slippin a bit

Thanks for reading and as usual you can find more info at http://www.scrantonmma.com/

Ok sorry I have been a bit lax in posting.. at times it just seems like there is not much to say... oh went to bjj.. then did judo... rinse repeat.  but things are going good

Recently we had Royce Gracie in for a seminar.  He showed some good stuff but I was really impressed with all the little details he had to share or how quickly he could fix your mistakes.  Also we had 90 people on the mat and he was able to handle the crowd very nicely.  Also he was able to do and show all the little things very very smoothly.

Ok Judo wise yesterday I went over ouchi gari.  bjj was a big mix of guard drills mount drills and lots of sparring. 

other judo sessions focused on defeating the stiff arm and basic hip throws.  I have been working hip throws off the belt in a RvL situation as well as morote seonage RvL.  I also need to keep working on Tomoenage.

I made a video instructional that I put up on youtube feel free to check it out and post up some comments.. I made a thread about this on judoforum.com

Things keep getting better and better

First Thanks for reading and as usual you can find more info at http://www.scrantonmma.com/

I really feel like I am in a good groove right now.  Judo training for myself is going really good.  At times that has suffered and I just chalk it up to the expense of running a club and growing a business or two. But recently since the club has more and more advanced or good students things have been easier to manage and I am getting more training in.  Also I have been lucky enough to work with some of the bjj guys before classes to get some great 'newaza' in.

I also am getting back on track with my strength and conditioning.  I primarily rely on Keystone CrossFit to keep me in shape.  And CrossFit Sensei Tim has worked wonders on my overal Strength and Conditioning.  really glad that is working out!

Tuesday was mainly a class of just drilling and sparring.  I did show some techinques for Righty vs Righty situations and went over some details on combinations. And then like I said we just got in a bunch of rounds.  All the new people are really improving and I just hope that continues.

Renewed Energry for JUDO!

Thanks for reading and as usual you can find more info at http://www.scrantonmma.com/

Ok Judo first.  Saturday is like a super secret training group at Scranton MMA.  I dont know why more people dont show up but it is awesome.  Some of our most talented grapplers are their and that works for me.

Monday we had two new kids, brothers, join our gym which is great.  They were a little slow to get into the training but then picked up everything real quick.  Ukemi, Sasae and Osoto.  Great class for them.  Even got them to do randori with no problem.  It did help to have 3 black belts on the mat and Vito who is 94% black belt at this point.

At the end of class I did some randori with Vito and the 2nd round we went I was able to try my new morote seonage where I use a very low lapel grip.  I am going to work this more nad more and see what I can make of it!

Thursday Judo

Thursday was just a Judo day for me.  I started working with the kids class to get them ready for a competition this weekend. Then I moved onto the adult class to do the same with them. 

During the day I did some research to find some new drills and ideas to freshen things up a bit during class.  I had them work on just getting a grip and attacking with their favorite throw.  I also did some drills to defeat a stiff armed opponent.  This drill hopefully will come in handy for some of the newer guys and help them prepare for when someone is extra defensive.  The technique simply relied on twisting  your chest and shoulders violently through the grip to defeat it.  Very simple and very effective against a stiff arm.

There are a few other drills I picked up that I would like to implement and I will add them to the rotation next week. 

This weekend we have a lot of newer students competing for the first time.  Should be interesting to say the least.

Tuesday BJJ and Judo

Thanks for reading and as usual you can find more info at http://www.scrantonmma.com/

Ok well first I am going to start a video technique series very soon.  Going to be shot and produced by a very talented videographer.  That should be cool.

I got a lot of No Gi BJJ in which is always fun and always fustrating.  I went with Franky a lot and I notice some improvements but at the same time he taps me a lot.... a whole lot.  So long as I keep making progress though that is cool with me.  After our 40mins or so of grappling Jeff gave me some really good tips on some of the positions that happened during the rounds.

Then I helped teach the Beginners BJJ class with Jeff and Franky.  I got some rounds in with Jeff and that is just ridiculous I never get anything on him.. anything.  It is cool to notice the few things I do on him that are 'right' because I can learn a lot by how he defends or counters.

After that I taught Judo.  Focused mainly on Kouchi Gari.  Got a lot of randori in as well.  I need to get more uchikomi in for myself :)

Gonna try blogging again..

Ok I used to blog often about my training and I am going to start up again.  I think I should have time to post everyday and I want to keep track of my progress and goals as well as my students.

Lets see how it goes!

