Operation Pinnacle: Introduction and Week 1

Hey, folks! I haven't posted in quite a while, but I think I have reason to start up again. I never completed my ten thousand repetitions last year, but Chops' little project turned out to be a great kick-start to what had become a somewhat stagnant attempt to learn Arabic. Even though I haven't been counting repetitions, I've been making a pretty decent effort to keep last year's kick-start going.

I'm launching Operation Pinnacle, because I'm incapable of doing much of anything without a bit of dramatic flourish. I decided recently that I need to simplify my life and focus on two end states in order to enable the continuation of my career, and some personal goals that I've developed over the last couple of years. Those two end states are better physical fitness, and a much stronger grasp of the Arabic language. Here's the game plan.

Arabic
Of the two elements, Arabic is less defined as far as end state goals. At present, I'm focusing very hard on ArabicPod.net lessons. I took the leap a while ago and paid for a one month subscription so that I could download the transcripts to go with the podcasts. That ten bucks was well worth it, because the lessons are fantastic, and there's both good vocabulary and good grammar and syntax instruction to learn from them.

So, what I'm doing at the present, on a weekly basis, is something like this:

Monday: APOD lesson, BBC Xtra podcast, Arabic/English Quran reading
Tuesday: APOD lesson, BBC Xtra podcast, flash cards
Wednesday: APOD lesson, BBC Xtra podcast, AWS lesson
Thursday: APOD lesson, BBC Xtra podcast, flash cards
Friday: APOD lesson, BBC Xtra podcast
Saturday: translate two sentences
Sunday: translate two sentences

The problem that I've been running into is that I'm solid for the first three or four days of the week, then sort of slack off at the end of the week. For example, my Thursday lesson wasn't fantastic and I didn't do the flash cards, and I really didn't do any Arabic on Friday or Saturday, which leaves me playing catch-up today (Sunday). On the plus side, I'm pleased to have done both the Quran reading and the Ahlan wa Sahlan lesson. So, as far as I'm concerned, this week of Arabic will be solid as long as I do some translations and maybe a catch-up APOD lesson today. Eventually, I want to take all of this...

ArabicPod.net

Defense Language Institute language survival kits

Desert Sky Arabic vocabulary lists

Arabic and Islamic Themes in Frank Herbert's Dune

Wiki: Glossary of Islam

Wiki: Christian terms in Arabic

Wiki: Arabic star names

... and whatever else I can figure out, and put it in my head so that I can understand...

BBC Xtra

BBC Arabic live stream

Radio Sawa

... that, and all the rest of it. For now, the goal is slow but steady, trying to spend between thirty and sixty minutes per day studying Arabic. I'm doing alright at the moment, hopefully I can keep it up.

Physical Training
I was also pretty solid on my fitness goals for this week. Before the day is over, I'll do one last pool workout, and one last PT workout - sit-ups, push-ups, and stretching. It may seem like I'm starting off really simple, and that's true. My goal is nine weeks of swimming (three times a week minimum, four if I can fit it in), one yomp (hike in boots and pants with a pack), and push-ups and sit-ups (three times per week). The swimming is my best way of doing cardio (I don't run, particularly in the shape I'm in), the yomping is to increase my body's ability to walk a long distance with a pack, and the push-ups and sit-ups are push-ups and sit-ups.

My primary goals are to rebuild the stamina that I've lost from three years of sitting at a desk all day, and to rebuild my ability to walk long distances with a pack in order that I might someday resume backpacking in various locales, preferably Europe. I also want to lose weight so that I can start taking rock climbing classes, and eventually start jumping out of airplanes as a hobby. A lot of people tend to exercise for the sake of exercise, mainly focused on some sort of general "health" and/or appearance. For me, appearance is a great side note, but I've tried to design a specific program in order to meet specific goals. As far as motivation goes, not only do the goals I've mentioned help, but so does the fact that my ten year class reunion and my brother's wedding are both in early August, and I'd rather not show up to either of those as a fat boy - in the former case, I don't mind being heavier than I was in high school (I was 6'1" and 165 pounds when I graduated), but I'd rather drop a little bit of weight and be solid, rather than show up with a gut.

I'll be ending this week with three swim workouts, three PT/stretch workouts, one night of just stretching, and enough walking on Friday to basically count as a yomp - cheating, but that's okay. The big issue I ran into this week is that the first swim, coupled with that first set of push-ups, really did a number on my rotator cuffs in my shoulders. I had a one day break between swim workouts, and a two day break between push-ups, and even though I was sore doing the second set of push-ups, I think my arms have recovered. Hopefully that means I'll be in good shape from here on out.

