The injury bug has me...

The injury bug has caught me lately. First I got a pretty nasty infection on my elbow which held me of the mats for two weeks. After that, I left Switzerland for a one week vacation at home in Austria. I arrived there with my girl on Saturday and on Monday I found myself in the hospital due to a imploded left lung. 

This stuff hospitalized me for almost two weeks and I am forbidden to do anything sport related for an other 4 weeks. But whats even worst, I am forbidden to fly for 8 weeks, which meant, that I had to cancel my trip to Toronto and NYC and thus my training at Marcelo Garcias Academy. But as I my dad always said, you have to get something positiv out of negative situations, I was resting in my hospital bed and came up with the idea of going to Brazil. 

After some further investigations, I am going to stay at Connection Rio for two weeks in February and most likely gonna train at Checkmat Copacabana (Fight Zone).

I am thinking about doing two to three training sessions per day, plus a one hour private with one of Ricardinho's Black Belts. I am surely pretty pumped about the whole thing and cain't wait to be back on the mats and start my preperations for Rio - Osss

Martial Arts Manga and a new BJJ Podcast

Surfing the internet, I have found a nice Martial Arts Manga which also envolves some BJJ Aspects.

You can find the manga under the following link All around Meguru Manga . I haven't had the time to start from the beginning, but hope I will find the time to do so in the near future.

Further more I have discovered a new BJJ related podcast which is called the "Just the Gi Top Podcast", they regularly interview current players and talk about their training regime. I am going to download the Gianni Grippo episode right now and I am quite curious about this podcast and what Gianni has to tell.

I personally caught up with Gianni at the CSA.dk and BJJGlobetrotter summer camp and also had the chance to roll with him for a bit. Surely I got crushed, but it was a super nice experience and I am still using one of his over under passes, which he showed in my open guard passing game. I am following Gianni since his purple belt days and hope to catch up with him again during my NYC stay and hope to get a private or two with him.

Special Offer from MGinAction

As I wrote in my last post, I will be going to New York for 7 days in October. I was thinking a lot about where I should train and If it is better to train at different academys, or just stay at one for the whole stay. 

I came up with the solution, that I will be "just" training at Marcelo Garcias Academy, which is situated at the chelsea district in Manhatten, cause I feel that this might give me better training as I would get by hopping around to different academys. Maybe they take you more seriouse if they see your not just there for one class but for some days. 

What concerns me a little bit is, that the ADCC in China will be right the weekend after my stay and alltough Marcelo is not competing, it is possible that he will join Bernardo Faria to go to China. Would be a real let down if I am there and he is not, allthough I quite confident, that his other instructors like Paul Schreiner will also provide superior training. 

Just in time, the MGinAction website is now offering the follwing:

I will get one week of training plus a one year membership for the MGinAction website for $220. Normally one week of training would be $150 dollars, so I am actually getting the membership for $70 which is pretty sweet deal which I can't resist. Also this might be good to review some of the tequniches they will show there.

I am back...

Sorry for not updating the blog lately, but I just didn't feel like doing it and didn't have to write much anyways. Never the less, I am going to change this blog a little bit and gonna write more about my training and preparation for the upcoming tournaments which will be following:

• IDM International German Championship in Neuried on the 19th of October 
• IBJJF Munich Open on the 10th of November
• IBJJF European Championship in January of next year

Currently I am recovering from an infection on my elbow and will be out of training until next wednesday, where I will do a last No-Gi sess before going on a one week vacation. After the vacation it will be full fledge training 6 times per week.

In addition to the five Gi and one No-Gi sessions per week, I will also boost my strengh and conditioning in the mornings. My conditioning programm will consist of the following: 

• swimming
• running 
• sprints/stairs
• BJJ related circuite trainig including Kettlebells, Swiss Ball (but more on that in a later post ;) 

Further more I am really looking forward to October, cause I will be in Toronto and New York for ten days and also plan to train quite a lot in those two towns. 

