Here am I..

Faixa Marrom

2012-01-30T21:26:00.001-08:00

Promoted tonight. Still a little overwhelmed.
Good long roll with the professor.
A good night.
Mahalo.

On Pareto and Jiu-jitsu.

2012-01-23T12:39:00.000-08:00

I don't really like to blog about BJJ mostly because as a purple belt I don't feel that I've earned the right to have a definitive opinion on the more technical aspects of BJJ (yes I used to write about BJJ. That was to force me to articulate jiu-jitsu as I was learning it.) There have been a lot of talk around two blog posts (Aesopian and BJJ Lab) that contrast Pareto's 80/20 principle and BJJ techniques. In my opinion (only a purple belt, so that and 3 bucks will get you a cup of coffee) they're both wrong.. kind of.. and I want to take the time to articulate my thoughts on the subject.
The idea isn't wrong, just the application. The focus of both of the blog posts is on techniques. This focus is flawed. There are too many factors in technique: size, strength, length, flexibility, injury history, philosophy, aggression, etc etc. Case in point, from my guard I rarely armbar. A fundamental technique for most players, but with my injury history it's rarely appropriate. I know a number of players with similar prohibitions on seemingly foundational techniques.
The principal works just fine if you take the focus off of moves and put them on movements. It's the bridge not the upa. It's the hip movement, not the armbar from guard. In my hierarchy of BJJ there are Principals, strategies, tactics, and then techniques. Pareto fits nicely in there. If you have the principals of base, control, posture, pressure, movement and leverage (and probably a few more). Then you can implement strategies (gain position to get the submission/break posture in guard/regain posture to pass). Which lead you to specific tactics (sweep from guard/break posture in sagittal plane/ post hands and put your spine in line) Which allow you to finish individual techniques (flower sweep/grip lapels and pull with hands and hips/ hand to the sternum, other hand to the hip, hide both elbows) . If the fundamental 20% are sound then the other 80% will sort itself.
The reason people don't see this, is it's incredibly difficult to teach this way. Expressing a principal of BJJ is hard, we know when it's gone wrong, but it's hard to express what it looks like when it is right. So we teach from the bottom of the pyramid instead of from the top. Techniques allow us to build tactics, which we assemble into strategies from which we extrapolate (either intuitively or explicitly) principals. Because we learn this way, we lose the forest for the individual trees.
I don't doubt that David and 'Aesop' are smart guys. Very well could be smarter than me, probably better on the mats. I have had the benefit of having this discussion of Pareto before as it is applied to strength and conditioning, was fortunate to find Matt Thornton's blog very early in my jiu-jitsu life, and am just kind of a quirky dude who thinks this way about a lot of things. This is how I see it, and this is how it applies to my game, and it does allow the principles and data points they've outlined, and explains the outliers.. which to me seems more correct. This is a discussion of philosophy. Your mileage may vary.
However, there is no way to statistically analyze youtube/adcc/the mundials and get the "right moves." There isn't an answer here, only more questions.
Every time I learn a technique, I think what are the underlying principals? How does this fit in my strategy? How can I string it together with other techniques to create a tactical sequence? That thought process allows me adopt techniques earlier and break down people's games (including my own). It's helped me be a better training partner and coach. I don't know if it's made my game any better because frankly I can't divorce this mindset from my own abilities.
Please feel free to disagree with me in the comments.
Mahalo.

Movement matters.

2012-01-20T07:51:00.000-08:00

This is important, so I'll say it again: movement matters.
The biggest place people overlook movement is in the very place they should be looking at it most closely: in their warm-up.
One of the things I love about training people in racing sports is that they tend to have very consistent measurable metrics for success. I am working with a woman right now who is a master's rower. We'll call her Karin (mostly because that's her name).
I took her through an assessment and found (quite predictably for a rower) that she lacked T-spine extension and posterior activation (glutes and hamstrings). She sits. She sits at work, she sits at home, and she sits in the boat.
Just for demonstrative purposes I had her warm-up as she normally would, sit down on the ergometer and pull a 20 stroke start sequence. I asked her to pull a start and try to get as much 'distance' as she could in those 20 strokes. I kept it short because I didn't want fatigue to be a factor. I flipped the monitor back so that she couldn't see her stroke rate, her splits, watts. I was trying to isolate distance per stroke as best as possible. Then I showed her some T-spine extension drills. We did some reach roll and lifts. We did some work to activate her backside. Then we repeated the test. Same erg, same number of strokes and same sequence.
the results:
Standard warm-up: 251m
good dynamic warm-up: 303m
That's a 17% increase in distance just by warming-up properly.. once!
This is not after several weeks of corrective exercise, this is 3-4 exercises demonstrated and done for 2-3 sets, and hop back on the erg and go.
This is not a study. The plural of anecdote is not data, but it should be enough to give you pause. Where would a 17% increase in performance put you? On the podium? At the top of the podium?
Movement matters, work on yours.
Mahalo.

SOPA badness.

2012-01-18T10:44:00.000-08:00

I was looking for a way to express my disdain for SOPA and PIPA.. I couldn't do it adequately. I'm too emotionally vested and it kept coming out along the lines of "ARE YOU KIDDING?!!? THIS HAS TO BE A (censored) JOKE!!CAPSLOCK ARRRGGHGHHHRRRR!!!"
Fortunately The Oatmeal is a little cooler headed.. and he did what he does (see the gif below)
Yes, it's crass and silly.. maybe more than a little bit wrong.. but so is this legislation. Write, call, email your congressmen and tell them not to be dumb.

more info here
Back to your regularly scheduled meat-headedness tomorrow.
Mahalo.

More meat.

2012-01-13T14:40:00.001-08:00

I bought 150lbs of meat (that is hanging weight, so the actual is slightly less). It's still a lot (see the picture.. the gallon of anti-freeze gives you an idea of scale)
The total cost (including delivery/pick-up at a park-n-ride near my house) was around $600. It came to about $4.50/lb by the time it was all said and done. Which is an excellent value. Out here grass fed ground is $5.99-6.99/lb. The package included both ground, and scrap cuts ("cube steak" and "stew meat") but also roasts, and luxury cuts (which can go for upwards of $20/lb). I've only eaten the ground beef so far, but it's great! I will let you know if the rest is not of equal quality.
I bought it from a farm in central Washington. It's everything food should be: local, no hormones, no antibiotics, no middlemen. From the pasture, to the butcher, to me. This type of commerce can save small farms and small farming practices. If you are going to eat beef, investigate this type of meat procurement.
Mahalo!

Braised meat.

2012-01-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

I like braised meat.
It's a good way to get quality protein in on the cheap, it's a one pot meal and it's meat.. and stuff!

Here's how I do it: (feeds One meathead and his lovely wife)
2-3 lbs roast (I like lamb shanks, or beef chuck). Heavily salted. Cut the stupid string off. Preheat oven to 325.
Very hot pan/pot (cast iron if possible, never non-stick) with a little bit of oil (olive or coconut) sear till brown and crusty (not black and charcoal) on all sides.
Turn down the burner.
Pull out the roast, add onions/garlic/leeks .. whatever onion type aromatics you like. Add fresh mushrooms here if you like them.
Chopped in small pieces: dice, julienne, brunoise, grated with a box grater.. don’t care just make the oniony bits and or mushrooms medium little and uniform.
Lightly salt and use them to scrape the brown ‘fond’ (stuck on meat bits) off the bottom of the pan.
Put the roast back and make sure there is contact with the bottom of the pan.
You can add some sort of root veg here if you like them mushy.
Add dried mushrooms or celery if you like them.
Herbs go in now, dried just go in, fresh should be tied in a bouquet garni (which is fancy French talk for tying them into a bundle)
Put in some sort of flavorful liquid: tomato puree, wine, beer, hard cider, stock, water, or some combination thereof (use what you have) till it comes ½ to 2/3 of the way up the meat.
Bring it just to a boil. Then cover and put it in the oven.
After 90 minutes turn the roast over, and add root veg if you want them a bit firmer.
After 150 minutes (total) in the oven grab the roast with tongs or a fork and see if you can easily pull off a piece.
If not wait 20-30 minutes and try again.
If you can, great, you’re done.

For the worlds easiest gravy: fish out the roast and the vegetables you want to eat intact and throw in a small blob of butter (extra bonus points for adding a splash of wine or brandy here). Hit the remaining liquid with the ole stick blender (might need a little salt too, but you'll have to taste it to find out).
That's dinner. It took 4 hours but you only spent 15 minutes in the kitchen. If you can fry an egg you can braise a roast.
Mahalo.

2012

2012-01-04T14:09:00.000-08:00

Could be the last year of humanity.. probably not.
I will refrain from posting the "That'll freak somebody out some day" cartoon that seems to be de rigueur for all the most fashion forward blogs this year.. I have never been accused of being fashionable. Hell, I don't even make Resolutions for the new year. I don't need to: I make changes all the time.
I don't hesitate. When I see a weakness, or a deficiency, I make a change. Right then and there. Who needs to throw out a calendar in order to make changes?
Changes are far more pragmatic than resolutions. A change becomes part of me. When I resolve to do something.. that's far more malleable. Your resolve waxes and wanes. You are constant. If you change, then you are changed. There is no discussion. It already has. Conversely changes allow you to try different methods to go after your goals. When people make resolutions they tend to get stuck on one path, and feel it has to completely come of the rails before they can change the route. Successful people are more nimble, it may take several successive changes to get me to where I want to go, conversely I may get there in a few weeks, then what? Take the rest of the year off? Hell no, I have more stuff to do.
My life is a giant science experiment. I'm constantly tinkering with the amounts and methods of recovery, training, food, education and entertainment that are a part of my life. Within that I have to provide for, and spend time with my family and get some time to myself. I am never at 100%. I'm not a specialist I have considerable conflicting interests, so sometimes I don't go very far but that's what makes life fun.
Have fun this year, go after what you want.
Mahalo!

kate's log: christmas.

2011-12-23T07:47:00.001-08:00

When I last blogged I had just been spotted by the giant—and very strong—squatter at my gym. I believe that was almost a month ago, and I was pressing 135 for three reps. Feeling pretty good about myself, I might add.

Since then, I’ve not been able to seek help from Mr. Squats. Instead, I’ve enlisted the manager of the gym because he’s always there when I’m benching, and it only took me two weeks to train him. I hate, hate, hate watching spotters who “spot” by helping the lifter with the last several reps. I had to explain to the gym manager that I should be able to complete all reps, on my own, without any kind of assistance. I only wanted him there to make sure that I didn’t kill myself (this was about the time that he told me that I needed to use clips on the bar, but I told him they would prevent me from dumping the weight, and, so, no thanks).

John’s plan has me warming up and then building to a five-rep max. Which, of course, meant that as soon as I hit 150 for five reps, I wanted to see how much more I could lift, and promptly threw the plan out the window. What? I was curious. The following week, I skimped on my warm up, not wanting to tucker myself out before the main event. I warmed up, found my friendly and non-intrusive spotter, warned him of my long-time habit of crying while bench pressing, and quickly (and cleanly!) put up two reps at 165. It feels really good to be strong.

I’m back on the sauce now, though, and have been following the plan strictly. Things have been going well and I’m making improvements on my chin-ups as well (I’m up to a set s of 7, 6, and 6). My PT work is still consistent, too.

I’ve added the prowler to my weekly cardio sessions, which now consist of long intervals on the bike, short intervals on the bike, and a session with the prowler (one lap of the boathouse takes about 1’, and I try to repeat for a total of 15 laps).

In all, I’m pretty happy with my progress. I missed a lift last night, but was at the gym with a visiting friend and decidedly unfocused. The bike in the garage continues to be a gift – and definitely a catalyst in my recovery. It allows me to workout at my convenience and brings me back to the comfort of my cardio roots.

Tis' the season..

2011-12-16T08:20:00.001-08:00

To be running around like a left-handed chicken with it's head cut off.. why left handed? WHY NOT!
Lots of stuff coming up:
I'll be reviewing Cressey/Robertson/Hartman's Assess and Correct DVDs.
Also review's of Dan John's San Juan Diego DVD set.
Both of these are heady, and are not something I feel comfortable cranking out a review of.. so please be patient.
My training is going well. In early November I decided to look at the purpose of my training, and I decided that my focus was too far on the maximal strength end of the spectrum. In short, I'm already one of the strongest grapplers on the mats. I am stronger than everyone <200 lbs by a large margin.. I am training like a lifter to grapple, time to lift like a grappler. So I decided to condition a bit more, and focus on fixing my issue rather than working around them as much. It's been good. I'm leaner, moving well on the mats, and my top end strength is about the same. I pulled 475 yesterday after a long build up. While it wasn't easy, it was never in doubt (that was after rolling hard on Wednesday).
This is what my weeks look like:
Monday: BJJ, corrective exercise for hip internal rotation, dorsiflexion, hip stability.
Tuesday: snatches/cleans/jerks, presses, pull-ups. CE: shoulder internal rotation, hip internal rotation, dorsiflexion.
Wednesday: Hill sprints, BJJ maybe.. sometimes BJJ on Thursday nights. No CE, light general stretching before bed.
Thursday: deadlifts, RFE split squats. same CE as monday.
Friday: kb clean and jerk/pull-up/dip complex, some sort of horizontal press, some sort of row (2x the volume of the press), a little direct arm work to keep my elbows from hurting. No CE.
Saturday: BJJ, no CE.
Sunday: hill sprints or off.

hill sprints are either 2/3 of a block of very steep hill x6-8 or an entire city block that is steep for 3-4. Sometimes on the way to Wednesday or Thursday BJJ I'll stop and run the hill a few times.

The short version (knock wood) is I feel good.. but I could feel better.
Mahalo.

Making your bed.

2011-11-30T13:10:00.000-08:00

When I was young, my mom remarried. My step-father had been a Marine. By his way of thinking the Marine Corps way was the only way. So when it came time for me to make my bed I was taught this way (yes the guy in the video is Army, but the hospital corners are the same).
Perfectly appropriate for 18-22 year old military recruits. Very clean, very uniform. Not really appropriate for an 8 year old. That process is complex and requires a precision that is outside the abilities of most children that age. Similarly his method of instruction: I demonstrate the skill by doing it, I take it apart, I let you do it. Great way to teach a large number of adults to do something, and a terrible and frustrating way to teach a kid to do something. When I was unable to properly execute the skill, he would pull the sheets and blankets off, show me how to do it AGAIN, pull the sheets and blankets back off, I would try again.. and again.. It turned into a full on fight every morning. Eventually I wouldn't even bother to try to make my bed until he came by. We'd skip the first failure and just fight about why I hadn't made my bed instead. I learned nothing.
In short my step-dad failed, why? Because he never thought about WHY having a kid make his bed is a good thing.
By my estimation:
1) it makes a room look tidier.
2) it is a task a child can accomplish.
3) it has to be done every day (teaches discipline).
My step father was so focused on value #1 that he completely invalidated #2. In so doing he lost all three.

So what does this have to do with training? Several things:
1) don't ask your body to do something for which it isn't properly developed. If you think you're intermediate, you're a beginner. If you think you're advanced, you might be intermediate. Simple training applied with effort will generally yield the best results. Don't jump to try and follow the training principles of this guy or that powerlifter, use their underlying principals, and don't worry about the methods.

2) Ask WHY? What is the purpose. Too many people do too much. Unless you can measure your arm circumference in feet, you don't need more than one curl variation, and even then only if you can do 10 pull-ups. Look at your program with a jaundiced eye look for redundancies. Look for places where you're making excuses to stay where you're already strong.

3) Progress, if you're not seeing any; after months and months; what you're doing DOES NOT WORK. I have seen innumerable people (guys mostly) go in bench/squat/deadlift (mostly bench) work up to the same weight. Go to failure at the same number of reps. Call it a day. Over and over and over. They've completely ignored the principal of progressive overload. They aren't teaching their body anything new. I hear the internet warriors now. What about Westside! You're full of it, those guys max out all the time! Yes, but to quote Sidney Deane "Just because you're listening to him doesn't mean you're hearing him." They work up to a maximal (often supra-maximal) weight every day, but they also push beyond beyond. They are badder assed than you. To quote the man himself:
"That's max effort work. You have a close to PR set, a PR set, a stupid set, and a really fucking stupid set."
Be honest with yourself, are you there? Is that how you need to train? If you're an athlete in a sport that doesn't rhyme with schmower schmlifting the answer is probably not. It's ok to work up to a top set, but unless you're willing to pop a blood vessel in your eye every time out you might want to back off and get a little volume in.

4) "Because I've always done it this way" is the bugaboo of efficiency. If you do things because it's the only way you know how, you don't really know how to do things. Read the work of people you disagree with. Find out everything you can about their methods and why, and keep your yap shut. If you see flaws, make note of them, and don't repeat the mistakes. If you don't maybe you're the one that is wrong.

Sometimes the best learning experiences come from the worst teachers.
Mahalo

Kate's log turkey day edition.

2011-11-30T09:41:00.000-08:00

A week ago, I asked John for a new workout plan, as I was getting antsy to start moving some real weight. He broke my workouts up into a 3-day split: upper, lower, and full-body. My new workout schedule looks like this:
Monday: Bike 2 x 20’
Tuesday: Lower—BSS and 1-Leg RDL, Split Squats
Wednesday: off
Thursday: 5 x 2’ / 2’
Friday: Upper—Chin Ups, Bench, 1-Arm OHP, 1-Arm Cable Rows
Saturday: 30” / 60” / 90” intervals with 2x rest
Sunday: Full body: Push Ups, Chin Ups, Lunges, Seated Clean and Press, Incline DB Bench, Face Pulls

John added some exercises to my core / pre-hab (can I lose the RE-hab now?) work, including clamshells and hip corrections. I think it’s amazing how difficult these exercises are to do well. Fifteen clamshells make me feel like a burned-out Jane Fonda. Where’s my spandex thong?

I’m still feeling confident after my follow-up with the surgeon, though new exercises always seem to come with some strange tweaks. My bench numbers, though, are as good as they’ve always been. I’ve worked up to a 5-rep max of 135, and I’m hoping to hit 140 next week.

I miss working out with John, not just because he’s a happily available spotter. Because Gold’s is full of so many meatheads, I feel pretty awkward trying to find a spotter. On the rare occasion that I’ve asked a trainer for help, they seem pretty reluctant to leave the front desk. What are they there for? Anyway, among the meatheads, there’s a 50-something-year-old guy who squats 675 and does chin ups with 150 pounds dangling from his waist. He yells at himself frequently and grunts a lot. I grant him a pass, though, because he genuinely strong. Today, he was my only option for help, and when I finally worked up the confidence to bother him for some help he barely grunted while making eye contact. On our way to the bench, he asked if I needed a lift-off, and when I said no, his grunt seemed to have a ring of approval. And, by the time I put up my fifth rep, he actually said an audible, “nice job.” Kind of made my day.

MMA.

2011-11-21T11:35:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I recapped a fight night, and this past weekend was one of the biggest on record. Instead of trying to start this weekend and backtrack across everything I've missed. I've decided to go weight class by weight class and give my opinions.. These are only that, opinions.. feel free to have your own.

265: Starting big and getting smaller. This is a difficult weight class to handicap as anytime you put 4oz gloves on 230-290 lb athletes things change rather readily.
Big dog:
Junior Dos Santos (for now)
Ups: good pop, technical striking and the ability to get up off his back.
Downs: hasn't fought a heavyweight wrestler who wanted to wrestle him yet.
On his tail:
Lesner: See above. We know he CAN take a punch, but he doesn't. That has to improve.
Velasquez: looked very rusty in the JDS fight. Could be rust, could be a talent gap.. we will find out.
Prospect:
Daniel Cormier: seems hard to call a 32 year old a 'prospect' but Cormier is just that. Looked good in his fights, but is still very damn green. The only thing that might save him is that heavyweights tend to mature later. Well see where he's at when he takes on Barnett.
Dark Horse:
Josh Barnett: Hard to count out the baby faced assassin. He has all the tools, but tends to fight up or down to his competition. I'd like to see him get into the deeper water of the UFC and see if that will raise his level.

205
Once again big guys with small gloves make keeping a clean sheet pretty difficult, combine that with a weight cut that keeps the doughy guys to a minimum and this weight class is a mess.. well except for...
Big Dog:
Jon Jones:
Ups: Dangerous in all areas. Crazy reach, crazy fast. Great greco style that gives dirty boxers fits. Great corner that breaks down his opponents into simple puzzles that Jones can pick apart.
Downs: Chin is untested (which says a lot for his elusiveness). Guard game is untested (because no one can put him on his back). Maybe there is a sword that can cut through the Gordian knot that is Jon Jones, but I don't see it.
On his tail:
Rashad: They haven't fought, but Greg Jackson and Jon Jones know every chink and hole in Rashad's armor. I can't see him getting inside, and I can't see him taking Jones down. Looks to me like Rashad should talk to Rich Franklin about the merits of gatekeepership.
Machida: Lyoto has a shot at beating Jones only because he's so unorthodox he has a shot at beating anyone who hasn't personally figured him out. That said Jones' reach is a real problem for Machida.
Prospect:
Phil Davis: not very imaginative, but this is a tough weight class. Guys run in streaks all the time (just ask Ryan Bader). Phil has great wrestling, everything else is coming along, and he genuinely seems to enjoy working on his game.
Dark Horse:
Hendo: I don't know why he gassed, but he gassed. There are reports that he was sick as a dog going into Saturday's fight against Shogun, but then there's the Jake Shields fight. He damn near finished Shogun a couple times early in the fight, and really cemented him as a dangerous roll of the dice for anyone on fight night.

185
Finally some sanity.
Big Dog:
Anderson.
Ups: Probably the best striking in MMA. A very effective triangle from the guard.
Downs: no wrestling. Crazy, seriously watch the Maia fight. No interest in working on his weakness.
On his tail:
Chael Sonnen: Sonnen is everything Silva is not. He's a grinder, he has great wrestling. He has been tested in deep water. He's sane(ish) but he acts crazy (flip that for Silva). So the question is has he figured out how to get out of a triangle? I've trained at Team Quest. Fabiano Sherner is a good instructor. I don't understand where the disconnect is.
Mark Munoz: could happen. At this point I'd take even money on any wrestler to beat Anderson. The blueprint is out there, it's a matter of execution (which is often the sticky wicket).
Prospect:
Luke Rockhold: only fought a collection of 'Who-dats' before being thrown into the cage with Jacare, but finished the six previous fighters.
This is a tough weight class for prospects as most prospects for middleweight will either cut down from Light heavy, or grow into the class from welter.
Dark Horse:
Hector Lombard: I have no idea if Hector can take down Anderson without getting his face kneed in, but I'd love to find out. Who knows if this fight will be interesting by the time it becomes possible. Intriguing match, probably never happen.
Vitor: Vitor is a terrible match-up for any middleweight not named Anderson.
Jacare: Coming late to the game, but very talented. The Rockhold fight does call into question his wrestling in a wrestling heavy weight class. Still not someone to be counted out.

170
Big Dog:
GSP
Ups: beyond good everywhere. Great wrestling for MMA. Fast hands, good kicks, great tactical acumen. He's a wrecking machine.
Downs: durability. Small joints, and has a history of muscle tears. He seems to end up at the hospital or orthopedist after every fight. This is why he should NOT go up to middleweight. When you put on mass your joints do not get bigger with your muscles.
On his tail:
Nick Diaz: If Diaz can get his head out he is an interesting style match for GSP. The question is can he get his mind right and not sabotage himself on the way there?
Carlos Condit: taller welterweight with good pop and a scary good attacking guard. These things are a problem for GSP.. in theory. Also fighting Condit GSP loses the Greg Jackson advantage.
Prospects:
Gunnar Nelson: Excellent grappler out of Iceland of all places. 8-0-1 and only 23 years old. Took 4th at ADCC Absolute 2009 only losing to Xande Ribeiro and Vinny Magalhaes. Has taken the past year off to train for ADCC 2011 this year he ran into Xande and André Galvão (no shame in losing to either of those guys). Should be back on the fight scene soon.
Douglas Lima: Very young, lots of fights against who-dat opposition. Couple good wins in Bellator. It will be interesting to see how he fairs against...
Ben Askren: He looked horrible against Jay Hieron, but still won the fight, but you can't forget; styles make fights. Hieron's style was tailor made to neutralize Askren. It will be interesting to see how he responds to the near loss experience. He's in the right camp for a guy with crazy good wrestling and no stand-up.
Tyron Woodly: Great athlete, good wrestling, last three fights against very strong guys.
Rory MacDonald: he's good and stuff.. I already have too many prospects at this weight class.
Dark Horse:
Jake Ellenberger: too established to be a prospect, too green to be considered a challenger.
B.J. Penn: can't beat GSP, can beat just about anyone else. See Rich Franklin, Vitor Belfort, Ken Florian.

155
Big Dog:
Frankie Edgar
Ups: speed, tenacity, elusiveness. Recovers from punishment.
Downs: Tiny for the weight class. No pop. Not a finisher.
On his tail:
Ben Henderson: Bigger, faster, stronger and more powerful than the champion. Better wrestling, and a good style to beat Edgar.
Donald Cerrone: a rangy lightweight with good kickboxing and a strong guard. Really coming to his own now that his wrestling has improved.
Prospects:
Michael Chandler: Yes, I have prospects in two weight classes that are former Mizzou wrestlers.. I'm a homer.. get over it. Good hands, good wrestling, getting better each fight, and training at Xtreme Couture.. oh and he's only 25.
Patricky Pitbull: 25 with great jiu-jitsu and major league pop. Needs to work on his defensive wrestling, and get more seasoned fighting American fighters who are more likely to ground and pound them.
Dark Horse:
Anthony Pettis: kind of up and down needs some consistancy. Only 24, and if it weren't for the "matrix kick" he'd still be a prospect.
Joe Lauzon: surging, but inconsistent. Like able guy I hope he gets it together.
Gray Maynard: He's been focusing on fighting Edgar for so long, it'll be interesting to see him fight someone else.

