I know I have been a bit remiss lately on posting, so  wanted to try to get caught up a bit.

Class has been a bit slower, gentler pace lately.  What I am finding is that there is a real trade off when you are doing Judo… Fast and hard burns lots of calories, and gives you a great cardio workout… but you don’t actually learn very much.  Slow and methodical still works you and gets you sweating good, but you learn a ton more.

Lately, we have definitely been more int he slow, methodical camp.  I think part of this also might be because Jerry hasn’t been around for a while (Jerry’s a nice guy, and I love to spar with him from time to time, but slow and methodical is definitely not his style… he always trains like he has a big fight next week and has to be ready for it… hell, maybe he does

I have really enjoyed the learning we are doing (will touch on a couple moves in a minute), and have found that by supplementing the workout with some of the elliptical in the evening (my foot seems to be able to handle it now), I am starting to drop pounds (giving up soda hasn’t hurt either.)

So a couple of nice moves we have learned… One I really like is the gator roll into an anaconda choke.  You see, a Guillotine choke is not legal in Judo, so if someone shoots the legs, and I sprawl, I am left wondering what to do instead of a Guillotine.  This is a nice alternative.  There is some video of Mark Kerr doing this choke Here.

Also, we have boon workign on a throw that I do not know the name of.  Basically, it’s a top-grab with a fall back.  If you take a normal Judo (or even a wrestling) grip, then take then hand near the neck, and reach it over, past their head and grab the gi on their back.  I’ll see if I can get some pictures of this, as trying to explain it is just never going to work :)  But it is a really great throw for when someone locks up really tight with you.

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Okay, so I know it has been a bit since I have posted… but I plan to be more regular now that I am back in class.

It’s been great to ge back into class.  I find that Judo is not only a great workout (I come out completely drenched in sweat), but that it is so much easier to stick with than anything else I have done.  I think it is the competitive/collaborative nature of it that is so appealing.  Whoever I am working with I am competing with in one sense, and that we are really pushing each other and challenging each other.  But we are also very supportive, complimenting eachoter, and tryign to point out ways to improve.

I also feel so much more capable.  Whenever I rough-house now with someone who is not in my Judo class I am stunned how much more capable I am.  It has improved my strength, and my self confidence.

In Judo we have been working a lot more on our ground games lately, which works great for me, because my foot is still recovering.  I do look forward to the throws again though… in particular I am wanting to work on my Tai Otoshi… I have read several Judo champs who say that this move is one of their favorites.  I intend to add it to my short-list of “go to” moves.

I will keep you posted and how things are progressing.  In the meantime, want a great workout, better skills, and self confidence for $50 per month (3 classes per week)?  Come join us.

It’s good to be a Judo Junkie.

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Okay, so against everyone’s recommendations, and against my own better judgement, I headed back to Judo class last night.  As the foot is still prety sore, I did not do any standup at all, and just focussed on my ground game.

It was great.  We worked a bunch on the arm bar from the guard position.  I mainly worked with Brady which was a really nice change for me.  Brady goes a lt slower (I mean that in a good, controlled way ) and we really got a chance to focus on technique.

It was so nice to be back and get a bit of a workout… not to mention that I really feel that I learned a lot and improved on my ground game.

In other news: Saturday night is the Brock Lesnar fight!  I’m really excited to see Brock fight again, but I am fearful that he has just bitten off a bit too much in Heath Herring.  Heath is one tough SOB.  It will be really interesting to see how Heath plays the game against sucha  brute.  But the scary part if you’re esnar is that Heath is so well rounded.  Wherever the fight goes he will be strong.  I am going to predict that we actually see Heath avoid the tackdown for a bit and do some striking fairly successfully.  Then Brock takes him down and either pummels him into mush really quickly, or Heath ends up winning by submission as Brock makes a mistake.

Additionally in other news:  I have been devouring the book by Randy Couture, “Becoming the Natural.”  It is an insight into the life of who Couture is, and what has shaped him.  I ahve always had the greatest of respect for Randy.  Moreso than any other fighter.  I also respect that the book seems to be a very honest look at the facts and an admission of the sins of his past.  I have to say however, that I have not come away respecting him more… in fact, I find myself respecting him less.  I am surprised to find a person who seems to be pretty much willing to put everything else aside for his own desires… he cheated on his first wife like crazy, his second wife he was pretty much faithful to sexually, but when it came time to keep his promise to stop fighting, he didn’t even discuss it… he just threw promises to the wind and did what fit his desires.

Randy takes ownership of his actions in his book, but he doesn’t seem to really own them from a guilt level.  When his best friends are astounded at his actions he just feels betrayed rather than really seeing where they are coming from and owning up to them that what he did was wrong.  He is a stunning man.  A great man.  He is an inspiration.  But he isn’t who I thought he was.

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Okay, so for anyone who might not have caught the comment posted by Brady, I want to be sure and make it more prominent here.  As I have been laid up a bit wit injuries, I have been doing a lot more looking at Judo videos, etc.  Basically whatever I can do without actually putting any weight on my foot.

