Fifty/50 BJJ Cailín

FIVE

2011-10-26T06:03:00.000-07:00

Our female blue belt count is now FIVE at Fifty/50...bringing the total women in colored belts count to SEVEN!

Congrats to Mary Anne Hutchison and Leah Buckley for joining their peers Megan Lomonof, Kenna Benesh and Tammy Dominick at the next rank!!

Leah has been training with us for almost a year coming from an MMA background then by way of Dan Simmler's in Boston. At her last tournament she bumped up to Intermediate and performed exceptionally well against blue belts from other area academies.

Mary Anne was the very first woman to walk in to join our women only class in January 2009. This 115lb woman stuck it out when there was no one good for her to train with for almost the whole first year. So many times in that woman only class she received a private lesson because no one else showed up.

At last night's women's class before the promotion ceremony we had 9 women in class (plus me teaching) and then 2 others showed up for the promotion! We've come a long way since the beginning and couldn't have done it without our first female student!

A special congrats also goes to Mike Donaghy and Ben Bullock who solidified their spots at the next rank through their performances this past weekend at the Copa Nova!

Anniversary...kind of

2011-10-14T14:06:00.000-07:00

5 years ago today I competed in my first Advanced Division at Grapplers Quest. This was back when 12 months of BJJ meant you were considered an advanced female competitor. A terrifying thought, lol!

I had about 14 months of Jiu-Jitsu under my belt. My first fight was against a woman who had been training for 3 years. I lost by a triangle. Then I got to fight again against a Purple Belt who had been training 8-10 years and had just placed at the World Championships (the last year they were held in Brazil) a few months prior as a blue belt. I had never even seen or heard of a female purple belt before then! It was probably a good thing that it was nogi and my clueless self didn't know who she was at the time. Haha! Somehow, I managed to lose on points. Probably, I was so spazzy and technique-less that it was difficult to control me, although I can guarantee I wasn't putting her in any danger.

In my first match the woman put me in a body triangle and afterwards I remember saying that I didn't know why I was having so much trouble opening the guard. I'd never been put in a body triangle before that day, I didn't even know it existed! It's crazy to see how much the students know about BJJ today, when I think back to how little we were being taught back then compared to today's standards.

My opponent's coach in the second match was none other than Ryan Hall, himself a newly minted purple belt, about to go on to win the Advanced Absolute that day. Maybe his first Advanced Absolute title? (I should really know whether that's 100% accurate, I guess, haha). This was Ryan before he had won a single superfight match/division. (Although, he went on to win his first superfight a few weeks later.)

Celebrating 5 years since the day I met my awesome boyfriend! :) ...unfortunately though I'm celebrating without him, since he's in England until Monday. :( BUT, I am heading over to my brother's house tonight for some of the most amazing chicken fajitas ever! My favorite meal. So excited!! :)

Missing

2011-10-10T23:07:00.000-07:00

Ryan is away on his longest consecutive absence since we started dating 5 years ago. I can't take this any longer! I am never scheduling him a trip this long again (unless I get to go with him, lol!)

I trained twice today but didn't get in the run I had planned. So I am getting up early tomorrow to start my new lifting workout, then I hit up yoga at 12pm. Then I'll grab lunch and head to the gym to work on some admin stuff. The kids class starts at 5pm (We are up to 15 kids now and one of our new little girls surprised us with her improvement today and renewed aggression. I was worried she wasn't going to really like BJJ but today she sure showed me!) I don't know why, but I just think it's so cool to watch little children execute proper technique. It's amazing what they are capable of learning if you have the patience to teach it. Then after the kids class, we have the women's class (we are up to 23 ladies!), then Basics (I'll probably rest or grab a snack during that class) then finally I train at 8:30pm.

I'm trying to figure out how to manage lifting, yoga, running, and BJJ on top of the actual work I have to do each week and balancing it out. I thought when I quit my job last year that I would have plenty of time for all the training I need to do, but really I probably do as much work with the gym that I did before at my government job, lol! And I feel a lot of pressure to be ready for the NoGi Worlds, especially after so much time off. I'm not worried about my technique too much because I know my Jiu-Jitsu is actually way better this year than last year. I am trying to get back in shape! Four weeks to go!

But only one more week until Ryan comes home!

Broken Shmoken

2011-10-10T10:55:00.000-07:00

I did indeed break my thumb. This knowledge is courtesy of a new student of ours who happens to be a doctor and was more than happy to pronounce my metacarpal (or something) very broken. I took a week off training (prior to the thumb actually being pronounced broken) and then returned slowly, taping my hand such that I can wave like a real princess. Makes me feel pretty...except for the whole can't bend my fingers, perma-stick tape and throbbing pain at the end of class problem.

Luckily though! I took one day off during the week last week then two days this past weekend and it appears to finally be healing! 4 more weeks to NoGi Worlds. Is it possible to prepare in 4 weeks after spending over 1 year unable to train hard? I'm not sure. But Val did say that I was rolling very confidently today...meaning that I didn't appear to be worried that my body would give out somewhere unexpectedly. I think today is officially the first day that's happened since February 2010.

Hot damn!

So much goings on

2011-09-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

My brain is all over the place working on 18 things at once. Today was supposed to be my first day off in weeks, but Seph called in sick. Luckily, one of the other purple belts filled in to teach class this morning, but I had to be here and decided to stick around and get some more tasks accomplished.

Ryan was in NYC for 6 weeks training for ADCC. He came home for just a few days before heading to Nottingham, England for the tournament. He fights tomorrow at 7am EST and we are hosting a viewing party at the gym to watch it live. I have never in my life been so nervous about anything.

If you don't know about ADCC, it's basically the closest thing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or Submission Grappling has to the Olympics. The top 16 competitors in each weight class participate in the tournament. (Well mostly, 7 have to win a regional trials, 1 is invited if they won the previous tournament 2 years prior, and the last 8 receive invitations based on CV's. However, no invitations are allowed to individuals from someone on the same team that won a trial. So if your team has multiple people at a weight that are better than others, they still won't get a spot.)

I have been super busy at the gym since we are designing new gis, rashguards, t-shirts, hoodies, patches, etc for the team. Soon we will launch an online store for all the 50/50 gear!

The women's class and kids classes are picking up. We currently have 21 women, plus I'm expecting a lady to come in tonight and one other emailed to say she will be here in a few weeks. The kids program is up to 14 now (plus a few teenagers who take the adult classes).

We've recently revamped our schedule and website and are working hard to upgrade many facets of the academy. If you are ever satisfied with yourself, you will stagnate, so we are constantly searching for ways to improve. Big things are coming!

I may have broken and torn my thumb last time I was in NYC training, so I've been in and out of class myself, trying in vain, to get back in shape. Only 6 weeks until the Nogi Worlds! And I want to be back in competition form for it!

IBJJF Splitting Brown/Black Divisions

2011-09-16T13:08:00.000-07:00

Check this out!!

IBJJF Splits Brown/Black Divisions in 2012

Jiu-Jitsu lifestyle rocks!

2011-09-07T14:08:00.000-07:00

This was the second time in the last 3 weeks that I was able to go train at Marcelo Garcia's academy and it was awesome! This time I didn't get up there until Saturday night and Sunday is their day off, so Ryan and I spent most of the day revamping the Fifty/50 Academy schedule and website as a whole. Ryan's on a strict diet so no going out to eat. :(

On Monday, I went with Ryan to a special ADCC training practice (the academy was closed due to the holiday). I watched as Marcelo, Ryan, Cobrinha, Batista, and Gabi prepared for ADCC through an hour training session of hard rounds with a few hand picked individuals who came in to help them out.

Later that day, I tried my first HOT yoga class at a place I found just a few blocks from Marcelo's that offers classes for only $5! The class was packed and halfway through I almost bailed, lol! But after a while, I decided it felt pretty good afterall. :)

I grabbed my yoga mat and headed over to Ronin Athletics where I was meeting Ryan and his friend Christian (owner of Ronin) for another training session. I warmed up with Ryan (having cooled down since yoga ended an hour earlier). Then was happy to be able to do a few rounds with Liz (a purple belt at Christian's academy who is my size and very nicely stuck around after their open mat to train with me). Unfortunately, though, my yoga mat didn't make it home. Hopefully, Ryan can pick it up at Christian's later this week for me, oops!

Tuesday, we went in to train in the afternoon advanced class at Marcelo's. The only other girl training at this class was Gabi, but one of the guys agreed to drill with me. I rolled with a few different guys, then towards the end was looking for a new partner and Cobrinha saw me standing and asked if I wanted to roll with him! What a super nice guy! He's in training for ADCC and volunteered to give up one of his hard rounds to go with me. And then Gabi did the same! I know that I can't even come close to mimicking the type of training they need and was so appreciative of the rounds I had with them. It is so cool when you meet people who are so accomplished in their careers, well-known and still super humble and kind.

When we came in for the evening advanced class on Tuesday night, I was excited to see a bunch of other girls. One blue belt my size and one a little bigger that I rolled with last time I was in town. Plus, a purple belt who was visiting from California who I met one other time when she dropped into our academy about a month or so ago. I got to roll 10 minutes with each girl plus 10 with a male brown belt about my size and the last 10 minutes with a male pluma-sized blue belt who was super fun to train with. What an awesome session!

My last training session there was today, Wednesday's advanced class. Emily didn't know I was in town but she was sitting behind the desk and I went over to say hi. She hadn't been planning on training, but being the super awesome, nice black belt that she is, she jumped up to change so she could work with me. We went over hand fighting from the back to secure the RNC. You have to pay close attention when Marcelo show's technique because he only repeats it once or twice and if you miss something, he will find it when he comes by to watch you drill!

10 minute rounds again. As expected, Emily pretty much crushed me easily. Haha! I like that she goes pretty hard with me, because I can tell most of the guys hold back a little bit and sometimes feel bad putting their weight on me when I'm on the bottom, and I can feel them back off sometimes. But even though I know she's also careful, Emily makes me work super hard and doesn't let me get away with any mistakes!

On the bus ride home now. Only $14 from NYC to DC and it includes free internet! Can't beat that! :)

Every joint in my body hurts from training so many hard rounds. It's going to be a while before it gets used to training hard again. And I def need to get back on my strength training before heading into an actual competition. Can't wait for yoga class tomorrow to ease my achiness!

New Female Black Belt at Fifty/50!!

2011-09-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well she's not exactly new to her belt. Or new to us for that matter. BUUUUTTT I am so excited to announce that BJJ Black Belt Valorie Worthington (of famed blog BJJ Vision Quest) is moving to Arlington, VA next week to join our team! Well, actually, to be fair, she is starting her journey next week, but it will take her over a week to arrive since she is driving across the country. :)

So much awesomeness. Because a. She's awesome b. she's smart c. she's a female who will be around so it won't just be me and the guys all the time anymore d. she's a black belt e. she's on our team and gonna be here all the time and f. she's gonna be staying with me at least for the month that Ryan is in Europe for ADCC and seminars (I hate being home alone)!!! Woohoo!!!

Blasé

2011-08-29T19:30:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have those days where you just can't make yourself care what happens on the mat? And not in a good ego-less way but in more like a blasé way?

I don't know if I'm still a little under the weather (I'd been feeling badly for the last few days but woke up this morning with my sore throat, etc significantly improved). I also spent around 20 hours updating and compiling the bookkeeping for the gym over the weekend, so my brain is kinda fried. Or maybe it was just hard to come back to the real world after training at Marcelo's. But either way, I just couldn't seem to get my competitive streak going in class tonight. Maybe I need to start lifting again...

Normally, I love to train hard. And lately, I've been like that all the time. Maybe it's because I spent so much time on the side of the mat this year, but a week ago, I was still trying to remind myself during every roll not to get too carried away, hold a little back, watch your knee, hip, and shoulder. Slow down!

But today, no reminder was needed, I just didn't feel like going hard. The weirdest part is I wanted to train, I took 2 classes in a row, but I just couldn't make myself train HARD.

I'm vaguely annoyed at myself for this, eh.

-Unusually detached

16 yr old 2x BJJ World Champion

2011-08-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

Meet 16-year-old Dominyka Obelenyte on the Grappling Girls Guild Spotlight Section. Read our interview with her here.

Jiu-Jitsu in the Big Apple

2011-08-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

When Ryan asked me if I would come up for a few days and visit him in NYC during his ADCC training camp I jumped at the chance for two reasons. First, of course I wanted to see him since he'd been gone for almost 2 weeks, but I extended my stay a few extra days so that I could train with the all the ladies on my new team! :)

OMG I haven't had so many fun rounds in a really really long time! I trained with 2 female blue belts my size, and one a little bigger who used to be a national level collegiate wrestler. A nice surprise arrived in a purple belt my size who just moved to NYC from Canada. AND Dominyka (2011 purple belt world champion in the absolute and 2nd place in the division 3 weight classes up from me) was just back fresh from her trip to Lithuania. On top of this I was able to train with both Emily Kwok (first Canadian female black belt) and Jen Petrina, another black belt. It is so rare to be in a room with a bunch of good female training partners and multiple days in a row too! Hopefully, next time I will get to roll with Tati and Lola too!

Practices were super hard. There wasn't a lot of technical instruction, mostly just hard rounds because Marcelo and Ryan get ready for ADCC during the regular practices. We did different types of training, sometimes regular rounds 5 minutes, sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes we did 1 minute only working takedowns on the feet followed by 5 minutes on the ground. A really fun option though was when we did 5 minutes of a regular round then at the 5 min mark the bell rang and we had 5 minutes to score, first person to score after the 5 minute warning won and the round would be over.

It was a little tough on my body to go from pretty much no hard training to suddenly 2 times per day of hard training. But it was totally worth it. I finally arrived back home late Wednesday night and practically crawled to Yoga the next day. So refreshing! Haha.

I can't wait to go back again in a few weeks towards the end of the ADCC training camp. I should be in a little better shape by then too since I'll have a few weeks of training hard again under my belt. :)

Second Place at the world championships...of swimming!

2011-08-23T20:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I want to brag about a little girl that I taught to swim many many moons ago.

Little Sarah was 2 1/2 years old when her mom first started bringing her in for me to work with her. Sarah would have to be forcibly extricated from her mother's arms before every single class, screaming and crying the whole way. But Sarah was (at the time) the youngest of three (now she has a younger brother) and her mom was nonplussed and would do so every Sunday night at 6pm and then turn and walk out the door of the indoor pool, entrusting her toddler to me (I was just a young teenager at the time). Luckily, Sarah would stop crying the second her mother exited hearing range, haha!

I worked with Sarah as her primary coach for almost 10 years before I stopped teaching her during the winter as I was teaching at a different program then and eventually graduated from college and moved on and didn't get to see her in the summer either anymore. But I try to keep up with her competition success stories.

I'll never forget Sarah's mom approaching me when she was in middle school saying that all Sarah's coaches wanted her to quit her other sports and just focus on theirs (soccer, basketball, swimming, etc). My advice to her was to not let her specialize until high school and to let her pick at that time what she wanted to do. Well she's a swimmer through and through.

Last week Sarah received a SILVER MEDAL in one of her races at the Junior World Championships being held in Peru! I couldn't be more proud of how far she has come. Sarah was one of the kids representing the U.S. at the Junior World Championships. Not a bad way to start out her senior year of high school!

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for her when the Olympic Trials roll around next summer and she gets the opportunity to take on all the adults!

Go Sarah!!! :)

Self Awareness: Are you a spaz?

2011-08-19T10:50:00.000-07:00

I took a couple of our new kids to their first tournament a few months ago, 5 year old and 8 year old brothers. There was a lot that I saw in the tournament but in the 8 year olds last match I was very proud of how hard he fought against a kid 2 years older with over twice as much experience. Except for one thing. He didn’t use an ounce of jiu-jitsu. It was all sheer aggression.

After the match, I went up to him and first praised him for his efforts. Then I asked him what happened, why didn’t he use his jiu-jitsu techniques the way we practiced? He was still gasping for air and just looked straight in my eyes and in between breaths, said simply, “I don't know, I just forgot”.

Why is it that an 8 year old is capable of this self realization and honesty but most adults are not? He didn't argue with me or make an excuse. He knew that he had allowed the pressure to overtake his mind.

The other day after class the topic of spazzes came up. One of our blue belts asked Seph (our brown belt instructor), “how do you know if you are a spaz?” Seph’s response was that first because people tell you that you are one. They tell you all the time with phrases like, “calm down”, “use less strength”, “relax a little more”, etc. He said that coaches told him he was a spaz all the time during his progression. (Aside: Are we being too nice? Are we not being direct enough with the students who are spazzy?)

My answer to the question was a little different. I said, if you notice that the coaches rarely ask you to roll (even in small group settings) or when they do they don’t exchange positions with you, they just tap you over and over and over or they just sit on you and put lots of pressure down and never let you get to any positions, it’s a sign you are a spaz. Another blue belt piped up, “Wait, Ryan doesn’t roll like that with everyone?” My blunt answer, “nope”.

Light Bulb!

This second student then asked me directly if he was a spaz, as you may imagine, the answer was yes. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear but he had the appropriate reaction asking how to fix it. I wonder how many years he's been training and no one ever told him this before (he's fairly new to our academy).

But how to fix it is the difficult question to answer. Once you come to terms with your spazziness, how do you stop? How do you attain the ease of movement that high-level black belts have? Many of us struggle daily trying to discover the appropriate balance between aggression and smoothness.

Actually, I’m not exactly sure how to do it as I’m still working on it myself.

But here are a few quick tips that have helped me a lot: If you are ever doing a pushing movement that isn’t designed to get a return push for a redirect, but rather is strictly for the purpose of pushing your opponent away, than you are being spazzy. If you are ever pushing your opponent back away from you from the bottom of guard, instead of using your guard, hooks or points of contact to pull, than you are probably being a spaz. If you find yourself exhausted after 2-3 rolls, you are probably being a spaz. And of course, both mine and Seph’s original responses to the question apply as well. Pay attention to how your instructor rolls with you and with various other individuals. Is it different?

Gym hopping

2011-08-15T23:01:00.000-07:00

Why do I read Sherdog? It seems to be constantly full of low level white and blue belts giving their opinions on Jiu-Jitsu. It kinda reminds me of a middle-schooler trying to teach his parents about life...

The latest thread I became frustrated with was on the topic of gym hopping. I guess I can understand to some degree where the point of view that despises gym hopping comes from. Usually they are non-competitors who cannot comprehend the constant drive to learn more, faster, better. They are also probably lacking in some way a connection of some sort and need their team to be their family. They want to be a part of a group more than they want to succeed. These people are necessary in the academy and in life, but they will never be at the top.

I have changed gyms twice...and hope to never have to again.

The first gym was the one I happened to walk into when starting BJJ. While at this academy, I treated it like my family. I showed up regularly for a year and a half, I was one of only 4 students that regularly competed. But I hit a point where I didn't feel it was giving me what I needed. I was more committed to them than they were to me. I realized that the instruction wasn't as good as my ignorant self thought the first time I walked through the doors, and I wanted to train with women who were higher ranked than me. Even still, it was an agonizing decision that took me months to arrive at. I still have a few friends from this academy, although most of those have since followed me to my third.

I was very much thrilled to become a part of my second gym. I was so excited at the instant increase in my jiu-jitsu knowledge and skill. But after some time I decided it was no longer the place for me. Although, I had a bunch of friends and enjoyed the training itself, the atmosphere was no longer for me.

My third gym was started by my boyfriend, Ryan Hall. I don't know what I would do if we broke up, because I can't imagine ever training anywhere else. Ryan has so much more Jiu-Jitsu knowledge than almost every person I've ever met. He makes all movement look and seem easy. He can answer literally every single question I've ever had and his answers come from tried and true, proven competition results at the highest levels. He isn't a Marcelo Garcia or Cobrinha, but is working towards getting there one day.

