Sticking to things.

The best laid plans etc etc, seems to be the way it is going at the moment! I have quite a lot of willpower, I tend to give myself a hard time about things, cave in,then give myself an even harder time of things and the cycle begins again etc etc. Take today for example. I had made my lunch, grilled turkey,spinach,tomatoes plus my smoothie to have every 2/3 hours. I got to work though and was reminded I was going out for lunch for a colleague’s leaving. Damn. I did try to go for a healthyish option but went for a steak sandwich….and some chips. Annoyed with myself now, but I suppose it can be marked down as 1 out of my 4 cheat meals for this week. Generally the diet is going well, I have dropped nearly half a stone since getting back to training after being off with the broken toe, but I have another 8kg or so to go until I get to the weight I may fight at. I also failed to have my smoothie this morning, not been doing too well at eating every 2/3 hours,particularly at a weekend.  This weekend I am going to get up at 8am, as staying in bed late can give me migraines (fact) and stick to my normal weekly eating regime so I don’t have any dips or anything, plus I will hopefully be more awake for training.

I decided to listen to this on the way into work this morning, it’s possibly one of the most beautiful pieces of music I ever heard.

Dunno

Seeing stars!

In order to get my fitness up I have started adding in intervals in my weekly training and thought why not start with hill sprints. I have a couple of smallish but steep hills near my house so it’s very handy . Thought I would just set out with the boyfriend and see what I could do just to set a benchmark from where I can work from. And seeing that I have a bet with him that I won’t touch cake for a month,well, I thought it would do some good him seeing I am prepared to go the extra mile in working hard. He is helping train me at the moment, from being my grappling dummy at mma to making me work harder, letting me know where I need to improve and ,fingers crossed, being one of my corner guys for my first fight.

We set out and within 100 metres got to the first hill which I had sprinted quite happily up 5 times before I broke my toe . However, my aerobic fitness has taken a bit of a dive and I was blowing half way up but I did it. We ran round to the next hill, a grassy and nasty one, which I managed to run up 4 times, which is generally quite pathetic and Jamie outran me easily. From there we continued and did another couple of miles back home and I felt pretty crappy when we got home. I don’t think I had eaten or drunk enough really, either after Saturday’s session or on Sunday morning either so was my own fault really. Had some of my waxy maize starch,which may or may not have been the reason I had restless legs all night and couldn’t get to sleep for ages. Whatever it was it was annoying and I feel particularly tired today. Think I will do some weights tonight as I can’t get to the muay thai session,which is a shame. We tend to work on clinches and ringcraft when on the matted area and the matted walls mean it’s a good chance to work the clinch. I was doing this on Saturday, working from clinch to takedown. It was exhausting as we are now repping things many more times and doing more cardio drills to, I need to in order to last those 3 rounds!

I will get fit though, and why shouldn’t I give all of this a go! Life is to short, I don’t want to regret not giving this a go later in life.

New moves

Today I learned a new choke, the Monson choke but I can’t quite get it yet for some reason. I worked and worked for 90 minutes till I could work no more! Was a good session,was doing some g&p from in guard and working in some escapes,it;s hard though as training for amateur it’s no head shot. Recapped the cradle stuff from last week and drilled it/trained it in rolling. Also did some clinch work/take downs from against the cage, my knees are pretty effective and then some nasty cardio drill for breaking guard but was all good.

Basically I am learning some really good stuff, I used to freeze when I was stuck in closed guard but that’s starting to stop now. All in all a great lesson. And I dropped more weight Looking like getting down to sub 60kg won’t actually be that hard.

Tomorrow I am going to do hill sprints till I nearly vomit. I will get fight fit no matter what now!

Here is that choke, looks easy ,I kept lifting my shoulder so it needs work!

Things I like this week.

I fully realise I having been keeping this up to date, work is crazy busy and with training too,well I just have little time. I was off training for 4 days due to a horrible cold but back Thursday and got mma later today. Plus I stupidly placed a stupid bet with a friend that I wouldn’t eat cake for a month. That has now included chocolate, ice cream and biscuits and has risen to £20 and a forfeit I am not going into at this point! Anyway it’s all for my own good in my attempt to get to sub 60kg and it’s working as lost weight this week. I am NOT going to fail this

Anyway, things I like this week:

• Brabo choke that I was drilling last Saturday at mma (video below). Works really well and another variation to my oh so favourite guillotine .
• working submissions such as the guillotine from many angles and positions.
• Getting told I am looking good ( I am too vain)
• it being bank holiday again next weekend!
• planning a trip away for my Birthday in July to Glasgow and Edinburgh
• ordering my new fancy mma kit bag.
• Old school Prodigy and also their new album, one to listen to when getting ready for training. See below!
• the feeling of eating only good food and the rise in my energy levels. Awesome!
• doing a 40 mile bike race in June as a warm up for the Manchester to Blackpool 60 miler in July.

That is all

Moving up the mats.

