First BJJ Purple Belt program class

Well I got my third stripe last week. That means that I can sign up for the purple belt program which is what I did. So last night I went to my first purple belt class and I pretty much had my ass handed to me. But it was fun and I learned a lot.The biggest thing I need to learn is how to relax. I just can't go for it all the time , I have to take my time and move when the time is right. Another thing I realized is that I'm going to get a lot stronger. Because I am very sore today.I also realized that my wind is pretty good. Many people were very tired and I still had plenty left. so that was cool. The first guy I wokred with was Steve. Steve is an older guyand it seamed like he was tired from the very begining. He had pretty good technique but I was able to pass his guard and I think I swept him one time. The next guy I worked with was a younger guy who had his blue belt. This guy pretty much dominated me.We then did a pretty cool drill with everyone in class. It was a back drill where you started witha guy on your back and the idea was to escape the position. After you escaped or got submitted, your partner switched and you got a new partner. It was a cool drill and I got owned the whole time.

During Randori I did ok, I was able to pass Joe's guard several times. I also submitted Cory (She's a blue belt but to be honest, I used my strength to get her in a good position). I worked with Leandro who I think submitted me once and that was it.

I did pretty good with Joe. I think he may rely on his size too much. It was a good class though. I really enjoyed it but like I said, I am very sore today.

Next purple belt class is on Wednesday night.

Run at lunch BJJ tonight

I went for a 3.1 mile run at lunch today. I pushed a bit too hard I think. My time was 26:10. Not too bad for not really pushing it in a while. It was too hot outside to be pushing it like that though. Still a good run. Some minor pain in my right foot but nothing unbearable. So I'll consider the run a success.

Tonight I went to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It was a great class as usual. We worked on stand up and base, 2 front collar chokes and scissor sweep. It's a cool sweep and I think I was doing it pretty well. We went live a bit at the end of class so that is always fun too. Then, at the end of class, I got my third stripe. I was pretty happy. I've been going to class for 6 months now and now I finally get to test this stuff out on resisting opponents so I'm pretty stoked.

That's all for now, gotta go to bed. I'm tired.

Tuesday Night BJJ class

Another good class as usual. We worked on two escapes from the bear hug. Over the arms and under the arms. Then we worked on two guard passing techniques.

Bear Hug 1. Under the arms:
1. Move you right arm in between your head and theirs and place your forearm on their throat. Grab your right wrist with your left hand and apply preassure to their thoat.
2. Move your hips out and away from them, creating space between the two of you.
3. Move your right hand off of their throat, down and up under their arm pointing up.
4. Grab their tricep with your left hand and squeeze with your elbow.
5. Do the step in front and back foot work to do the hip throw.

Bear Hug 2. Over the arms:
1. Place both your hands on their hips and push awaywith your arms and your hips.
2. Move your elbows in on your stomach so they can't pull you close.
3. Once the space is created, move your right hand up under their armpit on to his back.
4. Grab their right tricep with your left hand.
5. Do the step in front and back footwork to do the hip throw.

Guard pass 1.
1. Grab both lapels with right hand and posture.
2. Grab pants at hip with left hand.
3. Keep elbows in.
4. Move from your knees up onto your right knee and your left foot. Make sure your left foot is back far enough so they can't grab it.
5. Keeping your right elbow in, keep hold of only one lapel.
6. Reach back with your left hand to release the guard and place their leg on your shoulder.
7. Immediately reach with your left hand across and grab their lapel. Thumb in.
8. Stack them up and begin to move around.
9. With your shoulder, move their leg out of the way and gain side control.

Guard pass 2.
1. Same process as above but they get heavy on their leg when you attempt to put it on your shoulder.
2. Press down on their knee to the ground.
3. You now should have your left knee up and your right knee down.
4. Quickly reverse your leg positions. Left leg down over their leg, with your right leg up.
5. Reach around their head with your left hand and under their arm with your right hand. Gable grip.
6. Move your right knee over their down leg with your left.
7. Move your feet out of guard to gain side control.

