Four Techniques That You Should Reconsider

Matt over at Aesopian.com is a jiu-jitsu nerd.  That is not an insult by any means.  Anyone who blogs about jiu-jitsu is likely a jiu-jitsu nerd, and anyone who reads jiu-jitsu blogs is likely a jiu-jitsu nerd as well.  There's plenty of nerding out going on this sport, and it often yields interesting insights.  Matt's latest obsession has been an analysis of any major competition DVD that he can get his hands on.  He takes notes on each match, which at the black belt level can be horrifically boring, and tallies successfully executed techniques.  Currently, he's working his way through the 2009 ADCC, but he completed annotating the 2004 Mundials not too long ago, and the data reveals some notable trends.  Click these links for the quick and dirty summary of the takedowns, sweeps, submissions, and guard passes that fighters landed in the 2004 Mundials.

Based on Matt's notes, there are four techniques that you should think more about when structuring your training.

The Five Rules of The Butterfly Effect Diet

The Butterfly Guard... get it?  A Picture of the Butterfly Guard because we're talking about the Butterfly Effect?

The Butterfly Effect, thanks to Hollywood and other works of fiction, is now well-known.  The concept is this: the ripple of something small—like a butterfly flapping its wings—can lead to significant consequences—like the formation of a hurricane.  While the Butterfly Effect is often a part of chaos theory, it provides a useful framework for understanding how best to structure our training, our exercise, and our diet.  Last week, I argued that 20 Mile Marching (consistently meeting reasonable goals) was the most effective way to achieve long term success.  For a 20 Mile Marcher, the Butterfly Effect is a powerful force, and it’s one that you can begin to leverage immediately to improve your training.

For my purposes, as an individual recovering from injury, I want to shed body fat and regain lost muscle mass.  Before my surgery, I tended to weigh between 168 and 172 pounds.  I felt strong and agile and looked lean.  Post-surgery, I am weighing between 182 and 185 pounds and am lugging around my share of flub.  When I was an active competitor (two guesses why I am not anymore), I routinely cut weight for grappling tournaments, sometimes dropping 12 pounds the day before weigh-ins.  To prepare for that weight cut, I maintained a very strict diet that I pulled from The Grappler’s Guide to Nutrition.