Tag: ladies Jiu Jitsu

Goodbye, and Hello

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Three weeks from tomorrow I will be getting on a plane heading toward Lisbon, Portugal for the European Championships!

I’ve been working really hard through the holiday season on trying to make the cut to feather weight – no easy task since it requires me to get down to about 126 lbs and I naturally walk around closer to 142 lbs. However I have made the weight twice before and, while I hate the process, I actually feel very good competing in the weight class. I’m right on track and should be good to go before I step on the plane!

Brazil

I really wanted to go to Brazil in 2016 as well but I wasn’t sure I would be able to afford the plane ticket. However, I caught a fare sale put on by my airline of choice and got a plane ticket to Rio for the week of Brasilieros for half the lowest advertised price I had seen previously! It is only a week in Brazil, but I hope to meet up with friends, make new friends, and set the stage for a longer visit later on!

Pans

I will most definitely be competing at Pans this next year as well. I haven’t put together any travel plans yet (I’ve been distracted by plane tickets to Europe and Brazil), but I did get myself registered!

Worlds

I’m going to win Worlds this year. I have no doubts.

Asia

It will happen!

The Plan

I have been working an (almost) full time evening job at a local grocery store gas station in order to pay for all my events this next year. I was up front when they hired me that my priority is my training and competition, but I also told them I would bust my butt working for them while I was on the clock in order to be indispensable. I have proven myself and my manager is being extremely flexible in giving me off the nights that I requested in order to get the best training in that I can. He told me that if I need off for events to just let him know and he will handle it. Here is my plan for the first 6 months of the year!

January 18 – Fly to Europe (9 hour layover in Paris, must bike the Seine to the Eiffel Tower)
January 19 – Arrive in Lisbon and check into Hotel
January 20-24 – Compete on whichever day they decide to put my division
January 27 – Fly home and back to the grind
March 15 or 16 – Fly to LA
March 16-20 Compete at Pans on designated day
March 21 – Fly home and back to the grind
April 25 – Take leave from work and Fly to Rio
April 26ish – Take bus or shuttle flight to Sao Paulo
April 27-May 1 – Compete at Brasilieros on my designated day and return to Rio immediately after
May 3 – Fly home (arrive 4th)
May 5 – Pick up Dante and fly to Washington D.C. for Worlds training camp at TLI HQ.
May 31 – Fly from D.C. to L.A. for Worlds
June 1-5 Win on my designated day of competition, then eat acai.
June 6 – Disneyland
June 7 – Fly Home

I’ll return from leave to work after getting home from Worlds and prepare myself to leave for two weeks in Asia. Most likely I will be gone September 8-22 and will be competing in the Pan Asian Championship on the 10th or 11th. A week was not long enough last visit!

That is my grand scheme for next year. The details will likely not all work out according to plan, but I will make it work at the end of the day!

A Word on Being Thankful

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I am hoping this does not end up turning into a rant, although now that I think about it, this subject does deserve a bit of fire behind it.

Lately I have been witnessing a lot of things and people being taken for granted. This has made me have to check myself to make sure I haven’t caught the bug as well!

In my experience, I can see that instructors teach because they love to. At my school alone I see instructors take time to teach extra (unpaid) classes for students who have a drive and desire to excel. I know at any time I can pull aside an instructor with a question and when the conversation is over have an answer to work with.

If you have an instructor or coach who takes the time to share their years of knowledge and experience with you, thank them for it and then put what they shared with you to work! If you try and fail, ask more questions and they will happily help. Want more attention in class? Knowing someone is trying to learn a technique you showed them magnetically draws an instructor back to a student without fail. 

Moving On:

“Do the best you can with what you have” – Nicholle Stoller”

The grass always seems to look greener elsewhere. I personally envy my California friends for having such a good close network for competitions and training. I wish I was able to make it out for all these special Ladies BJJ training camps that I’m always being invited to. I envy the ladies who get to train alongside their boyfriend or husbands.

The fact is, I haven’t spoken with anyone who has everything set perfectly to their own liking. The people I envy in California have their own set of issues that get in the way of what they view as their perfect training scenario – some of them even have said they wish they had my setup.

That’s when I decided that all we are required to do is our best. If for no other reason but the fact someone else considers your situation to be ideal, be thankful!

If you are the smallest person at your gym and have no one your size to spar with…

If you are the largest person at your gym and always have your technique written off as just being “bigger than everyone”…

If you are at a small gym with limited variety in schedule and training partners…

If you haven’t won a match in months…

If you have a handicap that puts you on the bench more often than you think is reasonable…

If you have other responsibilities and aren’t able to make it to more than one or two classes a week…

If you don’t have the finances to travel and compete as frequently as you want…

Just do your best! No one can look down on you if you maintain a thankful attitude and keep moving forward. If you have any more scenarios, please share them in the comments section below! 

