From fat to Fight

So far behind

2008-06-16T20:44:00.005-04:00

I guess I kinda forgot to be writing here, too busy I guess. 2 training days have passed since my last entry. In Thai boxing this week we did the usual punch and defense drills, constant repetition for muscle memory is pretty key but the underlying focus of the week was clinch fighting. Clinch fighting is one of the unique things about Thai boxing, the very close range knees are very painful and the elbows on top of being painful can open up very nasty cuts that can stop a fight quickly. There are a few keys from the clinch that I have been taught by Alan are very important.
-Do not reach to grab your opponent, this leaves you open to many counter punches that can end a fight. Only go for the clinch when forearm to forearm contact is made.
-Posture, remember to keep yours and break down your opponents. Without doing so you do not have the upper hand in the fight and are open to the same assault as your opponent.
-Don't try to force your clinch or keep a clinch so it turns into a wrestling match. It is much easier to wedge and spin your opponent then to turn it into a man hug competition. Wedging and spinning around your opponent can break there posture down, confuse them, and leave them open to many attacks such as kidney and thigh kicks on the way out.

Jiu Jitsu was more butterfly guard work. My game from this position is improving greatly. The sweep we were drilling was giving me some trouble at first but then Alan gave me some advice that changed my view on it. It is the sweep I was talking about earlier where your opponent is standing up and you have one hook in. In this spot I had my opponent pulling away and getting away...getting away because I was letting go. I was panicking because I was rolling to the side against my will, but this is actually good. Instead of letting go I just need to hold on and grab the other leg. With my size anchoring their leg they will fall eventually and that is what I want them to do and if they decide to stop pulling back and push forward I can easily pull open guard. When I was in the standing position I think the best move for me was to always pressure in with my knee, again my weight comes in handy and I can usually avoid guard and get side mount. A very nice thing about Jits is any body type can do it, you just develop your game around your strengths....The possibilities are endless.

Now back to the weight loss thing. I am starting a new nutritional plan this week so we will see how it goes, I think as long as I stick to it I will be dropping weight in no time. I kinda wish I had grew up in a house with no fried foods, nothing but bad snacks and fast food for treats but what would I have to write about then?

Butterfly guard

2008-06-10T22:49:00.003-04:00

Last week we covered butterfly guard so I am a little late but tonight we covered a sweep from the butterfly guard when your opponent stands up. It starts with a single hook and the opponent standing up, you keep your head tucked on the opponents in thigh and a grip the leg from the knee up with your outer arm. You lift with the leg that you have the hook in with and roll to the opposite side of the leg you are lifting, this sets up many sweeps. I got this technique down pretty well so I don't need to dwell on it much.

At the end of the class when we were doing our sparring rounds is when I noticed something that I didn't figure out until the drive home. One of my opponents was a high school wrestler so from the start he had the take down advantage. The easiest way for me to negate that was to pull guard, problem solved right? no, This guy is more flexible than me and has been doing this for longer than me but we are still fairly even with a little advantage to him since he arm barred me and I didn't submit him....but I could have...this is the part I didn't notice until the drive home. When I pulled guard from the start every time I was getting in deep on his collar and falling back with my weight, I would get to the ground and let this grip go....now that I look back this was so stupid, I could have set up a cross choke so easily if I had kept that grip and slipped the other hand in on the way down. The only other issue in my game right now is sticking to the basics, I like to try new things but I always leave and hole in my game when I do so.....I need to stick to basics like posture, or getting the under hook from half guard and THEN try those new things.

Where to begin...continued

2008-06-10T21:55:00.003-04:00

(Wow guess I have a lot to say)

I didn't want to go back to boxing. Being a MMA fan I now know that it takes a lot more than good hands to win a fight, not that I plan on brawling every day but I might as well learn something useful if I'm gonna do this right? Well right at the time I was doing this there was a special called human weapon running on TV, it showed a variety of martial arts from there home countries. The special on Muay Thai was great and this looked like a great stand up style, I told myself this is where I am going to start. Now I also know that being in a fight means going to the ground, from watching MMA back when the UFC first started I remember guys like Royce Gracie just dominating with their Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

So I want to learn Muay Thai and I want to learn BJJ. I grab the phone book, open to martial arts and see an add for Empire Martial Arts. It says they teach Muay Thai AND BJJ.....how much more of a sign could I get right? It says they have a web site so I check it out and after reading decide to fill out the form for a 2 week trial. Long story short the next day I get a call from Alan and set up a time to come in for a workout. He seems pretty friendly on the phone so I relax a little bit but now I think...what am I getting myself into.