Like I said, a great class as usual. Next class is Thursday night. Maybe I'll get my third stripe. Maybe.

Early morning 3.6 mile run in GOG

The alarm went off at about 5:30am, I hit the snooze once and then rolled out of bed. I was moving kinda slow so I didn't get out the door until about 6:00am. I ran the south loop which is the longer more hilly loop and is actually my favorite. My time was 34:58 which is a 9:43 mile. This is about what I've come to expect lately. This morning I had a bowl of oatmeal and an egg for breakfast with some water. I put some maple syrup in the oatmeal but not too much. It was pretty good.

Tonight I have BJJ at 7:00. Hopefully I'll be getting my 3rd stripe this week.

Monday, July 23rd rest day

This morning I had a bowl of Raisin bran with milk for breakfast. For lunch, I made a salad and I also have a banana.I'm going to try to get my weights set up so I can lift this Wednesday.

Exercise plan for this week.
Monday - rest day
Tuesday - Run in am, BJJ at night
Wednesday - Run in am, Full body workout at night.
Thursday - Run in am, BJJ at night
Friday - MTB at night if possible
Saturday - BJJ & conditioning
Sunday - Run Waldo

The Plan

Exercise / Fitness Plan
The Goal: Loose 10 punds and get down to 170. This will put me in the top of the middle weight division for BJJ tournaments. My current weight is 180.5 witha body fat percentage of 13.8%. The idea is to drop my body fat percentage to 10% while keeping the same muscle mass.
The plan will be built around my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and running schedules. I'd like to incorporate at least 1 mountain bike ride a week, some crossfit type conditioning and weight lifting.

Fitness Schedule
Monday: rest day
Tuesday: 3 miles in am BJJ at night
Wednesday: 3 miles in am Full body weight routine at night.
Thursday: 3 miles in am BJJ at night
Friday: rest day or mountain biking in pm.
Saturday: BJJ in am with conditioning class.
Sunday: Long run or hike.

Diet Schedule
Breakfast:

option 1: raisin bran, protein shake.

option 2: oatmeal with 2 eggs

option 3: oatmeal, fruit protein shake

Morning snack:

option 1: protein bar

option 2: protein shake

option 3: 1/2 peanut butter sandwich

option 4: banana

option 5 : low fat cottage cheese

Lunch:

option 1: Salad with chicken

Afternoon snack:

option 1: fruit - apple, banana, orange

option 2: protein shake

option 3: crackers, gold fish, pretzels

Dinner:
Sensible dinner:
spaghetti with salad
grilled chicken with rice and veggies
hamburger helper with veggies
pork with potatoes and veggies.

A New Mission/focus.

I went to a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament yesterday. I was really cool. Seeing all of the competitors was very inspirational. I'm convinced that I want to compete once I get enough mat time in.

But If I want to compete, I'll have to loose some weight. I've been thinking about sheding a few punds all summer but have really done nothing about it.

I weighed myself this morning and I weigh 180.5lbs. In order to compete at my desired weight class I have to weigh 170lbs. 175lbs with my Gi on. So that means I have to loose 10lbs. I'd like for it all to be fat because I do have a little bit of a belly at this point in time. So that means that I have to measure my body fat and create a plan to loose weight. My biggest struggle is with my diet. It's not too bad but I do like sweets and I do eat fast food quite a bit. I also drink WAY WAY too much soda. So all of that needs to change.

today I'm going to come up witha plan and take my body fat measurements.

The plan will consist of an eating plan and a workout plan. The goal is to get down to 170 in the next 6 weeks.

THE INCLINE!

This morning I did the incline. I got out of my car at about 8:28am and jogged up to the Barr Trail parking area. I then started my timer at the trail head to the incline. It took me 45 minutes to reach the top. Including my time to the parking lot, I was at the top of the incline at 9:20 or so. I cooled dow for about 5 minutes and then procceded to hike up the back trail that leads around to Barr Trail. There is a short cut trail down to Barr trail but it's not a real trail. It's been made by people who don't want to go all the way around. It's what you call a social trail. Anyway, I then ran back down Barr trail to the parking area and then down Ruxton to my car. The time when I reached my car was 10:12. So the whole trip took me about 1:45 or so. Not too bad. I'd like to get that down to 1:30 or maybe even 1:15. That would be nice.

