Laser Focus

[shesprints]

Ew germy people. That is where my antisocial traits come in hand. I think that is why I really don't get sick unless man brings some germs home form his job.

Smart woman. Somehow Rachel never gets sick. I don't know how she does it. She must have a uniquely robust immune system.

Congrats on all the BJJ bling you have won recently!

Thanks! I have a LONG way to go before I'm satisfied, but even a few competition wins gets me hungry to train even harder and focuses me on what's important.

On that note, today's training was highly competition-specific: we began with grip-breaking and leg-touch drill for standup, then did "shark tank" for most of class. It was all about quick sweep, pass, or submit--which makes sense. Matheus Diniz taught the class and he was probably thinking of how important his one takedown wound up being in his ADCC Finals match vs. Craig Jones.

OK, also food... yesterday ate around maintenance given I took a day off, 1900 cals. I was feeling sick and needed a break and some vitamins and minerals from more food. Also more protein. Similar trend today.

Calories: 1870, 216C/146P/51F
Workout:
BJJ 1 hour
Level 2 gi
Matheus Diniz lesson!
We warmed up with grip breaks and "touch partner's legs as much as possible from standing while they defend."
Then we got put in the shark tank for either guard pass or sweep. I passed guard on this big blue belt guy after about 4-5 minutes of hard work (he said "nice pressure"). Then I played guard and got a 4 stripe white belt's back from closed guard, which I think counts as a sweep. Then played guard again on Tractor, you know, silver medalist in ADCC. Did pretty well overall, one time actually bolo'd to start a back take and realized it counted as a sweep for my partner, lol.
4 x 5 min regular training
One with a white belt, smaller lady, who had to stop early from lack of cardio--even after I went easy on her and let her pass my guard, take my back, etc. Then rolled with tough purple belt lady and she REALLY took my back but I escaped and regained half guard, got some near-sweeps. Good roll with old blue belt buddy, had just fought up using underhooks to start a back take when the buzzer rang. He has a killer z guard that used to shut me down completely so I'm happy.

A low-key day spent playing video games and chilling out after I finished teaching. Then Rachel came over. We had such a good time. I love being around her so much.

[shesprints]

GREAT day today. I don't feel sick anymore! YAY! Also ate more because I trained BJJ for two hours AND lifted in the evening for 45 minutes.

Calories: 1980, 240C/140P/56F

Workout:

BJJ 2 hours
Level 2 nogi
Shoulder shrug off collar tie
Catch hand and go to two on one (can switch wrist grip to underhand)
Sit guard and feet on hips
Dummy sweep after kicking them back so you can catch your feet behind their ankles.

Live positional training 4 x 2:30
Regular training 4 x 5 min
Good training with a male white belt or blue belt (maybe blue because he wristlocked me). Then a round with a bigger woman visitor whom I'd rolled with last year. She's pretty out of shape, so I just took her back and hung out there and submitted her a couple times, arm bar, etc. Then I rolled with another blue belt woman and did basically the same thing, as she's my size so I don't try to go easy. I actually subbed her just from body triangle at one point. Then rolled with male white belt who didn't really know to keep his arm from passing the midline when he's in closed guard, so I took his back.

Advanced 1 gi
Omoplata to sweep and then hold them down while you get position
I played with the arm bar setup I learned last week
Few quick positional rounds
5 x 5 min regular training
Again I kinda just smashed all the female blue belts... not with strength, but a lot of guard passes (stack pass, double-under, over-under, knee cut, Paul Pass I've been doing) and back takes. Got a couple arm bars and some RNCs and one short choke when I couldn't get the RNC. Rolled with a female purple belt who predictably passed and subbed me (I think arm bar but don't remember). REALLY fun round with a bigger white belt guy who had great defense, played around with a lot of different moves, used my half guard a lot, came up on a single a couple times, straight footlocked him... afterwards he said "That was a great roll!" which made me feel good.

Overall feeling a little guilty about crushing so many blue belt women and white belts today. Again, I didn't use excessive strength, nor was there a large size disparity, so I guess it's okay. Plus, the visiting blue belt woman I kept armbarring and back taking was super friendly afterwards and said she hoped we'd roll again, so that was nice.


Weights 45 minutes--

Walkout to shoulder taps x 5
Bird dog x 10 each side
Single leg bridge 2 x 20
Plank x 1 min
Dead bug x 10
Dead bug 15lb overhead x 10
Dead bug one arm and leg extended hold 45s each side
Kettlebells pull across from plank 15lb x 20 each way in one set

Trap bar deadlift 115, 135, 155, 185, 205 x 5
Box jumps 30" 3 x 3

Band assisted pullup 3 x 5
Chinup x 3, 2, 2
Pushup to sit through x 10
Spiderman pushup x 10
Bridge pushup x 10
Headstand 2 x 30s
KB bottoms up carry 15lb 45s each side


LOOK GUYS I LIFTED!

And I haven't lost too much strength!

HOORAY!

[phoenix4444]

Very nice!

[shesprints]

Very nice!

Thanks! I had 8 oz of steak for part of my dinner and thought of you. I can throw down on some protein for sure. Fats were still low, because I eat very low-fat meals for breakfast and lunch (pre- and post-workout meals).

Calories: 1960, 255C/158P/43F

Workout:

4 mile walk +

BJJ 1 hour
Open mat
Mostly rolls with bigger blue and purple belt guys. Got that rollover from half guard sweep but didn't come up on top. Need better grips. Got bow and arrow transition to wing choke and, separately, to arm bar on a good blue belt guy. Played spider and lasso guard. Worked really hard to pass guard on a 3 stripe blue belt. Rolled with white belt guy friend again. His posture in guard is improving a lot. Was able to get kiss of the dragon and take back on another blue and to retain half guard (mostly) with a big female brown belt who usually completelu flattens me. Good intensity.

