One of the big problems with trying to get fit at home is figuring out what the right equipment is to build a good home gym.

That’s why, when I stumbled across this web site today, I wanted to share it… holy crap load of a lot of home gym, vitamin, and workout information (including the Rush-Fit DVD from GSP.)  Anyway… a good one stop to read to your heart’s content.  Merry Christmas, and good shopping

You know, we hear all of the time about a review for this product, or that product.  But seldom do the folks that make the experience of purchasing (and when necessary returning) the product really get their fair share of credit.

That is why I wanted to write this review today about MMAOutlet.com.

Well, for starters I have to tell you, that I am hard to fit.  Candidly, I’m fat.  Additionally, my broad chest and shoulders just make it even tougher to find products that fit.  Sure, I can browse websites, and I can read reviews (most of which say that every product is just great.)  But who can I really interact with, and ask for advice?

That is where the experience with MMAOutlet.com became immediately different.

As I looked over their website, trying to decide what to order, and terrified that whatever I ordered wouldn’t fit right, I was all of a sudden presented with a pop-up that asked me if I would like to chat with someone who could help me.  What?  A real person?  Well hell yes.

The person I spoke I chatted with was extremely helpful, and answered all of my questions.  Additionally, I was assured that if I had any problems at all with the fit of the product, I could simply call them up, get an RMA number, ship it back, and they would be more than happy to send me something else.  I didn’t need to stress about fit… They would work with me to find the right product.

So I ordered a gi.  It arrived right away.  It didn’t fit right.  But although I wasn’t surprised, for once I also wasn’t heart-broken.  I jumped on the phone, spoke to yet another REAL PERSON, in real-time rather than email with days delay in between, and got my RMA number.

I shipped back my product, and had another to replace it in a matter of days.

I can’t tell you how nice it was to have people to talk to, or to chat with.  People who were willing to work with me to ensure that they would help me try what I needed until I found what would work for me.

Most of my reviews end with a key question about the product: Would I buy another one.  In this case, the question is: Would I shop with MMA outlet.com again?  The answer to that is easy.  Yes.  I am actually planning my next purchase right now.  I am shocked to find that the product that I am looking at is roughly 30% cheaper on MMAoutlet.com than it is on Amazon.com!  I have been searching, and I can’t see it cheaper anywhere else.  Combine that with the level of service, availability of someone to talk to, and free advice, and it really is a no brainer.

Thank you to the team over at MMAOutlet.com.  I really couldn’t be happier.

Ever hear of Daredevil?

Well, here’s the long and short of it: He loses his sight, and his other senses are enhanced (there’s more to it than that, but you get the jist.)  By not thinking about what he sees he is more able to focus on his other senses.

Well, there’s some truth to this.  Lately I have been focusing less on really technical details, and more on just some basic building block of my training.  A couple of them are improving how I sleep, to keep from damaging my body, and taking in things that make me feel good and give me healthy energy, like my Bony Acai.   But you’ll see posts about those next week.

For now I want to focus on the other basic building block of a good grappling game, be it wrestling, Judo, or Jiu Jitsu: and that is Kuzushi, or balance.

Especially when teaching new students, but also in my own training, it is amazing what a detractor sight can be.  We focus so much on what we see, and looking at where our hand goes, or rather we appear to be turning in the same way as we were just shown, that we lose “sight” of what we feel.

Often times I will grab a new student who is feeling overwhelmed by trying to learn everything, and ask them to close their eyes and move around with me while we are holding on to each other.  I tell them that if I feel off balance that they should knock me down.  Once they do throw me down, and open their eyes to look at me, I ask them what the name of the throw they used is.  Generally the answer is, “I don’t know.”  I will then tell the student that it is called “Steve falls on the ground.”  Which is good enough.  they should not be so overwhelmed with what they see and try to remember that they lose sight of what they feel.

As I said, I have also been practicing this myself.  Last night we were working with Seoi Otoshi.  I just didn’t feel like I was hitting it right.  I looked okay, but the kuzushi just wasn’t there.  So I imagined the movements, and the feel, and the flow of balance and momentum… Then I closed my eyes and went through the move.  I found that it really helped a lot.  I did this several times.  Once I had the feel right I was able to open my eyes and fine tune the move further.

Similarly, I find that I often fight on the ground with my eyes closed.  It lets me focus more on the balance of myself and my opponent.

Anyone else have luck with this tactic?

Not long ago I wrote about my Confessions of an early tapper.  Basically, I recognized that as a large, fairly skilled person, I tended to find myself in top position a lot.  Perhaps too much.

When I did go against someone bigger, strong, better than me, and found myself on the bottom and in trouble, I found myself panicking and tapping earlier than I should.  I have been endeavoring to fix this.  At first I would focus on just starting from a bottom side-control position.  This was helpful, but I still found myself doing a pretty good job of fighting my way out and into a reversal.

I needed to get into real trouble if I was going to make any progress.

