Combatives - first three lessons and FVGJJ is moving

Today's training was going back to the first three lessons of the Combatives - Trap and Roll Escape - all variations, Americana - all variations, and Positional control - Mount - with high and low swim. It was good to practice the nuances.

All in all, a good day of rolling.

Also, Fox Valley Gracie Jiu Jitsu is moving from a garage to a classroom space in what was an elementary school. Lockers, bathrooms, tons of room. What's not to like?

Considering the growth of the garage, the move couldn't have been timed better!

insane 8 year old wrestler and 6-ish boxer!

I caught these two videos and showed my kids. They (and I) could not believe our eyes! These kids are naturals!

Monday Nights Combatives at FVGJJ

Tonights combatives and rolling included:
Side control. Postitional control.
Head lock counters.
Also did several different variations of fight simulations including:
Clinch
Take down
Side Control, Mount, Remount, Take the back
Punch-block stages 1 through 4
Triangle
Head lock counter to Modified (Seated) mount to arm bar or to back.

The curriculum from Gracie University is a step-wised curriculum. Lots of detail in each lesson. And each lesson connects to previous lessons in sequences that are the most common progression from one situation to the next. The reflex development and fight simulations are the methods that Gracie U employs to teach that progression and ingrain the lessons.

Here's a video from one of the black belts at Lagrange BJJ in Indiana. Chet Schemahorn is the head black belt there. Fox Valley Gracie JJ has been working a ton with Chet and LaGrange to continue on our journey of learning the Gracie Combatives and Master Cycle techniques. In the video there are some of the transitions that we practice from side control to mount to modified mount.

Note to myself from my combatives lessons tonight.
Triangle - at set up, chill out. Establish and maintain position. Utilize hips to help isolate and control arm. Control head. Shoulder walk and re-engage/chop leg. Lock up triangle - hand to foot, foot behind knee. Head control.

Head lock counter - utilize blade of hand. Don't push/force upward, instead rock forward.

Saturday session - Elbow Escape

Today was Gracie University Lesson 12 - Elbow escape under mount.

Roy Dean covers the lesson about 4:55 into the vid.



Fun session. Worked with Steve at Fox Valley Gracie JJ. I was able to roll about 20 minutes before he took advantage of a wayward arm while he was in side control on me.

Tips for me. Don't just pivot hips. Good shrimp out on each side. Watch for opponent in mount to control elbows from being able to frame the knee and attempt the escape.

Monday - Headlock counters.

Bullyproof lessons March 3, 2011

Today the kids worked on some of the basics that they learned from Judo - Breakfall - tuck and roll.



We also worked on mount control and taking the back. Up until now, taking the back was a game called Crazy Horse (Gracie Bullyproof game). Now we are transitioning it into a methodical, control of your opponent. Of course it is more fun for the kids to play Crazy Horse!

Kids Bullyproof

As I said previously, my kids and I have been practicing the Gracie Bullyproof games and lessons. At the same time, they've also been in a kids wrestling program (K through 2nd grade) at the local wrestling club. It's been a lot of fun.

Here are some videos of some recent lessons. FYI - For some reason the video dimension seems cut off a bit. If you double click to a whole screen, you will be able to see the full dimensions.

Trap and roll escape drill.

We also do some other games - practicing takedowns, balance games, and some Bullyproof fights.

From Homebody to MMA fighter in 1 year.

Here's a new blog and website to follow.

Dan Krieg is a 30 something guy. The middle child. The older brother founded the Fox Valley Grappling Club in Appleton, Wi, and the little brother looks like a fighting monster.

Here's episode 1. http://fightvirgin.com/?p=4

And other episodes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyFI2GeR6gI

Let's root Dan on!

I'm Finally Back!

I'm back and in more ways than one. I was released from therapy several weeks ago. Strong enough to walk up and down stairs without a limp, but not much else.

Started a running program that VERY SLOWLY builds back some more bounce into my step. It is actually more about building confidence in my step.

I also continue to hit the resistance training and cardio workouts hard.

