[poison]

Yeah, so I bought Blue Gene on my own, received it on Friday, and will be logging my experience here.

Who cares, right? Well, you should! I've agreed to subject myself to the gruelling regimen of judo training, for 2 hours three times a week, to put Blue Gene to the test. Will the 'Stimulant Free Endurance and Stamina' aid my quest for physical power and domination on the mat, or will I end the month a beaten, quivering mass of humanity? Will the Natural Hormone Levels and Recovery optimization rewind my internal clock by 15 years, or will I limp off the mat a cowed aging fool?


About me: I'm 34, and when I started judo 5 months ago I weight 194 at 6'0" with ~10-12% bodyfat, very visible abs. For reference, I was at a 350lb deadlift, and I recently ran a 5k with no running/training in 21:40, came in 3rd in my age group, 49th out of 500.

I completely stopped all other forms of training to do judo. I've wanted to take a martial art for years, and finally broke down and did it. I didn't have a preference as to which art I took, I just wanted 1) a high level of instruction, 2) realistic, full force/full contact training, and 3) something usable on the street.

Judo isn't that popular here in the US, but it's wildly popular elsewhere around the world. Some here may not know what exactly it entails, so, in short, it's basically throws from the standing position, and transitions to grappling on the ground. Brazilian Jiu jitsu was derived from judo, so they share a lot of the same grappling skills.

The training is intense. High level judo fighters have very high levels of fitness, and I believe fighting of any style is as demanding as it gets, with grappling being the hardest. You're in constant tension with your opponent when grappling, and there's no letting up.

Class starts out with a 20-40 minute 'warm-up', which consists of pretty much every calesthenic known to man, and then some, back-to-back: running, pushups, situps, crunches, leg raises/flutters/planks, lunges, and a lot of pairing up and lifting/pulling/gragging the other guy around. It's brutal.

Then class starts. We do 15-20 minutes instruction and practice of a technique and/or its variations, then 15 minutes of ground fighting. Another 10 minutes of practicing stand-up techniques, then 45 minutes of all out full-contact fighting/throwing.

It's a weird combination of aerobic endurance with many intense anaerobic bursts. I spend a lot of time with someone elses weight on my, lifting them, pulling them, directing them. I get thrown countless times a class, 50 or more. In the beginning getting up is tiring, all by itself. Getting thrown hurts, though I'm getting better at falling. I've had a concussion, nasty cauliflower ear, wicked sprained toes, a sprained foot/ankle, wicked sore finger joints, and tons of weird bruises and ****ed up shin swelling.

So far on Blue Gene: I'm on my 4th day, and I've been working very hard, with little sleep, but I had wood the last two mornings. When I'm this tired, it doesn't happen, so take that for what its worth. Nothing else to report.

My first class on Blue Gene is tomorrow, so I'll be back then!


Here's a vid of judo ippons, or scoring, match-finishing throws:



And for fun:

[RenegadeRows]

Wow, subb'd! I've done martial arts my whole life (chinese traditional styles) and totally respect Judo. I'll definitely be following this one!!!!

[poison]

Thanks, I can't wait to get back in there and try this stuff out!

[crader]

I'm in to see what kind of wicked fighting habits I can learn from you! Well that and to watch your pain

[poison]

Perfect! I will suffer so you don't have to.

[bioman]

Matai!

Phew, got tired just reading the description and had to tap out.

Tear it up, brutha!

[poison]

Will do, Bioman!

I popped my 5 Blue Gene at 6:15PM last night and made my way to class. I was tired, so I drank a half a blue Monster (gotta color match the supps, you know ) just for a caffeine pop. I usually have some form of caffeine pre-judo, as by the time I hit class, I've been up 14 hours, working 11.

I missed Fridays class, and the dojo was closed Monday, so our sensei decided to 'make up for it' by kicking our asses in the warm up. It went like this:

Light run, then the following exercises for 20-60 reps. 3 kinds of squats, lunges, leg flutters, bicycles, adductor crap, 3 variations of supermans, leg lifts with person throwing legs down, straight leg situps with person pushing you down, reverse crunches, 4 kinds of pushups, shoulder raises, and more stuff I can't remember. It seemed like it never effin stopped, but it was 40+ minutes.

Then we practices breakfalls: forward, backward, and sideways. THe goal is to accept that you are falling, and spread the impact over as much area of the body as possible, while protecting the vital areas, like the head and joints.

A short random vid showing it more or less:



By this time, I was feeling pretty tired, and kind of like my body was just starting to wake up from its 5 day vacation. I felt pretty crappy during the warmup, missing classes always feels bad upon return, but at this point, 45-50 minutes in, I felt better.

Then we practiced a technique, ouchi gari, an inner leg sweep, and different situations in which to apply it, which looks like this:



A Karo Parisiyan vid of it:



We then did 10 minutes of newaza, or ground fighting. I ended up going with the sensei, and got armbarred, then choked to ****.

After than we did 10 minutes of free practice, where we pair up and do whatever we want, but without resisting, and without actually throwing, for muscle memory sake.

