BECOMING UNBREAKABLE: Recent Episodes
Jason Horton
Today is a YELLOW day in my BECOMING UNBREAKABLE Program.
My HRV (Heart Rate Variability) was a 7.6 score this morning after some tough rolls and an intense session at SCJJA last night.
We drilled some stand-up positions focusing on the art of self-defence and keeping distance (without giving signs of impeding attack), AMERICANO from side-control, KIMURA from North-South & a nice little AMERICANO variation from Kesa Gatame.
Some side notes for me were to cut the arm off with the knee and maintain control of the tricep in the KIMURA attack. Keep control of the arm in Kesa Gatame (don't let the opponents elbow hit the mat). Utilise a choke attack while passing opponents half guard (to free the legs).
4 tough rolls (Blue, Purple, White, Purple).
Transitions and neural/motor patterns are becoming habit. Refining some knee-slice guard passing and keeping pressure were a few key take aways.
I rated the session on the RATING OF PERCEIVED EXERTION SCALE 7/10.
http://thefittutor.com/rpe-scale/
Accordingly, HRV was down this morning, calling for a low-level intensity day.
I plan on utilising some breath-work (what I'm calling BREATHE2RECOVER in the program) light aerobic work (walk), some cold exposure (plunge or ice), some mobility (hips, T-spine, ankle) and finally I'll review some videos on the drills from last night to lock down the motor patterns/skills.
Overall, collecting some objective data allows me to guide my training program accordingly without hesitation. The goal being optimal performance in BJJ/soccer/life and injury/sickness/disease free.
Feeling good, feeling great.
In my greater social circle, there seems to have been a recent spike in cardiac events and diagnoses in people who were typically thought to be ‘healthy’. Every other week seemed to bring news of someone’s relative or friend who had suffered a fatal or near fatal cardiac episode.
I understand that as I get older, these things will become more prevalent.
Yet it has me begging the question as to why?If you are close to me, you would know that I hold very little faith in the information that has been given to us regarding nutrition and health over the last 40 odd years. A complete fuck up? Or something more sinister from the powers that be? Lining the pockets of big corporations and slowly but surely, deteriorating the health of the human population and the environment.
But that is for another time. If you are interested in a short video summary see here.
I also have plenty of links on my twitter.
The purpose of this post is to dive into the information around Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and it’s use in performance and recovery.
I have started collecting HRV data in order to gather some objective measures to guide my training schedule.
I feel a huge part of optimal performance and ‘Becoming Unbreakable’ is finding the balance between recovery and stimulus. What I have found over the years playing football, soccer, basketball and more recently, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, is that typically I push too hard and wind up beaten, injured or sick.
It is a difficult thing managing work/life stress with the desire to train and perform at high intensities. In my work life, I am seeing a host of young kids and adults breaking down through unreasonable training loads and competition schedules. I have found myself on repeat, informing well-meaning parents and coaches that the body needs time to recover appropriately from the given stimulus.
Pushing too hard for too long is a recipe for disaster.I have been banging on about breathing for a while now, and most of you may well know my ‘Performance Ecosystem’ philosophy on health. This is all dynamic. As I continue to put the pieces of the puzzle together, my views are constantly evolving. My research and experimentation with breathing retraining and it’s effect on the body, and more in depth, the autonomic nervous system has lead me to HRV to aid in optimal performance.
HRV may or may not be the holy grail of biomarkers. However, when used appropriately, it seems to provide very usable and useful data to guide training and health.
HRV is essentially the difference in timing between beats of your heart.Consistent, metronome-like beats are considered “poor variability” and therefore less than optimal and have been linked with poorer health outcomes. Difference or variability in the beat-to-beat interval is ideal.
For those who want to read more in depth, see here.
HRV gives us a snapshot into the autonomic nervous system drive and allows interpretation of response to stress (training, life, work). This paragraph from http://www.hrv4training.com summarises well:
“Simply put, monitoring parasympathetic activity via HRV can provide insights on physiological stress, with higher level of stress resulting in lower HRV. For example, in the context of sports, heavy training is responsible for shifting the cardiac autonomic balance toward a predominance of the sympathetic over the parasympathetic drive. This means that heavy training will reduce HRV and by monitoring HRV we can possibly optimize training, reduce the risk of overtraining and ultimately improve performance.”
— http://www.hrv4training.com/blog/heart-rate-variability-a-primer
This has lead me to become more mindful about training and responses to physiological stress. Each morning I take my HRV measurement and adapt training around my results. I am currently using http://www.hrv4training.com app and it is proving very effective.
I understand everything has its flaws, but used with a variety of measures, both subjective and objective, we can gather data to improve our performance in the sport and life.
In keeping this relatively short, I'll post some links to HRV and disease/health in part 2.
For now,
I still plan on training hard, but I endeavour to train smart. Stay tuned.
If you are interested or have any questions, hit me up or DM me on Instagram.
Hacking your breathing mechanics and respiratory physiology is a game-changer.
Not matter what you do.
Breathing is a physiological process that drives cellular respiration and the utilisation of energy.
Without it. We ain't here.
Breathing is our lifeline. Yet, due to modern day society, convenience culture and a disconnect from our natural world, a lot of us are struggling to breathe how we were designed.
This was me 2 years ago. Now, with patience and regular practice, I am seeing the benefits of re-establishing the nose-diaphragm connection on every level.
Proper breathing mechanics promotes improved gas exchange via ventilation/perfusion matching, increased CO2 tolerance (Bohr effect - decreasing haemoglobin's affinity for oxygen), improves lymphatic drainage, enhances the effect of the lower esophageal sphincter (important for GORD, reflux), increases parasympathetic drive (rest & digest, implications for blood pressure, heart rate, stress), decreases muscle tension, decreases headaches, improves spinal/core stability, is linked to better clarity and mental state, utilises the nasal functions (filter, humidifier, airway resistance, nitric oxide release).
Dysfunctional breathing patterns or breathing pattern disorders (hyperventilation syndrome/upper chest breathing) drive a wide-ranging physiological dysfunction across biomechanical, biochemical, physiological and psychological areas.
Like I have mentioned before, this is the biggest performance hack I have come across and is something I will continue to share with you over the coming weeks. Look out for it.
Check your breathing.
We drilled some x-guard during Wednesday's fundamentals class.
I haven't really done much x-guard but enjoyed the feel of it. Here is a basic sweep for gi and no gi.
And the X-guard to back take.
I competed in my first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competition over the weekend. It was tough.
My division was Male, Novice, 91.5kg.
3 fights (2 Gi, 1 No Gi). 1 win (sub), 2 losses (points).
A huge learning experience.
A few points (in no particular order):
- You got to be ready to go. No definitive match time. When your division is called, you could be first off the rank, or waiting around in the pig pen for a while. My strategy to overcome this next comp is to have a warm-up routine. Something I haven't really established yet in BJJ.
- Know your weight. I never really weigh myself. I usually hang around 90kg. The morning of the comp, I went to Kmart and bought some scales. I weighed in just over 90kg. Competing at 91.5kg meant that I was a bit concerned about not making weight. So I decided to compete fasted and didn't really hydrate until I weighed in 5 minutes before my fight. I came in at 88.3kg on the official scales, well under the 94.5kg (Gi allowance). If I had of weighed in earlier, I would of hydrated appropriately prior. I wasn't concerned about competing fasted, because I am pretty well fat-adapted, but I think this was a mistake. Next time will be different. Maybe some cold sweet potato a couple of hours prior to fight time would be better. This was highlighted in my next point.
- Competition environment is a completely different beast. After fight 1, I was completely gassed. My fitness has never really been an issue, but after my first fight I was struggling. I went back to the pig pen and wasn't sure when I would be recalled for fight 2. I did some slow diaphragmatic breathing to recover and settled ok. My forearms were burning. I got called for fight 2 against a fresh opponent and struggled from the get-go.
- Develop a stand-up game. I was lucky enough to get a hip throw in my first fight. In my second fight, the combination of fatigue, a fresh opponent and no real stand-up experience meant we danced awkwardly for 3.5 minutes, with me trying to apply the little technique I know. I ended up going for something and got taken down. More Judo required. I have tossed up the idea of whether or not I just should of pulled guard and worked for a sweep? I will bring this up with the team.
- Get stronger. I really don't train anything other than Jiu Jitsu now. I surf, do a little mobility and kettlebell work, but nothing serious. I need more strength and power. Especially at this weight.
- Train more. The one thing that really came out of my comp experience is that I need to just continue to show up to training. Keep walking through the door. I feel I am connecting more and more transitions and techniques, but I just got to keep on showing up.
A great experience and glad I did it. Both Gi fights posted below. Let me know your thoughts and feedback.
FIGHT ONE
FIGHT TWO
I love this exercise.
The more I use Kettlebells in my movement training, the more I fall in love.
I am very much a proponent of the Functional Movement System by Gray Cook and Co.
This exercise incorporates so much of what we need to perform at our best in sports and life.
It is the combination of mobility, stability, timing, coordination and pattern. The ultimate motor control exercise. As you add load, you can incorporate aspects of strength and power.
The movement itself when broken down, is a reciprocal hip hinge/hip extension pattern. Controlled, single-leg, eccentric hip flexion with simultaneous reciprocal hip extension under a unilateral load, asks the body to stabilise and control the pattern in all 3 planes of movement, ie reflexive core stability.
Barefoot makes this exercise even better by increasing the sensory information provided by the contact with the ground (however not done in this video!)
Oss!
Monday & Wednesday fundamentals class drilled spider guard scissor sweep and transition to triangle. We also looked at the triangle from arm bar set up when opponent escapes.
Some key takeaways from tonight were to make sure you get your hips up into extension to 'shoot' the triangle.
Trap head and arm and grab shin, lift hips and move arm across body, shift to side to finish. Keep tight.
The performance ecosystem
I have been thinking about where we are moving toward in regard to the health of our collective people.
What I have come up with currently, and it is always a dynamic idea/WIP, is that we are critically dependent on the health of our external environment for the optimal health of our people.
And by our people, I mean the human race. No exclusions.
I have titled my approach The Performance Ecosystem. An idea that that sees health as an interdependent ecosystem that makes up our internal and external environments.
The four pillars of The Performance Ecosystem are:
- SLEEP
- NUTRITION
- MOVEMENT
- STRESS / TOXIN EXPOSURE
In an ecosystem, everything has a role to play and contributes to the overall health and function of the system. Much like our bodies.
I think firstly, it is important for us to recognise that we are part of this ecosystem, not above it. A lot of our ailments and health issues have arisen from the gradual disconnect from our natural world, and unfortunately, this disconnect is speeding up.
With more information, more data, more people, more things, we are manufacturing a material world at the expense of our natural resources at an alarming rate. And we are suffering. We make technological leaps and bounds but we are still crippled by diseases of modern life.
Diabetes, obesity, heart disease, dementia, stroke, kidney disease, osteoporosis, cancer, retinopathy, liver cirrhosis, osteoarthritis, depression, rheumatoid, autoimmune disease... the list is endless. And you could argue that they are one and the same disease. Rooting from a dysfunction at a cellular level and eventually presenting as a systemic abnormality or organ malfunction.
Our current path is unsustainable. Yet no one wants to deviate from it. World leaders and politicians only seem to care about maintaining power and money, and are likely only puppets being played by big corporations and vested interests.
While I start to paint a dire picture I want to stress that all is not lost. I have come to be astounded and intrigued by the resilience and beauty of the natural world, including our own human bodies.
What I see is a beautifully formed system of systems, that interacts with each other and the environment through a series of feedback loops to adapt and survive dependant on the prevailing conditions. The body will always respond to the inputs you give it. And I believe that by restoring the health of your own system, you not only improve your overall health but you start to heal the external environment as well.
By being mindful of what you are consuming, the quality of your produce, the source of your products, the effect on your body, you start to align with the idea that what is good for you, is good for the earth.
The more you dive into improving your health, you dive into helping restore the environment. I don't mind if you call me a greeny, a hippy, an alternate, because all I really care about is the health of my family and friends. And by caring whole-heartedly about this, I also have to care about the health of the world I live in, that we live in.
If you ask me any question, I usually come back to health. Because I believe that if you restore your health, you open the doors to endless possibilities, endless human potential, endless creativity and productivity that can be used for the good of the earth and the good of the collective people. With optimal health for all, we take care of a lot of shit. We can eradicate disease and restore function at a base level. If we restore the optimal function we restore human potential.
When you dig deep, you start to recognise that we have evolved as part of the environment that we interact with. Even if you are sick and tired of hearing about the our ancestral origins, and how we should be living in the modern age, it is hard to dispute our genomic blueprint.
The first case I will bring up is around movement. A pillar in The Performance Ecosystem.
Our species was designed for movement. We have evolved and established a bipedal motion that is very unique in the animal kingdom. We can run, jump, crawl, climb, roll, squat, swim, throw. We have been designed to survive. Through the evolution process we have arrived here. Faulty models and old hardware have been replaced or discarded.
We are supposed to move. From the ground, under branches, over rocks, squat, run, jump, climb. But instead, we interact with a manufactured environment where we sit, walk a little, sit some more. It is little wonder our species is losing.
I don't think you can quantify optimal human movement. Although, through the development of simple baseline milestones, we can build upon movement patterns that cater toward our personal function. We were not designed to live in constant pain. Pain, a hugely common symptom or perception, is a sign that something is wrong. I like how Perry Nicholson put it,
"Pain is a request for change."