145
Losing steam here...
Big Dog:
Jose Aldo
Ups: kickboxing, don't need wrestling if you can drop everyone you face. Very good Jiu-jitsu particularly submissions.
Downs: He's looked pretty ragged after the weight cut a few times. Don't know how long he can stay at 145.
On his tail:
Chad Mendes: Can he get Jose down without getting clipped? we will find out soon enough.
Prospects:
Erik Koch: 24, 13-1. 10 wins by TKO or submission.
Pat Curran: Not a great athlete, but shows flashes of technical brilliance. I don't know if his cousin Jeff can coach him all the way to the promised land.
Dustin Poirier: 22 years old 11-1. Slick submissions and good hands.
Dark Horse:
Mark Hominick: Managed to go the distance with the champ and got an extra forehead for his troubles.
Jonathan Brookins: the TUF 12 winner is more at home at featherweight. The question is was that a weak tournament, or did he just run into a tough opponent in Koch.. chances are probably both.

135
Almost there!
Big Dog:
Dominick Cruz
Ups: Speed. Difficult style. Good hands. Good wrestling. Super duper amazing non-stop motor.
Downs: ? Uh.. if he gets tired? I don't really know. His one loss he got caught in a Guillotine buy Urijah Faber. Otherwise he's been pretty much untouchable.
On his tail:
?
Prospects:
Weight class this small everyone is a prospect.. for the weight classes above. Other than Faber and Torres all of the top 135 lb fighters are under 30.
Basically it sorts into to groups:
Urijah Faber, Joseph Benavidez, Demetrious Johnson et al who HAVE lost to Cruz
Michael McDonald, Renan Barao, et al who are very good and have not fought Cruz.
Dark Horse:
Miguel Torres: People forget the Miguel was riding a 15 fight winning streak at one point. If he can get back his mojo he has the tools to be very dangerous.

Aside: I was sorry to see Jeff Monson have such a tough time with Fedor this weekend. I had high hopes for that fight.

This is a long screed off the top of my head. I'm missing a lot of good guys. I'm including guys who may not be at the tippy top of their form, but they're either guys I think are relevant, or entertaining (probably both.) If you disagree, feel free to post a (civil) comment. If you can't be civil then get your own blog.
Have a great Monday.
Mahalo.

Give yourself permission.

2011-11-18T08:45:00.000-08:00

So often in body composition a person's ego gets in the way. They do what they are expected to do, and not what gets them closer to their goals. If they would just give themselves permission to do less, or more; to follow their goals. They would ultimately get there. However, people get caught up in other people's perception, in how they want other people to view them. This leads them away from their goals.
Convoluted? not really. Here are some examples:

Big time Boss at the company I work for. He has a weight problem.. he's fat, but that's not the problem. The problem is he is drowning under the weight of his ego. He was a high level wrestler, and is an executive. He thinks those things qualify him to diagnose and fix his own body composition. He's tried exercising more, and he's gone on diets, but his net has been weight gain. He's not willing to admit that the way he is, the way he lives is the way a fat person is and lives. He's not willing to slog through the dozens of incremental changes required to change his lifestyle. He's not willing to admit that this is a problem he cannot fix by himself. He needs to give himself permission to ask for help.

Rack pulls. There is a guy who trains at my gym. He's pretty strong.. I think. He benches a lot. The only lower body movement I have seen him do is rack pulls. Very HIGH rack pulls. Like 2-3 inches above the knee. He hasn't made any progress in composition or strength in a while because his ego is in the way. Doesn't matter how much weight you pull if you're only moving it 4 inches. The time under tension is going to be minuscule (not to mention the fact that your muscles aren't actually moving) so he's not making any progress. If he gave himself permission to peel some of the weight off of the bar and actually move it he'd do much better.

Biggest loser. I watch this show, not because I think their methods are great.. or even good. I think that putting people into a pressure cooker like that and isolating them from their problems is not going to lead to long term success. I watch the show because it is an excellent way to look into the minds and emotions of sedentary people. To see why people give up and stop exercising and resign themselves to sloth, and unhappiness. A vast majority of these people say "I just don't have time to exercise." They have kids, and I'll admit that kids take time (I have one and he's three hands full). Kids take energy. These people need to give themselves permission to say "I'm going to the gym and the kids will have to be without me for 4-6 hours a week." That doesn't mean that my kids aren't important. It means they deserve a mom/dad who is happy and healthy and alive (figuratively and literally). They need to give themselves permission to be something other than supermom/dad, and ultimately they will end up being a better parent, longer.

Birthday cake. I never eat birthday cake around the office, and rarely elsewhere. It's usually not good, and I save my "off menu" items for things that I really enjoy, and times that have meaning for me (but we'll get to that in a minute). People get feisty (or do before they know me very well) . Overtly they say something about "It's {someone's} birthday, you can have a piece" as if that person will have a better birthday if I eat cake. Internally the truth is; that cake isn't very good, and they know it's a big ole bomb of not nutrition that they themselves don't want to eat.. or at least know they shouldn't and they'd feel better about it if they can make it "normal." They haven't given themselves permission to turn it down.. but I have.

Turkey day. Body composition is about net, not gross. If I gain 3 lbs over thanksgiving weekend, but lose 5 during November, I've still lost weight. This is generally my plan for this month. I eat quite strictly 27 out of the 30 days of the month, and Thursday thru Sunday I indulge. Not in whatever I want, but in the things that I fantasize about the other 11 months of the year. Cornbread stuffing, sweet potato pie, probably a few other thing. It's thanksgiving. It is important, and wouldn't feel the same without those dishes. Those foods take me back home, and they are a part of my history and culture. I want to share them with my family. However, I'm not going to eat a bunch of rolls and stuffing and pecan pie that I don't like. I'm going to make it count. I'm going to give myself permission to have the important things. The things I like. The things I would feel deprived without, and then Monday, it's right back on the horse. It's not a moral failing to have a few things that I don't normally eat, it's Thanksgiving, and that doesn't happen very often. The key is that it doesn't start on the 18th. It starts on the 24th. It doesn't end on the 30th, it ends on the 27th.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving,
Mahalo

Kate's Log 11/7/11

2011-11-07T09:45:00.000-08:00

I am the 1% I’m not the most humble person in the world; perhaps you’ve noticed? Where my husband can happily work out all alone in the basement gym, I prefer a crowded gym, surrounded by grunts and whimpers, squat racks and treadmills, spandex and wrist straps. And the truly flammable part of this lame confession is that I like it when people at the gym stare. Hell, I stare wide-eyed at the guy who squatted (for reps!) 700 pounds the other day. So, yeah, I definitely get a little validation from my (sparse) fan club, mostly comprised of octogenarians who come to workout, if only to get away, I presume, from the old ball and chain; after all, one would be hard pressed to call what they do, “exercise”. In any case, I know they cast an occasional glance my way and this does not bother me in the least. Every once in a while, they offer an appraisal of my efforts. Just yesterday, I was completing my last set of chin-ups. At this particular moment, I struggled to get my chin over the bar and a slightly-older-than-middle-age man stood patiently at the stack, watching. When I finished—successfully—the man turned to me and said, “you know that only 1% of women in the world can do an actual chin up. Good for you!” Well, there you go. I am the 1%. This factlette is very satisfying, but I sure wish it would pay my mortgage. In any case, my workouts are going really well. I did tweak my back last week, picking up Wyatt, but I also came down with Strep Throat. Thus, I took a bit more rest than usual and am feeling (almost) great. John has changed things up this week. My long intervals on the bike are increasing slowly, with the goal of getting to 2 x 20’. Holy hell; this is hard! My former self absolutely loved cardio: steady state, AT, HIIT. I was a hamster, frolicking on the stair stepper or the erg, relying on my sweat as in indicator of effort. Today, however, I’d much rather be swinging my kettle bell or lunging my way around the boathouse bays. Note to self: this does not jib with the whole, “maybe someday I’ll do an Ironman” thing. Emphasis on maybe. John also changed up my shorter intervals into a much more interesting, less mentally challenging protocol: 30” on / 60” off, 60” on / 2’ off, 90” on / 2’ off (x 3). I love these kinds of intervals because they are just as physically taxing without the mental anguish of repetition. This bike has been such a great tool; nothing hurts when I ride, which cannot be said for any other cardio equipment. I’m ready, I think, to adjust the bike to a more typical set up for a competitive cyclist (or someone who just wishes to be more efficient). The main change to my lifting has been to add some weight to my lunges. I’m now completing multiple sets of static lunges with weights hung from a dip belt. While the lift itself is awkward, it’s a great way to load my lunges without putting any pressure on my spine. I’m up to a few warm up sets followed by 4 sets at 30 pounds. I’m also ready to start adding some weight to my bench press, but am holding myself back for now. I want to focus on one new thing at a time, so that I can absolutely pin point what, if anything, causes pain or discomfort. We have a fairly predictable cycle now, so that changes (both big and small) with specific aspects of my recovery occur every few weeks: load lunges, alter interval protocol, increase bench press, add some additional PT / Prehab exercises.

Fish Fraud!

2011-10-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

I am breaking the World Series hiatus because this story was too much to keep quiet about:
According to this interview up to 48% of fish served in restaurants in the Boston area are not the species reported on the menu. Percentages for mislabeled fish in Grocery stores was much lower, but is still an annoyingly high 15% .
Both of these studies were done in the particularly Seafood savvy markets of Boston, and here in the PNW. I shudder to think what the percentages are in parts of the country where the chances of a commercial fisherman walking in off the street is much lower.
Substituting tilapia for red snapper is ridiculous! Tilapia is a fresh water fish, and looks, tastes, and cooks nothing like snapper. Red Snapper is incredibly overfished. If there is so much goo on it that you can't tell the difference between those two then stop using (or pretending to use) such high demand species. Just tell people the truth.
Ask questions, know your fish, buy whole when you can, and shop at reputable purveyors.
Mahalo.

Redbirds..

2011-10-18T10:27:00.000-07:00

No blog post this week, the cardinals are in the world series.
Sorry.

There are no picky cavemen.

2011-10-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was watching a great show/documentary called 'I caveman' on the Discovery channel. Two things struck me about that show. The first was "holy sh#t is that Robb Wolf?!!?" (yes, yes it is). The second thing that struck me were the two women who failed to make it through the show were picky eaters. There is an old axiom among outdoors folks: in a survival situation picky eaters die. I was thinking about that, and what a luxury it is to decide to be a vegetarian/vegan/picky eater. Only people with an excess of calories available to them can choose to disregard some of the most calorie and nutrient dense foods available to us (which doesn't make it right or wrong, it's just a privledge).
I was pondering all this while I was feeding the kiddo. He looked right at me, picked up a piece of food, made a 'yuck' face and hucked it across the room. For the rest of the meal he would not eat that type of food. This make me crazy. He knows and I know, that he ate that food yesterday, and tomorrow that food will be fine, but not today. Almost any parent will tell you this behavior causes an unreasonable emotional reaction even in the most controlled of parents (I have seen it, it's not just me). I always wondered why. Then it hit me.. could it be because picky eaters starve? Could it be my inner cave-monkey is panicked that by refusing to eat what's available today the offspring (and thus my very reason for existing) is going to starve?
So what does this have to do with fitness? Sabotage.
Every person who has lost fat, and gotten fit has at least one relative (mother, father, spouse) who fretted and sometimes actively sabotaged their efforts. Often the person doesn't really know why they are doing it. It's that damn cave-monkey in our brains. The same one that thinks we need to eat as much salt, fat, and sugar as we can get our (slightly) evolved monkey paws on for the coming winter (that probably isn't). That inner monkey is also screaming; "He/you/their loved one is off its rocker! he's going to starve to death! doesn't he know about WINTER!!!!"
It makes them uneasy, and that uneasiness manifests in all kinds of weird behaviors. This is also why people fret so much over exclusionary diets, often in spite of all manner of good information and data. Every person who has ever been a vegetarian/vegan/done atkins, or gone paleo has heard a relative say "that can't be good for you." When pressed they can't really tell you why not.
I think a lot of closed minded people (myself included) have simply pointed and said "WEAKNESS! Crab-person! you want to drag me back into the bucket!" To an extent that is true for casual acquaintances, but your true friends and loved ones (I would hope) see what you're doing as positive, but worry. They can't shake their evolutionary response. So what do you do? What are the take-aways to all of this?
First, don't "come out" with every change you make in your diet. Some people feel the need to have a big coming out party every time they're trying something new, it's ok to just say "I'm trying this out, I'll probably go back in a few weeks" even if you don't think you ever will.
Second, don't try to reason away their fears. Talk in emotional terms. Appeal to their emotions, talk about how good you do/will feel once you've done whatever. Talk about milestones you've reached already.
Third, don't become a zealot (particularly till you've tested a diet out for a while). Don't offer advice. If someone asks, answer their questions, but remember diet is a very emotional thing. People assume that if you judge their diet inferior, that you judge them similarly.
Finally, don't be so damned pedantic. Unless you're cutting weight for a sport or competition, you can have a (very small) piece of grandma's pie on Thanksgiving, don't make it a weekly thing, but once a month, once every few months is not going to kill you. If you are excluding foods for reasons other than weight loss, you don't have to explain, just say 'no thank you.'

Mahalo.

Kate's log 10/3

2011-10-06T09:21:00.001-07:00

I was on a fast train to Slump City over here and I’m fairly certain my sob story is completely cliché, both in it’s cry-for-pity-ness and it’s, well, typical-ness. Recovery sucks just as much emotionally as it does physically, and I’m going to tell you about it.

More than anyone I know, with the possible exception of my beloved, I am completely in tune with my body. This, accompanied by a keen flair for drama, keeps me pretty tightly wound these days. I know all of my body’s tweaks; I know what works and what doesn’t, what I should be doing and what I most definitely should not be doing. I know exactly what feels right, sore, strong, tingly, tight, stretched, or strained. And, usually, I know a completely valid, physiologically logical explanation for everything, and as long as I can explain something and craft a plan of resolution, I’m good. Until now; I’m not good. Two weeks ago, I was on top of the world: I was moving well, making noticeable increases in my chin ups and push ups, and thinking positively about the next phase of lifting. Yesterday, I was two lip quivers away from a sobbing mess, with tingling in my right leg, acute pain in my right glute, and the weight of five moons on my shoulders. Please, do not let me be hurt again. In the back of my mind, I know that there is only a 7% chance that I will re-herniate this year, and that after this year, those chances are reduced to 3%. Most people would consider this to mean that there is a 93% chance that re-herniation WON’T occur. But I am not “most people.”

I hate this, living in fear. I want to move. I want to compete. I want to lift up something really really heavy and then put it down, steel myself, and do it again. I want to ride my road bike, possibly attempt Cyclo-cross, and I’m even considering an Ironman, if the doctors will let me. I know that I can do all of these things, and yet I am absolutely side-lined by the fear that this minor tingling in my leg is IT. I “check in” constantly, monitoring the rate of tingling and the origin of the pain. When I wake up at night, my first thought is, “what hurts?” For the last five days, I’ve been worthless at the gym, a delicate flower barely lifting a finger for fear of bruising another petal. I surely have not gotten any stronger.

Thankfully, I have some wonderful friends who don’t think I’m entirely crazy, and who happen to work out with me at the boathouse every Tuesday and Thursday. Yesterday, in tears, I told them of my current symptoms, concluding with everything I’ve written above. Karin looked at my sympathetically, said, “I’m so, so sorry, and we’re here to help.” Emily looked at me, smiled, and said, “Welcome to fucking life. So you had surgery and now something hurts again. What’s the worst that could happen? You have surgery again…” She didn’t need to finish; I already knew what she was going to say: this feels really big. It’s a really, really big deal, today. But tomorrow, maybe it won’t be. Maybe there will be something else, or nothing at all. Or maybe it will continue to be a really, really big deal, and maybe next week or next month, next spring, or next year, I’ll have to go through another surgery and maybe another one after that. Or, maybe not.

Nothing hurt this morning when I woke up. Nothing hurt when I walked the kids to the park for P.E., and nothing hurt while I was outside playing with Wyatt. No tingling, no sharp pain, no tightness. Maybe tomorrow, it will hurt again. Indeed, however, maybe not.

For the record, this week’s workouts were nothing to write home about. My in-the-gym workouts were the standard fare, with no improvements or changes in routine. My workouts on the bike were downright lackluster. On Saturday, I did another round of 10 sets of 30” on / 1’ off. Usually, I get my HR to ~155 on these, but this week I was barely hitting 150 (my resting HR is 42, so 155 is pretty high for me). And on Monday, I did 12’ / 10’/ 8’ with 4’ rest between each round. Typically, this workout gets me into the low 130’s but again, I couldn’t break 130 until the last 2 minutes of each round. I’m assuming this means I’m tired (I am) and that I’ve been working hard (I have) and that I need a rest (I do). So I’m taking my rest day today, Wednesday, and tomorrow will be a little lighter than usual.

Onward and upward.

Some notes on my training.

2011-10-05T09:38:00.001-07:00

Training has been going pretty well.
My strength numbers are pretty consistent, but I've decided to really focus some on my torso strength, so we'll see what rewards that will reap.
Pulled my psoas pretty badly on sunday, I'm working that out. Not an injury, just an owwie, but it's inspired a blog post that I'm working up.. keep eyes open for that.
Jiu-jitsu has been going very well. In the last 4 classes I have rolled with 5 black belts and 1 brown, and am feeling pretty good about my technical performance.
There is a whole bunch of other stuff going on, but it's too much. I'll make a big announcement.. hopefully by the end of this month.
Mahalo.

An ounce of prevention> pound of cure

2011-09-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

I had a long conversation last night with an athlete about a long standing ankle injury she had recently re-aggravated. We were talking about strategies to mitigate her injury, and she quoted her doctor who said "We've been through this a few times, I don't think another 12 weeks of PT are going to help you that much." With which I totally agreed. What the doc was implying was that this woman should get operated on, with which I disagree.
Some folks have issues, joints, muscles, tendons, levers that just don't hold up. They have to be constantly maintained (assuming one doesn't just want to sit on the couch and watch Simpsons re-runs) some folks have accumulated a very high number of small injuries that have broken down joints or tissues, others have had a single catastrophic event that has created a long standing issue.. a lucky few (like me) have a combination of all of the above.
If any or all of these describe you, then you will probably need to manage and maintain your injury for as long as you intend on being active and pain free. You don't ever get to stop PT/corrective exercise if you don't want to hurt. It's just a fact of being you, sorry, suck it up buttercup. The good news is, if you stay on top of your maintenance you can continue to be awesome.
Similarly if you have significant dysfunction from your lifestyle (sit at a desk all day perhaps.. wear high heeled shoes all the time? ect) Unless you make significant changes to that aforementioned lifestyle not only do you have to do corrective exercise to get you out of a dysfunctional movement pattern or posture, you're going to have to keep doing some small amount of corrective exercise to keep you from returning to that dysfunction. To simplify, if your posture is terrible because you sit at a desk all day, you won't be "cured." Especially if you continue to sit at a desk all day. You are going to have to continue to do soft tissue/mobility/stability work to counteract the effects of what you do and how you sit those 40-60 hours per week.
Too often people want to be 'fixed' to be 'cured' with these types of movement and postural issues it's not that simple. You are fixed by keeping up on your preventative maintenance and making sure your dysfunction becomes and stays functional, and never becomes injury. If you have been injured, then making sure you keep that in the past tense will probably always be a part of your training. The up side is you get to keep training, and for 10-15 minutes of prevention will save you the pain and cost of a surgery or worse.

Mahalo.

Spin to win..

2011-09-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

When I was a Product Engineer (Guy who designs stuff) the sales guys loved to take me along when things were broken. Invariably there would be three or four vendors sitting around a conference table with the customer "suggesting" that it was broken because it was someone else's fault. They were being what I like to call "congress polite" (this is where I call you the distinguished gentleman, but also explain that you don't know your back pocket from a hole in the ground). I am analytical. I tend to listen to everyone's arguments before speaking, and not just to shoot holes in them. Generally speaking, in those situations I figured out what really was wrong, we’d get it fixed and the customer would be happy. What everyone forgets in those situations is the customer just wants their stuff to work. They don't care (really) whose fault it was.
Conversely, I was terrible at pre-sales meetings. If the customer could get away with buying a cheaper product, I'd suggest they do just that. Drove the sales guys nuts, but what they didn't see was: the truth gets you the sale, and generally several others. A fib only gets you one sale. It makes no sense to lie, particularly when the truth will ultimately work out for everyone.
So what does that have to do with fitness? Product endorsement.
I have endorsed several products in the many years I have run this blog, but those were products I purchased. There was no need for disclosure. The kind folks at Lemond have loaned us a spin bike to use in Kate's rehab. This post is to tell you folks why I jumped at the chance to add the bike to our tool kit. I am getting access to an amazing piece of equipment for free. I would not use anything I do not believe in on one of my athletes in general, an injured one particularly, and on my wife specifically. If you doubt that, then I worry that you spend too much time on the internet.
When we are dealing with an injured client the first thing we want to do is get a training effect systemically while maintaining the integrity of the injured area. The simplest way to do that is to keep it stable. The spin bike is great for this as you can condition around most injuries. You can position the seat and bars such that there is very little pressure on the upper body for shoulder and neck issues. Athletes with extremity injuries can rest on their elbows, and folks with lumbar spine issues can be positioned in a neutral alignment, and fixed there. All of this is while training any or all three energy systems.
A secondary advantage of the bike is the load that can be applied to the flywheel.
If applied correctly a client can work very hard with either very little speed: high load-low cadence (keeping them very stable) or very low load-high cadence (high work rate with very little tension) this is a huge benefit for working the anaerobic system while keeping the injured area fixed and the physical impact at zero.
For uninjured athletes the two tools I like are the spin bike and sleds like the prowler both allow the athlete to condition on 'off' days with little wear, and very controlled fatigue. There is no eccentric load on either so the athlete doesn't get sore. The major drawbacks to the sleds are: they take a lot of space.. a lot. People training out of small gyms it's not an option (unless you want to dodge traffic while behind a loaded sled in a hypoxic fog.)
For athletes who don't move very well, the push sled can be problematic as it requires spinal loading and it's difficult to coach people when they're moving all over the place.
The bike works great in both of these instances; you can load it up, or keep it quick and fast. You don't have to worry about space or movement quality as you can fix them in the correct position with the seat and bars and they don't move so if you need to correct as you go it’s easy enough just to give a poke, a prod and adjust how they're moving.
Finally doing longer pieces that train the aerobic system is nigh on impossible with the sled. Unless you have several miles of space to push the thing, it's just not plausible. I am not a fan of long slow distance work for fat loss, or power athletes, but those are not the only reasons why people train. Sometimes you do need to be aerobically fit.
For those reasons; when Matt offered the bike up for us to use I jumped all over it. I knew the product, and I knew exactly how I was going to use it. It was a slam dunk. Is it appropriate for everyone? No. There is not a single tool in fitness that is; anyone who tells you otherwise is probably selling something.
Mahalo.

Kate's log 9/12/11

2011-09-12T09:01:00.001-07:00

I am now 9 weeks out of surgery, and I¹ve had a bit of a rough week. I have been experiencing some residual pain for several weeks; it seems to come and go with no noticeable pattern. Usually, the pain seems like a reminder that something is going on back there; it¹s not physically hindering me, but is worrisome nonetheless. This week, after Tuesday¹s workout, that pain increased significantly, to the point that both John and I were concerned.
Knowing that I have an appointment with my physical therapist on Monday morning, we decided to take Wednesday off, take Thursday easy, and reevaluate on Friday.

Monday, I did 3 x 10¹ on the bike.

Tuesday, I lifted at the boathouse, and stuck strictly to the workout prescribed by John.

Wednesday, I took off.

Thursday, I felt pretty good and decided to attack my 10 x 2¹ on the bike aggressively. My heart rate stayed in the low 150¹s for most of the intervals, and I quickly learned that I have a lot of work to do.

Friday, I felt great; probably better than I¹ve felt in weeks. I did not have a lot of time at the gym, though, as John had to attend a seminar later that evening. I did my physical therapy exercises first, and then did push ups, step ups, IYT¹s, static lunges, planks, bridges, and x-walks with my bands.

Saturday, I did 10 x 30² on / 1¹30² off on the bike. Heart rate was in the 150¹s. I have lots of work to doŠ still.

Sunday, I lifted at the gym. I completed the entire workout as prescribed though I subbed chin-ups for IYT¹s, plus my physical therapy exercises. This was, by far, my best workout since the surgery. I felt like I could move freely and I could work hard.

For a week that began with a pit in my stomach, the end leaves excited for the next. My goals for this week are to begin feeling more comfortable and confident on the bike.

-Kate

Success.

2011-09-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

I had a completely different topic to write about, but THIS has been bugging me to no end. Let me start of by prefacing this with I don't know Nick Diaz. Never met him, so I cannot say what his motivations are so the following observations come more from my experiences as a coach and an athlete than from my understanding of Mr. Diaz specifically. Let me also say that I think the guy is a world class talent, he works his guts out, and on fight day is mentally very tough. He could be one of the top fighters in the world.. but we'll probably never know because he keeps getting in his own way. The first time he was set to fight for a title (in Strikeforce agains Jay Hieron) he no-showed for his drug test. He got his stuff together and blew through everyone in Strikeforce and got the strap. This week he was on the precipice yet again, he was going to step to the next level: a title shot in the UFC, a chance to make the kind of money he feels that his talents and all of his work are worth, and he ghosts again.
He's been a professional fighter for 10 years. He knows he has to go take his drug test. He has 9 fights in the UFC. He knows he has to go to the pressers. It's the price of being a professional fighter. I don't think anyone enjoys that stuff. So if he knows all this, why did he miss those events? It's not that he's afraid of GSP or Hieron. I don't think Nick Diaz is afraid of any man. I think he's afraid of success.
Most people are. How many people do you see in life that work the same job they complain about daily? They have the same body when they know what to eat, and how to train? They live the same life because it's what they've always done. Moving forward is scary. Sometimes it requires a big leap, sometimes a small step.. but it's hard to tell the difference when you're fairly comfortable where you are.
I've not only seen it, I've been that person. I am taking steps right now to move my life forward, to do the things that I've wanted, dreamed, and planned for years, but it's scary. I only have a limited time on this earth, how do I want to spend those? What example do I want to provide for my friends, my readers, my son?
What are you missing out on? How often have you peeked over the ledge and not jumped?
I hope Nick Diaz figures it out. I was looking forward to the GSP fight. I'm still looking forward to Diaz vs. Penn which looks like it's now on.
Likewise if you're in that position.. jump.

