Duct tape and good friends

I don’t talk too much about my Muay Thai training.  She’s more like a good friend, while jiu jitsu is my true love.  But, I have to say that after a good solid year of training under Vincent Serrano I do know that I have made progress.  I never was hoping for huge improvement, I do Muay Thai for fun.  Well, because let’s face it, it is fun to punch and kick and knee and elbow people.  It’s a lot of fun.  I was really nervous about a full on Muay Thai class.  I’d only done cardio kickboxing before.  Very safe, impersonal even.  But Muay Thai, it’s face to face, in your face, in your space, people kicking you and coming very near close to punching you in the face, and actually punching you in the body.  Way outside my comfort zone.  But, I love Vincent’s teaching style, and I decided from day one that if anyone could help me improve it would be him.  He’s got the patience of ten thousand teachers!  So last night, nothing particularly amazing happened, except my gloves started literally falling apart, little pieces at a time all over the mat.  That’s the by-product of a year of Muay Thai training.  Now, I think it’s time to get out the duct tape.  These gloves started this journey with me and they are going be in my corner till the duct tape won’t hold them together anymore!  :D

No A/C training and a little nutrition news

We had our first really hot night training no A/C jiu jitsu last night at Dirty Bay MMA.  Whew.  It was really, really, really hot.  I have to admit though that I enjoy seeing the sunshine and smelling fresh air while I train.  I sit in an office all day without a window, so I’m a little bit sunshine-deprived.  We warmed up with fundamentals – grips, arm drag, takedown.  We drilled fundamentals - simple sweep (1, 2, and 3), defending the simple sweep, and the hook sweep.  Our instructor showed us drills we can practice at home on our own or with a partner to help enhance what we learned that night.   In case you were wondering, Dirty Bay MMA is affiliated with Solis Martial Arts Academy.  Our class is being taught by one of their black belts.  He’s a nice guy with a laid back style who is teaching us good, solid, fundamental jiu jitsu.  Tonight is Muay Thai Kickboxing.  Last week we learned some of the coolest stuff ever, and it’s all I’ve been thinking about since.  I used to hate knee kicks when I did cardio kickboxing…but oh my goodness…I have a whole new perspective now.  Let’s just say…I had a blast and my daughter got to be the recipient of my enthusiasm on the mat.  Good times! 

On the nutrition front - I’m easing myself into Paleo.  I’m working on cutting out grains right now.  It’s ended up being just a little bit harder than I thought.  I bought a couple of Kindle books to browse through.  The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson and The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf.  Good grief, grains are everywhere and I need to figure out what I can snack on now instead of my granola bars and 100 calorie packs??  I’m open to suggestions.   I want to thank Chris Kelly at Crossfit Baytown for sitting down with me and talking about nutrition.  Baby steps, breathe, more baby steps. 

“Perfection is impossible.  However, striving for perfection is not.  Do the best you can under the conditions that exist.  That is what counts.”  -- John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach

Change is a good thing!

I recently made the decision to go train at a different academy.  It wasn't an easy decision and I cried many tears and spent countless hours agonizing over it.  In the end, it was the best thing for me and my daughter.  Mostly because I needed to be somewhere I could do other things besides jiu jitsu.  I'm now taking Muay Thai Kickboxing and I will start crossfit next week.  These are in addition to two days of jiu jitsu.  I've been needing a change for quite some time and I had gotten very discouraged with not being able to lose weight with jiu jitsu alone.  I needed to be somewhere that offered all the things I needed in one handy location.  Then along comes Dirty Bay MMA and Baytown Crossfit.  All your MMA and Crossfit needs in one place!  I am happy with my decision to move and I am excited about the new things I am going to be doing.  My daughter has found a new passion in kickboxing and we are both excited to go train.  Right now they don't offer a teen crossfit class, but by early fall they should have that available for her as well.  She can't wait.  This journey started with my decision to get fit and lose weight and start a new legacy of fitness for my family.  This is just another piece of the puzzle falling into place.