Rolling while Rolling (A Camera, that is)

DSTRYRsg posted a video of two guys rolling, one with a Go-Pro camera on his head. It’s a pretty neat video, and as someone who has worn one of those cameras while rolling (I was helping a teammate out with a school project) I am pretty impressed they got the shots they did, and managed not to have the camera fall off their heads. Maybe they had the camera strapped to some headgear?

Anyway, check it out!

Hurts So Good

On Tuesdays and Thursdays there is usually no-gi class, which sometimes has good attendance, sometimes it’s a little bare. 

Before class though my teammate Sarah and I do a judo randorii open mat, throwing each other back and forth. What was interesting is yesterday we had some more people join us, and we turned the no-gi class into an hour and a half of randorii matches. 

In case you are not sure what randorii is, it’s judo sparring, but with solely takedowns. While Judo does focus heavily on throws, but there is a little ground work involved. In randorii we take the groundwork out and solely work on the throws.

It was hard, and tiring, but fun. I hope we’re able to do it more often with some more people involved. Stand up is one of the scariest parts for jiu jitsu people when competing, so it would be preferable to get some other jiu jitsu people, especially white belts, involved in some throwing. 

So today I’m sore from all the throwing, but in a good way, if that makes any sense. 

How was your training last night (or this morning)?

Video- Will be up shortly (Updated!)

I cropped a video of some of the practice last night I videotaped with my iPhone, and am waiting for Youtube to finish processing the 8 seconds I cropped off an 18 second video. Intense, I know.

It’s a little ridiculous, but please bear with me. Thanks!

UPDATE:

Huzzah! The video, she verkz!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday 6.15.11

Read it!

 

Today’s wordless Wednesday image is a screenshot of the Girls Guide to MMA, and an insightful article I think should be read by everyone, about what I would hope to write if I didn’t just fly by the seat of my pants when blogging.

Go, read, now!

 

 

The Aftermath

Well, I made it out of my Birthday Beat down alive, and actually all right. I was tired, and started to gas at the tail end of the 6 minutes (like, 45 seconds or so to go, I think) but considering there was a line feeding into a 2 point drill with everyone in the gym against yours truly, I think I did pretty well.

If anyone is still baffled as to what I am talking about, which I doubt since I consider you all smart, reasonable human beings, a two point drill is essentially sparring to prepare for what I consider one of the hardest parts of the match: the very beginning, when both of you shake hands and begin the match. It can be nerve wracking, if you don’t prepare for that part of the match, and therefore we have little sparring sessions working on getting the take down, or sitting guard, and it goes until the someone scores points for something-anything, really.

Usually you work with a partner and get a small break in between matches, or there are multiple people on the mat with a line feeding in to match “stations” if you will, with the winner of the two point drill staying in, or if they get the points a certain amount of times they walk out anyway.

This was not the case. No breaks, no stopping, one person after the other for the entire 6 minutes. It’s good for your stamina, just hard while you’re doing it.

I faltered toward the end, but I certainly felt better than I thought I was going to, and also made it longer than I expected, so…hooray!

Back to the gym tonight: I’m tired, but we’ve got work to do. 😉

Birthday Beatdown

I like that term, although I am personally not looking forward to receiving one.

Tonight I’ll be standing in the middle of a mat for about 6 minutes, waiting for my teammates to smash, throw or sit to guard in a two point drill setting, except I don’t get to have a time out. I get to go again and again….and again. It’s developing into quite the tradition, which again at the moment I don’t mind, however I may change my mind by the end of this evening.

I ate my lunch fairly early, and might even go with a lighter weight in kettlebells in preparation. I will not puke during this thing. I think.

I hope.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

Crane-Kicking This Week in the Face

When I hear Crane Kick, I think of two things. This:

Go Ralph, Go!

and This:

Speaking of Karate Kid references, my teammates and I decided that Jake Shields looks like one of the guys that would be hanging out in the back of Cobra Kai, looking to beat the shit out of Ralph Macchio.