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
Leo Tolstoy

Mahalo

Kate's Log 9/4/2011

2011-09-04T21:11:00.000-07:00

Following John’s post, I, too, wanted to publicly thank our friend Matt at Lemond who lent us this awesome bike. I am nervous for lots of reasons, but having first-class equipment at my disposal and a first-class trainer to map my recovery seems to be making this endeavor much less stressful.

I had a micro-discectomy on Monday, July 11th. The previous Saturday, after having suffered increased leg pain throughout the week, I found myself on the floor unable to get back up. Fortuitously, a friend was visiting and John had just arrived home. It was quickly decided that Emily would bring me to the ER, where I underwent several X-rays and an MRI. Late that night, the surgeons suggested that surgical repair was most definitely in my best interest. As they put it, my disc was in the 80th percentile of herniations. It was capital-B bad. They said that I could go home and go through months of physical therapy, epidural injections, chiro, and acupuncture, and for at least the first two of those months, I would not be able to pick up Wyatt. Or, they could operate, and for two months I would not be able to pick up Wyatt… but after that, I would be fine. The thought of what this would do to all the plans I’d made for my first summer home with Wyatt weighed heavily on me, but ultimately John and I saw no other option. I’ve rehabbed one herniated disc already; it was a long, arduous journey and I didn’t see myself successfully doing so again, at least, not with an active toddler at home.

A short history: The surgeon blames my issues on genetics (thanks for the crappy collagen, Mom) and our very large baby. In 2008, I herniated L4-L5 and L5-S1, but was healthy seven months later and, until this spring, remained mostly pain-free. I was able to row and lift, though I’ve known since the first injury that I would never squat or deadlift again. I had no issues through my pregnancy and only a slightly nagging pain in my left thigh through the spring of 2011, which naturally, I largely ignored until it rendered me helplessly wailing on the living room floor. The surgery in July was easy; it took only 45 minutes and I was able to leave the hospital that afternoon. I was sore for about a week, and then resumed life as normal, minus lifting Wyatt and working out. At three weeks, the doctor allowed me to see my physical therapist. They both agreed that I could use my TRX to do presses and rows, as well as a short list of PT exercises. By six weeks, I was cleared for “normal” activity by the surgeon.

This is what threw me for a loop, though. I kept asking him what “normal” meant for me, and he had no answers. MOST people who get a microdiscectomy never herniate again. In fact, there is only a 7% chance of re-injury in the first year; after that, it goes down to 3%. But knowing that I’d already done this to myself once, I asked him for reassurance that these numbers really did apply to me as well… am I normal? “Not likely,” he answered, “but I don’t think that should really affect your lifestyle. You have a bad back and while you need to be careful and mindful of how you exercise, it may happen again or it may not.” Uh, thanks. He told me that he would not be at all surprised to perform a fusion on me sometime in the future, nor would he be surprised to never hear from me again. And, adding to my frustration, both the surgeon and my physical therapists are confident that this is not an issue of core strength or poor technique, so while both of those things are crucial to a healthy back, I feel like fixing one or both of them would be much easier than simply knowing that I have a “bad” back.

I should note that I really do like this surgeon, but left his office after my 6-week check-up feeling as scared as I did when I went in. I am afraid of lots of things. The most basic of these fears is never wanting to feel that kind of pain again. I’m a pretty physically strong person, and people who know me (and love me) would agree that I’m fairly headstrong as well. So, not being able to get myself off the floor was more than a little disconcerting. It hurt. A lot. But there’s also a fear of the future: how many more times will this happen to me? (No one knows). How can I prevent re-injury? (Be careful, though it may not even be possible). How can I be a strong role model for my son, for my students, and for the women who look to me for fitness guidance? (Get back on the horse!) How can I continue to challenge myself in fitness with all these fears nagging? (And that is what the husband is for!).

I’m looking forward to getting on this new bike and to feeling competitive again, even if – at least for the near future—that means competing with myself. I’m also excited to do some boxing and to work with a plan that has been tailor-made for me to accommodate both my fears and my physical limitations.

-Kate

Of Wife and men.

2011-09-02T09:48:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the long delay in posting folks, I have been off the computer and off of work for a week. I am feeling very refreshed and recharged.
I've been working on some projects around the house this week and one of the biggest ones was putting together a training plan for the wife. As of last week she was cleared to train as she sees fit (with some obvious prohibitions for someone who has had disc. We've worked out a basic training plan, and will post the programming and her impressions for your reading pleasure. The 'we' in that sentence is very important. This is very much a collaboration. For several reasons: the first is the wife is an experienced athlete and coach. She has considerable knowledge of training in general as well as to what her limits are and how hard and far she can push.
The second is in this first stage of training after a serious injury the biggest hurdles are mental. Fear of re-injury is a major factor, and one often overlooked by the texts. We're going to do several things to assuage those fears. First,I'm going to listen to her and acknowledge those fears; this seems like a small thing, but many poor trainers ignore this step, and their clients suffer for it. Then we're going to avoid spinal loading and flexion totally and completely. The third thing is the idea of novelty. I have some boxing gear, and we're going to use it for some light recovery work once a week. Similarly,once she gets some basic strength back we are going to keep the work in the weight room novel and fun. The final key is comfort. If a trainee is comfortable with a type of training, then she will be more apt to push herself; this leads to more confidence. Programs applied with confidence and effort will always be more effective.
For the wife this means more conditioning work than I would normally prescribe for a post-op trainee. As a rower/endurance athlete she is more comfortable with this type of training than strength training, and she is happiest when she is training every day. Considering the nature of her injury, rowing (in a boat, or on the ergometer) is well out. Too unstable, too much shearing force on the spine, too much association with the injury.
Since Kate has talked about competing in a couple modes of cycling there was a natural progression, but she isn't quite ready to wheel the streets and trails of Western Washington just yet. We are very lucky to have a good friend at Lemond fitness who has loaned us one of their pro spin bikes. Very stable, super adjustable, and an absolute heavy-duty beast. The flywheel itself has to weigh 20 lbs. I damn near killed myself carrying it from the car. I set Kate up in a vertical position with the saddle very close to the bars to eliminate as much flexion as possible. The bars are very comfortable in her current vertical position, and will remain so as she progresses. The bike will allow her to get into a more realistic riding/racing position depending on where she decides to go.
Some people are down on spin bikes as a mode of training, but I think they're great for a number of reasons: very stable, very easy to increase load/resistance/intensity, zero impact.. but more on that later.
So that's the thought process. The training plan looks like this:
Monday:
Bike 3x10 minutes just below AT.
Tuesday:
Lift. starting with 3x12-15 reps
Rear foot elevated split squats
TRX squats
Step-ups
Chins
TRX rows
DB bench
Calf raises (to counteract some of the innervation issues from the surgery)
Wednesday:
light boxing workout (mostly at recovery intensity)
Thursday:
Intervals on the Slideboard or using the prowler (pulling, strapped to her hips)
and a 5 minute "free" interval.
Friday:
Lift. same as above.
Saturday:
Bike short intervals 10x30:60 above AT
Sunday:
Lift.

Tuesday, Friday and Sunday she will also do exercises prescribed by her PT.
This program starts Monday the 29th and will go for 4 weeks.
From there we will access and adjust.

Continuing with the collaborative nature of this project on this site we will be posting weekly updates from the wife herself. How she likes the programing, the new equipment, what her mental state is, and the truth about her journey. I think this is an interesting story. I will continue to write about technical aspects of training and the wife will focus on her personal story.
Mahalo.

Times they are a changin'.

2011-08-31T11:22:00.001-07:00

Some developments are developing here.. more on that soon.

Mahalo.

NSCA-CPT

2011-08-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

Monday I went in and took the test for the National Strength and Conditioning Association's Certified Personal Trainer certification. I signed up for the test when I was going work on a day camp for local athletes that sort of fell through, but since I'd already paid for it, I went ahead and took the test.. and passed.
I had never thought about certification before, I didn't really need it. The people I've worked with know me for my performance, and it was an expense that wasn't worth the cost.
It's strange though, now that I've got it I feel validated.. Bonafide..
This is another step forward.. all be it a small one.
I might go ahead and get my CSCS next year. We'll see.

Mahalo.

Be strong, Be Gentile, Be beautiful.

2011-08-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

Amazing story here.
Not just because the Kodokan finally realized this woman's merit, but because of the pure passion and joy this woman has for judo.
This is the true secret to mastery. Monday a friend of mine got his black belt in BJJ. I have seen several people get promoted by now (this being the 4th person I've seen get his Black) and they all reminisce about the journey, then it's sort of business as usual after that. Why is that? Especially when you see people get their blue belt and damn near jump up and down like they've won the lottery.
Well, because it's the roll, not the belt that matters. It's the learning, not the grade. This is not to say that you should not be honored to be recognized as having reached another level. It is an honor, but it should never be the goal..
It is well outside of your control, and (at least in BJJ) has no quantifiable marker of success. What you can control is your enjoyment, and your pursuit of complete mastery. It will come when you are good enough, so get good.

Mahalo.

Training and the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu athlete: part 2 competition prep.

2011-08-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

In Part 1 I laid out training for an "off season" Brazilian Jiu-jitsu athlete. No competitions coming up, just training to keep them in the gym and on the mats long term. In part 2 it's time to talk turkey. Competition time. Once again there are some assumptions we need to make to narrow the scope of the recommendation:

You intend to be a competitor at the competition not just a participant. Competitors have the mindset to win, participants want to show up and "see how it goes."
You are male (females tend to respond better to more volume, and the recommendations will be slightly different.)
You are not cutting crazy amounts of weight, your weight is under control.
You are prioritizing the competition over other activities for the next few months. (I don't want to hear: I can't condition that much I have 3 soccer games this week, or If I reduce my lifting volume my bench will go down.) Yes, yes it will.
You have given yourself a few months to prepare.
You are strong and in decent condition to begin with (perhaps by following the recommendations in part 1, just a thought)
You have been training in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu for at least a year.
You are going to be on the mat at least 4x/week leading up to the competition.
You have 4-6 other training sessions/week to dedicate specifically to training.

Anaerobic training:
either once per week alternating, or ideally twice per week (once per week each).
Methods sprints, kettlebells, airdyne, circuits, drills or calisthenics (just to name a few.. anything that will use up oxygen quickly, but is not too technical).
a) Short. 10-20 rounds of 10-30 seconds on with short rest 1:1 - 1:2 work:rest ratio.
b) Long 4-10 rounds of 2-5 minutes with longer rest (similar ratios to above, but more complete rest).
These should be a pants soiling high intensity. If you can do anything other than lay on the floor and ponder why and the hell you are doing this after, your are not working hard enough.

Aerobic training:
once per week.
Drills, circuits, or something similar. I don't like running for these as the tendancy is to go too light, and does not require the upper body to work enough. I'll give you a pass if you live in a very hilly area, or add in calisthenics every minute. Do not use an elliptical or similarly mundane piece of gear. I will allow the versaclimber, or airdnyne (though the thought of 30-45 minutes on the airdyne makes my butt numb just thinking about it.)
3-5 rounds of 10-15 minutes each. 2-3 minutes rest between.
These should feel way too easy for the first 5 minutes, and the last 5 should feel like hell on earth. If you have a heartrate monitor use it. You should be in the 150-165 range.

Strength/power training:
1-2 times per week.
this should be about 2/3 of the volume of your 'normal' strength training. We're not trying to push weight up as much as stay strong. We're looking to compress rest intervals as much as possible, and accelerate everything. Rate of force development work is not as taxing as limit strength, so err on the side of light and fast. Don't try any new exercises, or anything cute. If you get yourself sore as hell you're going to blow up the whole rest of the training week.

Specific conditioning:
This is generally stand-up. I think this is an area where jiu-jitsukas (particularly in the lower belts) completely screw themselves. The fitness required on your feet is very different from the fitness required on the deck. You have to work your stand-up if only to make sure you don't gas out on the feet and ruin your chances to win on the floor. Drilling grips, footwork, takedowns, and throws along with live sparring are required to get this level of fitness without breaking yourself.

Recovery and adaptation:
If you are wise and plan this out you should have a 2 week "induction phase" where you add the extra workouts in and allow yourself to adapt. If you jump in with both feet your peak will be lower and probably be ahead of the competition.
Similarly the 5-7 weeks after that should get progressively longer and harder and more focused on conditioning.
Recovery is important. You have to sleep, and you have to feed your training sessions. That does not mean you eat whatever you want and end up 15 pounds over with less than a week to go and wonder what the hell you're going to do to make weight. Keep your weight in check, establish reasonable goals for weight cutting (ideally practice your cut outside of competition time frame if you haven't done it very much) and feed your body.
Similarly do not be afraid to pull back your training if you start to show signs that you did too much too soon. Better to have taken a couple light days you didn't need than to be sick or injured and miss the competition you've been training for.

The last week:
The last week before a tournament is a mental mine field. You have to believe you've done the work, you're not going to get any fitter in the last few days, all you are going to do is show up tired. This is the only time I think long easy aerobic training is a good thing. It lets you clear your head, get a sweat and burn some calories. Still keep it to 1-2 rounds of 20-30 minutes. Keep your rolls technical and friendly especially from Wednesday on (assuming a Saturday competition). Get on the mats and drill drill drill. One it helps your confidence, it allows you to visualize dangerous situations in competition (your weak positions) and you can work your way out of them.

Have fun!
Unless your last name is Gracie, or Machado no one is paying you to be here. This is your passion, not your job. Enjoy it. Show up prepared and represent your school and instructor well, and leave it all on the mats.
Please feel free to contact me with questions or comments.

Testimonials:

2011-07-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months I've been working on getting some more training business, and had a very cool project lined up, but it seems to have fallen through. Too bad. I collected some testimonials from some of the folks I've worked with over the years for promotional materials, and thought I'd share them.
Thanks to everyone who submitted their praises, I'm quite flattered at how effusive the praise has been.

I've been working with John for about six months now, and I can safely say that not only has my Jiu-Jitsu improved, but my overall fitness level has taken a huge leap as a result of his diet and strength coaching. I was plateaued pretty bad when we started working together, and not only did I break through the wall I was facing, I achieved my long-held goal of fighting at Super Heavy at Pan 2011(under 221lbs, I made 217). Along the way, I managed to learn a lot about myself, and my relationship with food. John got me on a simple, sustainable program that has completely changed my whole outlook on life. This is not hyperbole. I now go to the gym every day with a new sense of "beginner's mind" as I am now capable of things I never could do before both in the gym, and at the highest levels of competition. Every time I step onto the mats, I am amazed at what I can do now, which encourages me to reach even higher. I highly recommend what he does to anyone looking for real, measurable results in their training. I only wish I'd started listening to him sooner.

Griff Sombke
Owner/Instructor, Edmonds BJJ
3x Pan-Am Jiu-Jitsu medalist
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Purple Belt

After finishing 6th at Trials for the 2009 Rowing World Championship team, I set out on a mission to get stronger. The girls next to me had 2x my muscle mass and I knew if I got fitter and more muscle that I would do better. Our boat club has a variety of people in it and when I was talking to Johns' wife she recommended that I talk to John.... so about 4 weeks after returning from trials I sent off a mail to charter a new course to get more muscle and get fitter. Little did I know that it would change my quality of life, change my approach to my workouts and change how I think about sport all together.

From day 1 I knew I was in good hands. John started by having me do a series of seemingly simple exercises like walking lunging and push ups. I did not think much of it but you could tell that John was writing up a prescription for strength... we have to work on hamstrings and glute and hip strength and core and stability were the word that came out of his mouth (I recall it like yesterday.) Great I thought to myself my bio mechanics are all messed up this is going to be a long road.

We met the following week where he demo'ed all the exercises for me and then I did them for him ( I happen to have been a college athlete and had spent some time in the weight room so I knew my way around a little bit.) John handed me a 1 month plan, gave me specific instructions on what I could and could not do for cardio as well as some light advice about what to eat.

Month 1 was the most exhausting but most rewarding. John and I met at the end of month 1 to talk about how things were going. He handed me four months worth of workouts. John was there every step of the way though those four months coaching me though points that I thought I was not going to make it. Supporting me through break downs and tests the challenges of wanting to do hours of cardio which would have stopped me from being strong.

John and I were a team though for the next 6 months. I was exhausted and encouraged the whole way though. When it came close to competition I recall sending John and mail that was something like i am not sure I can do this I am not sure I can finish this off. Anyway with a little coaching and support I did it I went to compete and I had no regrets about my accomplishments. Almost a year later I am still thankful for John b/c I am stronger, fitter, less injury prone and I have more variety in my work outs.

Emily Simonds
Former University of Wisconsin Rower
Elite Sculler

For the past four years, John has been my primary resource for information regarding strength training, postural issues, rehabilitation, athletic performance, and proper nutrition. I came to know him in 2008 through a mutual friend, and we have been in regular contact ever since. Initially, I sought guidance from John as a competitive road cyclist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Specifically, I wanted to learn how to best leverage down time from bike racing such that I could improve my overall strength and fitness at the same time as my performance on the bicycle. This led me to off-season strength training, and I looked to John for guidance in developing a program that would meet my needs without compromising sport-specific preparedness.
I appreciated John’s experiences both as a competitor (rugby, rowing) and a trainer (multiple power-endurance sports) and the insights they have given him. He is sensitive to the unique demands of a variety of disciplines and knowledgeable of many training methodologies, which makes him an effective resource for any population. Some of the most valuable feedback I received from John was directed toward correcting some postural and mobility issues. In addition, he helped me to build an off-season strength training program which complemented bicycle specific strengths and guided me through appropriate in- and off-season periodization. From John, I learned to set goals and prioritize recovery and nutrition alongside workouts such that I was able to improve performance during my final two (injury free!) seasons during a transition into a new, demanding job.
Since that time, I’ve reduced my training volume considerably with a shift in my goals toward maximal training efficiency for general strength and conditioning rather than sport specific performance. I have learned a great deal from John in terms of balancing personal and professional obligations with an effective training program, and I continue to apply his methodology to help achieve an ever-evolving set of goals within the constraints of a busy life. I value John’s perspective both for the knowledge he has and his creative approaches for maximizing training efficiency, and have found his guidance tremendously beneficial. Over the years, I’ve found John to be attentive, thoughtful, comprehensive, and professional. He has been a good friend and an ideal resource for me, and I have no doubt that he will continue to develop his skill set and enrich the training experiences of everyone around him.

J.Q. Bond
Former Cyclocross and road cyclist
Aspiring Meat head.

The 'super-user' effect.

2011-07-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

Most people these days use computers every day. Some people even get quite proficient. They use a number of programs, they may even customize their bobs and bits on these programs: record their own macros in excel, change their mouse pointers, change the color scheme in windows. They may know more than their peers at work, and may even 'fix stuff' for their relatives. High level user stuff.
This does not make them an expert in computers. In the IT industry we call these people 'super-users.'
Most of these types of users can manipulate, but they only know one way to do something. They don't understand the underlying principals of WHY something works, they only know that if you shake the chicken bone this way it makes lights blink a certain way. They understand the methods for making the computer work, but not the principals.
Working in IT I very often do not know the methods for making various programs do what people want them to do, but I understand the principals behind them so I can generally get the music to play, and if something is truly broken I know what the fix is. Super-users do not. If something is broken, they keep bashing away with methods until something 'works,' or the machine completely falls apart.
Similarly the biggest guy in your gym, or possibly even your 'trainer.' May know methods that work for them, and may have tinkered around with a few methods that didn't but did work for others, but if they don't understand the underlying principals what they are recommending is simply scatter-shot. They're throwing ideas out to see if they stick. This can lead to serious injuries for trainees at worst, or no results beyond a certain point at best. In short, if your find yourself in this position ditch the super-user and find a professional.

Signs that your trainer is a "super-user:"

No assessment: A professional should understand your goals, injury history, ideally take you through a movement based assessment.
Everybody does the same thing: there is one program (or two) and every client does the exact same thing just with different weights, extra bonus points if Monday is 'chest and tris day.' Each athlete doesn't have to have radically different programs, but there should be differences.
Static programming: you lift the same weights for a while, nothing changes. It's groundhog day every day/week you go to the gym. There needs to be progress. You should see changes in a few weeks/months.
No programming at all: you walk in and have no earthly idea what you're going to be doing today other than getting sweaty. Extra bonus points if you have to check a whiteboard for that day's workout. Extra super bonus points if you have to constantly ask "what's next."*
You get hurt and nothing changes: People who understand principals do not have to doggedly stick to the same movements. If it hurts your shoulder to back squat your trainer should be able to adjust (even on the fly) and get you a similar training effect.
They never ask for feedback outside of the gym. One of the best ways I get feedback from clients is by being facebook friends with them. If someone is posting "hate you all, only my cat understands me." All the time: calories are probably a little too low or workload is too high. If an athlete's status is "I am become death, destroyer of worlds!" probably going to be a good day in the gym.
They can't tell you why: everything should be in a program for a reason. Sets, reps, movements and loads should be purposeful.

* There is a place for a bit of randomization when conditioning. Different movements, different modalities at different times, but you should still know before hand the length and intensity of the work you're going to be doing, and you should feel that you are making progress when viewed over several weeks.

Mahalo

Disk us.

2011-07-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

So Sunday July 3, The wife and I are headed out to the in-law's place to BBQ and watch some fireworks. The ferry line is insane. It's backed up for 3 miles (about an hour and a half wait to get on the ferry). So we commit, we bring some toys and raisins and stuff for the kiddo, and when he fusses we give him a book, or a toy, or the wife takes him out of the car seat and walks up the road with him, when I catch up she puts him back in the car.. rinse and repeat.. a lot. It's a long wait, but we make the best of it and get down to the dock.
I got into a minor altercation on the ferry, the short version is if your response to an accidental door ding is to accost a young woman and threaten her dashing husband when he steps in your way, you probably need more fiber in your diet.
We get to her in-laws house, and the wife's leg (which had been bothering her some for the past few weeks) is starting to hurt. We chalk it up to too much time getting in and out of the car and hope it'll get better.
Monday she takes it easy, and it's about the same, but she decides to make an appointment for the spine doc and see if she can get into PT and chiro. Tuesday they all see her, she gets a cortisone shot which provides a little relief.
Wednesday morning though it's bad again, but she decides to ride it out. She has an MRI scheduled and should be able to get an epidural injection early next week. She asks the doc for some pain meds and he calls in some Vicodin. Wednesday night she takes it so that she can sleep. Thursday she wakes up vomiting. She and Vicodin do not mix. She tries some other pain meds, but it's very bad. She goes to see her PT who puts her on bed rest. She spends Friday in bed. There are two positions that are not painful, she spends all day Friday switching between the two.
Saturday I get up at 5:30 with the kid, and take care of him. the wife arranged for a friend of hers to come "babysit" the two of them while I go to jiu-jitsu for a couple of hours. I get home to the wife lying on the floor in sobbing in pain, and Emily calling me on her cell phone with one hand and running around trying to get the wife's shoes on (the grizzly is in his crib napping). She fell coming back from the bathroom. Emily and I carry her to the car, and I watch the kid while the wife goes to the ER. I call her dad, he heads to the hospital. I call my cousin Sarah. It's 2:30 p.m. I put the grizzly to bed around 6:30 and my cousin comes over and sits while I bust ass to the ER.
I get there. I give the lady my name and she says "a social worker will come back to escort you to the patient." Ok. I wait.. and wait. I understand that the social workers are busy dealing with fatalities. I try to be sympathetic, but I just needed someone to tell me where to go. I looked at the clock noting It's been a long goddamn time, and waited another hour after that to get walked back. I get to the wife and her dad. My father-in-law is reading a book and dosing. the wife is on good pain meds and fairly comfortable. It starts to get on to 9-10 o'clock and all hell starts breaking loose. We lose our room (triaged out) so we're in the hall way. I can hear the trauma nurse calling the incoming patients, then watch them come through: self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, car accident (with multiple broken bones), car accident, car accident. After each one the spine doc comes in and looks at the wife's chart and orders something done, then disappears for 2-3 hours.
Aside: Very funny story about a drunk guy in the ER: he is a very fat man in no shirt with a very broken nose strapped down to a hospital gurney. Every time the nurse comes in to check his vitals, or whatever he says "You will not touch me!" and "You will not touch me without my attorney present." He can't do anything to prevent them from attending to him, so he gets the bright idea to completely freak out every time they try to take his vitals. So every time the nurse hooks up the monitors, he thrashes (as much as one can when tied down) and screams "ahhhhhhhh." All of which does nothing to validity of the data. The cops that are minding him are laughing their proverbial asses off at him, the nurse just looks bored.
We do our best to enjoy the show until the wife is finally admitted at 2:30 a.m. My father-in-law waits with her while she is transported to her room. I go home. By the time I drive home, and fill in Sarah on the goings on; it's 3 a.m. I crash. the grizzly wakes up at 5. I talk him into snoozing for 15 minutes.. but that's it. We have breakfast, and I gather his stuff up. I take him to see his mother, and arrive when the surgeons are there explaining our options. the grizzly is having none of it. He wants to play with everything, pull on tubes that may or may not be attached to an IV, and go 'visit' the other patients. He just won't sit still. I try to wrestle with him and listen to the docs, I pick up maybe every third word. the wife gets to spend some time with him.. such as it is and I drive him up to the ferry. I meet my mother-in-law at the ferry (she walks on and comes over so that she doesn't have to wait in line) I hand over the kid, and drive back to the hospital.
On the way I buy a Venti drip with 2 shots of espresso in it. As I drink it I can feel myself becoming more coherent. I visit with the wife and we talk about her options.. It's gotta be surgery. There really is no other choice. The surgeons tell us the OR is scheduled for 7:30 am Monday. I spend some time, then go to work to do all of the stuff that needs to be done for me to take Monday off. I'm there for about 4 hours. I go home to do some dishes, make dinner for the wife and I, take out the trash, and pick up some bobs and bits for her.. etc. I bring her dinner (some tasty meatballs in tomato sauce) and we eat together. I hang out for a while then head to work for about another hour and finally get to bed around 11.
I wake at 6 to my alarm and see a text from the wife: the OR is reserved for 7:30, but they're taking her down at 6:30. Shit! I run out of the house, drive 687 mph to the hospital and sprint from the garage to her room. I get there about 30 seconds before they wheel her down, but I can be with her till they take her to the OR. After she wheels out, I go down to the waiting area get the lay of the land and head to the cafeteria. I spend $6 on an ice cream scoop of horrible runny scrambled eggs, two sausage links that make me want to apologize to the pigs that sacrificed themselves for its creation, and a fair cup of coffee. The food sucks, but at least they're stingy with the portions. I wait. I go on facebook and post the goings on, and I wait.. The surgeon comes by and says: she had a "gargantuan" bulge "hammering the nerve root" and described the operation as "Ideal for surgical intervention" and "very satisfying."
I am relieved. Should be about another 90 minutes in recovery or so, then should be back up to the room. I go online and update everyone on facebook. I wait. I email my folks, text her folks, and my cousin Sarah.. and wait.. It's been a while and I’m getting antsy, so I go to the gift shop. I marvel at the weird crap that people will buy sick people. I ponder buying some pumpkin seeds because I'm starving, and there's no way I'm buying any more "food" at that cafeteria. I check the time.. It's goddamn noon.. no way she's still in recovery. I head up to the room. She's there.. been there for 30 minutes or more. Apparently they called my cell phone, but in the basement (where the waiting room is) there is little to no cell reception.. what the hell kind of sense does that make?
I say hello, she is very sleepy. I tell her what the doctor says and sit with her for a bit. I'm hungry.. she's going to be hungry. I talk to the nurse, and she's cleared to eat when she wakes up. I walk out of the hospital and start looking for food. I end up walking a long damn way (apparently I went the wrong direction). But come back with food to a (mostly) awake wife. We eat. She's feeling better and in a couple of hours gets discharged.
Things are getting better. The radial pain in her leg is gone, but the nerve root is still irritated which is causing her to have dulled sensation in her leg. The major issue is she can't lift anything heavier than 10 lbs. for the next 8 weeks. the grizzly weighs more than 30. She can move around and I can put him in her lap but she cannot change his diaper, or get him in the car.
Our friends and family have been amazing. the grizzly is going back to daycare. We have people signed up to come over and help out during the times outside of daycare, and my mom is coming out for a few days next month to help cover daycare ladies' vacation. I have never felt so cared for and indebted as I have the past few days. It's been astounding the outpouring of love and assistance. I don't know what more to say. Couple of people have brought over dinners, people are offering to babysit. My cousin Sarah is making her daughter do 'chores' at our house instead of theirs, flabbergasting. This could have been impossible, but I think it's going to be alright, all thanks to our family and friends.