Early morning 3.1 mile run

Went out and ran this morning in Garden of the Gods. Just took it easy to see how my foot felt and I'm happy to report that my foot is feeling pretty good. It's still a little sore in areas but it felt fine after the run and all day. I even went to BJJ class tonight and had no trouble so maybe it was just some kind of minor bruise or something. I'm glad it's better. I'm thinking about doing the incline this Sunday. Should be a good workout.

That's all for now.

My foot still hurts

The combination of going to bed late and my foot still hurting has cuased me not to run. I have to admit, I have a slight motivation problem going on right now. I'm sure one my foot feels better that I will be ready to run again. so it looks like I'll be taking some more time off. I'm hoping to maybe run on Friday and then again on Sunday.

We will see.

I haven't posted in a while but I'm back

I was out of town for a week and to be honest, I needed to take a few days off to re-evaluate my running. The purpose of the re-evaluation was to make sure that I'm still having fun running. I don't want it to become like a job for me and some of those Sunday long runs were starting to have that feel. So the best thing for me to do when I feel like that is to take some time off.

Last week I was in California and I did manage to go for about a 40 minute run on the beach. I took the Ipod and it was early in the morning so it was a good run.

Yesterday I went and did Waldo Canyon. My time ended up being 1:36. Not terrible but not great either. It was good to be out there though. Some people on the trail are really kinda funny. When you're coming up on them, they just sorta stop and look at you like they have no idea what to do. Others just let their dog stand right in the middle of the trail as you're trying to get past. Many more people understand trail etiquette and try to get out of the way at least a little bit.

One problem that I'm having is my right foot. I'm not sure what I did but It really hurts. I did something during conditioning class on Saturday. Like I said, not sure whatbut it hurts. It's a little better today. I am planning on running tomorrow so I'll see how it feels in the morning.

5 mile run on July 4th, 3.5 miler on the 5th.

Had a couple of good runs over the past couple of days. Although it was pretty hot on the 4th for the 5 miler. Right foot still has some soreness. Also have some kinks in other places but nothing major. I've got a 3 miler planned for today , then BJJ and conditioning class tomorrow and a 7 miler on Sunday.

BJJ yesterday and took today off.

Monday night I went ot my BJJ class to find that they are changing the school's scedule again. This is the 3rd schedule in 6 months. I don't think it will be that bad. I'm not really interested in doing Muay Thai , I'd much rather focus on being better at BJJ but the new schedule really supports it and it's quality instruction so I'll give it a shot.

I was supposed to go running this morning, just a 3 miler but my right foot/ankle is kinda sore so I decided to lay off. I'll run tomorrow morning and Thursday.

Tomorrow I've got a 5 miler planned.

I think that I'm going to BJJ class again tonight. I'm very close to getting my 3rd stripe so I'm anxious to get it.

Long run on Sunday in Garden of the Gods

Saturday, I went to BJJ class and then to conditioning class after. I was spent after conditioning class.

Saturday night the kids and I slept in the tent out in the backyard. It wasn't as bad as last time but my back kinda got tweaked. Then I went to Pioneer and got the last few flagstones for our front walk. Man those things are heavy. Went home and placed the stones where they need to be. Then it was just really really hot, so we went to the pool. Hung out at the pool for a while and a friend invited us over to their house for dinner. I realized that if I was going to run that I would have to do it right then.

So it was still kinda hot out but I ran anyway. I was supposed to run 10 miles but I only ended up running about 8.75 miles. I've discovered that while I really love trail running, the trail miles are a lot harder then the road miles. I'm thinking that my next long run will be on a flat trail instead of the hilly rocky stuff in Garden of the Gods.

My next run is on Tuesday morning. I think it will be a 3 or 4 miler.