New Home Coming Soon

I just wanted to let everyone know that soon this blog will be moved to www.jitsujourney.com. I purchased my own domain and have been putting in more effort getting it set up then blogging lately. Soon I will be back in full swing with a sweet new look. The Foundry will be representing again in a few weeks a the Maine Skirmish. We are all pumped. It's a smaller tourney, but I'm looking forward to competing again. Just like people run to improve their cardio, I want to compete more to improve my nerves. I want to be able to step out there and roll just like it's a normal session in class. Then I think I will do so much better. The only way to practice for that is to actually compete, and that's what this tournament will be for me. I've been working on a new sweep I saw Abmar Barbosa do at the FGO this year as well. Seems to be coming together nicely with my game.

FGO 2009

Let me start off first by saying Team Foundry had a great showing at the FGO this year. We took 5 competitors and walked away with 6 medals total. Out of around 27 teams that registered we took 7th overall. Not bad at all. We had some steep competition let me tell ya, no one had any easy fights. My first match I went up against a monster from team LINK. The nerves of it being my first match of the day really sapped my energy quickly and I found myself gassed and working to keep him from passing. He defeated me and went on to win the division. I guess that makes me feel better. My second match was against the guy who took first place last year. I had no nerves at all for this match because I was still really bummed that I lost and could no longer take 1st. I stepped out on the mat with an I don't give a shit mentality. I ended up pulling guard after trying a take down. Worked a de la riva sweep that left me on top for the win. Now I found myself going against the guy who took second last year. This match was to decide 3rd place. He pulled guard on me and I came down really odd on my knee almost hyper extending it. It was enough to take my mind off for a split second and by the time we both were on the ground he had a triangle locked up. So I took 4th place. I really wish I had placed, but that's how it goes. I think next year I will set a goal for myself to just medal in the FGO and then work from there. In other news soon my blog will be moving to www.jitsujourney.com. Yup thats right I purchased my own domain. Videos of my matches can be found here.

My Visualization

This Saturday night we all decided to do a little test run to check our weight. We didn't eat or drink much of anything after 5pm. The next day we woke up and went down to the gym and weighed in. I was relieved when I hit the scales weighing 154.5 HELL YEAH! Finally. Now I just need to work on eating right this week and getting my energy back. No Shawn that doesn't mean bud lite limes. The other thing that I wanted to talk about was things I do to mentally get ready for a match. We do a lot of running and extra workout stuff of course to make sure the cardio and strength is on par. The most important thing I do is visualize, and no matter what I am concentrating on at the time, it always ends with my hand raised. I hate running, but one thing I found that passes the time quicker is music. I'm sure everyone runs to their fav jams, so this isn't out of the norm, but I do something a little different I think. I like to run to trance or progressive techno. I started doing this because I hated finding a song that matched my mood while running. Lets just say I couldn't find a tune that said "I friggen hate running, and I'd rather been drinkin' beeeeeeer!" So the techno I listen to has no words just a driving beat that starts slow and builds and ramps up, just like my run. Now where my visualization kicks in is every time a new layer is added to the beat I add in another step in a sequence of moves. By breaking down the different steps to a move and assigning them to a beat, I am essentially drilling technique in my head. This goes hand in hand with my game plan because the early songs will start with everything from stepping on the mat and shaking hands, to later on finishing the match and raising my hand. Then of course Jacare runs out and hoists me on his shoulders and all the Brazilians start chanting a special chant just for me. What? You don't think of that?

2 Weeks To Go

2 weeks and counting. It's crunch time. Literally...I need to do crunches because I have about 5 pounds to lose in that short amount of time. Besides the weight I feel confident. I think my ground game plan is solid. I have some go-to moves that I feel comfortable with. My stand up seems a lot more smooth and confident this time. I have about 4 different setups that I'm going to be trying. Having a game plan is certainly key. They say a lot of any sport is mental and I can't help, but agree. Say you have a game plan that has 5 moves or positions, the plan isn't there so that you have to go in order, it's more for those times when things aren't going as planned. Your opponent may have stopped you from doing move 1 and 2, but somehow you have made it to 3 and guess what you automatically do next...4. This is like a road map for when you get lost, it puts you back on track mentally and you no longer feel hopeless. Of course if you go out and dominate and pull off moves 1-5 then props to you! I personally do a lot of visualization, how about you all? What are some things you do to mentally get ready to compete? I think my next post will be about my methods of visualizing.

Progress is Best Measured in Pounds?

This past Thursday was the first time I've weighed since getting the shocking news that I had to lose 10 pounds. It was after an excellent class where we had lots of high level guys on the mats. It's always nice to see the mats full because you know you will be rolling a lot when the time comes around. I think I rolled with 6 different people Thursday night. So after class we head over to the gym again and Bri and Justin stepped on the scales and weighed about the same. Bri has lost about 4 pounds even though she doesn't need to. Justin has done well maintaining. I step on the scale and cringe because I have worked hard over the last week and a half, and I knew if I hadn't lost anything it would be a huge blow to my motivation. Somehow I lost 4-5 pounds in a week and a half AWESOME! Makes me feel better about being able to drop the other 5 in the last 4 weeks. 155 here I come!