Ryan holds the key to my constant battle between technical movement and aggression. His scientific and principled approach to BJJ is exactly what I need. Every time I roll with him, I get better, simply by feeling his movement. Plus, I love the laid back yet hard working environment he fosters. Ryan doesn't have any desire to be your dad or your boss. He doesn't want to be an authority figure in any way, he just naturally is one. He likes to joke around a lot but our practices are hard; all the students train with aggression and desire to win, yet each one also constantly strives for technical proficiency and ease of movement. The exact combination is so rare in jiu-jitsu academies that to me it is amazing to behold.

Many times I have commented that even the students who get on my nerves, I like. I work at the gym full time now and it really is truly wonderful to be in an environment where you work with around 100 different people each week and yet like them all! A positive environment seems to perpetuate itself in much the same way a negative one does.

I am very excited at the idea of what it will become in the future. I can't imagine ever being anywhere else.

But then, I couldn't imagine every leaving my first two gyms either. So who knows...

I'm gonna party like it's my birthday

2011-07-24T16:36:00.001-07:00

Because it is! :)

How did I spend my day? Well, of course it started with Jiu-Jitsu.

I taught the women only class, which was super small today but it worked out because I was able to catch to of our newest girls up on some techniques they'd been having trouble with. Then Ryan rolled with me and helped me with a few things for an hour of uninterrupted time! It's probably surprising to most people but we almost never get to train, especially for any length of time without being interrupted by students or other coaches needing something. It was nice to spend that time with him working on a bunch of my weaknesses. It's weird because even though I've barely trained the last 9 months, he said my movement is WAY better than it used to be. I guess all that time just watching everyone else may have paid off in some form. Now I just have to get back in shape and be able to go full speed.

Then Ryan, Kenny, Gianni (who just arrived from NY today), and I all went to the pool. It was nice to relax a bit. Now we're home cooling off and getting ready to change so Ryan can take me out to dinner.

A totally awesome day!

New Black Belt Down Under

2011-07-20T12:14:00.000-07:00

Esther Tavares Tutida becomes the second Australian female to receive her black belt in BJJ! Read more at the Grappling Girls Guild!

2011 Mundial Women's Brown/Black Review

2011-06-08T05:44:00.000-07:00

I watched the Budovideos live feed from home this year since I couldn't compete due to injuries. :(

And the ladies sure shook things up!!

Full review here...
Women's Brown/Black Belt Play-by-play

The women’s divisions did not disappoint this year! The feeling on the budovideos chat log was that the women’s division finals were much more interesting than the men’s. These ladies came out to fight and by all appearances were not satisfied to squeak out a win by advantages if they could help it. Whether the match actually ended by submission, points, or ref’s decision, it was clear that each woman on the mat was playing for keeps.

* Please note that they didn’t show all of the women’s matches so I don’t have exact play-by-play for all of them other than the finals.
PLUMA REVIEW
Gezary Matuda Kubis finished her first two opponents (Tove Sodersten and Claudia Martinez) by triangle/armlock and armlock respectively to meet up with Leticia who had a bye first round before besting her first opponent on the way to her match with Gezary. Leticia and Gezary battled it out with Leticia coming out ahead 8-6. On the other side of the bracket, Nyjah Easton bested her first 2 opponents before beating Jennifer Sutingco by a large point margin in the semifinals.

The final pitted the experienced black belt and reigning champion, Leticia Ribeiro versus Brown Belt, Nyjah Easton. Nyjah quickly pulled guard at the opening of the match. After a long stalemate, Leticia finally forced her to open and Nyjah quickly switched to De La Riva Guard. Leticia managed to secure 3 points for a pass before Nyjah exploded with a bridge and managed to roll Leticia over. Leticia managed to base out and in the scramble land back on top. Nyjah was able to secure a sweep to give her 2 points towards the end and the match ended 3-2 in favor of the current champion, Leticia Ribeiro. Read More Here

Fifty/50's First Student Mundial Medalist...is a GIRL!!!

2011-06-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

I just found out from my doctor last night that I tore my LCL (more later), but today, I don't care. Because I am so happy for Megan!

Megan Lomonof is the first student from Fifty/50 since we opened our doors in January 2009 to medal at the BJJ World Championships! Congrats to Megan for her Bronze medal in the Women's Blue Belt Lightweight Division!

Megan has worked so hard and definitely deserved this! She started training BJJ in December 2009 and was promoted to blue belt in February 2011 after winning the White/Blue Belt Division at the Abu Dhabi Pro Trials in NJ. On top of being a beast at BJJ, Megan is a highly accomplished musician, playing the flute and piccolo for the United States Army. And she bought her first bikini and sundress the other day! So it's a win all around this week for her! :)

Good luck in the absolute tomorrow chica! And good luck to Kenny and Ostap as they fight their divisions tomorrow as well!

NO PAIN, NO PAIN, NO PAIN!!!

2011-05-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

And no that's not a mantra I'm just telling myself to make it so. :)

I've been on and off the mat, trying to get back into training the last 3 months following my initial post-surgery rehab. I've been on a strict weight lifting regimen and unable to train much because just lifting would exhaust my hip/shoulder to the point of often being unable to train (or train long) that day or sometimes 1-2 days following hard lifts. And even when I did train, I wasn't able to do more than a few rounds and was very nervous about tweaking my hip or shoulder and had to move carefully to avoid many positions...BUT...not today!

For the first time in over A WHOLE YEAR I trained 100% pain free today! It probably helped that I didn't do any physical activity on Saturday and only rolled for 10 minutes with my favorite training partner on Sunday, so my body was feeling great when I went in this morning to train with Megan for the Mundials. I'm not going, but one of our female blue belts is and I wanted to help her get some work in at the special Mundial Memorial Day practice. After drilling and warming up, Seph asked me if I was going to train. My response was, "yes, but I don't know how many rounds my body will hold up for". But my body did GREAT! It didn't betray me today. Not at all.

I trained hard, and without thinking about my hip or shoulder at all the whole time! I know my strength still isn't 100% but this is the first time I've been able to really train without worrying about the angle my arm or leg was at in literally over one year since I first tore the hip and shoulder. Okay, during the last positional sparring round I felt my hip starting to tighten up but I actually lasted all the way to the end. And once during rounds I had to break the order and take an extra 3 minute round out because my asthma was acting up from my cardio lacking after almost 8 months off real training (holy crap, it's really been that long!) but otherwise I couldn't be happier!

Jiu-Jitsu is fun again!

After being injured for so long, between the initial injuries and the months of ignoring what I knew to be true, then finally getting both surgeries and doing the rehab, to getting back into jiu-jitsu (probably a little too early), I actually forgot how much fun jiu-jitsu was. I can't wait to get back into actual shape and get back into competition! I will be a different grappler. New and improved!

It is a little frustrating that this moment of bliss finally arrived the week of the Mundial...if only it had been 3-4 weeks sooner, then I could have competed. But at least I'm healed! My doctors rock!

Soo...yeah...I need to go ice my hip because after training earlier, it is tight and achy. But I made it! It's all uphill from here! Woohoo!!!!

2011 ADCC Invitee...Ryan Hall!

2011-05-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

Yay!! Ryan received his invite for ADCC earlier this week. I'm so happy for him! :) I know he wanted to do the trials but he unfortunately missed both. :( He missed the east coast trials last fall due to a torn thumb ligament that affected his grip and missed the west coast because of an ankle injury that affected his ability to train hard in preparation for (and to make the new day of weight requirement since he couldn't run either) the tournament. And he wasn't sure if missing the trials would preclude him from being able to attend this year. (Huge sigh of relief!) I can't wait to see how he does two years later, one rank higher, and possessing much better competition and training experience under his belt!

Ryan leaves mid-way through next week for a Mundial training camp in San Francisco with Felipe Costa, Caio Terra, and others. And he already has plans for an ADCC training camp in August-September with some of the best. Good luck, Ryan! :)

And good luck to the other Fifty/50 competitors heading out to the Mundial this year: Seph Smith, Ostap Manastyrski, Kenny Savercool, and Megan Lomonof! (Wish I was going with you all!)

A generation of participation trophies, ribbons, and now...BJJ Belts? (pt 1)

2011-05-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

I had a couple conversations regarding belts with a few of our students today and a topic touched upon in both was that of belt promotions.

The first conversation was in relation to kids belts. It seems that many BJJ kids programs have created their own belt structure due to their preference for what they perceive to be a necessary marketing tool. It is designed to give the kids a regular promotion as a physical representation of their improvement. One student related how in TKD her niece's had a belt test every 6 weeks. BJJ used to be anti-mcdojos, but are we heading in this direction too?

The initial BJJ belt structure was organized so you would be at a given belt for a fair amount of time (years, plural) before being promoted. How many gyms follow the official IBJJF belt protocol for kids (or adults)? Not many from what I've seen. The kids at the tournaments have all sorts of belt colors, some even follow the adult system (against IBJJF official regulations).

We decided when we started our kids program last fall that we would follow the official IBJJF guidelines instead of designing our own marketing gimmick (gag). We wanted to commit to the intent of the system. In doing so, we ended up demoting 2 of the kids who transfered from elsewhere so their skill level would match the belt we would give them. And contrary to the popularly held belief in martial arts (including BJJ) marketing, neither child minded at all. In the 6 months our kids BJJ program has existed, we have not broached the subject of belt promotions with the kids at all. And only one of them at one time inquired how to get a black belt, when told he couldn't be awarded one for a while and it was explained that he would be told when he was ready for promotion, he dropped the subject and never brought it up again (he's eight).

All the children work hard every day, they learn, ask questions, train, and have fun! We are even taking the majority of them to their first BJJ tournament next weekend in Ashland, VA. But because we don't emphasize earning a physical representative of their improvement to outwardly express it, they don't need one. As children will do, they simply follow our lead and example. And ultimately isn't it better for them to be learning to enjoy the process of earning success instead of being focused on an outward representation of it? Isn't that more of a lifeskill than anything?

Has our society's desire for participation ribbons and trophies and the idea that everyone earns the same rewards begun to ruin our culture and by extension BJJ? I believe to some extent it has. Everyone is not created equal, some are more naturally gifted physically, some mentally, and others with sheer determination and drive. Shouldn't rewards go to those who shine? Otherwise, they aren't rewards at all...they are in fact, meaningless.

Shouldn't we teach our kids at a young age that they can have anything they want, but only IF they work for it. That if they choose not to, they can't complain and demand/expect the same rewards of those who do? Shouldn't they be taught to win and lose graciously instead of being forced to believe in the idea that no one wins or loses? Because, in life, that simply isn't true at all.

Elsewhere in our society they are being forced to believe a fairy tale. But what about when real life happens and it shatters that vision? Will they be prepared?

What happens when a generation of children become adults that don't know how to work hard for (and appreciate) success or how to win and lose with dignity?

The Mundials are out...

2011-04-29T19:34:00.000-07:00

Once again I will miss the Mundials due to injury. :(

After asking me if I could do a couple positions/movements this past Saturday, to which my answer was "no", Ryan informed me that I couldn't participate in the Mundials. I cried again. Dammit. I've spent over 3 months rehabbing, adding strength and conditioning, everything I could to push myself to make it back in time for the World Championships. I really thought I could make it. I was so frustrated when I was told there was no way. And the worst part is, I can't really argue with the assessment. What do you do when your coach asks you to do a simple technique and you can't?

You see, I've been training and hard too, so no one realized how much trouble I was still having in some positions...because, well, I just avoided those positions at all cost. But Ryan is right, there are too many I have to avoid because of my hip and what if I can't avoid them. Then what? But knowing that doesn't make me feel better at all.

How do you stay motivated to work hard when you know you won't be able to compete against people your size and level for FIVE months? The curse of being small means that local tournaments never have people in your division. And now it will be a full year from my last competition until the next. Especially, as I probably wouldn't even be able to think about entering divisions against bigger people for another few months as well. Being injured sucks. And healing, but not quickly enough sucks too. Ugh.

But to keep from being too negative, even though it cuts into my training time, I've really enjoyed teaching all the classes while the guys are in Toronto competing at Grapplers Quest. It's exhausting to be on the whole time, especially yesterday, but it's really cool to see the progress the students are making. Also, it looks like our numbers are back up for the women's class. The ladies were a little irregular in their attendance for a few weeks for various reasons and it's nice to see a bunch of them back in regularly again. We got up to 11 in one class last week and 9 in one this week. So fun!! :)

Emirati Women Set a Precedent

2011-04-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

An article in an online newspaper in the UAE about the UAE women's jiu-jitsu team competing at the Abu Dhabi Pro

Emirati Women Set a Precedent
By: Amith Passela

ABU DHABI // The Emirati women's jiu-jitsu team gained much-needed exposure from their first international competition last night.

All seven participants, making their debut on the international stage, lost their first-round games at the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championships. All of them, however, declared they would return stronger for the next staging of the event in Abu Dhabi.

"Our biggest challenge was to get on stage in an event telecast live and in front of a big international audience. We have overcome that hurdle," said Rachida Mubarak Belfakir, after her defeat to Megan Lomonof, of the United States, in the white/blue 63kg and under weight division at the National Exhibition Centre yesterday.

"We all knew the fights would be very, very tough. Yet we wanted to get on stage and fight against opponents with more experience. We are not exposed to such training but we want to change that culture and become athletes by our own.

"This championship was a learning curve for all of us. All of us realised how much work we need to put in to reach the level at which we just competed. I think we got about 30 per cent experience from these fights.

"I would like to think we are on the right path and with more intense training, we will reach a good level. It is up to us now to increase our workload and then keep improving by participating in competitions regularly."

Belfakir has ambitions of becoming a black belt and to compete in the World Professional championship. She has trained about a year and has participated two local competitions, winning a silver medal and a bronze.

"We are a group of friends and we are very serious of pursuing a career in jiu-jitsu," she said. "Our parents didn't have any objections when we asked for their permission. There are several other Emirati girls in training but they don't want to fight in public. But we, seven of us, have decided to move forward. We have given the Emirati women a start and I am sure more will follow us."

Of the other Emiratis in the 63kgs and under, Issrine Idris was outclassed with a choke-lock from Niceye Whissell of Canada and Charlotte Baumgarten of Germany had Latifa Hassan out early with a hand-lock.

Maha al Rumaithi went down to Tamino Kaori of Japan and Samira al Rumaithi went the full distance although losing by 17-0 to Eman Isam Bilbaisi of Jordan.

Soud al Mir, who went down to Allison Tremblay of Canada in the 63kg and over weight division, wasn't disappointed either.

"There is no reason for me to get disappointed," she said. "It is the other way around. I am very excited and happy to have participated in a big competition that has drawn a big audience and seen live on TV.

"Like all my friends, I am going to continue with the training and get better. This was a real good experience for all of us. Jiu-jitsu is new for the Emirati girls and I am sure it will get bigger and better with time. What we need here is more competitions."

Latifa Akhassay, al Mir's colleague in the same weight division, was beaten by Eirin Nyguen of Norway.

Caroline de Lazzer, the Emirati women's coach, also made a first round exit to compatriot Michello Nicolini in the black belt 63kg and under.

"It just goes to show how tough the competition has become," said de Lazzer, the 2006 world champion. "Those opponents the Emirati girls competed are those who are pursuing in becoming future world champions. My students are just beginners. It was the experience for them."

For a second successive day the organisers failed to have a fight-card and the results, and not only had the public and the media confused, but some of the competitors too.

Katrina Weilbacher, from the United States, in her first appearance at the Abu Dhabi event was still wondering around long after the day's events were over to find out if she had to fight for a third-place play-off.

"Usually the fight schedules and the results are announced over the PA system so you know when and whom you fight next," she said. "There is a lot of confusion. I still don't know if I have to fight in a play-off for bronze."

Weilbacher went down to South African Penny Thomas in the black belt 63kgs and over in the semi-finals.

"I was in a triangle for about three minutes but lost the fight," she said. "Penny is one of the best in the world. The competition here is much higher than I expected with all the top fighters from around the world."

Thomas will meet the world champion Gabriella Garcia, of Brazil, in today's final. And Weilbacher, who lost in the World Cup final to Garcia in Los Angeles last year said it could be anyone's final.

"It will be a very close and exciting contest," added the American, who has crossed path with both. "It will be like a toss of a coin for me."

The finals of all weight classes and categories will be worked off today from 11am at the National Exhibition Centre.

The National: Emirati Women Set a Precedent

Jiu-Jitsu in Hijab...Female Competitors at the Abu Dhabi Pro

2011-04-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

I've posted a quick article and some of the preliminary results from the women's divisions at the Abu Dhabi Pro on the Grappling Girls Guild Website. Click here for more information.

Also, new BJJ/Grappling events for women taking place now through August have been listed in the calendar section. Check in to match up your vacation time with one of them! (And please feel free to send me more if you have any brewing that I don't know about.)

A special congrats to Fifty/50 student Megan Lomonof for her hard work, dedication, and composure for earning a spot to compete at the Abu Dhabi Pro as a 14 month white belt, then going out and competing in her first big tournament ever (and first tournament as a blue belt) and coming home with 2 submission victories, many lessons learned, and the ability to believe that there was nothing different she could have done to achieve a greater outcome. (Megan lost in the quarterfinals but put up a brave fight the whole way). We look forward to seeing her get out to more tournaments in the latter half of 2011!

iPhone...sending BJJ technical instructions from Abu Dhabi

2011-04-11T21:53:00.001-07:00

I miss Ryan. And on top of this I hate being home alone, I'm used to noise all the time and I just cannot sleep when it's quiet. Consequently, I haven't slept well since he left. I'm perpetually tired all day, yet unable to fall asleep at night. Tonight I plan to leave the TV on all night and see if keeps a low hum at an appropriate decibel for me to sleep soundly. Fingers crossed...

This hasn't been an easy weekend. Ryan's grandmother passed away last week, the night before he left for Abu Dhabi. He was going to stay home, but his mom thought he should still leave to compete at the World Pro. Trying to stand in for him as best I could, I went to the wake on Sunday and the funeral today. This was a side of his family that I haven't met as often as the other side so, as I was recounting the last two days' conversations to Ryan via Facebook chat, I kept confusing him by getting names mixed up, lol. Plus, he was chatting using his iPhone so there was a huge delay from message to message, making things more confusing when there was a question, haha. :)

Ryan's bummed about his performance this past weekend in the higher weight class at the nogi tournament and by losing to Vagner Rocha by advantage in the absolute, but he's getting good training in with Murilo Santana this week and looks to perform better back in his regular weight class this coming weekend. He's also looking forward to the arrival of our student, Megan Lomonof, who flew out today to Abu Dhabi, where she will compete in the women's white/blue belt division. She's been working hard and I know she will make us proud, regardless of the actual outcome. Good luck to them both!!!

Btw - You know you are addicted to BJJ when your boyfriend/coach is sending you instructions for how to do a particular sweep using FB chat on his iPhone from the other side of the world, lol! (This was going on in between my messages describing my day with his family. I guess we are a strange couple...)

New G3 Female BJJ Spotlight Member

2011-04-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

The other day on Gracie Mag's website I read an interesting article about the first Female Arab Purple Belt. Her name is Ghalia Ogden-Smith and she is a female running a BJJ club in Beirut, Lebanon. Reading about Ghalia's amazing efforts inspired me to search her out and learn more. I asked her if she would be willing to answer some interview questions for the Grappling Girls website and was thrilled when she agreed.

To read about Ghalia's efforts to teach BJJ in Lebanon, check out the article on Gracie Mag: Pregnant Purple Belt Heads Men's Class in Lebanon

To read more about Ghalia herself, check out this interview on the Grappling Girls Website: April Spotlight: Ghalia Ogden-Smith

Enjoy!!! :)

Weight Management

2011-03-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

I've always enjoyed the fact that I can eat whatever I like going into competition while everyone else is dieting/cutting down. The night before weighing in at a tournament, I'm eating pasta, ice-cream, whatever, and drinking as much water as I want to stay hydrated. And I love that I don't even have to step on a scale to wonder if I will make weight.

