Ever since being promoted to Blue Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) I have been training in the Advanced Class and the experience there compared to that of the Beginners Class is worlds apart. 

When I first began I thought I would do fairly well considering my Japanese JuJutsu background, but I was completely off base with such thoughts and found myself struggling there.  By the time I reached my fourth stripe I was actually doing very well in the Beginners Class and was submitting people regularly and was very successful with defending against submissions.  The only trouble I had was against those guys who were significantly larger than me and a few guys whose skill level was just obviously beyond mine. 

Fast forward to the Advanced Class.  This class is filled with Blue, Purple, and Brown Belts and the occasional Black Belt.  Whenever I used to train with these guys while a White Belt, in hindsight they were obviously taking it easy on me.  Now, while the vast majority of the upper belt students are helpful and take the time when they don’t have to helping me and walking me through things I should be doing, I still am feeling very frustrated at how horrible I’m doing in this class.  I’m getting submitted left and right and the only people I am doing decent against are those that were just promoted to Blue Belt alongside me.  And on top of that after these classes I feel beyond exhausted.

I know that as time progresses I should slowly improve like I did as White Belt and will begin to more successfully avoid being submitted and begin to catch guys not far above me in submissions here and there, but at the moment it just feels like I will never get there.  Perhaps I’m overreacting.  The minimum time between Blue Belt and Purple Belt is two years which gives me plenty of time to grow as a BJJ practitioner and does explain why those at Purple are so good since they have all been basically training for at least three years if not longer depending on how many tips they have on their Purple Belt.

This weekend I was promoted to Blue Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  I had been training for almost a year, though I have had prior training for many years with the Japanese style that I also train in (not that that training has really prevented me from getting my ass handed to me more times than I can count in BJJ).  I was actually surprised I was promoted when I was, but advancement is always welcome.  This means that I will no longer be training in the beginners class and have now moved onto the advanced class with blue, purple, brown, and black belts.  My first advanced class was last night and it was hard as hell.  The advanced belts take it real easy on you when you are a white belt and now that you have some color around your waist they step it up a notch.  I was utterly destroyed the entire night.  It is like starting over.  But with these guys you can’t cheat, you can’t use strength to win or get away with sloppiness. 

One thing that was bizarre but kind of interesting was having to go through the “Gauntlet” after the promotion.  Basically two lines form parallel to each other and the newly promoted student takes off his or her gi and gets down on all fours (some schools allow you to do it standing) and makes his or her way up the line and then turns around and comes back to where they started all the while being whipped pretty damn hard with belts from those students equal or higher in rank.  My back was burning after that experience, and I got a bit of mat burn on my knees and feet from trying to make it up and down the line a bit quicker than I was probably capable, but I’m glad I experienced it

When I was little I went through a string of “best friends” – each one of those friendships ended on a negative note.  Best Friends are similar to Romantic Relationships in that those invovled generally become emotionally entangled on some level, they share very personal information, and when things go bad, they use that very personal information and the emotional vulnerabilities of each other to hurt each other.  I grew tired of this when my last friend I considered a “Best Friend” and I went our seperate ways back in Middle School.  After that I decided I would not become so invested in any one person as a friend.  At this point in my life I have many close friends, a good number of which I can talk to about almost anything, but I am no longer dependent on a chosen one or two friends where if things did not work out between us it would feel the equivalent of a romantic breakup between us.

Thanks to a new feature on Xanga I was able to give this blog its own domain name.  I was thinking of just attaching it as a subdomain to my main website, but I concluded that it would be too limiting so I settled on lifesadventure.net.  I will try to update this blog more regularly-a post a month just isn’t very exciting 

I know I am a bit late in reporting this, but I passed the New York Bar Exam   I have now passed the largest hurdle to becoming a lawyer.  What comes next is mostly paperwork and a few other requirements, but nothing significant.  In addition, I had not taken the New Jersey Bar Exam like many of my friends had, but I am considering taking it over the summer.

Today I received my 3rd White Belt tip in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  Each belt level has four tips before moving on to the next belt.  By obtaining the 3rd tip I am now able to attend the no-gi classes, which I am looking forward to.  Once I am a blue belt I will be able to start taking the mixed martial arts classes as well.  As for the other martial arts, I’m still training for my Green Belt in the Japanese style of JuJutsu and look forward to learning the new Tae Kwon Do material for Green Belt in preparation for Blue Belt

Due to injuries and the time commitment lawschool requires I had been an organge belt in Tae Kwon Do for almost a year.  I finally was able to test for Green Belt this past Friday. 

I have been trying to attend both Tae Kwon Do and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes regularly (sometimes both in one day), only taking a day off if I am too sore or in pain to go. 

As for the Japanese style of JuJutsu I take in Staten Island, I have been going there once every two weeks to prepare to take my Green Belt Exam which I hope to take very soon.

Now with my significant drop in weight, my cardio and speed has increased tremendously which has created a very noticable improvement in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  It feels great to be in shape and working steadily towards real phsyical goals

Since my last post on July 20th I have cut an additional 10 pounds leaving me at 189.8 as of this morning. 

During the last post I was at 16.3% bodyfat and 35 inch waist and today I am at 14.7% bodyfat and a little under 34 inch waist.  So I have cut a total of 25 pounds since I began this journey. 

I am on the same diet as I described in the previous post but I have increased my working out since taking the New York Bar Exam. 

As I’ve mentioned before I plan on cutting down to whatever weight leaves me with between 8-10% bodyfat and then I will begin a clean bulk, adding muscle until I reach a desired physical appearence while retaining the low bodyfat. 

Since the second week of June, I have cut my weight by over 15 lbs.  I did this with NO exercise.  During the first week of June I had an emergency appendectomy which prevented me from exercising for a month.  The weight loss was done on pure diet alone.  My diet consisted of:

Breakfast:

A protein shake every morning (1 cup 1% organic milk, 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil, 1 tablespoon of amino acids, 1 scoop of protein powder, and 1 serving of mixed fruit which always included blueberries)

Mid-Morning Snack:

A serving of fruit

Lunch:

A serving of protein (turkey, chicken, or lean steak), a generous amount of vegetables, and a serving of brown rice that was cooked using my own spices (this eliminated all the sodium and other junk that is in pre-flavored rice).

Mid-Afternoon Snack:

A serving of fruit and dairy (yogurt, cottage cheese, or Polly-o string cheese)

Dinner:

A serving of protein (turkey, chicken, or lean steak) and a generous serving of vegetables

So as you can see I kept away from carbs in the evening and kept a high protein diet to maintain as much lean muscle as possible while burning as much fat as possible.  The basic principle = eat less calories than I burn to create a calorie deficit and do it clean (as healthy as possible).  I did have ONE cheat day a week every Friday where I indulged whatever I wanted.  However, I do this through ordering in.  My apartment is 100% bare of any unhealthy food.

I have just recently begun exercising again but won’t be back to a definite routine until a week and a half from now after I take the New York Bar Exam.

I plan on cutting down maybe another 15 lbs or whenever I naturally stop losing weight from my current diet.  When my body fat gets low enough I will then do a clean bulk to add about 10 lbs of muscle.

Edit: By the way, I failed to mention my current weight to put things into context: 199.4

After three years of many ups and downs I have completed my journey through law school. 

It was a journey that changed the way I thought, wrote, and spoke.  

It was the first time I was ever truly challenged academically. 

As a result, my ability to consistantly engage in the activities that I truly enjoyed were forced by the wayside. 

I am looking forward to having the free time to consistently do those things that I love to do again…

right after I take the bar.