Renga: Brickish

I finally got a tap out of someone yesterday, but it wasn’t from a submission, I flat out outlasted the guy. So he pretty much said "I give–I can’t finish." This is where if you could see through the screen, there’d be a rediculously huge grin on my face. Yes, not a submission, but still, I won technically. So I’ll work that for a while.

I’m ready to restart weight training soon. I think I’ll be catching up in terms of energy here soon, so I’ll do that. I also did get my contract figured out, so I’m getting to go to something more normal. Plus that means I can go to the MMA based classes now because I’m a full student. That’ll make things much better for me.

 So yeah, that’s what’s up now. I’m also a little concerned now about what body type I am. I mean frame size. I am getting no thinner but things are starting to move towards definition, so does that mean I’m a large framed person? I’ve never been sure. I’m also kind of wondering why it is doing this now and it never did when I was much thinner. That doesn’t make any sense. Any ideas?

Training is going good, save for the dumping the weight lifting part of it. No time, and well, I don’t really bother focusing on it, especially after the workout that coach puts us through during normal classes, so i think I’ll be getting away without it for a while.

Progress is good. I got confused for being 150lbs today, which I think is a good thing. I haven’t been near a scale in over a month so I’ll just assume that I’m probably mid 160’s based on that. I don’t know where body fat is, nor waist size, nor do I truly care at the moment. I think just for record purposes I’ll

I was sick for about a week, and got over it finally, so I’m more or less just happy as a clam that I’m training again and not coughing up parts of my lungs. That’s a good thing. Plus, it seems that things are starting to click. I’m starting to be able to see when things are going south in a hurry, so I don’t get caught as much. Well, I’m still getting caught, but I’m able to put up a better fight cause I’m able to defend against them for longer.

Plus, the guy that’s been sort of coaching me during open mat, Stephen, says that I’m improving. So I’m pleased. I’m not sure what the deal is with me paying money to the school, but at this point, it seems to have become truly a moot point. On top of that, a few people are offering resources to me for training like books and such. I’m going to ask for some of the ones I heard are good next week so hopefully they’ll still be available to me for some time.

I’m behind on logs, whatever. I’m going to keep them up as I can, but the idea of doing them 100% on the dot every time because I don’t have the time. So yeah. When I get them.

Anyway I’ve gotten confident enough to start rolling with the other people.. I rather enjoy it, moreso than just straight up technique. I’m focusing for now on survival time and learning when I’m in trouble, which getting in a lot of it so far, yeah, I can say I’m beginning to learn that. I’m not entirely sure how to keep track of the movements, much less how to actually get to them. The only really identifiable positions I’ve been in have been Rubber Guard and Dogfight, and that’s about it.

I was going to write them down but I always forget my notebook that i had started in back in the dorm, so I don’t have it. So I should either do that or just make up my own names.

 Related: Soda’s down to five today, and I can tell. Can’t wait to get rid of it entirely.

I noticed this morning that I’m only .5" away from 34" again, which makes me very happy. I also can cheat to use the light to see the top end of my abs! It looks like the majority of stomach fat is hanging out on the lower half, which seems like a common problem if I’m not mistaken.

The only major changes on top of the ride to and from jiu jitsu has been dropping the number of sodas a day. I’m down to 8 or less all the way through last week and am working to go down to 7 or less this week. I’m pretty good, and have completely eliminated soda from breakfast. I’ll work the other ones off as I get lower. Probably dinner at 3 and Lunch will be to go to zero, but this is working by far better than just dropping it all at once.

I’m not able to get out to the gym to do full weights tonight–Strange pain in my hamstring from the Lockdown position we worked on Saturday. I don’t want to upset it, so I’ll just be shadowboxing and doing body weight. I’m making changes to this to go a little more full body on the training end. I’m swapping incline bench for straight row to make sure I keep things balanced.

 Also, I’ve made up my mind about my weight–Wherever I am when it’s time to start thinking about fighting is where I’ll fight at. Setting a goal is kind of dumb, especially knowing how fast my weight can shoot up and down.

 So anyway, I’ll be working out at a reduced pace for the time being and getting the hamstring looked at wednesday or saturday. Here’s to progress!

 Oh, and new progress will be up after I get my hair cut. It’s starting to grow ears and have to be combed, and as much as I want to grow it out, I can’t help but get annoyed by that.

OK, so here’s the quick stats:

Shadowbox: Worked transition to Hip tosses and suplex pummels, as well as transitions out of Orthodox to Southpaw where I’m comfortable. This will add a nice use of my thrust kicks to push back on the move back to my good side after a strong kick.  

Pushups: 30

V-Ups: 20

Flat Bench: 6×6x30 Hard at 3.

Yes, I’m working up slowly because I don’t want to kill myself with the whole five miles so as each weight day comes around, I’m adding to it slowly. Why there wasn’t one last Friday like there should have been was straight up busy and tired. Had to move Sensei again this past weekend on Monday, so that stunk.

 Joey (a friend of mine and my old Tae Kwon Do instructor) and I spent a good chunk of the weekend discussing my move to MMA. He wants to help me along, which I’m greatful for because his accupressure skills will come in handy in a corner, IMO. We keep joking about me putting the family back on the map with winning the UFC Lightweight Championship but that’s a long way off. Plus I doubt that I’ll be a lightweight. I think after everythings said and done, I’ll still be a Middleweight, but that will have to wait until later when I learn my Jiu Jitsu.

I’ve the striking portion of my evaluation tomorrow. If I didn’t note it, I’m working out of Dynamic Edge Martial Arts, and they do an evaluation process of incoming students to see where they start at. Joey doesn’t approve of the school and Sensei doesn’t care (Neither do I), so I’ll worry about that later. Figure I can get a base here and transfer if things don’t work out with at least some knowledge.