BJJ was cancelled because of snow. Continuing to work hard inspite of the snow, making it into a fun workout. Don’t let the weather stop you in your tracks.
keep training hard, because for sure your enemy/future opponent is training nicely and comfortably in better conditions.
My game for eating right and earning it
How are you sure that you deserve anything as far as competition is concerned? One way of thinking I totally agree with, is Tom Brands way of thinking, who is currently the head wrestling coach for Iowa Hawkeyes, one of the greatest teams ever, period. He goes to say, “You dont deserve anything, you only deserve what you earn!”
These words have had a profound effect in how I approach a lot of things, and truthfully I wish I had this kind of approach on my University studies, haha, but that is another post. So how do you know you deserve a victory or a gold medal at a tournament? Is there anyway to know? Of course, training hard, putting in effort, time, and energy. But every I feel as though everyone trains hard, rolls hard, does their sprints, so how do you know? More importantly how do I know? The honest answer is to live everyday like a champion. How do I know how a champion lives? I read, and read more, not about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters, because BJJ fighters just aren’t that chronicled, I have somewhat of an idea how my favorite fighters Terere, and Jacare have trained, but I don’t know their habits, what they do on a daily basis, and how they approach important things like drilling, strength and conditioning, mental preparation as it relates to getting ready for huge events. So I instead read about, NCAA wrestling champions, Olympic gold medalist in any sport such as Judo, and whomever else has to go through hell fire and brimstone to prepare for huge events, huge tournaments. And what I have found, and what I like best is Cael Sanderson’s suggestion of “living every single day like a champion”. When I read that, I knew at the time I was not doing the best I could and a lot of the details he was speaking about, which a lot was about my attitude towards preparing and just doing everything in our power to ensure we get the results we want. Since reading about Cael, I know that I have to prepare more, and do more, and after that do a little bit more. And what I have found is this game I made up out of no where for myself…
Everyday that I practice, I do a mini circuit after training, regardless of how I feel, and if I have done conditioning and strength that day. The circuits must include at least 3 of the following.If you want to play along, you can have your own exercises, these are some of Cael’s favorites and mine, and are the best for a grappler.
- Sprints
- Rope climbs
- Pull-ups
- Wall-sits
- Push-ups
- Planks or get on the roller thing
This part of the game is the MORE aspect of my training, just a little more of this, and I always feel like I could of done more, and when I do this after a training, I feel like I have done really well.
The other thing I am doing is 50 pullups after every practice, regardless of anything I have done previously, I will try and do the pullups in the circuit or if not (my gym does not have a pull-up station at the moment) I will do them at home on my doorway pull-up thingy.
The other game I am playing is that I DO NOT GET TO EAT UNTIL I HAVE COMPLETED THESE “MORE” CIRCUITS! This builds upon my discpline, to finish any and all tasks, and to make sure I am doing right by me, and not cheating myself, I am sooooo sure that Every champion I admire has not cut any corners, and neither will I. Dan Gable said it best, “if you don’t train, you don’t eat”. A little extreme for most people, but I have to maintain a certain weight, and Gable said this to his athletes on the off-season when they werent training and wrestling like they were during the on-season.
This is how I will earn GOLD at the 2011 BJJ World Championships, everyday I will earn gold, not 8 weeks out not 12 weeks out, but every second of everyday I will try my heart out to get .01 percent better.I am not in a big BJJ scene in Rhode Island, but who cares, I am going to work…
In closing, it is my belief that if you aren’t doing it everyday and your opponent has done more days more hours, minutes seconds then you, then you do not deserve that victory. This is about accountability and discipline Do you think you deserve and why?
I will continue to try and pay the price everyday…The idea is to never get tired.
**In other news**
Today I weighed 200lbs, already on weight for my division lol, and my roommate told me my abs are beginning to show after I did my pullups, this made me glimmer. Looking at this weight makes me think about fighting at 194lbs for CBJJ events. Hard work is visibly paying off, now its time to make my technique show when it counts. Also this game helps to improve your work ethic.
Fushida Mantis Gi Review
I have owned a total of 8 Gis, and this will be my first review of a gi, so be nice, lol? I have ouano’s, Koral’s, HCK double (first gi), a Vulkan. And I like pretty much all my gi’s for different reasons with exception to the Vulkan honeycomb I have, but thats a different post. First Fushida are a Canadian based company.
The feeling of building something
It has to be the way a professional sports athlete feels when he is tacked by nike to have a custom piece of appearal or gear tailored to them. They bring you in, sit you down and measure everything about you, nothing left to chance. Well this is how Candian based company Fushida make you feel. At first you try to see about ordering a Gi and before you can do that you have to send in this list of different measurements of your body. It feels like these guys are custom built the gi just for you. They call this design, “Tru-Fit”. Fushida seem to ensure that all their gi’s fit to specific body types, large, lean, regular, long body types.