This week I had a look at the Super Judo website that Brady recommended.  Wow.  Extremely cool and informative.  If you haven’t checked it out yet definitely do so.

Thanks Brady!!!

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So good news: The foot seems to be healingup nicely (better than the rib did for sure.)  I woul guess I’m still going to be pretty tender for another couple of weeks, but should be back at Judo soon.  I am definitely looking forward to it.  I have a Gata Gatami inside me just itching to get out!

So did any of you watch the Affliction fight card last weekend?  Did anyone watch the UFC card?  Before I get into specifics, let me just star with the quality of the card.  EliteXC (the Showtime promotion) does some good fights, but as never been able to really build a card the quality level of the UFC.  The same cannot be said of Affliction.  The Affliction card was spectacular!  Huge names.  Big fights.  The UFC card for the same night paled in comparison.

Before I get into Affliction fights, I do want to mention one UFC fight:  Anderson Silva.  Wow.  That guys is really stunning to watch.

Okay… on the Affliction.

I’ll start with the main event:  Slaughter.  Poor Tim Sylvia.  Fedor mowed throw him like a buzz-saw.  I have never been all that impressed with Tim’s style, but I think that had little to do with his loss.  Fedor was just on top of his game.  I don’t know who could have withstood what we watched Fedor unleash that night.  I can’t wait to see Fedor go at it wit Couture… but I fear that each day that passes is a serious age setback for Couture (one of my personal heroes.)  Fedor has definitely made an impression on the US fans that might not have known him before.

Another fight I was watch closely was the Vitor Belfort, Terry Martin fight.  Vitor one this with a great upper cut that knocked Terry out cold.  While I’m happy for Vitor, it was still not  the Vitor so many of us watched come up through the ranks in the UFC.  A victory, but I would not say “Vitor is back.”  I fear the Phenom is no more.

Josh Barnett had a nice victory, but did any of us really doubt that he would?  Rizzo is washed up.  It was sad to see them throw him out in front of a world class fighter like Barnett.  It will be interesting to see Barnett fight Tim Sylvia (my guess at the next fight coming up) to see how good he really is.

Oh, and as to my confusion over Minotauro… Big Nog, Litle Nog.  So Apparently the Nogera brothers have the same name.  AND the same nickname (oh, that’s not confusing.)  AND they practically look like twins (although Big nog looks like the battered twin with the alcoholic father that beat him wih broken bottles.)

Affliction:  Nice fights.  Camera work needs some more work (I’m sure they’ll learn with time.)  Announcers: I don’t care what ti costs… find a way to steal Joe Rogan.

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So Thursday was my second day back to class since break my rib last month.  Things went really well… my rib held up, and really didn’t cause me any pain.  I was really enjoying being back, up until i broke my damn foot!!! Yup, that’s right.  How’s that for luck?!  I rolled my foot under me, and snapped it.  It sounded really bad, audibly cracking and whatnot, but didn’t hurt right away (we did Randori for another 10 minutes afterward just fine.)  But then it stared to  hurt a bit.  Insticare confirms… definitely busted.  Out for a month.

You know, I sent a tweet out on twitter last night about breaking it, and Phil Burns tweets back that it would appear that I am sufferign far more injuries learning self defense than any actually assailant might give :).  A co worker of mine this morning further pointed out that I am spending far more money than I would get robbed for as well!

All that said, I can wait to get back!  I love the workout, I love learning, and I love the self confidence it gives me.  Jus yesterday, actually on the way to Judo, I was sitting in the back of our van putting my Gi on, with my wife and son sitting up front.  In the McDonalds parking lot some guy got mad at her, and jumped out of his car to storm over to ours while we were int he driveup line.  I felt very confident stepping out of the back of the van to stick up for my wife.  I may get busted up a bit, but the quality of life that comes with feeling good about yourself is priceless….

I need to do a mastercard commercial:

Broken rib: $15 co-pay

Broken foot: $50 co-pay

Pain Killers: $30 co-pay

Being so used to pain, and confident in your ability to dish it out that you don’t take shit: Priceless.

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I made it back to Judo class as promised Tuesday and it was great.  The rib held up really well.  It was nice to get back into the groove, start working out and sweating a bit.

We primarily worked on a really nice move from the mount position.  Basically, It’s a wrist lock up near the person’s head (which hurts like hell by the way), which can then be transitioned into an arm bar.  One of the things I really liked about this move was actually the wrist lock itself.  This could easily be used in a real-world, no-gi to seriously do some damage to the wrist of a would-be attacker (whoa!!! three -’s in one sentence!)

I don’t know that I would really give up the wrist lock to go for an arm bar.  But it’s good to know how to do it in case you need to.

