MMA Training Hub

Training
230

[quote]Power GnP wrote:
Young O wrote:
Young O wrote:
Avocado wrote:
Figure now that I’m back on the mat I should post on this shit.

Went to BJJ(n/gi) today and it was fun, apart from a terrorist calf cramp that refused to go away after a match with one leg hooked in the back mount the whole time fighting constantly for the other hook etc.

All in all it went well. Didn’t get overly gassed. I put myself in a few bad spots with the beginners and it mostly worked out well.

One guy i didn’t recognize (not saying much, I often fail to recognize my own dick) was really trying to put it to me. This is unusual because most new guys/beginners/intermediates are super cautious of me and give me way too much respect. This guy was like fuck you, you’re getting this kimura bitch! (didn’t actually speak, that’s me with the words in his mouth) I pulled out fairly handily but really was impressed by his ballzyness.

So I was very interested to see what this guy would do. Sure enough I shift out to the knees in a side to side position and he tries some ‘judo-esque’ throwing from the knees with an overhook. Im loving his tenacity as I blck the throws with my face, to which he asks if im ok, to which I say oh yeah.

So then I tap him a couple times and he realizes whats up but nonetheless continues to fight in a focused and aggressive manner. This is unusual for beginners who typically fight in simply an unfocused manner. So I attribute this to some judo or other experience outside our club.

Cool experience though.

I wanted to do MMA class but because most of our fighters are fighting this weekend there was little sparring and mostly technique. so I helped teach for a bit and then went home to have my scalding hot shower.

Good to see everything is going well for all on this thread. For me o-lifting classes have taken up my thai boxing time but hopefully I can switch it up a bit in the future.

Also: Power GnP. I must know you. Who do you train with?? Are you in lethbridge or calgary? Are you going to the BUDO fight series this weekend? If so we should meet up and have a non-ghey, small-world internet in real life meet up. Are any of your boys fighting in BUDO or Hardcore (what a ghey name for a fight card. Anyone who self identifies as “hardcore” is surely in need of a “strap-on”).

have fun kids.

-chris

Also, tell me everything you think i should know about going into jiujitsu, because im going to try it for the first time in a bout a week

thank you

Honestly…this should be up to your sensi, and you will learn as you progress.

Go into your first class with an open mind, a sponge. Bring both a gi (I would suggest golden weave, strength of double without the weight), a pair of mma or long beach shorts, spare t-shirt or rash guard, knee sleeves and a white belt (which may of came with your gi).

Make sure your plenty loose and warmed up (although most classes will start with a warm up of some sort and streching). The biggest accomplishment you should expect from you first few classes is learning how to stay relaxed. Don’t tense and panic when in a vunerable position, stay focused and try to find a way out. Remember jiu jitsu was created to allowed smaller and essentially weaker opponents to defend against and submit larger, stronger opponents, although strength does help, it rarely beats an opponent with superior technique.[/quote]

JJ dude and Poer GNP, thanks you guys soo much on everything you have shared. Another question tho, how is danzan ryu jiujitsu different from bjj?

ill probably have more questions later

thank you guys again

231

Philosophical lesson: What is a martial art? I have pondered this for a few decades and the answer is that a MA is a collection of techniques, training methods, tactics and teaching methods to preserve/transmit a specific set of body dynamics for a specific purpose. Yes, every martial art has (or had) a purpose.

Jujutsu is a good example. It was designed as an anti-samurai art, that is, if you are a samurai and confronted by an armored, sword-wielding opponent, what should you do? Jujutsu is one answer. There are many, many other arts which can teach everything from fighting in narrow, Hong Kong alleys (Wing Chun) to swimming in armor (Suijutsu). Bias: an MA is a textbook on how to handle a certain set of scenarios.

Martial Sports take these older systems and strip them down until there is some subset of techniques that are relatively safe and the only admissible mode of attack is the frontal assault. They go from combat arts to dueling. These might be very brutal (e.g. Western boxing or Muay Thai) but sports they are, since opponents are matched, there are rules and someone keeps score.

Quick history lesson: “Jujutsu” = “applications of yielding” is a class of Japanese martial arts based on the specific tactic of not directly opposing forces. It is characterized by attacking joints (locking, breaking), throws/takedowns, chokes and some striking. Because of the difficulty in killing someone wearing armor, there are many techniques for holding someone down (traditionally with the feet, leaving the hands free) so you can cut off their armor and kill them.

