promotion

so last week, I was finally promoted to the blue belt after about almost 2 years of BJJ training. It felt good knowing that this meant progress was going on after hours of hard work that results in many hours of sweating, fatiguing, and learning. Some pain involved also. ALong with competition jitters and anxieties from awaiting your matches which feels like an eternity of torment until it does take place, it all calms. Then you look back and say that was awesome and you want to do it again.  Rinse, repeat, add more, learn.

It's actually quite simple to get promoted and advance in skill with bjj or anything else in general.

1-understanding what you need to do

2-go out and execute action with tireless effort

3-keep an open mind

The steps are simple in concept but to actually do? Not so easy

cookies and milk

that is like the perfect combination for getting a new 30 pound donut around your waist. Why did they have to make the stuff so good and addicting? Not the cookies that are cheap and overly processed but that stuff with natural and organic ingredients. Add that to some organic milk and then it's time to go overboard. I just had 14 cookies and 6 large glasses of milk. Need more!

honey, please!

High Fructose Corn Syrup-What do I do?

 

The much heated debate for quite a while now is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). While many blame this overused and cheap form of sugar for being responsible for a plethora of health complications, many others argue this and say it is perfectly safe. Let’s take a look at some facts.

 

-HFCS is relatively new. We don’t know the long term health effects of it but, we may very well be witnessing it right now in front of our eyes as our new generations who have had the most exposure to it takes on an incredible obesity epidemic.

 

-Products containing HFCS have tried to advertise their products as “all-natural.” Fortunately, this was disputed in the court of law and found in favor of the opponents of this deceitful advertising scheme. HFCS undergoes heavy processing and requires at least one genetically modified enzyme to be produced.

 

-Supporters of HFCS claim that it is natural and fine when consumed in moderation. Well, there’s a huge problem. Nearly all packaged foods nowadays contain HFCS and it usually more often than not, lies near the top of the ingredients list meaning it is a primary ingredient. With people eating foods containing HFCS everyday, that is hardly considered a practice of “moderation.”

 

-HFCS is mainly found in foods that are already considered junk food. The bigger problem with this is that it has now crept its way into every kind of food imaginable. We find the stuff in whole wheat bread!

 

-Drinks sweetened with HFCS have been found to be quite rich in harmful carbonyl compounds. Diabetics are found to have elevated levels of carbonyl compounds and they have been linked to ailments such as eye and nerve damage.

 

-Supporters of HFCS usually are made up of those who benefit from it. Corn manufacturers and beverage producers back HFCS as it is largely used for them.

 

Other articles

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I don't know about others but for me, pass the raw honey please!

 

 

            

lifting weights.....boring style

With living a healthy lifestyle on a list of things to do for me,  exercise takes its place among one of the most important factors. It helps keep me sane and provides a nice outlet to expand on. With doing BJJ, exercise seems merely like play as the time passes by quick and is enjoyable and I can feel progress by measuring myself against others. Too bad injuries happen though. Walking around for the last week with an injured tailbone, I haven't been able to do much exercise. The only exercise I have been able to do are some very static upper body lifts with lighter weights.

My workout:

Tuesday  

flat bench w/45 lb barbell for 2 sets of 20 reps (warm up)

flat bench at 115 lbs for 3x10

biceps curl w/30 lbs barbell for 3x18

shoulder flexion (front raise) w/12.5 lbs for 3x10

shoulder abduction (lateral raises) w/12.5 lbs for 3x10

Wednesday

rotator cuff exercises-3X10 (L&R) internal, external rotation and horizontal abduction pull

lat pull downs w/70 lbs for 3x15

bent over triceps kickback w/10 lbs dumbbell for 3x20

hammer curls w/12 lbs dumbbell for 3x12

overhead dumbbell press w/10 lbs dumbbell for 3x15 

I know the 2 workouts above looked horrible but there isn't much else I can do for now being injured. Sometimes with the slightest shift of weight while holding heavy weights is gonna hurt even if it doesn't seems like much. I guess the 2 workouts could have been structured better but they both took less than half an hour but yet I though I would have dropped dead in the weight room from boredom. Is that even possible, to die from boredom? I guess the closest thing would be just falling asleep. Since I am not able to do my normal strength training routine which include mostly Olympic lifts and other multi jointed exercises, I would be bored to death as I am experiencing right now. I see many people who only do single jointed exercises all day and their routine revolves around it. I don't know if in that case I would have the fortitude of mind to be interested in exercising anymore. Thinking more, if the only exercising I did was just cardio and static weights, I can see why people lack motivation to even get started or miss a couple days of their program. For an individual like myself and many others, even if there were a strong behavioral change involved, it would be quite a challenge. But then again, thank goodness for Olympics lifts and to BJJ for keeping things interesting.  

Brazilian Jiujitsu.......burnout...pain is bad

Well, after being a white belt for nearly 2 years and the possibility of a promotion to the coveted blue belt for a couple months now with nothing materializing. After some quite hard work, effort, a messed up elbow from an armbar cranked too hard, competing in 4 tournaments, and a major infestation of ringworm on only me, it felt good to finally take my test to be considered for a promotion. I don't know if I passed or not yet as my instructor needs to get back to me because although almost achieved, there is a possibility of failure as nothing is guaranteed. My BJJ instructor does things differently as most instructors feel if you are ready, they hand the blue belt over to the well deserved student. My instructor has you take a test if he thinks you are ready for the next level. 

Testing consists of showing nearly every position you can think of. a short list including takedowns, submissions from mount, guard, side control, and back, escapes from mount, side, and back. sweeps from open, closed, and half guard, and escapes from numerous ways of joint manipulation and air/blood constriction. Sounds fun to know all this?

Me and my longtime training partner took it together and this examination took nearly 4 hours. To make this worse, taking an type of test when you are having a major crash from nearly 5 cups of light roast coffee in the morning  is not the greatest idea in any situation. Being a physical test, having literally pain on my ass that rates 9/10 isn't splendid. After a great day yesterday, my training partner misinterprets a sweep from our instructor and knees me in the ass right on the tailbone. It was like a homing missile meeting it's target. Although unintentional, I was in a world of hurt the entire time safeguarding my bottom like I just dropped the soap in a prison facility. Near the end of the 4 hour test, it was more of a mentally issued challenge as the gray matter in our heads became more and more fried from information overload. 

After my tail heals, it is ready to step it up to the next level.