Gonna Sine Yo Pity on the Runny Kine

I stink like poop.

It's true. So don't try to deny it, don't bother saying "there, there" or try to make me feel better. Some days are yours to be the hammer and sure enough it always comes back around because today was my day to be the nail.

I want to talk about how great it is to have Jake Mackenzie training at our gym this month, or all the other awesome jiu-jitsuness that is unfolding for Fifty/50. But today I stunk up the mats like one of Seph's farts - and they sure are nasty. Trust me.

I know I should quit, turn it in - but Ryan just paid $1500 for our plane tickets to Montreal next weekend for me to compete and today he just bought our Pan Ams tickets. So now I keep telling myself to be psyched...

Yesterday, I had one of my best wrestling lessons in a long time with James. Quang and I were beginning to feel like real wrestlers transitioning through movements as if we'd been doing it for years. Snap down, sweep single, snatch single, double leg, duck under, two on one, arm drag, etc, etc, etc. But today I was as off as a chimp face-fucking a frog. What?

Don't worry, I'm sure I won't hang up my belt and pack it away never to be seen or heard from again. Yesterday was awesome, today sucked, and tomorrow I plan to sine yo pity on the runny kine!

DATE CHANGE for Michelle's Seminar!

Anyone reading this please note that the Michelle Nicolini Seminar has been moved to Saturday, April 3. Same time, same place.

We apologize for the inconvenience, but Michelle found out that she will be in Abu Dhabi competing at the ADCC Pro Jiu-Jitsu Championship on April 17. Kind of halfway across the world. She was awesome enough to offer the weekend right before the Pan American Championships as an alternative!

Ladies, please join us for the seminar on April 3!

Fifty/50 Gracie Nationals Highlight Video

Below is a video re-capping our experience at Gracie Nationals...enjoy!

Training at Alliance

Alliance in Atlanta is freaking awesome.

I went in for class today thinking it was from 12-1:30 and we didn't finish until around 2:45 (but we did start 15 min late, haha)!

Jacare started by showing a fake guard pull into a single leg. It's a take down I've used many times, but he showed a better way to avoid being caught in the guard as you go down, which I hope to employ successfully in the future. Then Cobrinha went over escaping the double-under pass. Some very cool stuff with lots and lots of tiny details that must be executed perfectly - simultaneously. One resulted in a way cool back take I've never seen before that I can't wait to try on an unsuspecting partner, lol! This was followed by lots of King of Hill - but broken into 4 groups by weight classes. But the smallest weight class was under 170, lol! It was funny because they actually have a lot of really small guys but we were lumped in with the bigger guys. Then finally I got three rounds of sparring in (I had to sit out one because there were so many people). There was no timer going so who knows how long the rounds were, lol! 4 rounds lasted at least 30 minutes.

My first round I was paired with a white belt girl about 60 lbs heavier than me. Unfortunately, my lungs weren't warm yet because I wasn't on the ground for more than 30 seconds a pop during King of the Hill and I think I might have scared my first sparring partner at one point because I almost lost control of my asthma - but luckily the round was over then and I could rest and get it under control. But at least that warmed me up so I was fine for the last two rolls.

Everyone at Alliance is so technical, I've never seen a gym with everyone at such a high level of capability in so many different areas. Also, they were super friendly and treated me just like their own student (well minus the mat fee I had to pay, haha). Both Cobrinha and Jacare walked around the room giving corrections and seemed to take a real interest in advancing the capabilities of each student in the room. When it came to sparring, Jacare was careful and thoughtful when it came to making pairs, even with me. And everyone at Alliance trains hard but with no ego, so once again, it was awesome!

I wish I could stay in Atlanta and train there longer. I definitely plan to come back again in the future. What a great experience!

After training I was able to meet up Laura from camp so that was fun too. =) And now we are celebrating my sister-in-law's 30th birthday. And in the morning her daughter will be baptized and this will be followed by a real southern BBQ. So much good times in one weekend! I am SOOOO glad that I am not snowed in at home. Suckers!!!!!!

I rolled with Cobrinha!

Just after New Years, my brother told me that they were going to be baptizing my new niece in Atlanta, I checked my schedule and was excited that there was finally an out of town family event that I could attend! It wasn't until later that I realized I'm going to be in Atlanta, I HAVE to stop into Alliance while I'm there. Then this week I thought, hey why not get a private lesson while I'm there too. So being super awesome Cobrinha agreed to do a private lesson with me with about two days notice!

I went online and watched a few of his videos again to help me decide what I wanted to work on and called Ryan in Japan to ask him his opinion of what I should be asking Cobrinha to help me fix with my game. I was more interested in his open guard sweep game, but Ryan thought I needed more work on defeating the spider guard and guard passing, so that's what I asked about - and HOLY GOD was it amazing! It's so crazy how many really tiny details there are to everything he does.

His lessons aren't cheap but at the same time it was totally worth every penny. I was a little late arriving because of a delayed fight (oddly enough not due to snow) but he was super gracious and didn't seem to mind. I was planning to jump into their nogi class but after starting late Cobrinha (once again being super awesome) went almost 30 minutes over lesson time! I guess Brazilian time can work in your favor too, lol!

It's been eye opening for me to see how all the really top level guys (and girls) adapt similar concepts all over their games while maintaining different styles. And until Ryan's coaching started to incorporate some of the same things this year, I'd never been subjected to anything quite like it before. I could certainly be wrong, but after working with a number of different Brazilians this year, I wonder why most Americans seem to be very much behind the Brazilians in their approach to jiu-jitsu.

Anyway, the lesson was amazing. It was so cool how he could control his every movement so that it felt exactly as if I was rolling with someone my size and strength. He was willing to drill the same technique over and over and over until I could repeat it as flawlessly as possible for having just learned it. Then we drilled with light resistance so he could see how I switched between the techniques as it was required by his movement. He was constantly adjusting what seemed like minute details the entire time.

And finally we rolled, and rolled, and rolled. He even let me choke him once despite him releasing hold after hold after hold if he felt like I was executing the proper escape. I was prepared for him to smash me and instead it felt like I was rolling with a slightly more technical version of myself (how does he do that?) as he fed me specific techniques as I attempted to re-create what I learned during the lesson.

Can't wait to hear from Ryan how he did today in Japan!