Jeremiah Blatz

Yummy simple soup

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:27:37 GMT

1 sausage
celery, about twice as much as you have sausage
onion, about as much as celery
carrot, about as much as sausage, maybe a little less
garlic, the more the merrier
chicken/veggie stock
frozen spinach
herbs, especially rosemary and smoked paprika (also salt and pepper)
Olive oil
(Bonus, truffle oil)

Chop up the onion, celery, and carrot. Chop the garlic fine. Defrost the stock (which you made previously and froze, right?)
Fry the sausage in a pan. Cooked through, brown, etc. Medium heat. Probably want to use a little oil here.
Remove the sausage from the pan, add the onion. While the onion and stuff is cooking, cut the sausage in half lengthwise and chop.
You should be stirring/tossing this periodically
When the onion begins to get translucent, toss in the celery
When the celery begins to soften, toss in the carrot and garlic
Wait a little bit, then toss in the herbs and some pepper, and the chopped sausage
Before the garlic browns, add the stock to cover the stuff in the pan, and then that depth again
You might want some more olive oil here. Fat is yummy!
Taste, adjust seasoning
Bring to a boil, the turn off the heat and lit it sit a bit

To serve, fill a bowl about 1/3 full with spinach, then add hot soup. If the soup isn't super hot, microwave it up. For extra yums, add a little truffle oil. It takes away the peasant cred, but are you really a peasant?

P.S. I'm not dead.

Hawaii pictures online

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:01:24 GMT

A mere 2.5 months after getting back, our pictures from Hawaii are online. At the very least, you'll want to check out the lava.

Mini-review: Vibram Five Fingers KSO

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 04:15:28 GMT

For years, I didn't own any "athletic" shoes. I had combat boots and dress shoes. Then I started kung fu and wore Feiyues. Around this time, I stopped wearing combat boots (heavy things on your feet are bad for your knees), and of course the kung fu shoes were only for the temple. So, I was down to work shoes for general use. I also had a pair of water shoes that I wore as slippers, and sometimes in/on the water.

One day, I decided that I wanted to go for a run. So, I needed running shoes, right? I certainly wasn't going to run in my work shoes. So I went to Pay Less and got a pair of obnoxiously ugly Champion running shoes for $20. Incidentally, they are a fantastic value and are quite comfy and breathable.

Anyway, I fell into a bad crowd (not a member, just a reader) and learned all about POSE running and the like. Turns out those "running" shoes I bought were tools of the devil, designed to encourage bad running form and generally fuck my shit up. So I started running in my water shoes. This actually worked out quite well.

Fast forward a while, and on a fateful trip to Hawaii, my water/running shoes started to smell bad. Really bad. The stank was so deeply embedded into the shoes that bleaching didn't really totally fix them. Anyway, the thin soles had pretty much worn through. So, into the trash they went.

Except I needed shoes. I couldn't run in my Pay Less Devil Tools, and I certainly couldn't life weights in them. I wanted to get a pair of Vibram Five Fingers but I couldn't bear to spend $80 for a pair of exercise shoes.

So I went to Modell's and got a pair of $10 water shoes.
They sucked.
And ripped out after a month.

So I broke down and got the damn Five Fingers. I figure if they last 8 months I'm cool, and they're supposed to not suck. I went up to City Sports, tried them on, and was in love. They are utterly lacking in suckage. Other folks give good advice about choosing a pair and sizing details: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how-to+vibram+5-fingers. Anyway, I first tried on a pair of 44's (my normal euro size). I had no problem getting them on. They felt a little loose sitting down, but fit perfectly once I stood up. There's a lot of stuff about adjusting to the shoes and getting used to them. I think this has to do with the lack of padding, as opposed to the toe thing. When I started wearing my water shoes around, it definitely hurt a lot for a week or so. There was no adjusting to the Five Fingers for me. I put them on and was ready to go.

So, the review:
They grip like crazy. If you slip in these, you would slip no matter what.
If you're used to thin-soled shoes with no heel, you shouldn't have any trouble adjusting to these.
They actually have decent padding, the rubber under the ball and heel is pretty thick.
They're super-breathable, except in the toes.
They weigh next to nothing.
They're machine washable!
They look ridiculous.
I matched my PR in the squat the night I got them, and set a new PR in the bench, deadlift, and 1 mile run. It's gotta be the shoes!

So, yeah. If you don't mind looking like a dork, get a pair. They're awesome!

Resturant Week: Oak Room at the Plaza

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:12:09 GMT

OMG, so good. Get restaurant week reservations, go! No reservations left? It's worth it during not restaurant week, too!

Yummy semi-healtyh snack

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 21:09:03 GMT

I've been using this to get Jess to eat yoghurt and fresh fruit, and it's working quite well. It's a little heavy on the carbs for "healthy," but it's a lot better than regular fruit honey snacks, and it tastes much better. Also note that it's vegetarian and has an almost perfect protein balance.

(Despite all the nutrition rambling, it tastes really good.)

