Caipira BJJ

Sweden

2009-08-17T12:22:00.003-07:00

Brasil -

2009-08-17T12:22:00.001-07:00

Mundials - Long Beach

2009-08-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

I want to move to Cabarete !

2009-05-10T17:13:00.000-07:00

cliff notes....expanded story to come....

4 hour drive beautiful drive from Santo Domingo to the North Coast.
Got settled at home in Sosua.

Went out to meet Papo
Hung out with pro surfers, world champion kite surfer. Made deal to trade a bjj private for a surfing private.
Drink outside liquor store then went to lots of bar on the sand and a dance party/club
Partied till about 4am.

Saturday
Woke up to beautiful Paradise

massive hang over
Going to train on the beach
Made deal about no tapping for chokes.
Train twice, swam in ocean, great food including Ceviche.

Went out too tired to party went home early.

Sunday
Woke up to breakfast and a swim, went to train.

Trained hard. Knees are sore and raw, think I pulled something inside my quadicept.
Went into ocean and pool, out for lunch.
(Mango mahi mahi)

Back to training.
Trained hard with Papo, Abraham and then Papo some more before calling it quits to due fatigue/pain inside my thigh.
Swam some more in ocean and pool, spend the night at Papo's house drinking Presidente and watching bjj dvd's and telling stories and laughing the night away until about 3am. this was some of the most fun on the trip.
Went home, showered and passed out.

Monday
Woke up early, went swimming in the pool to wake up and take it in view one last time.
Abraham and Chili came and got into the pool with me.
Had breakfast, off to bjj.
Just shared techniques this a.m had a few beers with Joe (to say goodbye) before leaving extreme to head out for ocean time, pizza and coconuts.

After eating went last minute souvenir shopping.
Before leaving Cabarete we went to say our goodbyes to Papo and his girlfriend Alesandra.
Went back to Horacio's showered, I finished packing and started our cross country journey back. The traffic was bad as it was the end of a three day weekend so we decided to stop in Santiago to watch the Watchmen (Los Vigilantes), after getting out of the movie it was 1230 and we started our trip back to Santo Domingo arriving at about 2am. I said my goodbyes to Chili then Abe and I went back to his house to sleep as I had a 8am flight and had to get to the airport by 6am.
Woke up, ate, took a cab to the airport and flew home

Tuesday - Friday in Santo Domingo

2009-05-06T08:23:00.000-07:00

This will be expanded on and updated with photos when i get them onto my PC. These are just my cliff notes to remind me what to write about.

Tuesday
I woke up a little late for me around 9am.
Abraham's mom had left me the best omelet sitting out, filled with all kinds of cheeses and peppers, this breakfast like every other thing i have and will have eaten on my trip is simple but so much more flavorful than any food I've eaten in the states. Again, I'm really convinced that we Americans are eating poison on a daily basis and when I return I'm going to taste the poison in my food. I have always had problems with allergies, airborne or food, but for some reason no allergy meds or epipens needed on this trip.
After surfing the web I decided to wake up Abraham because I know that he has work soon. After he got ready I went off to work with him today so i wouldn't sitting around in his house and I could go out and explore the people in the country.
Abraham works out in a gym located inside of a mall called Workout. Yamasaki BJJ Blue belt Tony who also works at Workout perform all kinds of test on me than showed weakness in my hips, knees, lower back etc. None of this is new news however he showed me lots of news exercises to help stretch and strengthen these areas.
After a few hours at the gym Abraham wanted to take me to the pool since i sat around his house on Monday. He is a member of a city country club. Now everyone that know me even though i don't ever spend money on myself, knows I could easily become a impulse buyer and Im a sucker for products sold on t.v infomericals. (i don't buy them but i want them all)
On the way to the Country Club we passed lots of street vendors that stand inbetween cars at stoplights (which nobody stops for) and sell exotic fruits that I have never seen, phone cards, veggies, steering wheel covers, cell phone chargers, homemade candies, anything that you could imagine. Along the way we passed a huge park with thick palm trees, awesome skate parks and lots of people playing baseball like I had imagined. I mean 10-15 individual games, and lots of small groups of people drink beers and watch 1 guy pitch. The country club was your typical country club with golf course, racket ball, tennis, etc
So I hung out by pool, had several beers, lot of people came up to talk to me b/c I'm white and have tattoos which is rare here (unlike richmond where they are a dime per dozen) and they think I'm some kinda rock star. It made me feel pretty sweet.
(pic to come soon)
After hanging out by the pool and having a small plate of beef we traveled back to Abe's to prepare for class. This was No-Gi night so they had requested to show no-gi only relivant techniques.
I showed a nogi flow drill for warm up, showed details of each technique in the drill. This was kinda time consuming as most of the students were beginners so that was all I was planning on showing prior to sparring however, YJJ Blackbelt Abraham (the other one) asked that I show some techniques, so I a showed side control escape to back take to rnc.
Then I worked with Abraham and Tony on different Brabo setups, etc. Abraham being like 6'8 245 has some of the longest arms on earth and is very good at the Brabo, I was hesistent to show Abraham all my trick because I knew he would be punishing me with them later.
After technique we rolled.
On the way home we stopped for a kick ass burger and more Merangue soda, which I've become obsessed with...

