Deborah's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & Arnis-Eskrima Training

Well, I guess three, okay four months is long enough to keep thinking, "I should update my blog..."   The reason for the absence?  The combination of busy schedule, a tad bit of laziness, a new work schedule.  The usual suspects. A quick update:  I am on a new squad!  (For those not in the know, I am a police officer in San Diego).  My new gig is on the Gaslamp Quarter Bike Team.  We work weekend nights in the thick of all the partying and pandemonium the Gaslamp Quarter begats, which makes for my shift being 10 hours of running comedy.  I was interested in the team months ago, and the sergeant approached about joining them, but I turned it down because swat tryouts were two months away (at the time) and I did not want to mess with my workout schedule.   I knew joining the bike team would require new uniforms (expensive), attendance of a bike class (time), and the usual breaking in period with a new team.  This time however, I t...

Before I begin, let me tell you all how GREAT it is to be back on the mats.  I had to skip last week due to an incredibly annoying-headache-inducing-unable-to-breath sinus infection, but I am better now.  I love the process one has when returning after a short absence.  The hugs, the exclamations of joy, the camaraderie, the always understanding ears and nods of understanding when explaining why I have not trained in two (!yikes!2) months. My timing was slightly off, but my game had more....explosion, more verve.  All those push-ups and pull-ups and sit-ups and all those laps and laps and laps around the track....all the time I spent getting to know my new friend "anaerobic" not only prepared me for SWAT tryouts (which I'll be doing again), but sharpened a few dull edges.  My cardio fitness is better, not that it was awful before, but now it's solid.  Instead of just "getting through" the last roll or two, I have real stamina for the next go-around. ...

Eloquence escapes me right now. Bluntness plays my gray matter like children's toy. 440m run: 79 seconds...:) Push-ups: 48...:) Sit-ups: 48...:) Pull-ups: 6..:) Obstacle Course: 4:07...:(. Needed to be under 4:00.  Almost got there but I got hung up with the final two obstacles for toooo long. I am disappointed.  and yet my undying optimism steps in like Auntie Mame.  When I started down this path in February I could hardly knock out 15 push-ups, pull-ups were a pipe dream, and my sit-ups were so so.  My 440 time?  Laughable like frozen molasses. Now.  now I have fast twitch muscle.  I can sprint.  I can work to the point of exhaustion, to the point of exhaustion, and then harness the power of adrenalin, and wield it like a sword.  I learned today however, that adrenalin can wield right back at you, and rip it's power away.  I went at this last 6-foot wall today like a blood-thirsty piranha sent from hell and my usually ...

This is my new best friend, which I have named Jacob, after my nephew.  My pull-up bar is named Ellie, after my niece.  Keeping these wonderful impressionable kids in my mind as I prepare for swat tryouts provides motivation to push farther.  Sorry for the horizontal image.  My editing skills are sad. Many many many THANK YOUS!!!!! to my awesome husband for assisting me with this project.  This began as a duffle bag stuffed with sand bags and disc weights, with fire hose arms; which proved to be too cumbersome, as the weight distribution was weird. Brilliant Attila the Husband came up with the idea of using an old 31-inch railroad tie, with fire hose attachments for the arms and legs. (The real dummy for tryouts has arms made of fire hose).  He used heavy duty duct tape to fasten 20 kg KB's to the legs for "feet".   When I got home from work last night he showed off his handy work to me; all proud and beaming.  He is completely a...

This is tough.  Training for the swat tryouts is no joke and I am really beginning to wonder why this stuff is so male dominated and "in general" considered more of a man's thing.  I wonder, because based on conversations with co-workers, I know I am not alone in being a little drained. To recap: The tryout consists of shooting, half of which is pretty basic 10 yard line stuff.  The other half is from the 25 yard line, phew. At least 30 sit-ups under one minute. At least 30 push-ups under one minute. At least 6 pull-ups, no time limit. 440 run under 85 seconds. Obstacle course under 4 minutes, which includes a 180 pound dummy drag. Strength and speed generally work against each other when you decide to improve both, so my victories are in very small increments.  A few seconds here, a little bit higher to the bar there.  Those small victories are followed up quickly by a glaring weakness in another area.  Example, I can do 6 pull-ups!  Yeah...

SIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that is all

My friend Julie Cheng posted this on my FB page today, and it bears repeating here.