7 Day Fast (15 more hours to go)

Almost 2% drop in body Fat. Which came with an almost 3kg muscle loss.

Day 4 has been the toughest so far; headaches just before night time and all thru out the day I felt as if acids from my stomach were trying to come out via my mouth. I also had to skip my workout on that day partly due to a busy schedule.

Other people who have tried 7 day fast seems to have it easy on the fourth day, so I was quite surprised when I felt opposite. My guess is that my body felt alien in that state as it was the first time I’ve gone more than 72 hours without any calorie intake (I’ve already tried a 3 day fast last year).

Day 5 and 6 were relatively better. I got back to my usual routine and felt that the “acid in my throat” feeling slowly declined.

Here we are onto the last 15 hours. I think I’ll need to look into re-introducing food in my system. Feel free to share any suggestions.

7 Day Fast

Here I am again attempting a 7 day fast. No calories whatsoever, just plain water and probably whatever sugar is found on my toothpaste.

I started the fast last Sunday after finishing my last meal around 8 or 9PM. Currently writing this on a Thursday morning, probably on hour 80 and starting Day 4.

First 2 days went on a breeze. It was on Day 3 when I started to feel hunger and “kumukulong sikmura” (that’s Filipino loosely translated to boiling abdomen, this refers to your stomach pumping acid in preparation for a coming meal).

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Losing weight as expected, body fat also on a decline unfortunately the same goes for muscle mass.

If simply losing weight is the goal then so far so good, but my ideal result would be a rapid drop in body fat percentage and retaining most of my muscle mass. All 3 have been steadily dropping.

There you go. See you in a few days for the result.

Before you go, if you have any suggestions on how I can improve my 7 day fasting particularly on increasing the body fat % drop. Feel free to chime in the comments.

Game Plan – Worķ Out Routine

I’d like to think of myself as someone with MacGyver skills who can come up with a solution on the fly for the task at hand. But I’m not, although I can be spontaneous, my best work has always been preceded by research, careful planning and lots of preparation.

As seen on my note app, my life has been dominated by my kitchen slash foodie game plan.

Given that thought, the road to a healthier me requires that I draft a blue print. I went back to reading blogs and reviewing YouTube playlist that relates to fitness and health. NerdFitness is one of my go-to’s with this kind of stuff because they speak my language (Scientitic facts mixed with Sci-fi and geek references). I used their BUILD YOUR OWN WORKOUT article as my starting point.

Anyway I think I’m losing track on what I want to share on this post. So here’s a breakdown of my game plan divided into 3 main categories:

• HIIT: BJJ based movements
• STRENGTH: Body weight workout from NerdFitness
• MOBILITY and POSTURE: Yoga, Foam Rolling

The plan is simple:

• alternate between HIIT and STRENGTH training.
• Active rest days in between
• MOBILITY and POSTURE correction will be done everyday
  • on active rest days – this will be the only activity for the day
  • warm up / cool down on HIIT and STRENGTH days.

There you go. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this plan.

 

 

21 Day Challenge in 30++ Days

Wow! The last time I posted something, things were quite different. Previous blog entry was a competition highlight reel of my girlfriend – my girlfriend, ha! Fast forward to 2020 that woman is now my wife, oh and before I forgot there’s also two little boys in my life. Wheew, there goes the quick recap.

On to the current episode.

I saw a meme (circa 2015 response would have been “mem whuuut?”) that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Being the decisive person that I am (sarcasm), decided to go for it and the goal? Start eating better. A freaking Waterloo I’ve had since forever. My goal is to be able to eat 21 days of zero (nada) of what is generally categorized unhealthy: Fried food, processed and simple sugar.

I started the attempt 6 days ago and I’ve pretty much failed. If this was any other challenge then this would have been over and I’ll have to chalk an ‘L’. In response I decided to read up on the 21 days to build a habit theory and found out that the research actually said AT LEAST 21 days.

So what does it mean for me? It means that I’m licensed to make mistakes, it means that this is not an all or nothing endeavor. Thus I’m continuing this pursuit to a better me. It may take me more than 21 days, it may be 30 or more, it may be 21 months. No one really knows but I’m going for it.

Omai Adalim – Pan Asians BJJ Open Highlight

I’ve been meaning to try video editing and try making a BJJ highlight reel.

Here’s my first attempt using Windows Movie Maker, displaying my girlfriend’s gold medal run at the 2015 Pan Asian BJJ Open:

You may also check out the full matches below:

• Match 1
• Match 2 (Semifinals)
• Match 3 (Finals)

Pan Asian 2013 – Almost doesn’t count.

Pan Asians, probably the most prestigious jiujitsu competition in the country. I don’t have the words for it, title says it all. Almost never counts.

Pan Asian Weight Dilemma

Winter is coming. 😀

I mean the 2013 Pan Asian Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Competion is coming.

 

And I have a weight dilemma. 13 days until competition and I still haven’t decided which weight division will I compete. I weighed myself last week,  the scale read 64.5 kg without the gi and 66.5 in my Shoyoroll Ring.

There are two options:

1.  Cut weight and try to make it to 64 kg with the gi where I usually play.
2. Compete at a higher weight class (under 70kg).

I have never tried to cut weight and thats 2 effin kilos.

 On the other hand if I play on the next division:

Jiu jitsu is a sport where technique prevails, but at the end of the day it never hurts to be bigger and stronger than your opponents. And I am definitely the smaller opponent.

 

 

Fuck this, I’ll burn the fucking bridge when I get there.   

7 days till registration deadline.

