Grapplers Ediquette

     For anyone who grapples, you all know the frustration of grappling with the "newbie" or MCMAP guru that doesn't understand basic grappling courtesies.  I have rolled with way to many people who break these simple but VERY important rules.  Who would have though something as simple as bathing before coming to class would be such a hard concept for some.  So I have devised this list of common courtesies or rules if you will for the inexperienced and inconsiderate grapplers.  Sadly I have seen or experienced each of these and some even on multiple occasions.  I pray that this will somehow make its rounds and even becomes a brief for young military members that aspire to be grapplers.  So please read below and adhere to these listed.  If you have more please let me know, I would love to add to this and make it easier for all of us.  thank you

1)Just Tap
    None of us are unstoppable, so that means that eventually and even often you will lose.  So please TAP OUT when you are caught.  Don't be the guy who wants to hear his arm pop before he gives.

2)Pride
   Kind of like the guy who never taps no one likes the proud guy.  He doesn't tap either, when he gets a hold he doesn't let go, and when beaten he throws a temper tantrum.  We aren't 6......please don't act like it.  You will get beaten and it will probably be by a skinny unassuming guy.

3)Bragging
   Don't walk into a class and brag about how awesome you are and how you can take anyone.  If you do this don't expect any leniency, where as if you came in humble and said I don't know anything people would have been nice to you.  Once people have figured out you lied they will only torment you more.

4)Bathing
   Who would have though something so simple would be so foreign to people.  If you have had a long day at work please don't come to  class smelling like it.  Even if you cant smell it trust me your feet and butt do stink.  Somewhere in the night I will probably be close to both of them, so please bathe.

5)Clean Clothes
   Along with bathing clean clothes are important.  After bathing please put on NEW clean underwear, yes we will be able to tell....and that's gross. :(

6)Breath
   If you just ate something with garlic or haven't brushed your teeth in a day you probably should freshen up.  No one wants to smell your breath after that.

7)Nails
   PLEASE trim them.  Even as I write this to you I have a 6 inch scratch across the back of my neck from 2 days ago.  No one likes walking around looking like they got into a cat fight.

8)Skin 'Problems'
   If you have skin 'problems' better known as ring worm, staph, MRSA, athletes foot, or anything else gross.  Please don't come to class with that.  I have caught all of the above because people decided it was ok to use the mats at the gym with their skin 'problem' and I came in behind them and used it.  Its serioulsy NOT cool.

9)Slamming or Suplexing
   Where as it may look cool in a movie or an MMA match even, it is not cool in class. I am your friend I do not want to be paralyzed because you REALLY didn't want to get caught in that arm bar.

10)Fish Hooking
    As insanely dumb and wrong as this sounds I have seen it.  Please do not stick your finger in my mouth or nose to maneuver my head around.  Not only will I attempt to bite your finger off but this is just unsanitary and unsportsman like.

11)'Softening Blows'
   Someone thought it would be cute to teach this in the MCMAP program for Marines.  Where as it may be ok in MCMAP its not ok in Jujitsu!  No one wants an accidental elbow to the groin or an intentional one to the inner thigh.  Please just no striking at all....

12)Pressure Points
     To go along with the previous 2 please don't try out any cool pressure points you saw in a kung fu movie once.  I don't want your fingers dug into my jaw or armpit.  Lets just stick to basic Jujitsu and not make my Lymphoids swell.

13)Shave
    Where are beards are cool, but if you plan on using it as a weapon then shame on you.  I have seen guys who will actually use their 5 o'clock shadow as a weapon to scratch up and irritate their opponents face.....not cool.

14)Flailing About
     No one likes to get an accidental slap in the face...or other parts of their body. If you don't know what to do don't make up for it by flailing around like a tornado of slaps and eye gouges.

15)Leg Locks
     If you are a beginner or are really forceful with submissions, please spare everyone the chance of a broken leg and don't do leg locks.

