So what's this all about?

I turn forty at the end of the year. Before I get there I want to have another amateur MMA fight. This blog is a record of how, and if, I manage to achieve this.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

If.......

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
...... Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son

Perhaps you recognise the lines above from Rudyard Kipling's poem 'If', I'm not sure about the being a Man part but the first two lines really hit home for me after my last two training sessions at Leicester Shootfighters.   Following a conversation with Nathan, the coach, about fighting this year during which he suggested that I need to get more mat time in, specifically grappling sparring, I attended the advanced grappling class which is mostly free rolling.   To say that I got schooled is a huge understatement.  Only one of my training partners was as heavy as me but they all handed me my ass.  I got tapped,  gassed and, during a roll with Nathan, a little hurt.  I went home not a little dispirited and tried not to dwell on my failings.

Two days later I attended the wrestling class followed by sub grappling taught by Rob Hannis.  Aside from needing to improve both areas I was glad to have an opportunity to get back on the mat quickly in order to prove - mostly to myself - that I could, that I wasn't scared or put off by adversity.  In a complete contrast to the training 48 hours earlier I had a great old time.  Even though I haven't drilled takedowns for years I was able to pick them up pretty quickly and get a reasonable level of competency.  I also picked up the sprawling and sit-out variations okay so felt I'd spent a very worthwhile hour.  Staying on for the submission grappling I picked up two new (to me) guard breaks/passes and was able to drill them with no real problems.  We spent the last 20 minutes or so rolling light from the guard and I was able to get in a couple of good rolls with two guys closer to my weight.  I was really pleased to get guard passes and sweeps and left the gym feeling really good.

So what's the point in comparing these two very different experiences that took place so close together?  I didn't massively improve my technique, conditioning or game planning in two days, nor do I think that either performance was a blip, just about being more evenly matched in terms of the ability of my training partners.

The point of this post is to highlight the importance of being able to '... meet with Triumph and Disaster, And treat those two impostors just the same' that is to dwell on neither as of themselves, but to using them as experiences for learning and moving forward.  Anyone who watches sports of any kind will probably have heard fighters, players, managers, coaches follow a loss with the truism "We learn from it and move on".  Easy to say, and much easier in a non-competitive arena (training) than in a competitive one (a fight).  Having said that I feel I can add a little to the conversation without being too melodramatic.  I felt pretty miserable after what I'll refer to as my poor performance; essentially I felt like I'd been shown my true level and that I'd been deluding myself thinking that, with a little fine tuning, I could do myself justice in a fight.  As such, even on the way home from the gym I could feel negative thoughts and self-talk creep in.  "What's the point?" is often the first one in to my head, questioning whther I'll ever get where I want to go, whether I've got what it's going to take.  The first step for me in this is recognising what's going on - it's a reaction rather than a response, it's not based on reasoned thinking and should be acknowledged as such.  Once I can stop the reactive thoughts I can take some time to go back through to learn.  I like to take a solution focused approach - not 'why did it happen?', rather 'what can I do to improve or prevent the same happening again?'.  Sometimes it's not enough to have these conversations in my head, I'll write down the questions and answers in my notebook.  I'm a big believer in the expression 'I know what I believe when I hear myself say it' - or in this case see it written down.

Photo from jiujitsuvortex.com


How about meeting with Triumph?  I feel that it's just as important to not get carried away will victories however large (UFC Belt) or small (a good training session).  In the same way that I could feel the negativity creeping in on the way home, so I could feel almost euphoria sneaking in to my head after two good sessions.  What's wrong with this?  Nothing as long as I recognise it for what it is and examine the experience in a rational, useful way.  The opposite side of the coin to negativity is a feeling of invincibility or an over-estimation of one's ability.  Put like that it easy to see the need to rein it in a little.

