30 Pounds and Plyometrics...

The upcoming fight is scheduled for October 3rd. Officially, That makes 66 days until fight day. So roughly 60 days to train. I've also got 30 pounds to lose.

I've had many training "camps" before this one. The last one for my pro debut was exponentially more complete than any of the others. All the others were relatively short notice which sometimes led to problems. I'm extremely grateful to have a number of different schools in my area allowing me to cross train as well as a number of incredible "hook-ups" including a free gym membership, free chiropractic service, and access to a treadmill WHENEVER I should need it. (THANKS EVERYONE!)

A few of my goals for this camp aside from losing 30 pounds are as follows and in no particular order.

• Pay better attention to where my strikes need to land. Eyes on target. No more throwing and hoping.
• Strike and move. 3 strikes minimum after I find my range.
• Relentless pursuit of the takedowns.
• Better Scrambles. Don't think so much.
• Be a bully. Crash.

Today, I started a 10 week plyometrics program to pick up my speed. Plyometric exercises make you look and feel like an idiot, but I'm convinced they work. As with the kettlebell program I recently started I was sore less than 4 hours after the workout.

183 was my weight this morning. Morning weight is the most important to me. If I wake up, and immediately weigh myself I know how to compensate as far as meal portions go. I need to load water in order to train hard, get full, and recover correctly.

I'll dump the water the day of weigh-ins. Maybe the day before, but not a minute sooner.

Dehydrating myself to lose weight only puts a band aid over the real issue: Body fat. This is not a problem as I know I currently carry more body fat than I should. Some body fat is a necessary evil for training and general living, but I think I'm the teens as far as percentile.

Here are some of the steps I plan to take to get lean, and make the weight:

• Moderate Carb/Low Carb rotation. One day moderate to one day low carb intake.
• No carbs after 6 pm.
• Drink a gallon of water a day. Only water.
• Limit sugar intake to 20 grams a day.
• Sugar can only come from fruit or honey. Absolutely ZERO high fructose corn syrup!
• Eat every meal out of a cereal bowl for portion control. Plates tend to lead to oversize portions.

To finish: I know that some people are endowed with certain qualities and certain weaknesses, but I'm also a firm believer that you can strengthen the important qualities and destroy weaknesses with commitment and hardwork.

Now that I've crushed 3 giant bowls of my favorite meal, spaghetti with meat sauce, and I've finished off a 2 liter of my favorite drink, Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper, the party has started! Time to make 155...

Life is simple. Life is good.

The Inaugural

It's about time I got around to this.

It has been my goal for a long time to chronicle some of the things in my life that are important to me. Let me preface this by telling you that I am a professional mixed martial artist. I feel like I'm much better than my record does, but after all its the record thats important. It's not really as bad as it sounds either. I'm officially 0-1 as a professional, but I dropped my last amateur fight as well.

I don't remember the last time I lost 2 of anything in a row. It's been a long time. My advice to the people I train, and train with has always been to forget the loss. I tell them it's the best way to learn. It was easy for me to shrug off a loss, and move on to the next competition until I realized I wasn't myself accustomed to it. I'm not boasting, but rather admitting to all those I've advised that I too hate it! I don't ever want it to happen again to be honest!

That's one of my main motivations for being here. It's important to me to train hard, rectify weaknesses I see, and eventually be able to train and fight full time.

I'm not hear to whine about losing, or to make excuses why it happened. I'm here to document what its going to take to win. Please follow as I will post pictures, videos, goals, questions, and a myriad of other content that I would like to use to my advantage!

No matter what happens (an attempt to not take myself TOO seriously) Remember: Life is simple. Life is good!

Next Post: Making 155 and my goals for the October fight.