Some facts of my week after the Mundials
- I went from 200lbs to 209lbs (currently back down to 205 lol)
- I trained at Checkmat La Habra
- Trained with Rodrigo Texeira’s team a few times, i love those guys!
- Ate at In and Out Burger too much
- Shitty wi fi at the hotel I was staying in
- Hermosa beach, Venice beach… BEAUTIFUL!
- Venice is weirdoville though, I must confess.
- Trained at Shawn William’s Renzo LA on Wilshire blvd. (awesome guy!)
- Met some new friends, like Tommy from Rodrigo’s
- Realized through out the week how much I love bjj and how much hungrier I am to accomplish my goals.
BJJ History lesson. Rodrigo ‘Comprido’ Medeiros was the first ever first TRUE Absolute champion. I know Worlds started in ‘96, but in 2000 (correct me if I am wrong on the year) he won the absolute World title (IBJJF) then winning the Copa Do Mundo (CBJJE, the other major tournament a lot people stateside do not know about) in the same year. This guy is a pioneer.
This is a video of one of my favorite bjj players right now talking about the importance of everything! LITERALLY! I think this is the video that puts everything into perspective. JT talks about what should be going on in your training and as far your perception on competition, he talks about “the process” and DRILLING! The only sad thing is, is that I still haven’t had the opportunity to train with this guy although im always chatting it up with JT at tournaments.
props to www.shoyoroll.com for the video and Team Lloyd Irvin and JT.
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Getting better faster: Coming full circle?
In jiu-jitsu in my opinion to be great or one of the best in the world, and you can check out any past world champion and look at them and see that they are a well rounded Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter. I am sure you can find one or two who exclusively played guard, one being Pe de Pano who he himself said all he did was pull guard and win championships like that, but thats another post. What I am getting at is, the more i train the more I realize that you have to come full circle as soon as possible. I dont mean in the sense that you have to be great fast but that you have to have an idea from everywhere I believe. Meaning that, if you are under 3 years of bjj experience, then you should try and be good on top, good on bottom, and just basically have a good understanding of everything. A lot of times people just want to be on top or on bottom.
Look at the greats! They had top games and bottom games. Ryan Hall said something to this effect in an interview in the past, where he was discussing how he was just a bottom guy in the beginning when he was triangling everyone it seemed, and how that completely messed up his ascension to the top of the mountain in jiu-jitsu.
Me personally I believe I have taking gigantic strides in this aspect, where the first 12-15 months I was predominantly a bottom guy. During the last 7 months or so, I have become pretty good at passing. Honestly I pass pretty well, but I know i have a tremendous ways to go in improving my passing ability. I pass so well in fact that coupled with my improved conditioning, I feel more comfortable on top these days.
My school is predominantly top driven, so I have been getting remarkable help and instruction from Tim Burrill, he is the master of passing. I will be great at it as well!
In shape…?
Boy did I think I was in shape. WRONG! Today I took my act to Brown Stadium (Brown University), and did some hurdles with some sprints. In there i added some kettlebell work, with some jiujitsu related movements, as well as some isometric holds on the ropes plus pull ups,.. I did 3 rounds. I was going to follow that up with a leg workout involving the bleachers and some body weights and some kettlebell work. But I opted not to this time homies. Go ahead and laugh, I am not sure what it is, but I felt great fighting all those fights in all the tournaments doing the routines I did at my bjj academy. I know that the future holds super tough competition, and with that comes the need to prepare and train like a mad man. Right now I will push my level of cardio to the max, or what I feel that is. Usually that feeling involves seeing stars!
From now on, its on! 3 times a week cardio! With some strength movements involved. I am going to need the help of people for this though. Im talking piggy back rides up the stadium steps, resistance runs, guard pass drills, man I am going crazy!
I will write and let the blogospere know how its coming.
In other news. My finals are almost up and just in time for the Mundials! And with that, I will begin training a few times a week with Abmar Barbosa at his school and with Dan Simmler at his school to get some different feels before the Mundials. Its going to be fun! I hear Renan Borges (BTT Blackbelt) will be training with Abmar prior to the Mundials. So i might get to train with him, and I also hear that there will be other black belts in attendance too! Not to mention Abmar has some good purple belts. I hope I can help them as much as they’re going to help me. Last day of finals is the 12th!
IM PUMPED!
current weight: 203
Time to machine gun the competition!!
CUDDLE FUDDLE customized by Paulo Canabarro
