Martial Arts Oldies

Martial Arts Oldies content being transitioned to new website.

2017-07-14T14:11:00.002+10:00

Over the next several months, the content seen on this blog will be transitioned to my new website www.ajwatson.com.au

Most of the posts will be in either the coach or athlete sections. This has been done to bring all aspects of my writing and professions into the one location, making it easier for me to manage.

I have also launched a Patreon page at www.patreon.com/AJWatson.
If you have enjoyed my content please head there and show your support by becoming a patron.

I have two new books to release in the next few months. The first is Overweight to Fighting Weight. This details the system I developed from my time dropping 80kgs and becoming a national champion.

The second is a new fantasy series with a touch of western atmosphere. The entire series is called the Inquisitor Qyr Chronicles, book one being Arson's Canvas.

Keep an eye out for more content to follow on the above sites.

I'll keep this blog available though there will be no more posts here. All future posts will be on the official AJ Watson website or Patreon.

Have a great day.

Planning your schedule to train more

2016-09-19T12:35:00.002+10:00

We all would love to have more time to do the activities we love. Some are blessed with getting paid for what they love but the majority of us are not. There are only so many hours in the week and we can't fill it with everything we love.

The biggest mistake people make is trying to fit in everything and either running out of time, getting stressed or sitting frustrated with the massive pile of tasks and activities to attend. There is no focus and if you are training in spurts you won't get much better if at all.

So how to we combat this? First take a deep breath and relax, then grab something to write on either paper or electronic. You will need to make a list with three columns for Activity, Current Time Spent, and Ideal Time Spent. Leave enough space on the sides for some notes and another column left blank for now.

Write down all the activities you are currently doing and how much time you currently spend doing them. This inclues work, sleep, time with family, training, watching TV, house work, hobbies, social events and anything else that takes more than a few minutes to achieve. Now fill out how much time you would ideally like to spend on the activities each week. This is YOUR ideal timeframe, don't take into account any external factors. We are aiming to improve your happiness and you can't let others dictate that for you. We will address your external pressures shortly, for now we focus only on you.

You should now have something that looks like this (there are 168 hours in a week):

Activity	Current Time Spent	Ideal Time Spent
Work	38 hours	38 hours
Sleep	60 hours	45 hours
Martial Arts	3 hours	12 hours
Time with Family	5 hours	12 hours
Watching TV	20 hours	18 hours
Gardening	2 hours	3 hours
Video Games	20 hours	20 hours
Home improvement projects	2 hours	5 hours
Hanging with friends	6 hours	10 hours
Social media	10 hours	2 hours
Indoor Cricket	2 hours	3 hours

Already you should be seeing things you can rule out or modify. As a start I recommend investigating your sleeping habits. I sleep anywhere between 35 and 49 hours a week, that is 5 to 7 hours a day. Checkout my three part series on improving sleep starting here. With this aspect sorted out, which should only take a week or two, you should have more time to allocate to your other activities.

I can't help with reducing your work hours, sorry. The unfortunate reality is that we need money to live in this society so we have to put in time to earn it. I'm going to assume a standard 38 hour work week which is what I do. Your lunch time and travel time is on top of that so don't forget to add it into your calculations. I use my 30 minute lunch time each day to read whatever novels I'm immersed in.

I spend about 20 hours at the gym each week either training myself or teaching others. So far I'm up to about 105 hours of my 168 per week. Remember though that you can't fill every waking moment with activity or you'll burn out. You need a buffer which I actually schedule in. I'll continue this thought soon, but for now we do some cutting.

Cutting out the chaff

With your list of activities, what is essential to your life? What MUST you do to maintain your important relationships and finances? Put an asterisk beside them on the table. Everything else can be cut to some extent. For me this is time with my wife and for most of us we can't change our work hours.

Next we are looking for the highly important activities. I mark these with a plus sign. These are things that if I didn't do I would go crazy, be unhappy and will be spending my time looking for ways to do more. For me this is my martial arts training. Without it I would probably go on an Archer-esque rampage (If you don't get that reference go watch every episode of Archer, twice... right now).

I like your hustle, that's why it was so hard to cut you

Now we go through the remainder and mark down with a question mark any activities you really love doing but aren't critical. For me this is video games and watching TV. Both activities feed my love of stories and help me unwind after a busy or difficult day. If I don't do them or do them less I am not going to lose sleep, family or money.

Anything left over can be dropped. Add up the Ideal Time Spent for all the activities you have an asterisk, plus sign or question mark for. If you are under 168 hours great. If not we have a bit more work to do.

Reduce the time spent doing the question mark activities first. To start with reduce them by half. If that reduces them to under 2 hours a week I would suggest they are worth cutting entirely. You want to be brutal here so we fill our time with exactly what is important and makes us happy. If we end up with spare time we can add them back later. I'm sure at this stage you will have a couple that you are hovering over, uncertain as to their importance. Cut those ones for now.

If you are still over 168 hours move to the plus sign activities. Cut their time by a quarter. Unless you were unrealistic or overly optimistic with your ideal timings you should be able to fit everything within the confines of a weely schedule.

Scheduling it all
You will now need a new table, ideally using something like Microsoft Excel so you can alter it easily and add pretty colours for a nice visual reference. Break it into hour long chunks starting from when you are ready to start the day. For example, if you get up at 6:45am and have a shower, start the day at 7am. You should be washed and dressed by then.

There are certain things we can't change the times of. These are things like work hours and scheduled classes for training. These we plot in first. You will find a lot of blank spots after this. These are where you schedule in your other activities. Depending on the task you may need a few hours straight or can get away with an hour here or there. Take this into account when plotting your time in.

Things like reading or watching TV can be done in hourly chunks so slot them in wherever. Video gaming is often difficult to fit in for less than a few hours at a time. This is contingent on the game
but you don't want to get stuck into a schedule that only suits one type. We want to future proof our schedules.

Remember when I stated we want a buffer zone so we are not active for every waking minute. Choose one or two of the question mark activities and use these as your buffer. Anytime you need a break where you simply stare at a wall. Do it in those times. If an important activity crops up like a birthday or doctor's appointment try to schedule it in those times. I can watch TV anytime as I stream it from the Internet. This means the time I schedule for TV is malleable and more important things can take over the slot.

Assuming you still have blank hourly slots you can now add in more time that you cut out before. Be very picky here however. Hobbies can consume an absurd amount of time. If you only have a few hours left don't add in anything new but increase the time doing existing activities. Don't commit to something unless you can give it the appropriate amount of time.

Sticking with it
So you have your shiny new schedule of how you want to spend the week, every week. Fantastic. Now we need to give it a dose of reality. Show your schedule to your closest loved ones. This is usually the partner in crime I call the missus. This process works best when both parties make a schedule together and can agree ahead of time.

The point you want to make is that doing it this way will make you happy, and show that you have thought of their needs by scheduling time with them. Ask if this is fine with them. We want the truth and you should understand your partner well enough to know when they are disgruntled but go along with it to avoid trouble. Don't allow this otherwise your schedule will cause conflict.

If you only scheduled a few hours with them a week then you need to alter your plans. My wife and I enjoy watching TV together so that time is spent with her. We don't have to watch TV though. We might go out for dinner or play board games. This is why that time is malleable. We can be spontaneous while having the time already scheduled in.

Once you are both happy, stick it on your fridge. Put reminders in your phones or whatever it takes to keep you on task. If someone asks you to pick up another activity with them you now have the knowledge on if you have time for it. Can you spend an extra three hours a week coaching your kid's soccer team? Is it important to you or do you think you can't give it the commitment it deserves? If not then say no. If it is important you have a method to reduce other activities and alter the schedule.

People will be far more impressed that you admit you can't give it the requisite attention and decline the offer, than agreeing and phoning it in.

Overlap areas where you can. I watch TV while preparing and eating dinner. When a video game is loading I check social media. Be creative but don't mix anything that requires too much thinking. It is too distracting and neither task will be done efficiently or effectively. This is why driving and checking your phone simultaneously is illegal.

Conclusion
With a little time you can figure out what is important to you, what you are going through the motions of, and reduce the clutter in your life. Below is how much time I schedule in for all my activities. There is no reason you can't do it too.

Activity	Current Time Spent
Sleep	49 hours
Work (+travel and reading at lunch)	43 hours
Martial Arts	21 hours
Video Gaming	15 hours
Time with Family/TV	13 hours
Writing (novels, blogs etc)	12 hours
Hanging with friends	10 hours
Buffer time (meals, chores etc)	3 hours
Appointments (Physio etc)	2 hours

As you can see sleep takes up the most time. I would gladly relinquish sleep for more time to do stuff. If you know of a way to sleep for 1 hour a week and not kill yourself please let me know. I'll pay you for solid proof. On days that I wake up a bit earlier I can add in a few hours of writing, gaming or TV which means I either accomplish more or have buffer time when they are actually scheduled.

As always ask any questions in the comments and please share your own experiences.

Choosing the right competition

2016-08-16T15:21:00.002+10:00

Just because someone runs a competition in your sport it doesn't mean you should attend. There are several factors you should investigate prior to signing up. Things like competitor health and safety are generally regulated but it doesn't hurt to confirm first aid is available from a competent practitioner.

For Brazilian Jiu Jitsu comps there are a number of factors to confirm before handing over any registration fees.
Rule System
Knowing the rules and penalties is critical to competition. Without going into rule details, there are two main types: points based and submission only.

Points based means certain moves and positions are awarded a number of points and at the end of the match if there is no submission victory the highest points wins. It was designed to ensure a victor however these comps tend to attract fighters that train only to score points and not finish the fight.

I've had many an opponent try to maintain one position without advancing or attempting a submission, simply because they had a few more points. There is usually a penalty system in place for stalling in this manner; however penalties only apply if the points are even at the end of the match.

Submission only means that the only way to win is to force your opponent to submit. This promotes more technical matches but often results in a draw. Stalling is virtually eliminated except in cases where a fighter is attempting to recover energy.

Some competitions try to combine the two, such as submission only to start however points are scored only in the last minute or two. Several variations are in place as new competitions start and they want to differentiate themselves from everyone else. They have their place but one or the other will resonate with your fight style.

Personally I prefer submission only as there is no doubt who won.

Format
The main format types are elimination and round robin.

Elimination means that if you lose a single match your day is over. It creates a quicker bracket and can cater to larger participant numbers. However early elimination generally means the participants go home after their loss. This generally translates to a more serious atmosphere with minimal interaction between fighters. These are usually a points based rule system.

Round robin has smaller groups, usually of five competitors that must battle each other. This provides four guaranteed matches and the overall winner is the one with the most victories. This provides more of a learning experience and all the ones I have been to offer more social interaction once the bouts are completed. I've found I enjoy these comps far more than elimination. These are usually a submission only rule system.

Cost, Location and Organisation
The costs should also be considered. This includes the cost of entry, any organisation membership costs, travel to and from the venue, accommodation, food and several other small items that add up. You may also need to take time off work to attend.

The organisation running the event is often overlooked but shouldn't be. Which of these events would you prefer to compete at?

An event that is known for running behind schedule of at least an hour. Have multiple mats available but only half of them with matches occurring. Officials are rude and too busy to provide answers to the athletes for things as simple as "do I have another match?" Have a first aid officer that is difficult to locate. Induces undue stress at not finding information you need which challenges focus on the match. Costs are about $100 to enter plus a $30 yearly membership and you have to pay for all day parking.
An event that starts matches within 15 minutes of their scheduled time, has all mats running efficiently and with officials that go out of their way to ease competitors concerns and answer questions. First aid officers are clearly designated and in clear view. Invites a laid back pressure free environment but still maintains safety. Costs are about $90 to enter with no yearly fees and offer some free parking at the venue.

Both of these organisations currently operate in Australia, though I won't name them here. Any organisation that resembles point 1 should immediately look at itself and make improvements before the next event. Unless an organisation listens to its feedback and makes appropriate changes that its competitors want, they are doomed to fail.

High cost of entry makes it hard for everyone to compete. I would love to compete every couple months but due to costs and poorly managed events I can't or won't do that.

I encourage you to voice your opinions and don't accept poorly managed events. It may mean you compete less but you eliminate unnecessary stress and can get back to training. You want to look forward to competition after all.

Divisions
As an older athlete it is better to stick within your age group. A variation of 5 to 8 years is fine but as you get older the difference becomes substantial. The pace can't be maintained as you age and injuries are more common when trying to keep up with much younger opponents. This is why you don't generally see a 50 year old matched with a 20 year old.

Masters only competitions (30+) are becoming more common and I recommend entering them. Apart from having age appropriate opponents, they are generally friendlier and I've increased my social network considerably as a result.

Stick within 10kgs of your weight so you are not stressed by the disadvantage. I've had to fight guys 30+kgs heavier. Trust me when I say it isn't worth the risk of injury just to get a match. If the event puts you into a higher weight class due to lack of numbers then really consider your options. I'd rather drop an age category than go up a weight class. Don't be afraid to ask for a refund.

Sponsorship

Shameless plug for Rocktape Australia

If you are already sponsored or wish to attract companies you also need to think about the exposure the comps will give them. Only entering interclub comps in the one city isn't going to provide enough exposure. Be prepared to travel interstate and internationally. If you do it right your sponsors can help
with the travel costs.

Summary tl;dr
The option between a points system and submission only is what generally differs between comps. Elimination vs round robin is closely tied to these as well. Choose the option you prefer. For me that is submission only round robin.

Take note of all associated costs and ensure the organisation running the event knows what they are doing. A poorly run event increases stress and you won't perform at your best.

Stick within 10kg of your weight class, especially as you get older. As much as possible, keep opponents less than 8 years your junior.

If you are fortunate enough to have a sponsor ensure your obligations to them are met.

I want to hear all about your competition experiences, good or bad. Please tell me your tales in the comments.

First 48 hours after an injury

2016-07-01T09:42:00.001+10:00

I am often asked how I handle injuries immediately after they occur. What I mean by injury here is any abnormal motion that results in lasting pain, bruising, muscle spasms and the like. If you are injured enough to warrant visiting the emergency room then follow your doctor's advice. First-aid people at your gym will be able to assist you while waiting for the ambulance in these cases.

The following is for the other times, whether you can continue the session after a 10 minute rest, or you are forced to the sidelines for a week or so.
The first thing you should do is strap on some ice. Applying cold to the area of pain reduces swelling. Having a cold pack applied for 20 minutes every hour for the rest of the day, then every 2 hours over the next day will greatly increase your healing and get you back into training sooner.

Ensure you don't place ice directly onto the skin as it can cause damage akin to frostbite if left too long. I recommend having an instant ice pack in your sports bag. These are inert until broken or punched and will last for the first treatment. Once you get home some frozen peas in a freezer bag, wrapped in a tea towel, should see you through.

Muscle Strains
These are generally from hyper-extending something like your neck or elbow. One great way to treat the injury but remain active is to apply a cold spray or roll-on while the area is in a stretch. Assume the right side of your neck is strained. Tilt your head to the left so the strained area is stretched. This may cause momentary discomfort. You then spray or roll the cold-in-a-bottle down the side three times. Straighten your head and you should feel instant relief. It may not remove the pain entirely but it will lessen it significantly.

You can get sprays from the supermarket however they can over-spray and get into your lungs. No harm but its unpleasant. That's one reason I like Rocksauce Chill. It's a roll on so there is no risk of over-spray, and it easily fits into your gym bag.

Bruising and Corkies
For minor bruising you don't need to worry too much, and heparinoid cream from the chemist will handle them. This is for major bruising such as from corkies, and hard impacts. For large bruises we need to promote blood flow away from the impact area and into the lymphatic system. The easiest way to do this is with kinesio tape. With two pieces of tape cut into an octopus you can create an overlap. This lifts the skin slightly so there is a little extra space for blood flow. Ice can be applied above the tape. I recommend using Rocktape as its adhesive is stronger than other brands and generally remains adhered far longer, even during high sports activity.

Kinesio tape is useful for a multitude of aches and pains, far to many to list here. You can check out the videos from Rocktape here for loads of applications. While you can apply it yourself it's generally better to have someone trained in kinesio taping to apply it. We are lucky to have six guys at the gym trained in this (myself included), and our sports physiologist/strength and conditioning coach is a qualified taping instructor. If you want help finding a training course or practitioner in your area please ask me in the comments.

Another useful tool
This one is for those that are prone to injury or just want to have the best tools to get back into training ASAP. Red LED light therapy has a wealth of scientific studies backing its efficacy. You shine this light on the area of pain right against the skin. A 30 second to 2 minute burst several times throughout the day will greatly assist in the healing process.

You can get these devices cheaply however their effectiveness can be dubious. That is why I recommend spending a little extra for a quality product. I have a Tendlite which is one of the best on the market. You can get it from Amazon or direct from the link above. At full price it's just under $300 but is well worth it. They often have sales with up to 30% off which is an even greater bargain. They have awesome customer service as well.

Summary
If you only take in one thing from this article, let it be the use of ice for 20 minutes every hour or two over the first 48 hours. That alone will help speed your recovery.

A cold spray or roll-on, such as Rocksauce Chill, aids niggling aches to get you back into the mix quickly.

Kinesio tape, such as Rocktape, aids clearing large bruises and many other aches including minor ligament tears (I'm currently using Rocktape for this and can train as normal).

A Red LED light device, such as the Tendlite, helps extensively with many pains.

All of these are backed by science and multiple studies. With these you can manage your own recovery. Always consult your medical professionals when the above doesn't help, if your first aid rep recommends professional consultation, with acute pain and for any serious injuries. In all of these cases ice is still your friend.

As always add your thoughts in the comments and feel free to share your injury stories.

Injury Prevention Overview

2016-06-29T10:37:00.000+10:00

As we get older our bodies tend to degrade quicker and take longer to heal. We can strain muscles by simply getting out of bed, or pinch a nerve doing movements we've done for years without issue.

The best strategy for preventing these kinds of injuries and strains is to improve our flexibility and strength. However, I'm not suggesting that we need to put our ankles behind our heads and bench press twice our body weight. We need to ensure our range of motion is adequate for the movements we expect to perform, and get our muscles stable enough to keep our bodies in the correct position when under strain.
How do we do that? To start with we need to improve the fine points in simple movements. Going for large complex movements such as a squat won't help stabilise weaker muscles. Our bodies are quite sturdy in that if one muscle is weak, other ones will pick up the slack.

The problem with this is each muscle has a function, such as stabilisation, short power bursts, extended strain etc. If a muscle tailored for short power bursts is instead utilised for stabilisation it will wear out. This can also shut it down and other nearby muscles will pick up the strain, complicating the matter further.

Our strength training should begin with the stabilising and smaller muscles so they can handle the strain of heavy complex movements. Think of it as building a house. Getting ripped abs and large biceps is the completed house and façade. To make the house look good it needs the brickwork. For that to be stable we need the frame, which needs the concrete slab for reinforcement. There is no point working on the bricks first and slotting in the frame or slab later. The house structure will fail. This is the same for the body.

With that in mind, the following are some techniques to improve the slab and framework of our bodies.

Grip Strength
Many people will simply work on their forearms to improve their grip, but don't focus on their wrists. You should develop strong wrists to support the building of grip and forearm strength.

Tools for the job:

A hammer or anything of similar length with a weighted end. This is for left and right rotational strength while griping the very end away from the weighted head.
Rehab putty. This is for squeezing resistance in the palm and between each finger. Can also splay fingers out with the putty in a pancake shape.
Thera-Band Flexbar. This is great for forward and backward rotational strength, and extends it use into other arm exercises.
Handmaster Plus. This is a dual use device in that it helps with splaying the fingers apart and squeezing them hard into a fist with resistance.

