The Life Plan Continues (Path to the Brown Belt) 2011

[BJJ in Chicago]

I'm not sure how many people read my original thread in this forum, but more than a few of you contributed to the successes that I've made because of my first log. For reference, I've copied my first post in my original log and will comment on it after.(flab to fight ready... post college plan - Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums

hey guys and gals,

I just graduated college and I'm weighing in at 220lbs and i'm about 6'1" - 6'2" (the latter is on a good day). I was down around 215, but i've recently begun taking creatine and i've put on about 5 lbs on water weight... at risk of being photoshopped, i might put some pictures on here as to track my aesthetic progress...

i figure if i start keeping a log on here of what I'm doing every day, then I'll have even MORE motivation to continue working out every day to get in shape. I'm currently living in northern indiana where there is NOWHERE, and i mean NOWHERE to train in any sort of kickboxing, wrestling, jiujitsu, or judo... maybe i'll join a boxing gym soon enough, but for now, its the YMCA (a brand new AMAZING facility)..


Thats all for now... hopefully I can keep this thing going all summer and into my teaching career and then even into me moving to chicago next year where I can really start training!

Any input would be great! :icon_twis

Summary: I found a few guys who did jiu jitsu back where my parents lived and trained with them a bit while lifting heavily. I watched my strength increase a lot but I wasn't gaining too much skill by only rolling once or twice a week and training with 3 other guys. Then I moved up near Chicago, but didn't have money to train for a long time so I continued lifting weights as much as possible and getting into more grappling oriented workouts. Finally, I have the money and independence necessary to eat, train, and generally live the way that I want to. The last log chronicled one of the most intense periods of change in my entire life.. hope you enjoyed the ride... I did.

CHANGES (v1.0):

The difference between the first log and this is:

• I've moved to Chicago and live on my own
• I have jobs that more than pay for me to live and train
• I have exponentially improved my overall nutrition
• I weigh 193lbs. (still a little flabby, but a lot of lean muscle)
• I have an AMAZING gym that I train bjj and kickboxing (Torres Martial Arts for any of you in the area)

CHANGES (v2.0):

• I am married
• I work as a strength and conditioning coach for our school
• I have exponentially improved my overall nutrition.. even more.
• I weigh 200lbs. LOTS of lean muscle. More definition on my body than ever before.
• Still train @ Torres and love it there.

Overall GOALS(*edited 2/17/09*):

• Compete in 2-3 tournaments this year
• Take one tournament 'off' and help others compete
• Work on takedowns
• Work just as much on conditioning as strength
• Win a tournament @ blue belt
  
  Lifting goals for 2009 (current training maxes in parentheses):
  • Deadlift 550 (505)
  • Squat 455 (405)
  • Bench 275 (225)
  • Press 200 (170)
  
  
  Strength and Conditioning - Current 1rm / Current Rep Maxes:
  Bench - 1x230 (12/24/07) 8x215 (3/23/09) 10x200 (1/30/09)
  Press - 2x175 (6/14/09) 9x160 (4/10) 11x145 (8/29/09)
  Squat - 1x405 (6/16/09) 7x345 (6/7/09) 10x300 (4/7/09)
  Deadlift - 1x495 (3/31/09 )3x480 (6/23/09) 10x420 (8/28/09)
  Power Clean - 1x230 (?) 12x180 (8x28/09)
  PL Total = (Bench(230)+Deadlift(495)+Squat(405))=1130 (6/16/09)/1300​

Strength Lifting Routine:

1. 5/3/1 Main Lift
2. Main Assistance (1-2 exercises)
3. Conditioning / Explosive Power

ASSISTANCE STUFF:

• Close-Grip Bench Press (Assist)
• Weighted Dips (Assist)
• Medicine Ball Throws / Plyo Pushups (Power)
• Stiff-Leg Deadlift (Assist)
• Weighted Pullups / Chinups (Assist)
• Rows (Assist)
• Cleans / Swings (Power)
• Front Squat (Assist)
• Lunges / Weighted Step Up (Assist)
• Jump Squats / Lateral Jumps (Power)

GPP / Fight Specific Lifting (updated 3/23/07):

Lots with the prowler, barbell complexes, and other stuff.

Really picking and choosing my favorite workouts. So, odds are, that anything labelled GPP / Interval / Core in here is either stolen from Ross Enamait or Crossfit. Welcome to CrossFit: Forging Elite Fitness OR RossTraining - Bridging The Gap Between Ordinary and Extraordinary


Comments:

This log is 2 years old now. Awesome.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Jiu - Jitsu (Gi):

Worked on flattening out an opponent when you are in their half guard:

• Cross Face - Put forearm or bicep across face and walk fingers forward until opponent flattens onto their back to relieve pressure
• Tricep Grab - When opponent uses a cross face defense, grab their lower arm tricep and pull upwards (not sleeve, too much slack), this should pull out their base and cause them to flatten out
• Once opponent is flattened out, begin working out leg.

