Rogue,
Typically, I compete now between 2 and 3 times per year. In DC, I would compete as often as 12-16 times in one year. There are lots of tournaments in LA, but that's a 7-8 hour drive. NY/NJ was only about 4-5. Huge difference, really. Up here, in the Bay Area, most of the tournaments are gi. At 190 with a brown belt, there is only a very small chance that anybody remotely close to my size and rank is going to elect to compete that day. Most tournaments don't have anybody at all. *shrug*
A typical training week for me would be BJJ 3-5 times per week, with 2 or 3 days of training at the Icechamber. Steve is a blue belt in BJJ so he gets the demands of the sport, and trains accordingly. Sessions are 30 minutes, but vary in intensity from medium hard to exhausting. Typical exhausting type sessions might include something like weightlifting circuits using full body type movements, coupled with sprints or 800m runs, with sprawls between, etc. BJJ follows one hour after the IC.
For major tournaments, my regimen begins 16 weeks out. I'll go to practice no fewer than 4 times a week, with an emphasis on continuous movement, and refining my battle plan. IC workouts are designed to peak for the tournament. I trust Steve to handle that aspect. Yoga and nutrition and sleep become my best friends I'll also put in around 12-16 miles a week.
Does it work? Seems to. I'm 32. My matches were 8 minutes long at the Pan-Ams this year. My opponents this year were clearly late teen (ie 18-19), or very early twenties. I made my opponent in the open puke from exertion, wore out my first opponent in my weight class after about 5 minutes, and then met the same guy from the open in the next match. I made him puke again. He beat me twice in two days, and deserved to. He was very good. But I was definitely his spoiler. He lost his subsequent matches both days by very wide point margins.
"In the world of martial arts, respect is often a given. In the real world, it must be earned."
"A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is never accurate because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand. "--Bertrand Russell
"Liberals - Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends of every country save their own. "--Benjamin Disraeli
"A conservative government is an organised hypocrisy."--Benjamin Disraeli