16)Forcing Moves
     To go along with the leg locks, please do not force a submission. If the guy doesn't want to tap or you don't have it in good enough, don't make up for it with brute strength. Its better to lose than to rip a guys arm out of socket.

17)Grinding
     We aren't in a death match and you don't hate me.  So please don't grind your elbow into the back of my neck or spine or face or anything else for that matter.  No one wants to grapple you if you are going to do that.

18)Fingers
     Fingers + Eyes = why do you hate me?  When grappling please do not push my face away with open fingers in my eyes, or stop the takedown with them.  It hurts...

19)Eye Contact
    This isn't a romantic date, and I am not going to call you afterward. So please save the awkward prolonged eye contact for someone else, we don't need to have a 'moment'.

20)Drooling
    No its not just babies that do it, and yes I have seen it.  If you are tired and feel like you are going to vomit please excuse yourself and walk away.  I don't want your drool.

21)Tap Out Shirts
    If you are wearing one you might get picked on.....just sayin.

Wife Appreciation Post

     Today's topic is going to be a little different from my usual posts.  Today I am writing my "Wife Appreciation Post".  No Airin did not high jack my account and no this isn't some cheesy way to suck up or apologize.  Will it earn me brownie points though?  You betcha!!! 

   
    Isn't it funny how easily we take things for granted?  Think about it, we go around day in and day out with cars, houses, friends, your spouse, clean water, and so on.  I could get into how most of the world doesn't have these luxuries and we are so blessed but that's an entirely different subject.  The point is that we take soooooo many things for granted until we can no longer enjoy them.  Right?  When  you have a car you use it and will even complain about how dirty it is or how crappy the AC is.  But as soon as you don't have that car and you are walking to work, what do you say?  "Man!  Wish I had my car!!!"haha Such is the case with me here.  Obviously I knew I would miss my wife while I was deployed, but to what degree?  I miss my mom or dad or even my dog but that still isn't the same.  So here on deployment I have compiled a list of reasons as to why my wife or even wives (you can use some of these reasons later now) are awesome, and why I appreciate her.  These are not in order by rank (because when you rank things wrong it can come off wrong, like putting cooking abilities about personality...not cool) they are just simply listed as they come to mind.

1. Airin is with out a doubt my best friend.

    Lets start with the corniest and mushy one shall we?  While it is cool to hang out with the boys and be in guy time 24/7 and always go to the gym and be manly.  She is still way cooler.  Honestly I have yet to meet a guy who can beat me in arcades, and gocart racing, go rock wall climbing with me, go spelunking, and hiking up a castle all in one day and still smell good and be beautiful.  Sorry guys but she is just way more epic.  There isn't anything that we can do together and not make it fun.

yea I know...hot right?

   2. She is an unlicensed gourmet chef.

   For those of you that know her and have had the privilege of tasting her amazing food know what I am talking about.  Like I have stated before, I would wrestle a 2000lbs rabid cyborg bear with lasers for eyes and a black belt in Gracie Jujitsu for a taste of this amazing cuisine.....and that's dangerous.  I didn't need any affirmation or reminder before leaving home that she is an amazing cook.  But being out here and eating at the chow hall EVERY day has squashed any doubt that could have ever arose that she is a culinary master. 

Eggplant and Goat Cheese Pizza with Pesto Sauce

  3. She is by far a way better roommate than a guy.

   Lets face it guys stink!  We smell like sweat and feet, most guys don't clean up after themselves, they snore, they fart in their sleep (and awake), they involuntarily grow things in their laundry or food closet that looks like it came out a SciFi film, and they are loud!  Airin on the other hand smells like lavender and Escada Rockin Rio, which is quite delightful.  She cleans up her messes....and mine, she never snores, she does our laundry before it starts to grow things, and she is quiet unless she has just seen a bug in the house.  While my stuffed animal dog that mom sent me may not get mad at me and yell mean things at me when I punch it in my sleep like I do her (by accident, I am so sorry).  She is still better to room with, she is quite wonderful to say the least.