Also, I had an epiphany during class this week.  As you might recall, my sensei commented a while back on this blog regarding my use of wrestling moves.  If you’ll forgive my paraphrasing, the jist of it was “Damnit Steve, do Judo.”  Well, in class lat night Jeremy was doing some nice double-legs.  It hit me as I was watching it (not slight intended to Jeremy, nor his double leg takedowns), that it comes down to rather you are in class to learn Judo, or in class to win.  Now don’t get me wrong… I’m nto saying that there’s no place for such moves… I’m far from a purist.  But what I am saying is that it opened my eyes to the fact that I have so much yet to learn, that maybe I should be focused on learning, more that just throwing in “whatever works.”  That can come later.  Learn to cook the beef so that it is oh-so-tender and spiced nicely… once you have that nailed you can throw carrots and potatoes in and make the best stew.

Affliction Banned:

My take on this match?  I think they should make Fedor wear a black hood, just like any other good executioner.  Tim Sylvia is in big big trouble.  I think Tim punches him a bit and tried to keep him at range, Fedor take him down, Tim tries to stall on the ground but takes some damage.  They get stood back up, and repeat this a few times.  Before too long Tim is bleeding all over.  I think it could go the distance though.  I hope not.  I don’t know why I hate Tim, but I do.  Maybe because he just fights not to lose, rather than to win.  He can be soooo boring to watch.

Andrei over Big ben by submission.

Barnett over Rizzo in a slug fest that ends in the first round.

Lindland over… whoever the hell that other guys is.  Lindland still si one hell of a tough guy.

Babalu all the way in his fight… early submission.  He wants to porve himself as top-tier again.

As a comment… Vitor against Terry Martin.  I would really like to see that fight.  The site says it may not be broadcast.  It will be really interesting to see if Vitor still has it.  He is only 31, but hasn’t seemed to really shine like he did in years past with his blurring speed.  Terry is a really tough guy, and out to prove something.  I really hope this is the exciting fight that it shoudl be… otherwise it will be a real setback for both of these two.

Also… am I reading this right?  Minotauro?  WTF?  UFC can’t be too pleased with that.  Anyone know the backstory?  I thought UFC locked people in pretty tight.

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So I did a little more looking into The Cage News, and I have good news.  Scott Sherman, writer of the really top notch Tribune Mixed Martial Arts Blog is doing some writing on this site as well it would appear.  Specifically, he gave us all a “blow by blow” from ringside of the event.

I’ll see if I can find out how involved Scot is going to be in this site going forward (hopefully very.)  Currently the site suffers from the “not really done yet” syndrome the plagues many sites.  But hopefully they can get over that hump, because it looks to have to potential to be something really cool (Give me a call guys, that’s what my company does if you need help.)

Well, welcome to Horn’s Elite Fight Events, Welcome to The Cage News, and gosh dangit, welcome back Steve THE RAZOR Sharp!!!  Very nice.

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I’m going back to Judo tongiht.  I’m really excited, but really scared as well.  My rib seems to be doing pretty well, except when I sneeze.  Sneezes are the work of the devil.  They hurt really, realy bad.

Seth is in town from our Reno office, and wants to check out my Judo class… so I am headed back earlier than I might otherwise be.  I am really looking forward to it though.

In other news, the MMA secene here in Utah seems to be taking an exciting turn.  I have seen signs up all over for an event that I unfortunately missed:  Jeremy Horn’s Elite Fight Night.  Nice card.  Good names.  It’s been a while since I watched Steve “Razor” Sharp in a fight, but I have missed it.  He really is one hell of a fighter.

Did anyone make it out to this event?  I’d love to get a guest post from someone who would like to write up a review.

Also, I noticed that one of the sponsors, and a site that has post fight interviews is The Cage News.  In checking this site out however I noticed a few interesting things… First off, in many ways it appears local (it refers to a lot of Utah stuff.  But, an interesting thing is that when I check Linked In for Steve Faragher, who seems to do many of the posts, the only person I am finding is the owner of Faragher Jones out of the UK.  This appears to be a publishing company, which might make sense as to why they are starting this web presence.  Anyone know the full story there?  Are they local?

Anyway, I’m super excited to see this here.  I’ll keep you all posted on if I learn anything more.

See you at Judo tonight!

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Okay, so I feel like the world’s biggest whiner, but this has been a really miserable experience.  I hurt all of the time.  The good news is that my rib is no longer snap in and out of place.  They have been stable or about two weeks.  The bad news is that it hurts sooo bad.  There is no way I can go back to Judo yet… I am lucky to tie my shoes.  I really miss it though.

He’s my thought for the day on Judo though.  This should resonate with any of you who used to wrestle… When I wrestled I developed an innate sense… a sense of balance.  Not all of the tie mind you, but when I was on the mat, wrapped up with someone, I could sense which direction was the weakness in their balance.  I could just close my eyes and feel it.

Wrestling never really gave me that some feel on the feet though.  On the feet it was all about explosiveness, and shooting in deep.  Judo brings to the feet what wrestling gave on the ground… That feel for balance.  Just knowing which way a person’s weakness lay.

That, and the additional benefit of getting to choke the hell out of someone

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