Steve Kiss week 4 part 2 (the editor no longer to blame)

A case of the mondays

Steve Kiss week 4 part 2 (the editor no longer to blame)

By Steve Kiss….Continued

Steve Kiss: A case of the mondays….

Monday morning I woke up and did my morning work-out. A body weight /cross training routine. After that, started prepping fruit and veggies for a juice. I was running late for work and was rushing. In my haste I neglected to wash the items that I was juicing. My guess is that it is not a big deal to not rinse off one piece of fruit and eat it. This was not like that. When you make a juice large enough to be a meal, it takes many items. My juice consisted of: kale, spinach, cucumbers, carrots, grapefruits, apples, and assorted berries. I rushed off to work and packed a lunch box full of raw fruit and vegetables to eat throughout the day. (also I would be drinking at a minimum 1 and 1/2 gallons of water a day)

Steve Kiss: TPS reports have been filed, time to train

I arrived at practice Monday night after stopping home and making another juice. I got through the first hour of striking and I felt okay, stomach was getting a bit achy and starting to feel bloated. When BJJ started my stomach really began to hurt. I got through the hard training hour..but had to leave in a hurry. (I will leave the next hour out of the story because honestly..’aint nobody wanna hear bout none a dat mess’) The worst was yet to come. My eyes started to itch while at work the next day. Without thinking I would itch them and before I knew it they began to swell.

Steve Kiss: Anaphylaxis (look it up)

Within hours my eyes were swollen and almost shut. (think Martin Short in Pure Luck, just more handsome) I did not stop my diet. I didn’t even cut back. While writing this my eyes have gone completely back to normal and I feel great. I do not know what caused this issue, but, sad to say not much training happened during this week. (maybe the pesticides from not washing the fruit?) I did do my solo routines, yet did not want to put my school and training partner at risk if this was not an allergic reaction.

Steve Kiss: Back in the Saddle

My diet is going strong and I honestly am starting to feel the benefits. Some lower back pain remains from this reaction I suffered but I am certainly through the worst. You know all that fear of dying crap is over and all. I lost my inhaler and really haven’t missed it too much. This diet may actually be helping my asthma symptoms..who knows.

I plan on jumping back into training at full speed on Monday. I need to make up for lost time.

Steve Kiss: A magnanimous man

I want to take this opportunity to thank someone for their help. Without her I wouldn’t be able to have this diet working…or even function. She reminds me if I have a rehearsal with Six Day Reign, or a practice with NJMA, or Yoga with Yogawood, or if I’m late night at the office. She is my best friend and “manager”. So THANK YOU, you know who you are!

So another week down. I may not have learned much about MMA, or BJJ, or Muay Thai and wrestling this week. I did learn a great deal about pain and agony though. So whatever doesn’t kill you they say, right?

So till next week….and remember don’t sweat the petty things, just pet the sweaty things. May the force be with you. Komichiwa bitches!

Week one

Week two

Week Three

Steve Kiss week 4 part 1 (a few weeks late, blame the editor)

Steve Kiss week 4 part 1 (a few weeks late, blame the editor)

By: Steve Kiss

Steve Kiss

Steve Kiss: Wise men and no they don’t come bearing gifts

A wise man once told me “You won’t know if you’re allergic to something until you eat it!” When I say wise man I actually mean idiot. When I say idiot I mean this dude I met when living in San Francisco. When I say this dude I met; I mean this homeless guy called Otis that lived on the corner near my apartment in the city. Otis was a great guy. Always smiling and laughing and I would talk to him from time to time. He was grabbing something wrapped in plastic out of a dumpster in the alley behind my apartment building to eat when I came across him this day. I asked him not to eat that and that I would take him to lunch. The item that he had un-earthed from the filth and grossness of the dumpster was wrapped in plastic. On the wrapper it said: “Warning, not for consumption for people that are allergic to…” the remainder of the wrapper was smeared with something. I really don’t want to think of what it was smeared with. Holy shit that was gross. Anyway the point was he didn’t even know what the allergy warning was being issued for. That my friends is when he uttered those words to me. He did have a point. A bad one, but a point for sure. I should not ever have remembered that advice. I did.