By this time, as you can imagine, I was shaking. THe bout with the sensei killed me. But after a few minutes of free practice, I recovered quite nicely.

The last 45 minutes were full-force fighting, for 3-5 minute intervals, switching partners every time. Judo stresses actual fighting time for several reasons:

1) judo was developed from japanese jiu jitsu, and Kano, the founder of Judo, believed taking the deadly or dangerous techniques out of the equation would make it more effective overall, because you could then train full-force with a resisting partner without fear of injury or death. Truth be told, his fighters took on the top jiu jitsu guys of his day, and they soundly beat them. Realistic training FTW!

2) judo is all about body mechanics and timing. There's only one way to learn and develop your sense of both: actual time spent moving someone's body around. It takes intuition, and 'feeling', something you only gain through contact.

3) Judo is very competition oriented, and the benefits of lots of real fighting in this area are clear.

If I go in to randori, or free-fighting, with the aim to do the best I can EVERY round, to pull off EVERY throw I attempt, I bonk in about two rounds. It's brutal. Judo fighters know how to use their strength and weight VERY efficiently, and someone with a slight technical advantage bests my strength EVERY time. It's like fighting a brick wall (or water), even if I have 40-50lbs on the guy. So I'm looking for some botanical aid from Blue Gene. I have good endurance, but there is no such thing as too much! I did pretty good this class, despite the effed warmup and lack of sleep and food during my 5 days off. I'm excited to see how Blue Gene performs in this regard.

So far, libido is noticable; it's not like Fenotest, which I quit taking because I felt like I had been possessed by a serial rapist (Mmm, look at that, hey Babyshut up, *******, I'm busy nowoh, yeah, come on nowdude, that's the co-worker you hateahh, but look at that asshead assplode). It's more subtle, and natural, like it turns on when needed, if you get what I mean. Morning wood is oak.

So far, so good!

[RenegadeRows]

Awesome detailed update!!! Gotta match the (Lift in) Colors! Great post!

[thebigt]

very interested in you opinions on blue gene, you have steered me towards good stuff before. know i can count on you for a good honest no bs log. btw seems like you are liking it so far.

[poison]

Thanks, thebigt, I'm happy to report my results.

I took 5 Blue Gene at 6:10PM last night with a half Monster, and class started at 7:00PM with a very similar warmup to Weds class: 35 minutes straight of different variations each of burpees, pushups, situps, crunches, leg raises, leg flutters, front and back wheelbarrows, and a bunch of exercises where, say, one guy stands, bent over with hands on knees, the other guy leapfrogs over directly to prone upon landing, crawls through the standing guys legs, stands up and leapfrogs again, etc. I had good energy and endurance during this, better than on WEds.


Whew!

Then we practiced technique, an extension of Weds class: ouchi gari, the inner leg sweep, but showed the options if the person dodged back or forward, or if the technique failed, basically stringing several techniques together. Say, inner leg sweep, he pushes, you turn into him pulling and hop throw, using his push against him. Freakin sweet! (vids and gif of technique above)

WE then did ground fighting for 15 minutes. I fought a guy who I did not realize is an actor, until I saw the movie Redbelt last week. He was the ref in that movie. He's a BJJ guy, and tough for me. My other two opponents were better than me, but I was bigger and stronger, so it was back and forth. I felt remarkably better at this point than on WEds class, not shaky at all.

Next we did another 10-15 minutes of free practice with no throws, which were very interesting. I partnered with a smaller middle aged black belt who I've never gone with. When doing free practice, there is to be no resistance. I tried a hip throw, and couldn't get his 160lbs off the ground. It was very peculiar. I can't begin to explain in words how these slight, older guys can manipulate their weight and my leverage to their advantage. It's insane, and really motivates me: I want to do that too! Judo gives fighters a VETY strong base or center. Interesting, because its so opposite of the typical 'wax on, wax off' tai chi mumbo jumbo stuff most people think provides that.

Randori, or free fighting, was 45 minutes. A friend came from work to watch, as I'm trying to convince him to join the club. He got a real show, I was getting tossed like a rag doll, spectacularly, but I also did well, and got some good throws in myself, a rare occurrence. One of the black belts likes to abuse me, and used these two throws:









This guy throws hard, and puts weight behind it. THe first throw above is actually fun to experience; the second is so sudden and forceful its bizarre. THere's little warning it's gonna happen.

This fight session was very hard. I fought mostly black belts, and as one of them commented, I'm getting better and they're having to work harder. Well, they may be working harder to throw me, but along with that comes rougher treatment, and I'M busting my ass to throw them. It's seriously anaerobic, and I finished class strong. Recovery from the periods of being on the brink, or bumping up against my VO2 max, is quickening. I really like how I felt during this class: strong, with good energy and endurance, as well as good focus.

[crader]

Sounds like you are doing well! I'm enjoying all of the reading and instruction on the techniques.

[thebigt]

been using c5, thinking to get vo2max and do 2/2 per day. it seems c5 is more long term [12 hour] and vo2max is more short term. i think they would complement the blue gene nicely.