Mahalo.

Tastiest Vegetable you're not eating.

2011-07-07T07:44:00.001-07:00

Garlic spears.

What the heck are they? they are the buds of elephant garlic. I have always found elephant garlic to have an unpalatable aftertaste, but the buds are fantastic. They have a fairly similar texture to asparagus with a very garlicy flavor.

Nutrition: I have no idea, I can't find the nutritional information anywhere.

How do I cook them: I have found that hot dry cooking methods work well. Rub them with a little olive oil and salt and popped into a 425 degree oven till they are brown and delicious. They work okay on the grill, but you have to be careful that the buds at the top do not dry out too much as they become papery.

How do I pick a good one: like asparagus you want to look out for rot in the middle of the bundle. Bright green is good, they will dry out from both ends so keep an eye out for any yellowing as it is a sign that they have dried out (a little drying of the tips is fine, but too much is too much).

When are they in season, where do I get them? RIGHT NOW! Late spring early summer. They are available all over the PNW, but I have seen them at whole foods and similar specialty grocers in other parts of the country.

Mahalo

My training.

2011-06-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

Foam rolling and varius "try this outs" to warm up.
box squat box jumps 5x3.

Inspired by Martin Rooney's article, I decided to spend the last month or so doing cluster sets for my deadlifts. He advocates doing lighter weight, and more reps.. I tried that for a while, but got too fatigued. I was worried about my tweaky lower back pulling in a fatigued state.
So I increased the weight (to about 80%) and just pulled a single a minute for 10 minutes, or until bar speed slowed down significantly. Once I got 10+ fast reps, I added 20 lbs and repeated.
I made it up to 455 for 6 last week.
Then 3 sets of 8 SL deads at 225 pausing at the floor on each rep.
Then 3 sets of RFE split squats at bw 10-12 reps per side.
That is Thursday.

Friday looks like this:
kb clean and press 3x8/8 at 53
Dips: sets of 5 adding weight every week.
So week 1 5x5 at bw
week 2 4x5 at bw, 5 at 25
week 3 3x5 at bw, 5 at 25, 5 at 50
week 4 2x5 at bw, ...5 at 75
week 5 2x5 at bw (takes two sets to get my shoulders warm)... 3 at 100 fail, start at the beginning next week.
DB rows: sets of 5, lots.
Some direct arm work: sun's out, guns out! More correctly my arms are disproportionally small. I'm starting to look funny.

Tuesday:
Various sets and reps of clean and press as heavy as 205 for 1 and as much as 135 for 5.
Front squats work up to 185 for 5 or 225 for 3. Mainly this is a loaded mobility drill.
Presses: 2-3 sets of 5
Chins: 20-30 total reps getting 8-10 straight on the first set.

Not terribly scientific, but seemed to be effective. I really liked this protocol for pushing the deadlift up.
I'm going to start over at 405, but add 25lbs of chain.. assuming I can find them.
Mahalo.

Article

2011-06-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

Interesting article from someone outside of the fitness industry on obesity.
I'm not saying I agree 100%, but I do generally agree.

Mahalo.

Hiatus.

2011-06-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks this has become a hiatus. I'll be back to writing here soon. Thank you for your patience.
Mahalo.

Piggybacking..

2011-05-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

First of all, Damn you rule 34 of the internet. I just wanted a picture of a piggyback..
Anyway, while I'm getting out the brain bleach, my friend Tony posted a very smart blog post about training obese clients. Because I'm an unoriginal bastard.. or because I have been there, I wanted to put in my two bits on the mental side of training very untrained individuals.

When you are obese, you feel trapped, but at the same time you feel comfortable. It's a strange dichotomy. I am stuck in this body, but this body is me and I am (at least to an extent) comfortable in that identity (or at least afraid to change it.)
This is what I call "big guy syndrome."

As a trainer this can be very hard to shake. This syndrome causes people to negotiate their way out of diets, or make what to an outsider is a very lame excuse why they can't do this or that, and really sets what seem to be insurmountable limits on what they can do physically. Trainers and coaches who are Mesomorphs or Ectomorphs don't really understand that this isn't pathological. This client is afraid. Change is scary, and changing your identity (even if the change itself is positive) feels like walking outside naked.

So as a coach:
First thing when someone who is afflicted with BGS comes to me to train I tell them "the Big guy/gal you were, is dead. S/He's over, right now. We're replacing him with an athlete."
I tell them to picture themselves not as thin or skinny, but doing things: running stairs like Rocky, or rowing, or biking, or rock climbing.. or whatever it is they like to do, and doing it well.
Second thing is set them up to succeed. When training highly motivated athletes the easiest way to get them moving past their mental governor is challenge them. With untrained individuals you have to build confidence. Lay on the positive feedback, and never set a "finish line." If I tell an athlete do 5 reps, she'll do 10 just to show me up. If I tell an untrained athlete with BGS to do 5 He'll try to negotiate down to 3 at 1/2 the weight. So I say we're going to work on your technique, and we do reps and I queue technique. Once I see their form break from fatigue, then I end the set. Tony touches on this in his post, but I cannot stress enough do not allow these clients to fail even for a set or an exercise. Training has to be a 100% positive experience.
Finally, I often have clients do "homework" usually mobility drills or light work on weakpoints to do at home, away from the gym (also works with logging diet, or anything the client has to do on their own). This is huge for BGS sufferers because it keeps them in the "I'm an athlete I am working to be the person I want to be." mindset. It also this is an indicator of when they're about to push back or relapse into old behavior. Using these as a canary in the coalmine will allow you as a trainer to know when this is going to happen and head it off before they get into major self destructive behavior.

As a client:
Change is scary, but trust me when I say: you're still you. You will always be you. The choice is: you can be the you that can't do things, that has to carry the burden of being out of shape, or you can be able to do anything you want, unencumbered. Redefine yourself, and be the person you want.

Mahalo.

Perform Better 1 day. Part 1

2011-05-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

Ed. Note: I was going to write this as a single VERY long blog post, but it's too much to read or edit as such, so I'm parsing this out into 5 less long posts.
I hope you enjoy them.
This is the timeline:

April 9th I went to the Seattle Convention Center for a 1 day training seminar.
I got there around 7:30 and registered. I got my bag of schwag, and headed in to the convention center.
7:32 - First sighting of Elite FTS t-shirt

7:40 - Vibrum 5 finger shoes sighting.

7:41 - I put my stuff down in a chair, and head over to the sales tables. There is tons of stuff to buy, and not to buy. Everyone is milling about and sizing each other up.

7:44 - Take advantage of the 15% off discount and buy Dan John's dvds and spot my first crossfitter.

7:45 - croud starts to fill in a bit more. I spot a guy in a t-shirt that says 'Bigorexia' on the front, and "size is all that matters" on the back. He's approximately 6'2" 180lbs and 18% bodyfat. Little too much preaching, not enough practicing.

7:50 - surprisingly late in the game: the first Under Armour under shirt worn as a shirt.

7:55 - First female NOT wearing yoga pants strolls in.

8:00 - The seminar starts. The talks begin with simple introductions. I've researched all of the speakers beforehand (not to mention I own books by and follow the blogs of 3 of the 4 speakers) there's some sales pitch thrown in for both the seminar we're already at, and a few products for perform better;a good company. I don't blame them for the spiel. This is a loss leader to sell product, so they've got to sell.

8:15 - Introductions are over and the first speaker presents: Rachael Cosgrove. She gives a great talk about training female clients, and understanding their expectations. Very eye opening. I'm writing like a madman. Everyone around me is sort of staring at Mrs. Cosgrove like she's doing some sort of mildly amusing trick. I begin to wonder if I'm the oddball here, but I'm too busy writing to give it much thought.

9:10 - Right into the second speaker Alwyn Cosgrove. This is going to be a marathon. I'm the only one taking notes.. franticly. Everyone else is just sort of there. Slight respite as I've read his 'hierarchy of fat loss' article a couple of time, but still I'm less than 1/2 way and getting hand cramps. The talk is a very funny very detailed about (but not limited to): fat loss and the latest research into methods there of, the similarities of Glasgow and Seattle, and how to steer clients into managing their own fatigue (for starters).

10:20 - Alwyn went a bit long Todd Durkin starts to speak. I was thoroughly unprepared to hear what he has to say, until a couple of lines during Mr. Cosgrove's talk opened my mind.. more on that later. I am terribly weak at Mr. Durkin's strengths, and he talks really fast. I can't write fast enough.

10:36 - He has us introduce ourselves to our neighbors (something I've successfully avoided for over 3 hours in spite of being cheek to cheek.)

11:05 - I suck at marketing and networking. This is a fact.

11:10 - Martin Rooney is a funny guy. I won't give away his schtick, but if you want to be lean powerful and athletic, you can do 25 different gimmicky exercises, or you could just sprint.

12:20 - Martin wraps up, and generally pulls back the curtain on sleep, sprint, lift, eat well and be awesome.. forget the bells and the whistles.

12:25 - Lunch. I go to the ole Green goddess and get a quad-restretto, and a fruit cup (I would have eaten more, but I didn't want to be 'That guy that threw up at perform better Seattle."

12:40 - I bring my coffee back and have a chat with Mr. Rooney. He is an interesting, smart guy. I try mightily (and fail) not to talk at him. I try not to monopolize his time and listen as much as I can.

12:50 - I change into exercise appropriate clothes and stretch a good bit.

13:05 - people start moseying back in. I use the restroom, and find a place to stash my backpack. I decide to leave my notebook in it.. a decision that I regret, but then again I have no idea how I would have written anything intelligible while sloughing off sweat, and gasping for air.

13:15 - All kinds of people doing their own wacky dynamic mobility movements, most of them make sense.. some don't.

13:28 - Report to Todd Durkin for lab.

13:31 - he explains all of the exercises, some make sense.. some don't. All of them are tiring. We go through a 'boot camp' style warm-up (calisthenics and chanting nonsense).. and we go. 1 minute at each station, with 1 minute rest. All out. I score out right about in the upper middle of the guys. Good times. Not a lot of information.

14:00 - Out in the hall with Martin Rooney. We do sprint and footwork drills. He talks about precision and effort. Garbage in Garbage out. Speed and footwork drills are well out of my comfort zone, but the drills are great. If you suck at something, you need to do it more.

14:30 - off to Rachel Cosgrove. We exercise, she talks. Loads of information on how they build exercises, and progressions. We play with some kettlebells. There are a number of people who have no earthly idea how to do a clean/jerk/swing with a kb. I am covered in sweat at this point. A grey shirt was a mistake.

15:00 - Core progressions with Alwyn Cosgrove. Inside of 2 minutes I'm cramping. I'm exhausted. I am pushing myself just to try the exercises. Couple of cowboys in the group want to see if they can beat the progressions.. they don't. Alwyn responds with "I can break anyone.. that's easy."

15:30 - I change my soaked shirt, and sit down and brain dump into my notebook. I'm starved and completely wrecked. I help clean up a bit and do my best to talk with a few folks. After a couple weak attempts at networking (practice, practice, practice)I head to my car. The sun's out.

Mahalo.

dinners 4/17-4/24

2011-04-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start posting pictures of what I eat for dinner. Partially to show that paleo doesn't have to be boring, partially to force myself to keep this blog alive. I may forget (forgot once last week) but should give you an idea of what I eat.
Breakfasts are always either eggs or leftovers.
Lunches are ground grass-fed beef and kale, and some fruit.
Afternoon snacks are fruit and leftovers or sardines.
If you would like recipes of anything you see email me and I will do my best to remember.
Mahalo.

4/17

braised lamb and salad. (wife's portion) not shown: gravy.

4/18

Roasted chicken thighs and mashed plantains.

4/19

seared tuna and zucchini gratin

4/20

Paleo 'Slinger.' The wife was at a work function so it was just me that night. 2 burger pattys, left over mashed sweet potatos, grilled onions, and a fried egg. Not my proudest moment/meal.. but it was good.

4/21
Leftovers: no pic.

4/22
Lamb shawarma and salad. No pic.

4/23
Pulled pork and salad no pic.

4/24

Taco Salad lots of guac.

Let me 'splain.. no is too much let me sum up.

2011-04-13T07:01:00.000-07:00

Big doings the last few weeks.
Went to the Perform Better 1 day seminar here in town, Met Martin Rooney, Alwyn Cosgrove and his better half Rachael. Most importantly learned a ton. Full write up to follow.

I am not writing much in the short term as I am studying for my NSCA CPT. Before I didn't need to be certified because I was working for the local rowing club and BJJ academy as a coach. So I was protected as an agent of those institutions. I have a major opportunity coming up, but I have to get my cert to make it work.
I feel fairly confidant that I'll pass the test, but I still have to study.
Wish me luck.

Mahalo.

127, 128, Strikeforce, and Bellator

2011-03-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

Lots going on in the MMA world the past few weeks.
I'll try to be as succinct as possible.

Lets start with Bellator. They're not in the same league as the UFC, but they know that. They do a good job of recruiting (for the most part, couple of those round 1 fighters are way out of their depth) All of their guys are hungry, and the tournement format is good fun, however they HAVE to work on their production values. I've watched highschool wrestling matches on youtube with better production quality. Hopefully the longer they work with MTV the better that will get.

Strikeforce is not dead, but its on it's way. Zuffa bought them last week. My thought is they're going to wait for some of the higher profile contracts to end, and slowly fold those guys into the UFC, then close up shop once the showtime deal ends.. Or not. They might set up Strikeforce as a "minor league" promotion, allowing them to keep name guys who are past their prime out of other people's hands and leverage Showtime/CBS into talking turkey. Either way it seems like it was a good move, as they are really the only game in town now.

127
This was a pretty blah overall card. I understand the UFC is trying to get a toehold on Australiasia, but they have to either come up with some better fighters from that region, or just bring in guys, because the Australiasian fighter vs. Some shmoe on the same level format isn't working, not enough good fighters to make a compelling card. Use the undercard to build fighters from that region, and don't subject us to an entire card of gatekeeper and journeymen fights.

Mark Hunt could be somebody if he ever got his butt in shape. His walk-off KO of Chris Tuchsherer was a thing of beauty.

Glad to see Nick Ring in the UFC, he is one of the few guys from TUF that seems like a reasonable and intelligent guy. I like to see those guys doing well.

Kyle Noke looks like he's on the upswing. Hopefully the UFC won't/won't have to wrap him in bubble wrap and feed him a line of tomato cans like they have Mike Bisping in order to have an aussie "face." More on that in a bit.

George Sotiropoulos is a good fighter, and a decent guy, but his wrestling sucks. He clearly has learned takedowns from a jiu-jitsu coach with no other grappling background. To be frank there is a reason every great ground fighter has worked some form of Judo/wrestling/takedowns from a specialist. The days of being able to grab a leg and sorta hork your opponent to the ground have gone the way of wearing a Gi in the cage.

I am tired of Mike Bisping. He is fatiguing. He is a decent low level gatekeeper who has fought 2 fighters who are even gatekeepers (Hendo who starched him, and Wanderlei who is not the same Wanderlei) and yet he thinks he should be in line for a title shot. Part of me wants to see it. He'll talk smack and Anderson will punch is chav face off. Then let him tumble down the ladder and watch him get beat by Marquardt, Sonnen, Maia, Okami, Palhares, Munoz and god knows who else. The fight I really want to see is Mayhem Miller vs Bisping.

I thought Jon Fitch won that fight. BJ Penn thought Fitch won that fight. BJ almost broke. If there had been a 4th round there wouldn't have been a 5th. If you're judging a fight, there has to be an "Ass-kicking" clause in your judging. If at the end of a fight you look at one of the fighters and say "that guy got his ass kicked." then the other guy won the fight.

128
Erik Koch looked good. He's a goofy kid with a lot of potential. Hopefully the UFC will bring him along slowly and let him develop. He's got a lot of potential.

Barboza vs. Njokuani was a terribly difficult fight to score. Njokuani controled the pace, but Barboza landed some heavy shots and scored a couple timely takedowns. I had Njokuani winning, but you just never know.

Kamal Shalorus needs to go to a better camp so that he can get over his striking and learn that he needs to fight a smart fight in order to win. At age 38 he just doesn't have time to learn hard lessons in fights.

Brendan Schaub looked good in his fight with CroCop, and is on his way up. The big question mark is his wrestling.

CroCop is done. Even before Dana White said it. Watching his fights in PRIDE he was a cerified killer. He was someone to be feared, and he knew it. Since the loss to Gonzaga he has doubts. He looks like he'd rather be anywhere else. You can tell he's not training as much, his physique is softer, smoother. He's just not the same guy.

Eddie Wineland had the right gameplan, he just wasn't athletic enough to pull it off agains Urijah Faber. Faber looks set to take the bantamweight belt. I think he beats Dominick Cruz.

Jon Jones is a handful. His speed, reach, and wrestling make him trouble for anyone at 205. Rashad Evans knows it, that's why he's acting the way he is. Dumping Greg Jackson is just building an excuse for why he's going to lose the fight. Once he loses he'll come back to Jackson, or some other camp, and suddenly he'll be rejuvinated, win a few fights and think of some other reason why he isn't going to beat Jones.

Mahalo.

I can tell a hawk from a handsaw when the wind is northerly..

2011-03-18T10:43:00.000-07:00

It is windy out there.
I haven't been posting much, mostly because much of what is going on is not really for public consumption. The grizzly is quickly becoming his own little person. Chatting, and pointing. He reacts emotionally to things other than hunger or discomfort. I am trying to be his father and his dad. A process that is still simple, but requires care and is exponentially gaining complexity. He looks very much like I did as a kid. Makes me wonder if this was how my dad felt when I was that age. My parents were still together then, were they fighting? What was it like for him then? This time for me is fantastic mostly.
Everything else is sort of on hold.
My training, I'm doing a 3 day full body, lower, upper split. Spending lots of time re-learning to squat while using front squats and deadlifts to get/keep my strength up. I have been back on the mats some. It's been good. Ironing out weaknesses, and teaching what I know.
My weight is good: 201 last week. It'll go up a few pounds after this weekend, but nothing tragic.
Work, I'm working and keeping up, but it's 8 a day and 40/week and that's it. Training I have paired down to a couple distance clients, and even that is coming on hold now that rowing season is getting going and Pan Ams are next week.
I'm getting used to the new car. The stick is still a challenge, but I really only kill it when I'm testing my limits to see what I can get away with.
This weekend is my birthday. 36. Average male lifespan:72
I'm halfway.. or not. one never knows for sure. Don't worry, I have enough fortitude that there's no need for a red sports car. I have too much living to do to spend time worrying about dieing.
The wife is making me a coconut cake for my birthday. My favorite. The real deal, not just some lame vanilla cake with some packaged coconut thrown on top.
I ate too much corned beef, and potatoes yesterday.
Wednesday I didn't train. I got an email from my dad. My grandmother, his mom, died. She taught me how to cook, and was one of the few people who made me feel like I was special, important. She made me feel like being family was not conditional even if her respect was. Her health has been declining for years. The last few she was confused, not herself. I feel guilty that I didn't see her(hadn't since just after we were married), but worse still because I'm kind of glad. I remember her lucid. Able to take care of herself.. and I feel more guilty for feeling that way.
I hate to engage in this sort of navel gazing, but hopefully you will indulge me this one time. It's been a very introspective week.
Mahalo.

Off the mats in the gym.

2011-03-10T08:25:00.001-08:00

Work, sickness, sick kid, have all conspired to keep me off the mats for a week. I have been hammering away in the gym though.

Monday:
Kb snatch 20 sec on (5 reps) 20 sec off x10
Kb clean and press 20 sec on (4 reps) 20 sec off x10
all at 62

Tuesday:
Front squats: 4x5
press/chins: 5x5/5

Wednesday:
Kb snatch 30 seconds on (5 reps per hand) 30 off x15

battling ropes:
90 sec on
1minute off
1minute on 1minute off x4

Today:
box squats: 5x3
deadlifts: 2x5
hip thrusters: some

Feeling good. I haven't spent this much time working exclusively in the gym for a long time. It's kind of refreshing. It's a good way to reboot, and take some "time off" without getting all sloppy and out of shape.
A few weeks ago I was really frustrated. I got roundly trounced by two guys who are technically the same belt level as me, but have been there a good long time. One is a phenom, a natural who had come back from college for spring break. The other is a former pro fighter who is prepping for a major tournament. Those guys should trounce me, but my ego was in the way and I got annoyed with myself, and then really stopped paying attention to things and getting beat on worse and worse. It snowballed, my ego ate me up. This happened twice.
A little time away putting in hard work and suddenly I just want to be on the roll, don't care with whom, win or lose.
Should be back Saturday.
Mahalo.

New car, and not sick.

2011-03-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago, I was crazy sick. Last week was just crazy. Training has been spotty. I'm getting it in when I can, but I still only trained 4 days last week.

Monday I did some light conditioning, and then it was back regularly scheduled programming today.

Sunday, I traded in my 2002 Ranger Pick-up. I've driven that car for 9 years and over 96,000 miles. It was an extension of my being. It was weird getting in a new car Monday and driving to work. The truck just didn't make sense any more. Car seat didn't really fit, wasn't exactly safe, and it was going to need a few hundred bucks worth of work to pass emissions (for a car worth less than 2 grand). So I traded it in.

I got a new(ish) VW rabbit. Solid small car. Supposedly run forever. I really like it. I have nothing to compensate for, thus the small car is not a problem. In fact in a lot of ways it is far preferable (the gas mileage is insane)

Even though I was getting total garbage for gas mileage the environmentally sound decision was to keep the truck. I drive so little, that the delta between the environmental impact of building another car, and the better gas milage was negligable. This is a factor that people forget when looking at the impact of cars and fossil fuels. If everyone kept and maintained their cars for 8-10 years it would significantly decrease our use of fossil fuels even though the average gas mileage on the road would decrease slightly. It takes a lot of plastic and petrolium to manufacture a car. Unfortunetly the Auto industry has a rather compelling reason to get us to turn over cars as much as possible.

The average new car stays with it's inital owner for 5.5 years. Juuuust long enough to pay it off and turn it over (most car loans are 60 months). To me that was just the beginning. Once I paid off my truck, to me it was just the beginning.

So here's to driving someone else's car.. until I pay it off.
Mahalo!

sick, work and a general bad attitude.

2011-02-23T12:40:00.000-08:00

I have trained some, but not enough. Spent a good part of last week in Portland, got to train at Team Quest again. Spent most of this week down with the flu. Did squat some yesterday for the first time in a long time.
More of that to come.
Mahalo.

Grown @$$ man.

