Rock In Rio, UFC 165 in House BBQ, and Raising the Bar in Training

I am sitting down to write this weeks blog after a great afternoon of floating in the pool and enjoying a cold Bohemia. Sundays in Rio are typically an extremely relaxed affair. The house is usually quiet with people out at the beach, napping, or just relaxing after a long week of training. It makes for a great time to sit outside, enjoy the sun and reflect on the week's training.

Nicole and I at Rock In Rio.

Week in Training

I hit it hard in all aspects of training this week. In wrestling the biggest thing I have been working on this week was being explosive and shooting through my opponent. A lot of times when going for a takedown a person will just close the distance and shoot into their opponent. While this might work if the guy doesn't have good defense, it will be far more difficult to finish against better competition. Your objective should be to shoot and drive through your opponent allowing you to drive him off his feet and send him crashing to the mat more easily.

Photo by Vito Photography.  http://vitophotography.wordpress.com/

With BJJ I trained and drilled hard this week. I have been reping out guard passes several times a week on the mats here at the house, and it's beginning to pay off. My grips and guard passing techniques are feeling much better. However, the biggest way the drilling has been paying off is that it has really helped me to open my game up. Instead of stopping and thinking about what I want to do, I am feeling more how my opponent is moving and able to confidently/quickly move to attack. While I still am getting it handed to me by the higher belts I feel like I am making them work and react to my offense more. With a number of BJJ competitions coming up I am excited to be feeling so good in my rolling.

The biggest area I was able capitalize on was explosive takedowns and increased confidence in my BJJ in MMA sparring this past Saturday. A couple of guys are training for upcoming fights in Russia, so the sparring was as intense as ever. I was able to use my strikes to close the distance and work takedowns, and from there use ground and pound to advance position. Several times I found my self defending submissions but I was able to remain calm and work my way out of them. I managed to work some BJJ offense of my own and attempted several submissions including a finish with an arm triangle choke. Though I left with some bruises, I felt great, like I really took my game another step higher.

Rock In Rio

As I said in the first part of the blog Sunday's are typically a pretty lazy and relaxing day. Last Sunday was the exception. Nicole had purchased tickets from a student of hers to the Rock In Rio music festival. Every couple of years year in September RIR brings in some of the biggest musical artists from around the world in to play over the course of two weekends. The venue was by far the nicest (and biggest) concert venue I have been to. The RIR area consisted of three stages, rock street- a strip of vendors with small bands playing all day, a techno dance area, and much more. The main stage line up for last Sunday was Jessie J (Nicole’s favorite singer), Alicia Keys, and Justin Timberlake. Though it might not have been my ideal line up, it was a great time. Justin Timberlake put on one of the best concerts I have been to, and I would recommend that if you are a fan of his go and see him. The night ended with a great fireworks display that lit up the night sky.

Big BBQ for UFC 165 at the House

Just a small portion of the food.

This past Saturday we put on a huge BBQ here at CR for UFC 165. Everyone chipped in and we grilled KILOS of meat, yeah that's right kilos of meat. Throughout the night while we watched the fights live on Channel Combate we had food coming off the grill. Thin Flank steaks and thick tender cuts of picanha with a garlic Cilantro dipping sauce, chicken and spicy pork sausage, grilled blocks of cheese on sticks, steak and veggie kebobs, and spicy marinated chicken breast. To top it all off we had fresh made pasta salad. It was enough for everyone eat until they were full (and then some), and with the total bill divided amongst us came out to around 15R a person. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday night-- watching great fights, with good friends, eating great food.