Rolling:

4x 3min. rounds - Went with two larger guys and, with a gi on, I have no idea how to get out from under larger opponents. Both times, I was able to prevent submissions, but we also didn't get anywhere.

Kickboxing / Conditioning:

Around 20 x 1min. rounds. Full rounds were a mix of:

• bodyweight squats
• Ab exercises
• Knees against the wall
• Knees on heavy bag
• Punch combinations on heavy bag
• Punch / kick / knee combinations on heavy bag

Took a bit of a break at the 10 min. mark and then went back at it.

 

[MICAH muay thai]

the kickboxing you are taking, is is strictly kicks, do they mix in knees a lot or not really?

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

yeah, we use knees a LOT in our combinations and especially when we train mma, but not elbows so much.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

January 9th, 2006

Lifting:

• 3x8 Bicep Curls (40)
• 3x10 Front Raises (25)
• 3x10 Lateral Rows (65)
• 3x12 Deadlifts (80.. wayyy to easy)
• 3x10 Double Axe Chops (25)
• 3x20 Elevated Tricep Dips (BW)

** I'm considering buying Ross's 'Never Gymless' so that I can work out at home, but although I already know a TON of exercises that I want to do at home, anything that involves me putting anything over my head is out of the question as my ceiling is only 6'6" at most and I'm already 6'1". In the near future, I may be investing in a bench so that I can start doing seated lifts.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Wednesday, January 10th, 2007

Jiu-Jitsu (Gi):

• Armbar from Guard (forearm / tricep control): grab opponent's sleeve and pull it across your chest. To aid in this, reach UNDER opponent's opposite arm and grab the arm being attacked and pull on the tricep (not sleeve). BUmp hips out to the side and push off opponent's hip in order to swivel hips. Pinch knees together as tight as possible and keep opponent's arm TIGHT to chest.
• Armbar from Guard (double sleeve control): Miguel plays a game where he moves his hips a lot and this is his armbar. He gets double sleeve control and uses opponent's arms to move his hips around. Pretty much the same idea as above, remembering to keep opponent close.

Rolling:

Did fairly well taking opponents' backs tonight from the guard, but I'm still learning collar chokes and I have problems defending them because I don't know what's dangerous and what isn't.


Kickboxing / Conditioning:

Did about 15 minutes of 1 and 2 minute rounds hitting the heavy bag, ab reps, kicks, knees on bag / wall, etc.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Thursday, January 11th, 2006

Lifting:

• 3x8 Bicep Curls (40)
• 3x10 Front Raises (25)
• 3x10 Lateral Rows (65)
• 3x10 Double Axe Chops (25)
• 3x20 Elevated Tricep Dips (BW)

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Saturday, January 13th, 2006

Bas Rutten All Around Workout - This was damn brutal. It's, without a doubt, the hardest workout that I do. 30 minutes of 1 minute sets of hard shadowboxing, pushups, abs, neck exercises, sprawls, lunges, jump ups with knees to chest. I felt ill after this workout haha.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Monday, January 15th, 2007


Kickboxing:

3 min jump rope warmup
Approximately 45 minutes of focus mitt combinations: mainly punches and knees today

Jiu-Jitsu (Nogi):

Half guard sweeps:

• Push over: After getting double underhooks, try to reach down and grab opponent's NON-trapped foot. Once you have it, whip up to the side and force all of your weight into them while simultaneously pushing against them.
• Slip Sweep: From double underhooks, slide arm down and underhook their non-trapped leg. Remembering to keep head TIGHT to their hip, explode out the back door and immediately release half guard in order to control opponent.
• From failed Slip Sweep: If opponent posts out both hands and stops your from being able to slip out the back door, slip the outside leg of the half guard under their leg. Going against conventional ideas on half guard, lay flat on your back and, all at once, lift opponent with the foot on their hip, spin to opposite side, and land in their guard on the balls on your feet, ready to pass.
• Kimura Sweep:
• Breakdown at the end of sweep: if opponent makes it to turtle position following a slip sweep, grab ahold of opposite side arm with both hands (one over, one under) and push into opponent until they flatten out, leaving you in side control

Rolling:

3min. rounds with Mike and Ken. 2 on and 1 off rotating. Did about 8 or 10 rounds total.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Tuesday, January 16th, 2006


Lifting:

3x8 Bicep Curls (40)
3x10 Front Raises (25)
3x10 Lateral Rows (65)
3x10 Double Axe Chops (25)
3x15 Deadlifts (40s)