Apple with yoghurt and slivered almond snack
Serves 2

1 apple
slivered almonds, approx 1 small handfull
approx .5 cup yoghurt (whole milk, fat is good for you)
Honey for drizzling

Slice apple into bite-sized chunks, mix with slivered almonds to taste, and a few big spoonfuls of yoghurt to coat generously. Drizzle with honey.

Mini-review: Westside Market

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:40:40 GMT

Westside Market
77 7th Ave, NYC 10011

Somebody smashed together the world's biggest deli with a grocery store, and it kinda works.

Today is rainy any yuck, so we decided to not go to the Union Square Greenmarket and Whole Foods to pick up veggies and stuff. On the way home from Tea & Sympathy, we saw this place from across the street, and thought we'd stop in. It's a maze of twisty passages, all different, except with food instead of green phosphors.

The have a *lot* of prepared food and a *lot* of packaged cheese. We didn't look too hard at this stuff, except to note that they have a lot of different kinds of parm (which is good). It's pretty firmly a yuppie grocery, they have organic stuff and the like, but not hippie food. They have expensive food, but not wierd gourmet stuff. That said, they had a lot of produce and it was mostly really nice. They had a lot of meat that looked great, and a lot of meat that looked like it had been out too long. We got a nice-looking flank steak for $5.99/lb. Gotta get that going sous-vide if we want it to not be yucky...

The prices for the stuff we bought was on par with Fresh Direct, which is pretty suprisingly good, given the upscale nature of the place.

We will probably return on days that we go to T&S.

In case you missed it...

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:45:54 GMT

Our pics from our trip to Barcelona are up.

Most Barcelona:

Most awesome:

Ramdom

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:27:54 GMT

1) Great, they're laying off MTA workers, jacking up fares, and reducing service. What's the stimulus plan doing for you?

2) The EEE 900HA is tiny and quite capable of running Adobe Lightroom. This is win.

On eggnog and The Joy of Cooking

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:05:19 GMT

1
I make damn fine eggnog

2
Most of what one needs to know about making eggnog is in the 1976 edition of the Joy of Cooking, and not, for instance, the 1997 edition. The later edition may have more varied and convenient recipes, but it's lost its soul. Not in that it sold out (which, AFAICT, it didn't), but that it started to be a recipe book, and stopped being a book about how to cook and eat food.

3
Go buy the 76 edition. It's not getting any cheaper. Don't bother with any newer edition (the 75th anniversary one may have gotten better, but I doubt it). If you want a recipe book, get How to Cook Everything.

4
That said, the 76 edition recipes could stand a little updating. If you've cooked from it a bit, and thumbed through it a bit, this shouldn't be a problem, since you know how to cook. For example, eggnog:
Use the ingredients for eggnog for one (pages 71 and 72). The preparation is different, though.
Separate the white into a cup suitable for your immersion blender (whisk attachment), and the yolk into a tall drinking glass.
Using a rubber scraper, cream together the yolk, sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Then mix in the rum (Capt Morgan is barely rum, but it's great for rum & cokes and eggnog). I think it's supposed to be better if you refrigerate this for a few hours to overnight.
Beat the egg white until medium peaks form, pour the foam into the drinking glass
Without cleaning the immersion blender cup, add the heavy cream, beat to just shy of soft peaks
Pour all the stuff from the drinking glass into the blender cup (use the scraper to get everything out), mix together with the scraper, then pour back into the drinking glass.
If you're trying to impress someone, sprinkle some nutmeg on top.

Quiche Tip

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 03:21:43 GMT

So, when I make quiche, sometimes I had pools of egg whites on the top, which got tough when they were baked. For my last quiche, I separated the eggs and lightly beat the eggs. The only problem was the foam, you don't want it, since it makes burnt meringue on the top of your quiche. Next time, I'll spoon the foam into the pie pan before I add the goodies, popping all the bubbles.

Adventures in Modern Cooking: Steak Sous-vide Mk II

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 04:38:58 GMT

On Sunday, I made steak sous-vide again, but this time I stepped it up a bit.

To start with, I bought a nice piece of hanger steak from Whole Foods. It was scarcely more expensive than the pathetic waste of cow I got at Gristides the time before. Hrmph. I'm not sure hanger steak is such a great idea for low-temperature cooking, since it pulls apart and pathogens could theoretically get inside the little ribs that open up. I decided to risk it.

The other big change this time was that I adapted a little-used attachment to my vacuum to work better for sucking air out of bags. I got some thinnish food-safe tubing and heat-shring tubing at Home Depot, wrapped gaffer's tape around the end of the tubing, then used the heat-shring tubing to attach it ti the end of the vacuum attachment. This worked really, really well. I could stick then hose far into the bag and suck next to the meat. Note that is is very important to use freezer bags, `cause regular storage bags can't take the strain. I paid like $4 for the parts, and it took me no more than half an hour to build and test the whole thing. Also note that zip-lock (even brand name) freezer bags appear to be cheaper than the bag rolls for the store-bought vacuum sealers, at about $0.25 per square foot, as opposed to $0.40.

