Damo Marino's spindly apendages

[ngarauru]

Thursday and Friday do push and pulls.
Sat class with boy then own class.
We do first to points rolling, I don't push the position, just try and keep it playful and where less experienced players do good technique and I don't have a technical response I don't power out. Where I'm paired with heavier partners I use a little more resistance, try and stay tight. We then do bear crawls with a partner holding us on a leash.
Take boy to grappling industries Sat and Sun arvo, I forget how much test there is at these things, people have no chill.
Ran into a lot of good people though.
Boy mostly enjoys himself but is too quick to want the screen time.
Ate too much red meat and feel it.

 

[ngarauru]

Sunday arvo take boy to bars, do pyramid of pulls until I get bored, boy counts I work. Storm coming in so take boy home.
Monday I ask Mrs for a number, I take that number and that's the amount of reps I do for sets adding to 100, if the rep/ set range isn't divisible into 100 I do an extra set. Today she said four, so, strict form, pause at the top, little to no rest.
Pain and discomfort is increasing in knee, looked at surgery costs and it's well out of budget.
No gi tonight, boys class and my class on Saturday, wrestling Sunday. Will hit the bars Friday and Saturday, add either a set or a rep.

Have been using grippers regularly in the office for the last 3 Months, similarly I'll be looking to make my body-weight circuits a habit that I don't need to record. Some scaff was cut down and dumped in one of the service rooms in my building, I'm gonna tool it into overhead bars and dips.

No gi was good, we worked guard, breaking uke's posture with the collar tie, isolating an arm with the overhook, palm in palm, get back to butterfly's and sweep to the trapped arm side or get out to pin the shoulder with the knee and go for the razor or inverted armbar. Then we split into teams for king of the hill, first to points wins and stays in. I tried take-downs, got guillotined, sokay, fodacy......

 

[ngarauru]

Sat: Boys class then technical gi class, we worked from closed guard-uke stands-keep a sleeve and a pants grip, turn pants grip to hook and pass sleeve to that hand, drive hips up for omo. King of the hill first to points.
Mon: Pushes and pulls
Tue: Comp class first to points in our groups, conditioning circuit, scarecrow.
Wed: Boys class, short roll with coach.
Thur: Pushes and pulls in the morning. Nogi class in the evening, working from knee shield and closed guard. Pool noodle drills, sprawl to protect the leg and counter the collar tie. Shots with a partner and resistance band. I try and move with a free partner in the 'rests', lack of conditioning is apparent.
Coach wanted us to move with less resistance in rolls, didn't quite work like that.......
Need to work on head positioning.

Boy is doing better, he's got a lot of energy and isn't afraid of the physical contact, he's always losing position but keeps going back, his koko would be proud.

 

[ngarauru]

Game plan
1) Takedowns: Single, double, trip, outside reap--------------------------------------------------------------sub>guillotine
2) To top> top half, in full closed, in open-----------------------------------------------------------------------sub>dirty guillotine, straight ankle
3) Force pass> knee through, double under or force to top half, knee through-----------------------sub>head and arm chokes
4) To bottom> knee shield, full closed, De la Riva/ X variation--------------------------------------------sub>Ezekiel and bomba/ collar choke variations
5) Force sweep> scissor variations, Kimura variations, X sweep to technical stand
3) Force pass as above or come to dominant position
>If side use scarf hold variation and count elephants--------------------------------------------------------sub>arm lock and head and arm choke variations
>If turtle or back dig hooks first then seatbelt and count elephants---------------------------------------sub>ninja choke

Next ten weeks focus on aspects of the above, watch weight, week 2 and 5 do water load, no salt, nothing from a package.

Saturday is technical gi class and conditioning.
We do elevator sweep and loop choke, then KOTM, If I lose I don't wait in line and come back in.
Conditioning is farmers walks, KB rows, resistance band tri extensions, dung beetles, Nordic drops.

Boy is still doing his own thing before and often during his class, I need to stop trying to control him, let my ego involvement go. When he wants to participate he's really good, I've got to let him do his thing but keep leading by example.

Sunday I do gi check at the Abu Dhabi pro, good to be in the environment and see some old faces.

I've been eating too much, also what I've been eating isn't great and wont help me stay at the ideal weight. Not easy when I'm coming off the darts and booze but I'm determined not to go back.