Tools of the trade

The rehab putty is relatively cheap and you should be able to find it for under $25 delivered. Just ensure you get a low to mid strength putty. It is colour coded and I would recommend getting green or lower to start with. Black is the hardest and may as well be a hockey puck so it won't suit until you are crushing unopened beer cans.

The Thera-Band Flexbar and Handmaster Plus cost a bit extra, though at about $110 delivered to get the Flexbar and three Handmaster Plus at varying resistances, it shouldn't break the bank.

Most of these generally come with exercise instructions. If you have a specific issue or pain consult with your sports physiologist for a tailored program.

Neck Strength
Before being able to stand on your head and perform more advanced acrobatic talents, you need to strengthen your neck. For combat sports, head position is critical and a strong neck helps maintain where you want, instead of your opponent dictating it. So to begin, we use body weight to build the strength required.

One of the best tools to use here is a thick and flat resistance band. You need to ensure it is rated to handle your weight which should be on the box. This is basically a giant rubber band that we anchor to a point slightly above our head height. A weights rack is perfect for this but anything secure and heavier than you will suffice. They should cost under $60 delivered for one made of rubber.

This video shows two of the many exercises you can do with one of these.

Core Strength
The core muscles are the most crucial in any movement you do. They keep your posture, stabilise your position and transfer energy for limb movement. Without a strong core you won't be able to wrestle, tackle, tumble, strike or even run effectively.

At a base level, we can do most core training with our own body weight so don't need any special tools. A Swiss ball however will dramatically increase your potential so I do recommend gaining access to one. Just ensure you have plenty of room and won't crash into something hard if you lose balance and fall off. They will cost between $25 and $90 depending on where you get them, the durability of the material and the brand. Keep safety in mind and get anti-burst from a reputable brand and seller.

These balls are rated for maximum weight so ensure you get one that suits you. Once you advance you may also add weights so ensure you get something at least triple your current body weight. Anti-burst is usually rated to 500kg but if it isn't mentioned on the box, it is likely only rated between 100kg and 200kg which won't suit anyone but children and flyweight fighters.

Your height will indicate the size required. The following is a guideline.

Under 152cm, ball size 45cm
Between 152cm and 170cm, ball size 55cm
Between 171cm and 185cm, ball size 65cm
Over 186cm, ball size 75cm

This video quickly goes through a few example exercises.

Leg Strength
Lastly, I'll cover the legs. There are many issues that can arise in ankles, knees and hips but the most common issue is lacking flexibility in the calves. The majority of people spend time stretching their groin, quads, hamstrings and maybe the IT band. Notice these are all upper leg exercises. What about the lower leg?

Calves are important for ankle support and movement. If you have tight calves the ankle can't reach the full range of motion, which in combat sports can alter technique and reduce power. Tight calves contribute to issues such as the catch-all shin splints, so we need to improve them.

The simplest and most effective method is to use a wedge with a 25-degree angle. Stand on the wedge as high as you can while still maintaining a straight and vertical posture. Feet should be shoulder width apart with heels and toes in perfect alignment running directly forward. Stay in this position for 2 minutes. If you feel you are leaning forward to keep your balance, you are too high on the wedge.

Perform this daily and you'll see an improvement in a short time. As you progress, stand higher on the wedge to continue making gains. You can make this wedge yourself from scrap wood, or purchase it pre-made for around $90, or a plastic one for under $50. I highly recommend building this yourself as its relatively simple and only requires wood, a saw and some screws or nails.

Conclusion
All of these are the basic forms of exercises at the lower level. They are taken from rehab exercises designed to return someone to normal function. They are however great for anyone that is having trouble with body movements or to simply improve their range of motion. The above alone will begin to improve your entire body and are generally safe for all. To progress this further I'd recommend visiting a sports physiologist or rehab centre to cater exercises to your specific needs or injuries.

You can do all the above with equipment that costs under $400 for everything mentioned, and there are cheap alternatives if money is tight. I would recommend getting the right, quality equipment however as the investment in your well-being is worth it.

If you have any suggestions for tools or exercises please tell us in the comments.

Cutting Weight for comp - My Journey

2016-06-25T22:45:00.000+10:00

I have never had to cut weight for competition before. This is in large part due to the fact I was so overweight, that even getting rid of 70kg I was still in the super heavyweight bracket (over 97kg).

This year, I decided I wasn't going to compete until I was under 97kg and thus in a new category. One main reason for this, apart from getting rid of the last few kilos of unnecessary fat, is the fact I was constantly facing opponents with at least 20kg of weight advantage. With my age (almost 40) and chronic back issues, that weight advantage is getting too much. I also wanted a challenge and to prove I can reach a specified weight in a set time limit.
I had intended to start this process three months ago however, the week I was about to start the program set out by my strength and conditioning coach Grant, I sprained a ligament in my back. Seven weeks later when full intensity training was possible, I caught man flu and was out of action for another three weeks.

The golden measure

So instead of having to lose 10kg in 5 months, I now have 7 weeks to do it while still gaining strength. The safe way to lose and keep off fat is dropping 0.5kg per week. So a quick math review shows I have to be a bit more dramatic.

While it's possible to cut 10kg in a week, it's not healthy and will mainly consist of water weight. This might be OK as a once off for MMA fighters that weigh-in 24 hours before the fight, as they have a day to re-hydrate. BJJ competitors weigh-in half an hour before their matches, removing that luxury. So, what can I do?

Given that I have 7 weeks, I still have enough time to change a few things. The main thing is my meal plan. Currently, I stick to something resembling the Weight Watchers plan. I can eat anything I want but in restricted quantities. This has worked for my weight loss until now but I need to step things up and make it strict on myself. So I sought information from my trusted coach and good friend John Campbell, who has been doing this for well over a decade. The following rules are based on his insight.

Rule 1: No cheat days. No sugar. No dairy. No alcohol (not that I drink it anyway).
Rule 2: Only drink pure water. Two litres per day minimum. I can also have tea or black coffee but read here for how I removed caffeine from my life. Coconut water may be added back in closer to the competition assuming my weight is on track.
Rule 3: No starchy carbs (pasta, potatoes, grains etc). These get added back in when training for performance.
Rule 4: Eat three meals a day consisting of a protein source (bacon, fish, eggs, turkey, chicken, coconut/flax/olive oil etc), and pair with carbs in the form of veggies (onions, spinach, tomato, cucumber, kale etc)
Rule 5: Snacks consist of fruit (apple, apricot, banana, berries, coconut, grapes, lemon, mango, orange, pears etc) and raw nuts (not baked, not roasted and not salted). Nuts should only be a handful per day.
Rule 6: Serving sizes are: the size of my hand for protein; one piece of fruit; 2 cups of green veggies (asparagus, broccoli etc) and 3 cups of leafy greens (spinach, kale etc). This is the starting point. If I'm still hungry I'll slowly increase the serving size.
Rule 7: Only eat until I feel full. If there is more on the plate, leave it. Serving size will change based on time of day and exercise levels so may take some time to perfect.
Rule 8: Continue for four perfect weeks.

With these rules to focus on, I have a launch pad for setting goals and understanding my motivation. Coupled with my exercise program of intense cardio, high-rep-low-weight strength exercises and focused BJJ training, I'm confident I can drop the weight while improving my physicality.

I'll update this page with results every week or two, but if you want more frequent posts check out my page on Facebook or #TWBJJComebackTour.

Before shots 24-6-16

For now here are some before photos taken on 24th June. Here's hoping the after shots show an improvement.

Here are a few stats I'll update as I go as well.

24th June
Weight: 107.4kg
Percentage of body fat: 22%
Resting heart rate: 62 bpm

1st July
Weight: 103.2kg
Percentage of body fat: 21%
Resting heart rate: 56 bpm

8th July
Weight: 101.4kg
Percentage of body fat: 20.5%
Resting heart rate: 60 bpm

Its been two weeks and I have lost 6kg. Only a few more to go. I can safely cut 3kg of water weight in the final week before comp and still be strong, however I want to ensure I get there in the next two weeks so I can start building muscle. The diet is making me hungry all the time however I have moved past the point of it bothering me. As a society we eat far too much, going through this made me understand just how little food we actually need, and a small hit of the right carbs gives a massive boost to energy. I'll do another update in a few weeks (stats each week still) as comp time approaches.

15th July
Weight: 99.5kg
Percentage of body fat: 17.3%
Resting heart rate: 64 bpm

This week made some real changes to the body fat percentage. My waist measurement dropped significantly. My goal range is 15-17% so that is almost achieved. Four weeks to go.

22nd July
Weight: 98kg
Percentage of body fat: 15.5%
Resting heart rate: 61 bpm

Almost there. Just to illustrate how ridiculous BMI is, I am currently coming in at 26.8 on that outdated scale meaning I'm overweight. 15% body fat tells a far different story. I'll add some photos next week to compare with the ones above.

30th July
Weight: 96.4kg

After shots 30-7-16

Percentage of body fat: 15.1%

Resting heart rate: 59 bpm

As promised here are the after shots. No more muffin top over my pants and legs are trimming down. I'm starting to show some definition in the abs as well. Feeling faster in training and my gas tank has improved. Just need to maintain this weight for two more weeks for the comp. Dropping it further won't aid me during this competition as I want to be as close to the maximum weight allowance as possible. Perhaps next comp in late October I could drop down to 91kg and be at the top of the next weight division. I'll worry about that after the Aus Cup.

I'll post one more update after the comp to let you know how I did (and show off my shiny new medal).

15th August
So the comp is over and I won the Bronze medal. I was beaten by a very technical fighter that went on to win Gold. I was happy that I didn't make any mistakes but was simply outperformed by a skilled opponent.

I've got plans to compete a few more times this year so check out my Facebook page for details and results.

As promised here is a pic of me and my new medal.

Hopefully I'll see you on the mat soon.

Hit up the comments with your own weight cutting stories, or simply send me your encouragement. I want to hear from you.

Enhancing no-gi training by donning the gi

2016-06-25T18:24:00.000+10:00

The title may seem counter intuitive but stay with me. No-gi jiu jitsu is my preferred method of grappling. The controls in no-gi cross over into gi, into MMA and for self defence.

A lot of gi specific attacks cannot be performed in a real life defensive situation, which is what a lot of people start a martial art for. No-gi has techniques that would be outright dangerous for yourself if done on a concrete walkway, so it has its flaws in pure street defence.

However, the gi can enhance your no-gi and street defence skills because of one simple component: friction.

When training exclusively in no-gi, you find that opponents slip out of a control due to a slick rashie or from sweating. Eventually, you will rely upon this lack of friction to escape an opponent. But what happens in a situation where your opponent traps an arm in a manner that slipping out isn't possible, or on the street where multiple attackers or weapons may trap you?

This is where the gi comes in handy. The friction caused by the woven material of a gi keeps limbs in place. Now that you can't rely on a slippery surface to escape, what do you do to free yourself? In this way the gi makes you think your way around an issue. If I can't move the arm I want to, then what can I move to help free up space and reduce friction so I can extract my trapped limb?

A gi is bulky, retains heat and wears you out quickly. So adding gi training into your no-gi routine will help improve cardio and stamina. It's also a great place to show off your belt.

The reverse is also helpful, that of using no-gi to enhance your gi jiu jitsu. Many gi only students I know have a hard time transitioning to no-gi. Without something to grab onto they lose a large part of their game. This is mainly due to the difference in leverage.

In gi jiu jitsu, it is easy for a novice to grab a sleeve thus trapping an arm. They are controlling the wrist and, due to the limited movement, also have partial control over the elbow, shoulder and chest. In no-gi, only controlling the wrist doesn't necessarily control the entire arm. To illustrate this difference, grab your right wrist with your left hand. Now pull your right arm straight back, aiming to get your wrist to your ribs. Without straining too much you should notice how your right arm moves freely in that direction, and your torso begins to twist as your left arm is pulled around.

Now repeat the process, but this time gather your right sleeve at the wrist so there is no slack inside it. With minimal effort your right arm will be trapped in your garment and the left shouldn't move much. So if you rely only on gi grips for control, when you get to no-gi people will escape easier.

By utilising deep hooks, such as linking arms at the elbow, using the gi you can gain tremendous control through hooks and friction. You only need to use gi grips when it enhances your no-gi control.

Let me repeat that in another way as the point is crucial. There is no need to grab the gi unless it improves your position, tightens control or makes your submission more effective.

This skill alone can take a while to master, so if you are in doubt ask yourself a simple question: could my control be better without using this gi grip?

Jean Jacques Machado and me

If you are unsure, release the grip anyway and try for something else. This is why we train and free roll at the gym. We can experiment with a live partner with realistic resistance. If something doesn't work we try something else. That way when it matters, such as in competition or on the street, we know what works and don't have to try something new.

All good BJJ schools should be teaching control without relying on the gi. Sure there are gi only submissions to try out, and grips to enhance position, however you should be able to take the gi off and be just as effective.

Putting the gi on should be the signal to attack a problem from a different angle. At the gym, allow yourself to get trapped and use your favourite or most successful escape to free yourself. See if it still works with the gi on. Assuming it doesn't, play around with variations until you figure out a new avenue to freedom. Your coach can always help if you get stuck. When you return to no-gi you'll have a new weapon in your arsenal.

Please hit the comments with your own experiences and suggestions when cross training with gi and no-gi.

Product Review- Knee-pads and braces

2016-06-22T09:53:00.002+10:00

Knees are horrid for injuries and if you spend a good amount of time training you will eventually have need for a good knee brace. There are hundreds of different designs but if its a basic sleeve it will only keep your knee warm. There is no need to have them so remove them from your shopping list. The main two items to assist are pads and braces.

Knee Pads
A knee pad is a cushioning implement to protect the knee cap from repeated impact with the ground. It is not a support tool but a preventative one. Knee pads can be worn for all training sessions but the best use is for wrestling classes or any time your knee impacts the ground multiple times.

As with ankle support that I reviewed here, for martial arts we need to ensure there are no scratching surfaces, loose straps or Velcro and free of hard edges. We also need to ensure the pad doesn't prevent movement when the leg is trapped.

I have tried a more bulky knee pad that was perfect for cushioning the knee but once my leg was trapped by my opponent I couldn't escape the hold as the pad caused too much friction. Attempts to extract my limb finally worked however the pad had moved to my ankle. Suffice to say that model was tossed into the reject corner.

When it comes to any equipment to prevent or support injuries you shouldn't skimp on price. That doesn't mean to get the most expensive option, but don't get the cheapest either. I've chosen the Cliff Keen The Wraptor 2.0 Kneepad. You have to buy each one separately so the pair set me back $65 with postage from the U.S. I couldn't find a local retailer that had knee pads that fit all my requirements, if you find one let me know in the comments.

This knee pad fits snugly. I could have gone the next size higher however as I'm in the process of cutting weight it will fit nicely in a few weeks. The tight fit ensured it didn't move around during training. The cushioning of the knee was great. I tested a few hard knee drives into the mat and there was no impact pain or jarring. My partners didn't even notice it when rolling, the Lycra construction made it glide easily between limbs and unnoticeable air-vent holes kept the heat and sweat away.

The only issue I found is there are no grips to pull the pad on in the first place. It isn't a large issue but I did need to roll the edges a little to get a firm grip. Taking it off was easier however. It served its purpose well.

Knee Brace
A knee brace is designed to support an injured knee so you can continue training without hurting yourself further. Not all injuries can be supported in this way. If there is any doubt seek professional advice from your rehab guru regarding your specific injury.

Additionally there are several types of brace that are designed for a particular knee injury. Some better support the patella (knee cap), ones to prevent buckling, others to protect the ACL or help with arthritis. For my specific issue I need patella support as well as support for the lateral collateral ligament (LCL) or simply along the sides of the knee.

For BJJ I needed a brace that wouldn't harm my partner, didn't bunch at the back of the knee and didn't get in the way of any techniques. It had to stay in place with minimal need for adjustment and
is easily cleaned.

After much research I grabbed a Bauerfeind Genutrain. Bauerfeind have a brace for practically all knee issues so you should be able to find one to suit you. This brace mainly supports the patella but has support along the sides to keep everything where it's meant to be.

At $160 delivered the Genutrain isn't cheap but it is well worth the cost. Prior to using it my knee ached simply jogging around the mat at warm up. After putting it on, my knee was pain free for the first time in months. The brace assisted me complete the full class without pain and didn't smell like a public change room afterwards.

This brace is not intended to be used when not in motion. It can feel quite tight when sitting still for more than a few minutes. If you need to pause such as when the coach is showing the next technique just ensure you gently move the leg every minute, and remember to take it off after the session. Driving home with it on can get quite uncomfortable.

Wrap Up
The above pads and braces have worked for me after trying several other types. It's worth spending a little extra for quality items that work for your sport. Think of the cost as an investment in your well being that allows you to train longer without aggravating your injuries. If you've had half as many issues as me you'll agree it is worthwhile.

Hit up the comments with your own experiences with braces and pads, and I'd love to hear if you have tried the above and had success.

Changing the Failure Mindset

2016-05-19T14:36:00.000+10:00

Far too many people allow failure to rule and define them. Society is generally geared towards the idea that if you fail that is the end of it. You move onto something else and likely fail at that too. Perseverance is the key to success. As long as you don't quit you are still in the game and thus have more opportunities to finally succeed.

The amount of skill you have at a given topic takes you about 20% of the way to success. The rest consists of your mental capacity, your drive to succeed.

A good example of this is sticking to your weight loss goals. I'm currently injured and can't train and this particular injury has prevented me from even going to the gym to watch. This is a huge mental issue for me as I spend 6 days a week training, so I have ample untapped energy. I also use my training as an outlet for stress from work and the minutia of life such as bills. Without that outlet I get cranky. When training it is easy to stay focused on my goals. I can eat some of the wrong foods knowing I can burn it off with a hard session. But with being injured I can't do that. It is easy to fill empty time with eating a block of chocolate or a bag of chips. When attempting to drop weight that is a bad thing and a failure.

It is easy to fall into the trap of eating a row of chocolate, realising you failed and thus go back for a second row... and a third. You allow this failure to continue as you tell yourself "I've already failed today so I'll fix it tomorrow and eat right then". This is a mistake.

Train your mind to accept the failure and aim to improve upon it immediately, not tomorrow. You will feel the urge to eat that second row of chocolate but when you do, grab an apple instead. This minor victory not only avoids failing, but it already starts the road to success for tomorrow several hours early. You have a head start, and tomorrow will be easier to maintain momentum from your first step today.

Attitude
Your attitude is one of the most important things to help you succeed. You need to be persistent, willing to take action, have a desire to learn and grow, be adaptable and curious. Without the right attitude you will fail to achieve your goals.

Take competition as an example. You train hard and perform well, but for one reason or another you lose on the day. Your attitude will determine how this affects you. A poor attitude will see you moping, may make you want to change everything in your training schedule and you may even question the skills of your coach. A good attitude will see this loss for what it actually is: a blueprint
for areas you need to work on.

Your opponent has given you training gold in the form of areas you are lacking or can improve upon. Training at the gym with friends can only go so far. Full competition with a stranger doing everything they can to win pressure tests your skills. Even victory is a learning experience. Guaranteed there are several areas your coach saw where you could have done better. That is what you will spend the next sessions tightening up.

There are a lot of things to help improve your attitude, but let's stick with the basics. Confidence is massive and can't be underestimated in your path to success. Gaining confidence starts with repetition. If you can perform the techniques with your eyes closed and without thinking, then you can be confident in utilising them when under pressure. Your coach should be setting times to pressure test them along the way, so by the time competition arrives you know you have ample skills to rely on.