BUT

The flip side is that I'm always smaller than everyone else. And since having my surgeries I haven't lost any actual weight, but instead of being a relatively strong 110lbs, I am now a soft 110lbs and I feel every bit of my lack of strength daily in training at this time. My strength coach (we started on a strength and conditioning regimen about 4 weeks ago) just informed me earlier this week that I need to gain 10-15lbs. I'm on the opposite diet of everyone around me, now they will hate me even more, lol! Is it possible to gain at least 5lbs between now and the beginning of June? I'm not sure, but I aim to find out. Just in case I happen to get cleared by my strength coach and BJJ coach to go compete at the Mundial. Keep your fingers crossed!

Pan Ams Female Divisions Recap

2011-03-27T20:59:00.000-07:00

Every year the ladies make a bigger and bigger splash at the IBJJF tournaments. The matches become more even and exciting as the years go by and the ladies become more and more technical at the highest levels of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

It definitely shows the growth in the sport worldwide when a company like Budovideos is streaming all the matches live on the internet. It is rumored that 60,000 people logged in on Saturday to watch. They only show one or two matches at a time, but the commentators try to let you know what’s happening on the other mats. My only complaint is their lack of knowledge of the female fighters. It’s appalling to me that they didn’t really know who Hannette Staack was. SHE’S A THREE TIME ADCC GOLD MEDALIST… They have obviously not done their homework when it comes to the ladies. But, I am excited to report on the divisions that I was able to witness. To read more at the Grappling Girls Guild click here

Moving on up

2011-03-26T06:59:00.000-07:00

Since my last post, things have improved slightly. I have noticed a huge plus up in my strength and stability at this stage. I can actually see definition and toning coming back into my arms and legs...which is nice as it's just in time for the warmer weather when I'll be wearing tank tops and shorts/skirts. So really I can't complain. Ah, the things we ladies think about. :)

On Monday, I moved up in weight significantly on the leg press and leg curl machines. The last time they were in our circuit I could still feel the instability a lot and it limited the amount of weight we could put on. But Monday, I was able to really tax my legs. We did another leg workout on Wednesday, then I went to Yoga on Thursday. But it might have been too much this week because both my knees started to bother me and I have a little pain and sensitivity when kneeling. I heard my right knee pop a bunch of times earlier in the week, and thought maybe that was what caused it but then last night I noticed my left knee had a similar pain, so who knows...I only trained one round last night, I was teaching class anyway and figured I should go light and give my legs a rest (we worked our arms Friday morning, I'm going up in weight but still feeling a fair amount of weakness on the left side).

This week I lifted 3 times, went to Yoga once, and had a massage but only got in decent BJJ training one night. I did some light BJJ 2 other times but it's not enough, I need to be able to train more.

In very good news, we had a new boy come try the kids class, he has been training at another academy in the area for at least 6 months and he would be the oldest in our program which, if he signs up, will be good for the other kids. With some kind of luck, another student brought in his younger cousin to watch the kids class the same day and the boys knew each other so perhaps we will succeed in getting them both signed up. The class could use a few more older kids and their additions would probably allow us to begin splitting into 2 groups, older and younger.

Also, this week, we had another lady come in and sign up for the women's classes. We've lost a couple women here and there for various reasons but it looks like the class may be picking up in steam again. An additional woman (to the one who signed up) also visited this week from another local academy, she has over a year experience and will likely be signing up with us in about a month after her other membership expires. It's always nice to get additions to the program who already have experience. Speaking of which, we have another blue belt female who may begin training with us next week and I spoke to another lady on the phone who is planning to come in for her free trial in the next week or so. We still have yet to reach a total number of 20 though. I guess the plus to this is that most of the ladies who have been adding recently are more consistent in training than the ones we are losing, so the attendance numbers of women in class are going up even if the total number is still bouncing up and down towards 20.

p.s. I can't help but mention, good luck to Ryan and Seph at the IBJJF Pan Ams tomorrow morning!! We're going to put it on the computer during the women's class and one of the ladies' husband agreed to sit there and monitor it and let us know if/when they show their matches on the live feed. Budovidoes

Why do we do this to ourselves?

2011-03-11T09:05:00.000-08:00

I was finally cleared to train a few weeks ago. The first week I only trained 3 days and I couldn't get through the drilling portion of class before my shoulder and hip started to hurt. By the completion of 2-3 sparring rounds I couldn't wait any longer and would need to ice immediately. That was 3 weeks ago and even though I had literally no strength and was in pain most of the time, I was just happy to be back on the mat.

Then 2 weeks ago, Ryan and Seph went out of town and I ended up teaching every class, 4-5 classes per day. I was so exhausted from teaching that I only attempted to train 3 days. I felt better physically, but was getting at least a day between each session and was only rolling 3 rounds with carefully selected partners.

Last week Michelle Nicolini and her student Priscila Prandini were in town for Michelle's seminar. We trained hard the first 2 days despite also beginning my first weight training workout in years. Needless to say, my body gave out after day 3 of hard training and lifting. I took the next 2 days off, only rolling one round with Priscila on Saturday and only drilling the techniques Sunday at the seminar. Monday we lifted and I rolled hard with the guys that night then Tuesday I got in 3 hard rounds with Michelle and one with Seph. I was sore as hell but didn't want to rest one more minute of time while Michelle was here.

Michelle and Priscila left Tuesday afternoon so I took a much needed break Tuesday night. We lifted again on Wednesday and I took Wed night off. I thought I would be good to go by last night and was looking forward to hard training after the time off. I went 2x7 minute rounds with Ostap and one round with Seph in the middle. I should feel good because Ryan actually watched all my rounds for the first time in a while and he complimented me on the improvement in my movement and techniques (a rarity from him). But by the end of the last round, my whole left arm was throbbing and visibly shaking, and my whole right leg was throbbing, from my low back to my ankle. My body was betraying me despite all my hard work and there was nothing I could do about it.

I was so excited at first to simply be back on the mats that I didn't care when someone passed my guard because I couldn't fight back with my right leg or that I couldn't secure anything with my left arm because it wasn't strong enough to grip tightly. But now...now, I am ready to train again for real. I want to trust that my right hook is going to work when I attempt to use it. I want to believe in the stability of my left shoulder (and by extension, arm). I want to roll hard without stopping to avoid a certain direction because I know my body can't go there.

I know that part of my frustration lies in the fact that Ryan and my strength coach were discussing my future competitions the other day. Our strength coach had actually laughed at me a few weeks ago when I told him I wanted to compete at the NY Open. After a couple days back on the mats I realized he was right and Ryan and I decided that I shouldn't try to compete that early. So I set my sights on the Mundial. Then on Wednesday night Ryan told me that they don't think I will be physically ready to compete by June. I was so upset, I cried. Those goddamned tears.

Why did I cry? Because I have spent the last 4 months working my ass off in PT. I've recovered faster than any doctor believed I would - from BOTH surgeries. AND I still might not make it to my goal. I cried because there are only 4 tournaments a year in the U.S. where I am guaranteed to have girls my size and level to fight. The gi and nogi Pan and Mundials. It's not easy to be 110lbs (I'm almost back up to that weight consistently now) and do jiu-jitsu. Take away the strength from one arm and one leg and it becomes near impossible to fight people heavier than you every day in training and competition against larger opponents isn't even thinkable at this stage.

I can understand now why some people never fully recover after a long stint off for an injury. It's hard to be so very far for so long from what you used to be able to do without even thinking about it. Many times over the last few months I've wondered whether or not it is worth it to me to continue being a competitor.

My blue belt is resurrected and an engagement

2011-02-13T19:45:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday night we promoted our second female student to blue belt since we opened our doors in January 2009! This particular occasion called for the passing on of my blue belt as she was the first female student to achieve a blue belt who actually started her Jiu-Jitsu progression here on our mats (the first girl we promoted started her progression elsewhere and moved here already close to blue belt level).

Megan Lomonof joined Fifty/50 BJJ in December 2009 after a very long and thorough evaluation process of all the academies in our area, actually making lists and researching each team thoroughly before deciding where to begin her first trial class. And we were lucky that she liked us so much that she never made it to try a class at the second school on her list. We heart you, Megan!

A little funny story about Megan is that she almost broke Seph's arm during her first class, lol! If only we knew that was a hint of things to come... Seph was teaching her how to do an armbar going all slow and expecting a girl to move gingerly and carefully on her first day, but Megan had other plans. She slapped on an armlock so much harder and faster than he expected that he wasn't ready to tap yet. Oops!

Megan has done well in competitions, at least as far as winning them goes. But each time I watched video I was surprised that she didn't look as good as she does in class. We knew that she was approaching blue belt level but were waiting for her to prove it in her competitive performance. After an adjustment to her mental approach to competition, Megan did just that at the Abu Dhabi World Pro Trials in NJ. Megan isn't being promoted based on the fact that she beat 4 blue belts on her way to winning the tournament and earning a free trip to Abu Dhabi. She is being promoted because of the WAY she fought. She fought with an assurance and aggression that we see every day on the mats in the gym. Megan finally decided it was time to compete without fear of losing, because in the end you cannot control the outcome of the match. You can only control yourself and how YOU perform. And if you do that, the winning will take care of itself. This is only the beginning of Megan's blue belt career, she has a long way to go and a lot of growing to do in her new belt. But I know she will do herself proud.

Perhaps even more amazing than winning the tournament is that Megan came out and hung out all night watching the fights at the bar and then went on to perform with a section of the U.S. Army band in a musical concert at the Kennedy Center the following evening. What a girl!

A second bit of exciting news was after Megan's official promotion on Tuesday, we had a surprise engagement on the mats! Two of our white belts who met at our gym and started dating last year became engaged. Congratulations Lisa and Greg!!!

Check out some clips of the surprise engagement here....

Qui audet adipiscitur

2011-02-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

He who dares wins
Qui audet adipiscitur

-Latin Proverb

Re-evaluation

2011-01-31T21:14:00.000-08:00

The European Championships are over, the 2011 tournament season has begun...

Ryan had high hopes for the first tournament of the gi season. Unfortunately, things didn't quite go his way and have caused him to take another hard look at how he's been training and how the training in the academy is going for the students. It's time to switch gears in multiple ways...

This tournament showed Ryan that he needs to focus more on himself and his own training and less on his students. The thing about Ryan is that he is one of the most generous people I've ever met with his time on the mats. He's never been able to watch someone do jiu-jitsu incorrectly. I can't count the number of times I've seen him start coaching a random person at a tournament because they are having a hard time finishing a triangle or pulling someone over he's never seen before after their match to offer a little advice. He actually can't stop himself from helping, lol! If he is this way with strangers, you can imagine how much more it exists in his own academy. As a professional, he should be selfish with his training time, but he will glance over and see a student doing something wrong and immediately stop in the middle of his rounds to assist them. Watching Ryan interact with his students, inspires me to be a better coach and competitor every day.

It's tough to run an academy and be a high-level competitor, you're being pulled in multiple directions every time you step on the mat. Although it's also refreshing to be at an academy where the instructors consistently go above and beyond to help their students, even at the detriment of their own training, it's time for Ryan to re-focus on himself this tournament season.

The future will see the brown and purple belts stepping up a little more on the mats at Fifty/50 to lighten Ryan's load a bit. The first real example of this was seen on the mats this weekend while Ryan was in Europe competing. The purple belts that are Ryan's closest training partners, regular students like anyone else, spent hours during open mat answering questions and freely assisting the lower level students. It's nice to see them gain the confidence in their abilities to impart their hard-earned knowledge to others.

Today, two of the adult male purple belts played soccer against the kids to help them warm-up in a fun way before class. I didn't tell the men before they started that one of the 9 year olds plays on an Olympic Development team. ;) The look on one of the purple belt's face when the child legitimately faked him out and scored past him was PRICELESS! The guys were great sports and the kids had a blast. It's so fun to see the team coming together!

It's been 2 years since we began with just under 20 students. It's always a trial to manage the time when all the full-time instructors are still trying to make their way competitively, but you can't go wrong if you consistently re-evaluate where you are and truly want to see your students succeed beyond your own abilities. When constantly striving to be the best you can be, you can never fail. This is why I have faith in Ryan. To come this far having been essentially coachless for the better part of his time in Jiu-Jitsu, is an amazing feat, one which others would be able to sit back and be proud of. But not Ryan. He will not rest until he reaches his goals. He is a fantastic role model for the students he intends to bring along with him. I expect to see Ryan, Rick, and Quang making a splash at the IBJJF Houston Open on February 12.

Ryan helping a little kid after one of his seminars...

January's Grappling Girl at G3

2011-01-31T09:13:00.000-08:00

Check out this link to the January Spotlight on a Grappling Girl at the Grappling Girls Guild.

January Spotlight: Sofia Amarante.

108lbs...I'm wilting

2011-01-27T11:48:00.001-08:00

So my goal of getting bigger and stronger by the Mundials this year looks to have gone out the window. I was 108lbs on my scale this morning. :(

I guess the good news is that I am already losing some of the fat I had put on but since I have so little muscle-tone my weight is below where it should be. Everyone else in my division is always dieting and cutting down...except me. At first, I thought it was awesome to be small enough to make weight even if I eat junk food every day. But really I'm just too small.

After the Mundial last year, I decided that I was going to put on at least 5lbs of muscle. Instead, the surgeries seem to have caused me to lose about that much and I still have some extra flab to get rid of before I begin building the muscle back up. The trick though, is to do it slow so I gain the weight in the right places and don't just bulk up all over. I guess the most I can hope for at this year's Mundial is to be back up to where I was last year and just hope that being able to compete with two stable joints this time around will help me be more successful.

I missed swimming yesterday because I ran out of my inhaler and can't exercise without it and then had to take Ryan and Jake to the train station instead of going to the pharmacy. But at least last night's snow didn't get in the way of me going to my first post-op Yoga class today! Poses on one arm or one leg were a bit rough, especially on my bad sides, and I can tell that my arm is a LOT tighter than before. But I did it!

Back in the Saddle...almost

2011-01-23T16:10:00.001-08:00

Timeline - I am just shy of 3 weeks post-op from my hip surgery and almost 12 weeks post-op from shoulder surgery.

My hip physical therapists are awesome, I enjoy this practice much more than the one I went to for my shoulder. I will use this office next time I have an injury for sure. They see a ton of young (and relatively young) athletic individuals. I like the way they talk to me and the way they work with me. Plus, they are all - to a one - energetic and personable. It makes for a much more pleasant therapy session.

This past Friday, I made my way to the swimming pool to get in my first real "workout" since the first surgery on November 4. It had been YEARS since I tried to do a swimming workout, but it's pretty much the only thing I'm cleared for at this point. I used to be a swim coach and knew I could overdue it so I decided to start slowly.

I swam 1,000 yards (40 laps). To non-swimmers this apparently sounds like a lot, but to competitive swimmers, it's the minimum you can do and still refer to it as a "workout", lol! I swam slowly attempting to maintain technical proficiency and alternated strokes every 100 yards, Freestyle, Backstroke, Breastroke. I also included a 100yd kick towards the end. The alternating came right about on time as Freestyle and Backstroke start making my shoulder feel sore after a bit and my hip has had enough of Breastroke after about 4 consecutive laps.

I felt absolutely GREAT after finishing up and was hungrier than I have been at any given point in weeks. Which was perfect because Ryan, Marcel, and I headed to Fogo de Chao in D.C. right after. Despite trying to go slowly though, I was still sore the next day. I guess that just goes to show how out of shape you can get in 3 months of inactivity. Haha!

I am beginning to feel so good that when I watch jiu-jitsu every day, it's super hard not to just jump on the mat and try it. But I know that the best thing I can do is to go back slowly. On Tuesday, I was able to demonstrate a couple guard techniques during the women's class. By today's class I didn't even feel soreness when I demonstrated a couple more techniques. Woohoo!

I have a plan for getting my strength, cardio, and range of motion back and I'm sticking to it. I will swim again on Monday (tomorrow), I have PT on Tuesday, then swim again on Wednesday, do my first Yoga class since October on Thursday, then have PT again on Friday, Yoga on Sat, Sun off, Mon Swim, Tues Yoga, Wed PT, Thurs Yoga, Fri Swim, Sat coach Alex at a tournament, Sun off, Mon Feb 7 - first Jiu-Jitsu session! And of course I have my 1-1.5 hours of Hip & Shoulder home PT exercises that I do every day on my own.

Good news for our women's program - we had a new woman sign up on Tuesday! Then another new woman came in Thursday and I hope she comes back. (She's a dancer and picked up the body movements very quickly.) I'm expecting an additional woman to come in this Tuesday night as well. There were 9 women in class last Tuesday and 8 on Thursday (not counting myself). It's so much fun to teach to a group of them! And I've been talking to Michelle Nicolini online and we are working out a week for her to come visit this Spring and do another seminar.

I'm BACK....Back in the Saddle agaaaiin!

I can walk and Copa Nova recap

2011-01-11T11:47:00.000-08:00

My doctor apparently decided not to shave the bone after all so I was able to say good bye to my crutches on Sunday (instead of having to stay on them for 2 more weeks). It was about time though because my arms and sides were being rubbed raw after spending all day Saturday on crutches coaching and cheering at the Copa Nova.

The team did pretty well over all, we sent 1 brown belt, 3 purple belts, 1 blue belt, 1 white belt, and one child. Quang lost his nogi match but redeemed himself securing a dominant win against the same guy (the 2010 blue belt world champion) in the gi division. Quang is expected to put on a good showing at the Pan Ams and Worlds this year at purple belt. (He missed the worlds last year due to a knee injury after placing 2nd at the Pan Ams at blue belt in his first International tournament.) Kenny didn't fight nogi but easily won his purple belt gi division. Rick also easily won his Nogi Advanced Division. There was no one for Rick to fight in the gi so he just entered the Absolute and ended up placing after a difficult loss to a guy at least 30lbs heavier than him in the first round. Seph dominated in his sole match to gold in the Brown Belt Absolute division (they called it a Masters Division since both he and the other guy are both 30 now).

Jonathan Lord (a blue belt who switched over to our gym from Capital JJ 3-4 months ago) competed in his first tournament as well. He went 1-2 in his blue belt division, but he showed a lot of knowledge and a ton of improvement in his movement since he first came to Fifty/50, even securing a couple good single leg takedowns! Jeremy Posner is one of our white belts who's been showing a lot of promise in class and he didn't disappoint in his first tournament either, placing 2nd in his division. He dominated the first couple guys he fought and showed a greater degree of proficiency and technical movement than anyone else in his division. So even though he wasn't able to walk away with 1st place, it was a successful day for him. Unfortunately, none of the ladies were able to make it to this tournament due to family obligations, injuries, etc, but we'll get them back out at the next tournament.

Little Alex finally entered her first regular BJJ tournament with normal(ish) rules - she has only competed twice at the kids only tournaments before this. Being able to train with Geoffrey (a new kid with 3 yrs of experience) has been very beneficial for her as she has learned how to continually follow up and attack when her first movement doesn't work. She dominated every child in her 3 matches in the kids beginner division to gold. She didn't have a single point scored on her as she scored takedowns, sweeps, guard passes, back takes, knee on belly (her dad didn't even know she knew that one), and almost secured one armlock. She will be moving up to the Advanced division in her next tournament. It will be much tougher for her, especially because she doesn't know a lot of different movements, but what she knows she does perfectly every time. And it will be better for her growth to move up sooner than later.

Jake Mackenzie and 2 of his black belt friends from FightSports in Miami are here with us for a few weeks to train as Ryan, Jake, and Rick get ready for the European Championships. I'm sooo disappointed that I can't go to compete due to my injuries because there are already THREE women registered for my division! I hardly ever have a division! Of course I have next to no muscle tone at my current weight of 109lbs right now so it probably wouldn't go in my favor even if I could compete.

I can walk unaided earlier than expected and the steps up to the gym didn't hurt as much today as yesterday so I should be happy right now.