All I could do was open mat, so I made the most of it and went with near-competition rolling intensity, which I realized I hadn't done all week due to recovering from illness. It felt good to get the cardio challenge. My brown belt friend says to roll hard only 2-3 days per week, which seems smart. I'll start trying to vary my intensity level by day more.

REALLY tired because got bad sleep last night, kept waking up hungry. I should've eaten more, based on my workouts, but I didn't want to go over 2k calories. For some reason that's a hard line for me.

[phoenix4444]

Beef every day. Ate a pound of it myself today. Nice carb count there for you as well. I miss those days some.

[thehobbes]

^^^You guys who are fans of beef, have you ever tried ground bison? It's become popular out here, you can find it in most grocery stores finally. It's very lean and delicious! I recently made tacos with it, HNNNGGGG!

[phoenix4444]

^^
Ok now I have to search out bison on the web. You have tweaked my interest.

[shesprints]

^^^You guys who are fans of beef, have you ever tried ground bison? It's become popular out here, you can find it in most grocery stores finally. It's very lean and delicious! I recently made tacos with it, HNNNGGGG!

I've eaten bison steaks, and in the past I've eaten ground bison, but I don't habitually eat ground meat of any kind anymore. I get too wigged out thinking about what might be in it. I'd get a bison steak again. Game meat is quite lean and has a unique flavor. It's expensive, though.

^^
Ok now I have to search out bison on the web. You have tweaked my interest.

It's pretty good, though I prefer lamb. You mentioned carbs... I'm extremely active. If I weren't doing BJJ I wouldn't require nearly as many carbs.

Took a rest day yesterday as I had 12 hours of work. Not a problem. Still ate 1830 calories and walked a lot between clients (at least 2 hours).

Today:

Calories: 1975, 262C/133P/50F
Workout:
BJJ 2 hoursLevel 2 nogishrug off collar tie to arm drag to dummy sweep (again)live rounds 4 x 2:00 positional start, 3 x 5:00 regular training
Advanced 1 giPassing deep half guardIf the knee down is the one by their head, stuff their head so you have a post for their hands and step over their head, underhook the far side and scoot butt out, then settle in to pass. Make sure you turn toward the head.If the knee down is the one between their legs, pass your top leg over their head, grab far side underhook, and fight for top again. Can do the same if they start to sweep you up--just make sure you come up first and then pass your leg over their head. 6 x 45 seconds positional from deep half sweep5 x 5:00 regular trainingSome tough rounds with male purple belts, one where he got to mount and arm barred me, one with a lot of scrambling and leg weirdness but was able to establish leg drag position. Had a great round with a strong female purple my size or a bit bigger, got to top half, passed with pressure to mount, and started to take back but she eventually escaped--still, really good fight. Then I had a round with a visiting blue belt woman, a little chubby, maybe 170? and almost immediately got crucifix arm bar, mount to Marcelo near-side arm bar, bow-and-arrow choke, mount again, and swept her a bunch of times using the basic half guard sweeps I've been working on. Essentially crushed her. It was startling as I'm still barely used to being a blue belt, but I suppose I represented the Marcelo-level blue belt well. 

A pretty good day and, again, a busy one. All of my pants are too big so my mom lent me a pair that are too small for her; the waistband is also too big on me. I'll need to shop. It's my least favorite part of losing weight.

[thehobbes]

Congrats on the wt loss! Changing clothing sizes does suck, I have clothes that can only make an appearance for a bulk/cut because they don't fit other times.

I've eaten bison steaks, and in the past I've eaten ground bison, but I don't habitually eat ground meat of any kind anymore. I get too wigged out thinking about what might be in it. I'd get a bison steak again. Game meat is quite lean and has a unique flavor. It's expensive, though.

It's pretty good, though I prefer lamb. You mentioned carbs... I'm extremely active. If I weren't doing BJJ I wouldn't require nearly as many carbs.

For years I could only find bison at the fancy grocery store out here, is extremely expensive there. Now it's made its way into our Walmart so a little better priced. Funny you mention lamb, saw a pack of that at Walmart yesterday and was intrigued. What do you make with it? Burgers, add it into pasta, crockpot meals? Lamb chili ooooo.

[shesprints]

Congrats on the wt loss! Changing clothing sizes does suck, I have clothes that can only make an appearance for a bulk/cut because they don't fit other times.

For years I could only find bison at the fancy grocery store out here, is extremely expensive there. Now it's made its way into our Walmart so a little better priced. Funny you mention lamb, saw a pack of that at Walmart yesterday and was intrigued. What do you make with it? Burgers, add it into pasta, crockpot meals? Lamb chili ooooo.

I mean, when I eat lamb I just broil some basic loin chops with lemon and red pepper flakes. Comes out pretty great. As I said, I'm not a ground meat person. I'd do a chili or a lamb burger, though, if the mood struck me. Chili with some interesting moroccoan-inspired seasoning sounds great! Plus it's the season.

Today was a no-BJJ day. I woke up feeling pretty under the weather, like I was developing a cough again. It could be residual, because I feel better now. In any case, I went to the gym to lift but did no formal cardio, other than a bunch of walking. I also needed to be with my mom to see my grandmother at the home she's in now; that's another reason I chose to skip BJJ training. I feel like a much better daughter/granddaughter for going. My grandmother was in a good mood today, but her verbal recall is slipping. She's reverting to Sicilian, which she does remember, and can't recall strings of words soon after they're spoken. It's sad.

The rest of life is good. I ate well today and most of my fat came from salmon in my salad at lunch and the aforementioned lamb loin chops at dinner. I'm ready for a foray back into white fish and avocado, though; less heavy.

