Doc at DOCS Gym

Randy Waldorf wins World Championship!

2006-11-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

ATTENTION! DOCS very own Randy Waldorf has just won the WABDL world powerlifting championships in his age division. Congratulations Randy! Randy deadlifted 501lbs to set a state record and win a world championship - he could have probably pulled more - but 501 was what he needed to win.

Way to go Randy!

Kettlebells,the submission hunt and the "no triangle zone"

2006-11-13T07:44:00.000-08:00

Wow what an odd title for a blog about the happenings on the first full week of november. (But hey it was kinda fun to type). Generally good week over here at "Developing Olympic Combat Sports" - yep that's what DOCS stands for. The early week traveled on like any other - lots a sweat a little blood and a ton of hard work. Friday night Joe Pavel ran his first Kettlebell class over at DOCS - it was AWESOME (in other words my traps and hamstrings are still sore). Check this class out - great general conditioning and fabulous for fighters and people in need of some hardcore "tush firming". Saturday, things started to get really interesting, Chris ran a full day seminar directed at aikido practitioners and internal martial artists. At the same time "The Greater Midwest Submission Hunt was getting under way in Champlain Park. This is probably the biggest BJJ/submission grappling tournament in the midwest. DOCS/Wolfpack (the name of our BJJ affiliate and our club name) was there in full force. The guys fought well. Congratulations to all of you. Triangle chokes were our nemesis all day - something to work on eh? All in all a good day. That evening, Junior's band played at Noche so the guys got a chance to blow off a little steam and lick their wounds ( I keep telling them to stop licking each other's wounds - but with a name like "Wolf Pack" what do you expect?) This week Jimmy Pedro, Judo tournaments and our own Randy Waldorf competing at the national Deadlift championships.

The US Open Judo Championships

2006-10-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's me Dr Greg here. My apologies for not keeping this blog anywhere near current. BUT - I just came back from the US open judo championships in miami - Great tournament, espescially at the lighter weights. There are some amazing athletes doing Judo throughout the world - and the US of A actually has some of them. Excellent.

But the real news: DOCS own Glenn Shifflet won his division at the US open! Congratulations Glenn. DOCS is proud to have people like Glenn representing our school, club and gym.

I will be posting Pics as soon as I get them

Until next time.

Doc

Let the eat cake

2006-08-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Big Mike's birthday.

Mike as you may recall is the gym manager who has introduced me to training concepts such as uughh ( I think that's how you spell it) and the use use of added rust as a method of increasing training weights - real new age stuff. But hey he gets results. Ah I digress, Mike has had some major life stressors over the last week or so - get well soon Mom! and as a result he's been lying low..........monday night Mike calls and says "time to train" so we schedule a tuesday(birthday) workout of back, traps delts and biceps nothing heavy - pulldowns with 220, DB shrugs with 120's etc........and amazingly, about half way through the workout Mike started to perk up! ( Gotta love endorphins) - as a matter of fact 6 hours later he's still at the gym training people. So, I (you know, the "Doc") mention to Junior and the BJJ guys that it's Mike's birthday........"A cake we need a cake"the cheer goes up from the sweaty but good natured group. Well, I guess that's my first hint that I'd better aim the black saab toward the nearest grocery store and end up with a cake. Amazingly, The deli manager at the local grocery is an old patient and advised ( she's seen these guys) two (yes 2) cakes. I point the saab back toward DOCS and show up with enough cake to feed a group of grapplers and a 300lb gym manager. Junior stops practice and yells downstairs for big Mike, explaining that he needs help signing up a new member, unfortunately, the combination of personal trainer and bouncer provides Big Mike within almost superhuman ability to detect B.S. and thus he realizes Junior is lying. Well, Mike refuses to come upstairs to play and as a result the largest of the BJJ guys get sent down stairs to carry him upstairs. Yes, it was accomplished. Good fun and good traing for everyone.

The cake was pretty good too.

8:50 AM on a Wednesday

2006-08-16T06:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, I said I'd go back to blogging so I have. It's 8:50 on a wednesday and in 10 minutes 6 patients are about to walk in- nope the first one just walked in. So, I guess it's soon time to move "Best Judo" by Inokuma and "Optimum Performance Training" by the National Academy of Sports Medicine off my desk. I've got an advanced judo class this evening from 7 till 9 and it is always good to be prepared.

