Die "Fledermaus Dojo" ist nicht tot!

America...

Fuck yeah. :)

So many fail...

...because they don't get started - they don't go. They don't overcome inertia. They don't begin.
~ W. Clement Stone

Spring training has started! Day one was a success.. Most of us left dizzy, nauseated, and limping. The next day was no better, with our ability to walk hampered by the hypertrophic damage to our hamstrings. Good times for sure!

For Brazilian jiu jitsu, this is an EXCELLENT workout for developing core and leg strength. Particularly for the part of the body involved with double/single leg takedowns. For girls, this attacks all the curvy bits, they complain about and guys like...trust me. :)

The workout was a modification of another workout..with an emphasis on 100% activity for 1 minute, versus the original workout's goal of number of reps in a long 3 minute set. Our workout had barely a 10 second break in-between intervals as compared to the 3 minute break recommended in the original.

Here's what we done got done did:

For 1 minute each:
45lb deadlift (just the bar for the next few sessions)
chinups (from dead hangs, no touching the floor for the full 1 minute, and no crying)
kettle bell swings (1 min per arm)
goblet squats with the 25lb kettle bell
push presses with the 25lb kettle bell (1 min per arm)
hi low carry 25lb upper arm, 35lb lower arm (1 min per side)

9 minutes total. Fucking sucked.

Make damn sure you are trained in the deadlift. It's SOOO easy to wreck your back with improper form. Remember, it's really a PUSH movement with the legs, not a lift motion with the back. If you are leaning forward, then leaning back to lift, you are doing it wrong! The majority of the action should be your ass getting low, then rising and pushing forward as you drag the bar across your shins.

Other points, make sure your shoulders are back. Your spine is arched so that your chest is forward, not arched liked cat. Head up and forward looking at the crowd, particularly at your competitor's girlfriend. Push hard through your heels, not your toes.

No pics, I was too lazy and didn't "feel it". Shooting for me is organic; the energy for it comes naturally from some deeply seated part of my id. If it's not there, the camera collects dust.

Later!
Mark

To fight

 ..is a radical instinct; if men have nothing else to fight over they will fight over words, fancies, or women, or they will fight because they dislike each other's looks, or because they have met walking in opposite directions ~ George Santayana

One of our striking coaches, Mike Wright won his second MMA fight last night! So awesome! He is now 2-0!
It was a real pleasure training with him on grappling, which he used quite extensively during the fight. Excellent work! His opponent was tough, with the fight going to judge's decision.

Faixa Preta MMA - Rockwall, Texas

-FIGHT!
-Mark

100

I completed the 100 burpees challenge! I nearly ralphed my guts out. Well not really, it was tough but not uncontrollable like a bad case of Montezuma's Revenge. I'm glad I did it. Never thought I would really complete all 100. But, what does this really mean?

The Bat Dojo is alive again. Tuesday 19 April 2011, 8pm starts "The New Pain" ©

Be ready, be willing, be here.

-Mark
p.s. be afraid ;)

The...

Bat Dojo in Kanji...yes for reals! In English: Komori Dojo.

Dojo translates very roughly to "way and place" Referring to the place one is currently parking their derriere is where they may explore the way. What is the way? Anything one endeavors. Martial arts, weaving Indian rugs, or excavating magic nose goblins.


In America, dojo is almost exclusively used to identify a place as a martial arts school. The Japanese language, typical of it's vagueness and non-confrontational grammer does not directly identify martial schools linguistically. The most common wordings for any type of training area are dojo, kan and ryu. The dojo, referring to a place which helps you along your "way". Kan, referring to hall or sometimes a house(Uses: Shotokan, Budokan). The incredibly vague "Ryu" describes a flow. A form of ideology rather than a physical location(Uses: Goju-Ryu, Shito-ryu).


