Interview for Elements Academy of Martial Arts

I was recently interviewed for this blog post about the Elements Academy of Martial Arts Brazilian Jiu-jitsu program: Martial Arts in Your 40s and Why Jiu-Jitsu is Right for You

Update: Some of their posts have been removed during spring cleaning I assume.

We train with instructor Todd Smith, who is the only black belt under Royce Gracie in Canada. Great club, great people. Check it out. Gracie Jiu-jitsu is amazing--even for us old folks :)

Dal Water Polo Tournament

Dalhousie Water Polo Invitational Tournament

Come join the Dalhousie Water Polo Team @ Dalplex as we host our annual invitational tournament!

Start Time: Friday, March 14, 2008
End Time: Sunday, March 16, 2008
Location: Dalplex Pool, Halifax, NS

training with Royce Gracie

this past weekend I had the privilege to attend a Royce Gracie, Brazilian Jujitsu (BJJ) two-day seminar. Royce is the most famous grappler ever--winner of three of the first four Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) titles. Royce inspired me, and countless others, to start training in Jujitsu and grappling.


- Royce Gracie and Stephen Cawood

six hours of high-level BJJ was great, but being able to learn from, and talk directly with Royce was worth the price of admission. Royce was all business during the three hour training sessions, but after we finished, he stayed to answer questions, and sign autographs. he was very candid when answering questions; when asked who the biggest jerk he fought was, he said "Ken Shamrock and Frank are both a__holes."


- Royce Gracie with my sensei, Ray McKinnon--the founder of the Bushido-Kai martial arts school in Halifax, Canada


- Royce demonstrates a technique for gaining back control


- Royce hangs around to sign autographs and answer questions

the seminar was hosted by Fitness Plus in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. "Fit Plus" is the training school for a number of local MMA fighters including TJ Grant (8-1).

here is a list (from memory) of what we covered:

Day One
---------------------------------
Defensive technique for getting up off the ground
Defense against double throat grab
Guard pass with label choke and stacking
Lapel choke and rear-naked choke
One arm headlock defense
Off balance and take-down
Ogoshi and Koshi Garuma (can't remember setup, possibly from choke)
Closed headlock defense with knee block and take down
Rolling an opponent to back control
Defending rear-naked choke
Escaping back control
Question period

Day Two
---------------------------------
50/50 inside trip take down (from swing out)
Guillotine defense no arm
Guillotine defense arm inside (shoulder down)
Guillotine in guard (arm in) defense (using wrist lock)
Kimura from guard
Counter to Kimura from guard with pass
Can opener and defense
Arm bar to Omaplata
Arm bar to Omaplata to triangle
Arm bar to Omaplata (roll) to ankle lock
Grappling matches
Question period

Dal Water Polo Chocolate Lake

these weekend the Dalhousie Water Polo team borrowed some water from the ducks as we had a BBQ and game in Chocolate Lake (in Halifax). I've posted many photos on my live space.


- warm-up has a whole new meaning...


- game on!


- why are three people checking me? I hope we scored on this play.


- out of Chocolate Lake towards the hot chocolate


- here's your new facebook pic John


- good day...

Dalhousie Water Polo web monkey

it looks like I'll be taking over as the web monkey for the Dalhousie Water Polo team. if anyone out there wants to send me their 2c regarding possible improvements, please feel free.



this is also a good excuse to use my jenn animation again...


- I really should create another one like this. I have shots of her doing the same thing

UFC 74 Las Vegas

I'm currently in Las Vegas for UFC 74.

update: seeing the UFC live was great. if you're a fan, I recommend that you go. however, as you may expect, you can't see as much as you would on TV. as with most sports, the TV coverage includes angles and close-ups that you can't get when you're at the live show. but there are a number of benefits that outweigh this issue. for example, when you're at the live show, you see the undercard fights, and you experience the crowd reactions. for example, after Babalu admitted to ignoring the ref's command to release a choke, the crowd was not impressed. as Babalu left the ring he threw his hat into the crowd and the guy who caught it threw it back. another benefit is that you can talk to fighters who aren't competing in the event. without even trying to find anyone, my friends and I saw Andrew Arlovski, David Loiseau, Matt Lindland, Forrest Griffin and some others -- I also had a brief talk with Dana White.

of course, the best part was seeing GSP demolish Koscheck and Randy slam down Gonzaga. since I put some money on Randy, I left Vegas with more money than I arrived with.

here are some quick shots...


- former UFC Heavyweight champ Andre Arlovski


- UFC Heavyweight champ Randy Couture weighs in


- the Mandalay Bay Event Centre and hotel


- sunrise over the vegas mountains


- Ballys hotel and the Paris hotel's famous Eiffel tower replica

best name for a grappling video

"The Turtle and Octopus Guard" by Eduardo Telles



from the product description: "His Turtle guard fight game enables him to sweep, reverse and even submit from the turtle, once considered to be a defensive position only."

st john water polo

this weekend, I played in a water polo tournament in st john, new brunswick. I play for dalhousie university (in halifax, nova scotia); we were playing against teams from st john and tracadie.