 

[ngarauru]

I've now got a pull up bar at work, it'll be death by 1000 cuts everyday now.
Tuesday I do comp class, first to four points wins and gets a rest, first to lose four points trains with the mat bully. I was pretty wrecked by the end of class, really got to figure out grips and better positioning.
Wednesday take boy in to his class, we arrive super early in the heat so I do some carry exercises and play with boy. He's improving slowly with his participation and actually talks about escaping mount etc at home. He asked to get help escaping mount......Hooked. I then roll with coach, I need to stay on top and not let people angle around me.
Diet is lacking discipline which in turn is fucking with my recovery.
Thursday is technical nogi, we do 3 minute shark tanks, first to points or sub=change to next partner.
I was pretty conservative and there was a lot of chat.
I did get some knee cut tips: get the inside position against the knee shield, immediately sit on heal, pull guard players far arm up, slide hips back and away to negate the bottom leg.
Other methods to negate the legs are the window wiper or x pass, need to be aggressive for these to work.
Friday I do pulls, working up to 7 sets of 7.
Saturday I take boy to his class, he does really well but he's still really independent. He talks a lot while rolling but moves well, he's also started to work from head stand to hand stands.
We did some warm up then 3 min shark tanks in groups, then we did some conditioning which wasn't as challenging as it could have been.
I also did a little grip burn out at the end of class. Sat afternoon I did push up and pull up sessions..

 

[ngarauru]

Apparently I'm Middle weight which is above 70kg and under 82.3 kg or 181 lbs.

Have taken my oldest gi into work to use it as a lifting tool.
Tuesday is comp session, try to force to top half then knee through forcing to top half then on to Sau Paolo has been successful against lower belts.
Roll with coach and another team mate on Wednesday.
Thursday do no gi session, coach reiterates the importance of inside head position, take note and get to where I want to be a lot easier.
Need to get some hellish body weight sessions in to make up for missed rolls in the weekend, I'm going to punish my body.

Boy has a really good class on Wednesday, equal amounts of fun and learning, unfortunately he only get's one this week as the Mrs is committed to her side hustle and we need to help.

 

[ngarauru]

Comp dates are as follows:

Melbourne open 5th April
Vic states 16th 17th May
Nationals 8th 9th August

I haven't rolled for a week and I'm in a really shitty mood.
Have been helping Mrs with her side hustle and also son has been sick.
While I've spoken up about personal niggles I need to stop committing to things that open me to resentment/ frustration. Recognition and conscientious attempt to shift mindset is key. There's a need to master self coaching and form as many healthy (holistic) habits as I can.
I've committed to regular sleep patterns, no social media, eating clean and no vices. I've also been working pretty hard outside of jits w S and C and have some regular bonding exercises with my boy.

 

[ngarauru]

Knee Shield

 

[ngarauru]

Do no gi class on Thursday.
Rotating three minute 'shark tank' in groups of three.
Rolled with big boys at the end.
Good class.

Friday did some free rolling as part of an ad shot at the gym.
Also got some grip pointers from an older brown belt, when in closed guard grip the guard players hands/ sleeves and they'll do everything they can to relieve the threat including opening their guard

Saturday was pretty chill, helped out with the kids class and then did technical gi class.
Coach reiterated the message that whatever you do in training will come out in comp.
There's some politics at the gym, please is way to small for some of the crap I've heard, good opportunity to crack on with training.

Yoga, grip and pull up work outside of class

 

[ngarauru]

Tuesday is comp class.
I now have some blue belt blues symptoms, some things aren't clicking and some peers are kicking my ass.
Wednesday I take boy to class then do some rounds with coach, again I get my ass kicked but have some really minor 'victories', need to be mindful about what they are.
Thursday is nogi, we drill escaping from bad positions then roll.
Saturday is gi class, we use defensive guard concepts in groups then an s&c session, no breakfast prior to class, weighed 77.6kg at the end with gi, felt weak.
Boy misbehaved, lost my temper and got his mum to come collect him, bummed.

 

[ngarauru]

Tuesday is another comp class.
Tweaked my knee in the warm up roll, got two kicks in the nuts and cranked my neck and shoulder...
I weigh 79 easy.
Wednesday I take boy to kids class, he's still pretty hyper and distracts other kids, the classes are now in age groups though so they're smaller and he gets more supervision.
Thursday is nogi.
We pretty much did another comp class.
Saturday I took boy to his class and then did more gi rounds.
Sunday we had an open mat.
Monday I did a harder body-weight session.

 

[ngarauru]

Tuesday was comp session. 5 min rounds. No rest.
Wednesday boy got promoted to grey and white.....surprised and stoked.
Thursday is no go gi, we do triiangle to omoplata variations then 3 min rotating shark tank.

