[KenTheWalrus]

7.15.07

I went down to Ypsilanti to watch the juniors and meet sensei and his friends. The shitty part is that I didn’t get down there until 3:00 and they had already wrapped up by then. I feel pretty crumby about that.

I have a lead on a potential manager/promoter so I decided to get right back up on the heavy training horse again. Instead of going back to the heavy two-a-days I’m going to try lighter three-a-days Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and two-a-days Tuesday and Thursday. The breakdown looks like:

Monday
1st – Light Cardio, stretching
2nd – Heavy Cardio, core, stretching, light resistance
3rd – Light Cardio, stretching, club

Tuesday
1st - Light cardio
2nd – Judo

Wednesday
1st – Light Cardio, stretching
2nd – Heavy Cardio, core, stretching, balance ball/yoga
3rd – Light Cardio, stretching, club

Thursday
1st - Light cardio
2nd – Judo

Friday
1st – Light Cardio, stretching
2nd – Heavy Cardio, core, stretching, balance ball/yoga
3rd – Light Cardio, stretching, heavy weights

Saturday
Cardio

Sunday
Cardio

It seems like a lot of cardio, and it is, but I’m hoping to get the tank big and full. The necessary athletic goals I have to meet first, before I feel comfortable taking any fights, are endurance, flexibility, and strength. I’m not worried about weight right now, I’m comfortable in heavyweight.

I started the routine today thinking that the days off I took last week would catch up to me, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was all good.

I’ve been thinking and working with using the rubber guard to set up the butterfly hook. It’s coming into place nicely the past couple of days and I think I might pull it out this week. If it doesn’t catch then I’m going to keep working on the ever elusive gogoplata for a sub. I’m hoping Jay and the guys aren’t too tired from going to the juniors to practice no-gi tonight. -ken

[KenTheWalrus]

08.03.07

I don't even remember the last time I posted in this log. I think it was last week sometime. Anyway...

I popped a bone in my wrist last friday. I popped it back in, but it still feels a bit weak even a week later.

I took my kata tests with Jenny. I ended up with the nickname "The Walker" after I stood up in katame-no-kata after the bow and walked over to my spot as uke. I thought to myself "this is way too easy, I'm forgetting something." As soon as I laid down it hit me and I made a loud groaning noise. It was kind of funny and sensei laughed. The next day at MSU he told sensei Sheehan and we had a laugh about it. Jenny burned me with the nickname and a few of the guys rubbed it in pretty well.

Ju-no-kata went really well. I think we would have done a better job if we had slowed down.

I need to find a nage-no-kata partner so I can start competing in kata. I want either Matt or Cameron since they are so tall.

I went to club Wednesday and there were only a few of us. It was cool because I got a lot of attention on isolating different problem areas for a lot of throws. I have a better sense of tomoe nage and where to get the trajectory for uke. I'd been using the drop to off balance, but not really to lift. Now I can get lift by aiming further behind uke. My seoi nage timing is much better. The turn was messing me up and it was more of my grip for ippon than the actual footwork. By keeping my wrist straight I can get more grip and I don't need to overcompensate with my footwork. Harai goshi is better too, now that I grip the bottom of the skull with my forearm.

I should start working on ashi uchi mata. Koshi is pretty good, ashi needs some work.

I have a goal to up my conditioning to a competition status. There are comps at the end of this month, next month, and then the Great Lakes Open. I'll be using the next couple of comps to gauge my progress.

I'm probably going to go check out a muay thai and bjj school next Monday. I'm hoping to get to the Gurgel affiliate next week or the week after. It's a drive, but I have nothing other than laziness and fear keeping me from actually working towards my MMA goal. -ken

[KenTheWalrus]

8.24.07

It's been awhile since I posted so it's about time I did it again.

That bone that popped out has caused me a lot of problems. My wrist was pretty sore for the last few weeks. I took time off of technique training and concentrated on cardio and lifting for endurance and lifting for power.

I helped Sensei Flagg and Sensei Sheehan move all the mats out of the combat room at MSU and then move most of them as well as the new mats back in. The competition area at the MSU comps is going to be pretty sweet. The downside is that there will be more mats equalling less recovery time in between matches. Maybe I can use this knowledge to my advantage.

It's that time of year again and all of my focus is going to be on the Great Lakes Open. I have put together a team from LCC for the team competition and to support each other in the individual divisions. I have to talk over the details with sensei and then we can contact Mr. Saito. I'm still unsure of how many divisions I'm going to enter. I've given up on doing kata. I'm still torn between competing in the masters or not.

Matt told me I need to keep my eyes open for him in the finals.

We laid some foam under the mats at LCC last night. It was alot easier than moving the mats at MSU.

I've invited the team over to watch the UFC on Saturday. I think it's important for us to spend some time together meshing as a team whlie outside of the dojo.

Sensei wants me to go to MSU more often so I can work with Joern when he gets back from surgery. I've never had the pleasure of working with him since he has been injured. Everyone I have talked to has a great deal of respect for him so I hope I'll get the chance to plan a strategy with Joern before the GLO.

A new crop of students arrived at LCC. Most seem interested in MMA instead of judo for judo's sake. Whatevers clever. One guy came in with athletes foot and complained when sensei told him to take his socks off. Why do people need to be told to take care of their medical issues? Wouldn't a person want to take care of that as soon as it becomes apparent?

Jay went and checked out the Jorge Gurgel affiliate in Grand Rapids. He said it was pretty cool so we will probably start going there. I still want to check it out for myself before I drop any cash on it. They did some spider guard but not really spider guard stuff. Jay tried to show me, but with only one class it wasn't very technical. It screamed "leg lock" as soon as Jay put me in it.