Another thing I did differently was to use some "whiskey rub" that I received from my in-laws instead of some salt & pepper. This was a mistake. I later learned that one of the reasons restaurants love sous-vide is that you need much less spice, thus they can make truffle-infused whatever for much cheaper. I used far too much rub. Furthermore, it had whole peppercorns, which would've been a little much. Lastly, it contained dried rosemary, which was not re-hydrated in cooking, as the steak kept its juices. I ended up brushing the spice rub off the steak, and it was still too strongly-flavored. So, stick with a little salt and pepper, and a few fresh herbs.

The last thing I did differently was to pan-sear the steak. This worked really well. When you're searing your meat, unless it's really fatty, you need to add fat to make the outside all nice. If you're using a torch, rub the meat with oil. I just heated some olive oil (non-extra-virgin, which handles heat better) in the pan and seared all sides of the steak using a pair of tongs. I used the discarded spice rub and the minimal drippings to prepare a shallot and red wine sauce (loosely based on this one). The sauce was quite good.

I served the steak with mashed potatoes and green beans with smoked paprika and toasted almonds, both from Cooks Illustrated. Aside from the disappointment of the over-peppered steak, everything was delicious.

Dinner

Vacuum attachment for home preparation of cryovaced foods

To conclude, sous-vide is the real fuckin deal.

Adventures in Modern Cooking: Steak Sous-vide

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:12:12 GMT

Short version: Sous-vide is the real fuckin' deal.

So, one day I was trawling along the information super-tubes, and I stumbled upon a video (Normal Person vs ... Gordon Ramsay) on Kamikaze Cookery. This site combines three things I love dearly: geekiness, cooking, and merciless snark, so I watched their "The Perfect Steak" episode, whose title should be sufficiently descriptive.

So, the theory of cooking steak is that you want the outside to be burned, but the inside to be as closed as possible to 55 degrees C. The obvious solution, if you think about it for more than a couple seconds, is to hold it in a 55 deg C environment for sufficient time for it to get heated through, then you quickly cook the outside with something ridiculously hot. The way they did it is by vacuum-bagging it, then immersing the bag in a pot of water held at the correct temperature. That's the sous-vide ("under vacuum" in French) bit. Then they went at it with a blowtorch.

As you would know if you thought about it more for more than a few seconds, this actually works quite well. The main downside is that it takes a long time to heat the subject. The good news is that to long shouldn't be a problem at all (what're you going to do, overcook it?). I guess the other downside is that you need to have very precise control over you stove, and it needs to go extremely low.

So, for my experiment I bought a small, cheap piece of terrible steak. I used this guide to sous-vide cooking for detailed instructions, the tables of cooking times were quite handy. I put it in a freezer bag (don't try to use a non-freezer bag, it will end poorly), sucked the air out with a vacuum, and plopped it in the water bath. I had good luck keeping track of the water temperature by hanging my thermometer across a pair of tongs that were laid (locked closed) across the top of the pot. I checked the temperature every 10 minutes or so, easy as pie. (Well, quite a bit easier, actually.) I finished it with a kitchen torch, which actually kinda sucked (stupid safety features).

The terrible steak was the best terrible steak I ever ate. It was ridiculously juicy, and perfectly cooked. Obviously, it was terrible steak, but the point is well-proved. I think next time I'll try finishing it in a hot pan, then hitting the sides with the blow torch. First off, you can fake a sauce, and secondly, it'll be easier on my hands.

I took some pics of the process, sorry I don't have anything of the finished steak, we were extremely hungry.

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:03:03 GMT

Martial Arts Walkabout #13: Seido Karate

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:33:41 GMT

After my trial month at Schulmann's Mixed Martial Arts, I had a bit of travel and fell off the Martial Arts Walkabout wagon. On Oct 21, I climbed back on, attending an intro class at Seido Karate. I had seen their advertisement for 100 days of training for $100, and was intrigued.

The intro class is an abridged and watered-down version of the white belt class. We did a warm-up consisting of static stretches and pushups, then ran through a few techniques. There were some basic straight punches, a backfists, blocks, and two kicks (front snap kick and roundhouse).

After that I observed the tail end of what I think was a "Step-by-Step Kumite" class, and then a "General Class" that was split between white belts and blue belts.

The step-by-step kumite class was, well, a little sad — tappity-tap point sparring with a lot of protective gear on. There were a couple black belts in the class, and even when they were partnered up, they looked like they would get destroyed in a fight/MMA match by someone with a year of a "practical" fighting art like Muay Thai, BJJ, Sambo, etc. Looking at the schedule, it appears that there may be more useful kumite classes, but of course they are for advanced students only. Now, I understand that point kumite is a real sport, and that they are training their students for that sport. However, there is a "self-defense" curriculum, and I definitely got the impression that they were claiming that they can teach you to fight. This triggers my scornful frown reaction. If they want to teach their students to defend themselves, they should teach them sprinting and recognizing the pre-contact cues, not point sparring and their ineffective self-defense drills.

