Killing the fat mAn!

21 May 2009

STUFF

The past few days have been relatively stressful for me dealing with my upcoming re-enlistment in the Army National Guard. I tried to reenlist into my current unit; however they are 200% over strength in my current MOS (Military Occupational Specialty), so they are not able to offer me a re-enlistment bonus. I am not willing to re-enlist without a bonus. The bonus is fairly substantial and it very important to me that I get a bonus for re-enlisting. I have a few different options to get a bonus:

Go to another unit that has an opening for my MOS. The problem with that is that I would have to do some driving and I really am not a huge fan of driving.
Change my MOS. I would have to wait until I finish the MOS qualifying school before I got the bonus and then they would have to break it up into 3 portions over the term of my contract.

One option I have is to go to a unit that is getting deployed and get my bonus overseas and then it would be tax free. I am thinking pretty hard about that option because I have been feeling the need to get away from my current situation for a while. I have some of the best friends in the world and anyone that reads this knows how much I enjoy training. I feel like I am just going through the motions of life right now and really just want a change.

I have not really dated anyone since I got divorced. I mean I dated, but nothing serious. I feel like that is the only thing that my life is truly missing. I know that if I go to Iraq, I will not have any opportunity to find anyone. I think I would rather that then deal with the bullshit of trying to meet someone with limited time anyway.

The cons of going to Iraq are many:

- I might die! Of course I could die in a car accident this afternoon…

- I will not get to see my friends for a whole year

- I will not get to see my dog Jenny & I would have to find someone to take care of her

- I would not be able to train BJJ or Muay Thai or Crossfit. I could probably find someone that does crossfit over there.

- I’m sure there are others but I can’t think of them right now.

The pros of going to Iraq are:

- I’d be able to save lots of money & get my bonus tax free!

- I could stop drinking all together

- Have a sense of honor

- I could focus on my diet and get down to my goal weight.

I have some time before I need to make a decision, so I will be sure to make a good choice. That’s all life is is a bunch of choices.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER
The information transmitted is intended solely for the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of or taking action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this email in error please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.

SunTrust is a federally registered service mark of SunTrust Banks, Inc. Live Solid. Bank Solid. is a service mark of SunTrust Banks, Inc.
[ST:XCL]

19 May 2009

5/18

I think I ate something bad during lunch yesterday because I felt awful when I got home last night. I did not train BJJ last night because I went straight to bed. I woke up about 9:30pm in cold sweats and a headache. I checked my facebook and went back to bed.

I feel much better this morning! Tonight, I am scheduled to do Crossfit at 5pm and then I will probably go to Trey’s to do BJJ since I could not train last night.

18 May 2009

Training 5/15, 5/16, and 5/17...

Friday 5/15

Muay Thai @ 6pm. Scott taught how to slip punches and counter them. I really liked learning that! I have to practice it a lot, but I think I will get the hang of it and do well with counterpunching. The endurance round was tough, but not a death round. I definitely feel my endurance getting better! I worked with Bjorn. He is approximately 135, but he hits hard for his size. He can kick the heck out of some pads too…

BJJ- Andrew has been teaching techniques from the guard all month. He taught a wrist lock setup to take the back and other ways to take the back from guard. It was a pretty good small class, but lots of rolling. I really like rolling to warm up.

Saturday 5/16

Andrew went to a Muay Thai seminar and he asked me to open up and do an open mat while he was training. Honestly, I did not think many people would show. I was right! Brian, Chrissy, and MikeByrd were the only people to show up at noon. Russ, Lendo, and Cheryl came in late. It is always fun rolling with Russ because he always takes advantage of mistakes, and shows you ways to become more technical immediately after the round. I rolled with MikeByrd a couple of times. He is so flexible and strong! He got me a few times. I think I got him once or twice, but he is really pretty technical and solid. Brain is getting really good! I like working with him because he is a good training partner and moves like a very experienced grappler. He has been training for a while and barring injuries, he would have been a blue belt long ago. He is very hard to submit! He works pretty hard when he is in class.

Sunday 5/17

US Grappling held a referee certification at Andrew’s School. The referee’s score live matches as part of their final certifications. Along with a few others, I came in to roll and give the refs some practice in scoring the matches. Chrissy gave some instructions to do illegal moves and positions on purpose to see if the refs would catch them and warn the grappler. The first match, I was told to allow my opponent to get me into a triangle and pick him up from there. That was kind of fun! I picked Chris Lombard up like he was a rag doll.

In all, I got to roll 5 or six times. The matches were not real, but I did win 3 matches. I did not go hard in any of my matches, but I did sweat pretty badly all the same.

12 May 2009

5/11/2009- BJJ

Yesterday, 5/11/2009, I worked all day as I normally do, and got off at my regularly scheduled time. After work, I was scheduled to go in to train crossfit with Coach Jason. I like going to train because it helps me get stronger and more explosive when I do Jiu-Jitsu. I had to go home to change before heading out. I usually let my dog out and check my facebook account. When I got home, I discovered that Jenny (my dog) had gotten into my trash and it was everywhere. Needless to say, I was pretty upset and I had to cancel my crossfit session in order to clean up the mess that she made.