This past Sunday, I rolled with some adult-sized folks, for the first time since my injury back on 2/19. The warm up was 3 x 7 minute rounds. 1 minute rest. Going at 75% resistance. Then go into a lesson, then drills.

I was GASSED at the second round. My fingers were rubbed raw from my grips and my quad was jelly. But I was happy.

I did have to tap in the weirdest situations though. I tapped when I was mounted by my opponent and had some weird pressure on my knee and felt smothered up top. Again much more about confidence in my position than anything.

My schedule will be Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays 8-9:30 pm. I'll be at it tonight!

French Toast Breakfast. Yummy.

I love french toast. But I don't like fried bread.

There is a difference to me.

"Fried bread" is white bread lightly coated in a mixture of egg and milk and fried quickly on the griddle.

French toast is sweet, yummy goodness. The outside of the toast is a bit on the crunch side. Not crunchy like cookies, but... you know. The inside is custardy and sweet and has soaked all the way through to become "one with the bread". Mmmm....

This is what I made for the wife and kids today. Some stale Breadsmith French peasant bread, and a couple slices of the Cinnabon Cinnamon Bread turned into my patented French Toast.

2 eggs

1/2 skim milk

a touch of vanilla

1 TBS of sugar - white or brown

I like to dip the bread and then set it aside for the batter to really soak through the bread. I use a stove top griddle. One of those that is a heavy aluminum piece. I turn it on medium high, get it nice and warm then turn it down to medium.

Butter up the griddle and then get ready to place the pieces of battered bread on the griddle. Once I place the pieces down on the griddle - I don't move them until I can feel the bottom set up. It takes about 4 minutes. Then I flip the piece over.

I like to let the toast slowly cook through to get a custardy texture on the inside, instead of a dry egg taste on white bread.

A little powdered sugar, a little cinnamon, syrup and butter.

Mmmm.....

Heard from the Doc!

Got a email back from Dr. Ratamess.

He's the PhD. that wrote the article "Weight training in JiuJitsu" back in 1998.
It turns out, as happens with many things that are written for peer reviewed journals, he wrote that artcle in 1996 and it wasn't published until 1998.

I asked him what changes or additions would you make to the article in the 12 years since this article was published (14 years since written)?

Nicholas Ratamess -
(My) recommendations on loading, sets, rest intervals, and exercise order has not changed. The largest change has been in exercise selection. In my article I mostly focused on concentional weight training exercises. However, since there has been a large increase in popularity of core training as well as sport-specific mixed martial arts training. The popularity of sand bags, kettle bells, stability balls, ropes, rings, BOSu balls, medicine balls,etc have grown incredibly in the last decade. Many mixed martial artists used integrated approaches with free weights plus sport-specific exercises such as Turkish get-ups, sand bag throws, resisted striking, and several body weight exercises which mimic different techniques (to name a few!)
Thanks Doc!

Tight Hips - Check that Back

In my rehab, we've been working on everything that supports proper leg and knee movement. Everything from ankle and associated muscle, ligament and tendon strength and flexibility to hip and core strength flexibility.

My most recent session involved my PT's watching me doing lunges walking backwards (with a medicine ball up in the air and chopping down and across) and talking between themselves at how poorly my hips were moving and how I try to accomodate the poor hip flexibility with my feet - which of course leads to more knee problems. DUH!

Anyhow, their goal for this session was to work on my hip flexibility. They kept wondering how my body functioned in JiuJitsu and TaeKwonDo with such tight hips.

I never noticed how tight my hips were until they were stretching me. I was always able to kick pretty high. I felt like I was able to get some "heavy" hips when rolling. Really flattening out and remaining solid.

But I did sense the hip stiffness. As they stretched me over, they noticed that my hip flexibility was impeded by my hip flexors and my upper quad being so tight..

I was rolled to my back and my spine was pushed this way and that. The diagnosis was my "TL" was to blame. Thoracolumbar Junction. The spot between the T12 (twelvth thoracic vertebrae)and L1 (First lumbar vertebrae). The nerves in that area innervate my glutes, abdomen, hip and thigh area.