Jiujitsu and trash talk

In basketball, some would argue that the game’s greatest players are also the greatest mouths. Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Gary Payton aside from being hall of famers (at least the first two) are also infamous for getting into their opponents head and beating them with smack talk. The bragging, making fun of your opponents, to some extent humiliation are all considered part of the game. If it is somehow acceptable on the hard wood, I wonder if it has a place on the mats.

The mental aspect is a huge part of the jiujitsu game, just like in basketball. The body may have been trained or program to move without thought, but we can safely say that it takes a toll in our mind just as much in our bodies. As we roll, we continually engage our mind in solving puzzles with our bodies -our limbs acting as the interlocked puzzle pieces. A slip in our focus can be the difference between a pass, a sweep, a lock, a choke, a win or a loss. No wonder, top level BJJ competitors often talked about the mindset they need to have whenever they step on the mats. Trash talking can be used against your opponent’s mind in the same way you use an effective move or technique on his (or her) body. Trash talking at first glance, does not seem to fit with jiujitsu though. Why? The quick answer, Jiujitsu is a martial art where respect should be of utmost importance. Looking at it on another angle, Jiujitsu is a form of self defense, in the streets there are no rules. Your attacker is trying to dominate you physically and mentally, and I’m sure they wouldn’t have any problem taunting you verbally.

In our gym, we do engage in bit of trash talk, there are no written rules, but we sort of follow an unspoken one. We keep it within the techniques I.e. “your guard sucks”, “now that sweep(I just did) was beautiful” -definitely no fat momma jokes. We have fun doing this to each other, I wouldn’t know how others would feel about that. We’re a tight group and basically friends with each other that’s why we get away with such.

I am very torn on this, a part of me sees trash talking as disgusting and just doesn’t seem to belong in our Jiujitsu. Another part of me, thinks just the opposite, that maybe we should train with it, learn to deal with it. While my two personas are arguing on that matter, a third one tries to find the middle ground for both argument. I wouldn’t know how to implement an environment where mind games and trash talk are ok yet at the same time ensures that utmost respect is given to everyone, if possible, that would be perfect.

How would you feel if somebody starts talking to you during your tournament match? Would you feel that such shouldn’t be allowed or something that we should accept and prepare for?

Late post. Silver and blue.

I am no longer a mat noob! White belts please start referring to me as sensei. Hahahaha! Just kidding, I just wanted to share my joy for being promoted to blue belt. Sorry for the late post, this happened last december at our team’s last general assembly for the year 2012. I’ve always imagined myself bragging about it immediately but I guess i couldn’t find the words for it. I am actually forcing myself to type this, just get it done with. Please don’t get me wrong though I’m so fucking proud of it. 🙂

Another thing to be proud – I won silver (in other words I lost the final match, but let’s keep it positive) at the ADCC Asia Pacific Trials 2012 held here in the Philippines. Check out the links listed below for my matches.

First ever competition match where I wanted to play on top, this was a big improvement for a guard player like me.

I was hitting that sweep quite a lot weeks prior the comp.

Overwhelmed!

I don’t exactly remember it but somewhere along my BJJ journey, I said to myself that I should start learning something deeper from this art. It is a martial art after all and I’ve heard countless stories of wisdom emerging such scenarios ( it even comes with a long white beard). If there is one thing I can share about my journey so far it would be two simple words: “SHOW UP”.

And that is my white to blue belt lesson. Improving your skills; technique speed, strength, timing are all very important but before all the hoopla you need to show up. Keep showing up, and your cardio improves, keep showing up and your techniques improve, keep showing up and you improve. The first step to every achievement is showing up, be it in the mats, the office or life in general.

Show up!

P.S. I also added two new blogs on my list:

Andrew’s, this guy is a killer in the Philippine Competition scene and a great person on and off the mats.

Omai’s, a lover of mountains and waves, an amazing person starting out her BJJ journey.

How do you make Jiu-jitsu special?

I finally made it back on the mats after a week of hiatus due to colds, work and various reasons. I could have trained once or twice last week but grappling with your nose dripping isn’t exactly ideal. It felt such a long week. Jiu-jitsu has been keeping me sane, another day off would have killed me.
During training, a teammate asked how long I’ve been training. I quickly replied that I’ve been training as long as him, he then responded “but I spent time off from Jiujitsu”. I explained to him that we both went through that phase: training for two months, wouldn’t show up for a half a year, train a month, and then off again for another month. It was a cycle of practicing and slacking off Jiujitsu. He asked me another one: “Why did we ever stop?” Maybe it was rhetoric but I tried to mumble a few words: Basketball games and practices, 5K run, work overtime, just being plain lazy. “Yeah that’s it!” he replied as we moved on to the next drill.
I found a simpler answer today, “I stopped because I did not make Jiu-jitsu feel special”. Replace Jiu-jitsu with a name and that line could probably answer thousands of couples asking the same question “Why did we ever stop?” Mat time was easily replaced with an hour or two of shooting hoops, watching TV and sometimes getting a bigger beer belly. Jiu-jitsu was just another thing, another sport, just another after work activity back then.
“This time I’ll be better”
How do I make feel Jiu-jitsu special? I prioritize. Jiu-jitsu training now goes on top of the “extra curricular” list. I stopped drinking. I decided to minimize competitive (very low standard) basketball and fun run. Don’t get me wrong, cross training is good for me and my grappling game but I make it a point to use it as a complement and never as a substitute.
Keep it special. You won’t go wrong with that.
P.S. I got that “make her feel special” quote after watching this WongFu video 😀

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMSixENoid4