A Jiu-jitsu Log Filled With Shenanigans

Went down to the gym tonight for another work out.  It went great but I’m already laying in bed and really tired, so this will be short.  Tomorrow is grappling, which I am excited about.

Warm-Up

• 2×5 min round of jump rope

Technique / Sparring

• 3×5 min rounds of holding pads
• 3×5 min rounds of hitting pads
• 6×5 min rounds of bag work
• 2×5 min rounds working on live sparring using just a jab
• 4×5 min rounds of body work (wearing the body shield and trading body shots with my partner)

Notes

• I seem to be breathing really well.  I can always hear myself exhaling when I punch and kick.
• My left shoulder became sore mid work out.
• My hook kind of sucks, my foot work is all off.
• Felt good throwing body shots.
• Completely exhausted at the end of the work out, but still enthusiastic to be there.

Yesterday was my first day as a substitute, well a substitute teacher’s aide.  I chose to be an aide to kind of ease me into the whole process.  I worked at the Youth Opportunity Center with children who have behavior problems and mild learning disabilities.  I actually had some fun working there.  The kids were really easy to get along with and help out.  I spent most the time helping them read or work out math problems.  I even got to play some kickball… which I totally dominated. lol

I went to the gym last night to get in my first training session in about 5 months.  I was looking forward to it, so I was quite disappointed when I got there and realized I missed it.  But I made sure to get in there today and showed up nice and early.  It was a striking class today, and to say it was fun or easy would be an understatement.

Pretty much, I warmed up with 2 rounds of jump rope then I was tossed into the bear pit.  I got into the cage with a guy who was bigger than me, and we went for 1 five minute round.  I thought we’d take it easy but there was none of that.  He hit me with more than a few punches that caused me to see stars.  When he would start to overwhelm me on the fence he wouldn’t let up.  I’m pretty sure he started to even throw harder.

I took a lot of shots from over hands and hooks.  I mean, I had my hands up and chin tucked so mostly my face came out intact.  But even though I was using semi decent boxing and protecting my head with my hands I was still eating a lot of shots and seeing a lot of stars.  My cardio also kind of sucked.  My arms felt better than I thought they would but it was still not impressive.

After 2 rounds with that guy, and a third much slower and technique focused round we got out the mits and worked technique.  That’s were I pretty much where I gassed.  I held the mits for another guy who was tired like me, so I don’t feel terrible about it.  Afterall, I’m just an amatuer striker whose been out of the gym for 5 months. 

After getting beat on for the first half of class the boxing coach wanted to work with me.  He put on the body shield and used his boxing gloves as mits (That way he could still blast me).  We did 4 five minute rounds of me throwing the majority of strikes.  He would counter occasionally but mostly it was just me getting my heart rate up.  The final two rounds I was tired and he turned it up a notch.  He started to come back at me a lot and was captalizing on my bad habit of covering up rather than ducking under or slipping a punch.

I got in there and like to think I showed some promise.  I keep my hands up pretty well and can throw decent punches, when I’m not dead tired.  I have a problem covering up instead of ducking and slipping, so I have to work on that.  But being the first time in a gym in so long, it was expected that I would get my ass handed to me.  And I’m terribly disappointed in Alex.

He said he was going to go.  Then he started making excuses about having too much homework.  Then, as I leaving to go work out, he was playing Madden and about to go over to his girlfriend’s.  But, I can understand how life and all that gets in the way of training.  I know what it’s like to rather spend time with your girlfriend or let schoolwork pile up.  So I’m not hating, but it’s just unfortunate for him.  I guess I’m fairly lucky to be single and out of school… when it comes to training anyway.

Here’s how the entire work out went tonight.

Warm-Up:

• 2 five minute rounds of jump rope

Sparring / Technique:

• 2 five minute rounds of full go boxing
• 1 five minute round more focused on boxing technique
• 1 two minute round of mitt work
• Lazy bag work to stay warm
• 4 five minute rounds working on my boxing with Coach wearing body shield

I’m working as a substitute teacher tomorrow.  Well, actually, a teacher’s aide.  I only had two assignments to choose from at the time and the other was a half day.  Plus, I’m nervous and figured it would be a nice ice breaker to have an actual teacher with me to kind of guide me through the first day.  Then after that I’ll be brave enough to run my own class.

The real thing I’m excited about is training after work.  Getting back in there and grapping and doing some jiu-jitsu is exactly what I’ve been missing lately.  I can’t tell you how stoked I am about tomorrow.  I’ll try to throw down an update tomorrow night to let you guys know how it went.  Wish me luck for tomorrow I take a step down the right path for once.

Tuesday is a big day.  It could be my first day as a substitute teacher and I’m getting back into training.  Alex and I found an mma gym right by our house.  We stopped in last Wednesday for a free class to see if we liked it.  It was a striking class and we, along with another new guy, worked some basic combos on the pads and bags.  The guy holding the mitts for me said I was ready for the pro class.  My technique was definitely there, but my cardio was not.  Even though I never really had cardio for striking.

For the most part my striking has been self-taught.  I’d say for about a month or two back in 2006, when I was training at Nemesis MMA, I had a striking coach.  Since then its pretty much been me doing bag work or sparring, learning technique the hard way.  And I’ve always been a ground fighter so clinching and takedowns were always more of the focus for me and thats why my striking has never really come along.

I’m hoping now that I’m at this new gym I’ll be able to improve upon my striking and overall cardio and fitness.  That’s why getting the job as a substitute teacher is exciting.  With working the standard 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. I’ll be free to attended every class I want at the gym.  I could go in early and work on the basics and help other guys come along and then stay for the more intense and specific pro class immediately following.  I’m looking forward to getting back in there and cracking some heads.  Tuesday is a grappling day too, and that’s my bread and butter.

Oh man, nothing like a good night run in the cool breeze to get the blood flowing.  The power of music and it’s motivating capabilities is [are?] awesome.  I walked around out in the dark for awhile, listening to my iPod getting in the mood for a little jog.  I felt good when I started running and that feeling held strong the entire run.  I’ve had a few good days of exercise but I’m sure that will all go to hell when I leave in a few days.

I’m heading to Vegas.  Never been there before.  Originally it was a scouting trip to see if I wanted to move there, but now it’s more like a vacation I shouldn’t be taking and can’t afford.  But being in Vegas when you hurting for cash is never a bad thing in my book.  Actually, it sounds like an awesome opening line to a book about self made millionaires!

I made a budget for this month.  A real hand-to-God budget where I try to account for and limit all expenses.  I used some software that my brother recommended for me.  It’s really quite surprising how quickly it all adds up.  I’m sure it will take more than a few months of tweaking before I have it quite right.  And I’m also sure I’m going to go waaayyyy over budget this month (Vegas, 2 trips to TN, Thanksgiving) and next month (One trip to TN, Xmas).  But hopefully I’ll be set for the new year.

Lastly, I’ve joined twitter.  Not sure why.  Just something else to add to my page to help out with getting traffic and there’s like 5 people on twitter that I’m interested in following.  Plus things have been a little slow when it comes to blog topics, so maybe for the two members I have [hint, hint] you can kill time between posts by reading my tweets.  The link is over there on the left.  Check it out BRAH.  I’ll try to toss in another update before Vegas.  And in case I don’t, I want everyone to know my goal is fly out to Vegas and win enough to never have to come back.