Tankweazel - Gentle means tired

[Tankweazel]

So after almost two years of no serious competition (TBH the Scottish Judo Open was more an experiment in seeing if I could still cut weight like a pro) I'm returning to competition.  My first will most likely be a judo grading as the London IBJJF Open is a bit out of my league, bearing in mind I have to fight at blue belt.

"Gentle means tired" was a favourite phrase used during competition preparation at the judo club, and right now I'm gentle very often.

 

Sport Specific Activity:

I'm already at classes regularly but I shy away a bit during rolling, people are gentle and won't hurt me.  I can get in on this.

 

Goal: Rolling and Randori - aim for only sitting out one round max. ( STA - 2)

Conditioning:

I have a conditioning program in place that will help me with power output in competition.  I just have to actually do it three times a week.

I will also keep up the drills from my previous challenge and shift the focus on inversion and DLR/ Spider guard drills.

Goal: conditioning program 3xpw (STA - 3)
Goal: Morning drills 4xpw (DEX - 5)

Healthy Eating:

This is where IIFYM goes back to "if it fits your macros" and not "if it fits your mouth"

Goal: Keep avg calories below 1900 (as I'm still needing to lose extra bulk weight ;_; ) (CON - 2)

Respecting the Men Folk:

To put it bluntly, I'm good at respecting them in a sporting sense but not in a relationship sense.  Over the past six months I have upset many of the men folk by really just not caring.  

The worst part was calling out another black belt (who I really should have respected as being the same level) purely because of the dating scenario presented.  Worked out OK and mutual respect developed.  This incident made me realise I'd gone a bit weird.  I just haven't got round to do anything about it till not.

 

Goal: Keep trolling, teasing and "Fite me bro" to a level that doesn't cause angry texts and getting ignored. (CHA - 3)
 

[SpecialSundae]

Usual friendly stalking.

How much more have you got left to cut? Heading back to 55ish or just to hover closer to 57?

[Tankweazel]

Usual friendly stalking.

How much more have you got left to cut? Heading back to 55ish or just to hover closer to 57?

Aiming for closer to 57, that was the point of the bulk in the first place.

[Tankweazel]

I've found a competition.

It's on the way back from British Equipped Squads.  Could be exciting

Newcastle Open

[stillskies]

Someone else who does bjj! So excite! I must have missed you last challenge (I've been remiss in keeping up on the forums, whoops!) Obviously following along.

 

Good luck with getting back to competition! I'm a two-stripe white belt, so I'm nowhere near at a place where I would feel comfortable with competing, but it's something I've been tossing around in my head. At what level did you start competing? And did you have any reservations, or did you just jump into it?

 

I have a conditioning program in place that will help me with power output in competition.  I just have to actually do it three times a week.

 

Would you mind sharing this? I try to get on the mats three times a week, but one of those classes is significantly lower level (not sure why the women's class isn't as challenging as the mixed classes, ugh), and I want to start adding some accessory work. I'll take all the suggestions I can get.

 

This is where IIFYM goes back to "if it fits your macros" and not "if it fits your mouth"

 

I laughed. I have this problem. "I'm working on my fitness. Fitness whole pizza in my mouth."

[Tankweazel]

Good luck with getting back to competition! I'm a two-stripe white belt, so I'm nowhere near at a place where I would feel comfortable with competing, but it's something I've been tossing around in my head. At what level did you start competing? And did you have any reservations, or did you just jump into it?

I competed in BJJ when I started competing in judo but didn't actually train BJJ at the time.  It was after 6 months of judo though and I was an orange belt there.  I did alright, won my divisions and silver in the absolute.  I had no fear back then, I now have a healthy level of fear as I'm now required to fight at blue belt.

 

 

Would you mind sharing this? I try to get on the mats three times a week, but one of those classes is significantly lower level (not sure why the women's class isn't as challenging as the mixed classes, ugh), and I want to start adding some accessory work. I'll take all the suggestions I can get.

 

The women's class is still good for drilling with less resistance.  Don't knock it.

Cross post from another forum:

 

 

 

What I did exactly:

Ball Slams (1 min)/ sprawl (1 min)/ rest (1 min) * 5

20m sprint at 58kg / 30 sec rest * 5 

20m sled pulls at 53kg / 30 sec rest * 5

What I did without access to a gym:

push up/ body weight squat/ burpee/ squat thrust * 5/10/15/20/15/10/5 - no rest as rest is supposed to be the easier movements

then various pulley band nonsense to mimic throws and stuff * 5 x 10 each side

[stillskies]

The women's class is still good for drilling with less resistance.  Don't knock it.

