Throw Choke Lock Pin Punch Kick Tap

I left light-contact karate and took up judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and other fighting arts. This is my martial arts notebook.

[davetrains]

I really just skimmed it. Apparently we call it the leg mount. Just the name is enough for me for now. It doesn’t seem like the most revolutionary technique for MMA but it’s nice to name things.

[davetrains]

BJJ Scout: Ben Askren - Folkstyle in MMA Study Part 1 (Meta Switch)

It’s a shame people feel it necessary to say “meta” when they mean “strategy”, but this analysis of Ben Askren is excellent. It could be applied almost identically to AKA folks like Cormier and Velasquez. It raises some important questions about the choices BJJ makes in the context of striking, and what a revolution in the positional hierarchy could mean.

Hopefully I can use this to inject some fresh ideas into my jiujitsu.

[davetrains]

Berlin Blue Belt BJJ Challenge 2017

My system for competition nerves is to suffer through until immediately before my match, then slap my legs, arms, chest and face hard, then yell (kiai?), then fight. It seemed to do OK, but with the way each match turned out, it’s hard to know.

I competed only in the gi for scheduling reasons. I played the <82kg mediumweight division, and weighing in with my heavyweight judogi I was right at the upper end.

I got a bye my first round.

First match, versus some kid

He pulls closed guard and attacks ineffectually. I fail to open guard several times. I stand up several times but am unable to securely open the guard and pass. Eventually I stand up, defend the submission, start a smash pass to the right, then finish with a toreando pass to the left, landing in kesagatame except my far arm is in no-man’s-land over his shoulder. Just before I switch hips or move to head control, he turtles, I front headlock, then we stand and disengage. I go for grips and he tries a flying armbar; we fall to his closed guard. I win on points, I believe 3-0. I don’t know how many stalling calls I received.

Second match, semi-finals, versus teammate Dennis

Dennis is strong, so I expected a tough standing battle or to pull SLX. 

He pulls first, to closed guard. We both do our thing in closed guard, but he really wants to keep the guard closed, so I earn three stalling penalties and he earns two. I am confused because I am trying to open and stand up and all those things. (Perhaps the video will make it clear.) Finally I pass, though I forget how—I seem to recall some sort of a sweep/sub/guard with his shin on my bicep, which I had to clear to pass?—and he reguards. This gives me three points to his two (from the stalling penalties) and I win.

Third match, finals versus surprise judoka

I expect him to pull guard but instead he surprises me with ouchigari, taking me down to my open guard. After some back and forth with passing and different guards/sweep attempts, I achieve half guard and an underhook, force a scramble, and come out on top for two points. I think he then flower sweeps me to mount. We restart in the middle, in mount. I push the hips and then bridge to his closed guard. Aware that I'm down I open the guard and attack...right into a triangle. I tap and see stars.

Going 2-1 for medium weight division earns me second place. I try the gi open-weight division.

Only open-weight match, versus guy in black gi

I shoot, he sprawls, I pull butterfly and transition to SLX. He goes for a collar choke (I believe an off-brand Ezequiel), I defend, but he's stuffing the SLX sweep but good, so I switch to full X-guard. He bases against the sweep over my head but I catch him the other way. I come up with my knee in the middle but my hips are too high. He defends the pass and closes the guard. I get two stalling calls (literally while I’m opening the guard), get swept (from spider perhaps?), achieve SLX with a better underhook and thereby get the SLX sweep, get penalized for stalling while defending a sweep and trying to leverage it to open the guard, and lose 4-4 because of the penalties. I briefly express incredulity to the ref.

Reflections

This tournament did not leave me happy with BJJ rules and strategies. 

I didn’t get to fight for takedowns

Most of my matches were mostly trying (and mostly failing) to open people’s closed guard

I could try to get better at opening the closed guard, or I could practice preventing the guard pull, but...why? It’s so points-BJJ-specific. Why should I care? If I’m training BJJ for anything except pure BJJ, these are useless skills.

I won on points and lost on penalties and a sub. I think the next evolution of my game may be to become a submission diver, because it might improve my scrambles and finishing techniques. Hopefully it could open up my game. Other than that, I’m not sure what there is to learn from this event. I await the video to see if my mind can be changed about the stalling calls.

