So here’s me with my opponent in my closed guard. This is a good summary of the whole fight.
My first tournament is done. It was fun. I suffered and lost a lot of fat. I spent a lot of money on travel, food and fuel. I cheered on the Martial Arts Students who have become good friends. I spent time with my boys and and my brother and sister in law. Life is very very good.
I was very nervous before my match. My opponent drilled hyper-actively and aggressively with his team mate in the waiting area before our match. I was pretty intimidated.
At the weigh in I was 3.5 lbs under which was lighter than I expected. I drank a sports drink and ate my 3 gels. Fortunately everything was behind schedule and I could feel my energy systems starting to come online fairly soon after.
When we were called to the mat my opponent spent the last minutes bouncing up and down while I stood flat footed and immobile. It might not be optimal but it is optimal for me.
The match was a bit of a blur. I was careful not to waste energy I knew I didn’t have. The messy takedown was awarded to my opponent and he ended up in my full guard. That was where he stayed. I kept him broken down. When he stood in my guard I grabbed his ankles or legs and tried to sweep but he managed to block every time. I broke his posture when he tried a collar choke and I came very close to choking him with the tails of his own Gi. I was awarded three advantage points for some reason. He tried to push my guard of with an arm back, but I was afraid to try for the triangle because he was strong and I wanted him to tire a bit more so that I could be sure I could hold his head. Time ran out and he won with his takedown points.
Wow. I was scared. But I did it.
So now I’ll get back to a healthier diet. I’m going to stay at this weight but I want to trade the remainder of my fat for some muscle and hover right at the border of my weight class on the high end. That means I can actually gain a few pounds.
In terms of BJJ. Open mat, drilling, drilling. I want to abandon the closed guard for a while now and focus on butterfly, sweeps, and drilling for muscle memory of triangles, chokes and armbars.
Workouts are going to be almost exclusively strength and crossfit.
Success is a very individual concept. I listened yesterday to a co-worker describe success in terms of when he would get a 3 series BMW.
For me the BMW is out. But I wouldn’t turn down a Prius if it fell in my lap. Success for me is the act of meeting a challenge. It’s figuring out calculus with my son 20 years after I last cracked a book. It is consciously choosing what workout is appropriate and then going hard. And lately it has been the challenge of cutting weight.
I am now at target and I count that fact as a success. Next challenge?
The weight was lost by mixing equal parts of:
- Intermittent fasting (“Fast 5“)
- Running, BJJ, Crossfit
- Willpower and desire
This last item was the key. I have “tried” many times to get lean. As Yoda says, “Do or do not, there is no try”.
The highs and lows of cutting 14 lbs in a month?
- Ketosis results in bad breath
- Low blood sugar results in a lack of energy, bad moods and yes, the odd dizzy spell when I stand up.
- The diet frightens everyone who is eating normally. The level of discipline required makes me appear as if I have an eating disorder.
- When I did eat, energy came back FAST
- My clothes fit better
- Inflammation from injuries seems to subside faster
- Cravings for junk food are replaced with cravings for more healthful fare
- Food tastes better
I still carry some fat around my waist and my BMI is 23.6, which is described as being on the high side of normal. So I can lose more fat if I want without being unhealthy. My next challenge will be replacing the fat with some muscle. But that is another story.
Man. I hate cutting weight. Almost there. Had a great dinner tonight and am feeling halfway human.
I went for a run to avoid aggravating my shoulder.
Cloth chokes last night at Martial Arts Planet. Now I’m going to be wary when someone untucks my Gi. One arm cross collar grab, the other arm wraps the tails of their Gi around their neck. Rolled with Chris, Nick, Greg and Sheldon. Sheldon has some nice butterfly sweeps.
My shoulder is *&^$% sore. Ice and early (for me) to bed.
A bit of a post note:
We worked a wrestling throw at BJJ at Martial Arts Planet today. James taught and did a good job. I was 167.5 on the nose wearing my Gi on the scale at the club which is the limit for the lightweight class. So another week of cutting should do the trick. I’ve never seen this kind of progress before and the jury is out as to why it is working this time round.
Then I went for a run. Broke my fast with a protein shake.
Tonight Annette are going to take a stab at the protein bar recipe below.
I am still on the intermittent fast. I was down a total of 6.5 lbs yesterday. That puts me 3.5 lbs below competition weight. My Gi weighs 4 Lbs so I have another couple of lbs to go.
I did a “300″ workout yesterday.