What I'm working on:
tsukuri on seoi nage to exploit my shortness as a strebgth against other 100+kg

tsukuri for osoto gari to adjust my weight onto uke's shoulder instead of loading my leg and then transferring the weight behind

guard passes... guard passes... guard passes...

sweeps... sweeps... sweeps...

ude garami from everywhere. Next week I'll concentrate from the guard.

I should post more often so I don't have to read these long ass posts when I get back to this log. -ken

[Darph]

Here's my Judo log. :-D

Dewimping myself.

[KenTheWalrus]

The team I've formulated for the GLO came over to watch the UFC on Saturday. We had a good time. I was a little too buzzed and turned into a "know-it-all". This marks the last night of drinking for a little over a month while I prepare for the tournament. I tried to get some info from the guys about strategy and we talked about the rules a bit. This will be the first shiai for Cameron and Andy so we'll be working on keeping a mental focus.

Jay still doesn't trust his shoulder. I'm not sure how much of it is from the actual injury and how much of it is from worrying about getting injured again. It took Matt quite awhile to get back into the groove after he separated his shoulder. I'll give Jay the benefit of the doubt and say that he knows how his body feels. The downer is that I was depending on him to be one of the anchors for the team. I need to refrain from putting as much pressure on the team to succeed as I put on myself. Jenny will keep me in check if I ask her to.

Last week we had a really big storm and it knocked down a gigantic branch in the back yard. The branch was still hanging in the tree and was close to falling into the neighbor's garage, so I decided to move it by myself. I chopped some of the larger branches off with an axe and went to work on moving the heaviest of the branches. As I was lifting the branch over my head I lost my grip and it came down onto my chest. In that split second I fell back on my judo training as I fell back into my neighbor's garage. I didn't resist the force since the branch was maybe a couple hundred pounds. Instead I used the force to fly backwards and then used ukemi on the garage. It was awesome. I have some hamburger for a left pec, but I was all smiles. It makes me feel pretty good that my judo training is taking over and I'm using it as instinct in non-combat environments. It's when stuff like this happens that I realize that I am assimilating all the studying and practice into my repertoire. I'm going to supplement a few workouts to chop up that mess in the back yard. That axe work gave me a grip workout like I haven't had in a long time...

I did mess something up in my knee last week. I thought it was just sore from lifting heavy, but the pain isn't going away like it should. I'm thinking it's a combination of bone fragments, which I've had trouble with my entire life, a sore ligament, loss of cartilage, and muscle pain. I can work through the pain on most everything, but I'm not skipping rope for at least a week. That sucks too. The rope work was my bread and butter cardio/footwork. I'll see how it feels on Wednesday when MSU comes back after the two week break.

Monday
Circuits for cardio.
Taking it easy. Work upper body (shoulders mostly), core, and chop some wood.
Uchikomi

Tuesday
Work lower body as much as I can without risking damage to my knee. I'll need to circuit train my ass off to make up the loss of skipping rope.
Uchikomi

Wednesday
Circuits again for the cardio.
Upper body (focus on pulling and pushing), hips, bridges, rolls.
Chop more wood.
Judo at MSU.
Uchikomi

Thursday
If the leg is cool, some light jogging or other cardio. I'll probably be tired of doing circuits by then.
Core and muscle endurance (focusing on arms and legs if possible)
Uchikomi

Friday
Hopefully I'll be able to skip rope, at least a little.
Uchikomi
Work on reaps and sweeps, if the leg is cool.
Pushing and pulling, hips, bridges, rolls.
Hand speed, grip, and leg speed. Throw in some core rotation for speed If I feel frisky.

Diet
I'll need some lean beef on Tuesday and probably Thursday. No pork for the next month.
Stick with pretty much the same medium fat, high protein, low sugars that I've been doing.

Keep working on the Musashi article and concentrate on controlling everything I have the ability to. Everything I give up now will be worth it when October comes around. -ken

[KenTheWalrus]

8.29.07

I worked on sacrifice counters, foot sweeps, and seoi nage at MSU. During randori I made the mistake of pulling guard for a scissor sweep when I was tired and had my "scissor" facing the wrong way. My opponent, a white belt named Brad, took advantage and put a nice kesa on me. I learned from my mistake and adjusted.

My knee held out. I didn't expect it to, but then again, I don't really feel pain once I get going. I guess that's the one upside from having an over-active adrenaline gland. (I guess the insomnia can be useful at times)

I need to work on my leg endurance. I also need to work on my breathing. I caught myself holding my breath on kake.

I need to work on Hane Goshi, Sasae Tsurikomi Ashi, and osaewaza (360) transitions. -ken

[KenTheWalrus]

8.31.07

Worked on breathing and mental focus, hadaka jime, okuri eri jime, escapes from kesa, deashi.

Escaping from kesa with both arms under control is harder now, for some reason. I need to figure out why I'm struggling with this.

I worked on sweeps and reaps during randori. They are coming along slowly.

My cardio is leaps and bounds better than it was a few months ago.

I fell like I'm getting worse, which usually means I'm getting better. It feels like I'm gearing up for a break-through and I'm shedding what was wrong in favor of what was right. It's that paying your dues feeling.

I'm torn between going to MSU tonight or staying home. It's kata night and I'm really not feeling the kata right now. I'd rather lift heavy than practice kata. I also want to take a step back for the holiday weekend and let the past week soak in. But, I feel like a quitter when I think of not going.

-ken