WTF? What about jiu jitsu? Jitsu, another astonishingly vague precept is defined(barely) as "art" or technique. Jitsu can be applied all over the place. For example I've trained in bo-jutsu(6 ft staff) , ken-jutsu(sword fighting), tanto-jutsu(knife fighting), iai-jutsu(sword draw), aiki-jujutsu, and hojo-jutsu(combative rope fighting!). The "jutsu" spelling was very common before the BJJ rage. 


Interestingly, there used to be and probably still is a major split between the "jutsu" and "do" crowds. Kendo, aikido, judo, iaido at one time were considered sports, games, non-combative exercises...useless for combat. Whereas, the prideful ken-jutsu, ju/jiu-jutsu/jitsu, iai-jutsu guys differentiated themselves by their practical combative nature. Probably some small measure of truth. My ken-jutsu training was pretty wild, with ruthless bladed attacks. Punches to the face were actually considered fair game! Read Miyamoto Musashi's "Book of the Five Rings" and he babbles all about busting some guy in the eye socket during a sword fight! Ballsy, but totally practical according to him. Look at the section entitled, "The Water Book". It states, "You must bear in mind that you can always clench your left hand and thrust at the enemy's face with your fist." Awesome! I think of this even when grappling. On occasion, I exercise this intent. :)


The iai-jutsu sword draw training I did, didn't look any different than typical iaido...Yet, the intent was different. Much different. Infact, the intent was to cleave clear through a dude, starting at his right floating rib and exit out his left jaw. Leaving two pieces of meat for the dogs. Anything lesser, was a waste of our time. Think of your intent.


So I leave you with this question posed by Anko Itosu in 1908:


You must decide if karate(or any martial art) is for your health or to aid your duty.




Later!
- Mark

Success seems to be

...largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.  ~William Feather


I love that quote. Since 1 January, I've resolved to do 1+ burpee(squat thrust, pushup combo) per day..working up to a goal of 100. Today was day fifty in that venture! I'm still sweating from the fifty I just blasted out. I know people try who to make a beneficial change in their lives...but who really sticks to their resolutions? I would like to think I stick to my resolutions...to the end. Perhaps, I'm a unique case? I would rather think not, I'd rather believe everyone strives to complete a mission. 


As a little kid playing Space Invaders on my Atari, I would fire it up and start blasting away at the alien enemy. If I was killed, even though I had 2 more lives, it pissed me off! I would slam down the controller and hit reset, trying again with greater concentration. Perfection has been a long a goal of mine since my days of Space Invaders. A curse and a gift some say :)


Here's my heart rate chart. I had to slow down at 35 as you can see the dip in the chart. This is the Alien blasting me...unacceptable. Next time I'll not take a break.

-Work! Then play a lot!
Mark

The trouble with...

 always trying to preserve the health of the body is that it is so difficult to do without destroying the health of the mind.  ~G.K. Chesterton


Sick as a dog, still doing my burpees though. I skipped yesterday's 39, and completed that set about an hour ago. After I compose this crap I'll pump out 40 more for today's set. I am feeling a bit better though.., I hope by Friday to be done with this Anthrax-ebola like crap I caught...


I was nice to Monday's class as I pre-pumped out 20 burpees, they only had to do 18. I'll be less nice as I approach 100 :)


This weekend is Marcelo Garcia! Going to train with him and get beat up nicely. Should be good. Even if we cover stuff I am already familiar with, he always provides improvement and detail I did not know.


Later!
Mark

Victory is always possible

...for the person who refuses to stop fighting.
~Napoleon Hill

About 1/3rd of the way through my goal. Not bad so far. I just completed 31 burpees on my way 100. My innards are spinning and I feel lightheaded. I'm sure both will subside once I eat breakfast and get ready for my west coast trip at a posh resort, courtesy of my awesome employer!

Below is my chart for the 31 burpees....Weird shape huh?