2011-02-15T09:31:00.000-08:00

I've talked about this before, but getting older doesn't mean that you have to fall into the same pitfalls that your parents did simply because you're the same age. If treated properly your body should feel pretty dang good at 30, 35 and on up (I'm not yet qualified to say how good 'on up' should feel, stay tuned to this blog for updates).
Conversely this is not permission to shirk responsibilities. Shirking responsibilities has consequences. Please do not complain to me how 'unfair' it is when those consequences come to call.
Exercising into adulthood is about the 5 P's:
Planning: When you were 19 you could just go in and hammer out set after set, you didn't need to manage your time. Now time is limited, as is your recovery. Get in execute the plan, and get out. If what you're doing isn't working, change the plan.
Preparation: warm the hell up. Foam roll, get some mobility work, and get a little sweat before you get under heavy iron. Old age is the accumulation of injuries. Prevent aging by: not getting injured and treating the injuries you have.
Parlay: Negotiate. Make sure that those to whom you are responsible (boss, wife, husband, kids.. whomever) share your vision on the importance of exercise, and talk to them. Negotiate times that are for you to go play/exercise.
Priorities: I would love to train with a local wrestling club, I would love to go to a judo school and work on my gi throws, these are not a priority right now. So they get back-burnered for lifting and BJJ. When I lift I generally do 3-4 movements, I would love to do 5-6, but I have time for 3 so I prioritize the best most important movements for me.
Play: it's gotta be fun. Exercise should not be a grind unless it is a short term preparation for some sort of competition. Once it gets to be not fun, change it. Do something different. Nothing will make you seem younger than throwing yourself into an activity with an utter disregard for yourself.

Go play.
Mahalo.

In which I hand in my man card..

2011-02-08T10:18:00.000-08:00

Hear me out. The wife and I try to balance our T.V. schedule so that neither of us has to suffer too much during our (fairly limited) T.V. time. One of the shows that she likes is the new 90210. Being a good husband, I read, write to you folks, or surf the internet while it's on and I do end up catching bits of the dialog. One of the characters had a throw-away line last week:
"You think my chest is getting too big?"
That was from one male character to another.
Completely through me for a loop.
Seriously? What high school male has ever said that?
Are the people who produce that show unhappy with the idea that they can only cause body image issues in their female viewers, and are now trying to get all the collateral damage they can?
Here's the part where I turn in my man card:
There is no way that character would have that sentiment. He's by the standards of the show the poor kid. I remember being that age, and killing myself in the gym for every ounce of muscle mass I could get. Muscle mass, and athletic ability are outward displays of power that cannot be bought. "The poor kid" in that group should be trying to get as big and strong as possible (especially since he's the token jock in the group).
High school males from Kansas do not worry that their chest is too big, they may have insecurities, but its always about appearing weak.
It makes me wonder are they out of touch, or am I?
Maybe it has gotten this bad.
I certainly hope not.
Mahalo.

Groundhog day.

2011-02-02T08:17:00.000-08:00

It's February 2. Groundhog day.. do you know where your groundhog is? Wait.. don't answer that.
News and such.
The Friday fun group was sorta revived.
I offered up 2 days a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) of conditioning for the 6 weeks leading up to the pan-ams.. for free. No one showed. Disappointing, but whatever less work for me. If no one shows on Thursday I'm canceling the whole thing.

I signed up for the perform better 1 day seminar here in Seattle on April 2. Should be interesting. Martin Rooney and the Cosgroves will be speaking.

My training has been going well. I'm taking today off mostly due to laundry issues (didn't a gi dry before I left for work this morning).
That's really it.

Mahalo.

Our meat is up to 35% meat!

2011-01-26T08:57:00.000-08:00

According to a class-action suit filed on Friday in federal court Taco Bell's "Seasoned Ground beef" does not contain enough beef. According to the suit it is only 35% beef. The rest is "other ingredients including water, wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, anti-dusting agent and modified corn starch."
Article here.
35% of their meat is meat. Just over 1/3.
If that's what's in their "ground beef" what is in the "nacho cheese sauce?"

This is why I suggest to my clients to eat out as little as possible, and if they must, to go to small local restaurants. Large chains have long supply lines, and are all about hook (salt, fat, sugar combo that releases all kinds of feel-good chemicals in our brains) and using the lowest cost ingredients they can. Frankly, they don't care about your health. They care about their bottom line, and buying quality ingredients, lean well produced meats, and quality fats are bad for the bottom line.
More over I don't trust that the ingredients listed for their foods are exactly what is in their food (see above). In this case, someone who is trying to eat paleo, or low carb gets a giant dose of wheat, oats, maltodextrin (sugar) and corn starch. It wrecks their diet and they don't lose weight. The dieter "tried that diet and it didn't work." In reality they didn't. There were all kinds of starches and sugars hidden in their food.
The only way to know what you're eating is buy foods that don't need a label (meat, vegetables, fruits) and prepare them yourself. Failing that, eat at small shops and buy foods in a recognizable form (if it looks like a chicken, it's probably a chicken and not a soy bean).

As an aside, this goes for folks who are trying to put on weight too. Go to your local diner and you'll get more calories than at a fast food joint and you won't feel like re-heated crap afterward. Hell, go to your grandmother's house, and she'll put some weight on you for free.

Mahalo.

RIP Smiling Jack

2011-01-24T12:01:00.000-08:00

Jack LaLanne
9/26/1914 - 1/23/2011
"I can't die, it would ruin my image."

Interesting times.

2011-01-17T14:53:00.001-08:00

Greetings true believers! It is I your humble author, back from the mostly dead as it were.
I am sorry about the lack of output. Things at work, training clients, the baby, selling my condo, working on the new house and the genuinely awful goings on in Arizona have stifled my creative juices.
I am still on the same lifting schedule.
I am still dropping weight, all be it more slowly.
I have been teaching the no-gi classes on Saturdays at the academy.
My cup runneth over all with good things, but we all only have so much bandwidth, and our brains and bodies cannot differentiate between stressors, so training stress, working stress, baby stress, diet stress and writing stress all come out of the same bucket.
Have no fear, I will be forthcoming with something.. it may be more of this drivel, but I will be back to writing at least every few days.
Until then:

Mahalo.

It's Resolution baby!

2011-01-07T09:22:00.000-08:00

I a great long post about new year's resolutions written up, but frankly it's crap. So I'm not posting it. here's the short version: you don't need resolutions, you need a plan. Come up with a plan and follow it for several weeks. Then see how things are going, and make a new plan. Repeat.

I hope you had a great new year.

More posts with actual content to come!

Mahalo.

Holy Daze.

2010-12-23T13:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas is here. This is going to be a weird one for me. Previously Christmas was all about trying to normalize being a social outcast within my family. The one that everyone kind of liked, but never really figured out. Sort of like a nice person who barely speaks the same language as you. This year, it's mostly going to be our little family of three. We'll visit the in-laws for a while, but the kid has to get to bed, so it won't be the long late night of previous. I'm looking forward to it a lot.
It's strange, I feel more in touch with all of the meanings of the holidays this year: the passing of the darkest parts of winter (solstice) , the birth of the savior of mankind (Duh), hope and light when it should have run out long ago (Hanukkah). All of these thoughts/ideas run together. I can't really explain why, could be the kid. Could be that I'm on the shady side of my mid-30s and am more comfortable with myself and my mortality. I don't really know, but I wish you and yours salvation, hope, light, and quickly returning spring.

I lifted today, some deadlifts, rows and floor presses.. nothing earth shattering. I'm taking a break to have some treats for Christmas this weekend. My palate has changed so much that I don't think I'm going to indulge too much. I had part of a scone, and a couple cookies. I'll have a scone on Christmas morning.. some dessert here and there, and hop back on the wagon till Valentine's day.

I was awarded my purple belt on Wednesday. I had a long roll with the professor on Monday. I guess I really did impress. For me the belts mean less than the improvement in my game. I'm getting better, people have noticed, that feels good.

Mahalo.

So there's that.

2010-12-20T08:29:00.000-08:00

Busy times.
Christmas is just around the corner, being a new home owner, and parent of a very active 7 month old, I just haven't had much to write about and no time to write it.
I've been lifting:
Tuesday is split squats, chins, and presses.
Thursday is deadlifts, rows and bench (high volume low weight on both presses).
All if which is going pretty well. My body weight is comfortably under 210 for the first time in a long time thanks to the whole paleo thing. I have been doing BJJ at least 2-3 times a week. Just rolling along.
A couple weeks ago I went down to Portland for work and got some training in at Team Quest. Great stuff. The classes are short and very tight. No space. Really changes the work rate and conditioning requirements of the athletes. Also they start everything on the feet, which is a game changer as well. It was really interesting to see how a slight shift in attitude changed training very significantly.
I'm going to get a couple posts in before the new year, so keep your eyes out.
Have a great Christmas if you don't come by before then.
Mahalo.

Just some hard work.

2010-12-03T09:05:00.000-08:00

Training yesterday:
Deadlift: (cluster sets)
worked up to 405
x3
rest 30 sec
x2
rest 15 sec
x1
full rest
x2
rest 15
x1
full rest
x1

BW rows with feet elevated
x10
x8
x8

bench:
135x15
155x10
high reps because my shoulders complain with heavy benching.
This is the start of a progressive overload cycle, so I'm starting light.

Pallof Presses:
some

Mahalo.

How many kids with ADD does it take to..

2010-11-30T13:37:00.001-08:00

Hey! lets ride bikes!!!

I do not have the fever for more blogging.
I am not Bilbo Bloggins.
This is not Clifford the big red blog.
I am not Blogasaurus Rex.
Nor a blogapotamus.
You get the point. I've been slackin.
I've been lifting some, training quite a bit.. almost all gi.
I went off the paleo wagon for thanksgiving.
I feel pretty good. I had some pie, virgin egg nog and fried chicken, but otherwise the weekend was still mostly paleo (smoked turkey, roasted brussels sprouts, and non-dairy garlic mashed)
My belly rumbled and complained, but a guys got to live a little from time to time.

Mostly I've just got nothing to report.
Maybe tomorrow I'll come up with the greatest blog post ever.. but maybe not.
Mostly I have not forgotten you gentile reader. I just don't have anything worthy of your time right this second.
I hope you had a good thanksgiving.
Mahalo.

Progress report.

2010-11-18T13:46:00.000-08:00

I decided just to check in on my relative strength levels after dropping some weight, and having been sick.
So I did 3 challenges with mixed results:
2x bodyweight deadlift: 5 reps.
Felt pretty good about that one.

press: 175
no good, but considering the recent wrist injury.. I'll take it.

Bw bench: 3 reps.
No good, but see above.

Considering my current maladies, I'm pretty happy with these numbers as a jumping off point, but not content with these numbers.
More to come.

Mahalo.

For no reason..

2010-11-17T07:19:00.001-08:00

Pavement

All crap.

2010-11-16T15:41:00.000-08:00

Been sick, haven't trained for bupkis, we're having to lower the price on our condo as it hasn't sold, and my truck went tits up this morning.
Otherwise, I'm great.

Oh, and I tried to squat yesterday:
Front squat: ow my bum wrist.
back squat: oh right stupid levers and tight hips. Not to mention that I'm scared as hell that I'm going to hurt my back again.
Overhead squat: ow my bum wrist.
Zercher squat: stupid levers and wrong shoes.
Fail Fail Fail.

Which pretty much blows up my hopes of taking on the Texas method for the next 6 months or so (it all revolves around squatting)
I need to get my sheeot together.

Mahalo.

Paleo day 29-30 and summation.

2010-11-10T09:52:00.000-08:00

Day 29
Monday:
Breakfast: eggs

Dinner: seared tuna, sauteed butternut squash, and jalapeno hollandaise.Very tasty.

training: Ice bum wrist.

Day 30
Tuesday:
Breakfast: eggs

Dinner: chicken gizzards with garlic, and brussel sprouts.

That's it.. 30 days.
No cheats. No bread, No grains, No dairy, No legumes, the only sugar was my 1 bar a week of dark chocolate.
What did I find?
I found that my huger satiety queues were pretty screwed up. I was either full or not.. now I am either hungry or not.. big difference.
I go longer stretches comfortably without eating.
I am drinking less coffee.
I dropped 10 lbs and it is noticeable (not just water).
When I get tired on the mats I don't crash, I'm just tired.
A lot of my minor aches and recurrent injuries are still around, but the volume is turned down on them.
I feel great. I don't feel like I'm missing anything.
I'm going to coast on through to Thanksgiving, eat whatever looks good then, and then probably jump right back on this horse.

My supplemental challenges were more mixed:
I did stretch more, however it was less than the 5x\week goal I set. More like 3-4. This was a significant leap from what I was doing. So I'm calling this a win.
Single leg work and lunges are a win. I'm going to keep this up for a bit longer. Drop the lunges as a main movement, and add deadlifts back in, keep the BSS. After that, probably going to give the Texas Method a run.
Diet diversity is mixed. I ate fewer eggs, but not the volume I set out for myself. This was a problem of convenience. I was relying on left-overs for my "non-egg" meals, and when there weren't any I had no choice.
Training tempo did change.. and for the better. I'm going to keep this up. It's allowing me to get more work done in the same time, and keep my condition up.

Some were a 'win' some were not, but all were far better than before. I am going to keep plugging away at these.

My wrist feels pretty good which means I am NOT going to train today. This is the danger zone: healed enough that I can convince myself to train, but not healed enough to do so safely. I'm staying home and doing some conditioning.

Questions?
Mahalo.

Paleo day 26-28

2010-11-08T12:18:00.000-08:00

Day 26
Friday:
Breakfast: eggs and 2 links.

Dinner: baked sweet potato with adobo ground beef, onions, crimini mushrooms, guacamole, and broccoli.

Dessert: dark chocolate 1/2 bar.

Training: It was raining out, so no sprints. airdyne 15 seconds, rest 2 minutes, 30 seconds rest 3. x 4
These were brutally hard.

Day 27
Saturday:
Breakfast: Butternut squash hash (squash, bacon, mushrooms) 2 eggs.

Lunch: leftover adobo beef.

Dinner: Roasted chicken, sauteed cabbage.

Dessert: dark chocolate 1/2 bar.

Training: good day at class. Lots of takedowns, lots of working with guys on their takedowns for the tourney next weekend. Couple good rolls besides (all Gi).
Got home, had some lunch and was watching the kiddo, and I noticed my wrist was a little sore.. no biggy. As the night wore on it started to swell and hurt more. By the time I went to bed it hurt like a S.O.B. I couldn't sleep. It sucked. Some time with compression, Ice and NSAIDS, and my range of motion is coming back. Hopefully be right as rain in a day or so.

Day 28
Sunday:
Breakfast: Chicken sausage, and 2 eggs.

Lunch: roast chicken and an apple.

Dinner: Braised spare ribs, beets, salad.

Training: lots of ice and working on moving my wrist to get the movement back.

Today I'm going to take off again, and other than stiffness, and some bruising on the back of my hand it seems pretty good.

Mahalo.

Paleo day 23-25

2010-11-05T13:47:00.000-07:00

At this point this 30 day challenge isn't even challenging. Day 4 I was jonesing for bread, now.. whatever. Which is an interesting change. More on that with the summation.

Day 23
Tuesday:
breakfast: I had one egg left, so I had some grassfed beef and some left over veg with that 1 egg scrambled into it.

Dinner: lamb curry: coconut milk, lamb shoulder, carrots, red peppers, red curry paste (yes I am lazy... and I don't care)

Polished off the rest of the paleo puddin'

Training:
Quasi-deload. Bodyweight BSS, sets of 10.
Push-ups lots
chins lots.

Day 24
Wednesday:
breakfast: eggs

Dinner: shrimp sauteed in bacon drippings with lemon. Butternut squash. Tomato salad.

Training: good day at BJJ. Did some 2 minute round robin rolls. Worked some takedowns with Drew. We had a kid come in from one of the local 'MMA' schools come in. He's got a fight coming up in a couple of weeks. He's super aggro. Decent wrestler with a good shot, but his fundamentals are pretty atrocious. He's doing the right thing, working with folks who specialize to tighten up his fundys.
At one point I caught a triangle from guard that was pretty quick, just off to the side I heard one of the white belts say "holy sh*t!" Just funny. I'm still a blue belt, but I've come far enough to know that there are whole levels beyond what I could see when I first arrived. Makes me wonder what I'll be able to see next week/month/year.

Day 25
Thursday:
Breakfast: totally out of food. I had an apple and a banana with almond butter. lame, but within the rules. It was actually kind of nice to have something so completely different for breakfast that required zero cooking.

Dinner: we went to the Gyro place. Like I said out of food. Lamb, salad, baba.

Training: kb oh lunges with the 44, ohp with the 44. done in sequence. These were horrible. That offset loading with a long lever like that is just brutal.
walking lunges: lots
bw rows: lots.. some feet elevated.

Mahalo.

Paleo day 19-22

2010-11-02T14:42:00.000-07:00

Day 19
Friday:
Breakfast: eggs
Dinner: More Mr. Gyro same as last week.
Dessert: dark chocolate 1/2 bar

Training: 10x 100m build for 25, max speed by 50, hold till 90 and coast 10. Walk back.
My running mechanics are getting better. I'm still in anterior tilt, so I sort of push my torso forward, and really have to force my abs to contract to get the proper forward lean.

Day 20
Saturday:
breakfast: butternut squash hashbrowns and eggs
Lunch: 3 turkey burgers and some left over vegetables.
Dinner: grass fed beef hash with brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes.. not a hit with the wife.

Training: BJJ. I had a good roll with CP a purple belt with several pro MMA fights. Last week he beat me like a rented mule. This week was better.. and by better I mean I spent the whole time defending, and only got subbed once or twice. I worked with an aspiring MMA fighter on his takedowns and TD defense. Then was one of the sharks in a sharktank for the guy.

Day 21
Halloween
Sunday:
Breakfast: leftover hash and 2 eggs.
Lunch: chicken thighs and broccoli
Dinner: smoked chicken, plantains (best batch yet) . The smoked chicken was off the charts good. Rubbed with some salt, and put in the smoker/grill for 2-3 hours.
Dessert: in honor of Halloween I made some paleo puddin'
1 small pumpkin diced and baked.
1 can coconut milk
2 eggs
all spice
cinnamon
nutmeg
cloves
Blended with a stick blender to airate and baked at 350 till it looks almost done.
I put some pecans on mine, the wife got some honey on hers.
It was the goods.

Day 22
Monday:
breakfast: eggs
Pre-training snack: leftover plantains and chicken
Dinner: Fish taco salad (cod, peppers, onions, guacamole on romaine)

Training: BJJ Small class. We worked an arm-bar/choke/arm-bar transition that was super sweet. I had a good roll with Drew for about 15 minutes. Very good stuff. He said "You're getting much trickier." I am pretty sure that's a good thing.
After that I worked with one of the newer guys on his side control escapes. He's so strong, but he uses too much strength. If you just ride him out he gasses.. I tried to explain.. so did CP.. didn't take.. maybe next time.

Mahalo.

Paleo day 15 - 18.

2010-10-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

Day 15
Monday:
breakfast: eggs hot sauce

Dinner: stew with grass fed chuck, rutabaga, parsnips, and a little smoked pork belly.

Training: BJJ class. Pretty light day at class. Couple good rolls working on keeping my game open and flowing.
Stretching.

Day 16
Tuesday:
Breakfast: eggs.. I'm kind of failing "eat eggs for breakfast fewer times per week."

Dinner: Shrimp and romesco sauce, salad, baked sweet potato. We had purple sweets for the first time.. to starchy for this application. I ate a lot of shrimp.

Training:
BSS lots worked up to 70lb dumbbell. These are progressing, they still suck, but better is better.
Assisted pull-ups even more.
I had to scoot, so that's all I did.
Stretching.

Day 17
Wednesday:
Breakfast: eggs

Dinner: pork/lamb/beef meatballs in red sauce. Salad.

Training: none. Got stuck at work. Lots of stretching.

Day 18
Thursday:
Breakfast: left over meatballs
Dinner: pork steaks, grated butternut squash, tomato salad.

Training:
Reverse lunges off a 4" box worked up to 5 at 115 did a few sets
53 and 44lb Kb OH carry, to mid-court, press the 44 5x, carry to the end, press the 44 5x. set down. switch hands on the way back.
twice.
Inverted rows 10, 8, 10 feet elevated grips get wider each set.

I bought some new fight shorts for no-gi class. I wore them to the gym yesterday because 1) I wanted to break them in a little, 2) I had tried them on, and thus they were already on me, 3) I was down to my last pair of gym shorts, and the ones I had kinda suck. So I'm doing my thing, ignoring the world when the D-bag across from me asks "So whaddya think about the blorkey blerg" (he said something else, but it made about as much sense to me) I stand there with a what the hell look on my face, and he repeats the question. I can make no sense of his question, but I realize he is wearing the same color gear as my shorts. Then it dawns on me I am foolishly wearing WSU colors. Oh hell.
For those of you outside of the PNW, there are two major universities in this state. The University of Washington aka U-dub and Washington State aka wah-zoo. They are "rivals." There are no geographic delineations, and some people pick sides despite having attended neither of these schools.
I have thus far tried to steer well clear of this silliness. Yesterday, I failed.
I had to explain to this gentleman that I am from the mid-west, and not only did I not care, but I cared so little that it never occurred to me until that very second that I was wearing what at a glance appears to be WSU shorts. He seemed a little put out. The far greater issue, is EVERY time I wear these shorts (that I very much like) I have to explain that I have no opinion on the blorkey blerg.. or whatever. Oh well.. such is life.

Mahalo.

121

2010-10-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

The beast falls.
Wow, what a crazy card...
Thoughts:

I like Tom Lawler, he just beat a very tough guy in Patrick Cote, and looked great doing it. Hopefully he's back on the upswing.

Court McGee looked great and terrible in his fight with Ryan Jensen. McGee is a likeable guy and a game fighter, hopefully he'll put things together.

Brendan Schaub looked good in his defeat of Gabriel Napao . Crisp standup. Good head movement. Decent takedown defense. Time to climb the ladder.. and get a new nickname.. "the hybrid?" Just terrible.

I wonder about the wisdom of Gabriel Gonzaga moving to Boston. He's lost three of his last four, and been outboxed in all of them. This is a classic example of a guy winning a big fight by KO (Crocop) and falling in love with his standup. He needs to dance with the one that brung him, and work on his takedowns, get some fights to the deck and win. ATT would be perfect.

For better or worse it looks like Diego Sanchez is back. He looked great after "Hulking out" early in round 2. He needs to put on some quality mass before he's a real contender, but there's no questioning that he's gotten back to the camp and mindset that earned him 17 straight wins. Wrestling is still his kryptonite. Sanchez is a good High School level wrestler. He got beat by Koscheck and Fitch who are 1-2 levels above that. He needs to round out his game, and fill out his body if he intends to compete with those guys. Still good progress for a guy who is still not yet 30.

Paulo Thaigo has some ragged luck. Just when it looks like he's going to make the leap to the next level, he gets buzz sawed. His wrestling is a little weak, but he has good moments.. His conditioning looked pretty sorry in this last fight, but looked ok in others.. I can't figure out what his problem is.. because he's a different guy from fight to fight. Maybe it's time to think about quitting his day job and concentrating on fighting full time. He made almost $90k in this last fight, that goes a good long ways in Brasilia.

Matt Hamil looked pretty good in his defeat of a pretty well washed Tito Ortiz. His hands are still stilted and awkward, and his top game is controlling, but lacks finish.. or finishing ability. Once again he over-cut (he weighed in at 203.5, a full 2.5 lbs under) while that may not seem like much, go to McDonalds and buy 10 quarterpounders (cheese optional) and stick them all over your body, that's how much more muscle Hamil could be carrying and still make weight. I still say he needs to go to a better camp if he's going to fulfill his potential (and he has miles of potential).

Martin Kampmann is a good fighter. He just got out hustled this past weekend. He was in a winnable fight, but his ego, and Jake Shields' will to win got in his way. Kampmann could have won a sprawl and brawl fight.. he chose not to.

Shields looked awful. He's been a pro fighter since 1999. He was a collegiate wrestler before that, he should be able to make a weight cut in his sleep. Either he overlooked Kampmann, which brings to question his intelligence, or his preparation wasn't up to snuff. Either way if he makes the same mistake again he's going to get roundly beaten.

After UFC 100 I said "The only Heavyweight that can possibly give Brock Lesnar problems is Cain Velasquez." Then I started watching training footage of Lesnar, and bought into the hype. A major thing to remember when watching hype shows: they only show you the things that make the fighters look good. So if they suck at hitting the mitts, you won't see much footage of that. If you watch the Lesnar footage from primetime they showed him sparring with Chris Tuchscherer (who is 1-2 in the UFC) or grappling with Pat Barry (who is not exactly Rickson Gracie) The same thing goes for conditioning footage, trainers break out drills and things that their guys are good at, not what they do all the time. All that footage of Manny Pacquiao doing agility ladders on 24/7 means his trainer knows Manny has good feet, and will make them both look good, not that doing agility ladders will give you good feet.
Back to the fights:
Lesnar won the takedown game. He took Cain down twice. Cain only took him down once, after stunning him. However, the difference maker was Velasquez's ability to get off his back without taking any punishment. Once he got up, I knew the champ was in trouble. Velasquez is young, he's got all the tools. I think other than getting clipped (which can happen in any heavyweight fight) he poses a real problem for everyone in the division.
Brock Lesnar is now fighting the clock. He's been blueprinted. There is a way to beat the beast, he has to work to close those holes and climb the ladder again before he passes his "sell by" date. The only thing I ask is that the UFC not subject us to another Lesnar vs Mir fight. I just don't care.. that fight has been decided.. it's over. Give it a rest.

Mahalo.

Paleo day 12, 13, and 14

2010-10-24T22:31:00.000-07:00

Day 12
Friday:
Breakfast: scrambled eggs and 2 links.

lunch: leftover soup

Snack: apples and almond butter

Dinner: Lamb kebab take aways. With salad and baba ganoush.

Treat: couple pieces of dark chocolate.

Training: sprints 10x 50m 3x ladders 1/4 field, back, 1/2, back, 3/4, back, full, back is one.
I really noticed my running technique was lazy on these. I had to really fight to keep my knees driving, and I was soft around the corners. Not driving my "chase" arm back and reaching with my lead. Good training though.

Day 13
Saturday:
Breakfast: 2 eggs and sweet potato hashbrowns

Lunch: chicken thighs, spinach sauteed in coconut oil

Dinner: ground lamb and beef (grass fed of course) broccoli, onions, and crimini mushrooms stir fried and topped with avocado mashed with lime.

