According to this study, coffee in moderate amounts may reduce both motor and cognitive deficits in aging, as well as possibly reduce the risk of developing certain chronic illnesses.
So with the amount of coffee I drink, I’m going to remain relatively healthy and sharp as a hammer for years to come…
…Wait a minute…
Anyway, Check it out!
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Heads up, this has nothing to do with jiu jitsu: someone recently shared a tongue in cheek article called ” 89 Steps to Weight Loss” from Jezebel- and I found this new surgery apparently available for those who are overweight, called Aspiration Therapy. I had no idea this thing existed.
Here’s a link to the description. Basically there is a tube from your stomach to a port on the outside of your body, and you are supposed attach some handheld device and empty a third of your stomach contents after you are done eating….
Pardon me, but isn’t this just purging without the actual vomiting or am I missing something here? Weight loss can be tremendously difficult for some, and a decision to go through surgery to get your life back on track is a very hard decision to make, but I feel like this in some ways could encourage binge eating, mainly because you can just empty your stomach without the ramifications of regurgitation: the erosion of the teeth and esophagus lining from the stomach acid that comes up with whatever you ate. For this people this procedure works for, that’s wonderful, but I can’t help but look at the description and scratch my head.
That’s really all I wanted to share: anyone else tilting their head to the side like a dog who heard a puzzling sound, like I did?
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Shakia Harris had an interesting (aka frustrating) experience she wrote about concerning competing at a tournament. Apparently the tournament organizers offered cash prizes for the winners of absolute divisions, but then combined the men and women’s absolute divisions. I really can’t recall if any tournament I have been to has offered a cash prize. Other than the Abu Dhabi ones, but otherwise it’s just a shiny medal, a pat on the back and I’m on my way back home.
On one hand I can kind of see why they combined the two genders: historically less women tend to attend tournaments in general, and then a fraction of those women opt to compete in an open division. With (presumably) limited funds for absolute divisions, why spend the extra money on what will be a smaller division and absorb them into the belt rank of their male counter part? Then you are not handing out cash for 10 absolutes, just 5.
The problem is that it’s a lose-lose situation: while unintentionally, you are discouraging some women to compete, and you’re even putting men in sort of an awkward position. The guy wins, congratulations, you just beat up a girl. You lose, also congratulations, you were beat up by a girl. I do realize this is a sweeping generalization and not all guys feel this way, but the situation can put some guys into a weird headspace, and many women would rather avoid the whole situation all together. It would have to be a pretty high reward for a lot of women to risk competing in some local tournament with the possibility of going with a guy in the mindset that he’s going to win “no matter what”. The jiu jitsu community in general is pretty awesome and supportive, but you have to admit there are some kooks out there.
On the other hand, a co-ed tournament is an interesting concept, and I would be interested to see if that would, or could, ever happen. But, something like that I think people would be more willing to do if the rules were stated outright, and not sprung on them at the actual event.
What do you all think? Ladies, would you compete against a guy in a tournament? Do you also think the tournament organizers should have separated the mens and womens absolute divisions, or if nothing else been a little more clear from the start as to what the tournament entailed? Maybe this is something people in the area already know: I really don’t know, I’m not familiar with the tournament she went to- it could have just par for the course, or if anyone there would have been just as surprised.
Let me know!
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So this weekend I am going to see the musical Wicked, which I’m sure everyone’s heard of, but just in case, it’s a sort of origin story of The Wicked Witch of the West, based on a pretty good book with the same name by author Gregory Macguire. And because I have an odd sense of humor, I thought it would be funny to post up some of the lyrics from one of the songs, “Defying Gravity” along with photos of flying armbars. I tried to link the sources where I could, but really I just googled “flying armbars” and this is what came up. And here’s the full song, just in case anyone is curious.
We’ll see how this goes: enjoy everyone and have a great weekend!
Something has changed within me, something is not the same, I’m through with playing by the rules of someone else’s game/ Too late for second guessing, too late to go back to sleep, it’s time to trust my instincts, close my eyes, and leap!
It’s time to try defying gravity/ I think I’ll try defying gravity and you can’t pull me down
I’m through accepting limits, ’cause someone says they’re so/ some things I cannot change, but until I try I’ll never know!
As someone told me lately, “Ev’ryone deserves a chance to fly”
Tell them how I am defying gravity, I’m flying high, defying gravity! and soon I’ll match them in renown,
And nobody in all of Oz, no wizard that there is or was, is ever gonna bring me down!
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I had a funny little moment a few nights ago: after teaching the white belt/beginner class, a couple of white belts approached me with that look on their faces, that one that says they have a burning question on their minds. They asked me how to defend against someone trying to x-choke while the attacker was in their guard.
To them, it was a legitimate, serious question: to me, after nearly 7 years of training it was simply precious.
Of course I answered their question, but the whole experience was just a reminder of the path of jiu jitsu and how we advance over the years. Something that was, to me, simple and easily avoided, was a legitimate threat to someone brand new to the sport. We understand this logically, somewhere in the back of our minds that as we advance we’ll learn to conquer these simple problems and tackle more complicated situations, but it’s surprising once in a while to be put in a situation where you are reminded of this fact.