On the Road to Recovery

2011-01-06T10:02:00.000-08:00

It's been 2 days since my hip surgery and I'm still surprised that it doesn't hurt as much as I expected. Maybe it's because it has been constantly sore for so long that the post-surgical pain isn't much worse than what I was feeling before. Or maybe my body just got used to pain after 2 major injuries then 2 surgeries, lol!

I didn't know what to expect after waking up because with the shoulder the whole arm is numb for 12-18 hours, but with the hip I guess the local anesthesia is only in the joint and not the whole leg so I was able to sit up and move around on crutches as soon as I was aware enough to move. My sister picked me up from the surgical center and dropped me at home where I napped until Ryan came by with my prescriptions. As it turns out though, I've barely needed any medication other than the anti-inflammatory.

I went to the gym with the guys yesterday, although Seph taught the kids class for me since I can't move easily. I can pretty much do everything I need to, it just takes me a lot longer than usual and I'm exhausted and need to rest for a bit about every 2 hours or so. Jake Mackenzie and Josh Presley (two Canadians) have been staying with us and between Ryan and them, I've had help carrying my things and filling my ice machine. I just got my hip attachment for the machine in the mail yesterday, so I can't wait to get to the gym and try it out today. Ryan and Jake already went to the gym after dropping Josh at the airport to go home, but Ryan is going to come back and pick me up before evening class so I can run the women's program tonight.

We had another kid come in to try class last night, she's a judo junior olympic champ. She is a tough kid and it would be great to see her get into BJJ. Her mom is little Alex's Judo coach and is also planning to come in and try our women's program this weekend. Moving on!

9 weeks post-op shoulder/ 1 day pre-op hip

2011-01-02T22:21:00.000-08:00

Exactly 9 weeks post-op from the shoulder (1 day from now), I will have my hip surgery. The shoulder diagnosis was a bad SLAP labral tear (in the back) and another labral tear in the front of the shoulder. I was also diagnosed with Femoralacetabular (Hip) Impingement, this occurs when a bone growth on your femur (like an extra bump) rubs into your hip labrum until it tears through causing pain, discomfort, and instability, and could eventually lead to arthritis if not treated.

My shoulder is doing GREAT, my physical therapist last week told me that I've recovered faster than anyone he's ever seen! At 8 weeks I was able to start training with partners I trust. I am going very carefully and my partners are making sure not to put their weight on my shoulder if I end up on bottom. I still have to be careful with stretching out or posting my arm. I was almost able to completely forget about my shoulder for a minute the other day until I swung into x-guard and realized I couldn't get up on that side, lol, and had to quickly switch to something else. That said, I definitely notice improvement every single time I get back on the mat. So far, I've kept my training down to 30 minutes or so, limiting it so I don't overly tax my shoulder. I'd be more excited about my improvement if I wasn't looking at going back under for surgery tomorrow.

But at least I was able to take the Murilo Santana seminar last week and roll with visiting female purple belt, Ana Lowry. She has great movement and control so even though she's 30lbs heavier and I have a semi-bum shoulder, I can roll easily with her.

I'm a little nervous about the hip surgery because it's still partially considered experimental by the insurance companies. And they put you in a traction machine that dislocates your hip and holds it there throughout the surgery to give the surgeon room in the hip for his tools. Ouch! I met a guy the other day who had this surgery 5 months ago and still has numbness down the back of his legs. But the good news is that he was looking to get started in Jiu-Jitsu at 5 months post-op having never done it before, so perhaps my goal of competing at the Worlds at 6 months isn't too far-fetched...

Cross your fingers!

Back on the mat 6 weeks post op - well kinda

2010-12-17T13:14:00.000-08:00

So we had 2 new women sign up recently and one had some prior BJJ and MMA experience. Both fit in with our "normal-sized" ladies and we had another come in this week with experience and she fits with our midgets. It's pretty cool how it works out to have multiple new ladies coming in at various weight classes. Plus all 3 of the new ladies are tough as nails!

We still aren't regularly getting more than 5-7 ladies in the same class, but if they keep adding on, I believe it will only be a matter of time until we have 20 women all in one class.

Also, the best news ever!

I "rolled" with Ryan twice the other day and today I got in three "rolls" before stopping to rest. Okay, okay, I say "roll" but a more accurate description might be..."moving around in a way that slightly resembles jiu-jitsu with a resisting opponent who only resists in certain situations except that I can't roll on my shoulder, let them put weight on my shoulder, or post with my left arm or base on it or let it extend or frame with it in any way". I'm drilling with the basics class although I don't let anyone drill on me yet (I work in a group of 3), and I can't do all the movements so I have to adjust the technique BUT AT LEAST I'M ON THE MAT! For the next 2 weeks until my hip surgery anyway.

I can't tell you how good it feels to expend a little of my pent up energy. I'm pretty sure I'll be actually ready to kill people by the time I get back out after 8 months off competition and probably 7 months of not sparring hard. I can already tell that the aggression from so much sedentariness will build up and come out in my first competition back, which should be the World Championships so that will probably work out perfectly for me because I'll need the aggression to combat the residual effects of not training for 7 months and a recovering hip and shoulder. :)

Today is a good day! :)

Update: Fifty/50 Women's Team, Kids, and more

2010-12-09T07:29:00.001-08:00

We took our 3 most dedicated ladies (Tammy Dominick, Megan Lomonof, Lisa Ivy) to the Converse sponsored women-only US Grappling tournament in Hampton and they came back with 4 gold medals and 2 silvers with 5 submission victories out of 7 wins and only 2 losses to women of higher ranks than themselves. Tammy and Megan both succeeded pulling out wins over girls with much more experience than themselves.

But the best part was the poise with which they each held themselves during their matches. Each one of the ladies was calm, collected and working hard until the end.

Then this past weekend, Megan Lomonof and I headed up to Grapplers Quest in Vegas for her first mid-level tournament. She did not disappoint. Megan has been training for almost exactly 1 year but has spent the last half of that year training at different degrees due to a neck injury. At one point they thought she would need surgery. But she didn't let this deter her from competing and beating two blue belts in the beginner nogi division at GQ bringing her total win count over blue belts to THREE. Megan won her weight class nogi, and the absolute beginner nogi division, AND her weight class in the gi (there was no absolute gi division).

We look forward to seeing how Tammy, Megan, Lisa and all the ladies progress over the next year as a few of them look to enter their first IBJJF tournaments in 2011.

See our ladies in action here....

On top of this, we just started our kids program last week. The first day I was shocked to have SEVEN children in the room. We haven't been able to get that many in one room since but I am happy to report that we had a few sign up and have the interest of a few others arriving in the near future. I am taking Alex up to her second BJJ tournament this Saturday to another kids only event in Williamsport, MD. This time she will be more prepared for how other kids fight back!

Wait there's more...we have new Fifty/50 t-shirts on order, this time with a new graphic and special sizing for the ladies. We are waiting on the new kids logo to be completed. (We're calling them the 25/50's.) Once the logo is finished we will have the shirts designed for them as well. And next on the list are new rashguards...

And lastly, Ryan just released two new DVDs on half guard and taking the back.

Lots of changes and additions coming to Fifty/50 as we begin our third year of existence. Although the beginning is always more difficult as you build something up, it's also exciting to look forward to what it will become.

Recovery, Rehab, and Coaching

2010-11-20T21:24:00.001-08:00

It's been about 2 1/2 weeks since my shoulder surgery.

When I went to see the hip orthopedist he was SHOCKED that I had just had shoulder surgery one week prior. He couldn't believe how fast I was healing. And I'll tell you, neither can I!

I was back in the gym teaching my women's class barely 48 hours post-op but I couldn't lift my arm up at all. Can you believe, I was on Tylenol with codeine for only 3 days after surgery and have been completely off pain meds since about 5 days post-op?! I think I scare my therapist, lol!

Today I can lift my arm straight up and by myself to 160 degrees! Out to the side, I have a little more to go but it's probably up to 120 degrees now. We just started deltoid strengthening exercises yesterday at PT for the first time. And I can't wait until we can start with the biceps and triceps, because mine have completely atrophied.

The only bad thing with improving so quickly is that you can't rush the protocol, you can only go at the pace the doctor set, even if I'm a little ahead on recovery time. Oh and the other bad thing is that I keep forgetting I'm not supposed to do certain movements because it no longer hurts all the time...until I do the movement I'm not supposed to, like reaching back to put a seatbelt on or reaching into my back pocket. Then I get a sharp pain to remind me not to do that again...for a while at least. :)

But teaching Jiu-Jitsu is still difficult. Luckily, the women have been preparing for the US Grappling Women Only event in Hampton, Virginia tomorrow, so we've been doing a lot of straight drilling and less detailed technical work. The timing worked perfectly because I can just show a quick simple movement and then have them repeat it a lot as fast as they can.

Last night though I had to teach the regular class and specialty class and then the regular class again today because Ryan took Seph, Quang, and Ostap (visitor from Canada) up to NJ for the ADCC Trials and Rick's in Brazil. (The guys did well at ADCC, no one won their division, but they each won at least one match and everyone learned a lot and next time will be able to go out much stronger.)

Anyhow, it was difficult for me to show some of the movements in the regular class. We were working on the catching the trail leg mount escape to half guard to taking the back and I would have to show one movement on one-side then switch sides to show the next movement on the other side since I still can't put weight on or post on my arm. Luckily, the guys were all patient with me and everyone seemed to get the movement despite my difficulties in showing it.

Specialty class this month has been all footlocks, but I'm not great at them yet so Ryan wanted me to teach wrestling instead. Have you ever tried to teach wrestling with one arm???? It is sooo hard! Lol! Thankfully, most of the students there that day had experience with the snatch single so I could just remind them about the details rather than show everything. We also added the flare to double, and I think they picked it up pretty well. But my arm hurt like HELL by the end of class today so I went immediately home to attach myself to my ice machine for an hour before packing, picking Megan up, and driving down to our hotel here in Hampton.

Good luck to Megan, Tammy, and Lisa tomorrow!!!!

Women's NoGi Worlds Results and my new website!

2010-11-08T11:21:00.000-08:00

So, I was waiting to tell people about my website until it was 100% complete, but it's taking forever to confirm all the bios for all the historically important female black belts, so I'm giving up and taking the plunge...well, okay, so I'm just sticking my toes in and only announcing it here.

Please be patient with some of the pages still being updated, but check out my new resource for female grapplers, Grappling Girls Guild.

On my site I posted a quick write-up on the women's Brown/Black Divisions at the NoGi Worlds. Here

Please feel free to post here or email me with comments! :)

From women to kids and back

2010-11-06T18:45:00.000-07:00

Alex started training with us this summer. She's a tiny sweet little 10 year old vietnamese girl with an incredible amount of focus, determination, and of course a heart of steel!

When I first told Ryan that we'd been approached by a parent who wanted his child to switch to our program, his answer was a definitive, "no". We weren't planning to start a kids program for a while and we didn't want any children in the adult class. But her dad told us she was a focused hard-worker. According to him, she was training in Judo and BJJ but he was unhappy that her BJJ class was geared towards younger children, expectations were low and she wasn't getting great training. Having spent 15 years as a swim coach, I was inclined to roll my eyes and look the other way when yet another parent came extolling the virtues of their child. But something about the discussion made me give her a chance. I guess I understood how frustrating it can be to watch adults overlook or teach down to kids when they are capable of learning and understanding as much as an adult if you only have the patience to try and speak their language.

Ryan and I decided that we would allow Alex come in and take one women only class for her trial. If she performed acceptably and was able to stay focused and work hard, then we would let her take the class until the time came to start the kids program. We were concerned that she would detract from the other women's opportunity to learn and train or that they (and she) would have difficulty with the size difference (she's only 60lbs). But when Alex came in for her trial, Ryan and I were both pleasantly surprised with her and with her interaction with the other women so we decided that she would be able to attend the women's class once a week.

The ladies have taken her under their wing and she works hard and pays attention to all the important details. Even though we had yet to see her train BJJ with another child, we decided a few weeks ago that she was ready to try a competition. And she did awesome! Alex won only 2 of her 5 matches but she went out and performed better every single time. We went over her mistakes after each match and then she went back out and fixed them ON THE SPOT. She was a different grappler by the last 2 matches of the day. I don't know if she will ever be a great high-level grappler, but it doesn't matter because she had a blast and represented herself, her family, and her team well. What I do know is that she has what it takes to be great at whatever she puts her mind to.

Lots of people cringe when I tell them we are about to start a kids program. All they see is hard work, frustration, screaming kids and crazy parents. I see the kids like Alex. The ones who know the pleasure they can derive from working hard, constantly improving, and succeeding in something worthwhile. The kids with the great attitudes that make you want to show up every single day. And I see the ones who need you to want to help them, the ones who need to learn how to find the inner peace that comes with hard work. I've been looking forward to getting this program off the ground for months and seeing how happy Alex was today, tells me that we are doing the right thing. She'll have to be my little helper while my arm and hip are healing and the other kids are learning, but with her as a role model, we have a good thing going.

November 29, 2010 - The Birth Of The 25/50's

Post-Op Day 1

2010-11-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't remember talking to him after surgery, but apparently my doc said that everything went swimmingly. I was out of surgery a little early so that's def a good sign!

Also, no asthma attack when I woke up this time (it was so scary after my last surgery, trying to wake up and unable to vocalize the words to tell the nurse that I couldn't breathe) so taking Prednisone in advance was definitely the way to go. Thanks for the advice, Mom!

The general anesthesia wore off faster this time so no issues being alert and eating while staying at my brother's house last night. I did take some Tylenol 3 before bed in case the local wore off early, but no problems at all so far. I can finally move my arm a little as the feeling is slowly coming back. It's sore, but certainly not the unbearable kind of sore like last time. I learned though to pre-empt the pain by taking the Tylenol 3 earlier this time. Lol!

My brother is taking me to my first PT appointment in an hour where they will take off the bandages and force me to start moving my arm. That will probably hurt a lot. Last time I couldn't help crying when the therapist started moving it around the first day. I just gritted my teeth and looked away and told her to go as far as she needed. Seems pretty tough of me at first when you hear that, but it hurt enough that I'm kinda dreading today, haha!

My doc's office (and PT) are all the way out here in Maryland, he's worth it, but it's why I decided to have my mom drop me at my brother's house instead of at home yesterday. Mike had to open all my pills before bed in case I needed them because in my stupidity I forgot to ask for the non-child proof caps when I filled my prescriptions the other day. He also fixed me dinner last night and lunch today, pretty cool for a big bro. If only he knew how to fix a ponytail. ;)

Ryan is coming to pick me up after PT and take me home and I can't wait to see him! By tomorrow I should be able to drive so I can take myself to the new PT place closer to my house. (The first post-op PT visit had to be scheduled at my doctor's office.)

This Saturday my 10yr old student is entering her first BJJ tournament and I am so excited to go coach her! She's gonna be a beast one day! :)

BJJ Surgery #2 in T minus 1 day

2010-10-31T22:26:00.001-07:00

MRI results are in...affirmative to the hip and shoulder labral tears. Blah, blah, blah. Nothing I didn't already know.

I can FEEL that there is something really really wrong. Don't we always know, deep down? My hip has been out of whack since at least January. And the shoulder was torn in February by a kimura at the ADCC Canada Pro Trials.

What are the odds that less than 2 years after my last shoulder surgery (also caused in a BJJ tournament), I would tear both my other shoulder's labrum (plus a little partial on the rotator cuff) AND the labrum of one hip? To top if off, I discovered this less than one month after FINALLY quitting my job! Good bye 2-a-days, hello weeks and months off training. Goodbye Nogi Worlds and training with Michelle Nicolini for a week, hello Tylenol, Prednisone, ice, and frustration.

Oh don't worry, it gets better - Jake Mackenzie is here training for 2 months, we will have blue and purple belt visitors from Canada, France, and others during the next month. Jeff Glover is supposed to come visit in December, and Ana Lowry and Murilo Santana are returning at Christmas. And I am stuck on the sidelines. :(

But wait, there's more...

There is one heck of an awesome women only tournament about to run in Hamption, VA sponsored by none other than CONVERSE and US Grappling! Sure, I can take my ladies but it would have been nice to be able to compete instead of showing up in a lot of pain and a sling.

Yet despite all of this, I am actually looking forward to going to sleep a little before 4:00pm on Tuesday and waking up around 6pm with my shoulder completely fixed. Believe it or not, I can't WAIT to go into surgery. I'm tired of my arm hurting 24/7, of being unable to even sit or lay down comfortably.

I filled my post-surgery prescriptions today and helped myself to 2 of the prescription strength anti-inflammatories. I can't take Advil and ice doesn't do much. But then, it doesn't seem that these meds are helping a lot either...

Soon the pain will start improving instead of worsening practically by the day.

Soon.

Then I will have to schedule my hip surgery. Hopefully, they can fit me in a few weeks before Christmas, so I'm off crutches by New Years.

Not likely, but I need a little hope right now.

Nogi Pan Ams & My Upcoming Surgeries

2010-10-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

First off, my JV field hockey team won their game on Thursday against their rival team in their division and it was so exciting! The girls played so well and I was very proud of them, not only for the progress they've made technically but mostly by the way they fought hard every minute of the game. To congratulate them, they earned Friday off!

And because of that, we decided to take an earlier bus to NYC for the Nogi Pan Ams. Ryan, Seph, Quang, Rick, and I hopped on the Vamoos bus from Rosslyn, VA to Penn Station, NYC. We should have left earlier though because we didn't arrive in NYC until 6 hours later on what should have been about a 4 hour ride. Exhausted, we checked into our hotel then went out looking for food. We found a fantastic diner right around the bend and (of course) ran into BJJ people Ryan knew from Ronin Athletics (his first jiu-jitsu school).

Our hotel was cheap...with a very good reason. It was creepy as hell and a little dirty. And for some reason the bathroom was over half the size of the actual room. But for the 5 of us it sufficed for a one night stay. We woke up early because it was 30 minutes to the tournament at City College in Harlem. (Can you believe that they actually made us go through metal detectors and checked everyone's bags - so it took a little extra time getting in?)

Andy was up first, he went one and one in his division. Then it was my turn. I warmed up with Ryan in the back - I always prefer to warm up with him when possible because I feel like I absorb his efficient and smooth movements. (I'm always struggling to move more like him. Although, he actually tells me I should move like Jeff Glover whenever he's correcting me. Lol!)

My first match was up against purple belt Melissa Biscardi. I've beaten her twice before back in 2008 but we'd missed each other in the brackets since then. And I knew she would be a tough competitor because she won the Worlds at Blue Belt last year (2009). But I was ready, focused, and aggressive enough to pull it out in less than 2 1/2 minutes.

Here's video of our match...

My second match (the semi's) was against a blue belt (our division was combined blue/purple). I was attempting to pursue on the feet and started to get frustrated as she ran away for a while (should have just pulled guard as it's hard to wrestle someone who doesn't want to). Anyway, I ended up over-pursuing in my frustration and she went for a guillotine, as I was getting out of it, I stumbled over my own feet...oops! Luckily, I was able to pull out an armlock within a few seconds though.

The third match was against the only other purple belt in the division and I knew she'd be tough as well having just watched her go through her first two opponents. Unfortunately, though I must have allowed my focus to wan and wasn't moving as quickly or as aggressively as I should. She pulled guard and I made it to half guard lockdown twice but wasn't able to secure a pass due to my own stupid passivity with my guard passing. She ended up catching me with a sweep I should have been able to stop. Although I managed to get a good closed guard, she didn't seem interested to really try to pass, in an effort to hurry, I shot a really poor triangle and ended up having to scramble as she went for my back. I managed to fight off the choke and eventually recover my guard...just in time for the end of the match. Ugh. I'm very disappointed in myself for fighting that way and have promised myself and my coach to do better next time. (It was disappointing day all around because all the other guys lost in their first rounds.)

