that ain’t my America... or is it?

I often joke around with a few of the guys at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in Columbia Maryland were I train about who is to blame for things in the news that we don’t like. Usually us older guys say things to the younger guys like, “that ain’t my America”, “Don’t be mad this is the America you wanted” or “don’t blame me this is your America”. We are almost always joking and I rarely give much thought to the quotes. However occasionally I do encounter things that make me feel like the America I once knew is truly gone or at least fading. This Christmas Eve was on of those times.

On Christmas Eve I was driving with my family to visit my mother. To get into the Christmas spirit we decided to put on some Christmas music.

I went station by station until I finally found a song that sounded like a Christmas song. After listening to the words for a short time I realized that the song was actually an environmentalist song about how bad Christmas was. Saying things like how bad it was that we cut down trees to make cardboard Rudolph’s to put in our yards. I immediately changed the station and once again started the station-by-station search.

After going through many station I once again found what sounded like a Christmas song. Again I listed for a short time. The song started out saying nice things about Christians but then started talking about pagans. I was a little confused so I listened a bit longer. The gist of the song ended up being that Christians needed to be more sensitive to pagan views during Christmas. What the @$#%! At this point I was starting to get a little angry.

I continued once more through the channels. As I was looking for the music I starting to think that maybe I am getting old and out of touch with the new generation of Americans. Maybe this isn’t my America anymore. It was very depressing. Finally I reached another Christmas sounding song and literally only a few stations from where I started. I thought to myself “Please, please, please don’t be more liberal garbage on Christmas. I want to be happy!” The song that came on is below. I never heard this song before, nor is it the greatest thing in the world but it was just what I needed to get back in the Christmas Spirit!

I listened to Christmas music for the rest of the weekend on this station. It was a very nice holiday. I still didn't get to hear my favoit song (Oh Holy Night), although I did get listen to many classics and the entire family was happy!

Freedom!

Why are we so willing to allow the government to take are rights away?

Over the past year alone the federal government has been very aggressive in trying to limit our freedom. I have written several blogs about these issues. I have talked about the expansion of the “Obstructing a Police Investigation charge”, the new laws outlawing the video taping of police so no one can document their corruption, The Obama administrations attempt to read and confiscate private e-mail, and the regulations on what food we can and can’t eat. There have even been attacks on the toys in Happy Meals.

This administration has taken control over the auto industry and is fighting to mandate what heath care you buy.

We already have red light cameras everywhere and over the last year or so we have seen the rise of speed cameras. If you have ever been to Britain (where you do no have the right to privacy, or any rights for that matter) there are literally cameras everywhere. There, Big Brother is always watching and now he will be watching us a well.

When we go to the airport we get the option of letting them see us naked or having them feel us up. This has got to at least be a unreasonable search... right?

In more recent news there is a push by the feds to mandate blood test if you are suspected of drinking and driving. If the officer has no proof of a crime they say he should be able to force you to submit to a blood test to prove your innocence. Wow…

And now that the “Wikileaks” scandal has gotten all over the media you can rest assured that the feds will be placing heavy regulations on the internet.

The problem is that any one of these issues by themselves is not enough to get people mad. Also there is always a good face put on it weather its to make your life easier or to protect you from something. Big Brother only wants to take care of you! Politicians always use incrementalism when taking freedoms. If your rights are slightly taken away a little at a time there is no outrage.

It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once.
- David Hume (1711-1776)

People often forget that the Boston Tea Party was over a small tax of a good less then our sales tax here in Maryland. Now we pay 30% of our income, an additional 6% sales tax, plus tariff taxes on many goods, gas taxes, property taxes, etc. The point being this did not happen all at once but slowly over time.

The loss of liberty is a very slippery slope and unless we are willing to stand up for our rights we will continue to slide down that slope right into a totalitarian regime. If we do not stand up for ourselves who will? This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes.

In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him for then it costs nothing to be a patriot. - Mark Twain

Recently I was talking to a very close friend of mine that I train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Columbia Maryland with. After discussion one of these issues, he started aggressively asking me questions about my thoughts on other issues like death penalty, abortion, etc. (maybe a topic for another blog). The thing is that I don’t know everything nor do I protest to but when I take a step back and look at all of the liberties the government has seized and/or is trying to seize it makes me very sad. Not just for my on freedoms but for the future of this county.

It seems like now days freedom is a foreign concept. I can only pray that they next generation wakes up. I will leave you with one last quote.

“Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.”
- Francois Voltaire

FamLI

This past weekend was very exciting. I got to go down to Virginia to see one of my close friends and teammate, Jon Delbrugge, fight in his second MMA Fight.
It was total domination from the very beginning. Jon came into the fight 1-0 and was facing an opponent who was 2-0 with decent stand up. Jon took him down almost immediately and ground and pounded him with devastating blows for the knock out in less then two minutes

I have been training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Columbia Maryland with Jon for a couple of years now and it is amazing how close of a bond you develop with your teammates. When you train hard every day for a long period of time the people you train with become your family. I cannot describe how excited and happy I was for him.

McDonalds Still Under Siege!

Back in early July I posted a blog about a “Nanny State” liberal organization called the CSPI (The Center for Science in the Public Interest) called I'm Lovin' it. The CSPI threatened to sue McDonalds if they did not remove the toys from there Happy Meals. They were arguing that McDonalds shouldn’t be allowed to put toys in meals that are not healthy (healthy as deemed by them) because then their children would want to eat the unhealthy food. Look everyone knows that McDonalds isn’t the healthiest place to eat but it should be up to us what we and/or our children eat. Heaven forbid they have to say no to their children. McDonalds isn’t doing anything misleading by giving a toy.

When word of this reached the public there was a huge backlash in support of McDonalds. After this McDonalds’ CEO Jim Skinner sent a letter to the CSPI basically informing them that they would continue to include the toys and would fight them in court if they choose to do so. In light of McDonalds calling their bluff, the CSPI backed down. Or did they….

Now it would appear that the liberals have decided if they can’t beat McDonalds head on they use a back door. They have been spending a lot of money lobbying politicians to get the toys outlawed. Yes outlawed!!

Last week with an 8-3 vote the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a law banning toys to be given with Happy Meals. Mayor Gavin Newsom promised to veto this measure. However, if the 8-3 vote holds it will be enough to override his veto. They is expected to go into place in December 2011.