- a nice offensive foul in the hole


- yes, it's a rough game :)

not so beautiful game

first of all, I'm a big fan of football (that's 'soccer' for us north americans). I played the game for many years and I still like to watch it. however, watching the world cup games, I am disgusted that there hasn't been more a clamp down on the pathetic acting and whinging that goes on.

why is it that these athletes have absolutely no tolerance for contact? rugby players seem to be able to play their game without rolling around on the turf every time someone looks at them the wrong way.

fortunately, it seems that a lot of people are fed-up. I found this blogger talking about the phenomenon.

give it up boys, how about you start acting like men.

ITBS distance running

I haven't found much information about training to run long distances if you have ITBS (Iliotibial Band Friction Syndrome), so I've decided to post this little experiment that I'm conducting. my goal is to see how well I can condition my ITB in eight weeks. in other words, how far will I be able to run without my ITB flaring up so badly that I decide to stop. last summer I made it to 18KM.

this isn't a doctor recommended schedule by any means, so do not try and use my numbers without consulting a doctor first. ideally, this sort of conditioning would be stretched out (pardon the pun) over a much longer period of time. for example, here's a good kilometer build-up schedule. you'll see on my schedule below that I break many of the rules (e.g. don't add more that 10% per week).

what is ITB?
"ITBFS is an overuse injury specifically referring to an irritation and subsequent inflammatory reaction of the lower iliotibial band. This occurs due to repetitive frictioning of the band as it rubs over the bony prominence of the lateral epicondyle of the femur during flexion (bending) and extension (straightening) of the knee." - from Serpentine Running Club

so basically your hurts more and more until it finally just ceases to work. it's a frustrating problem because you can feel great in every other way, but your knee flares up like a guy fawkes celebration.

stretches for ITB:
NISMAT - http://www.nismat.org/ptcor/itb_stretch

here are my rules for conditioning my ITB:

Rule 1: increase your distance by actually running longer distances - the only way to be sure that you can cover a certain distance is to do it.
Rule 2: stretch, stretch, stretch - many times per day
Rule 3: don't train on a treadmill - running on a treadmill is fine for cardio, but it isn't going to do much for your ITB. treadmills are obviously flat and it's the little undulations in running surfaces that cause the most irrtation for the ITB.
Rule 4: rest and ice when your ITB is inflamed - I read one person's opinion that running with a sore ITB is counterproductive. rather than increase your distance, you'll just hamper your ability to run the next day. this is intuitive, but hard to remember when you just want to run those last few KMs. after every run, I soak in a hot bath for 15 min (for my muscles) and then ice my knee (for any ITB irratation).

I'm basing my schedule on how my knee feels. if it starts to get irratated, I'll ease off. if it feels good, I'll add distance.

training schedule (in addition to other activities, such as 3-5 martial arts classes per week):

Day 1: 5K run 3K walk (ITB sore as hell)
Day 2: 2K run (ITB too sore to run)
Day 3: 8.5 K run (ITB fine)
Day 4: 11K run, rest, 4K walk (ITB fine)
Day 5: 11K run (ITB fine, but my legs need a rest day)
Day 6: Rest and stretching (professional massage therapy appointment)
Day 7: Rest and stretching (due to heavy rain)
Day 8: Rest and stretching (due to heavy rain again... arggh)
Day 9: 21K run (ITB fine) - I planned 15K, but I felt great (legs need a break though)
Day 10: 5K walk, rest and stretching
Day 11: 4K run (ITB fine)
Day 12: Rest and stretching (due to other sports)
Day 13: 22K run (ITB fine)

now that my experiment has been successful, I'm switching to a more traditional marathon training schedule. if training goes well for the next few weeks, I'll enter the Nova Scotia Marathon.

UFC: hughes vs. gracie results

last night Joyce Gracie fought Matt Hughes in the most talked about fight in the short history of the UFC. for details about the fight and the arguments surrounding predictions, refer to my previous post and comments: UFC: hughes vs. gracie. Royce Gracie won three of the first four UFC contests (fighting three or four matches in one night) and Matt Hughes is the current UFC welterweight champion.

BTW - if you're wondering what happened to my other posts about the UFC... I decided that they were too off topic for this blog and removed them. while this isn't an entirely work related blog (e.g. posts about traveling and SCUBA) it is primarily a work centric blog and having scores of UFC posts wouldn't be appropriate.

if you haven't heard yet, or watched the fight. Hughes was able to control Gracie on the ground and eventually took his back. when Hughes hit Gracie with a barrage of answered shots to the head, referee John Mcarthy stopped the fight. Hughes won by TKO in the first round.