After the burger we went back to abe's for a shower.
I wasn't tired post shower so we went out to a bar that had 1/2 roof and not, the action was centered around the video game Rockband everyone was playing and everyone was awesome. I used the time to pound beers. It was very entertain to watch the Dominican that didn't speak English sing the Rockband songs that were in English. Only after about 5-6 beers I got sleepy and went back to sleep.

Wednesday
Woke up, updated blog finally, hung out on myspace, facebook, forum for a bit.
Went out walking exploring around Abraham's house.
Had some Mexican food w/ Abraham & Chile.
The food was good gave me the worst itis ever.. Pounded some raspberry soda and the Mexican food made me crave a beer b/c I never have one w/o the other.
Took a short nap.
Went to train, showed 2 butterfly guard passes.
Trained with mostly Chile, tony, Abraham.
Went home had beef stuffed pepper, rice w/ corn/bacon.
Tried a raspberry w/ vanilla ice cream float under suggestion of abe. Talked with Holly, Ana, Mike Byrd and my dog Zelda on Skype for the remainder of the night.
Thursday
Woke up. Went to work with Abraham this a.m. (He is a personal trainer, so I can just work out in the gym the entire time)
Worked out.
Got massage.
We trained and I said my goodbyes to all the people at the Santo Domingo Academy.

Went to wolverine.
Went site seeing to colonial district and Caribbean ocean.
Friday
Woke up ate home cooked meal.
Maids did my laundry.
Went to gym.
Mishap at atm.
Today we are traveling to cabarate.

Monday 27th - Dominican

2009-04-29T06:53:00.000-07:00

I woke up around 8am in an empty house as Abraham had to work at 6am. Abraham's instructions were to make myself at home so I walked around looking at all the decorations and starred out the windows at the city. Then it was time for me to
try and figure out breakfast.
I was a little fatigued from traveling so I wanted some coffee and everyone had told me how good the coffee is here. Well, that maybe but I didn't see a coffee maker in the kitchen. I did however find some Nestle's Instant Coffee so I decided that would have to do for now. Now I was time to eat. Even though I was given free range of everything in the kitchen, I didn't want to destory all the food that I saw and some of the items I did want I could never seem to find all the pieces of the puzzle that led to me eating that food. For example, I found ceral but the only milk I saw open was almond milk. I saw regular milk but it wasn't open and this isn't my house so I feel awkard about breaking the seal. I ended up settling for some rice cakes and a Nutella/peanut butter type spread plus an apple.
About 30 minutes later I was hungry again and I found some left over beans & rice from the night before so I heated that up and ate it.
Right next door to Abraham house it appears they are building some kind of condo building, some while pounding several cup of coffee, I sit on an outdoor patio and
watch the construction workers.
Let me tell you one thing.....
there is no such thing as OSHA here. I watched the workers and I notice it looked like the most dangerous work environment possible. They were climbing a wooded frame 10+ stories carrying bricks, no safety ropes, the structure didn't look remotely secure.

After getting hot outside I came back in and still had a fare amount of time to kill before Abraham got off work so I found and watched Pride 1.
I watched the dvd in an awesome, upstairs patio that Abraham would later tell me is where he is planning on putting mats down for training in his house. The indoor patio/flordia room reminded me of Daniel Moraes gym from the Arte Suave DVD.