So it would seem that the new goal for the Nanny State wackos is get as many cities and towns to outlaw the toys as possible and then possibly a nation wide ban. What gives them the right to dictate to us what we eat? Allowing big brother to tell us what we can and can’t eat is a very dangerous and slippery slope. We cannot keep giving away our rights as individuals and parents.

For me personally I very rarely eat fast food. I train Brazilian Jiu-Jistu in Columbia Maryland and I am always watching my weight for tournaments. Because of this I know I can’t have a lot of fast food. However there are times when you are in a rush or traveling with the family and need to get some quick food at a low price. I see absolutely nothing wrong with getting fast food once in a while. It will not hurt you or make you obese to eat fast food one time and what is wrong with seeing your child’s face light up when they get a little toy. You can say that my family is the exception and that too many families eat it regularly but how is that anyone’s business but their own.

I know that many people look down on McDonalds and may not care about this but I guarantee that if we allow the government to regulate businesses in this manor it will only be a matter of time before more and more is taken away and who knows for what reason. There is already a large assault on personal freedoms from political correctness to smoking to snacks, trans-fats, salt, etc. What will be next and for what reason? You never really even know what the reason behind this is. Sometimes it’s an excuse to raise taxes and other times it might be a crazy vegetarian group much like a new report put out by the Nanny State liberal group PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine) that list milk as a junk food. Yes that’s correct they listed Milk as a junk food! The PCRM is a front for a radical vegetarian group (not a Physicians group at all) bent on scaring people away from dairy.

The bottom line is that we must do more to take on personal responsibility and stop the over regulation by our government. If you don’t want your child to eat a happy meal don’t buy it. We can’t rely on the Nanny State to protect us from everything, even ourselves.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety" - Benjamin Franklin

Personally I believe that the larger problem of obesity in America comes from lack of exercise but I should be careful saying that because they might mandate that next…

Big Brother is at it Again, Again!!

Obstructing a Police Investigation? Believe it or not this is actually a charge and it is being used to skirt the bill of rights. This is just another way Big Brother is trying to limit your rights and freedom.

In resent years we have witnessed time and time again people being arrested for crimes and then going to jail for obstructing an investigation rather then what they were arrested for in the first place. Most notably Martha Stewart, no she was not convicted of insider trading, and Scooter Libby, no he did not leak the name of a secret agent (that was actually a democrat named Richard Armitage who was never charged with anything). In Martha’s case she was charged and convicted of lying to the investigator. I am not sure what she lied about exactly but it obviously had nothing to do with insider trading since she was found innocent of that. Libby’s case on the other hand was a little more public. The worst part about Libby’s situations was he was forced to testify by a Grand Jury which is fact finding and you are not afforded 5^th amendment protections (you must answer although you can say you don’t recall). When he missed stated a date of a phone call he made a year before he was charged for lying and trying to mislead the investigation. During the investigation Richard Armitage admitted to being the leak but for some reason the grand jury proceeded.

The reason for bringing this up is I was talking to a good friend of mine that I train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with in Columbia Maryland, Dave Zwanetz. He is a criminal defense attorney and today he had a client come into his office with one of the most egregious abuses of power I have heard of in recent times by a police officer. This is even worse then the motorcyclist being arrested for video taping a traffic stop (as talked about in my blog back in July Big Brother is at it again!) Dave makes a lot of videos to help inform the public of their rights and here is the one he started for this incident.

I cannot believe that this happened and can only hope that Dave’s client sues the crap out of this officer once the case is thrown out. Or even better I hope that this leads to the officer being fired for his criminal abuse of power. This needs to be fought all the way. If we let one officer get away with this what will stop others from doing the same!

“Well the election didn’t go that well for me here in Maryland but nation wide we did pretty well. We took the house...” was the response I gave when my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor asked me about the election results at my Mixed Martial Arts School in Columbia Maryland. He then asked, “Why do you say WE when the republicans do well, when you say you are a Libertarian?”

The simple fact of the matter is that when I say we I mean we as a nation, including my instructor who is neither a Republican nor Libertarian. It is no secret that I am a conservative Libertarian. So from my prospective the closer the country pulls to those views the better for everyone.

On the ballot in my district there were only two Libertarians both of which I voted for and both of which lost. I do vote for a lot of Republicans but that’s usually only when the alternative is the Fascist that call themselves Democrats or when they are more like a Libertarian then a Republican. I have even been known to vote for the constitutional party as well (which I did and he also lost. lol). However nation wide a lot of libertarians and Libertarianesque Republicans won. A lot of new school small government Libertarianesque republicans also took seats in the house (Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ken Buck, & Ron Johnson to name a few).

For this election even if no small government Republicans had been elected it still would have been good for all Americans. Currently the Democrats have been running amuck in DC. Controlling both houses and the presidency is never good (just look at the Bush years). There needs to be checks and balances. One party cannot be in total control.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834-1902)

If we can get gridlock in DC it would be a very good thing for everyone. The only fear is if the two parties start working together. There is an old saying that I am not exactly sure of its origin but supposedly was told by a republican staffer to a group of Russian legislators.

“In America, we have a two-party system. There is the stupid party and there is the evil party. I am proud to be a member of the stupid party. Periodically, the two parties get together and do something that is both stupid and evil. This is called bipartisanship.”

So yes we did do well nation wide, at least seemingly so. Only time will tell. But… no my political party did not…

Election Day is here again! I must say I do love Election Day. They should make this a paid holiday. You can truly experience the full range of emotions from exciting to anxiety, filled with joy to plain pissed off. The only other thing that gets me this excited is doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the Mixed Martial Arts School in Columbia Maryland were I train.

It can be very exhausting waiting to see if the candidates you voted for win, especially when you allow yourself to be emotionally invested like I do. For many people this is their big chance to help make a difference that only comes once every couple years.

I always try to do my part (Voting, Boycotting, Protesting) even though often it feels like my efforts are in vain. I honestly think that I would feel worse if I did not even try.

This year I have been more optimistic then I have been in a long time. The polls are showing that many small government candidates have a shot at getting in (both Libertarian and Tea Party type Republican candidates). People who seemingly want to make a difference and not just want to be apart of the old school establishment. I have even seen Democrats running on a Libertarian platform. Of course it will be an up hill battle even if they do win and you never know if they will stay true to their word but there is a huge groundswell in this country supporting small government. It is clear that people are getting sick of the politics in Washington D.C. and this may be our chance to make a difference.