You wont see flowers in a guys room.

   4.  I can get away with doing semi-homo things with her.

   One of the wonderful things that I found out when we got married is that I can use all the girly stuff I want and its not considered gay at all!  Think about it, If you use girly body wash and your friend sees it he will either call you what?  Gay or married.  Lets face it, girls body wash is way cooler than guys.  When you get a pedicure (yes I have...twice) you are called what? Gay or married.  I can watch chick flicks, use girly soaps that smell good, use the pretty exfoliating face washes, and use nose strips.  But here needless to say its not as fun.....

   5. She likes me for me.

    Not only is this a cool song from the 90s, but it is also one of the best things about her.  She is the only person in the world that I can go on and talk for hours with about anything and everything from God to what town would you attack if you were a giant squid....yes that was a real conversation we had.  I am not the coolest, funniest, or best looking guy in the world, but she seems to be pretty into me....and that's pretty darn cool if you didn't know.  At work I might have to juggle responsibility while balancing on one foot in front of "The Man".  But with her I can just be me, no need to impress, no antics or drama, not Sgt Owen, not the Caveman, just be Chase.  Thank God....

These are only a few of the hundreds of reasons to appreciate her but I don't think anyone wants to read all of that.  Honorable mentions are:  She is GORGEOUS, shes an amazing photographer, shes the best co-op partner in any video game, she is an amazing driver who doesn't feel the need to road rage it on up, she is my hero when it comes to technology because I suck, and she named our dog Optimus Prime.  To sum it all up I am going to steal a description from a wise little boy who once wrote a letter-

Airin you are:
'more awesome than a monkey wearing a tuxedo made out of bacon riding a cyborg unicorn with a lightsaber for the horn on the tip of a space shuttle closing in on Mars, while engulfed in flames'.

and that makes you pretty dang sweet!

Workout Of the Month: Gymnastic Rings

          I have always thought these guys were crazy strong.  It may be a slightly gay looking sport and yea they might wear tights, but you cant deny how much strength and all around fitness it takes to do this.

          A few years ago my friend Gipper bought some rings and brought them in for us to give it a try.  They don't look so hard at first.  Sure doing the iron cross and hand stand push ups on them looks near impossible.  But how hard could a dip be?  Or a muscle up?  Or even a chest-fly?  But then it took me a few days to get a 'correct' muscle up, apparently they are that hard to do.  I also found that when you can do 40 or so dips straight don't expect to get more than 20 on these....or maybe 10.

borrowed from Topz10

        Now here I am a few years later and my AWESOME wife bought me some of my own for Christmas.  So out here in this wonderful sandy country I am trying anything and everything on them.  My chest hates me.  But the workout is so much better.  The difference is that instead of having a machine or a bar hold everything still for you, you have to stabilize EVERYTHING by yourself.  When doing something like a push up or a dip this works not only the obvious muscles (chest, tri's, etc.) but also your stabilizer muscles with the long funny names that no one knows.  Making them obviously stronger and helping you get those cool cut muscles in weird places.  The pros and cons are basic:

Pro's:

• Improved all around strength
• Is a multi-muscular workout instead of just being one dimensional
• Tones muscles and helps you get cut
• Easy set up
• You can use it for almost anything, think of it as the original TRX.
• You do not have to wear tights

Con's:

• Being hard to balance on "could" make it dangerous for falling off of
• Needs extra room for set up and overhead space
• Unlike the TRX the handles are not easily modified and good for doing some of the crazy stuff you see the TRX used for.
• you can't leave it out because no matter how old people are they want to play with it like they were a kid again and either hurt themselves or tear it up.  (ie back flips, swinging, etc)......I learned this quickly.

Weighted push ups off of a chair.
Sorry its so blurry, an Ipod only does so well in the dark.