The Bottom Line
I could easily fall off the wagon, on all of this, again, but I think I've got a solid framework established at this point. As far as blogging, I'll try to start doing one post per week as a sort of "week in review", as I've done here. The two major points of Operation Pinnacle are Arabic and physical training, but there are a couple of other elements that I may discuss at one point or another. Stay tuned.

Ahhh, Les Vacances

Today was my first class after a week in Sicily. The kids were at my mom's place for the week, so it was just Mrs Chops and I, visiting some friends. It was heaven, I tell you. Drank some wine, ate some pasta, saw some sights, etc.

I arrived a few minutes into warm ups, which kind of sucked. I *need* the warm ups, since I'm so out of shape. The instructor paired me up with the big shaved head guy, who got promoted to blue belt while I was on vacation. We then worked on spinning out with an arm bar. Basically, you attempt an armbar from guard (we'll assume you're going after the right arm here). The opponent tries to stack you, so you roll up on your right shoulder and reach your right arm back between the two of you and hook it on his right knee. Now you basically do a lateral shoulder roll while bring the opponent over you with your legs. You end up with him face down and you on your left side, facing towards his feet. This is definitely going to need a video to explain.

We then did a "what happens next" variation, for after you successfully spin out. Let's say your opponent tries to scramble over your head to twist his arm free. Before he steps around your head, you can grab his right ankle, and pull it sideways, keeping his knee on the ground. This will make him want to move. When he does, you roll onto your back, and he falls onto his, into classic armbar position. This is similar to the finish Stephan Kesting shows in the video above.

Last variation was if he tries to scramble the other way, toward your feet. This one was my favorite. Basically, you keep ahold of the arm (always, don't let that sucker go) and roll belly down (counter clockwise on your head-to-toe axis), then continue on to your back. During all this, you should manage to get your left foot hooked under his left armpit. It will kind of look like he's in your guard and in a decent position, but he's not. Put your right foot on the ground and push off, rolling him off of you with your left foot (still hooked under his armpit). He'll land on his back, again in perfect armbar position.

The last thing we did wasn't really variation of the above moves, but still working from an armbar from guard attempt. If he tries to stack you, you can move yourself out to the side. Still assuming that you're attacking the right arm, you basically stretch yourself out under him, which will slide you on your shoulder to your left. At this point, you can go belly down, but for our partner's safety, we went on our sides and finished the armbar from there.

After all that, it was time to roll. I got paired up with the shaved head guy again, and I thought I did pretty well. I managed to not get swept too much. When it came time to switch, I sat out since we had an odd number of guys. Then it was open mat, where I rolled with shaved head guy again. I focused on defense, and going slow while trying to think my way out of bad positions. As always, I spent a lot of time inside the guard. I don't think I ever successfully broke my way out of it. When he started playing open guard, though, I did pass to half guard a couple times. At one point, I even passed from half guard to mount, although I'm sure this is just a blue belt going easy on me to let me work, which I greatly appreciate. While I had mount, I went for a collar choke, which was terrible since I've never been taught that technique. After we were done rolling, he was kind enough to give me some pointers. I tried to sink the choke from way too low in mount, it turns out. I need to work on getting higher, on the rare occasions that I get there.

Once the rolling was done, we sat around and chatted a bit. Turns out he's got a wrestling background too. It also turns out that most blue belts can tell I used to wrestle without me having to say a word. He complimented my base and said I had a good top game. I think he meant "good top game for a guy who's been coming to class for two weeks". Like all the other students there, he gave me some pointers and some ideas of things to watch for. Everybody there has been very open and friendly with me, which I really like in a school.

And in non-BJJ related news, I've been getting the itch for some Kali lately. Tonight I worked with my training sword for about 30 minutes, and I'm trying to talk my karate sensei into doing some Kali with me on the weekend. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Meh, who needs technique?

Yesterday's class was a lot of fun. Instead of starting off with teaching techniques, our instructor had us do some positional drilling. First, we did the Human Backpack drill, which had one guy sitting on the mat, and then his training partner would sit behind him, put his hooks in and hold on to his shoulders. The goal for the guy on the back was to keep the back and get a submission if possible. The guy on bottom simply tried to get out from under the back mount. Next position we drilled was mount, which is just what it sounds like. You start off laying on your back, with a guy sitting on your chest. He tries to get a submission while you try to escape out from under mount. Last position was guard. By this point, a blue belt had joined the class, so me and another white belt took turns trying to pass his guard. Which is to say, we took turns getting swept and subbed. I think I actually managed to surprise the blue belt a little when his first sweep didn't work, but after that I was pretty much swept any time he felt like it.