Starting next week Junior Brazil is going to be running a number of the wednesday classes - competitive judo Brazilian style................................this should be fun! As the fall season approaches I can sense the energy at DOCS building. Until later. Dr.G

Don't even ask

2006-08-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know.........................It's been longer than a month or two since I last posted anything ........Okay maybe like 6 months..........So rather than apologizing for things left undone, it's just time to start getting things done. Fall is soon approaching ( right after the cheese curds on a stick festival known as the state fair and the renfest, which is an all kinds of sticks festival of its very own ilk) and as fall approaches it's time to get in shape from a summer of lolling about.

I'll actually write something relevent about upcoming schedules next week.

Enjoy august kids......the "Doc" is back and ready to blog.

Wow I misplaced a month!

2006-02-22T06:38:00.000-08:00

Well not really misplaced. The Doc has been a little busy - so it's wednesday and it is definitely time to blog a bit. After Kangeiko at DOCS gym I tried to give my adrenal glands a break - I guess that worked for about a week........Friday night we went down to Three Moons Studio with Alex and his guys for a nice little friday night randori session ( "rolling" is the new term - but since I don't bend so well............) Then came the Saint Paul Winter Classic - Dan and Ken put on a pretty good local tournament. Well, DOCS had 6 players and came back with a total of 11 medals and trophies. ....not too shabby eh? Jacob, Sarah, Ian, Brad, Christiano and Junior. Nice job everyone.

Kinda caught a break for about a week Joe Fipp ran a friday night practice and taught some katame no kata, Kent and Junior ran a saturday kid's class - GUESS WHAT? Billy Iverson earned his Yellow belt! Congratulations Billy! John Gallien ran the monday night class and Joel Caught the friday randori class (with touch of Katame no kata thrown in) so......item 1 thanks to everyone for helping out. ............Friday night Joel Gunderson is running the mat and I stop in to say hi.....when in walks Cory and a couple of new friends from a Pavel seminar (if you don't know who Pavel is - ask me). I look up and realize that Cory has walked in with 1976 Olympic team member Temoc Johnston Ono. Amazing! Ian and Sarah got a chance to roll with an Olympian! - Oh yeah..........and he loved the spring loaded mats! Temoc was a really nice guy and DOCS was honored to have him at our facility. Thank you. (P.S. I hope the adjustment helped :))

Then comes 2 Harbors, Valentines day and a very cold friday night................but I guess that's for another day.

Kangeiko 2006

2006-01-25T12:16:00.000-08:00

The New year was officially welcomed in at DOCS gym on January 20 and 21, 2006. Friday night was absolutely jammed with Judo players and onlookers as world champion and multi time Olympian Jimmy Pedro put on an outstanding clinic players had traveled from as far away as mississippi to see this outstanding clinician. After the clinic many of the Judoka were able to spend time with Jimmy sharing in his vast experience. This, unfortunately I missed out on........Being the "doc at DOCS also means I got to spend friday night at the gym sleeping on a spring loaded tatami surface just like so many young dedicated athletes. (Funny how sleeping on mats is a lot more fun when you are about 20) The following morning there was the ceremonial 8:00 am snow run followed by a 2 hour clinic by blind world Judo champion Jim Mastro. Jim showed us some amazing choking techniques as he demonstrated on world kata champion Joel Gunderson - everyone was very impressed espescially Joel's carotids. Then Caio Malta showed us a BJJ perspective on some Judo matwork including a fascinating variation on the baseball choke (yep - there's a variation on everything. At about 11:00 Jay Drangeid showed a couple of his patented jacket wrestling moves including the california roll (yumm) and over course, Jay's one arm "roller". And then just about when we thought we'd seen it all 2 time world masters champion Glenn Shifflett puts on a brief but much appreciated clinic on the use of "treachery" as a Judo technique - trust me you had to be there. - It's a new year at DOCS gym and I personally want to thank all our clinicians and wish everyone a happy new year.

