Deborah's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & Arnis-Eskrima Training

I thought a good follow-up post to my last one about cutting weight would be to go through my meal preparation.  A meme came across my FB feed a few weeks back, something like "Athletes train and eat, they don't diet and exercise..."  Good Lord YES.  Healthy eating should be satisfying and delicious and fuel for the ride, not a drudgery of steamed boredom. I have travelled through a few phases of meal prep styles, and I've boiled down my system to something that I know (nutritionally) works for me, is something I can afford, and is satisfying. #1. The Nutrition.  I'm not gluten intolerant and I don't have food allergies, but I know I function best when I restrict my carbohydrate intake to what is absolutely necessary, and consume copious amounts of greens.  For example, if I eat a full serving of hash browns and toast for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and pasta for dinner, on a regular basis, I know (based on experience) I'll become bloated, gain w...

To cut or not to cut, that is the question. Here is my thought on cutting weight for a tournament:  if you can achieve your goal weight via reasonable meal preparation and modest calorie restriction, then go forth and conquer.  If a cut requires you to strip down to the skivvies of celery, canned tuna, water, a minimal at best personality, and no breakfast before stepping on the scale on game day, you may want to rethink your weight class. Game day requires your best, mentally and physically, not your lightest for the sake of being in a certain weight class.  If losing pounds means you are losing necessary muscle mass just to make the scale happy, you're walking up the downward moving escalator and getting in your own way.  Muscles keep you strong.  Muscles carry oxygen.  Love them.  Feed them and keep them happy. Game day has enough obstacles between staying healthy, the drive there, and remaining calm.  Adding yourself to that cauldron of ...

Tiny phrases move mountains. What If....I tried?  And failed.  Good! (to borrow a phrase from Jocko Willink).   What If, I tried again, and trained for it?  And did it again?  And made it?  To the bottom of the Grand Canyon.  To the top of Mount Whitney.  To the finish line.  To the 6th pull-up.  To the mat.  To the promotion. Want to change your life?  Take up the advice of short words and phrases.  Pretty consonants dotted with delicate vowels lead you down paths of delight and wonder. And thus I dive in once again to training for competition.  I've done enough prep for various events in my life to know better than to throw my efforts at a project half-hearted.  My last big project, the sergeant's exam, took a little mental prodding until I finally had a moment of clarity, asked "but....what if?", put my head down, and did what I knew I could do. Now I ask twice for my arts.  The Battle of the Bay...

Well, are you?  Are you returning calls?  Are you listening when she talks?  Are you looking her in the eye?  Are you buying her dinner?  Surprising her with small gifts, for no reason?  Are you remembering birthdays and such?  Are you paying ATTENTION???? Well, I thought I was.  But life is a fluid vehicle; priorities shift, wax, and wane.  Some elements demand your attention, like a psychotic mistress.  They step in like Glenn Close with frizzy hair and crazy eyes, and declare, "I won't be IGNORED Dan!..." So there I was Spring of 2017.  I had just learned my score and subsequent (hilariously low) ranking on the sergeant's exam at work.  The process was arduous, time consuming, annoying,  long, way too long.  I was frustrated and I swore up and down "I'll NEVER go through that process again!"  Suckers were thrown into soil.  Tantrums occurred when no one else was looking.  POII is the life for m...

I just finished watching a documentary about a cult. I am saddened to my core by the number of people who believe their "answers" will come from a guy with a bad hair-dye job for the mere cost of a several hundred thousand dollars.  Oh!  And within, one week's time. The answers, the reasons, the purposes, are right in front of you. The answer is, go do something.  Right now, or tomorrow.  Go...volunteer somewhere .  Go....take a jiu jitsu class.  Go...have breakfast with your parents just for fun.  Or, decide you are going to batten down the hatches and train for a marathon.  God, people, you don't need a shiny guy in a shiny suit to give you an answer.   The reason?  Because this is not a dress rehearsal.  Because as much as we all plan about next year, retirement, the far future, Reality has her own plan.  Reality might flip a switch and drastically change your life in the next month, or not, but at the end of the da...

I studied classical ballet m a n y years ago.  Since then I have hiked, run, lifted weights, rock climbed, mountain biked, and now I practice Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Arnis.  What strikes me, is how much the basis of the technique of, well, ALL these forms of physical movement is deeply rooted in the core, in strong balance, proper alignment, in the basics of classical ballet.  I am always, brought right back to ballet.  Ankles straight, knees over ankles, hips over knees, stomach in, butt tucked in, shoulders over hips, head resting straight on top supported by the body and a strong spine.  In hiking, proper alignment ensures and efficient gait. Running?  Open shoulders will keep your lungs open.  Weight lifting?  There is no weight lifting without the core.  If you are riding a mountain bike downhill, you're moving the core to the back of the bike for counterbalance. In ballet, you spend hours upon hours, holding in your stomach tight, s...

Occasionally I get a kick out of looking at the "Audience" stats for this blog.  Imagine my shock today when I saw 44 page views from Bangladesh.  Really?  Bangladesh?  A person, or some people, are reading this in Bangladesh? I googled "Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Bangladesh," which much to my surprise, produced an article about women slowly scratching a presence into the Bangladesh jiu jitsu world.  Long story short, it is/will be, a long story.  Ladies in the martial arts world in Bangladesh, I salute you. Read on: http://milkblitzstreetbomb.com/bjj/women-bjj-gender-issues-bangladesh/ Deborah Clem