Road to the American Cup 2

Tonight's training was intense! We started the practice of with the usual wrestling type warm up and  then proceeded to do some grip-fighting excercises.

We went over a guardpass with some unique details that Marcos pointed out. For my game plan and style of BJJ which I am starting to call  Big Man Jiu-Jitsu, I was able to modify Marcos' technique to suit my body type. After repping the guard pass for a while we moved on to drilling.

We drilled the Morote Gari or double leg take down. The Morote Gari was my throw when I started Judo back in 2007, before the rule change after the 2008 Olympics. I love the Morote Gari, the power if the throw as well as the ability to completly pick your opponet off the ground and take and then bring them back with force and power. That is what Big Man Jiu-Jistu is about! We pulled out the crash pad and Team Yemaso put in serious work. Uke stood in a standard stance and Tore shoot in and took them down. We drilled non-stop for a minute and a half.  We cycled through our group until we each had a chance to drill twice. My lungs were on fire and my heart rate was through the roof, but I felt strong and powerful.

After that we hit the mats for some Newaza randori and rolled for about thirty to forty minutes. We bowed out to end class and then our usual crew of guys stayed after to get in a few more rounds of No-Gi Randori.

I feel strong and my game is slowly improving. I have been working on maintaning  guard and setting up sweeps to gain side control. I feel my guard game is improving greatly and I know I will bring a greatly improved game to the American Cup this year and I am hunting for a repeat Gold Medal.

OUUUUUSSSSS!!!!

Road to the American Cup

Sorry for not be able to write for a while.My school work had kept me busy, but we are in the middle of the semester and I am now able to write.


Due to my lack of funds I have not been able to compete as much as I projected I would for this year. The American Cup 2010 was my first Jiu-Jitsu tournament and I won gold as a white belt. I hope to repeat that success this year again at this years American Cup as a Blue Belt. This will be my first time competing as a Blue Belt so I am looking forward to the challenge of new competition at the higher level.

I have come very far in the last year in terms of not only technique but also strength, power, and mental fortitude. I have excellent training partners and feel I am in a even better position to win gold gain this year in not only my division but also in the absolute.

I am back!!

Now that the semester as quited down a little and I am back into the groove of schook again. I will now begin to blog again!

Thank you all for your patients!!!

New post coming soon

Sorry I have not posted new info on the blog. I will be back soon, school has been kicking my butt. I will have new post this week.

Weight Training

I finally went to the gym for the first time in four months. The problem I find with weight training is that compared to Judo and BJJ is that it is very boring. I go to 24 Hour Fitness which is where everybody goes and I see bad form, kids working out only their arms and chest, and men and women wearing things that they shouldn't.

I do not like to spend alot of time in the gym, I like to get in there hit the weigths hard and get out. My workouts are sport specific, meaning that the focus is on movements that are common in grappling, which is mostly pulling movements. So I do alot of deadlifts, Wide grip lat pull downs, low cable rows etc.

I have my workouts spread throughout the week by a "Pull" day, "Push" day, and a leg day. I based this on the Four Pillars of Human movement. One is Locomotion, which is walking, running etc. I run on a daily basis so that takes care of training locomotion, and even though there is not alot of locomotion in BJJ or Judo, the cardiovascular benefits are great as is the fat burning that locomotion training provides.

The other pillar is the Push/Pull pillar which is the most used in grappling, with more emphasis on the "pull". Both must be trained to keep a muscular balance and avoid injury. The next is "level change" which is using the legs to move the body up and down. This comes in play when changing levels for a double or single leg takedown or in Judo when using hip throws such as Harai Goshi or Ippon Seoi Nage.

The last Pillar is Rotation which is the most neglected factor of movement. So far the best way I have found to train rotation in the body is by using Kettlebells, which I will start to implement a kettlebell workout once a week.

On Friday I trained the "pull" factor. My workout went as follows: Deadlifts: 225 pounds x 8 Reps, 275 x 6, 295 x 4, 315 x 3. I could had gone much heavier but I did not want to tire my back out too much. Wide grip pulldowns: 155 x 8, 175 x 8, 195 x 8, Close Grip Pull downs: 175 x 8, 8, 8, Low Row cable pulls: 165 x 8, 8,8.

That was my workout for Friday. Simple and not very complex, but it is short and brief and to the point. I rather spend the extra time on the mat!

Be Blessed!!!

BJJ Training

This will be a wrap up of the week's training. On Friday (1-14-2011) we had our Competition Team practice which consists of drilling one offensive move or series of movements.(For more on the importance of drilling see here: http://wwwthegentleway.blogspot.com/2010/12/drilling-basics-is-road-to-victory.html) I have been working on building up my bottom game for the last three months and drilled a series of Spider Guard to a Tri-Pod Sweep to Side Control.

After surviving the drills, we had three rounds (10 minutes) of rolling. I was thoroughly gassed but as always I left glad that I came and put in the work on a Friday when so many others are thinking about going out to go party.

TEAM YEMASO!!!

Be Blessed!!!!

Dax Mosito Gi Review

I was finally able to wear the Moskito Gi to both Judo and BJJ practice, and I am very impressed!!! The Gi is super thick everyone who I trained with made a comment on how insane the thickness of the material was. It does make griping very hard for your opponent and it holds up very well during training. It does not seem to stretched during practice like my HSU gi and my Gameness gi.

The Moskito is very heavy and very hot even in this cold weather we are having here in Sacramento. I am very satisfied with the performance of the Moskito and highly recommend to get one if you can as I understand that they are discontinued.

Be blessed!!!!