Steer clear of negative people. Too many people will keep you down with statements like "you're too old for a sports career" or "you won't make money from that". Get rid of them, or simply ignore their advice. If they are family, tell them your reasons for doing the activity and inform them you want their support. If they can't do that then ask them to stay silent. Many people want to give advice but are not successful themselves. Why would you take advice from someone that doesn't know how to get the results you desire?

Focus
Directing your focus is critical in success. Putting time, energy and attention towards building your skills, and mitigating anything that will hold it back is key. First, look for opportunities where others see obstacles. If you can't push through an obstacle, look for ways around it.

Second, focus on the goal you want to accomplish and don't let negative advice deter you. Treat your focus as a laser, burning away anything negative that gets in its path.

Third, mitigate risks and overcome your own fears. Focusing on your goals, finding obstacles and understanding risks to success will place you in a strong position. This in turn removes any fear as you have developed strategies to overcome anything that gets in your way.

My age may be seen as a road block to some, but I see it as an opportunity to prove my worth. As a senior student at the gym I am in a position to guide younger people towards their goals. As such I take the time to learn how to teach, how to lead, how to improve myself in all areas and share it with others. I may not become a pro fighter, but I can walk the path towards it and make it easier for others to follow, and eventually overtake me. My focus is to be the best version of me I can be, and to guide my team mates to be the best version of themselves they can. Nothing will get in the way of that.

Even if I diverge off the path with a pizza break, understanding how I get back to the path is a formula others can follow.

Beliefs
This is belief in yourself, in your coach, in your team mates, in the path you have chosen and in your ability to succeed.

Without believing in yourself you will second guess everything you do. Many people look at their team mates that might be further along the path and think they are under-performing or could never catch up. This is focusing on the wrong thing, and I guarantee that other person has had similar thoughts. So what if they are out performing you? How does that impact your training or your goals?

As new people come into the gym I generally share in teaching them the basics. I assist the head coach guide them into the correct training mindset and help with perfecting techniques. There have been a few that made exponential gains and began catching my progress quite quickly. I see that as something awesome. I want people to catch me, that means I know where my holes are and can fix them before it becomes a problem. If I have a bad day and someone gets the better of me at the gym, great. They showed me I lacked focus, or allowed something to get in my way.

I can think this way because I believe in my own abilities and am secure in my skills. I know my coach believes in me. I remain respected at the gym and take that seriously. Without personal belief I couldn't do these things and I wouldn't have even be able to start this blog.

Summary (TL;DR)
Mental ability is more important than any skills you may have in a chosen field. Having a positive attitude, laser focus and belief in yourself are the most important aspects you can have, not only in sports but in all areas of life.

Once you have the mental aspects sorted, you will have the confidence and drive to ramp up your skills, and reach far greater heights that you initially thought possible. Tune your goals into building the 80% of what's required to succeed, and the rest will follow.

Kill the BMI fairy

2016-04-12T13:41:00.002+10:00

For as long as I can remember, I've heard countless people claim they want to shed the kilos so they can reach their ideal weight as prescribed by the body mass index. This calculation is garbage, offers zero benefit and in certain situations can be dangerous to your health.

Before I get into the specifics I want to highlight some examples. Most of you know Connor McGregor and would agree he is quite shredded with minimal fat. At 1.75m, 77kg and 27 years old his BMI is 25 which according to this scale is overweight.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has maintained a fairly constant weight throughout most of his career, somewhere between 107kg and 120kg. At 1.88m he has a BMI of 32, making him obese under this
measurement.

Chris Pratt AKA StarLord (1.88m, 101kg, 36 years) has a BMI of 28 which is considered overweight and quite close to obese. The list can go on all day but just from the above you can see how BMI is pointless for figuring out your "ideal weight".

The Explanation
BMI was created by mathematician Adolphe Quetelet sometime around 1850. That fact should point you towards two issues. First the creator is not a medical doctor nor have any qualifications to do with the body. He was a brilliant mathematician and a founder of statistics and sociology. Second it was created well over a century ago, when they didn't understand the human body as well as we do now. It was meant to help the government quickly gauge the general obesity of the population to provide appropriate resources.

Let's look at the formula for BMI to see if we can find any issues.

Weight in kg divided by (height in metres times height in metres).

Apart from the logical issue with multiplying the height by itself, there are many key values missing. The most important would be waist size as that is where the majority of people store their excess weight.

There is no inclusion of bone, fat and muscle proportions. Bone is denser than muscle, which in turn is denser than fat. So if you have strong bones, a nice muscle tone and low fat you will have a high BMI. This is why the above examples are so high even though they are fit and healthy.

Logically speaking the formula is wrong. Quetelet had data for obese people. He needed a formula that ensured those people had a result that was high. So while the formula matched the data, the
reverse didn't work out. To understand this, assume I told you I bought a car. Logically you can conclude that it has wheels. But going the other way, if I told you I bought something with wheels you need more data to conclude what it is. I could have purchased a bike, a pram, a moveable filing cabinet or even a fridge.

The biggest thing to remember is that this was created to get an average person, meaning it wasn't meant to apply to an individual, but to a large group. Again this is useful for governments but not someone wanting to determine their target for fitness and weight loss. You don't have 2.4 children and wouldn't struggle to get that 0.4 of a child, but that is exactly what people are trying to do with BMI.

The Alternative
So what can we use to figure out our ideal body? We need something that can apply to individuals, is based off measuring the locations where fat is primarily stored and accounts for bone and muscle mass. The best thing for this is your percentage of body fat.

Assume you are female, 1.7m tall, 80kg and have 10% body fat. That means you have 8kg of fat and 72kg of lean body mass, meaning your bones, organs, muscles, blood, hair etc. Now your BMI would be 27.5 signalling being overweight. To get you into the healthy normal, BMI claims you need to be between 20 and 25. To get there you would need to drop 10 to 20 kg. So from the above example you will need to drop at least 2kg more than the total fat in your body. So BMI wants this person to lose lean body mass. This is beyond dangerous and may create eating disorders. As someone that had a loved one go through this I can attest to its seriousness. Thankfully its under control now.

To understand what is an ideal body fat percentage, take a look at this table.

Essential fat is the minimum amount the body needs to simply function. Women need a higher percentage due to the ability to get pregnant. Again, the example person is already dangerously low on body fat so they can't drop anything more. Putting some fat on might actually be healthy.

Athletes in this context are the professionals. Most people that just want general fitness or an amateur sports career would fit into the Fitness category. Acceptable is for the average Joe that just wants to be healthy. Anything above this is Obese. A good goal for the majority is to be towards the lower end of the Acceptable range. Those training alongside me at Infinite MMA in Ballarat should strive for somewhere between Athletes and Fitness.

So now we have the core principles, how do we work it out. There are several calculations for this but they all share the same idea. Measure the body locations where excess fat is primarily stored, and plug it into a formula.

There are three main ways to do this. The most accurate method is via water immersion in a very expensive instrument. Basically sensors measure the amount of water you displace when floating in a tank. If you can afford this best of luck to you, but there are simpler and cheaper methods. They aren't as accurate but they are close enough for our purposes.

The next method is to pinch the fat to take measurements with callipers. You may have heard this referred to as a skin-fold test. Doctors and fitness professionals are the most likely to use this method. It is quite good but generally we have to make an appointment. The callipers can be fairly cheap (around $30 but up to several hundred), however it relies on an exacting placement as well as the exact same pressure applied to the tool every time you measure. It takes training to do it properly, but as it generally takes 7+ measurements it is fairly accurate.

Which leaves us with the final version using a measuring tape. This is quite cheap and can be done at home. There are only a few measurements and it gives a good idea of how you are progressing. You only need to do this once every three or four weeks.

The Method
So how do we use this sucker? First we need to take a few measurements, all taken while wearing minimal clothing and in metric.

Your weight and height are the first ones which should be quite simple for you to obtain.
The next ones are your neck and abdomen.
The neck should be measured at the narrowest point, sloping slightly down to the front. This should be taken below the Adam's apple.
The abdomen is measured horizontally around your waist at the navel (belly button) for men, and above the navel for women. As another point of reference for women, you are after the midpoint between the top of your hips, and the lowest rib on the side. This should get the narrowest point for both sexes.
Women also need their hip measurement. Relax the buttocks and stand with feet at shoulder width. This should be the hips at their widest point.

Armed with these values we can calculate the body fat percentage. The equation to do this is a bit complicated, but we don't need to worry about doing the maths. There are thousands of websites and phone apps to do the calculation for you once you have the measurements. If you are interested in the actual formula, here they are (using inches for measurements):

For men: body fat % = 86.010 x log10(abdomen - neck) - 70.041 x log10(height) + 36.76
For women: body fat % = 163.205 x log10(waist + hip - neck) - 97.684 x log10(height) - 78.387

What we are using here is the US Navy Formula. It is considered the most accurate free method that everyone can use. It generally matches a skilled practitioner using callipers to within 1% . It has an error rate of up to 3% which is close enough for normal usage.

You can try this online calculator, or use this Android app to get a few more features. Remember to change the units to metric in the settings. Its generally accepted to take three of every measurement to help rule out any issues with how you took them. Once you have three body fat percentage values, get their average for the final figure (add together and divide by 3).

The Conclusion
As a society, we need to stop thinking about losing weight and instead call it what it really is: losing fat. Using BMI is horrendously wrong as its a calculation for average population meant to assess groups of thousands. Using the body fat percentage method is a far better way to understand your current position and where you are aiming.

Remember to set goals to achieve success. A good big picture goal would be to have a body fat percentage in the Fitness or Athletes ranges, but be specific with an actual percentage.

I recommend having a journal or electronic document to track your progress. You can use the above app to save if you upgrade to the paid version. However there are many reports on every available app that the history can be lost after a serious crash or upgrade. Keeping your own copy with a backup will ensure you don't lose your progress data.

I've created a simple Excel spreadsheet to track progress which also charts the results. Just put your desired body fat percentage at the top and enter the values. The dates are in three week intervals. This way you have a schedule to follow. Download it by clicking here.

Remember that losing weight doesn't necessarily mean losing body fat. You may gain 5kg of muscle but lose 7cm around the waist, which should reduce your body fat percentage by several points.

Please feel free to share your body fat percentages, and what your fat loss goals are, in the comments.

Identify and utilise your weaknesses

2016-04-05T11:39:00.001+10:00

Everyone has the desire to become more. Some people dream of fortune or fame, others want a sporting career, a healthy body, love, happiness and every other ideal state in existence. Where they usually fail is in the mental conditioning required to achieve their dreams.

The majority of people are lazy, myself included. If I can find an easier way to do something I will. I have procrastinated with the best and talked my way out of doing something I didn't want to. I'm sure you have done similar in your life. That doesn't mean you won't achieve anything.

What will prevent you from your goals, desires and dreams is failing to train your mental capabilities. One of the first and arguably most important skills to tackle this is the ability to discern your weakness and turn it into something positive.

Many of you would have heard something like this before. I've heard it many times and it always annoyed me for the simple fact that those spouting it couldn't explain how, or used it as a line to sell you something. I refuse to be clumped into either set, and thus will share my weaknesses and how I use them for my goals or as motivation.

Things I cannot change
There are many things that can weaken our mental toughness, and they take several forms. Things like genetics, our upbringing, environment and education are out of our control entirely, or for almost two decades since birth.

Genetics may interfere with your goals, not only in your body but also in your mental disposition. We can't change being born with a physical defect or simply a predisposition to certain ailments. We hear about natural athletes, but what about the other end of the spectrum? The human body can be trained to a certain extent but if your genetics are not built around athleticism then you will struggle to reach the pinnacle of any sport. That doesn't me we shouldn't try to improve, we just need to understand that their is an upper limit to our physical abilities. This is called Physical Intelligence (PI).

You can't change your genetics...yet

PI includes co-ordination, reflexes, balance, proprioception etc but also involves understanding when you are hungry, thirsty, tired or in pain. These are very difficult to train and improve. This is the same for your IQ. Training can improve IQ a few points but not in any significant manner.

Our childhood, and again genetics, will alter our mind. There are a large number of psychological conditions that we can be born with and can't alter. They are simply how our brain functions, how we remember, how we learn.

So rather than worrying about all of that, we simply must understand we can't change it and figure out how to get around our issues or use them to our advantage.

I have a mild case of OCD, mixed with some "healthy" paranoia. They come in a few forms but one main example is I assume there are millions of strangers that have no problem breaking into my house and stealing my stuff. In fact they are prowling the street now scoping out my house for weak points. I do my best to make my home a much less ideal target. That in itself is good home security but this is where my OCD kicks in.

Before I go to bed I have to ensure all the doors and windows are locked. I may already know they are locked, generally because I checked them a few minutes ago or watched my wife lock them. Each external door has two locks, eg deadbolt and the normal handle. I have to confirm each of them actually locks before I can trust they are sealed. I understand this is ridiculous as I've tested each lock hundreds of times, but my compulsion makes me do it anyway.

Almost there, now to sort by size.

This continues into things I carry around. Even when sitting at my work desk or driving, I have to check that my phone, wallet and keys are still on me. How often I do this depends on where I am and if I can feel them. I know how much they weigh down my clothing and if that feeling is off I need to check again. When playing games with dice, I have to position all of them so their highest value is topmost. I put pencils and pens in alignment, straighten pictures so they are level. I can control it to some extent, but looking at a crooked picture at the doctor's office annoys the crap out of me.

So how does this relate? Instead of worrying about my paranoid OCD, I use it in my martial arts training. I allow it to take place at the gym by ensuring all repetitions are done as perfectly as possible. I check my body position every step of they way so I understand how it feels when correct. So when it feels off I know I need to adjust. Even when I'm being lazy I aim to be technical.

If a training partner catches me in a precarious position I will allow it to happen repeatedly so I can work out all the variables to prevent it. Much like my home security, I make that position so undesirable to my opponent he will abandon thoughts of attempting it.

My inherent laziness is an asset here too. I will spend hours sitting on my butt researching so I can save physical exertion at a later date. After finding the hole in my game I will ensure I get to it as often as possible in free rolling. In this way I have a good idea on how the roll will progress, meaning I don't have to think too hard. I work on a small area and ensure I understand all vectors such as multiple attacks and escapes, then ensure I can do them on people with the same or better experience than me. This may sound like a lot of work, but my laziness is in physical exertion. Training like this is not physically taxing so it works in well.

Good old dependable Homer

Knowing I'm lazy is key to ensuring I train at maximum capacity when required. I know I need an external stimulus to push me harder. This comes in the form of my coach John, and a few other students I trust. If I train alone I won't push those last two reps in weights, or push for another few seconds of cardio. With someone I respect pushing me, I will go beyond my limits which is where you make gains. Other students drive me to work hard as I want to be a good training partner for them, and set an example as a senior student.

These aspects are important to me so I work at improving myself. I am introverted and shy, and work damn hard to be sociable. I could write a text book about all the thoughts and mental hurdles I jump every time I meet someone new. I can be seen as withdrawn and hard to know. Once I break through the social barrier and become comfortable with someone, my issues disappear as that person has proven their friendship. Being a senior student means I have an obligation to be approachable and instruct others. I take that seriously and thus work on my issues daily.

Again everything comes back to understanding how you behave or where you are less than ideal. Armed with knowledge, you can make battle plans to compensate. This is why I read a lot. I devour knowledge and if I don't understand something I research the crap out of it until I can explain it to an idiot, and can carry a conversation with an expert. In this way I turn my weakness towards positive outcomes.

Things I can change

It'll hold... I think.

As a society we tend to highlight our own strengths and hide our weaknesses, even to ourselves. This is detrimental to making improvements. If you can bench press a car you'll brag about it, but if you can't bend over and touch your toes you generally gloss over that fact. Improving your strengths is good, but it shouldn't be the focus of your training. Instead we need to train our weak areas as much as possible, and do so in a way that compliments our strengths.

As an example, I have powerful kicks, especially my rear-leg front-kick. I have burst a kick shield with it and when I hit I can end a fight. However actually landing the kick when sparring is problematic. My opponents can avoid the kick or block it. If I only work on improving my kicks I am not going to fix the issue. I need to look at why I can't land my power strikes.

When evaluating fight videos and how you train, you can generally figure out where you are going wrong. If not, your coach will. Sports movement, and body mechanics in general, is a holistic system. If your feet are out of position you can't generate sufficient power. If your head is looking the wrong way you use the incorrect and weaker muscles. Working with your coach, figure out and document your weak areas and set goals around improving them.

Continuing the above example, after evaluating my fights with my coach we can see two issues: I don't use the jab often enough; and my foot work is quite poor. In any striking martial art the jab is the most useful tool as it sets up further strikes and entries. Getting that sorted will offer a tremendous boon to my strong kicks as I can change their focus and rhythm. As for footwork, I tended to stay in front of my target and had little sideways movement. Striking is all about getting an angle and attacking when your opponent is not in the ideal position to counter or block. So correct footwork will keep me in base, provide angles for attack, assist in setting up the jab which in turn sets up my strong kicks.

With sufficient work on my weaknesses I can turn them into strengths. Then I look for further weak areas to improve. The following is a list of general weaknesses almost everyone has to some degree. Improving them will aid in whatever sport you do, reduce injuries and improve your general fitness.

Aerobic endurance (ability to sustain large-muscle activity over extended periods)
Agility (ability to rapidly change the body's momentum to another direction)
Balance (maintenance of position while stationary or in motion on a stable or unstable surface)
Flexibility (range of motion a body part can be flexed or extended)
Muscular endurance (ability to repeatedly exert a specific amount of force)
Power (explosive force exerted. Equals strength times speed)
Speed (maximum velocity reached by a body part or the entire body)
Strength (consistent, slow exertion of force over time)

Show off.

Attempt to work on either one major weakness or two weaknesses that work well together. Set your greatest weakness as the primary goal to improve, and have a secondary goal that works with it.

Improving strength and muscular endurance at the same time will be hard. The first needs high weight at low reps, where the second needs the opposite. Flexibility and balance can utilise similar exercises, yoga does this very well.

I hope this helps at least one person. If you are still unsure and want to chat, send me a message or hit the comments. Others, please share your own experiences in the comments.

I wish you all the best of luck in adapting your weaknesses.

Improving your Sleep - Part Three - Evaluation

2016-04-01T12:50:00.000+11:00

We are at the end of the sleep information but the beginning of your journey to improve it. Go back over part one and part two of this topic regularly to remind you of the process.

This article will cover what to record in your tracking journal so you can evaluate where you are and how you're improving. I'll break this into sections to make it easier to understand. Remember your goal in all of this is to improve your sleep quality and sleep less. The first part to tackle is getting quality sleep. If we simply reduce our time sleeping without improving the quality, we will be drowsy and may cause car accidents, increase the likelihood of getting sick and have no energy for our favourite activities such as BJJ.

Before we start, remember that the two biggest things to help here are increasing your light exposure and to exercise daily. Once that is achieved further tweaks can only be made by understanding raw
data that we will collect in our sleep journal.

Evaluate Body Temperature Rhythm
This section gives insight into your circadian rhythm by showing you where you are now so you can make adjustments. So in your journal record the following:

What time do you wake up and do you feel drowsy? If so for how long?
When in the afternoon do you feel pressure to nap i.e. when are you tired in the afternoon?
When do you feel the most energetic during the day?
When do you start to feel drowsy?
When do you feel the most pressure to sleep at night?