Well my wife and I have already voted so now it’s just a waiting game. I am very anxious to find out the results. Here in Maryland we have a couple big races but it’s always tough. Maryland is almost two to one Democrat so that the fact these races are even close is a miracle. Even most of the Democrats that I know are fed up. So much so that they are either voting Republican or they have said that they are not voting at all. However, I know that that is only anecdotal and not to mention that Baltimore is well known for voter fraud (the dead always vote and Baltimore always goes Democrat).

So I will just wait and see and hope and pray for the best like everyone else.

Compromising Beliefs for Profit

“Is it hypocrisy to be for small limited government and low taxes yet make your money off of the government?” was the question posed to me by my instructor at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu School in Columbia Maryland were I train. He added, “What do you think about people who compromise their beliefs to make money?”

We were speaking to a mutual friend of ours who is a criminal defense attorney and happens to be for limited government. The argument was that if the government was restricted and people were freer then he would have much less work and make less money. So therefore he profited from large government.

I’m not so sure that necessarily agree with this logic. First of all there is a big difference between being for limited government and being an Anarchist. There will always be a need for his services. With that said, lets say he would not be needed (or needed much less) in a free society. The fact of the matter is that we do already live with a very large overbearing government. People like our friend are needed to help protect the average man. I think that this is very much so consistent with his beliefs. Sometimes you need to be apart of the system in order to change it or even protect someone from it.

Our friend’s firm has protected people from the most egregious of government abuses. In very recent time it proved in court that a police officer falsified evidence, arrested a man and lied under oath to try to have him convicted for no other reason then she was having a bad day (that officer is now facing charges). Yes he does make money for what he does but is that wrong. Shouldn’t he get paid for not only the time and effort he puts into someone’s case but the time and preparation he has put in to becoming a good attorney.

To put it simply, just because he could make more money with a larger, more intrusive government doesn’t mean that he is hoping for more regulations. The fact that he rails against an overbearing government despite possibly hurting his own pocket says a lot about his character and unwillingness to compromise… unless its just for show… then he would be a douchebag and should go buy a 3 series…hahaha

I don't think too highly of anyone who would take money to do something that was completely against his/her own beliefs.

A Nice Weekend!

Another good weekend for the Mixed Martial Arts School in Columbia Maryland were I train. A large portion of us went to Miami for the Miami International Open Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament. We had two guys go up to Vermont for their first MMA fights.

Both of the guys (John "Devastator" Delbrugge & "Big Sal" Al Washington) we sent to Vermont did extremely well with first round finishes. Big Sal showed some impressive quickness and agility finishing his guy with a close guard armbar at the end of the first round. Devastator did exactly what we have come to expect, demolishing his opponent and tapping him out with a rear naked choke only 54 seconds into the round. Great job to both of my team mates!

Miami was tough but as usual our team team did well. We sent a pretty large team to the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament and almost everyone metaled. Also "Big" Phil Thorn won the blue belt open weight division.

For me it was the first tournament I had done in a long time since getting hurt. It was also the first tournament I have done at my new weight (154lbs with Gi). Overall I did ok taking 3rd. It was disappointing but I learned a lot and I got some stuff to work on. It was great to be back on the mat and I got away relatively injury free, which is always nice. I cant weight to get back out there again but for now back to training!

Privacy?… A right?…

What is this country coming to? We are constantly surrendering more and more freedoms to the government. From high taxes to Bush’s “Patriot Act” to Obama trying to regulate the internet and sue Yahoo to surrender private e-mail accounts to the federal government without a warrant, we are constantly allowing our freedoms to be taken away.

Many people remember the Patriot Act. After 9/11 the government jumped at the opportunity to take as much of our freedoms as they thought they could get away with and for the most part many of us were perfectly will to give away. The Patriot Act included a lot of things like warrant less searches and wiretapping. Some of which was eventually thrown out by the courts and some that was not.

Barack Obama and many democrats railed against the patriot act and ran on repealing it. However once Obama was elected he fought to expand the powers. First his administration ordered Yahoo to give them access to private e-mail. When Yahoo refused he sued them in curt to have access to e-mails without a warrant. Thankfully Google and several others came to Yahoo’s aid and banded together to fight the lawsuit. Near the end of August the Obama administration finally backed off and the case was dismissed. Now his administration is trying to regulate internet content. His administration has stated that the FCC has the authority to regulate the internet and is set to outline a plan to regulating broadband lines. I’m not sure what exactly or how they plan on doing this but I will give you more when I know more.

The Federal Government is not the only ones hard at work to take your freedoms. Just a few months back a Maryland man (Anthony Graber) was arrested for video taping a traffic stop where he was pulled over for speeding on a highway. He was on a motorcycle. The cop cut him off nearly knocking him off of his bike then jumped out of his car and pulled his firearm on him. Graber was cooperative but latter posted the video on Youtube. He was then arrested for Maryland’s new wiretapping laws, which make it illegal to video police officers. Keep in mind that it is not only still legal to video anyone else in public, not to mention that the police officers themselves tape the stops with there own on board cameras. I think the most surprising to me was that this law is actually in many states. Talk about protecting their own.

What got me started on this little tirade today was a news story I came across about a young man named Yasir Afifi. Yasir, a 20 year old college student, took his car in for an oil change. The mechanic spotted a strange device attached to the bottom of his car (a little box with antenna). After they removed it he posted images of it on line and asked if anyone new what it was. Two days later the FBI showed up at his door and asked for their GPS tracking device back. Apparently the FBI has been putting GPS tracking devices on peoples cars with out them knowing and more importantly with out a warrant. This has started a major issue over privacy rights. Similar cases have been heard in many courts already with many different verdicts, which left me very surprised that I had not heard about this sooner. We cannot allow the government the right to trace our every movement with absolutely no probable cause (if they had it they would get a warrant).

Often I talk to my friends at the Mixed Martial Arts School in Columbia Maryland were I train about these issues. Our school is very diverse. We have people from all walks of life from doctors & lawyers to people who work retail to contractors and so on. Everyone is always outraged but often nothing gets done. It is not easy to stop the government from taking more and more power but we should do what ever we can (Voting, boycotting, protesting, writing letters to congressmen, etc.). Often we feel like it does not make a difference but if we do nothing then we are the ones to blame.

