Tag Archives: diet

Drilling Micro Transitions to Submissions

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I’ve written a bunch about drilling lately, especially inspired by Jordon Shultz and his recent ebook dedicated exclusively to the subject of drilling. Lloyd Irvin released a nice video on the “micro transitional drilling” yesterday and I can’t pass up the chance to comment on it, even though a few great blog posts have already been written on it:

Analogy: Calories In, Calories Out

For diet that maintains weight, the simple formula is “calories in = calories out”. There’s more to a good diet than that, but the math can’t be tricked. In the same way, for developing good competition jiu jitsu, the simple equation is: you have drill the transition to submission more than your opponent drills the defense to that transition. There’s more to it than that, but once again, you can’t trick the math.

Micro-Transition

In the video, Lloyd Irvin emphasizes the importance of working on the small but critical transition that leads directly or indirectly into a submission. This is different than the way I’ve been drilling. When I work on transitions, I’ll often chain several together. That’s very important to do but it definitely doesn’t sharpen my instinct as much as the micro-transition drilling. I tried it today for several microtransitions into submissions: ezekiel choke, americana, and the teacup armbar.

More Reps, Less Brain

I really liked the result. I didn’t count exactly, but I was able to get over 100 reps in each 5 minute round of drilling without pushing the pace at all. What I also like was that I started to really focus and internalize the flow of the technique. Obviously 100 reps is nothing, but I could sense that 10,000 reps of each technique would make the transitions into these submissions very difficult to stop.

Hard Work is Hard

The above video from Lloyd Irvin doesn’t particularly tell you anything you didn’t already know. He simply reiterates the truth of what breeds success: deliberate practice. Just as he says in the video, whatever good prescriptive advice he provides, most people will take it in, agree with it, enjoy it, plan on doing it, and never actually do it (more than a few times). The challenge is to do it regularly for months and years. It has to be part of your jiu jitsu training.

Extra Fat and Happy

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I’ve been eating a lot, working a lot, enjoying life.

The food is healthy (veggies, lean meat, some fruit) but the quantity is what I’m not limiting.  I want to give myself a breather, before diving back into it for the fall.

Before I finish writing this status update, let me go grab a random snack. Why? Because I can! That’s a damn good feeling. Oh and I’ll be competing in the local tournaments in the extra fat divisions. No real cutting until September.

The problem with the “diet” I was on before is that I never quite followed it seriously enough. When I competed at Worlds, my carelessness with food resulted in me being 2 lbs overweight. I ran it off in just 10 minutes and that served as a good warm up, but still this was supposed to be my fat division (middleweight, ~177 lbs). A “fat” division is one I should be able to make without cutting at all or even thinking of cutting.

Competition is stressful, and my goal for this year is to reduce that stress as much as possible. I want to not have to think about any tournaments (except the really big ones) until the day of the event. A strict diet plan leading up to each competition is part of that. While I’ve been very systematic about learning jiu jitsu. I’ve been a complete white belt meathead about learning dieting, and dieting is the thing that breaks many competitors who have demanding jobs (and/or other responsibilities) outside the sport.

Another random rant comes to a close. PS: I had beer with my coach yesterday while watching judo. We should make that a regular thing.

Get Sleep Not Rest

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Michael Arnstein is an ultrarunner (runs ultramarathons and longer distances) and like most ultrarunners is a facinating person to read, listen to, and learn from. Here is a good lecture from him on some details of why he runs, his diet, his motivation, his routine, etc:

There are a lot of things mentioned in this video that I’d like to comment on at a later time, but there is one thing he said that really struck me. Michael said that his main challenge in his running life and the most important part is getting enough sleep. He said that if he gets 10 hours of sleep the night before a run, he can run any distance without a problem.

He drew a distinction between rest and sleep. He said that a lot of runners tend to taper before a race. Tapering is reducing the training mileage as you approach the race, so your body is sufficiently recovered and well rested. He suggests that this is a crappy alternative for simply getting a full night’s sleep night after night, and most importantly the night before a race. You may agree or disagree with that idea, but one thing is for sure, most of us recreational athletes do not get enough sleep, and I would venture to guess that most professional athletes do not get enough sleep either, especially before a big competition.

That served as a reminder that I need to take sleep, not rest, more seriously. And also, if I know that I have to wake up at 6am for a tournament next weekend, I better be waking up at 6am for many consecutive days before then.

Anyway, I’m officially declaring to myself as a goal that I’m going to get at least 6 hours of sleep every night for the month of May, and shoot for 8 hours as often as possible. You should do the same.

