whirlwind recap

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.

me vs orlandoe + phoenix travel

I have another busy week ahead of me here -- this is what's going to be happening in the very near future.

First up, I'm very pleased that Orlandoe is back from her travels down south.  This means that our ever-smoldering rivalry can again blaze bright.  We have two separate custom video challenges scheduled this week.

On Wednesday, we're going to be filming Wrestling vs. Striking II.  This will be similar to the match I did with Shauna in May but more personal and I'm sure more ruthless!  Again I'm going to be the wrestler not the striker -- I don't expect to get out of this one unbruised, but I think my chances are excellent for pulling off the win.  Orlandoe disagrees...  Then on Friday, after we've both recuperated a bit, we're going to have an All-Abs Contest -- most reps in 2.5 minutes for crunches, sit-ups, and leg raises wins!

After that, bright and extremely early on Saturday morning, I leave for a trip to Phoenix.  This is going to be an all-too-short trip, Saturday and Sunday only, but I've never been to Phoenix before, and it was time I made it out there.  Since it will be a weekend-only stop, anyone in the area who'd like a session and hasn't contacted me yet should do so right away -- time is very limited!  And anyone who knows Phoenix should send me a recommendation for the ONE best fun thing I should see or do while I'm there.

Also a bit more general information -- I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to go back to Muay Thai class this week.  My annoying broken toe is sooooo close to healed, and while it's been great for my grappling to have time off from stand-up training, I'd rather be doing both.  It's silly, but to keep myself from trying to go back too soon, I ordered a nice speed rope by slow post and told myself I had to wait until it comes to return to class.  This does have a purpose -- all my academy's warm-up jump ropes are mis-fit sizes for me and catch my toes when I jump!  And my new rope should be coming by the end of the week...

Finally, this is also the week that I'm determined to set my itinerary for the sessions road trip I'm planning in August.  Today, I started playing with Google maps and got a little distracted pinpointing everywhere I've already visited for sessions.  Very fun to see how many places I've gone -- more than I realized! -- as well as how many I still need to visit and where I need to return.  This got me planning all kinds of things way out of proportion to reality (for now).  But reining it back in, this August, I'm PROBABLY going to be swinging through Philly, D.C., Charleston, and one or two stops in Florida.  Anyone who wants to cast votes for these cities or others along the same route, please do speak up, and speak up quickly!

More news after some of these adventures happen!

the wrestling rumor mill

I just have to comment that it's a little odd, funny, and very noticeable that people are suddenly quite interested in my record and "toughness rating" among session wrestlers.  I see it on discussion forums, and I certainly can't miss the direct emails, "VeVe, did you beat so-and-so?  Did so-and-so beat you?"

On the one hand, it's very flattering; I certainly appreciate everyone's being so interested!

On the other hand, it IS rather funny, because none of this information is secret.  I rarely give out results of my matches, and I never do if it was a match for another company, but all the matches people ask me about are publicly available.  Now I know not everyone is going to purchase the matches (though, frankly, if you're someone who cares about the results, chipping in to support the companies that bring us ladies together to do this is the decent thing to do).  But with the number of people I know have seen these matches, I tend to be a little amazed at all the misinformation out there.

Those in the know seem to mostly keep their own counsel; the rumors, guesses, and speculation certainly outweigh the facts.  It can be very interesting to read about what I've supposedly done, had done to me, or will do.  Which matches people care about is also interesting; some of my best (in my opinion) are ones I never see mentioned.  And I have to wonder -- an awful lot of people seem to want to see me beaten or beaten up.  Maybe they don't like me?  Maybe they DO like me and think I look good having a hard time.  Perhaps some of both...

Couldn't I dispel all these rumors with a single authoritative statement?  NO!  The videos will always be there when someone wants them, but talk on the internet is infinite.  I'd rather enjoy it than ever try to drown it out.

In any event, I guess I'd better stay busy.  I seem to have a lot of hype to live up to all of sudden.

very exciting matches this week!

This is may be the most exciting week for video matches I've ever had.   Three different types of competitive matches (almost four, but more about that later) all in one week.

Last things first, since I especially want to mention next Saturday's shoot with visiting wrestler Shauna Ryanne.  Shauna and I are meeting up for a competitive match while she's in town, and I'm very excited for it for a couple reasons.  Shauna and I have both been beating up on one of my favorite victims (Mark of Brutal Beauties) for years, and he keeps telling us awesome things about each other, but we've never gotten to meet before.  And second, this will be my first competitive FvF match in way too long, and I've missed my roots!

But for all that, it seems a waste to shoot only one match with such a lovely and lethal lady when we've got this chance.  So if anyone is interested in ordering customs (mixed, FvF, or solo) with Shauna while she's here, please get in touch right away!  Write to veve.wrestler@gmail.com.