Now remember, I'm not really serious about the lifting right now, I just want to do some type of less-intense workout on my off days because when I do go to the gym (2-3 times a week), the stuff we do is pretty much non-stop for 3 hours. The workouts I do at home aren't that great except for the Bas Rutten stuff. Maybe once I get some more time, I'll start researching better home workouts.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Wednesday, January 17th, 2007

Jiu Jitsu (Gi):

De La Riva Guard sweeps:
Attaining the guard - If opponent stands up in your guard, attain double sleeve control and place feet firmly on hips while pulling opponent's sleeves towards you. Simultaneously grab opponent's left heel with your left hand and grab their left sleeve with your right. Place right foot on opponent's thigh while wrapping left leg around their right leg. Push opponent's thigh back to stretch them out.
Straight Sweep - Effectively trading leg positions, place right foot behind opponent's knee (hooking), and place left leg right on their hip. Make sure to keep ahold of the heel. With a push / pull motion of feet while holding the ankle stationary, sweep opponent onto their back. KEEP grip on the sleeve and use to to propel yourself into side mount. Look for an arm triangle from here as opponent's arm can be easily pulled across their own neck immediately after sweep.
Sit up / Leg hook sweep -
Failed sit up sweep to single leg -

Rolling:
5x3min. rounds (worked well against some of the other white belts, but my guard is still FAR too timid and i'm too nervous about losing position to go from subs from full guard.. which ends up getting my guard passed anyways so I really need to work on going for more)
3x5min. rounds (didn't get submitted in any of these, but was going only with other white belts)


Kickboxing / MMA / Conditioning:

5x2min. rnds rotating heavy punch/kick combos, knees, and abs.
3x2min. rnds on the ground and pound bag (guard position, side mount, mount)
1x2min. rnd working elbows with opponent in my guard on focus pads
6x1min. rnds weighted shadow boxing (rotating crosses, uppercuts, and hooks)
1min rnd throwing medicine ball straight up in the air from back

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Thursday, January 18th, 2007

Kickboxing (1hour):

Warmup (abs, captain chair sit against wall (200), jogging, etc.)

Focus Mitt Combinations:

• Counter to Jab 1 - catch/block with right hand kept near to chin, jab/cross/hook
• Counter to Jab 2 - lean back with right hand open in front of chin, cross/hook/cross
• Combinations to work on - hook / cross / hook, uppercuts

Jiu-Jitsu (Nogi) (1 hour):

Warmup (lots of jogging, captains chair against wall (300), LOTS of stretching)

• Slip Under Takedown - very similiar to the half guard sweep that we've been working on. Grab opponent behind head and other hand on wrist. Pull opponent out and toward you putting them off balance. Then slip under their legs like the half guard pass and slip out the back . Remember to hang onto opponent's hand until you pass to back or side mount. If opponent lands flat on stomach, take back. If they land on their side, move to north-south and begin working a kimura/armbar/knee-neck choke.
• Armbar from failed taking back - armdrag from guard and slip to take back. If opponent grabs your arm and holds you back down, lock in their near side arm with your elbow and push away their head. Once head is far enough away, your top leg around and throw it across their face, locking in the armbar.

Rolling (1 hour):

5x ~5min. rounds with Adam, Stewart's Dad, Mike, and another guy. Did fairly well and got and arm triangle and a keylock. Funniest point of rolling is when Stewart's Dad (new to nogi, but has good gi jiu jitsu) collar choked me with my t-shirt. The t-shirt stretched out and we all had to explain it haha. Got to wear my new wand vale tudo shorts and i absolutely love them.

 

[Waxwingslain]

Damn man, your new set up is cool as!

As far as defending collar chokes, anytime your opponent puts a hand inside your collar, alarm bells should be ringing (particularly when passing guard).

You also need to watch out for O putting an arm behind your head and passing the opposite collar across to it (particularly when O is in side or back). He only needs one hand to submit you with this kind of choke.

One way to defend is to simply grip your own collar with one hand before he does and defend his hands with your other hand. I do this whenever O takes my back.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

thanks bro, i'm glad to see that somebody is reading this! I'm gonna have to work a lot on collar defense before I go to my first tournament in March.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Saturday and Sunday, January 20th and 21st, 2007

Did some light lifting these two days, but nothing worth going into specifics about.

GO BEARS

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Monday, Janaury 22nd, 2007


**NOTES**

Just some things that I'll be trying tonight at jiu-jitsu and from now on that I wanted to write down in here. These are taken fromt he Chris Brennan DVDs and arm just some notes about armbars from the guard because, honestly, my guard is way too timid right now to be effective.