After the dvd was over Abraham came home. We went out to get some roasted chicken, and ate more beans & rice. (Which I eat everyday at home so I love the menu here)
Abraham was tired so we chilled some more by watching 2008 Mundial finals.
After the DVD, Abraham had promised to take me to the Pharmacy to get some anti-inflammories for my knee. I have what I beleive to be a Stage 1 MCL Sprain, which is nothing major but could flare up and hinder my training as in the US I hadn't sparred in 2 weeks in order to heal for this trip. Abraham is/was really excited to have an advanced training partner on the island and I didn't wanna let him down.
At the pharmacy I got a drug for arthrisis that would require a prescription here in the states, and after taking it my knee pain was 90% gone in 1 hour. HOLY CRAP it was awesome.
After eating some more food Chile showed up with her 14 y'old brother Ugo and we went to the academy which is located in a Gold's Gym. Upon arriving to Gold's which is about 5-6 stories tall I realize it has more people in it that any health club i've every seen. It had what looked like hundreds of threadmills and versa climbers that were all in use. I don't know if you were a single male this would be a good place to workout as the place was filled with women that all wore tight pants/shorts and all seemed to have the trademark Dominican KadonkeyDonk.
The training at the Gold's takes place in a 24 ft Boxing Ring that they lay mat down in. Abraham warmed everyone up and I showed some techniques. Everyone very eager to learn from me as in the entire country there is 1 Blackbelt, 4 Brownbelts, and about 5 purples. This made me feel kinda elite hearing those stats. Even though the upper belts have so few training partners that are still really good and competition on the World Stage. After technique I rolled with everyone until I was exhausted.
Post training we went out to eat at roasted chicken joint in city, sat inside, most places don't have windows, very open air.
We ate chicken, green bananas w/ onions, yuka w/ onions, and had the best REAL sugar soda, Merangue flavor.
Finally, we went home showered and passed out.

Dominican !!!!

2009-04-29T05:44:00.000-07:00

I begin this journey Sunday 26th, flying out of Richmond into Miami, where i supposed to meet up with my host, 2008 Purple Belt World Champion, Abraham Marte. After I land in Miami my trip encounters its first hicup. Now, since these trips are my small verison of my friend Valerie Worthington's Vision Quest, I try to embrace everything experience on every trip good and bad. This hicup was that Abraham was running late and would end up missing my flight. I get flushed with a little bit of anxiety as I would be now traveling to a foregin country alone, which isn't too bad, but when i get there I would have no place to go and nobody to see. Well, in the last 3 minutes before I was going to board the plane Abraham called me to advise his girlfriend would be picking me up from the airport and taking me around to entertain me for the 6-7 hours I would be ahead of him. Coolbeans !
Upon arriving in the Dominican Republic the first shirt I see on a native Dominican is a Bugs Bubby/Taz Gangster shirt that I haven't seen in ages.
I traveled w/o any problem thru immigration and custom to walk outside and I was greeted by Abraham's girlfriend Chile and her friend Natalie. They made a really awesome sign with my name on it as I was exiting the airport. After our introductions they start driving me to Natalie's parent weekend beach house so I can wait for Abraham to fly into the country. This "weekend house" is like a resort.

About a small 3 story Condo with each floor being a unit.
I got introduced to all of her family. They all spoke a tiny bit of english and seemed tickled to have me as their guest. Abraham had giving them instruction to give me some beer so right after I got settled they gave me my first Dominican beer, a 32oz Presidente Light, and Natalie's family treated me to some of the BEST home cooked dessert I've ever had. (Flan and a bunch of coconuty treats)
So, I drank some beers, ate of food and hung out on the most empty goregous beach, blue water, white sand, and no other people for 300 yards in each direction.
Several hours later we left to go pickup Abraham from the airport.
This began the hour trip went to his house (in downtown Santo Domingo),
On way people in the middle of the streets, drinking, dancing, waving guns, it was exciting. 9pm on a sunday night and the entire city feels alive and full of energy.
Upon arriving to Abraham's house I was greeted by his mom. She had prepared us a dinner (baked chicken, stuffed with ham and wrapped in bacon. Salad, beans&rice, queso dip to wrap in tortilla, and finished with a strawberry shortcake type dessert)
(Lucky for me Abraham's mom is/owes a catering company so the food was delicous.
It was a little late after dinner but abraham wouldn't to show me a good time since he didn't get to hang out for most of the day. He asked me what I wanted to do and I told him to take me to all the singing, dancing and drinking.
We went out for beer at a corner market, sat & drank.
After having a few beers I got tired so we went home to sleep.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Pan Championships

2009-04-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

Pan Championships, whatever happened to the name, Pan-Am's ? Did the IBJJF lose a lawsuit ?