          Right now I am using them for basic stuff like dips, chest fly's and push ups.  They make a great add on for my lifting routines.  But one day I would like to get the iron cross on them......a loooong time from now.  For now though if I really want a good workout though I just throw on a weight vest.  Either way its a kick in the butt.  What is seriously fun though is talking a new guy into trying to do dips on them.  Then watching them wobble around and fall off of them after about 3. 
         Where as this is not the solve all piece of equipment, I do think it is a pretty useful and low maintenance thing to have.  Yes TRX may be better, but I opted for these and I don't have any complaints.  I guess it just depends on what you are shooting for.  If you want something that is like a universal gym go with the TRX.  If you want something simple for basic stuff or obviously gymnastics, go with these.  Either way you should get your monies worth.

Moustache Mayhem Part 2

borrowed from
whereismymind8.wordpress.com (via google images)

Finally!  Its over......  This past month was an interesting one as we went through our moustache growing competition. Where as having a moustache was an interesting and slightly fun experience, I don't think I will miss it.  I am more of a beard guy myself.  We started this thing on Dec 26th so the cut off date was Jan 26th and the results are in.  We luckily had a variety of people in this with us.  You had the guy with a creeper-stache, the guy with a huge and out of regs one (I rocked it proudly), and you had a guy with a barely visible one (you know like the I'm still going through puberty stache).  I did not get very good pictures for various reasons, one being that 2 of our guys suck at trimming their facial hair and accidentally lobbed off half of their stache.  That would technically be a disqualification but hey who cares right?  So first...

Here is my horribly out of regs stache at the 2 week mark.  I was running around with this trying to see if anyone would catch me.  Surprisingly after about 20 days of looking like this I finally had someone stop me, and that was only because we were stuck in a line together and he saw it up close..... Shame on you Marines for not catching this sooner. 






I probably did have the "bushiest" stache, but we were looking for the ugliest.  Plus whats the point in setting up a competition and offering your wife's great cooking if you just rig the contest to where you win anyway.  So our number one ugliest and saddest stache has to go to this guy...

Yes.....even with the close up it was hard to see.haha  He swears its because he is blond.  Either way he definitely won.  So there you have it Airin!  He said he wants Chocolate Chunk AND Chocolate Chip cookies.....he wanted to make that VERY clear.  He likes his variety. 
     In case the family was wondering this is what I look like with a fully grown stach:

I really do look like a criminal.....  All I am missing is the tank top and the neck tat.

Workout Experiment Of The Month: Chain Pull Ups!

I saw these once before on one of those pre-UFC hype videos.  They were getting ready for a fight between Rashad Evans and some other guy.  On the video they showed Rashad doing pull ups from chains with a weight strapped to him.  Where as I don't much care for Rashad (because he loves himself almost as much as my dog loves eating dirty socks...and that's A LOT) I did however like the idea.  So now here I am in a remote location with to many resources and to much creativity to hold in.  So I teamed up with a welder and we created this sad looking junkyard style contraption.

old steel, tow chains, and a pipe a little bigger than a soda can.

At first we thought it would be somewhat easy....like everything else that I have underestimated in my life.  My average of 30+ pull ups turned into about 5 on the chains, then I tried the bar and didn't do much better.  it takes an insane amount of grip strength to pull yourself up on a chain.  The bar having a 7 inch diameter verses the normal pull up bars 2.5 inches, spins when you try to grab onto it.  So in order to do a pull up on this thing you basically have to keep your forearms flexed the entire time and readjust yourself after every 2 pull ups.  Making this the hardest way I have EVER done pull ups. 
      So we sat down and came up with a workout routine for this thing:

• 10 straight chains
• 10 looped chains
• 10 forward grip
• 10 reverse grip
• 10 alternating hands (left forward right back)
• 10 opposite
• 20 alternating sides (pull up on either side)
• 20 on a normal pull up bar

So far we are loving it, this routine absolutely wrecks your forearms and hits your back muscles in awkward angles.  As time goes on and it gets easier we add to it, eventually we want do it with a weight vest on.  The Pros and Cons for this thing are basic. 

