training...

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took the first part of this week off so that i could figure out my moving situation. Found out the govt. just signed a new GI Bill that goes into effect Aug next year, its called the Post 9/11 GI Bill. basically, it pays for in state tuition, plus gives a housing allowance, something close to $1000 per month. to qualify, you just have to have served 90 or more consecutive days service after sept 11. since I did, I have decided to take the next year off (right now, I have been using student loans to pay school, and GI Bill to pay my regular bills). i am moving back up to the portland area, to put me closer to the gym so that I don't have to make much of a commute. I'm going to pick up another remedial job for the next year, and really just put a lot of effort into learning the fight game, and getting as many fights as possible. i am going to talk to my coaches about setting up my first fight sometime end of next month

[JayC]

^^good luck w/that bro^^ I'm sure you'll do great! You appear highly motivated and dedicated.
..congrat's on that new bill. I served myself.... 8 years active duty USAF. I was in during and after 9/11 but unless I change carreers, etc.. I probably wont go back to school.
How far are you from the gym now??

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Originally Posted by JayC

^^good luck w/that bro^^ I'm sure you'll do great! You appear highly motivated and dedicated.
..congrat's on that new bill. I served myself.... 8 years active duty USAF. I was in during and after 9/11 but unless I change carreers, etc.. I probably wont go back to school.
How far are you from the gym now??

about 70 miles! usually i go up on tuesday train, stay the night with Matt Horwich, train Wednesday. go back home. then come back up friday, and train. another friend of mine ownes a weight room, and it has a studio apartment attached to it. he lets me stay there over the weekend (i work up in that area). not the best of accomodations, I feel like a bum at times, but it works, and allows me to do the things that I want to do.

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yesterday... did some grappling with a friend for about 30 mins straight. my friend outweighs me by about 50lbs, and knows how to move for jits. that shit was tough, but good workout. if i can learn to move a guy that weighs that much more than me, then it will be easier to move someone my weight.

horwich's jits class. worked take downs. worked going from a double leg, and switching to a single when the defend it well. then double to a single, to a double. then the double, to single, to double, right into a guard pass. then did grappling rounds. i was feeling pretty spend towards the end, and Matt called me out. everybody else starts from their knees, Matt and I went from standing. there was about 5 mins left in class. we worked pretty hard. there was a couple times he arm dragged me against the wall, and went to belly to back me, so I tried to roll forward for a knee bar. missed the first time, and ended in a bad position. second time, I rolled, and got it. he started to slip out, so I grabbed a toe hold. most people it would have gotten (i got his knee bent, and had a near perfect position on it) but those kind of submission don't work on Matt.

got to kickboxing class, and coach decided to do a 25 min circuit training, which i just about collapsed from after. went to work striking combos, and i held pads first for my friend cody. gave me a chance to catch my breath. we worked the combo in pieces, but the final combo was jab-cross-lead thai kick-jab-cross-lead hook-cross-knee

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friday....

my friend Ian was teaching kickboxing (chris was out of town for his fight) so I went to his class. worked a lot of great combo's, and different striking technique. using one combo a few times, and then changing the last strike in the combo, after you have gotten your opponent used to something...

sparring class was brutal. we did groups of 4, one minute rounds, one person would be in for 3 rounds straight. inbetween, after everyone got their 3 consecutive rounds, we would do various things. one time we had to pick a partner, about the same size, and just trade body shots. Ian yelled out, "i don't see anybody laying on the ground in pain, you guys need to hit each other harder" and started laughting. then we had to do a wall drill. one person stands with their back on the wall, and can only defend shots. no moving side to side, and obviously, because there is a wall behind you, you can't back up. fuck, I hate that guy!!!