Thanks for reading and as usual you can find more info at http://www.scrantonmma.com/

its over..

ok well this blog is done...

gonna start a new one

hate this..

anyway for various reasons (personal,business,judo) i stopped blogging for a bit. I was just bored with it, didnt have time and well people were reading into it in the wrong way.

so i stopped.. i shouldnt have but its not like its a huge deal anyway but im back..

i think i will post a little bit differently. not as much specific detail on the judo workouts and add some more personal stuff along the way.

anyway i definitely did not stop training.. if anything my training has been great the last few weeks.. except :( TEARS :( I missed a bunch of workouts at PMJC that is always very hard for me to do and just the way the ball bounces I was not able to attend a few PMJC workouts.. I CANT WAIT FOR SATURDAY!!!!!!!

Ill have to go back and see what i didnt post but just off the top of my head I got some great workouts in at PMJC before I stopped blogging. The crew there is doing great and Im really looking forward to saturday... I think I mentioned that :)

Kev Costello got on the mat at our 'country club' judo club in New Foundland, pa and its always great to get on the mat with Kev... go figured he chucked me around a few times...

I went to a GREAT clinic in Philadelphia, pa at Lou Moyermans / Tony's club. That was awesome. I picked up a ton of good stuff I might go back and write out a bunch of stuff from that place.. it was ridiculous.

So much more too.. so who knows.. maybe ill go back and write.. maybe not.

Personal stuff is good.. im still working 2 jobs, Doing Judoabout 5-6x a week, working off the mat 2-3x a week.. ok ive been slacking a bit but not too bad.

Holidays were good.. got to see the family and girlfriend.... HI RACHEL :) a bunch.. my niece and nephew are awesome.. he came to the clinic and did great.. Christmas was cool, new years was fun. all good stuff.. now back to bloggin for me..

i just want to keep a good record of whats going on in my life for the next few months.. i got a lot of big tournaments coming up and hopefully this will help

I got Starret's, Pedro's, NY Open, Liberty Bell and then Nationals :)

08 :)

Quick Recap

I didnt take off for the holiday or anything like that but I was busy and Just didnt have the time to blog.

I did skip tuesday at PMJC sucked but I felt sick and didnt want to get too run down and didnt want to get the rest of the PMJC team sick.

Wednesday was a kind of easy day at the Y. I started class talking a bit about Jenn's wins in newaza and Brandons Choke. Then we did some Newaza Uchikomi. Cant remember much else

Thursday was a travel and family day. Good times :)

Friday was a Travel and Girlfriend day. Good Times :)

Saturday was about 6hrs of Judo. Good times :)

I started at the country club kinda light workout.. worked taio a lot and ude gaeshi... I fought dan and got a few decent scores in.. then i fought sensei in mat work and did ok.. worked half guard decently for a bit.. eventually passed then got swept and armlocked.. then i worked guard and did ok eventually getting passed and armlocked.

Then I went to PMJC. Great class. I got us there late so it was right into crash pad and then fighting. Joe has been whoopin me good.. i got one good counter but he basically bailed cause of my knee. Thanks! I dont want a knee injury now. then he DUMPED me big with an osoto. I tried to counter.. i figure the more I try to counter his osoto the more Ill be picking up the lil guys in competition.

Fought Chris. F F F F its getting real frustrating... I havent thrown or scored on him in a long time. he got 2 good scores on me. Gripping was ok. I had some good attacks, moving and gripping. I did stop a few of his attacks both front and back.

Fought matt. COuldnt choke him but at least im getting in the right positions.

Fought 1 of the new guys and thats about it.. i need to step it up

Monday YMCA

I was hoping we would bounce back into tournament mode.. and we did not not by a long shot.. I think im gonna talk to some people about that. I have a bunch of big tournaments coming up and I need work for them. I need to get it one place or another. I cant have PMJC be the only 2 days I get good work in.

Anyway heres what I did.

1. Taught Osoto to a new kid. Hope he sticks with it everything was coming natural to him
2. Got 1 set of UchiKomi in 20 reps of KataGuruma.. yeah..
3. Got 2 sets of a spider guard pass about 5-10 reps each
4. 1 round of randori with Corey. He had some nice attempts but didnt finish. I had a nice throw or two and an armlock or two. I cant wait for Corey to be back in full swing.
5. 1 round with Vito. It was long. I got some scores he got some.. he mightve had more scores then me. He just needs some more movement and set up. He is very focused on grips but needs to combine it with movement and set ups.. dont we all.. but all in all he is getting REALLY REALLY tough to throw.. good for both of us.