Later when samurai didn’t do so much warfare (ca. 1625 - 1860), these techniques started being used by the nascent police forces in Japan. This is a crucial fact, since the use of most floor fighting became to hold down a person for apprehension, being liberally supported by fellow officers. It is for this reason that jujutsu is one of the very, very few martial arts that is still in use. Many police forces have adopted at least some simplified techniques.

DZR and a bunch of these other Jujutsu arts have a clear lineage back to older forms. They almost all start with a standing situation, seek to control someone either by joints, chokes or throws and then restrain them.

Now we head to Brazil. In the US if we men want to settle our differences, we go to the parking lot and have our bros stand around & cheers us on while we beat the snot out of each other. This is why boxing has always been so popular here. In Brazil, they wrestle. Very important point there.The Gracie family learned a form of jujutsu (they spell it very oddly, which is actually a very early romanization of the word) from a Japanese sensei. Since they didn’t have much use for the stand-up parts of the art, BJJ mostly lost those and concentrated on the floor work. They fought lots and developed their own excellent training methods.

Don’t get me wrong, the BJJ’ers totally rock when they are on the floor and everybody should learn some. However, it is very, very highly optimized for a specific type of dueling. No cops I know would consider BJJ a first choice in dealing with someone, but do stand-up jujutsu all the time.

In a nutshell, why is BJJ so popular? Well, first off floor work is vastly taxing and you will get in seriously great shape doing it. So the training alone gives you a conditioning advantage (most sport bouts are determined by conditioning, not technique).

Secondly, since being on the floor is very hard to deal with, requiring odd leverages and coping with the fact the floor is always in the way, the sheer technical nature of the system precludes mastery with anything less than years of study. Unless your opponent has trained for years, you probably will win with some simple lock or choke.

So there you have it and why BJJ-ers claim it is the ultimate fighting art: Someone with no floor experience can be dragged to the floor (hard to stop that) and then regardless of their stand-up training, quickly dispatched. The Garcie’s realized this in the early 1990’s and being very tough mothers had several bouts with well known MA-ers.

They did very, very well indeed for the 4 or 5 years it took everyone else to get up to speed, then they retired. Now a UFC looks like Olympic judo when they get on the floor, being fairly static and highly complex. Gone are the good old days when Royce would just totally fubar some national kickboxing champ.

FWIW I’ve trained all sorts of people (used to train military police and other law enforcement people too), so my approach to martial arts is from a more practical work-day perspective. I don’t know what you are after, but I do want you to understand that MA is generally a very big business now and there is a lot of hype.

A standard MMA mix of Muay Thai and BJJ is a great combo for sport fighting, but might not do too much for you outside the ring (unless, of course, you are the attacker…) Many people get hyped up, train really hard for several years then get very disenchanted and quit because they did not have it in perspective to start with. MMA does have a good media image as a bunch of bad boys and is the sexiest type of MA around (thank Gawd we’re past the “Kung Fu” days of David Caradine wannabes.)

In summary: BJJ is very well worth study, but is a small part of jujutsu. If your interest is sport/conditioning/social, by all means, do BJJ. If you want a more well-rounded system, consider DZR or any of several other systems.

BJJ = 90% floor, 10% stand-up
DZR = 90% stand-up 10% floor

Oh, final caveat… Folklore has it that once upon a time there was jujutsu. Somehow it got turned into judo, karate and aikido. Therefore, if we study all of those do them together, we get jujutsu back. Nope. I say that because there are a lot of jujutsu schools that cropped up in the 1970’s and 1980’s where Bob studies 3 arts, decides he knows it all and declares himself Grandmaster of his own system.

These systems are often very odd and ineffective. (one of the strangest is just down the road from me, where the headmaster is a born-again Christian minister who does it as a “Christian Martial Art”. I visited their dojo once. Damn spooky it was too, being bad MA and a borderline cult at the same time.) In actuality, there is not much authentic jujutsu to be had so be careful where you look. DZR is, however, very good.

Cheers,

– jj

232

Endurance Workout

4 sets of:
1A. Walking Lunge, 10 reps each leg
1B. MB Mountain Climbers, 10 reps
1C. MB Push-ups, 10 reps
1D. Prisoner Squats, 20 reps
1E. Mixed-grip Pullups, 8-10 reps
1F. Hanging Leg Raises, 5 reps
1G. Rope Skipping, 50 reps as fast as possible

No rest between exercises; rest 60 sec. between sets.

Time: 30 min; this included warm-up and post-workout stretching. That circuit is tough, especially after the first 2 sets. Your legs are burning on those prisoner squats, but they are definitely effective.

Not sure on my schedule for tomorrow, but I should be able to make one of the BJJ classes.

233

BJJ (gi)
Time: 90mins

Worked with side control. Escapes to side control from bottom of opponents side. Transitions to heel hooks, chokes and wrist locks. Rolled for 30-40 minutes, too fatigued today to be much threat to anyone, held my own defensively and pretty much left my offense in my other gym bag at home.

235

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
JJ Dude, great post. Thouroughly enjoyed all of it, thanks for taking the time to write it.

I agree that there is probably more bullshit gimmicks in MA then there are myths about weightlifting. McDojos, black belt factories…ugh.

I’m not sure how it goes with MMA schools, but I know that many places claim to teach “Karate” when in reality it’s the farthest thing from it.

It’s partly why I call the specific form of Karate that I do by it’s actual name instead of just the generic term- too much bullshit associated with the single word.

I have also noticed many places that claimed to teach “traditional martial arts” that all of a sudden also teach “grappling and MMA”. Really guys? That was quick. Your senseis must be genius learners to master such a difficult art in about a year… fuckers…[/quote]

Yeah that is why you must think critically about the quality of coaching in an establishment. The whole MA scene, TMA and MMA, is basically a huge shitty deal for the customer/client.

But as they say; That’s capitalism. When you gotta make a buck or die trying it forces some far reaching shit.

-chris

236

I agree, you definitely have to do your homework before signing up for a MA school.

There was a guy in the area that tried to open up several schools claiming to be a well-rounded MMA fighter; meaning he could teach all aspects of the sport. Well, come to find out the guy was a former kickboxer and boxer, but knew absolutely nothing when it came to the ground.

I kind of fell into my gym by accident; I was looking to do a story on the growth of MMA in Colorado and came across my instructor’s gym. I interviewed him for the story and I could tell from the photos on the wall (and a Google search) that this guy was the real deal.

My thoughts were solidifed once I saw the caliber of guys training there. Yes we have belts, but we don’t necessarily base progress on how many stripes we get or what belt we are; especially if we’re going no-Gi. You know where you stand by the one-on-one feedback you get from the coaches, training partners, etc.

To me, that’s a much more honest evaluation as opposed to schools that hand out black belts to 15-year-old kids just b/c they’ve been coming to class for a few years.

239

Hey FightinIrish, if you think of it could you ask your Sensei/Shihan if he’s heard of George Gonas. He studied Goju Ryu, among other styles, and synthesized his own style which he called Pancration (not old school MMA as seen on human weapon.) In the Boston MA scene it came to be known as Greek Goju Ryu. I believe he trained with Ed Parker back in the day and was relatively influential in popularizing martial arts, at least in the New Englanda rea, back in the 60/70’s. My mom/1st Sensei is a black belt in the system and it would be interesting to see if he’s a Boston only guy or if traditional Goju Ryu people have heard of him.

240

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
I have also noticed many places that claimed to teach “traditional martial arts” that all of a sudden also teach “grappling and MMA”. Really guys? That was quick. Your senseis must be genius learners to master such a difficult art in about a year… fuckers…[/quote]

Thanks for the kind words.

Oh yeah. My favorite was one Taekwondo school that has started teaching its “secret” killer floor fighting techniques (I get a lot of their ex-students). In a stunning coincidence, it looks a lot like what someone might pick up at a weekend BJJ seminar… Doesn’t really bother me too much, since they don’t seem to really grok that not having a clue as how to get from kicking range to grappling range means they can’t apply any of it without getting pounded.

Ah well. Someone has to hold down that end of the bell curve.

Cheers,

–jj

243

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Hey by the way fellas, have any of you been watching Fight Quest? Much better than the Human Weapon.

I’m watching the episode about Kyokushin. The man who invented this was a long time studier of Okinawan Karate, and was an 8th Dan in Goju Ryu.

“However, Oyama studied Shotokan for only a couple of years before he switched to Goju-ryu where he got his advanced training. This is reflected in Kyokushin where the early training closely resembles Shotokan but gradually becomes closer to the circular techniques and strategies of Goju-ryu the higher you advance in the system.”

Just wanted to throw that out there because there are so many people that knock the TMAs in favor of other ones because they believe that TMAs don’t really work. Let me tell you, it all comes down to the practioner and how much effort you truly put in, not a specific art.

I love that fucking show.[/quote]

when is it on and what channel, i seen the commercial for it… Human weapon was cool but that big football player guy was gay

244

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Hey by the way fellas, have any of you been watching Fight Quest? Much better than the Human Weapon.

I’m watching the episode about Kyokushin. The man who invented this was a long time studier of Okinawan Karate, and was an 8th Dan in Goju Ryu.

“However, Oyama studied Shotokan for only a couple of years before he switched to Goju-ryu where he got his advanced training. This is reflected in Kyokushin where the early training closely resembles Shotokan but gradually becomes closer to the circular techniques and strategies of Goju-ryu the higher you advance in the system.”

Just wanted to throw that out there because there are so many people that knock the TMAs in favor of other ones because they believe that TMAs don’t really work. Let me tell you, it all comes down to the practioner and how much effort you truly put in, not a specific art.

I love that fucking show.[/quote]

Kyokushin is awesome. I think Francisco Filho, Andy Hug, Glaube Feitosa, and GSP have proven that in the ring/cage. If you’re interested in TMA being applied sucessfully to real fight sport, FI, I encourage you to go to youtube and search for a highlight of the first three guys I listed, because they can all do amazing things you don’t see in other kickboxers.

It’s interesting how BJJ has become the McDojo of the 21st century, replacing TKD. People point at laugh at the TMA’s, and then go and masturbate to Rickson’s imaginary 400-0 record. Up to this point, if you went to a BJJ school, the only guys doing it were legit and you were probably in a good environment. Now that MMA has gotten so popular I think people are starting to have to seperate the wheat from the chaff because every martial arts school overnight is becoming a MMA school, regardless of instructional capacity.

245

Donut’s excatly right. TKD, and rightly so, got the rep for being a McDojo when they were handing out black belts left and right and facilities were popping up all over the place (there’s 4 in a 5-mile radius in my town).

MMA schools have started to show that trend. You can’t necessarily blame owners for trying to cash in on the popularity, but it isn’t exactly honest business tactics to promote yourself as an MMA school when the instructors know very little about the sport.

Again, that’s why research is so important. For those people thinking of starting MMA training, make sure you check out the gym in person, observe a few classes and if the gym is reputable, they should have bios of their trainers with detailed information. That should help you decide if the place is legit or not.

246

[quote]Djwlfpack wrote:
Donut’s excatly right. TKD, and rightly so, got the rep for being a McDojo when they were handing out black belts left and right and facilities were popping up all over the place (there’s 4 in a 5-mile radius in my town).

MMA schools have started to show that trend. You can’t necessarily blame owners for trying to cash in on the popularity, but it isn’t exactly honest business tactics to promote yourself as an MMA school when the instructors know very little about the sport.

Again, that’s why research is so important. For those people thinking of starting MMA training, make sure you check out the gym in person, observe a few classes and if the gym is reputable, they should have bios of their trainers with detailed information. That should help you decide if the place is legit or not.[/quote]

Word. Also, though it might seem painfull obvious, if you are in an MMA class…and no one there is an MMA fighter…you might want to rethink it. I know of one particular place that offers MMA classes, and no one, not the instructors or any students, have had an MMA fight.

247

Agreed. That is the rub. Someone looks at a system and talks about how awesome it is but they are referring to the guy who’s been doing it for years, not the newbie who can’t get out of the starting blocks. To a large degree, any martial art will work against an untrained fighter if the training is sufficiently intense.

I’ll believe someone has the ultimate martial art when they can demonstrate how to teach a complete novice how to be effective in one lesson.

Oh that’s to be expected. Everybody wants to do it, right? So everybody = drop the standards. This is just human behavior, BTW. The MMA started with the idea that they were going to take the best from everyplace and replace the bad old MA. Then they had to make a living at it, had to teach people with no talent privately and such. Also, what do you do when you get people who try hard and just can’t do it? Are you really going to whip your girlfriend’s ass in class to prove a point about your high standards? How about her best friend? I used to run a commercial dojo for many years and I don’t berate people for hustling to make a living. It’s not selling out and people who think it is almost universally have another stream of revenue. The problem with TMA were rediscovered in the MMA community because of human nature.

