6/25/09

BJJ#4 Not near as dramatic this time. Just rolled for 30minutes with multiple breaks got a good sweat going and that was it. Met another IT guy named Antonio, he seemed pretty cool. So far that is 3 other IT guys.


meals:
1. almonds/apple 7a.m.
2. orange/yougurt
3.Thai food for dinner, which was mainly rice noodle but still not extremely healthy.

It was pay day today so there are few groceries in the house making it hard to eat totally clean. Kayla and I did enjoy some good Thai for dinner. To the grocery store tomorrow to get some good food.

6/24/09

Didn't do anything this day. Had some pizza though...

6/23/09

BJJ#3
Last night was a gi class. Well, part of the class was gi the other part was no gi. Anyhow, it was all about take down defense.

We started by practicing the grip game. If you have ever watched a judo match they always start off trying to grab each others sleeve, lapel, shoulder anything they can latch onto and then throw the guy. Well, in Jiu Jitsu competitions you will either have a guy trying to take you down like a wrestler (i.e. shoot in for a single, clinch) or like a judo guy. Well, takedowns are no friends of mine. I have studied some judo throws in a traditional ju jitsu I used to study but the thing about judo throws is that you have to really practice them a lot to become proficient with them.

So, the instructor was teaching the class from the perspective that you want to pull guard (get the fight to the ground without really throwing them or using wrestling technique). After going over gripping and breaking your opponents grip we moved on to a few techniques to get the opponent to the mat. We start by securing the opponents sleeve and lapel and then circling to the left or right to break their balance. So, once we got the circling down and breaking their balance the instructor added placing your foot in the guys hip that link is shows a throw but just picture it without actually throwing the guy. Instead you sit down with the grips on the guys gi and foot in the hip which causes the guy to go with you from the momentum you generate and then you dump the guy to the side and usually end up in an advantagous position. From there we went over a couple variations which are too hard to explain here and then we started drilling more live, or with resistance. This is where it got bad for me. My heart rate was already up from just doing the simple practicing but then we started really working. Well, I made it almost the whole class but with about 15minutes to go I had to scamper off the mats and pray to the porcelin gods!! Talk about humbling. But, I just keep telling myself to push through this and I will eventually get stronger and have more endurance. I did make it back onto the mat after my little trip the boys room and rolled with a blue belt. I couldn't end the night like a chump. The guy I sparred with was cool about it and told me that he had been there before and to just keep after it.

Gina Carano is one bad chick!




Meals:
1. almonds/yogurt 7a.m.
2. peach 10a.m.
3. turkey, salad, yogurt 1p.m.
4. apple/almonds 3p.m.
5.

6/22/09

The internet was down most of the weekend.

I ate good and bad, pretty much stayed on course but ate out a few times...

I'll update Jiu Jitsu when i have more time.

Training Jiu Jitsu tonight.




Meals:
1. almonds/yogurt 6:45a.m.
2. almonds/apple 9:30
3. turkey/salad/yogurt 12:30p.m.
4. almonds/apple 3:30p.m.
5. Got off course some and had some tortilla chips and dip. chips and salsa are probably one of my favorite snacks and oh so hard resist at times.9p.m.

6/19/09

Running tonight when i get home.




Meals:
1. yogurt/almonds 6:30a.m.
2. Apple 9a.m.
3. Ground turkey/salad/yogurt 12:20p.m.
4. almonds/apple 3:20p.m.
5.

6/18/09

Meals:
1. almonds/yogurt 6:30a.m.
2. almonds/ apple 9:30
3. Ground Turkey , salad and yogurt 12:30pm.
4. apple/almonds 4p.m.
5. Shirmp and whole wheat pasta 9p.m.

6/16/09 BJJ#2

Cheat day was yesterday. It was nice.

Started my new early shift today.

