My Next Big Goal

 
I dont want to take a ton of time away from my Sunday evening, but I have some BIG news.  After taking an extended break following my completion of Pavel's Beast Tamer Challenge, I have decided to set my next goal.

My next goal is as follows:  Compete in the IBJJF No-Gi World Championships in Long Beach, California.

  This tourney is the Mac Daddy of all BJJ/Grappling competitions.  There is no bigger or more prestigious event in the world.

A couple challenges associated with this decision:

1)  I havent competed in over a year.

2)  I only have 7 weeks until the competition.

3)  I dont know how I am getting to California.

4)  I have never competed at Brown Belt Level.

  So, why am I throwing myself to the wolves?  In short, because I THRIVE under pressure.  I have won or placed top 3 in all the advanced divisions of the NAGAs and Grappler's Quest on the east coast.  I have competed all my life.  The only way I am going to motivate myself to live up to my potential is to step into the most challenging conditions I can find. 

At this point, I need to be the underdog, the competitor that has nothing to lose.  I dont want to show up to a tourney where I am EXPECTED to win.

Here's what I have on my side:

-I have some of the best grappling coaches in the country at MMA Institute (Rick McCoy, Jake Young, Mark Strickland)

-I have competed at high level competition before and beaten competitors that were better than me on paper

-I am strong, injury free, and have been training semi-consistently.

-My body responds very rapidly to training stress

  So, I will be posting about my training with the hopes of holding myself accountable and helping fellow competitors understand how I prepare for high level competition.  Lets get this thing going...looking forward to training tomorrow, bright and early!  Let the training begin!

The Beast Tamer Challenge: I Owned It!

  Recently, I added myself to a very prestigous list of names (less than 20 in the world!) by completing the RKC Beast Tamer Challenge.  For those of you that are reading my blog for the first time, please reference this post to understand what the Beast Tamer Challenge is.  I decided I was going to accomplish this goal over five years ago, back when I first started training with kettlebells. 

  You can see the video by going here: 

  Accomplishing this challenge in front of so many enthusiastic peers was such a great experience.  I can only express gratitude and thanks to the entire RKC community for bringing so many  like-minded, awesome people together for these certifications.  It has also been such a privledge to learn from the best minds in the strength industry and utilize that knowledge to accomplish such an awesome feat of full body strength.  In this way, Hard-Style training has literally transformed my life.
 

Beast Tamer Prep - 2 months to go!

So, its official!  I have been asked to be an assistant instructor at the upcoming RKC certification in Vienna, VA on the weekend of May 16th.  This puts me about 9 weeks away from my opportunity to complete the Beast Tamer Challenge.

Here is where I am at to date:

Military Press:  This has always been my weakest lift of the three.  Last time I attempted this challenge I failed the press.  Right now I can confidently press 97 lbs. KB but its not exactly gliding up through my sticking point as easily as I would like.  I am WAY stronger than I was 2 months out from my last attempt at this challenge so I am feeling pretty confident.  Even still, this is the lift I need to focus on the most.

Pistol:  Havent worked any heavy pistols in a while.  I am still grooving the body weight pistol and gaining back the range of motion I need to safely perform this lift.  Currently barbell front squatting in the 225-315 lbs. range for reps (wide stance) and 150-225 lb.s range (narrrow stance) to get my legs plenty strong.  I completed this lift with ease last time, so I am trying to work well beyond 106 lbs (maybe 212 lbs??)

Pullup: I maxed out with body weight + 135 lbs. about a month ago.  I have been focusing more on 1-arm pullups recently to change things up, but I will definitely not have a problem with the 106lbs. pullup.  Would love to work toward a double beast (212 lbs.) pullup as well.  I would like to get some fat gripz because I believe my grip is one of my limiting factors right now. 

So that is where I am at.  I am currently on a "special" training program to focus on improving all these lifts.  I will post about this program within the next few days.  Stay tuned!

Results from Cleaner Carbs

Last week I reduced my carbohydrate intake slightly and vowed to eat "cleaner" carbohydrate sources to see how I would respond.  I also wanted to see if adding fruit to my meals throughout the day (vs. only with breakfast) would impact my results.  Needless to say, this was not a great experiment because I manipulated more than one variable (cleaner carbs + less carbs + added more fruit). 

Here are the results:

Weight (2/27/12): 211.0    Weight (3/3/2012): 208.0    Change: -3.0 lbs.

