Firstly those who know me on twitter will be familiar with me breaking my toe the other week passing spider guard. Don't think it actually did break, i taped it up and went training the next night, did the boxing class and did my skipping warm up just on one leg. Calves of steel me! Got a gold star off our trainer too for not being a "pussy" ! bragger.
Right now i'm stateside, i flew out here with my brother Jordan and my father last thursday night and i'm here for 2 weeks. This is a work trip though which i'm constantly being reminded of. So far i've got quite the tan, watched the footy and been to a few local bars, so to be fair it's a sweet business trip! I managed to convince my father (i'm amazed) yesterday to let me attend an MMA class here as i'm seriously going out of my mind not training. BJJ and boxing were the 2 classes offered at the MMA gym i found, so after much pleading and promises to behave and knuckle down on this trip my dad gave in and let me go.
Going to a new class and a new team is like starting school all over again. You may think thats rather dramatic, but if your a cool kid you'll be sound. Me! i'm not one of those, i am rather shy and quite awkward in new situations, yeah your probably thinking "well this is normal" sure, okay but i also confess that i have Tourettes. I'm not blessed with the sweary one thank god but i have what is known as tics. When i get nervous i blink a lot, or my arm with lash out for no reason. (sometimes i blame a tic on this when it's not) I am really comfortable around my own gym, the lads all know about it and i can control it as i'm not embarrassed or nervous. So yeah i'm an odd ball to be fair. The last thing i wanted to do at this new gym was show up and kick off a session of blinking fits!! It not only gets me embarrassed but what the fuck will the other people think, well, i don't know. I'm sure they are not arsed as much as i think they are.
I have always been pretty desperate to train MMA in the states and yesterday i got my chance. Luckily i was armed with all my kit that i brought along "just in case" and made the decision to go for it. I arrived at my class unfashionably early, the only thing i am ever early for. eager aren't i! It was a lot like where i train back home, one big warehouse, loads of BJJ and wrestling mats, a cage, a boxing ring, a bench and a desk. I honestly felt kind of privileged being there. Joel was the BJJ coach who i'd spoken to on the phone previous and he welcomed me, then introduced me to everyone as they arrived. So far my tourettes was okay, thank fuck!
Around 70% of the men that attended the class were cops. That was kind of cool having to ultimately grapple with the old bill and not be arrested! winner. One other girl attended who was a student and had been going to BJJ for around 2 years, she was a big girl! but it's not about size all the time, it's a lot about technique. See i'm already giving the once over to everyone that walks through the door as i know i'll end up on the mats with them, plus i do want to beat them.
After the warm up In BJJ, i was paired up with stevie an amateur MMA fighter, he has a fight very soon and was training when i got there. He was hanging over the side of the cage where the door opens with the coach holding his legs whilst he used these rubber bands to hold onto and punch a bag that was on the floor. Does that make sense? He was doing cage circuits and it was quite the eye opener.
In BJJ the lesson plan is the same, warm up for flexibity, strength and agility, learn a new technique/skill, practice it and try using it. Standard class. The coach worked with me and stevie a lot, after a few practices i was told to get my mouth guard and and my gloves on. This shit just got real, here we go! i love getting all fired up.
I was told this "Belle you are not as strong as him and you never will be, you need to get the technique to beat him" So just because stevie was built like a brick shit house doesn't mean that i couldn't get him to submit. In theory!!!
So there i was pinning him down with my shoulder pushing so hard down on his face, my head next to his on the mat, My legs wrapped around his and my hips nailing him to the mat then giving him 3 solid punches to the ribs, then one to the face. Now he had to escape this! i think i used ever muscle in my whole body to pin this guy down as hard as i could as he was trying to roll me. He didn't though but maybe he was just being nice.
Stevie seriously taught me a lot. Being able to partner a male that will be fighting soon is in my eyes a great help. He's still learning from the BJJ class and so am i, plus he showed me a few tricks to take back home with me. Turns out after class and after sparring with different partners that i got a good report. They were happy that i had used the techniques i had learned in the session in sparring. Go Belle!!! I was truly buzzing.
I was told though very seriously that i have to really get stuck in as there were times when i could have worked a submission but i didn't completely follow it through! Its so true. He said it was like i had given up. I was videod and we watched together how i basically fucked up. I've never watched myself doing these moves and to be honest it was the best thing as i could actually watch how i got myself into bad situations. Only an hour class but i wanted to stay all day. The people were fantastic and i was in awe of their training.
After class we hung out for a bit drenched in sweat (yes i'm vile) and chatted about British MMA and of course the legendary "Paul Sass Triangles"
I should forget about the whole winning and loosing ego in BJJ. I only focus now on learning and developing, i can still beat someone with this strategy i'm sure.