The general class was, after warm-up, split up into white belts and blue belts. Testing was coming up, so the class was largely about filling up the holes in their knowledge. They started with individual techniques and short combinations. The instructor would correct techniques and the students' Japanese, and quiz them on the latter. There seemed to be a lont of emphasis on learing the Japanese names for the techniques. Class for the white belts ended with kata practice.

I didn't pay a lot of attention to the blue-belt part of the class, as they were far away and I couldn't hear the instructor. I noticed that they were doing the standard self-defense drills. (Here's a hint, nobody attacks with a stepping reverse punch. Ever.)

So, I left. Didn't ask them about what the promotion really cost (apparently it's more along the lines of $175), etc. However, maybe I should've signed up. Their web site doesn't say anything about "the street," but instead talks about discipline, tradition and fitness. They certainly have a nice space, and $175 for three months is still ridiculously cheap. The folks seemed nice, and hey, Jodi trains Seido, how bad could it be? So maybe I'll go back and see how a few months go.

Martial Arts Walkabout #12: Tiger Schulmann's Mixed Martial Arts

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 03:11:17 GMT

My, I've been a slacker about updating.

Okay, so a long time ago, I signed up for a free (with $50 uniform purchase) month at Tiger Schulmann's ~~Karate~~ Mixed Martial Arts. The place has kinda a rep, and that rep isn't really good. Does it deserve the rep? Stay tuned!

Right, so before anything, I had to put down my money and buy the uniform. Once I did that, I changed and took my free introductory class. We sorta learned some punches and kicks, and then worked out our membership schedule. You get scheduled for classes, even though you can come anytime you want. I assume that this is to help people with limited discipline. You don't just make a commitment to yourself, you make a commitment to Tiger Schulmann (and yourself), so I guess you're more likely to show up. Sounds fine, TSK (hey, it's the domain name), isn't exactly target at the hard-core.

So, the first thing, of course, is that when you start out, you can only take a few classes. I think it's only Basic Core and Submission Grappling (maybe Yoga?). This is pretty much okay, `cause they offer a lot of classes. The Manhattan school is the HQ, and they have 3 training rooms. The mats are nice and smooth, though not as clean as one might hope. Plenty of mirrors, etc. The pads are fine, the focus mitts are those foam squares, which kinda suck, and they use soft foam kick shields instead of proper suitcase pads. They do have proper thai pads upstairs for the core class. They have a bunch of heavy bags on sliding rails, the bags are nice. I think they might have a couple of the less awesome uppercut bags. (They have the horizontal bags, as opposed to the ones that stick out from the wall with targets for straights, hooks, and uppercuts.) I don't recall seeing any teardrop pads. I think they encourage students to buy their TiGear brand equipment, I don't know when/if it's required. I got no static for bringing my own gear, but all the folks in the kickboxing classes had all TiGear everything, including their duffel bags.

Right, so after my intro class, there was a submission grappling class, so I attended. The warm-up was a bunch of static stretches with some sit-ups and push-ups. After that, I was paired up with another first-timer. This class was pretty small, and we were the only n00bs. The rest of the class did their own thing, and a couple of students showed us a few basics. I think there was the kimura, rear naked choke, maybe an arm bar from the mount, and the shrimping mount escape. Except for the substandard warm-up, it followed the normal BJJ class structure: warm-up, partner drills, rolling, cool-down. Cool-down was a different set of stretches (held for longer), and I think more push-ups and sit-ups.

In later sub grappling classes, the size of the newbie section was either bigger, with a dedicated instructor, or there was no beginner section at all. I was in the beginner section for the whole month. I think I learned:

kimura from the mount
holding the mount
shrimping mount escape
elbows-on-thighs guard pass
guillotine from the guard
armbar from the mount
rear naked choke

I think I should've moved on to the non-n00b section. (The noob section is not white-belts. I don't think they give ranks for grappling, it's just like 6 classes or less and everyone else.) I never observed people working on takedowns or integrating strikes with submissions. I think the TSK ground game might be "get up, son!."

The emphasis at TSK definitely seems to be on the striking. The day after my trial, I attended a basic core class with Joshu Lyman Good. Warm-up was similar to the grappling warm-up. We then did basic kickboxing pad drills -- punching combos and the round kick and front push kick. Lyman's instruction exceeds his name, he is an excellent teacher. (He's also pretty handy in the ring.) We worked a few drills, then more push-ups, then relaxed static stretching. All the basic core classes seem to follow that pattern. There's no mixing of kicks and punches, for instance. They do some basic slipping of the pads, but I didn't see any blocking or parrying. Once thing that impressed me was that Lyman gave me a stripe for my belt on my second class, and told me that I could attend regular core classes in my 3rd basic core class. I kinda assumed that TSK would do promotions based on number of classes only. They still might do some promotion based on attendance, but they do merit/prior experience promotion as well.

The regular core class is similar to the basic core. There's a little more intensity, but I think it's still just focus mitts and kick shields. There's also a bag class, which is a combination of thai pads and bag work. When you're on the thai pads, you do work integrated striking and kicking. Ironic that the conditioning class is more technical than the technique class, but I digress.