Last week was an excellent week training wise. I trained muay thai Mon,Tues,Weds,Thurs and MMA Sat, so a heavy week and I now have a cold but it was great! I can’t remember much about last Monday, I think it was a good session except the couple of idiots who turned up and thought they were hard but couldn’t get through the warm up. We did some clinch work, which I appeared to excel in. My training partner is pretty strong but couldn’t escape my clinch when all I was doing was just basing my body weight and relaxing into it. I surprised my kru with my ability, Idid explain it was probably a result of my grappling that made me ok at it.

Tuesday was more thai, I can’t really remember what we did, must have been the shin kicking session. My shins were awful at the end, but must be getting tougher as they are healing much faster and it took more to get them in a bad way. Wednesday, more thai and this time I got complimented on my excellent guard- that’s what I need as it is such a fundamental whether in muay thai or mma and I always concentrate on keeping my hands up and defending myself so that was good. Thursday I was knackered but my kru made a point of saying I have improved a lot lately, which is always nice to hear.

Friday I went home early, I felt crap, sweaty palms, hot and cold and sore throat so got home and slept it off. Felt bad Saturday morning but I just knew I needed to get training, so took tablets and drank shed loads of water. As it turned out it was a good job I went. Jamie and I got taken to one side by one of the instructors who had heard we (well, me specifically) wanted to fight.He said that from now on when possible we will be down at the other end of the mats with the guys who fight/are in training and he would help me work on my ground game.  It is a completely different session now, drilling the same thing over and over agian, then doing it with resisting opponent then rolling using the techniques.We were doing the brabo choke from the cradle, which actually works really well for me. Just have to tweak it, work on my passing guard and it’s another tool for me. Wearing a mouth guard and my mma gloves for 2 hours was a challenge too but I absloutely loved it. He is going to give the bf coaching in cornering me too, that’s if he wants to do it, then there was the invite down to the more advanced mma session on a Wednesday night

So yeah it’s all starting to take off and I really need to get working on losing that weight (still!). Can’t get to thai tonight but going to do some weights and core work. Got to work late tomorrow too but planning a run ,we shall see. I really can’t wait for the new mma place to open, then it really will be all systems go Exciting times ahead…..

Sparring.

Last night at the senior session we sparred, all session.Started off only being allowed to use our left side, then next round the right, then adding in elbows and knees then finally full thai (well European rules with no knees/elbows to the head).  For the first 2 rounds I was with the bf, and not sparred stand up for ages so it was fun, well,it was the first time since my toe breakage so I was still a little nervous even with shin guards on. I seem to be moving ok and my evasion seems fine, I’m still pretty good with my hands. I now try and put pressure on though, I always used to back off. Last night I decided to try stalking my opponent, as had seen this done before and it seems to work ok for me. I seem to attack better from defence almost. Someone moves in and I capitalise on it, getting them in the stomach, they move their hands down to cover, leave their head open,so I then attack the head, their hands move up so I get their ribs. Basic stuff really but it’s all starting to make sense.

I did get a shot to my head though when doing full thai, which made my contact lense flip in on itself which wasn’t pleasant, I also now have a strange cirlce of light appear sporadically in that eye .If it doesn’t clear up I will go get it checked at the opticians. Other than that my guard seemed to be strong, must have been as my arms killed after an hour. It’s weights for a bit tonight then back to mma tomorrow . On Monday I am hoping to get to the additional fighter’s session at Sinclair mma ,so next week will be pretty relentless. It’s what I need/want anyway. I just need to sort a proper headguard out now. I plan on buying a Sandee leather one in a couple of weeks,the type that have the cheek guards too.

I ate lots yesterday, well lots of the good stuff anyway, not veering away from my plan. My clothes are definitely getting looser now so it’s all paying off again. I have stopped drinking too, this is probably going to be a longer term thing, I have stopped getting migraines which is a good thing . I just don’t need alcohol, not even one. I would rather have a green tea or something now, I don’t know why, I just don’t see the point in drinking any more. Plus I feel pretty good and happy so I don’t need booze to make me happy/enjoy things more.

I am very excited now about training, I am starting to be able to defend heavier blows, I just need to work on getting my kicks as sharp as my hands and my knees and I will be better. Then of course I need to put it all together but that will come once the new mma place opens and we can go and spar whenever we like

It’s all good, fighter girl is on the up!

Frustrated!

This week has been going ok so far really. I had Monday as a rest day then back for a double muay thai session Tuesday. I was working wit ha guy who I used to do kung fu with the 1st session but he has only just started mt, so couldn’t hold the pads properly which was quite frustrating and also with a young girl who just started who resembles bambi. It was a beginners class though so what could I expect. It’s always good to go though as it acts as a warm up for the seniors session and lets me get back to basics and work on basic techniques again. My diet is all fine too, been feeling hungry this week so need to get back eating slightly bigger meals. Just about to have my 10am actually, got some carrot and then a protein smoothie.  The later mt session was ok too, never felt like I was working hard enough though as I had felt tired all day, I had been stuck in an office with no air all day and couldn’t eat what I needed to so just felt low.