Training: BJJ lost track of my laundry and had to wear my 'gi of last resort.' So I rolled no gi. Before class I rolled with Wags. She rolls so differently from everyone else, It's a lot of fun. I always play guard (make up for the size difference.. as much as I can). After class I had a Long roll with Paul. Then rolled with Brian, who had my number. Then a long technical roll with young Jeff, aka Jefe. I did a lot of guard surfing, putting myself in danger, trying new stuff. I learned a lot. After that I talked through a few details of last Wednesday's roll with the Prof. Keeping tighter in the top of half guard. Passing the inverted guard. Details details details.

Day 14
Sunday:

Breakfast: left over stir fry with 2 eggs scrambled in.

Lunch: 2 turkey burger patties with mustard, 4 clementines.

Snack: 1 serving of nuts.

Dinner: roast chicken, mashed plantains (coconut oil, chicken drippings, salt, hot sauce), and a salad (arugula, mustard, walnut oil, small amount of anchovy paste)

Training: did some yard work, and cooked up a storm.

Noticed a few things: my caffeine intake is way down. I just don't need it as much. My sweet tooth is very much muted. My gas is better than it's been in a while. I've dropped a pretty significant volume of weight without even trying. I'll post numbers once the whole experiment is done.

I totally jinxed the Beast.. thoughts on 121 sometime this week.

Mahalo.

Paleo day 10, 11

2010-10-22T07:42:00.000-07:00

Day 10
Wednesday:
breakfast: eggs
Dinner: I made some soup with grass fed beef, ground pork, kale, turnips, celery root, and leek.
It was quite tasty.

Day class was good. I had a decent roll with Dave a purple belt. I was working on letting him dictate the inital phase of the roll (top or bottom) and then sweep and submit, or pass, mount, submit. After that I got to roll with the professor which is always a great lesson. He caught me early, with an armbar. I was being sloppy and left an arm. Then a guillotine. He slapped it on, and I just sort of thought "really, a guillotine?" I let him keep the grip and went to pass. He disrupted my base enough as I passed and got the mount. Then suddenly I had a lot more respect for the guillotine. The third time he tapped me, I was passing he went to inverted guard. I collapsed down. I got one foot out, and didn't hold his shoulders/head in place well enough, he spun to a triangle. I didn't want to stack him (couple reasons: it just seems like bully behavior to me, last time we rolled he had a sore neck for a week), so I postured hard.. and once again left my arm behind. Most people that would have been fine: I was postured up hard, my hips were out in front, but he shifted his hips in the air, and actually came up and 'got' my arm. Great stuff. I need to remember to not only posture, but actively protect my arms when coming up. He had me dragged into deep water the whole time.. which I like. He found a lot of holes in my preferred positions, things that I will have to shore up. I keep replaying the roll in my head looking for those.

Day 11
Thursday:
Breakfast: eggs
I was in meetings all day long. My bosses boss scheduled a "lunch meeting" the food provided was Dominoes pizza. I wouldn't eat that crap BEFORE the paleo experiment. I sure as hell wasn't going to fall off the wagon. I didn't get lunch till about 3. Suck.
dinner: taco salad
snack: some almond butter.

Training:
reverse lunges from 4" box a whole bunch at 95 lbs.
Press/overhead carry/press/overhead carry 3x at 35lb dumbbells
Chest supported rows sets of 8 at 2 plates and a quarter.

Good sleep last night.
Big fights this weekend. I'm stoked that Jake Shields is now in the UFC. I think Velasquez has a puncher's chance agains Lesnar, but no more. This whole card is interesting (even if some of the fights will end up being stinkers)
Mahalo.

Paleo day 8, 9

2010-10-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

Day 8
Monday:
breakfast was some eggs and hash.
Dinner was Meat sauce (tomato, grass fed beef, lamb and pork, onions, garlic, herbs and olive oil) over sauteed fennel. This was good stuff.

I missed class. One of the guys at my work was hospitalized with a staph infection last week, and I wanted to make sure I was clear before I went to class. I ended up working most of the night any way.

I did train a bit:
heavy bag work to warm up.
Airdyne sprints 10x15 second sprints.
Airdyne arms only for 5 minutes.

Day 9
tuesday:
Breakfast: left over Red Gravy
Dinner: adobo chicken thighs with baked butternut squash and cauliflower.

Training:
BSS: lots at 62 lb kettelbell.
chins: some
Stretching and corrective exercise.

I'm going to have to make a run to the store tonight, I'm out of nuts and need more fruit.
This week I've had asian pears, plumbs, and a couple apples.

Mahalo.

one twenty.

2010-10-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

Thoughts from UFC 120:

Fighters coming off the Ultimate fighter are not (generally) ready for the top tier of the UFC. They still need some seasoning.. I would love to see another "comeback" season of TUF. Bring in guys who are going to be cut and say here's your chance. Watching grizzled veterans fight for one more chance is far more compelling than watching 20 something numbsculls beat each other and then get thrown in way over their heads. Seasons 6-10 the only guys who look to be sticking in the UFC are Ryan Bader (who is a legitimate talent), Ross Pearson (being brought along slowly for UK branding), and Roy Nelson (who was a gatekeeper level talent ignored by the UFC because he's not a "company guy.")

I had the Kongo v Browne fight as a draw too. Browne could be a decent fighter who choked in his first fight with a 'name.' He's got fast hands and good head movement which is why he can get away with such crap fundamental striking. If he's going to fight in the UFC he's going to have to clean those up. Along with his wrestling fundamentals. He tried big brothering Kongo to the ground a few times and failed. He's in deeper water and that's not going to work any more.

Mike Pyle looked great. That said he's tailor made to beat Hathaway. He was tighter with his stand-up. His head movement frustrated the brit, and he was able to stop the only two takedowns Hathaway knows: the power double, and the weird running head and knee takedown that Hathaway, Pearson, and Bisping all do.. and that I've never seen on a wrestling mat.
Pyle was able to transition from striking to wrestling to striking more smoothly than anyone not named GSP. Most guys have a visible shift. You can see them go "ok, Go TAKEDOWN." "that didn't work, back to striking." Pyle was shooting and coming up with crisp punches, and had one beautiful trip off the Thai Plum. I can't tell if Pyle is finally making a surge, or he's just found his range. This was a good wake-up for Hathaway. He needs to diversify his training. Spend some time at Team Quest, ATT or Xtreme Couture.

Carlos Condit is one of my favorite fighters (I've probably just doomed the poor guy to never win another fight). He's genuinely tough. He's well rounded. He knew when to jump to a bigger camp. He knows his place in the pecking order, and goes after what he perceives to be tough, but winnable fights. I'm interested to see him climb the ladder.

Dan Hardy is overrated. That is all.

Speaking of overrated Mike Bisping beat Sexyama. Color me surprised. I even though Akiyama like many of his countrymen is fighting a full weight class above where he should, and has worse conditioning than I do. I figured Bisping's ego and utter lack of beard would cost him this fight.. it did not.. almost did, but Slipperyama didn't go in for the finish. Bisping recovered, and threw pillows for the next 12 minutes to coast to a win. Bisping wants another shot at Wand. I say, No way. No more fighting guys whose best years were spent in the PRIDE ring. You can have Chael Sonnen (the two mouthiest SOBs in professional fighting). Win that fight and we'll talk.

Mahalo.

Paleo; day 4, 5, 6, 7.

2010-10-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

Day 4:
Thursday.
I took the leftover chicken thighs, some left over roasted pumpkin and an apple chopped, and sauteed.. very tasty. Technically this is a Hash. From the French root "hasher" or "to chop"

I'm going to stop telling you what I have for lunch on work days. I always have a serving of nuts, a piece or two of fruit, and some greens topped with the week's gruel.

Training:
I did a ton of reverse lunges from a 4" step. Worked up to 95 lbs (yes, I suck) and did a lot of reps.
I did a lot of push-ups and bw lunges after.

Dinner.. damn.. I forgot.. fortunately it's still up on the whiteboard in the kitchen.
I have a habit of buying food, and then forgetting what I was going to do with it once a day or two passes. So every Sunday I come home from the grocery, and write out the menu for the week on a white board on the fridge. That way no food gets wasted.
Last week's menu is still up, so I'll edit this tonight.

Edit:
50/50 lamb/beef meat balls, in red sauce (red wine, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil) over spaghetti squash.

Day 5:
Friday.
Breakfast: eggs, hotsauce.

Training:
Since it was a lovely day I went out to the local soccer field and did some sprints. It being Seattle and all the ground was nice and soft so I checked the route for glass and kicked my shoes off.
(bear in mind this is a 1/2 size soccer field)
Sprints:
10x50m
Burmas: (this is an old rugby training.. 'thing') run the length of the field, turn, run to the opposite corner, run the other length, and then back to the first corner. You make a huge figure 8. The changes of direction mean deceleration and acceleration.. they're brutal.

A full size field comes to about 435m this half size field is about 216 for the whole thing.
I did 3 (1/2 size) and almost keeled over. 100 years ago when in shape for rugby I'd do 5 (full size) and be fine. Needless to say I had much more aerobic capacity then. Since the pendulum has swung back a bit too far. I'm going to do these again this week.

Dinner we went to our favorite gyro place. It's owned by two brothers. Nicest guys in the world good food, great price. Honestly, I cannot recommend it enough. They did a plate of chicken, lamb, baba ganoush, and salad for me. I got home and added some olive oil. It was awesome.

I had a couple pieces of dark chocolate for dessert.

Day 6:
Breakfast: more eggs.

snack before training: nuts.

Went to class. Paul taught Gi. How to open guard by standing, and the "knee through" pass.
I taught no gi. Knee in the middle guard break, to scoop pass, to squeeze pass. Seemed to help people a lot. Paul said 4 out of 4 guys he rolled with tried the pass on him after.
I had two rolls. 1 no gi with a white belt who had never gone no gi before. He's pretty significantly bigger than me, but doesn't move as well. He wasn't used to the speed of no gi. I tried to teach him to move more and open up. I don't know that he got it.
After that I put my pajamas on and rolled with Ian. Ian is a good brown belt. Smaller guy, but great balance, and very good at using unorthodox control points. This is the first time we've rolled in a while, and the first time it wasn't like Bugs Bunny and the giant.

The bad news is I snapped one of my toes. I'm not going to miss any training, but it hurts like crazy, and put an end to my day.

Lunch: ground beef sauteed with shallot and some avocado, half of a cantalope

Later that night, I made bacon from a raw pork belly. It was good.. a little too salty. I'll need to figure that out for the next batch.

Dinner was pretty similar to lunch: sweet potato, stuffed with ground beef, broccoli, garlic, and avocado.

after dinner a little more dark chocolate.

Day 7:
Sunday.
Sunday morning was my father-in-law's birthday brunch.
I brought bacon, and because it was too salty to eat on its own I rubbed it with some brown sugar (which is against the rules, so I didn't eat any)
I had scrambled eggs, sausage, and a lot of fruit salad.
Everyone else had cake.
The ferry ride was nice.

This weekend we started Ferber method sleep training for the grizzly. I don't think this method is for everyone. The little guy is particularly suited for it as he was having a hard time figuring out how to sooth himself and was very reliant on us to do it for him. Honestly of the 3 nights we've done it he's had 1 period (night 1 right off the bat when we put him down, night 2 at 3 am, and night 3 at 11 pm) per night where he's cried for a good while (no more than 3 'check in' periods) but otherwise he seems to be adjusting and is no worse for wear.

Dinner was steamed clams and mussels, and salad with romesco sauce instead of dressing:
piqueo peppers 2-3
some almonds (I used almond butter)
garlic
salt
tomatos
sherry vinegar
blend.
Very tasty stuff, and very versatile. I'll be using this a lot more.

Week 1 in the books. I'm feeling pretty good. I feel like I've dropped some weight, but that's not a goal of this per se. My emotional outlook is better. My hunger queues are different. I used to get really cranky when I as hungry, now I just get a little run down, not even tired.. hard to explain, but much better for my psyche. It really hasn't been all that challenging for the most part. We'll see how weeks 2-4 go.

Mahalo.

Paleo, day 2 and 3

2010-10-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

Day 2:
Lifted. Lots of BSS.. lots..
Waiter's carry ohpx5/5 carry.. x3 done three times
Chins: 5,5, 1 every 30 seconds for a long while.

Breakfast: 4 eggs.

Lunch: stew and greens, apple

Snack: nuts.

Dinner: chicken andouille sausage, peppers, and fennel cooked in tomato and red wine sauce.

Snack: another apple. Ok apples are in season, but I'm sick of apples.

Short stretch before bed.

Day 3:
No training, got stuck in a meeting so I couldn't go to BJJ day class, and by the time the little guy went down I had no interest in conditioning. I did stretch for a good long while and do some corrective exercise.

Breakfast: Went against the spirit, if not the rules of the challenge, and had some sausage with my eggs. It's weird, I feel like I'm doing well with the big rocks (no sugar, grains, legumes, or dairy) but it's the small rocks (lean proteins, 2 or less servings of fruit per day, keep up my training schedule) that I'm really struggling with. So this is Meh. I had eggs for breakfast, and sausage that I probably don't need to be eating. Oh well. It was good.
The lack of training, is a bigger deal, but hopefully it's a short term issue. The professor is out of town (at the US open), and I had valid reasons to not make class both days. I could have gotten some conditioning in, but I chose not to. We'll see how it shakes out.

Lunch: stew and greens, nuts

Snack: yup.. another apple. (seeing a pattern? I told you, I tend to eat the same stuff over and over)

Dinner:
chicken thighs oven roasted with some old bay and ginger, chantrell mushrooms sauteed in duck fat, mashed plantains seasoned with the chicken run-off and a good sized glop of avocado and lime. This did not suck.

So what's the difference?
The question came up, what WERE you doing?
To be honest, most parts of my diet were mostly the same.
Dinners were mostly meat, and 1-2 veggies.
The stew stuff I make for lunches is the same as now.. more or less.
So what's different?
I ate eggs almost every morning for breakfast.. which is changing, but doesn't have to.
I consumed a bunch of dairy: Milk in my coffee, cheese on dinner, milk in the evening, Ice cream on the weekends, whey protein after training. That has been an adjustment. I like my milk.
I see some of that coming back.. maybe.. sorta. I don't need to eat it all the time, but I'm not turning down tasty french cheese down from Canada (after my 30 days are up).
Oatmeal was a favorite pre-training meal. I'd have a bowl every afternoon or so. Assuming I see significant changes in how I feel, I can do without the grains..
I'm not going to be militant about this.. even if I do make major changes.. I'll have a bit of whatever I feel like I'm missing on holidays.. as in REAL holidays: Christmas, Thanksgiving, MY Wedding Anniversary, MY birthday. Some people take this too far; "It's only a small piece of cheesecake. Hey, It's Bosses day!" Forget that he's nobody's boss. or "I have to have a piece of cake, it's Fred's birthday" yeah, but you hate Fred.

It's a lot of small changes, but for me it helps to be able to say "I am taking on this challenge to see how it goes. I will follow the rules or I'll not be completing the challenge." Once I'm out the other side, I'll have to see how I feel.

Mahalo.

Paleo. day 0 thru 1

2010-10-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

Last week I finished Robb Wolf's fantastic book the Paleo Solution. The book is great. It's well thought out, lots of science and detail, but conversationally written. An excellent read. The only criticism I had was there was no checklist for the challenge. A condensed set of rules if you will. There is a "Quickstart guide" on his website but it would be nice if there were something in the book. The rules below are from Robb's blog, and my interpretation of the text.
That said, I knew going in that I was going to agree with Robb. I knew a little bit about his ideas, and also believe that the RD/government model of grains/more grains/veggies/and some meat (if you must, and really only so Texas won't secede from the union) are a problematic diet plan. Also having been a vegetarian for 10 years, and seeing the immediate improvement in my physique and well being that falling off of that wagon has made, it was not too far of a leap to paleo.

Those who are long time readers know I am always up for a challenge. So I am taking on his 30 day challenge.. with a couple of addenda..

But first the challenge:
Thou shalt not eat:
grains or cereals at all
legumes
dairy products (pastured butter is ok)
processed foods
sugars. Agave, organic honey, molasses, whatever.. sugar is sugar.
artificial sweeteners.

Thou shalt eat:
All of the lean meat, fish, seafood, eggs you want
All of the non starchy vegetables you want
Plenty of fruit (1-2 servings per day)
Moderate nuts and seeds (1-2 servings per day)

The Addenda: Upon examining my diet (and physical life in general) I wanted to make this a complete overhaul. A single month focused on making my body better:

Stretch more, my flexiblity and mobility are piss poor. At least 5x per week I will stretch my RF, hips, etc.. OUTSIDE of training. Each workout will include 1-2 sets of goblet squats.

Add more single leg work into my life. My back problems have created some pretty major hip stability issues that are limiting my max lifts. Time to take the medicine. Squat day becomes BSS day. Every warm up will include at least 30 lunges.

Diversify my diet. Reading Robb's book I noticed the vast majority of my fats came from 3 sources: Olive, dairy, meat.
I have added 1 sometimes 2 servings of nuts per day (pecans, macadamia, and walnuts toasted in coconut oil with some salt) and
added walnut, and virgin coconut oil to my pantry.
Have something other than eggs for 3 breakfast's per week. (I eat a lot of eggs)

Pick up the pace of my lifting sessions. I need to get more out of my training since I'm training less (having kids does that to you) So more cluster sets, more high rep sets of push-ups, lunges, presses.. ect.

Day 0.
Shopping. I went with the wife and kiddo to the grocery store. I bought grass fed beef, and some chicken and frozen veg to make a "stew" for my lunches (It's much drier than a stew, but the idea is still the same). And got a big mess of greens to go with it.
We bought nuts, and oils (see above) and a whole bundle of seasonal fruit.
We planned out the dinner's for the week:
The idea is 2-3 nights of mammal for dinner (beef, lamb, pork) 2 poultry, and 1 seafood (2 if something's on sale) and 1-2 nights "out."
Each meal will have something green (asparagus, fennel, spinach)
2-4 meals will have squash, sweet potato, plantain, or other root vegetable.

'sundries:
I'm trying coconut milk in my morning espresso.. I'm not so sure about this.. still playing with the mix. I may just have to reduce the volume and increase the frequency of my coffee doses as I just use the milk to cool it off to make it easier to ingest.
Friday and Saturday night are "treat nights" at our house. We forgo dessert most nights of the week knowing that if we have an established tradition we have 2 quality desserts per week, instead of having 7 bad ones. I'm going to allow myself some low-sugar dark chocolate 1x per weekend.

The only part of the challenge I am unable to take on is the "sleep more" portion. Having a 5 month old my sleep is no longer in my control.

I had a big bowl of cereal Sunday afternoon, cooked up a storm for Monday morning.

Day 1
I took on the hardest thing about any diet modification challenge right off the bat. I traveled to Spokane for work on Monday. I had the added bonus of post 9/11 travel: thanks to the TSA I can't bring any food with me.

Breakfast was a chicken breast and a fruit cup.
Lunch I went to a sandwich place, and had them make a roast beef sandwich with bacon and avocado (hold the cheese please) into a salad instead. It was quite good. I had to fib a little. I claimed a "wheat allergy."
Sorry to the nice lady at the sandwich shop.. It's just easier than explaining.
Afternoon snack was some pistachios and a fruit cup (again with the fruit cup).
Dinner was some shrimp, asparagus and baked pumpkin at home.
Snack: I had an apple and a spoon full of almond butter.

Not a bad day. My food selection was on. I had something other than eggs for breakfast. The chicken was cooked in canola oil, while not verboten is something I'd prefer to avoid. Considering I was on the road right from the jump, I'm calling day 1 a win.

My flight was delayed on the way home so I couldn't train.. oh well. Everything else went well.
So we begin.
Post your questions, and comments.
Mahalo.

Haulin' Rocks.

2010-10-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finished up a project in the backyard of the house.
60x25 lb pavers (1500 lbs) and
15x15 lb bags of sand (750 lbs)
All loaded up from the hardware store to the truck, and from the truck up a small flight of steps to the back yard, and then put in place.
It looks good.. but I'm sure beat.

Last week in the gym:
tues:
single leg work:
lots of BSS.. I still suck at these.
Lots of chin-ups and some dips.

thurs:
deadlifts:
worked up to 405 for 5 (easy could have gotten more)
then 8x2 at 315 speed speed speed
Lots of push-ups and straight arm reverse flys.

In the Academy:
Monday no rolling. Too tired.

Wednesday:
couple light rolls working on my bottom game, and some very specific aspects of it.
Controlling deep half guard, and flowing subs off my back.

Saturday:
There was a tourney, so Class was small, and I taught. Gi optional.
I taught an arm bar setup for when your opponent is holding your hips really tight, and we drilled for a while.
I rolled no-gi a couple of times, and called it a day.

Yaba-dabba-doo!

Training and the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu athlete: part 1 regular training.

2010-09-23T12:56:00.001-07:00

Buckle your chin-straps folks, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
I have read dozens of blogs, training programs, and talked to.. well every BJJ player I have ever met about training. Coming from a high level athletic background, having trained my way through some serious injury issues, I see a lot of my training partners and folks on the internet doing a lot of things that are heading to injury and a shortened career.
I decided to come up with a a two part post (and they are going to be pretty damn long) that are guidelines for preparing your body for jiu-jitsu. It is a two part series because pre-competition training is very different from what needs to be done to maintain the week to week integrity of your body.. but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
So here's what I've come up with:

Assumptions: (These are IMPORTANT)
We are talking about the general BJJ player between competitions.
You are male (females tend to respond better to more volume, and have less wear from a lifetime of contact sports)
You were not a NCAA wrestler.
You are not training for any other activity (soccer, triathlons.. whatever)
You are not a pro fighter, and there is no assumption that you will become one.
You are over the age of 25
You are under the age of 50
You have a job, bills, perhaps even a wife and kids, and thus the olympic model of:
wake, eat, train, eat, sleep, train, eat, massage, eat, go to bed is not an option.
You intend to compete, but not more than 1-2 times per year.
You have been training in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu for at least a year.
You are in this for the long hall, at least a decade past your black belt.

Mistakes in assumption:

You should be competition fit year round.
Let's kill this one from the jump. You do not have the time and training capacity to be competition fit year round. Yes you. How do I know this? Because the top athletes in the world at every sport take time off, and they don't have to hold down a day job. Hell, even the guys taking PEDs take time off. Training for most of the year should be built about keeping you healthy, and strong for the long road of a lifetime of jiu-jitsu. If you train like it's competition time all the time, you will break down, or burn out. Remember, the black belt is the beginning, not the end.
Cardio, you should do lots.
Let me be clear, I'm talking about long slow aerobic training. This is bunk for several reasons. The first is aerobic base is bunk. The second is the SAID principal. SAID stands for Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. To put it another way, I have never seen a runner roll to get in shape for running, so why run to get in shape for rolling?
If you are outside of the competition prep window (depends on age, injury history, belt level, and personal preference.. usually 8-12 weeks)Forget 'cardio,' Jiu-jitsu is your sport, so why waste training time and recovery doing another method of cardio, which isn't going to apply any way? Besides, it takes a goddamn long time to do. I have a job, and a kid, I'd rather save my long training sessions for class. Make sure you get in at least one long-ish roll per training session, and your aerobic fitness will be fine (for most of the year).
Anerobic training isn't important.
Most people get this backwards. They train "cardio" outside of class, and only train their anerobic systems in class. The problem is in class you need to be clear enough to stay relaxed, and focus on technique while moving quickly. If you're at your anaerobic threshold that's nearly impossible to do. If your anaerobic system is fit, then you can movemovemove then relax and recover. If you're all aerobic you can move constantly, but slowly.. less than ideal. I'd rather mount my opponent and catch my breath than be able to slowly squirm under mount for a long time.
Strength training is for fighters, and meathead fighter wannabes.
I love the leverage and strategic nature of the gentle art. I really do, but I also recognize that being strong is the secret to longevity in any sport. Appropriately applied muscle mass stabilizes joints, and strength training conditions the connective tissue to take the repeated stress of people trying to unseat them. Also an appropriate strength training program can counter act the constant spinal flexion that jiu-jitsu requires. Targeted mobility work and strength training is your best weapon against nagging long term injury. If you have sore shoulders, sore back, sore neck, you probably need to strengthen something, and mobilize something else.
Mobility means stretching hamstrings, and low back
Most of us have day jobs that involve sitting at a desk, our hip flexors (rectus femoris and psoas) get shortened. This pulls our femurs out of alignment, which makes our hamstrings, glutes, and lower back FEEL tight. The problem is that the more we stretch those muscles the more we misalign ourselves and make our problems worse. Work on hip mobility and you'll get long term relief.
What's a 'recovery?'
BJJ is the only martial art where you train at 100% all the time. We all get beat up, bumped, bruised, tweaked, cranked. We need recovery modalities to restore our bodies so that we can do it again.. and again.. and well you get the idea. SMR, contrast showers, massage, sleep, nutrition, and strategic deloads are important. Yes even from jiu-jitsu. I am the only player I know that consistently drops his training volume from time to time BEFORE I get injured. Go to class, and do technique but don't spar. Drill but don't roll. Reduce your lifting volume, reduce your weight training volume. Something, let your body recover, or eventually you'll become a laundry list of injuries, and be forced to take time off.
Gotta do eleventy hundred crunches.
Granted, I am baised. I have had a back injury pretty much since dirt was new, but all of the clinicians tell us that too much flexion=ow my back hurts. Since we pretty much fight on our backs in flexion, does it make sense to spend more time doing it? Not to me.
I understand that if you can't sit up into your opponent you can't fight, but anyone who's been doing this for very long has that baseline fitness, and gets plenty from drilling, sparring, and rolling. We don't need a conditioning drill that does the same thing without the skill aspect. It's simple training economy. Why spend 20 minutes (and burn 500 spine flexes) doing sit-ups when I can use the same "training currency" working on my arm-bars from guard?
We all need to train the same way.
I have been injured.. alot. My 'training age' is very high, and I know what my training capacity is. There is a young guy at Ballard who is 19, strong, fit, fast, and never been hurt a day in his life. Even at the same weight class we'd have to train very differently. I'm older, stronger, have a significantly higher training age and injury history. My strength program is dialed in, I have my recovery dialed. I go to class warm-up, drill, roll and do a little extra conditioning here and there. He can handle a much higher volume of strength training and sparring. He doesn't need to deload as often (if at all), and can double up rolling and conditioning in the same day. If I did that, something would break. You have to find what kind of training volume your body can handle. Look at your nutrition and recovery. Monitor your moods, and stressors outside of your training life. You cannot blithely wander through this life and expect progress. It has to be measured to be managed.