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finally announced in the past couple days that another one of my coaches, IFL Veteran, Matt Horwich, will be fighting Ricardo Almeida in Chicago for UFC 91. this will be a great fight for anyone who is really into Jits, and can appreciate the beauty of the ground game. Ricardo is very will known for his submissions, and Matt placed second in the world in the first ever submission wrestling tournament in Turkey last year. its gonna be a tough fight for Matt, but he's really looking forward to it, and is excited for the fight. The UFC actually cut him a half way decent deal $11k to show, and $11k win bonus, plus there was a signing bonus, can't remember what it was off the top of my head, not bad for his first fight in the UFC

UFC® : Ultimate Fighting Championship®

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Chris Wilson....

this is why I love my coach. check out the post fight interview, and the pre-fight interview from the Steve Bruno fight on UFC.


UFC® : Ultimate Fighting Championship®


here is one of my favorite quotes:

He’s just a freaking guy. He did not invent a new punch that I’ve never seen. I mean—does he do a triple somersault coming in? Is he going to summon the wind? No. He’s just another guy, and if he’s just another guy, I can kick him in the face.” UFC® : Ultimate Fighting Championship®

[JayC]

^^thats good!!!^^ lol

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long week, didn't get into the gym like i wanted to. been real busy interviewing for jobs, helping my friend move, and getting ready for my move next week.

came up with a real great and effective defense to a side choke, which I was able to turn into an escape, and, after messing with it for about 40 mins, was able to turn the escape into a real slick kimura. it would be next to impossible for me to try to describe it with just words, and have no pictures or video, so I won't even try it. maybe I can get a video done.

got a killer compliment last week. one of my training partners said to me "I notice that you really don't use much strength, and are using a lot more technique with your ground game." that made me feel real good, because for the most part, I have relied on my strength in the past to muscle people around.

[JayC]

Originally Posted by crash

long week, didn't get into the gym like i wanted to. been real busy interviewing for jobs, helping my friend move, and getting ready for my move next week.

came up with a real great and effective defense to a side choke, which I was able to turn into an escape, and, after messing with it for about 40 mins, was able to turn the escape into a real slick kimura. it would be next to impossible for me to try to describe it with just words, and have no pictures or video, so I won't even try it. maybe I can get a video done.

got a killer compliment last week. one of my training partners said to me "I notice that you really don't use much strength, and are using a lot more technique with your ground game." that made me feel real good, because for the most part, I have relied on my strength in the past to muscle people around.

Yep, thats a huge compliment bro! Very nice. ..its that same as saying "Damn, your getting good!"

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Originally Posted by JayC

Yep, thats a huge compliment bro! Very nice. ..its that same as saying "Damn, your getting good!"

i know, and that's why I felt like it was such a huge compliment. it just reaffirms to me, my thought that I'm finally starting to really understand the ground game (with the jits). i'm getting a lot better at setting people up, and getting them to move in a certain way, so that I can get things, instead of just trying to muscle them. one of my favorites sweeps that I have been using lately, is when I'm in guard. I'll grap for the kimura. lots of people will hug your body so that you can't pull the arm out, and get the kimura. as soon as they do that, i plant my opposite foot (so if I'm attacking the arm that is on my right side, their left arm, i'm planting my left foot) push off and sweep to mount, all the while still threatening the kimura. it works because they have trapped their post hand, and have nothing to stop the sweep. they can try to post their leg out, but I attack the kimura from my spider guard, and just push off with my leg on the same side they are attacking, and defeats them posting their leg to stop the sweep.


anyways.... i drained my right ear for the first time ever today. dont know if I did it right. i actually popped it last night while talking to this girl. we were talking, i was rubbing my ear, and squeezed a little too hard, and i could feel all the stuff move around inside, it felt kinda like some gel moving around in my ear. today, i massaged it a little more to loosen it up, then stuck a needle in it. i was told that an insulin needle would be too small, so I stuck a 22g in it. i tried to pull back the plunger on the syringe, but nothing would come out into the syringe. so i pulled the needle out of my ear. the second the needle came out, blood started pouring out of my ear. good thing i was leaning over the sink!!!

