Fighting (of a certain kind) is Healthy!

Some of us probably know this instinctively, but if you're the kind of person who wants proof, here it is! Not only is fighting FREAKING FUN, but it also seems to play a role in your health. Mark Sisson again rockin' it out with marksdailyapple.com.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fighting-healthy/

Basic Armbar

This is a variation on the move I learned in my first class, it's called the armbar. In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, the end-goal of any fight is to submit your opponent by putting them into a position they cannot get out of. In this case, you position them such that with a little tilt of the pelvis and pressure from your arms you could easily break their elbow.

The demo in this video is slightly different from the way we learned it but it's still the basic idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um4rd7CYN7Y

Armbar Submission

Female weight lifting? EWWW! ........ not.

Score one again for Mark Sisson who provided this link today on his weekend compilation at marksdailyapple.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQkz4Vfm2Yo&feature=share

There is a common misconception that lifting heavy weights will make women bulky. SO NOT TRUE. These chicks are rocking the weights, even up to 330lbs, and they look amazing!

Also, check out the girl around minute 3:40 rocking her Vibrams. Sweeeet.

Video, I think.

This is an experiment, but this link might take you to the video. You may have to copy and paste the link into your browser. Another way is to highlight the link, right click, then click the option that says 'take me to...'.


https://picasaweb.google.com/105558444651820709081/ExportedVideos?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXJ_4_C1-6GrwE


P.S. Ignore the hair. That's what happens when you have boy-short hair and you put it in a hair band. :) After all, this is all about overcoming vulnerability, right?

Exercise, Schmexercise

Okay, I admit it. I hate exercising with a passion. Always have. The most annoying thing about it is that I don't see the POINT. I guess you could say, I hate exercising just for the sake of exercising.

I tell people this and I get very odd looks and inevitably hear these two things. "Oh, but it's so good for you! And it makes you FEEL so good!" No, exercise does not make me feel good. Actually it makes me very hungry and very sore and very tired. And then after I (eventually) get into the habit of exercising I begin asking myself, when is the last time I had to do a pull-up in real life? Is this making my life better or easier? Hm. Not really.

So here's what I'm getting to. When I have a real, tangible reason to exercise, it's not work any more! Today I went on a walk/jog/conditioning run because that's what we do in class to warm up. We run forwards and backwards and sideways and with knees up and ankles up. So when I was running today, all I was thinking about was, "this will make class easier".

I rubbed parts of my feet raw in class so have to tape them up in order to wear my beloved Vibrams.

Then I hopped onto youtube and looked for some sport-specific conditioning that I can do in my living room without a partner and stumbled across this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iydZKc_mnn8 

It took me an hour more or less to figure out how to do them and get through a few reps but I am anticipating it getting faster in the future.

I took a short video of me attempting one of the exercises but for some reason the site won't accept the format that it's in :(. Well maybe I'll figure it out at some point. 

Thanks for reading folks :)

Timely post

A very timely post from my all-time favorite blogger, Mark Sisson at Marksdailyapple.com. Way to go Mark! I know you posted it just for me....

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fighting-healthy/

Wipe the what?? With who?!

Yeah. That would be Wipe the floor with me. Cause that was pretty much the story last night! Got to class around 615 and did some stretching and tried to meet a couple of the guys there. There are women at that gym but they are few and far between so it happened that I was the only one last night. That's fine though, I decided right up front that I was going to get over the awkwardness and just fight for fighting's sake, which is why I fell in love with this sport in the first place.

The first few minutes is some crazy conditioning that is pretty 'sport specific'. In other words, there is no other reason someone would do this...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzX8CUf7I4Q&feature=related...except to prepare for grappling. Imagine doing that as quickly as you can all the way down the mat while simultaneously ignoring the fact that you're brand-new and feel like a duck swimming in a desert.

Then we gather around the teacher and watch him demo a move on a hapless victim. After that we pair up and practice, practice, practice! The hour went way too fast. So I stayed for the session at 730 when the more experienced guys come and just practice. I did the conditioning and practicing with them, then Jason Bircher (the instructor) had us pair up and just free-style grapple. He took me on a couple of rounds and it was even more fun than I thought it would be. After that I just sat on the sidelines and soaked it all in.

I felt fine when I woke up this morning but hour by hour as the day goes by I get more and more sore :) It's not a specific area, it's just an overall soreness from my neck down to my feat. I had no idea how much I would use my neck for BJJ but by the end of the night I was so fatigued I could barely lift my head off the floor; I had to use my arms to prop myself up. I'll probably need the week to recover.

I can't say that I've been more beat up and happy at the same time in my whole life! The whole experience was thrilling and I can't wait to get back to the gym.