Jiu Jitsu - Philadelphia

Just got back from the doctor's, and she gave me the go ahead to start wrestling again as long as I'm not picking my opponents up.  No heavy lifting for another month, but training is to be done at my discretion.

I think I'll wait another week to be safe, but it's good to get a clean bill of health.

I wanted to elaborate more on some of the techniques that drew went over on Sunday. Mostly just for my own edification, but if someone takes something from it; then all the better.

Finally got back to the mat today after 3 weeks out.

Drew had his heelhook seminar and it was phenomenal. Showed a lot of really great setups from a lot of different positions and I think I took to them pretty well. 

I plan on implementing heel hooks into my game immediately, I'm very comfortable in most of the setups, especially top half-guard, which I find myself a lot of the time.

I still don't plan on rolling for a couple weeks, but it still feels great just getting into the gym to drill some techniques instead of watching from the sidelines.  I goto the doctors tomorrow for my followup and I hope that she wont be discouraged about me training in a couple weeks.  I'm looking to compete at the June 28th Grappler's Quest, and I'd like to get down to 180 then if at all possible.

It's good to have goals.     

Yeah, so. Been about a month since I've posted anything. Haven't trained much in the last 3 weeks due to some unexpected abdominal surgery.

Long story short, I have no more gall bladder.

In more important news, I believe that I will be attending Drew's heel hook seminar on sunday afternoon, and that will be my first time back training in almost a month.  I really can't wait.  Being on the bench sucks, and I have no idea how people do it when it has to be 6+ months like with a knee injury.  I only hope I never have to be off the mat for so long.

So, not much to report here. I'm moving on the 1st, so that will take up some time as well but as soon as that situation is settled I'm hoping to be training on a more regular schedule.

Hope is the key word

Have you ever just laid in bed going over various techniques in your head? [This is rhetorical, I know you have]

Has it ever kept you up at night?

It's amazing to me how the mind and body work so independently of each other.  I got in bed at 12:30AM last night; sore, dead tired, and expecting to pass out instantly. Instead, I laid there for 2 hours going over the days training over and over and over and over in my head, to the point where it was actually irritating me because I couldn't get to sleep. I think I finally passed out around 2:15 after going over every possible half-guard scenario in my mind.

I can't say with any certainty that this happens to me every night after training, but I would go as far as to say that it occurs at least 40% of the time.  I'd like to think that I'm a relatively cerebral person when it comes to most things in life, and I hope that this is an attribute that I can use to my advantage in jits, however sometimes it gets the best of me.

Along with being someone who is very cerebral and analytical, I'm also someone who tends to overthink and overanalyze most aspects of my life.  From my job, to women, to family issues, and almost certainly to training.  When rolling I tend to find myself essentially 'pausing' and thinking out the next few moves, or how I'm going to escape.  When I train with higher belts they can obviously sense what appears to be a 'hesitation' of sorts and they are able to capitalize on positioning.  This pause isn't so much to say that I stop moving physically, moreso that I put my mind into neutral while I decide how I'm going to counter, escape, or attack something.  What is really just a split second of "pausing" seems like an eternity in my head, and perhaps thats why I do it.  Sub-consciously I realize that I'm getting a lot out of this neutral state-of-mind, while not actually slowing down for any discernible amount of time to my opponent.  What I need to learn, and what I hope will come to me over time as I train more, is the ability to realize that even a split-second of indecision can be the difference between a neutral position with an opponent, and them getting a dominant position.

Instead of constantly "pausing" my reactions while I roll, I will just let things flow.  I want to get to the point where I instinctively know where I need to be, and where I'm likely headed to.  I want my body to instinctively know to keep my elbow to my knee when passing someone's guard, or to start the process of escaping an RNC while they are attempting to sink their hooks in, as opposed to letting it happen and then escaping.  When I do find myself in a position where I can take a mental break of sorts [such as getting them in my guard] - then I can use my analytical skills to think ahead.  Tapping to my own mind is something I hadn't envisioned when I began training, though the more I analyze that, the more sense it starts to make.