[davetrains]

I think there’s a freedom in having your worst nightmare come true. As a fighter, your worst nightmare is to get knocked out in front of millions of people. That’s like the dream of waking up naked in your classroom. So getting that out of the way, there’s a freedom in it for me. I never thought it would happen. I never pictured it or visualized it ever happening to me and it happened. I realize after it happened, nothing changed. Nothing changed. My family’s still here, my friends are still here. I’m still the same person. Everybody just wants me to fight again and do well again. Nothing really changed. So there’s a freedom in it and if you haven’t experienced it then you won’t be able to feel the freedom that I have right now.

Eddie Alvarez

[davetrains]

I do a lot of visualization, a lot of it's negative. A lot of it's a picture of the worst case scenario over and over again. The worse way it could happen, the worst way it could be, the worst outcome, and the worst possible case scenario -- before, after, everything. And then I try to work that out, figure out how that's going to happen, or how it's not going to happen, and also how to deal with it when it does happen. And then that's when I go ahead and accept it, and go ahead and make that time now, and accept it. Say okay, deal with that, that's life, and then go out there and fight. I don't want to have to worry about that while I'm fighting, or halfway through -- I don't want to take that rollercoaster up and down. I just want to ride that pace in and all the way through. I'm ready to learn, I'm a Martial Artist and I'm ready to excel in that aspect of life. And if this is what it's going to take to go out there and win or lose I'm ready for it. This is what I train for.

Nick Diaz

[davetrains]

berlin, berlin, berlin

[davetrains]

I stopped at a store to ask questions and the guy who answered the questions said, 'Some day I would like to drive to all 50 states.' I think the secret to doing things is just doing things.

They put me on the news

[davetrains]

[davetrains]

Get it Behind Your Neck: Improving the Snatch and Jerk Overhead Position

Using behind the neck exercises to improve the overhead position of the snatch and jerk for Olympic weightlifting

I’m not really lifting right now, but if I were, this would be advice that would be relevant to my Olympic lifting and overhead pressing goals:

Beginners with mobility issues can and should (barring pain) be doing some kind of behind the neck pressing exercise every day.

Frequency cannot be underestimated when it comes to mobility. There’s also a rallying call here for positional strength: make the position so well-known, so casual, that one can use it for more volume, more intensity, more versatile exercises.

[davetrains]

#slightlynsfw

An instrumental de-pornographied version of this would make solid work music.

[davetrains]

[davetrains]

Current status: this album.

[davetrains]

[davetrains]

(via Mop Mop - Kiss Of Kali - Full Album - YouTube)

[davetrains]

Running and calisthenics worked great for the past month. Now, back to weights.

My plan is to revisit the workout that got me the strongest:

A) squat, press, deadlift

B) something fun and sweaty

The framework is intentionally vague, since sets and reps will change as I ease back into heavy lifting. In the (A) workouts, I expect reps in the 4-6 range and to use both front and back squats. I expect the (B) workouts to vary between hill runs, flat runs spanning 3 to 10k, sets of sprints, calisthenic or circuit workouts, and hopefully some girevoy sport and power Oly lifts.

[davetrains]

Making do

I'm unexpectedly nowhere, with no weights, for a month. So I focus on running and calisthenics.

For runs, I'm sticking to long runs (5k and greater) and hills. There are great hills to hate here. It’s fun to run in the cold without “proper” gear. Above 0°C, without rain, I find I don’t actually need warm clothing.

Calisthenics workouts usually involve a short run—maybe a mile, maybe a slow hill run or two—before or after high volume squats, dand push-ups, and as much of everything else I can think of. My push-ups are improving. I'd like to fit some Kurz work in. I'm re-reading my Ross Enamait.

So, one workout is a long run or medium run with hill sprints, and the other is calisthenics with a short run. I've been alternating daily between those two workouts, only taking rest days when forced to by social or travel responsibilities. It's not so taxing. There's a gym nearby, but it's expensive. Maybe I'll treat myself and go once to deadlift, squat, and press heavy. Heavy for right now, at least.

When I have access to kettlebells, I'd like to try this girevoy sport workout a try:

Warm up with 10 each side: swings, cleans, jerks, snatches

4 minutes each, with breaks between: long cycle, jerk, snatch

That should be plenty of volume in all the movements.

[davetrains]

I’ve latched on to Girevoy sport. These people are insane in the best way. The women are provably stronger and in better shape than I am. Girevik physicality is terrifying. Luckily, I expect my enthusiasm for the sport will be tempered by the absolutely heart-busting, arm-expending effort involved in trying to match even the most minor girevoy feat.