Friday A.M the crew (Keith, Mike Byrd, Matt Fuller, and I) go out for a breakfast a Denny's. This was easily the worst meal I have ever eaten at a Denny's before in my life and it is pretty hard to mess up breakfast. I forgot to mention that it was served by a lady with some of the worst teeth I have ever seen. These teeth kinda just jetted straight out at you.

First, up of the day was Addie. She won her 2 matches in a dominant fashion by a ton of points. She lost her 3rd via points. This earned her a bronze medal.

Next, Matt Fuller was up. The match started with him falling backwards awarding his opponent 2 for the takedown and 4 for the mount. he was calm and escaped. The match was very competitive and he quickly earn 6 point of his own. The ref ended up missing 4 more point that Matt clearly scored and Matt lost by an advantage.

My teenager Doug Peterson fought later in the day. He fouhgt in his weight and the teen absolute. He lost his first match via Americana to a larger opponent and then his absolute match via triangle to last years Pan-Am divisional winner and this years teen absolute champion.

We ended the night at a Brazilian BBQ. It was good as always.

Saturday, Mike Byrd fought at 10:20am. He had a competitive match even thought the scored didn't reflect. Mike Byrd lost 5-0, he had his guy running from submissions most of the match. He even pulled off his North South to Omoplata technique however didn't finish the sub and missed an easy transition to triangle.

6:30 pm, Keith Parknow, coins a new phrase, "There goes my carrots". That's what he told me when he threw up prior to his fight due to his nerves. Even though Keith edged out a Gold Medal last year as a bluebelt, this year at purple proved to be much easier. Keith won both of his matches without a point or advantage being scored upon him. Keith is a badass, congrats to him !

Sunday. Kron, Lucas, Cobrinha, Mendez Brothers, Brown belt Light Weight Division, all to awesome for me to write about.
Ate more Brazilian BBQ at night.

Monday. Woke up to a outside my door practical joke. Thanks, Vagem and Jahtee.

We traveled back to Virginia which was long and terrible. Stay tuned for my 10 days of BJJ in the Dominican Republic in the last two weeks of April.

Thursday - 3/26/08 San Diego to Los Angles

2009-04-03T12:58:00.000-07:00

Traveled from San Diego to Los Angles by train, which was easily the most beautiful train ride I've been on to date.
When riding on the train (which was double decker and awesome) I had a view of the Pacific to oneside and desert mountains on the other.

On the way into LA I made arrangements for car rental so I could get from LA's Union Station to the Hotel and then go get Keith, Mike Byrd and Matt Fuller from the airport. After my train arrived in LA, I came to find out that Hertz was overbooked. So I had to pay a cab $50 to get to the hotel and I left the boys on their own renting us a car. Upon arriving to the hotel I'm greeted by my friends, Vagem, Jahtee, and Ron. We go out to eat and then meet up with another one of my friends Abmar Barbosa.

We met up with Addie and all we to the hot tub. Hours later by the pool/hot tub, my Mechanicsville crew arrived. We meet up with Val and some of the YJJ crew and went out for sushi and beers w/ fernando.

Training at Rodrigo Medeiros and lastnight in Coronado....

2009-03-26T11:00:00.001-07:00

I wake up at 6am to find that my eye is still a little swollen from my allergic reaction. I took more benedryl and put more eye meds in and head downstairs for breakfast. This morning I'm off to Rodrigo Medeiros Pacific Beach Fight Center.

I arrive at the academy at 9am to see a group of guys standing outside the door. I went up and introduced myself, everyone again was warm and welcoming which seems to be the standard here in SoCal, at least in the BJJ community. A few minutes later Rodrigo M Black belt Stephano walks up and opens the academy. He was very nice and taught a very informal class. The class had no instructor led stretching or warm up and we also didn't bow in. Stephano just jumped right into technique showing two good butterfly guard bow&arrow passes then he showed me a cool butterfly guard passing drill. After an hour of drilling we sparred. This was the Executive class which was supposed to be 40&up even though it didn't seem to be sticking to that standard. 11am rolls around and Stephano advises me that Carlson Gracie Jr will be coming to teach from 11ish to 1230.
Also, along this time lots of upper belts started pouring in. About 10 brown belts including Clark Gracie and Raffa (awesome guy I competed against in 2004 pan am's as a blue belt) and the Big black belt Cyborg that everyone has been talking about on the internet lately.