Back to Jiu Jitsu tonight. Class was good although i was disappointed to see everyone dressed in no gi gear. I prefer gi training for several reasons. I believe it makes you more technical because there are so many "handles" to grab onto when both people are training a gi. Wearing a gi also slows down the game which is what I like since i'm out of shape it puts the sparring at a level I can kind of keep up with. We worked knee on belly which is not a fun position to be in if you are the guy on bottom.




Meals:
1. Almonds, 1 Banana, 1 Nectarine. 6a.m.
2. Almonds, 1 apple 10:00a.m.
3. Chicken Breast/ Salad, yogurt 2p.m.
4.
5.

6/14/09

Didn't exercise today, allowing the body to heal some. Going for a good walk tonight with Kayla tonight when I get off work. Back at training tomorrow.

Picked Kayla up from the airport and we stopped and had Vietnamese noodle soup called Pho. I got a small bowl with lean cuts of beef. It was tasty. I'm pretty sure the broth had plenty of sodium in it so I'm drinking a lot of water this afternoon trying to flush the body some.

Meals:
1. Egg white omelet, whole wheat toast 9a.m.
2. Pho 12:30p.m.
3. Nectarine and raw almonds 3:30p.m.
4. Yogurt, low fat string cheese 6:30pm
5. Yogurt, apple 9:15pm.


Notes: It's hard to be perfect with the diet all the time but you just gotta get back to healthy stuff asap.

I'm looking forward to cheat day tomorrow.

6/13/09 BJJ#1

BJJ was the exercise today. Our black belt was out of town so Chris, one of our blue belts, taught class. Each week we work on a particular position, this week was mount top. We started class by warming up with rolling (rolling is just sparring or grappling) we would roll with one guy for about 5minutes and then switch partners so we got to go with a few different people. My training partner today was a guy named Ben who used to be wrestler in high school, some things you can always count on from wrestlers is that they have good top side control and balance, they are strong and hate to be on their backs. This guy was more my size so he was definitely strong and had good balance.

So, after warming up we got into technique.

Here's a picture of the mount position. yeah, yeah looks pretty gay, right? Well, believe me when someone is sitting on top of you trying to choke you that's the last thing on your mind. So, we started out drilling maintaining the mount. Picture it with a gi on but the guy on the bottom, if he knew bjj, will try to push on one of your knees and get to his side. The guy on top will grab the sleeve pull up and take up the space by moving his knees up.

Next, was armbar from the mount. Watch that video to see it in action. We worked this and drilled this live for one minute at a time. I actually got this submission in our warm-up roll today on a guy that i wasn't even close to getting this on several weeks ago!

Last we worked arm triangle from the mount. You will see this submission from time-to-time in the ufc because it's a good one to get without a gi on. Here's a good video of this particular sub. We drilled this back and forth for awhile and about that time our hour and a half was up, time to go.

It was a pretty good class today. I'm noticing I'm slowing gaining more endurance, little by little. I'm still pretty far out of shape though and one thing i have noticed since training again is how narrow minded i become when i'm tired. It's almost like having tunnel vision where you don't see what the other guy is going to do or don't see a move or two ahead you could be making. I know it's just a matter of time that I'll gain some endurance and won't gas as fast hence allowing me to thing clearly. I was really trying to push myself to think technique today when i was really tired, it didn't really work but it will come in time.


Meals: I don't like eating very close to Jiu Jitsu class so I didn't eat this morning because I have already made the mistake of eating a little too close to class time only to be running to the bathroom once we really started training hard.

1. Had the good 'ol Beast sandwich with lots of tomato and lettuce. 3p.m.
2. Apple 4:30p.m.
3. 1 banana, red grapes 7p.m
4. Turkey burger, baked sweet potato fries, mustard. 10p.m.
5.


Notes: Kayla comes home tomorrow! I'm pretty pumped about that! I'm covering a shift for a guy at work tomorrow and will have Monday off to hang out with Kayla. Monday will also be my cheat day so I'm planning what I want to indulge in for the day. The key with cheat days is not just stuffing yourself and not allowing one cheat day turn into two, three etc...