Why Learn to Protect Yourself - Self Defense Part 2

The ability to defend yourself is very important. In our modern day times many people either have a false sense of security or believe that as long as they don’t go into a bad neighborhood, nothing will happen to them. Others believe that the police will protect them. This could not be further from the truth!

Living in a nice neighborhood with a security alarm will not stop all criminal. If anything having a nice house and car may invite criminal to attempt a break-in. I train at a Mixed Martial Arts School in Columbia Maryland. Two years ago the owner of the affiliation (Master Lloyd Irvin) and his family were held at gun point in his home. The criminal broke in at 4 am and surprised them. Lloyd Irvin used his martial arts training and was able to disarm one of the thugs and scare them off. Had he not been trained at gun disarming who knows what might have happened. Not that I necessarily suggest trying to disarm an attacker, but you never know what the situation will call for. Also you never know when or where something might happen. Some criminals are opportunistic and others are calculating. Some will attack in broad daylight, others at night. Some in nice public places and others will wait till you are alone to attack. I have heard many horrible stories over the years (some surprising and some not) and most were not in seedy places.

I think the biggest false sense of security comes from the police. We have all heard the slogan “protect and serve”. Who do they really protect and or serve? The fact of the matter is that police can’t be everywhere all the time (nor do we really want them to be). Chances are that if the police are there… Something already happened. The police won’t show up until after someone calls them and sometimes it takes a while. This does not even take into account that the police do not have to put themselves in harms way to save you. After the Rodney King riots in LA thousands of cases flooded the courts where people were charging that they were being attacked and that the police stood idly by watching only mere feet away. The courts basically ruled that it is neither the police officers duty nor obligation to protect you. If an officer feels that he/she could be putting him/herself in danger he/she is not obligated to assist. So if the police can’t or won’t protect you, who will?

The simply fact of the matter is that it is your responsibility to protect yourself and your family. No one can be there to protect you at all of the time, not the government, not a passerby, nor a neighbor. You even cannot always rely on another family member to be there or to be able to help you. Well I guess if you got enough money you could have a personal body guard but for the rest of us only you can protect yourself at all times.

In the previous post I talked about martial arts training and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as a very good ways to learn to self-defense. Martial arts will build the confidence, give you the strength & conditioning and the skills to defend yourself. However there are also other ways to protect yourself. For one can arm yourself. It is no secret that I am a strong supporter of the second amendment but you can also arm yourself with mace, a stun gun, etc. The important thing is to be properly trained. It does you absolutely no good to have a weapon if you can’t use it. It can even be a liability if the attacker takes it from you. If you choose to arm yourself I suggest taking a course and practicing using it as much as possible. Much like martial arts, seeing the technique a couple times will not allow you to be proficient enough to use it live. If your state allows for concealed carry (which I am a strong supporter of) take a training course and practice the techniques as often as possible. You should be going to the range regularly to be proficient.

Self Defense

Often people ask me about self-defense courses. Personally I don’t like them. In general the people that want to take a self-defense course are looking for a quick answer. The problem is there is no quick answer if you want to be able to defend yourself, especially if the attacker is larger and stronger. You need to develop a skill set and this takes time. You not only need to know the moves but have drilled them enough so that they are effective. The problem with most self-defense courses is that you are learning a very small skill set over a very short period of time.

At the Martial Arts School in Columbia Maryland where I train we teach many different disciplines. I would suggest that anyone who wants to learn how to defend him or herself study a Martial Art. It takes time so be prepared to stick with it. Training is not always fun for everyone but you need to just keep reminding yourself of your goal.

If I had to pick one Martial Art that will help absolutely everyone be able to defend themselves it would with out a doubt be Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Jiu-Jitsu takes time to master but once you start becoming proficient you will notice that it is very easy to control someone. I have personally witnessed a 19-year-old girl weighing roughly 115 lbs defeat a man that was nearly 50 lbs heaver then her and she was even not a black belt. Jiu-Jitsu is all about body mechanics. You learn how you can use leverage, off balance your opponent, and move & position yourself to control your opponent. It is also submission based so you do not need to rely on strength or power to knock someone out.

Another advantage in taking Jiu-Jitsu is the live sparring. In striking arts you cannot spar every day for injury reasons and also many people just don’t want to get beat up on. Since there is no striking in Jiu-Jitsu you can safely spar everyday (if you wish). This allows you practice the moves and positions with real scenarios and with real reactions from your opponent. It also allows you to gauge your progress and know how effective it really is. The sparing will also inevitably get into good shape, which can only help you in an actual situation.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in MMA

It is no secret that Mixed Martial Arts promoters prefer the fights to stay on the feet. The rules are set up in ways that strongly favor the stand up disciplines (Boxing, Muay Thai, etc). For one there are multiple short rounds. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is not always a fast art. It can takes time to set submissions. Also the ref will stand it up if it looks like they are not working. Many people will try hard to stall so that the ref will stand them back up. Often you will see wrestlers score the takedown and then stall so they can be stood back up to score another takedown (not a bad strategy if you have good takedowns but how is that any more exciting then if they were to stay on the ground). Another thing is that they are required to wear gloves. The gloves not only allow you to hit harder but the gloves are thick so it makes it hard to grip and to slide your hand under your opponents chin for the choke.

With all that said Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is still a common place in MMA. When most people think of Jiu-Jitsu they think of submissions but Jiu-Jitsu is much more then that. The “guard” is often used defensively. It helps to control your opponent so that you don’t take a lot of damage or to get back on top (Sweeps). Also being good at Jiu-Jitsu allows you too be able to pass your opponent guard, mount or take their back. Often you may see someone with good Jiu-Jitsu skills pass the guard and mount but finish the opponent with strikes.

Surprisingly enough at the highest level of MMA competitions you see many fighters that are purple belt level in Jiu-Jitsu or even lower. It is obvious when you see a true world-class black belt. When guys like Demian Maia or BJJ Pen fight it’s clear they have a large advantage on the ground (Both on Top and Bottom).

Jiu-Jitsu can also be used as a “Hail Mary” play. Recently some very high profile fights have been ended with a submission from the fighter that was loosing. Fedor Emelianenko lost to Fabricio Werdum via Triangle after Fedor knocked him down and jumped on him. Brock Lesnar defeated Shane Carwin with an Arm Triangle after being pummeled in the first round. And even more recently, Anderson Silver defeated Chael Sonnen with a last minute Triangle after loosing almost every round of a five round fight.

All of the current champions in the UFC have trained extensively in Jiu-Jitsu and have proved that you need to be well rounded to be champion. No matter how good you are on the feet you never know when you might end up on the ground. This is one of the reasons that at the MMA School in Columbia Maryland were I train we put a very strong emphasis on being well rounded.

It is clear that there will always be a place for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in MMA. After all if you take out the Jiu-Jitsu its just a kick-boxing match.

Dragging.... But its Friday!

Last nights practice was a rough one. At the Baltimore Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school were I train, we train very hard and this week was been no exception. My body was feeling it by Thursday night and is not exactly recovered yet. Luckily it is Friday so at least I do not have to work tomorrow. However I do have to do a circuit both tonight and tomorrow, which will not be fun, but I do get to sleep in a little and then I get a full day to recover before Monday.
I'm finally starting to feel a little stronger since being sick and my weight is still right on. So I am looking pretty good for the Miami Open Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament in a couple of weeks. I can't wait!
I will be heading into Jiu-Jitsu class tonight around 7 and probably get done class and my circuit by 10. So after that I get to sleep. I can't wait for that either...ha!
On another note I have to take my children to a birthday party on Saturday and then my daughter is having a small party at my mom's house for her birthday. My daughter will be having another party closer to her actual birthday but my mom lives kind of far and couldn't make it. So a weekend filled with training and chasing after the little ones. I will be sneaking naps where every I can...

Joint Practice

Another great practice last night (Wednesday) at our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in Baltimore. Competitors from one of our sister schools (Ivey League MMA) visited. It was a great time. We turned the heat up as high as it would go and trained for about two and a half hours. For the last half an hour or so we were running suicide sprints. It was a blast! I love hard practices. It seems bad while you are doing it but it is very satisfying after you finish. You feel like you can do anything... well after you get a good night sleep.
I have been training very hard this week trying to get ready for the Jiu-Jitsu tournament in Miami at the end of this month (Not that I don't always train hard). Its just hard coming off of being sick for over a week and jumping right back in but there is very little time to get ready. I will be training as hard as I can for the next two weeks. Luckily my weight is right on from being sick.
I can't wait for my wait to get back out there and fight. It's been a rough year so far between injuries and getting sick and a few early bad performances. Got a lot to prove!

Training Hard!

Another day Training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Baltimore! I'm starting to feel a lot better. Last night I went in for the intermediate class. Our instructor was in a little bit of a mood and pumped it up a little. It was great. It wasn't quite as tough as an advanced class but it was still a lot of fun. We got to run "Match of the Days" (tournament style matches). I didn't do so hot (don't really want to get into what happened. Ha!) but it was still a lot of fun.
Afterward I did my first circuit since being back. That was tough! I felt like I was starting all over. I was very tiered but I willed myself through it. I got less then three weeks to get ready for my next BJJ Tournament so I really need to push myself.
The action wont stop tonight. We have visitors coming up to our Jiu-Jitsu school in Baltimore from our sister schools for our advanced class. It is always a good time when the competition team all meats up at one school. The heat will be turned up and the training will be hard. I love it!

Well I'm back!

For those that don't know I was extremely sick over the last couple of weeks. It was horrible and even included a visit to the hospital. All I could think of while I was sick was getting back to class at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in Baltimore where I train. Well... I am back. Last night I attended my first advanced class since being sick. I held up pretty good although I felt noticeably week and I tiered easily. I hope to be back to full strength by the end of the week.
Do to being so sick I missed the tournaments last weekend. It was very upsetting. I worked really hard to recover from an injury and get ready for the tournaments and then got sick. Oh well. I am now registered for the Miami Open, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament at the end of the month. I am very excited to finally get back out there. First I will need to get back into shape.
After class tonight I will be doing my first circuit since getting sick. Circuits are miserable but necessary, especially if I am going to be in shape by the 23rd of this month. At our MMA school everyone who competes are on circuits.

Busy! Busy!

It has been very crazy for me over the last couple of weeks. Things have picked up at my job. My daughter started her first day at kindergarten. I have been working to help people negotiate contracts. I have also started our new conditioning program at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in Baltimore where I train.
Over the last month D'Angelo Kinard from Advanced Sports Performance has been working on a new conditioning routine for our competition team and it was final installed on Monday. We will be doing three circuits a week and ever so many weeks we will change up to other circuits.
The first circuit I did on Monday was brutal. It was a complete body workout. My back legs and shoulders are very sore plus it was very cardio intensive. It was very hard doing the submission grappling class (No-Gi) and then the advanced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class right after it. By the end I was completely drained!
Today I am on a leg Circuit and then No-Gi and advanced class. On Friday it’s all upper body. Once my body gets used to the new conditioning routine I will go back to running on Tuesdays and Thursdays before class. I am going to compete in a Jiu-Jitsu tournament at the end of this month. It will be the first tournament I have done since injuring my arm. It will be great to get back out there. This long layoff has been miserable.
The new training is definitely not fun but if it helps me achieve my goal of winning at the worlds then it will be well worth it. It’s like my coach keeps saying, “You are older so you have to work twice as hard”. That is what I intend to do. One thing is for sure by next June (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championships) I will be a machine... Hopefully not a broken one!

Its Football Time...

Football season is here again and it has got me thinking a lot about training. I always thought of professional football and other professional sports as seasonal. The football season is only 4 months, with an additional month and a half of training camp and preseason. Then there is another month in the post season for the teams that make it. So do football players really only train for 6 months out of the year… I really doubt it.
Ever since I started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu I have had a new prospective. The Jiu-Jitsu season goes mostly all year long but has its grand finale or “Super Bowl” in early June. In order to be ready for the BJJ Worlds (Mundials) in June you literally need to train all year long. You do things in stages to build yourself up and peak at the end of the year but you are still training. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitu School in Maryland where I train is very competitive. We train very hard all year long and do the smaller BJJ tournaments through out the year to refine our skill. We do this because we know that if we are not someone else is.
I would imagine it is the same way in profession football. Everyone knows that every year new guys are coming into the league to try and take their jobs. You better believe most guys will do everything in there power to prevent that. I am sure there are some guys that just get by on talent but I would bet that those are the guys that don’t last long!

Another Awesome Proformance!