The Day-to-Day of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo

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bjj-judo-laundryWhen I first started grappling, I thought I’d just show up once or twice a week, get my ass kicked, and then go home happy. But the more I trained, the more I learned that there are things that I have to do off the mat in order to improve my game or even just to make the whole experience pleasant and feasible as part of a busy life:

  • Laundry. A gi should never be worn for two practices without being washed in-between (unless you did zero work, but even then). Also it should be thoroughly air-dried.
  • Diet.
    • I used to think that diet was about losing weight. It is. But it’s also about eating stuff that can keep you energized throughout the day and through training. Also, my digestive system is pretty screwed up, so a big part of a diet for me is figuring out what to eat in order to avoid getting sick or having a stomachache in training. If I fail in this aspect, it definitely makes training less fun.
    • Drink water (to counter-balance the pots of coffee I consume)
  • Shower. Right away after every practice.
  • Medical Tape. Most of the taping I do is to cover cuts and mat burn so as to help avoid infection. This is really a major pain in the ass.
  • Transit
    • Learn the public transit system (the subway and rails are hard enough, but the bus system is a chaotic mess of routes and schedules)
    • Learn how to stay productive while riding or waiting for the bus/train
  • Learn
    • Watch competition footage
    • Watch instructional videos
    • Read instructional books
    • Keep notes

The above, to me, is the “jiu-jitsu lifestyle”: doing laundry, taking showers, and riding the bus. It’s not as glorious as sex, drugs, and surfing, but I still love it.

I Just Tell Them I Wrestle

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I was asked by an athlete-type girl at seven eleven about why it is I had 4 apples in one hand and a one gallon jug of water in the other. The question caught me off guard so I defensively said that “I’m cutting weight”. She asked the natural follow-up: “For what?” At this point I came to a crossroads that I surprisingly haven’t come to often in my life. The problem was in explaining judo or brazilian jiu jitsu to a stranger with whom I’ll only likely have 30 seconds worth of conversation. I answer that question truthfully to friends and family with whom I can have at least a couple minutes to explain further if needed. But in this case, I thought about it and just said: “for wrestling”.

Her eyes lit up, and she said “oh cool, my brother wrestles”. And then, the seven eleven manager said: “Wrestling? My son is a wrestler”. Something tells me if I said judo or brazilian jiu jitsu, I would either get a blank stare or would have to hear about how they used to do karate when they were 8 years old.

Thanks to the UFC, mixed martial arts has exploded in the United States. So perhaps in the near future saying that I’m cutting weight for a BJJ competition will not need further explanation, but for now wrestling is the closest thing to BJJ and Judo that most Americans understand. So in the interest of small talk, I just tell them I wrestle.

Competition Season

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There really isn’t such a thing as “competition season” for the Average Joe such as myself. There’s a judo or jiu jitsu tournament basically every weekend year-round within 2-3 hours of Philadelphia. Some are bigger than others. So mentally I prepare for the big ones, while competing at the small ones with the primary goal of relaxing and learning (as opposed to winning).

I took the last 2 months off from competition which for me is a very long time, and now I’m ready to get back out there and compete as often as possible. Here’s a list of competitions, training sessions, and clinics in the area in the next couple months. I keep this list mostly for myself but also for other people I train with as I work steadily to convince them to come along and split the cost of a car rental (and hotel if necessary).

Money is definitely tight for me. I’m still getting paid a student salary, so even though I’m being frugal for the most part, the cost of everything from training to diet is keeping me constantly at zero balance. I might do a few websites here and there that will help with the costs of travel and registration to these tournaments, but it’s still a constant pain. I hope I’ll be able to manage. The last thing I want to do is really want to compete but not be able to afford it.

The next big tournament for me is Starrett Cup on Jan 23. Again, check out the list of upcoming competitions. If you’re reading this, chances are I will probably be on your ass about coming with me to many of these soon.

Then again, the only people that read this are 1-2 bored friends and my mom who constantly tells me that I should be doing less judo and find myself a nice Jewish girl. PS: Love you, Mom.

Diet: Pizza Blues

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I went to the kitchen at work, to reheat my usual lunch of string beans and lean ground turkey. In the microwave, filling the room with its aroma, was a container of spaghetti and meatballs swimming in tomato sauce. Despite the odds being against it, the spaghetti looked delicious and smelled even better.

Chicago-style deep dish pizza

What I found surprising, is that while I appreciated it deeply, I wasn’t tempted at all. I had no desire to eat it or what it made me think of: a Chicago-style deep dish pizza (pictured above). I removed the container from the microwave and replaced it with the green beens and lean ground turkey. I waited the 2 minutes while my lunch spun casually around in circles in the comfort of knowing that my diet has seized to be a diet and has become a part of my life. A part that I genuinely enjoy.