Still practicing...

I just switched schools - and have been going to jiu-jitsu 3 days a week, 2 hours each day.

Lots more practice - and lots more injury time.

So, I've gotten much better at managing the injuries.

First - preventive: glucosamine like this, daily.

At night and in the morning, static stretching like Pavels' stretching book.

Before each lesson, make sure you stretch out and cool down with dynamic stretching/ warm-ups (which you should be anyway).

And MOST IMPORTANT - spend 5 minutes at the end of the class to stretch out. This is because you're going to jump in your car and drive for 30 to 45 minutes to go home. That's just enough time for your muscles to tighten up.

Second - reactive: buy lots of dual-heat/frozen packs (buy the microwavable kind). And use them like the following:

Per this link:

"If sore muscles have you yearning for relief, what's the best strategy to soothe inflamed muscles, heat or cold?

Cold first, advises the August issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter. Later, heat can help. Wearable heat patches, available in retail and drugstores, allow you to apply heat and keep moving.

Cold first: To relieve pain associated with sprains and strains, it's usually best to first apply a cold compress for about 20 minutes at a time every four to six hours over the first few days. Cold reduces swelling and inflammation and relieves pain. For a cold compress, you can use a cold pack, a plastic bag filled with ice or a bag of frozen vegetables; wrap it in a dry cloth or towel to help preventfrostbite.

Then heat: Start using heat after pain and swelling have decreased, usually two to three days after the injury. Heat relaxes tightened and sore muscles and reduces pain. Heat is usually better than cold for chronic pain -- such as from arthritis -- or for muscle relaxation.

Apply heat to the injured areas for 20 minutes up to three times a day. Traditional methods include using a heat lamp, hot water bottle, warm compress or taking a warm bath or hot shower.

A new option for heat therapy involves single-use wraps or patches that adhere to your skin or clothing near the sore spots. Chemicals in these wraps or patches warm up as they're exposed to air when you open the package. Because they provide a lower level of therapeutic heat, they are safe for extended use -- eight hours or more. (But always follow the manufacturer's instructions.)"

And if you're still sore...I heartily recommend the Teeter HangUps Inversion table.

YES!!! Tap Outs galore!!!

Finally - I caught someone in a triangle while sparring. Then, the next round passed the guard and pulled a front, top arm bar on him.

AND, believe it or not, passed the guard using a guard pass my instructor taught us. He gave up once I made the pass. (It's the brutal, shin on inner thigh pass...ouch!)

WHOOOO!!!!

And then successfully defended for 5 minutes from the guard against another student who normally whups up on me.

Of course, in my final round, I got caught in a freakin' front guillotine by Bryan. I rolled, but he got me good.

But I learned a valuable lesson.

If caught in a guillotine, turn into the choke. Cup the arm with your arm flat against your body. He WILL NOT be able to choke you out!

Begin to roll....and roll and roll until you get some space. Pull the arm over your head onto your chest.

Roll low and tight into him...and now you'll have top position.

Since I suspect I'll be getting into a lot of guillotines....going to practice this very much. A little difficult to practice without a partner...but at least mental visualization with 'shadow wrestling'.

Other moves learned:

Arm bar drill.

From the guard!!! (very cool stuff)

Grab same wrist, and snake arm under his other arm to grab his elbow. Pull that arm across your body. At same time, use your same foot on his same hip to swing your hips over to opposite side.

Bring your opposite foot up and ....
Well, lockflow has a slightly different variation.....
http://www.lockflow.com/article_view.php?id=219

We also learned from the rubber guard how to get the leg up and cup it down....so that you can triangle..or roll into an omoplata...

From sherdog forums...
It's from Greek. Derivative of "omo" = shoulder
"plata" = blade/plat/flat surface

Translated -- it's a lock on the scapula/shoulder

Wait - just found this sweet-ass Quick Arm-bar - gotta practice it: http://www.lockflow.com/article_view.php?id=324

Proper stretching

As part of Kung-fu, I'm learning how to kick. Since my kicks are really low, I was stoked to find this great article on stretching....

Is Stretching For Everyone?
By Daniel Alix

Daniel Alix is a captain in the United States Army, has been training and teaching Tang Soo Do for 20 years. He has also studied Karate, Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido and slants his teaching toward street defense. Daniel is pictured in Fighter's Fact Book demonstrating his incredible flexibility and also offers several other training tips. To contact him, email Zenephi@aol.com


THE IMPORTANCE OF FLEXIBILITY

In the martial arts, a high degree of flexibility is often associated with practitioners of high-kicking styles. Of course, the high-kicking styles require a great amount of flexibility to be effective, but what about the other styles? Aside from the five to ten minutes that most martial artists take to warm themselves up to avoid injury, can a flexibility training program improve your speed and skill?