I did get to go train BJJ last night. I made it to the basics class where Andrew taught how to take the back from the turtle position and also from the full guard position. Lo, Karl, Bjorn, and I were at the basics class.

Regular class was packed with Blue belts last night. Snake, Devin, Tommy, Greg Hoder, Big Mark Pushinsky, CLinzy, and I represented the blues. Vince was the lone Purple Belt. Lots of White Belts also. Brian Linzy, Lo, Bjorn, Mark (don’t know his last name), Karl, among others…

Andrew taught the wrist lock and a really cool triangle setup from the guard. We drilled to warm up as usual. I really like getting all the repetitions for the basic movements.

11 May 2009

Copa NoVa Saturday and Open Mat Sunday

Saturday, I competed in my first tournament as a Blue Belt. I had to drive two hours to get to the venue before 9:30 am so that I could weigh in. When I got the, I realized that I could have slept in for a while longer as the weigh-ins were very unorganized.

Andrew, Brian, and Chrissy were doing the bracketing for the tournament. They really do a great job getting the brackets set up.

The tournament itself was very long! I had to wait ALL DAY before I could compete. Normally, with the US Grappling events, the executive (30+ age bracket) goes in the morning and I would be done by 2pm at the latest. With this tournament, my bracket did not get called until 4:30pm. Once my bracket did get called, I was pretty relaxed and ready to go. I tried to sleep earlier in the day but just could not get comfortable.

My first match went alright. I got caught in a baseball bat choke. I would like to say that I won my fist Blue Belt match, but I didn’t. I pulled guard and had a sloppy scissor-half position when I went for a kimura. My opponent crushed my legs to the ground and passed my guard. He then got a hand in my collar and I fought hard to not allow him to get his other hand in. He did eventually get his hand in and checked me. I was pretty discouraged, but Andrew reassured me that it was just my first time as a blue, so I took solace in that. I felt like I should have done better in that match, but oh well it was very good experience.

My next match was much better for me. My opponent pulled guard and started working for submissions. He was pretty aggressive, but I weathered the storm of his attacks and with 30 seconds left in the match, I passed his guard and started working to submit him. We got too close to the edge of the mat and the referee stopped the match and restarted us in the center of the ring. At that point, there was about 10 seconds in the match and all I had to do was hold on and not allow him to reverse the position. In the end, I held on to win. I ended up getting second place overall in my division. It felt so good to get my first win as a blue belt. It is starting to sink in that I can compete at that level.

Jay Rollins (my teammate from downtown), was also there competing. This was his first real tournament. He did the in-house tournament this past December, and has been fairly consistent in his training for the past few months. He is still very new and needs to drill a lot, but he pulled out a 3^rd place finish in White Belt super lightweight. In all, he won 3 matches and showed a lot of heart!

Sunday was open mat at Andrew’s school. I got to roll with Tyler (blue belt from Yamaski), Andrew, Vince, Dax, and Daniel. I felt really good rolling with those guys. My teammates are so good and I feel like they make me better every time that I roll!

08 May 2009

Copa Nova

I am sitting here at work thinking about what my game plan for the Copa Nova should be. I finished my work for the day an hour ago and I have to be here until 3:30, so I am just killing time until then.

I am a little nervous about competing tomorrow. I know that I am in shape enough to go a few rounds, but this will be the first time competing as a Blue Belt. I know that I can hold my own with most Blue Belts out there because the Blues at my school and on my team are tougher than most just about any place else and they are exceptional training partners!

The Kimura from scissor half-guard has been working very well for me lately. I will most likely utilize that at some point tomorrow, but I also want to try other submissions at the same time. I don’t want to be a “one trick pony”. More than likely, the people I will be competing against will have never seen one of my matches, so could probably get it on at least one person.

I am looking forward to going to train Muay Thai and BJJ tonight! I just want to punch stuff in Muay Thai class! I have some anxiety that I need to work out!

I will try to take it easy in BJJ but I definitely want to refine my game plan and sharpen my technique.

Training 5/7/09

Yesterday was pretty uneventful work wise. I really need to get something with benefits! I really like doing what I do, but the people with whom I work is a different story. I am the only mAn in a room of 6 people. The ladies are a diverse group. I will talk more about that at a later date.

On to training last night! Crossfit was pretty good! The WOD’s always look easy on paper yet rarely ever are. Yesterday’s WOD consisted of 12kb swings and 6 knees-to-elbows/6 Romanian chair sit ups AMRAP in 20 minutes. I got through 16 round of the WOD in 20 minutes. I did not want to be on the bottom of the group of athletes that performed this WOD. I wasn’t, BUT I certainly was not the best either.

This was my 3^rd WOD in a row, and when I got there I was pretty tired, but I was happy to make it through. I was also happy that I did not have to do pull ups again this week.

I decided not to go to BJJ at Eric’s. I would have been late to the class, and that is a big no-go for his classes. It is highly disrespectful for any instructor! I think I needed to rest anyway. I have worked out everyday this week and I still have Muay Thai and BJJ on Friday.

My foot is starting to feel better, so I just took it easy after crossfit.