the absolute quickest way to get a choke or cause the most amount of pain possible(usually around the neck/chin area). My training partners are hating me lately :redface:

It really boils down freestyle/greco/judo. If a guys good at those and gets past a few punches and grabs you, and you're on pavement... that's it, lights out, bones popping through skin etc.

:eek: Bones popping through skin is an awesome mental picture. But yeah I'm with you. I like efficiency and just getting the job done as quick as possible.

Also was reading a book on thehistory of catch wrestling, a few weeks ago. Shame it's not more prevalent these days, I'd love to get training on all the sneaky toe holds and wrist locks they'd do.
 
I talked to a guy about his gymnastic rings at the gym the other day. For the first time in my life, I actually heard a grown man say, "Yeah, I mean you're not gonna do this *makes bench press movement in air* in a fight."

Everyone I run into sure seems to get into a lot of street fights.

Ungh, everyone's got an opinion. The gymnastic rings were a real bitch though so I can't talk, I mean I couldn't even stabilize myself on them. How about you?
 
24Feb12

5/3/1

Squat
215x5
245x3
280x8 (Rep PR)
Boring But Big
165x10
165x10
165x10

A1

Hanging Leg Raises
15
13

Notes

-Trained at a big powerlifting/strongman gym in downtown Fort Worth that I just discovered. Awesome place, tons of equipment and great atmosphere. Had about a 20 minute talk with the owner and his wife about a business idea that is in the works with another Sherdogger. More to come on that in the future.

 
I can do pushups on them alright, but dips are out of the question. I just pray that the next time I get in a fight, I have a couple handy, to improve my odds.
 
:eek: Bones popping through skin is an awesome mental picture. But yeah I'm with you. I like efficiency and just getting the job done as quick as possible.

Also was reading a book on thehistory of catch wrestling, a few weeks ago. Shame it's not more prevalent these days, I'd love to get training on all the sneaky toe holds and wrist locks they'd do.

Yea, the bone popping through skin thing was from a story my old wrestling coach told me. The moral of it... be careful when suplexing someone in a parking lot!

I really like the concept of catch wrestling though it does have plenty of hoaky shit like BJJ. You gotta watch some of Eric Paulson's videos if you're really interested. He knows his stuff
 
Thinking about PL meet prep...It's been a long while. I need to think about what my attempts will be.

With the squat, after today's performance I'm feeling good. 280x8 was a HARD set, so I was surprised at how do-able it looks in the video. Looks like maybe another rep was possible too. 280x8 puts my at about a 355 E1RM, which is my all-time PR at a bodyweight of like 220. I'll be lifting raw with only a belt, no wraps so if I can nail 355 at 167 that'll be HUGE for me personally.

Bench I'm in the dark about. I failed miserably a 260 attempt the other day, in the floor press but that is a harder lift than a full bench. I'm not sure exactly how to proceed with this but I'll start regular bench for this next Westside wave and see how it feels. About 2 weeks out right now so have to think about tapering, too. All-time PR is 275 at 220 so I'll be happy with 265.

Deadlift I feel is where I'll shine. My pulling has *never* been stronger and estimated 1rm is around 430 I think. All-time PR is only 415 which is pathetic. So I know for sure I'll set a PR in the deadlift.

Very excited for this meet! March 10th. Trying to get my buddy to do it too but we'll see.
 
25Feb12

BJJ

Comp class just rolling. Went with a few whites, blues and purples. Performance was a mixed bag, I ended up getting tapped a few times by the higher blues but did well against the purple and whites. Got a big blister developing on my instep somehow. Worked a close darce with the purple but I just couldn't finish it so I gator rolled and lost it. Need to get better at these front headlock chokes.
 
26Feb12

Repeated Effort

DB Incline Press
65'sx12
65'sx12
65'sx10
65'sx10

A1

DB Nosebreakers
40'sx8
40'sx8
40sx7

A2

Weighted Chins
+45x9
+45x9
+45x8

A3

Wide Pullups
11
11
11

Vanity

DB Curls
30'sx10

Notes

-Felt fine all around; nosebreakers felt strong especially. Weighted chins haven't been feeling the greatest, maybe need to go back to pyramid training with heavier weights.

-Think I'll skip BJJ tonight because I got my 4x for the week and have a big test on Wednesday then a huge final on Friday to study for. Then family's visiting for the weekend. Gotta squeeze in my 4x during the school week some time.

-Bodyweight is still 167 and some change which is puzzling due to my caloric surplus every week, not to mention the rampant cheating over the past weekend. Whatever, it would be silly not to cut a couple pounds and compete at 165 for the meet. Better than competing with 181lbrs
 
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