Last night in Judo/Jiu Jitsu class I worked with a couple of the guys for quite a while after class.  I started again from my bottom side-control position, but I agreed that I would not try to reverse position.  I would basically give them an opportunity to work on their submissions, and I would be working on my calmness under pressure and submission defense.

It worked great.  I spent about 45 minutes on my back, defending constantly.  I found myself becoming more and more calm, even at times where I normally might have picked ia bit.  Plus, it’s a good change for others to really work on their submissions from the top position.

I think that to really improve your game you have to not only be willing to get into positions that you hate, but you have to learn to live there.  You have to beg your training partners to take you there.  Only through embracing our weaknesses, rather than hiding from them can weak things be made strong.

Thanks to all of you who work with me to improve my game every week.  You are my family!

This weekend there was a Strikeforce event on Showtime.  During this event they posed a question, and had viewers text in their votes.  The question was:

Which of the following is the most dominant martial art in MMA:

- Wrestling

- Striking

- Jiu Jitsu

Well, of course the question itself is a little bit flawed, and needs to be looked at more in depth, but the results were interesting.  Let’s start by looking at what the question really asked.  Bear in mind that most viewers of MMA on TV are not trained in the martial arts.  Most fo them have little or no bias of one style over another.  They will just vote for what they see as the piece that makes people win the most.

Okay, so knowing that, the question that was asked is more likely interpreted as:

When people win, do they generally win because they can:

- Take down the other person, keep from being taken down if they want, and get back up when they are taken down.

- Beat the hell out of the other person standing and on the ground.

- Submit the other person.

Also, we have to bear in mind that due to separation and standups happening if things get slow, that striking is going to get a it more of an edge than it would without those rules.

The results:

Wrestling: 40%

Striking: 39%

Jiu Jtsu: 21%

Okay, so any of us who sat glued to those crappy VHS tapes and watched Royce Gracie dominate people may be a little shocked by this.  Also, those of us who are emotionally tied to one style or another may also bristle a bit.  But this is what people are seeing.  This is what is happening.

It got me thinking… Why did they choose to say “Wrestling”?  The answer: because wrestlers have show their takedown skills in MMA far more effectively than Judo or Sambo players.

So my prediction?  I think that as MA increases in financial importance for not just Pay Per View dollars, but also in terms of gym memberships, we will see “Takedown grappling” need to change a bit.  I really feel like Sambo, Judo and Wrestling are all still missing some things.  Here’s where I think there is some real opportunity for change:

Wrestling:

Wrestling has 3 main styles: Folkstyle, Freestyle, Greco Roman.  Folkstyle and freestyle are much of what we are seeing now in MMA.  Lots of leg shots.  But this really leaves some elements of takedowns out.  Freestyle wrestlers concentrate so much on having a person’s bak hit te ground, that they can get themselves into trouble by not being in the best position sometimes (sacrificing a real combat position for points.)  Folkstyle really has no good upper body throws.  Greco has great uppe body control, but doesn’t allow for trips, sweeps, or leg manipulation.

Basically, Wrestling is great.  But it ignores some of the key elements of Judo and Sambo that could make it much better.  Additionally (and I’m gonna say it!) grappling is more popular now in high schools due to MMA.  Dump the stupid singlet and let the kids dress in a way that doesn’t embarrass them.

Judo and Sambo:

Judo and Sambo are still too steeped in tradition.  We have seen Judo pull such throws as the Kata Garuma (wrestling fire-man’s carry) out of the list of allowed moves in order to make their art increasingly different than wrestling.  Judo and Sambo are also reluctant to train no-gi.  This means that while learning amazing throws and sweeps, people are not learning to use them no-gi, and are also not developing any of the wrestling-style leg takedowns which can be very effective.

So where am I going with all of this?

I believe we will see “takedown grappling” develop as a no-gi style with elements of Judo, Sambo, and wrestling.  This ability to take people down has proven itself in MMA as the dominant force.  Wrestling needs to learn to embrace the big throws and amazing sweeps of Judo.  Judo is going to have to embrace leg-shots, and learn to fight without the gi as well.

My two cents

So, first a bit about myself:

I am a big guy.  I’m 6 feet tall, and about 260 pounds.

Also, I am one of the most advanced students at the dojo where I train.  Especially when it comes to big guys.  Most of the large guys at my dojo (other than my instructors) are white belts.

So, here’s my problem: I am used to either rolling with people who are smaller than me, or people who are less experienced than me (or both.)  What this means, is that I tend to be in dominant position a lot, and when I’m not, I don’t tend to panic much, because I’m either stronger or more experienced than the person on top of me (or both.)

The result is that I don’t often get in serious trouble form someone big.  But this means that I’m really not very used to that situation.  the result (unfortunately) is that when I do get there, I panic and tap.

I’ll be honest, this is all a little embarrassing to say.  But it’s something I’m determined to overcome.