However, exactly WHEN the next time I compete will be is up in the air right now as I found out today that I will likely need surgery for a labral tear in my shoulder AND for the same thing in my hip. The shoulder injury is from February's ADCC Pro Trials in Canada (I know, I know - February). And the hip has been nagging me since the end of last year. I thought yoga was helping but my hip was hurting me so much after this weekend that when I took Ryan to the Orthopedist today, I got an appointment for myself too.

The MRI's are scheduled for next week so I'll know more then. But it looks like 5-6 months recovery before I can compete again. :(

Every day is my weekend!

2010-09-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

I gave my notice to the US Government a few weeks ago and as of last Monday I am now officially a full-time Jiu-JItsu bum! Well, except for the fact that I am also coaching JV Field Hockey for a local high school. We practice for 2 hours every day Mon-Fri, except when we have games. Unfortunately, this means I'm still not training on the full-time BJJ bum schedule but at least I was able to train hard when I did go to practice last week instead of being too tired after working all day then coaching field hockey.

I was also busy last week with some final preparations for my sister's wedding this past weekend. We had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner on Friday night and the wedding on Saturday. My sister and her fiance didn't have a lot of money to spare so the wedding was in my parents' backyard and all my aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, and cousins chipped in to help in various ways. The yard came out nice and the ceremony was beautiful. Plus it was fun to see everyone again. I miss seeing all my niece's and nephews especially.

Here are a few pics!

The Bridal Party

This is my crazy family, lol!!

The back/top view of my hair

Me in the procession

Fifty/50 women's program adds 3rd day of training

2010-09-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

Our 18th student took her first class today. Woohoo!!

Ryan and I are excited to announce that we will add a THIRD class per week for our women's program starting in October!!

When we started the program in January 2009, we usually had one or two students showing up to one class per week. In the end of October last year we added our second day and averaged about 4 students per class. And now going into 3 classes per week we are averaging about 8 women a class and the most we've had in one class at a time is 11! I am so happy with the growth in the program to date but I can't wait until the day that we have a single class with 20 women - all Fifty/50 students. That will be the day when I know our efforts have come to fruition.

Ladies, sign up soon because starting in October we are reducing the discount that women currently have when they join Fifty/50 since we are no longer a small minority. (Would you believe that once in a while Fifty/50 even has regular basics classes with more women than men in them?)

LUV IT! =)

Up to 17 Female Students!!!

2010-09-03T17:54:00.000-07:00

Quickly approaching 20% of our currently active and paying students are female!!

So I'm curious, is there another academy anywhere with 17 (18 counting me) women training BJJ in any single academy location???

I know there are big teams with women training primarily at different locations, schools that open their women's training sessions to ladies from other academies, etc. But are we the biggest women's BJJ team on the East Coast? In the USA? The World?? Or just in the state of Virginia? :) Please chime in if you KNOW your academy has more than 18 women currently training full-time in one spot!

I am so amazed at how quickly this sport is growing for the females. Hopefully, one day we too will compete in divisions upwards of 50 people at the Worlds! Keep up the hard work, ladies! And continue spreading the word to your female friends about how awesome jiu-jitsu is!!!

Fifty/50 promotes it's first female student!!

2010-08-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

The ladies are moving in!

Multiple times over the last few weeks we've had as many as 11 women on the mat at one time for class. A couple times we've even had more women on the mat than men! Oh yeah!

We have officially reached my summer goal of having 15 female students on the team!!! Now I'm working towards 20. ;) We have 3 women currently participating in the one week free trial that we offer all prospective students and I have 2 more pretty secure prospects who have trained before, I just don't know when they will actually be able to sign up. If all of them really come in, I'll have my 20 ladies!!

ANNNNDDD

Ryan promoted our first female student to blue belt this past Sunday after she put on a GREAT showing at the US Grappling tournament in Richmond on Saturday. Tammy entered the intermediate nogi division and won against a blue belt her size then had to go up a weight class since there was no one her size in the white belt division and she easily took that division as well, showing without any doubt that she was ready for the move to blue.

Three of our ladies competed at that tournament and I'm hoping to have at least 6 competing by the next one in October. About half of our women are less than 120lbs so they have a great training experience and this will help them all push each other. We are attempting to recruit more "normal size" women as Megan (one of my students) calls them. So if you are normal size (i.e. over 120lbs and not a midget like myself) we want YOU too! Lol! But more midgets are always welcome. ;)

I couldn't be more excited for the future of our program!!! :)

Training on Vacation

2010-07-29T08:23:00.000-07:00

Last week Ryan and I went to Corolla, NC in the Outer Banks for our first week long vacation together since we started dating (almost 4 years ago). Oh sure we've taken week long trips before for the Worlds and Pan Ams and everything but this was the first trip that wasn't focused around a major competition. We could relax and eat anything in sight! (Well, I can always eat anything in sight and be under weight, but I can't relax too much when Ryan is dieting because he gets irritable, haha!)

Ryan's dad's family piled about 15 people into the house we stayed in. And conveniently enough, my dad's family was in a house 7 miles down the road the same week but they had 35 people staying in their house! The houses are ginormous...but not THAT ginormous.

Ryan and I swam in the ocean, challenged other beach goers to volleyball games, went back and forth between the hot tub and the pool and watched lots and lots of movies. Of course we also found time to drive 30 minutes down to Nags Head to train at the only BJJ gym around. We made the trip down 3 times during the week. Two times though we missed class but they were nice enough to let us on the mats and train with each other for an hour and a half. I can't remember the last time I trained with Ryan that much because there are always so many other people vying for his help, it was fun!

The last night we were there we finally walked into an actual class and there was another black belt there from Boston. The instructor at Knuckle Up was out of town so Ryan taught a few techniques and then we all rolled for a while. All the guys were really big but were very nice and trained hard without killing me which is always nice, lol!

We ended up driving from the Outer Banks 4 hours over to Henderson, NC for the US Grappling tournament being held there. I was bummed that no advanced women showed up to fight but Seph had a superfight against a local brown belt that he won and Ryan ended up getting a match against a black belt who was there to referee. Two of our guys came down with Seph and between the two of them they won like 7 divisions. With only two people contributing to team points, we placed third overall, lol!

Intensity Kicks Up at Fifty/50 And Yields Quick Results

2010-07-07T05:08:00.000-07:00

After going to train at Marcelo's academy for a few days before the Worlds, Ryan realized that training at Fifty/50 had lost some of it's intensity.

When the head instructor is not still trying to train and compete it is easier to keep the intensity up because there is always someone watching and yelling at you during class. But when a still competing practitioner opens his own academy, you have conflicting ideas to contend with - and Ryan was no different.

Recently Ryan has been personally making significant breakthroughs in his own conceptual understanding of the game and how these ideas apply throughout specific positions and techniques. But at the same time we were pulling students from nearby gyms who didn't have the knowledge base one would have expected. Because of this, at first Ryan spent a LOT of time talking and explaining techniques and overarching concepts. (Perhaps this was also due in part to the fact that for the first 4 months after opening he couldn't train anyway due to his surgeries.) On top of this, Ryan was constantly torn between trying to work on his own game (without appropriate training partners to push him) and trying to correct all the students.

The first hint that maybe a training adjustment was needed was a recent local tournament our guys/gals went to in May. The students all knew good BJJ at that point but we unfortunately we didn't see a lot of it demonstrated that day. Most of the white and blue belts were not moving properly, they were giving up too easily...and frankly, it was disappointing. (Two of the ladies who had entered their first competition saved the day by performing well and demonstrating their knowledge base and both placed! And we'll excuse Kenny who would have done better but was doped up on Percocet for an injured hand and was super loopy that day, lol!) After the tournament, Ryan immediately went back to the drawing board and began restructuring classes and although it showed right away, it seemed there was still something missing.

Then just ahead of the Mundial, Ryan visited Marcelo's in NY to get in a little extra training. It was there that he re-discovered the last necessary piece we had misplaced for a while. Ryan realized that he had allowed his desire to pass on his own technical growths to his students to distract him from the idea that at it's heart BJJ is a FIGHT, and the best way for his students to learn how to handle themselves is to have to FIGHT every day in class. A little too much emphasis had been placed on the skills required to succeed and it had been at the slight detriment of encouraging the intangible desire that is also required to succeed. They should fight like their life depends on every guard pass, every mount defense, every submission hold. Not that they should be spazzing or dangerous to each other, but that they should go hard with the intention of winning every single exchange they have on the mat. They should not accept defeat in any form. They CAN'T accept defeat in any form or they will not be able to be successful in training, competition, or (God-forbid) a real life self-defense situation.

No longer would anyone be encouraged to "just use technique". Now they would be asked to dig deeper than they had ever known they could. The week before the worlds, Ryan flipped the tone of the room on it's head. He began instituting "corporal punishment" for losing exchanges in the form of push-ups, squats, and sit-ups. For example, we now do push-ups every time we lose an exchange in "King of the Hill" and have to cycle back through the line. Of their own accord the students, previously quiet in most exchanges, began to coach and encourage each other throughout practice. The ceiling fairly blows off the building with the level of effort and excitement that now exists in the room in every practice!

The first test of this new mindset came only 3 weeks later. About 10 or so members of the team followed Ryan to the US Grappling Diamond State Games to watch his superfight against Wilson Reis and Felipe's superfight against Luis Pantoja. Ryan and Felipe got the day rolling with wins over their opponents - and it barely slowed for a minute. We had more Gold medals in the Advanced divisions than we expected. Students were pulling out moves we didn't even know they had! For the first time they had come to FIGHT and were expecting to WIN! And win they did!

Fifty/50 BJJ came in THIRD Place overall with only about 10 competitors AND we came in FIRST overall in the points scored from any single training location. (All the affiliate schools from Lloyd and Balance got to add their points together). Some of our students were in divisions with and beating other local head instructors (who were in some cases higher belts and significantly heavier). Not bad for a gym that has only been open for a year and a half.

Clearly, the last three weeks were the kick in the ass our guys needed. I can say with an absolute certainty that at least for myself, I am a completely different and renewed grappler already. I am excited to see how much everyone will progress over the coming months with this new attitude! The goal will be constant improvement and winning overall titles at local tournaments as well as eventually taking larger groups to the real tournaments. Unlike some other academies, we want our students to realize that there is a great big ocean out there much larger than our little pond in the DC area. And the ultimate goal should be to go get the ocean!

Oh and p.s. The new female white belt who was moving here from Florida arrived this week. I think she's been training almost 2 years (maybe more?) and she's about my size so with any luck will end up being a good training partner. And she will definitely be good for the other ladies. She is our 5th female white belt under 120lbs and brings our total number of female white belts to 12! Hooorah!

Michelle Nicolini - 2010 World Champion Seminar!!!

2010-06-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

Michelle and Bruno arrived in DC yesterday!

Bruno teaches his seminar at Fifty/50 on Saturday and Michelle will teach hers on Sunday.

All are welcome! Today is the last day to pre-register and save money by paying through paypal. Go to 5050bjj.com for details.

Michelle jumped up from Pluma to Meio-Pesado at the Worlds this year and WON!!!! Talk about amazing!!!!!

Too tired to eat

2010-05-27T21:44:00.000-07:00

This title should actually be taken quite literally.

I am, right now, simply too tired to eat.

My legs feel like they are on fire, my back feels like I was dropped onto it from at least one story up, my shoulders and hips feel swollen, and I can't bend my fingers.

Yep, it's clearly about that time of year again...MUNDIAL TIME!!!!

I haven't posted much recently because I've been super busy. The gym is growing exponentially, practically by the week. The women's class is now up to having regularly 4-6 students and this past Sunday for the first we actually had SEVEN of all our own female white belts! The coolest part though is that with our regular participants we can divide into 3 weight classes for training: the under 120lb group, the 125-140lb group and the over (albeit barely) 140lb group. How incredibly perfect is that??? AND we expect two new female white belts (both already have some training) to move to the area from other states and start with us this summer. Wouldn't it be cool if we were up to 15 women by the end of the summer??? That is my biggest wish!

On top of increased gym responsibilities, work has been very busy lately, but I won't bore you with the details. I'm looking into the VA career switch program to become an elementary or middle school teacher so that I have better hours for training and so that I am able to start a kids class, which would eventually solidify myself a full-time position at the gym. But I have to take the Praxis Exam the day of Bruno's seminar to get into the program. Boo! :(

Also, I started going to Yoga once a week a few weeks ago to help with weakness in my hips and knee. It seems to be working and after the Mundial, I plan to start going twice a week because I have found that I really enjoy it. I'd go more right now, but between work and training, I'm also trying to run/lift 3x per week - although this week I haven't had time to do so even once so far. This is why I need a new job, the one I have doesn't allow for enough hours in the day to do everything I need to do.

But I am as ready as I can be and have a week to solidify a few more things before the big event. Can't wait!!!!

p.s. Ryan is getting some of his last few days of hard training at Marcelo Garcias (from today through Saturday). He is sooo freaking lucky! And I'm super jealous!

Bruno Frazatto & Michelle Nicolini Seminar Weekend (June 12-13)

2010-05-25T08:40:00.001-07:00

Fifty/50 BJJ is so excited to have Bruno Frazatto and Michelle Nicolini visiting in June following the Mundial!

In addition to their seminars, Bruno and Michelle are available for private lessons! Don't miss this opportunity!!!

Ryan Hall Pre-Pan Am Interview at Shoyoroll Design Studio

2010-04-21T21:36:00.000-07:00

Sparked from an mma.tv thread

2010-04-19T14:39:00.000-07:00

The topic was why BJJ schools don't really intermingle and teach all aspects of grappling evenly.

"It is odd to me that there aren't more schools dedicated to grappling in general where you can get quality wrestling, judo, sambo, and bjj training all under the same roof. They could even have dirty boxing/clinching training so that it represents a complete grappling approach to fighting. Students could focus on one art, or cross train.

I know that some schools have done something along these lines, but it is usually with the focus on a single grappling art and peripheral training in the other arts.

It would seem that a school like that could field competitors in a variety of sports related to grappling."

One individual posted that the idea of true cross-training in grappling is "wishful thinking".

In a sense I agree. Not many gyms have the space capacity to offer multiple classes in all arts. However, I think it's possiblity is beginning to pop up all over the U.S. BJJ gyms ARE looking for quality instructors in other arts to develop grapplers fairly well versed in multiple aspects.

One small example:

First, as you all know, I train (and teach) at Ryan Hall's gym, clearly our focus is BJJ. However, about 4 months after opening the new academy, he encouraged me to begin taking small group wrestling lessons from a D-1 College coach (I'm obviously a girl and we had discovered that the coach was teaching private lessons to 2 female highschool wrestlers). During the same time period, Ryan began working one on one with a former wrestler friend of his and later after ADCC began working with the D-1 coach privately as well. We were interested in learning the art (wrestling) for itself as a wrestler would learn it. We were lucky to find a coach with 9 years experience coaching at the collegiate level as well as experience competing in both Greco and Folkstyle who's own college coach was Russian and who of his own accord(years ago) cross-trained in Judo to help his wrestling. Now, about a year after I'd started working with him, we were able to bring this coach on to take over our once a week wrestling class. This has become an extremely popular class, consistently attended by most of our competitors.

With previous grappling experience and consistent classes and lessons with this wrestling coach, Ryan and I have been able to add pieces of his influence into the rest of our instruction and I believe you can see the difference in the style of jiu-jitsu in our gym. As one person replying to the original post pointed out, wrestling is so much more than takedowns and it's influence can be integrated into your entire game.

Second, we don't claim to teach "Sambo" however our assistant head instructor has a black belt in Sambo and everyone knows that Ryan makes use of leg-locks frequently, therefore, all students are expected to learn them to some degree of proficiency.

Third, all of our instructors have worked some Judo and we encourage our students to try it (okay none of us can be considered particularly good at it - although it is a little known fact that Ryan placed in a 16 man division at a local Judo tournament recently). We have a couple Judo players who train at the gym and occasionally they offer advice to coaches and students. Hopefully, in the future, as the gym grows we will be able to add a real Judo coach as well.

See! I really don't think it is unique for BJJ schools to be offering this type of variety - my last school did as well. But maybe I'm wrong and it is unusual to see your head instructor taking the wrestling class from a guy who works "for" him. And maybe not all coaches are willing to jump into a local Judo tournament to work on their Judo (and not just try to win with BJJ).

Everything always comes down from the top. If the guy at the top is willing to learn and try and potentially fail in front of their students than everyone will be willing to try new things as well. If your best students don't appreciate the usefulness of wrestling and Judo and participate in offered classes, no one will. If the head coaches don't cross train to the point where they are teaching and encouraging throws, take downs, leg locks, and the like during "BJJ" sparring, then you will never see their full integration in the students.

So if you want integration, stop whining about it and do what we did...go out and get it!

How to Teach The Arm Drag...and everything else

2010-04-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

"The most important thing to remember is to grip the shoulder, not the arm, and instead of attempting to PULL with your arm, keep your elbow in tight to your side and allow your body weight to pressure your opponent into the ground". I started my explanation for how to begin the arm drag to the basics wrestling class by emphasizing a piece that I had the hardest time with when I first learned a proper wrestling arm-drag from James Torres (Asst. Coach at George Mason University) almost one year ago.

James himself came in halfway through the half hour class I teach on Wednesdays because he teaches the Advanced Wrestling class next on the schedule. Not one to be able to watch someone do anything wrong for any length of time, it took him all of 2 minutes watching before he asked me if he could give one of the groups that was having trouble a few pointers. His quick point to this individual was, "Don't grip the shoulder, hit the armpit with your wrist and allow your hand to catch quickly and then pull your elbow HARD down and in to your side".

The interesting thing is that both James and I were looking for the same result. Some students (like I used to do) pulled too much and didn't connect enough, others didn't pull at all and were too worried about connecting. It appears that no matter which way you first describe a technique, someone is going to need you to emphasize a different aspect as everyone's tendencies and experience levels are different. I have one student (not here tonight) who gets too attached to a specific description instead of realizing that often as an instructor you over emphasize generalizations in order to focus on the most important aspect. The challenge as a student is to be able to accept generalizations as 100% truths until the instructor adds the next piece. The challenge to the new instructor is to know which piece is most important at a given level.

When I first started teaching BJJ regularly one year ago, I thought the importance of each technique was all in the details. That, like in swimming, careful, exacting practice at the beginning stages would set the parameters for future successful performance. But after working with James and seeing the way most adults approach Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I am beginning to think that it is more important to push for people to just try, try, try, as aggressively as possible and to fix after the fact. Maybe with children who are more likely to proceed with wanton abandon and no thought, slowing them down can be more successful (I'm not sure about that yet) but it seems with most adults, the biggest hang up is fear. Fear of failure, fear of looking stupid, or fear of injury. We need to be pushed to be more child-like in our approach, to just GO for it!

Of course there are always those who need to be treated differently. The child who needs to be pushed to be more aggressive or the adult who needs to be reigned in. But recognizing the differences in your students and adjusting your instructions to fit each individual is what great coaches are so successful at. I need to keep working on this. But I'm happy to be in a gym where no instructor is above learning from any other and all feel comfortable with someone else offering an alternative description or point when they are showing a particular technique. As I described above, a different explanation is not necessarily contradictory...but often the addition of another's point of view is complimentary.

I've seen coaches who don't like to be questioned, or don't like teaching when there are higher level belts on the mat. Schools that don't allow visitors at the rank or of higher rank than the head instructors for fear of being contradicted or shown up. But at our gym, you might find head instructors Ryan or Seph taking my wrestling class. Or someone like a visiting world champion caliber black belt, Murilo Santana sitting in on a regular class like any white or blue belt in the room. This is an environment I am proud of and very happy to be a part of.

Going to watch Ryan in his first Black Belt Division!

2010-04-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

I woke up feeling a little better this morning, finally. Ryan got plenty of sleep, had breakfast, is in the shower and in a few minutes we will leave for the venue.