Pros:

• Increased forearm strength
• Increased back strength
• Insane grip strength
• Develops/defines your back and forearms
• Makes a normal pull up seem like a joke!

Cons

• Sure, you could fall...
• It might make your fingers hurt.....but that's not manly.

  So if you are into funky new exercises or you are a bored Marine that wants to improve his pull ups give it a shot.  You will be surprised at how hard these things really are.

Ok Mr. Doyle... You Win.

After attempting only 3 of the 5 selected records I have failed miserably!haha  Paddy Doyle you are a tougher man than I will ever be......  That stings the pride a bit....

borrowed from Guinness Book World Records

Finally I tried the record for max sit ups in a hour with a 50lbs plate.  First off I will admit that I used a 45lbs plate because in America its not common to find a 50, either way I could have used a 25 and probably still have failed.  His record was a whopping 1,130 sit ups in an hour.  Meaning that he averaged about 19 sit ups a minute.  Being one sit up every 2 seconds.....meaning he probably NEVER stopped moving!  My grand total was 726 averaging at about 12.1 a minute, and I will include that .1 proudly.  So he did 404 more than me and averaged 6.9 sit ups faster.  Making him again one beast of a man!  Seriously how does someone do that??? 

borrowed from
http://www.ukgear.com/Pages/Inspiration/People/236-Paddy-Doyle,-Worlds-Fittest-Athlete.html

Due to my ankle still not being 100% (I keep re-injuring it because I am surrounded by gravel and sand) I am going to have to back out on the squats (4,708) and burpies (1,850) for now.  Not that I would have beaten them any way but I don't want to further my injury with a couple hundred burpies.  So for now, I am done with the Paddy Doyle Challenge.... until I feel like embarrassing myself again....  I would love to see someone else try this thing out though, this guy truly is unbeatable.

Guinness World Record Attempt: Fastest Time To Eat A Raw Onion

borrowed from a vegetarian blog....I don't think there will
be a copy right on this one...

Fastest time to eat a raw onion.....eat a raw onion should have been the indicator for us that this was a bad idea.  But oh no, not us.  We saw a record and like a poor bunch of young dumb guys we thought we could beat it.  I mean come on how hard could this possibly be?  The world record holder was a man from Canada by the name of Peter Czerwinski.  He ate this thing in 42 seconds!  His record can be found here.  But even after reading this I was some how able to sucker a few people into trying this with me.  So I grabbed 2 of my junior Marines and we huddled around a trash can and gave it a shot.  The rules are simple:

Challenge Rules

• You must use a standard yellow/brown onion - red or salad onions are not allowed.
• The onion must weigh at least 210g after peeling, topping and tailing. Show yourself weighing it on a standard kitchen scale before your timed attempt.
• You must sit at a table with the onion in front of you for this challenge.
• Only when one mouthful has been swallowed may you take the next bite.
• You may drink cold water at any time during your attempt.
• The time starts when you pick up the onion, and stops when you show your empty mouth after swallowing the last mouthful of onion.
• As with all consumption record challenges, we strongly recommend you do not attempt this multiple times in one day

210g is so small though!  That basically means that we would have to eat a .4lbs piece of onion in less that 42 sec.  Got it!.....not.  First off we didn't read the instructions on the size of the onion, so ours were a little bigger, at least that's my excuse...  Second we didn't follow the rules on sitting down and drinking water either.....fail. 

Andrews and Colvin sneaking a taste test...