6/12/09

I had to really fight cravings last night. Lucky and unlucky for me there is an awesome little Mexican food place that i walk by on my way home. Portland is totally lacking when it comes to Mexican food options so it doesn't help having one a few blocks away. Plus they are open virtually all night. So, I was really wanting one of their awesome and humongous burritos on my way home last night but somehow I resisted and just went home. I tell you the cravings can be intense sometimes but every time i stick to my guns in hardens my resolve. Thank god i give myself one cheat day a week.

Exercise:

Ran 2miles this morning by walking for 30sec and sprinting for 30sec and repeat.

I'm looking forward to Jiu Jitsu tomorrow considering I haven't been all week. Should be hard but that's what I need to be pushed and to burn significant amounts of calories.

Meals:
1. Weight Control Oatmeal and SuperGreens supplement 1100a.m.
2. Ate the "beast" sandwich. 1:20p.m.
3. Almonds, 1 orange. 4:30p.m.
4. Chicken Breast, Salad, yogurt 7:30p.m.
5. Apple 9:30p.m.

Notes: If you have not watched The Revenge of the Robots on Pitchfork on their pitchfork.tv section then you definitely should. If you like hip hop that is...

6/11/09

Got to bed kind of late last night because I was watching season 2 Battlestar Galactica, which totally ruled by the way. So, as a consequence I didn't workout before work this morning, I'm going to run when i get home tonight.

Exercise:



Meals:
1. 1 apple 11a.m.
2. Half of a "Beast" vege sandwich (It has avocado, red onion, tomato, lettuce, mustard, horseradish, and garlic powder) it's named the beast when Mark was reffering to the effects it would have on one's breath. I brought extra breath mints to work! 1 p.m.
3. Almonds and an apple. 3p.m.
4. Ground Turkey, Salad, lite and fit yogurt 6p.m.
5. Baked Salmon and oddly a few dill pickle spears. 11p.m.

6/10/09

BJJ was canceled due tonight.


Meals:
1. Scrambled egg whites and 1 piece of whole wheat toast. *how i usually do my egg whites is drizzle about half a yoke for every three egg whites i cook. I also recommend tabasco sauce to make them taste a little more interesting. 11:30 a.m.
2. 4p.m. apple
3. Avocado, tomato, onion, lettuce sandwich. Sweet potato baked fries 10p.m.
4.
5.

Today was not good nor totally bad. I did go see Star Trek which was cool and managed to only have a diet coke and no awesome buttery popcorn ( I miss you sweet goodness!) But, JJ got cancelled so I didn't end up exercising at all today and I didn't eat a the proper times. But, back on track tomorrow!

6/9/09

Sore today. I am always so much more tired in the morning when i'm sore. Tomorrow is Jiu Jitsu so I'll talk about that then, I'm also going to number my jiu jitsu classes and will start with one tomorrow since i'm not quite sure how many i have done up to this point.

Exercise: Forced my ass out of bed and ran almost two miles today 1.9 according to google maps. Also did 300 ab exercises crunches, leg lifts, oblique crunches and atomic situps. Jiu jitsu relies so much on a strong core and with all my extra weight it makes for quite the challenge.

Meals:
1. Weight Control Oatmeal not a bad oatmeal if you are watching sugar and calories and Supergreens supplement. 10:45 a.m.
2. Low-Fat String Cheese, Almonds, Apple 2:00 p.m.
3. Low-Fat String Cheese, Almonds, Orange 4:15p.m.
4. Chicken breast and Salad 7p.m.
5. Baked cajun halibut fillet and green beans 1100pm

Looks like I will be moving to a day shift before too long! 6a.m.-4:30! This is great because I can have dinners and evenings to hang out with Kayla. Also, the majority of the JJ classes i want to take happen at night during the week.

