[UrbanSavage]

Stats: 20 years old. 5'10". 190 lbs. No idea of body fat, fairly trim.

Supplements: Multi-vitamin, omega 3 fish oil, joint support and whey protein.

Nutrition: I try to eat healthy, but honestly I eat what I want most of the time because I usually need as much food as I can get to recover from conditioning or BJJ.

I've been as low as 165 lbs. when I had no muscle and as high as 210 when doing a lot of weightlifting.

Past training: A year and a half of muay thai, after training muay thai for a year, no-gi BJJ got incorporated into the mix. After 6 months of training both, I dropped muay thai due to not liking the gym and for the past year I've been very focused on jiu jitsu.

About 6 months ago, my school incorporated gi classes into the training, so that 3 gi classes are available a week and 3 no-gi.

I've done a small amount of heavy lifting, the heaviest I was ever able to lift was: squat 295x2, DL 295 x 2 and Bench 225 x 6. I eventually decided to cut out heavy lifting altogether because I get big extremely easily, and I was putting on mass like nothing and my cardio and BJJ went downhill quick.


I learned that conditioning is a natural weak point for me, but when I'm doing a lot of circuit training/burpees/sprints, my BJJ/cardio is great and I've made that my second priority outside of BJJ. I'd like to lose a bit of mass, as well.

Also, I've always been considerably flexible for a guy my size, and as of late I bought an asthanga yoga DVD and have been trying to do that once a week in addition to the yoga class I do at my community college once a week.

So, my goals really boil down to this, and in this order:
1: Improve BJJ (Gi and No-gi)
2: Attain very good conditioning
3: Improve flexibility
4: Lose some body mass

Reason for log:
The real reason I plan on doing this log is because I've been planning on taking notes after BJJ classes on techniques, so that I stop forgetting so many great techniques that I want to incorporate into my game. So, I figured I'll post it here and I'll post my conditioning workouts as well.

Right now, my conditioning workouts are just whatever I really want to do and think will be directly beneficial to my BJJ training, but I recently purchased Ross Enaimit's Infinite Intesnity and as soon as I gather all the necesarry supplies, I'll be starting his 50 day routine.

Hopefully, I can stick with this log, as I think it will be beneficial for my BJJ training.

[UrbanSavage]

Sunday: 10/7
No-gi BJJ

Warmed up with kimuras from the guard and then kimuras from the half guard.

We then moved into some techniques from half and butterfly guards.

Technique 1: Sweep from half guard
Person's in my half guard, my right leg is over his right leg. I'm posturing up by using my left arm to put up a frame in front of his chest/shoulder while blocking his left elbow.

I then use my right arm to push his left arm over my head and sit up and grab my opponents right hip with my left hand.

To finish the sweep, I use my right arm to block his left knee and I push off my left foot to sit up and take him over my right side.

Technique 2: Half guard to butterfly guard sweep
Person's in my half guard, my right leg over his right leg. I get to my right elbow by keeping a frame with my left arm and then scooting my hips out and following up with bringing my head out, I can then get to my right elbow.

At this point, I swim for an underhook with my left arm and get my left foot into my opponents right thigh for butterfly guard.

I then grab above my opponents left elbow with my right hand and clamp down over his wrist with my elbow. To finish the sweep, I turn his shoulders over with my grips and bring my head to the mat on my right side and finish in side mount.

Technique 3: Triangle from half guard
Start in half guard, my right leg over his right leg. I bring my left knee in front of his stomach and sit up and take an overhook. I then move my left knee out and place my left foot on opponents right hip.

Then, I can bring my right leg out of half guard and put it over opponents head to start the triangle. I pop my hips up to bring his right arm over to finish.

Rolling: An hour of rolling
Started with a match in front of class. Went against a good wrestler. Got taken down but didn't get my guard passed, almost finished with a kimura but he got out. Match ended on time.

Pretty happy with how I did in rolling. Instructor gave me a tip on a setup for the brabo choke from side mount and then some RNC defense tips.

Biggest thing I'm working on right now in rolling is, "tightening up my game". I'm trying to perfect my pressure and minimize unnecesarry movements and make my opponent make all the mistakes.

[UrbanSavage]

Monday: 10/8
Conditioning
I did something I read about on-line called 40/40/60's

You sprint 40 yards and jog back, sprint 40 yards again and jog back, then sprint 60 yards and walk back. You do this 10 times.

I've been doing this routine weekly, and will keep doing it until it's not a big challenge anymore.

Did alright with it today, but sprints from sets 7-10 weren't the best.