Side note: I accomplished my 1,000 burpees in a week challenge and have a 46 minute complication video to prove it. I need to find a way to speed it up to about 10 minutes then I can share. My next challenge for this current week is to relearn a flying sidekick.

Success!

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If you read my last update, you will know that I had determined I was going to be competing in the feather weight division for the first time ever. I’ve attempted the cut several times before, but always quit halfway through. I was determined, and when I hit that wall again this time, I told myself “No quitting. Make it happen.”

I was about a pound over when I arrived at the hotel on Tuesday. I wasn’t horribly worried about it because I didn’t compete until Friday. Dad flew in from New Hampshire to cheer me on, and surprised me with a visit to Disneyland on Wednesday! It is hard to be on a weight cut at Disneyland, but it is also hard to really be sad about it because, hey, it’s DISNEYLAND! I bought some sweets to enjoy later!

Processed with VSCOcam with a4 presetI got to meet Captain America and he gave me some very good pre-competition advice. He told me to not be distracted by other people, focus on the task at hand, and also to remember why I started this in the first place – which is because it’s fun and I love it. Oss Captain!

I stopped in at the venue on Thursday to check my weight on their scale and found myself still a pound over. So for the rest of the day I simply nibbled granola and sipped small amounts of mineral water. By morning, I was a half pound under by my scale – not even wearing my lightest gi, and as you can see by the photo, I was VERY happy about it. This is probably the lightest I have been since before puberty!

Making this weight was one of the toughest things I have ever done. I really don’t know how to express in words how it felt! My official weigh in was 128.2 lbs; 13 lbs less than what I have previously weighed in as, and about 18 lbs lower than my average walk around weight.

After I weighed in, my coach admitted to me that he didn’t think I would mentally be able to do the cut. Hearing that made me smile!

Mike Calimbas is a master of capturing the moment! So many emotions on my face all at once here!

What About The Competition?

Right I suppose I should talk about the actual grappling portion of the competition! I had the luck of drawing my friend Taylor Biagi for my first match. We had both pegged one another as the person to beat in the division and it sucked that we had to meet up in an eliminatory match.

I lost the match, but it was awesome! I have no problem whatsoever admitting when I loose to a superior opponent, and Taylor is a most worthy adversary indeed! 

So Now What?

Since I felt so good making the weight, I have decided to focus on keeping my walking weight down between 130 and 132. Worlds is just 9 weeks away and I feel like I am reborn and rejuvenated! I’m gonna shoot for a little lower of a weight so that I can finally wear my awesome Raijin Fight Wear Gi in a competition!

And now, here are some fun photos from the trip!

With the Captain
With the awesome Taylor Biagi after competing!
Nick Albin aka “Chewey” – cant wait for him to visit my school again so we can roll!
Ketra, Nikki, Myself, and Tara. I always miss out on the group photos, so I insisted on this one!
Ran into Erin! She said it was a nice to make Gianni take a photo of her with someone for a change!
Ran into fellow Tennessean, Eric, also the creator of “JitsGrips”
I had a bit of a cheese and carb overload after competing… I’m still processing this meal I think!

I Can, and I Will

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I’ve made several attempts at dropping to feather weight (129 lbs in the Gi), and each time I have hit a wall at 133 lbs, gotten fed up, and given up. I have given myself many excuses for quitting, all of which are logical. 

So yet again, I find myself making the attempt to cut. My goal is to make it to at least 126 to give myself a little wiggle room.

I hit my wall again at 133. This time, however, I have some accountability (hi Taylor!) and after pondering quitting, I decided that I WILL make weight. If for no other reason but to shut up my excuses.

As of this writing, I have made it to 130 and I see light at the end of the tunnel! What is doing the trick for me is an hour of fasted cardio first thing in the morning. I do this by setting a fast walk on a max incline treadmill. It was pretty hard to focus until I found the correct soundtrack that would enable me to just zone out/in and it becomes fairly meditative as I spend an hour just focusing on goals and visualizing outcomes.



It’s odd to wake up and see abs for the first time in my life!