The fix:
1) Get that area massaged.
2) Stretch the hip flexor area.
3) Stretch and activate your TL spot. (sexy)


How to do that.
For #1. I ask my kids to walk on my back! Always fun!
#2. Stretching the hip flexor area. It helps activate release points along the nerves that run from your TL junction. Lie on your back. Bring your knees up, feet still on the ground. Cross your legs - knee over knee. Let the knee and leg in the top position slowly stretch the bottom leg down and across your body. Hold the stretch for 5 second. Then squeeze your knees together and then relax. And hold the stretch again for another 5 count. And then squeeze and stretch once more. After every squeeze of the knees, you should feel your legs and hip just relax a touch more every time.
Someone without a TL problem should feel most of the stretch in the hip and glute of the bottom leg. I felt all of this stretch in the front thigh, hip flexor part of my bottom leg. Switch legs.

#3. Stretching and activation of TL. This involved lying face down on your belly. Get into pushup position - the military style with your hands right under your shoulders. While keeping your legs, hips and pelvis flat on the ground, slowly push up on your upperbody. The goal is to slowly loosen your back around mid to the lower-mid back.



Do this everyday. You should see some response from your hips and thighs.

Training in JiuJitsu Part V

Nope, the pic isn't an error.
The Part-Time Grappler (PTG) brought up an excellent point in a comment on my previous post. Due to the nature of the game, training with resisting opponents, the PTG, Liam, brought up the gains that can be obtained by training on uneven surfaces - BOSU, Swiss Balls, etc would be very helpful in the game of JiuJitsu.

I agree wholeheartedly. The exercises that I listed in my previous post can all be done in different ways and on different surfaces. I was trying to touch a bit on that when I spoke to using different ways to manipulate the resistance load while doing an exercise. My goal is to keep my training fresh - not only to overcome boredom, but to keep my body from getting used to the training and to achieve maximum gains.

Unstable surface -

Try a BOSU, Swiss Ball or Balance Board to engage other muscle groups.

The shoulder exercises for example can be done sitting on a bench or standing. OR sitting on a Swiss Ball. OR standing on a BOSU - as the PTG mentions.

I'd suggest doing that if you try these other more unstable surfaces, you drop your resistance loads quite a bit. Keeping good form is essential. Watch how your body starts to recruit all of those stabilizer muscles to help keep that form.

Change center of gravity -
Try doing walking lunges. Do them with a weight and some without. Change the position of that weight. Do some lunges with a medicine ball held above your head, or out in front of you. For my physical therapy, I have to do walking lunges, hold the lunge and then do a chopping motion with the medicine ball, across my body from shoulder level down across in front of my body to the opposite hip.


Not only do your deltoids, trapezius, and back start to get a good burn - but you are utilizing every muscle fiber that is used to stabilize you.


Different positioning -
Try changing the positions in which you do some of the exercises. For example, on the chart I listed Good Mornings. Try those as a standard good-morning, then switch to a back extension and then try it by squeezing your glutes and hamstrings. Do it with your feet parallel or toes pointed out and then pointed in.
Varying your grip - palms up or palms down, wide grip or narrow, etc.
Or it could be the difference between lat pulldowns versus wide grip pull-ups.
A small variation in positioning or grip can produce great gains in your performance.

Play with your resistance load -
This is beyond just changing up the weight you do. And there are a ton of variations on that. Low weight, high number of repetitions.
High weight, and low repetitions.
Try using a combination of resistance bands plus free weight. When I do squats, I squat with a barbell and attached to the barbell are resistance bands.
A variation is the use of chains as your resistance load. As the weights go up, the resistance increases.

I love this topic because of the variety of methods of manipulating resistance load in weight training. It not only makes training more fun, but it keeps your body off-balance which leads to accelerated gains. I'd argue that it also leads to fewer injuries. Maybe that will be a hypothesis to tackle at another time.

Training in JiuJitsu Part IV

I have some exercises that were in the article. The list isn't fancy. It is about doing the technique properly and manipulating that load in different ways. Experiment with resistance load. Experiment with repetitions. Experiment with your rest period.