When Carlson Jr walked onto the mat I gave him the hello message from Fernando Yamasaki and Carlson Jr told me that him and Fernando had wrestled together on the Brazilian National Wrestling Team. I got to spar with Clark Graice, whom accidentally ripped one of my new gi's and a thick purple belt and a very good brown belt who's name I can't remember but I do know that he is an accupuncturist. 2 classes in a row with lots of talent, this is by far the best training I've had so far since being in San Diego. With the weather being sunny and about 78 degrees when I'm done I can only think about walking the beach and drinking beers. So I meet up with Mike Crawford and that's what we do. That night we did laundry to prepare for me leaving Thursday A.M and went out to eat and walked up and down the streets screaming at the top of out lungs. I ended the night trying to make plans to get from San Diego to LA to meet up with all my Yamasaki Teammates that are arriving in LA tomorrow. Mike Byrd and I are supposed to be hanging out with Valerie tonight.

Tuesday in SD

2009-03-25T17:14:00.000-07:00

(If Your Ever wondering what an A7 looks like on someone that wears an A2....)

Tuesday morning, I woke up early again (about 7am) and I went downstairs at my hotel to eat. I've been eating mostly all organic foods from a nice organic market similar to Ellwood Thompson back in Richmond. After walking around the island again this morning and enjoy the awesome weather, I go all my stuff ready to go train some more jiujitsu. I go in my car to take the scenic trip back up to the Miramar SDBJJ location for more training. Arriving early, i spot Andrew Edison again and we talk Martial Arts business. More and More people start walking in, today it looks like the class with be bigger. A different Black belt is out on the mat, his name is Andre Huebes. He looks big ! I am thinking, mAn if I have to roll with him my hip is going to be killing me, but i wouldn't ever turn down the opportunity to learn something from someone that has been training longer than me. Andre showed a lot of half-guard techniques, he even showed me one that I haven't seen before. This class had some of the same faces. Everyone was very welcoming. After sparring I head back to Coronado to meet up with Mike.
We took a trip out to Pacific Beach.
We visited the OTM Fight Shop in PC and then went walking out on the beach/boardwalk. The scenery was awesome ! Right as we were getting ready to leaving my eye started itching. I started having some kind of allergic reaction in my eye. My eye started swelling. We stopped to get some Benedrill on the way back to Coronado. My eye ended up swelling shut, so again, I'm not able to make it up to San Marcos to train at SDBJJ w/ Paulo Fernando. Mike and I went out to do laundry and ate some good mexican food. I drink some beers to cheer me up and went to sleep early.

Monday in San Diego

2009-03-25T17:03:00.000-07:00

Orange Ave (street in front of my hotel)

Monday morning i woke up to beautiful weather. i took a walk around the island of Coronado before i decided to go rent a car. i went to enterprise and got a hyundai sonata, i never thought i would like a hyundai but it was a really nice ride. the car rental process took longer than i thought so i went to the Miramar Location of SDBJJ.com, Andrew Edison BB taught class. he went over some closed guard over hook and butterfly guard w/ overhook sweeps and submission. they i got to spar lightly with all the students in the class. it was over about 4 student, a few whites and a few blues. i sparred really light, they were very nice after i explained to them i'm coming off of hip surgery and cant go 100%. after training I drove back to Coronado to meet Mike Crawford. We went around the island exploring, hung out on the beach, and right went i was getting ready to leave to go train at the SDBJJ San Marcos location, Mike Crawford pulled rank and "forced" me to start drinking beers.

Yamasaki Inhouse and Travel to Cali

2009-03-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

The Yamasaki Inhouse Tournament was yesterday, Saturday March 21st. Prior to the competition, their were a few belt promotions. Two of my students got promoted: Thomas Staats - Blue belt and "Handsome" Nate Oyler - Purple belt. Congrats to them and congrats to my friend Brendan Raedy for being promoted to Brown belt.