I have started to stall a little bit again with the drop in the past few days, so I am going to change it up again. My shoulder has started feeling a bit loose, I’m adding in my rehab Kettlebell circuit in the afternoons. It has the combined benefit of stabilizing my hypermobile joints, and also acts as a mid-intensity circuit. Here is a quick video I filmed explaining this routine!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlLlssuTqW4 

A Massage Therapist’s Guide to Grip Strength

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I’ve read quite a few articles lately about how to strengthen your grip for Gi Jiu Jitsu. We all know about Gi pull ups and the various tools and gadgets that are designed to increase the strength of your hands and arms. Most of these articles have been well written and full of some good info which I will definitely apply to my routine! This is meant as a supplement to the articles already written.
Side note: training partner profiles will continue. There was a death in the family and I have been sidetracked.

IMG_0101.JPGphoto by Janet Wohler – used with permission

One of the fun things about being a massage therapist, is the opportunity for continuing education. I often times will take a course on something completely off the wall, but usually stick with subjects related to sports massage. In a recent class I learned some rather interesting things about how trigger points in the muscle tissue influence the movement of the body to a much greater degree than I was aware. This knowledge actually saved my own iron grip!

From the first time I stepped on the mat, the guys always commented about how strong my grips were. I chalked it up to doing hours of deep tissue massage every day as well as a bulldog mentality that got me into a lot of trouble sometimes…

Shortly after receiving my blue belt, I felt like my grip was starting to weaken. It weakened to the point that I started using different techniques that were less grip dependent. It continued until toward the end of 2013 the doctor informed me that I had torn a pronator and supinator in my right arm (think inside lapel cross choke muscles). It was an overuse injury that thankfully healed quickly on its own. However, even with the rest I couldn’t seem to recover my grip strength.

Six months later, I had THE MOMENT. Sitting in that class about trigger point therapy, I realized what was wrong and how to fix it. I learned in this class that pain is NOT the first sign of a problem – weakness is. Before you feel any pain or restriction, you first loose 50% or more of the strength and use of that muscle.

Armed with that little nugget, I decided to put it to the test and called up my old Neuromuscular Trigger Point Therapy instructor for a therapy session devoted to my forearms. The 3 days before, I tested my consecutive gi pull up count and got to the grand total count of 6 before my hands gave out.

After a two hour session of release work (and many tears shed!) my arms felt brand new! I rested for three days in order to let my body adjust to the new feeling in my fingers before I attempted the gi pull up max out again. I made it to 11 and it was my shoulders, not my arms that gave out.

I highly recommend having access to a good Neuromuscular Therapist (NMT)! Quite often those aches and pains you feel coming off the mats can be resolved (or healing time shortened) by quickly releasing associated trigger points. If you want to find a good NMT, try a Google search for “neuromuscular therapy in (your city)” and call or email the therapist about what work you are needing.

On that note: I think I’m almost due for a session myself…

Training Partner Profiles – Categories

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I’m starting a series of Training Partner Profiles where I’ll go over the types of training partners I run into at the gym, and how I work with them to achieve benefit for both of us! I’m going to start off explaining how I categorize everyone I roll with. These categories are fluid and I mentally move people around in them as I observe changes in behavior and training habits.

And yes, I know I am not the perfect training partner. If you ask 100 people who I have rolled with where they would classify me, I’m sure the results would put me into every category. It seems cold and calculating I suppose to assign people a category, but that’s how my brain works.

Category Definition:Moral-Question

Golden List: Ideal training partners!
I perk up when I see these special people in class. It could be the prospect of a good toe to toe battle, learning a new trick, or the smack talk during a roll; but they are the people I gravitate toward when partners are chosen.

White List: Good training partners for a good roll!
The majority of people are in this category. These are the people with whom I don’t feel any hesitation to bump fists with. The vast majority of my team mates are a part of this list.

Gray List: Okay to drill and roll with defensively.
The big thing that is involved here is usually the almighty Ego. They will roll nice until I start trying to attack and then they go into “hulk smash” mode (not in a good way!) – usually resulting in sprained fingers, bruised ribs, etc. This could also be a newer person who doesn’t know the proper way to move resulting in me having to pay close attention to keep both of us safe.
I can still have a good roll with them if I focus on defensive tactics only. I’m not at a size or skill level where I can help beat the ego out of them, so I will use this opportunity to practice my survival skills.

Black List: Do not roll with under any circumstances. Use caution with drilling.
This is usually a very short list and usually just a transitory placement. These are the people whom I feel will injure me beyond having a sore spot or a bruise the next morning. My first year of training I suffered many injuries that were due to rolling with people I should not have. It is very rare this is due to any maliciousness or ill intent! Most often I think it is due to a lack of experience and poor body control.

Over the next few posts, I will go over:

The Big New White Belt

Your Twin

The Spaz

The Upper Belt

The Lower Belt

The Judoka or Wrestler

The One Trick Kid

I will likely add more, this is just what I have in my head at this very moment!

