Fight Date?

The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to fulfilling your dreams

This whole thing, this blog and my goal and everything, is pretty much worthless without a set fight date.  I’ve already committed myself to getting into the cage before June 1st, but I’d much rather know exactly what event I’ll be in.

There’s an organization about 45 minutes south of me in Flint, Michigan that is always looking for amateur fighters.  Mike already talked to them, and it sounds like they’d put me on a card if I signed up.  The problem is that they don’t have a date for their next event yet beyond “some Saturday in March.”

This wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that many of my Saturdays in March are already booked because of my involvement with my university’s competitive speech team.

Yes, I said competitive speech team.

Go fuck yourself.

Anyways, I’m hoping to have my speech team schedule by Monday, at which point I’ll call up the club that puts on the fights and hope that, by some minor miracle, they’ve chosen a date that I have open.

In more mundane news, my training and nutrition has been pretty solid today.  I had some steak and pasta for breakfast, a steak sandwich from subway for lunch, and a protein shake after my workout.  Dinner is looking like barbeque beef sandwiches.  I lifted weights today, nothing remarkable there.  I did 6 sets of 3 on the box squat and completed 235 pounds on the final set.  I benched 175 once.  That’s slightly below my PR of 180, but my shoulders are still sore from the trashing I took on the wrestling mat yesterday.

I’ll be heading out to work the heavy bag in about an hour.

I weighed myself today, and I’m pretty excited about the results.  Two weeks ago I weighed 161 with shoes on, today I weighed in at 154 with shoes. This is absolutely, positively awesome, since it might mean that I can afford to keep adding muscle and eating well.  I don’t want to have to cut a lot of weight.  If I can manage to stay around 158, then making 155 should be a breeze.

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Also, if anybody knows of any good Muay Thai gyms in either Saginaw or Midland, Michigan, leave me a comment.  I looked online and found one in Midland, but went to the address listed yesterday and I think it has shut down.

Boys, This Isn’t a Rest Stop

I firmly believe that any man’s greatest hour…is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies on the field of battle - victorious.

This morning was bliss.

I awoke today to find that not one, but both of my classes had been cancelled for the day.  I then prepared some left-over steak and pasta for breakfast.  The day was looking good.

Because of my new found free time, I called up Mike and we met at the local high school wrestling room to work on wrestling and submissions. 

Mike wrestled for four years in high school, including one trip to the state finals, and took Brazilian ju-jitsu for about a year.  Needless to say, it was a tough workout.  Like usual, it started with him twisting and throwing me around like a rag doll, constantly bringing me to the brink of a broken arm before finally relenting.

However, something clicked about halfway through the workout.  I’m having trouble describing it, but hopefully I will find the words in a later entry.  All the time I’ve spent being beaten on is finally adding up, and I’m finally being able to hold my own against Mike.  Instead of simply holding on for dear life, I was trapping his arm and creating seperation to pull off armbars and triangle chokes, something I’ve been told to do but haven’t been able to execute until today.

Near the end of the workout, one of the high school football coaches, Coach B, came in to the wrestling room.  When he saw me in the throes of a desperate struggle to escape a head triangle, he said, “Boys, this isn’t a rest stop.”

It took me a moment to understand what that meant.

We ended up discussing the fact that we were training for a mixed martial arts event.  He seemed shocked when explained to him how you win, or lose, a match.  Apparently, getting punched and choked unconscious isn’t his idea of a good time.

Later, I overheard him sharing the conversation with a fellow coach, Coach R.  Coach R’s response made me grin.

“Why would anybody want to submit themselves to that kind of violence?”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the big question.

It is also a topic for another day.

The Pledge

“Most guys are at fight club because of something they’re too scared to fight. After a few fights, you’re scared a lot less.”

Before June 1st, 2008, I will have fought in a sanctioned mixed martial arts fight.

I am an 18 year old college student with no formal martial arts experience.  Hell, I haven’t even been in a fight of any kind since I was still wearing spiderman underpants.

But let me restate this: Before June 1st, 2008, I will have fought in a sanctioned mixed martial arts fight.

A cage fight.

I feel like I’m missing something in life.  I earn good grades, have a girlfriend that adores me, and friends that I can trust.  I have a family that supports me and I succeed at most things pretty easily.

For some reason, though, it’s not enough.  All of those things help, but at the same time, they’re constricting.  With every passing day, I come more locked into a set path and more indoctrinated into acting the way society tells me to. They want me to be polite and helpful and courteous. 

And I am polite. And helpful. And courteous.

But it’s not enough.

I need violence.  I need to release the energy, to feel my fist crash into another man’s skull.  I need to feel dead tired and exhausted, with my blood and sweat dripping to the floor as I struggle to remain conscious.  I need to feel pain, and I need to overcome it.  Up to this point, life has been too easy. 

Quite frankly, I need to get my ass beat.

I will train with my friend, Mike, who will be fighting for the first time on March 22nd.  If I am ready to go, I’ll be joining him in that same event.

My training will consist of weight lifting twice a week and fight training whenever I can fit it in between school and work.  I’ve taken the liberty of posting my training schedule in the column to the right.  Feel free to look it over and let me know what you think.

The purpose of this blog is to tell my story.  You’ll know how I train, what I eat, and how I feel as my deadline approaches.  My every decision and thought will be tossed onto here into the public domain.  Perhaps you’ll be entertained. Perhaps you’ll learn something new.

Maybe not.

The point is, this is my story.  My goal.  My journey.  My pledge to improve myself.

At 3:20 pm EST on January 16th, 2008, I am officially cage bound.