The two obvious advantages that a flexible person has are a greater range of motion and the decreased likelihood of injuries. Other advantages that are specifically significant to martial artists are increased speed and power. A leg or arm that is not encumbered by a tightening muscle will be able to travel faster and subsequently hit its target with more force. This even applies to low kicks since a flexible, healthy muscle will be less likely to reflexively tighten when its opposing muscle is contracted to throw a kick.

Another advantage that most people don’t associate with flexibility is one of technique accuracy. A kicker loses more and more accuracy as his leg stretches beyond its comfort zone. One final advantage to flexibility is that it increases how smoothly a person performs techniques overall. It is usually evident when a person is extremely tight because of the way he executes his techniques.

Many martial artists are satisfied with their current level of muscular flexibility, stating that they can perform their techniques just fine in their dojo after warming up. But what happens when they are attacked on the street while wearing regular clothes and with muscles that haven’t been warmed up? In most cases, 20 to 50% of a person’s flexibility is decreased without a proper warm up.

The level of muscular flexibility that a martial artist holds must be above that which they need in the dojo to compensate for unforeseen circumstances on the street. Although some methods of stretching will give you flexibility even without a warm up, there are many factors that may cause you to lose muscular flexibility. Your level of fatigue, any injuries you have, the outside temperature, and even time of day can affect to what degree your flexibility is hindered without a warm up.

As stated earlier, a good way to overcome this problem is to gain more flexibility than is needed to compensate for the loss of flexibility when you are not warmed up. Another way is to change your method of stretching. Although there are different ways to achieve this goal, the easiest and most productive way, which I’ll outline later, is to incorporate dynamic stretching into flexibility training. This will give you the flexibility that is necessary without having to warm up.


TYPES OF FLEXIBILITY

There is a difference between having a lot of flexibility and having proper flexibility. Many martial artists can slowly lower themselves into a static stretch, such as the splits. This would be great for someone like a gymnast, but it doesn’t do much for a person who needs to throw his limbs at an attacker at high speeds to defend himself. Proper flexibility means that you have the right type of flexibility needed to accomplish your goals.

There are various types of flexibility. Some people have dynamic flexibility, which is the ability of the muscles to stretch while they are in motion. Others have active-static flexibility, which is the ability of the muscles to relax while the opposing muscle group is tensing, such as when a figure skater balances on one foot and lifts the other one over her head.

Most people who are considered flexible have passive-static flexibility, which is the ability of the muscles to stretch while they are relaxed and immobile, such as when a person bends down and touch his toes. There are specific types of flexibility for each physical activity that we take part in. Unfortunately most people don’t know the differences between the types, or are not sure which stretching method to use to attain the type of flexibility that they want.

For most of the striking arts, dynamic flexibility is the most appropriate type of flexibility to improve speed, range of motion, and power. Aside from some wrestlers, very few martial artists will gain anything from active-static flexibility.

Grapplers require both passive-static and dynamic flexibility in order to perform many of their techniques. Grappling requires an especially high amount of flexibility in the torso. The type of flexibility gained from isometric stretching can be useful for people who use high kicks, but otherwise isometric stretching is mainly just another type of static stretch that leads to extremely fast gains in static flexibility and muscle strength. Did I lose you? Keep reading.

Isometric flexibility is flexibility coupled with muscular strength while the muscles are in a stretched position. An example of this is when a person is able to perform suspended splits between chairs. While this has some merit for a martial artist, it is mostly associated with the martial arts because of Jean-Claud Van Damme’s use of isometric stretching in his movies. You can attain this type of flexibility through isometric stretching, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF stretching), or with the controlled use of weights.

Training for one type of flexibility will, to a degree, help to attain the other types of flexibility. For instance, if a person trains for dynamic flexibility only, they will improve their static flexibility slightly. This is also true of the opposite, though to a lesser degree. Just remember that dynamic flexibility is by far the most important type of flexibility for a martial artist, and the only way to really achieve this type of flexibility is to perform dynamic stretches.


