28 3 / 2012
and of course, the shaolin sweep. this is a great video for pointing out some of the details behind the technique.
28 3 / 2012
this sweep is demonstrated by a brown belt who trains with my school and also instructs at another affiliated school— and my instructor. seems like it would work nicely with the shaolin sweep. haven’t tried it yet. :)
28 3 / 2012
This is one of my latest matches from a submission only tournament in Greensboro. This was the first of 8 matches - I got a 1st place in gi absolute, 2nd in gi weight class (135-146), 2nd in no gi absolute, and 3rd in no gi weight class. In no gi weight class, I had a 22 minute match! Altogether, I spent a LOT of time on the mat - don’t think any of my matches were less than 10 minutes. I didn’t train for that amount of grappling, but my cardio and conditioning being at the level that it is kept me from dying. ;)
28 3 / 2012
I’m back to training gi brazilian jiu jitsu with my original school and training muay thai/mma with my mma coach - I’m really loving being back at a school with so much gi rolling and a focus on brazilian jiu jitsu. i think its what my body needs — taking a break from getting hit a little bit. :)
Tonight we did some 93 guard — I had seen most of what we had done from my prior days at my current school, and from working with my mma coach - but the sweep above was new to me. We drilled it with shooting the arm through, but I thought this was great for if you get stuck or the opponent grabs your pants before you can shoot the arm through. Good stuff! Fun sweep.
23 10 / 2011
This makes me want to go to the beach… specifically in Brazil. More importantly, it reminds me that being mentally prepared is as important as being physically prepared, in any situation.
23 10 / 2011
Yesterday I placed 2nd in the gi division at a tournament in Raleigh, NC and competed in my first no gi competition. So much fun!
I have been training 5 days a week with the original muay thai instructor at my old academy. I moved over when he left to teach at another gym, an LA Boxing branch out of Raleigh. I loved working with him in Muay Thai because of how he tied in Muay Thai with takedowns and MMA, and I’m learning tons from him in the grappling arena as well. We switch days between striking/muay thai, wrestling/takedowns, and no gi jiu jitsu (for MMA). In a month of training with him, I’ve seen drastic improvements in all areas of my game, so I was excited to put myself to the test in this competition.
I noticed a *huge* difference between yesterday’s competition and the last time I competed:
- I stuck purely to the game plan we worked on in my first match and won by points.
- Next match- lost 7-0. Lessons learned: control the leg when passing to avoid opponent replacing guard. Make sure adequate blood flow is going to the muscles (I felt beyond weak in this match- there was a 15-20 lb weight difference, but I still think it was partially due to nerves as well as getting sick. Turns out the sore throat I woke up with wasn’t just nerves-induced..)
- No gi… I got 3 takedowns off the thai clinch. That alone was amazing. My first tournament I was frightened of starting standing. I feel great about it now and that’s all thanks to my new coach and the fun fusion of muay thai concepts into bjj (when appropriate ;). MMA ftw!
- My first no gi match I took the back off sprawling on a shot, then to mount, then back to standing where I got a takedown off the thai clinch. Unfortunately, off the takedown I made the mistake of not getting on top faster and leaving my back and neck open in turtle. Rear naked choked with 15 seconds left, and I was up 10-0 on points! Oops. Just got caught. Need to stay more aware of time and points— and protect against submission first and foremost, since that’s the sure way to lose a match.
- The last match— took the opponent down with a thai clinch again! Lost 3-2+advantage because when I swept my opponent off an armbar, I continued for the armbar (mistake) and she got back into my guard. Lesson learned: secure my position from the sweep and take the points. Then go for the submission. Also need to work on sweeping from guard when opponent keeps their legs back and elbows in throat— pushing the arm across and sweeping.
Win or lose, I felt great about all of my matches. I have never competed no gi and I felt dominant, strong, and skilled in my matches- but I also think having less energy due to sickness infiltrating my body and having nerves from not knowing how competition would go (it’s been 5 months since I last competed), had me a little stirred up. I’ll have been doing bjj for a year in November, and I think it’s time to be ready to win the next time I get on the mat. :) But, worst case scenario, I lose and learn. I think the experiences I had yesterday have prepared me and made me better already.