[UrbanSavage]

Tuesday: 10/9
Gi BJJ

Trying to remember everything we did today. Sokoudjou stopped by my BJJ club after practice, because he used to do some training with our club so he hung out and talked with us for about a half hour after class. Even though I used to train with him all the time in muay thai and BJJ, can't help but feel startstruck around him now. He's a real cool guy, though.

Anyway, we back to BJJ, we warmed up with pulling the guard.

Technique 1: Sweep
Pull guard, pull opponent over you by hooking his knees and then spreading out your knees. As you spread out your knees, slide your hands to his ankles and pull them towards you as you sit up.

Technique 2: Sweep
Pull guard and pull opponent over you by hooking his knees. Throw your leg over his into a footlock position then turn the foot that's pressing into his hip inward, and use your knee to bend his leg. Then, get your footlock hand and underhook his leg. Hook his leg over the back of his kneecap and press your shoulder into his shin, and stand up into him.

Technique 3: Sweep
Everything the same as last sweep, but for the finish, put the bottom of your shin into the back of his other kneecap, and use your other foot to push into the same leg. Use the underhook you have on his leg to stand up and put him on his back.

Technique 4: Clock Choke
Standard clock choke. Opponent's turtled, I'm on his left hip. Go under and through his right arm and grab his left lapel with my right arm. With my left hand, go under the chin and grab his right lapel. Walk in front of his shoulder and put my head and his head to the mat and keep walking.

Technique 5: Clock choke
Same as last, but only use the left handed grip. Put my right elbow on the left side of his head and sit out in front of his shoulder with my belly up, for the finish.

Rolling:
Went well. Workd a lot of cross guard. Instructor made me go against a bunch've different guys in a row to try to tap everyone.

Note to self:
When setting up armbar from mount or sidemount with chokes, make sure it's tight before I sit back with them. The armbar's already set up, so I can afford to take more time and be tigher with it.

[finnegan]

Nice intro post. Do you plan on competing in any of your disciplines?

[UrbanSavage]

Yeah, just recently did my first BJJ tournament, a 2 day gi and no gi. Planning on doing another soon, same deal, 2 day gi and no gi.

Almost did a muay thai smoker before I quit, but my instructor knew I had started BJJ and was basically bitter and he hates MMA. So, he had stopped really helping me in training and wasn't even letting me spar anymore.

I want to get into judo and boxing, as well, before ultimatly getting into MMA.

Also been following your RPM log, I'm thinking of getting some RPM and AN's new supplement Drive.

[finnegan]

If you do, stack it with Beta Alanine. If it comes down to budget issues *looks around nervously* go with the BA.

[ghostwipe]

So, how did you find the transition from no-gi to gi? How are you finding both now?

[UrbanSavage]

Finnegan- Alright. Yeah, I have a supplement leftover still from when I was lifting that has BA in it.

ghostwhipe- It was real hard at first, starting gi training. Guys I was much better than in no-gi could tap me out in gi. It took some serious getting used to, about a month before I was comfortable.

I'm honestly still much better in no-gi, but I now love training gi as it's fun to me now and I find that it improves my no-gi game a lot.

[UrbanSavage]

Missed a few workouts/BJJ sessions because nothing notable was done/learned.

Monday:10/15
Conditioning

Did 40/40/60s this morning. Felt like shit because of so much drinking over the weekend. I'm going to really make the effort to only drink once a week from now on, not both Friday and Saturday. Eventually, cutting down drinking to only special occasions.

Monday: 10/15
No-gi BJJ

Warmed up with a single leg setup. Practice grabbing the bag of their head with the right hand, and as soon as their right hand comes to grab the back of mine, I use my left hand to push up at their elbow and grab their right leg with my right hand and pick up a single.

Technique 1: Half guard to singleMy right leg is over their right leg. I take an underhook and use it to help it over my head as I sit out underneath it and collect a single leg or take the back.

Technique 2: Side Choke to Brabo
Worked a standard side choke first (I believe that's the name). I have the side choke and I allow some extra space and help their knees point the opposite way and encourage them to roll. As soon as they roll, I lock in the Brabo choke, making sure to have kept the arm tight in the neck the whole time with my torso.

Rolling:
Did about an hour of rolling, though. Went awesome. Didn't gas out once and was hitting this one sweep I don't know the name of, a lot. Also, my arm drag is really getting to be a strong weapon of mine.

Instructor was really happy with how well I was doing, so I'm happy. He wants me to continue working on tightening up my game and perfecting my pressure, he's really trying to bring me to the next level, which is awesome.