So what should we do?
To be clear I am not advocating being lazy. To be good at jiu-jitsu you need to have a base level of fitness. You need to go to class and train hard. You need to get in the gym and lift like the structure of your very body depends on it.. because it does.

So what do we need?
At a minimum, remember your personal work capacity may be different, but the below is the minimum price of admission.

We need to go to class and drill and roll 3-6x per week (depending on what you can recover from)

We need 2-3 strength training workouts focusing on posterior chain (upper back, lats, glutes, hamstrings) and some high rep work for the shoulders and elbows. If you already have posture issues, or injuries make sure your strength training targets them.

We need to recover every day: good nutrition (zone, paleo, Gracie diet, whatever just eat real food), good sleep, take a long walk/do some yoga and stretching/mobility/SMR.

2-3 sessions of intense anaerobic conditioning. These can be done either as 'finishers' to the strength workouts, training sessions in class, or by themselves.

Every few weeks/couple of months (particularly before beginning competition prep, or after a meet) take some time down. It doesn't have to be off, but reduce your workload, and recover more.

That's a minimum of 7 workouts a week plus recovery. Hardly a lazy man's schedule, but you'd be amazed at how many folks will skip a solid 2/3s of the above and then run 3 miles do 200 crunches and tell themselves they've done their homework. Maybe they'll be able to keep that up for 20 years, but most people cannot. The answer lies in the middle, in looking at your own capacity honestly, and not falling into the trap of doing what you like/want/are good at/have always done because that road ends in the orthopedists office.

Coming up next part 2: training for competition.

Mahalo.

Thank you, useful thing.

2010-09-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

I am getting a TON of freaking comment spam here. Most of it doesn't even pretend to be anything but, the best are the ones that try to appear like a regular comment. I love the strange word usements they structure.
It's practically be-bop.

I think this is going to be another wash-out week of training. Monday was a light day at BJJ. Technique and 1 roll. Yesterday was spent putting the final spit polish on the condo to get it ready to sell, and today I don't know if I'm going to make it to class for a multitude of reasons..
blah. I'll do some light conditioning work at home tonight, and see if I can sneak in a class on Friday.

Mahalo.

Sleep, and Kool-aid.

2010-09-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

I've been in training all week drinking the Microsoft Kool-aid, and the grizzly has reached a fun little milestone called the "4 month sleep regression" which is doctory b.s. for:
He stops sleeping.. and so do you! how fun!
So tired.
Last night was better.

Training updates.. good grief it's been almost two weeks:
on Friday the 3rd I did deadlift clusters:
315x5(rest 10 sec)x3(same)x2
x5
This was good, got some volume in without risking the possible complications of deadlifting the day after a bout of stomach upset.
Saturday:
BJJ I taught the no-gi class (the Professor is out of town). Taught the spiral ride which is very effective for BJJ. Good control, good movement, and the ability to open space to get the hooks in.
Sunday: off
Monday:
BJJ
Tuesday:
Lots of single leg work. Ton of lunges, step-ups, and split squats. High volume.
Wednesday:
BJJ
Thursday:
Off drove to Portland for work.
Friday:
Lots of front squats, light.
Clean and presses 5/5 at 26, 5/5 at 35, 5/5 at 62 x3
Saturday:
BJJ once again I taught no-gi. Front headlock (see Matt Hughes v. Ricardo Almeda) and escape.
Sunday off.
My training has been garbage this week. I can't train at work because I'm not there. I haven't gone to bjj because of some commitments the wife had. So this week has been a wash.
I've trained once (mostly just mobility work and some high rep posterior chain stuff: rows, chins, hip thrusts, kb swings) I'll go to bjj tonight, lift tomorrow (similar stuff) and go to class again on Saturday.

This song makes me laugh:

There's poo everywhere! What'r we gonna do?!?

2010-09-03T07:50:00.000-07:00

Stomach bug infected my entire house hold.. ok.. that's not entirely true.. the cat was fine.
We're all on the mend today.
No training yesterday, gonna keep it light today.
Have a good labor day.
Mahalo.

UFC 118

2010-09-01T09:17:00.001-07:00

What a barn burner.
Wrestler's rule. Everyone who was able to take his opponent down on Saturday won. Wrestling has become (again.. remember everything new is old again) the most important skill in MMA.. for now.. until someone figures out another foil for it.

Joe Lauzon looked great. I'm glad to see him back. Hopefully with a tougher opponent he'll continue to look as good.

Marcus Davis is in trouble. His hand speed and reactions are failing him. He's a smart guy, and would be a good boxing coach for an MMA camp. Might be time for a new line of work.

Nate Diaz drives me nuts. Million dollar talent, five cent head.

Gray Maynard (full disclosure; one of my favorite fighters since his stint on TUF) will finally get a title shot.. one that I think he can win.

I like Ken Florian a lot. He's a Gracie Barra blackbelt, he went to Boston College (the wife's alma mater) but he made a classic mistake. He got ready for a power takedown guy (Gray 'the bully' Maynard) by stuffing the shot of a speed takedown guy (GSP). Tactically and technically very different. That's like training jiu-jitsu with Roy Nelson to get ready for Anderson Silva's guard.

Mario Miranda looked like a classic case of 'looks like Tarzan, fights like Jane.' I hope this was a case of getting thrown into the deep end too soon, because he's a Seattle guy and I'd like to see him do well.

Damian Maia looked great. His wrestling was super sharp, he took Miranda down at will. He's always had good takedowns in the gi. I'm glad to see it starting to transfer.

I love Randy Couture. He did what any wrestler in his right mind would do when facing a boxer: Oklahoma State style low single right off the jump. Ps.. I'll give you three guesses where Randy wrestled in college.. It shouldn't take two.

James Toney learning to sprawl is not enough, you still need to know how to get up off the mat.. hopefully this will never matter again. You were a great (all be it lazy) boxer.. stay that way.
Or go to Japan where they'll make fights you can win.

B.J. Penn lost because he refuses to be anything but the top dog in his camp. If he had an impartial coach, and training partners he'd know what to do when he wasn't the fastest guy in the ring. He'd learn to shorten up, smother and cut off the ring. Instead he continues to train with lesser athletes, and gets beat every time he is at a disadvantage in speed.

Frankie Edgar is a good dude, and I'm glad he decisively won the belt. I don't think he can answer Maynard's bullying style. It's just a bad match-up.

Mahalo

From burly to bouncy.

2010-08-26T04:55:00.001-07:00

Last week I wrote a post about jump training, and what it's not. As a follow up I was going to write a post on the continuum of strength: from limit strength to reactive strength.. aka from burly to bouncy, but honestly I won't be able to explain it any better (and probably far worse) than Eric Cressey does in the following video:

watch it and learn.
Mahalo.

That would be good for MMA..

2010-08-25T09:45:00.000-07:00

Last night I was in the gym, I was working on my clean technique. A guy comes up to me and asks "what's that good for."
I wanted to answer "pretty much everything."
but figured that would lead to more questions, so I kept it short
"building explosiveness and quickness."
He asks "so are you a boxer or something?"
"Brazilan jiu-jitsu and submission grappling actually."
He gives me a puzzled look.
I explain what it is "... ground fighting, arm locks, chokes, and the like."
"Hey, that would be good for MMA."
"You're probably right."

My training of late has been very good, but at the same time not very precise. Work has been crazy, and I'm still spending a lot of time working on the house and getting the condo prepped to sell, and I have a 3 month old who needs tending.

Schedule looks like this:
Monday: BJJ night class
Tuesday: front squats work up to 10-15 total reps (sets of 3 or 5 at 80kg or more), Technique work (clean/snatch/jerk) chin ups >20 total reps. High rep pressing (my shoulders are sore).
Wednesday: BJJ day class, occasionally no-gi night class.
Thursday: deadlifts 10-15 work reps (>400lbs) sets 0f 2-4, rows.. some form ton of reps, high rep pressing.
Friday: aerobic training on the airdyne (10minute intervals) and complexes (kb and barbell)
Saturday: BJJ and No-Gi training.

Sunday: off.
I try to work in more intervals here and there as I get time and recovery to spare.

That's it, that's the non-plan. Once the kid is going to day care and the condo sells I'll get back on a more regimented schedule.
Mahalo.

Coming in for a landing..

2010-08-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

150 years ago when I was a high school football player the St. Louis Football cardinals hosted an event called "Pros for Preps." Where current coaches, and coaches from all over the country came in and taught some aspect of strength and or conditioning to local high school coaches and kids.. like me... through hands on drills and labs. One of the best sessions was the coach from the K.C. Chiefs who taught plyometric training (or jump training, or Mr. Sillywiggles, whatever it's called these days). This gentleman (who's name I wish I remembered) spoke for 90 minutes, 10 of it was about jumping, 15 were about programming, the next 60 minutes were about landing. Let me repeat that: he spent 4 times as much time teaching us to land as he did explaining how to add plyometrics into our training. Fast forward 17 years and go to youtube search for "plyometrics" you see all kinds of terribleness.
Most of which comes from a lack of understanding of what plyometrics can do, and should be asked to do. The most common mistakes I see are:

1) Too high. Whaddaymean to high? Mike Boyle has talked about this, but when you jump, you should land in a good athletic position. It doesn't matter if you're jumping over a hurdle, onto a box, or just up. The whole point of these drills is to build reactive strength, and to get athletes prepared to land and keep playing, not to see how high you can get your feet.

2) landing on your heels. First off you'll rattle the chicklets out of your head. Secondly, your Plantar Fascia, ankles, Knees, hips, low back will hate you. Land mid foot and ACTIVELY absorb the impact. Don't stay rigid, catch the ground with your feet.

3) That's hard, it must be useful. Not every sport requires this type of training, and not every athlete should be doing it. If someone has a ton of reactive strength, but little to no limit strength? You're wasting your time. Athletes who have very little control over their bodies should at most be doing "jump and stick" types of movements, not long chains. They need to reset to learn to control their bodies in space. Like anything else, the right training for the right athlete.

4)It ain't cardio. If you're training for rate of force development, you shouldn't be doing 1+ minutes of jumps. This not plyometrics, it's high impact aerobics. Stop jumping for conditioning.
Let's put it this way: If I asked you to do a standing medicine ball throw, how far do you think it would go? If I asked you to take your time and do 10 in series.. probably about the same. Now if I asked you to stand in one spot and throw it for a minute or more, how far do you think it would go in the last 15 seconds? Not very far. A major part of jump training is about teaching your muscles to be as INEFFICIENT as possible, to turn on all of your muscle fibers at one time. If you use it as cardio, you are teaching it to be as EFFICIENT as possible. Congratulations, you've created a paradox. Which means: you're wasting your time.

I am not saying no one should jump, but just because "the NFL guys do it." or "I saw trainer X on youtube doing it" is not a valid reason. Jump training can be very effective, but it is also hard to recover from, and can create a lot of wear and tear. As such it needs to be targeted, programmed sparingly, and incorporated intelligently.

Hat tip to the guys at 70sbig.com for posting this video that inspired this post:

Gunthor jumps and lands very well.. and he has a sweet mullet.

Mahalo

117 and on Versus 2

2010-08-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

Good weekend. Lots to do and lots done.. and some to be re-done.
Thoughts on the fights:
UFC on Versus 2:

Mark Munoz needs to change his training. He's a NCAA champ, but as a fighter he has no pop. He looks sluggish, something in his training has to change.

Jake Ellenberger looked great dismantling John Howard, solid on the feet, great on the ground. Might be a good first opponent for Jake Shields if the UFC want's to bring Shields in slowly.

Takanori Gomi still has some pop. He looked very sharp against a quality opponent in Tyson Griffin.
Griffin is in a tough spot. He's beaten some quality guys, but lately he seems to have hit the skids a bit. He's a young guy, hopefully he can right the ship.

Jon Jones looked good in beating Vladimir Matyushenko. No one was really surprised. Time to let this kid swim out into deeper water. A fight against a quality gatekeeper (Forrest Griffin, Rich Franklin, or Thiago Silva) should be next. Assuming he doesn't head up to heavyweight.

UFC 117
Phil Davis is a stud, and to my mind is a bigger/better prospect with a better upside than Jon Jones. He's more athletic. Has better all around grappling, and seems more content at 205 (Jones is already having trouble making 205, and will probably end up at 265. I don't think he can hang with the super heavies). We shall see.

Dennis Hallman is showing signs of life. Be interesting to see him back in the mix.

Dustin Hazelett needs to take some time, add some muscle and athleticism, and get better takedowns. McLovin has one of the best ground games in the UFC, but he has a hard time getting guys there. He's lost 6 times and 4 of those have been KOs. His stand-up is sub-par because of his speed and footwork, and his takedowns are terrible. All of which is too bad, because he's a genius on the deck and a lot of fun to watch.

Roy Nelson hit his ceiling. He's good, but he needs to relinquish some control to take his game to the next level. He needs a conditioning coach, and he needs to train at a camp so that he's outside of his comfort zone. I just don't know if his personality will allow it. Clearly he has the ability to set aside his ego, he's a BJJ black belt, you don't get that without being able to do so, but something has changed since then.

Matt Hughes looked great choking out Ricardo Almeida. I don't think he's ready to be in the title mix, but he's not Chuck or Mark Coleman staying at the party too long. It seems to me that when he opened his own gym, the level of competition was lowered (from MFS elite) so Hughes tarnished a bit. Now that some of his guys are starting to bring up their level (Matt Veach, Jon Madsen) Hughes' game is coming back on.

Clay Guida looked good, I just don't know how far he can go without being more dynamic on the feet. His hands are getting better, but his takedown abilities are based in persistence than anything.

Jon Fitch was supposed to get another shot at the title if he beat Thiago Alves. He did, Alves didn't even make weight, and Fitch still beat him (and beat him up). Now Dana White is hemming and hawing about the title fight. At least let him fight Jake Shields for the right to a title shot. Throw the guy a bone.

Alves didn't make weight.. AGAIN. Seriously? your whole job before fight day is to show up on weight with a mean face on. That's it. You have months to prepare. Get it done, or find a new line of work.

I wanted so badly for Chael Sonnen to beat Anderson Silva: I am tired of Anderson's antics. I am tired of the state of stasis in the middleweight division. I have a soft spot for wrestlers turned fighters. I think Sonnen is funny with a good sense of the "show." Besides he's a PNW guy, and a former Oregon wrestler (Oregon no longer has a program). And he did.. sort of. For 23 minutes he beat on Silva. He made Silva look like the slobbery chew toy and Sonnen was the dog. It didn't end up mattering. I watched Anderson pushing Chael's right hand, and shifting his hips. The whole thing happened in slow motion. It was awful. Before the fight I hoped he would pull it out, but fighting Anderson is like russian roulette for 25 minutes. It is very difficult to keep spinning that long and not lose.
Chael Sonnen needs to spend some time in a true BJJ camp/school: American Top Team, Cesar Gracie, Renzo Gracie, somewhere. Just work out of arm-bars and triangles for a year. In a fight that goes his way he spends the whole time in his opponent's guard. He needs to train tougher guard players.

Good fights the past week.
More on my life later.

Mahalo.

Everybody wants to be the best,

2010-08-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

but don't nobody want to lift no heavy @ss weight.
-Ronnie Coleman

Monday I didn't train, I bought some second hand weights from cragislist.. they're in great condition.
4x45
2x25
2x10
2x5
and an Ivanko bar (with crappy knurling, but wtf)
for $335
Got the airdyne and the 62 lb KB moved in.
Will hang the the heavy bag this weekend and probably the chin-up bar.
Things are starting to shape up in my little garage.

Tuesday:
I just decided to do a bunch of snatches.
I just used 95 lbs (super light) and worked technique. Things are much better with my second pull, I'm getting down below the bar very quickly, the problem is I'm not getting UNDER the bar. I'm missing out in front, missing behind.. flat out missing.
Keep working kid.

Did some complexes after:
clean-front squat-press-good morning-row 5 reps each at 95
x2
chinsx5-walking lungesx20-reverse extensionsx10
x2

Wednesday:
BJJ. Just went in and rolled to shake some of the rust off. It'd been a week since I have been at class.

Thursday: big day.
It keeps cropping up everywhere that many people with sciatica get relief by doing SMR on the piriformis. I keep thinking:
"hey, I should try that."
Then I do my normal warm-up.. mostly because I am an idiot.
This time I did it. I got out the baseball (yes it f-ing hurt..) and smushed my piriformis into submission. Suddenly my back didn't hurt.. more than that it actually felt GOOD. Holy Hell.. that's awesome.. why have I not been doing this for months? Oh, right.. that whole idiot thing.
Needless to say, I will be doing this more.

Deadlifts:
315x5 good fast easy
365x3 no problem how high am I going today? My back feels awesome, I'm fairly well rested.. maybe I should try and get the 500 lb monkey off my back.. Don't be stupid.. ok if 455 is fast I'll go for it, if not I'll take it easy.
405x2 good clean lifts. Using my abs better today. Man my back feels awesome.
455x1 smoke show.. never gone up this fast. Screw it! we're going for it.
505x0 grinder.. grinder off the floor, grinder up the shin, grinder to the knee.. still grinding.. still grinding.. lost my air, lost my arch, missed the lift.
I've never missed a deadlift at lockout. Normally if it comes off the floor it goes for a ride.
It's in the mail though. I am >< this close.
455x1
405x1
5x chins
5x ohp at 135
x3

Happy Anniversary to the wife!
5 years ago today.

Mahalo!

We are MOVING..

2010-08-02T13:23:00.000-07:00

I tried to find a picture of Eddie Murphy to go along with the title of this post (from one of my favorite comedies) I couldn't find a single one.. there were eleventeen hundred of him in a fat-suit, but none in the silly faux-african garb from Trading Places.. there is no justice in the world.
(Edit: My friend Matt found the following picture.. which I'm pretty sure means he's in league with the devil.)

Moving always beats me up.. mostly because I tend to load/unload the truck like there's a time limit and I only get to keep what I can load/unload inside of an hour, but partially because it beats everyone up.
To make sure that all of this stress and activity don't take too much of a toll I've been eating like crap too (sort of a feature of having your kitchen all packed up into boxes).

Friday night, my cousin and her daughter came over and helped us pack. They are masterful packers. I am not. I generally just chunk everything into one large box and let natural selection take care of the weaker of my possessions (there is less to put away that way). To contrast they pack things with packing materials and care so that they arrive unharmed.. this increases the load for the unpacker greatly.

Saturday: Paul, Light duty Joe, Chad and Michelle came over kicked the crap out of loading and unloading. We even got the living room set up and most of the kitchen put away.
From the ages of 18-33 I moved every year. A couple times across the country. I did not have a ton of money and being mobile kept me from accumulating a bunch of stuff.. not so much so after a wedding, and several baby showers (not to mention a couple of years just staying in one spot). We have exponentially more stuff. It's amazing. We're still sorting through it.

Saturday night we were invited to go out to a very fancy restaurant for dinner. The pork belly appetizer was great, steak was pretty good, the company was fantastic.. All of this was a jarring juxtaposition against running around schlepping boxes and generally working like a dog.

Sunday morning was all about setting up the Grizzly's room. Putting his crib together, and arranging furniture. From 11 to about 3 we went over to the wife's grandparent's for her grandfather's birthday. We had a nice brunch (the Grizzly was well behaved).

After that it was time to pick up the last few things from the condo. The two main items were Tenzing the cat, and the dishwasher (long story something about stainless and matching the fridge). I carried the dishwasher from the condo to the truck, and then from the truck to the kitchen in the house (up a flight of stairs) by myself.. lifting weights is awesome.

I had far less trouble with the dishwasher than I did with the cat. Tenzing is an indoor cat, and a large one. He does not like to leave his condo. I packed him in a box (with lots of holes for air) and he pushed his way through the box. After that it was game over, there was no getting him anywhere near a box. I ended up going to the pet store and buying a pet carrier, then I had to make up with him before I could get him in the box. He was high maintenance the whole rest of the night. The entire time I was trying to sleep he would climb on to my chest and sniff my breath to make sure I hadn't snuck off while he was exploring.

The dishwasher was easier, but far from easy. I had to re-wire the junction box, and spend $12 on an "universal dishwasher kit" to get one $2 adapter I needed.. by the way on Sunday, Home Depot closes at 8, but Lowe's is open till 9. This may have been important.

No training tonight, I'm off to Woodenville this afternoon to buy weights for the home gym. I'm going to build some squat stands based on these.. this weekend or next. Once this all gets put together I'll give you a tour.

Mahalo.

Reading Dan John, and thinking about life.

2010-07-29T10:53:00.000-07:00

Three years ago I wrote what I consider to be one of the best things I've written. I was inspired by something Dan John wrote, and recently he wrote something that brought me back to that same post, and a few other things.
It made me think of listening to the Cardinals games on the radio with my dad. Jack Buck's voice booming through the car. I thought about beating Army at West Point. Many times laughing with my wife. I thought about recent moments with the kid: the first time he smiled, the first time I heard him laugh. So many of those moments in the past 11 weeks.

I realized that's why we have children. The same reason we play sports or do all of the things we are passionate about: To be in those moments of perfection. To touch the divine. Those moments are the seeds of passion.

I realized it's a selfish thing to have a child. I've doomed this little guy to all the pain the world can inflict, and ultimately death so that I can have more of those shining moments. I owe him a debt that I can't repay. I go out of my way to spend as much time as I can. To have those moments; because I can't know when those moments will happen, and I don't want to miss one.
In turn, I have to give as much of myself as I can.. and more.. teach him every thing I know (that he wants to learn) so that he has those moments to look back on when he's 35. So that he has the skills and passion to have those moments without me.
What I can't figure out is how to teach him to enjoy those moments. To pause, and look around. To remember what your father/your teammates/your wife/your son look like in that moment. Really enjoy, and imprint it on your memory. To not lose sight of those wonderful perfect moments for all of the small annoyances life throws.

Last summer my cousin Jake got married. He is a good kid who's on his way to becoming a good man, and at the church I pulled him aside and said: "Take Jaime (his wife) and sneak off for 10 minutes between now and cutting the cake. Have some quiet time to yourselves and enjoy being together today. Tonight will go very fast, don't miss it."
I don't know if he took my advise, but I hope he did.

I have been very fortunate. I have a fantastic wife. A great kid and have been very lucky to be moving this weekend into a great house with the help of some good friends. These are big things and they are important.

Conversely, I had a belly ache the other night. I had a ton of work to get done to get the house ready to move in, and almost no time to do it. I rolled poorly on Monday night and got beat like a drum. There are many annoying things about my job. My hips are sore, my back aches. Last night I got a flat tire, I couldn't get my truck down off the jack (it broke and wouldn't go down).
These are small things they are not important.
I have to be careful that I don't get so focused on small things that I lose sight of, or worse, lose the big things.
I think that's true of all of us.

Mahalo.

Take them bowling.

2010-07-27T08:05:00.001-07:00

Sorry it's been so long between updates. The house and the kid are taking up every second of free time I have (and then some).
Last Tuesday was just another day at the office. I hit my 5/3/1 numbers.
deads: 5 at 330 3 at 370 3 at 415 3x10 at 275
press: 5 at 120 3 at 140 3 at 155
I did some chins in there too.

Wednesday, I took the day off work to work on the house and go to IKEA to pick up some furniture. I did go to class in there. I rolled with Sam for the first time since he got back in town. That's always a challenge.
We got to IKEA in the afternoon, and bought several items. I don't really know how, but I fit all of it, the wife and the grizzly bear in her Jeep for the ride home. I dropped them off at the condo and unloaded it all myself.

Thursday, I was pretty smashed. The stress and extra work were starting to catch up to me. So I skipped the extra sets of squats.
Front squats: 5 at 155 5 at 175 3 at 195
I did these in a new pair of Oly lifting shoes that I bought. I feel considerably more stable. My mobility is still lacking and that is still a major cause of instability, but better is better and these were better.
Bench: 5 at 175 3 at 195 3 at 215
Grip, shoulders, arch, heels down,pull the bar apart, flex out, tuck tuck tuck, press, flare.
Chins: 1 set max reps.

Friday:
I decided that this was going to be the last friday fun group training session. We started these for Pan Ams 2008 and they have been going strong ever since. When these were on point, they were planned and progressive. We had a consistent group of people who were highly motivated to get in shape for a competition (BJJ, rowing race, bike race, or god knows what). Right now, there just isn't anything coming up so people are showing up sporadically. I want to take all of my gear and build my home gym, and I couldn't figure out how to split the gear so that one or the other wasn't lacking. To be frank, I just don't have the time and bandwidth to give away. So I'm pulling things in, and this was one of the biggest savings from a cost:benefit viewpoint.
I talked to Professor Reyes, and I'm going to set up twice a week, 6-8 week 'training camps' for the big competitions (pan-ams\mundials\U.S. open). That simplifies things for me. I only have to do 1-2 8 week sessions per year, and I only have to focus on 1 sport.
This way too, I have my gym at my house and can get in quick training sessions with ZERO prep time. If the kid takes a 20 minute nap, I can train for 19. No drive time, no prep time. In and out.
Pragmatically it makes a lot of sense, emotionally it sucks. I've had a lot of fun training with those folks over the past 2 years.
End of an era.. start of a new one.