The way that the article lists them is that there are particular movements that provide resistance exercise and that the resistance exercise benefits different applications.

It is the way that you conduct the resistance exercise that conditions your body in different ways.

For example:

Resistance exercise - Wide-stance squat

Application - lower body and trunk strength, balance, throwing and un-balancing

Can be done many different ways for different effects. A squat with an emphasis on the concentric contraction (pushing up out of the squat with force) - can benefit explosiveness.

A squat with an emphasis on eccentric contraction (slow lowering of the weight at twice the count of the pushing) - can benefit muscle and tendon tensile strength. The slow lowering also recruits other muscle groups beyond just your large muscles. The other muscles provide benefit in posture and balance and provide balanced muscle development.

Training in Jits Part III

In a previous post, I gave a little primer to Nicholas Ratamess article for Weight Training in JiuJitsu. The beginning of the article basically spoke to the need of a variety of training methods that address the complexity of the sport.

My take away was that there is no Black and White for training for any sport. There are nuances and complexities to the human body and maximizing the body's response for a sport would need more than working on your 1 Rep Max in a Bench Press. That may be an oversimplifying. Another example could be what I used to do - JiuJitsu was all about pulling into a body. Crunching, shrimping, elbows in, protecting the neck, etc. My work out should be about those kinds of movements. Not too balanced.

Since my injury and since reading the article, what I learned is that I personally need a work out regimen that is offers variety of exercises (so that I do not get bored), that engages the muscles in many different ways (concentric vs. eccentric vs. multiple joint and muscle groups) and trains my body properly.

I will post an abbreviated list of Ratamess's exercises that address the different types of movements.

Ratamess's next point of his article is to discuss his set of "thoughts" for the progression of the types of exercises you do in your work out day. This list is pulled from three different sources:

1) Fleck, SJ and WJ Kraemer. Designing Resistance Training Programs, Human Kinetics, 1997

2) Pauletto,B. Let's talk training#3: Choice and order of exercises. NSCA Journal 1986.

3) Wathen, D. Exercise order. Load assignment. In: Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning; Human Kinetics, 1994.

His recommendations, also depends on what type of work out you are doing for the day (is it a core day, cardio day, strength day....

1) Core First - this is optimal when energy levels are high.

2) Perform power/speed exercises that would require technique mastery before doing strength, assistance and sport-specific exercises.

3) Perform core, multijoint strength exercises after power exercises or do them first when no power exercises are scheduled.

4) Perform large-muscle-group exercises before those for small muscle groups.

5) Perform exercises for individual weak areas before doing those for stronger areas.

6) Perform difficult exercises before doing easier ones.

7) If using a total-body work out - alternate between upper and lower body or between agonist/antagonist muscle groups.

8) If using a split routine (body building) perform basic exercises first.

Next - tips to maximize aerobic and anaerobic capacity and recovery by using weight training.

Roger Gracie v. Randleman. Mateo de Leon - RNC

I caught some of the Strikeforce card last night. Roger Gracie v Kevin Randleman was one that I really wanted to see. Randleman has almost as many losses as wins. Many of the losses are due to a submission - record of 17 - 15. Roger has an MMA record of 3 - 0. And he hasn't been in the ring in a while.

Randleman was like a train. Moving forward in the first round. Leg kicks and shrugging off any strikes that Roger threw. Roger was working on establishing his jab.

The second round, Roger seemed to find his jab. Just pawing it out there - at one point, the Strikeforce announcer said what I was thinking - it was taking a page out of the Nick/Nate Diaz book for jabbing. It seemed to bug the heck out of Randleman. Randleman. Roger was able to put together some left right combinations that also worked well, pushing Randleman up against the cage. Pretty much, anytime Randleman tried to get with in Roger's reach, Roger would throw a couple jabs while backing up. It worked well.

