Beaten Again

While cooking, done oil splashed up and burned my forearm. Today at training the blisters broke. So now, I have three nickel sized open wounds. Great... Well I trained last night. I did Muay Thai and MMA.

In Muay Thai, we did a lot of knees and kicks. We worked on our teeps and one of my teeps glanced off the kick shield which ended up hurting pretty bad. I sparred a little and it's frustrating how much I flinch.

In MMA, we did a lot of drills including punches, kicks, knees, and ground and pound. At that point I kept cramping, which was really frustrating. Then I got dominated during the rounds. Frustrating, but I think I'm getting better.

Time for 24 hour fitness.

New Day 1

I haven't been posting much and I haven't been training much either, but with the news of Grappling X Long Beach on April 29th has me motivated again. I haven't lost any weight, but I plan to go 185 but trying to pack on muscle and lose fat.

I was able to get a membership at 24 Hour Fitness. This will give me access to be able to lift weights which helps increase my strength. I still train at Reign Training Center. I also plan to get back on the Paleo Diet since I did see some results while I initially tried it.

The Reign Amateur MMA Team tryouts are March 4th. I'm going to try out, and if I make it, great. If not, I'll start my own team!

Day 32

I went to noon Jiu-Jitsu, Brett was teaching. Most of the guys from the gym went to Vegas for UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit. Class went by pretty well, I helped my partner with drilling armbars, triangles, and kimuras from open guard. We then rolled starting on our feet which I'm pretty bad at. We mostly start rolling off our knees or in someone's guard. I was able to fight off any submissions and actually pulled off a single-leg. I also managed to get an armbar. During that armbar, I was trying to go for an inverted triangle, but we had a third guy working in with us. We would alternate guys every round. Well he kept pointing out the obvious. I was trying to work on some other options. He even grabbed my leg and moved it. It was a little annoying because I'm there training, trying to get better. If I only train certain things, my arsenal will be limited. I understand the concept of don't fear the man who practices 1,000 kicks, fear the man that practices 1 kick 1,000 times. I get that, but wouldn't it still be dangerous to practice 1,000 submissions 1,000 times?

After class I checked my phone and it was my work. I got called in to work the grave shift so I had to go straight home and sleep. Only I wasn't able to and worked an 8 hour grave shift 12 - 8 and was too exhausted to train on Saturday. Tomorrow I might go month to month at Cutting Edge so I can lift weights.

Day 30

I'm the most beat up that I've ever been. I did my two classes Muay Thai with Krzysztof Soszynski and MMA with Brett Cooper.

K-Sos had us work combos and drilled some technique and then we sparred. I think I did fairly well against the guys I sparred with. I did get caught with a pretty nice punch though.

In MMA I was just getting handled. I was slammed against the ground and had the wind knocked out of me twice and this was just during the drilling. I think I'm tough enough to get through it though, so I toughed it out. When it came time to spar, I was doing well standing up, but it is MMA not kickboxing and the only way I'm going to get better at takedowns is to actually go for takedowns. My problem is that I get easily countered with a front headlock or something. Eventually I give up my back, I fight with everything I have not to give up my back but it happens. I have pretty good submission defense though, but in MMA you can still get punched...and I did get punched...a lot.

I guess Brett could see my frustration, a part of me is beginning to think that I'm not able to do this, no matter how much I want to. It gets frustrating consistently being dominated even by guys that are smaller than me. He suggested that I start lifting. I told him the situation I had with my hours and asked if it would be okay to lift prior to class. He replied, "It's not ideal, but you do what you have to do." So I guess that's what I have to do. I'm tired and I want to just go to bed, but I haven't been able to talk to Gi yet.

Day 29

My foot feels good as new! It hurt this morning, but after lunch I didn't even notice it anymore. I went to training and worked on Jiu-Jitsu with Jason Manly and Boxing with Danny Perez.

In Jiu-Jitsu we worked on this sweep from half-guard which took a little getting used to and I know I still don't have it down, but it's starting to come together. When it came time to roll, I was put in a group with all veterans. I know that the two of them were blue belts, and I'm not sure about the other, but I remember he was way better than me when I started and has only improved since then. I felt that I was okay moving around, I was able to re-establish position okay, but I did get submitted a few times. We did 3 10 minute rounds with each person.

In Boxing we worked on some cardio and drilled some combos. I still think that my striking is my main strength. I need to work on my defense and movement. Something I think will only come in time with more sparring.

Today I ate:

Granola with Almond Milk and Sliced Banana
2 Eggs Over Easy, 2 Bacon
Chicken Stir-Fry
Bacon-Wrapped Chicken with Basil and a side of mixed vegetables

Day 28

I got my foot checked out, and the doctor says that I have a mild strain in my right foot. The only thing I can do is Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate and it'll get better in time. I'm going in to work tomorrow, but the way my foot feels, it doesn't seem like I'll be able to do any running anytime soon. We'll see what I can do. I'll talk to my coaches and let them know about my injury and see what I can do.

Day 27

The meet up was fun. I was able to grapple with a guy from ACE and a guy from OC Jiu-Jitsu. I taught two guys how to do triangles, armbars, and kimuras which is always fun too. I got in the ring and sparred some stand up too. I got to work on some of my boxing.

This morning though, I woke up to go to the bathroom. As I was getting out of bed I felt a pop and snap in my right foot. (Yeah yeah, all I needed was some crackle) Now I feel constant pain there and it gets even worse when I put any weight on it. I hope this is nothing and I can just take some ibuprofen until it goes away. I can't miss work and I can't miss training. I'm hungry right now, but I was supposed to get a blood test two weeks ago, so I might as well use part of today to get my blood test since I won't be able to go into work for the first half of the day anyways. I scheduled a doctor's appointment today at 8:40. Wish me luck! Oh here are two videos of me sparring at the meet up.