Team Lloyd Irvin has been on fire this year and strikes again winning the team title at the Chicago Open!
Not too bad considering there is not even a Lloyd Irvin affiliate in Chicago. Also the team did not send guys from many of its academies including the main academy. A few schools each sent a handful of guys and just about everyone did very well. Our Jiu-Jitsu school in Maryland probably sent the largest group. We sent 15 guys and brought back 16 medals. Most of which were gold (I believe it was about 10), including the blue belt & purple belt open weight division titles.
We sent a pretty wide verity of competitors to this Jiu-Jitsu tournament. The more experienced guys were there to practice their "B-Game", or stuff that is not in their normal Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu game plan. For some of the others this tournament was to help them get more experience competing and used to competing in an IBJJF style tournament. For one of our competitor this was her first tournament (Barlow). She has only been training for a couple months but she did very well taking Silver.

A Day Filled With Training!

Yesterday I got up an went in to work 2 hours early so that I could leave for a couple hours around 9:30 to make the 10:00 strength and conditioning training session at my martial arts school in Maryland. D'Angelo Kinard from Advanced Sports Performance (a professional Mixed Martial Arts Trainer) was up to install our new conditioning routine. It was brutal!
D'Angelo had us doing a lot of exercises similar to the last time he came up for the seminar except he added in weights. We did a lot of different exercises, some for time and some were a number of reps. I think we used every muscle in our bodies. It was like doing a circuit for an hour. Everyone who was there looked like they were going to die afterward... A sign of a good work out!
After the conditioning session I went back to work until 4:30 then it was back to the gym. I taught a couple of basic Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes and then trained in the advanced Jiu-Jitsu class.
By the time the advanced class started I was a little run down but I made it through. It was a good class. We did a lot of drilling and situational sparring. We also focused on getting the guys ready for the Chicago Open this weekend.
I am a little sore today but mostly i am just wiped out. I really liked training mid-day. When I got back to work I was pump up and got a lot done. Its a shame I can't do this that often (the boss would not go for me leaving ever day) but I might try to do it once in a while. I might start doing my conditioning early in the morning. I'm not sure how that will affect me during the day but I need to fit in at least 3 conditioning sessions a week in addition to the classes I am currently attending.

Stolen Valor Act Overruled

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overruled the Stolen Valor Act today. The Stolen Valor Act was passed by congress to make it illegal to falsely claim to have received military medals.
In 2007 Xavier Alvarez (a California public official) was found guilty of falsely claiming to have received the Medal of Honor after being wounded many times in combat. Unfortunately for him he made this statement at a public meeting and was then charged. Alvarez then appealed the case stating that it is his first amendment right to free speech to lie about whatever he wants. It is currently unclear if this case will go to the Supreme Court and even if it does no one is sure how they will rule. In the past Supreme Court has ruled on both sides of this issue.
The First Amendment was designed to protect political speech but over time has protected everything from art to pornography. At the same time there are things you cannot do such as yelling fire in a theater. In recent times congress has even passed laws restricting what kind of advertising can be done close to an election (political speech) and even more recently made it a crime to lie to a federal agent (like the FBI). So I guess sometimes you can lie and sometimes you cant.
I admit there is a part of me that wishes there were tougher laws on lying about awards. I train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and have seen people lie about their credentials, what belt they are, what Jiu-Jitsu tournaments they have won or what their Mixed Martial Arts record is. However the thing is all of these things can easily be checked and so can military medals (especially the Medal of Honor).
As crappy as it is that someone would be so stupid to lie about something like that, should they really go to jail? Wouldn’t loosing your job be enough punishment? In the case of Xavier Alvarez once he was called out they should have just voted him out of office. Usually once the person is called out they look ridiculous enough.
It definitely is not often that I side with the 9th Circuit court (most overturned court in the country) however I always try to stay on the side of the constitution and I think that they got it right. I guess I can see why the Supreme Court is usually split on these kinds of issues.

California Über Alles

All over the country there seems to be a trend towards conservative candidates for this upcoming election. This may be normal cyclical trends, the public fed up with over taxation (tea parties) or a backlash against Obama and his policies but it is clear that the country is going more conservative. Liberal Republicans are loosing primaries and even some Democrats are running as conservatives. All over the county polls are showing conservatives leading over liberals even in some of the most liberal states. And yes, this even holds true in California.
Those of us that remember 80's punk rock remember the name Jerry Brown from the popular punk song "California Über Alles" (by the Dead Kennedys). Well good old fascist Jerry Brown is running for Governor again but this time against a small government conservative named Meg Whitman. Meg is currently holding a narrow 1 point lead in the polls which in its self is a huge feat considering that political make up of California.
Another high profile political race in California is between Carly Fiorina and Democrat Sen. Barbara Boxer. Fiorina is leading Boxer by 5 points (47 to 42) and her support has not changed over the last month. Boxer has also been around a long time. She is known to many as the senator who mussel swept a crowed of people at an anti-gun rally she was holding. She has been anti-gun for a very long time even though she has a concealed weapon permit. I guess she believes we should do as she says and not as she does.
Because I do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu going to California is not an option. All of the major Jiu-Jitsu tournaments in this country are in California (Nationals, U.S. Open, Pan-Americans, Worlds). My school in Maryland will be sending a squad out to Nationals next month. It will be the first tournament I have done since worlds. It will be interesting be out there and see if there are a lot of Republican signs and such.