In Toronto I will train at Open Mat Mixed Martial Arts Academy and in New York at Marcelo Garcias Academy.

I also have to really keep a good diet after my holidays, so I can go down to feather weight as healthy as possible, with the goal of almost not having to cut any weight right before the comps. So this means I will also post a little bit about what I am eating and why. 

I hope you guys will enjoy what I am going to post and I am always happy about feedback. You can contact me on Twitter under BJJSebi... 

 

Caio Terra GI Seminar this sunday in Zürich

Hey guys, 

Caio Terra will be back for an other seminar in Zürich this time in the gi the upcoming sunday. For details check out the flyer below. 

Everybody is welcome and there will also be some Shoyoroll Gear available from our friends of BJJTeamBasel as well as some Acai bowls. 

 

Hope to see you on mats on sunday!!

Been promoted to blue belt and new goals

Hey everybody, 

It has been a long time since my last post and I am happy to tell you guys, that I have been finally promoted to blue belt after 2,5 years of sometimes less but in the last month more and consistent training. The blue belt was given to me by Christian Graugart who organized the CSA Summer Camp at his gym in Denmark. 

As I was allready registred for the IBJJF Rome Open at Adult/White/Feather, I now swichted up to Master/Blue/Light so I dont have to cut the missing 4 kg in the next two weeks ;). I see this tournament as good experience for me, to have my first IBJJF tourney in my pocket and see how things are done there. I don't expect to much success as I am pretty new at this belt level, but I am definitly looking forward to the good experience this will give me. 

Further more, I am going to change this blog a little bit and tell you guys more about my training etc. 

My next big goal will be the IBJJF European Open next year!

Doing Interviews... stepping up blogging again...

I recently also started to write for the new and upcoming website BJJ.EU which as site dedicated to European BJJ News and articles. The site also has a forum running so you might wanna check that out if you need some help or have a question. 

I focused mostly on doing interviews with European BJJ players and doing some info posts about tournaments which I participated in so far you can check out the following interviews: 

A journey to jiu-jitsu greatness with Thomas "Mastwo Oyarzun"

Living the dream with Stuart Cooper

No Ape Shit with Daniel "The Raspberry Ape" Strauss

I have ligned up and also sent out questions to the following guys:

• Luciana Machado - Owner of MKimonos
• Rob Staples - Instructor at Gracie Barra Chanel Islands
• Nic Greogoriades - founder of jiu-jitsu Brotherhood
• Oliver Geddes - guess I dont need to tell you who he is...

This is also why I slowed down my posting frequency over here, but I want to step it up again and get back to regularly posting mainly about my training. I am currently preparing for some big Tournaments over here in Europe which will be the Naga in Mai, IBJJF Rome Open in June and the Grapplers Quest Amsterdam in August. You can also expect some post from the CSA/BJJ Globetrotter summer camp in June - which is going to be a blast... 

I will also do some Gi Reviews in the near future as I bought me some new gis to satisfy my gi addiction ;)

so you wanna train like in the 80s??

I have got a pretty simple solution for - just listen to the Blood Bros. mixtapes of DSJ and DJA...

I guess this discussion is pretty old by now, but what music are you listening to while sparring or drilling? There are some people that are more on the relaxed reggae/rap side of things, including myself and than there are the metal guys, who like it loud and hard.

But I got something new for you - why not listen to some good old 80s action movie soundtracks and go ape shit??