I guess once you get to a certain level, you can attend kickboxing class. I watched a bunch of these, but sadly was not invited to attend. Students wear gloves and shin pads (and chest protectors if they're girls). Headgear is optional. These are what i think of regular kickboxing classes (i.e. where other schools start you out). Students do kickboxing drills of varying complexity. I saw the whole gamut from exchanging jabs and parrying to semi-free-form exchanges where the feeder would choose one of a menu of pre-arranged attacks. Apparently they also spar, but I didn't see any.

There are also boxing, "power core" and yoga classes, and a submission grappling class for the fight team, but I didn't watch any of those. They also have kid's classes during the day.

Sadly, I got really sick during my last week, and couldn't attend any classes. Even for three weeks was definitely worth $50. (And I got a uniform out of it, whee!) So, does TSK deserve the McDojo rep? Yes, and it's all about the money. The instruction is good, legitimately good. The classes tend to be far too large, and generally there's only one instructor, but they're teaching you real stuff. It's a good a workout (though many students tend to sandbag a lot), and you're learning martial arts that you could actually use to defend yourself. (Although, really in the grappling class and the advanced striking classes.) Joshu Lyman is a standout among the other instructors, but none of them were bad.

But, the money. TSK is expensive! First off, it's not all you can eat. You buy blocks of classes. Also, they require you to take at least two classes a week, so you can't just go once a week while you look around at other schools (as I asked about.) I don't remember exactly how much the blocks were, but I think that at three classes a week, you would end up paying around $2500 a year, and that's if you pre-pay for all 150 classes. If you wanted to train like I do, you'd use up you 150 classes in about 6 months, making it $5k/year.

Also, you could train there a long time and still not know how to fight. I cannot express how important it is, in learning how to fight, to get hit. As far as I can tell, it takes quite a while to get to the point where you get hit at TSK. Kickboxing is the 3rd level, after all, and I don't recall seeing any yellow belts in the kickboxing classes.

That said, I would put TSK (at least the headquarters) at the top of the McDojos. If you're turned off my the "real" MMA gyms, TSK might be for you. For one thing, they never match up men with women. This seems like it might be very appealing to women who might not feel comfortable rolling with guys, or getting hit by them. It's a very non-threatening environment, you have to be there a while before you get hit. It's good physical training, if you can push yourself even a little bit. The classes are complete, they make you do a proper cool-down. Many other gyms let you do whatever after class. If you're not driven to train hard, forcing you to do some strength training and stretch after class is probably a good thing.

I'd definitely encourage anyone to try their "free" $50 month of training if they're looking for a place to start. (I think the deal is only in the summer, though.)

Fluffy Cloud Dance

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:40:28 GMT

So, I've been reading some CrossFit propaganda lately, and it's been a great boon to my home fitness un-routine. I just did my first proper WOD: The Fluffy Cloud Dance. I did the squats and pistols with just bodyweight and subbed 15lb dumbbells for the kettlebells, as that's the closest I have (also, I am a candy ass). (Yay for doing less than half the Rx'ed women's weight!) Anyway, I did better than I expected, almost 23 rounds (23 in 20:06). What I did not expect was that the back extensions were the hardest part. Guess that's what I get for wussing out on the squats and renegade rows.

Martial Arts Walkabout #11: City Wing Chun

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 16:29:35 GMT

Long ago (July 3rd) I went for a free intro class at City Wing Chun. This was not a trial class, it was a special class for prospective students. The instructor welcomed us all in and had us fill in a form about ourselves and why we wanted to learn WC. He then had us gather around and gave us a tour of the school. There was one mid-sized room with a wooden dummy, some makiwara (wall-mounted punching pads) and a B.O.B. At City WC they don't actually teach you any wooden dummy forms until you're an advanced student. Early emphasis is on "self defense," which I think means 2-person drills.

After the tour we got a speech about how WC was the best martial art in the world blah blah. It may be true, but I've heard this speech at many different kinds of places, and they can't all be right. We then went into actual training. The intro class was separated from the regular class, so we could hear what they were doing, but not see it. The topic of the intro class was chain punching. We did chain punching while standing, chain punching while stepping forward, chain punching while doing squats and kicks. The instructor also showed us a chi kung type forearm/wrist exercise. After that was a one-on-one thing where the instructor went over their various membership programs.

I definitely got a good workout at the class, in that WC punching uses a muscle in my shoulder that I apparently had never used before. Despite not getting tired during class, my arms were sore for days. That said, there were a lot of red flags during class. They held themselves out as a self-defense school, but seemed to only teach self-defense against drunk guidos with no training. (Which is fine, but not really what I'm looking for.) Their programs were all gimmicky, and implied that you could basically buy an "instructor" rank. They did have a program that included actual free-form sparring, but it was expensive and you had to buy a lot of gear (including headgear with a face mask, chest pads, etc.). And, of course, you can't even watch a real class.

So, who knows? Citi WC might be awesome, effective, and fantastic, but i can't tell, and don't expect I will find out. Unless I pick a fight with one of their students, which is not likely.