This data will give you a guide to your current rhythm and knowledge of when your body temp starts to rise and fall. This is how you can interpret and utilise the data, the numbers below align with the previous list.

If you are ripped from sleep by an alarm and you feel lethargic, your temperature is likely too low and hasn't starting rising. This generally means you need to change when you go to bed by up to 40 minutes. When you stop feeling tired your body temp has risen to normal levels.
This is when your body temp drops and is the ideal time for a 10 to 45 minute nap.
At this point your body temp is at its highest and is the best time for your high intensity exercise.
This is when your body temp starts to drop and prepares you for sleep in an hour or two. As discussed previously this can be delayed by exercise and other techniques.
When the pressure to sleep is at its highest you should head to bed. This is the point your body temp rapidly drops.

This chart is a good reference point for an average person's circadian rhythm.

Sunlight Evaluation
This section is to check how much light you are getting.

How often did you use sunglasses?
When you wake do you instantly get sunlight in your eyes?
How much time did you spend outside: at sunrise? Between noon and 6pm? At sunset?
How much time do you spend indoors?

This data may surprise you in the small amount of sunlight you actually get. Interpreting the data will help you see what needs to change.

Sunglasses should not be used at sunrise and sunset. These times have the lowest UV radiation which is what sunglasses protect us from. Limit your usage as much as possible. The mid-afternoon has the highest UV radiation so sunglasses may be necessary if you are uncomfortable, or live on the equator.
Hitting the snooze button or remaining in bed for a few minutes means this is a definite no. When you wake aim to immediately get up and look out the window for a minute.
We break this up into these timing as sunrise and sunset have up to 10,000 luxes of light, whereas noon to sunset is between 50,000 and 100,000 luxes. If you are getting less than an hour of high intensity light per day you are light deprived. Plan to go outside more or at least get an artificial light box, especially in winter.
Spending time indoors is equivalent to complete darkness for your eyes. The more darkness exposure during the day, the worse your sleep will be. This works hand-in-hand with the previous point but highlights just how much time we spend inside.

Exercise Evaluation

Rather than worrying about the type of exercise, we need to focus on when you do it and the intensity.

What time do you generally exercise and for how long?
How intense are the sessions eg do you sweat, does your heart rate and respiration increase?

This data will help you choose the perfect times to exercise and how intense you should be.

Early morning exercise helps increase our body temperature quicker, so we become more alert. Late evening exercise will prevent our body temp from dropping low enough for a good sleep. The longer we exercise, the more impact it can have on changing our body temperature.
High intensity exercise where we are close to our maximum heart rate and sweating a lake should be avoided in the late evening ie after 9pm-10pm. This will prevent our body temp to drop as low as required for deep sleep. Light exercise, where we go at a steady pace slightly above a warm-up, is OK in the late evening but not as beneficial in the early morning to increase temperature.

Evaluating Other Considerations

Most of these are concerning our habits and determines if they weaken our sleep systems. Other questions help highlight problem areas.

Do you smoke?
How often do you drink alcohol?
Do you drink coffee, tea or other caffeinated beverages?
Do you eat heavy meals 3 to 4 hours prior to sleep?
How much water do you drink per day?
Do you sleep on your stomach?
Do you change your sleeping habits on the weekend?
Do you take sleeping pills or stimulants?
When do you currently go to sleep and wake up?
How long does it take to fall asleep?
Do you wake during the night and can't get back to sleep?
Rate your sleep on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of quality.
Rate your energy levels on a scale of 1 to 10 when you wake up.
Are you stressed?
Do you take daily naps and if so for how long?
How long are you usually awake, remember to subtract any nap time?
Do you use the bedroom as anything other than a place to sleep and have sex?

The majority of these speak for themselves if you have understood the previous two posts. taking note of them in your journal will highlight what you need to cut out. Items 12 and 13 are there as a gauge over time. If you do everything suggested then these numbers should increase.

Things to Remember

Ensure you understand what your body is telling you and don't misinterpret it. Watching TV for a few hours will make you more tired but doesn't necessarily mean you need to sleep. If could simply be from doing nothing.

Your body temp rises and falls as a result of your activities. Working in a job that demands high physical exertion will make you want to sleep when you get home. This is because body temp as been high all day and is now dropping to normal levels. As you should remember a drop in body temp is a signal to sleep. Resist the urge to sleep and wind down so when temp normalises you will become alert again.

If you don't do much exercise and work in an office you will likely feel tired all the time as your body temp drops more often. This means you need less sleep and to move around more.

Everyone needs a different amount of sleep. Age is a factor because melatonin production reduces as we get older.

Make changes gradually. Reducing your sleep by 2 hours will mess you around too much. Change sleep times by 20 to 40 minutes and keep adjusting it forward or backward. The above journal will help track what is working.

One other benefit of a journal is to track your dreams. Writing them down the moment you wake up serves several purposes but there are some main ones relevant to sleep. First you will need light to write anything down which we need as soon as we wake. Second, the longer we do this the more we will remember our dreams. This can be quite fun and you may find yourself wanting to sleep to see where your dreams will take you. This reduces the stress of sleeping so you can actually sleep sooner.

I hope this helped you understand the sleep process and control it to improve your energy, sleep less and improve your sleep quality.

Hit the comments for any questions and to share your experiences.

Improving your Sleep - Part Two - Optimisation

2016-04-01T12:48:00.000+11:00

Welcome back. In part one, I went over the biological mechanics of sleep and the systems that we need to optimise. For part two I'll explore how we can achieve that and fight the pressures of modern life that strain to destroy a deep and recuperating sleep.

We are missing something here however. Starting this process without a clear goal will make things much harder. Taking advice from my goal setting article, I'll specify my Big Picture Goal now and work in the short term and action goals later in this article.

In this case I have three parts to my big picture goal:

Increase my daily energy levels
Ensure the amount of time I sleep is optimal
Improve my sleep quality

I could have written this as a single goal of improving sleep quality, but that is a bit too vague. The above are clear goals that can break down into something measurable, and are easier to tackle in small chunks over time. Before I get to the short term goals I want to provide more detail on problems modern life presents to proper sleep.

Sunlight

As mentioned in part one, sunlight exposure impacts our body temperature and the production of melatonin. High intensity light increases body temp, delays our natural temperature drop and rapidly decreases melatonin levels.

Conversely, a lack of sunlight raises melatonin levels, and drops temperature making us feeling tired. Driving to work in an office building is bad enough, but add in sunglasses to block bright natural light and we really mess with our sleep systems.

Sunglasses block anywhere from 20% to 90% of the sunlight entering our eyes, depending on the model. The main function is to reduce the harmful UV light from reaching our eyes. UV radiation is highest at noon and lowest at sunrise and sunset. Restricting sunglasses to only when you need it around noon will greatly assist your sleep.

I've mentioned more sunlight is required, but not how much is enough. To prevent melatonin secretion we need light somewhere between 50 and 1000 luxes. So let's put that in perspective.

One lux is roughly how much light enters your eyes when sealed in a dark room with a single candle.

At sunrise the light intensity is around 10,000 luxes. At noon it is about 100,000. In an office using fluorescent lights, the intensity is between 200 and 500 luxes.

This may seem like the office lights could suffice, but this intensity reading is taken when looking directly at the light source. I doubt you are looking at the roof all day in the office. The light needs to be strong enough to fill the area, but the light is shared with the entire space. So the amount that hits your eyes is generally less than 5 luxes indoors. This is indistinguishable from complete darkness when it comes to stopping melatonin production.

Another issue is the fact we are never truly without light any more. Many of us watch TV in bed, read eBooks on our tablets or catch up on social media via our phones all before sleep. The light from these devices messes with our internal systems reducing the quality of sleep.

So what can we do to prevent this? The first and most obvious thing is to get more time outside. Leaving the office to eat lunch outside for 30 minutes is a good start but it won't address everything. Thankfully we have technology to help us. There are plenty of artificial-light boxes that pump out 10,000 luxes that easily sit on your desk. Go on eBay and search for "Caribbean Sun light box" or "Philips GoLITE BLU". These are generally used to battle winter depression, which the lack of light is a major cause. They are a good alternative to help get the light your body craves.

While not consuming entertainment at night would be the ultimate method I don't see that as realistic for many people. Instead we can go back to eBay and search for "Uvex S1933X". This is a pair of blue-light blocking glasses to wear a few hours before sleep. Natural light is primarily blue light, which means that blocking it out before bed will simulate darkness while still enjoying TV and eBooks. Again it isn't ideal, but it is a good alternative to help us attain quality sleep.

For computers you can download a free program called f.lux that alters the screen colour and brightness settings based on your location and time. You can get it here for Windows, Mac and Linux. An Android version is coming so it can help on all your devices.

For clocks that remain on all night it's best for them to use red light as it has the least impact on your melatonin production.

Goals for getting more Sunlight

So let's figure out some short term goals for this aspect. My first one would be: Spend the next 2 months changing my habits for obtaining quality light.

For the action goals we simply look above and set them correctly. Here are some suggestions:

Eat lunch outside everyday this week.
Spend at least 30 minutes outside every day this month.
This week don't use sunglasses when driving to and from work.
Obtain a 10,000 lux light box this week and set up on my work desk. Ensure it is turned on everyday for at least 30 minutes or as the operating instructions suggest.
Spend the next two weeks configuring the house for optimal light. This includes installing and enabling f.lux on all PCs, utilising blue-light blocking glasses for at least two hours prior to sleep every day, and changing any clocks and bedside lamps to red-light bulbs. Raise window blinds every morning to let in natural light.

There are more we can add here but the above is a great start. Ensure you track your progress as you go.

Exercise

Many of you reading this blog are already getting exercise from martial arts. If not then now is the time to start. Apart of the multitude of health benefits, exercise greatly helps our sleep. It raises your body temperature quickly, and sets a higher peak. Doing this makes for a longer lasting and deeper drop in temperature at the right time so you can sleep peacefully. Exercise also reduces stress, which is another sleep killer.

My job entails dealing with people of various levels of computer literacy. As an expert in that field it can be quite maddening when repeating common and simple instructions to dozens of people that I think should know better. I also have a mean streak and when I get angry I want to break something. I have often gone to training wanting to rip someone's head off with my teeth, but after 20 minutes of exercise those thoughts evaporate. By the end I'm completely calm. Martial arts has a major impact on my life in areas I couldn't fathom before starting it. I can't promote it enough. If you haven't already, get into it ASAP.

For the purposes of better sleep the best time to exercise is in the morning when your body temperature is climbing. Exercise will make this happen quicker and get you more awake and energised for the day. Often this means getting up before 6am so you can get to work on time, but if you are spending less time sleeping and getting quality sleep, this shouldn't be an issue. Even 5 minutes of skipping each morning will make a difference.

It may take a few months to get to that point however. So the next best time is in the early evening when you are at your highest temp. This is generally around 7pm. Just ensure you avoid exercise three hours prior to going to sleep, otherwise your temp will still be rising and sleep will be elusive.

If you still feel like you want to skip exercise, ask yourself this question: Assuming you increase your sleep quality and gain more energy, what is the point if you are not utilising it?

Goals for Exercising

This is fairly simple for a short term goal. Increase my activity levels over the next month.

The beauty of exercise action goals is they are highly measurable and should almost write themselves. A few examples are:

Use the skipping rope for 5 minutes every morning before going to work every day this week.
Do a set of 10 burpees and 20 crunches at least four times this week.
Spend 10 minutes after every class this week working on footwork drills.
Complete a beep test up to level 5 twice this week.

These are limited only by your current fitness levels and skill, both of which can be improved.

Other considerations

I mentioned in part one that the body has a natural temperature slump in the afternoon. That is the perfect time for a nap. We need to be careful here however. It takes about 45 minutes to reach deep sleep so keeping the nap under that keeps you in stage 2. Even 10 minutes will help recharge the batteries. You should be able to convince your manager to nap for 10 to 15 minutes so you can improve afternoon productivity.

The weekend is where a lot of people go wrong. You can never "catch up" on sleep as only the first three or four hours comprise of deep sleep. After that you will mainly be in REM sleep which doesn't rejuvenate you. Keep to the same routine as during the week, otherwise you won't get a smooth cycle and will remain sleep deprived.

We want to wake up at the end of a sleep cycle, ideally during the REM stage. Remember that REM sleep is the closest brain wave activity as when we are awake. If you feel groggy or tied when you wake, try going to bed 20 to 40 minutes earlier or later. This will take some trial and error to pinpoint the sweet spot. We might not control when we need to wake for work, but we can control when we go to bed.

Ensure our rising and sleeping times are regular. If your sweet spot is to sleep at midnight and wake at 6am then do that every single day forever. There may be times you can't do this such as if you celebrate New Years Day, but we need a normal pattern to keep the correct circadian rhythm.

Drugs are baaad. MMkay.

Avoid caffeine, smoking and alcohol. The first two are for very similar reasons. They both increase your heart and breathing rates. Caffeine increases blood pressure. Smoking produces faster brain waves and a slew of other health issues. Alcohol is the worst offender however as it suppresses the deep and REM sleep stages. Reduced REM sleep generally leads to a REM rebound in the form of intense dreaming or nightmares that weaken your sleep system for days. Alcohol also dehydrates you. While caffeine does have some health benefits it should be taken in moderation and nowhere near bedtime. It takes roughly 6 hours to remove half the caffeine from your system so its best to avoid it at least 8 hours before bed. Alcohol is again OK in moderation. You should quit smoking if you want to improve your sleep and your overall health.

Which brings me to water. By simply existing your body uses about 12 cups of water a day to operate organs. Without sufficient water, your blood clumps and can't carry oxygen to your entire body. This is important during sleep as blood travels from our organs to our muscles; with sluggish clumpy blood that process is impacted. Hydration is key to controlling your body temperature rhythm, which as discussed is the main mechanism in determining how we sleep. To ensure you get enough follow these action goals:

Place a large glass of water (about a pint) on your bedside table ready to drink as soon as you wake every day.
Drink a litre of water by lunch time, and another litre by dinner. If you have a 1 litre water bottle with you, tracking this is easy as it should be empty by lunch which is a perfect time to refill.
Bring a water bottle to every training session and sip it whenever you feel thirsty or have a dry mouth.

Eating "heavy foods", such as ones high in carbs and saturated fats, late at night will negatively impact your sleep. The digestive system slows overnight and if it's full, the energy required to replenish our systems during deep sleep is diverted into digestion reducing the sleep quality. Ideally foods that have calcium, magnesium, vitamin B especially folic acid (B9) will benefit the sleep process, just don't eat too much. Quinoa is a good choice here.

Stress kills

Sleep posture is also a concern if you sleep on your stomach. This position places strain on your organs such as liver and intestines, as well as your neck and back. Sleeping on your side or back is far better, though sleeping on your back can increase snoring.

Stress increases alertness, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration and brain waves. All of this is detrimental to sleep and can cause insomnia. Without going into detail of stress relief, simple daily relaxation techniques will be a huge boon. Stress is also a massive health risk so if you are highly stressed seek professional help.

Summary (tl;dr)
The main points for improving your sleep are:

Get more sunlight
Get more exercise
When possible take an afternoon nap of under 45 minutes
Keep the same sleep routine everyday
Avoid caffeine, smoking and alcohol
Drink plenty of water
Avoid heavy foods in the evening
Don't sleep on your stomach
Reduce stress

The final point to make is to evaluate your sleeping habits and use a journal to record what happens when you make changes. This is especially important in the beginning while you are tweaking the system. My next post will provide further details, however the above goals are a great start.

Please hit the comments with any questions.

Improving your Sleep - Part One - Understanding the mechanics

2016-04-01T12:47:00.001+11:00

Like most people in this age I have struggled with getting a good night sleep. As a kid I always wanted to stay up later, thinking I was missing out on something cool by going to bed early. I would lay awake in bed for hours trying to sleep.

As a teenager I'd sleep in until 1pm on the weekends, usually with a headache, backache and with a bad case of the grumps. Half my weekend was lost to poor slumber and I was never rested.

As an adult I continued with poor sleep, still took hours to fall asleep due in part to my racing mind thinking about everything, and the habit formed over decades.

That was until I decided I'd had enough and began researching the science of sleep and how to improve its quality. This is what I discovered from experts in the field and my own trial and error.
The unfortunate and common knowledge is that caffeine helps to stay awake when sleepy. It has been indoctrinated to the populace and spurs the coffee and energy drink market. What isn't told to consumers is that the wakeful aspect of caffeine only lasts a short time and masks how tired you are rather than fixing the issue. As you consume more it makes you more tired and sluggish, and prevents you from getting better sleep.

Caffeine is a vicious cycle that only plummets you further down the rabbit hole. I've made further comments in this post about the process as part of the Feb 5 update. I strongly encourage you to remove caffeine from your diet if you truly want better sleep.

This article is going to be to long for a single post. If you wish to skip to the end and just read the recommendations without understanding why it works, please click here. I however recommend reading this in full as through understanding why something happens we are best positioned to take advantage of opportunities and avoid pitfalls.

Quality not Quantity
One of the biggest myths regarding sleep is the thought that you need 8 hours of it per day. Thinking of a good night's sleep in terms of duration is akin to thinking that drinking more dirty water will be better for you. It may quench your immediate thirst but it isn't healthy in the long term.

People only require 4 to 6 hours of sleep per night as long as it is of a good quality. But what does quality sleep look like? To answer that fully I need to run through the process of sleeping.

The Five Stages of Sleep
As the heading suggests there are five different levels of sleeping. Each stage is accompanied by a change in our brain waves. We don't need to understand the process or function of brain waves for these purposes. All we need to understand is that brain waves can be high and more intense, or lower and less intense. If they are higher intensity we fell more awake, when lower we sleep deeper. I'll include the brain wave names so if you're interest you can research them further.

When we have full wakefulness, we are at out peak brain wave intensity. Science has dubbed this as beta brain waves. In this state we can function as normal in whatever activities we choose (you have all chosen BJJ right?).

During stage 1 sleep we go into a lower brain wave state called alpha brain waves, along with the slightly lower theta brain waves. During this stage we are still very much awake. When you zone out or daydream you have hit stage 1 of sleep.

During this stage the body relaxes, our heart rate lowers and we breathe slower. The mind wafts in a state of relaxing creativity. Generally when we get a good massage we slip into this stage, which is just one reason of many why we feel better afterward.

Stage 2 sleep is when our brain waves incorporate two types called sleep spindles and K-complexes. Both of these aid in forming memories, along with other important functions such as learning what nerves control specific muscles. Changes in the frequency of K-complexes are often seen in people with restless legs or sleep apnoea. This stage is thought in some circles to represent the brain turning itself off or going into low power mode.

We can be easily woken from this state, and is the most common time to hear someone utter "I'm awake". I associate this stage with late night TV watching. You nod off but can still hear parts of the show you are viewing. You may miss 10 minutes before being woken by a sudden increase in volume like an explosion, or your head dropping off your supporting arm.

Stages 3 and 4 are closely related and in many sources they are combined. Our brains go into a period of very low activity called delta brain waves. The main difference in these two stages is the frequency of occurrence, stage 3 has delta waves above 20% of the time, and stage 4 above 50%.

This is when we are officially in deep sleep. During this time blood pressure, heart rate and respiration are at their lowest. Blood vessels dilate and the blood in our organs move into the muscles for nourishment and repairs. So just from this you can see deep sleep is critical to healing.

Finally, stage 5 is one most people are familiar with, that of REM sleep. This stage is associated with dreaming, and our brain waves are almost identical to that of being fully awake though it is much harder to be externally woken. Muscles are generally paralysed and heart rate, breathing and temperature are unregulated.