Just a fun little story I wanted to share with you all- have a great day everyone!
Filed under bjj
So I have a itty bitty, teeny tiny pet peeve internet: students grunting excessively during training. Talking should also be kept to a minimum, but I feel less justified being annoyed by something that I am occasionally guilty of doing. And white belts trying to teach white belts when there is an instructor in the room is a entirely another issue that will just have to wait for another day.
The problem with excessive noises on the mat is sort of two fold, for the instructor and for fellow training partners. In a sport that also allows a “verbal tap” (just saying ‘tap’) for instructors, we don’t know if you are in pain, or tapping, or if you’re just doing your thing, and if you are injured there is a chance we will fail to notice the difference a little longer than anyone is really comfortable with.
On the fellow training partner side, again, we don’t know if you are hurt, if you are verbally tapping, or if you are doing your thing. Granted, maybe if your head was clear and mouth unobstructed, but let’s take the case of the armbar: sometimes the face and mouth are accidentally covered by a leg, and say you make some sort of grunt: it could be a tap, could not, we really don’t know unless we stop, which if it wasn’t a tap, it’s sort of a disservice to your teammate by not letting them practice successfully completing the submissions on the mats.
I will admit one of the most awkward matches I ever had was with a gentleman who had this particular habit. It made me ridiculously uncomfortable, to say the least. The guy was a white belt, and usually when working with a lower rank I will start on the bottom: from what I recall, once all racket started I worked fast, quick and in a hurry into spider guard, into a sweep and stayed on top, and still felt awkward.
So the moral of the story guys: The occasional sound is fine, but it shouldn’t sound like there is a tennis match going on in the room.
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Hey guys, sorry for the short post, but Chewy over at Chewjitsu is taking questions from the virtual peanut gallery, encouraging anyone to come forward with any questions they would like to ask a black belt.
Personally, I would like an expert opinion on who they think would be better at Jiu jitsu: Bill Nye the Science Guy, or Mr. Badass himself, Neil deGrasse Tyson (update: I originally had deGrasse and Tyson backwards. My apologies everyone). Or even better, if theoretically the two engaged in a Jiu jitsu match, white belt flailing aside, how long would the match go for, and would there be a winner before the solar system imploded from the absurd awesomeness of the situation.
…I imagine you guys have more actually relevant questions to ask, so go for it!
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Apparently Val Worthington and I have been on the same page the past few days, losing perspective and getting mentally “stuck” over our mistakes.
We are human, and one of the fundamental characteristics of being a member of the species is our tendency to make mistakes: to fall, to mess things up, to do something that we internally facepalm ourselves over.
I know that I am hard on myself, in jiu jitsu and other life situations; and that what I consider to be a complete and total failure really isn’t that terrible and this is mostly just self inflicted pressure. While it becomes a great motivator for training and drilling, it’s also a double-edged sword and leads to moments of self doubt and a bit of internal turmoil.
So how do you cope with these sorts of emotions? Hide under your bed and never make a mistake again? Move to some undisclosed micronation and pray no one asks you to do anything, ever?
Interesting solutions, but not very productive ones. We make mistakes for a variety of reasons, but it’s what we do with those mistakes that matters. Sure, I mess up in training- I turn left when I should have turned right, I attempt one sweep when I should have gone for another, really the list goes on and on. But, instead of just obsessing over what we could have done, instead we should remind ourselves that yes we’ve made those mistakes, but at least we tried, and there is an opportunity to improve, to become better and make less of those particular mistakes. That’s also something as a species we are (thankfully) quite good at; learning from those mess-ups and advancing in our skill and knowledge.
It’s a hard road- one filled with a veritable plethora of obstacles and pitfalls, but hey, that’s being human, and becoming a better person. We all just need to stop once in a while, take a deep breath and realize this is all a part of a much larger picture. Yes, we make mistakes, but these mess-ups are also opportunities to improve and make more advanced mistakes down the road, if that makes any sense.
So, the moral of the story is, I guess, that you have plenty of more mistakes coming your way: accept it, own it, don’t just sweep them under the rug, and do your best not to dwell on those regretful moments. Remind yourself that at least you are putting yourself in those vulnerable positions, and gives you the chance to become better.
And now for something completely different
Usually I find these buzzfeed lists to be off the mark, and sometimes downright pointless, but this one “18 Glorious Moments from Monty Python and the Holy Grail” is fairly spot on.
Check it out and have a great weekend everyone!
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I was just wondering a day or so ago when they were going to hold this tournament, and as if my teammate could read my mind (which would explain a lot of our rolling sessions), she posted this link to the Abu Dhabi Trials on Facebook.
It’s taking place in Flushing, NY. Here is the actual address, for anyone that’s curious:
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A jiu jitsu black belt student who likes to write. Obviously.
A Skirt on the Mat 