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Today went to grappling class. Horwich was teaching. He had learned a bunch of stuff from dennis hallman (sp?) and wanted to show us. It was stuff from cross sides. Setting up key locks, transition to arm bar, and a more unconventional key lock. I just repaired my video camera, gonna try to get someone to video it, and post it up. He also showed us how to roll to a reverse triangle when a guy defends a triangle by putting their palm into your hip and posting the same forearm on the mat. From there, I showed everyone how to put on a kimura like shoulder lock from having the reverse triangle position. My grappling rounds went like shit today. My friend josh, who weighs all of 150lbs tooled on me. That's just the way it goes. Some times it all clicks, and sdometimes nothing goes right. That's why the sport is so humbling. As class was winding down, I got matt to show me how to defend a darce choke, and also how to transition from a kimura to a darce.

Talking to matt after class, I asked him if he knew if he could get a deal on tickets to the fight on october 25 (he's fighting on the anderson silva under card). He said "they should givr me some for family and friends, and if I don't have enough, I'l just buy you some." Looks like I'll be going to chicasgo!!!

Kickboxing class was no fun today. We were drilling combos.. Jab-cross-hook to body-hook to head-rear leg kick and jab-cross-hook-lead kick. But it was without thai pads. We also did the "body shot drill" where your just trying to hit each other in the body for 3 min rounds. Yeah, everything was supposed to be light sparring, but get a bunch of guys in there who are actually trying to fight, and you can guess how "light" we were going.


oh yeah, and as i was headed in the gym pulling into the parking lot, i parked next to Robert Follis' car. (he owns the gym with Matt Lindland). Robert came out, and we were talking for a bit. he asked when I was going back to school. i told him about the new GI Bill, and how I was going to take a year off, move back up to portland area, and work. he said "does that mean we will see you in here more?" i smiled and said "of course." he said "good, I'm glad that you're gonna be back." that made me feel good.

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going through my computer, i found this. i did this quick write up after my first ever sparring session. maybe some of you will enjoy it...


