Google+ Clark Gracie Seminar Review

 

Due to a series of events, I wasn’t able to go to class, BUT I did have the opportunity to watch the Clark Gracie seminar on Google +

Before viewing I hoped my reaction would be a whole lot of this:

…That’s an impressed and intrigued look, btw. Hooray for webcams! 

and very little this:

Definitely not impressed. 

For the most part the webinar succeeded: the “Google Hangout” was a little delayed, and the interview bit in the beginning was a little long, as it took up nearly half of the seminar. It wasn’t that the conversation wasn’t interesting: truth be told I know very little of Clark Gracie, but I am also aware how sometimes a technique can take some time to describe.

The moves looked fun, but as someone who needs to watch and then do a particular technique to truly understand, that’s really all it was, fun. It looks like it’s going to become a regular thing with Graciemag, so if you have Google+ account and some free time on your hands on a Wednesday, I would say check out one of them.

In the meantime if anyone needs me, I’ll be in the Google+ science community, reading articles and geeking out. Oh yeah!

Side Note: 750words.com

This has little to do with Jiu jitsu, and everything with writing: for anyone that has been having trouble staying consistent on the creative writing side of things, I have been trying out a site called 750words.com. You just write whatever comes up, put it down and the site saves it for you. It will also tracked how many times you became distracted from the site and went somewhere else, how quickly you wrote those pages, and has a think with what words you used the most often and compare them to a site average.

Check it out!

Gi Commercial Review

There’s a new commercial for a gi company, Mata Leon, that’s been posted around Facebook -which means I am probably the last person to watch/comment on it, but whatever. Here it is:

Kind of an interesting concept, and I like the fact they chose a woman, rather then just go straight to marketing for dudes. I kind of expected that last shot, but all in all pretty good.

Funny enough, the main thing I noticed was her hair cut, and how she seemed to solve the problem of having those side pieces from being ripped out: she just shaved the sides off. If my hair wasn’t so curly, that would be extremely tempting.

What do you think of the video?

Links around the Internet

Here are what some other people are talking about on the internetz…

Georgette explains the ABC’s of the latest Presidential debate.

David from the Jiu Jitsu Laboratory Offers a more in depth review and critique of the Metamoris fights.

Julia talks about her goals and methodology for a new project: Operation Tattered Belt- And references both Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so of course I highly recommend reading this blog post.

Rick from Middle Age BJJ got his purple belt!

And last but cetainly not least, Lapelchoke.com has a nice highlight video of Xande and Saulo during Masters & Seniors World Championship

 

Check them out!

 

 

IsoPure Low Carb Protein Powder

A quick report: while my stomach seems to handle their RTD beverages just fine, my stomach and IsoPure’s low carb protein powder are currently in a tussle. I’ll have a full report tomorrow-ish.

Oye.

Muscle Pharm Assault Pre-Workout Supplement

So Max got a bunch of supplement samples at work from a GNC rep and brought them home to try. One of the samples that happen to catch my eye was a pre-workout supplement from Muscle Pharm called Assault. I decided to give it a try and possibly give you all a review.

The intended purpose of this supplement is to help you “train like an unchained beast”. And by that, the company means this supplement is intended to provide you with energy and supplements to help preserve muscular endurance as well as assist in muscle recovery.

First there is the look of the product itself. Other than the fitness keywords/buzzwords plastered all over the product (high performance! Anti-fatigue! STRENGTH DOMINATION) (btw I am totally not making this up, these are actually on the package) it’s pretty par for the course, geared toward males who either train hard, or think they train hard.

They come in different flavors that I can’t think of off the top of my head at the moment, but I tried the fruit punch flavor. The box we had contained separate single serve packets with a variety of flavors. The directions advise you to mix one full packet into 8-16 oz of water 20-30 minutes before working out. I took a packet with me to work, and decided to give it a try an hour before working in case there were any adverse effects.

Half of the packet into about 6 to 8 oz of cold water and stirred. The water turned a bright watermelon hue and didn’t completely mix, even after a couple of tries stirring, whisking even, if that’s possible with a small plastic coffee straw.

The taste was overly sweet, and was pretty off putting in that regard. I pushed through and waited for some sort of effect. As far as I could tell I didn’t feel much of a difference, but maybe it was because I only took half of the recommended amount.

It may be for some, especially for those with a raging sweet tooth, but not really for me. A photo of my mixing efforts:

Review: Isopure Zero Carb Protein Drinks

In an effort to consume more protein while not eating pounds upon pounds of meat, a friend of mine suggested I try a protein drink from the brand Isopure: which produces drinks that have 40 grams of protein, a whole ton of BCAAs, no carbohydrates, no sweetened with apartame and a relatively low amount of calories, all of which I am happy to get behind.

I tried two flavors, their Alpine Punch and Pineapple Orange Banana. I tried the Alpine Punch when I was at work, and the Pineapple Orange Banana after working out.

The Alpine Punch tasted a little funny, but I still powered through and drank the entire bottle throughout the afternoon. It wasn’t bad, but I couldn’t really get around the odd aftertaste. Not necessarily bad, but odd considering the sweetener in it is sucralose, aka Splenda, which I totally put into drinks on the regular.

Also, I don’t know if anyone else has experienced this: hell, maybe it was something I ate for lunch…but my arms and legs started to feel tingly. Maybe it was the BCAAs: I don’t know, but it was an interesting experience to be sure.