Calories: 1870, 212C/146P/54F
Workout:
Walkout shoulder taps 5 x 2
Dead bug x 10, 10lb each hand x 10, 15lb overhead x 10
Hollow hold 30s
Single leg bridge 2 x 20
Plank x 1 min

Dips 3 x 5
KB single arm OHP 20lb x 10, 25lb x 8, 30lb x 5
BB row 65 x 10, 85 x 10, 95 x 6
Pushups 3 x 10

BB hip thrust 95lb x 15, 115lb x 15, 135lb 3 x 12
Chinups 3 x 3
Band assisted pullup 3 x 5

KB bottoms up 15lb 1 min each side
Headstand 40s

It's cool that I haven't lost too much strength since beginning my cut. I'd like to keep up my lifting to ensure that I don't lose any more as I continue.

[shesprints]

Great training day today. The instructor totally kicked our asses in terms of cardio, really tough warmups--he's great. He's the one who got Diniz ready for ADCC and he obviously cares about our conditioning and speed. I also got a ton of great compliments from rolling partners, so I'm really happy. And my energy is finally back up! It's great not to feel foggy, draggy, and sick.

I also went to visit a friend of mine who's housebound with a chronic illness, along with this guy she's dating. We had very good, deep conversations that made me feel reflective and pleased as a human being.

Calories: 1900, 253C/140P/45F
Workout:
BJJ 2 hours

Advanced 1 gi
Guard pull and pass, alternating, to warm up
Live rounds starting from collar-and-sleeve, stop if the top person passes and reset, but continue from sweep, 4 x 2:30
5 x 5:00 regular training
Great rounds with tough opponents. I rolled with new gym black belt Yuta Shimuda, a really cool guy with incredible control who let me work on a lot of stuff. I did some of the Marcelo-style backstep passing and I think he liked that, plus also some berimbolo stuff to leg drag. He said "You're very good!" afterwards and it made my day. Sweeps I worked on were spider/rdlr and also x guard sweep, plus regular dlr hook and come up on single, or pull to half guard and knee pick. I think I got a John Wayne sweep one time. I was working on deep half some but didn't do very well with it. I need to be more precise with deep half. Also a very funny roll when I had this guy's back for about 5 minutes and he wristlocked me in the last 30 seconds as I got complacent. Made me smile.

Advanced 1 nogi
Torreando to knee cut--throw the leg past and then shoot the other arm in to their hip and knee side by their leg. Don't just stand in front of someone's guard--go fast! It actually reminded me more of X pass.
7 x 6 min rounds
Really good, tough, fast-paced rolls today with a bunch of guys all bigger than myself and one with a smaller woman who almost reverse-triangled me while I was trying the Paul pass from half guard and left my arm between her legs. Generally kept the pace very fast and retained guard well, working back and forth between half and closed guard. Managed some guard passes, primarily double-under trying to get from there to north-south. Struggled a bit with double-under and then getting stiff-armed too far down the legs, allowing them to escape. Something to work on. But in generally really good rounds and received many compliments on my guard retention.

Went higher on carbs today, as well as upping protein, due to the intensity of the workout. I feel good! Had white fish for dinner instead of red meat/fatty fish and I feel good with that today. I always like to switch things up. I did have to add some avocado for adequate fats, though. I'm also continuing to eat 1-3 servings of fruit a day as well for the micros (vitamin C, mostly). My diet right now is basically vegetables (lots), eggs, egg whites, fish, occasional red meat, potatoes, sweet potatoes, a bit of olive oil/balsamic/mustard for salad dressing, sometimes avocado, citrus fruit and peaches, and sometimes 5-10 grams of 70% dark chocolate. Pretty good, I think.

[shesprints]

Whew, exhausting training day, did 3 hours in a row.

Calories: 1975, 272C/141P/44F
Carbs high commensurate with training load, and I NEEDED it today.

Workout:
BJJ 3 hours

Level 2 gi
Lasso guard sweep
1. If they are kneeling and put their knee up, extend your leg through their legs flat. Pull arm ACROSS to break posture. Your leg on their arm will drag them down. Sit UP. Get underhook. Sweep over the side of the trapped arm and move to mount.
2. Standing lasso. Foot on hip toes pointed in. Other foot behind their leg to block. Release other sleeve and get up on hand. Knee rotates outward to sweep.
Option to go to rolling kimura instead of mount from the first move, or arm bar as learned from Jordan.
Live rounds 4 x 2:00 positional, 4 x 5:00 regular
Good rounds with a purple belt miles ahead of me in the gi, also got to roll with brown belt woman who's very good, she told me to hip out from mount at more of an angle.

Advanced 1 nogi
Extension of the guard passing we did yesterday, this time from pushing their legs in on them in guard. As they try to push back, dive through with knee cut and underhook, then quickly lock hands.
Live rounds 6 x 5 min
Good rounds with scrambly blue belt guy who said "you're like me, I also like to scramble" and my tough former wrestler white belt friend (actually the nicer of two I know, more mature, has a family) who always tries to headlock me. We had a very good round and he resorted to strength at times to handle me which felt good. Good round with purple belt guy who was world champ at blue--though he is less comfortable nogi and that's why I was able to sweep him at all! Usually I cannot. Also good round with strong purple belt woman.

Private lesson 1 hour
Stance basics: take tiny little steps like running in place/fast feet, and keep feet pointing forward, NOT like fencing! My arm defense is already okay, but I forget to keep elbows in and lean too far forward when attacking.
1. Sit-through from front headlock. Come up on one foot first, grab their arm that's under my chin, then elbow and head shoot UP through the side their armpit is on and do a kind of forward technical stand. Really shoot my body through. Then big step over in the other direction so it is a two-step process: shoot through, then flip around and grab their hip. Or I can wind up in half guard.
2. Note on half guard: scrape their leg out with my leg to extend them a little. Not enough to injure but it'll help me to come up for knee pick sweep.
3. Notes on deep half: Crunch in, roll flat, EXTEND, crunch in and roll the other way again. Then wiggle down and switch grip from far hip to being just clamped down on the one leg, like a single leg. Roll back and forth and come up either behind them or in front as for over-under pass.
4. Standup option that doesn't involve touching knee to ground: uchi mata. Overhook or underhook, wrist control, hip in, and kick back with one leg so your thigh hits their inner thigh. Don't be afraid to hop a few times but DO NOT TAKE THAT LEG DOWN TO THE FLOOR UNTIL THEY FALL. If they instead just tripod down and get thrown off balance, move to front headlock.