What we are experiencing now is a result of interacting with our cushy, convenient, manufactured lifestyle. We can spend 12hrs+ a day sitting down. Then we try to negate this with a hall hour workout in the gym, on a treadmill, or in a class and wonder why our knee/back/hip/foot/ankle/shoulder/neck hurts.
We are products of our environment. Remember that our body is made up of beautiful feedback loops. However, if we consistently provide inputs to our sensorimotor system that we sit for 12hrs a day, we will eventually start to take the shape of a chair. Rounded shoulders, forward head, hips flexed, knees bent, ankles plantarflexed. Is it little wonder why we have shitty necks, shoulder function, sore backs, weakness, crappy motor patterns?
Movement is beautiful. A timed, coordinated dance of stability and mobility with feats of strength and power. But we are losing. We need to start winning.
TO BE CONTINUED
We drilled some O Goshi to start Wednesday's Fundamentals class. My stand up sucks.
Lucky we have some great stand up/judo teachers also doing BJJ.
There's a few variations with grips. I tended to like the belt grip. The key I took away was the feet position inside the opponents base of support, the pull to toes and the hips right in close to the opponent.
Found an O Goshi video below.
We drilled a sweep from closed guard when your opponent tries to begin to pass by standing.
Key points:
- Grab around ankle foot
- Break grip and grap opposite sleeve
- Maintain grip on foot (close to mat) and with the same side leg push toward floor to sweep
- Transition up to mount
I'll try and find a video...
We also drilled arm locks from closed guard. Starting to feel good with these.
Key points:
- Grip same side sleeve
- Shoot opposite hand under opponents leg
- Hand to ear
- Transition to arm lock
- Hips up!
- One leg over head
Oss!
I'm a white belt. So anything I say here is what I have interpreted from class. It could be wrong, however, this process will help me retain information and correct the intricacies that I miss or misinterpret. Open to correction. Always learning.
BJJ FUNDAMENTALS Last night in the fundamentals class we drilled the flower sweep from an arm lock set up.
I have used this over the past year to some success and, along with the scissor sweep, is my current go-to from guard.
Key points that I interpreted:
- Try to get your hand that goes between the leg to your ear
- Same side leg comes high into the armpit and sweeps toward your opposite shoulder
- Other leg moves in same direction initially and sweeps back underneath to complete the sweep
With all sweeps, it is made much easier when your opponents centre of mass is brought outside their base.
With the flower sweep it seemed much easier when pressure was coming forward as the opponent was trying to stack.
The transition / connection that really started to make sense was from the arm lock set up and transition to sweep dependent on what your opponent does.
I also picked up a great tip from a purple belt for when setting up the arm bar. When attacking the arm from guard for an arm lock set-up, hip escape slightly to force their arm / elbow to come to the mat. Made sense when we did it. Will try and add this in.
BECOMINGUNBREAKABLE
FLOWER SWEEP VIDEO
BJJ | FUNDAMENTALS I'm a white belt. So anything I say here is what I have interpreted from class. It could be wrong, however, this process will help me retain information and correct the intricacies that I miss or misinterpret. Open to correction. Always learning.
10 April 2017
Tonight we drilled:
Single-leg takedownsKey points that I picked up on:
- Collar tie grip opponent (Gi grab lapel, No gi grab back of head)
- Control your opponent, shift their centre of mass to make them step (circling)
- Time your entry and ensure you step next to, or preferably past their stepping foot
- Hand from collar takes the leg from behind, palm down
- Grip with other hand
- Squeeze knees
- Head on belly-side of opponent to prevent guillotine attempt
- Continue to circle your opponent in the direction of the leg off the mat
- Takedown
Scissor sweep A few key points for me to continue to work:
- Knee shield not too low, should be to chest
- Leg that sweeps should be to the mat
- Remember the success in sweeping your opponent comes from disturbing their centre of mass, in this case, pull them toward you to lift their hips higher then their knees, or wait until they try to progress forward and sweep
Scissor sweep to omoplata Here is a nice transition from scissor sweep set up to omoplata.
Key points:
- Push opponent away with knee shield and deep lapel grip (cross collar)
- Move the leg that is on the mat to high under the arm pit of your opponent
- Position their hand to the outside of your thigh
- Transition to omoplata
- Remember to grip belt or back of opponent to prevent the rolling escape
- Finish
Sit up sweepKey points:
- Open guard
- Reach over opponents opposite shoulder
- Move hips into chest of opponent
- Look over the shoulder you are turning to, to finish the sweep
Finished with 5 x 5min rounds
2 x white belts
1 x blue
1 x purple
1 x brown
Got submitted plenty but learnt a lot.