This was all before a workout. I tried the Pineapple one the next day after practice- and to be honest, I was so thirsty I didn’t quite give a damn whether there was an aftertaste or not. I drank about a little more than half and then gave the rest to Max, but that’s more because I wanted to share and less from funky aftertaste.

This time there was no tingly feeling, but this was also after a workout, only 1/2 of the amount I had previously consumed, and a different flavor. I’ll have to try the alpine punch one after a workout and see if I can notice the aftertaste or not. Essentially, it seems like a pretty good drink, I just need to be more science-y and objective-like about it.

Anyone else try the Isopure drinks? Any thoughts?

An Armchair Review of Two BJJ Clothing Companies: Submission Fight Co & Technically Sound

I know it’s odd, me posting on a Sunday, but there is a method to my madness, I swear.

So this has been happening more recently ever since I changed my twitter name from “thatclassybroad” to “SkirtontheMat” (huh, imagine that): companies that sell fight gear are following my account. Since I am not currently in the market to purchase any bjj gi’s and such (but of course wouldn’t mind a free sample…wink wink, nudge nudge) I took a look through the sites of two companies that started to follow me and this is what I think:

First up, Submission Fight Company (http://www.submissionfc.com/)

I’ve actually heard of these guys before but I have never tried their product. Their website is pretty easy to use, which is always a plus. On the front page they are currently promoting the “Hemp Sensation” gi, they sell replacement cords for gi pants, albeit pretty pricey, but hey, it’s nice to have that option.

Pros: they have an all right variety of product from kids gis to adult kimonos, and they apparently sell pants separately, which is nice.

Cons: Rash guard selection is pretty nil, especially if you are looking for a rash guard that can potentially work for an IBJJF event (aka, having your corresponding rank color on the shirt). Also a complaint about gi’s, but I’ll mention that toward the end.

 

Technically Sound Fight Gear (http://www.technicallysoundfightgear.com/)

They look brand new, or at least I hope they are due to their lack of product available. They seem all about the detailing, and I found myself staring and analyzing their design like I should analyze modern art instead of what I usually do – get angry and stomp away when it looks like it took less than a 1/2 hour to make (really? You got a piece of black sandpaper, drew what looks like cross between an F and a backwards 7, and it is now hanging as a piece of art?! GAH!) (true story, btw). They have two people in the middle of a jiu jitsu match, or fight, or whatever, in front of a pyramid, which I then began to theorize to mean that with a strong foundation you will achieve great heights and the pinnacle of performance?

See, I know how to read between the lines and stuff.

Pros: From what I can tell, they have some nice shirts and they talk a pretty good game. It’ll be interesting to check back in with them in about 6 months. But that’s the thing, they have a pretty limited selection, so we’ll see what happens.

I decided to intentionally post this on a Sunday where I will have the least amount of readers. Pretty mean of me, I know. But if anyone wants some prime real estate on this site they are going to have to offer something in return. I can’t generate income on this site, since I would then have to apply for a business privilege license (thanks, Philadelphia!), so it’ll have to be free samples of stuff for me to review during the week, when more readers visit my site.

Ah, and now for my complaint regarding gi manufacturers- I may be (read, probably)  totally off about this, but it never seems lik anyone posts the dimensions of gi’s, for example:

I have a short torso, which is why I really like Atama Kimonos (http://www.atama-kimonos.com/) – they are crazy expensive, but their tops are long enough for competition, but not so long that they cover my butt to the point where it becomes an impediment.   I just noticed they also have judo gi’s available, which would be interesting to test out.

If I could find something with comparable length of the Atama top at a much lower price, I would probably be convinced to cheat on my favorite gi company to try out a new product. But I never know, and would rather not shell out a hundred dollars to go through the trial and error of finding that out.

So, in closing, those are my thoughts to fighting clothing companies: send me samples, I will review them where they are more likely to be seen, someone offer some size dimensions, and Atama if you could send me free things I will continue to proclaim how much I love your gi’s.

If anyone is actually willing to take me up on this crazy proposition, contact me through my blogging email, thatclassybroad at gmail dot com, and we’ll work something out.

 

RedBelt (And No, Not that Terrible Movie)

There is a gentleman named  Hywel Teague, who is the owner of the video site BJJ Hacks and he needs your help, y’all. He is currently working to raise money in an effort to go down to Brazil and film BJJ red belts, to immortalize these grandmasters.

Stealing a quote from Georgette‘s site, “  He will track down, interview and film the remaining red belt masters living in Brazil. It’ll be an amazing film. In his words: “it will be an intimate and revealing look into the art of jiu-jitsu, focusing on a group of men with amazing history in the sport.’ “

More information on the project and a place to throw monies at the project can be found here: http://www.indiegogo.com/redbeltsbjj

Apparently there should also be a site outlining the project, but all the links I have found appear to be broken, so I will update with a new link when I find one that works.

In the meantime, I highly suggest everyone to at least take a look at the little youtube video they have posted on their indiegogo site.

 

New Site: GiFreak

Megan from The Tangled Triangle has been working on a new site which I think looks pretty cool: it’s called GiFreak.

The premise from a quick search is showing you what different kinds and brands of gi’s there are out there, along with different reviews from people.

Awesome! My only request is an explanation on what precisely the different weave names mean. I understand single weave vs. double weave but gold? Pearl? Hybrid? Whenever a gi describes themselves as something other than a single or double weave, I tend to pretend like I know what they are talking about, but if I were being honest I would just stare blankly and just say “okay.”

Go check out the site!