6/8/09

Yeah, yeah I know it's been too long on here. I had two bad days over the weekend where I didn't do anything. I'm working on it. But, back in the saddle today. I am now carrying a notebook in my Jiu Jitsu bag so I can take notes right after practice so it will be fresh in my head and i can detail it here.

So, today got off to a good start...

Exercise: 1.5 miles of alternating blocks of walking and sprints. Also threw in some walking lunges and agility drills which seemed to keep my heart rate up.

Walked to work.

Meals:
1. Weight Control Oatmeal 11am
2. Almonds and a nectarine. 2:30 (went a little longer then 3hrs. which i try to avoid but I got busy at work)
3. Almonds and an orange. 5p.m.
4. Ground Turkey and Salad. 7:30p.m.
5. Pan seared shrimp, Salad, small handful of broccoli. 11p.m.

So, I really need to get some pics on here and customize some. I've been working on the site that I will eventually move this to, damn my programming is rusty!

On another note the 2009 Jiu Jitsu Mundials was this past weekend! That's the world championship of Jiu Jitsu. I'll talk about it more as I hear more.

I have started delving into the raw food diet some. By no means am i strictly raw food but here is a sandwich that is pretty good: Avocado, tomato, red onion, lettuce, sea salt, garlic powder.

I have a friend who is strictly on the raw food diet, intense, too intense for me. He has got me drinking SuperGreens supplement that is supposed to help balance the alkalinity in your body as you can imagine it's not the best tasting thing, it tastes like an unsweetened green tea. I'm going to give it a shot for a bit and see if i can tell a difference.

6/3/09

Finding it hard to not eat something tasty out of boredom today. Guess, it's hard to change bad habits. We push on...


Meals:
1: Egg White Omelet, 1 piece of whole wheat toast. 10:30 a.m.
2. Apple 1 p.m.
3. Ground Turkey (seasoned w/taco seasoning) and Green Leaf lettuce salad. 3:50p.m.
4. Almonds and Apple 6p.m.
5.

6/2/09

RIP - Mike Klein. That last beer was a good one, a Pabst but still good!

They are doing construction on our apartment building so i was rudely awakened at 7a.m. this morning. This may not sound too early to you but since i work second shift and don't usually get home until 11 p.m. i tend to be up a little later and sleep in a little later the most.

On to the logs:

Exercise: I ran 1.2 mile today but I did it where i would walk a block then sprint a block. Boy, I'm outta shape... Persistence is key.

Meals:
1: Protein Plus cereal and lite soy milk. 11:25 a.m.
2: 15 raw almonds, 1 apple 1:40 p.m.
3: 10 raw almonds, 1 nectarine 4:00 p.m.
4: Ground turkey, salad, dannon lite and fit yogurt. 6:25 p.m.
5: 1 apple 9p.m.
2:

In the beginning...

So, momentum in diet, excercise, training etc... is everything in my opinion. Whatever it is that you are trying to get into the habit of takes that momentum. Once you get that momentum headed in the right direction it is much easier to maintain. I wish I would have really thought this back when I achieved my weight loss goals a couple of years ago.

Today is the beginning of new habits of a renewed dedication to BJJ, My diet and in a broader spectrum, life. I have checked out of some of the things in my life that I have worked hard at in the past and what brought me so much joy. But, no more! Now, I work towards the goals I want.

I'm sure this blog will evolve as I go and figure out what works best for me.

But, as for right now I'm going to put my diet on here, my training and whatever else happens to appear on here.

So, today is the first day forward I wholeheartedly dedicate to getting better.

Food:

Meal 1: 10 Almonds and 1 apple 12:45 PT.
2: 10 whole raw almonds and 1 apple 3:45Pt.
3: Ground lean turkey, salad, asian light dressing, dannon lite and fit yougurt 7pt.
4: Salmon and Salad 11:30ish
5:

Notes: So fell short with the diet today. My intention is to eat 5-6 small meals a day going 2-3 hrs between meals.