So, productive but... draining. Then I had to deal with work stuff on what I thought would be my day off. Guess only Saturday off this week! That's OK.

[shesprints]

Day off (training, not work). Work continues apace. I've added something like 14k to my savings this year, though, which ain't bad at all.

Calories: 1875, 209C/166P/58F
I was starving and exhausted and headachy all f*cking day. I took a nap and basically did not leave the house. Just... too much, I think, yesterday and the day before.

I'm still hungry and it's making it hard to sleep.
I also haven't weighed myself in awhile. I'll get on that again soon but I'm scared I haven't lost any more weight after my stall around 142, especially with upping calories. Logically, I know (I think) that 1900 is not my maintenance given all of the activity I do, but... eh.

[phoenix4444]

Sometimes it's good to hole up and just chill all day. Do you think its the weather messing you up? It's been weird here with nice days then stupid cold rainy days which effects me some.

And don't let that dumb scale get the better of you.

[shesprints]

Sometimes it's good to hole up and just chill all day. Do you think its the weather messing you up? It's been weird here with nice days then stupid cold rainy days which effects me some.

And don't let that dumb scale get the better of you.

I think I may be either PMSing or have eaten something bad (tilapia?) because I've wanted to either throw up or sleep for most of the past several days. Hopefully PMS; I skipped my period in September probably due to cutting and it has yet to return. For the sake of bone health and so forth, I like to be sure I get a regular cycle. I didn't get a period at all in my teens or most of my early twenties, due to undereating/overexercise, so... my mom jokes that if Rachel and I decide to have kids [we probably won't] she'd better incubate them, because my body probably wouldn't be able to do it properly. :/

I did wind up weighing myself.

Weight: 141.6 (SO not as bad as I thought, just want to get under 140 now)
Calories yesterday: 1645, 211C/125P/40F
Workouts:

So not gonna lie, I went kind of nuts on working out yesterday.

2 hours 45 min BJJ
Drill 40 min
Sit out from front headlock
More head pressure. Go under and into them, not up. Keep the head pressure on them. Then cover their shin with yours so they can't knee bar and start to take back. Other hook in with knee out.
Back take from closed guard. Pistol grip on sleeve and SIT UP!!!!!! So hard to do... Grab their armpit on far side. Can then plant foot and sweep to mount. If they brace, push sleeve and pull armpit and hip out until they fall into you.

Open Mat 1 hour

Advanced 1 1 hour
Breaking closed guard
Break grip on collar and posture up. Hold their sleeve and same side collar. Step up. Elbow holding sleeve now pulls up. Foot back. Other elbow levers their thigh down. As soon as it clears your knee flop sideways over it. Shin hits floor and knee goes to block their hip. If you Backstep instead it's fine but move to north south so they don't frame while your head points to their hips.
5 x 5 min regular training
Got the class move one time. Still struggling stuck in half guard and with sit through from turtle, though I did attempt it once. I got into deep half to x and to over under I think?? I also denied deep half with the Marcelo leg swing over from this week. I got sat on a lot by some brown belts. That's life. I keep falling over in closed guard instead of sitting up. I also cannot make the lasso move work at all. Kind of yucky day.


Then in the evening I went to the gym:
Run 3.03 miles
4 x 1 min strides at 6:35, 6:18, 6:00, and 5:42 pace at the end

Headstand legs apart 35s
Pushups with sit through x 5, clapping pushups x 3
Pull up 2 x 1 w 20s lower on last
Chinups 2 x 2 w 25s lower on last of both sets


So yeah, maybe not a wonder I felt horrible today, really weak and wiped out. Too much? I do want to include at least evening walks or runs again, it helped a lot with weight loss. And calories dropping to 1650 again will help too.

Today...

Calories: 1645, 223C/122P/33F
Workout:

BJJ 1 hour
Advanced 1 gi
No class, just free rolls
Didn't feel at all well, very weak/shaky/out of it. Had some okay rounds anyway, lots of fun inversion with one blue belt guy, decent guard passing with backstep pass and x pass. Guard passing is something I should focus on as I'm good at it when I don't even try, but I keep working on guard as it feels more technical to me. Or because I plan to play guard in tournaments. But I should work on passing.

I felt really nauseated and sick to my stomach all day, very weak as well. Lunch was an egg white omelet with some spinach, 1.5 oz avocado for at least a little fat, and a small baked potato. Dinner was .5 oz animal crackers, a big tub (17 oz) of fat free Greek yogurt, a spinach and tomato salad (plain with just 4g sesame oil and lemon juice), and two apples. For some reason that felt digestible to me and not bad. Then I had 17g dark chocolate to add some fat and hedonic pleasure to the end of the day and now I feel a bit better. I could NOT face another dinner of fish/vegetables/brown rice.

And now I'm mad at myself for not running this evening, despite feeling like garbage. Ugh. :/

[shesprints]

Weight: 140.6
Calories: 1670, 197C/136P/40F
(Most of my protein today was fat free Greek yogurt. Most of my fat was dark chocolate. And carbs were saltines. Legitimately could not stomach much less aside from some token spinach... stomach a little better now, but not 100%).

Obviously I still trained because... I'm me.
Workout:
BJJ 2 hours
Level 2 nogi
Closed guard posture break to overhook and head control. Push on shoulder, kimura-grip UPPER arm, and slide grip down to just below elbow for arm bar, reinforcing with your knee to finish. This comes on FAST but hard to catch live.
They circle their arm in--switch to arm drag, then back take. Hold their hand on the arm drag side to help you post up. Keep your bottom leg up. Then you can either kick out their far knee OR come up, grab the far hand in a one-arm kimura, and get the back that way.

