Jon Umber

No problem! Don't worry too much about it -- you can't go wrong with any of them. Keep us posted!

But if you start thai boxing with him, his 14 friends will mysteriously just stand idle and watch? If you're fighting 15 people, you're fucked no matter what you do... Unless you're a really fast runner. Grappling is essential in all three of the arts you listed. There is a huge amount of clinch work in muay thai. In order to make your choice, I'd suggest you simply go with the art which appeals to you most. All three are fantastic choices.

Yes, he caught Royler in a triangle in the midst of Royler dominating him on the mat at the '03 ADCC. Then he went on to get smashed by Leozinho in the next round. I'm aware of Eddie's competition record. He's a good grappler with a solid competition record complete with one of the biggest upset wins in the history of sport jiu jitsu on his resume. But his system is not the be-all end-all of submission grappling. Nor is it "new" for that matter. This has been discussed ad nauseum throughout the BJJ world since 2003. It doesn't need to be rehashed here.

There's a new one? Developing different styles are fine but until Eddie starts training black belts who do something worthwhile in the competition scene (whether MMA or sport jiu jitsu) then people will continue to scoff at his methods.

The basic rule of thumb is, "eat plants and animals".

It really differs with each person in my experience. I eat eggs, meat, spinach (or another leafy green vegetable) every morning. Some people will go the protein shake route. I eat one serving of fruit per day and several more of vegetables. I eat some dairy but no legumes. The best way I have found to go about it is to start off with the goal of staying as paleo as possible for 30 days, then gradually adding things back in to see how they affect your diet. I used to eat a lot of legumes before I started cleaning up my diet. I introduced some beans (in chili) after a couple of months paleo and they WRECKED me. I'm talking bloated as hell, gassy, etc. So I now avoid them. I introduced a little bit of dairy (cheese in eggs, milk after the gym), no real adverse affects. It's hard to stay 100% paleo all the time, I try and tailor my diet to be a more "eating clean" type of thing, and I go by how I feel after eating certain foods more than 100%, by-the-book paleo. Once you've been eating clean for a while I've found that my body will tell me what is good and bad, more or less. I still stay away from sugar and grain in all forms, though.

I'm single and had a week of vacation left for 2011 that I was going to lose at the end of the year. Didn't have anything planned so I thought; "Why not use it for Skyrim?" So I did. About 100 of those 120 hours took place over that week. I only stopped to make food, go to the gym, and bathe. It was great. I felt like I was in college again.

I'm at 120 hours, level 48 Nord. Sneak, archery, heavy armor, 2-handed skills are all over 90. Smithing is at 100. So far I have completed the companions, college of winterhold, thieves guild questlines so far. Just started dark brotherhood and I'm about halfway through the main story. I need help.

I'm a blue belt. Unfortunately have been training only sporadically the past 2 years or so thanks to several knee injuries.

Nice to see another BJJ guy on here, I thought I was the only one.

Nothing right now, but I took 5 days vacation next week in order to play Skyrim.

Loving the deadlift goal. That's a serious increase, and you're well on your way to achieving your goal. Keep at it! This is something I have a lot of trouble with. I tend to be too finicky with my body and take days off when I should probably be sucking it up and getting to work instead. I fear injury too much.

Same here- eggs and (insert breakfast meat here) with a bowl of baby spinach. Breakfast of champions. Sometimes I eat that for dinner, too.

It's pretty hard to gain bulk while in full paleo mode. You just aren't taking in enough calories. I'm full paleo throughout most of my time, except when I'm trying to make some gains in the gym / bulk up / having trouble recovering, as I stated. Steve hits the topic briefly in his Intro to Paleo write-up about adding dairy to a paleo diet if you're trying to bulk up a bit. For reference: http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/10/04/the-beginners-guide-to-the-paleo-diet/

I drink 2 cups of black coffee per day. Usually have 4-5 beers on Friday nights as a cheating session.

Add whole milk and cottage cheese to your regular diet. For snacks rely on bacon and nuts (almonds). I add this stuff to my diet when I'm really hitting the gym hard and noticing a lag in my recovery. My life became immeasurably better when I removed the breakfast shackles from bacon and just started cooking up a few strips as a snack whenever I'm hungry.

I have trained Brazilian jiu jitsu since 2006.

I stick with fresh meat but I eat a lot of packages of frozen vegetables. They're just so much cheaper and easier.

I played video games and love history.

They sound jealous. You're in the midst of transforming yourself into a better person, which is hard enough as it is. You don't need any negativity around you.

Awesome! Let us know how it goes. Rule #1: Leave your ego at the door. Expect to tap often.

It will change your life. Not hyperbole.

I've been following it long to remember people calling me a "TUF noob". So not truly old school, but for a while. I also train BJJ, which I highly recommend if you're a fan of MMA.

No problem! If you have any further questions feel free to post them here or shoot me a PM, I'll try and answer them any way I can.