Great vacation to start a big year!

So, I've just come back from a good vacation for BJJ. I was able to visit Charles Dos Anjos in Sarasota and Kristopher Williams in Orange Park, Florida.

With Charles, we simply rolled for most of the time, allowing him to identify my most common mistakes and correct them. It was an extremely valuable experience, as well as, a very good time. Charles lets you work and try different things. Though he easily could have finished me at any time, he allowed our rolls to go around 5 to 8 minutes each, giving me numerous opportunities to get into various position, both dominant and inferior. I learned about positioning in side control, how to get the mount without immediately losing it and some better ways to work out of side control.

With Kris, I was able to work on some specific things that I have been having trouble with, namely maintaining a pass to side control and maintaining mount. I realized that instead of looking forward to actually maintaining mount, I had been simply working just to get it. I need to be looking further ahead and controlling smart players (find that under hook). We also worked some very useful half guard attacks, which I'm already incorporating into my rolling.

We finally opened the new Lincoln Mid-American Martial Arts gym and it's very exciting. We are having a seminar in January with 5 visiting black belts in either BJJ or Judo, for free. We're really pushing to get big numbers here for that event. I'll be teaching at least once a week in the new school, which I expect to help with my own technique as I sharpen the the things that I know and learn more details. I also expect to be able to increase the number of times I train each week, which can't help but improve my game. Ed and Aaron are keeping a close watch on what we teach, making sure that we are getting plenty of technique from them.

Finally, I will be attending officer candidacy school this year for the Air Force. That is a very unexpected, but great, opportunity that I'm facing. It will certainly cut into my training time (5 weeks), but should increase my level of fitness even more, so it won't be a total loss. Given the spread of BJJ over the years, I may very well find that some of my fellow officer's candidates are interested in rolling during our free time (I'd even teach a beginner's class, just to get some mat time).

The road to purple belt and beyond.

I got my first stripe on my blue belt today and felt pretty good about it. The testing phase that they are implementing is very open and more of a teaching environment than a testing one. Still, I was able to find some gaps in my training and also to see how different blue belts are approaching the same task differently.

I'm currently in the process of preparing for a potential military commission into the Air Force, so that has dominated my thinking for the last few months. It hasn't hurt my training or conditioning, as I'm actually spending more time getting ready for the physical aspects of the military. It has, however, put a burden on my ability to plan for competitions, which is something I need to be doing more of, both in judo and BJJ.

Right now, competitions still feel like an event or a big deal. I need to shake that off, making them more like a special Saturday training session.

I've been doing much more no gi rolling and I'm feeling better about it. I have the ability to scramble now, but not the familiarity with what to do in such positions. It's new for me and something I need to continue to explore. It can't help but improve my gi game, which is really my passion.

I've been experimenting with spider guard more lately and I'm find that the more open I am with it, the more powerful it becomes. I just need to understand the appropriate times to transition away from it (when it's compromised), rather than clinging to it. Of course, any time I'm working something new, I tend to become a broken record until it feels natural.

Cornhusker State Games 2011: BJJ

Not as successful of an outing for the BJJ event. First and foremost, the tournament was poorly run. Very poorly run. The most egregious example being that I was told I was done, given a medal and then, after I left, I was supposed to have more matches.

I fought outside of my weight class, for some reason, so I didn't get to enjoy fighting at the lower weight.

It was, overall, a terrible tournament experience.

All that said, I came away learning a few things.

1. Lose more weight. I need to be solid in my weight class and I've easily passed my original goal of 216. I'm at 207 now. That's reasonably close to the next lower weight class and even the one below that is within reach. I'd like to compete with someone that simply isn't that much bigger than me, so that even if I'm stuck on the bottom, I can move.

2. Work take downs. They are getting there, but need to be better.

3. Work half guard. I keep getting stuck there and need "go to" options.

Cornhusker State Games 2011, Judo

I had a good time at the tournament today. The most important thing is that I didn't notice my rib at all. It didn't hinder my movement or cause me any issues at all. That's good to know for next week, my first BJJ tournament at blue belt.

I won today, so that's also great. I showed up, weighed in, and then found out that I was facing a judo black belt. Needless to say, being only a judo yellow belt, I felt some apprehension.