4 x 2:30 positional start (full then half guard)
3 x 5:00 regular training

Advanced 1 gi
Just regular training
Took 1 round off rolled the rest
Really tough, got very smashed, still not feeling great. Passed guard a bunch and got north-south on a woman my size who's a 4 stripe white belt, great to practice north south on a resisting opponent like that closer to a competition scenario.


I didn't record many details of my rolls today because I felt too zonked but I didn't totally waste my time on the mat at least.

[shesprints]

Still feeling sick. Calories are up a little (1650, 1650, but then 1750 yesterday and 1815 today) to try to recover. Still training. Started practice in a structured way to accomplish handstands and handstand walks so I'm doing a bunch of exercises for that now.


10/15

BJJ 2 hours 20 min
Drill 20 min
Deep half sweep to double under
Takedown drill single double single double back clinch

Level 2 gi
Closed guard breaks
4 x 2:00 live
4 x 5:00 regular training

Advanced 1 nogi
Takedown drills of choice (did some uchi mata, some double legs, some collar tie drop down to back trip, single, low single, and arm to body double
Sweep drills did mostly butterfly hook elevation to double x and foot on hip to Scott sweep.
5 x 5 min regular training
skipped one round because the guy was too smelly
Got super close to a back take on a strong purple belt guy who is super tough. Always worry about challenging him. This time was a good roll. Need to manage deep half better.


10/16

BJJ 2 hours
Drill 1 hour
Sit through from front headlock
Takedown drills: single to double to single to double to back, uchi mata. Also single to double to sit through.

Advanced 1 nogi
Same pass pushing legs in then torreando/knee cut hybrid thing.
Different pass: reverse de la riva and ankle grip. Hold both their legs. Step outside foot inside. Reach down to grab their wrist and push off your leg and do a stack pass or throw their legs and settle in side.
After class I stayed with a drill partner to do more of this and he showed me that you could move from the stack pass directly to north south and helped me adjust my north south choke. Tips like sliding down gradually, flexing my pec/lat area, and keeping my body from getting too tight to avoid being rolled helped. I also drilled more sit through.
Live training 6 x 5 min
Some tough scrambly rounds. Mostly very disappointed in myself for giving up for a moment with a purple belt guy. I won't do that again. Most rounds with women and I did well, got some nice half guard sweeps and back takes and a couple RNCs. I'm consciously trying to avoid always getting sucked into my stupid knee shield. I need to develop a better butterfly guard or just SOMETHING, ANYTHING else. Or start on top, though I hate doing that with smaller people/because of my knee.

10/17

Handstand training:
Warmup 2 x 10 each [usually do 3 x 10]
First knuckle raise (like calf raise for hands)
Reversed wrist pushup (start in knuckle pushup position)
Internally rotated pushup (turn pinky finger all the way in)
All from knees for now

2 sets each (again, usually 3)
Dead hang 1 min
German hang (DO NOT bend arm; underhand grip, shoulders roll forward)
Arms behind back dowel raise x 10

2 sets each (same)
Hollow hold 60 seconds weight overhead
Single leg Good Mornings x 10 w/ 10s hold, goal is going to parallel without losing lumbar curve and keeping knee LOCKED)

2 sets each
Overhead stick lift x 10 hold 10s (nose down, posterior tilt)
Active pigeon x 10 w 10 hold (goal knee to ground; stay on fingertips)

2 sets each
Wall handstand 30s WALK OUT TO COME DOWN (work gradually up in time and get to be one hand length from wall)
90/90 sit and reach or "4 position" or "shin box" x 10 with 10s hold

Crow pose 30s (when I can do 45 switch to more handstands instead)

Bonus: dead hang ring chinup x 2

10/18

Handstand training 1 hour
Warmup 3 x 10 each
First knuckle raise (like calf raise for hands)
Reversed wrist pushup (start in knuckle pushup position)
Internally rotated pushup (turn pinky finger all the way in)
All from knees for now

2 sets each
Dead hang 1 min
German hang (DO NOT bend arm; underhand grip, shoulders roll forward)

Arms behind back dowel raise 3 x 10

3 sets each
Hollow hold 60 seconds weight overhead
Single leg Good Mornings x 10 w/ 10s hold, goal is going to parallel without losing lumbar curve and keeping knee LOCKED)

3 sets each
Overhead stick lift x 10 hold 10s (nose down, posterior tilt)
Active pigeon x 10 w 10 hold (goal knee to ground; stay on fingertips)

3 sets each
Wall handstand 35s WALK OUT TO COME DOWN (work gradually up in time and get to be one hand length from wall)
90/90 sit and reach or "4 position" or "shin box" x 10 with 10s hold

Crow pose 3 x 30s]

BJJ 1 hour 20
Drill 20 min
Takedown drills

Level 2 nogi
Hand fighting from seated/butt scoot
Shoulders up
Push knee away
Live rounds 6 x 2 min sweep pass or submit
Live rounds from seated 4 x 3 min
Regular training 6 min
Got some good sweeps and a "good job" from Diniz. Arm barred my last training partner a lot. (He is older so better in gi, rematch tomorrow).



Like on the one hand I guess I could take a day off training but I always feel worse when I do. But I'm not doing well. I think dieting has blitzed my immune system. I haven't had more than maybe a single healthy week since I began losing weight.

[phoenix4444]

Sony you are feeling bad. Do you think your calories are just too low? Your activity level is super high so maybe you cannot recover enough between workouts so the longer you go the more you wear down.

[shesprints]

Sony you are feeling bad. Do you think your calories are just too low? Your activity level is super high so maybe you cannot recover enough between workouts so the longer you go the more you wear down.

I think you're probably right, phoenix, and I just noted that in my own private journal. I am receiving compliments on my leanness from all the women at BJJ and many say that I look very fit as I am, and healthy. Since I want to drop only about 5 more pounds, I can afford to slow down as I really don't want to keep getting and feeling so sick. I'll increase intake.

