Some Competition Vids for the Interested

[Merryprankster]

Hi all,

I was rifling through my video library, before my old digital camcorder **** the bed anyway, and got a few things uploaded. These are from years ago, but thought some of you might be interested anyway. A shame I can't get the other stuff uploaded, but I don't care enough to find a device in the house or purchase something to play the minidv cassettes to put the other stuff up :D

Enjoy (or not) as you see fit. If you're wondering who I am, I'm the guy who is consistently in the vid clips ;)

Since I got a Neuros OSD recently, some of the videotapes should probably get converted to MPEG or Quicktime too, LOL.

I also don't seem to have much newer stuff. Probably because I compete less out here. I'll see if anybody has vids from this year's Pan-Ams. There's a pretty good highlight clip though, from my personal training facility - it's got a lot of Newton Casemeiro on it (nobody would know him, but he's a Judo badass. Consistently places at the San Jose State Open, and Brazilian Junior Judo Champion many years in a row), but I manage to get in there too. I'll link that in as well - why not? Newton's a frickin' machine. Oh, and you might want to check out the crew/rowing video too, if for no other reason than the eye candy....

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=merryprankster76&p=r

And for the premier training facility in the east bay...

http://www.icechamber.com/videos/ice_chamber_grips_hips.html

[rogue]

So how often do you get to compete these days and what's your training like?

[Merryprankster]

Rogue,

Typically, I compete now between 2 and 3 times per year. In DC, I would compete as often as 12-16 times in one year. There are lots of tournaments in LA, but that's a 7-8 hour drive. NY/NJ was only about 4-5. Huge difference, really. Up here, in the Bay Area, most of the tournaments are gi. At 190 with a brown belt, there is only a very small chance that anybody remotely close to my size and rank is going to elect to compete that day. Most tournaments don't have anybody at all. *shrug*

A typical training week for me would be BJJ 3-5 times per week, with 2 or 3 days of training at the Icechamber. Steve is a blue belt in BJJ so he gets the demands of the sport, and trains accordingly. Sessions are 30 minutes, but vary in intensity from medium hard to exhausting. Typical exhausting type sessions might include something like weightlifting circuits using full body type movements, coupled with sprints or 800m runs, with sprawls between, etc. BJJ follows one hour after the IC.

For major tournaments, my regimen begins 16 weeks out. I'll go to practice no fewer than 4 times a week, with an emphasis on continuous movement, and refining my battle plan. IC workouts are designed to peak for the tournament. I trust Steve to handle that aspect. Yoga and nutrition and sleep become my best friends :) I'll also put in around 12-16 miles a week.

Does it work? Seems to. I'm 32. My matches were 8 minutes long at the Pan-Ams this year. My opponents this year were clearly late teen (ie 18-19), or very early twenties. I made my opponent in the open puke from exertion, wore out my first opponent in my weight class after about 5 minutes, and then met the same guy from the open in the next match. I made him puke again. He beat me twice in two days, and deserved to. He was very good. But I was definitely his spoiler. He lost his subsequent matches both days by very wide point margins.

[tjmitch]

Nice transition from north south to the omoplata.

[Pork Chop]

Thanks for posting the clips MP!
Awesome training.
I hear you on the competition front, nothing quite like the east coast - even for muay thai.

When you train for big competitions, do you ever have the problem of everything falling by the wayside when you're charging at the training 4+ times a week?

I've had a hard time getting my training frequency back to where it used to be and i'm curious to hear how you handle it; as we're about the same age. I should probably be stealing every nutrition tip contained in that melon of your's. :)

[Merryprankster]

tjmitch,

That was probably from desperation :) On a more serious note, I used to use Omo Plata defense to single leg alot. That's pretty much all I did there too. But thanks!

Pork Chop,

Everything else DOES fall by the wayside. For 16 weeks, I'm focused on tournament prep and taking care of my body. It's that simple. You can't do it any other way. Not really, anyway, IMO. It helps that there is a "light at the end of the tunnel." It's not indefinite, so its clear to me and to others affected that it's temporary.

I handle the increased training volume by being very very very conscious of my body. I'm not 19. I can't **** myself up and go back to practice the next day. Yoga prevents unnecessary injuries, sleeping promotes recovery, and eating right makes sure I get all the stuff I need to recuperate.

Nutrition help? Don't eat crap, and eliminate refined carbohydrates. That's pretty much it. Oh, I'll have some chocolate or something every now and again, but lean meats, veggies, fruits, nuts, yogurt, eggs, milk, etc. Water to drink. Eat around 4-6 times a day. Stop when you are satiated, not full. No booze (the occasional beer won't kill you), no smokes. Water is the drink of choice. I dropped from 208 after the holidays to compete at 187 at the end of March - and it's not as though I was a particularly "fat" 208... I dropped from 16% body fat to about 9ish. That means I lost 21 lbs, but only 4 lbs of "lean" body weight (remember that that's not all muscle lost, probably some water and such in there, since I did shed fat storage, etc). Something to think about. I was just as strong and much much faster.

[Pork Chop]

MP
Thanks for the tips, I'll work on implementing them!
Been trying to drink a half gallon of water for every can of sparkling water or fresca i go for.
My gf can't go a meal without rice, so I've really just been trying to limit my intake there.
Okinawans have a saying about eating until 80% full, which goes along with what you were saying (my girl's Okinawan & I've really spent a lot of time the last 2 years getting back into the culture).
Got a lot of work to do to get there, but I've made some steps in that direction and just gotta keep going step by step.

I've been thinking a lot about learning some yoga; or doing a tai chi form with some wushu stretches to injury-proof myself.
When i was in high school i was doing mostly tai chi; with all the wushu type stretches, and it really gave me a warm, loose feeling.
Gotta get on that; oh and start some sort of combat conditioning routine as well.

Have been reading Joe Frazier's boxing book recently.
He's got a lot of "backwards", "old-fashioned" ideas on training (no protein supplementation, no weights, no high intensity running); but one thing I liked that he said was about not training the same intensity every day. Have maybe 3 hard days and 2 or 3 light days each week. I think that mentality kinda fits with the days you were doing combat conditioning vs just rolling.

Does your competition season jive with your lady?
Does she mind taking up the slack for those 16 weeks?
Hope you don't mind all the questions.

[nospam]

..nice vids and even better moves.



nospam
:cool:

[Merryprankster]

Joe Frazier has some old school ideas. Weights and protein can sure help! You can't bang all the time though. Got that right.

My schedule jibes just fine with my wife. She's a purple belt. There's no real slack to take up. I handle all the cooking and about 90% of the grocery shopping and anything involving technology or cars. She deals with cleaning and laundry, LOL. So it's not a big deal.

The biggest thing is that she's much more social than I am, so she'll want to go out or something, and I'm just tired. Sometimes I go, sometimes I send her off without me :) It's all good!