Sunshine State

Florida’s attorney general announced yesterday that they were introducing new legislation with regards to immigration. The proposed legislation for the most part mirrors the Arizona immigration law. It allows the police to inquire about the immigration status of individuals that are all ready detained if the police have reasonable suspicion. In other words if the police pull someone over for speeding after witnessing them cross the boarder and the suspect does not have a license or any form of identification and does not speak English, the police officer can then inquire about there immigration status.
The Florida law does differ in a few ways, it is actually even tougher on illegal aliens. For one this law makes it a misdemeanor for an alien (legal or not) to not have proper immigration documentation. This law also imposes tougher penalties for illegal-aliens if they commit certain crimes (like armed robbery & drug charges). Another difference is the Florida law would require businesses to verify the immigration status of new employees through a national database.
This law has not passed yet but kudos to Florida. If this passes it will help the Arizona’s and the nation’s situation significantly. For one this will help build momentum for more and more states to pass similar laws. Also the Arizona law is being fought in the 9th circuit court of appeals. The 9th circuit court of appeals is a very left wing court and is actually the most overturned court of appeals in the country. In all likelihood this court will attempt to drag the case out, since currently the Arizona law was been mostly overturned, and when they finally rule on it they will probably rule against Arizona causing it to go to the Supreme Court for a final ruling. If the Florida law passes and the Obama administration sues them it will likely end up in a more conservative court of appeals. If the court were to side with Florida it would put pressure on the 9th circus court to make a ruling. With multiple courts ruling differently it would push the Supreme Court to hear the case faster.
Ultimately, if all goes well this should force the federal government to enforce there own laws and finally do something about the boarders. If the Feds will not enforce there own laws then the states should have the right to protect themselves.
My Jiu-Jitsu school in Maryland flies us all over the county and the world to compete in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Tournaments. In the past year I have been to Florida twice (Miami & Tamp Bay). Over all Florida seemed like a decent place and was nice place to visit. I also like a lot of the laws in Florida and only wish my state would adopt some of them (Like the gun laws). There is absolutely no way for me to know what the illegal population is from visiting. However according to the Department of Homeland Security in 2009 Florida had an estimated 720,000 illegal aliens, which is the 3rd highest in the country (Only Texas and California is Higher).
I am planning on doing some Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu trips coming up soon. One of the ones I was already planning on was going back to Florida in October for the Miami Open. I am also planning on going to Arizona but I not sure yet when that is going to be. It would be great if I could go and support all of the states that are helping to secure our boarders.

Comming Down the Stretch...

Well I'm in the final stretch of my weight cutting. My goal was to be about 152 lbs by the second or third week of August. I am right on pace. I should be able to make 152 or 153 by the end of this week and then be there comfortably by the end of next week. I need to be 151 pounds for international Gi Jiu-Jitsu tournaments and 149 lbs for international No-Gi Submission Grappling tournaments. I figure if I am walking around at about 152 or so it should be an easy cut when the tournaments come up.
I cant say that it has been easy. I have been training very hard. Not only training in multiple classes everyday but running and doing circuits. The worst thing however has been the dieting.
I love to eat! Dieting has definitely been hard. Fortunately I love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu even more. Still, it is so tempting to just break diet. It is a constant struggle every time I see junk food. Not that I have been perfect but overall I have been doing very well. At the end of last month I met with a trainer. One of the things he said was that it is ok to break once in a while (Once a week or less) as long as you do it all in one day. Its better to eat really bad one day then to snack and cheat a little every other day. I have been trying very hard to stick to that and for the most part have been doing well.
Tonight I will be heading to my school in Maryland right after I get off work. I will be teaching a class, then running and a circuit. If I get done in time I will do another class before the advanced class at 8:30.

Recently there was a large uproar about Michelle Obama's vacation to Spain. Michelle spent an estimated $75,000 a day for the 5 days that she was there. Michell, her daughter and there entourage of friends staff and secret service agents occupied 60 rooms at a 5 star hotel. All expenses were paid by the U.S. tax payers (roughly $375,000).
By the end of the summer Michelle will have have enjoyed 8 of these lavish holidays. However most of the anger seems to be over the first lady's unwillingness to spend the money in the U.S. Giving the current economic times many believe that it would be nice if the money was spent in the U.S. to help American hotels and businesses. Not only would this help these businesses but it would put money back into circulation. Especially since president Obama insists on raising our taxes, we would be able to recoup some of the money back to the federal government.
I can understand the anger around the country. Although $375,000 may be a minuscule part of the federal budget, to the average American this is a lot of money. I cannot even fathom what it would be like to be able to just waist $375,000 on a whim. I do not begrudge anyone who has there own money to do so. Although it is the tax payers money and if you are going to keep raising the taxes you should be a little more frugal or at least spend the money in the U.S.
I am not big on vacationing anyway. I do travel a lot for Jiu-Jitsu tournaments. My idea of a vacation is having a week off of work to train at my BJJ school in Maryland. I would probably just train all day everyday. However I know wife wouldn't go for that. That's why I try to plan my vacations around my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu the best I can. If I had the means I would let my wife and kids go on vacation where they want as well but as a politician you need to be conscious of the fact that it is not your money.

Who Will Protect You?

How long does it take the police to respond to a call? Depending on were you live this could be anywhere from 15-20 minutes or as much as 2 hours. Even in the best-case scenario the police always respond after the crime starts. If someone were to brake into your home how long would it take for him/her to get to you versus the police to arrive?
Despite what they say it is not a police officers job to protect you. After the Rodney King Riots thousands of cases flooded the courts where citizens stated that they were being mugged and the police stood by and watched and did not help. The suits reached their way to a federal court but were then thrown out. The judge stated “It is not a police officers job or duty to protect you.” If a police officer feels that his/her person could be harmed they may choose to refrain from assisting. They cannot be made to put themselves into harms way. This is very important. If it is not the polices job to protect you then who’s job is it?
It is your job and duty to protect yourself and your family!! It is not the responsibility of anyone else to protect you. So with that said how does one go about protecting yourself and/or family?
You could buy a gun. Dr. John Lott spent 10 years studying the crime stats from every county in the U.S. His findings were very interesting. In states that had loose gun laws and allowed all honest citizens to carry concealed firearms, violent crime was significantly lower (around 30 or more percent lower). There are 32 states that have such laws. However the actual crime numbers were about the same. In other words car jacking was way down while car theft was up and home invasions were way down while home burglary with no one was home was up. There are also thousands of cases every year where people protect themselves by brandishing a firearm and almost all of the time they never actually have to use it. I would recommend taking a safety course and practice regularly however. Just because most people don’t have to use it does not mean that you wont.
Are guns always the answer? What about situations where you may not have a firearm? There are many ways you can learn to defend yourself. The average person and especially the average criminal are not trained fighters. You would be surprised on how easily a trained fighter can best a much larger opponent. I personally feel that the two best martial arts are Thai Boxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This is because they have actually been tested. If you watch professional fighting you know that just about every discipline has been tried in MMA Fights. Now after two decades of MMA you almost always see the same two disciplines Thai Boxing and Jiu-Jitsu. At my martial-arts school in Maryland I have personally seen a small 19 year old girl (about 115 lbs) best a man that was about 50 pounds heavier then her. The thing to remember when training to defend yourself is that there is no quick self-defense course that will really help you. Mastering the skills needed to fight off a much larger attacker takes time and you need to stick with it.
If you live in Maryland like I do owning a gun is fine if you are in your home but it is almost impossible to get a permit to carry. Also you never know if you will be surprised and not have it ready or you could have it taken from you. I would suggest protecting yourself in everyway possible.
There is a little hope for Maryland on the right to carry issue though. Raymond Woollard (a Baltimore resident) is fighting in US district court for the right to carry. This case could have major implications on this state.
Several years ago on Christmas day a criminal broke into Woollard’s home. Raymond tried to get his shotgun but was attacked and it was wrestled away from him. Luckily his son was able to stop the criminal by holding a pistol at him. Raymond’s wife called the police and his son held the criminal at bay until the police arrived 2 ½ hours later. Yes 2 ½ hours! After the criminal was arrested he received probation. Raymond immediately went out and got a carry permit. Later the same criminal got out committed another burglary and assaulted a police officer. He served three years the second time and when he got out Raymond tried to renew his permit. He was denied because he has no proof that he has a concern for his safety. He is now challenging the way the state determines who gets a permit. So we will just have to wait and see what happens…

Ice Ice Baby!

