Rolling With Father Time

We all age, and all of us who are passionate about the sport and art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu will eventually reach a point in time when we ask, “Is it worth it for me to continue training?”

Though it is referred to as the gentle art, BJJ can take a toll on the body because fundamentally, training involves contorting the body into extraordinary positions and then twisting and hyper-extending joints.

For many older BJJ players, gone are the days of rolling for two hours a day five days a week with no residual stiffness and soreness. When I say older I don’t necessarily mean age in years, but rather “physiologic age”. You physiologic age may be older or younger than your actual age and is influenced by genetics, nutrition, exercise, and the accumulated damage your body may have suffered from years of sports or work.

bjjweekly.com

Age 95 And Still Pumping Iron

Merrill Matzinger – age 95 – does cardio, lifts weights and starts his daily workouts with 1,500 crunches.

“All the doctors that have treated me can’t believe what they’re seeing,” Matzinger said. “That’s encouraging, to go to the doctor and have compliments rather than prescriptions.”

He is also legally blind — but he hasn’t let that slow him down. Matzinger says he only remembers missing one workout in the last 20 years. He’s approaching the centenarian mark and his workout puts youngsters to shame!

burnthefatblog.com

Biggest Loser Contestant Alleges Lies

Kai Hibbard lost 118 pounds on season 3 ‘The Biggest Loser,’ but she says that 70 of them came back and she left the show with an eating disorder.

“I found myself loathing what I looked like the more weight that I dropped because of the pressure on me,” Hibbard said. “I found myself doing things like considering coffee a meal. And because of the pressures on the show it was considered acceptable to behave that way.”

Huffington Post

If you are looking for real help dropping the pounds contact Leigh Peele.

Kettlebell basics

Interested in Kettlebell’s? They are an awesome tool to have in your arsenal. Not only do they add strength, they increase mobility, agility, co-ordination and cardio.

If you have the cash or the gym with a few different bells you are lucky, if you don’t there are other options that will suffice for the basics.

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Fistic Medicine: Becoming Superhuman

A fighter standing in the ring at full sympathetic arousal is an awesome physiologic specimen. Adrenaline pre-tensions the muscles, as taut muscle contracts with greater force than slack, causing the body to tremble in anticipation. The blood vessels feeding those muscles dilate, increasing the flow of oxygen and nutrients. Conversely, capillary beds in the skin shut down, making the skin cool and pale. This serves to shunt more blood to the muscles and lessens bleeding from anticipated wounds. The gut, a large drain of resources during the baseline “feed and breed” state, is shut down. A fighter has “butterflies,” nausea and over a long duration, necrotic bowel mucosa.

Sherdog.com

Couple of simple programs

I spend 5-6 nights a week training Muay Thai & Brazilian Jiu-JItsu. These are not light sessions, 2 – 3 1/2 hours with plenty of nasty cardio as a warm up. During the week if I’m not doing this I rest – I’m old it happens. I don’t have the time I would like to devote to longer more comprehensive programs so I condense things as best I can for a more functional circuit.
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The Guardfather T-shirt

This is awesome! Get one here.

Hitting the big 4-0 – and not slowing down

Muay Thai with Master Ajahn Suchart.

I just turned 40, and unlike most people my age I am not slowing down, I am not taking it easy and I am not sitting on the couch watching TV.

I have been a little lazy in tracking my training recently but I have not slowed down any. Just prior to turning 40 I was competing at NAGA in Newark, this weekend I’ll be competing in the BJJ Ontario provincials.

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Training log – week ending Oct 25th

Monday:

Muay Thai:

• 3 rounds skipping
• Circuit
  • Low left kick
  • Mid right kick
  • Mid right kick
  • Skip knees – two rounds

BJJ:

• Warm up
• Side control series

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Training log – week ending Oct 18th

Monday:

• Strength work

Tuesday:

Muay Thai:

• Warmup – 15 min of jump squats (30′) sprint back (30′)
• Low leg kick – right
• Low leg kick – left
• Mid kick – left
• Mid kick – right
• Clinch knees

BJJ:

• Warm up
• Submission series
• Rolling

Advanced BJJ:

• Warm up
• Mount escapes
• Guard escapes
• Back escapes
• Overhook butterfly guard escape
• Rolling

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