Bout time I got this thing started!

I'm heading to California in a few weeks to fight in the Pan American games in BJJ, and wanted to post how the next month and a half of training is going. I've only been training BJJ since October, but have about a year or so of experience in Japanese jiujitsu. As far as competitive experience goes, I fought in the Joslin's Canadian open in November (3rd in Gi,4th in no-gi division), after training for about 2-3 weeks. I have another tournament this weekend coming, the Ascention open. The Pan Ams are a big step, but they have a white belt division (yes, that's what I'm going in as lol) and I think it will be a good competitive experience overall. That, and a trip to California, are always nice.

Can I give a huge, huge thank you to Avant? They have been extremely generous in sponsoring me to go to the Pan Ams. Thanks guys

Currently I'm 5'7" and about 170-172 lbs. The division I'll be fighting in is over 152. I had thought about dropping weight to get to the under 152 division, but I think I would be compromising strength and power. So for now I'll stay as I am and see how I do. Besides, it lets me focus on training and technique over the next few weeks. I'm also dealing with injuries (too many to list lol) so I'm trying to train around those while not making things worse. Of course, I'm seeking physio/chiro etc., as needed.

My training usually consists of 5x/week of BJJ/wrestling-specific training, and 1-2x/week of strength and conditioning drills, although this week and last I've been doing less in prep for the tournament. Schedule is something like this:

Monday - takedowns + submission wrestling - 2 hours
Tuesday - no-gi grappling 1 hr, BJJ 2+ hours
Wednesday - off or strength and conditioning for an hour
Thursday - no-gi grappling 1 hr, BJJ 2+ hours
Friday - takesdowns, submission wrestling, BJJ, 3 hours
Saturday - S +C 1 hr, BJJ 1.5-2hrs
Sunday - off

*Note: I'm a PhD student, so I have the luxury of training this much and recovering when needed. If I worked full time I'd be fuct lol.

Supps I'm currently taking:

During fighting:
-3 scoops Xtend, 1 scoop creatine, 1 scopp glutamine, 1 scoop taurine
-2 scoops Supercarb, 1 scoop Synthesize (this is where I pimp Avant!!)

Other:
-Supercissus, glucosamine, curcumin for joint recovery
-greens+, fish oil, whey protein, psyllium fiber
-Napalm 2 weeks on/2 weeks off (*ahem* Avant Research)

As for diet, I'm pretty decent about eating every 2-3 hours, getting enough protein and veggies, and having good food overall. I've been doing a lot of cooking lately, mainly out of interest, but it helps in keeping me fed.

So my overall goal with this log is to keep an update of my training going and hopefully get feedback on what I'm doing. If anyone has any advice on training or whatnot, feel free to post. I'm going to post on a weekly basis of what I've been up to, reporting on training techniques, etc. This week Xande Ribeiro is in teaching and he is awesome!! Xande is the brother of Saulo Ribeiro and our club is affiliated with them. Check 'em out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-DgzsCDtXc

Excellent! Let the ninja-ing begin!!

FTR, T-Vixen is my Sith apprentice...and also my boss.

Kick ass! Subscribing. One of my BJJ instructors was a silver medalist in the PanAm games.

What are you doing for S&C?

As usual, the guru and life coach goes unrecognized.

Nice!

For S + C we have a class at the club on Saturdays. Basically consists of GPP-style drills, plyos, running/acceleration drills, core work, etc. I wore a weight vest for it once and nearly puked. If I go on my own, I train at the track and field club here and will do similar work. Once this weekend is over and I recover a little, I think I'm going to start doing 5 min circuits to build my conditioning. So, picking 5 different exercises and doing them each for a min, likely wearing the weight vest if I can manage. Any suggestions?

What? I thought it was common knowledge that you are responsible for all my successes in life?

Sounds good to me. The only suggestions I have would be to plan your training so that you peak for your competition. Ramp up the volume and intensity of your sessions gradually, then unload a week or two before competition to supercompensate. Couple of other things:

- Weight vest for conditioning work is fine, but don't wear one while doing technique work.
- Do not use plyos for conditioning work. Use plyos to improve the stretch reflex.

Do you do any weight training at all? If not you should definitely incorporate some, but I would wait until after your competition to do so.

Only the really, really important ones .

Subscribed, yay the t-vixen has returned!!

Thanks Kimbo. I usually just wear the vest for conditioning. I thought about wearing it while grappling, but I'm not ready for it yet. The weight training is non-existant at the moment, but I plan on getting back to a more regimented routine come end of April, after I recover from the games and injuries. As for peaking, that's the plan, and sort of what I did the past couple weeks for the tournament. It's funny, I have a background in S+C but when applying it to myself, I feel like I don't know what to do lol.

I hear you on the S&C. I always try to take advice from other people for that reason. Lately I've been using other people's plans instead of my own because of that very reason.

Using resistance (e.g. weighted vest) during technique work can screw up your technique because it can imprint faulty neural patterns when drilling the movements. For this reason it's a much better idea to use resistance during conditioning work instead. Technique work should be done as close to how you'd be doing it in competition as possible.

I don't think it's ever a good idea to drop a type of training entirely. It's better to manipulate volume and frequency based on where you are in your training cycle. But since you're so close to competition and you aren't really doing any lifting it's probably best to just skip it entirely until after your comp. Then if you want you can pick it back up and start working on you strength base (after a well deserved rest of course).

Give 'em hell.

Ras, are you going??? What part of California?

Research, even.

I wish I could train with Xande. The only BJJ BB that I have trained with is Travis Tooke out of the Gracie Barra Academy.

Saulo came to teach us in December. Those boys like their butterfly guards, that's for sure. Awesome teachers. Our instructor is Kareem El-Sayed; he has a black but I'm not sure who under (I know, I should probably know these things).

He better be, lest I Oma Plata him!

It's in Carson.

Ops, my bad. Changed!

Wagnney Fabiano ;-).

Aaww yeah.. Got a silver medal at the tournament I fought in today (beginner gi division, over 145 lbs). Managed to win by points, and completely dominated the match. I had an americana on, but time ran out before the girl would tap. I was happy with my win, but I really wanted to fight for gold. Basically the 'rule' with our club is that if you're fighting against someone from your team in the same division, the person who's been there longer gets 'senority' and calls whether or not you actually fight. In this case, there were 3 of us in the division, and the other girl from my team got the bi, based on her seniority (which means if there's an odd number, one person sits out). So I fought one girl and won, and then it would have been me against my teammate for the gold medal. But she didn't want to fight me, and somehow walked away with a gold without fighting once. And I found out just then that senority is based on how long you've been training BJJ, not been with the club overall, and apparently I've been training BJJ longer than her. After she claimed her prize, she was more than willing to have an exhibition match against me, "just for fun." It didn't happen, as the refs said there wasn't enough time. On a very positive note, I can say I earned my silver medal, and I know better for next time.

Has anyone seen this happen in tournaments before?

Awesome work!!

CONGRATS on your fight but wtf??? I'm not even sure I understand how that happened at all...

congrats on the moral victory over your teammate and the literal victory over your opponent. Seems a little lame that she took the medal without fighting even once.... isn't that the point of competing?

Thanks!! I agree .. oh well.. as Ras always tells me, "take the high road." That's what I'm trying to do. Besides, winning gold at Pan Ams will be so much sweeter than at a local competition