- 25 pull ups
- 50 floor wipers (abs)
- 50 clean and jerk (35 lb kettlebell)
- 50 dead lifts (130 lbs)
- 50 push ups
- 50 box jumps
- 25 pull ups
It’s a Gym Jones workout. Speaking of Gym Jones. They have a recipe for protein bars here. The basics I copied below but there are pics on their site.
Ingredients:
1 cup protein powder (we prefer whey instead of soy for this use)
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup wheat bran
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried cherries
1 cup greek yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 organic almond butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line 9×13 baking pan w/parchment paper.
2. Mix together the protein powder, flour, oats, wheat bran, wheat germ, cinnamon, salt and brown sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the dried fruit.
3. Combine the apple sauce, yogurt, almond butter, and vanilla into a second bowl. Add the wet mixture to the dry, and mix with your hands until thoroughly blended and dough-like.
4. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan, pressing into place with your hands. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and cut into bars. Place the bars on a baking tray and bake for another 12-15 minutes, or until golden around the edges.
Wrap individual bars in plastic film or foil. Plastic allows easy identification when you have several types of bars around. Neat foil envelopes are easier to open one-handed on the bike.
This morning I was 165.5 lbs on the scales. So I have lost 5 lbs in 17 days. At this rate I WILL be able to make weight for the April 24th tournament. PROVIDED I stay disciplined. This is equivalent to 2 lbs a week which is not outrageous. This intermittent fast (19 hours fast followed by 5 hour eating window) seems to work for ME. Other people I know have tried it and they just feel terrible so it goes to show that one size does not fit all.
My strategy for the tournament is pretty sketchy because I have never competed:
- I will prepare by rolling as much as possible over the next couple of weeks.
- Mentally I need to be more the attacker than the defender. Better by far to never have to dig myself out of a tough position.
- I will focus on a combination of cardio to shed the last bit of weight (I need to be 167.5 lbs wearing my Gi)
- and on power endurance workouts (Crossfit and Gym Jones style) lasting more than 5 minutes
- I’ll also make sure I include exercises emphasizing grip strength, bridging power, hamstrings for the guard, and abdominals
- I’ll try to get more sleep.
Aidan’s Gi is torn up past repair so I ordered him a new one. A Keiko Raca black Kimono. He really wanted black. You pretty much need 3 Gi’s each in order to stay ahead of the laundry. He loves his Howard Combat Kimono but I always imagine it would feel like wearing a kevlar weightvest.
Here’s a pic of me back in February trying for an omoplata from rubber guard. My fingers are as bad now as they were then. Healing is slow.
Today I slept in. Yes, John got 8 hours of sleep.
I went for a run, burned approx 600 calories. Then cooked the boys breakfast before heading of to go for a walk in the sunshine with Annette. She bought me a coffee and we sat and talked at Starbucks.
Then Aidan and I rolled at MAP for a couple of hours. I need to work harder at getting to my knees. I also need to abandon anything like an Anaconda for the time being and focus on scooping their arms and flipping them to side control with their arms all tied up.
Big Mike chewed me up and spit me out. Aidan passed my guard and Chris gave me some tips. I feel broken tonight so I’m headed to bed.
Still on Fast 5.
BJJ was good tonight. I like open mat. Rolled with Tyler. He showed me a few things with chokes that I need to remember. Plus he accidentally gave me a huge “racing stripe” scratch across the side of my head.
I was one pound over competition weight on the scales at the gym. So this Fast 5 thing is helping. Just need to stay with it.
Rolling again tomorrow.
I was 3.5 lbs lighter than my start weight this morning. Encouraging start to the day really. Then I managed to get through the whole day again on this retarded intermittent fasting intervention…diet…thing.
Nothing worth doing is easy. So I’m sticking with it until I hit competition weight. At this rate that will be on April 7th. Still 5 days short of the registration deadline for the tournament so I can choose the appropriate weight class. Then I will have to decide how I want to structure my eating regime going forward.
Tonight I had a protein shake with banana, apple and kiwi and an omelette with tomato and ham. I’m stuffed. Oh and I checked calories in olive oil…holy crap!
Tonight…English with Liam. Not my forte so I’d better get started.
Still on this intermittent fasting thingee. It’s wonderful. Not really. But strangely I’m sticking with it.
Today in my 5 hour eating window I had a protein shake and then a bit of fish and eggs and veggies. Less than 800 calories total. Sounds like an eating disorder to me. I fill up really fast when I eat now.
We went to BJJ and rolled a lot. I won’t say I was super energetic on the mats but I survived. Aidan is now freakishly strong. He has grown more than a centimeter in the last month.
Bed time.