Sleep Cycle
During the night we don't just enter one of these stages are remain there. We go through the stages in a cycle that repeats on average 6 times per night. Typically the cycle goes through the stages as follows: 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, REM, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, REM...

But the stage order isn't the only factor, we also need to look at the duration of each stage, and that alters significantly. Take a few moments to study this graph and see if you can draw any conclusions.

As you may see, in the first cycle we enter deep sleep for a large period, and REM sleep is quite short. As the cycles continue, deep sleep lessens and REM sleep increases. By the end we no longer reach deep sleep and are primarily in REM. This is the perfect time to end sleep and begin our day. As mentioned earlier, our brain waves in REM are almost identical to being awake so it is a short hop to wakefulness. Secondly we are no longer benefiting from quality deep sleep and won't gain anything meaningful by remaining in bed.

Deep Sleep vs REM Sleep
These are the two most important stages of sleep. When we are sleep deprived we get headaches, drowsiness, nausea, concentration issues and muscle pains. Even after short periods of sleep deprivation our body sacrifices all other stages to get as much deep sleep as possible. This is one reason why the first 3 to 4 hours of sleep have the most time in stages 3 and 4. It also helps when sick as deep sleep is when disease fighting is the most active and efficient.

REM sleep is thought to be when we digest everything we learnt in the day, explaining why babies sleep a lot. As we naturally recover deep sleep first, it can be assumed that REM isn't as important for bodily function. The brain is wired to keep us alive as its primary function, so remaining alert and physically capable will be far more important than memory retention or dreams.

Quality vs Quantity round 2
So now we have sufficient knowledge to define quality sleep. Put simply, it is the ability to attain deep sleep and stay there for as long as required. We can't consciously do that but we can fix our systems to ensure the body does it for us. To do that we need to understand how the body regulates our sleep. This is a process the occurs over the entire day, and with the current form of society we are actually damaging that process.

The Body Clock
This is the internal system that regulates your body and sleep cycle. This entire 24 hour process is generally referred to as the circadian rhythm. This is an endogenous system meaning it's built-in and self sustained, however it is susceptible to external stimuli such as temperature, light and oxygen intake. There are a number of variables but what we're primarily interested in is: changes in body temperature; the release of hormones; and your activity levels.

Our body temperature changes throughout the day roughly between 36 and 38 degrees Celsius. When the body temperature rises we are more alert and brain waves are generally higher. When body temperature drops we feel more lethargic and lazy, and its a cue for the brain to lower our brain waves to stage 1 sleep.

Around mid-afternoon our bodies naturally drop in temperature. This is responsible for the afternoon slump. Ideally we would take a nap at this point but modern life doesn't allow for it. Most people just grab another coffee and power through. As body temperature rises again towards the early evening, we become more alert and active. This is when we are at peak performance, and the perfect time to do your physical training.

Issues arise when your body temperature rhythm is too flat. The brain doesn't get the right signals to wake and sleep so you have sleeping difficulties and you may never reach deep sleep. A correct rhythm will make us feel sleepy at the same time every night and wake us in the morning without an alarm.

Normally, this pattern will continue regardless of when you actually fall asleep. If you generally wake at 6am your body temperature will raise then as well. So regardless if you sleep at 11pm, 12:30am or 3am, your body temperature will rise at 6am and you will wake up.

This is the major cause of jet lag, physically you're in a different time zone but your body rhythm still follows its normal pattern. You can adjust but it may take a few weeks. When I was in LA for 10 days training with Eddie Bravo, I stayed awake until about 6am and woke around noon as this matched the normal time back home. Training was in the afternoon and evening so it worked out fine but if I needed to be somewhere in the morning I would have been tired and grumpy. Each day I felt the need to sleep earlier, until at the end of the trip I was falling asleep at around 2am. Upon returning to Australia it took another few days to get back into my routine and re-program my rhythm.

Body temperature is the most important aspect of this internal clock and greatly impacts your sleep and energy levels. So understanding how it can be damaged and repaired is critical to improving your sleep. We'll get to that but the next aspect we need to understand is hormonal.

This is primarily concerned with the release and suppression of the hormone melatonin, which is dependant on your exposure to sunlight. This hormone is created in the pineal gland and to a lesser extent the retina. This hormone puts you to sleep and restores energy during said sleep. When melatonin levels are high you will feel drowsy and lose energy.

When we're exposed to darkness, melatonin is released. The hormone levels increase from the instant sunlight stops hitting our eyes. Exposure to sunlight delays the drop in body temperature and keeps you awake for longer. Minimal sunlight allows a temperature drop and you feel sleepy. Being awake longer allows more time for sunlight to enter your eyes, delaying melatonin production. Sleeping for 9 hours and remaining tired is an indication of needing less sleep so you can let more sunlight in and return balance to your system.

Your points will change based on when you wake

So from this you can see how working in an office building isn't conducive to good sleeping habits. Unfortunately this is how many of us make a living, including me. I wake at around 6am, use artificial light to get ready, drive to work for about 15 minutes and spend the next 7.5 hours indoors. I then drive home, get ready for a few hours of training, again inside and away from sunlight, then go home after dark. Many people follow a similar pattern and have sleep issues. These issues can be addressed however.

Before we get to that, the last piece should be mentioned: your activity levels. The more cardio you get at night greatly impacts your body temperature rhythm. Exercise makes a quick rise in temperature, keeping you more alert. This creates a higher peak which gives more energy, but the important part for us is the following drop of temperature. As you are increasing temperature through exertion above your standard level, your body needs to drop more drastically to return to normal. This means it will stay lower for longer which promotes deeper sleep. We just need to be careful about the timing of this, as late night high intensity exercise will negatively impact sleep.

While we can certainly dig deeper into the mechanics at work here, the above is sufficient knowledge to move ahead and optimise our body clocks. I'll leave that for the next post. For now, please share your stories in the comments and work on getting more sunlight.

What about the winners?

2016-03-21T16:58:00.003+11:00

Over the last few months we have seen a few upset victories in the MMA field. Two immediately spring to mind: Ronda Rousey v Holly Holm; and Connor McGreggor v Nate Diaz.

Regardless of how each bout went, the news coverage and comment fields across the Internet focussed on one thing: the person that lost. For Holly Holm's victory all I saw for the next two weeks was coverage of Ronda. She was the one making appearances on TV and giving interviews. Yes she is a media darling and has done a lot to promote women's fights in the UFC. But where is the love for Holly?

Most of what I have seen in the weeks after Holly's win dealt with vitriol aimed at Ronda as people slithered out from their dank holes claiming they always hated Ronda and are happy she lost. They didn't care who took the former champ down, they only cared that she was taken. These are the same people that months ago jumped on the Rousey bandwagon claiming she'll never be beaten.

Holly deserves the credit for a very technical match and victory over a tough opponent. But now she lost the title to Miesha Tate its as if supporters have dropped her and some see her win over Rousey as a fluke. This negative mentality gives a bad name to fight supporters and must stop.

Any person that steps into a ring, octagon or other shaped arena to test their fighting skills against another person is a champion. The effort required is lost on the majority. Many wannabe fighters have a single amateur fight and call it quits. They find out that fighting as a career is not for them. But even then they've still put themselves on the line. That courage will see them through a lot in life. Those that continue onto the pro circuit have it far tougher. Being noticed among all the other skilled fighters isn't easy, but is necessary to gain matches as well as sponsors.

Personally I have little interest in the showboating of a lot of professional fighters. Connor McGreggor does mouth off a lot, but that is his shtick. Being a pro fighter is essentially being a sole business owner. They need to promote their brand and have their name spoken in every household. This is how they make their living and Connor does it very well. Regardless of how I think of him as a person, he is a damn skilled fighter. But again with the Diaz fight, the noise is about how Connor got his mouth shut not about how Nate fought a hard battle and emerged victorious.

I blame this a lot on the anonymity of the Internet. People spout off opinions online that they wouldn't have the nerve of saying in person. Just look at your favourite website that allows comments and see all the negativity that quickly descends. Internet culture needs a massive shake-up to stop the cycle of hatred. Maybe then people can enjoy watching skilled fighters clash without feeling the need to spew toxic garbage across news feeds.

Preparing for a competition - Comp Day and After

2016-03-18T10:30:00.003+11:00

Comp day has finally arrived and you are at the venue. Your last few month's preparation has all been for today. You can click here for part 1 and part 2 if you want to review the knowledge.
You have your fight schedule and should have at least an hour to prepare. This time, and the time you spend between matches, is critical to success. You have to ready your mind and body for the task at hand.

You can't treat competition with the same regard as rolling at the gym. When you roll with team mates you know how they respond to your techniques, you have had plenty of exposure to their A-game and know which techniques you can utilise for advantage. This is missing from competition, thus removing a safety net.

Lead by example to inspire your team

Another complication with competition is the desire for victory. Rolling with your friends is a more about learning and pressure testing your moves. There are no repercussions for tapping out, but doing so at comp ends your campaign for gold. This is why people go harder, hold out longer before tapping and refuse to give any ground.

This can increase the odds of injury so your training camp should have prepared you for it with strength, flexibility and conditioning. Mental preparations are a bit harder to train for, however we can fuel each other with the right mindset and lead by example.

So to get in the right frame of mind I do the following when I arrive at a comp.

Find a seat that is furthest from unknown people. I don't want to talk to anyone other than my team mates and spectators that are there for my team. This helps stay in the training mindset and removes distractions. I remain comfortable with my crew and remove any awkward social interactions that may distract my focus.
Familiarise myself with the venue such as exits, toilets, drink fountains, change rooms, weigh in and warm up areas. I want to know where everything is so I am not scrambling in a panic trying to find the toilet a few minutes before my match.
Due to my rank, age, and size I generally compete at the end of the day so I help my team prepare. For this initial time I aim to lead by example. Attitudes are contagious, so if I'm calm and focused I influence my team mates to be the same. I could be a ball of nerves internally, but I don't let it show externally. The easiest way to do that is to stick with what you know and talk jiu jitsu.

Coaching others
As a senior student I am either assisting our head coach, or if he is unavailable I'll act as coach for the team. We've had a dozen competitors in the one comp before and it's impossible for a single person to coach them all. Because we are a team, anyone should be able to step up and guide team mates through their warm ups and matches. But there are key things you should do and others to avoid.

While this guide is for what you can do to ensure optimal performance, I will also impart knowledge on how you can assist your team in staying calm and focused to reach their own peaks and beyond.

Good coaches will teach you the techniques to win at sport. Great coaches will teach you techniques to win at life. They will assist with preparing your mind and body to handle any situation you find yourself in. They are psychologists that mould your thinking into a winner, and help you out of the rough times. They are a friend when needed. They are the carrot and the stick. They will motivate you to great heights and pick you up when you fall.

Life coach

If you don't see these qualities in your coach then go looking for a new one. I may seem biased here but John Campbell at Infinite MMA in Ballarat ticks all these boxes and more. I have trained in eight martial arts schools across a couple of decades, experiencing multiple coaching styles along my journey. John has sailed so far beyond all others that they can't even see his wake.

Loyalty is one thing, but if your coach isn't helping where you need it then move on. You are doing yourself a disservice by staying.

This is why we strive to have the entire team able to step in. We not only teach BJJ but teach the skills to be a great coach.

Before your division is called
Most competitions announce each division at least 15 minutes prior to commencing. This time is usually for weighing in and warming up. You should know approximately when you start. Most comps have a fluid schedule, however you generally won't start before the scheduled time. So if you are scheduled to start at 1pm, change into your comp gear at 12:40pm at the latest. Go to the toilet as well. You don't know when you will get another chance and it will drop your weight a little. Don't forget to wash your hands either.

Once changed, you should do your pre-warm up. This is the same as prior to your normal training sessions. Click here for further details. Do this with the weigh-in area in sight so you can proceed directly to it when called up.

If there is a delay in your scheduled time, then repeat the pre-warm up every few minutes making it progressively harder. We want you loose enough to warm up and having extra time isn't a bad thing as it helps avoid injury.

Take this opportunity to confirm your finger and toe nails are trimmed. They will be checked at weigh-in, as well as your uniform adherence. Checking it yourself ensures you get through as quickly as possible so you can prepare sooner.

After your division is called

Weigh ins don't need to be a spectacle

Weigh-in immediately. I am generally first in line to get weighed as it gives me as much time to warm up as possible. You often only get five minutes to get warm so every additional second counts. Here is where you can rely on your team mates. Have your partner time you doing star jumps, knee raises, heel kicks and squats. Do thirty seconds of each one, then repeat with more intensity. Once done immediately start pummelling with your partner for a minute. Keep the pressure light so you can move faster. This gets the heart rate up without much chance for a stray injury.

These exercises should cover five minutes and get you at the minimum level of warmth to compete. Sometimes this is all the time we get so we have to make the most of it. If you have more time to warm up, simply continue to the next stage. If you keep it between three and five minutes per stage you can increase your readiness without getting fatigued. Ensure you take a break between each stage of at least a minute but no more than two.

These are some suggested stages.

As above, ie star jumps, knee raises, heel kicks, squats 30 seconds each X two, then 1 minute of pummelling.
Star jumps for 1 minute to get heart rate back up. Pummelling for 30 seconds, then shuck the shoulder to take the side or back. Repeat for a few minutes. Finish with 30 seconds of squats.
Sprawls for 30 seconds. Pummelling for 10 seconds before shucking the shoulder. Repeat for a minute and ensure you go left and right. Now work on arm drags and two-on-ones for a couple of minutes each, again working on both left and right sides.

Remember we are using this to warm up and align our mind with timing. We are also trying to focus on the first stage of the fight. We need entries into take-downs so doing these in the warm up keeps them foremost in the mind. The ones included here are common and have a lot of branching attacks. They will be the most successful as you should have practised them in your training camp.

It is rare for you to need more than the above stages. These three should take you around 20 minutes including rest periods. If you find you have more time and are starting to cool, repeat from stage one.

For the training partner it is imperative you take any non-critical thinking away from the competitor. Hand them their drink after each stage. Ensure times are kept. Keep an ear out for them being called up. Reassure them. Don't give them detailed strategies as it will ruin the mental side of the warm up. They should already know what to do, but nerves can destroy focus. Remind them to simply grab a wrist and work from there. Ensure they have their mouth guard and water with them for when they are called to the match area.

If possible, training partners should have already competed, or are students that are not competing on the day. This is usually the case when competitions go for a few days, or someone is too injured to compete. Don't help someone warm up if you are scheduled to fight soon after them. You may be called away in the middle of their warm up, and you might overexert yourself.

The Pre-Match
So you are warm and are finally called to the mat. This doesn't mean you are going up next. The organisers prefer to have the next three or four matches lined up waiting. Your entire division may even be in the match area waiting for their pairings. You are generally away from any of your team during this period. This is the hardest part mentally. Unless you're careful, this is the part where you begin to make excuses for failure.

These are common things competitors want to do, but should avoid.

Sizing up your opponents
Look at opponents and think they might be trouble
Speak to opponents and be friendly
Start to cool down to conserve energy
Try to speak with spectators

All of this needs to be avoided otherwise you will psych yourself out and lose focus. I guarantee your opponents are going through this as well, so we can use that to our advantage.

As a heavier fighter, and about 1.9 meters tall I pose an intimidating image. People expect me to be strong, slow and inflexible. So when I get to the match area I take the opportunity to find a vacant spot and stretch. A man my size going into the double lotus pulls a lot of attention, and I've seen more than one opponent shrink away at the display. They will begin to question their own flexibility and skills. They don't usually have to worry about flexible opponents as the bulk of the heavy weights don't need it as much. Fighting a flexible smaller guy is easier as weight and pressure is on your side. But put that flexibility and speed into someone of their own size and it becomes daunting.

Breaking the opponent's mind leads to their defeat

Even the smallest things here can fuel your opponent's mental demise. You want to ensure you remain warm. Twenty quick star jumps will do nicely whenever you feel yourself cooling. Not only does it keep you warm but it shows you mean business and have energy to spare. The others will generally react in a few common ways:

A lazy fighter will likely look away, not wanting to look at the effort he should be making.
A fighter lacking confidence will generally watch on the sly, and think he should do the same but doesn't want to appear as if he is copying you.
A dedicated fighter will already be doing the same as you.

With the first two types you have begun weaselling into their mind and sowed the seeds of their defeat. For the dedicated fighter you are showing you are on equal footing and he has his work cut out for him. The reverse can also be true so don't let those thoughts enter your mind. Instead concentrate on your goal of victory. We want to shake the mental foundation of our competition while remaining focused on the task at hand. We let nothing distract us. Just as we can influence others with our attitude, when it comes to fighting we can use the same technique to weaken our opponent's mind. If we defeat the mind we easily defeat the body.

I never lock eyes with anyone in this area. All to often people will try to stare you down to intimidate you as a poor man's mind game. Not playing their game throws them off it. I ensure I'm focused on my stretch or the match that is in progress ahead of me. Showing that I let nothing distract me from the task at hand slips the wedge of defeat into them a little deeper.
I never speak and simply sip at my drink when needed. Many fighters forget their drink and my simple act of hydrating breaks their focus. They are reminded of thirst and grab their team's attention to bring them a drink. Depending on the team that may mean a few unfocused minutes. While they're distracted, I'm focusing everything on the moment I step onto the mat.

People that train in BJJ are usually a friendly bunch. While there is nothing wrong with being nice and having a chat with other gyms, it is dangerous for competition. I've known several people that befriended their opponents before the match, and failed to give it everything in the moment because they thought he's a good bloke. After the gold medal has been decided feel free to talk to as many people in your division as you want. But right now they are the enemy and will exploit any advantage they can.

The Main Event
This is the moment you've been building for. For me all nerves disappear the moment I step onto the

Round 1. Fight.

mat. I am comfortable on the springy surface. The mat is my home turf and my opponent is an intruder. Depending on the comp, your coach will either be near the scoreboard or on the sidelines with the crowd. There is no need to look for them, trust he is there to help defend your home.

During your matches your coach has several duties for all fighters. You have two: listen to your coach's instructions; perform to the best of your ability. You don't need to worry about anything else.

A lot of competitors fail in the initial take-down because they are too worried about all the possibilities. So narrow it down to simply grabbing their wrist. From there you know all your entries and set-ups. We reinforced them in the warm up. Take what the opponent gives you and exploit it. As Sun Tzu said "Opportunities multiply as they are seized".

Your coach will remind you to breathe. He will monitor points and the clock so you don't have to. I've seen a lot of matches where one fighter is up by a couple of points with 30 seconds left. They think they have won so ease off and simply try to pin their opponent to stall. That is an opening for counter-attack. Ignore the clock and points and always strive for the clear victory by submission. Your coach should let you know the half way mark, when 1 minute is left, the final 30 seconds and last 10 seconds. Use each of these points as a flag to step up intensity.

As mentioned earlier, listen to your coach or whomever is your corner-man for the match. It is not their job to fight for you. It is not time to teach you an escape you have never done before just because it's what they would do. The coach can see opportunities you may miss for a number of reasons. There isn't enough time to think why the coaches advice is sound. As coach, I'm not going to yell out "his base is disrupted behind his left leg". Apart from giving the enemy time to fix the error, the moment has likely passed. Instead I might yell out "hip bump sweep". I know you have trained that technique and now is the time to apply it. Trust your coach as they want you to win just as much as you do.