Looking Forward

2005-12-30T02:43:00.000-08:00

Well it's`5:00 AM on the last friday of 2005 and as I sit here nursing my cup of coffee, I can't help but think about the last year. It was a very long year. The gym began to find it's own legs. A wobbly toddler of a training facility...................but up and walking nonetheless.

Well, from what I've been told, once a toddler is up and walking on their own two legs, they rapidly learn how to run, climb and jump and just keep going and going and going. 2006 will be the year that DOCS gym not only runs, but begins to climb and makes some quantum jumps.

January of this upcoming year will see Olympian and World Judo Champion Jimmy Pedro coming to DOCS gym on the evening of January 20th. The next morning ParaOlympian and Blind World Judo Champion Dr. Jim Mastro will also put on a clinic. Both of these amazing athletes are great clinicians and this will be a clinic not to be missed.

March will see DOCS `gym bringing a team to Collegiate nationals in Chicago. A taste of the big time for a few of our very best young athletes. Something tells me that the performance of these athletes will be at the very least, memorable and impressive. Then, in april comes Senior nationals............I suspect DOCS will have a few surprises in store for the self assured national level players out there.

2006 should also see DOCS producing its' first Judo Blackbelt as well as an amazing series of victories for the BJJ crew(just a prediction - but on this topic I haven't been wrong yet). More powerlifters, Pilates(coming in January - www.pilatesadvantage.net ) and the Dan Zan Ryu crew bending and twisting bodyparts in all kinds of odd and interesting directions.

Yes, 2006 will be a very good year. Happy new year to all.

DOC. `

The Eighth Day of Christmas

2005-12-21T07:01:00.000-08:00

Wednesday morning, just getting ready for a full day of treating patients - files on my desk, this BLOG calling out to me and a book called "Judo from a Russian Perspective" by Andrew Moshanov with Judoka flying through the air looking like the most fun by far................SOMBO, Jacket Wrestling, Forms of unbalancing from ancient martial arts, Throwing in the transition.........Building your entire game plan around the "transition" - I guess there's some sort of a Russian life lesson there. Almost everything interesting happens during the transition...............................huh

2 new students monday night - Josh and Craig. Good guys. Josh has some prior Judo experience trained at Loras College with Terry Smith - Craig no Judo but stays on his feet like a cat........Both are friends of Matt, Our new student from last week. Welcome.

The BJJ guys are training hard and looking forward to the "Mat Mania" event in January.........why is it that giant fire breathing Brazilians and the word "Mania" when combined make me shudder?

The third day of Christmas

2005-12-16T06:15:00.000-08:00

Friday morning and the third day of the twelve days of Christmas. Today, DOCS gym has its' normal friday night randori. Some significant weight workouts today - starting about noon and carrying on until the evening. Judo randori from 7 until 9pm and maybe a little misc. Judo from 6:30 till 7:00 we shall see.

Wednesday night we had a new student - Matt...............Black belt in Tae Kwon Do - polite, attentive and not a motor idiot. Honestly, he has some pretty darn good motor skills. Has some interest in belt ranks, but mostly he wants to be a tournament player - MY KINDA GUY. Honestly, everybody is quite welcome at "Developing Olympic Combats Sports" but as Dave Williams puts it "Its about risking" I agree.

Junior's band is playing tonight a "Noche" on Wahington Avenue downtown - stop by if you get a chance.

Las Vegas the rodeo,martial arts and health care

2005-12-05T15:46:00.000-08:00

I spent the last 4 days in Las Vegas (which given my sensibilities is about 2 days too long). Attending a seminar on sports injuries and tending to injured Bull riders. I will say this for cowboys - these guys are damn tough and amazing athletes. I remember bring my friend Dr. A.V. Anderson to a local Judo tournament ( I guess I felt that I needed an M.D. to cover me at that point in my carreer) and as the good Dr. Anderson watched some of the better local athletes compete, he turned to me and said " Greg, this is an awful lot like rodeo - just no horses and bulls" - He was right. And the converse applies also - today I was chatting with one of our local Judo "thinkers" and he asked me why DOCS gym wasn't marketing to the rodeo athletes. "It would be great cross training"Well I believe he might be right. It takes tremendous courage and athleticism to be rodeo athlete or a judo or ju jitsu athlete.