Sounds not to weird to you? Than you definitely got to check out the Blood Bros Mix Tapes 1-3 which you can find on Soundcloud. My personal favorite is the second one:

Blood Bros Heaven2Hell

download it --> listen to it --> train to it

But be carful, there will be some weird looks exchanged at your local gym when you turn it on first, but those weird looks will turn into bright smiles TRUST ME!
BJJSebi

Supplements and Nutrition

I lately started to put some more thinking and personal research into the matter of nutrition and which supplements to take. I read on several forums, that it might be a good idea to take some fish oil in combination with Glucsamine and MSM, there for I searched the net a little bit, to find some studies that actually proof the benefits of taking these supplements. Also my girlfriend was saying that this stuff doesn't work and is only marketing and yadi yadi yada…

So after some research, I stumbled upon the following studies:

http://bjjlegends.com/bjj/jiujitsu/item/1036-joint-supplementation-for-the-bjj-athlete

http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/964/Five_Reasons_Fish_Oil_Will_Make_You_Stronger_Leane.aspx

and decided to give it a go and order some stuff. At the moment I am taking the following supplements

• Omega 3 salmon fish oil capsules (2 capsules 2 times per day )
• Joint X with Glucosamin, MSM and Gelatine (2 capsules 2 times per day )
• Super Mulit Vitamine (1 capsules 2 times per day )

I have to admit, that I really feel the benefit of these supplements, as I am not that worn out after a hard training sessions and that my muscles and joints aren't that stiff and in pain. I also did my regular Kettlebells session yesterday and don't feel that shitty today…

Further more I always try to take some protein right after training, at it is commonly said that you have a window of maximum 45 minutes to get the protein back into your system. At  the moment, I am taking the XTFC FX4 Acai Protein Shake powder with water.

This stuff actually tastes pretty decent and is a pleasure to sip down after a hard training session. Never the less I recently stumbled over a blog post form the Raspberry Ape Daniel Strauss, where he is stating that protein alone won't do the job as a pre workout shake.

http://raspberryape.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/post-workout-shakes.html

In his first post he didn't really say why, but promised to give a little more insight in one of his following posts…

Generally I try to get my diet a little healthier then I used to, which is also paying of if you ask me. Normally I start the day with a high protein bowl of mixed berries with cottage cheeses (for the receipt go to one of my earlier posts) in the forenoon I will eat a fruits (banana or apple), for lunch I keep it simple with a turkey sandwich on wheat bread or some eggs. In the afternoon again fruits and in the evening chicken or beef in various forms. At the moment I'm also high on the Acai bowl and try to eat one per day (you can also find a receipt for that in one of my previous posts)

As I am taking training and competition a little more serious this year, I feel like this will greatly help me and my body to conquer the challenges which will be on my path…

The BJJ Globetrotters

Hi everybody, its been a while since my last post and I have to admit, that I haven't been doing to much over christmas and new year. But all of this to really recover my body and get rid of the little itches here and there and to start full blast into a year full of jits 2013!

As mentioned in my last post I had joined the CSA Winter Camp of Christian Graugart also known as the BJJ Globetrotter. Latly he has now released his on BJJ Team which is also affiliated to the IBJJF. But this team is a little bit different to the normal teams which you can see on the points outlined below:

 The members of the team share a common set of values:

• We don't pay each other any affiliation fees
• We wear any patches we like on our gis
• We are free to represent any (or no) team in competition
• We encourage training with anyone regardless of affiliation
• We are willing to promote anyone who deserves it—members or not
• We arrange camps, seminars and visit each other for training and fun
• We believe everyone is equal both on and off the mats
• We strive to enjoy life, people and the world through Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

On the Homepage BJJ Globetrotters you can find all affiliated clubs and individual members, where I am also a member now. I think this idea super fantastics because it exactly shows the values I stand for in my training. As you might know I train with Alliance in Frankfurt and Enomoto Dojo here in Zürich – which might change as we have a really nice project coming up which surprisingly just came up the same day as the BJJ Globetrotter thing. As I see it, the BJJ Stars are really alining for me to start this year and everything is set to reach my overall goals for this year which will be gaining my  blue belt and compete in as many GI comps as possible and win the IBJJF Italian Open in June.

So have a good start into the year everybody and as Kurt would say it – NOW GO TRAIN!!!!