After this, the Instructor showed us two techniques, both were sort of how to get to better position after somebody passes your guard. They were both a little over my head, to be honest, although I think I got a decent handle on the first one, in isolation. I just don't think I could actually pull it off during rolling. I guess that's to be expected, since I've been attending class for a whopping two weeks. After the technique portion of class, which was way shorter than usual, we got to rolling. I rolled with another new white belt, which was nice. It felt nice to not get schooled as badly as I did on Tuesday. Next round I rolled with one of the bigger white belts, who's been doing this for a while. Again, I concentrated on trying to relax and breathe. He choked me once or twice, and I seem to recall getting armbarred at one point, too. I felt pretty good about my performance, though. I just tried to work the stuff I know. I know one guard pass, so I keep trying to get it. If they decide to play open guard, I just pretend that I opened it and work that pass from there. The big guy got mount on me at one point, and I was able to bridge and roll out of it. It wasn't done exactly as we were taught, but I think I caught him off guard there as he was trying for a choke.

After that, I kind of hung out and caught my breath for a little while. Eventually, the older guy white belt asked me if I wanted to roll, and we rolled for what seemed like an hour. In reality, it was probably 10 or 15 minutes. I worked a lot on trying to keep my base under me in guard and not get swept, but when he started chaining sweeps, over I went. He did compliment me on my base, which he said is common in people with a wrestling background. He showed me a couple tips to make it even harder for me to get swept, which was cool. I tapped to a triangle at one point even though it wasn't locked in, just because I didn't know how to get out of it. He then showed me a couple options to try to get out.

Overall, it was a really fun class. I'm starting to feel very much at home there. The other students are awesome. They're always willing to help you out and show you where you're going wrong. The Instructor is very friendly and easy to approach with questions.

Somebody's got a case of the Ouchies

Double class day again yesterday. I seriously only ever intended to do bjj on mon/wed/fri, and karate on tue/thur, but I'm having a hard time getting to Monday class. Beefy couldn't make it yesterday, so I was on my own. I showed up a couple minutes before class, and I was the only person there. I warmed up a little by kicking the heavy bag, and eventually two other students showed up.

After warmups, we started with armbar from mount. First, put your hands on opponent's sternum, one arm between his, the other arm going around outside of the arm you want to break. We'll call it the right arm today, for example's sake. Your left arm will be circling around the outside of his right arm, with your left hand planted on top of your right hand, on top of his sternum. Now, turn to your right, getting off of your right knee and onto your right foot. Bring that foot right up to his ribcage. Bring your left knee right up to the right side of his head. Next, lean forward, putting your weight on your hands and right foot while swinging your left foot around and over his head. You should keep low, with your opponent feeling your weight so he doesn't wiggle free. When your left foot touches down on the left side of his head, sit down on the mat just behind his right shoulder. Hook one of your arms around his right forearm, catching it in the crook of your elbow. Keep that tight, very tight, to your body. Use your non-hooking hand to hold his forearm, keeping his thumb pointed straight up. Now sloooooowly, lean backwards. Think pulling with your back, not your arms. Keep his thumb pointed up, squeeze your knees together, don't cross your feet and he will tap.

Next was a defense after the armbar was sunk. Now we'll be the guy on bottom, with our opponent trying to break our right arm. Once he's spun around the arm and is sitting down, reach up through his legs with your left arm and grab his left lapel with your left hand, using a thumb-in grip. Pull that arm tight, so when he sits back, he has to pull your weight with him, which will also relieve some pressure on your right elbow. Once he's pulled you up off of the mat a little, switch your hips and come up to your knees. Pinch his right knee in between your left elbow and left knee, and keep pressure on his left knee with your head, pushing it down towards the mat. You should have enough leverage here to pull your right arm out, and you can spin to side control.

#TODO(chops): Post video here (this one might be hard to find)

After that, we rolled. Although it was only my third class, they let me roll. First I was matched up with the blue belt. I tried to stay relaxed and not spaz out. As far as that was my only goal for rolling yesterday, I feel like I was successful. I know I wasn't very relaxed, but I consciously made myself slow down and breath at several points. I mainly focused on trying to get posture while in guard. After the blue belt, I rolled once with each of the two other white belts who were there. I felt kind of bad because the last round was with the smallest guy there, and towards the end of kind of muscled him around a little. I was too tired to do much else, so I basically lifted him off of me, and put him down with me in side control. Once I was done (sadly, only three 5 minute rounds wiped me out), the blue belt pulled me aside and showed me a few things I was doing wrong, which I thought was really cool. He also talked to me a little bit about BJJ philosophy, and how to approach rolling with higher belts. All in all, it was a great class. I can't wait to go back.

(And I promise, I'll put some videos in here soon.)