Jits 11/27

worked on arm locks and guard passes in warm up.
Did some position training and then moved on to a 30 minute straight roll. Oh my goodness, that might have been one of the hardest workouts of my life. I felt really really good today. No pain. Just lots of sweat and lots of movement. Nathan said i improved 20% since last time. He reminded me to be playful. As an adult, we're aware when we don't know what we're doing and we become hesitant to try things. As a kid, if we're thrown into something, we don't know that we don't know anything and we just have fun trying. i'm trying to get into that space and i think it paid off. I had a great workout and i think i made a lot of improvements in my form. Tomorrow, i'm taking the day off from Jits but will train in the gym. Then we'll be back at it on Sunday. i think an occasional day off is good for the muscles, the joints, but also lets a lot of the information settle in too. Similar to how Dr. Gary got his first muscle up just by thinking about it for 24 hours, i've improved moves just by thinking about them a lot. ok, i'm babbling so its time to sign off.

Jits 11/24

Had a great session with Nathan. He taught me a few more sweeps and two more chokes. One choke i don't think i'll be able to use on most folks because of my short arms but i think it should be fun to try at least. We set out to do a 33minute straight roll during this session. I thought my knee cap came off at 28 minutes in and was in horrible pain. Fortunately, the pain was pretty much gone by morning. I was so relieved. The pain was so bad at the time, i was pretty certain something bad happened. I've been a little embarrassed because, i'm the only one who's been getting hurt during these things and i've never been "that guy". I've never broken a bone, sprained an ankle, or anything like that. So to be the guy who leaves every night with a minor injury is strange. Fortunately each injury has been very very minor and quick to recover from. I'm really enjoying the Jits since it gives me another thing to use my fitness for. I want to stay consistent with my early morning sessions as well since they provide me such an excellent foundation for everything else i do. What i love about Jits is the more i suck at it, the better the workout. kind of like swimming. If you're a good efficient swimmer, swimming can become almost effortless. If you're an inefficient swimmer, 100yards can seem like the workout of a lifetime. Jits feels like it might be the same way. In the beginning, you compensate for a lack of skills by just trying to muscle everything. After 30 seconds on the mat, I was barely able to breath and was drained of energy. As i learn more survival skills, i can conserve a little more energy. i'm very much enjoying the entire process. I'm not in a rush to be great at it. I'm happy to have another activity to challenge me and add to my training regimen.

Jits 11/23

Had a good session with Nathan and Ben(and Ben Jeffers too). Little Ben had some street moves he snuck in while dad wasn't watching. I think my adams apple is forever bruised from one of his street moves. Dont think he'll have to worry about bullies on the school yard. This session felt pretty good. Its funny how you start out and you have absolutely no moves and you're told to "do it". As an adult, its strange to do something knowing that you have no idea what you're doing. Each week, i feel like one concept solidifies. Each week becomes more and more fun. Feeling less sore after each session now too which is good. Been seeing Joanna weekly for massage work though which has helped a ton!

back squats

after rolling for a while, my joints and muscles have been killing me. was happy to move some weight again today.

Warmup: 5 minute easy row

Then: Back Squat warm up

Then:
3x5 BS @ 165#
3x4 BS @ 185#
3x3 BS @ 225#
3x2 BS @ 255#
6x1 BS @ 285#

Then: 30/30/Rest 2 minutes/Improve each interval

Frog hops: 24/30/36/47
Situps: 15/16/17/19

11/11/09 Jits

Rolled for an hour with Nathan. Worked on slow roll and guard passing. Tring to use less muscle and more technique. Difficult to do when your bag of tricks is empty and all you have is strength. Trying to reach a fatigue point that is near complete failure so that I'm forced to not rely on strength.  Really enjoying it. Mainly because my waistline is shrinking from it. I think I've lost 8 pounds since this all started.  I drove to gym this morning to join Ben and John but somehow I missed them. I swore it looked pitch black inside so I went back home after sitting there for 20 minutes. Sounds like I missed a pretty good workout. Darn. Maybe I'll get into the globo tomorrow to do something. Then rolling with the boys tomorrow. Running the muddy 5K on Saturday that John let us know about. That should be fun.  

Fun with the Airdyne

today was a fun one.  Schedule conflicts, transportation issues, sore ribs, and elbow pain made it difficult for me to hit the gym this week. Normally, I'd fall into a deep depression from not working out but fortunately the Jiu Jitsu training has done a good job at kicking my butt. I emailed John late yesterday to see if he was going in this morning and told him I thought I was ready to come back and test drive my rib cage after some days off.

I really enjoyed today's workout. The thing I love about the 5am sessions is the same thing I'm enjoying about the Jits. Comradre. There's something special about consistently sharing a discipline with committed people.  Its what gets me to the gym at that ridiculous hour and its what keeps me rolling on the mats after all the bruises and sweat.  In general people feel good about belonging to something. I think that's why religion works for so many people.  My religion involves wrestling with friends, dragging weighted recycling bins across parking lots, and yelling at my friends to row faster.  works well for me. I'm one of the happiest people I know.

 

warmup

row easy 5 minutes

 

workout

4 rounds of:

Airdyne for 5 minutes (15 seconds hard/15 seconds less hard)

goal 100calories or greater and improve on every round.

5 minutes rest between rounds.

 

Results

100 felt great but wasn’t sure I'd be able to beat it.

101 shocked as hell that I even made it without puking on the airdyne

93 gave it all I had and the tank was empty

106 dug deep and really emptied the tank. last minute was all hard.

fell off airdyne straight to the floor hoping not to have my heart explode.

 

tonight: rolling with Nathan and Jeff.

 

 

Sparrow's Dozens

Today I had the choice of doing something else and i was dumb enough to choose this one.

Its called Sparrow's Dozens

12 Rounds of:
12 deadlifts at 185lbs(about bodyweight)
12 pullups
12 pushups
12 25lb ball slams
52minutes.
Had to do straight leg ring rows on the last 3 as hands began to rip from all the pullups. Really glad i did this workout but was wishing i had picked what was behind door number 2 instead. Looking forward to jits tonight.