That being said, I did what I needed to do to be in a good position, not get thrown and ended up with the victory. I was attempting something we've been working on, which is to fake a foot sweep and then step through for an osoto gari. It worked well, allowing me to close the distance and to be in position for the throw, but he attempted to sacrifice reverse my position and landed squarely on his back. Though the call came late, it was an ippon victory and I'll take it.

Back in the Saddle!

After my blue belt test, I had some healing up to do. I was very excited to be able to come back to training for a seminar with black belt Sidney Silva.

We focused on attacking the back from various positions and I learned a lot about how I've been losing that position after I take the time to get into it. As always, it's minor differences between winning and losing a position.

For instance, taking the back from half guard has always been problematic for me, because I always felt too easily pushed over and thwarted in the process. In just a matter of minutes, Silva showed how we come up backwards, crossing our legs instead of threading a leg through and creating a much stronger base before we even try to come up to the back. That minor difference made something that felt impossible to me before seem very easy today.

I got to do two difference sessions with him, including some rolling time which is always a treat. I'm learning to be more relaxed when rolling with upper belts and to just work the game I always do to see how he breaks it down (which is always does, easily).

I highly recommend getting him for a seminar if you can.

My ribs are better. Not great, but better. I was able to roll, but not with any real power or explosiveness....which is a good thing. I've always tried to avoid relying on muscle, but you use it sometimes without really intending to....it's just natural. With my movement limited by the injury, I'm missing a lot of opportunities and haven't to be more patient. I can't wait to be 100% again.

Vaghi Blue Belt = Me

Today's test was literally one of the hardest things I've ever faced. Consider that I went through basic training and numerous other para-military schools....and never once was I ever as tired as I was today.

I'm not going to spill the details, because it's an unwritten rule that you remain silent about the experience, but a small taste won't hurt.

Phase 1: Utter exhaustion. That's enough about that. I mean really, if I think back to the most tired I've ever been....nothing.

Phase 2: Sparring in the condition created by Phase 1. Fresh people coming at you the entire time, no rest, no quarter. All you have left is technique and heart....and it's still not enough.

Simply put, I was taken to a very dark place today and found the fight inside of me that most people never get to meet. We made friends and I know, no matter how difficult of a match I face in the future, I'll have a reserve that they have never had to tap into before.

My feet are tore up and I popped a rib a bit. The only reason that bothers me is that I'm so ready to get back on the mat, get back on my dieting and start preparing for the Pan Ams.

Almost ready!

Ok. From what I hear about the test for blue belt, I won't be ready. No one is truly ready. It's not designed to be passed, but rather, endured.

I'll do my best and encourage those testing with me, as I can.

Sled dogs! We'll keep our heads down, our eyes to the front and we'll just keep on going.

My diet is going very well. I'm down to 225 from 270. I'm very excited about how well I'm moving and how much my endurance has improved. I'm also working out a lot more, which is increasing my strength. I'm stronger now than when I started my diet, no doubt.

In fact, I did 100 sit ups straight for the first time in my life. I couldn't even accomplish that when I was in the military, 19 and 174 lbs, doing sit ups every day. I was lucky to break 80 on the PT test.

Anyway, I've decided to get my weight down to around 220 in the gi. I want to see if I like going against the big guys (222 and over) now that I'm lighter and then I want to compete in the 208 to 221 group, to see if their speed bothers me as much as I think it might.

If I like the lower weight class though, then I'm not going to level out my diet until I see abs (good luck with that, huh). If I can stand 208 to 221, then I'll probably like 195 to 207.5 even better, if I can manage to keep the strength that I presently have (which has been more than enough for the 220 and over group). Who knows. Maybe I can make it all the back down to 181.5 to 194.5 group.

The lightest I've been as an adult is 174, but I was a stick. At my height, I think it'd be unwise to go that light again. I'd almost certainly have to lose muscle then and I've been practicing BJJ in a certain fashion, a smashing style, for three years now.

I think, if I ever went at medium heavy or Meio Pasado (181.5 to 194.5), I'd be at the heaviest end of it and just barely making that weight. We'll see. That's another 30 lbs from now and I'm not going to keep losing weight as easily as I have been. I'm going to slow down at some point and that's where I'll spend some time competing as a blue belt to see how it feels.

The name of the game for BJJ training this week was "reps." Nothing like getting about 150 Arm bars, triangles and kimuras in. My stomach is hurting and my body is building that hurt into memory. I'm going to try, next week, throwing each of those submissions up as often as I can.