Assuming your head coach is not available, perhaps because another fighter is half way through their match, someone from your team needs to step up. Generally that is a senior student but that may not be the case. A white belt can still coach a purple belt in competition. It is the coach's role to keep you calm above all else. Reminders to breathe are important but so is constant chatter. Hearing a familiar and friendly voice goes a long way to avoid nerves when in front of a crowd and under pressure. Generally you know what needs to be done, and keeping calm allows you to do that.

Some good general advice to give your fighter is:

Breathe
Elbows in
Clear the neck
Control the hips
Where's your base?
Drive in
Pressure
Shape-shift
Block his left shoulder
Take your time

These are all short statements with clear instructions. They should also be used in the training camp so everyone understands them. As corner-man, give all instructions clearly and loudly. Use your voice and tempo to enhance your point. For example, by saying "breathe" in a drawn out manner over a few seconds it shows by example how they should be breathing. For more urgent advise like
"pressure", repeat it three times rapidly and louder than normal. This relates urgency and intensity to your fighter.

Here are some comments to avoid as they serve no purpose and can hinder your fighter.

Yeah that's it
Don't do that
No!!!
Do that Japanese stuff you like
Try something else
Try winning
You're losing
Move your left leg onto his right hip, then circle your arms under his armpits and pivot

While a lot of that sounds like common sense to avoid, each of these are things I've heard coaches of other teams shout to their fighters. Each combatant given the above "encouragement" lost the match. The majority of these came from brown belts and above so they should know better.

I'll repeat from earlier, it's the coaches job to keep their fighter calm, and offer useful advise from an outside perspective. Individuals respond differently so the coach needs to understand them and alter the advice to suit.

Between matches
So you have finished a match and are waiting for the next one. A lot of people treat this as time to rest, which is a mistake. There are several things you should do.

Take a drink
Keep warm
Recover your breath
Watch the current match to find holes in your future opponent's game
Stay focused
Change clothes if required, generally after three or four matches

There is nothing worse for injuries and intensity than going at full speed, doing nothing for five to ten minutes then go full speed again. A comp is an endurance race not a sprint. Once you start you don't stop until after your final match.

Repeat much of the pre-match strategies. After multiple fights if you don't look tired and continue keeping warm, stretched and focused you will further crinkle your opponent's minds. At this stage many will see you as the likely gold medallist and mentally imagine you victorious with themselves in second place. Once that happens your path to victory is almost complete.

Once you finish all your matches, win or lose, ensure to thank your coaches and team mates. They have put in a lot of work to help you during the day, free of charge. If you are sharing a vehicle to get to the venue and splitting the cost of fuel and parking, then the head coach travels for free. If you stop for food on the way home, the coach's meal is covered by the team. These small gestures show your appreciation and help make you a better person.

Review afterwards

Reviewing your matches is critical

Regardless of your performance you need to review your matches with a more senior belt. Watch your videos yourself and take notes of what to ask your coach. A day or two after the comp make time to review the footage with your coach to figure out what you need to work on next. Even if you took the gold home, there are likely a few points you could have done better. We strive to only make a mistake once, and fix the problem so it never occurs again.

The week after the comp you will need time to rest. You've been training hard for a few months and now its time to let the body recover. The week after the comp should be light training, have a visit or two with your sports physiologist and maybe a massage. Don't forget getting a personal lesson with your coach to go over everything from the competition.

Spend at least a month with your normal level of training before starting a new training camp. No one can train at a high comp pace all year round and expect to succeed or remain uninjured. I tend to aim for two or three comps a year to give my aging body time to recover.

Summary (tl;dr)

Arrive at the comp early and prepare mentally. You should be focused the moment you step inside the doors. Lead by example and be prepared to help your team mates. Do a pre-warm-up prior to weigh-in then get cracking on your actual warm up. Once warm never let yourself cool down until after your final bout. Use techniques to psych out your opponents but don't get swallowed into the game by others. Fight to the best of your ability and listen to your coach. Recover in motion between matches and keep hydrated and warm. Finally review your footage with your coach.

I hope these articles help open you to the process for competition training, and prepare you for the tasks ahead. It may seem daunting at first but your team is there to help every step of the way.

Please hit the comments with how you have gone in competition and any techniques you utilised to achieve success.

Preparing for a competition - The Lead Up Week

2016-03-11T16:35:00.000+11:00

Here we are two weeks from your competition. Things are slowing down after the last few month's efforts. For a refresher of the lead up period click here.

During this time it's too late to learn a new technique you can rely on at the competition. All your training should focus on solidifying your existing skills. You may need a refresher on some escapes or takedowns but these should already be in your repertoire. The last two weeks are for refinement, healing any injuries and mentally preparing for combat.
The two weeks prior to the comp should begin with tapering off your training. Up until this point you should have been training often and at high intensity comp pace. These sessions need to ease off to allow time to recuperate and avoid injuries that could sideline us from the competition.

The comp team sessions should change gears and focus more on strategy, flexibility, core strength and tightening up the techniques to be utilised on the day.

The week before
A training camp is like an extended session. You need a warm up, skills sessions and the warm down. One week out you are warming down and shouldn't be training that hard. Come to classes and be as technically sound as possible. What this means is to focus on the mechanics and body positions. If there is free rolling then take it slow, and ask your partners to do the same. This week is about winding down and resting so you need to conserve energy.

Tap early and tap often during this week. Don't fight to escape something that is only half on. Remember you don't want an injury and even a slight muscle strain could cause issues at the comp. A good test is to check three things:

Are you able to speak without panting?
Are you standing in a puddle of your own sweat?
Are you using strength or high intensity, rapid movements to escape?

If you answer yes to any of these you are going too hard. Don't ask for a "light roll" as that is a rare beast, one that is an endangered species with lower belts. Instead do situational rolling. Start in guard and reset after a sweep or pass. Start in back control and maintain position without going for a submission. Put limitations on yourself and your partner and treat this as live reps with active resistance. This pressure tests your technique without causing harm or fatigue. If you deviate from this simply tap and reset.

I highly recommend you visit with a sports physiologist or remedial masseuse at least once this week. This will smooth out any niggling issues for optimal performance.

The night before
You should not be training the day prior to your comp. Resting and conserving energy is a primary reason, however you also need to clear your mind. At this point you have been training hard for three months. Having some mental time away and focusing on anything else for a day or two will help reset your mind. Its like having a rest day with weights. Your body and mind need time to absorb everything.

Relax in whatever manner is appropriate to you. I'm partial to playing video games or pool, or simply watching TV with my wife. The point is to forgot about training for a day.

The Sleeping Giant, Fiji

Don't drink alcohol. I'd suggest only water but if you must have something else then coconut water or 100% orange juice are good choices.

For your meals you can generally just stick with your normal plan. As you haven't been training for a day or two, and a week of light training before that, you will already be "carbo-loaded" from the unused energy.

Don't stay up late, and ensure you get your normal amount of sleep. Nerves may hinder actual sleep but if you go to bed at midnight normally, then continue to do that. Keeping to your routine means you don't have to think too much and can lessen stress.

The morning of
Most competitions will post a start time for the first matches, as well as a schedule for when you are expected to compete. Ensure you eat breakfast at least two hours prior to weigh in. This will give time to remove the contents from your stomach and turn it into fuel. You'll need carbs but don't overdo it. I generally just eat my normal breakfast (a bowl of weetbix) and add in a couple bananas.

If you don't compete until the afternoon you will have to grab some lunch as well. Again time it two to three hours before competing. Also bring some snacks and water. I carry at least four bananas and a box of muesli bars. Even if I don't eat them all, my team mates can have them. As my divisions are normally in the mid to late afternoon I bring a couple of sandwiches for lunch. I might eat one at 11am and the second and 1pm for a 3:30pm start.

Every competition for me is a minimum of a 80 minute drive. If you can swing it do this travel the day before especially if you are travelling interstate. Don't try to fly in on the day, race to the venue to compete and then fly out that evening. You won't perform at your best.

For me, if I need to fly I will go down the day before and stay two nights. This way I get a good sleep the night before, and I don't need to rush to take my flight home if the comp runs overtime. If its in Melbourne (90 minute drive give or take) I will drive down with a few other team mates. We get there early enough so the first competitor is present at least 45 minutes prior to start time. Try to get someone not competing to drive so you can rest as needed. Travelling in the same car as your coach will allow discussions of final prep and anything else you may need.

Wear comfortable casual clothes for the trip and bring a bag with the following:

two pairs of shorts, or two pairs of tights for females
two rash guards
your mouth guard
a change of undergarments i.e. jocks and socks
a towel
two bottles of water
snacks i.e. bananas and muesli bars
lunch i.e sandwiches
nail clippers
a device to record video on

You heard the stoner.

The shorts and rash guards need to fit the standard for competition. You need two for a couple of reasons. If you get blood on your gear or they tear you have a couple of minutes to replace them or you get disqualified. If you have a lot of matches you will want to change into fresh gear half way through. One set of gear should last three or four matches before requiring a change. Fresh gear has a huge mental boost too. You feel cleaner and more energetic when your clothes are not dripping with sweat. A towel is for between matches, and clean underwear is for the trip home. Nail clippers are to trim your nails if the judges deem them unacceptable at weigh in. You don't want to miss out on your matches because of something so simple.

The video recording device (mobile phone) is so you can review your performance later. This leads me into the next article (click here) where I focus on the actual competition and what to do afterwards. Hit the comments with any questions or if you want to share your competition stories.

Preparing for a competition - The Build Up

2016-03-11T16:34:00.001+11:00

I have had a lot of success in BJJ competition. I generally come away with a medal in any comp I enter which is in large part due to my coach John Campbell, and how I prepare myself.

I have known a lot of people that don't do any preparation for a comp. They train as they always have at classes and don't speak to their coaches about filling the holes in their game. They don't orient their diet to cater to the high demands of competition. They don't improve strength, cardio or flexibility and they rock up to the competition with no game plan. These people don't have much success and they usually don't review the fight to determine why they performed the way they did ie lost.

A competition is a process that should start months in advance. Pro fighters have training camps for a reason. They need to train in specific methods to handle whatever is expected from their opponent. For BJJ comps you rarely know your opponent in advance but there are still ample things to focus on that can cover all game plans and help you excel.

Selecting a Competition

Choose the right one for you

Not all comps are the same and there may be some that are not practical for you to attend. If you are a martial arts oldie and the comp only has one age division you should re-think entry. You might do well however you will likely go up against opponents half your age. Every 10 years of age advantage you give away is almost equivalent to a higher belt. The younger fighter should have more energy, can move faster and generally has fewer niggling injuries. An 18 year old probably doesn't have a mortgage and kids to worry about, or a full time job that cuts into training time. I would love to quit my job, train for half the day and write novels for the other half. If I did that I'd have to sell my house and car, have bugger all in the bank and share rent with several people. I have worked hard to not have to do that but financial success comes with less time to enjoy it. As soon as I figure out how to have all the stuff I want, get paid and not work, I will write an article about it so we all can train longer.

It may not seem that big a deal but age plays a big factor when you are at the disadvantage. I've been lumped in with fighters more than 10 years younger at smaller comps. I won, however I was far more fatigued from keeping ahead of them by a finger nail. I missed training for a few days afterwards while I recovered. When in the senior divisions I could train again that afternoon.

Most competitions that do have master or senior divisions have them well advertised. Ensure that you select a comp at least three months ahead. That will give ample time to prepare.

What Weight Class
Now you know where and when you are competing you need to select a weight division. A lot of people will simply look at their normal weight and select a division that it falls into. While that isn't too bad, you want to be in the best physical shape you can be to compete. You should have three months to drop weight so I'd recommend setting a goal of dropping down a weight class. So assuming you walk around at 95kg it would be of benefit to drop down to 90kg to compete. This will give you an advantage of being at the top of the weight bracket, and the lost weight will improve several aspects such as speed, power and general health.

This is especially important if you are heavier and older. Cutting weight gets much harder with age but with plenty of lead time you can make it. I'm currently in the process of cutting from 110kg to 95kg. I have placed pressure on myself by not allowing competition entry until I get under 100kg. My goal weight category has an upper limit of 97kg so once I move out of triple digits I can focus on the next comp. I figure I can get there before the Australian titles in August.

Absolute weight is a poor idea

Ensure you speak with your coaches about how to cut weight safely. You may need to alter your diet or use a sauna. While cutting 10kgs in a week is technically possible it is extremely unhealthy; you'll likely be dehydrated to critical levels and won't have the energy to compete. BJJ comps have you weigh in on the day, often within 30 minutes of your first match so you have no time to build your fluids and energy back up.

Regarding absolute or open weight divisions. Unless your belt is extremely dark or you are in the heaviest division I would steer clear of them. Having a guy that is 30kg heavier and without the
control of experience is a recipe for injury. It isn't worth the risk.

Initial Training
So you are entered in the comp, now its time to train for it. As a bare minimum you need to turn up to as many BJJ classes as possible. If you normally can only come in twice a week, make room in your schedule so you can train three or four times. You only need to do this increased training for a few months to ensure you are the best version of you for this competition. Ideally you'd keep it up after the comp, however other commitments may encroach on your time. That's OK as long as you can step it up when required.

Assuming your gym has a BJJ comp team ensure you are selected to be a part of it. Some gyms have this as invite only, others allow all comers as long as they are registered for a comp. If your gym doesn't have such a team then get a personal session from your coach once a week to build a game plan and fix any issues. Speak to your coaches and senior students after every class asking any questions you need answering. If fellow students are countering a technique ask someone senior to watch and see how you can prevent or counter it. If your coach says to watch specific videos and takes notes then do so as soon as you can and ask any questions in the next session.

You should increase your intensity to competition level. This is a much harder level where all your effort is going into dominating your opponent and leaving them no space, and no time to recover. We call this comp pace. Most of the time in normal classes we go at a much slower pace to cultivate our skills. But with comp pace we are lions taking down a wildebeest. This is why we need a comp team or at least a partner to train with that is also competing.

Ensure your fundamental skills are up to scratch. A lot of matches come down to solid core principles. I've lost count of how many times I've been saved simply by returning to basic defences. Without them, any fancy technique will fail. Work on controlling your opponent above all else. If they can't escape it is so much easier to trap a limb or expose their neck. Many people fail because they rush a submission.

The BJJ Twister is slightly different

Take this opportunity to improve your flexibility and core strength. A strong neck helps avoid many complications. Once these are taken care of, if you have time work outward to arms and legs. I'm not saying to avoid doing a full workout but if you have minimal time for training you need to focus on where you will get the most benefit.

I'd work on the squeeze rather than a particular muscle group. Using a wall to lean your back on, get into a deep squat with legs parallel to the floor. Place a swiss ball between your legs and squeeze hard for a minute. Remember to breathe. If you feel your squeeze slacking off, then reapply it harder than before. Only give out when you physically can't hold it any more. Break the mental barrier and don't give up because you're tired. Stop when your legs fail to react to your commands. At this point you can use the wall to stand upright, give yourself a few minutes break and go again.

Another great squeeze technique is to "choke" your knee. Sit with one leg out in front and the other with heel as close to your butt as possible. Wrap your arm around your knee as if it is your opponent's neck and apply a rear naked choke. Squeeze at about 40% of your maximum for 20 to 30 seconds. Increase the squeeze to 60%, then 80% then to maximum, each time holding for at least 20 seconds. This will hurt but is worth it when opponents tap out while you are still only at 60% power. Switch legs and go again. Repeat.

Injuries during comp camps
While we can work at strengthening our bodies to prevent injury, it isn't always enough. An injury can slow you down but it doesn't necessarily mean you can't train. Not all injuries are created equal. A torn ACL will prevent training. A cracked rib will limit training. A torn elbow can be worked around. First off listen to the medical professionals. If they say you can't train for a week then don't train for a week.

I have had a lot of different injuries and with help from my coach have found ways to work around them. No sport is injury free and the more senior students have likely had a similar injury as you. Ask them for advice on training and not hurting yourself further.

Fffffff, Aarrrrr

Strapping tape could be all you need to get back on the mat. If your leg is injured then avoid using it. Work on defending and attacking with the other leg. There will be times you can't move a limb as your opponent has it trapped. This is the perfect time to figure out how to get around that. Use your injury as an advantage to train what you normally don't.

When I cracked my ribs I was unable to go 100%. I couldn't roll but I could still do technique. I could still apply chest pressure by using the other side. I was able to slow everything down and really grind out rough edges to perfect techniques. Working out how to move without harming a certain body part provides a deeper understanding of human movement. This can help immensely when you are back at top form.

Team effort
Remember you are not alone in competition. Your coach will be in your corner shouting advice during your matches. Senior students can answer your questions and pressure test your techniques in live rolling. Test out new techniques on students with less experience than you, and once you understand it test on people that are at your level. If you are successful on them most of the time, try it on the advanced students. Be there for others in your team just as they are there for you.

Follow the next post for the two weeks prior to competition here.

Living with Recurrent Corneal Erosion

2016-03-08T08:17:00.001+11:00

This condition is something I don't advertise that much because it takes a while to explain. Other than a slightly bloodshot eye there are no external indicators of when it occurs. The effects however are quite potent and it can prevent me from training effectively.

Recurrent Corneal Erosion (RCE) in its simplest explanation is the result of dry eyes. Basically, while sleeping part of the eye sticks to the eyelid because the lubrication is ineffective or absent. So when the eyes move, such as opening in the morning or when dreaming ie REM sleep, a small part of the protective surface wrenches away. The result is instant sharp pain, the sensation of having a sharp object stuck in the eye and copious amounts of tears as the body tries to flush the problem away. Not everyone with dry eyes will experience this, there are a few indicators that factor into it, the majority is that your eye is lacking something. My cornea are oval instead of round (astigmatism) which may contribute. Its the reason I need glasses. So let's discuss a typical day when this occurs.

The first hours
For me the pain reduces significantly after an hour or two, and is helped with a cold compress. Unfortunately this happens at around 5am which instantly mutilates whatever sleep was remaining. Thankfully I have an awesome and understanding wife that grabs what I need during my occasional episode.

A small amount of pressure on the eyeball helps, such as resting the eye on the edge of the pillow. More than that however increases the pain so it's balancing on a razor's edge. It's impossible to open the eye even a crack for at least an hour. By the time I've showered, dressed and eaten breakfast I can usually open the eye but the house has to remain dark. My vision is very blurry and I usually have to close the affected eye to see clearly. The problem with this is that the muscles to control the eye lids are meant to be used in unison. Keeping one eye open requires slight squinting of the closed one. Try it yourself. Close both of your eyes and rapidly open one fully, the outer edge will generally squint. This slight change is enough to increase the pressure on my damaged eye causing further pain.
So I have three options: keep one eye closed and increase pain; leave them both open and have acute blurry vision; or keep them both closed as I navigate the house blind.

Off to work

Get it off me! Get it off me!

It doesn't end there however. One of the many side effects is photophobia, which is an extreme sensitivity to light. So the moment I get in the car to drive to work on even an overcast day, my eyes swell with tears and I get an almost instant headache. So driving on back roads at slower speeds is a constant battle between weepy eyes, blurred vision and pain as I switch between as many variations on eye opening that I can think of. Often I need to pull over to take some control of the situation before continuing.

Have you ever tried working on a computer with poor eyesight? If you have glasses and forget them for a day you might understand the problem. Not only is it a strain on vision which causes a longer headache, but I have to lean in closer hurting my back and neck in the process. This makes me grumpy and irritable to put it mildly.

So by the end of the day I've had interrupted sleep, a headache as constant companion, sharp eye pain, blurry vision and I want to rip someone's head off. All this when only one eye is affected. That clears up after a single day. You don't want to know the hell when it happens to both, which lasts a few days and doubles everything.