The beginning of the end for Randleman started with Roger's back up against the cage defending against a take down. Roger was able to push Randleman back away from the cage, and set up a thai clinch with some knees. One knee dropped Randleman like a sack and Gracie ended up in mount. Randleman was able to explode out, hips moving, but Gracie was more than prepared. First in a modified seated mount - landing some punches from the top. Then moving with Randleman's escape attempts to north-south, then moving to side and then full mount very quickly. It was fun to watch. Gracie, compared to Randleman's bulk and explosiveness, seemed tall and wiry. Roger was in mount for a brief time attempting an arm triangle. As Roger was moving his lower body over to the side to really take advantage of the choke, Randleman was able to do a little bit of a hip escape to move away from the choke, but Roger was ready and moved his body in position to take back.
From back, Roger really flattened out Randleman. Gracies, hooks underneath Randleman's thighs, with his weight pitched forward over Randleman's head (I hate when that happens). Randleman rolled sideways hard, but again Roger was prepared and was able to keep back but lock up a body triangle.
The last 1:59 of the second round, Roger was working on getting his long arms into position to get the rear naked choke. And at about 0:56, Roger was able to get both forearms underneath Randleman's chin, lock up a hand on a bicep and shoot his left hand back behind Randleman's head. REALLY LOCKED UP! Randleman tapped out and then passed out.

It was a fun fight to watch. There was one thing that the announcers said between that 1:59 to the 0:56 when Roger was working on setting up his choke. That Roger was having a lot of trouble getting the choke in because Roger primarily trains with a gi. I think that is the first time I heard that. I've heard that guys that don't train grappling with the MMA gloves regularly have a hard time because they aren't used to how the gloves can get in the way. But I've primarily heard that training with the gi gets MMA grapplers a different perspective on grappling. They are used to thinking about controlling their opponents in different ways and are used to the different "restrictive" feeling that a gi may give them. I dunno if I agree with the announcers in this case. Roger Gracie had no problems locking in the choke and secured a win.

fake words - hate'm

I hear enough of these "words" that I need an outlet for my frustration.
I'm not a spelling genius by any means. In my first spelling bee I got the word "buy" incorrect - spelled it "by" vs "buy".
Even though, here is my list:

"Heighth" vs "Height"
"Incidences" vs "Incident"... Incidences may be a word - but I don't think it is meant as the multiple of Incident.
"Acrossed" vs "Across"

Also, folks around here like to say, "I have THE diarrhea", vs "I have diarrhea".

Maybe its a NE Wisconsin thing....
OK, I'm off of my soap box.

BJJ kids!

It would be great if I could have these guys around for my kids all the time, but that isn't really possible.

Today the kids and I did a couple drills out of Bullyproof. Their level of reflex and response just keeps growing every time we train.

In Bullyproof, Rener and Ryron test the kids, their technique and readiness in every game. So, when a kid is about to go to mount (Spidey Kids) on Rener, Rener will test him/her by trying to throw them off right as the child is about to take mount. Sometimes he does other little tricks to get them out of position. It gets the kid ready to be mindful of opportunities to use a technique and what are the common mistakes that makes things fall apart. I couldn't say if that is what Rener or Ryron were after, but that is my take.

I have been doing the same thing with my kids. Challenge them more and more as we do the games and transition from one technique to another. It is taking a little more creativity for me to try to get the kids out of position. They also as they know that in the middle of one transition or another that I'm going to try something. And they are prepared.

In Bullyproof, there is a flexibility in testing the kids. The video has a several kids - from 3 or 4 years old, all the way to 11 or 12 year old. So the parents and kids watching the videos can see different experience levels. It truly ranges from the parent physically placing the child in place and physically moving them through all of the motions, all the time providing a ton of positive encouragment. All the way to, your kid knows the basics or more - the kid is self-directed, even creative with how they tackle a problem.

Today we did Guard Monster, Crazy Legs and Push and Pull Base. The Push and Pull base went as expected. The kid setting up a good foundation from standing. Doing just enough to stay out of trouble when someone is trying to push or pull them into an area they don't want to go.