Sunday Promotional

I didnt fight.. im not interested in even thinking much about my next promotion at this point. I went to help out, ref, etc

Lots of people got promoted. It was pretty cool.. to much to write about.. any questions just let me know..

PMJC

PMJC

Chris couldnt make it but had a real good reason. He went to be Uke for His brothers Shodan kata examination. Chris Rules and so does his brother Tommy.

WIth that in mind I was just gonna run a typical PMJC workout. Not a typical judo workout, not a typical YMCA workout and not even a typical workout that I would run. It went as follows:

Newaza uchikomi: Clock Choke / British Strangle
Newaza Randori: about 5 3 min rounds
CrashPad / Uchikomi: about 5-10 mins of each (split class in half)
Randori: everyone got about 5 3 min rounds

I liked the techs we did in newaza and want them to be like 2nd nature to me.

I did good in newaza randori.

Crash Pad was fun.

Randori I was flat not hitting many throws when I really wanted... kinda in a randori slump right now :(

Country club

I went to the Country club. Basically just helped people get ready for the promotaional. I taught abunch of techniques, terms and Judo breakfalls and rolls.
We also went over a bunch of guard passes.
I got a fight in with Dan where I scored a bunch but no big scores as called by the instructor. I also fought the instructor and got a Pin early in the match for about 30-40 secs.. then He armlocked me 2x.

Then I went to PMJC.

UPDATE / BBALL / FUNDRAISER

ok Ive missed some blogs here is what I missed. I will try to update or add detail when I can.

BasketBall Fundraiser / Judo Demo:

Im not a bb guy but the kids had fun and we did a quick Demo during half time. Not bad Not sure how much money was raised but ok thats that.

YMCA

Ok didnt get much in during class last nite. I had Jen run the warmup while I helped some of the kids with a different warmup becaus they were late. Then I just paired people off and worked on the promotional. We had a new guy on the mat and I taught him osoto and he seemed to grasp it really well.

So everyone did that for about 1hr. Kinda boring but they need to work on there techniques for the test this weekend. Just as I was about to wrap it up and get to fighting the instructor shows up and talks for a bit about the promotional and then reads a bit from Haywards book.

I got 1 fight in with tank and then 1 with brandon. The one with tank was fun and the one with Brandon was nice and long. Im glad I got it in and all i just wish there was more structure to the randori. I wish we knew we were going to go about 8 minutes. Actually i wish all randori was timed. Nice short intense rounds are more beneficial for competitors. Throw in a long round here and there thats fine but at the Y you get paired off andyou have no idea how long it will go. The instructor might be fighting and if he is in a pin or wants to keep going in his match then all matches just run and run and run. He might be talking to someone and lose track of time and things just run and run... I just like to mimic tournaments as much as possible...

anyway it was a good match. I am still trying to play in a style where I am just looking for my throws. I do very little defensive gripping or grip breaking. I dont mind this during the match much but looking back on it at times I feel I should stay focused on grips and defensive a bit more. But at the Y it makes more sense to play and try new things out. Then at PMJC I turn it up a bit to match the style going on there. Im not saying this to take anything away from Brandon. He got a bunch of good throws in Some were nicely timed and took advantage of the wrong things I was doing. Some he forced and was just so committed that I got thrown. All good.. im glad I can learn from this. At times it is more frustrating to not get thrown. But the quick recap is that Brandon got taio, guruma gake, makikomi?,seonage w/leg trap, seo/kouchi, sumi gaeshi. Not bad for a yellow belt.. I got mine in too.. i got seo,kouchi,guruma gake, foot sweep, kosoto gake. I was happy that when I did my kouchi's they worked.. I need to use this more it makes seonage a lot easier when Im throwing kouchi.

tonite we have a basketball fundraiser thing where we are playing the state troopers in a game of bball. AFter that we are doing a Judo demo and who knows what else...Not sure when my next Judo workout will be. I Do need to start getting 2 workouts in aday more and more.. Ive been slacking with that and sleep and it starts to take its toll. I really want to be ready for Tony Camals tournament in December.

Local Newspaper Article

Article from a local paper in the area about our results in recent Judo tournaments.

Link to article

Give it a read if you have a sec. Highlights some of the recent tournaments Ive competed at.