Can't wait to watch him fight today! Good luck to Ryan, Felipe, Michelle, Val and all our other black belt (and brown belt female) friends competing today!

Woohoo!

p.s. Here is a photo from the guys training at the new Shoyoroll studio on Friday night. Just after this pic, it was packed with brown and black belts from everywhere.

And a pic of Son and Kenny playing on Vince's Street Fighter arcade game after training, lol!

Breathing is unfortunately necessary

2010-04-10T12:14:00.000-07:00

Well, things didn't go my way yesterday. Although I am frustrated and disappointed, I shouldn't be all that surprised.

We went up to New Breed to train (not that I did any real training, it was mostly for Ryan) in the early afternoon before coming back to the hotel, showering and heading to the venue. At New Breed I almost had a panic attack when Ryan held me in side control at one point, I tapped because I couldn't breathe. He looked at me and said, "don't get on the bottom today or we'll have a problem". I tried to put it out of my head though and get serious.

At the venue I went to warm-up on my own, just jogged for 10 minutes. I normally start running faster towards the end of my warm-up jog, but I was having trouble breathing so instead I just stopped and went to look for Ryan to warm-up with some jiu-jitsu. Our jiu-jitsu warm-up didn't last more than 4-5 minutes because I started breathing really heavy right away and Ryan thought we should just skip warm-up since it was clear my lungs wouldn't hold up. But we weren't about to let it deter me from fighting. Although I know how my body handles this kind of sickness, I ignored my brain and decided I was going out there and going to win.

...And then the match started. I kept my head on straight trying to be careful and control my breathing, think positive thoughts. I was pretty successful with that. The only problem with that is, if you are spending every thought on making sure you can breathe, there's not a lot left to think about what you are supposed to be doing - jiu-jitsu. I felt like I was dying the whole time despite a couple breaks to fix my belt, I just couldn't get my lungs to relax. I remember at one point getting underneath for half guard and even though she wasn't very heavy, I almost tapped because I couldn't breathe. Somehow Ryan's voice managed to make it though telling me what to do and I tried to relax, shift her weight towards my hips and go for my sweep. I don't even remember if I was successful, because literally every thought was on trying to make sure that what should be an autonomic body function, was still happening. I remember looking up at the clock around the 5 minute mark convinced I would have to tap or die before the match was over. But I made it to the end, barely. I had an attack after the match was over, and spent the next 6 hours just struggling just to breathe.

Unfortunately, I still don't feel a lot better. I couldn't sleep last night because I kept coughing and coughing and coughing - until Ryan yelled at me because he needed to sleep and I finally discovered an old sticky cough drop in my toiletry bag. But I woke myself up only about 4-5 hours later coughing, I had run out of cold medicine. Now I have a full box of Dayquil and some Halls and it's about time to head back to the venue to watch some of our friends compete this afternoon. Lets go Jake and Michelle!!

Pan Ams...Day 1

2010-04-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday after work, I started to feel like I might be coming down with something - not all that surprising since Michelle was sick on Thursday and Friday and only barely recovered on Saturday.

We had our last Pan Am practice on Wednesday morning before heading to the airport...well to Robeks for smoothies first, then to the airport. I rolled light with Michelle once or twice and with Ryan a couple times. I was beginning to feel worse though...not a good sign.

By last night after the flight I was having numerous coughing fits and feeling super miserable. A trip to the hot tub in the hotel helped a little, but really I need another week or two at least for my lungs to recover. (You do not want to know what's coming out of them right now, yuck.)

This morning it was only worse, but I hoped out of bed at 7am to shower, eat an awesome free breakfast at the hot buffet downstairs and head to the venue for the Blue Belts we had fighting. Ryan was on the other side coaching Kenny (ended up losing by adv) when Son's match was called so I went over to the other side to coach Son.

Ryan's been completely revamping Son's game the last few months and this was the first time he would have the opportunity to try out his new style at a big tournament. He looked really good, came up with a single leg (wasn't able to finish but getting it was a good step) but he got caught in an ezekial choke and ended up going out with 30 seconds left. I know he was bummed but I think we can expect good things from him in the future once he feels more comfortable with his new jiu-jitsu.

Quang was up next. Quang's been working really hard and improving a lot but he cut a lot of weight, barely ate or drank anything the last few days and on top that, this would be his first IBJJF tournament and we weren't sure how he would handle the pressure. Everyone was psyched when he made it to the finals! Quang ended up tapping to his own muscle cramps, as the days without enough food and water, and way too much pacing and not enough resting in between rounds caught up with him. But second place is not bad at all! Congrats, Quang! We look forward to an even better performance at the Worlds when he is better prepared for the environment.

Rich ended up losing in the second round to a tough competitor from Alliance. And the guys are at the gym right now helping/watching Andy fight the other big guys. (I'm hanging out at the hotel trying to rest up for tomorrow and see if I can kick at least a little of this illness. Stupid asthma always taking every cold immediately to my lungs. Stupid lungs.)

But I'm looking forward to my division at 4:40pm tomorrow. All the girls in it are super tough. I fight a really good Brazilian girl in the first round and if I win, would fight Melissa from Toronto who won the Mundial in my division last year. And I'm really curious to see how Samantha and Hillary will match up on the other side of the bracket in the semis. Can't wait!

Video from Michelle Seminar

2010-04-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Path to Michelle...

2010-04-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

On our way into the gym on Saturday morning, coffee in hand, I asked Michelle if she knew what she wanted to teach to us ladies at the seminar, she nodded quickly and said, "spider guard". I just about jumped for joy right there because it's one of the aspects I've been admiring about her game for years. Last week, Ryan returned from his first training session with her and immediately informed me that I needed to copy her guard game...like yesterday, lol!

No one at our gym uses spider guard, lots of different varieties of open guard and half guard but very little spidering is involved. Recently, I had been showing some techniques from that position to the women's class because I know it's a piece of the game they will at least need to be aware of, but I know so little about it. So I'm psyched that now, I know a little more. =)

Michelle is so quiet and unassuming that at first you might think she doesn't speak English, but mostly it's that she's just a little shy with new people. After warming up, she shares easily that in the past she has been intimidated going into fights against known tough competitors, although you'd never know it by watching her compete. She told me that this feeling affected her a lot more as a new purple belt when she had to compete in Purple/Brown/Black divisions in Brazil - but she overcame it well, winning the division as a purple belt at the 2004 Mundial before they split and created a separate division for purple belts the next year (which she also won)!

She had been training Capoiera for four years when her instructor moved out of town and suddenly Michelle was in a situation to be looking for a new martial art. This happened around the time she met a young (blue belt) Robert Drysdale and he convinced her to try Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Ten years and multiple championship titles later, Michelle funds training full-time through sponsorships and with a stipend from the Brazilian government which she must reapply for each year and will only receive as long as she continues to place at the major tournaments - talk about motivation to succeed.

Michelle gently, quickly, and easily commanded the attention of the chattering bunch and was clear and concise in all movements and descriptions. She went through her A game series from the guard (sweeping and submitting) to passing and submitting from the top, making sure to give various options based on the different movements you may expect from an opponent. Michelle made it seem so effortless, although some of us struggled with the movements with which we were unfamiliar. Quick to correct or praise with an eye for detail on each woman's movements, she made sure we were all on track before moving to the next step. Then she invited each attendee to roll with her for three minutes before the seminar came to an end.

There is an undeniable, yet unclaimed and perhaps unrealized, toughness under Michelle's quick shy smile. Perhaps this is what makes her so endearing to those she comes into contact with. I don’t think a single woman left without feeling as though they had learned some new techniques, succeeded with at least a few of them, and were ready to go out and try it on the men in their academies at home.

One of the great thing about women only events is that there are no fake exteriors or bids for attention. It's all about the art and the desire to improve in it. There is an amazing camaraderie felt with the realization that we are all in it together - from Michelle down to the newest white belt.

As one woman pointed out this weekend, attending one of these events can be intimidating because it strips away the ability to blame a mistake on someone out-sizing or out-muscling you and forces you to come to grips with your strengths and weaknesses head on. This is the one aspect that many BJJ women are missing due to the male dominated environment in our sport. And these occasional women only events are one of the few venues outside of competition that we have to face ourselves. The only possible result can be a positive one in that it helps to raise the level of us all.

Ryan Hall Gets His BLACK BELT!

2010-04-02T09:02:00.000-07:00

Felipe Costa promoted Ryan to black belt last night in a room full of 40 students attending his seminar and Ryan's family (yeah I'm sneaky - surprise to Ryan)!

The seminar was awesome! And it was so great to finally see Ryan achieve Black Belt. I am so so so proud of him, I almost did cry. Haha!

Ryan is really looking forward to being able to test out his new belt at the Pan Ams next week and is more psyched and ready to compete than he has been since the ADCC in September. Online I was surprised to read a few posts where people were wondering why you would promote him right before the Pan Ams. Why not?? Why hold yourself back when you can challenge yourself? That is not the Fifty/50 way.

Plus, it's the first time Felipe has been here since right after the Worlds last year. =)

Good luck, Ryan! We are all rooting for you! =)

Arte Suave

2010-04-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

I have never been so happy to have my ass repeatedly handed to me on the mats. Michelle had been on a plane for over 24 hours (layovers in Chile, then Peru, then LA, then Phoenix) and she still managed to wipe my face on the mats. And it was...AWESOME!

We did 4 x 10 minute rounds, all but the first at competition speed (and I did one round with Ryan, while she rolled with Felipe). Twice during each round Seph yelled, "stand up", and each group had to stand up and restart on the feet no matter what their position was. Awesome Pan Am training!

I wish I had someone like her to roll with everyday. Most of the guys really just don't appreciate what it's like to not have an entire room full of people your size (or within 10, 20, or sometimes 30lbs of your size) to train with. But then again, when we have the opportunity to roll with women our size, it's phenomenal! We get super psyched for Jiu-Jitsu!

I guess that tells you how awesome Jiu-Jitsu must be because so many women stick through it despite rarely/never having great training partners in their own academy.

For the first time in all my 4.5 years of training, I was able to train hard with a woman my size who is significantly better than me (I rolled with Felicia Oh at camp, but she was being nice because it was during a private lesson, lol). It's amazing the realizations you can have about your movement and techniques when you know with 100% certainty that nothing your partner is doing while they crush you into a bloody pulp has anything to do with their size or strength - it's pure smooth technique. And one day, I hope to achieve this.

Michelle and Felipe are en route to DC!!!

2010-03-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

Michelle Nicolini and Felipe Costa are currently on planes en route to Washington D.C.!

Felipe arrives late in the morning tomorrow and will train with Ryan and with once again visiting black belt, Luis Pantoja from Yamasaki. What a training session that will be! Then Michelle will arrive in the evening and we will be on our way to evening class at Fifty/50 with Ryan, Felipe, and the whole Fifty/50 crew.

On Thursday, Ryan, Felipe, Michelle, and also once again visiting Yamasaki Black Belt, Dave Jacobs will get together in the afternoon. Another awesome training session for Pan Ams! (I totally wish I didn't have a day job, lol!)

Then on Thursday night, Felipe will teach a seminar to the entire Fifty/50 crew! Friday, Felipe will get back on a plane out to California for his seminar in San Diego on Saturday. While Michelle will stay at Fifty/50 to give a THREE HOUR seminar on Saturday for all the LADIES!! Boo Yah!

We'll hold the last super hard pan am training session for all Fifty/50 students going to Pan Ams on Easter Sunday!!! For those of us competing later in the week, we will probably have maybe one or two more hard (or relatively hard) sessions before letting up and relaxing going into the tournament.

We all depart on Wednesday for LA! Look out! (Btw, who put us all on the same flight...it's gonna be madness! Hahaha!)

Visitors and Training for Pan Ams

2010-03-28T18:09:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to really see that the more I get into BJJ, the less I have any desire to spend time at my day job...but I have to plug away for a bit longer until the gym does well enough for me to come on full-time. Ugh.

I was finally able to roll with Ryan for about 20 minutes for the first time since hurting my shoulder on Tuesday and even though it was a light 20 minute session, I was happy that my shoulder held up during actual rolling. Wednesday, I went to wrestling class - I don't want to miss anything James shows, lol! We didn't go live, but we did go through all the motions, and I didn't have any trouble, just had to ice for a while after class. Thursday after the techniques portion of class, I ramped it up and decided to try hard training - but only for two 8 minute rolls before the inflammation in my shoulder increased too much (we were on brown belt time since Ryan was training too).

On Friday, I got off work early to go to PT, the therapist was extremely happy with my progress since the last visit. Woohoo! I followed therapy with my first good hard rolling session with Ryan, Seph, Quang, and Luis (a black belt from Yamasaki who came in to train for Pan Ams). My shoulder hurt a lot after training but at least it was able to make it through the whole session! I did 4x 8 minute rounds with a one round break after the third round. Then later in the evening I went for a 3 mile run followed by a light lifting session all by myself at the gym in our apartment complex. Have to keep my cardio and strength up somehow since I haven't been training hard the last few weeks. =)

Saturday, my body was pretty sore so I didn't train and neither did Ryan but we did go get a 25 minute massage...ahhhh, so nice and relaxing. =) I was a little bummed though that I took the day off because we had two more visitors from Yamasaki, purple belt Mike Byrd and blue belt Rosie Storey--and they are always fun to roll with--but the guys (and girls) got in some good rounds with them. Fortunately they visit semi-frequently, so I'm sure I'll get to roll with them another time. Today, Dave Jacobs, another Yamasaki Black belt, dropped in for some Pan Ams training with Ryan. Unfortunately, Ryan has been feeling under the weather the last few days and even though he got as far as putting his gi on, he ended up crashing on the bed in the back for almost 4 hours. Bummer for Ryan, but lucky for me because that meant I was able to roll with Dave for a lot longer than I probably would've otherwise =). After resting all day, drinking lots of fluids and taking some much needed Vitamin C, Ryan is starting to feel better, so hopefully he'll be up to training hard by tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest.

I may not have had weeks and weeks of hard training going into Pan Ams, but I at least I won't be overtrained and will be peaking for Worlds. ;)

Need. To. Train. For. Pan. Ams.

2010-03-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

I went to PT for a diagnosis last Monday, they thought I just messed up the ligaments and tendons but would be fine after the inflammation went down and some strengthening. I only drilled 3 days this week, trying to take it pretty easy, but by Thursday night my shoulder was throbbing. Maybe it's because we were doing upside down guard into deep half and my shoulder was taking a lot of pressure. Or my shoulder has decided it's had enough.

I went back to therapy on Friday and my therapist commented on how I managed to strain not only all the ligaments and tendons in the shoulder but seemingly all the muscles going into it as well, which apparently is what is causing the discomfort/pain across the front of my chest and down my back. I was working on convincing my therapist (a former collegiate athlete) to try BJJ, but for some reason my shoulder was getting in the way of selling it. Lol!

After the appointment, my shoulder hurt so freaking bad that by this morning I convinced myself I should go get an MRI just in case. I'll be calling the orthopedic office on Monday. Why is this happening right before Michelle and Felipe get here and before Pan Ams and before Ana is coming to train for a whole month?? Mother-F'ing Big People Divisions. I'm not doing them anymore...I swear.

Now I Am a Real Girl

2010-03-19T14:22:00.001-07:00

One of our Black Belt friends, Paul Schreiner, teaches at a gym out in Santa Cruz called Kaijin MMA. He is a long time friend of Ryan's and they go back and forth and do seminars at each other's academies when they travel to train together. Paul has been invited to move to NYC to help teach at Marcelo Garcia's academy...hot damn! And in conjunction with his going away party at Kaijin MMA, he asked Ryan and me to come out and put on a whole seminar weekend. So I will be teaching a women only seminar at Kaijin on April 24 and Ryan will teach an open seminar on April 25. Our first joint seminar, lol!

My first reaction when Ryan called to ask me if I wanted to do a seminar at Paul's was "Really? He wants ME to teach a whole seminar? Are you serious?" Haha! It's just still such a shock when someone asks me to teach outside my own academy. =)

I'm so excited about so many great things happening in the BJJ world for women right now. Michelle Nicolini did a great interview on Gracie Mag and she's coming here soon! Then Gracie Mag posted an article on the women's camp. And another women's camp is being offered condensed in Richmond in June. Leticia Ribeiro is doing a seminar in Dallas in June (I so wish I could go). There is just SOOO much greatness all over!

Black Belts, Black Belts, Black Belts!

2010-03-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

Black Belt week at Fifty/50 is coming up.

Everyone is invited to the Felipe Costa Seminar at Fifty/50 on Thursday, April 1 at 7pm. It's only $50!!!! It's a steal!

And Ladies don't miss the Michelle Nicolini Seminar on April 3!!!
Also, only $50 if you pre-register by March 31. Facebook event here: Michelle Nicolini Seminar - Event

God cursed my shoulders

2010-03-11T12:46:00.000-08:00

And I mean this completely literally. In fall of '07 I separated my left AC. In Spring '08 I tore my right labrum in two places and had surgery just before the summer started. This past weekend it appears I may have hurt my shoulder more than I thought when I recounted the tournament earlier this week.

I swear I tapped as fast as I could, I knew I was done and didn't play any stubborness at all. But it happens I guess - I both heard and felt something in my shoulder crack...well more like a crunch actually. As I stood up, I was pretty sure I had completed f'd my shoulder. But then it didn't hurt quite as bad as I expected so I wasn't so sure. Until the next day. I took Sunday and Monday completely off and it felt a little better but still only trained lightly at the beginner basics class on Tuesday. Then Wednesday it was hurting a little more again but we had our first class with Fifty/50's new wrestling coach, James Torres - who happens to be the assistant wrestling coach at George Mason University (yeah the same guy who's been giving Ryan and me private lessons over the last few months). I was trying to be careful last night, took advil and ice and everything after practice. But this morning my shoulder felt significantly worse. I scheduled a physical therapy appointment for Monday morning and I'm a little worried about what they are going to tell me.

Today I had a private lesson with James and Quang for an hour (because I didn't want to cancel it) then taught the women's class. Thursdays are picking up! We had five female white belts in the class today! So even though my shoulder hurts more than ever, I am excited about the growth of the women's program! We had another little lady sign up just a week ago! (Haha, I say little even though she's the exact same size as me, but she feels so tiny! LOL!) It's exciting because we have someone at all weights at the white belt level in the women's classes now. Just wait til some of these gals start competing!!!

Shameless self promotion here, lol!

2010-03-09T14:36:00.000-08:00

Moderate Success at Abu Dhabi Pro Trials in Canada

2010-03-08T04:25:00.000-08:00

Montreal is like a sub par NYC combined with a sub par Paris where the subparredness is squared. I am not so much a fan. Except for the noodle place. You can pick your own type of Asian noodles, any Asian sauce, any meat, and choose all your favorite vegetables for some amazing stir-fry. We went twice in as many days. Lol!

It was actually the first time Ryan and I have traveled together for a tournament believe it or not. It used to be that we were never able to leave at the same time but my new job is more flexible which is nice.

Anyhow, the tournament went pretty well for the most part. Not surprisingly, Jake walked through most of the competition in the Men's Purple-Black division to earn the gold and a free trip to compete in Abu Dhabi. Congrats, Jake! His buddy Josh who is a blue belt manhandled people all day placing first in his division then second in the absolute (just narrowly missing a free trip to Abu Dhabi but he showed a lot of heart, determination, and skill all the way through tons of matches).

As for me, I was lucky I guess to have a bye first round, but that sometimes makes me nervous because I haven't had a match to warm up in yet. Luckily Ryan spent a lot of time warming up with me though and things went well. The weight class was 138.5 (and I weighed in at 113 with all my clothes on - jeans, belt, and all, lol) so I was definitely the smallest but happy that the first girl wasn't outrageously bigger - maybe only 10 or 15 lbs. I was able to secure the take down and after a long fought match able to get the choke in the last second of the match. Then I had a very long wait for the next match (2 hours maybe) so I had time to rest but almost too much time because I had to warm-up again before the second match.