At my school in Maryland we have our hard BJJ training days on Mondays and Wednesday. I usually teach a class or two and train in a couple classes including the advanced Jiu-Jitsu classes on these days.
Last night was a rough one. In the advanced class we did a lot of shoulder exercises and my shoulder is still recovering from an AC joint separation I suffered in June so it was very painful. Not only is there still pain but my arm is still very weak. I pushed through but by the time I left I could barley move my arm. This was not just because of pain but even more so it was just wiped out. Almost complete muscle failure. I new I was going to have to do something extreme in order to be able to train tonight.
I needed to start loosing weight for the next tournament season. So at the beginning of last month I started running first the first time since I was young. I have been running almost every day since. After about 2 weeks I started getting shin splints, my knee started hurting, and my calves were pulled. A friend of mine suggested doing an ice bath. Ice baths are done in all professional sports and my friend was quick to say "if you want to train like a professional you got to do the ice bath". They are absolutely miserable but I must say it did help. After one time my shin splints were gone and my knee felt fine. After my second one my calves healed. It was a miracle. I am now a true believer in the ice bath and have been doing them somewhat often.
From the beginning my friend said he does the ice bath submerged up to his neck but I could not bring myself to do it. I only went in waist deep for my legs. After last nights advanced class I decided to stop being a wuss and just do it. I went in up to my neck so that my arm and shoulder were submerged. I must say that this was absolutely the worst thing that I have ever done in my life.
When you go in only up to your waist it only hurts for about 2 minutes and then everything numbs up. When you go in up to you neck it hurts the whole time. It does get mildly better after 2 minutes but if you move at all it still hurts. Also the chattering of the teeth never goes away. At one point I started getting a brain freeze like I just ate something really cold.
I did make it the full 20 minutes but I don't know how often I will be doing the full body. I will say that my shoulder feels better then if I would have just iced it normally. However it was horrible and am not sure if it was worth it or not.

First Ruling on Obama Care

I have many issues with Barack Obama’s health care bill. Sure it sounds great to get health care for free, especially since I do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (a full contact sport). The simple fact is that nothing is truly free and there is always the rule of unintended consequences. We must be very careful when giving the government more and more power.
Since this bill has passed many states have filed lawsuits against it. On Monday we received the first ruling, all though only on a motion filed by the Obama administration. The Obama administration filed a motion to dismiss the case but on Monday the federal district court judge denied Obama’s motion.
The interesting thing about this is the judge’s ruling. Judge Henry Hudson basically said that he is pretty certain the congress does not have the authority to mandate Americans buy insurance and penalize anyone who does not.
The problem with that is how the authors of the bill worded it. In most large bills congress adds a clause that says if one part of the law is struck down, other parts remain enforceable. However when the bill was written they chose not to include this clause insisting that the bill would not work without the mandatory insurance. So if this is any indication of how the judge is going to rule the entire bill could be thrown out.
Another interesting thing about this was the argument to dismiss posed by the Obama administration. They actually tried to argue that we should forget about the law because requiring everyone to buy insurance would be a good thing. It doesn’t seem to me like much of an argument for the judge but you never know. Fortunately the judge thought it better to follow the constitution.
Currently there are 21 states and several groups that have filed lawsuits against Obama’s healthcare bill sighting numerous arguments. I’m sure that whatever the verdicts we are in for a long drawn out fight. There will be many appeals and will probably will see a supreme court ruling eventually.
I am hoping we have some resolution before the end of the year when our taxes go up. It would be nice to have some money back for tournaments. However I wouldn’t count on it.

Badnarik on the Constitution

I recently came across this video of Michael Badnarik speaking about the constitution. I thought he made a lot of really good points about our rights. It is far too often that I come across people that think that we get our rights from the constitution. The constitution does not grant us anything. It limits the government from trying to infringe on the rights that the founders thought we already had and were inalienable.
Often I go out to eat with my friends from my school in Maryland. While out we talk about different issues, politics, the constitution etc. They often joke and say that I care too much about these kinds of things. I have been mocked for voting, protesting, boycotting, writing congressmen etc. In the beginning of this video Badnarik says, “it is not the constitution’s job to protect us. It is our job to protect the constitution.” I could not agree more with this statement. In an attempt to make a joke my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor said to me yesterday that (aside from me) he doesn’t know anyone who has ever protested anything… That is truly sad…

Pump...You Up!

On Saturday my BJJ school had a physical fitness seminar with D'Angelo Kinard from Advanced Sports Performance. D'Angelo has trained many professional MMA, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters and had some valuable insights to training. He did not just cover overall fitness but stressed being very sport specific in your training. He covered a very wide variety of information from building muscle and increasing power to loosing weight and/or bulking up. He also gave his general thoughts on a proper diet.
It should be no secret to anyone that reads my blog that I have been trying to loose weight and get into fight shape. I learned a lot from this seminar. Some things that I was doing right and some things that I was not. This is why it’s important to have someone who is knowledgeable on the topic instead of just doing it yourself. I did a lot of research on line but there is so much information and without trying it out it’s impossible to know what is right. D'Angelo actually encouraged looking into things yourself, however he said that we should always ask him before starting something new because he has tried just about everything and generally knows if it will work.
D'Angelo runs the strength and conditioning program for Lloyd Irving’s competition team at the Camp Springs location and is now going to be setting up the strength and conditioning program at Crazy 88. I am very excited about this. D'Angelo will be giving us a workout routine specific to our needs and hopefully helping us with our diets as well. If you are going to train like professional you need professionals around you.