Crazy Legs - Passing from standing, the kids still have a bit of trouble controlling my legs. They get their hands on a pant leg or a foot and giggle and laugh when I circle my feet and legs away. (It is also great rehab for my knee flexibility!) I eventually let them throw my legs out of the way and they take side control and then progress to mount. The whole time I'm testing their position, their hands, hips, grip. The kids had great hips today in mount. Really driving their hips down on my stomach/hips. Really trying to nail one side, or the other side straight down. It was actually something to have 50 to 60lbs driving straight down in one small area - painful is the word. I was impressed.

Last we did Guard Monster. For my 5 year old - there was a light that went on! So much fun. The premise in Bullyproof is that the kids are protecting themselves in a real fight situation. So the drill starts with the kid in mount and the bully on the bottom is able to roll your child. They use guard to control the bully's posture. Part of the drill is that the bully is trying to free up a hand and get some punches and slaps in to the child on the bottom. Previously my kids would laugh and giggle and I'd remind them the process of overhooking the punching arm and hugging the head/body tight with the other arm.

TODAY - no reminders needed for my son. He could tell by my shifting weight and the space I was trying to create that I was going to come back and attempt a couple phantom punches. He immediately had a free arm up and hooked my punching arm. As I tried switching hands, HE SWITCHED grips! He stayed tight, protected his head and could feel me move.

As much as I love Jits. i love having this time with my kids and seeing how much fun they are having with it!

Isn't that Shark Bite da da?

First of all - I'm going to try to put more visual aids in my blog. I'm taking note of other bloggers and how visually appealing their sites are....

I was watching the movie Fighting - circa 2009. With Terrance Howard (Hustle and Flow) and Channing Tatum (Step Up). It's basically about a small town kid in a big city looking to make a little money. He gets caught up in something bigger than himself, falls in love and makes good at the end. You know, the typical teenager movie plot. Come to think of it, it is Step Up but instead of dancing, it is bare-knuckle fighting. Anyhow - there is a scene where Tatum's character is paid to fight a character in the middle of a Chinatown joint. The fighter in China-town is Cung Le! Cung looks great in the movie. So of course, the movie is all about the stand-up - punching and being punched - but Cung takes Tatum's character to the ground. At that moment, my kids say - "Isn't that Shark Bite da da?"

A reminder - me and my kids are doing Gracie's Bullyproof. They recognized Shark Bite (trap and roll escape from under mount) from the Bullyproof lessons. It wasn't quite mount in the movie - but who cares! My kids are AWESOME. They also saw Guard Monster - Le had Tatum in Guard and was attempting a triangle. They were amazed that these guys on TV were playing the Gracie Bullyproof games!

I loved it. My two kids recognizing Jits.

UFC 113

I've commented to others that UFC hasn't had the great matches like I remember. It could be because there are fights every other week. UFC 113 was NOT like the last couple fight cards. These were exciting. Lots of stand-up. A couple matches finished by rare-naked choke. It was a fun one.
Here's how I saw it.


Belcher vs. Cote - Belcher went after it. Pushing forward for most of the fight. Body kicks from both sides. He had a jab going and put together some combinations. Cote did tag him a few times with some good hooks, but it wasn't enough. The fight ended on the ground. For some reason I thought that Cote was a higher belt than a Purple Belt. Belcher was able to get back. Rear Naked Finish. Mateo de Leon.


Slice vs. Mitrione - NFL player vs. Brawler (I didn't know that was a style.) Slice had the same act - his "hay makers" up by his chin talking about how all he had to do was get them on Mitrione. Other than that there wasn't much new from Kimbo. Mitrione showed some good skills. From the beginning Kimbo went after Mitrione and tried to body slam him. Instead he ended up in a position for Mitrione to take advantage. Mitrione recognized that there was a triangle opportunity right away. Kimbo was able to resist the triange and end up in side control Mitrione was able to improve his position from under Kimbo's side control and was able to stand up. Through out the fight, Mitrione had sort of a grin on him - sort of crazy like. But he mixed up his stand up really well. Kicks, knees and some jabs. He also threw in some submission attempts anaconda gator roll choke. It was unbelievable that Slice could fight off those chokes. Mitrione learned a TON from the TUF and from his fight against Big Baby. His ground game was better than Slices; he fights like a middle weight. He's for real.