Now time to shake this sickness and get back in the gym to work twice as hard for the next tournament. :)
03 10 / 2011
Back to the basics. I had been doing a couple things wrong with my armbars from guard… Not keeping the knee tight— so the opponent’s arm can’t be freed easily, not overemphasizing the ‘pivot’ so i get the proper angle for the attack, and not fully clamping down on the back of the head, allowing the opponent to posture. So, pretty much the three most important things about an armbar I was doing wrong. I’m pretty excited that the details of this move, despite how basic it is, finally “click.” I owe it to my teachers for catching my bad habits and helping me improve on the basics.
I also learned a sweep tonight where you grab/control the leg on the side you’re pivoting towards as you go into this— everything the same but you use the ‘pivot’ as momentum to sweep the opponent over, in a flower sweeping motion. Then, with their leg still trapped/controlled by you, they can’t do the hitchhiker escape either. :)
Permalink 2 notes
26 6 / 2011
I spent more time than usual deciding what to cook today. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, and lazy Sunday afternoons are ripe for bright ideas in the kitchen. But, somehow I didn’t have any. I reviewed my ingredients several times:
Bison. Okra. Garden materials (various). Onions. Garlic
And some apples and blackberries going bad in the near future that I knew I needed to make into a dessert somehow.
So, I spent some time exploring the idea of using mint with bison in a greek style dish, but we didn’t have yogurt. I spent some time reviewing gumbo and stew recipes but Alan wasn’t enthused… So I KISS’ed and admitted some version of culinary defeat. :)
The obvious choice: play with some garden herbs (a little bit of fresh chocolate mint and oregano) and make some meatballs. Saute the meatballs w/ garlic and onion and cover until lightly browned throughout. Throw them in some marinara sauce along with some sauteed Okra (sauteed with (light) cayenne pepper), throw in a little red pepper for an ever so slight kick. Let it all simmer so the flavors fuse. And put it over whole wheat noodles.
As a side note, the addition of the sauteed Okra made it feel special, and appropriate for this time of year in the South. (Okra is incredibly plentiful here, easy to grow, and really inexpensive at the local grocery.)
Then, after contemplating for about an hour about what pie crust I wanted to do, I decided 4 hours of refrigeration wasn’t on the radar. I skipped out on making an apple-blackberry pie in favor for apple blackberry crisp. Tossed the peeled/cored apples along with the blackberries in light brown sugar and a little flour. In another bowl created the crisp using brown sugar, oatmeal, flour, and small chunks of cold butter. Poured the fruit into a mini casserole dish and topped liberally with the crisp material and baked in the oven at 375 for 45 minutes.
I’m not going to lie. I’m really glad I kept it simple, stupid. :)
Permalink 1 note
26 6 / 2011
Big fan of x guard! We drilled it for (my) first time last week. Maybe not my thing yet (it’s a bit hard to get to), but definitely something I’ll be drilling in the meantime.
26 6 / 2011
We just moved into our new house— and I’ve been busy with the yard to say the least. I even took a whole week of jiu jitsu to plant like crazy (that wasn’t easy). I’ve pictured and annotated my latest projects. Not pictured is a trellis’ed raspberry patch (which may or may not live through the summer) behind an also-not-pictured golden delicious apple tree and an also-absent serviceberry seedling. I also planted 2 blackberries in the front, near to the persimmon.
I’m hoping this looks a lot more interesting this time next year. ;)
Upcoming projects/loose ends include: Potting a rosemary seedling with the mexican sage so I can bring those in when it gets freezing at night and have a nice aesthetic and aromatic herb piece for the sunroom, potting the lemon verbena for aesthetic, aromatic, and year-round (hopefully) use, and expanding the usage of companion plants for the fruit trees. garlic will definitely be planted in the fall (and should help with some of the pesky bugs of the south). I’m hoping to also add onions as another layer of pest repellent/food, preferably egyptian onions since they are more awesome than chives in my book. Chives around here are a universal sign of ‘you used weedkiller on this lawn. thanks. now i get to take over and be your new weed, but you can’t eat me because you sprayed incredibly horrific poison all over me.’ I respect them for their hardiness, but I’m on the lookout for egyptian onions instead. :) Nasturtiums and daffodils will happen, too.
My lovely husband bought me a Nook Color recently, with a full Android OS install— so I’m able to read books via the Kindle App. That means I’ve spent the rest of last month’s paycheck on books about wild edible plants, tree identification, perennial vegetables, permaculture design and concepts, and anything else I can get my hands on. I’m an official hobby botanist, for sure.
Permalink 2 notes