And I could be wrong…

– jj

248

Strength Workout

1A. Deadlift, 5x3-5: 315 (5, 5, 5, 4, 4)
1B. MB V-Up, 5x12: BW + 20 (12)
2A. One-arm DB Clean & Press, 3x5: 47.5 (5)
2B. Inverted Rows, 3xamap: BW (15, 12, 12)
3A. Two-hand DB Swing, 2x15: 42.5 (15)
3B. Jumping Lunges, 2x8: BW (8)

Time: 35 min.
Notes: Good workout. DL # continues to go up, which I’m happy with. My grip was strong on the first 3 sets, but I had trouble holding on the last 2, which is why I had to settle for 4 reps. Don’t want to use straps, though.

Tomorrow going for a double-dip. BJJ early, then muay Thai right after. Need to make up for missing classes this week.

249

Hey guys,

Been following this thread since the beginning and figured I would introduce myself.

Like most others, I got my first taste of MMA from very early UFC events. They wouldn’t allow kids under a certain age to rent them so I had to have my brother rent them for me(Shamrock v Severn days).

This initially sparked my interest in wrestling. I only wrestled for a few years and at a very low level(7th/8th grade traditional/freestyle). I played football as well and when I entered into high school I decided to cut my wrestling career short as it started to require too much of my time.

Fast forward to 23 years old; I have been craving some form of competition for a few years now as my football career was cut short by a severe lower back injury. It took 2 years to fully recover after high school and another year and a half to get the courage to get back under the bar(squats…).

After all of that, I currently have zero MMA/BJJ/MA experience. I work full time, go to school full time and am in the process of stripping my inactivity fat(was a slob when I had nothing to do).

I’ve been trying to fit BJJ classes in my schedule for some time now as my uncle has been doing it for ~6 years and consistently tries to get me to join. I never had time. I have finally been able to create some extra time between work and classes to fit in some training.

I will be taking some classes at Torres Martial Arts in Northwest Indiana as well as adapting my weight sessions to a modified 'Skinny Bastard scheme. I plan on doing this until April-ish to feel it out see what I like(they offer boxing/MT/BJJ/MMA/SubGrap classes).

At that time I begin training for the Chicago Marathon(very un-Tnation like, but something I want to accomplish). I will continue to do one or the other during my marathon training(weights or BJJ) but which one I will choose will depend on how well I do during the next few months.

I figured I would put my hat in the ring early as it may help others(who are reading) to get some perspective from the veteran guys already in this thread and someone who will be training for the first time. I will be starting classes within the next two weeks.

Thanks for all the good info so far.

250

Sykotik,
Thanks for joining in. Always cool to read about people who are just getting into the sport.

I think you’ll have a blast at BJJ. Just remember to be patient, you won’t be an expert overnight. Ask plenty of questions, show respect to others in the class and you’ll do fine. Once you start picking things up, you’ll become addicted. Definitely try out the other classes offered if you have time, just to mix it up.

Perhaps you might not like BJJ after trying it, but decide you really like the MMA, muay Thai, submission grappling, etc. There’s really an endless supply of styles out there; you’ll know when you find the right one.

Doing a modified WSFSB template is the right way to go (I think) in terms of strength training. You’ll hit all the major muscle groups, plus you won’t be in the gym more than 2-3 days a week, so that will give you time to rest.

Good luck on the marathon! My dad’s done 4 of them. I’d imagine that if you’re serious about doing this, you won’t have much time to do anything else in terms of training. Definitely don’t want to over-tax the body if you’re preparing to run 26.2 miles.

Let us know how things go once classes start.

251

BJJ (Gi)
Time: 90 min.
Notes: Worked on passing the guard and also worked on keeping guard when someone is trying to pass. Also worked if a guy on top is staying tight, how to create space and set up some submissions. Rolled for 30 min. Was able to hit an armbar and triangle, which I was pleased with. I got caught in a triangle, too, and that wasn’t much fun. Nor was the Gi choke I got caught in. Man, after not wearing a Gi for a while, you forget you have to pay close attention to those chokes, otherwise by the time you realize what’s going on, it’s too late.

Other than that, I had good positional control and from the bottom I was liking how my speed and technique on creating space both improved as the class went on.