I don't have a problem with fighting, that's not what I am nervous about. I am nervous about the fact that I am so out of shape the guys are going to see this fat blob walking into the gym and burst out in laughter! I drove up that night and tried to watch one of the classes through the window and I see a bunch of guys in fairly good shape doing warm ups, again I think what am I getting myself into..I don't even think I can make it through the damn warm up!

Finally 3 days go by. I get the the gym parking lot, get to the door....take a really deep breath....and walk in. I think I kinda closed my eyes a bit....waiting for those laughs I was sure to hear....but they never came. The place was pretty quiet and guys were just standing around getting ready for a class. I was greeted by Alan and we went over some paper work, I was pretty happy that he looked like a guy who could fight, I was kinda nervous I would walk in and see one of those 50 year old "black belts" with a gut bigger than mine telling me all about his "secret chi pressure points" lol. We went out to the mat and Alan intoduced me to one of his instructors mike, Mike definitely looked like a guy who had been in a fight....those ears, if there is a picture in the dictionary of cauliflower ear I bet Mike is in it.

I guess I forgot to say, for the moment I had to chose between Thai boxing and BJJ because I couldn't afford both and couldn't physically do both. I chose Thai because it looked a little more forgiving for a fat guy. I warmed up with mike then we started a private lesson. We covered basic stance, shuffle, and jab cross. The workout was only about 30-45 mins but it was definitely enough for someone who hadn't really worked out since 17 or 18 years old.

From this point on I was hooked, for the sake of getting caught up to current date I will try and sum a lot of stuff up. Thai boxing doesn't traditionally use belts by my School does. I have been doing Thai boxing for about 10 months, I am currently a orange belt (should be green within a month or less. Ranking system goes white, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, brown, black). I have been doing BJJ for about 3 months and I am a yellow belt (ranking system is the same as Thai listed above). I am down to 296 pounds, much better than my original 335 but I still have a long way to go. I have put on muscle, lost fat, and greatly improved my cardio and flexibility. My ultimate goal is to get down to about 205 and maybe compete in MMA or BJJ competitions. I am getting there but my main focus is to continue learning, the weight loss will come as long as I keep eating clean and training.

I wish I had started this blog earlier to have all my training archived but I didn't so I am going to start off with my training now and eventually I should cover the stuff I have already learned.

Where to begin

2008-06-10T21:31:00.004-04:00

Well, I am not to sure about keeping a blog but I figure it couldn't hurt. First I guess I should write about my current situation.

After years of Eating way to much fast food, smoking two packs a day, and the extent of my daily exercise being a walk from the couch/computer chair to the fridge and back; I decided its maybe time to change.

I'm not sure what motivated me to change, maybe its because I now have two beautiful daughters, or maybe it just came with age but one day seeing 335 on the scale and being tired from the smallest of physical activity bothered me.

First thing I had to do was ditch the cigarettes. Being an asthmatic and overweight PLUS smoking was a pretty deadly combo keeping me from exercise. I had tried to quit before but had no luck. I had been told from my doctor many times to quit and had never really listened but now I was ready. He had told me about a drug called chantix which was supposed to help you quit. Long story short I got on the drug, got focused and quit. It actually was pretty easy being in the frame of mind I was in.

With smoking gone I started to feel a lot better every day. You would never really know unless you smoked and quit but it is amazing how much better you breathe, smell, and taste after quiting. And being overweight and an asthmatic I am sure the results were even greater for me.

Now to the getting fit part. I like lifting weights but I never stayed with it that long, running is out of the question and riding my bike is nice but hard to stay motivated for me. I needed something that would keep me way interested. The only physical activity I have ever stuck with was boxing for about 4 years when I was 11 or 12 until 15 or 16 (wish I could remember better).