Steve Kiss: Diet blame Shane

I started my diet this week. I had been talking to some teammates from New Jersey Martial Arts, Maple Shade. One of my teammates in particular. One of my MMA training partners, and fellow coaches. Shane Stride, he has recently taken on a new diet and has had fantastic results. He has cut out meat and dairy completely from his diet. He uses a juicer for fruit and veggies and only eats raw fruits and vegetables. (A few exceptions here and there, but that is the gist ). I researched this diet for a few nights, religiously. I really got into it. If it was written and on the internet I was going to try and read it. I’m not going to make an outrageous claim like…”I read the entire internet.” but I f’ing did. Prove I didn’t fool!? That’s what I thought. Anyway, I already had a juicer, this seemed like kismet. (Google the word, dummy)

Steve Kiss: Living globally eating locally

I went to our local Produce Junction and bought about every variety of fruit and vegetable they had to offer. From kumquats to oranges, from cucumbers to starfruit, from red peppers to coconuts. (Side note: holy crap coconuts are hard to open! Like for real. Wtf. Also they are apparently responsible for hundreds of deaths a year. They fall out of trees and bonk unlucky passers’ by on the noggin. What a hilariously horrible way to go. Imagine being on a wonderful vacation on an exotic isle in the South Pacific and getting killed by a damn coconut falling out of a tree.) I had bought them all. I went home and broke out the juicer. I was on a mission. In my research I had read that the juice must be consumed within an hour from making, or the nutrients from the juice would die off. So on Sunday night I began my new juice/raw fruit and veggie diet. I had my first juice on Sunday night at around 7pm as dinner, and honestly felt great. I was no longer hungry yet didn’t feel full and I had energy. I felt like I was making the right decision.

to be continued….

The Boston Open Part 2

The Boston Open- Cutting Weight and Freaking out Bellhops- Part 2

By Jim Glynn

The Boston Open – 30 years of competing

I have been practicing and competing in martial arts tournaments for thirty years and one thing never changes. When you travel to compete you can never really relax and enjoy the trip because the cloud of impending competition is always hanging over your head. This is the time when you laugh and joke with your teammates but the nerves are always in the background. How will I do? Is my weight good? Etc. This is the frame of mind we had when we arrived at the hotel.

The Boston Open- The Hotel

As soon as we got into the hotel room and put our bags down the first priority is to check our weight. Remember that nice, precise scale from part 1? It was time to put it to use. Since IBJJF rules require the gi to be worn when weighing in of course we followed suit and pulled out our gis and set up the scale on the hard tile of the bathroom. I weighed myself and was a little under so I was good. My teammate was about to weigh himself when there was a knock on the door. “That must be the cot” I said and opened the door to let the bellboy in. “I have the cot for”… his words trailed off. I looked at him, he looked at me then I noticed he was able to look right into the bathroom as well. His eyes bulged and then he quickly covered them and he took off with out a tip. Strange behavior indeed. Then I realized that I was wearing a gi with the top undone and a belt around my neck. My teammate in the bathroom had on gi pants only. I imagine he probably sees some wild stuff sometimes but I guess the sight of two adult males with loose, brightly colored pajamas with long colored belts, no less, was just too much sensory overload! What was I supposed to say “Its OK, we are not weirdos; we just like to wrestle with each other?” Definitely a classic moment that we still laugh about.

The Boston Open- IBJJF Tournaments

If you ever have the chance to compete in an IBJJF tournament I heartily recommend it. Everything is on time and the atmosphere is top-notch. My start time was 1:50 and that is when I was called into the holding area. From there you show your ID, get your gi checked, step on the very exact scale, and proceed to your ring. The fact that you weigh in right before you fight means that any weight lost to make the division must be done slowly and through strict dieting over a few weeks. This really discourages a drastic water weight cut because there is no rehydration time.

The Boston Open- My name is called

My name was called and my opponent and I shook hands and started. How did it go? I lost by an advantage. How many mistakes did I make? At least 35 according to the list Professor Perazzo was nice enough to compile after video analysis. Did I learn anything? Absolutely. Every match in a comp setting is a true test to gauge where you stand against a 110% resisting opponent. Win some, lose some. The journey continues.

The Boston Open- Advantages

What does it mean to lose by an advantage? It means that the match was so close that no actual points were scored, only submission and pass attempts. There was even one point where I thought I had the pass so I mistakenly let him get back to guard. That got a huge WTF! during the video analysis. Ah the video analysis…stay tuned for the next post.

The NJMA Blog is Back

NJMA Blog

The NJMA Blog is Back

Those of you have been suffereing through the ramblings of a deluded and somewhat successful MMA/BJJ fighter Tim Carpenters Blog acrucualwasteoftime.com. There is a bright life in your life, after dealing with the stomach flu that ravaged the Perazzo household. The NJMA blog is back and better than at least A crucial waste of time, we aren’t trying to be the best blog in the world just considerably better that Tim Carpenters attempts at wittiness and so called enlightenment.

If you are wondering why i would attack my friends blog so viciously, its called pay back, and  that’s all i will say about that.

New blog posts from the NJMA blog will be up this week, Thanks for being patient.

Steve Kiss: Training Week Three

Steve Kiss: Training Week Three

by Steve Kiss

Week three down. This week is starting to feel more the way I remember training feeling. Monday started with a great muay thai class then went right into nearly 2 hours and 15 minutes of hell.

