27 year old mma fighter based out of Las Vegas. Passion for cooking, reading, martial arts and buddhism. Aspirations of being a pro fighter by summer of 2010. Slowly self teaching web design, and any pointers are welcome.
Missed Thai because I wasn’t sure the gym was open. I called up there, called several people, but no one was answering. With Mark out of town for Strikeforce, I didn’t think there was class, so I called the Professor and he said to show up for jits.
Went in and worked transitions from side control to the full mount. All was pretty basic, though there were a few tweaks that Rodrigo showed me that will definitely help me out and see some use. Rolled, and when we were leaving the professor said he needed to talk to me. He said he had a surprise for me and to make sure I was there tomorrow and Friday.
Got up and ran today, which is going to become a regular fixture until I’m back in fight shape. Came home and ate, and then just hung out.
Got to the gym and we did some intense Thai workouts. Alternated rounds on the bag doing specific striking drills with rounds of various plyo exercises. 10 rounds in all was our start. We then did bull in the ring, where one person stays in and spars against different people each round until he’s gone against all his partners. 9 rounds of that was the wrap up. We did Mark’s ab routine which is one of the most excruciating things I’ve ever done. By the end it felt like one of my abs was sticking out. There wasn’t one person in class that looked chipper by the end of it, and that’s what Mark said made him know it was a great class.
Jits we drilled escapes from side control, including one that sets you straight up for a triangle, arm bar, or omaplata if the person you are escaping from doesn’t turn over. I’m digging it a lot!
First off, started dieting. Downloaded the Calorieking Diet & Exercise manager to help me keep track of things, and planning meals out a head of time. It amazes me how much you can actually eat and still lose weight (in theory at this point).
Went in and did Myke Pyle’s ab workout after running a mile and a half. Plan is to do abs Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, lifting Tuesday and Friday. Schedule may change once I can afford to go to Norm for Strength & Conditioning, but for now I’m doing that myself.
We worked a ton of set ups for the left hook in Muay Thai. Out of everything I’ve done in the past few months, this was by far my favorite thing. I have a few more options now, and think it’s really going to be something I see a lot of use out of. It’s funny to see my Kru get so animated and into stuff when he’s teaching. The fact that he has applied all the stuff he teaches us is what makes it so worth learning.
BJJ we did gi work and set up double attacks. While this was pretty much review, there were a few tweaks that Rodrigo showed me to make the set up better. I also was working on go-go plattas from the mount, which if I can get it down will be SWEET. Rolled hard, worked on a bunch of the stuff we learned, so I can used to doing it live. Drill and drill and drill and drill.
Training has been going well. Tuesday I lifted, working on something my dad learned at the trainer’s confrence he attended last month. Twice a week lifting heavy enough that twelve reps is a struggle and doing two sets of each exercise will put on two pounds of muscle and burn up to twelve punds of fat. Following this was an hour of Muay Thai (consisting pretty much exclusively on tiips aka front kicks or push kicks) and then an hour of no-gi grappling. Rodrigo is focusing a lot more on pushing me individually and coaching me a great deal to help me improve since I’m not often challenged by most of the guys at the gym.
Last night I went in early to help one of the guys blow off some steam after a break up, so we did some no-gi with gloves on and I let him tee off a bit on me. Ended up being kind of a non-stop roll with him and a few other guys as they all wanted to take me on. Worked abs, then did Muay Thai. We hit pads tonight, and my usual partner was there for the first time in a few weeks, so had a good work out. Then did BJJ and worked on spider guard. This is a guard I play a lot, so it was a refresher course, then finished with rolling with one of our pros that was getting ready to leave tomorrow for a fight. Was a good night. Off to eat some salmon, black beans, brown rice and spinach.
I decided that I’m actually going to use this thing for a change, and use it as a way of keeping a blog to detail my training, diet, feelings, etc as I get back into shape and get ready to compete again. It’ll be my way of keeping my thoughts together, keeping track of what I’m eating, and how training is going. There will be a few inspirational quotes or pictures from time to time, but the majority will be details on how life is going.
I’m beat up. I definitely over trained for the last couple weeks. I have almost no energy, my body hurts, and my immune system is down. It’s funny, I was so riled up and into training again, that I was ignoring everything. It all first caught up with me last Thursday. For the week and a half that had been leading up to that, I was doing 4-5 hours a day in the gym. I’d go to MMA or run, then do Strength & Conditioning, then Muay Thai, then BJJ. Thursday, I did the MMA class, then did a fitness test, and felt like I was going to pass out. I sat down and felt like I was going to faint. I drove home and immediately fell asleep for a few hours. I woke up, ate a bit of food, and was immediately asleep again. This has continued for a week now, though Monday and Tuesday I did full work outs, and Wednesday I worked until I was hurting again. I just have to remember to pace myself, and that it’s going to take time to get things back to where they were.
For whatever reason, I really only write in this blog when I’m down. Life as of right now is amazing. I can honestly never remember being happier then I am now. Though I am also more broke then ever, I’ve really realized how little I really need money (aside from the mundane bills), and how to learn to enjoy the little things.
I’m training for a fight in January if my coach lets me do it. I’ve definitely been putting the work at the gym, though I did over train and it came back to bite me in the ass. I’ll be back to 100% in no time though. If any of you want less in depth info, check out my twitter.
twitter.com/toddgimian
A few people have asked me what I’d like for Christmas (and my Mom has even asked me what I’d like for my birthday since she shops half a year in advance). Here are a few things I’m interested in:
-
Affliction Heroes and Demons Shirts, Size Medium
- These Horiyoshi shorts, size 32
- Rosetta Stone Portuguese, Thai, Spanish, or Japanese.
- Money to put towards a membership for Strength & Conditioning with Norm Turner.
- Money in general.
That’s about all I can think about.
Monday Lynn and I went out to dinner, and long story short, I was told there was an opening that would pay good money to work as a Sous Chef. If I was offered the job, and took it, I would be work 60ish hours a week, and would basically not be able to train. That night, I was in a funk for most of the night, eventually talking to Lynn to find out what she thought.
Should I:
a) Take the job, make decent money, and give up on the dream I moved out here for
b) Turn the job down and pursue my dream, even though I am short on cash.
After talking with her, I talked to my coach the next day, and he told me I just need to train hard and I can succeed. So I ended up going with B. Lynn supports me 100% on this (as long as I don’t half ass it and actually train), and it feels good to have some people behind me.
So had my orientation today for working for pure management. I’m excited about barbacking, even if it does invlove surrounding myself with drunken retards (had enough of that last year). I’m getting paid to basically exercise, making damn good money doing it, and don’t have the option of not being in shape any,ore (if I gain a certain amount of weight/body fat/mass I get suspended until I lose it). This is just what I needed to get me to where I needed mentaly for pushing myself harder. Top all that off with things only getting better with the personal life, and you can call this cloud 9.
