School, Work, Tournament and Easter!

Hello my faithful readers,

Well I have some good news to share with you, but first let me tell you where I have been. I know it has been a while since my last post. The last couple of weeks have been sort of hectic, only because I have 100 hours worth of work to try to cram in to 40 hours of work every week. While I can work over time and cash in on the extra hours that leaves me less time to Train, try to be a good Parent, and try to complete school work. So I apologize that my updates are not as frequent as I'd like them to be.

On Saturday March 30th I competed at a local Jiu Jitsu Tournament known as NewBreed Ultimate Challenge and although it did not go as I expected, I did place 2nd in NoGi and 3rd in Gi. 

Now before I break down my matches I am going to explain what happen the day of the event. I was told that I need to weigh in by 9 45am or I will not be able to compete. My competition times were estimated at 11:30am and 4:30pm, let me tell you how that did not happen. Whether it was poor planing on NewBreed's end of competitors not being able to be found when they where suppose to compete but  kids that were suppose to compete by 10:30 did not compete until almost 2pm. My First NoGi match happen shortly there after. However by the time I was called to compete, I was suppose to me stepping on the mats, so I had no time to warm up. For the first 2:30 minutes of the match it was a battle of trying takedowns. I successfully executed a trip and scored the takedown. Once I secured the takedown I immediately went to full mount. For the last 90 seconds I tried to finish the match via Americana, twice I felt really good but let go of the submission because I did not want to lose the mount position. (Position before submission). I won 6-0.  The second NoGi match was much of the same, fighting for the takedown. In the last 45 seconds of the match I was takendown but immediately went to my knees    

as I went to my knees my opponent swiftly went took my back and score the four points, shortly there after time was up. My Gi matches happened about 1.5 hours later. Once again I was not fully prepared to get up and compete but had too. My First Gi Match was embarrassing to say the least. While I stuffed a couple of takedowns I was eventually takendown and as I was trying to recover my back was taken again. For about 2 minutes I fought a Gi choke. I lost this match via points 0-6. The next match was almost like the first Gi match however I was mounted. I did however bucked the guy off me and was able to escape out the back door, and as soon as that happened time was up. 

One thing I learned about myself from this tournament is while I was tired I was not gassed! I could have fought 3 more matches had they wanted me too. All the hard work I have been doing over at CrossFit Tough As Nails is paying off. Now 4 minutes (the time limit that was set by NEWBREED) is not enough time, the IBJJF time limit is 5 minutes this means I have to DO WORK and BE FIRST. 

Now placing 2nd in NoGi and 3rd in Gi, is not all the greatest but I am extremely happy because in December of 2011 I placed 3rd in Gi  and Choked out in my Gi match. In March of 2012  I competed in the IBJF Chicago International Winter Open and in my first Gi match I was choked out. So while I did lose both of my Gi matches this weekend I did not get Choked out. So that shows that I a progressing..... or at least I hope so.

Yesterday was Easter and I hope you enjoyed you it!

-Thanks For Reading until next time.

P.S. If you shop on Amazon please use my click thru link on the Right.  Every time you make a purchase I get a couple of pennies. Thanks in advance.

Day 3 of Juicing/Blending - Lets call it eating clean!

Good Evening Friends, Family and loyal blog readers!

How are you doing today? I hope life finds you well.

All is well in the life of you favorite endomorph, and I'll tell you why. On Monday I started a "JUICE" fast/diet and surprisingly I feel great. Prior to starting this juice fast I was worried. I worried that I would feel like as if I was starving, feel weak, feel unsatisified, the time to make the juice, and a hundreds of other personal hang ups. Now I wonder why I was I so affraid. The reason I felt like I would be starving is because before I started trying to watch what I ate, I could sit down and eat a huge meal and a snack and so on. For example, I remember years ago I would go to McDonalds and I could eat a Double Quarter Pound with Cheese, Large Fries, Large Dr. Pepper, and possibly I would still devour a Double Cheese Burger. ( A double cheeseburger not that horrible McDouble...lol) Im not proud of that but its what I used to do. Now over the years, especially since the birth of my son, I have watched what I ate, and there were times were even after a meal that would satisify most people I remained hungry, and for this very reason I thought going on a Juice fast was not only insane but I was setting myself up for failure. In my mind I figured that if I wasnt going to be eating I would be weak because big burly manly men like me need MEAT and animal protein, the flesh of slaughtered animals. The fear of not be satifisied is a bit self-explanotory, if I am not eating that doesnt seem satisfying. Now the time it takes to make JUICE, I am not going to lie it does take some time in preparation. The dilemna lies in this, where do I find the TIME? Well in the words of Rener Gracie, " Stop doing something else!" Think about that statement, for minute, then think about the time of your day that you could be doing something productive. Lately it takes me about anywhere between 30-35 minutes to make enough JUICE to last me throughout the day. I have been consuming about 90 ounces of JUICE a day.

My Ingredients

Handful of Kale
2 Cucumbers
2 Apples
Pear
Banana
Half a Cantalope
1/4 HoneyDew Melon
Some Strawberries
2-3 Sticks of Celery
2 Large Carrots
Some Pineapple chunks

Instead of JUICING all that in a juicer, I put that all in a blender and get it to the consistency of Apple Sauce, (Or Baby Food, what some of my coworkers like to call it.)
(See the pictures below)

Also exciting news on Saturday I squatted my new one rep max ... 315lbs I am hoping to see 500 lb squats by years end!