 

Definitely not knocking the women's classes - those are two of my three classes a week - but it all depends on who else goes to those classes. One of the classes tends to get the less motivated people who show up as a perfunctory thing and aren't really interested in drilling, who kind of just wander off the mat to chat or take extended water breaks and leave their partner hanging. Not much drilling you can do without a partner. But that's a rant that has nothing to do with the class and everything to do with the people. =/

 

That conditioning looks brutal. And by brutal, I mean, welp, I know what I'm doing on one of my weights days.

[Kishi]

Nice! I like the look of that program. It's cool to see sport-specific work as opposed to the general preparedness stuff I do.

 

Anyway, good luck with everything!

[Teirin]

Bulking is way more fun than cutting :-/   Good luck with the competition prep!

[Tankweazel]

Definitely not knocking the women's classes - those are two of my three classes a week - but it all depends on who else goes to those classes. One of the classes tends to get the less motivated people who show up as a perfunctory thing and aren't really interested in drilling, who kind of just wander off the mat to chat or take extended water breaks and leave their partner hanging. Not much drilling you can do without a partner. But that's a rant that has nothing to do with the class and everything to do with the people. =/

 

That conditioning looks brutal. And by brutal, I mean, welp, I know what I'm doing on one of my weights days.

I try and get a partner that isn't the moany woman who likes to be slow and not get reps in.  It helps that some of the guys are getting to know me a bit better and are seeing me as a worthwhile training partner.

I avoid conditioning on weights days because my lifting on its own is pretty brutal.  The one thing I will say is that it's not as bad as it looks once you get into it and stick to it.  (Or it could be the crazyness talking as I've been known to get into reasonable condition quickly)

 

Nice! I like the look of that program. It's cool to see sport-specific work as opposed to the general preparedness stuff I do.

 

Anyway, good luck with everything!

When I do GPP work with the judo guys in warm up it's usually targeted at what they're going to be training that day.  So if they're doing seoi otoshi, lunge walks and side lunge walks are good muscle activation along with shuttle runs for the change in direction and the was it impacts the hips and hamstrings.

 

Bulking is way more fun than cutting :-/   Good luck with the competition prep!

Oh, I had *a lot* of fun.  Too much fun. Too much fun that involved partying, triple training sessions and all the meat.

As of Saturday, my resignation from serious Judo is official.  I'm now a BJJ person cross training judo.  My judo coach is cool with this and will be working on a more specific to my goals standing game, in exchange I'll be around for some nasty ground work knowledge exchange.  

[stillskies]

I try and get a partner that isn't the moany woman who likes to be slow and not get reps in.  It helps that some of the guys are getting to know me a bit better and are seeing me as a worthwhile training partner.

I avoid conditioning on weights days because my lifting on its own is pretty brutal.  The one thing I will say is that it's not as bad as it looks once you get into it and stick to it.  (Or it could be the crazyness talking as I've been known to get into reasonable condition quickly)

 

Yeah, there are a few that are good to partner up with, but they come to the Saturday class - not the Wednesday class. Wednesday seems to be a day where I have to figure out something to do during class in order to get a decent workout.

 

Fair enough. I'll see how it goes when I add it in and figure out where to better place it.

[Tankweazel]

Starting as I mean to go on... sorta.  Got to keep to morning drills over conditioning till I'm through the British classic, and I'm at the water loading stage which means removal of salt and crabs, I'm only allowing a backlash on Saturday evening then it's sweet potato and tuna from there on.

 

Training info from the battle log:

 

 

 

Monday:

It's meet week so it's deload, no lifting today.

BJJ:

Morning drills.  I can get the roll I need for berimbolo now but I'm struggling with it against resistance.  This is probably where holds need to start coming in.

In class we worked on guillotine for fundamentals and knee shield guard stuff for advanced with my favourite (kiss of the dragon <3) sweepy thing.  Judo players don't do de la riva 

I'm getting the position really well for the brabo choke and even getting consistent taps with it now.  I'm being complimented on progress and tactical thinking by the brown and blackbelts.

I didn't get to throw any one tonight, no one stood up.

 

I managed to bit my tongue vs a heavy white belt that had a go at me for being aggressive.  But when you're trying to get frames in vs twice your body weight you need a little aggression to get space.  He didn't appreciate the brabo choke.  I'm guessing that's a +1 on the respect scale.

I didn't get a chance to rest during rolling, so I managed a three hour session (two drills and one rolling) while water loading.  Yay.

I've been given to go ahead to compete as I see fit at blue belt, but been warned that because I have to wear a white belt people will know there's something up.