As the burpee count has increased, I've moderated my pace a bit to survive. Probably not really ideal. I'll try to push the pace and not worry about blowouts along the way --- forcing me to take a breather. No big deal, there is no ego in improvement. One of my first posts was about exercise survival. I believe during the fight one must maintain endurance, posture, damage avoidance...saving up for the kill at the end. Exercise on the other hand is the exact opposite. Wreck yourself, beat yourself up, fail, fail, fail, epic fail, then get back up and treat yourself to some more torture.

enjoy!
Mark

Pain of mind...

 ...is worse than pain of body."
~Publilius Syrus

Skipped yesterday's burpees and made up for it today....that means 51. But I think I actually did 56, because I confused 25+26 =51. Since today was the 26th...I thought the total was 56! Oh well, I'm not a math major..

Here's a gnarly chart of my cardiac explosion...Felt like my lungs and legs were going to detonate.

It think it is fairly self-explanatory. Lots of work over time, equals shit tons of heartrate! Amazingly, in three minutes of workout, I was able to nearly hit my interval max...which is around 175-180ish range. That's pretty nifty!


Time to go eat something, my legs still hurt...
MArk!

The future...

...depends on what we do in the present.

I'm still huffing O2 from the 20 burpees I just ripped out..in a whopping 1 minute 2 seconds!
So far I'm twenty days into this 100 day project; I'm 20% done!

When I first saw this burpee idea, I immediately thought...how stupid! Then I thought, why not? It's something to do, a goal of sorts. It probably couldn't hurt, much.

So far it's been good, I make my Monday night BJJ class do that day's burpees with me. Perfect. I can't wait to have class when I'm at 98. hahahaha

Being at 20, I believe this may be a threshold. I'm starting to breathe heavy. I can feel the weight of the pushups and jumps getting more and more difficult.

So here's a basic illustration of this concept:

Burpee #1: I'm doing GREAT! The world is full of joy and wonder. Life is awesome and I'm exercising! I'll be shredded and badass in no time!

Burpee #12: Some of my liver has now liquefied for muscle fuel. My gall bladder is pissed off and squirted bile directly into my aorta - it's not a pleasant feeling. The internal bleeding is probably not fatal.

Burpee #19: Complete mental failure due to Primary Motor Cortex mutiny. I cannot seem to remember my name, the date or blood type. In the illustration below, those are not tears. That is spinal fluid leaking out my eyes. The internal bleeding, skipped the hematoma stage and launched directly to a full-on firehose of hemoglobin squirts...out my ass.

Final illustration Pain(Yes, I intended that pun): Cellular collapse is complete and I'm pretty much a human meat-bag of chunky salsa. My ears are ringing and some sort of sulfuric acid was mixed up in my gut due to all the jumping and shit. I'm certain the hole it burned through my stomach and gi will etch the concrete in my garage. I should have read the Gracie Diet beforehand so that I knew methamphetamines and Pedialite are not to be eaten together.

-Mark

The time to begin

...most things is ten years ago.--Mignon McLaughlin

One week in and I'm holding onto my New Years Resolution of 100 days of Burpees...increasing by 1 everyday...
Right here, in my living room, I did today's eight.
It's not too late to join me! There are no excuses!

-Mark

Gracie Magazine

Wow! The Bat Dojo was graciously acknowledged in the online edition of the Gracie Magazine.

How cool is that???

-Mark

If you want to be happy....

....set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.

- Andrew Carnegie 

If you are not having fun when you train. You're not training. Smile when you enter the mat, and smile when you leave.

See ya!

-Mark

 

One

One burpee today.  Two tomorrow...ad nauseum...

+1 burpees for 100 days.

This is going to be a bitch.

My ankle is still swollen from a few weeks ago. While training with Vernoplata, getting him ready for the NAGA World Championships here in Dallas, I took a bad throw and landed on my ankle. Dorked it up nicely. It's still swollen. Ankle be damned, I'm going to do my burpees.

Today is still day one, join me!

-Mark
p.s. Vernoplata took 2nd in Gi and NoGi. Not bad for a little country dojo, some dedicated training and some sweat.