Rodeo Gone Wrong

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:49:24 GMT

Martial Arts Walkabout: Don't Laugh

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:08:25 GMT

I just signed up for a month at Tiger Schulmann's ~~Karate~~MMA. Okay, fine, laugh. But it was just $50 for an intro month, so whatev. Starting next week sometime, my walkabout will be all Tiger Schulmann, all the time.

Martial Arts Walkabout #10: Five Points

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:06:44 GMT

Getting a little behind on these, but here goes.

Last Saturday, I went to Five Points Fitness from 11-3 and took classes in Kali, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). They don't have a free trial or anything, but you can pay a $25 day fee and take classes all day. thompso2 had to work on that Saturday, so I figured I would take all the martial arts classes they had.

I showed up around 10:30 and filled out my waiver, paid my $25, and got changed. First up was Kali. The regular instructor wasn't there, but there was a fairly advanced student who could step in. Fortunately, since I didn't know anything, there was nowhere to go but up. Class was split into two groups; there were thee of us who were new, and a few regular students. The regular students looked to be doing some sort of free-form push-hands drill, only with training knives. The rest of us and the instructor started off with basic movement drills using a single stick.

Apparently in Kali there are a few basic strikes, all of which have a number. We learned 1-4. 1 is a cross-body diagonal downward slash, and 2 is the same only starting from the same side as the hand (so right to left if you're holding the stick in your right hand). 3 and 4 are the same, only upward. We practiced these motions with a partner, hitting each others' sticks as we went through 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,etc. After we did the drill on both hands, we then learned more realistic multi-step drill. None of us really got the drill all that well, but as the instructor worked with each of us, I felt like I began to understand some of the Kali principals.

Immediately after Kali was Muay Thai (MT). I wrapped my hands and put on my gloves. Since it was my first class, they had me work with one of the instructors on some various focus mitt drills. After clearing out some initial cobwebs and learning some of the unfamiliar prompts, I got into the rhythm. Apparently I was halfway competent, as the instructor grabbed a thai pad and had me work on my round kick for a bit. After a few helpful pointers, the instructor came over and decided that I was competent to join class.

The topic for class was using the round kick defensively. For the first drill, our partner would throw a punch, any punch, then we'd block/slip and throw a low kick. We each did that for a round (I guess 3 minutes?). Next was a front push kick, we'd check/avoid/divert, then throw a low kick. Last was a round kick, we'd check then throw another round kick. My partner for these first few was a little awkward, but we muddled through. We then rotated partners and did a round where any punch or kick was allowed, we'd block, etc. then counter with a round kick. My partner in these two rounds was quite a bit better than me. I don't think he got a whole lot out of it, but it was nice for me to be pushed. After that we then did an exercise where we pummeled for the clinch. I had done this pummeling for underhooks in a 50-50 clinch, but not in the Muay Thai Clinch. Anyway, I think I surprised my training partner by being about as good as him at it. Who knew?

Anyway, one thing that was unusual, even for Five Points, I gather, was that we didn't wear wear shin pads. Let me tell you, when you haven't really even worked a bag for 9 months, checking a round kick hurts. Immediately after class, my left shin was just a series of bumps, and had already started to discolor. Note to self, condition shins!

After the MT class, it was an hour to BJJ class. I changed my shirt then went to my favorite chinantown snack restaurant for 2 baked pork buns, then headed off to visit the temple. I was sad to note that none of the dorks were there, but I hung out a bit. Soon it was time to go back to Five Points.

BJJ class was no-gi, and pretty small. We warmed up with some joint rotations then light static stretches. We then learned a leg triangle from the mount. I had more than a little trouble with it, and have no doubt that I'd be unable to do a triangle in a high-presure situation, but I did learn the general idea. After that we did a few rounds of free rolling. One of the guys was injured, so we did some technical work and two of them were ridiculously better than me (one was the instructor, he eventually took pity on my and told me what I was doing wrong as he submitted me). Oddly, one of them was significantly worse then me, I'm guessing it was his first class or something. Anyway, I managed to get my first few free rolling submissions (a guillotine and two rear naked chokes).

One thing that struck me while we were rolling was that New York Jiu Jitsu was really effective in the one trial class I took. I had no difficulty applying the choke and didn't have to muscle may partner around, either. In retrospect, it seems like their introductory BJJ class might be a good way to get started.

After BJJ class, I was pretty much done raining for the day. Halfway through my walk home, the adrenaline started to wear off and my shin started to hurt a lot. Today, exactly one week later, it's still pretty sore. All in all, though, it was a good experience and a good value. Folks were focused but friendly. One thing I did notice was that people seemed to work hard and get good fast. Some of them had some disparaging things to say about NY San Da, which I could understand, even if I didn't agree. Another thing was that the space was ridiculously clean. They had a full-time cleaning guy who was always wandering around mopping, vacuuming, polishing mirrors, dusting, etc. One thing that wasn't so great, and they even acknowledged it in MT class, was that the space was really cramped. The space is awkward to begin with, and they have a lot of workout equipment as well. They did mention that they're working on reorganizing the space.