Saturday, class then more packing and moving. Sanding and Spackling.
Sunday more of the same. The house has a great 'semi-finished' basement, but there are so many bumps and bubbles in the walls that I could go down there for a year and never get everything clean and true.
Right now it's good enough.. at least until I can rip it all out and do it right.
Sunday I had some left over Chinese food for lunch. Didn't seem like a big deal, until I woke up at 2 am ill. It felt like someone was jamming a red-hot iron through my guts. Needless to say, I did not sleep well.
Monday afternoon I was watching the kiddo while the wife got her training session in, and he was tired.. too tired to sleep. I was not. I was exhausted. I got home from work with a headache. He did a lot of crying which made my headache do a lot of getting worse.
I sucked it up, the wife got me some espresso on the way home (she's fantastic) and I went to class.
By the time I got done cleaning the mats my head was sore, but nothing I couldn't deal with. I rolled a couple of times, and should have quit there.. I didn't.
By the time I was headed home it felt like tiny skinheads were kicking their way through the back of my eyeballs with tiny steel-toed boots. I was an emotional train-wreck.
I came home and mercifully the wife suggested I go to bed early. I hung out with her for about 30 minutes after class, and showered and went to bed.
This morning I feel like a million bucks.
Today I'm going to go disk-golfing with some folks from work (not something I'd normally do, but what the heck)and nothing else.
Tomorrow some very light cleans and front squats.
Friday is packing.
Saturday is moving.
Sunday is unpacking.

Mahalo.

How are you so agile!??!

2010-07-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

In the middle of a roll last night my opponent/training partner exasperated, asked me: "How are you so agile?!"
I can't say I really knew how to answer that.. lucky? good parents? Extensive training? Your mother's a whore?
Ok, so not that last one.

Training update:
Friday:
kb complex (timing station):
5/5 clean and press
5/5 snatch
5/5 halos
x5

slosh pipe:
press, carry, press, carry
equal rest

Prowler:
explosive push x5
more than equal rest.
This was good. I need to work a bit more with my guys on getting stronger/more explosive but at the same time they come for conditioning.. it's hard to ride two horses with one saddle.

Saturday/Sunday:
worked on the house, and moved stuff all day.. both days.

Monday:
BJJ: Arm bar to Omoplata transition. Really tightened up my omoplata. Rolled with a couple of folks, less experienced guys. I tried to get them into deep water without just kicking the crap out of them. Worked with one guy on his half guard. Worked with the above quoted guy on his guard passing. I really do like teaching.

That's really it.
Mahalo.

Dad life.

2010-07-15T14:18:00.000-07:00

Busy lately. So I'll just play you the hits.

Monday:
BJJ. Had a blast. A lot of stand-up.. which I'm pretty good at (if I do say so). Got a bloody nose about 5 seconds into.. well before class started actually, went home exhausted but got out of there with no injuries.

Tuesday:
5/3/1 deads:
3 at 315
3 at 355
3 at 395
3x 10 at 275

5/3/1 press:
3 at 115
3 at 135
5 at 145

2 chins at bw+25 between each set of presses. I was pretty pooped so these were hard.

Wednesday:
More good stuff. Working from the bottom, getting tighter and smoother. I need to watch my focus, sometimes I zig too hard, and end up in stuck when it's time to zag.. if that makes sense.

Today:
5/3/1 front squats (clean from the floor)
3 at 145
3 at 165
3 at 185
3 x 10 at 115 need to warm up more. I was very stiff for the first few sets.

5/3/1 bench:
3 at 165
3 at 185
5 at 205

done and done.

Last night I went to the new house, which is a very old house. I scraped a bunch of poorly done tape off of the walls. Patched a few holes and then did my best to clean up the bad tape job with mud.. if I sand and re-apply to shape it a bit it'll look a lot better.. not good, but better.
I also cut a heating vent in the floor of one of the bedrooms. Drilled 4 pilot holes and connected the dots with a jig saw. Got a lot done.. got a lot more to do.

Dad Life: (hat tip to Dave Tate)

Mahalo.

This is my house!

2010-07-12T08:36:00.001-07:00

One of the stressors that I've neglected to mention to you good folks is that the wife and I are buying a house.. Well we bought it.. sort of.. which is why this is so stressful. The short version is the house (built in the 1940s, and needing a good amount of work) is ours, but so is our condo. We have 6 months to get out of the condo.
So the good amount of work (besides moving) I am just starting to get my head around. It's a lot of paint and spackle, a little bit of work covering some open framing in the utility room. A good friend of ours is a contractor. He'll be working on the house (I'll be his gen. labor monkey). We did a walk-through yesterday. The wife and I put together a wish-list, and he's working up an estimate. There is a fine balancing act going on here that is the stressful part. If we sell the condo quickly, and can get the work we want done without eating up all of our cash (aka our down payment) then we'll be in good shape. If not.. stress.
The cool thing is this house has a garage.. which will soon be a gym. the down side is the ceiling is too low for overhead barbell work.. the up side is it's a garage, so I can open the door.
Over the next couple weeks I will be working, working on the house, moving and the usual dad stuff on top of training.. should be interesting.

Training from the past few days:
Wednesday:
BJJ class. Couple good rolls, work was a little messy, and I was in a hurry, so this class is a bit fuzzy.

Thursday:
5/3/1 front squats (cleaned from the floor):
5 at 135
5 at 155
5 at 175
3x10 at 115

5/3/1 Bench press:
5 at 155
5 at 175
7 at 195
Ran out of time, had to be in at meeting.

Friday:
Extra training:
CSR drop sets:
1 plate and 4 quarters 5 reps, remove a quarter 5 reps... down to 10 at just the plate.
1 plate and 3 quarters.. repeat
1 plate and 2 quarters..
I like drop sets for rows because as you get fatigued the muscles in the mid back that need the work stop working and the ROM shortens up, buy dropping the weight I can get in a ton more volume with the actual scap retractors working.

Made up the Chins at bw that I skipped the day before.

Gun show work.

Friday fun:
kb swings 5/5 at 62, 20 sec airdyne, 20 sec off. x10

Saturday:
BJJ. This Saturday the 17th is a tournament, so I was working with one of the white belts on a fairly remedial snap down takedown, and the Professor asked me to show the class the same. So I did, then he showed the same with a foot sweep. So it was snapdown to the back foot, snapdown transition, snapdown to foot sweep. Then I rolled with a couple of guys. I had a more "successful" couple rolls. The first guy I rolled with told me "Even when I have position on you I don't feel like I have control." That lead em to an epiphany; I'm not competing any time soon. I don't have to 'win' every transition. I think that's the wrestler mentality that is hurting my game and my emotional well being. If I'm in control of the situation, then I'm in control and developmentally that's better than winning the positional battles all the time. Still going to be hard for me to break the winner/loser mentality.

Sunday:
Carried lots of boxes, and poked around the new house.

Mahalo.

4th of July and 116.

2010-07-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

Greetings true believers! I had a busy weekend.
First off.. thoughts on the fights from this weekend:

As much as I dislike Eddie Bravo,George Sotiropoulos looks like a legit lightweight. Crisp striking and his gumby-like physique is perfect for the rubber guard. I do think he gives up the takedown a bit easily, and will have problems with top-control guys like Grey Maynard and Clay Guida but then again there are very few truely complete fighters.

I was almost sorry to see Stephan Bonner win. He's a very likeable guy who would be great announcing or as a public 'face' for the UFC, but he just doesn't have the right mentality to win fights. He'd rather 'wade and trade' than show off his very crisp boxing.. and eventually he's going to be a sad story.

I like Krzysztof Soszynski, but I'm beginning to wonder if he hasn't hit his ceiling. He's well rounded enough to beat anyone with glaring holes in their games, but not good enough at any one thing, he doesn't have a "strikeout pitch." Something he's so good at that that the other guy has to gameplan around it. He would be well served to visit AKA, Tri-star or another camp with a great striking coach since that seems to be where he's most comfortable. Put some polish on his skills to take him to the next level.

Chris Lytle looked great. He's always going to be a gatekeeper, but by fighting smart he may have moved himself up a notch in that area. Used one of my all time favorite submissions to finish Matt Brown.

What to say about Chris Leben. He seems to have grown up. He beat two tough guys in two weeks, and did it with a smile on his face. That said he needs to work with a boxing coach and a jiu-jitsu professor À la carte instead of just training "MMA" because he has the ideas of these arts without the fundamentals, and fundamentals win fights.

Yoshihiro Akiyama is in a terrible spot. A pariah in Japan (for being of Korean decent and very good at Judo.. among other things) Akiyama has had a couple pretty mediocre performances here stateside. He's too small and gets pushed around by American middleweights that cut more weight than he does, and his conditioning is suspect. He should have been able to escape that triangle, it was loose, and poorly applied. He simply ran out of gas. He needs to train at a better camp, and he needs to drop a weight class (or add some muscle mass) or he's going to be out on his ear.

Brock Lesnar is a legit fighter scaled up to 2:1. He needs to learn to circle out of trouble on the feet (damn near cost him the fight on Saturday) but his transition from side-control to mount to side-control to finish the arm triangle was great. The dose of humility he showed after the fight was even better. Makes it easier to like the guy. Maybe nearly dieing of an intestinal rupture taught him some humility, maybe Dana White just talked some sense into him.. or maybe he's just eating more vegetables these days and is more regular.. who knows.

I think Cain Velasquez could be a tougher fight. More polished on the feet, better wrestling, and better feet. Shane Carwin is strong and athletic, but he has plodding feet that really are the difference between a good wrestler and a great one. However, I don't know that Cain is big and strong enough to keep Brock from winning the fight by just "big-brothering" him around the cage. Looks like we'll see.

Sorry Shane, a puncher's chance just isn't good enough.

Training the past week:
Friday fun:
4 sets of 5 slosh pipe presses.
1 set of AMAP (I got 21)
1 set of 1/2 amap
TRX pendulums with a pause (20)
TRX plank holds for max time.

Saturday:
BJJ Couple good rolls, nothing epic. Just getting out of my head.

Monday:
BJJ Taking the back, back escape, and chokie goodness. Good roll with the purple belt that drubbed me last week, got to roll with the professor (which is always great), and one more roll with one of the bigger white belts.
When I got back from time off for the kid I was rolling great. I was super focused, and I had really taken things to the next level. Now, I'm just tired and that focus is gone.. and it's pretty obvious. I need to get it back.

Tuesday:
5/3/1 deads and military:
Deads (prescribed reps only):
5 at 275
5 at 330
5 at 370
10 at 275 x3

Military:
5 at 105
2 chins at bw +25
5 at 120
2 chins at bw +25
7 at 140 (prescribed +2 had one more in me, but I'm keeping this conservative)
5 chins at bw (amap)

Called it a day from there.
My upper back and hamstrings are pretty sore today.

Had a good 4th. Ate a ton of BBQ ribs and banana pudding.
Monday got stuck out on one of the islands, and took 3 hours to get back to the mainland. Otherwise a great weekend.

Mahalo.

Just pretend I'm young and good lookin'

2010-07-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

or something..
I used to be funnier, but this will have to do.

Training update:

Tuesday:
Deload..
Deadlifts:
speed pulls 5 sets 0f 2 at 315
Fat grip presses: 3 sets of 8 at 95
chins: some at +25

Wednesday:
Normally I go to BJJ, but my neck is screwed up so I went to the gym instead.
I did a lot of technique work from hang to full squat.
Cleans: these went very well. I worked up to some easy singles at 185
snatches: these stunk. I can heave over head more weight than I can stabilize in an overhead squat. I damn near hurt my shoulder because the weight was going up too fast as I was coming down trying to catch it. Everything I missed I missed out in front.

Today:
all bodyweight (I did a lot of light, but a lot of squatting yesterday so I just decided to stay light)
Lunges the length of the basketball court
reverse back extentsions x10 (face toward the back extension, grab the foot plate with your hands. lift your legs. We don't have a glute-ham or a reverse hyper, but these were good enough)
x4
nice and light. I may add some of those to my warm-ups.
chins:
4,4,3,3,2,2,1,1 all at bw.
pretty easy.
Texas push-up challenge:
I had to rest a bit before the last set.
This was surprisingly difficult.

Big fights this weekend. Some very funny lines in the lead up*:

There are a ton of really great Japanese fighters, he's just not one of them.
-Chris Leben

That's why they have a division II. So those guys who couldn't hack it in DI don't go home and hang themselves..
-Brock Lesnar when asked about Shane Carwin's DII national championship.

*from memory, so cut me some slack may not be verbatim.

Mahalo

oh.. and another thing.

2010-06-29T09:53:00.001-07:00

The below programming will start next week. This week is going to be a deload. Lower volume. A few sets of 5s and 10s.

Catching up on training:
Friday:
pull-ups with a reach 1 minute (I had to use a band for these)
TRX pendulums with a stop 1 minute
Sand bag complex (shoulder, press, lunge, row 5x each) 2 minutes
down-over-up push-ups/kb swing 2 minutes

plate crawl races:
2x forward
2x backward.

Saturday:
BJJ Some throws and an arm-bar.
Couple decent rolls.

Monday:
BJJ same techniques as Saturday.
Rolled with a new guy (had some judo) good controlled.. nice guy hopefully he'll come back.
Rolled again and just rolled like crap. Got drubbed and tweaked my neck. After that my head wasn't in the game. I was pissed, and upset and decided to go home.
It's hard. I could probably be successful if I just keep everything tight tight tight and smash and smother and really that's just boring. It's boring for me, and it's boring for the guys I roll with. So I open up. Sometimes it works great, and it's loads of fun. if I'm off at all (like yesterday) I just plain suck.
Sometimes I feel like I'm good, like someday I could be legitimately good at jiu-jitsu, and then a day/roll like yesterday happens and it completely blows up my confidence.
I was really upset leaving class last night. It could be the kid waking/keeping me up.. could be overtraining.. could just be head games. I don't really know.
So I'm deloading. Hopefully things will be better.

Mahalo.

Fedor Falls, and training methodology..

2010-06-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

Strikeforce thoughts:
Fedor Emelianenko lost this weekend. He made no real effort to defend the triangle until it was too late. Fabricio Werdum did a great job of luring Fedor in, and closing the trap.
I don't know if Fedor will bounce back from this. I think his mystique beat a lot of guys before they got in the cage.
This puts Strikeforce in a pickle. Fedor was their biggest draw. He has one more fight on his contract. Do you put him up against Alistair Overeem (who officially holds the strikeforce belt), or do you give him a rematch with Werdum? If he fights Overeem and loses then your best draw is dead, and has no more fights under contract. You sink or float based on the rest of the talent you have and you start touting Overeem as the greatest heavyweight in the world (and no one believes you). If Fedor wins then you end up in a bidding war for your heavyweight champion. If you give him back to Fabricio Werdum then you have a non-draw fighter fighting in a no-win fight. Fedor wins and no one cares he's still mortal he beats a fighter by all accounts he should have beat the first time. If Werdum wins again, Fedor has almost NO value and once again you sink or swim.
We'll see.

Jan Finney got beat down by Christine Cyborg. No doubt about it. After the second knock down she was never going to win that fight. There were 2 points were I thought "This fight is over, call it already:"
The first was the last 30 seconds of the first round, the ref probably didn't want to call the fight that close to the end of the round (even though she should have) not my favorite, but fine.

The second time was in the second round Cyborg gets knee on belly and delivers 11 well picked, hard shots to Finney's soup cooler. Finney's response: lay there covering up.
Those two points should have been the end of the fight. Lately there seems to be a rash of refs letting fights go too long because fighters have been arguing stoppages vehemently and frankly it's got to stop. Let them argue, your job is to keep them from getting mangled there job is risk getting mangled. Do your job so they can do theirs for longer.

Big fights this weekend.. I'm looking forward to them.

Training. Lately I've been just "doing stuff" once per day without any rhyme or reason. I didn't really now how often I was going to be able to train, or how much sleep I was going to get. I did what I could, hit the big lifts and waited for things to calm down. The kid is 6 weeks old, and I feel like I have a handle on things enough to plan out 4 weeks.
Should look like this:

Monday:
day: optional (see below)
night: BJJ

Tuesday:
day: weights (deads see below)
night: off

Wednesday:
day: BJJ
Night: sprints or more bjj

Thursday:
day: weights (squats see below)
night: off

Friday:
day: optional
night: Friday fun (met con)

Saturday:
day: BJJ

Dead days:
5/3/1 deads
3 sets of 10 at 50% (similar to "Boring but big" but because I only have an hour to train I'm starting at 3 sets instead of 5)
5/3/1 presses (just prescribed reps)
chins bw+25 4+ sets

Squat days:
5/3/1 front squats (I know Wendler says back squats only but my back won't handle it.. yet)
3 sets of 10
5/3/1 bench (prescribed reps only)
chins and dips

Optional days: (all the stuff I've neglected to do)
Will be done on monday OR friday.. maybe both.
long warm up (more so than usual)
Rows
hip extensions (high reps)
and some... wait for it..
direct arm training!
I've been training for 20 years.. I think maybe I'm due.

Mahalo.

You're not much of a singer, but you'll do for now.

2010-06-24T07:02:00.000-07:00

I'll tell you, having a kid really just messes up your ability to prattle on the interwebz.. well it messes up mine.. individual results may vary.
Training for the last week:
Friday:
1 minute of "loading" 60lb sand bag/40lb sand bag/2kbs (44 and 62lbs) on to a chest high shelf and back.
1 minute of prowler pushing
1 minute off
x3

15 seconds battling ropes
15 seconds airdyne
15 seconds off
x9 minutes

Saturday:
BJJ: We're working more positional stuff lately. We did shark bait. I was on my back working my guard. It was good. After about 5 minutes there were some diminishing returns as fatigue is no friend to technique.. but my bottom game is coming along. I still have a little problem with drilling positions with some folks.. finding the line between moving technically but quickly versus using athleticism instead of technique.

Sunday:
off.

Monday:
More positional drilling. I rely too much on one escape from mount. I need a "plan b."

Tuesday:
front squats 5 at 185
bench 5 at 185
x3
front squats 15 at 135
bench 15 at 135
working technique and getting reps in.

drop set chest supported rows:
6 at 115
6 at 95
6 at 70
6 at 45

Done and done.

Wednesday:
BJJ: worked a judo throw, and more mount escape. 2 rolls both felt really good. Got a bit of a crossface in one.. saw stars for a second.. that hasn't happened in a while.

Today.. is going to be weird.. lots going on at work, so I may end up taking the day off.. might not.
we'll see.

The grizzly bear falls asleep when I sing him this song:

Mahalo.

Puttin the cheese on the burger.

2010-06-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

I don't know what that means either.
training for the week:
Tuesday: I was still pretty trashed from Monday night's beat downs.
Front squats:
10 at 135
worked up to 2 at 205
10 at 135
Working on mobility, and keeping my heels down and my head up.

Chins:
set of 6 at bw
sets of 2 at bw+25 until I couldn't get 2.. 3-4 sets

Wednesday:
day class.
Technique and no sparring.. ran out of time.

Thursday:
deads:
4 sets of 2 at 425

presses:
10 at 95
10 at 115 (pushed this one)
5 at 135

Today will be longer intervals at the boathouse.

Mahalo.

"But I want to train athletes.."

2010-06-15T12:19:00.001-07:00

A lot of folks who get into training want to jump to the head of the class. They want to be Eric Cressey, Mike Boyle and Louie Simmons all rolled into one. They want to train competitive athletes, and leave the "housewives" for someone else. There are a few problems with that:

1)Knowledge. Most trainers just don't have the resume, track record, or even time under the bar to train athletes. In order for someone to listen to you (particularly a competitive person) you have to be speaking from a position of authority.. no 26 self published e-books don't count (particularly if the only person who bought them is your mom). You have to have more knowledge than the people you want to train, and you have to speak with enough authority that those athletes believe you.

2)Contact. If you're not an athlete or coach in a particular sport.. how are you going to come into contact with athletes to train. They're not going to fall out of the sky.

3)Volume. There aren't that many athletes out there to train. Most either drink their own kool-aid, have their strength and conditioning done by their sport coach, or are being trained by someone smarter and more established than you.

The answer is simple: take those sedentary people who want your help and teach them to be an athlete. Get them excited about what they can do. PRs are more addictive than crack, nicotine or heroine. Establish some benchmarks and train your clients to blow past them. This is actually easier in untrained people as they make progress in leaps and bounds.

Case in point:
"R." Adult male, Early 30s. single dad with 2 kids and terrible eating habits (fast food). Could not do 5 push-ups. Was starting to get aches and pains was "feeling old." Lacked the lower body strength to do a reverse lunge. Horrible posture: kyphosis, rounded shoulders, poor ankle mobility and no glutes.

5 months later: can crank out 3x15 push-ups with good form. Deadlifts 205x5 and more importantly "feels great" plays basketball 2xweek, lifts 3x (all with proper warm-up of course) and is looking for things to do. Posture is much better: shoulders squared off, glutes actually fire, ankles improved. He feels good, and looks great.

"S." Adult female. Early 40s. Has significant eczema and allergies. Can do a few push-ups but lacks the trunk strength to hold position long enough to test. Diet consists mainly of cheese, processed meat and sugar. good upper body posture, but zero hip mobility.

5 months later: 3 body weight pull-ups, 18 push-ups with significantly better trunk strength. Diet cleaned up significantly (despite her protests). Direct quote "My skin hasn't been this good since I was a kid.. damn you." She actually wore shorts to the gym today for the first time. I don't weigh people because I could care less especially at first, but "S." had to buy new belts because she went from "down to the last notch" to "too small for the furthest notch." So I'm guessing some bodyfat went away. She is training for a run/bike biathlon in August.

So what happened here? There was no super secret mind meld. They didn't go to a psychiatrist. I didn't yell or scream. I got them into shape. I worked on their mobility and stability. I taught them to lift. I taught them that if they pushed their limits that they wouldn't die, just get really really tired.

Most importantly I treated them like athletes. Whatever they could do was not a judgment on their character, but simply a number that I expected to improve. They were judged by effort alone. They saw improvement and improvement became an expectation. Suddenly they feel in control of their bodies, and that's what it means to be an athlete.

Too often people new to the business of training come in with the outward attitude of "I'm far too good to deal with Joe Sofa-spud." The truth is they have no idea how to deal with an out of shape client. They have 1 training method. If the client's needs don't fit their method then the 'trainer' blames the client. You should be able to help anyone willing to do the work. If you can't, then you have no business training anyone. So stop looking for athletes, and build some.

Mahalo.

Little drummer boy.

2010-06-15T07:19:00.001-07:00

I got beaten like a drum last night. Rolled with an exceptionally good purple belt, and a very advanced brown belt. There was no space the entire night. I was completely stifled both rolls, it was very humbling.

Friday:
short and brutal:
10 high pulls at 135 (these were not done crossfit style as a deadlift to upright row. these were done as proper clean grip high pulls; starting in the hang position, hip snap and pull the shoulders back let the weight ride the momentum.)
10 bw rows with feet on a swiss ball
20 sec airdyne all out.
2x rest
x5

Took most of this weekend off from training as my folks were in town to see the grizzly bear. I hit some golf balls on Saturday.. which doesn't count as exercise, but sure was fun.

Mahalo.

The truth about HIIT.

2010-06-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

I was driving to the track to do yesterday afternoon's workout. I started to get that little 'nervey' feeling in my stomach. I realized something; the real truth about HIIT(High Intensity Interval Training)and it's going to be difficult for some folks to internalize.
The truth is that most people don't work hard enough to qualify. Your interval workout should be so hard that you get butterflies on your way to the gym. You should feel apprehensive before you start. You should get about 60% of the way and want to start bargaining out of the last 20% (don't do it, but you should want to). I'm not saying you have to throw-up every time, and you should set yourself up to be able to get to the rest periods, but it should hurt.. a lot.
Take a look at yourself, if you're casually going to the gym and busting out your 'intervals' and leaving the gym with a spring in your step either you're a stone cold killer, or you're not working hard enough.
If you get to the gym/track/whatever with a little tingle in your belly, if you have to give yourself an "ok, let's do this" before you start, if you have to convince yourself "I'll quit after the next one, but not yet." and do that for 4 intervals till you finish your prescribed workout, then you're doing HIIT.
I have heard a lot of folks in the 'HIIT doesn't work camp' but I have a hard time believing them. I always wonder if they really are getting there, into the deep water. So look at yourself, look at your training, and work a little harder.

Training:
Tuesday:
deads: 4x2 at 405 building back up.
presses: 3x5 at 135
Abs: some

Wednesday:
Day: BJJ basic mount escapes. 1 hard roll.
Night: 1 mile of walk the curves, build to the 50m, sprint 50-75, decelerate to the 100.
the last time I did this I was sore for 4 days.. this time just a little sore.

Today:
cleans: lots, various light weights working on technique.
chins: some
ab wheel: 3x some. Have to watch my back on these tendency is to cheat and hyper-flex the lumbar spine, which is less than ideal.

Mahalo.

Value..

2010-06-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

Do you value what you have? First you have to know what you have.

Patience..

2010-06-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

Good things in my training/jiu-jitsu/life. Sometimes I forget that I have taken a long road to get here, and not to get greedy to jump to the next level.
Training: hip mobility is coming around. Feeling strong in pull-ups. Clean technique coming around. I'm trying to keep pushing these more technical lifts while dropping some body-fat, and round out my relative strength. I have to keep the reigns on load, and volume. Can't risk injury, or burn out. I'm training to supplement my BJJ, not the other way around.
Jiu-jitsu: guard work has improved a ton. Feeling more confidant which leads to better flow. Better mobility/flexibility has lead to better base. Shape is a little dull, but that'll come around. Generally speaking I'm just feeling good physically which is a direct result of time off. Can't lose site of what I'm doing well, I need to stay relaxed and flow.
Life: Emotionally it becomes very easy to put all of your parental baggage away when you become someones parent. I can't read minds and the kid can't talk. It's going to be frustrating at times, and it's ok to be frustrated.. even angry at the kid. It's going to be a long road.

Hopefully my luck will hold up.

Training update:
Friday:
3 minutes partner towel pull-ups (you do 1 I do 1 repeat for 3)
30 seconds airdyne 30 seconds; kb rack hold (62 and 44lb kb) x3
30 seconds sandbag shoulder, and reverse lunge; 30 seconds hex dumbbell end grip x3
rest
15 seconds on 30 off airdyne x3
15 seconds on 30 off prowler x3

Saturday:
BJJ. Couple decent rolls. Working on attacking more in positions where I have the advantage, but not control.

Sunday: off.

Today:
some light bw and kettlebell work. Some very light front squats to work on mobility, then BJJ class at night.

Patience

Mahalo.