       So we start out strong Colvin taking the lead (he took his fake tooth out that's cheating) at first the onion isn't so bad.  The outer layers are almost sweet and watery, its when you get deeper in that the onion starts to spice things up.  But that's not the worst part, oh no.  After a few chews the juices start to get your sinuses going.  Pretty soon you are drooling and snotting all over (we looked sooooo cool when this happened).  Then if you are a genius like me you don't eat lunch before hand so the acids start to get your stomach, and soon after you just want to throw up with every bite.  They held strong but I was the wimp who was shooting pieces of onion across the room.  But you cant quit, no sir!  So I picked up my onion pieces swallowed them and we all finished strong.....don't judge me.  Finishing times were with Colvin in the lead at 2:20 Andrews with a 2:32 and myself with an impressive 3:34 (yes last place).  Obviously a video would be way better than pictures.  So in a few days hopefully my awesome wife Airin will have that cut and loaded for all of you to see.  It tells the story way better than I can.haha

as you can see he clearly had an advantage!

     Once the challenge was over we thought we were done with this whole ordeal.  But what we didn't know is that the best was yet to come.  For the rest of the day no matter what you drank or ate you smelt and tasted ONION!  My breath made me want to gag every time I took one.  I felt so sick and miserable all day.  The next day wasn't much better, because when I worked out my sweat absolutely wreaked like onion.  My sweat was so potent the fumes from it actually made my eyes burn!  Moral of the story is..... don't try this at home!  That record might look easy but trust me its not the record you have to worry about. haha

Hero's Hall Of Fame #3

#3 David & Shirley Callahan (Faithful Heart Foundation)

For the life of me I couldn't find their
picture  so we will just use their logo...

Here is a couple that knows what it means to let everything of this world go for Gods glory.  David and Shirley were retired in South Carolina and set up to live the "American dream".  They had a check coming to them, house, car, and no reason to have to work again or really worry about anything.  But they knew that wasn't what God wanted them to do.  So what did they do?  Get a bigger house on the beach?  Get a dog?  Or maybe join a country club and relax the rest of their lives?.......no, no, and NO!  Instead they sold and gave away EVERYTHING they had and moved to Thailand to open an orphanage.  They are now independent missionaries funded by their local church and a few people who just want to help.  Talk about a HUGE leap of faith!  I can't imagine what that took, thinking about it kinda freaks me out......  But they knew that was where God wanted them and because of that they trusted Him to take care of all of the unknowns.  Now they have grown to multiple houses or branches if you will for these kids.  This is inspiring for me in a big way.  I feel so lame when I think about what I wonder and sometimes wimp out on.  "Well God, times are tight right now so can I just cover the tithes on the next pay check?"  or "Hey God I know this kinda doesn't feel like what you want me to be doing right now, and I should probably drive myself and my wife on over to the Harbor for church.  But I am REALLY tired so maybe I can just go twice next week?"  or when I go "Yea God I know this guy at work just brought up some stuff and I could probably help him, and witness to him or at least take him to church.  But what If he says no, and thinks I am a weird Christian???" 

Here is our missions group visiting one of the hill tribes.  (I am the guy in the
 bottom with the dog and a kid playing with my beard.lol)

     I had the awesome opportunity to go with my church back in 2009 to visit this orphanage along with the Im Jai House, and go to the hill tribe as well which is another focus of their ministry at Faithful Heart Foundation.  It was crazy seeing how much they were doing for these kids!  They were teaching them more than the average American kid would learn.  Not only being educated but they were being taught a lot of great agricultural skills as well.  Like how to grow rice, and mushrooms, also how to raise chickens and other animals.  It was an amazing experience and to be honest if I wasn't with this amazing woman who is now my wife I might have just thrown away my passport and stayed there.  My pastor who was there might have advised against me going UA from the Marines though.haha  Attached below is the link to the blog they wrote about our awesome visit, check it out.
http://faithfulheartministry.com/callahan-corner/2009/03/village-visit-mar-30-2009

      These people would never claim the title hero and obviously that just shows where their hearts are.  But I will call them hero's and I know to every single one of those kids they are hero's.  So check them out on my organizations page if you get the chance, they are pretty awesome.  If you feel led to, donate.  What is $20 a month to us anyway?  But in Thailand that is quite a bit of money. Thanks for reading and God Bless.
   
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.