[stillskies]

That is a nice sweep. Too bad 90% of the people I roll with don't stand up. =/ But definitely something I may try to con someone into letting me drill on them this weekend at randori.

 

Gotta say, I wouldn't appreciate the brabo choke either.  

 

Is it uncommon in the UK to compete at a higher belt level? I know that here, we have some 3 and 4 stripe white belts who compete regularly in the blue belt category.

[Kishi]

Wow, if wearing a white would mess with them, wonder what would happen if you went in with no belt at all?

[Tankweazel]

That is a nice sweep. Too bad 90% of the people I roll with don't stand up. =/ But definitely something I may try to con someone into letting me drill on them this weekend at randori.

Gotta say, I wouldn't appreciate the brabo choke either. [emoji14]

Is it uncommon in the UK to compete at a higher belt level? I know that here, we have some 3 and 4 stripe white belts who compete regularly in the blue belt category.

Brabo chokes are lovely, you get plenty of warning. Oh, I'm fidgeting with your lapels? Might want to put a stop to that asap.

I've pulled it off in judo randori a couple of times, it always gets a giggle and its how we found the video. Some one said "tanky isn't using judo again" so we found a judo example and put an end to that argument.

Sent from my Lenovo A5500-F using Tapatalk

[Tankweazel]

Wow, if wearing a white would mess with them, wonder what would happen if you went in with no belt at all? [emoji14]

That's for no GI.

But in the UK you don't encounter many white belts fighting at blue. Usually if you see a white belt in the blue belts it means judo or wrestling.

So preparing for everyone pulling guard asap.

Sent from my Lenovo A5500-F using Tapatalk

[stillskies]

Brabo chokes are lovely, you get plenty of warning. Oh, I'm fidgeting with your lapels? Might want to put a stop to that asap.

I've pulled it off in judo randori a couple of times, it always gets a giggle and its how we found the video. Some one said "tanky isn't using judo again" so we found a judo example and put an end to that argument.

 

Yeah, that's true. The second anyone touches my lapel, I'm working to strip their grip or make it too hard for them to get a good grip in the first place.

 

Nice!

[Tankweazel]

Yeah, that's true. The second anyone touches my lapel, I'm working to strip their grip or make it too hard for them to get a good grip in the first place.

 

Nice!

I strip grips from sleeves, but that's because I work with a lot of taller guys.  So it's my standing pass vs their spider guard.  I want to be shot of sleeve grips asap.

 

Cross post from battle log as it has minor relevance to the respect point:

 

Quote

Tanky screws up a weight cut:

10 days out and my weight was still jumping between 58.4kg and 59.8kg. So it was water and salt loading time at this point.

Day 10 - 5: 5 - 8 litres (depending on training for the day), lime and pink salt water at breakfast, salted peanuts throughout the day

Day 5 - 2: Cut salt, cut carbs, keep pushing water to 8 litres (screwed up the last couple of days and had a minor m&ms and reeses binge)

Day 1: cut water to 1.5l, cut carbs, eat light fatty calorie dense food (in my case r-bars and unsalted cashews) and because I'd screwed up the carbs I retained water during my flight and had to go to the sauna for an hour.

Weighed in at 56.7kg after landing in Bournemouth the day before at 59.3kg. Friday was spent sweating out and being grumpy, coaches that have dealt with me cutting stupid amounts of weight have said I'm one of the nicer athletes to deal with in that scenario. I tend to just be a bit panicky rather than snappy, but I was full on terrapining to the "coach" I had with me.

I was still .4kg over in the morning when I woke up so it was bundle all my layers on and have the heat up full in the car. There was another competitor at 57kg in the same scenario and she failed weight. IMHO there was no excuse as her coach deals with MMA and Boxing athletes all the time so knows the drill for these kind of cuts.

I was early in the lot numbers which meant I got weighed in quickly, but that I'd have to watch against Ellie as the higher lot number meant she could play on deadlift if I left too close a margin for her to catch up. (Srsly "coach" you should have been handling this.)

Because of how I finished the cut I knew I was about to screw myself over during squat. I'd be bloated and sick and until this settled down I wouldn't be able to push at my best.

Rehydration and Refeed:

Lost water +5% (2.5 litres)

Electrolyte drink to sip along with breakfast, 100g oats, banana, 40g golden syrup, handful of dates and a bacon roll with some coffee.

Continue to sip water and electrolyte drinks through comp as needed, add caffeien energy drinks and simple sugars as needed.

Use transdermal technology performance spray before platform lifts and take inhaler at the start of deadlift warm up.