RCE and training
If this happens during the week I can usually handle it. By about 6pm my blurry vision has returned to about 70% of normal and after sleeping I know it should be restored. Training starts at 6:30pm so I am generally good to train normally and release any frustration or anger. No matter how murderous I feel at the start of class, after 20 minutes I'm calm. If I got nothing else out of martial arts, this stress release would be all the reason I need to continue.

The bigger problem comes if the RCE occurs on the weekend. As training is at 10am I've barely had time to adjust to the light. But the worst part is how weak it makes me feel. Doing anything strenuous while in the throws of this bastard syndrome makes me light headed, critically weak and ready to vomit. I've found I can still teach but increasing my heart rate above 90bpm is debilitating. This usually passes before noon and I can return to regular activity levels.

Prevention
One of the hardest things to accept about this is that there isn't a guaranteed cure. There are a few surgeries that might help, but they can either cause other issues or may make it worse. I'm not about to risk eye surgery on a 60-70% success rate and a 1 in 3 chance of making it worse. The only thing that contains the issue most of the time is long lasting eye drops before I go to bed. I have tried three

The Simpson's have a scene for everything

different drops (the only options at the chemist) and each only delay the onset or reduce the impact. While that is a slight relief, I live under a Sword of Damocles, never knowing when an RCE will drop.

I'm generally good at putting the drops in, but I've often missed it after an exhausting day and subsequent crash. It seems that RCE has a mind of its own in these cases. Before I started using the drops I would get an incident every few months. After the drops, because I've denied it for so long, whenever I don't use them an RCE will attack in the only opening I allow.

The road forward...
This is something I simply have to live with, and with regard to training I have to treat it as just another injury. This type of injury is mentally draining as you are physically capable, but thrown so far off your game you can't do anything useful. Often I simply have to stay at home in the dark. We often take our health for granted and it isn't until we lose mobility or vision that we truly appreciate what we had.

While you may not have the same issues as me, as you get older it's more likely your vision or hearing will become impaired, your back less flexible, your strength weakens and your weight increases. Thinking on how you will deal with these issues before they occur will ensure you can take anything life throws at you.

My therapy

I've treated my body like crap from an early age and I'm paying the price now. I'm confident you have as well in some manner. I know I am strong enough to get past it, even when I'm dejected and at my nadir. During these lowest points you don't want to hear platitudes that you will improve. You want to wallow in your own pity party. So my advice is to find something to keep your mind off the self pity for as long as you need.

For me that is playing video games. In the case of an RCE that means something I don't need to read and that doesn't rely on pinpoint accuracy. I have a few of these on hand at any given point. I'm quite partial to Batman Arkham Knight as I can mindlessly drive the Batmobile around the streets of Gotham and vent my frustration on the hapless goons that get in my way. It does wonders.

Please visit the comments to share your own experiences or the virtues of video gaming for therapy.
Also let me know if you want the detailed medical description of what happens during an RCE, I have extensive files.

Product Review - Ankle Support

2016-03-05T14:30:00.000+11:00

This is not the brace you are looking for

I've been having some ankle issues for a while and I've started trying a few different supports to help out. The common ones which are glorified socks with the toes and heel cut out are slightly more useful than simply ignoring the pain. While these supports, a term I use loosely, are good for maintaining hooks and grip during hard training sessions full of sweat, they simply don't offer enough protection.

To begin it isn't recommended to wear a brace at all times for injury prevention. There isn't a brace made that can prevent ankle injuries especially if you roll your ankle. The brace is ideal for a few weeks when you return to training after an injury. Proper rehab will get you your best results, and the brace supports your injury so you can build up your training without hurting yourself further.

What you need in a good ankle brace is a strap to adjust the tightness horizontally; and a vertical support system for the sides of the ankle. This can either be in a strap or sewn in padding.
For martial arts, we have to worry about potential injuries to others with everything that goes on our body during training. All jewellery must be removed, nails trimmed and filed, no clothes with pockets, hygienic equipment with minimal odours and protective gear can't harm or hinder our opponents.

Loose straps can cause scratches and cuts, buckles may as well be brass knuckles, hard plastic padding causes bruises and saggy areas are prone to snagging fingers and toes. These are simply not considerations for sports like running and cycling but huge for combat sports.

This is on the money

So with all this in mind, while I was buying new wrestling shoes (from Eastbay.com) I grabbed an Adidas Adizero Speedwrap Ankle Brace that was on special and I've been trying it out for a few sessions.

It ticked all the boxes in regards to not having issues in martial arts training and the correct support. Before donning it I confirmed it would suit its purpose with my resident sports physiologist Grant from BSERC. With his seal of approval, I strapped in and took it for a ride.

There was a slight bulge at the point the strap crossed over but nothing too serious. I could always use tape to keep it down but its location and size would barely fit a pinky finger. If you are attacking me with only your pinky you have more to worry about than getting it snagged.

As for actual usage, it felt really good. My ankle was supported and pain-free during warm-ups and an hour of hard rounds. While I sweated a lot, moisture didn't gather at the ankle brace and when I finally took it off after over two hours it didn't reek.

If you are in need of an ankle brace I recommend this Adidas beast. I got it from the US for $25 of their dollars (about $35 Australian) and it has been well worth it. They only sell them solo as the design is catered to the left or right foot. Make sure you get the correct one.

Dealing with Illness

2016-03-03T07:52:00.001+11:00

Injury is one thing that keeps you on the sidelines, but you are still able to attend classes and maintain training focus. Check out here for advice on what to do during injured periods.

Illness however is another beast entirely. It doesn't matter what you are ill with for my purposes here. You may have a cold or flu, have stomach cramps or one of the multitude of conditions that are either contagious or keep you laid up in bed. Either way you can't attend the gym and that is where some issues can arise.

Clearly you should be taking care of yourself and doing as the doctor orders as the first priority, but once you are well enough to focus but not well enough to train you have a few options to keep your mind in the game.
I recently caught the cold but it wasn't debilitating. I had a slightly running nose and a cough. Nothing to stop me physically train other than a very small hit on stamina. I did however stop going

I've gone and caught the sniffles

to the gym. In BJJ and wrestling especially, participants are well within each other's personal space. Often there is less than a centimetre between each others face as we jostle for the dominant position. This proximity is ideal for germ warfare and as such if you are contagious you can't train and even being at the gym can be an issue as you can't stop breathing.

So as a good training partner I opted to stay at home until my symptoms cleared. That posed a problem for keeping my mind engaged with BJJ when not at the gym. I chose to spend time watching instructional DVDs and reviewing fights on YouTube but that isn't the only option.

Videos
This is one of the simplest things to do, grab an instructional video series and watch it while taking notes. When you return you can speak with your coach to clarify points and give the techniques a try. Stick with one area to focus on. Watching attacks from mount the entire time will ensure you maintain focus. Switching from mount, to side control, to back attacks, to leg locks, to take-downs etc is only going to ensure you forget everything. Stick with a theme and re-watch the same video to ensure it sinks in.

Physical improvements
When stuck at home sick there is no reason you can't work on your flexibility or balance. A swiss ball is a good investment and allows a lot of exercises for keeping balance and improving your core strength. Getting a good sweat up and stretching daily will surge your flexibility ahead. There were several techniques in my early days that I couldn't do due to poor flexibility. I spent a single week doing stretches for 20 minutes a day and improved well enough to do everything I was struggling with. They were still imperfect but I was in a position to at least do them close enough so I could work on correction.

Inexpensive tools of the trade

A great tool for getting warm before stretching is the skipping rope as it is low impact high intensity training that works a lot of body parts. Hand grippers or a tennis ball are great for building grip
strength. Yoga mats and resistance bands can keep things mobile with light pressure. Don't stress yourself too hard here as the primary goal is to get better. If you spend your energy lifting weights at the home gym you will have less left over to fight off the flu. This will increase your time away which isn't ideal.

Self reflection
You can spend this time off to review your goals, take stock of motivation and review where you have holes in your game. The first two are more personal but stating your goals to your coaches is important so they can help you reach them. Finding holes in your game and listing areas to improve does several things. It gives you themes to choose your study videos. It gives you something to work on when you return, and a list of things to spend personal time with the coach to fix. It also feeds into your goals that you can mark off once achieved.

Conclusion
Illness is a pain but you can always find other things to do with your training time. Even if you can't physically move you should still be able to watch videos or take notes in between naps. BJJ teaches us how to get out of situations in which we are stuck. If you can't move what you want because your opponent has it trapped, move what you can instead. This applies to life as well, you may not be in a position you want to be, but you can take advantage of everything you can do. It just may get you unstuck and make you stronger in the process.

Diving Deeper into Motivation

2016-03-02T12:42:00.001+11:00

So in my previous post (click here for a refresher) I covered an overview of motivation and a few general things to remember. This post will guide you through some strategies to identify dips in motivation and how to restore it.

This information has been obtained via my own trial and error over my life's successes and failures, as well as from motivation courses I've attended. This isn't just motivational platitudes but things that have worked for me. It may not work for you in the same way but should at least guide you in the right direction.

Motivational changes are normal and occur for everyone at some point. High level athletes are not immune and have had many lulls over their career. One aspect of their success is that they understand their own motivations and can identify when it changes.

If you can understand what triggers a change in motivation you have more control over how to handle it and remain motivated when things get tough. To begin it is best to figure out what it feels like to be highly motivated.

High Motivation
Think about your behaviour and how you feel when you are highly motivated and performing at your best. Grab a piece of paper or open a text editor on your computer and pick a situation you experienced high motivation. Write down how you felt, describe your attitude and actions, jot down any thoughts you recall having at that time.

This process establishes a target of where you want to be. You have already been at this highly motivated peak so emulating that in the future can get you out of your funk.

For me this was at the 2013 Australian BJJ Championships. I travelled to Sydney and at the time my coach was unavailable to join me. I was the only representative of my gym but thankfully my wife was with me. I entered in my weight division and the open weight division as I wasn't going all that way to come back empty handed. I remember thinking I wouldn't let down my coach by not performing at my best. The morning of the event I was calm and joking around with my wife. The hotel was a 20 minute walk from the venue and from the moment I saw other people walking around with gym bags my brain switched into combat mode. I didn't speak and had laser focus. I visualised my fights from the point of walking on the mat, going over taking my opponents to the ground and submitting them in a variety of methods. I saw their counters to my moves and saw how I could capitalise on that. In short I dissected the fight and its multiple avenues before even seeing the venue.

During the fights themselves there were several times my opponents gained the upper hand, but I didn't think negatively . I knew I could escape the situation and turned their initial minor victories into crushing defeats. One of my opponents was up on points by a large margin until I quickly escaped a tight submission, countered while he scrambled to retain hold and choked him out for the win. He angrily smacked the ground and acted like a two year old that was denied an ice-cream. That served to fuel my calm as even if I lost the next match I refused to behave like an ungrateful infant. Dealing with defeat is hard but you still need to face yourself in the mirror.

Being at a motivational high ensured my techniques were razor sharp, that I could clinically setup my opponents and I could react quicker. My dual victory at the event was in no small part due to the high motivation I had to win. Now that I have that understanding, I can aim to repeat that in the future whenever I'm low.

Low Motivation
Everyone experiences lows and it greatly affects performance. There are many factors for low motivation including injury, anxiety, stress from work, personal conflicts, a slump in performance, other athletes outperforming you and vastly more.

At low motivation something in the situation needs to change. BJJ has taught me a lot but a key aspect is that moving an obstacle such as a strong opponent's arm is prohibitively exhausting. But moving yourself into a different angle of attack can expose a weakness. Imagine two people pushing against each other with all their might. There is no movement in either direction as the forces are equal. You can't make any headway, but if you stop pushing back and pivot to the side their force propels them into the area you vacated. Their power is focussed forward but you are now attacking from the side.

At times of low motivation you need to pivot to the side and tackle the problem from a different angle.

Identifying when your motivation is waning before you hit the bottom is important. Escaping a submission at its most effective point is damn hard. Recognising when you are in danger of being submitted and countering before you are in trouble is the key to staying in the game. You may not win from escaping but you definitely won't lose. Staying in the game means you still have a shot at victory, and I've won many competitions against dominant opponents by simply staying in the game until I could find a chink in their armour.

Understanding yourself during periods of low motivation help you make effective decisions and move toward positive activities to enhance that situation. After you have a negative thought or action think of better ways you can handle it in the future.

Read over these examples of some low motivation thoughts and mark down all that you have experienced:

I'm not sure I can do that
I'm too injured
I have no energy
I'm bored
Why wasn't I selected for the team? I must be useless
My coach is pushing me too hard
My partners are improving far quicker than me
My time training is interfering with my relationship and friends
Work is really hectic right now and I can't focus on sports
I'm doing everything wrong
I'm not getting enough attention from the coach
I'm not good at this sport
This is too hard
I should retire
I'm not having any fun
Is this the right thing for me at this point in my life?

As soon as you have a thought similar to the above you should realise this is a red flag towards lowering your motivation. At this point you need to pivot to the side and return to focus. That is easier said than done so let's take this personal analysis further.

What am I thinking?
Motivation is all in your head. The body will move when the mind tells it to. You can push through obstacles with determination when your body is weak. So figuring out how and what you think are critical to identifying highs and lows and how to address any problems.

Same as with high times, low points have many factors that can be brought back to thoughts, emotions and behaviours.

I've thought some very negative things during training sessions. I've though its boring as I have done the repetitions a thousand times. I've bummed myself out knowing I'm overweight or unfit. I've been tired and wanted to find an excuse to stop the training session, even if it meant faking an injury.

If I let each of these negative thoughts affect me I wouldn't train at all. In every case I found a way to push through in part due to my stubborn nature. I'm not saying I'm immune to low motivation, I've spent months in a funk and struggled to extract myself. But stray thoughts like these should trigger a response and are an opportunity to self evaluate. Has something altered in your life adding pressure? Are you physically exhausted and need a break for a few days? Has your diet changed, or should it change? Are you stepping up your training and haven't taken all factors into account for time, effort and energy requirements?

Your coaches and senior students can help with many of these. I guarantee they have had very similar issues and can help.

I feel...
What we think will influence how we feel. If we think negatively then the feelings will follow suit. This is why we need to realise what we think and change it before it affects us further. Often when I have these negative thoughts I immediately shout NO in my mind and rework the thought. This stops it impacting my feelings in any substantial way.

For example if I've put on 3kg I might think I'm fat and I can't do this anymore. I would then shout NO to myself and change the thought to "I'm going to alter my meals for tomorrow." This way I didn't give the depressed feeling a chance to settle and I made an action plan for fixing the situation. I may fail in the execution or I may succeed but as long as I identify the red flags and do something to halt negativity in its tracks, I can refocus.

I've found there is a small delay between having a thought and experiencing a related emotion. By immediately denying the thought and changing it to something positive you can stave off feelings that will alter your actions. This needs to occur as close to the point of the negative thought as possible, otherwise the feelings kick in and cause additional negativity.

The below are some examples of feelings that can greatly impact motivation. If you are experiencing any of them try to figure out its source and address the issue. The feeling was likely seeded by a stray thought and took root to weaken your wall of motivation.

Anxious
Ashamed
Confused
Discouraged
Embarrassed
Frustrated
Guilty
Helpless
Irritated
Lonely
Nervous
Sad
Scared
Stressed
Weary

Having these feelings is normal and nothing to be ashamed of, but by understanding they are triggers you can get control of your mental state and achieve great things.

Behave yourself
How you think and feel in a given situation influence how you react and behave. This may cause changes related to performance that are helpful or a hindrance. Obviously you want to do whatever is helpful and avoid self sabotage.

I've mentioned that thoughts lead to feelings, which alter actions. The inverse is true as well, so changing your behaviour can tackle your negative thoughts and emotions from a different angle.

The following shows a short selection of negative and positive behaviours that you may have done or witnessed in others. Recognising your behaviour as negative is the first step to making positive change.

Negative Behaviours	Positive Behaviours
-Minimal effort and intensity at training	-Fully engaged and high training effort
-Skipped weights leg day	-Hunted for more challenging tasks
-Left training early to avoid speaking with the coach	-Was candid with coach about my problem areas and discussed extensively
-Angry at self for failing to understand a technique	-Aided others when the coach was occupied elsewhere

Now that we can identify our behaviour we can work on ensuring it's as positive as possible. I have often experienced negative thoughts, feelings and behaviour during training. Mostly I have been able to get around them by focusing on my goals (refer here for advice on goal setting). I also have the benefit of world champion fighters and an Olympic wrestler as coaches. I don't want them to think I'm wasting their time and effort training me, so push through my negativity to avoid their disappointment.

Those that know me well understand I have difficulty meeting new people and am uncomfortable in social interactions especially where there are a lot of strangers. I am horrible at small talk and quickly slip into silence. When I speak to people I speak with a purpose so cut through all the unnecessary chit chat. That can make me seem abrupt at times. The reason I'm telling you this is because this is a normal behaviour for me. I try to make an effort by noticing when I behave in this way and go out of my way to make minimal small talk before I get down to business. For me this is very hard. Sincerity is difficult to fake so I have to actually be sincere in asking how your day was and be interested in your answer.

The thing I have found with doing this is its easier each time. I began thinking about how I influence others and what I can do as a team member. I ask my coach how I can help others and how I can improve advising during and after a fight. I'm not only focussed on my own training but want to see my team mates succeed. Identifying my undesired behaviour and seeking change influenced how I think and feel and now I am a better instructor because of it.

Factors affecting motivation
Clearly understanding the typical situations, thoughts, feelings and behaviours occurring when you're motivation is low allows you to enhance your motivation in future. Work to alter at least one aspect so you can influence the others. Again we can pivot to the side and tackle the problem from a different angle. The main changes we can make are generally: to your environment; to your thoughts about the situation; or to your behaviour.

Making one of these alterations when your motivation is low will aid in taking control over yourself and enhance your motivation.

Key Advice
Visualise your goals. Stop thinking about performing badly or not having enough energy. Remember you are training against yourself. Coaches are here to help you achieve your goals, not berate you for failing. We all lose motivation at times, and we all have poor performance days. As long as you keep striving to do better, you will.

You will often feel like you are under performing and set a lot of pressure on yourself to improve. You aren't performing as poorly as you feel. We are our own worst critic. Remove your feelings of guilt for under performing. Not all training sessions can be at your maximum output. We need time to recover, time to reflect and re-align goals.

If you are frustrated by performing a techinque in a suboptimal way, just go with it and try again. That is why we rep. You don't need it perfect everytime, but we do continually strive to improve from the last few reps. If you get one or two wrong, you will fix it on the next. Don't behave as if its the end of the world. Focussing on the negative will waste your time as you vent anger and frustration. Instead simply accept it wasn't the best version and improve upon it in the next rep. To align this with weight loss, each meal is a new rep. Each day or week is a new set of reps. Accept the past and strive for doing better next time.

As my coach says, we should be unrelenting in our unattainable pursuit of perfection. It is impossible to achieve pure perfection but that doesn't mean we can't skim the edge of it.

Summary (tl;dr)
Periods of low motivation are normal for everyone throughout their life. Learn to recognise these periods and their corresponding thoughts, feelings and behaviours as this helps to effectively manage motivation when the going gets tough. Those that can recognise low periods and take positive action have the most success.

Remind yourself to achieve success rather than simply avoid failure.

Thoughts, feeling and behaviours influence each other. If they are all negative, change one of them to improve the rest.

Change the angle of attack to get a different grasp of the issue.

Examine old thinking habits and open yourself to new experiences and challenges. You will be surprised at how far you can reach.