Anyway! Ate a bit more today.

Weight: 140.6
Calories: 1810, 205C/122P/61F
It was a fat macro kinda day, feeling some salmon steak for dinner and also had sardines for lunch. I know the omega-3s are good for me, and the calcium.

Workout:
BJJ 2 hours
Open mat 1 hour
11 x 5 min rounds
Some good sweeps. Kimura'd a middle weight blue belt woman. I like even matchups. I need to retain closed guard better. Had a fun roll with my white belt buddy who likes active scrambly rounds. Got sat on for awhile by a purple but put up a good fight. Had more fun today as I got to see friends I usually don't see on weekdays.

Advanced 1 gi
Hand fighting from seated again
6 x 2:30 to sweep or pass
3 x 5 min regular training
More good rounds. Impressed with a white belt woman who had really solid grip fighting and passing techniques for her level (she still couldn't pass or sweep me as would be expected). I told her to compete! Before blue anyhow. Wish I had. Good rounds with others. Still tired but much less ill feeling.

Then I taught a student, hung out with Rachel, and then we went out for drinks with her parents. I didn't have dinner until pretty late, which wound up feeling fine, though I was hungry by the time I got the salmon cooked.

[shesprints]

Weight: 139.8
So that's cool I guess.
Calories: 1930, 246C/136P/53F
I had a steak, which was meh. I think I prefer salmon for my animal fat.

Workouts:

AM BJJ 1 hour
Advanced 1 gi
Free drill of choice 2 x 3 min
Closed guard sweep
Tips from black belt: fake collar choke then simultaneously push arm across and hip out. Then grab the far lat and pant leg or under thigh and almost do a back roll--come up on shoulder.
Can also use lapel across to break posture ans hold.
Purple belt advice: grab their hand over their far shoulder after you pass the arm. Meh on that.
4 x 3 min positional rolls. Got a good lasso from partner attempting leg weave as well as Yuri sweep.
3 x 5 min regular training
Got knee to the face from a big purple belt guy so steered toward smaller from then on. Good rounds with strong partners.

PM Handstand practice 1 hour
Warmup 3 x 10 each
First knuckle raise (like calf raise for hands)
Reversed wrist pushup (start in knuckle pushup position)
Internally rotated pushup (turn pinky finger all the way in)
All from knees for now

3 sets each
Dead hang 1 min
German hang (DO NOT bend arm; underhand grip, shoulders roll forward)
Arms behind back dowel raise x 10

3 sets each
Hollow hold 60 seconds weight overhead
Single leg Good Mornings x 10 w/ 10s hold, goal is going to parallel without losing lumbar curve and keeping knee LOCKED)

3 sets each
Overhead stick lift x 10 hold 10s (nose down, posterior tilt)
Active pigeon x 10 w 10 hold (goal knee to ground; stay on fingertips)

3 sets each
Wall handstand 35s WALK OUT TO COME DOWN (work gradually up in time and get to be one hand length from wall)
90/90 sit and reach or "4 position" or "shin box" x 10 with 10s hold

Crow pose 3 x 33s

I got three full sets of dead hangs today, which was quite challenging. I also find single-leg Good Mornings VERY hard. My left quad basically refuses to lock out. It's weird. You're supposed to have straight knee for those but mine keeps buckling. I suppose that is the knee I recently injured.

It's nice to be under 140. I feel less anxiety about my weight as such now, since I'm less than 5lb from my for-now goal. At 135 I'll reassess and see if I can go down 2-3 more, but it seems a good place to stay for some time.

[phoenix4444]

Steak just meh, blaspheme. I have some wild caught Coho salmon coming in at the end of the month so I get what you are saying.

Mirin all the different activities. Hand stands and singled legged goodmornings, all I have to say is wow!

A goal of 135 seems reasonable for your height. Strong and lean for the win.

[thehobbes]

Oooo dead hangs, I swear we did those in high school gym and it was a timed thing. You'd get up there like oh yeah I can do this forever, 10 seconds later... holy fark this is an eternity, I'm sweating profusely in weird places and everyone is watching!

[shesprints]

Steak just meh, blaspheme. I have some wild caught Coho salmon coming in at the end of the month so I get what you are saying.

Mirin all the different activities. Hand stands and singled legged goodmornings, all I have to say is wow!

A goal of 135 seems reasonable for your height. Strong and lean for the win.

Yeah, I'm 5'6''. Who knows; I'll see how I feel at 135, maybe splurge on a body scan and measure my body fat that way. My goal is pretty close now, which is crazy. Not much should change at maintenance tbh. A few hundred more calories a day and the same training. Single-legged good mornings are HARD af even without weight. It's the way I have to brace my leg. I think I'll add back in some of the PT exercises to activate my left quad, since it felt a little shut off during that movement. Lately I'm way more interested in integrated, functional training than moving weight.

Oooo dead hangs, I swear we did those in high school gym and it was a timed thing. You'd get up there like oh yeah I can do this forever, 10 seconds later... holy fark this is an eternity, I'm sweating profusely in weird places and everyone is watching!

Haha weird I know, right? The guy helping me with my handstand skills said to relax my whole body while I hang, not stay tight, which makes all the emphasis go straight to just my hands and maybe forearms. It is a great stretch on shoulders, back, and pecs, though. Feels pretty good after the initial burning of tight pecs opening up.

Didn't weigh myself this morning.
Calories: 1835, 221C/122P/57F
Higher fat feels pretty good right now. I had an egg + 5.5 oz egg white omelet for breakfast with a whole medley of vegetables and plain potatoes for carbs preworkout, then after training sardine and spinach salad for lunch with a hearty (kabocha-based, full of other vegetables too) soup, a solid 7 oz of salmon with cucumber, asparagus, and Japanese sweet potato for dinner. The salmon is where I got most of that fat.