Steve Kiss: Class Starts

We began the first hour of BJJ in no gi. At NJMA we train 2 weeks in then 2 weeks out of the gi. The gi is the “uniform” of BJJ. Think Karate Kid, or actually just pajamas minus the footies. These footie-less pajamas also indicate rank with a colored belt. Like sleepy ninjas with cold feet and fancy belts. I think I’m going to start wearing slippers. damn the man…..sorry I think that this may have gotten a little off track.

Steve Kiss: Slacking and how its overcome

Back to training… we began with one full hour of intense cardio drilling. Partner drills. Professor Marco Perazzo has an uncanny ability to know almost instinctively when someone is slacking off. I am almost certain that is another sense that he has honed over his 18 years in BJJ. I liken it to the ability your mom has for knowing exactly the moment that you get into something that you are not supposed to even when not in the room. “Steven!! Get away from the brownies they are not done cooling!!” Or at NJMA “Lets go Steven Kiss”. I am glad that he doesn’t throw shoes like my Ma.

Steve Kiss: Intensity and Drilling

We really went hard for this first hour of No Gi training. We did positional drills, which are drills in which you repeat a wrestling move over and over. You go, then your partner and so on. From a failed taken/sprawl, to a sit out turn in, to pulling butterfly guard, to a leap over pass. Over and Over. (I am not going to explain all of what that is…come train.) This being one of many many drills done, with intensity and purpose.

Steve Kiss: Open Mat

At the close of the hour class we normally bow out and go into open mat. Open mat is a free hour to do anything that you would like to drill, or get some live rounds in. Not today. Marco yelled out at the close of class to “Put your Gi’s on“. The competition team then changed into our Gi’s quickly and got back out on to the mats. We were to get in groups of 3 and get in for another hour of hard training. This hour was more live training and started with take downs. Basically this means the first guy to get the other guy to the mat wins. He stays and the other guy leaves the mat and the third member of the group comes in and so on. I was “lucky” enough to only have 1 partner. Yep, you guessed it….no breaks. It sucked in the moment but I hope that it will help in my matches to come. This went right into scramble drills and on and on we went. More than one of the competition team members vomited during this class…awesome.

Steve Kiss: Solo Workouts

My solo workouts are starting to gain a little momentum. Waking up in the morning to do cardio before work is becoming more routine and is starting to become a little easier. I have changed it to a strength and conditioning based workout Tuesday and Thursday and a run on the elliptical on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I have also started taking yoga classes.

Steve Kiss: 100% getting there

I don’t feel anywhere near 100% but I feel like I can get there. It feels possible again and that is motivating. My diet will start next week and I will intensify my morning workouts.

Steve Kiss: For his fans

Juggling the band (Six Day Reign), training, work, writing this stupid sh*t, I mean awesome blog and being an adult is tiring.

Check out Week one by clicking here.

Check out week two by clicking here.

The Boston Open- Cutting Weight and Freaking out Bellhops- Part 1

The Boston Open- Cutting Weight and Freaking out Bellhops- Part 1

Right now the NJMA competition team is training really, really hard for the IBJJF New York Open. This is a very prestigious tournament that tends to attract some top talent. A few weeks ago some of the guys decided to take a trip to Boston to compete in the Boston Open and because I am married to one of the coolest women in the world, I got to go too.

 The Boston Open- Weight cut

If you want to compete you have a decision to make- do you lose, or cut, weight to have a strength advantage at the lower weight class or do you fight at your normal “walk around” weight? For me the choice is easy after I had a very sobering experience at the Good Fight last year. I normally weigh 144lbs. The lower class was up to 139 and the next class was up to 154. I decided to do the 154 because very few adult men over 30 weigh less than 140lbs and I wanted to have at least one match in the Master’s division. I had one match in the gi but then for the no-gi division there were no other master’s competitors so they put me in the regular adult division. As I stood in the waiting area I looked around. These other guys were really big! My coach asked me if I was in the right area because the size difference was that noticeable. As it turns out I was in the right spot but these guys had all cut weight to make 154! That means that now they weighed closer to 160 and I was giving up almost 20 lbs. Things did not go well but thankfully there were no injuries and I learned a valuable lesson. If you are close to the top of the lower weight class- drop a few pounds and make that your division.

 The Boston Open- Keys to cutting weight for competition

Now that you have decided to lose the weight here are a few simple steps that got me from 144 to 138 in two weeks.

