Day One: 6 Weeks Out

The first day of the camp for the Subleague event in early May was a light one: muscle endurance program (MEP) using tempo and explosive pushups from Joel over at 8Weeks Out. I had tried to do this program last fall, but my shoulder was still too weak from my labrium injury. So far, with the first routine done this afternoon, so good.

I'm doing Berardi/Beaster on Tuesdays and Man Makers on Thursdays, LSD9 on Saturday. The MEP is Sunday and Wednesday, with the final two weeks of the program having a Monday session, as well.

I'll be curious to see how I handle this camp compared to the last one. I definitely felt like I was breaking down after week six of the previous eight week camp. I was doing too much calorie restriction and wasn't getting the hours of sleep I should have. Times were pretty stressful, too, off the mat. And I can't help but think that contributed to the general malaise of late February.

But with spring in the air and fortune having at least reversion to the mean on its side, I'm thinking I can have a good run through the middle of the year.

I'm trying to fix the conditioning to the type of event Subleague will be (no gi, submission only, 4 minute matches). A combination of explosiveness (power and power endurance) and strategy are what will be needed to prevail. I have a four minute jiu jitsu Tabata that I may add to Saturdays before the LSD9 to get a feel of what that four minutes might feel like. With regard to strategy, I have my half guard for the bottom, and will spend the next six month focusing on taking the back.

As much as I want to improve my ability to take the back from half guard, there are a few other positions I want to master, as well. I'm liking, for example, the Rickson move that Saulo shows in his book (103-105) as "Closed Guard Overwrap" and "Overwrap to Back". I think both "rooms" go well with the Rap Star and half guard I've been working on.

I'm slowly working this cold off. Monday will probably be my first day back in two weeks. I've missed about 5 classes, but there's a pretty good chance that I can make up that time - and then some - in April during my 6 Weeks Out. One goal for 2009 is to average 15 classes a month - including seminars and competition/tournaments - which is 180 classes a year. So far I've got 14 for January, 13 for February and, hopefully, at least 11 for March. A big April (17-18) will go a long way toward my number.

I also want to do a better job of focusing on using both the move of the day and whatever I am working on for competition. In the same way that Berardi talks about meals as "feeding opportunities", I need to make sure I look at every sparring opportunity as a "continuing education opportunity." At the risk of sounding extreme about it, if I'm not working on something, I'm working toward nothing.