Workout:
2 hours BJJ
Level 2 nogi
Guillotine entry when opponent goes to hug leg. Stay low. Keep arm in front of leg. Shoulder down and hunched toward your chin. Keep that space closed. Lock the guillotine, then step around behind them and bring them down to floor; put your leg over their back but don't release the guillotine pressure with your shoulder and arm. Finish from there (and obviously with elbow up over their shoulder).
Alternative: if they fall back to defend guillotine, switch from guillotine threat to far side underhook and knee cut pass.
Positional sparring 4 x 2:30
Regular training 3 x 5:00
Some good rounds with visiting 4 stripe blue and purple belt women. Got some nice sweeps from half guard and closed guard. Played around with a big, athletic visiting white belt lady too.

Advanced 1 gi
Side control to flatten out partner
Angle your body into their tricep to keep them from turtling, then dive over to take back
Positional training 8 x 1 min
Regular training 4 x 5 min
Trained with a blue belt woman who is Tractor (aka ADCC silver medalist who only lost to Gordon Ryan Tractor)'s wife. She said he told her to train with me because I'm really good (!!!) so THAT WAS COOL. She's working on better transitions/chaining moves, which I do a lot of, and did in our rounds--reversals and so on. Got some arm bars. Great round with one of my oldest training buddies, a guy with a great knee shield. Passed his guard pretty well and moved to leg drag position to take the back. I also had a round with this killer aggressive blue belt woman my size who really gave me no chance to relax. I swept her from half guard in the second half and then it was pretty much over but at first it was tough! I worked on the sit out from turtle a bit but I'm still not super confident in it.

A woman I know at the gym also mentioned I looked "skinny," which was cool to hear. People really notice my weight loss and intensity of effort, and apparently even Tractor (who is like. a BIG DEAL in the BJJ world. He's a silver medalist at ADCC, which is the Olympics of BJJ) notices me as a good grappler at the academy? So that was cool. I also liked that we got to work on guillotines. I need to use that submission more. I struggle with it a bit because the grip feels awkward; the way you need to close your hand on your other hand for the choke pulls awkwardly at the bone I broke back in April. But I shall keep strengthening my wrists and hands with the handstand exercises, pullups, etc. and hopefully that'll help.

[shesprints]

Didn't post yesterday because I was out late with Rachel at a fun science podcast event.

Calories: 1915, 236C/130P/56F

Workout:
Level 2 gi
Lasso drill from last time
They put knee up
Leg through anyway and straight
Lie back flat and kick out their other knee
Sit up, underhook arm, and use foot to push over sideways--straight to the side not diagonal.
Or omoplata.
Positional sparring 8 x 1 min, 2 x 2 min, 2 x 2:30, 2 x 5 min regular training
Good rounds. Got to closed guard and arm bar or back take fairly often. Rolled with the blue belt woman my size who gave me a bit of a hard time last time. I turned it up a little this time and submitted her 3 or 4 times--half guard and full guard back takes and sweeps, arm bar, wing choke. Good rolls with female purple belts as well--got a sub or two and back takes. And with my older white belt friend who lets me scramble about and invert. Played more closed guard w him.

Advanced 1 nogi
Seated guard
Pull hands or head if head is down but don't reach up! Then go for leg. Or if they put leg in then escape it attack other leg.
Entries: slx or easy ankle pick/knee push
Positional sparring 4 x 1 min, 4 x 2:30, 3 x 5 min regular training
Great round with female purple belt again, nice easy round with injured blue belt friend (inverted a lot, kiss of the dragon and bolo). Same with non injured blue belt guy friend, scramble inversions and leg drag position and eventual back take --> short choke. I also guillotined one of the purple belt women with the move we practiced yesterday.

Also took a 3-mile walk later that evening on the way home from work.
Some days of training are really, really hard. And some days, like today, are really good and make the whole thing worth it. I felt so fluid and good with my jiu jitsu. It boosted my confidence a lot, though I still have a long way to go.

[shesprints]

Calories: 1925, 240C/130P/55F

Workout:

No BJJ today! Just handstand practice in the AM and and a long walk in the afternoon.
Handstand stuff--
Warmup 3 x 10 each
First knuckle raise (like calf raise for hands)
Reversed wrist pushup (start in knuckle pushup position)
Internally rotated pushup (turn pinky finger all the way in)
All from knees for now

3 sets each
Dead hang 1 min
Dips x 6
Arms behind back dowel raise x 10
Leg raise x 10
Single leg bridge x 20
Hollow hold 60 seconds weight overhead
Overhead stick lift x 10 hold 10s (nose down, posterior tilt)
Wall handstand 42s WALK OUT TO COME DOWN (work gradually up in time and get to be one hand length from wall)
Crow pose x 33s

1 each dead hang pullup and chinup

I excluded the hip openers and added back in my PT stuff like leg raises and bridges to activate my left quad. I think the hip movements were giving me sciatica, need to do them better or something; my knee also needed a break. I don't think the single leg good mornings were great for it, it felt hyperextended.

Calories a little higher still as I've been needing a boost to my mood, feel ragged lately and want to keep up energy and not get sick again.

[phoenix4444]

Yah on keeping your calories up. Remember you are still at a bit of a deficit even at 1900 calories. Nice to see a little more fat in your diet as well.

[shesprints]

Yah on keeping your calories up. Remember you are still at a bit of a deficit even at 1900 calories. Nice to see a little more fat in your diet as well.

Yeah, I feel a lot better with a bit more fat. Less fragile emotionally? Interesting. I did, however, wind up coming down with another cold and have very low energy. Lots of DayQuil. I took Friday off and then trained today. Too drained to log my last BJJ session Thursday but here it is now...

10/24
Calories: 1960, 237C/138P/56F
Workout:
BJJ 1 hour
Level 2 gi
Just free rolling
Got a wristlock and a kimura from triangle threat. Almost got a back take that turned into leg drag pass from deep half --> double leg x --> baby bolo on a visiting blue belt woman. Defended John's deep half pretty well. Threatened arm bar from top half while he fought for the underhook. Passed closed guard on a purple belt woman. Got "good job" from Diniz. Good day except for swollen knee.