Last night I felt similar, quite lethargic before training. I had psyched myself up though as Wednesdays at the mma club are now apparently fighters classes, there is one on a Monday too but I just can’t get there in time from work. I was expecting to at least spar and work as hard as I did last week but I was paired up with a woman who has just started mt, she did kickboxing but again struggled holding the pads for me and I ended up just getting frustrated again. I feel I have come on with my power a lot recently and just get frustrated when I can’t train as hard as I want to as I need to develop it further, and my usual training partner lets me do this, as I do with her. I don’t feel battered and bruised so much this morning, except for the bruised back which is from sit ups on a wooden floor and made me wake up goodness knows how many times last night.

Tonight I am just going to the hours senior session and I plan on working as hard as I possibly can, either till I feel like throwing up or my hair goes curly. Or both Then tomorrow night I am doing my weights routine then mma Saturday and weights again Sunday etc etc ! It’s just remembering to eat every 2-3 hours that can be tricky at work, so setting an alarm to remind me. I think I need to drink even more too, I normally drink 1 1/2 litres water during the day and green tea but I need to up it to 2 litres or more, just to try and stop feeling tired.

That’s all for now.

Getting the home “gym” sorted.

I am really pleased I managed to get back to all classes this week, did 3 muay thai sessions then Friday was rest day and yesterday was mma. I had gone over to Fightshop on Friday afternoon and got some Sandee mma sparring gloves , only small would fit my lady hands and they had them and it’s only 20 mins drive from work. It wasn’t a very tough session yesterday as there were a few beginners there and I spent a while drilling and rolling with my mt training partner who started mma yesterday. I also rolled with a big guy and lasted a while before getting tapped so all in all it was a good session.

I keep forgetting to write my food here, I’ll start up again this week, there has just been a lot on this last week. I sorted the spare room out again today as I am determined to get weights and conditioning into my weekly regime. I am going to have to train a couple of times a day some days which is all ok. I just have some weights and a stability ball right now but got pads for some pad work and going to get a medicine ball and resistance band. Then we should have the new mma gym soon with bags etc so it’s all looking up.

Here was today’s home workout.Only using lighter weights this week ,just to get back properly.

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Sunday

3 x 10 squats 16kg

3 x 10 deadlift 22kg

3 x 10 calf raises (holding 9kg)

3 X 10 dumbell curls (each arm) 4.5kg

3 x 10 dumbell bench press on stability ball

- foam roller + tennis ball
- all fours, neutral spine, drawing in (breathe out and pull belly button to spine, then breathe normally while you hold for a count of 10)
- plank (front, side, back – repeated 10 second holds on each position. Start with 3 on each, and work up to 6 on each. Make sure you’re drawing in to engage the transversus abdominis and keep good form) – did 3 x 10 secs of each
- hip lifts (lie on back, hold tennis ball between knee and body, place other foot on ground with weight on heel, push up and hold for a count of 3. Do 3 sets of 6 – 10 reps on each leg.

ball workout

Stability ball crunches 4 x 10

Russian twists on ball 3 x 10

Muay thai reduxe.

Well I was glad I managed to do both mt sessions last night, especially seeing that I was fuelled mainly by caffeine,coke, gin and hotpot from the funeral. I felt exhausted in the afternoon when  I got home but knew I needed to get out and kick something to make me feel better. My aim at the moment is to start putting more power into my techniques so that I can get more ready for interclubs/mma sparring etc. Part of this is also learning to block more effectively and work on conditioning so I was glad when the 2nd half of the senior session was concerned with conditioning stomachs,taking punches to it and not blocking and then taking thigh and shin kicks without guards on.

Reagrding my power, it’s still my roundkicks that need work. They aren’t as flicky now but I just need to learn to swing that heavy leg in and get my hips into it. I keep being told it’s all in the hips so I am just trying to learn how to get it right to get one of those rib breakers in. It’s such a different emphasis now, we learn to finish off our opponents, to land strong kicks and punches for the knock out and to score more points rather than the quick flicky techniques required in points bouts. This in turn means learning to block far more effectively, to roll under strikes and move aroundto avoid that knockout. It’s always strange to think that now if and when I get a fight it will be for the ko, whether for muay thai or mma, or obviously the submission. Not the first person to get to a certain amount of points. Need to be able to last 3 x 5 minute or 3x 3 minute rounds too and be able to land decent and strong techniques in the final round if required. I’m loving the challenge though and it just feels right. I can’t watch fights now with the flicky techniques, the no guard,hands down kind of sparring.

Tonight I am off to Sinclair MMA ,new club that has opened nearby ,as my Kru is their thai coach and it’s the “fighters/senior” session so will be harder with more sparring. Am I ready? Well, why not? I have to take the plunge at some point and even though I’m only just back at training it might as well be now I shall update tomorrow (fingers crossed!)