Last night I rolled for a while with Bill, one of my instructors at Hidden Valley.  Bill is a big, strong guy with great experience and technique.  I spent the first little bit on top, actually pretty pleased with myself, and how I was doing.  But eventually I got rolled onto bottom, and Bill started to work toward a submission.  As soon as he got even close to it, I panicked and tapped.  I wasn’t hurting.  I wasn’t stuck.  WTF??

It was almost like a weird claustrophobic  panic or something.  As soon as I thought there was now way out, I tapped instead of fighting.

I throw this out there, not as advice to anyone.  But to just let you know, that if this is you too, then you’re not alone.  I intend to fix this.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Most of you probably already know this, but for the last four years I and my kids have been training out of Hidden Valley MMA.  Recently the Dojo has moved into some new diggs… more space, TONS on mat room, weights, treadmills, windows.  It’s really great.

It’s amazing how different training is from normal workouts.  I have been a member of a lot of “gyms” over the years for lifting weights, etc.  But when you really train with, and learn with a group of people they become like family.

Thanks to Hidden Valley, and all of my family there for all of the years we have spent together thus far.  I love our new place!  Come on over and visit.

I apologize that I haven’t been posting more recently.  Unfortunately, due to my lack of mat time, there hasn’t really been much to post about.

Yup, that’s right.  Although I have been craving mat time, an unfortunately condition has me pretty well out of the game.  That’s what I wanted to write about today:

Pinched nerves from back injuries due to grappling.

Be it Judo, Jiu Jitsu, or wrestling, as we get older, and as (some of us) get bigger, these types of things are unfortunately, increasingly likely.  Mine has had me out for just over a month now, and although I am improving, I know I am nowhere near ready to be back on the mats yet.

So, I wanted to share a little bit of what I have experienced, and what I have learned:

1- Arm pain can be back pain.  Yup.  Most of my pain is actually in my arm.  It is really bad in the arm pit, should, and between my bicep and tricep, headed down toward my elbow.  The pain near the elbow has been bad enough from time to time, that I was sure I had a recurrence of tendonitis.  But, it didn’t respond to cold like tendonitis does.

2- Ribs can act like spinal injuries.  Ya, weird huh?   I have been to a couple of the best, most highly recommended doctors for this type of thing, and both of them have determined that my “back” pain is actually a rib that keeps popping out of position on the back.  Apparently this is a common form of your “back being out”.

3- NSAIDs can be trouble.  Aleve, IBuprofen, etc.  My chiropractor told me to take 800 mg of ibuprofen ever 4 hours to keep the inflammation under control.  After about a week of this, I had a mouth absolutely full of canker sores.  I did some searching on the internet, and apparently this is a common problem with large amounts of NSAIDs (Non steroid anti inflammatory drugs.)  Watch out for this.

4- It can take a long time to recover from a pinched nerve.  In addition to pain, and weakness in my back and arm, I have tingling in fingers on that hand as well.  In researching this type of condition (ain’t the internet great), I found a good article on what to expect for recovery times on pinched nerves.  The article goes into a lot of detail about which portion of your back is likely to be causing the pain, and what effects you will likely be feeling.  As for recovery times, the author claims that several weeks, and very often months is typical time for a damaged nerve to heal, even once the pressure from the back or rib is fixed.  Truly sucky.

I’ll keep you posted on how my condition progresses.  If you have been through this as well, I’d loe to hear your experiences and insight.

When you are constantly laying your hands on a person, and twisting their bodies into painful positions you develop an amazing understanding of which way it twists and tweaks, and in what ways.

This is generally thought of in terms of our offensive, and submission capabilities.  But today, Sensei Mike Hermosillo, of Hidden Valley MMA applied his dark forces for the purposes of good.

After a really intense workout last week I have been all but crippled.  I was sure I had a pulled muscle.  I turned to a robust masseuse.  Nothing was working.  I was in intense pain, and my ability to use the rest-room left-handed is severely limited.  Something had to be done.

As a large man (about 260 pounds), I have found that many chiropractors can be just a little bit too “wussy” to give me the severe man-handling that I need.

Enter my mentor and Sensei, “Big Mike.”  After 15 minutes of Mike really putting the hurt on me, I couldn’t feel better.  The power to break, the power to heal.  Thank goodness for my grappling family!

All kidding aside though, it is really neat to be around people who have spent so many years learning about the pains, and the movements of the human body.  Be sure to talk to your instructors when you hurt, rather than just skipping classes.  You will be shocked how much they may be able to help.

One of the really great Judo tournaments ever spring is put on by the Kaizen Judo Dojo.  The 4th annual Kaizen Judo tournament is this weekend, April 30th 2011.

If you compete in Judo, enjoy watching it, or are just curious, then this even this one not to miss.

For more detailson the Judo Tournament, including forms, maps, and lodging info, you can go here on the Kaizen Judo website.

Can’t wait to see you there.  Happy flying