Jason
An interesting study I came across while reading Dr Terry Wahl's book, The Wahl's Protocol.
The study looked at nutrient patterns of elderly people and their cognitive function and brain size.
It found that high levels of Vitamins B1, B2, B6, B9, B12, C, D, E and omega 3 fatty acids were the most powerful predictors of brain health.
And that high trans fat was associated with less favourable cognitive function and less cerebral brain volume. Ie poor performance and smaller brain size.
I've been recently tracking nutrient density via the Cronometer app and making sure that I am achieving the RDI's (Recommended Daily Intakes) set out (and some).
My approach to nutrition currently is this:
- Nutrient Dense
- Low insulinogenic
- Wholefoods, gut-friendly
- Organic/sustainable where possible
So it basically ends up looking like a low carb, high fat approach.
I was typically missing the mark on B1 (Thiamine), vitamin D and vitamin E.
It's been interesting experimenting with the Cronometer app. Although I thought I was achieving my nutrient targets with my approach, I was still falling short. I've now added in vitamin B1 rich foods as well as more fatty fish and sunlight!
Here's a link to the study I referenced and also the Cronometer app.
My journey toward BECOMING UNBREAKABLE. We experiment with Movement, Nutrition, Sleep/Recovery and Environment
The simplicity of self-limiting exercisesWell, what I have really fallen in love with is the idea of self-limiting exercises, as described by Gray Cook (and this includes skipping aka jump rope).
First off, if you don't know who Gray Cook is, I would strongly suggest diving into his work. He is the 'movement guy'. Author, physical therapist, strength coach, philosopher and all round legend when it comes to movement, health and performance.
Check him out here.
So why skipping?In short, skipping requires you to maintain alignment and integrity while performing the task. As soon as your body loses position, or is compromised, you will inevitably catch the rope.
A beautiful, instantaneous feedback loop that tells you that integrity was lost and needs addressing prior to a successful continuation.
A beautiful, instantaneous feedback loop.Movement requires coordinated patterns to perform optimally. You need adequate mobility, motor control and proprioception in order to be efficient and effective in your desired task.
Sub-optimal performance and some injuries are usually preceded by poor movement quality.
We see this often in running, or jogging. People may lack single-leg motor control and don't realise until they reach their physiological threshold for injury. Shin splints, plantar fasciitis/opathy, tendinopathy, stress fractures, knee pain, bursitis are all common examples of injuries that are usually preceded by inappropriate loading on dysfunctional bodies.
You could run for many kilometres with crappy mechanics without feedback and eventually show up at a physio clinic wondering why your knee is sore. By implementing self-limiting activities like skipping, you can decrease the risk of reaching injury threshold and practice good movement. The workout becomes a by-product of the practice.
As Cook says,
"Alignment with integrity under load."We will look further into other self-limiting exercises in the near future. For now, dive in and add some value to your life with Gray Cook's work on self-limiting exercise.
Peace.
Knee pain while you;
Run? Squat? Walk the stairs?
It could be your patellofemoral (knee cap) joint.
Have you heard of BPA’s, xenoestrogens or endocrine-disrupting compounds?
If you haven’t, BPA is the acronym for Bisphenol-A, which forms part of a group of hormone-like chemicals called Endocrine-Disrupting Compounds (EDC’s) or xenoestrogens (meaning foreign estrogens).
GLUT4 is an insulin-sensitive glucose transporter that is found almost exclusively in muscle and adipose tissue. GLUT4 allows greater uptake of glucose into cells to be used as energy.
Strong and well functioning gluteal muscles (butt muscles) are one of the key areas I would recommend everyone work on. The reason being that good gluteal function often equates to good hip control and good hip control can be the difference between a pain-free stroll to the park with the kids or an agonising limp that renders you immobile.
Type-2 diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic condition that is largely preventable. It is characterised by insensitivity to the hormone insulin and results in elevated blood glucose (sugar) concentration, known as hyperglycemia.
Diabetes Australia estimates the total financial cost of type-2 diabetes at $10.3 billion. That’s not a typo, over 10 billion dollars for a preventable, lifestyle disease.
A recent study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that a 12 minute bout of Kettlebell (KB) swings produced a significant acute increase in hormones involved in muscle adaptations, including testosterone.
Sounds to good to be true, right? Well it’s not.
If you aren’t sprinting, you should be. Studies suggest that high-intensity interval training is superior in achieving greater fat loss in far less time, when compared to its steady-state aerobic counterpart (like jogging).