DYNAMIC STRETCHING

There are two times to use dynamic stretching: Before a workout (in place of static stretching) and in the morning when your muscles are still very tight. The reason for doing dynamic stretches before a workout is to warm up the muscles and avoid injuries. The reason for doing them in the morning is to set the “nervous control” of a muscle’s tension and length. In other words, it allows the mind to let the muscles stretch farther before the mind sends a signal to the muscle to tense up. The level that is set in the morning will stay throughout most of the day.

To perform a dynamic stretch, first grab hold of something, say a chair, to keep yourself steady. Keep your leg straight and raise it to the front at about 50 to 75% of the velocity of a kick. Raise it only to the point where the hamstring muscles begin to tighten. This tightening is the brain’s way of telling the muscle to tense up to avoid going too far and getting injured. Don’t hold the leg up -- just let it drop. You should feel a slight stretch, but avoid throwing your leg into the air like a Rockette. This would be a method of stretching called ballistic stretching, which causes the muscle to severely tighten about 15 minutes later. Instead, use part momentum and part muscle to lift it into the air.

On each rep, your leg will go higher and higher before the hamstring will begin to tense. You can judge the progress by focusing on the wall in front of you and watching your foot go higher on each rep. After about 10 to 15 reps, switch legs. Beginners should do about 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps per leg.

As you become more flexible, fewer reps will be required. Too many repetitions will actually be counterproductive. Once this exercise is complete, repeat the process, but this time lift the leg to the side, then to the rear, and so on. Dynamic stretching exercises not only work on the legs, but also on the chest, arms, and torso.

About 4 hours later, try the leg lifts again and you will notice that on your first rep, the point where your leg begins to tighten is higher than it was on the first rep four hours earlier. This is because you have temporarily reset the nervous system so that it does not tense up so quickly to prevent injury.

As you do these exercises regularly on a daily basis, the reset point will become naturally higher and higher as time goes by. This is an important exercise for martial artists since they rarely have time to prepare themselves for a fight by warming up.

PASSIVE-STATIC STRETCHING AS A WARM-UP

There are reasons why you may not be able to do dynamic stretches before a workout. Maybe you’re recovering from an injury, or maybe your martial arts instructor is living in the dark ages of stretching and insists on static stretches before a workout, or maybe you are in the U.S. Army which does not allow dynamic stretching for fear that soldiers will perform ballistic stretches by accident. Maybe you need to warm up the muscles that cannot be stretched with dynamic stretches. Whatever the reason, there is a specific way to use passive-static stretching as a warm-up (passive-static stretches are performed differently as a warm-up than they are as a cool-down).

Passive-static stretching is nothing more than slowly stretching the muscles while they are relaxed. To perform a passive-static stretch, first you must relax your entire body. Once you are relaxed, slowly stretch the targeted muscle or muscle group for 10 to 15 seconds. Release the stretch slowly and relax your body again. Then slowly begin the stretch again, this time stretching a little farther. Hold the stretch again for 10 to 15 seconds and release/relax once again. Go down for a third time, this time stretching to the point just before discomfort turns to pain. You should never feel severe pain while doing a passive-static stretch.

Don’t bend the knees while stretching since this tenses the targeted muscle and also puts too much strain on the connective tissues of the muscle. This exercise should be performed for each major muscle group and all muscles that will be used in the actual workout.

Since passive-static stretching takes considerably more time than dynamic stretching, you must have patience (rushing a static stretch is much less productive). The entire process should take between 15 and 20 minutes. Just keep in mind that static stretches before a workout do little to prevent injury. So why would you want to do these instead of dynamic stretches if they take more time and don’t prevent injury very well? Hmmm…

PASSIVE-STATIC STRETCHING AS A COOL DOWN

This is one of the best ways to gain long-term flexibility. It is also safer than stretching before the workout. Once again, relax your entire body. Perform the stretches in the same manner as stated above, but this time after about 10 seconds, increase the stretch without releasing it. Hold the stretch there for another 45 to 60 seconds. Try counting to 45 while stretching and you will probably be very surprised how short you have been holding your stretches in the past.

Since your muscles are literally warm after the workout, they are more elastic and you can get better long-term gains from them in this state. Passive-static stretching has some advantages over other methods. For starters, it is a very relaxing activity if performed correctly. Also, injuries are less likely to result from it. This type of stretching after a workout also considerably decreases pooling of the blood in the leg muscles, thus avoiding potential heart complications. Passive-static stretching can be performed on a daily basis and it is the foundation of stretching since all other stretching methods should be accompanied by it in some way.