Body Fat % (2/27): 7.64%   BF% (3/3):  6.05%   Change: - 1.59%

Lean Mass (2/27):  194.89 lbs.    Lean Mass (3/3):  195.41 lbs.   Change:  +.52 lbs.

Fat Mass (2/27):  16.11 lbs.    Fat Mass (3/3): 12.59 lbs.   Change:  - 3.52 lb

Eating Clean...er

After a weekend of traveling and eating junk I decided to step on the scale and check up on my body fat percentage.  To my dismay, I had gained 3.96 lbs. of fat and gained only .5 lbs. of  muscle since the last time I checked a month and a half ago.  Was the 1/2 pound of muscle gain worth almost 4 lbs. of fat gain?  No way.

Negatives for Beating Strength Plateaus

As I try to increase my overhead press and weighted pullup strength, I have found it absolutely essential to mix up my strategies in order to prevent a plateau in my strength gains.

Before I outline the strategy I used in last weeks workout, let me emphasize an important point:

"To press alot, you have to press alot."
- Pavel

2/16/2012 Workout - Adding Work Capacity

Workouts have been solid the past two weeks, but the intensity and drive on heavier days has been lower.  I think this is mostly mental, as I am starting to think about my conditioning for BJJ now that my tooth is repaired and I can participate in classes at MMA Institute again.

I have been adding in more cardio and circuits to my workouts in order to increase my work capacity.

What is work capacity?

Beast Tamer Prep Week 1 & 2

So far this week....

Felt strong for Day 1 & 2 of my 4 day split, despite being kinda sick.

Spending the majority of my time working on Olympic lifts and Heavy Front Squats while spending time at MMA Institute doing heavy KB Military Presses.

Read more about what I am training for: Beast Tamer Challenge

Day 1 - @ American Family Fitness
Power Clean supersetted with 4 vertical jumps
1 x 155 lbs. for 3 reps
1 x 185 lbs. for 3 reps
1 x 225 lbs. for 2 reps
1 x 275 lbs. for 1 rep
1 x 295 lbs. for 1 rep
1 x225 lbs. for 2 reps
1 x 275 lbs. for 1 rep
1 x 295 lbs. for 1 rep

Phase 2 Program Design

The RKC certification in Vienna, VA is on May 18th, so I have 16 weeks to be prepared to meet my first personal goal of completing the "Beast Tamer Challenge"

Phase 2 of my program will be about 8 weeks and will focus less on GPP (general physical preparedness) and more on specific goals to help me have the strength and power to accomplish the "Beast Tamer Challenge" as well as the endurance to complete the RKC snatch test (a requirement for re-certification). The increased power and endurance will also help me with my longer term goal of winning the no-gi pan american games for my sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Phase 2 - Becoming the Beast Tamer

In my first phase of training, I spent 8 weeks working on re-acclimation to heavier barbell training and increasing my 1RM in fundamental movements such as squats, rows, pressing, a deadlifting. I ended up with a 50 lbs. increase in my squat max and a 30 lbs. increase in my bench max compared to my strongest days as a college wrestler. All the other lifts went up dramatically, but I did not measure a 1 RM in all of them. In this next phase of training, I will switch over to a style of training that will build off the baseline strength increases of the last phase and progress toward absolute maximum strength in 3 specific lifts, plus tremendous hip power. This new phase will help me achieve the specific strength goal of completing the "Beast Tamer Challenge"

But first..."What is the beast tamer challenge??"

Body Composition Changes

Click on the image above to see my progress since I started focusing on tightening up my nutrition plan. Previous to becoming a certified fitness nutrition specialist, I was having trouble maintaining my weight. Over the course of 3 years or so, I lost about 15-20 lbs even though I was consistently strength training. I tried tons of fad diets that had me doing ridiculous stuff, all to lead me further from my goals. While I know many people would kill to have a weight loss problem, it was a major problem for me since this weight decrease was clearly muscle. As I got skinnier, my strength plummeted and my explosive power I relied on in the martial arts also began to deteriorate. Whether you care about strength and power or not, big decreases in muscle mass are problematic for two main reasons:

Phase 1- Re-acclimation and Strength Focus

To kick off my training I began with a 8 week strength phase. For the past few years the majority of my training has centered around kettlebells, so I figured I would shock my body and spend a few weeks exclusively training with barbells and dumbbells. The results speak for themselves...