Competition:

The aim was to maximise subtotal as I know I'm a weaker deadlifter than Ellie, but I also know she doesn't have the same fight in her to pull a ridiculous jump out of the bag like I would.

Squat:

135kg, 142.5kg, 147.5kgF

Last warm up of 125kg felt heavy and my heart rate was iffy, so I kept the safe opener as I knew I was going to tank a bit during squat. I was being held on the start of all my squats for forever by the centre ref. I exhaled during the downward movement of 147.5kg which I really needed as a total builder.

Bench:

85.5kg, 90.5kgF, 90.5kg

I was feeling better by bench as the water had started cycling out again, getting rid of the bloated pukey feeling. I opened on a British record but messed up my second lift by touching the bar too low. I pulled it together on the 3rd to maintain a 20kg lead.

Deadlift:

140kg, 147.5kg, 152.5kg

I played deadlifts safe and just went for a personal best rather than records this time around. I wanted to be equalling or just chasing Ellie's attempts if possible. I've waited two years to get a 150+ deadlift on the platform. This was the second best part of my day.

Getting this message was the best part:

"vai VAI ANDA ANDA LÃ VAMOS"

Total: 385.5kg - equalling my 63kg total, which wasn't bad under the stupid circumstances I'd put myself into. 4 British records (squat, Bench, Bench All Contest and Total)

I'll post videos when I track some down.

I had a falling out with the coach after the comp that resulted in me going for a nice long walk along the beach and eating some ice cream.  I was about to deduct points for my reaction and lack of respect tot his person when some one told me to remember, it's mutual respect or nothing.  I also had a couple of coaches and judoka confirm that I'm delightful when cutting weight and actually annoyingly cheerful.  Said coach continued to try and goad me into reacting for the rest of the weekend but I remained the bigger person, mainly by eating too much chocolate.

Due to flight delays it was obvious I wasn't going to get home and get to bed early enough to get up in the morning for any conditioning or drills.  So I had a bit of a giggle with the two heavy lifters that ended up on the later flight with me.

Giggles included:

Turtle guard

Lying on the floor staring at the ceiling

Butterfly guard and scooting about after one lifter

Bunny hops

Taking the back, seatbelt control and climbing round a heavy lifter (the squatted me)

And some awful attempts at a gorilla run

Week 1 Summary:

 

Sport Specific Activity:

I actually pushed myself harder than required considering it was meet week.  Especially with jumping into the big boys practice instead of sticking to the women's corner.

Ippon!

Conditioning:

This was a self imposed half failure.  Hit morning drills every morning except Friday (cutting weight and travelling), Saturday (Competing), Sunday (hungover) but did get some drills in Sunday night/ Monday morning in the airport.

Waza-ari!

Healthy Eating:

I made weight with water and carb manipulation which I know comes with a nasty rebound. 

Shido!

Respecting the Men Folk:

I was going to downgrade myself on this one but I was reminded that respect is mutual.

Ippon!

[Kishi]

Yeah, that's gotta go both ways. It sounds like you knew more about what was going on than your coach did this time. That's actually not surprising to me at all, given the horror stories I've heard not just about bad coaches but about fitness professionals in general. Sounds like you needed to dump him. So be it, then.

 

Also, congratulations on the meet! That's super awesome! Going out and setting records? That is just rad, girl. Super happy for you.

[stillskies]

I agree - respect is mutual. Way to recognize this and not ding yourself (I totally would have dinged myself, but then, I've got a load of issues to deal with regarding my own self-worth).

 

Great week, though! And congrats on the meet! You totally rocked it!

[Tankweazel]

Yeah, that's gotta go both ways. It sounds like you knew more about what was going on than your coach did this time. That's actually not surprising to me at all, given the horror stories I've heard not just about bad coaches but about fitness professionals in general. Sounds like you needed to dump him. So be it, then.

 

Also, congratulations on the meet! That's super awesome! Going out and setting records? That is just rad, girl. Super happy for you.

He isn't a fitness professional but another powerlifter and strongman competitor.  But it became clear that he didn't have a clue how to cut weight right or how to refeed on the day.

I just needed simple stuff like "Could you get the porridge and spoons out the car please?"  and "I'm in group B so I start warming up at 10:30, could you come through to the warm up room after than please?"

Ended up having to run with my own opener changes and getting my next attempts in.

Long story short, I ended up crashing with SS and avoiding drama for the remainder of the weekend.

 

I agree - respect is mutual. Way to recognize this and not ding yourself (I totally would have dinged myself, but then, I've got a load of issues to deal with regarding my own self-worth).