The second match (semi-finals) was against a girl who had to cut some weight to make it, so I knew I had to push the pace in order to ensure that I wouldn't be too tired if I made it to the last round. I jumped for an armlock early on, but I wasn't able to secure it. Then while going for a gi brabo, I was able to snatch a triangle then armbar from the bottom to finish. In the finals I was up against Sheila Bird, a long time black belt in Canada. I was ready to fight but knew she was a good wrestler. Stupidly I let up on a single leg attempt in the beginning due to a hesitation (my wrestling coach will be unhappy with me) and I would have had it had I gone in hard expecting to be successful. I won't make that mistake again. That turned out to be my only chance as she took me down, she landed in top of North-South with her grip already on for a shoulder lock. I tried to recover an upside-down guard but really with someone that much bigger and stronger and more experienced, if she doesn't make a mistake, it's tough to recover. Not ready to give up, I decided to try to turn out and was immediately wrenched into a kimura to which I tapped as quickly as possible - but not before something in my shoulder cracked. (I was worried yesterday but thank God, today it feels better and doesn't appear to be significantly injured.)

It's super frustrating to lose that way. Mostly because I feel like I was having a pretty good day overall and due to a hesitation on my part, missed out on the only opportunity that was presented to me during that specific match. Next time, I definitely need to be more insistent to play my own game and dictate the pace of the match.

Well, it was a learning experience for me and while second place doesn't earn a free trip to Abu Dhabi, it isn't half bad considering I was the smallest there. I am happy about one thing though, because I didn't have any issue with my lungs holding up and since that is a major concern for me, it's a big victory each time I have manage to keep my asthma under control. Three tournaments in a row now that I haven't had an issue! (Knock on wood!)

Black Belt Mundial Champions Descend on 50/50 BJJ ahead of Pan Ams

2010-03-03T08:26:00.001-08:00

It is confirmed!

2x Mundial Black Belt Champion Felipe Costa will be at Fifty/50 BJJ from 31 March - 2 April and will offer a seminar on 1 April!

AND 3x Munidal Black Belt Champion Michelle Nicolini will be at Fifty/50 BJJ from 30 March - 7 April and will offer a women only seminar on 3 April!

Open your brain for high level instruction and get ready for some serious training!

The Pan Ams are coming!!!!!!!!!!!

Gonna Sine Yo Pity on the Runny Kine

2010-02-25T19:50:00.000-08:00

I stink like poop.

It's true. So don't try to deny it, don't bother saying "there, there" or try to make me feel better. Some days are yours to be the hammer and sure enough it always comes back around because today was my day to be the nail.

I want to talk about how great it is to have Jake Mackenzie training at our gym this month, or all the other awesome jiu-jitsuness that is unfolding for Fifty/50. But today I stunk up the mats like one of Seph's farts - and they sure are nasty. Trust me.

I know I should quit, turn it in - but Ryan just paid $1500 for our plane tickets to Montreal next weekend for me to compete and today he just bought our Pan Ams tickets. So now I keep telling myself to be psyched...

Yesterday, I had one of my best wrestling lessons in a long time with James. Quang and I were beginning to feel like real wrestlers transitioning through movements as if we'd been doing it for years. Snap down, sweep single, snatch single, double leg, duck under, two on one, arm drag, etc, etc, etc. But today I was as off as a chimp face-fucking a frog. What?

Don't worry, I'm sure I won't hang up my belt and pack it away never to be seen or heard from again. Yesterday was awesome, today sucked, and tomorrow I plan to sine yo pity on the runny kine!

DATE CHANGE for Michelle's Seminar!

2010-02-18T13:04:00.000-08:00

Anyone reading this please note that the Michelle Nicolini Seminar has been moved to Saturday, April 3. Same time, same place.

We apologize for the inconvenience, but Michelle found out that she will be in Abu Dhabi competing at the ADCC Pro Jiu-Jitsu Championship on April 17. Kind of halfway across the world. She was awesome enough to offer the weekend right before the Pan American Championships as an alternative!

Ladies, please join us for the seminar on April 3!

Fifty/50 Gracie Nationals Highlight Video

2010-02-10T20:25:00.000-08:00

Below is a video re-capping our experience at Gracie Nationals...enjoy!

Training at Alliance

2010-02-06T21:01:00.000-08:00

Alliance in Atlanta is freaking awesome.

I went in for class today thinking it was from 12-1:30 and we didn't finish until around 2:45 (but we did start 15 min late, haha)!

Jacare started by showing a fake guard pull into a single leg. It's a take down I've used many times, but he showed a better way to avoid being caught in the guard as you go down, which I hope to employ successfully in the future. Then Cobrinha went over escaping the double-under pass. Some very cool stuff with lots and lots of tiny details that must be executed perfectly - simultaneously. One resulted in a way cool back take I've never seen before that I can't wait to try on an unsuspecting partner, lol! This was followed by lots of King of Hill - but broken into 4 groups by weight classes. But the smallest weight class was under 170, lol! It was funny because they actually have a lot of really small guys but we were lumped in with the bigger guys. Then finally I got three rounds of sparring in (I had to sit out one because there were so many people). There was no timer going so who knows how long the rounds were, lol! 4 rounds lasted at least 30 minutes.

My first round I was paired with a white belt girl about 60 lbs heavier than me. Unfortunately, my lungs weren't warm yet because I wasn't on the ground for more than 30 seconds a pop during King of the Hill and I think I might have scared my first sparring partner at one point because I almost lost control of my asthma - but luckily the round was over then and I could rest and get it under control. But at least that warmed me up so I was fine for the last two rolls.

Everyone at Alliance is so technical, I've never seen a gym with everyone at such a high level of capability in so many different areas. Also, they were super friendly and treated me just like their own student (well minus the mat fee I had to pay, haha). Both Cobrinha and Jacare walked around the room giving corrections and seemed to take a real interest in advancing the capabilities of each student in the room. When it came to sparring, Jacare was careful and thoughtful when it came to making pairs, even with me. And everyone at Alliance trains hard but with no ego, so once again, it was awesome!

I wish I could stay in Atlanta and train there longer. I definitely plan to come back again in the future. What a great experience!

After training I was able to meet up Laura from camp so that was fun too. =) And now we are celebrating my sister-in-law's 30th birthday. And in the morning her daughter will be baptized and this will be followed by a real southern BBQ. So much good times in one weekend! I am SOOOO glad that I am not snowed in at home. Suckers!!!!!!

I rolled with Cobrinha!

2010-02-06T07:17:00.000-08:00

Just after New Years, my brother told me that they were going to be baptizing my new niece in Atlanta, I checked my schedule and was excited that there was finally an out of town family event that I could attend! It wasn't until later that I realized I'm going to be in Atlanta, I HAVE to stop into Alliance while I'm there. Then this week I thought, hey why not get a private lesson while I'm there too. So being super awesome Cobrinha agreed to do a private lesson with me with about two days notice!

I went online and watched a few of his videos again to help me decide what I wanted to work on and called Ryan in Japan to ask him his opinion of what I should be asking Cobrinha to help me fix with my game. I was more interested in his open guard sweep game, but Ryan thought I needed more work on defeating the spider guard and guard passing, so that's what I asked about - and HOLY GOD was it amazing! It's so crazy how many really tiny details there are to everything he does.

His lessons aren't cheap but at the same time it was totally worth every penny. I was a little late arriving because of a delayed fight (oddly enough not due to snow) but he was super gracious and didn't seem to mind. I was planning to jump into their nogi class but after starting late Cobrinha (once again being super awesome) went almost 30 minutes over lesson time! I guess Brazilian time can work in your favor too, lol!

It's been eye opening for me to see how all the really top level guys (and girls) adapt similar concepts all over their games while maintaining different styles. And until Ryan's coaching started to incorporate some of the same things this year, I'd never been subjected to anything quite like it before. I could certainly be wrong, but after working with a number of different Brazilians this year, I wonder why most Americans seem to be very much behind the Brazilians in their approach to jiu-jitsu.

Anyway, the lesson was amazing. It was so cool how he could control his every movement so that it felt exactly as if I was rolling with someone my size and strength. He was willing to drill the same technique over and over and over until I could repeat it as flawlessly as possible for having just learned it. Then we drilled with light resistance so he could see how I switched between the techniques as it was required by his movement. He was constantly adjusting what seemed like minute details the entire time.

And finally we rolled, and rolled, and rolled. He even let me choke him once despite him releasing hold after hold after hold if he felt like I was executing the proper escape. I was prepared for him to smash me and instead it felt like I was rolling with a slightly more technical version of myself (how does he do that?) as he fed me specific techniques as I attempted to re-create what I learned during the lesson.

Can't wait to hear from Ryan how he did today in Japan!

Blah

2010-01-30T23:02:00.000-08:00

It's kind of a downer to be back from camp and have to go to my real job and stuff. Plus, I haven't trained since Wednesday. I was too exhausted Thursday so all I did was teach the women's class. Then Friday I was asked to sub in and teach swimming at a swim school in Maryland and spent too long in the showers trying to thaw out so I didn't get to the gym until too late for practice. And then today, I once again arrived super late and didn't end up changing to train. Well, I guess there's tomorrow...

And I really really miss my boyfriend. I haven't seen Ryan since Sunday and he still won't be home for 9 more days. :(

On the plus side, we have plans to visit Reno, Nevada in April or May to train with a female brown belt my size for a couple days and for Ryan to do a seminar at their school. Also, Felipe is planning to come back and train with us before the Worlds which will be awesome.

Camp, Camp, and More Camp!

2010-01-27T19:22:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting at Burbank airport and am finally able to begin processing the last few days. Only one word can describe it - AWESOMENESS!

It was soooo refreshing to train with women all day every day. Especially some of the great upper belt campers like Gina, Lily, Kelley, Ashley, and Jen (crap, I just realized I never got a chance to roll with Nikki - next time). Every single Jiu-Jitsu chick there was just so damn cool! It is almost uncanny. No, really, seriously. And the thing is, we are all so different. From different weights to different belts, to MMA centered chicks, and young ones, and old ones, and all the in the middle ones, married, single, gay, straight, moms, trainers, artists, business women, career competitors and gym owners, we all were gathered in one place for Jiu-Jitsu - awesomeness!

After a few glasses of wine, here I am in the hotel with Laura helping her fine tune a choke Felicia taught us on Day 2.

We had a great discussion last night centered around competition. How do you prepare for it - psychologically and physically? What makes a good competitor? And what might affect you as a competitor? Why do we compete? This in turn moved into a sub-discussion on our training partners (mostly male) and what it means to be a woman in BJJ (they plan to delve into this further on Thursday night).

Lucas' seminar last night was freaking awesome! I think it may have been a bit over the head of a few of the campers but I thought it was perfect - despite the fact that we were physically and mentally exhausted by the end of the day, lol. Val and Emily shocked me by approaching me last night and asking if I would like to teach this morning. Wow! What an honor! I was so flattered at the request that no way would I turn it down. So I thought about my game and decided to teach something the women were unlikely to get from someone else in the same way - wrestling. I hope they liked it!

After lunch, I had a private lesson with Felicia Oh. Wow! She is so small and her movement is just so freaking fantastic. I can't wait for the day that I have the ability to roll like her. First we rolled a little, then we went over a couple sweeps from the bottom of half guard which could turn into back takes depending on the opponent's movement. Then we rolled again. During/after that she fixed a few small details with my guard passing and went over a few of her game preferences and gave me some tips on how to train as a tiny person. Everything fit perfectly into my current game - awesomeness!

I spoke with Ashley from Girls in Gi's (in Texas) and we hope to hook up and make it a national thing. (I had no idea my little idea back in 2007 spawned her idea - awesomeness - together we can make it a revolution in brazilian jiu-jitsu for women!)

I'm so sad that I can't stay until the end of camp. I miss everyone already. :(

But Gina is planning to come out and visit and the New York City girls and Emily too (holy crap, Emily Kwok is going to come to my gym!). I can't wait! =)

p.s. I know some of you posted comments on my other posts and I thank you very much and promise that I will get to them as soon as I can after returning home.

First Day of Camp

2010-01-26T07:41:00.000-08:00

Day 1. We arrived yesterday morning for an ice breaker at 9am. This was followed by a Gi session on the guard taught by Emily Kwok, before Queen of the Hill (yeah that's right, QUEEN not KING) drills and open sparring. After grabbing lunch we showed back up to the gym for an hour discussion on the psychology of coaching by Lily Pagle for anyone interested. This was sandwiched by a no-gi guard session taught by Felicia Oh and Val Worthington. We followed that up with ambush jiu-jitsu (definitely spiced rolling up a bit) before moving on to more regular rounds.

Next we took a quick break to grab dinner and bring it back to the gym for an evening discussion on women in Jiu-Jitsu. Why do we do it? What issues have we had with continuing our training and maintaining our love for the sport? What can we do to help promote women in the sport? And why is it so damn awesome?! Yeah, pretty much covered everything, lol!

Okay so there were a few tears in the last discussion as the women shared some of their relevant life/jiu-jitsu experiences but they were always surrounded with happiness, laughter and the camaraderie gained through a shared love for the sport. It was absolutely amazing to hear that everyone from white belt to black belt goes through so many of the same issues in regards to training and competition scenarios. I am so glad that I was finally able to come out for one of these and believe all BJJ women would benefit from participating in an event like this.

Come on ladies! It's up to you!

Attend an open mat in your area or begin hosting one. Participate in camp. It's totally worth every penny and every minute!

p.s. I almost forgot - we have a surprise schedule change and Lucas Leite is arriving today to give us a free seminar this evening. Holy Sh*t!!!!

Gracie Nationals Report

2010-01-25T00:43:00.000-08:00

I arrived at Burbank Airport after almost 12 hours of travel from the time I left my house. I immediately picked up my rental and drove down to New Breed Academy in Santa Fe Springs to train with Johnny Ramirez and crew. Johnny (of course) helped me a lot and then he and his girlfriend were kind enough to let me stay in their apartment. (Thanks again!)

I was psyched that Ryan was coming down to coach me and headed out in the morning ready to go. But a big roadblock was dropped in my way when, as I walked into the convention center, I received a phone call from Ryan that he was unable to catch a ride down from Santa Barbara after all. I'm not gonna lie, that almost had me in tears I was so upset. I could tell he felt bad but it didn't help me feel any better about not having a coach. I knew I hadn't flown out here to let occurrences outside my control affect my ability to compete.

...and then I ran into the girls. Boing! Sparkle weird. Roller balls. And all. It helped me forget how upset I was to hang out with Jen, Lola, Liz, Emily, Alaina, Laura, etc, laughing our asses off at all kinds of silliness. =)

I warmed up like 4 times waiting for my turn to go, knowing that because of my asthma a warm up is crucial to maintaining adequate cardio. But as soon as I got up to get up to start my next warmup after having sat still to watch the white and blue belt ladies compete, I was called. Oops, not a good warmup after all that...

Luckily, my first match in the purple belt division went well, she was about 50 lbs heavier and I finished with a gi choke. The second match was against a girl my size! I won that one 22-0 and the last match was the toughest as I was getting tired and she outweighed me by 20 lbs and was at least 6 inches taller (height is harder than sheer size sometimes). I screwed up my takedown by doing something stupid (sorry, James) and was down on points in the guard struggling to do anything when I inverted in the last minute and was able to snatch a triangle. Her defense was pretty good though and I couldn't finish but was able to sweep her over. However, still unable to finish, I was swept back over and with almost no time left and still holding the triangle knowing I was about to lose, I grabbed her arm for a key lock. I succeeded finally with about 10 seconds left. Whew! It was tough!

After the tournament I drove to Santa Barbara to get Ryan and we ended up going to dinner out there with Jeff Glover - definitely a good time. In the morning we headed to the tournament and were disappointed to find that I had no one in my bracket. They offered to put me in the Intermediate division, but we didn't think that would be right. Instead, we asked if Ryan could use my registration in my place so they were kind enough to add him to the 170lb division and the absolute. He won both.

I left Ryan in LA to train at New Breed for two days and trekked up to Valencia with my new friend Laura from Knuckle up Atlanta.

Just woke up and getting ready for camp! Woohoo!

Women's Grappling Camp

2010-01-21T19:47:00.000-08:00

I'm getting ready to pack and catch a few hours of sleep before getting on the supershuttle to Dulles (it picks my up at 4am...ugh!).

I'll fly through San Francisco to Burbank, CA and from there drive down to LA where I'll weigh in for Gracie Nationals. Then I'm dropping in to New Breed for their 6pm class to work out my post-flight kinks by training with Johnny and team.

Ryan has decided he will take a break from training with Cooper and Glover to come down and coach me on Saturday and Sunday before heading back! Yay! Then I'll be on my way to Valencia, CA for the Women's Grappling Camp! I can't WAIT to train with all the ladies from Mon-Wed! I can't take the whole week off work but I'm sure I will have an absolute blast the three days I will be there. =)

Fun BJJ times ahead this week! Woohoo!!!!!

OMG, OMG, OMG - April 17 Announcement!!!!

2010-01-19T21:08:00.000-08:00

Multiple time Black Belt Mundial Champion, Michelle Nicolini Seminar!!!!!

Women ONLY

When: Saturday April 17
Time: 12-3pm
Where: Fifty/50 BJJ (Arlington, VA)
Cost: $50 pre-register, $65 day of registration (pay pal pre-reg fee to fifty50bjj@gmail.com)

Michelle’s IBJJF Accomplishments Include:
2004 Mundial: 3rd in Purple/Brown/Black Pluma (as purple)
2005 Mundial: 1st in Purple Pluma
2006 Mundial: 1st in Brown/Black Pluma (as brown)
2007 Mundial: 1st in Brown/Black Pluma
2007 Mundial: 1st in Open Class
2008 Pan Ams: 2nd in Brown/Black – Open
2008 Mundial: 3rd in Brown/Black - Open Class
2009 Pan Ams: 2nd in Brown/Black – Pena
2009 Pan Ams: 3rd in Brown/Black - Open
2009 Mundial: 2nd in Brown/Black - Pluma

Michelle's YouTube Channel

Email us for a copy of the flyer to post in your school! Support Female BJJ!!!!

She's my FAV female grappler of all time!!!!! I am soo sooo soooo excited!

Ryan absolutely ROCKS for being willing to support me with this! I loves him. Lol!

Ryan Hall Takes on Tokyo

2010-01-17T20:44:00.000-08:00

Ryan leaves tomorrow morning to begin a tour of BJJ schools in California before heading to Tokyo to compete in a grappling Superfight in Deep-X! Ryan is excited to take his first trip to Asia and experience the Japanese MMA climate.

But first he will spend a week at Paragon training with Jeff Glover and Bill Cooper. Then he will visit Paul Schreiner and has plans to offer a seminar at Kaijin MMA (Paul and Garth Taylor's school) the following weekend. He also hopes to make it out to train with Darren Uyenoyama at his gym in San Francisco before hopping the 14 hour flight to Tokyo. Good luck, Babe!

Hopefully, Ryan will be able to pause in his training for a quick visit down to LA to coach me at Gracie Nationals next weekend. I am flying out on Friday morning and plan to train at New Breed in LA Friday night, then compete Saturday and Sunday before driving to Valencia for the first 3 days of the Women's Grappling Camp at Big John McCarthy's. I am super excited at the opportunity to train with a bunch of women, especially all the awesome brown and black belts who will be in attendance! I can't wait to get my butt kicked and come away with a ton of new things to work on. The training at Fifty/50 is great but training with a bunch of guys...even small ones...is not as realistic for competition as training with women. Bring on the ladies!!!! =)

BJJ is FUN!

2010-01-12T20:40:00.000-08:00

Last night's class was great! We just instituted a brand new schedule and the results are already showing themselves among the students.