I was reading some posts about the fight on sherdog.com and I was disappointed to read things like "Royce was robbed" and "the ref stopped it too quickly." just to be sure, I watched the fight again; I don’t believe the fight was stopped too quickly.

before the Hughes/Gracie fight, I heard a number of people (including some of my instructors) say things like "I would like to see Gracie win, but I think that Hughes will win." comments like this demonstrate a solid understanding of modern mixed martial arts (MMA). it’s not a real fight—there are time limits and rules.

a friend of mine argues that the first UFCs were basically ads for Gracie jujitsu and that Royce didn't have to fight any well-rounded opponents. however, one cannot ignore the fact that the Gracies were largely responsible for the success of the UFC (and all of MMA) and the introduction of grappling to the North American public. saying that they hoped that Gracie would win showed that these people respected what grappling has done for MMA. Royce deserves respect.

then there is the other side of these prediction. Matt Hughes is an example of the modern MMA fighter. he proved this by defeating Gracie-- Royce's first loss in the UFC. Matt Hughes has forced fans to deal with the reality of modern MMA.

east canada grappling champions

I recently competed in the Eastern Canada Grappling Championship. it was an all around excellent event. the competition was hosted in New Brunswick and there were competitors from many provinces. it was a very professional event and the fights were exciting.

here's a shot of one of the guys from the dojo where I train (Bushido-Kai Jujitsu). he pulled off an amazing double armbar. as you can see, the ref was right there and expecting the tap. eventually, he switched to a single and the guy tapped out.

- nice move!

crazy olympic video

take a look at this unbelievable video, it shows canadian olympic aerial skier jeff bean losing both skis during a training jump at the 2006 winter games in torino, italy.


- the green circle shows jeff, the red circle shows his skis

fortunately, jeff walked away from the freak accident and was able to compete. probably the most incredible aspect of this crash is the fact that he completed his maneuvers knowing that he didn't have his skis.

UFC: Hughes vs. Gracie

I haven't blogged about the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the past, but Monday's announcement was unique. Royce Gracie will return to the UFC in may. and as if that isn't enough, he will be facing welterweight champion Matt Hughes.

Royce Gracie won three of the first five UFCs and is one of the few members of the UFC hall of fame. To a diehard UFC fan, the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu expert is Muhammad Ali, Wayne Gretzky, and Michael Jordan all rolled into one. There's no question that Royce introduced North America to the art of Gracie Jujitsu (a.k.a. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) when he won the first UFC belt. At the announcement of his return, Gracie was asked if he was proud of his contribution to the UFC. a wide grin swept across his face. "this is my house," he said, "I built it."

So the question on every UFC fan's mind is can the 39 year-old Gracie defeat the 32 year-old champion? when Hughes was asked if Gracie was behind the times, his answer was blunt: "yes."

Some argue that Gracie is not a modern mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter; he relies heavily on his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) expertise. Not surprisingly, none of Gracie's victories have come by knockout. While it's true that Hughes relies heavily upon his background as an NCAA wrestler, he trains with the highly respected Miletich MMA team. Hughes can fight on the ground, but he can also strike from his feet. Although it’s only fair to point out that Hughes is a ground and pound fighter—he generally doesn’t knock people out either.

If Hughes decides to stand up throughout the fight, Gracie will have the reach advantage (he is 6'1" and Hughes is 5'8"), but will he be able to use it? In his UFC days, the only strike that Gracie regularly employed was a heel kick to the kidney. He used the kick to distract a grounded opponent - not to end the fight. Ironically, this one strike he used the most has subsequently been outlawed in the UFC rules.

It seems a certainty that Gracie will try to pull Hughes down into his Jiu-jitsu guard. if you want to see a demonstration of Gracie's strategy, check out his Price FC match against Sakuraba (Royce Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba is available on Google video (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2140115612669031119&q=royce+gracie). In the fight, Gracie was not able to get Sakuraba to the ground without taking significant damage.

So what if Gracie is able to get Hughes to the ground, what will happen on the mat? Contrary to what some MMA fans have posted on forums, I don't believe that Gracie is "in a completely different league on the ground." I don't write this because I lack respect for BJJ - quite the opposite is true. Gracie inspired me to start training Jiu-jitsu. I believe that Hughes can roll with Gracie—in MMA—because he is a UFC champion, a talented wrestler, a full-time fighter with tremendous strength and experience, and most importantly, this is not a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu match. Gracie would have a technical advantage in a BJJ match, but that's a whole different sport.

Gracie is a talented Jiu-jitsu pioneer, but this is MMA and he will be the underdog in April. as Hughes said at the fight announcement, the current champion simply has more ways to win.