 

[ngarauru]

Last roll was Sunday 15th March
I've had a tight feeling in my chest and cant get a full breath
GP referred me with a letter directly to A and E
Whatever was in the letter got me through a massive queue
A and E is understaffed and full of people freaking out
Had chest X ray, ECG and blood tests
5 days no rolling and chest and throat feel like they're on fire

 

[ngarauru]

Got several 20 kg sandbags, doing kb exercises building up to sets of 20
Downloaded all the instructionals....
More worried about the welfare of my boy, times are troubling

 

[MilkManUK]

Last roll was Sunday 15th March
I've had a tight feeling in my chest and cant get a full breath
GP referred me with a letter directly to A and E
Whatever was in the letter got me through a massive queue
A and E is understaffed and full of people freaking out
Had chest X ray, ECG and blood tests
5 days no rolling and chest and throat feel like they're on fire

Was it the "big C"? (Coronavirus?)
Hang in there mate.

 

[ngarauru]

So moved family back to nz
No Jiu Jitsu for months
Working physical job
Doing barbell complexes
Got a Bulgarian bag and have been doing the basics
Also running
Also hitting bag again-focus on basics with super bad intentions
Throw everything as viciously as possible
Dead hang chins
Details as I progress

 

[ngarauru]

Post oz and covid fucken horrible shit
Fucken four months back in nz now living in a town of 20k
Continuously getting turned down for jobs
Mrs turns side hustle into full time gig
Gets use of oldest sisters office space for free
Pick up minimum wage gig in most looked down on industry
Turns out few of workmates are gangsters
Give respect get respect ....
Happy to have steady income while living with mother in law

Scrambling to find grappling
Mrs older sister used to go out with local jits bloke back in the day
Her son had an issue with an alleged who trains there
Had to go to court as he was messing around with his daughter
Not sure how I feel but only jits place in town
Convince myself selfishly that people change
Promise self I’ll leave if it’s fucked
Go and do a few classes at his gym
A friend of a friend trains there too
People looking at me sideways like ‘what are you doing here?’
Put it down to nervous of the new guy

Turns out Mrs had a two year affair with him which is why she left town 20 years ago
Whole family has kept it a secret
Dude is in a popular band
She used to insist on going to see them whenever they were in town and make the effort to go talk to him
Never used to make sense but now reading between lines

Mother in law told me whole yarn out of the blue
Dude used to hit sister in law
Reckons Mrs left coz of him
I reckon she left coz of herself
Hitting my head against wall
Took some drugs with nephew
Mrs second younger sister drops dime
Mrs confronted me at youngest sisters wedding accusing me of being drug fucked loser

Had to fuck off and stay with old man for a fortnight
He’s in his mid 80s and I haven’t seen him for years so two birds one stone
Spoke to old man and brother in law about rage
Haven’t told anyone about ‘other’ bloke
Came back to Mrs coz miss my boy, try and get back to ‘normality’

Get to see bloke everywhere I go and at social occasions
Dude is hometown hero
Him and Mrs always big hug and kiss whenever they see one another
No fucken idea
Either dumb or just fucken arrogant
Mrs assures me it’s water under the bridge
Mrs looks excited whenever she sees him
I wanna fucken knife him
Wanna tell her she’s fucken mental
Dont get it
Someone told me once I have a strange conception of loyalty


Mrs business getting lots of promotion
No real steady income but did trip away to promote
Tried to organise wedding celebrant for same time to put a stamp on fresh start but Mrs not keen
What kind of cunt am I

Meanwhile son is super disobedient and spoiled
Mrs doesn’t act like an ally when trying to discipline
Communication break down
Her idea of parenting at other end of spectrum to mine

Got accepted into new job working for local tribe
Glad I found work keep mind occupied
Turns out few of workmates are gangsters
Give respect get respect
Going outta my fucken mind
Have terrible insomnia most nights
Need to get out aggression
Find steepest longest hill I can at 4 in the morning and run up it
Find another local gym with heavy bag and murder it
Get given sandbag and do cardio to exhaustion
Make enquiries at judo club
Start next week

Fuck knows

 

[ngarauru]

Found a new MT coach
He’s currently injured so might be a minute

Go to local gym w bag
Jog on treadmill and light stretch to warm up
Do rounds of basics for 40 min
Then do navy seal buds entry workout

Do judo class in the arvo
Basic warm up has me pooped
Do a shit tonne of break falling
Then newaza
Class is a seniors class but mostly high school kids
They’re gonna wreck me when it’s time to tachiwaza
Looking forward to this so much
Great to be grappling again and learning new stuff

 

[ngarauru]

A year later and I’ve started jits at Whakatane mma
Turns out Mrs family are shit stirring psychos
Also whoever Mrs used to boink before I met her is none of my fucking business
Went to counseling with Mrs to resolve OUR shit
In good place
Training log starts again