Best class of 2011!

Tonight was kind of awesome! Tim has had some nagging injuries over the last week so we have been doing some light drilling. I walked in tonight with the expectations to drill Monday's techniques. Instead we all warmed up and Tim told the class that he wanted a higher belt and white belt to pair up and for the white belt to learn from the blue. Ingenious!!!

I paired up with a blue belt and there was some awkward silence to begin with, but then we started talking about tournament strategies and game plans. I have never came up with a game plan, but he went over his with me a little bit. It was cool to get to see his thought process and how he worked his moves from different positions from higher percentage moves to moves where he would lose his advantageous position and his counters. He showed me a really cool arm triangle from half guard that I had never thought of. It works well if you have really long arms like he and I do.


We went back and forth talking techniques for awhile then we had open mat. I started rolling with one of the newer guys who has only been there about 3 months. We started rolling and I ended up in his guard.  He went for a flower sweep, but he made the same mistake I did in my tournament. He grabbed the wrong side arm and I was able to post out. I stopped and showed him how to grip the correct arm. Then I had the idea to just roll and end in positions, in his guard, to see what techniques he could remember. I was surprised, he remembered a couple of sweeps from guard and a couple of submission attempts.

Overall, I give tonight's class 4 stars!! I made it to class 2 times this week(thanks to my wonderful wife), I felt better tonight than I have felt in months, it was cool to see some of the newer guys progression, and I know a couple of new techniques. So yeh, 4 stars!!

Do I have Trypanophobia or do they just like to cause me pain?

I had to visit the doctor this past Tuesday to review some lab work I had done. He likes to keep an eye on my kidney function and why not since he is a nephrologist (Kidney specialist) and I do have a kidney disease.

I sat there has he went over my labs with me and he decided to drop the bomb on me. He wanted me to start IV Chemotherapy Treatment!

Apparently before there were so many drugs for kidney disorders, they used to use low level chemotherapy treatment and the main drug used in IV therapy is Cyotxan.

After hearing the news, I broke out in a sweat, mainly because the thought of Chemotherapy and the fact is that I am getting ready to get stuck with some huge needles. I showed up at the outpatient center to begin my therapy Wednesday morning and kicked off a long 7 hour stay at the hospital for the treatment.

The nurse came in and read me the laundry list of side effects of the drug and I almost went screaming out of the room. One of the side effects was a lower immune system which would make me susceptible to infections and other things. It was suggested I stayed away from rough sports, where I could get bruised, cut, or be easily exposed to bacteria.  All I was thinking was thank goodness I don't play football or rugby.I am glad Jiu Jitsu is known as "The Gentle Art." I guess I am going to have to be more careful and buy tons of anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, and Lysol everything.

Back to the topic at hand. So while starting the IV process the nurse, who I think really enjoyed causing me pain, was trying to find a vein in my forearm. She must have thought by digging the needle around in my arm like I was some sort of needle point project would help her find the vein. I broke out in a sweat, got light headed, and almost passed out. I have always had a fear of needles, but over the last couple of years I have had to over come that fear. But guess what!? The evil nurse with the needle brought the fear back!

Luckily I do not have another treatment until January, so that will give me another 2 months to get over my fear of needles once again. I do not however ever see me getting over the thought of me doing chemotherapy. I wonder how this treatment is going to affect my BJJ life and experience on the mats. The treatment can cause some hair loss. But, I do not have to worry about that; I am already ahead of game in that aspect.

All I want for Christmas is BJJ Gear!

With Christmas fast approaching, I decided to put my Christmas list out there for Santa,my wife and everyone else to see. I doubt I will get any of this,but who knows. I have been pretty nice this year!

So here is my BJJ Christmas list! Enjoy!!

1)Cyborg No-Gi DVD

This just came out a couple of weeks ago, and being that I took a seminar from him and had a chance to learn from him and see how he interacts with people. He has become one of my favorite BJJ practitioners. This is definite for the BJJ Christmas list!!!

2)Numero Dos!

The Shoyaroll batch #11. I know it will not be here until March/April of 2012, but to be honest I can wait. This item goes on sale at Budovideos.com and is pre-order at 12am (PST) Friday morning after Thanksgiving, or 3 am here on the east coast.







3) My 2nd choice for a gi! Is the Break Point Reversible gi. 

4) Any of the T-shirts from MMA Warehouse.

5) Finishing off the top five on my wish list!!

Okay so I haven't really figured out item #5, but that one is on my to do list and has not been transferred over to the Christmas list.

Those are some of the items that hope to find under my tree! I am sure this list will change 100 times before Christmas.  What is on your BJJ Christmas list?

Exciting things and return to the mats!!

Roxie Addison Bair

It has been well over a month since my last blog entry, mainly because back on October 7 at 11:54am I became a father to a beautiful 6lb 15oz baby girl named Roxie Addison Bair.

I was one proud daddy, little did I know how much my life would change over the next couple of days, weeks, and forever. My priorities went from Crossfit and Jiu Jitsu to trying to change her diaper with out waking her up.


Like I said, no working out for a month and no Jiu Jitsu!!! A Month!!! I took two weeks off of work and found myself staying up all night with the baby,  eating cheetos, drinking soda, and watching TV. Once I went back to work my eating habits followed, and I am slowly slipping back into the clutches of honey buns and cinnamon rolls.

After sitting around and finally getting little Roxie and gaining about 10 lbs, I finally had a chance to go do some no gi one Sunday afternoon. There was a big turnout, which is unusual for a Sunday No gi session, and I was a little nervous to get back to the mats. We decided to do 10 rounds with a 5 minute time limit and 30 second rest.

Everyone grabbed a partner, and I obviously was still in some sort of hot pocket induced haze. I realized that the only person that was left to roll with at the beginning was Brian, an awesome practitioner, with a lot of credentials. I immediately charged in thinking I had the same conditioning that I had a month prior, but needless to say I was wrong. That was the longest five minutes of my life and I held back wanting to throw up several times.

Needless to say, the next 9 rounds I paced myself as I ran the gauntlet and tried to fumble my way through the rest of my skilled friends. I ended up taking a water break every time between rounds, and the only other time I did that was when I first started. I almost went through a gallon of water, and felt like I sweated out 4 gallons.

I was not surprised to see how big of a hit my conditioning took in a months time. After my Sunday baptismal  by fire return to the mats, I started to wonder will I ever get my wind back, or be able to develop a routine that I can enjoy Crossfit and Jiu Jitsu again.

It may not be right away, but I am sure I will be back in shape or maybe even better once things get settled down around here. As for right now, I am just going to enjoy life, and enjoy spending time with my new baby girl.

First Bottle!!