stripe and seminars

Well last night was the last night of our 2 week semiar with alex monsalv, I managed to make it to most of the classes and really enjoyed his style of bjj. Feel like my game is getting better now that I've stopped sitting down on my ass and pulling gaurd so much which was a slight problem before, I think the reason I started doing it so much is 1) I suck at standing and passing open guard and 2) guard seemed like the safer option with most of the bigger or more technical guys. BUT thats not how my game is in competition so its good to at least be more agressive and try passing their gaurd.

We had 3 belt upgrades from white to blue, one was ali who just turned 16 so could switch his green belt to blue rolling with him still frustrates the hell out of me becasue he's fast and uses positions the other guys just physically can't (i think he secretly trains yoga). Muneer and Jeff also got thier blue belt so congratulations I think that makes around 10 of us now? Reza also gave stripes out I was a bit surprised but also happy to get one as it feels like i just graded to blue not that long ago.

In other news lost my passport so probably won't be coming back to the UK before january as the uk embasy is having problems at the minute soo kinda bumed about that but at least it means I can plan my trip properly and maybe do the europeans or some other comps when i'm over.

Heres a couple of bjj quotes I found that I like

A real jiu-jitsu fighter does not go around beating people down. Our defense is made to neutralize aggression. "
-Helio Gracie

"The secret to this sport is while you are the nail hang in there, let them hit you. Untill the day that you become the hammer and then you smash them back." - Renzo Gracie

Pictures

Feeling too sick to write anything remotely intelligent or entertaining, was getting into a really good training routine till alex infected me with flu haha ahh well at least we get to spend some time together even if it is wrapped up in blankets watching californication and burn notice :)

Till I recover Here's some pics from training

sunshine and shwarma's

Not been to training much the last few weeks, not sure why, really lacking motivation as I just don't feel like I have a good training partner here so I've just gotten in to the habit of playing defensively and not doing a much else plus there are no competitions until the Europeans and that's if I manage to go mehh so things are a bit doom and gloom at the minute. Trying to check out if there are many females training in the UAE found that there was a purple belt called Ghalia Baggily teaching in dubai buuut shes not there any more, dropped her a message on fb asking if there were many other girls training there becasue I can't find any useful info on google!!! Had my birthday but it just made me feel homesick which is stupid seeing as this is technically home.

I'm still really enjoying capoeira it would be nice to do some stand up again too but maybe I'll just buy a punching bag for now as I don't think my body cant take any other more classes at the minute. I've been taking loads of vitamins for my joints, my fingers hurt like hell at the minute and look ooogly too (too much playing guard). Its helped a bit its a mix of glucosamine sulphate, msm and fish-oil so hopefully after a month they will take effect.

Recent academy news Alex Monsalve from Alliance is coming out for 2 weeks on the 15th november which means there will be 3 black belts teaching :)

I've been earning some money by doing circuit training, personal training and diet/nutrition plans which has been keeping me busy. See example diet for male athlete 76kg training 10h a week aim lose 2kg body fat maintain lean body mass

2300-2700kcal
Carbohydrate: 318g (1272 kcal) 55% total daily intake
Protein: 145g (580kcal) 25% total daily intake
Fat = 50g (423kcal) 20% total daily intake

80g (400kcal)surplus carbs for sports drink/recovery bars if needed on heavy training day


Breakfast (2h before training)
50g porridge oats
300ml skimmed milk
1 carton 150g low fat yogurt
100g berries


Midmorning snack 4 oat cakes
120g cottage cheese

Lunch (2-4 hours before training or 3 hours after last meal)
Low GL for slow release of energy during long training session
175g grilled white fish
1 large sweet potato 300g
1 portion of carrots 85g
1 portion of broccoli 85g


Post training High GI snack (if training in evening for quick absorption of glucose and replenishment of glycogen stores)
2 alpine bar
200ml chocolate milk
1 medium apple

Dinner 2-4 hours after training or 3 hours after last meal/snack

Brown rice 85g uncooked weight

120g grilled chicken

1 large portion 85g vegetables


Exercise wise I'm liking partner exercises as they work well and are also fun, most of them would fit in really well with bjj or any martial arts training as you can get a good conditioning work out in without the need for too much equipment.
Here's some video's I found on Youtube :)

Training lots

Well I have been back for a month now and training is going well. Haven't updated in a while which is rubbish seeing as all I have been doing in training due to lack of job! Anyways as we have a couple new teachers over from Brazil class times have changed to 2 hours at night from 7-9 and 1 hour in the morning from 10-11. My schedule has been looking somethings like this.

sunday: BJJ 10-11, Nogi 7-9
monday: Capoeira 6-7 BJJ 7-9
tuesday BJJ 10-11, 7-9
Wednesday: capoeria 6-7 BJJ 7-9
thursday: BJJ 10-11, 7-9
friday: off
saturday: capoeria 6-7 BJJ 7-9

Saying that I missed yesterday completely as I was tired and decided to take the guys out on the boat in the afternoon, so I crashed out early and slept through no gi training. My new Brazilian friends have labelled it with great amusement "vagabond style" As i still have no job and have just been training and showing them round Bahrain.

In other news I started doing capoeira, as we have a new teacher called Luciano who pretty much just defies gravity. I have been so focused on bjj that I thought it would be good to mix things up and try capoeria while I have the chance. The first class is a blur and I didn't really have a clue what was going on, my brain is defiantly more wired for fighting on the ground! We started by doing a warm up which included jumping over and ducking under some kind of stick and lots of stretching then he taught the basic stance or ginga position and worked on attack and defence from there. By the second class I was starting to pick up on some of the names and actually realise what was going on a bit more, this class we worked on handstands and headstands, headstands i can do but handstands still need a bit of work! I found it a bit more easy to get the rhythm when we were sparing at the end. I'm really enjoying the class so far I like the music played on the berimbau which is like a huge bow, the class gives me a completely different energy than bjj, for now I'm doing 3 classes a week but I'll see how it goes after a month I might start doing more.

Lilac Vulkan gi

I'm happy that my birthday and christmas are coming up - if anyone is wondering what to get me I really like this gi!- Tried on the new vulkan light weight and the fit is great and are really good quality. If anyone is looking for one you can get them from budovideos website (link under womans training gear) they deliver super fast, I was impressed when my friend ordered one and it found its way to Bahrain in a matter of days! Oh and I just read Georgette (see my blog roll) has ordered one and is going to review it so I'll be looking forward to reading that!

New BJJ Coach

We have a new bjj coach coming over in a few days, his name is Rodrigo Mangabeira, ever faithful youtube lead me to this video of him teaching at new generation.



I also pinched his bio from the Nova Geracao website

NAME: Rodrigo Afonso Alves
NICKNAME: Mangabeira
BIRTHDAY: 10. March 1979
NATIONALITY: Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
WEIGHT: 70 kg
HEIGHT: 1,75 m
SPORT: Jiu-jitsu, Boxe, Free Fly
BEGINNING: 1995
BELT: Black belt
SPECIALITY: Guard
MAIN TITLES : Brazilian Championship of Teams 2004
FAVOURITE ATTACK: Omoplata choke

So things will be changing at Reza's this month in terms of how many classes are available and timings and so on but I will post more on this soon. Check out Bahrain this month for an article on Reza if your reading this from Bahrain.

Back in Eastbourne my coach Tolly Plested won his first MMA fight, really proud of him as he was pretty injured but he still trained his ass off pushed through the pain and managed to win. I think Alex will post a more in depth blog of this at blackcatjiujitsu link in my blogroll.

I think I'm getting into a good training routine here, trained 5 days last week had to miss one no gi class but schedule was pretty much as follows. (*If your wondering why I start with sunday its becasue here the weekend is on friday and saturday, as Friday is Arabic holy day, like a sunday in the uk. It used to be on thursdays and fridays but they changed it last year so as to have an extra working day that coinsided with the western working week.)

sunday: no gi
monday: guard pass circuit
tuesday: normal/instruction class
Wed: no gi
thursday: Open mat/Sparring class
friday: rest
saturday: normal/instrucitonal class

Hopefully will manage to keep this up as I already feel myself getting better! And in other news I finally have a job interview on Monday so cross your fingers, toes and anything else you can think of for me, as I need to aquire some cash pronto!

Its been one week

OK so I'm feeling a bit more settled in with training. Had a good no gi class last night and tonight was open mat, which was a quick warm up followed by rolling for about an hour. I'm still getting used to the heat here and people actually kicking my ass so I rolled then rested one for the hour. Went with Sophia first, she's really strong but still has no base so I worked on my guard sweeps lots. Next I rolled with both the blue belts Ali and Hassan I worked on my guard for sweeps and the underarm control and very nearly got a triangle but the angle was just a fraction off. The 2 rolls that killed me were with Seena and Reza they are both quite light but know exactly where to put their weight so they feel like a 90kg guy. Still I think I managed to move a lot more than I used to with them. In October Reza is getting a Brazilian guy from Nova Geracao to come and teach so classes will maybe start running more than once a day which would be pretty kul, Also a new capoiera teacher so there will be lots of training to do!



I have been practicing lots on my swiss ball, got a larger than normal one as its really good for core stability and balance but I haven't quite mastered standing up on it and all the crazy stunts just yet!


In other news my friends from Btt slough that competed at Europeans in Switzerland did really well with issac winning his category in blue belt <65kg and doing really well against a huge guy in the absolute. Chin from his pics looks like he got 3rd in purple belt feather weight. Wish I had been there, I'm thinking the next competition I'm going to do will still be a while off which sucks as I love competing and it will be interesting to compete at blue belt as all the girls are at such a good level!