    So after several months of being broke, schedule conflicts, transportation issues, etc I'm finally making it a point to make regular appearances at both Crossfit Philly and Spear BJJ.  My workouts have been A) HIIT, B) circuit based, C) pulled almost directly from the Crossfit website for well over a year now.  Oddly enough, today was my first trip up to workout with Jason C. Brown, local Crossfit instructor and renowned kettlebell wiz.  The workout was awesome! Getting in and doing circuits with other people doing the same workout, as opposed to hording equipment at a gym and building circuits was a nice change.  I'm definitely going to make it a strong effort to supplement my circuits at Temple's gym with regular trips to work out with Jason and Pam.  (I definitely need to work on my kettblebell form, and who better to turn to, right?)
    After finishing up with tonight's Crossfit, I drilled some techniques from an omoplata position that I've been trying to develop.  I haven't gotten them all to where I'd like them to be yet, but when I do, I'll gladly post pictures/video.  I'm pretty excited about some of them, so hopefully they pan out. Also, I got a fantastic breakdown of the ezekial this afternoon with some really awesome set ups.  Once I start feeling confident playing that game, maybe I'll try to show one or two.
    Tonight's no-gi class was great for a number of reasons. First, I've been trying to catch up with Noah for a while.  His BJJ is really phenomenal, he's extremely cerebral, he has a fantastic teaching style, and in terms of physical attributes he's very comparable to me (if I were to bulk up about 20lbs).  For those reasons, one of my major goals for this year (at least) is to work out with Noah as much as possible.  Second, the class covered mainly grip breaks from the stall position.  The topic on it's own is obviously important, but the underlying theme is that coupled with a growing grappling vocabulary, I still need a return to basics.  Third, I realized that my conditioning really has fallen off.  In conjunction with the state of some of my fundamentals, that lead to several mistakes that I'm now making a very conscious effort to correct.  If you're training with me or competing against me anytime soon, please note this stuff and attack it.  It's what I need to get better.

    The List:
       - competency in the leg lock game.  (it's getting better, but I'm still a long ways off)
       - Basic fundamentals in transitions and attacking positions.
       - learn to rely less on flexibility
       - keep working on the Brabo chokes.
       - get my conditioning back to where it should be
       - being less repetitive from certain positions (x-guard and back especially)
       - work on my wrestling/takedowns. 

It's late and that's about all I've got in me for now.  There is really a lot that I'm thinking about lately, and a lot of material (DVD's, books, etc) that I plan on reviewing (over and over and over) that I'm sure will only inspire more thought.  I'm a little bit down on myself as far as my training and progress go lately, but I'm really beginning to see some cool things ahead.

    Given that this'll be my first entry, I think it would be a good idea to provide some background. My name's Chris Romanchick. I'm currently finishing up my undergraduate degree at Temple University.  I'm a 23 year old double major, and BJJ blue belt.  College seems to be closing out it's chapter in my life as graduation closes, though my training has never really been better.  No one really wants to hear me complain too much about school, I'm sure, so I'll get right ot the bjj.
    I can't say enough about what Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has done for me.  When I began training, I was smoking nearly two packs of cigarettes a day, weighed 220lbs, and had fallen into horrible shape after knee and ankle injuries put an end to my high school athletic career (if you could call it that, ha!) during my sophomore year.  Through my job at the time and a coworker and good friend, I was introduced to a Royce affiliate located just about 45 minutes north on I-81.  I showed up.  It lit a hell of a fire under my ass.  Since, I've kicked smoking, lost over 50lbs (even more if I'm making weight), developed a passion for fitness, and gained a sense of self confidence and awareness that otherwise would have totally escaped me.
    I began training at Gracie NEPA under Mark and Steve Brunetti (later Jeff Reese) in Scranton, PA, somewhere around 4 years ago now.  Training at the time was extremely difficult and arduous at the time due to full-time college enrollment, a full-time job, and the 45 minutes it took to drive to the old academy, past Jessup, PA (not to mention the series of surgeries that kept me off the mats more often than not). It was rare that I was able to train more than twice a week, however, still with this infrequency, it was able to foster and promote a love for the art that would follow me to Philly upon my transfer to Temple University in the fall of 05.  Right before I left, I was talking to Steve about Philly academies, and he mentioned these two brothers, and a place called Balance Studios.
    By early spring semester 06 I was training full-time at Balance Studios under Phil and Ricky Migliarese.  I've spent the past two years training with one of North America's strongest competition teams, in what I'm sure is North America's most nurturing environment.  I've grown to embrace jiu-jitsu not only as a sport, but as a lifestyle.  It's really remarkable how my love for the sport has grown and developed into so many friendships.  Between our academy and it's affiliates, tournaments, and of course, the NHBGEAR.COM forum, I've been lucky enough to find my fit and meet some really great people.  It's pretty incredible when you can say some of your best training partners have become some of your best friends.
    As for now, I accept that I'm pretty well into a journey that I don't expect to come to an end any time soon.  I'm currently 23, I have a solid job that I expect to be able to support my BJJ habit well after graduation.  I'm trying to keep my goals simple.  I want to make it to Brazil within the next year or so.  I want to compete in either the Pan Ams or Worlds this year.  I want to have a black belt before I'm 30.  We'll see how things go.  Let me know what you think.  If you know me, you know I'll be sure to do the same.  Hope to hear from you!