This morning at 4:30, I left my house to go to the airport to catch my 6:00am flight to San Diego. After being in the air for about 2.5 hours we were about to decend into Houston for my lay over before flying into San Diego. However, it seemed like Houston was too foggy and we were running low on gas after circling for 1 extra hour so we got redirected to Austin. Once in Austin we refueled and sat on the tarmack for about 2 hours. I've missed my flight into San Diego which will made it difficult or impossible to make it to the Grapplers Quest to watch the Black belt Pro Division. After a few hours and several beers I managed to get on a standbye flight so my nine hours of layover was cut down to four. I talked with a nice lady about my dog and how she just tore her ACL after her and I got tortured by watching, "the day the earth stood still".
Finally, made it to SD, I'm staying in Coronado, I ate a great macadamia halibut and dungeness crab cake went to the grocery store, drank some beers and went to sleep. Tomorrow, I will try to rent a car and go train at www.sdbjj.com

Tiago Alves Seminar was Awesome...

2009-02-22T08:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, my academy hosted Tiago Alves for a 3 hour bjj seminar. It was easily in my top 3 of favorite seminars ever. I don't like defining the absolute best one ever because I don't wanna ever hurt anyone's feelings that has ever given a seminar at my academy. The format of the seminar was great. He started with my immediate instructor Yamasaki Black belt Mike Crawford, and then worked his way down to the white belts. Each person asked a question, he answered it followed by drilling that always so how managed to include the previous persons techniques and always finish on the same couple of submission finishes. I thought this was creative and really help reinforce all the techniques that he went over. Even though the seminar was dictated by questions, it always turned into a big sequence. After the techniques were shown he rolled with everyone in attendance for 3 mins each. He was very calm and flowed very similar to Terere. He never resisted any movement of any of his opponents, if they pushed he went with the motion and turn all of their energy into something positive for him. It was graceful and impressive. I can't wait until he comes back again. The time I spent on the mat with him during the seminar and then afterwards in the private lesson i shared with Mike Crawford, I truly felt he wanted to share everything, every detail, and he truly wanted to see us improve through our time with him.

Physical Training and stuff....

2009-02-21T04:45:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile since i posted but I haven't traveled for bjj since my last trip. I did however buy my plane tickets for the Pan-Am's even though I'm only going to coach it should still be a fun trip.

On Thursday, Feb 5th I was released from Physical Therapy. I'm not yet 100% however according to my therapist at Richmond Physical Therapy, I've done all that needs to be done there...I'm being released into the hands of a strength and conditioning coach, Mike Craven of Mike's Olympic Gym in Mechanicsville, VA. I've spent the past 2 weeks lifting 4x per week trying to getting stronger and increase my eccentric strength to prevent injury. I also just had my RMR and MET score testing performed in a effort to return to bjj in better shape than when i left due to my injury. Anyways, On all the test I took, my numbers were lower than I thought they would be but then again i have pretty much haven't trained hard in 6 months.
I performed the test on a Versa Climber b/c I still can't run with my hip in recovery. About 5 mins into the test my hip started killing me. It felt like it needed/wanted to pop and it felt very unstable. I couldn't communicate this to Mike Craven b/c I had a mask on. So basically, I had to stop the test before my ceiling but it was close, I was at a RQ of .92 and I was looking to go to an RQ 1.0
My results:
VO2 46.7ml
RMR 1240
BF 14.70%
Weight 175lbs.

So far weight training the past 2 weeks, i'm starting to feel stronger than ever all ready, no wonder people lift weights.
I used to look at lifting as time not training bjj, now I look at lifting at something I have to do in order to stay healthy enough to practice bjj.
Mike Craven is in the process of writing my aerobic conditioning prescription for my exercises. I'm going to pick it up on Sunday @ 5pm. It will be my routine and my caloric requirements for training.

http://www.truefitnesssolutions.com/
Check it out.

I also just found this from the foundry bjj's website from when I trained in DC for a week.
http://www.foundrybjj.com/1/post/2009/01/yamasaki-academy-in-dc.html

Today, I'm hosting Tiago Alves at my gym for seminar.