Stevens vs. Stout - both young guns with a lot of experience for their young years. I don't think there has been a fight that I've seen with either of these fighters that I didn't enjoy watching. The stand up was fun to watch. Not much grappling. Stout tried to use his sharp shooting technique. Stevens was throwing bombs. It went to decision, with Stevens winning.



Lawler vs. Doerksen - Good stand up. Doerksen won - Finish with another Rear naked. The weigh-in was just as entertaining.

Koscheck vs. Daley - Finally a little more ground fighting - not too technical. I don't get the fans that have been booing the last couple UFC's. I understand the fact that there is the meat head factor. But a technical ground fight is fun to watch. Unfortunately this is not what happened. Some driving take downs, but no advancement of position. The academy award went to Koshcheck for a phantom knee strike to the head and ghost toe to the eye. Josh has done the eye thing before, once or twice. The fight almost ends on the ground - until Paul Daley tries a left hook after the end of the fight. As Joe Rogan said - that was the best shot that Daley landed. Suspension has to come Daley's way. Koshcheck wins unanimously. - Update - it sounds like Dana White has kicked Daley out of the big show! Wow. I wonder if any sanctions will come down of Koshcheck for his acting job.



Rua vs. Machida - An action packed one round. Machida was prepared for the leg kicks. He went to the ground twice - and he didn't look very comfortable. But he did go to the ground with two solid take downs. To me this is not Machida's game. He is a counter puncher - waiting for an opening on an aggressive opponent and taking advantage. He's like Andre Agassi and his return serve. The thing is, this always means that you have to play your opponent's game first and then try to turn it around. Rua was so ready for this. Rua came out and threw a couple leg kicks. Lyoto was waiting. Then Rua's hands proved the difference. He lashed out with a quick 4 to 5 punch combination. A couple shots that shocked Machida and sent him to the ground. Rua followed hard and fast and a hammering from full mount finished the deal. Machida was out for a bit. He got up with a huge golf-ball over his eye.

All in all, an entertaining card. The next one up will be Rampage vs. Evans. From The Ultimate Fighter, I really ended up liking Evans. He is an intelligent fighter and a really good coach and motivator. Hmmm... Evans vs. Rua maybe this winter?

Training in Jits Part II

A few posts ago, I spoke to an article I found "Weight Training for Jiu Jitsu" by Nicholas Ratamess. At the time (1998), out of Ball State University. It was in a peer-reviewed journal - Strength and Conditioning. 8 pages long. At the time of the writing of the article, Ratamess has practiced JiuJitsu for about 3 years.

I had initially intended on doing one post that summarizes what Ratamess discusses in his article. Not so much.

I've had to read his article about 4 times. The 8 pages is PACKED with concepts. Another thing. This 1998 article is probably the first written work that spoke to strength training/weight training for jiu jitsu. The issue is that in the 8 pages, it contains MANY, MANY, MANY concepts. The 8 pages summarizes ideas in one or two paragraphs that are full chapters in physical fitness texts.

I've decided that the best way for me to summarize this work is to take one or two ideas at a time.

Right from the start, the idea of the article is to provide multiple methods and concepts for weight training for JiuJitsu.
There are components of BJJ -

• flexibility
• speed
• power
• muscular endurance
• aerobic and anaerobic capacity
• muscular strength
• agility
• balance
• coordination.

There isn't one type of exercise regimen that would maximize all of these components.
In otherwords, the typical three sets of 10, Chest and Tris on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays and Back and Biceps on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday isn't a weight training regimen that contains enough of a variety to meet the needs of a complex sport like BJJ.
Our regimen would have as much variety as the components you are trying to train and maximize.

Ideally your training should consist of the following types of exercises:

• Core Development
• Assistance training (machine assisted)/single joint/ or open chain training.
• Multi-joint training/ closed chain training
• Functional training
• Concentric
• Eccentric
• Isometric
• Plyometric training
• Training for sport specific techniques.

I need to get reading again. The article goes into several ideas including, the best strategy for planning out your weight training, types of exercises for different goals and ideas for work load, repetitions and periods of rest.