From there went directly into…

muay Thai
Time: 60 min.
Notes: In groups of 3, we worked various punches and kicks. One guy would hit (or kick) the heavy bag while 1 person held the bag and the 3rd person shadowboxed. Person hitting the bag was going for maximal power, while the shadowboxer was focused on speed. I forgot how much it sucks kicking the heavy bag when you haven’t done it in a while. My shins were screaming, but I was happy with my hip rotation. Punches were good and strong and my new gloves worked out good.

Was very happy to get in 2 classes today after having my schedule screwed with b/c of work. Next week I should be able to get to BJJ 2-3 times.

252

[quote]Djwlfpack wrote:
Sykotik,
Thanks for joining in. Always cool to read about people who are just getting into the sport.

I think you’ll have a blast at BJJ. Just remember to be patient, you won’t be an expert overnight. Ask plenty of questions, show respect to others in the class and you’ll do fine. Once you start picking things up, you’ll become addicted. Definitely try out the other classes offered if you have time, just to mix it up.

Perhaps you might not like BJJ after trying it, but decide you really like the MMA, muay Thai, submission grappling, etc. There’s really an endless supply of styles out there; you’ll know when you find the right one.

Doing a modified WSFSB template is the right way to go (I think) in terms of strength training. You’ll hit all the major muscle groups, plus you won’t be in the gym more than 2-3 days a week, so that will give you time to rest.

Good luck on the marathon! My dad’s done 4 of them. I’d imagine that if you’re serious about doing this, you won’t have much time to do anything else in terms of training. Definitely don’t want to over-tax the body if you’re preparing to run 26.2 miles.

Let us know how things go once classes start.
[/quote]
Yeah, I plan on trying most of their classes aside from boxing. I get 3 free classes for being a member of the gym that the operate out of. I figured I would try to get a taste of their BJJ/MT classes and maybe their submission grappling.

As an outsider looking in, my initial tendency would be towards submission grappling/ no-gi BJJ. This appeals to me more since it does not require a Gi. I’m not entirely sure how I will like adding a bunch of different pivot/leverage points to my body that I am not used to. Obviously, that all comes with time so we will see how it goes.

As far as the marathon, it’s going to suck. I’m definitely not a long distance runner but it has always been something I have wanted to accomplish, just to “do it”(among a laundry list of other random things). I’ll be training with another friend of mine who I have convinced to run it with me. The training plan, as of now, is 4 days of running a week; 2 short easy paced runs, 1 medium distance timed pace run and 1 long easy paced run. The mileage on these days obviously increases as the race gets closer.

My rest days will be structured around the long run(which will be on a weekend). Since this will be extremely new territory for me I want to be a bit cautious in the beginning. The shorter days and most of the medium days will be under ~1.5 hours of running. Hopefully on these days, especially the short runs, I can find energy/time to train/lift.

I actually hate running but I thought of the old lifting saying, “Do what you are worst at/hate the most, first”. Reminding myself of that saying pushed me over the edge and I decided to commit myself to doing it. My goals for the race are; Train and finish the race injury free, beat my friends ass in time/brag about it later, and run something under 4:30(which is an average of ~10 minutes miles) but something around 4:00 would be awesome. If I run anything more then a 4:30 I will be pretty pissed, but at this point I really have no idea how well I will do with running long distances. Time will tell.

253

Strength Workout

1A. Clean & Press, 5x5: 135 (5, 5, 5, 4, 4)
1B. Mixed-grip pullups, 5x6-8: BW (8, 8, 8, 7, 6)
2A. Close-grip Bench Press, 3x5: 185 (5)
2B. Seated Cable Row, 3x5: 190 (5)
3. MB Sit-up, 1x50: BW + 20 (50)

Time: 30 min.
Notes: Good workout. Clean & Press continues to go up in weight, although I probably won’t add too much more as I don’t want to give up speed and explosiveness for more weight handled.

Body was sore yesterday from Saturday’s long day of training, but felt OK today. BJJ tomorrow.

254

Hit up the full 3 hour session last night and it was fun. Put on the mma gloves and had a blast. It was weird because I was unsure about throwing punches etc. because I had not done it in so long. Still and all fun. good to learn to time ones takedowns and throws in riposte to the opponents strikes.

felt half bad about taking down the guys who were predominantly strikers because they had no defense on the ground and you can’t really light anyone up with just mma gloves and mouth guards in or you wont have many training partners left after a few days. (<-great run on sentence, god bless the intertron)

Thinking of maybe going for my brown belt sometime before september as i must leave for vacation (long one) in sept. I would say that now is the time if there ever was a time.

-chris