TUES PMJC

Our last workout at PMJC had tons of people on the mat and was one of the best judo days Ive had in a LONG LONG time but it was nice to workout with just our guys again. Pretty good size class. I like that there. I mean Ive gotten some great workouts when I went down there and only 1-2 people showed up but I like when everyone goes.. kinda shows that everyone gets that the training is good and everyone is getting better.

We started by drilling the british strangle. I need to keep on this. I was hitting this quite often but then just moved to triangle turnovers/sweeps. So I want another option. In judo you dont have much time when you hit the ground but this move kinda gives you more time on the ground.

Then we did newaza.

Matt: I worked a lil turtle defense.. and tried to control his sleeves as best i could.

Joe: Crazy match kinda all over the place. I had a nice setup for an armlock but Joe is good on the ground and much stronger then me.. he passed got mount I escaped.. good stuff... when i was in his guard controlling the grips made it real hard for him to set up any attacks.. i like that.

Crash pad... worked taio.. decent.. worked new kataguruma.. terrible.

Randori:
Matt: Mssed a choke and he pinned me for a pretty long time. I think I got a taio and an uchimata. He threw me with a yoko wakare and almost had 1-2 more scores but i was able to float out. I had 1 armlock I liked..kinda a triangle armlock from the side where I couldnt get a full juji.

Louis: Kinda stinks louis still takes it a bit easy on me at times...but its probably good for my longevity. He is a big fast strong 290lb player. He does have great control and keeps me pretty safe when he can. He got me a bit and had some good grips but I did catch him once real clean with seonage.

Joe: Made me look silly with an osoto-ouchi for ippon.. i was just sitting back too much. When I took it to him at the end i was able to push the pace and control the match for a bit. I dont think I scored against him.

Tony: Had some good gripping.. hit a few Guruma Gakes a seonage, somehow i hit uchimata.

Good night. Gives me some ideas for me to work on. Mainly more gripping, and right side Guruma gake. I also need to PULL more with them.

OH ill have pics from the headbangers ball workout and Ill post them up soon.

way behind.. quick summary of 3 workouts

Im way behind.. things Have been crazy.. i got a lot of good workouts in ill try to get back to these and add details.

Saturday Country club

Woke up early and picked up my nephew and took him to the country club judo workout. Not too bad. I didnt get much in I fought brandon and he threw me 2x and I threw him a bit. Not much to say about this one. It was cool to get Dom back on the mat and there were a few kids for him to work with

PMJC HeadBangers Ball

This was awesome. I could write a ton about this workout. It was awesome. Some of the best people in the area came out to the club to bang heads. It was part clinic and part randori session. Most of the teaching was covered by Leo/Edwin 2 GREAT judo players from Tech Judo.

Leo went over some gripping and then Taio
Edwin went over KataGuruma

Alberto went over Uchimata
Vlad went over the Russion Stepover

Fights
Travis: Ive beaten him 2x in competition but he got me a few times today in randori. I got 1 real nice seonage.

Kev: Osoto,Osoto,Ouchi Lots of em.. i made some attempts at pickups but didnt really get anything going. Kev out grips me everytime..

Leo: He threw me a lot but I got him once with Guruma Gake. He is definitely the Best player Ive ever thrown for ippon

Edwin: He got me a lot. I had one seonage that might have scored.. but probably not.

Might have had some more fights but cant remember.

This is not doing the workout justice. It really was awesome best time i had on the mat in along time. Great great judo on the mat especially for pa.

Monday YMCA

Basically got EVERYONE ready for the promotion. I got 2 sets in of guruma gake. Explained it to John to cause at first he didnt get it. I use this grip when I am out gripped or when I have an outside grip. I generally use it with an opposite stance as my opponent.

Ok so jen ran the warmup.. i ran class for the first 45 mins then the instructor read from haywards book and then we fought. Something interesting/new happened. I didnt do much the first hr of class.. just helped out teaching. Then I fight nonstop til the end of class.. 1st fight was ok.. started dying during the 2nd fight cramped hard lost my strength.. then i got into a grove and was fine.

I got a lot of fights so here are some highlights.

Jeff: hard to throw good newaza..
Brandon: Scored at least 2x maybe 3x on me. I got some good stuff on him.
Doc G: Good Gripping. he needs to attack more.. he is a lot harder to throw now. I didnt score on him
Dana: Short Matwork session.. real short.
John: 1st mnute i figured i would take it easy.. see if he would attack more then i just turned it up a bit to push the attacks.. i got a seonage, teguruma, gurumagake etc.

PMJC AWESOME CLASS!!!!

