WOW. Life just exploded at me this past month. There is so much to report, and of course that's why I haven't been able to keep up with reporting it. Actually, I took a "sick" day from my office job last week just to get caught up. That started out nice and leisurely. I went to morning training at my academy, had a terrific class, and didn't have to run out early for a change -- wonderful! Got some grocery shopping done, took my laptop to the coffee shop, and then...more busyness. In just a couple hours, I had two more video shoots scheduled: a belly punching custom and a gi-clad beatdown between Bettie and Graveyard. And since I was going to be traveling Friday and Saturday, I had schedule both for Sunday night - after the all-day personal training workshop that was the reason I'd cut my trip off on Saturday in the first place.
So obviously at this rate, I'll never cover everything I'd like to out of the past month. Here are the details of just the most current and immediately important bits.
First off, I did finally set my schedule for my August session tour,which is coming up very soon now. Can't wait - yay, roadtripping, beaches, and of course wrestling! I'll be visiting these cities; write to veve.wrestler@gmail.com if you'd like to meet up!
Wildwood, NJ - Aug. 3 & 4
Washington D.C. - Aug. 5 - 7
Charleston, SC - Aug. 7 - 10
Philadelphia, PA - Aug. 10 & 11
Second, the above-mentioned shoot with Bettie was a treat. She was just awesome to work with, and damn does she pack a lot of power into a tiny little frame. I was watching the filming of her beatdown with Graveyard, and starting out you have to think, "no way." It's no exaggeration to say he weighs two of her, and he stands a head+ taller.
And then you see this deadly little missile launch herself at him with a flying knee, throwing elbows, and you're like, "oh, reach advantage, no problem."
We actually had to reign in the head strikes after the first round to make additional rounds possible, and Bettie just switched right over to pouring all kinds of power into nasty knee drops and axe kicks once Graveyard was on the ground. Props to him for soaking up so much abuse and to her for dishing it out.
Bettie was also the puncher (and I was the punchee) in the belly punching custom shot that night. On request, I wore jeans and a white tee-shirt for this shoot, and not being quite as crazy as Graveyard, I asked Bettie to start light and work up to harder and harder hits as we went. But once we found out that my abs were pretty good at taking the pounding, she threw in some real slugs at the end. Not as easy to take! this video will be coming along soon.
And third, the PT workshop I mentioned. On its own, not too much to write about. In fact, I was a little disappointed with it. Started out well with nice interesting lecturing and useful tips, but got very repetitive with basic information and an extended practice workout toward the end. I realize this is kind of my fault -- I've been studying a lot for my certification exam coming up next month, so I was perhaps over-prepared for this workshop. But that's the exciting part -- the exam is coming up soon; I'm nearly ready for it; I'm feeling very good about passing, and in that case I'll be a certified trainer (which I really should have done years ago, but at least I'm doing now!). And the more exciting part is how that fits in with so many things that are coming together lately.
Working with Bettie and Tommi at the respective beatdown and grappling domination shoots they just did for us, plus my recent wrestling vs. striking matches with Shauna and Orlandoe, has me very inspired to get into MMA. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time, but the fire's lighting up now. I'm trying to step up my training accordingly, and I'm feeling great about it. Summer helps too; that always pumps me up! I'm getting to more and different grappling classes and liking my performance in all of them. I've been thrilled to be back at Muay Thai this past month and to start making connections with some great, compatible training partners there. AND I've loved my recent strength and power lifting programs; I'm back into some recovery hypertrophy right now, but looking forward to another power cycle.
It's frustrating to be feeling so good about everything, wanting to do more, and flat-out not having the time. But as much as I want it to be NOW, I'm finally able to say that the point when I'll switch over to personal training and sessioning and my own fight training full-time is truly coming SOON. Full-time physical is going to be amazing. I'm so revved up for that.
So obviously at this rate, I'll never cover everything I'd like to out of the past month. Here are the details of just the most current and immediately important bits.
First off, I did finally set my schedule for my August session tour,which is coming up very soon now. Can't wait - yay, roadtripping, beaches, and of course wrestling! I'll be visiting these cities; write to veve.wrestler@gmail.com if you'd like to meet up!
Wildwood, NJ - Aug. 3 & 4
Washington D.C. - Aug. 5 - 7
Charleston, SC - Aug. 7 - 10
Philadelphia, PA - Aug. 10 & 11
And then you see this deadly little missile launch herself at him with a flying knee, throwing elbows, and you're like, "oh, reach advantage, no problem."
We actually had to reign in the head strikes after the first round to make additional rounds possible, and Bettie just switched right over to pouring all kinds of power into nasty knee drops and axe kicks once Graveyard was on the ground. Props to him for soaking up so much abuse and to her for dishing it out.
Bettie was also the puncher (and I was the punchee) in the belly punching custom shot that night. On request, I wore jeans and a white tee-shirt for this shoot, and not being quite as crazy as Graveyard, I asked Bettie to start light and work up to harder and harder hits as we went. But once we found out that my abs were pretty good at taking the pounding, she threw in some real slugs at the end. Not as easy to take! this video will be coming along soon.
And third, the PT workshop I mentioned. On its own, not too much to write about. In fact, I was a little disappointed with it. Started out well with nice interesting lecturing and useful tips, but got very repetitive with basic information and an extended practice workout toward the end. I realize this is kind of my fault -- I've been studying a lot for my certification exam coming up next month, so I was perhaps over-prepared for this workshop. But that's the exciting part -- the exam is coming up soon; I'm nearly ready for it; I'm feeling very good about passing, and in that case I'll be a certified trainer (which I really should have done years ago, but at least I'm doing now!). And the more exciting part is how that fits in with so many things that are coming together lately.
Working with Bettie and Tommi at the respective beatdown and grappling domination shoots they just did for us, plus my recent wrestling vs. striking matches with Shauna and Orlandoe, has me very inspired to get into MMA. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time, but the fire's lighting up now. I'm trying to step up my training accordingly, and I'm feeling great about it. Summer helps too; that always pumps me up! I'm getting to more and different grappling classes and liking my performance in all of them. I've been thrilled to be back at Muay Thai this past month and to start making connections with some great, compatible training partners there. AND I've loved my recent strength and power lifting programs; I'm back into some recovery hypertrophy right now, but looking forward to another power cycle.
It's frustrating to be feeling so good about everything, wanting to do more, and flat-out not having the time. But as much as I want it to be NOW, I'm finally able to say that the point when I'll switch over to personal training and sessioning and my own fight training full-time is truly coming SOON. Full-time physical is going to be amazing. I'm so revved up for that.