I'ts interesting to note that Judo is by far the safest of the three activities. The injuries are remarkably similar but there's an awful lot to be said for falling skills, crash pads and spring loaded mats.

A new look for the website and a new day

2005-11-30T05:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an amazing day at DOCS. First, my web designer gave the website a new look. Thank you. You rock. Then we inherited a tanning bed - so yes, there is now tanning at DOCS!One of DOCS associates left yesterday. I want to personally wish this group all the success in the world. I consider them friends and great martial artists. Sometimes we just need to find our own path.

Well, today is a new day and there's daylight being wasted. This weekend I'm off to Las Vegas to be a Dr. at the World Bull Riding Championships. (and you guys thought the various martial arts were rough) More on that next week.

Tuesday Morning

2005-11-22T05:55:00.000-08:00

As I sit at my desk getting ready for the 7:00 am workout at DOCS gym (a little Judo a little Jiu Jitsu and a lot of warming up and even more stretching out afterwards) I can't help but smile as I ponder last weeks training sessions. Junior was out town So Caio Malta ran the BJJ classes and I (yes, Dr Greg) had the Kids classes. Caio ran some fabulous classes - thank you. And I.......well I ran a kids class or two (or three). After that harrowing adventure my hat once more goes off to Junior - I'm sure that in an earlier life he was the ring master in a three ring circus - running a Kid's class is a skill and a gift. I had the opportunity to learn "the noodle jump" and "up downs" and all kinds of fun games............I have also developed a theory: A childs Judo attention span is exactly as many minutes long as he is years old( hey test it out it seems to work). Anyway, The support was wonderful - Walter, Don-Felix, Josh, Tracey, "Judo Jay" and our saturday instructor Kent Mueller. Thank you all. And remember - the fun is just starting..........................

Lack of uugh (???)

2005-11-18T15:43:00.000-08:00

I just finished my 1:00 workout with our gym manager "Big Mike", Mike Sigmon. A svelte 300 lb chunk of humanity who fully underestands and epitomizes the phrase "old school"- a man who feels that rust on the weights can be a good thing "because that way they're heavier". Ah but I digress. Today, right after our rotator cuff work Big Mike and I got down to Bench presses on a 10 degree incline......and as we knocked off our warmup sets, Mike turns to me and says, "This doesn't feel right - I just don't have my "Uugh" today." I responded in my intellectual manner and said "huh? What in the world is a lack of Uugh?" I then had a number of guys all of whom are bigger than me enter into an extensive explanation of "Uugh" as it occurs in a power gym. I guess the fact that I had a good lockout and finish to my benches meant that I had "uugh and Mike did not...........But these guys were ethereal in their understanding of "Uugh.".......As I listened I began to realize that "Uugh and Ki (Chi) sounded an awful lot alike. These guys were all about being "in the moment" - don't whine, do your work and save some "Uugh" for next time. Sounds like good advice to me.

Good Morning DOCS gym

2005-11-11T10:15:00.000-08:00

Good Morning,

Dr. Greg here. The BJJ group over at DOCS was training like a bunch of mad men again last night ( I always thought "desert"was edible and not 1000+ crunches) The kids class was going like mad and there is a beginner's tournament this weekend in Saint Paul at Saint Matthews school.

Last weekend, our BJJ group had an outstanding performance at the Upper Midwest Submission Hunt - I will post all the results this weekend.

Junior Brasil will be out of town next week training with Royce Gracie to help get him in shape for an upcoming PRIDE event (hey - they needed a really tough Judo and BJJ guy .....I guess that would be you know who). Hasta for now.

Welcome

2005-11-10T11:43:00.000-08:00

Welcome to DOCS Gym information update system (yes that means a blog.)

There are big changes coming to DOCS Gym in the next couple of months. It is my intention to keep everyone informed of these changes as they happen. Additionally, I'll be weighing in on the sport of Judo, Jiu Jitsu and the various health-related functions we perform here at DOCS and connecting you to useful information I've found on the web.

On that happy note, it's Thursday afternoon, my day off, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.