Working backwards, the next match in line is a competitive bondage wrestling showdown between Hanz Vanderkill and me slated for Wednesday night.  This is another type of match I haven't done in far too long, and I can only wonder why I didn't realize sooner Hanz is a perfect opponent.  After all, we've faced each other in submission grappling, an oil wrestling match, and even a lucha-pro-style spectacle.  Of course, we must face each other in a bondage challenge!  It was inevitable.  And this time he won't be wearing a mask!

Now Hanz may think he can say anything he likes behind my back, but he was foolish enough to spill his strategy to Diablo, who fortunately gave me some advance warning.  It seems Hanz's big idea is to spend all his energy UN-tying anything I can get on him.  Now that's just punkish, and my counter-strategy is going to be to take it to him hard and fast and punish him for such an ignoble scheme.  He'll have to try to tie me just to defend himself!

[Edit 5/25 - Bondage wrestling with Hanz was phenomenal!  Excellent, tough match; dramatic finish; I am SOOO proud of it!  And just released yesterday -- HERE.]

Finally the first match of the week -- me vs. Adrian.  This took place Sunday morning bright and early, and it's actually already up in the Doom Maidens store.  I was SUPER happy with this match.  In particular, I'm proud as hell of some superb bodylock takedowns and beautiful triangle transitions I pulled off.  I was also very impressed with Adrian; he brought in size and strength, put up 100% worth of fight all the way through, and put me in some real pain.  I was definitely more than he expected though!  Only one downside to this match -- if you ask my disgruntled video editor, my bikini was TOO risque.

And a footnote -- there was ALMOST a fourth competitive match this week, but Orlandoe and I couldn't quite match our schedules for it.  This would have been a striking vs. grappling match (Orlandoe striking vs. me grappling) pitting Orlandoe's slaps, punches, kicks, and sadism against my "macho-chism" and submission skills under pressure.  It's still going to happen, but with Orlandoe about to embark on a couple different travel adventures, it's sadly pushed back to mid-June.  Looking very forward to it though!

starting strength stats, for the record

So this is the start of my six-week max strength lifting program.  Let's see where I'm at, so we can see how much I can improve in six weeks.

Monday, May 7th

Back Squat ------------------------------------------------------------- 165 lbs. for 6 reps

Incline Dumbbell Chest Press ------------------------------------- 45 lbs. for 7 reps

   (yeah, I know, the bench press was occupied...eternally)

T-Bar Row -------------------------------------------------------------- 75 lbs. for 6 reps

Overhead Barbell Shoulder Press -------------------------------- 70 lbs. for 6 reps

Dumbbell Curl --------------------------------------------------------- 25 lbs. for 8 reps

Overhead Single Dumbell Extension ---------------------------- 35 lbs. for 6 reps

Next lift on Wednesday!

chicago & news catch-up

I know I'm criminally behind in posting about the latest wrestling adventures -- I blame this (like everything) on my day job which has been loading me with tons of take-home data entry for the past couple weeks.  But that project is SO close to done now I can taste it, and I feel I can afford a celebratory blogging session.

First story to tell: my mid-April trip to Chicago.  This was such a mix of ups and downs it was wild -- definitely one of *those* trips.  To start out with I was simply blown away by the wonderful flood of interest -- thank you, Chicago, and to everyone I simply didn't have time to see, I'm sorry and I'll definitely be making a longer visit next time.

So I catch my super-early flight out of Chicago, land, and make it to my hotel with two hours to settle in and set up before my first session.  Only to find the hotel has overbooked itself due to some conference they're hosting and my reservation is one they've given away.  There's not really time to argue, so I break out the laptop, discover there are two other hotels in walking distance, call the first to find it's gone out of business, call the second to find they have rooms available, and take off down the road lugging my travel mats on my back.

This second hotel is everything you'd expect of a rent-by-the-hour dive, but it's all I can do under the  circumstances.  When I ask for a non-smoking room, the front desk hands me a can of air-freshener.  I have to hope my session guests will find that this adds a seedy, romantic excitement to the whole affair.  I clean up, set up, and breakfast on packaged shortbread Indra had been nice enough to bring me over from London.  And then the fabulous part of the trip begins.

I really had some wonderful sessions on this trip.  A big thank you to the fellow who brought me the lovely purple opera gloves.  And also to the guy who egged me on to do my nastiest humiliation session yet -- I find people *usually* want somewhat playful and safe humiliation, but that was not where this session ended up, which was quite fun and thrilling.  Also terrific to end a long day of wrestling by seeing one of my very favorite regular clients again -- made saving the heaviest, hardest match for last a real pleasure.