I’m also wondering if GSP later, after he found out that his eye will be fine (which he announced on ‘The Twitter’) looked himself in the mirror and said, “I am not impressed by your performance.”

There were some crazy moments in UFC 129: spinning back fists, crane kicks….I’m sure karate masters are dancing in glee at the idea of their gyms chock full of students coming in, wishing to learn a front snap kick and crane kicks (is there a difference? I don’t really know: I only took about 2 karate classes when I was a kid). I don’t know how long it’s going to last, and hey, there’s a good chance that karate will stay: but the trend will move on and someone will use a technique from another fighting art that will be unexpected and people will train like crazy to block that as well. The fun thing about MMA is that it is an ever-evolving sport, a lot like jiu jitsu, because someone will come up with new problems that the same old answers won’t satisfy. It’ll be interesting to see how fighters respond to this new problem. Who knows? Maybe even savate will have its day….Oh wait, it did in the first UFC.

So, I have decided to go and crane kick this week in the face, so to speak, take life by the short and curlies and do something….significant.

I think.

I’ll let you know how that goes.

*Hi-Yah!*

In Which Jiu Jitsu CAN Save Your Life

There are people who claim that jiu jitsu is one of the best self-defense systems out there, nay, THE tool that will save your life. Others will then quickly point out instances where jiu jitsu is not best suited for the purposes of self-preservation, such as a when a gun is involved, multiple assailants, or a zombie apocolypse.

I would like to point out a few key instances where jiu jitsu, can indeed, save your life:

1. Fighting in zero gravity while breaking into the multiple, complex layers of the human subconscious, a ‘dream within a dream’, if you will, to implant an idea:

2. Fighting a large bird/dinosaur creature to assert your dominance, after transferring your consciousness into an alien like form, an ‘Avatar’ to befriend similar looking beings on a distant planet:

3. Fighting a jealous husband, who also happens to be your boss and the meglomaniac owner of a traveling circus during the Great Depression, as you defend the honor of your lover, who happens to be the star attraction of the show:

...Shit's about to get real.

So take that, naysayers! If you are ever in these situations, jiu jitsu CAN save your life.

More Video! The Boys Try A Hip Throw

Why more video?

A) So I can get a better hang of tagging and posting video on Youtube and then onto here, which I have posted video here before, so it shouldn’t be hard, but for some reason I was having trouble yesterday. And

B)….it’s my blog, and in the words of Southpark’s Cartman,

So, here is Max attempting a hip throw:

The Final Countdown

 

that's right, I went there...Arrested Development FTW

This week is going to zip by, which is causing me to panic just a little bit, because my mind is already thinking about Friday, which leads to tournament week.

Eep!

Georgette asked what division I’ll be fighting in, and to keep myself from completely freaking out and stop eating or sleeping  a la The Machinist, I will be fighting blue belt medio, and NOT pig out (too much) after weighing in with the goal of walking around at 140 by the end of the summer. That’s the plan, anyway. I think it’s pretty realistic, with then only a handful of poundage to lose before other IBJJF tournaments to compete in leve.  I’m actually feeling less “wishful thinking” and more “honest, realistic goal” about this than ever before, so that’s a good sign.

For anyone that has searched through my past blog posts, this sounds like the same song and dance as last year, and I completely own up to that: the difference is this year I am tired of not meeting my goal, I’m tired of that very same song and dance. When I promise something to someone, I try my hardest to meet that promise. And I think it has finally gotten to a point where it’s really sunk in that I need to honor a promise to myself, to be accountable to myself and the promises I make, even if they are just in the mirror. It can be done. It will be done.

Dammit.

And what about my jiu jitsu game? I have a couple of scenarios I’ll be practicing this week and the beginning of next, and overall I think my game has actually stepped up a little; I’m starting to nit-pick at little things now, which is driving me a little crazy. It all boils down to I need to chill the F out and go along for the ride. I can do more and know more than I give myself credit for, but this isn’t the time to obsess on the negative and the imperfections. It’s time to get focused and go out there and rock.

Ok, enough pop culture references, let’s make it work people. 😉