Recently in No-Gi Category
January 24, 2008 12:23 AM
Philly Crossfit, and Spear BJJ... (I'm very, very sore)
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.
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.
January 14, 2008 2:59 PM
Back to training, and a clean(?) bill of health.
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.
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.