June 29th, 2007, almost 5 months to the day after I first stepped into Team Quest, I had my first ever sparring class (Advanced Kickboxing). About 3 weeks ago, I was told by Coach Eric Cassanova, who is taking over the Friday Advanced Class for Chris Wilson, that I could go. I haven’t been able to go up until last Friday due not being able to get any head gear. Team Quest didn’t have any size large, I tried Fairtex online, but they were on back order and said it would be minimum 3 weeks, so I resorted to going online, eBay, and finding some. I finally win an auction and the guy tells me that his wife had thrown the box out. I ended up getting some used head gear from my friend Ian Loveland, who works out with the Pro Team.
The night before the sparring class, Ian, his wife Kitty, my friend Scott, this girl that I’ve been seeing Amy, and I all went to Old Chicago to have a few drinks and get something to eat. As usual, the conversation shifted to fighting. It seems like nobody ever gets tired of talking about it. We talked about some of the recent fights in the UFC, talked about some of the people that train at Team Quest, and some about training.
“Hey Ian, are you going to go to the sparring class tomorrow night?” I asked.
“Wasn’t planning on it, why?”
“I’m gonna go and spar tomorrow night, you should go, and we can go a few rounds.”
“Alright, but I’m gonna kick you in the teeth.”
Seeing how I had a few drinks in me, and my judgment was obviously a little impaired, I told Ian, “Alright. But I’m going to hit you with a 10 to the head.” In our numbering system, a 10 is a rear Thai kick.
Ian laughed and said “How do you think you’re going to be able to do that?”
Shit. I knew at that moment that I was in for it. The conversation shifted to something else. Kitty talked about sparring with one of the instructors and how she kicked him so hard in the solar plexus that she dropped him, and he ended up sitting out for a couple rounds. Ian then went on to tell a story about how he hit the same guy so hard in practice, that during his next round, when he was supposed to be doing bag work, that he came out in the middle and started asking everybody who he was sparring with. After he was informed that he was supposed to be doing bag work, he walked out of the gym, got on his motorcycle, and drove home.
We all took off from Old Chicago. Ian and Kitty were on one side of the parking lot, Scott was parked next to me. As we got close to the car, I turned to Scott and said, “Ian’s going to knock me out tomorrow, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, good luck,” Scott replied.
The next day, I went to the kickboxing class, which was right before the advanced (sparring) class. We were working a combo where we would slip a 2 (a cross), return a 3-2-3-10 (lead hook, cross, lead hook, rear Thai kick). I felt real good about the combo. A couple of the guys (Ryan Schultz, Mike Dulce, and Tyson Jeffries) from the Pro Team were there. I had talked to Mike, and he told me how their practice had been cancelled. We worked up a good sweat. I was relieved to find out that I wasn’t the only one who sweats like a pig in the gym. Mike got the mat just as wet from sweat as I did. I always feel bad because everybody gives me a hard time about it, and I have been asked a couple times to use my towel to wipe up the floor after class.
There was about 5 minute interval between the time that the regular kickboxing class, and the Advanced Class got started. Ian walked in. I watched as he sat in the corner with the other guys from the Pro Team. As I was getting a drink of water and getting a quick breather between classes, I saw them laughing, then Ian turned, and pointed to me.
Shit. I knew that I was in for it. I could only imagine how much Ian was telling them to hook me up.
We warmed up with some slow speed sparring, about 30%. The idea is that as the rounds go on, you pick up the pace and the intensity with each round. As we went to the first round, I walked by Ian and hit him with a quick 10 to the back of the leg. About 2 weeks earlier, we were in the bathroom and Ian kicked me across the leg out of no where. So it was my turn to pay him back. The people who saw it started laughing. Ian gave me a quick glare.
Shit. I knew I was in for it.
About the 3rd round, things started to pick up to a faster speed. The 4th round, Ian grabbed me. I got a few good leg kicks in with both my right and left. Threw a few combos, and then it came. Ian went for the kick to my teeth that he promised. I slipped back just enough so as that I felt his toe nail slice across my lips. Few, I thought to myself, I avoided the promised kick to the teeth. I could taste the blood in my mouth from the small cut on my lip. We exchanged a few more combo’s. I went for a 2-3-2, and as I was throwing the second 2, BAM! Ian hit me with a huge over hand 2, right to the back of my jaw. It felt like someone had hit me with a brick. I returned a quick 10 to the leg, and circled out. Everything had turned yellow. I was trying to keep my composure, appear as though it didn’t hurt me that bad and stay just out of range so that I wouldn’t get hit again right off.
The round ended, and Ian said “Good round. Good leg kicks, work on them. Whoever you go with, keep kicking them in the leg.”
So I took his advice. Next round, I went against a guy that wasn’t on the Pro Team, but had been training with the Amateur Team for a while. The guy was about my height, about my weight, but a higher body fat percentage. He had been training for a while and in the sparring class for a while, probably a year. I attacked his leg with repeated leg kicks, both 9’s and 10’s, all to his lead leg. I could tell they were starting to take a toll on him, as he made the comment:
“I’m not kicking you in the leg as hard as I can.”
Funny thing was, I wasn’t even kicking 70%. I thought to myself, I wonder what it would be like if I really laid into one of these kicks, and just blasted someone?
“Ok, I won’t kick you any more.”
The next round I went against a guy named Jake. All I remember from that round is that he rocked me with a solid 2 right on the side of my head where Ian had hit me. I immediately fired a jab back, and hit him right on the chin. Not sure how I landed it, because I was seeing yellow again. He put his hand up said that he needed second, which was cool, cause I needed a second myself.
I went the next round with Ian again. He blasted me a few more times, and kept trying to kick me in the head, somehow I avoided all the kicks. I landed a 1-2-10 (I don’t remember if the 1 and 2 landed, but the 10 landed to his ribs) to which he said “That was beautiful.” At the end of that round, Ian gave me some more pointers, and told me to keep going for the leg kicks.
A couple rounds later, the instructor for the class made me go against Ryan Schultz. Ryan is Team Quests 170lb fighter on their IFL team. At 170lbs, Ryan is a terror, and he didn’t hold back on me. We exchanged some combos, and he rocked me several times. I remembered what Ian had said, and went for leg kicks. On the 3rd 10 that I threw to Ryan’s leg, he rode the kick, changed elevation, and blasted me with a huge shovel hook to the liver.
I prevented myself from keeling over but knew I was in trouble. I put my hand up, told him I needed a second, because I knew that he would have just kept attacking, and that would have been bad news. I took a couple seconds to catch my breath, collect myself, tapped gloves, and then went back at it. We traded some combo’s, during which Ryan hit me with a monstrous rear hook, on my upper cheek bone, just above where Ian had hit me. I was seeing yellow again, threw a lead leg kick and circled out. I threw a combo, and went for another rear leg kick, to which Ryan absorbed, changed elevation, and drilled me in the liver again. I was hurting. I put my hand up again.
“Those body shots suck, don’t they?” Ryan said as he smiled and laughed at me.
Class was over and I went over and thanked both Ian and Ryan for going rounds with me. The room emptied out, and a few of us were sitting around, just BSing.
Ryan started giving me some pointers. “When you go for that double jab, you’re committing too much to it, which leaves your 2 way too far away for it to effectively strike. It’s almost like you switch your stance up to more of a Boxers stance.”
“Thanks. I’ll work on that.” I took a short pause, and then said “That was my first time sparring.”
“You’re first time sparring here?” Ryan asked surprised.
“No. That was the first time I ever sparred.”
“Wow.” Ryan sounded even more surprised. “Way to keep your composure. I like that no matter what happens, you keep your hands up. You got some wicked leg kicks. Learn to use your hands to set them up. Cause a distraction, and then throw the leg kick.”
Ian jumped in “I thought that you had been sparring. What were you doing telling me that you were going to kick me in the head?”
I just smiled.
“Get up, come here,” Ian motioned me to the mat. We got in our fight stance. “You kept throwing that 10, it was real solid, but you kept hitting me here, in my hip. I don’t have to do anything to block that. You want to hit me either here in the ribs, or here” (pointing to just above the knee). “What you want to do is throw a distraction at the face, get there attention up here, and then throw the 10 or 9.” While describing what he was saying, Ian threw a quick 1-2 combo and immediately threw the 10 while the 2 was still on the way.
“So, it doesn’t matter if the 1-2 lands, just as long as I get something in your face?” I asked.
“Exactly! Just like this,” Ian threw the same combo again. We went over a couple more things. Some stuff with my stance. They pointed out that my elbows would start to flare. Ian pointed out that I need to keep them tighter, as that would make it easier to block shots.