 

Great week, though! And congrats on the meet! You totally rocked it!

Thanks, I'm getting good at this lifting thing

About a year ago I'd have been the same.  I've since found a ton of confidence (probably a bit too much) hence the need for learning to reign it in and be a little more respectful.

 

Some cross posting from the battle log for Monday night BJJ:

 

Monday:

Training schedule is changing so I can train BJJ on a Monday evening.  I'm gonna trial Tue, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun and lifting and Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat at BJJ/ Judo.

Fundamentals was half guard passing.  I worked with a less confident white belt who I walked through the technique.  I suspect people actively avoid her because her lack of confidence makes her slow and reluctant to put in any resistance.  Got her doing the tripod pass and knee slide pass by the end of 45 minutes.  My efforts in help and technical description were noted by the coach.

Also got compliment during drilling half guard passes for going off piste:

 

"Lou, get the under hook." 

"I can't" 

"Why?" 

"Can't get past his frame." 

"Oh, turns out you're doing the right thing, good work as always."

Advanced class was working on knee shield guard and sweeps again.  I like knee shield, I've always done it in judo but never understood why it was a strong position for me.  I actively push in with the shin, while pulling my arm close, this is the set up for a lot of sweeps apparently.

Rolling, I'd gotten too warm from the other classes and finally made the transition to full "jits grrl" mode and removed the rash guard and went for the sports bra and gi look.  Rather fetching when you've still got a strong man gut from the weekend.

 

"Strauss, get your top back on!"

 

I got a good purple belt controlled in position for the omoplata but I couldn't finish it because I kept getting knocked back every time I tried to get my knees on the floor.

 

I didn't sit out any round rolling and actually got an extra one in while people were stretching.  I get funny looks when I don't do things that were taught in the class where people set themselves up and expect me to go for it.  I am noticing I'm being watched when I'm explaining why I'm reacting the way I do with regards to balance, leverages and size difference.

I need to work on triangle defences though as it's the one thing I'm getting caught with right now (and berimbolo)

[stillskies]

Ugh, triangle defense. I hate triangle, and I'm so often caught in it. I set myself up for everything; I'm told part of my problem is being too in my head and set on an attack. Which is likely true, but I still can't see where I should go like a lot of other people.

 

I legit love when someone walks me through something. There are a handful of purple belts who will do that for me when I go to randori, and some of the blue belts will help me out during class. Helpful people are the best!

[Kishi]

Well, as long as you avoided drama, I suppose it's all ended as well as it could. Anyway. Onward!

[Tankweazel]

Ugh, triangle defense. I hate triangle, and I'm so often caught in it. I set myself up for everything; I'm told part of my problem is being too in my head and set on an attack. Which is likely true, but I still can't see where I should go like a lot of other people.

 

I legit love when someone walks me through something. There are a handful of purple belts who will do that for me when I go to randori, and some of the blue belts will help me out during class. Helpful people are the best!

 

I feel really bad giving walkthroughs as it's one of the things that made me leave my old gym.  I got told not to help the purple belts with their standing.

The guys here actually like the fact that I can articulate stuff to other white belts and help lessen their burden a bit during busy fundamentals classes.

 

Well, as long as you avoided drama, I suppose it's all ended as well as it could. Anyway. Onward!

There were attempts to incite drama but I kept my head up and didn't fall into the trap.  

Week 2 Summary:

 

 

Sport Specific Activity:

 

I'm so glad I went with the schedule change as it means I retain 3xpw grappling while I'm coaching/competing/coaching/competing/competing for the next Saturdays and won't have time for Saturday judo.  I'll need to find a chance to work standing... oh wait, I can do that in comp

Ippon!

Conditioning:

I spent all week sleeping in and not getting up early enough in the morning for conditioning.  As of this week, alarm is set for 6am so conditioning will get done.  On the bright side, I'm getting my prehab and rehab done.

Shido!

Healthy Eating:

The post cut rebound was worse than expected, a week of no macros tracking, doms and cake.  This eventually leaves me at 61kg, which is 4kg to drop in six weeks.  It does mean that I'm fighting up a class in all my upcoming comps. 

Shido!  (That's the second one, better watch it.)

Respecting the Men Folk:

I have been so well behaved, a whole week without one single "come at me bro" I've even been helpful to a couple of lifters looking to start competing.

Ippon!

[Kishi]

4 kg in six weeks? Given how you train and how in tune you seem to be with how food affects you, I don't imagine that's insurmountable by any stretch.

 

Such busy Saturdays for you! Lots of competition. Hope you stay safe and earn all the ippon!