Chris Romanchick
AKA Turkey Sandwich  
   

One of the balance affiliates Hassett's Jiu-Jitsu held belt promotions on saturday.

I hadn't been to a promotion ceremony before, so I thought this would be a great chance to check one out, as well as visiting one of the affiliate schools and getting to train with some people that I hadn't met before.  ...Well, that was the idea anyways. Staying out drinking until 4:30AM the night before doesn't really lend well to training the following day at 11:00.

We got there right as Phil's seminar started.  Phil started off with a technique that we had done the night before at class.  Starting from half guard -  keeping the person on top off with a knee, arm dragging their right arm while posting up on your own arm, you can get up to your knees while keeping your legs locked in half-guard.  From there we went over a couple different techniques, first taking the back, and also shooting your arm under their head and dragging them back down into a choke while elongating your body to lock it in.  Chris helped a lot with some minor details and I felt pretty good about it by the end of the seminar.


Following the seminar, Hassett had all the people being promoted onto the mat for matches. I didn't count all of them but if i had to guess I'd say they ran about 30 1 minute matches. I was feeling pretty drained only getting 4 hours of sleep the night before so I only rolled once, but it was great to watch everyone training and to talk with some people from the forums.   After the matches came the actual ceremony, it was awesome to see everyone giving props to the people being promoted.  After the ceremonial "whipping" of all the people being promoted, it came time for Jason Guerrera  to get his black belt and  take his beating.  Unfortunately for Jason, Ricky didn't have a belt, so he used his hand.  Results can be seen...           
     

Feels good great to be back on the mat.

On Monday, before class started, Jazz (brownbelt) asked me to roll around a bit no-gi. We started in my guard and went half-pace for awhile.  He had relatively little trouble passing and proceeding with the smashing, but I was able to escape side control and get back to my knees, or back in his guard without too much issue.

He went on show me an incredibly basic, but handy way of moving to someones back with them in your guard.  The idea is to pull the person towards you with your legs, and get both your arms under their armpits and clasped behind their back with the standard grip.  Once you have this locked in, place 1 foot on the hip, and drop the other foot to the ground, and elbow escape out as much as you can.  Getting up on your hand helps with base if they try to smash you to the ground, and from there, the leg that you had on the hip should be able to get around their back and hooked in.  I forsee a lot of ways this can go awry, but assuming you keep it tight I think this is something definitely worth developing.

Going back after not training for 2 weeks is rough.

Back when I was in the beginners class I had taken a couple weeks off for vacation, and even back then getting back into the swing of things was tough.  Aside from stretching in the mornings I was relatively inactive during those 2 weeks, unless you count walking around malls all day with my family. The first few days back after a break like this can be tough on the joints, so I generally don't roll at the end of class until the middle/end of the week.

The 2 week lapse this time around was due to some trouble with the knees. I had a doctors appointment on the 10th, so I took the week and a half leading up to that appointment, and the few days after to rest. I didn't want to do something in the week leading up that might take away from what I was going there to check out. I was trying to figure out why my knees get (abnormally) sore during training (even with knee-pads), and the occasional burning sensation I get if I drag my knee across the mat a certain way.