Happy Friday everyone!
I’m still out of the gym, being little miss lazy pants and enjoying a day of doing nothing…
Anyone training today? Or recovering from their food coma? Or is this just another day of the week for you?
Let me know and have a great weekend everyone!
Filed under Uncategorized
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
And if you are somewhere that doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving today, then have a happy Thursday! 😀
Filed under Uncategorized
That’s an excited “what”, in case you’re not sure.
For anyone that has no idea what the hell I’m talking about, Kazushi Sakuraba is a Japanese MMA fighter who fought in Pride, Dream and UFC. Here’s a little blurb from Wikipedia:
“He has competed in pro-wrestling for New Japan Pro Wrestling, UWFi and Kingdom Pro Wrestling. He has fought in MMA competition in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, PRIDE Fighting Championships, K-1 Hero’s and Dream. He is known as the “Gracie Killer” due to his wins over four members of the famed Gracie family.”
He was always fun to watch, and this a bit of a confession, I have wanted a t-shirt with some reference to Sakuraba since college (I’m a nut, I know).
So last night I was browsing OK! Kimonos website, and guess what I found?
The shirt says “Sakuraba knows”
!!
The only drawbacks are that it looks like there are only men’s sizes, and high neck t shirts bother me, but I’m still excited about it.
Yes, these are the things I get excited about.
Ok, enough of that- have a great day everyone!
Filed under MMA, Uncategorized
It’s a cycle a lot of competitors have gone through, myself included: you train, you heavily restrict you diet to the point of borderline absurdity, and then adding insult to injury you come down with a cold either right before or immediately after your tournament.
An article recently published suggests that depriving the body of nutrients may suppress your immune system and as a result make you more prone to infection. I am by no means suggesting this is the only reason you get sick, but I thought it was pretty interesting and possibly something to consider when prepping for your next tournament.
So, forever ago I put up a post about how to cover a black eye and promised that I would follow up with a more in-depth post.
And good news everyone, I was hit in the face- again!
And even better, this time I took the time Saturday morning before class to do a little experimenting with some different concealers, and you all get to reap the benefits. Just in time for the holidays, hooray! I took these photos in the locker room of our gym for two reasons: First, I tried doing this in my bathroom at home and the lighting was pretty terrible and second, I was teaching class that morning- which would explain the slapdash application toward the end of the photos-I was starting to feel pressed for time and needed to clean this stuff off before teaching. I guess this is also a good time to mention I’m pretty bad at taking photos of myself: consider yourself warned. Because there are a lot of them.
And finally, eye makeup cleaning wipes are pretty clutch in situations like this.
The control:
Save some lip balm I put on that morning, there’s nothing else on my face, so you can see the bruise in all its dark purple glory.
The concealers, etc in question:
Starting from the left and going sort of clockwise we have Benefit’s Fake Up, Smashbox’s Photo Finish Lid Primer (I know it’s not concealer, more on that later) and Physician’s Formula Perfecting Concealer Duo. While the lighting in bathroom washed my face out, I actually have a more medium skin tone, in case any ladies are wondering what shade I purchased (with the exception of the yellow concealer pack-I think I was only able to find a light shade). Also, I didn’t think I would have time to mess around with foundation, in case anyone was wondering.
So what covered the bruising the best? Here are the results!
First, the Cover FX creme concealer:
Yes, that is a scratch over my left eye…it’s wasn’t that great of a week for my face. Anyway, I started off with just the creme concealer, and it did a fairly adequate job. Not exactly my first choice, but pretty high up there.
Second up, Benefit’s Fake Up Concealer:
Personally, I liked this the most; it’s not that obvious from the photo but in addition to coverage with minimal fiddling, it looked the most natural(ish).
Next up, I put on just The Photos Finish lid primer. I know it’s not concealer, but it was included in a makeup travel pack I purchased.
While it doesn’t look like much difference in the photos, there was a noticeable difference in person, with the primer being the loser. And admittedly, that’s not what it’s made for: primers are used to keep eyeshadow on the lid longer than if the shadow was applied directly to the lid. Yes, I know a few things about makeup- I’m not all about books and jiu jitsu. And nerdy/comic book references.
Anyway, since it is supposed to be under stuff, I decided to do just that and combine primer with concealer. I guess I could have combined concealers, but then again it feels like then it would become the Inception of concealers, or that Xhibit meme….
“Yo dawg, I heard you liked using concealer…”
So I used the primer and Cover FX first:
It was also getting toasty, so I ditched the sweatshirt- but anyway, the result was…meh.
next up, the primer and Fake Up:
Again, it didn’t look like there was too much difference, but in person I was pleased with the results- I probably wouldn’t usually take the time to apply both products, but for someone who has the time and patience for this sort of thing may want to consider it.
Finally, there are recommendations out there to correct purple, such as dark circles with yellow makeup which is where the duo comes into play.
Just the yellow portion:
In addition to feeling cakey, it really didn’t do much… so then I tried it with the other half of the packaging.
yellow stuff and pink in the duo:
Again, I don’t think you can tell from the photo, but this was the cake-iest, most fake looking of them all. And for Pete’s sake we’re talking about slapping makeup on in a jiu jitsu academy locker room, there’s already a substantially lowered expectation here.