The Patch Dilemma

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I really don’t like patches on my gi. Maybe it’s because I like to fly under the radar and be invisible, but I just don’t like them. Growing up, I preferred to wear black, long sleeved Tshirts with no markings on them – and I still prefer darker less noticeable clothing.

However, there are a lot of people who have invested in me and in my training. I want people to know who has helped me with my achievements I have reached so far! So here are the patches I currently have on my competition Gis, along with why.

Team Patches

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Firstly, I always wear my coach’s patch on my back. My coach, Shawn Hammonds, has taught me since the first day I stepped on the mat and I fully intend to some day receive my black belt from him.
I have only have one TAC Team affiliation patch that I swiped from the office and I currently have it on the front of a white competition gi. I’ve moved it between a couple different gis and really need to get some more if I ever make it to Philly again!

 

Sponsor Patches

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I have been proud to represent and support Raijin Fight Wear since I was just a two stripe white belt! I was brand new then, and so were they. They seemed different than all the other start up companies in their designs, quality, and vision for the future and I wanted to be a part of their growth! Some days when I need a little extra push, knowing they are backing me up has been just what I needed! I always will be wearing their patch, rashguard, and/or super secret still-in-development Gi. “Respect All. Fear None.”

 

“Just Because” Patches

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All of the photographers I have had opportunity to meet during events are just amazing! I always try to support by buying photos whenever I can. I won a photo package offered by Mike Calimbas and I just decided I would keep his patches on my comp Gis because of his awesomeness!

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Girl-Jitsu has been an amazing supporter for ladies Jiu Jitsu and I really want to see them grow over the next few years!

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Scar Tissue MMA makes an appearance as well. They are a local company that has been growing and has been very supportive of my school as a whole, even helping out with fundraisers and designing a team gi for us.

In Summary…

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I’ve been neglecting my writing as of late because I’ve been focusing all of my energy on getting ready for Pan Ams. It’s officially one week away so I’m going to summarize what has gone on the last few weeks.

San Francisco Open

My flight left at 5 pm and was supposed to get in at 11:00 Saturday night, but my connecting flight got delayed at the gate for about 2 hours due to weather conditions. I finally got in just after 1 am and got picked up from the airport by a friend. Got to sleep from 2:00 am until 6:30 am because I had to be at the venue at 8:00 since I was working the event.

Honestly, I felt like poop about an hour in. I had been sick and not able to keep any food in my system for about 3 days – if it were a local tournament that I hadn’t already bought a plane ticket for, I probably would have pulled out of it. But hey, once I’ve put money on something – I’m gonna do it.

I had a division of six, needing three wins for gold.

My first match was a great fight! She pulled guard first so I got to work my passing game – which judging by the video needs some work. I made it past and got points, but it wasn’t pretty looking at all… Kind of like a fish flopping around out of the water really. I ended up winning by points, not able to finish the triangle I had her in before time was called.

My second opponent didn’t make weight so that put me into the finals.

That first match took my last bit of energy. I stepped off the mat and noticed my hands and feet were blotched purple. That’s the first time I’ve ever prayed for more recovery time than required. I got my wish since I had to wait for the other side of the bracket to finish up then give my opponent her appropriate wait time as well.

Finals match: I started off well. Up on points, but then made a mistake, and got triangled. So ended up with a silver in my division. I was actually fairly happy with that. I wanted to quit, but I didn’t. If I can do that well when feeling that bad, imagine how I’ll do at Pans when I’m healthy!

The Open:

I started feeling progressively worse during the course of the day, I think my b12 shot was wearing off, so I was very close to dropping out of the open. About 30 mins before, I thought to myself:

“I came all this way, and have put in my time for this. I can choose to push when I wanna quit, or I can trust in the training I have had up until this point to carry me.”

So yea, I did the open.

I can’t remember exactly how many of us there were, but I think we had 6-8. I won my first match against a very tall girl by straight ankle lock. I was pretty happy that I remembered a sweep my coach had shown me on Friday. I wasn’t able to finish it, but it gave me the ankle lock set up.

I kinda fell over after that match, but it was able to recover in time for my semi match. Great match and loved the battle! I lost in the end, but was still happy since I lost to a friend who went on to win gold. Bittersweet ya know.

Nashville NAGA (Jan 22)

I decided at the very last minute to compete at the Nashville NAGA. Coach told me to enter the expert division. I did the no gi division first and here is the video

There were only two of us in No Gi unfortunately. But I got my first belt!

I did have a different opponent for Gi, but she pulled out after my No Gi match. They moved me back down to the intermediate level with the rest of the blue belts for the Gi divisions. I got more tired than I’d like to admit, but I managed to pull off another gold.