The first class I went to was the marathon roll class (now shortened to a half hour). I thought I was going to be able to go easy in the first round of 6 minute matches but Quang came out of the gate pretty hard. Usually he's good for the first warm-up roll, but I guess he was still upset about losing his last match this weekend. Then I rolled with Ryan, he's trying to make a point to roll with me at least once every day because we realized the other day that we hadn't trained together in at least 3 weeks even though we're at the gym together every day, lol! Also, I had a bunch of great rolls with Brian, my favorite training partner. The whole room seemed charged up, I think we were feeling the effects of being at the tournament this weekend - either psyched to train hard for future competitions or pissed and wanting to train hard to get out the anger. It was fantastic!

Then Ryan Beauregard (in from AZ for the Brown Belt Division at the Copa Nova) and Demitri Chrisos (local brown belt instructor) dropped in to train during the advanced class, so I also got to get in a roll with Ryan Beauregard - which was neat. I hadn't really interacted with him before but he was super cool and made a point to roll with every person in the room before leaving. Even though he's ginormous compared to me, it's always fun to roll with new high level guys.

I got stuck at work late tonight (ugh) and missed the early classes, then skipped advanced class to go home and work on a few things, do laundry, and have dinner ready for when Ryan came home. I'm so domestic...well sorta...we still have our Christmas decorations up. ;)

Goings on...

2010-01-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

I apologize to all my readers for not writing sooner, however, I didn't want to bore you with nothingness. I was able to train with Ana a few more times after my last post and the last day we finally turned the notch up a bit on training and it was a blast! I hope she comes back to visit again! I've never had so much fun training with anyone. :)

New Years Eve was a good time, Ryan and I just had a few friends from the gym over and had a surprise visit from another good friend and his girlfriend. We got dressed up, ate and drank a ton and then missed the countdown to New Years thanks to the guys doing car bombs. We had to have our own countdown at 12:04am. We pretended...and finished off the champagne, lol!

Who would have thunk that a party of of only six (with two additions for about an hour) would be so exciting? How does this happen you ask? Well, start drinking at 8pm with a few individuals not used to drinking heavily - that is a surefire way to provide ample entertainment for the entire evening! Watch out though, one guest may take of his shirt, threaten to punch the host in the face, almost burn the house down and then round out the evening by puking half digested meatballs all over the guest bedroom before going berserk for ten minutes then crashing out for the night...lol!

On January 2nd, I went to my second cousin's wedding out in Bowie, MD. Had a BLAST with the fam! Yeah that (below) is just my parents and sibilings...there's a few of us, lol!

Today was the Copa Nova tournament run by Fightworks out near Dulles. It's a small local tournament but is growing in size each time, which is pretty cool. Unfortunately, Ryan got the start time wrong which made us a little late going in today. I'd been sick all week so before we arrived Ryan had informed me that I couldn't compete if it wasn't in my own weight class. Well they told me at the desk that there was no one my weight in the no-gi and not a single other female purple belt signed up, so there went that idea...bummer.

We believe in getting everyone out to compete and gain tournament experience as soon as possible so we had some mixed results, but definitely some shining moments as well. Shout outs for most improved definitely go to Rick Slomba and Kenny Savercool (both won their divisions in the gi with 3 and 4 matches respectively). Most surprising excellent performance was probably Will Cutler who just joined the gym about 2 months ago and with no prior grappling experience at all won 4 matches in the men's white belt on his way to second place. It was quite a performance! Additional notable performance mentions go to Quang Nguyen for sweet movement skills and Andy Ruffner for a much improved ability to listen to the coach's advice. Great job guys!

Best Christmas EVER with Ryan & Fifty/50

2009-12-28T13:20:00.000-08:00

Recounting the holidays with Ryan and Fifty/50...where to start?

How about with the text message I received from Ryan while I was at work on December 23 since that shaped the rest of our holiday, "Murilo Santana and Ana Lowry are here. Sweet!".

They had arrived to train at Fifty/50 that afternoon with news that they would be in town through New Years. Ryan was thrilled at the thought of training every day with one of the top BJJ black belts - who is also (by far) the best to have ever come out of the DC area. Murilo grew up training at Yamasaki's school in Rockville, MD but now lives and trains in Sao Paulo. And I of course was thrilled to have an excellent female to train with every day!

I can't even begin to describe how happy the two of us were over the course of the entire Christmas holiday. Ryan and Murilo have spent hours training together every day since Dec 23 - even on Christmas day! I was able to roll with Ana for extended periods of time on Dec 24, 26, and 27th and I have totally reclaimed my love of BJJ through the chance to be able to train with a good female every day. Ana's technique is sharper in a broader range than most women I've ever trained with or competed against - not that I was surprised since she won the blue belt division two weights above me this year at the Mundial. We are doing a lot of flow rolling and it's so awesome to be able to move around with someone this way. They will be back in to train tonight, and tomorrow night Murilo was nice enough to offer to teach class and Ryan of course enthusiastically said YES! I can't wait!

So anyway about Christmas...after training with Murilo and Ana on Christmas Eve, Ryan's parent's and 8-yr-old sister came over for dinner. It was their first time in our apartment and I cooked for them since they have been so great helping us and the new gym in so many ways over the last year. Then we went over to our friends' house to play Rock Band - Ryan is gearing up for his week with Jeff Glover, lol! ;)

For Christmas I gave Ryan a glass chess set and Bobby Fischer's book on how to play chess as he's taken a new fancy to playing on the computer recently, and I gave him Dan Gable's book on how to coach wrestling. He was surprised so I think I did pretty good. *patting myself on the back* Ryan bought me the new Shoyoroll gi (so excited!) but it doesn't come in until January. I can't wait to put our new purple Fifty/50 patch on it!

Christmas "morning" around noon we had "breakfast" with Ryan's family and opened up presents. Then we met up with Murilo and Ana at the gym. Ana didn't feel well so we chatted and watched Ryan and Murilo train. Then Ry and I headed off to Riverdale, MD to my grandmother's house for Christmas dinner and gifts with my family. Ryan had been kneed in the face last Friday and had gotten eight stitches below his eye in the ER during the snow storm - so my mom (don't worry she's a nurse) cut them out in my grandmother's kitchen after Christmas dinner with quite the audience peering over her shoulder. Lol! Only in my family... :)

The Saturday after Christmas we trained in the afternoon then headed to my uncle's ginormous house in McLean that Ryan says always makes him feel like he's going to the Batcave for another Christmas dinner and gift exchange with my dad's family this time. Good times!

Sunday was freaking AMAZING! Chrissy Linzy from US Grappling had said earlier in the week that she was coming up for our women's class Sunday afternoon so we quickly announced a semi-impromptu open mat. I taught a women only class to 4 white belts and 4 blue belts and two more female blue belts joined us after during open mat. That's ELEVEN ladies total who made it (counting myself)! OMG it was sooooo much fun to train with everyone! I'm in BJJ heaven!!!!!

This was the best Christmas ever! No seriously. Ever.

Murilo Santana v Andre Galvao

Ana Lowry - Blue Belt Lightweight 2009 Mundial Champ

Lottsa' Ladies!

2009-12-13T14:26:00.000-08:00

Twice this week we had 6 women on the mat (normally we don't have more than 2-3 on the mat at any given time). Hells yeah!

Then yesterday I talked one of the purple belts' wives to come in and try it out so she can learn how to respond when her husband practices his techniques on her, lol! Her first class will be next Sunday. And last night while watching the UFC fight at Baileys, I met two more women who are friends of a couple of the guys who want to come in and check out class. One of them grew up doing Judo for years since her Dad and Mom owned their own Judo dojo and both trained, so she'd be a really great addition.

Finally, today Shanna finally came back in to train. I used to love training with her before she took like 6 months off (she was close to getting her blue belt then too). Seph and Bill live with her and say they're going to start making her come in every day with them.

Alright! Bring it on chicas!

Teaching again- this time wrestling class

2009-12-11T00:04:00.000-08:00

Monday night Seph and I realized that we were going to have to do something about wrestling class on Wednesday. We hadn't bothered to put two and two together before this to note that Anthony would be gone on Wednesday as he was flying out to meet Ryan in Vegas on Tuesday to train at Drysdale's and compete in his first GQ pro division this coming weekend.

Then Seph asked me if I wanted to teach wrestling. Having only just recently taught my first co-ed class at Fifty/50, I was now on the line to teach wrestling, something I've only been doing since early May. The first thing I did of course was call Ryan to see if it was okay, and to my surprise he thought it was a good idea.

Tuesday my wrestling coach texted me about something else and after responding to his text, I wrote back, "you'll either get a kick out of this or be totally offended but Anthony is out of town and now apparently I have to teach wrestling class tomorrow night, lol." His good-natured response surprised me yet again - as I expected him to be offended, "sweet".

The class was pretty full as it always is but overall I think it went well. It's a particularly difficult group to teach because of the varying levels of experience with wrestling. It's hard to manage just how much time to spend on any one thing because there are a bunch who have been taking Anthony's class consistently since July and for others it was their first or second time and I don't want to bore anyone or go too fast for anyone.

But mostly everyone seemed happy with what they learned and when I talked with James today about what I went over, he seemed to think I opted for the correct tactics. So perhaps my learning curve for how to teach is slightly improving...but in all likelihood learning to teach is an even longer road than simply learning to do.

Another New Woman!

2009-12-07T18:13:00.000-08:00

We had another new lady come in today to try out BJJ class! She has had 3 years of Judo and (a very little) BJJ before coming to us. I'm super excited to add more women to our ranks.

It's especially great because now we have a group of women at the higher weight class, a couple in the middle, and a few tinies. So a little bit of good training for everyone!

We could potentially get up to 15 women by the end of January at this rate! That would be AWESOME!!

Keep 'em coming Ladies!!!!!

p.s. And Quang is going to come to Muay Thai on Wednesday to train with me! I asked him to because he is my height and has more experience than most of the other guys/gals - he just hasn't trained it in a while. Quang is awesome because he's going to come train just because I asked him to, even though he's more interested in BJJ. Our guys (and gals) totally ROCK!

BJJ this weekend...Not so much

2009-12-06T20:35:00.000-08:00

I meant to go to Muay Thai yesterday morning but accidentally slept in and barely made it to the gym in time for open mat (it was my responsibility to open up since both Seph and Ryan were gone).

Unfortunately, though, I didn't get the opportunity to train because I spent the entire time working on a presentation I have to give in class at 8am tomorrow morning (I should go to sleep soon). Then I had to rush off to meet with my group partner for the presentation and proceeded to work with him for about 4 more hours until we broke for dinner.

I was supposed to finish all the details today but have procrastinated all day instead. I don't want to do school anymore. Working full-time and BJJ basically full-time and going to school is way too much for me. I need some down time.

So I accidentally slept in again today then rushed out to teach the women's class too late to pick-up my inhaler from the pharmacy (my old one is completely tapped out). Without my inhaler, I can't train hard, so I just worked with the women. The ladies did well, we are working on all closed guard this month after having worked on escapes from bottom of mount and side-control all last month. I rolled with Mary Ann twice and Kate once and watched them roll with each other twice. I want both to go to their first BJJ tournament on January 9th so they will be training a little harder than they have been the last few months in order to get ready.

After finishing at the gym, I stopped by Ryan's parents' house (thats where our computer system is located until we get internet at the gym) to add a couple of the new contracts from this week. I ended up staying for a while talking to his mom, eating dinner and playing Wii with his 7 yr old sister (she kicked my butt in cow-racing, that tank game, shooting, and ping pong - apparently I suck at video games, lol!)

Despite not having accomplished all the stuff I wanted to today (finishing my presentation, cleaning the kitchen, washing clothes, putting up christmas decorations, etc) I still feel like I was pretty busy this whole weekend. I definitely need more hours in the day or to drop something in my life so I can actually get things done.

Muay Thai is a lot of work

2009-12-04T19:08:00.000-08:00

My shoulders BURN and my arms can't stop shaking after finishing Muay Thai class. Yikes, Muay Thai is a LOT more work and much much harder than BJJ.

But, today Mauro told me that my kick is finally looking better. Yay! I just can't wait for the day when I will feel like I know what I'm doing. :)

One thing that bothers me is that I'm having a hard time holding the thai pads for the guys. I can't decide if I'm missing some super important detail or if it's just THAT hard to hold pads for someone who has 50 lbs on you. I brace myself against the impact, digging into the mat as I've been shown and I brace my arms and meet the kick with a little force, and BAM...I get knocked backwards anyway. Today Mauro finally had to stand behind me and use his arms to show me how to hold the pad - like you would do for a small child. (I guess it helps that I'm the size of a small child). But even after that, I still feel like I'm getting knocked back too much. :(

I like MT and Wrestling because they add a little diversity into the training environment. Unfortunately, my wrestling coach hurt his back pretty bad so we missed our lesson this week. I hope James feels better soon, he's a pretty tough guy so if he says it hurts - it's probably pretty bad. But luckily, he thinks he'll be good to go by the time we are supposed to have our lesson next week and if not it's okay to miss another lesson because he is giving a wrestling seminar at our gym the week after anyway - on December 16th!

Opportunity Knocking for East Coast Women

2009-12-01T21:48:00.000-08:00

April 17, 2010.

Keep the date reserved ladies. Arlington, VA will have a special visitor!

Just sayin'.

Details to follow upon the finalization of plans. I will post the announcement here as well as send it to the ladies email group once everything is set - if you aren't on the email group or don't know what it is see here: Calling all Female BJJ Practitioners

Taught my first co-ed class at 50/50 today

2009-11-30T20:03:00.000-08:00

Sure I've been teaching the ladies for almost a year, given some private lessons and taught a class at LIMAA Elkridge once and at a gym in Orlando, but surprisingly enough, I had yet to teach a co-ed class at 50/50.

Originally, I didn't teach the regular classes because Ryan didn't want a blue belt to teach BJJ at 50/50 - he made an exception for the women's class because he thought a female instructor would be better for the new ladies. That said, Ryan had actually wanted to have me start teaching one basics class per week when we opened the new place (once I had my purple belt) but I begged off because of school this semester - I didn't want the added responsibility.

But today happened. Ryan is out in Chicago helping Jeff Curran train for his MMA fight this coming weekend. And Seph had shoulder surgery two weeks ago and was trying to move out of his place today with one arm which of course took longer than expected, he got stuck late so he asked me if I could fill in.

Last minute notice, the first thing I thought was, "crap, what do I know well enough to teach to the group?" Funny that I don't worry about that in the small group of women, but Mondays are usually our most crowded basics class so I was nervous. Most people would think that after almost 4 and a half years of BJJ that I would know TONS of stuff well enough to teach, but I always worry about forgetting something important, or not knowing how to explain moves well enough that they make sense or messing it up and accidentally teaching something "wrong"...the way I had learned to do it at one of my old gyms before Ryan stopped me from doing it that way.

So the second thing I did was call Ryan and ask him for advice about what to show. Probably shocking to everyone who read his lockflow article - the immediate non-hesitating response was "closed guard - they need to work on that". So we decided that I would show the armbar and triangle (of my own accord I opted for the stomp/curl version of the triangle that Ryan showed in his WMA DVD, I think it's easier for ppl like me - stumpy legged, lol).

I thought the class went well, the guys were all extremely respectful and asked lots of questions (one lady was in attendance too). They really seemed to be improving during the course of the class which was good to see. Despite that, I was still worried about how it went when Ryan Harmon (one of our longer term white belts) made me feel better after he posted on his facebook that though he was sad that he could only watch class because of an injury that he was happy to have learned more about proper hip movement - so I may not be up for BJJ instructor of the year but at least one person learned something new!

And The Female BJJ Player I Would Most Like to Emulate is...

2009-11-29T21:00:00.001-08:00

If you ask BJJ practitioners who the best female BJJ players are - most can only name Kyra Gracie or higher level belts in their gym or geographic area.

Ever since I watched her win the Pluma (tiniest) division AND the first Women's Brown/Black Belt Open weight division at the 2007 Mundial, I have been a HUGE Michelle Nicolini fan.

Watching her videos make me want to get out on the mat and train as hard as I can as often as I can. She is so inspiring!

She may lose in this video but DAMN is this one of the most techincal exciting matches between two black belt ladies that I've ever seen.

And here are a few of Michelle winning...

Disaster?

2009-11-28T14:47:00.000-08:00

Okay maybe this is just me being pessimistic but I'm waiting for some sort of disaster to strike...

Today marks the end of my second consecutive week of training consistently since returning from being sick and having ringworm. This might seem odd if you haven't been following my blog that long but I haven't been able to train for more than two consecutive weeks without something happening and causing wanted or unwanted time off of BJJ since before the Mundials in June.

I was sick, having work problems, getting body slammed causing nerve damage in my arm, working on moving the gym, etc, etc, etc until of course the most recent being illness and skin fungus.

So I wonder what the next road block to keep me from training will be?

I did injure my knee in the sub only tournament in July and it's still bugging me. I think it's about time to get an appointment scheduled with my orthopedic. But I'm crossing my fingers that this won't be my next roadblock, because that would have the potential to be a long roadblock!

Friday's marathon roll was awesome. I can't believe how packed it was! I guess everyone felt the need to work off the Thanksgiving gluttony. Then Seph decided to throw us a curve ball and add an extra round. Usually, we do 10 rounds of 5 minutes each with 1 minute rest in between but this time we did 11. I guess our pudgy belly's looked like they needed a little extra, lol!

Today's open mat was nicely attended as well, I kept it to a couple light rolls though and am looking forward to my next wrestling lesson tomorrow morning, followed by a (hopefully) "packed" ladies class at noon and then open mat.

Here's hoping that disaster continues to stay away. Lol!

50/50 Sure Likes to Wrestle

2009-11-20T21:00:00.000-08:00

It's funny how at a BJJ school, our most populated class on a regular basis is the wrestling class. More of the colored belts show up consistently on Wednesdays than any other day.

Usually we go pretty slowly through a lot of movements. Penetration steps, penetration steps into shots, walking in a stance, sprawling, how to get up properly after you sprawl, etc, etc. And we did do that but this time we went through it with no stopping for instruction/correction. Anthony is trying to get us to the point where wrestling class is run more like a training session and less like a seminar/instructional.

After learning a couple techniques, we practiced some great positional drills. Then he had 4 people go in the middle of the room and the rest of us lined up to get our turn to wrestle with them. First person who wins stays in, but instead of using wrestling rules - this time we went until you could secure a position for 3 seconds, so lots of BJJ was getting thrown in. It was so much fun to put the two arts together that way and we worked our asses off. It felt GREAT! It made me happy to see how psyched Anthony was, he said it was finally looking like the majority of the people knew how to move properly. Definitely a testament to his teaching ability IMO.

Then Ryan and I had our once a week wrestling lesson on Thursday with James. It's funny because I sit and watch while Ryan works with him for an hour and then Ryan was working out with a couple of the guys while I had my lesson but James tends to teach to us both when we're in the room so it's almost like a 2 hour joint lesson - at least as far as explanation goes. And this time James stuck around for a bit and watched Ryan teach the basics class. He was so surprised at how similar BJJ was to wrestling. Of course he teaches Greco and Folkstyle and he did Judo and he was a big leg-rider in wrestling so he's somewhat unconventional.

Ryan is lucky because James was a very high-level college wrestler and he is close to Ryan's size. But with me sometimes, it's hard for him to tell if I'm doing something excactly right because I'm so much smaller. I'm hoping to try to get one of the girls I used to wrestle with when I did the group lessons with James earlier in the year to come by once in a while.

On the plus side, I'm excited because Ryan says it's okay for us to start doing lessons twice a week for a a little while instead of just once a week, so I think I will be able to retain a lot more.

p.s. Another new girl signed up for BJJ at the gym this week! Up to 11 ladies now! And Shanna just quit her job so she can come to the women's class on Sundays from now on and Kate is starting school so she will be leaving her job and will be able to train much more frequently. Woohoo! :)