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You can never stop learning or you get hurt
28 Oct 2008 9:03AM
Ha ha ha….. it happened. I had a planned rest and if you’ve read any of my previous entries you’ll now what I’m going to say. After the disastrous sparring session a week ago Thursday I had the whole week off. I went down to training on Monday to see Pep (who wasn’t there) and ran the warm up, then came home. I didn’t train Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. I also did no cardio or any other sort of gym work. The only thing I did do was go for a light run to get some air in my lungs on one day. The rest of the time I sat at home, watched several films and enjoyed the odd drink and ate and ate and ate. But the inevitable happened eventually… I wanted to fight again!
I turned up for Thursday’s session a little reluctantly. I went with the intention of only taking part to help out the lads who are preparing for fights and in all honesty didn’t want to go – I’d enjoyed my time off. However, once I got going at training I enjoyed it, which came as a great relief. It also really made me want to fight again! There is an irony in this as, while the physical and mental break was well worth it, I’m now regretting pulling out. I know deep down though that it’s still the right decision to not fight but the week off served its purpose in letting me get my head straight and giving my shoulder a rest.
I’m sat here now before training and I’m raring to go. I’m going away for the week so this will probably be my only MMA session of the week. I’m frustrated at this which pleases me in a perverse way as it tells me I’m getting that ‘juice’ back. Hopefully if my shoulder is ok in the next week or two I can start looking for another match up. I’ll leave this instalment for now and finish it when I get home after training. (it’s now 6.00pm)
Back from training and fed and watered (now 10.30pm)… so what happened? I enjoyed the session and we spent quite a while preparing some of the lads for the upcoming MMA league on November 15th. We worked some basic side control stuff and had a few rounds of ‘man in the middle’ amateur rules sparring, which was fun. I was though, itching to get into some sparring with head shots (I have a strange enjoyment in being leathered in the face). None occurred though and I had to be content with submissions, leg kicks and body shots.
I was thinking last week that my jiu jitsu has gone completely to pot as I hadn’t really been drilling or rolling just jiu jitsu, all my preparation was MMA specific. Pep noticed this and subtly mentioned it a while back, perhaps suggesting it was something I needed to spend some time on. Today I had to acknowledge that he was indeed right. When I haven’t got the chance to smash someone in the face I’m bereft of ideas at the moment. Six months ago it felt pretty slick but now I’m so focussed on my ‘strengths’ (i.e punching people in the face on the ground… I don’t think that’s really giving away any trade secrets to prospective opponents) that I’ve ignored a very important part of the skill set needed for fighting. That and hand speed of course Matt!!!
I think I need to put a plan in place for the next several weeks. Essentially there are only so many ways to hit someone in the face, yet there innumerable ways to submit them. My repertoire here is limited I accept, so next week I’m going to spend some time looking at my weaknesses and building on them before my next block of fight preparation. I enjoy learning new things and even more so applying them in sparring/rolling. I’ve highlighted the need for enjoyment and fulfilment from training and fighting and these are key. You can never stop learning or you get overtaken – you learn more when you enjoy it. I was resting on my laurels and feel like I’ve been found out.
MMA is strange like that… the whole process of achieving is based on continually accepting that you’re not quite good enough as you are. Until you perform - then you have to be confident you’re better prepared than you’re opponent. Then the process starts all over again. Constant self criticism and analysis followed by a period of self induced rock solid confidence and conviction. Can anyone else see a slight irony there?
I still want to fight though!
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