Subtract from Diet Month - March

2016-03-01T10:47:00.001+11:00

Last month's success with removing caffeine and soft drinks from my diet work out so well that I figured I'd continue the process. To read all about that journey click here.

This month I figure I'd tackle the issue of snacks. Generally my main meals are well established and have the right balance of good food and some guilty pleasures. But snacks are a problem. I usually have a couple of yoghurt tubs as a morning snack but at night I grab whatever is in the pantry. This often includes all manner of snacks from the confectionery isle or packets of chips.

My rules for this month will be simple but important.

Don't eat anything from the confectionery isles at the supermarket. This includes chocolate, lollies, chips and biscuit snacks such as Arnott's Shapes.
Try alternative snacks that are healthier options such as fruit, veggies, muesli and tuna.

A box of these bad boys is gone in minutes

They may seem simple but there are some roadblocks to avoid. For a start I am not the sole person responsible for purchasing food in the house. For this to work I need my wife on board and the simplest way to do that was to have her do this challenge with me. This serves multiple purposes. We can help each other stay motivated. We both commit to not having the bad snack options in the house. We are an external check on each other when temptation looms. We can lose weight together.

A second roadblock is the second rule itself. I am a fussy eater and a lot of healthy foods are not what I would describe as edible. So part of this challenge is to find not only healthy alternatives but ones that I actually want to eat. Healthy alternatives are also generally more expensive. It is very easy to grab a bag of lollies for a few dollars and eat them all over a few hours. Doing the same with a bag of nut mix usually costs double or triple that.

So my aim is to find snack foods that:

are comparable in price to the not so healthy snacks
are tasty or at least don't taste like styrofoam wrapped in cardboard
are filling or at least hold hunger at bay until the next main meal
are ideally long lived so they can be bought in bulk thus always being on hand and can reduce costs

Going cold turkey isn't as delicious as it sounds

The ultimate aim here is for me and the missus to spend a month in cold turkey mode while researching replacements we both like. From there we can alter our shopping lists to suit. However part of the reason so many diets fail is that they remove all the foods you love. Chocolate tastes good and we want to enjoy eating. Without our decadent food we will slip back into old habits. So this month will be a difficult battle with our taste buds and decades of habit, once it is over we will slowly re-introduce things in a controlled manner.

I'll update as we go along but I foresee a potential crinkle this weekend. I deliberately deciding on this subtraction this month as March is a busy snack month for us. I have four nieces with birthdays in the span of three weeks, the chocolate holiday of Easter is at the end of the month and on Saturday I am going to a wedding where there will be lots of cake and nibbles. Fighting through temptation helps build mental toughness and solidifies the fact you can achieve your goals. It's like tossing yourself in the deep end to learn to swim, and with my wife involved we can prevent each other from drowning.

Update 7 March
So it's been a week and I've knocked over two birthdays and a wedding. By far the biggest test was the guest thank-you gifts in the form of a lollie bar. Having a lot of my favourites only heaped the temptations higher. My wife and I made the decision to put the bags in the car as soon as we got them, locking them away from sight. But the real test came on Sunday afternoon at the weekly gaming session with the boys.

Know your enemy

Instead of eating our spoils we offered them all to our guests. While the missus enjoyed watching TV in the other room temptation free, the lollies were staring at me all night begging me to eat them.
Thoughts of "only one won't hurt" soared through my mind at every opportunity and I struggled to keep forcing them down. I succeeded by following the technique I described in my motivation post (click here if you missed it) by mentally shouting NO, and thinking I can have a couple in April when I slowly add things back in.

While I succeeded this time, don't feel too bad if you are trying this and fail at one point. Accept you didn't quite meet your expectations but don't let it stop you. Try harder next time. Work harder at the gym to make up for the added calories. Do not skip meals either. Not eating hinders weight loss by triggering the body to store fat due to it not knowing when its next hit of energy will be. Obviously not eating for a week will have an impact but it is extremely unhealthy. Don't give yourself an eating disorder as it isn't fun for you or your loved ones.

As for new snacks I've been trying some old favourites from my school lunch box. Sultanas and carrots. I could eat bags full of them but they aren't too filling. Sultanas are mainly carbs from natural sugar and protein is what gives you that full feeling. They give you a great boost of energy and have lots of fibre so should be in your diet. While they are good they are not the perfect snack that I'm looking for.

While some people might be shouting to eat more fruit it isn't what I'm wanting either. Apples are pretty good at satiating hunger but go off quickly. I could eat a kilo of bananas and still feel hungry. Frozen berries are an option. I was thinking of adding them to Greek yoghurt, which is something I've never tried. It won't be a quick and cheap option however so I'll keep looking for something I can open and eat immediately and doesn't go off.

Update 18 March
So I think I found something that might be suitable in the snack rotation: air popped popcorn. Bags of this are under $2 and make about eight regular sized bags from the cinema. Popcorn at the movies are horrible for you health. The calories in a large bag are about the same as a large Big Mac meal. This is because they drown it in butter and cook in oil. Air popped popcorn however has no additions. You simply put the kernels in a bag, toss in the microwave for around 90 seconds and serve.

Just raw corn kernels

I grabbed 100 brown paper bags for a couple of dollars for this purpose. So for under $5 I had a dozen bags of air popped popcorn. Those bags are about the same as a can of coke, however instead of being 100% carbs from pure sugar, the popcorn tosses in some protein, fibre and carbs from whole grains. If you don't like the taste of raw popcorn add in cinnamon, curry or chilli powder, or for a sweeter option maple syrup. If you have to worry about your blood sugar levels eat this alongside a raw carrot, peanuts or a glass of skim milk.

I've been having this for about a week, with a bag or two each day at work. I have not put on any weight and have felt more satiated. I'll keep looking but I think I've found a contender for the title.

Update 24 March
Still haven't found anything better than the good old popcorn. I don't mind a tin of tuna but to make it filling I need to eat it with bread. Apples are quite decent but I can easily polish off a kilo of them in a day, meaning I have to visit the supermarket daily and increases the cost. While I will still include those in my diet, I need a staple that is readily available so popcorn is the winner in my book.

As for temptation, this week threw me a couple. Yesterday I did some training for work where each table of four had a bowl of snacks available. It included an entire packet of Tim Tams and a large assortment of jelly lollies. I found it much easier to mentally reject them that a couple of weeks prior. The habit of not eating them is kicking in.

The second temptation was again at work in the form of morning tea for Easter. Hot crossed buns may not be from the confectionery isle but are far from a healthy choice. After summarily rejecting them I went about my business and felt better for it.

As for the Easter extra long weekend I don't see there being much to tempt me. I have never celebrated it. I have no children. Even my nieces and nephews don't really care that much other than getting a bit more chocolate than normal. As such there are no chocolate treats in my house to taunt me with their sugar rush.

Final update
Well the month is over and its time to evaluate. I have lost just under 2kg this month. So by just removing junk food and caffeine and changing nothing else I have easily dropped weight.

I'm sticking to popcorn as a snack as it works nicely with my requirements. Please send any ideas for other healthy snacks, or share your own experiences in the comments.

I'll be taking a break from removing things from my diet and will slowly reintroduce things. You can't constantly limit yourself and expect to succeed indefinitely. So April will be about moderation and finding a level I'm happy with while working towards my goals.

Stretching and Warm Up Overview

2016-02-29T15:07:00.000+11:00

There are already countless websites with thousands of tutorials on stretching techniques and what is considered best by the author. It is difficult to determine if these are general and possibly wrong concepts that are passed down from instructors over decades, or are from people that study human movement scientifically and give the best medical advice.

I am not qualified for the latter and want to avoid the former. The information here is what I have learned from Grant McKechnie, the owner and primary physiologist of Ballarat Sports and Exercise Rehabilitation Centre. He has helped me with a lot of niggling issues and is more than qualified to provide accurate and safe advice on body movement. This article is not designed to replace his expertise but to give a good indication on what is required.

To give a bit more background on Grant he is a former rower, currently rehabs people not only in a large variety of sports but also aged people and accident victims to allow them to move again. He has prevented surgeries with detailed rehab plans and is the strength and conditioning consultant for the professional fight team at Infinite Mixed Martial Arts. In short, he knows his stuff.

Grant could fill volumes with his knowledge in this area, and he may do so eventually. What I want to stress is that the below information is my interpretation of that expert knowledge. So with that disclaimer out of the way, lets get to the content.

Principles
Stretching has a multitude of benefits but the greatest in my mind is injury prevention. If your body can naturally bend at odd angles and certain extremes you are less likely to pull a muscle or over extend in a painful manner. All sports have key movements to excel and they differ wildly but share the same basic principles.

There are two basic types of stretch: static and dynamic. Static stretches are where you increase your stretch maximum, are usually taken to your current extreme range and held for a period of time. Dynamic stretches are made in motion and should be part of a warm up to get the blood flowing and get you ready to train.
You need to be completely warm before you start static stretching, dynamic stretches are usually done cold. Generally you should be sweating profusely to static stretch. Cold muscles can snap and tear when sent to their extreme range. Hot muscles are malleable and can easily take the stress.
Just like a hard training session a stretch should be built up in phases. Going straight for your maximum range isn't a good idea. This is especially important as you get older. Start with a comfortable position at the point the stretch starts to pull. Hold for around 10 to 20 seconds and push it out to half way between your max stretch and previous position. Hold for a further 10 to 20 seconds before going to maximum. Ease back a little if the pain gets too high. You may need 10 phases before reaching your current full stretch, or you may only need 1. Your body is unique in its history and requirements so listen to it and adjust accordingly.
To make gains a static stretch should be held for long periods but if just starting out you need to build it up over months. If you currently have poor flexibility a 5 second static stretch might be enough. At the other extreme you might need a 90 second hold to get any benefit. As your stretch improves increase the time you hold it by a few seconds.
You should also work down in phases. After holding the maximum stretch ease off in intervals so the muscle doesn't go from maximum to minimum in a second.
If you feel you are cooling down too much warm back up with 20 quick star jumps or a handful of burpees in between stretches. Complete the current one first, warm back up if necessary and move onto the next.
Ensure you stretch at multiple angles. Just stretching your hamstring with a straight leg directly in front won't suffice. You also need to roll the knee to the outside and inside and perform the same stretch at the different angle. This will give a better range of motion and ensure your body can absorb the stress at all possible positions.

Pre-Warm Up

So you have arrived at the gym for class and have changed clothes ready to train. What now? Many classes don't have the time allotted to adequately warm up. I've had the pleasure of training under two Olympic level wrestlers. For their own training a normal warm up is about 2 hours followed by 2 to 3 hours of technique. Most people don't have that amount of time so 5 to 15 minutes is spent warming up for an hour long class. That might be OK if you are under 30 but is woefully insufficient as you get older. Plan to arrive at least 10 minutes early so you can do your pre-warm up.

Dynamic stretch to warm up

This pre-warm up preps your body for the class warm up. The body is likely asleep from working in the office, or strained from working outdoors all day. You need to iron out the kinks to get ready for the warm up. As a very loose and general rule of thumb, for every decade you are over 30, add 10 minutes to your pre-warm up. For example if you are in your 50s your pre-warm up should be around half an hour. If you are in your 30s or younger then 10 minutes should be adequate.

During this pre-warm up you need to work on dynamic stretches. This includes hip rotations, moving the neck side to side, torso twists etc, You should work on all areas and joints in multiple directions. To keep track of it start at the head and work your way down. As a rough guide do a dynamic stretch for:

your neck side to side, up and down and in circles
shoulders side to side and forward to back
chest ie pecs forward shoulders back
elbow and wrist rotations
limber up fingers
waist rotations ie torso twist
hip rotations
knee rotations and bends
ankle rotations
your back forward and back

All these are done standing and there are further ones to be done from sitting. From here it is worth doing any additional exercises your physio may have recommended, or work on specific areas you have issues with from previous injuries. Don't do any static stretches here as you are not yet warm enough for it. If you feel you are holding a stretch immediately let it go.

The specific exercises will differ depending on your body type, your injury and surgical history, flexibility and general fitness levels. Future posts will list various stretches and exercises for each of the above with different levels of intensity. Assuming you can do the advanced versions, as you get older it is wise to start with the basic version, move to the intermediate and finish with the advanced as part of the pre-warm up.

For example: At 30 you might be able to do all the advanced exercises and stretches so do them in the pre-warm up. At 40 it takes a bit more time to prepare so you start with intermediate then go into the advanced. At 50 you start with the basic, go to intermediate then advanced. At 60 you might do basic twice, intermediate once and finish on advanced. Keep following this pattern so you do the advanced version only once, and intermediate one less time than the basic.

Yes it might be boring but which is better: spending extra time warming up and continuing to train in the sport you love at your fullest capacity until your final days; or training as if you were still 20, missing months of training due to constant injury and being unable to train much past 50?

The Warm Down/Cool Down

This step is often missed due to the normal 1 hour class structure of most gyms. If a class was spent doing adequate warm up and cool down there would be less than 30 minutes of actual class time. While this isn't a successful business model, instructors should however encourage their students to warm up and down on either side of the scheduled class. I can't imagine a gym that is invested in its students not allowing people to stick around after class to take care of their bodies properly.

Remember to breathe

A proper cool down gets the body from peak performance and gradually returns to normal. Going abruptly from high intensity to sitting on your bum doesn't allow time to realign, and often causes injury in the next session. A light jog around the training area works well, but if space is limited by the next class things like star jumps and squats are perfect. The key is to start at a higher intensity and wind it down. Assuming you can do a star jump a second at peak performance, start the cool down at two every three seconds. After you've done a dozen slow it further until you are doing one every five seconds. Use your breath to gauge your status. If you are panting slow it down a notch. If you can't breathe normally slow it down another notch. If you can't talk while doing the exercise slow it down a further notch. Once your breathing is normal, which should take around 5 minutes, start your static stretches and re-hydrate.

A quick recommendation for re-hydration, try coconut water. It has the same benefits of sport drinks but in greater quantities and is completely natural. For example it has around five times more potassium than one of the -ades, which is very useful for avoiding muscle cramps. Sodium (ie salt) levels are lower so if you are a high intensity athlete such as a pro fighter you may need to add a bit of salt to your food to compensate for the sodium lost in sweat.

As a guide, I would recommend getting in the habit of allowing 30 minutes either side of the scheduled class to adequately prepare for the session and wind down afterwards. Even if you are in your 30s, you may not need the entire time but as you age you are already used to being at the gym for an extra hour to look after yourself. 60 year old you will thank you for the effort.

If you can't arrive early due to work or other commitments then fit in a basic pre-warm up while you are changing into your gym clothes. It's better than nothing.

Let me know in the comments about any strategies or techniques you use for your own warm up and cool downs.

My weight loss journey - The Home Stretch

2016-02-12T10:00:00.000+11:00

So here we are with the end zone in view. If you have just come to this or need a refresher, please click here for the start and here for the middle.

Last time I mentioned I dropped to under 100kg but it was short lived. Within two weeks of achieving my then ultimate goal I injured myself. It wasn't a bad injury but had me out for about 10 days. I had developed a pattern of eating that helped fuel my six days of training as well as lose weight. When the training stopped I didn't alter how much I ate.

This is a critical component of your diet plan. You need to have two different eating habits that you can interchange at will. The first is for your normal workload, ie when you are at full swing with high intensity training. The second is with little to no exercise for when you are injured, having a rest week, or are sick.

As I've been doing this for several years via trial and error all I have to do is mentally flick the switch. But when you are starting it will take effort. I tend to eat similar meals each day. I have the same breakfast each morning, a small range of different meals for lunch and the same again for dinner. I have a range of snacks during the day. By doing this it is simple to go from training to no training.

For example, my breakfast generally consists of four Weet-Bix and skim milk. In weight watchers terms this is 10 points. When I am injured I switch to my backup breakfast of two slices of whole grain bread, butter and jam. This is 6 weight watchers points. Lunch is the same. Instead of a 10 to 12 point meal I have a 6 to 10 point one. You don't have to be on weight watchers to do this but do need to know which meals have more calories so you can change to the lower valued ones.

So after I recovered I was around 104kg. Still a long way from where I started at 175kg. I was practically at my goal so relaxed a little. I knew I could take it off and keep it off, and I fluctuated between 100kg and 107kg for the next year. Everything changed when I went in for the first of two surgeries in the year. To read about it and how to manage your time off training please click here.

My saviour

Due to being in hospital for 9 days I couldn't stick to my normal food plan. I had hospital food and whatever treats my visitors brought in. By the time I was out of hospital I had put on 10kg and couldn't move that well. Getting into and out of bed was a team effort and sleeping was in shifts when the pain eased enough for 30 minutes of rest. Food was plentiful and comforting while I sat on the couch and played the Playstation for days. When I was finally capable of independent movement a couple weeks later, I returned to the gym.

Sitting on the sidelines for months while recovering was the hardest thing I had to endure. It was tough to keep still and not participate but even tougher mentally to keep focus. There were entire classes that slipped by with thoughts of not coming back tomorrow or for a few weeks. The reason I kept coming in was I focused on what I wanted, which was to return stronger and advance through the system. Aligning everything back to my goals and motivation kept my legs dragging into the gym every day. I didn't realise it at the time but I was building my mental stamina right along with repairing my body. That mental agility helped me through my second surgery (which took place while I was still recovering from the first) and once I got back into training it aided the grind back to my previous level.

Since then I have won a few BJJ titles and gained a new belt but my weight is still a constant combatant. Right now I am fluctuating between 108kg and 112kg. The upper limit I set for myself is 112.5kg so its time for a new goal and motivation.

The weight divisions for BJJ basically stop at 97kg and anyone heavier is lumped into a single category. So while I am close to that, I am competing with guys upwards of 130kg. That is a huge difference and with my back and knee issues is too much. Age is also a factor. I can't change that but I can change my weight bracket.

Awesome movie that shows all
I need for fighting in an Octagon

My current goal is to remain between 92kg and 95kg, with a maximum weight of 99kg. The reason for this is two fold. At the worst, I just have to lose 2kg to make weight for competitions. Second, at the lower end of the range I will only have to shed a couple kilo to get into the lower weight bracket of 85kg to 92kg. This will help with my other goal of stepping into the Octagon for an MMA fight as I'll have two weight categories to find an opponent in.

To help me get there I am stepping things up a bit and will utilise our strength and conditioning experts to push my body's boundaries. I have started increasing my flexibility, which is already quite good, and if you have been reading this blog regularly you'll know I've recently cut out my caffeine/sugar intake. Click here to see how that is going.

So onto the lessons this time.

The path is hard but manageable. Stick with it and surround yourself with people that can guide you
Understand sufficient food for training and sufficient food for rest vary greatly, and plan accordingly
Re-evaluate your goals along the way. Once you are close to the destination figure out if there is a more distant end point to strive for now you have the blueprint for success
Ageing never stops and can alter what you can achieve, and changes what your body can handle. Listen to what your body tells you but fight it into the best shape possible
Be realistic. Starting a professional MMA career at 40 isn't likely, but having a strong amateur career is achievable
In the final strides to your goals seek additional help. This is the hardest part and you generally need to mix things up
Tell others about your goals, not only so they can aid where possible but as a motivator and external check. If you keep secret goals only you know when you fail or make it easier on yourself. The other danger is setting a goal that is too difficult or dangerous and others can reel you in

I hope you enjoyed reading my journey and can benefit from my hard work, successes and failures. I'll continue to post my experiences and insights to help you achieve your heart's desires.

Please leave feedback in the comments. I'd love to know how this has helped you.