Ok My life the last week or two has been really crazy/hectic. Job #1 is nuts, Job #2 doesnt let me sleep, Boiler/heating system crapped out on us at the house, Some LAME workouts, Family issues all have built up and were kinda driving me nuts... after lats nites AWESOME workout I feel like a new person!

Great nite again. Chris basically decided that last nite was just gonna be a fight nite. There is a clinic like workout there this weekend so he said we might as well spend all nite banging heads and save the learnin for Sat. Cool Although I learned a ton last nite.

Its a real great group down at PMJC and there were lots of people on the mat last nite to make it awesome.

Started with newaza. I fought matt first. He tapped me with front hadake by rolling through and really had a super tight choke. I got 1 tap with a lapel choke that ive been getting a few people with.

Fought Mike, I think I got one armlock.. we kinda played arounda bit.. for some reason on the ground he fights a bit different.. guess its the bjj

Joelle, not sure how to spell the kids name but he can play.. on the ground he is weaker then standing but hes 15 he sticks with it he will be a terror. I hit a bunch of armlocks and he pinned me 2x

Standing.. no way I can remember everything that happened.. I had a lot of fights .. btw at PMJC almost always standing fights are TIMED 3 minutes. It keeps it nice and fair and leads to very intense rounds.

Chris: I avoided a drop or two. I didnt score but attacked a lot more. I got countered coming in for a kouchi. I need to get lower and on the right side of the body. Grips and movement were pretty good. Near the end of the fight Matt called out 10 seconds left me and CHris both came in to attack.. i tried a kouchi and he hit an osoto that was basically a clothes line WWF style. Pretty cool.

Joe: I had a nice entry for a cross sleeve ouchi and Kata Guruma. Good grips as I stayed pretty disciplined through this round.. cant remember much

Mike: he threw me once. I think I got him once or twice maybe a seonage and a guruma gake.

Gavin (315lb white belt) This turned into the 'fun' match of the nite. I was playin nice and lite.. its his like 3rd day ona mat. But he is so strong and has so little technique that the falls I was taking where very funny.. me rolling halfway across the mat, getting thrown UP HIGH in the air and again getting throwin across/off the mat. Good stuff though.

Lewis (295 GOOD Player) Its strange very strange but Lewis is probably the most dangerous player for me to fight. Physics cant beat that. He is big and Judo is dangerous but I really get a lot out of playing him. He likes big powerful grips and throws. So I really need to focus on grips and good attacks.. You attack Lewis poorly and he just picks you up for BIG Uranages. I have to say though the big man is very careful to take care of you and I really appreciate that. I did catch him with a nice seonage. I even came back up to my feet with it.. making it look pretty cool.. however I got a bit of a break cause he tried to stand up over me and i popped up at the right time. he did stuff about 7 other attacks of mine though and had me once but showed great mercy and just placed me back down on the mat.

Joelle: Some Cross grip Seonages and Guruma Gake. I think he got me too but I cant remember

Joe Part II. Joe wanted another fight so I said why not. Good round I Didnt score and cant remember what/if he got me.

Ok this is long enough.. great workout. I really appreciate what Chris Costello has put together at Pocono Mountain Judo Club. We have 2 white belts coming up to be great players, a 50 year old yellow belt who is awesome, 2 great brown belts and 2 black belts on the mat tonite.. made for an awesome class and it really really got me motivated and looking forward to the next tournament.

Monday YMCA

Not much to say I didnt do anything until fight time.

I did teach osoto gari to 3 new people 1 adult and 2 kids. They got it no problem.

I also did as best I could to help everyone get ready for promotion and things like that.. paired people as best I could...

So no practice just teaching until 845 or so when the instructor got on the mat. Then we talked, he read and then we started fighting about 855

Fought a lot which was good all in a row basically it was Mike, Vito, Tomic, Brandon, Jenn, John,Tank

Ive been working on gripping mainly trying to get good attacks with defensive grips. I also did some straight offensive gripping. Basically looking to dominate and control sleeves. Got my seonages in.. got a few guruma gakes in and a few good foot sweeps.

Tomic was my best fight and I really turned it up a bit against him.

Brandon threw me at least 3 times.. 1-2 ippons or close and one decent taio.. maybe more too.. he was moving good and was picking good times to attack. Kinda got to me at first but hes made a ton of improvements recently and F it I basically taught him everything he is doing at this point so at least I know the stuff Im teaching him is working.

Thats it for today.. I still need to write about the clinic matt and I taught for the US Army National Guard. That was hecka fun :)