Martial Arts Walkabout #9: New York Akikai

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:43:11 GMT

This has been a bad week for training. I've spend most evenings working, fitting in some workouts at home. Today i didn't get to train, but I watched a class at New York Akikai. They used to have a no-registration pay-per-class mat fee, but sadly they now require membership for class.

Class started with some light semi-dynamic stretches. After a short while, the action started. The instructor would choose an advanced student and demonstrate a technique. Quickly a few times, with slight variations, then slowly. After that, students would pair up and practice the technique for a while. While the demonstration was very formal and one-way, the practicing was far more relaxed. Advanced students, and sometimes the instructor, would wander around correcting peoples' for and answering questions.

After class, I chatted briefly with an advanced student from an affiliated school. He did say something that made Aikido make a lot more sense for me. He said that the techniques worked just as well against attacks with a sword as against empty-hand attacks. Suddenly, those ridiculous overhead chops made a lot more sense. Aikido, it seems, is empty-hand fighting for samurai. That explains the lack of submission or striking — your goal is to get your opponent to stop slicing at you long enough for you to find your sword!

Of course, the root of the techniques is just part of the art. I look highly suspiciously at any statement that Aikido, as it is practiced today, is a practical martial art. That said, it looks like a lot of fun. You get to fly through the air, and also throw people through the air. People in class looked like they were having a good time, and I can see why.

Martial Arts Walkabout #8: Renzo Gracie Academy: Trial Class

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:47:56 GMT

I've not had much luck calling places to set up trial classes. Yesterday I called 5 and got one puckup: New York Akikai. Unfortunately, despite what their web site says, they're no longer offering pay-as-you-go classes. Anyway, work was crushing on Monday so I didn't get a change to go visit.

Today I went back to the Renzo Gracie Academy for a trial class. I though class was at 7:30, but unfortunately it started at 7. Fortunately, I was quite early, so they let me quickly change and join class. Good thing I brought my gi, otherwise I probably would've missed it.

The white belt class was in a much smaller room than the blue/purple belt class I observed on Thursday. It was pretty full, however. Class seemed to be structured about the same as the other class. I arrived midway through the warmup and did scoots, jumping jacks, pushups, and some bjj-specific ab exercises (x-choke grabs and leg triangles on our backs). We then shown a takedown (osotogari). We then paired up and practiced it for a bit. We then learned a kimura (a little like this one, but a little trickier) and drilled it, then learned a armbar transition if your opponent blocks the kimura by grabbing their wrist, and drilled it.

Next, we did 2 minute rounds of free rolling, starting from various positions. I had a significant strength and conditioning advantage on my opponent, so she only owned me a little.

To close class, we did a few relaxed stretches.

The class was really... full. The whole mat was covered with people. On the plus side, you clearly had to develop an sensitivity to your surroundings, which is good in the cage or "on the street." On the minus side, we were a little limited in the techniques we could use, and there wasn't a lot of attention from the instructors. The instructor gave me a little feedback on my throw, then came around during the rolls at the end and asked me to show him the ground techniques that he taught. He gave me a big thumbs up, so I guess I more or less learned them, but it was quite different than my experience at other places.

Anyway, I enjoyed class, and definitely worked up quite a sweat (the fact that I suck at BJJ contributed to that, no doubt). I actually tried to run home, but failed, even though it's a short distance. I guess it was working stuff that I need, but don't usually use.

Martial Arts Walkabout #7: Renzo Gracie Academy: Intro Class

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:42:58 GMT

Wednesday my shoulder was still a little sore (and not in a good way), so I took a rest day. On Thursday, I went to the Renzo Gracie Academy for an intro class. They said class was half an hour, so I didn't really know what to expect. I ran down (class was at 6:00), signed in and got changed. The guy in the office said that I should wait on the bench. There were four of us waiting on the bench, and about 50+ students lounging around chatting. Class started and the students started doing an extended version of the warm-up we did at Premier Martial Arts. After the first part of the warm-up, an instructor took us over to the back corner of the mat and explained that the intro class was a lecture on what Gracie JJ was about.

We explained that GJJ had 3 parts: takedowns, positions, and submissions. Takedowns were derived from JJJ and wrestling, whereas the other two were more unique to GJJ. He talked a little bit about all three parts and demonstrated bits of each on us. The class was half intro, half sales pitch, and felt a little odd to me. The tone was somewhere between confident and arrogant. Which, you know, is probably justified. However, given how famous the name is, it's probably a reasonable idea to go into how the style works. RGA is fairly traditional, almost all classes are with gi, and you're supposed to have your purple belt (~6 years) before starting MMA training. After the intro class, I asked about class structure. The instructor explained that classes start with a warmup, then several rounds of the instructor demonstrating a technique and students paring up and practicing it, and then finishing with some free-rolling.