ISOMETRIC STRETCHING

Isometric stretching is a form of static stretching that, if performed properly, will give you maximum gains in a short amount of time. It’s not recommended for people who are younger than 18 or older than 60 because the connective tissue of the muscles is being stretched with these exercises.

Before beginning isometric training, it is highly recommended that you prepare your muscles and tendons by strengthening them with weight training. Use light to medium resistance and do between 25 and 30 repetitions of the exercise, focusing on the muscles that you will stretch isometrically. Do these exercises three times a week for a minimum of three weeks.

There are many different methods of isometric stretching. Most seem to work, but for the purpose of this article, let’s examine one. Other methods can be found in the two books listed at the end of this article. The following method is sometimes referred to as “abated” isometric stretching.

Almost any of the major muscle groups can be stretched using isometric stretching. Begin by stretching the muscles and holding for a few seconds until they adjust. Once adjusted, stretch a little farther. Wait a few more seconds for them to adjust, then go a little farther again and hold for a few seconds. Now that your muscles are about as far as they want to go, begin the isometric portion of the stretch.

Tense the muscles as hard as you can and hold the tension for about 6 seconds. After you relax the tension, immediately stretch the muscles farther. It is important that you don’t relax between the tension and when you stretch the muscle a little farther.

Once the muscle is stretched farther, then you can take the time to whine and complain. After about 10 seconds of waiting, tense the muscles again for another 6 seconds. When this tension is complete, stretch a little farther without hesitation.

Keep repeating the process of tensing, stretching a little farther, and waiting, but each time the wait should be a second or two shorter until your waiting periods reach zero. Somewhere in the process, you may reach the point where you cannot stretch any farther. If this happens, don’t try for that time, but attempt it again after the next tension.

Once the entire process is complete, take a break for one to two minutes and then repeat the whole process again. Do 2 to 4 sets. If you are not drenched in sweat by the time you reach the third set, you are not tensing hard enough. These tensions are not painful, but they should give you the same feeling of lifting heavy weights and your face should contort as if you were trying to lift a 1-ton truck.

A variation that can produce even faster results is to add resistance, instead of just using tension in the muscles while they are stretched. For example, use a partner to hold you in place (but not to push heavily on you), or a rope to pull your leg in a certain direction, or you can use gravity to pull your body toward the floor while do you do the splits.

As mentioned earlier, there are different methods of isometric stretching that deal with different tension and stretching intervals. Although different people prefer different methods, the important thing is to tense the muscle repeatedly while it’s in a stretched position.

Isometric stretching has three advantages over other types of stretching.

* Though not as much as dynamic stretching, isometric stretching can give you flexibility that remains with you even without a warm-up.

* It can give you faster flexibility gains than any other method of stretching.

* It not only gives you flexibility, but muscular strength as well.

REACHING PEAKS AND PLATEAUS

If you stretch incorrectly, you will find that it gets more and more difficult to see significant gains as time goes by. You’ll seem to reach a plateau, or even a peak, then lose flexibility. This can be overcome by keeping these general guidelines in mind:

1) Use the right stretching method. Different stretching methods are used for different athletic events. As a martial artist you should stick with dynamic and passive-static stretching as your basic methods. Or you may want to try isometric stretches in place of or right after a workout for fast gains.

2) Stretch at the right time during a workout. It’s important to keep in mind that before a workout, martial artists should use as many dynamic stretches as possible to warm up. Dynamic activities require dynamic stretches, while static activities require static stretches. After the workout is complete, use passive-static stretches to improve flexibility. Isometric stretches should never be performed without first using static stretches to warm up.

3) Stretch the right amount of times per week. This varies depending on the type of stretching. Dynamic stretches should be performed in the morning before the muscles have a chance to loosen up and before every workout. They may be repeated a few times during the day and may be performed 7 days a week.

Passive-static stretches should be performed at the end of each workout. If they are not over-done, you can do them daily.

Active-static stretches and isometric stretches are very taxing on the muscles and should only be performed two or three times a week depending on your fitness level. Doing them more often will probably be counterproductive.

WORKOUT SEQUENCE

Stretching is only one step in gaining flexibility. The proper order of a workout should be as follows:

1) Joint Rotations - Start with the most distant parts of the body and work inward. These should not be done so hard that they turn into ballistic stretches.

