Big week! First off, I sat down with coach and we talked out a contract for partnering up in the new gym. I’ll have an office space to work out of, and they get a percentage. Pretty sweet deal for all parties!

I also asked coach about how to do a weight cut properly (vs. Killing myself like some of the guys do). He wrote me down his eating plan involving eating every 3 hrs:

6am – Protein shake with 1/2 c blueberries, 1/2 cup oats

9am – Protein shake, apple

12pm – 6-8 oz fish/chicken, 1 c greens (spinach/green beans/broccoli)

3pm – Protein shake, 1 c greens

6pm – 6-8 oz fish/chicken/steak, 6 oz sweet potato, 1 c greens

9pm – Protein shake or 2 c greens

I’m enjoying this plan so far! I have energy and am feeling pretty good! I have a couple different flavors of protein so I’m able to mix it up a bit. Need to get some hemp powder too during my next trip to the store.

Coach said it’ll probably be a couple weeks before I start dropping weight on this diet, but it’s what he uses to cut for his tournaments – so it works.

I had a great time tuesday morning! At the 10am class we had 3 black belts, 2 brown, 2 purple, and myself. Fun times! We drilled a spider guard sweep then rolled for a bit. I rolled with all the black belts and one of the purple belts. Of course I got trounced, but I learned lots! Especially from the black belts.

One of the black belts instructed me to avoid full mount on someone much larger than me. I’ll be able to maintain side control, or fat boy position much more easily.

Rolled around a bit with my newly returned purple belted spider guard friend before the 5pm sparring class. We didn’t really have an organized class since coach was busy with running a new initiate through his paces. I rolled several rounds with the purple spider then was assigned the timekeeper position where I remained until one of the guys passed out – then I got to jump back in.

We have been really working on the snap single takedown this week – drilling it every class. This is good! It’s actually starting to feel smooth to me. I think I’ll start trying to use it before a guard pull.

Learned the coolest armbar ever at the 7:15 class! I really would love to pull that one off in a tournament. Your opponent is turtled and you bait them by planting your foot next to their head. If they grab it, you hook, extend, and rotate.

Wed:
I started my nutrition plan today. Went ok but timing got a bit off in the evening thanks to work. I managed to keep my feeding times within an hour though so all is well.

I was REALLY hungry after training so I ate a can of tuna with some spinach. Glad meals fall after training!

Thurs:
Very good day! The guys were getting ready for a no gi sub only tournament so I stayed out of the rolling at 10 – that way they could have at it. Got some awesome video though!

At 11:30, I was the odd duck out in a class full of large white/blue belts. I did get to drill a bit, but wasn’t gonna roll. However, coach nabbed me for a few rounds, yay!

Instead of waiting for him to get a grip on my lapel and sweep me (like usual), I immediately jumped through his guard into side control. He declared me to be a “cheater.” Fun times!

I went to the health food store after class and got a bunch of protein powder samples. So far I’ve tried 3 today. Two were okay, one was pretty gross. The problem with a lot of the non gluten/soy/dairy options is that they are: A. Expensive B. Not very high in protein. I think I found a few that might work though.

At 5 we had a pretty intense sparring class. My BBB was there and we rolled a bit before class started as well. Anyhow, once class actually started, I stayed paired with him for the first rolling session. We had a really good match! I did make a pathetic attempt at a snap single takedown before getting dumped on my head. Good times!

(Insert Champion Pushups)

Next I went with pink gi girl – who incidentally wasn’t wearing her pink gi today. She’s got a bit of weight on me, but I kept the upper hand through most of our round – even managed to get that rear collar choke we’ve been working on in class this week!

(Champion Pushups)
(More pushups for “being lazy and slow”)

Next up I rolled with purple spiderman. He got me with a few kimuras – need to work on that! He was really cranking up the intensity which was good! I need that to get ready for Atlanta.

I managed to snag Mr lightning blue belt for my next round. He’s great to roll with because he’s quick, and makes me work really hard, but doesn’t ever hurt me. He always keeps my heart rate up!

(Champion Pushups)

Next I went with one of our white belt guys who I have dubbed “breaker of my ribs” – since he was my partner when my rib cracked a few months back. He’s all right though – I was pretty tired from rolling with spiderman and blue lightning, but managed to play some solid defense. Yes, that’s my way of saying I was smashed most of the time. Notable achievements: foiled a butterfly sweep, and passed guard a couple times.

Final round I went with purple neutron star. We danced around a bit, I pulled guard, he passed, then proceeded to armbar me in a cool inverted way. He keeps telling me to “hip escape” – but it never seems to work on him. Maybe I should just practice doing hip escapes while dragging the grappling dummy across the mat? But then that means I’d have to touch it… Ew. Anyhow, I need to keep rolling with people like him who know my weaknesses and won’t let me work around them.

After class I was staggering around like a drunken sailor – just short of throwing up. Signs of a good class right there! Purple spiderman checked with me after to make sure he didn’t go to hard on me. I told him it was just right – pushed me to nausea but didn’t cause injury. He’s gonna work on some knee on belly stuff with me. He also pointed out that when he had my back, I was more interested in his feet than his arms. Bad Nicholle! Did get some kudos though, he said I was avoiding his sweeps that he had to snap them as aggressively as he did in order for them to work. Yay!

Anyhow, I went home after I had a chance to cool down. So tired! Sleep time!