After the intro class, we sat one-on-one with the guy in the office. They seemed to have a fair amount of screening, asking if people currently work out, how often they're willing to train, etc. I didn't really have questions about rates, etc, and I was pleased that the guy was very encouraging of my walkabout, and encouraged me to try a class, despite the fact that it would be a long time before I even considered signing up.

At my time there, I did develop a few impressions. One, the mats were really, really nice. Everywhere else I've been the mats were kinda hard and textured, good for standup and throws. However, my inexperienced extremities have lost a lot of skin, particularly on the tops of my feet. The mats at RGA were soft and deep, and had a smooth covering. The other thing I noticed was that it was very male. In the blue-purple belt class I watched, there was not a single woman. There were definitely girls in the muay thai classes, but i didn't see more than a couple in gis. The atmosphere was pretty boyish, too, people would greet each other by sneaking up behind and slapping on a friendly rear naked choke, etc. It wasn't really macho, everyone was open and friendly and chatting, but it was definitely overwhelmingly male.

Anyway, I'm definitely going back for a trial class.

Martial Arts Walkabout #6: Premier Martial Arts: MMA

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:23:56 GMT

Due to, well, mostly laziness on my part, this week hasn't been great for trial classes. On Tuesday, I attended the MMA class at Premier Martial Arts. The instructor (Julio Rivera) told me to bring all my gear when they invited me to attend, so except for some sparring, I didn't know what to expect.

Class was very small, only myself and two other students (one of whom arrived late). We started out with jogging around the mat with variants (knees up, heels up, face inside, face outside). Then we did some wheelbarrows and pushups then shadowboxing with periodic sprawls and shoots.

After the warmup, we practiced knees from the muay thai clinch. One person would hold a lightweight suitcase pad to their chest while the other person would knee the hell out of them. My partner apparently thought my knees were pretty good, because he kept holding the pad away from my chest to soften the blow. The Mr. Rivera chided him. When we switched, I thought his knees were pretty good, too, but I just took it. I thought the drill was very good. First of all, it trained you a little bit on taking a knee — learning to use your muscles to protect yourself. Also, it was good at teaching you to keep a good clinch. I noticed that my partner's clinch was far more secure than mine, and that mine improved during the drill.

Next we learned a couple groundfighting techniques — an arm bar from side control and a guard escape to a side control choke. The instructor would demonstrate a technique then we'd each try it twice on a partner. It may just be how new I am at groundfighting, but I thought that went by quite quickly, and I didn't really retain the second technique. Perhaps if I were more familiar with the basics, I would've gotten more out of it. That said, one of the other students didn't really seem to get the guard escape down either.

We then put on grappling gloves and mouthguards and did a little light sparring starting on our knees. The student who arrived late and I started, and he was much better than me. I think the best I can say is that he had for fight for 2/3 of his submissions, and I didn't give him my back. Still, he submitted me 3 times in 3 minutes. The most embarrassing was the time he was mounted and applying a forearm choke, and I didn't really notice. I was actually helping him apply the choke by trying to pull him down! Doh. That said, I would've gotten him in a guillotine choke, if I actually knew how to apply one. I was definitely in deep enough. I was laughing my ass off — the instructors and the other student were all saying "pull guard!" and I didn't know how.

After the 3 minutes I was pretty well gassed, so the other two students went at it. Then another gear change and myself and the student I rolled with did a couple rounds of standup while the other student took his purple belt test. Sad to say, I didn't do much better. He was way, way taller than me, and it had been maybe 9 months since I'd sparred. He knew how to jab, and I wasn't able to properly cover up and turtle in. Seriously, though, his jabs has as much reach as my kicks. Anyway, after 1.5 rounds, he was tired enough that I was finally able to rush in, clinch, throw some knees, then get the double-leg. That was after he tagged me on the chin like 20 times, of course.

Finally, we congratulated the other student on his successful belt test and cooled down with some stretches, led by the assistant instructor, Mr. Bellot.

(The score: bruises: check. sweating: check. gassing out: check! minor injuries that prevented me from training the next day: check (note to self, tap sooner!))

All in all, the class was good, but very rushed. I felt like more time could've been spent on any of the things we did, but mostly drills. The class was good, in that it covers the MMA range and complements the "adult basic" classes. However, I felt like spending more time on the drills, progressing from compliant to resistant, would really help students apply them in the free rolling.

After class, I chatted with Misters Bellot and Rivera about the school. Apparently it was started as a pure TKD school, but has since moved to more stereotypical MMA style, with muay thai and BJJ and the like. There's still a lot of TKD, as evidenced by the belt test (I was more focused on not getting punched in the face, but I did notice some board breaking going on). They both seemed really nice and had broad martial arts experience. The instruction was definitely good, and they gave helpful and observant feedback. While I did notice some things I'd want to improve about the school, I had a very good impression.

One thing to not is that the three branches seem to be largely independent from each other, with somewhat different curriculums and instructors.

Hot tip: BJJ

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:55:26 GMT

When someone has you in a forearm choke, they're not just holding your head down. Either get out of it or tap. Don't, for instance, just lie there screwing around until you've got a bruise on your neck.