Saturday was its own misadventure.  I'd come out for an event in the city as well as sessions.  This day involved a nerve-wracking clown-car carpool with some other hotel guests to get downtown (very bad driver who liked picking fights with other cars -- *never* accepting such an offer again) and my event running vastly later than I could ever have guessed completely bollocksing up my night.  But I survived!  And in the morning I lugged my mats back to the airport shuttle (at the original hotel, grr!) and came home to plan a more relaxed return visit.

The major project back here lately was a custom karate video with Indra.  I've done fantasy karate videos (Karate Nylons One & Two) before, but the premise here was a technical training encounter between two black belts. This was a big deal because I really have no background in karate and had a short time to pick it up since Indra was heading back to London April 28.  (Good-bye, Indra, we'll miss you until you come back in August!)  So I spent about a week getting a crash course in both karate techniques and attitude, along with a bit of stage combat.  Lots of fun, concentration, and roundhouse kicking.  We ended up making two versions -- a more combative sparring  match which Indra wins and a self-defense back-and-forth which I win, both finished off with a choke to knock-out and a bow to the unconscious opponent.  The combo will be released soon, but there's already a trailer up on YouTube:  VeVe vs. Indra Karate Trailer.

There have been a ton of little odds and ends going on too.  Now that warm(ish) weather seems to be coming back, I've enjoyed a bit of roof gardening and spring cleaning + remodeling around my apartment -- big improvements with more to come.

Spring and summer also tend to get me fired up to step up my training...but I managed to break my toe in BJJ class last week attempting an "experimental" cartwheel guard pass.  In its extremely inconvenient way, this should actually be good for my grappling since I'm having to take a month off from Muay Thai and can put the extra time into ground work.  No trouble with the toe at all when I'm on the ground.  I'm also just shifting into a max strength training phase in my lifting program -- those are always my favorites.  I need to do a nice comprehensive test lift, actually, and post my starting numbers; then perhaps in six weeks when I've got some results to show, we'll get out a new lifting video.

Speaking more of videos, Doom Maidens has been in the market for a new camera lately.  My role has been moral support as Diablo tests and rejects various options.  We're sensing it's time to retire the old camera but finding that new models don't surpass it for picture quality and are infinitely less compatible with our software.  Frustrating.  The hunt continues, but we've got a slew of projects lined up for next week, and for now we're newly determined not to trust any of them to disappointing "upgrades."  On the horizon are mixed competitive and armpit worship vids with Orlandoe; Athena vs. me in a catfight; and hopefully the debut of a new victim facing me in competitive straight and bondage wrestling matches.  Stay tuned for more action...

the weekend - a rant

Right, so clearly all things can't go right all the time.  But seriously now, when they do go wrong, why does it have to be all at once?  I had three things scheduled for this weekend, a session and two video shoots, and every single one fell through.  Now, with both the session and the first shoot, the other person let me know as early as possible that something had come up, and we're talking to reschedule.  No issues there; I even got to make it to a very nice no-gi class I would otherwise have missed.  So that was Saturday, and it was pretty well salvaged.

But, oh damn, this bastard who stood me up Sunday.  This is the problem with making wrestling videos, I find.  Guys who will be in them, will show their faces on camera, and AREN'T FLAKY are a rare and precious breed.  On that note, I want to put a big "Thank You" out there to the awesome guys I do work with before saying anything else.  But at certain points you look over your filmography and think, "Man, I sure do beat up the same people a lot.  Maybe a new face...?"  And then you must Take A Risk.

So, Sunday.  A message to this schmuck:  First off, don't contact me saying how much you would LOVE to do this and totally blow it off when you get a chance.  This really stands to ruin things for guys who write in and are sincere.  Second, it does take some effort and coordination to set these shoots up - it involves scheduling with the studio, the videographer, and video sponsors, so being a slinky little no-show screws over at least three people besides me.  Third, yesterday was absolutely gorgeous -- which I noticed as I hurried through the park, not stopping in order to get to this shoot on time.  Fourth, as I sat there waiting for you to show your punkish face, I determined precisely the favorite restaurant and precisely the glass of wine I would need to brush away this irritation.  Then, after giving up on you and trekking across town with ALL my video and costume equipment, I found the restaurant was closed!  Your fault, I'm sure.  And fifth, Second Choice Restaurant really had inexcusably terrible sangria.  ALSO your fault.

Now, that's not to say the evening was a total waste.  My cameraman and I are resourceful and determined.  We took some new close-up foot photos for me.  I've been practicing karate-style kicks in preparation for a new custom video request, and we shot a little gimme of my kicks with me in full gi.  And we experimented with (but had to reject - for now) some POV camera angle ideas I'd been pondering.  Most importantly, we got in touch with a good and trusty video victim and rescheduled the original shoot for Tuesday.  But did it have to be like that?  No.  It COULD have been the shoot it was supposed to be.

OK, vented.  Moving on.  New week...