We had 6 ladies competing from our school that day and brought home 5 golds, one silver, and one bronze. Shannon won double gold in the white belt fly weight Gi and No Gi divisions with 5 matches total. It was a good day!

Outro:

That’s the highlights for the last few weeks. I’ll probably crawl out of my meditative hole before Pans to post on my competition preparation – but might not. I really have to keep my mind clutter free right now.

How Good Could I Be?

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Note: I find the best way to work through something is to write it out. By the time I’m done writing, I’m feeling back to normal again. So here is one of those type of writings…

I get very frustrated trying to train for competitions, being the highest ranked girl at my gym (and a smaller girl at that). If someone is left sitting out on the side of the mats, it’s usually me or one of the other girls.

I don’t mind this when I’m not trying to prepare for an event, but when I’ve got a goal in mind, and I have to sit out because no one will make eye contact with me when it’s time to change partners… it’s really disheartening.

How Good Could I Be…

How good I could be if I was able to roll every round like the guys do?

How good could I be if I didn’t feel like every time I did get to roll, that someone was doing me a favor?

How good could I be if everyone would roll with me instead of just sitting on top of me until time is called?

How good could I be if I had a good training partner I could go toe to toe with and sharpen my skills against?

How good could I be if I got to go beyond just working defense on someone?

How good could I be if I actually got to finish subs instead of having them wrenched out of my properly placed hands?

How good could I be if I didn’t have to worry about my opponent getting more quality mat time in than I do?

How good could I be?

Seriously, I’d be awesome!

We all have the things we have to deal with when getting ready for my competitions. The point is, we all have to take what we have and make the most of it.

My frustrations become magnified when I’m training intensely. My brain works in efficiency mode pretty much non-stop, so when I get stalled, it really messes up my gears.

I’m trying to learn to shift gears.

If I have to sit a round, I take note and watch two of our upper level belts roll with one another. I study little things like the placement of their feet, how the hold their weight, a minor shift of a hand grip… and of course, the random cartwheel guard passes!

I am the one in charge of my response to my challenges. I’ll admit, some days I sulk in my office after practice. My coach has patiently listened to me rant at least once before each competition (it has become a tradition about 10 days before every tournament).

In the end, I pick myself up and get back at it. What other option is there? Quit? Ha! In the end, I push through the frustration and come out stronger and better on the other side. It’s just a part of the growing pains.

I will not let frustrations become excuses. Instead, I’m gonna use them as fuel.

So…

So I don’t have everything perfect?

So I have to count pennies to make tournament fees?

So I have to work a few extra hours?

So I have to push myself through circuits until I throw up?

So I have to wake up an hour earlier to get my conditioning in before anyone else shows up?

So I have to say no to distractions?

So I have to focus to the point where some people think I’ve lost it?

Yea… that’s the way it’s gonna be. In the end, I want to know that I’ve done the best that I can with what I have in my hands. It’s very rare few who have an “ideal” situation. If that is you, you had better be busting your butt, or I’m gonna bust it for you when I meet you on the mats.

And that, my friend, is a promise.

Circuit Training Motivation

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Well I had a great time this morning with my good friend known only as “The Circuit”. I look pretty beat in this picture, but this was actually my less exhausted take. I looked so dramatic in the other ones that they appeared fake!

I did 5 rounds of a 6 minute circuit with a 2 minute rest in between each. This circuit included burpees, prison walks, tire pushups, overhead weighted squats, etc. By the end, I managed to punch out just over 100 burpees!

Halfway through the 4th round, my quads started trying to give out on me. I’m definitely going to feel it in the morning. Shoot, I feel it now!

I’m really focusing on my conditioning for the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Pan Ams. Last year I got gassed in the finals, and lost by an advantage. I don’t want that to happen again! I want to go, knowing that I am in the best shape of my life and can trust in the techniques that I drill for hours a day. If that’s not good enough, at least I know I gave it the best that I have to give now. I have no qualms loosing to a superior opponent, but I refuse to lose because I didn’t prepare like I should have.

I found this amazing motivational cd on itunes by “Muscle Prodigy TV” entitled “It’s All On You” – I think it is going to be my new favorite thing to listen to in the mornings. Shoot, I even had it set as my alarm on my ipad! I highly recommend it – you can purchase it on iTunes for just under $10. Best money I’ve ever spent on a digital item before. I listened to it through my circuit, and it kept me pumped up and focused!

It’s a collection of inspirational speeches, with dramatic background music. That’s the kind of thing that gets me going – I’m curious what sort of music/soundtracks get you going! Please comment below!