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Most people didn’t believe me. Some even laughed. Before I get into my choice to fight for the first time since the Olympics moving up three weight divisions, let me clear the air.

This was not a marketing ploy. Somehow a rumor had circulated the judo world within twenty four hours of me competing that I had a product on the way on how to gain twenty pounds and win Nationals. I am not sure why it is so hard for some people to believe that I would just compete because I love judo.

I competed because I like to fight. I competed because I love judo. Specifically, I wanted to get out there and brawl with Travis Stevens. I respect him a great deal as one of the toughest guys around and our best competitor currently.

I competed because there is always a lot of talk of which division is the toughest, and how there are less competitors at the far ends of the spectrum making it easier to be successful. I wanted to throw myself into the fire in the toughest division stateside and see how I faired.

Let me tell you, the fire is hot. It is a bit different when you have to fight four rounds to make it into the finals. I have always been pretty comfortable fighting bigger guys, but the amount of power that some of these guys have is a challenge to handle.

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The Lead In
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While commentating the finals of the -81kg NY Open Finals I got a chill. I wasn’t sure if I would ever compete again, but watching Travis lose a close one to the current Olympic Champion Ole Bischoff in a tough grinding match I realized that I missed the brawl. Macho, I know.

I spoke to Rhadi about fighting in Nationals and he discouraged it. I am working so it is difficult to get to practice even twice a week, but I have been in the gym lifting heavy and feeling strong. I am moving 150kg on Romanian dead lifts, 90kg on Lat Pulldowns and 106kg on the Bench.

So, I had to make the decision for myself. I was unsure up until about a month out. Once I decided I sat down, went through my notes and wrote myself a program that would get me in good enough shape to fight three tough matches only practicing judo once or twice a week. I knew if I got in three brawls early in the day, it would be tough to make it to the finals just because it would be difficult to maintain my power.

I did one day of circuits, a strength day, and a day of power endurance work. Rhadi gave me some advice to throw in some Farmers walks to get the grip strength I needed in addition to using the Power Sleeves in my other workouts.

I had second thoughts around the time of my last post as I was having trouble finding the time to get my workouts in, but I made it happen. I started to spread the word. I got mixed reactions, mostly screwfaces and laughter.

Most people don’t realize how much weight I was cutting to make -60kg. It was unhealthy. My testosterone was in the pits and I was destroying my body. Only three months after the Games my blood workup was normal and my testosterone had doubled.

But, I digress…

I weighed in at 75.7kg after drinking a liter of water to be sure I would make weight. I had been resting for three days and ate heavily the day before. I was a bit nervous at the beginning of the day having not competed in six months, but I shook the cobwebs off in my first match.

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The Finals
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I took it match by match and found myself in the finals. I had been watching these guys compete for a long time and did some scouting prior to fighting, so I had a plan to execute. Going up against Travis I intended to try and bang him early, but I found it incredibly difficult to get his feet off the ground, as you might have noticed.

The gripping exchanges were on key, but I was fighting for my life the entire time. I was using all of my strength to break his grips and hold on to mine. I was up late and shot a double. Now, I have made this mistake before. I did not have to attack. I know. I attribute this to some deeply nested feelings from my junior career that I really need to hash out.

The real problem though is that I am now fighting bigger guys, but still doing my version of Morote Gari. I should be using Rhadi’s version. The driving version I have always used is not effective in the heavier weight divisions. Rhadi’s version would have been perfect and at least gotten me a knockdown rather then reversed.

We can say that my version is effect in the -73kg weight divisions while Rhadi’s Morote Gari is effective 81kg and above. It would require more explosiveness on my part, and a complete rewiring of the mechanics of a throw I have done one way my entire life. I did not spend the necessary time drilling in order to make that change prior to Nationals.

The threat of the Morote Gari slowed him down a bit on his approach, but I could not knock him down.

This is judo though, and these things happen. It is still a bit strange to see my name next to 81kg. Overall, I am happy with my performance and ecstatic that I set out to do something on my own, and came very close to accomplishing it.

My hat goes off to Travis. He is tough as nails. He fought the entire day with an injury and made the World Team. I left our match feeling like I had been in a brawl and I loved every minute of it.

Special thanks to my family, the New York Athletic Club, Dr. Rhadi Ferguson, Dr. Traci Ferguson and little Rufus, Hatashita Sports, Arkadiy Aronov, Jimmy Pedro, John Danaher, Jimmy Vinetti and everyone at International Training Center of NY.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 10:04 am and is filed under Blogroll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.