• Get a good scale- Spend some money on a decent scale that gives a precise measurement to the .1 or .2 lb. This makes a really big difference because you have to know as close as possible how your body responds to diet and exercise.
• Figure out your target weight- For example- for the IBJJF tournaments you weigh in with the gi so weigh the gi and do the math. For light-feather its 141.5 with gi and belt. My gi and belt weighs 3lbs so I can weigh up to 138. 138 is now my target weight.
• Enlist family and friends to help. – My wife loves the fact that no longer am I able to eat whatever I want, whenever I want, and as much as I want. Things have changed and she is very happy to share the burden!
• Realize this is a slow process- the objective here is not to dehydrate yourself but to lose as much fat as possible while retaining your strength.
• Learn to love all greens- Since most green vegetables are nothing more than structured water, fiber, and nutrients, you can eat as much as you want and the weight still comes off.
• No more processed foods- processed food is very high in sodium and other chemicals that make you retain water. Stick to high quality protein like chicken, fish, and eggs.
• Drink lots of water- cannot emphasize this enough. Drink constantly up until 24 hours before the weigh-in so your body becomes used to constantly flushing the system.

 The Boston Open- Typical Meals

My typical meal consisted of sliced chicken over a mound of broccoli or other greens. Snacks became fruit and instead of huge bowls of ice cream after training a moderate spoonful was the norm. Is it easy? Yes. Is it fun? Not really. However it is definitely a very healthy regimen and the right thing to do if you want to be competitive- especially at the lower weight classes.

I followed this program and did well in the NAGA so this is the program I followed for the Boston Open. In fact, all of my teammates were in the same boat and dropped a few lbs. How did we do?

Stay tuned for part 2

By Jim Glynn

Randy Couture Dealing with Bellator Fiasco

Randy Couture Dealing with Bellator Fiasco

If you are a fan of the UFC and if you are over 35 years old you definitely love the story of Captain America, Randy Couture. Known for his great wrestling, he won the UFC title with his vintage ground and pound during the early days of the UFC. The most intriguing part was that he was always an enigma because of his age. He fought a war against a much younger Tito Ortiz, fought a classic trilogy of grappler vs striker against Chuck Lidell, These are some of the most notable fights of Randy Couture before coming back as a heavyweight to win the title against Tim Sylvia and successfully defeating Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga to keep his heavyweight crown. If you look through randy Couture ‘s sherdog record, you see no cupcakes, every single fight of his career has been against quality opponents.

Randy Couture: Contribution to the UFC

Despite contributions that Randy Couture has provided in the UFC cage by fighting amazing fights and never shying away from challenges and challengers, at times much younger and much bigger. Also lets not forget the contributions he has made to Zuffa’s bottom line with some of the highest grossing PPV’s in UFC history. All this not with standing Randy Couture has faced several disputes with Zuffa and specifically Dana White. Recently, Dana White was quoted as saying “The only time Randy Couture becomes a man is when he steps in the Octagon”. Can you say spilled milk, Dana is just crying because he is unhappy with Randy Couture, his decision to become part of rival fight organization Bellator MMA and their new reality show. The TV show will be entitled Fight Master: Bellator MMA. In a recent statement by the UFC legend, he clarified that his deal was actually not with Bellator MMA but with Spike TV. He also added that the commitment is to train athletes joining the reality show. Randy is a founding father of modern MMA and a Hall of Famer in the UFC, but all that is lost on Dana has the “what have you done for me lately “ attitude.

Randy Couture: Dana White on Competition

Dana White has been known to be ruthless when it comes to competition. At one point Affliction (a clothing company) decided to start an MMA organization, the UFC banned Affliction from ever sponsoring fighters in the Octagon. This example just goes to show how Dana White’s views competition, and don’t bring up the word monopoly its very sensitive topic for Dana. This means that even if UFC legends or even non legends should watch their back if they take a job with a company that competes with the UFC. The UFC is trying to eliminate threats that could decrease their PPV success and their overall growth as a brand.

Randy Couture Feud?

The Randy Couture feud isn’t anything new. Dana white has had feud’s with many top fighters and their management: Tito Ortiz, Frank Shamrock, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and at one point Dan Henderson have all had their issues with Dana White. Randy Couture is so on the outs with Dana White that it is rumored that he will not even be allowed to enter any of the UFC events or to coach his son Ryan Couture a new UFC fighter.

For any casual fan, Randy Couture is the epitome of MMA superstar. Getting movie deals and a starring role in the blockbuster Expendables movie. Randy Couture has made himself a star to mainstream audiences thanks to his career in the UFC. Dana White may not agree with Randy Couture and his choice of working with Bellator MMA. If your name is Randy Couture you started and ended your career in the UFC; this might really be a slap in the face to your former employer. In the past Randy Couture and Dana have squashed their differences to make great matches, but ultimately they were putting money in each other pockets. Now that Captain America is no longer an active roster in the UFC, will this be a bridge burned for both parties?