So, in the name of research I used the yellow stuff with the FX concealer (we’re almost at the end, I promise):
(ps, that is a perfect snooty face… moving on)
And with the Fake Up:
And so there you have it. Some of you ladies out there may already have your go-to concealer and routine for covering a black eye, but for those who don’t, hopefully I’ve taken a little of the leg work out for you. Are there concealers out there that may cover better? Possibly, probably. I don’t get bruises like these too often, so there’s really not too much need to research the subject in depth. There may also be a better version of the yellow correcting makeup, and just the kind that I bought was not the best to use. Hell, there was probably even a better way of applying this stuff-this is definitely not meant to be taken as gospel. Also back in the day I mentioned there was a tattoo coverup pencil that may also work for people- I am going to amend that statement and advise against jabbing a bruise on your eyelid with a pencil…I won’t tell you how to live your life, but I’m just saying that may be a whole bunch of unnecessary pain you could be inflicting on an already sensitive region of the face.
Or hey, just go au naturale and tell your family and friends at the Thanksgiving table all the cool stuff you were doing on the may that led to the bruise.
Do what works best for you, truth be told. Ladies, do you have a go to makeup for these kinds of bruises? Let me know!
Filed under bjj
Happy Friday everyone!
I have some things in the works that I’m looking forward to putting on here, hopefully over the next few weeks and preferably before the end of the year. So prepare to be…well, not amazed but at least mildly entertained in the near future. 🙂
That’s all I’ve got for today. Have a great weekend everyone!
Filed under bjj
I don’t know if anyone else has seen this list floating around, but on the site Lifehack there is a list of “13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do”. Naturally, being curious I looked through the list and realized a lot of the positive habits and behaviors listed are encouraged in jiu jitsu for the most part. Some examples:
“They Don’t Waste Time Feeling Sorry For Themselves”
“They Don’t Give Up After the First Failure”
“They Don’t Expect Immediate Results”
We all have our weak moments, particularly early on in our jiu jitsu journey, but I really think as time goes on another benefit from training in jiu jitsu is the development of that mental strength, in addition to all the other physical and psychological benefits.
Check out the list and let me know what you think.
Filed under bjj
Friends, really this is half to draw your attention to this nice breakdown of Michelle Nicolini’s guard game courtesy of BJJ Scout, and half as a personal reminder to come back to this post and read in depth, and not just skim through it (and saying, “ooh, that’s cool” if we’re being totally honest here).
So, I teach a couple of classes during the week, and recently have had some heavier students come through. This is my letter to them, which I thought you all might enjoy as well:
Hey you,
You, the student who has to stop sometimes in the middle of warm ups because they are too out of breathe to continue. The student who hesitates to put too much weight on someone, possibly due to a lifetime of remarks about your size. The one who some students have trouble wrapping their legs around and crossing their ankles for closed guard-you, the one who ties your belt and then looks at me almost embarrassed because your stomach hangs over your knot. The student who doggedly tries a technique over and over, who needs to take the extra time to get through a technique because of a difference in size, or because you feel your weight is an encumbrance.
I am so happy you are here and never, ever want you to feel like you are not welcome in my class.
I’m glad you’re here because more than anything you have made an incredibly bold move to do something to improve your quality of life. Sure, it would be easy to just stay at home, or go to a gym and just mindlessly run on a treadmill, but you decided to put yourself into a group setting to learn jiu jitsu. It’s hard sometimes, putting yourself out there, throwing yourself into a sport where you will be faced with situations where your physical fitness, and your weight can be highlighted at times.
I’m proud that you took these risks, that you are venturing outside of your comfort zone and you are trying to do what you can in these classes. I’m proud that after you stumble, you get back up and try again. That when you stop to take a breath during our warm ups, you don’t give up and you jump right back in, that you drill and want to learn how best to perform these techniques.
The only thing I ask is that you continue to come to class consistently, and continue with the drive and purpose that I have seen from you since the beginning. It won’t always be easy, we all have days when we just aren’t feeling it but I want you to always put in your best effort possible. I know you have doubts, especially at the lower ranks, but I promise you there will be such an unmistakable feeling of accomplishment when you are able to successfully pull off that sweep or submission you have been drilling over and over again, it makes all that work worth it.
I don’t know what your specific motivation for coming to train may be- maybe it’s to lose weight, maybe not, but my biggest wish is that through jiu jitsu you become the healthiest, happiest version of yourself, regardless of what size.
Filed under bjj
So while I do enjoy watching UFC fights, unfortunately Dana White does not consult with my personal schedule, and I have to miss watching them now and again.
Fortunately we have a plethora of social media at our fingertips, including Twitter that can keep us up to date with whatever the heck we want to keep tabs on.
Here are just a couple of feeds that I follow to see how fights are going. Just a heads up, I tend to like some sass with my commentary.
First, there are the actual commentators, Jon Anik and Kenny Florian:
Actually Gracie Mag isn’t too bad keeping up with the fights, and as a way to kill two birds with one stone, you can also check with the progress of other jiu jitsu tournaments: well, primarily IBJJF tournaments, but still.
And finally some other sources, such as Bauzen, a photographer/writer for Middleeasy.com living in NY, and the writers of Women’s MMA Round Up.
These are just a few that I follow, if anyone is curious. Do you guys have feed that you follow on fight nights, for jiu jitsu tournaments, or just for either in general?
Also, if you (for some reason) are interesting in following me, I’m over at @skirtonthemat: feel free to leave your twitter username in the comments as well.
Have a great day everyone!
A jiu jitsu black belt student at Ribeiro Philly in Philadelphia, PA who likes to write. Obviously.
A Skirt on the Mat 