2009-02-01T14:09:00.001-08:00

Wednesday night I
Worked with rosie on throws, drilled open guard passes,
Rolled with Ahmed and Rock. Then Andre Yamasaki.
Thursday I stayed at home in the AM to rest hip.
Metro'd to Brendan's housein the afternoon and rode to springfield, meet up with Fernando, drilled Glover's half guard with Brendan, drilled butterfly passes with Francisco, sparred the rest of the night with Arial. Helped her with escaping the mount and passing the guard.
After training, Brendan and I drank some beers and went to IHOP for dinner before I rode the last Metro back to the Fitzpatrick's side of town to go to sleep. It was a 1.5 hour trip and I had to pee the entire time
.
Friday A.M I rested my sore body, my hip has a visible bruse, I think I got it from slipping on the ice. Rosie, Eoin and I went to "the people's republic of Tocoma Park" and ate at Mark's Kitchen. I ate a Mung Pancake and that was the highlight of my food on this trip. Friday night, Eoin and I go to train at rockville. I worked on switching my hips when being elevated in the butterfly guard with Ahmed. Then rolled light with Sal so he could warm up. Then, I was sitting on the side sharing techniques with Adrian and Jahtee. I ended the night sparring with Rock (the hardest I've trained in months) trying to pass his guard, we sparred nogi, this was the 1st time I've got nogi in like 4-5 months. It was very fun, Fernando gave me lots of good tips. I had to quit sparring b/c my hip was sore and I felt my lower back spasming. Instead of going out to Andre Margutti's Party like I had planned I hung out at the Fitzpatrick b/c my back was very tight and I spend the night laying on the couch.
Saturday, I trained at Rockville at 11am and then off to Fairfax JJ.
Terribly sore in my lower back, I went to Rockville and during class taught by Mario Yamasaki, Neto asked me to give 2 ladies an intro. After the class, Rock wrestled, bloodying both his eyes, we shared techniques and we went off to FairfaxJJ. Rock had me show my favorite side control escape to the persons back to a rear naked choke.
Then back to Rock's to shower and off to Wholefoods for a late lunch. Rock was nice enough to give me a ride back to D.C where I decided I was too tired/sore to watch the UFC.

Then I woke up Sunday A.M. after going to bed early w/o seeing the UFC.
I was supposed to go to open mat at FairfaxJJ, but Rosie and Eoin were both too sore, I was looking for an excuse not to train, so I decided to talk them into taking me into the National Zoo. But 1st we went to get some sushi and sake.
The zoo was a blast, I loved the monkeys, the big cats, and the reptiles.
After the zoo, I got dropped off an Union Station to get on my train home. Come Monday A.M. It is back to the daily grind. My mini-vacation-mini-bjj-vision-quest-all-public-transportation-vacation was awesome. I miss my Zelda.

Ice Ice Baby!

2009-01-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

This A.M. started of great, NOT !
I left the Fitzpatricks at 830 a.m, giving myself some extra time to make the 10a.m. class, only to spend 45 mins trying to walk the 1.5 miles to the Metro on a giant sheet of ice. I was slipping everywhere constantly worrying that my hip would get reinjuried.
Naturally, I end up walking in the Rockville Academy at 1050am. I see Noel Danforth and his wife "little tsunami" whom
lastnight I met and today I got to train with Noel Danforth, a BJJ Brown Belt from Foundry BJJ in Maine. Noel is around 40yold and 140 lbs with a good butterfly guard, his wife is a 100 lb purple belt. We drilled spider guard passes from standing and on our knees. Then, I took another chance and sparred lightly only working to pass his guard. I was so excited to get to spar, even if only light, yesterday with Seph and this A.M. Just for kicks I worked some with Noel in my closed guard. Then, Fernando came over and showed Noel how to destroy my game. Afterwards, Fernando and Noel sparred before I finally got to spar with Fernando, positional sparring, trying to pass Fernando's guard, this is the first time I've ever tried to pass his guard instead it is always vice versa. It was a blast.
Got a Ride to the Metro, traveled back to the Fitzpatrick's. going back to the academy at 5pm to help Fernando with a private lesson then BJJ class at 6:00-7:30 then 7:30-9pm. Details to come.

Take that Richmond ! Real Snow..