(The knee is better now, after the day off)


On my day off, yesterday, I still ate 1975cal, 247C/135P/57F

And today...
Calories: 1945, 233C/146P/56F
Workout:
BJJ 2 hours

1 hour Open Mat
Pretty good rolls overall, got to start in closed guard sometimes. Rolled with a visiting 2-stripe blue belt woman a bit bigger than me and she grabbed a triangle right away, whew! Our next round (in the next class) went a lot better for me, I was not expecting the aggression. Good matches, tough guard, really fun to get a challenge that's also close to my level. Other nice rounds with some blue and purple belt woman, played guard more as I wasn't feeling well. I need to work on arm triangles in the gi. Few rounds with guys as well, including the last with a blue belt who said "I'm going to go hard today" and bridged like crazy when I passed his guard. Went well, though. I also got some nice back takes. Guard passes were solid, too, lot of X pass today for some reason.

Advanced 1 gi 1 hour
Butterfly to single X to double X
Then grab near collar and come up on single leg--REALLY make sure you're pushing their weight onto their far leg and their ARMS. Frame triceps if they're about to turn into you! Kick leg out with bottom leg and then come up.
6 x 5 min regular training
Happily, I got the class move when we went live, which is really only because I use that one a lot anyhow--I had used it in open mat, minus the standing up (I went to a baby bolo --> back take instead). I also got a great deep half guard sweep (rollover) with the lapel, which is always cool as I'm working on that lately. I think I got a back take from closed guard but don't remember--I need to work on closed guard more leading up to the tournament.



Oh yeah, I'm registered for the NY Open on the 16th. I hope it goes well. I signed up for Middle as my weight class, though I could make Light, purely because there's a woman also registered whom I fought at Grappling Industries. She won by ref decision and I want to redeem myself. I can take her this time. I'm also a little mad that she skipped out on nogi and didn't tell us, leaving us with only one fight. So! Revenge!

[shesprints]

We went to my parents' house for a pumpkin carving dinner party. It was awesome! Myself, Rachel, my cousin, his girlfriend, my brother and HIS girlfriend, who is new but really awesome and cute with Max, has a sweet teasing relationship with him and is so smart and interesting as well. Rachel and I both approve of her. We did some pretty sweet carving. I made a pumpkin red panda, Rachel made a ship sailing on a sea of dry ice (she brought dry ice from her lab to fill some of the pumpkins), my brother made a very traditional jack-o-lantern, my cousin made a very cool tiger, his girlfriend made a squid, and my brother's girlfriend made a witch. Good day of carving.

I ate lightly all day and we didn't have too much at my parents', just a vegetable soup in broth and mussels in broth with a little pasta (I had about 1/2 cup... I had a LOT of mussels, though, for the protein... estimated probably high at 8 oz). Then some strawberries and two mini-clementines for dessert, along with 21 grams (which I did weigh) of dark chocolate.

Calories (estimated due to not measuring all of dinner): 1930, 240C/130P/55F
Workout:

BJJ 2 hours
Level 1 gi
Seated closed guard break. Hands on pants, knee in and other leg back.
Control pant leg and circle pass toward the pinned down side.
Guard pull to high guard to pull them down. Pull with foot on the sleeve grip hip and swing to put other foot on hip. Defense is grabbing that other foot.
Live rounds of breaking closed or passing closed 8 x 25 seconds
Far side arm bar transition to knee pinch kimura. Remember to windshield wiper legs to staple the near bicep.
Whole sequence.

Advanced 1 gi
Feet on hips to single 2 min each
Frame and reguard against circle pass--turn AWAY from them 2 min each
7 x 5 min regular training
Nice rounds with scrambling. Got the Yuri belt sweep from half twice. Lots of 50/50 and berimbolo scrambles. Passed guard with leg lace to mount. Worked on guard pass. Need to work on passing dlr when they hold the ankle tightly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfMY...&feature=share

Training is good lately. My friend and training partner said that my half guard is more technical than many of his other blue belt partners, which is nice to hear as it has indeed been a focus and it's his specialty. I'm getting a lot of nice compliments from partners and people seem to enjoy rolling with me more and more as I gain proficiency and thus become more interesting as a partner.

I feel a LOT better physically than yesterday, as well. I think I just needed rest and a few more calories.

[shesprints]

Day off training!

Calories: 1835, 217C/115P/61F
Higher on fat because my mom just gave me some great chocolate and I had half an ounce after dinner. This may be like 50 calories over maintenance for an essentially sedentary day, but I don't care--tomorrow I get back to training, and I don't need to lose weight for the November 16th tournament so I'm just not too anxious about it right now.

Good news is my cold's doing better (not quite 100%) and my knee's better (... also not quite 100%) and my social life is good and I am generally happy.

[shesprints]

Calories: 1825, 219C/137P/50F

Workout:
Level 2 gi
Double under pass immediately from guard pull. Keep constant pressure on their legs to pass--don't try to duck around.
Live from guard pull 4 x 2 min
Live from standing 4 x 5 min
Good rounds generally, were several women so I got to roll with them. I swept a purple belt from bottom half but she has really good pressure and hip position; I did also manage to get to closed guard from half with her too, which was great. Good feedback from female brown belt as well.

Advanced 1 nogi
Granby roll from blocking far shoulder. Use top leg to knock away their arm.
Granby roll if they cut the angle and knee in. Block their shoulder with bottom arm and run feet away, then throw your hips at them.
5 x 6 min rounds
Tough rounds, got a cool leg lace pass on a guy I always do that with. Got smashed by my friend the purple belt who used to be blue belt world champ, but he said I put up a good fight and wasn't just muscling things. That's a win.

Feeling a lot better, though not 100% yet. Still, antsy enough that I may try to train 7am tomorrow--the only time my schedule permits.