2) 3-5 Minutes of Aerobic Activity - This is just to raise the heart rate. Keep it simple by doing activities such as jogging in place or jumping jacks.

3) Dynamic Stretches - Follow the instructions above. Start out slow, stay relaxed, and only do as many reps/sets as it takes to reach the maximum range.

4) Specific Warm-up - Target just the muscle groups that will be used in step 5. Slowly mimic the activities that will be performed during the workout and gradually lead into the actual workout.

5) Workout - The actual martial arts workout or isometric stretching exercises.

6) Cool-down - Do 1-2 minutes of mild aerobic activity to gradually lower your heart rate, and then do passive-static stretches beginning first with your large muscle groups.

Note - Steps 4 and 5 may be skipped if you are only doing a flexibility workout that day.


CONCLUSION

Stretching, when performed properly, produces exceptional results with minimal effort and time. Of all the components of athletic training, stretching produces the highest proportional results for the amount of effort put forth. By just stretching a few minutes a day, you can increase the power and speed of your punches and kicks, decrease the likelihood of an injury, increase accuracy and height of your kicks, and become a more healthy person in general.

There are many books to read on the subject of stretching. Although no book can take the place of personal experience, I recommend that anyone who is serious about stretching should research the subject first by reading either Power-Flex by David De Angelis (once it’s translated into English) or Stretching Scientifically by Thomas Kurz.

Always consult with a physician before beginning any physical fitness program to include the stretching discussed in this article. If followed correctly, these guidelines are safe and should not be modified by anyone who is not trained in physical fitness.
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Good things take time

Ok - becoming a ninja takes time. And maybe actually going to class.

In the past 2 months, I've actually made it to class a total of 3 times. So, I've spent $60 on each class.

Ouch. Seeing it in print makes me wince even more than the Crucifix that I got hung up on last night.

Speaking of last night - we learned how to move out of the guard and into side control.

The move begins with your head on the other guy's stomache. Keeping your elbows tight, slide up your hands and put them over his armpits. Slide out the hands over the biceps, pressing down.

Leverage being your friend, he will no longer have a lock on your head, and you can slide your hands up to his hips.

2 major variations from this point.

The stand-up....hand on hip and bring your right (or left) foot up about 8 inches from his rear. You're left kneeling on one knee. Then, pushing down on the other hip, stand up and swing your other foot back drastically like a reverse Karate strike. Hip movement is key, helping you break free of his legs. When finished, you're standing up with your head held back and his legs jacked up in the air. You can finish by simply tossing his legs to one side or the other - or by shooting down and stacking him with his legs.

The slide past....jack your knee into his rear to stop his positioning. Then again, hand on hip and slide the locking in knee up and over either of his inner thigh.

DO NOT drop onto your opponents' nuts at that time. Like yanking on fingers, this is frowned upon. If you're reading this blog, it's because you are also a newbie and will then receive a quick lesson in ass-kicking vengeance visa vie a neck crank.

Instead, slide the knee past, and at the same time slide your arm up and in for inside control.

If that gets stuffed, try the other side. If that gets stuffed, then you are probably not going to land this move. Slide back just a little bit. Scoop up his legs with both arms - and stack him up.

Good times, good times.....

All of the above moves end up with you in slide control....here's an awesome way to escape it...(These were not covered).




And here's a way to move past his 1/2 guard into mount...

Thus, the journey begins....

Is 38 too old to start learning martial arts? Am I too old to learn Brazilian Jui-Jitsu? Too old to learn Kung Fu? My goal is to learn and blog about it all.

So, on Monday, I started at the Y with a free lesson in Bruce Lee's style of Kung Fu.

Very cool stuff. We learned the Pak Sau (Slapping Hand) and Lap sau (Grabbing Hand).

On Wednesday, I continue with Kung Fu - and begin the Brazilian Jui-Jitsu.

My plan is to continue with those two for a year or so - and then switch over to a local gym teaching no gi submission wrestling.

I've heard it's better to learn the BJJ with gi to begin with. Plus, if 60 year olds can do gi BJJ, I'm so there.

In the general interests of getting in shape, I'm also doing the Spartan 300 work-out.
a) Pullups - 25 reps
b) Deadlifts with 135lbs - 50 reps
c) Pushups - 50 reps
d) 24-inch Box jumps - 50 reps
e) Floor wipers - 50 reps
f) Single-arm Clean-and-Press with 36lbs Kettlebell - 50 reps
g) Pullups - 25 reps

And yes, that's my picture.