2009-01-27T18:40:00.000-08:00

Last night, I had a small mishap at the local Safe Way. Two bags of my expensive groceries didn't make it back to the Fitzpatrick's with me. Those bags contained my dinner meat, almond butter, organic jelly, shower gel, etc. All the things I wanted to help keep the costs of my trip down got lost. This almost caused me to miss my evening training but I hurried down the street on my own two sore legs and got back on the Metro. I missed the 6pm-730pm regular class but made it in time to the 730pm-9pm Competition team class. I got about 45 mins of drilling in then I rolled lightly with one of our black belts Morgan. I was only worked top game b/c I was already playing with fire sparring, even lightly.
Next, Jahtee, Adrian, Morgan and I shared some techniques. I finished up the night with some drilling with Dave Jacobs before he offered to give me a ride back, just in time to drink 3 beers and hit the sack.
Tuesday, I wake up a little later than normal at 930am to find that it has snowed several inches and while it looks pretty it was going to make my over 1 mile walk in the snow a cold/wet pain in the butt. Rosie was more than happy to give me a ride to the Metro. I didn't get to the metro until 1030 and that was the exact time class started at 50/50 BJJ. After an hour of traveling I arrive at 50/50, they are all sparring so I work my pass w/ Seph at about 35% so I don't get hurt.
After training we went back to Seph's house for lots of coffee, chicken breast and sweet potatos. We watched the "Shawshank Redemption" and play on the internet. 4pm comes around and it is time for me to get back on the train for a 1.5 hours to head back to Rockville. Class isn't very big due to the snow and I ended up having to teach so at Fernando's request I showed the "Caipira Sweep" and an armdrag.

Hopefully the rest of these posts will contain pics.

i think i need to start walking more...

2009-01-26T12:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I went to 50/50 BJJ with my friend Rosie.
I met Dave Jacobs, Seph Smith, Brendan Raedy, Ryan Hall and Jen Flannery for open mat.
Got the chance to drill some armlocks, omoplatas, and flower sweeps for about 30 minutes. Then shared techniques with Dave, Brendan and Seph.
After training we went out for Thai food which sucked in comparison to Pad-Thai in mAncanicsville.
Monday A.M. I wake up at 7am and make coffee and oatmeal. I ended up drinking the entire pot.
I walk 1.2 miles to the Metro. Passing this Church will a awesome tag-line. (pictured above)
My left shin muscle and my lower back are hurting the majority of the walk. Does my hip cause my back to hurt b/c it is over compensating or do I have crappy shoes on ?
After about an hour on the Metro and several chapters of the "Watchmen", I get off with 1/4 inch of snow on the ground.
I hurry into the Rockville academy to empty my bladder of the pot of coffee that I drank before my AM travel.
Greeted by Fernando Yamasaki, i'm running a little late, i go change.
Today we drilled some versions of the "Hazzard County Pass" then while everyone else is training I get in about 45 mins of different butterfly guard passes.
Next, out to lunch for sushi and back onto the train to D.C for rest before returning to Rockville in the evening to drill with David "Rock" Jacobs.

Tomorrow A.M I will be attending A.M. class at 50/50 BJJ back with Seph Smith and Ryan Hall again....details on tonights training and activities to come tomorrow afternoon....

Public Transportation Vacation

2009-01-24T15:13:00.001-08:00

This evening I start my 8-day trip to DC, to visit my friends and jiu jitsu family. I am looking forward to the trip I am planning on training 2x per day for all 8 days. My main focus will be training at the Yamasaki Academy headquarters in Rockville, MD under my Instructor Fernando Yamasaki's watchful eye, however, I'm planning on stopping by our DC location, maybe FairfaxJJ and definitely my friend's Seph Smith and Ryan Hall's 50/50BJJ. I'm going on this BJJ all public transportation mini vacation while still recovering from my Hip Surgery than I had 12/11/08 so unfortunately, there will no rolling for me, but I'm able to drill just about anything on the ground (no standup) so I will consider all the drilling a form of physical therapy.
One of the main personal reasons for the trip is to engulf myself with jiu jitsu by surrounding myself with people that have dedicated their lives to the art. This is always inspirational to me and keeps me motivated during my down time.
Since December 2007 I've been helping run an academy (Mechanicsville Martial Arts) and building a team, so I figure it is time to pour a little extra time/training into me and help remind myself why I love what I do (not that I have forgot). While I find it very gratifying to watch students grow technically and become successful in tournaments and life....I'm a 29 year old Brown Belt hell bent on making my mark on the competition scene of the world.
This public transportation mini vacation is my first of many this year that will be for training and competition. This year I'm planning on traveling to Brazil, Europe, West Coast, Northeast and Florida.
I'm taking public transportation to be more environmentally friendly, for the experience of it (I'm someone who never uses it), and so I can be 100% responsible if I drink alcohol.
Just for BrAin: I've got the "Watchmen" with me to read.

Smackdown Wrestling

2009-01-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

J.D. Prestipino is wrestling again today for his Smackdown team. The matches will be held at:
James River High School

3700 James River Rd

Midlothian, VA 23113

(804) 378-2420

His matches start at 12:30pm.

I'm going to warm him up and coach him.