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.