tallgeese

today- BJJ: Drilled on transition to high guard from guard. Then, worked into a shoulder lock followed by an armbar. Finished technical training by working the side to full mount transition and armbar finish. Free roll for 35 min.

Thanks, Patrick for putting this together in the first place. The best thing about this community is the way we actually discuss things. We respond back and forth and talk about topics, not just spout our opinion and move on like is so common on other sites. It leads to some interesting thoughts. Glad to be here. Happy Birthday KF!

today- abs 1 mile run 1.5 miles uphill on treadmill

Again, Richard, it's a matter of the connotations of the word. If a modern art is designed around combative principles for the purpose of harming another individual in actual physical confrontations then it's close enough for me if that's the word you want to describe it. If you'd like to use another word, this is also fine with me. Personally, and that's all it is, I do view training in the martial arts as warrior preparation. It's convenient to describe the mindset training and the reason I do it. For me, ma's has little to do with self improvement, cultural understanding or esoteric knowledge. It's about fighting. Given the evolution of the word and it's connotative meanings, it seems to sum it up. But it's a convenient classification, nothing more.

Of course. Often, they are designed with that in mind.

The best thing to do is just set the time aside at the beginning of the week and don't let anything short of total disaster keep you from training during that time. Make it as much as your schedule will allow and stick to it. It's far better to be regular twice a week than train six days one week then not hit the mat again for three weeks. Everyone has time management issues. It's even harder when you have a broad set of skills that you want to maintain and others you want to progress in. I actually was a bit opposite. I had plenty of training time during college. Of course, I prioritized it a bit more then Now I have a harder time with getting what I feel is plenty of mat time. Families and jobs are much less forgiving than classes and professors. That being said, schedule it and stick to it. One trick I like is to cool down after cardio or weights by hitting the heavy bag, BOB or doing rolling drills with my Boomer dummy. Sometimes, I just shadow box or do mat drills. Any way I do it, I go light and technique heavy for 10-15 min. That usually gives me 2-3 more mini session per week. That's anther 45 min or so per week of training split out as to not be noticed. That's almost another class per week for drill time. When you do the math, it starts to add up. Good luck staying focused and on track.

Yeah, bad news. I agree, that maybe one of the high ranking students could continue on teaching. If nothing else, you've made good local contacts to train with. Maybe some informal work on the side?

Bummer.

today- 3.5 mile run

I kind of agree, however, if one doesn't live as one then you won't be one when the need arises. It needs to permeate you. Whether you call it "warrior" or "fighter" or "guy ready to do anything up to and kill another human being should the need arise", doesn't matter. Times are different now than when the term was coined. Usage will evolve as well. Forrest Morgan makes a comment in his book, Living the Martial Way, that true warriors can be hard to find even among soldiers and sworn law enforcement. It's mindset that defines the term to him. I tend to ascribe to this train of thought. However, unless one is realistically addressing training all the mindset in the world will come to naught. It takes both. Again, I don't get to caught up in the term. Just the idea behind it.

today- 1.5 mile run back/bis abs

yesterday- BJJ nite: Drilled closed guard sweep and set up. Transitioned to a triangle from there and worked on defeating the counter. moved to top game and drilled taking mount from side followed by breaking the arm bar down. Free roo for 35

This is one of those arguments that has merit, but can get rather circular. It depends heavily on the definitions that one chooses to use. In the end, I think it matters little. Train for what you're in it for. Train hard and be ready. Past that, who cares?

The biggest improvement I've made is the ground game since really getting into pure BJJ. I'd like to think that my knife skills have come along as well with the big block of work I did on them mid year and the maintainance since.

Griffin Koscheck Nogueira Parisyan Sadollah Saunders Thiago Kendall Grove Brock Larson Camoes Sotiropoulos

That wasn't my experience, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't the norm for a lot of people. This was probably more prevalent a generation or two of ma-ist ago, when there was much more emphasis placed on stylistic boundaries than on cross training and less research into actual altercations and responses.

today- 1.5 mile run legs/shoulders 10 min cool down on Boomer. Drilled 1/2 guard game. Repped kimura set ups and sweeps.

today- 3.5 mile run back/bis

Agreed. But that's really no different than walking into any ma school.

I've had good effect with the lead hand backfist thrown in conjunction with a rear hand trap. It invovlves and explosive closure of the distance gap and a read hand trap/pat of their lead guard/jab. This allows you to go over the top of the trapping hand with a backfist thru the opening you created with the trap. It's been a good tool for me in multiple venues. Definatly worth a shot.

In most circumstances, Jay, I agree with you. And this coming from a guy who's done a lot of joint manipulation over the years. The one circumstances where they come into their own, even more than hitting, is in defense against weapons. In most cases, just hitting back will get you cut or beat with a stick more, or shot, ect. Joint manip here comes into play because isolating the weapons becomes primary. For this, they really become preeminent.

today- 1.5 mile run chest/tris abs/forearms

yesterday- BJJ nite: Drill sweeping technique from half guard. Moved on to rounds from position. Worked on escaping/maintaining and submitting from mount; maintaining/escaping guard; and maintaining/escaping half guard. Finished with 45 min free roll.

Drilling builds tools and sharpens fundamentals. Those are two things that you can never get enough of no matter your time in. After quite a while doing movements that make up what I do, I still work on the right angle, the right timing, everything to make it more perfect. More useable under duress. That's only possible when you're intimately familiar with the movement. You achieve that thru drilling under a variety of conditions using a variety of modalities. Not just sparring away. I agree that wide open sparring is also important, but certainly not more so than working movements thru drilling. That's the core of improvement. Drilling properly is the purview of the coach and I'd rather make certain my guys are getting the movements correct and in an usable fashion than having them go rounds on one another. You really can't afford for them to drill it wrong. I'd rather have them spar on their own. Again, I'm not saying sparring is bad. Quite the opposite, I think it's a great training tool. But one that has to be used right and in conjunction with everything else needed to build a great martial artist.

I just got done picking for this fight card up in that section. I have to say, I didn't recognize a lot of the guys this time. Still, I just had to say, despite picking Couture in his bout, I think Vera has the potential to really give him a run. I hope Randy's training camp has been taking this one seriously. I can't imagine that it hasn't, his is one of the best in the sport in my opinion. But Vera might give him a good fight. Looking forward.