• Figure-4 arm drag armbar: Cross arm grabs underneath (thumb facing opponent) opponent's wrist with other arm going over in a figure 4. Drag arm towards your face and lifting placing opponent's tricep on your stomach. Swing for armbar, while simultaneously changing grip (keep knees tight) and lifting hips for the tap.
• Cross arm / face push: Use left hand to overhook O's left tricep (remember to go under right arm). Use right hand to push their face away before swinging for armbar
• Wrong arm armbar: Opponent pulls arm out of armbar. Scoot hips back in with your shin across the face/neck and foot hooking the neck. Throw other leg across face & extend hips

Jiu Jitsu (Gi):

Went over different subs / sweeps from the guard:

• Scissor Sweep - Grabbing gi on the same side (sleeve and DEEP collar grip). Slip back out of closed guard to pul right shin across O's stomach and use left leg to hook their base. Pull O straight up toward your head while simultaneously scissoring legs. Make sure to get O's weight on your legs and off their base before sweeping. End in mount. For NOGI, use a wrist grip and behind the head grip.
• Choke from failed scissor sweep - if O sprawls back negating the scissor sweep, pull them forward keeping grip on collar. Let go of the sleeve and slide arm behind O's head and then under wrist that has ahold of the collar creating a grip on both sides of the neck. Then roll sidewards. From a failed scissor sweep in nogi, go for guillotine.
• Triangle - as a pointer, remembering to grab shin and post/push off of opposite hip to tighten the choke before locking it up.
• Triangle to omoplata/wristlock -

Rolling:

• Was planning on rolling with a number of different people but only ended up rolling with 2. Went with Dave, a purple belt, for 5 minutes and finally managed to pass his guard.
• Then I rolled with Adam, a kid with a pretty sick guard for what seemed to be nearly 15 minutes (3 rounds back to back). He mounted me twice, but I reversed both times and even took his back. I have to learn more gi chokes from the front headlock position because all of the ones I was trying weren't working. I thought I had him unconcious once and I let go, but I guess he was alright.

Conditioning:

6x1min. shadowboxing with weights.. nice cooldown

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Wednesday, January 24 2007

**NOTES**

More watching the Chris Brennan Videos and taking notes:

• Straight Ankle Lock Escape - twist heel in towards their body and the straight ankle lock is nullified
• Takedown pointers (shot)- remembering to 'turn the corner' immediately on concact, also remebering to keep hips IN to lift, not lifting with back

Jiu-Jitsu (Gi):

Guard Passes:

• Counter-spider guard pass -
• Crescent kick pass -
• Crescent pass to kimura -

Rolling / MMA:

• 2x5min. rounds jiu jitsu
• 5x3min. rounds MMA with Juan (started standing, in guard, side control, mount, on back)

Kickboxing / Conditioning:

• 6x1min. rounds shadowboxing w/ 3lb. weights (crosses, hooks, uppercuts).. might need to try 5lb. weights
• Approximately 400 ab reps

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Wednesday Jaunary 24, 2007

Commentary:

Just read a little piece by Lloyd Irvin about the different between intention and wanting something. Wanting to do something (be a champion, get a belt, etc.) requires motivation, which often wavers. Intention on the other hand, is based on a person doing anything necessary to achieve a goal without motivation. There is a large different between "I want to win a tournament," and "I intend to win a tournament." Was a great article helping me refocus my efforts.

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Thursday, January 25th, 2007

Kickboxing:

15 min. Warmups:

• Ridiculous amount of ab work
• great hip exercises that i'll be doing at home

45 min. Focus Mitts (favorite combos are noted):

• switch knee to cover distance followed by right cross
• jab/cross/hook/cross
• from defending punches - uppercut/hook/cross/hook/inside leg kick

ended up holidng pads for Juan almost the entire time, but the tradeoff was that I got to work with Mando, fantastic kickboxing teacher, at the end of class

Rolling (Nogi):

We went straight into rolling tonight...

4x5min. rounds: got my nose/lip busted open real bad in the last of these because i passed guard with my face down and caught a knee

Conditioning (or lack thereof):

3xcircuit:

• 50xMedicine ball toss ups (from back, 15lbs.)
• 50xCrunches
• 50xMedicine ball drops on stomach (crunched)

Wrestling:
Technique:

• Defending the double (sprawl) - block their hips, try leaning back a bit and then SNAPPING down into a hard sprawl
• Defending the single (sprawl) - fight hands immediately while dropping trapped leg's hip to the floor. IF still standing or if Opponent still has the grip, hold his wrists and kick the leg back as hard as you can
• Shooting a double -

 

[BJJ in Chicago]

Friday, January 26th, 2007

Lackluster day of lifting at my apartment... The quest for a barbell to do squats and deadlifts and cleans at home begins today.