So, to sum up:
  1. Learn to recognise thoughts for what they are.
  2. Challenge them.
  3. Use a solution focused approach (What works? What's gone well? How can I do more of that? What can I do that will help? Who else can help?)
  4. Talk it through or write it down.
  5. Put it in to practice
  6. Review.
Hopefully this is helpful, I'm already writing a bigger piece along similar lines.  If you've read this far, please leave a comment or drop me a line to tell me what you think.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

How was it for you? 2012 in review


Short of something original to write about I thought I'd jump aboard the bandwagon of looking back and reviewing the last year, obviously from the point of view of all things training and what I'm trying to achieve. I guess that this can be a useful practice although I've always been fond of the driving analogy – you need to look in the rear view mirror from time-to-time but it's best to keep your eyes on the road ahead. Anyway, with that said here's my review of the year....




The biggest step that I took in 2012 in terms of fighting before I'm forty was returning to Leicester Shootfighters. In the last year others at the gym have asked me at least half-a-dozen times how long I've been training – and no, not in a 'you're really good you must have been training for ages!' way either. This led me to think about how long – on and off – I have been training, coming to the conclusion that 2013 will be ten years since I first started training at LSF. It should go without saying that although I've followed the club around, from DeMontfort Uni to Western Road (if I remember rightly), Urban Martial Arts to Gannon's, I've had long stretches with no training at all. I don't think I attended more than one session between 2008 and 2012 which, in my experience, is easily long enough to forget most of what you've learnt.

Was I nervous about going back? A little is the short answer. Not because I was worried about being hurt or worried about the fighting aspect, more because I was concerned about not being able to keep up and embarrassing myself. One thing I did remember from previous training was that wrestling in particular is tough, and no matter how much you push yourself it's nothing compared to how hard a training partner(s) or coach can push you. True to form, first session back, the warm up was uncomfortable but it didn't put me off, and a session on side control that wasn't totally alien to me encouraged me and, something that can't be stressed enough, the atmosphere at LSF is always friendly which also encourages persistance in training.
Something else that's been really useful has been using a training notebook to record techniques and other aspects of training. The act of recording what I've learnt helps to cement things in my memory, plus I'm able to 'revise' later in order to remind myself or brush up on techniques.
In thinking about my development/improvement over the year I feel that I have managed to retain a lot of what I've been taught although a key element for me over the coming months is to start to spar more so that I can try/implement things that I've learnt.  If there's an area of my game in which I've 'got' less it's takedowns and this is something that I know I'm going to need to improve on (aside from everything else that needs improvement).
Returning to LSF has been the right decision for me and I believe the right decision in order to achieve my goal.




 Getting in to better condition was and is a key goal. This year I've put a lot more time in to conditioning than I have at any point in the past. I've never previously found conditioning to be particularly interesting and finding methods I enjoy or can at least tolerate has been key to getting more of this kind of work in.  I've done a lot of circuits this year changing them up and mixing in new exercises whenever things get stale.  The net's been a great source of ideas and I've also pulled a few things from the circuits that we've done at LSF.  I've kept up the sled dragging although to a lesser extent than previously, mainly due to the fact that the field I used to train in is now off limits.  I now drag the sled on a farm road generally combining a slow half-mile pull followed by 8 -10 sprints covering the same distance.   I've also added in some unloaded sprints.  I guess the thing I've learnt this year is that conditioning can be interesting and....Fun!

 

Thinking about the strength component of my training I was tempted to write it off a little due to the fact that I haven't made any gains in terms of my numbers on the the four main lifts. However, considering it further I took a more positive view - I have been way more consistent with my strength training than previously and I really feel that that 5/3/1 has been an excellent method of programming for me. There's very little (none?) wasted time in this programme and as I've written previously, having all my lifts set out in advance takes all the guesswork and the "I don't feel like squatting today" out of training. I'm pleased with my consistency and considering that strength isn't a primary or even secondary concern my progress is ok.
Assessing my chances of achieving a reasonable performance in an amateur fight this year I'm 80% sure I can do it. The key bits I need to add are pretty apparent to me now and I'll write some more on those next time. Happy New Year.