From Political & Thoughtful to Testosterone Laden Pig in 60 Minutes

Yesterday's class was nothing but rolling. No instructor, no drills, just rolling. We were on the mat warming up, and suddenly we were in a deep political discussion (I believe gas prices started it all). Talking ethics, the pros and cons of various political candidates....

Then we rolled for an hour and a half.

As we were in the dressing room getting ready to leave the topics were much different. Sex, women, sex with women, things to do while having sex, butts, boobs, yadda yadda yadda.

Who knew that you could raise your testosterone to the top of neanderthal mountain in just an hour?

Keep it clean!

Ok, for those of you unused to contact sports, you can pick up all sorts of nasty stuff at the gym. You are dealing with blood and sweat and in the case of the near south, a warm environment. These are conducive to passing all kinds of nasties.

• Get a health screening before you start. Find out what you have and don't have. Then fix and or protect.
• Don't roll when you're infected. Period.
• Shower as close to immediately after your workout as you can.
• Carry alcohol wipes and band aids to protect mat burn and cuts.
• Use Gym Soap and Defense Wipes
  
• Get regular checkups.

Hope these tips help.

d3o Technology...Would it work for Jiu Jitsu?

In high school I remember a science experiment with cornstarch. As long as you kept applying force to it, it was a solid; let it rest, it became runny goo.

d3o is a soft, pliable, almost silicone type material. Soft and pliable that is until you apply blunt force to it. When force is applied, the molecules of d3o lock together and form a protective layer in thousandths of a second.

Now imagine a rash guard with d3o pads in the elbows. Or even small pads down along the spine. Maybe even compression pants with d3o in the knees or protecting the tailbone? For all you MMA guys, think of how much easier training would be with less bulky padding. Muay Thai shin guards and sparring helmets would be lighter and much closer to an actual match.

If their ski stuff wasn't thermal, I would get a top just to try it as a rash guard. I hope that the come out with compression shirts soon I would love to try one out. DO YOU HEAR ME D3O DEVELOPMENT TEAM?!

Less injuries training, means more time competing. Ain't technology grand?

Hey how 'bout some sports...hold the felony.

Okay, I have had it. there are too many hard working, upstanding, and outstanding athletes out there for this to happen.
Let's say you are the coach of a university football team. Now this guy comes to you and says "I know you have thousands of other qualified athletes to choose from, but I have this guy who is will run circles around them...Oh and he's got eleven prior convictions."
A sensible man would say "Go shit in your hat." But apparently U of L coach Steve Kragthorpe said "Yeah, he's the guy for us."
Now, not even halfway through the season, they are one man short because dingle-berry Willie Williams lined himself up for conviction number twelve. Damn you'd think that Kragthorpe would have seen it coming. Way to go Willie on making it an even dozen! Way to go Coach Kragthorpe for giving hope to an eleven time loser!

Dog fighting, doping, assault, DUI, gambling, bribes, the list goes on and on. The money and fame that pours into pro and college sports make people lose their damn minds. As I had pointed out last year in June, it's hard enough to get them to act like sportsmen when the camera is rolling, let alone act well when they are unsupervised.
Owners and coaches need to clamp down on this behavior. Williams should be thrown out of the school and then sued for the scholarship he stole out from under some deserving athlete. Michael Vick should be banned from the sport, and forced to pay the franchise for legal fees, this seasons back pay, signing bonuses, and the general waste of time the non-arrested team members had to spend answering media questions.
If you want to correct a behavior in athletes, make the punishment absolute and final. And make it sting. If a governing sports body makes punishment harsh enough for an infraction, the infractions will cease.

The governing body for cycling knows that many of their members have been known to dope for that extra edge, that's why they drug test. That's also why Lance "Mr. Clean" Armstrong is one of my heroes.
The governing body for Lacrosse knows that their ranks are full of cheats, that's why they do a random equipment test at the end of each quarter. This way, everyone is following equipment regulations. Same with Jiu Jitsu, they check your kimono before each match to make sure that you are following regs, and haven't made your pants too short or sleeves too narrow.
God forbid a Sumo wrestler screw up. An entire nation would ostracise him, too the point he would probably have to emigrate.
What I am saying, is if we as a nation would like to have sportsmen back in sports. Make the rule breakers pay, make it sting, and make them an example so that up and comers won't get any ideas in their heads.

The First Stripe

Today El Jeffe and Vegas Dave earned their first white stripe. Coming back from an injury and brief medical problems, El Jeffe was back at it and rolling like a champ.

In celebration - We present The White Stripes

When In Doubt, Choke 'Em Out

Here's a cool collar choke from Judo called:

Okuri eri jime

We have added the video clip of the choke that ran on Human Weapon. The Judo episode was nice, but it made almost no mention of Jiu Jitsu, except that it was the precursor to today's Judo. I think in the episode, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu got all of one line worth of text.

The choke is a collar choke, but the entry to it is interesting. It looks a little too complex to be using it all the time, too easy to defend. But if you pull it off it would be, ahem, "totally bad-ass".

Trim Those Nails!!!

Here's a tip for all the beginners out there. This is something that no one will tell you until it's too late. Trim your fingernails! Take it from someone who has had his nail bent backwards on the mat. It's humiliating to submit because you have accidentally had your nail torn off. Thank god that that didn't happen today.
On a side note. Yeah it's kinda cool to get blood on your gi during training. A busted lip or nose is OK, but because of a fingernail scratch on the back of your hand, that's a waste of bio-hazard. Just thought you should know.

Fourteen Days Injury Free!

The Team has suffered no new injuries in fourteen days! Which isn't saying much, with Jeff still suffering from fractured ribs, and Bill not training for the past week. That just leaves me, Dave, who toughed it out at practice today on four hours sleep. No new training, but it's always valuable to run the basics. Drills and repetition this is the key to improving technique. Rolled for the last twenty minutes of class. Fought like hell, one submission for me (thank you) none for him.