[JayC]

^^Sounds all to framiliar bro..

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tuesday.... finally got all settled in on my move back to the portland oregon area. gym was closed due to the holiday. got in for kickboxing class, and then for sparring. there was only 5 of us for sparring, so we were doing 3 minute rounds with 30 second rest inbetween. my second to last round, I got caught with a head kick as I was throwing a straight right. the kick rung my bell, but my straight right sent my training partner on his ass, gave him a flash knock out. on my last round, i was in the middle of throwing a combo (jab-cross-lead hook) as i was throwing the hook, i saw a head kick coming, so I covered. unfortunately my body was turned, so instead of absorbing the kick with my hand that was covering, my friends shin connected right on the back of my head. didn't knock me out, but i remember standing there, looking at my friend, he wasn't moving, but the walls were swaying from side to side. i knew there was only 20 seconds left, so i put on my best poker face, and circled till the end of the round. it was my turn to sit out a round. as i sat, i was talking to my coach, he asked how i felt. i told him i had a headache, and it hurt to look at the lights. he told me i was done, and made me take my gear off, and then put an ice pack on the back of my neck for the rest of class. that shit lasted the rest of the night, and into today, until my girl gave me a couple vicodin to deal with it. i'm pretty sure i got a concussion from it. my coached called me in the morning to see how i was doing. told me not to come in and train at all today, no sparring rest of the week, and to maybe try and return thursday. just as well, cause i felt like shit all day.