Shintaro Higashi

Oh Friday, oh Friday…  Friday nights used to be all about non-stop debauchery.  Letting loose the inner beast of the night and drinking until the dawn.  Gut busting meatlovers Pizza binges on the corner store after gallons of brew being pounded down the hatch.  Oh Friday nights.  But those days are long gone.  It’s so funny how you become so accostomed to a certain lifestyle and you can’t even fathom the thought of going back to your former routines.  Ahh the human mind.  Well, my week was great.  I got in all the workouts I needed to excel at the pace I have chosen for myself.  This training week ends tomorrow and I look forward to my sunday recover day.

Something I like to do:  I love driving at night in Manhattan.  During the day, the streets are usually polluted with angry drivers and aggressive cut-offists.  Oh, and NYC Cab drivers.  Only at night do you get to really Hit the streets of the city.  The stop and go is inexistent on some Avenues later in the night.  And sometimes you can zoom by 20 Lights, all green and Jam to your favorite tunes feeling good.  I experienced this to the realest degree just today.  I drove in the morning to teach (it got cancelled halfway there) and in that time, I got cut off twice, some one gave me the finger, and it took me 20 minutes to get from 110th street to 96th where I was planning to shoot cross town.  But after Judo in the evening, it was a totally different story.  I turned up the radio and blew through the open streets; 110th street from the East to the West side.  My aching body was soothed with every green light I ran.  Word of advice from a New Yorker:  Best time to take a ride in Manhattan.  Mon-Thurs, between the hours of 10pm and 4am.  True story.

Today was a beautiful day.  I was Feeling productive and powerful, flowing through the streets of New York City… I couldn’t ask for more.    Today was a wednesday.  My usual routine.  Workout, work, Judo Judo.  The first Judo at my father’s school, and the second judo practice at the NYAC.  

The New York Open is approaching fast.  John who runs tournament told the AC Judo athletes today that 2/3’s of the competitors are from overseas.  It’s going to be a tough one.  The NY Open is the only tournament I have not medalled at in the United States that I have competed in.  THIS IS MY YEAR!  The Tournament is March 8th at the New York Athletic club so if you can make it, you would Catch World class Judo at its finest.  

One of my favorite quotes I want to share with you…  ”The Youth is Wasted on the Young.” I don’t know who said it, but I believe it to be so true.  When you’re an old man like me, you realize that those days when your ignorance made you believe youth would never end has Long been gone.  And when you’re knowledgable enough to do damage, you start to miss your well-lubricated and flexible joints.  Its too late… The young and stupid have the Knees and shoulders YOU need to succeed.  And yes I am old beacuse my joints ache.  But on a serious note, Embrace your youth!  Get strong, be heatlhy.  You are younger today than you will be tomorrow.  Even if youre 50 (Blake, Big Bill).  So there a piece of my Old man wisdom.  Have a great night.

Hi all.  Today was a great day for me.  One day closer to achieving my goals, one day a better man!  I ate perfectly square meals timed 3 hours apart.  Protein shake for breakfast, brunch, post workout shake, lunch, protein bar, and then dinner.  I got my heavy lift in and it felt great.  Although the amount on the barbells and dumbells have decreased in the recent months due to side effect of weight loss, I felt envigorated during my Iron time.   Went to teach at brooklyn college after my lift and then To judo.  I had a pop in my steps as my Ipod sang tunes through my earbuds.  I was nearing the Dojo and I couldn’t wait to get there.  I drilled with my guys and fought hard.

Diet!~~ Today I walked by some advertisement of my favorite sweets.  I immediately repeated to myself, “Poison poison!”  (Martin Rooney’s magic phrase.  Thanks!)  And at that moment I came to stunning realization. I looked back on the many times I felt powerless encountered by my demon.  Each and every one of those times when I teetered on my decision whether or not to have the candy, the words ’I deserve it’  entered my mind… Then I ate.   Oh yes, I consumed.  On those occasions I have single handedly broken my psychological threshold Of Will Power.  It is like when you wake up in the morning for class and have a itch in your throat or the smallest sniffle, and say to yourself, ‘I’m sick’…  Then BOOM! it’s OVER!  You will get full blown influenza and you will NOT go to class.    So yes, that is my self-discovery snapple fact of the day.  Don’t let that little voice enter your mind.  If you do, it’s over.  If any of you guys have little tricks of your own I would love to know.  Thanks for reading!

So what does this coming week have enstored for me?  I am going to eat perfect, work out hard and live productive towards my goals.  

I have been on a strict dietary regimen for the past 2 months and I lost over 20lbs.  Up until December, my obesssion was size and power.  I ate whatever whenever while lifting as heavy as I can as frequent as I can.  I weighed 243 pounds, deadlifting 475 and benching 315 for 2.  I felt great in the gym and was satisfied with my size, however I did not feel optimal on the mat.  I was sluggish and not-so-explosive.  My Judo is best when my throws feel sharp, I’m aggresive and agile so my physique didnt supplement my fighting Style.  My biggest weapon, explosivity and speed has suffered from my weight gain.  After my birthday, it was time for me to start shedding the fat while trying to keep my mass.  My biggest dilemma now is, Do I want to cut down to 90kgs?  Would I be more successful at that lower weight?  I have a lot of thinking to do.

Judo… I am going to work more on my left side Sode.  Also, Creating motion to set up foot sweeps so I can open up my opponent up for my major throws.  I want to drill my Uchimata many times and do throws with Torazo.   Oh and I definitely have to work on gripping strategies.  Also Newaza for certain.  I want to be more confident being on the ground.  

Lifting…  I am going to do a very very Heavy day Monday.  Possibly max deadlift, heavy bench press, heavy pull downs, heavy dumbell rows and a light weight, high repetition shoulder circuit.  Wednesday or thursday after i recover from my heavy monday lift, I will do high repetition on the lifts and do Contour motions with resistance bands and light dumbells. I believe for Judo I need to work not only linear compound lifts but also stregnthen torquing motion by going through natural curves and contours with light weight.

First off I would like to thank Jeantet for making this happen.  It is so great that i have my own website like all the Olympians/aspiring Olympians that i look up to.  I would like to discuss my training, my diet and many aspects of my Judo related life on this blog.  Thanks for checking in.  More to come.