First a picture of how it looks on me.
Customer Service
You will be dealing with one of the most responsive, most attention to detail persons you will meet online especially when it comes to a vendor of brazilian jiu-jitsu apperal. It is I’m sure hard enough in our humble sport to make a buck but too me it seemed that Christo cared a great deal about his product and his customers and future gi wearers. He could of just sent me any old gi that was close to my meausrements that I had sent to him, but no! Soon after I received an email saying I needed to do better measurements. Now at the time it was 3 in the morning for me and I just wanted to send something out to see what it was all about only to be contacted by Christo saying that there were many flaws in my measurements, again lol. I will be honest and say I measured everything as best I could and guestimated how my Gi measured up. Now anyone could have just sent anything to me not care or lose a single ZzZz in their nights rest. But eventually I got a hold of someone and actually did the measurements, and sent them to Christo while at class at my University! I really wanted to see what this custom fit gi thing was all about. And after all the emails, and there were many, Christo had shipped the gi to me, with free fast shipping! What a guy! So the gi came super fast! maybe 2-3 days later it came to my bjj school right as I was about to teach class no less.
The Gi in my opinion
As I stated previously, the gi had just arrived right as I was about to teach class, and my students and training partners were all there, and I had already put on another gi, when i tore the package open and put it on right then and there! The first thing I noticed about the gi was how rough to the touch it was compared to my other gi’s, but also how light it was. I was skeptical at first about the feel or the roughness. It fit me perfectly! I even spoke to my instructor about it, and he said that because it was so light feeling that I should weigh in no problems at CBJJ events, but also that since its rough to the touch to think about how hard I would be to be grabbed or be kept a hold of. And then i really bought into the gi, because The super easy feeling gis, I feel I can hold on to them for a long time, but rougher even double weave Gi’s are a tough to hold on to after a while.
How it fit me
The Fushida fit me perfectly as I stated earlier. Before the wash and after the wash it was even better! I lost maybe a half an inch or an inch on the sleeves. I washed it cold and hung dry it. Everything else felt a little more tapered around my chest, arms. The important and scarey thing to me was IBJJF inspections rright before you fight at an event. If your familiar with these inspections at events you will know that you need slack on your sleeves. That is if you hold your arms straight out your sleeve needs to hang about 2-3 inches. If it doesnt you do not pass inspection, and you will not be allowed to compete. I emailed IBJJF and they send me the measurements back and everything was fine. So I felt great in this gi while wearing it seemed almost snug I had never felt a gi that fit me like this, the Koral’s and Oauno’s were favorites of mine. Actuallly the Ouano was my favorite but it weighed to much. The Ouano weighed about 5.5 lbs..The Fushida a shocking 4 lbs. That means I can eat more before competitions or just feel at ease about weight!
The pants shrunk a little too. At first they were at my ankles then they were a little above my ankles. And just a tad snugger. The Gi is ripstop material and to this point I am not sure if IBJJF allows ripstop gi pants because the pants become slippery when they are wet, I have still yet to confirm these rumors.
Now it was my intention to find the perfect competition gi and I believe I have found it.
Some official stats and information from www.Fushida.ca:
- Pre-Shrunk 100% Lighter Weight Pearl Weave Cotton with RipStop Pant fabric
- “Fushida F” embroidery on both upper arms and bottom left pant leg, with Fushida “Mantis” chest patch on left lapel
- One-piece jacket construction
- All reinforcement edges taped for extra strength and durability
- Both jacket and pant side vents features full length oversized reinforcements with extra stitching for increased durability
- Pre-Shrunk RipStop pant fabric features increase durability and reduce shrinkage (RipStop feature available for a limited time only)
- Pant features 3/4 length double lined knee padding
- Pant with full gusset design reducing movement restrictions
- Four oversized tie loops increasing pant fit, strength and comfort
Fushida are like a breath of fresh air to the BJJ / Judo Gi market. I highly recommend everyone try a gi from them. Not only because of the great quality, or customer service but it is very easy on the pockets as well. The prices range for $100 to $150. You can’t beat the lowest price, which is what I paid for my Mantis gi.
The photos don’t do the pants justice, I will update this review with more pictures and all body shots, and also after I find out whether or not CBJJ allows ripstop pants.
Here are some more photos! I took them with the camera on my phone, but you guys should ‘get the picture’ =) I will explain a few things in the pictures. These pictures are of my gi that I have used for the past 3 or 4 weeks, twice sometimes 3 times during those weeks, so you might see some spots of hard training stains lol. (Pictures after the jump)
This review is my collective thoughts on Fushida as a company and a product review, another well written review of a Fushida gi, more specifically the Komodo whereas this review is on the Mantis, is Meerkatsu! http://meerkat69.blogspot.com/2010/08/bjj-gi-review-fushida-komodo-part-two.html#more
CUDDLE FUDDLE customized by Paulo Canabarro
