i get my belt tomorrow.

ok. first off, i havent been able to train NEARLY like i wish i could.

between baseball practices, and baseball games for jaiden and cooper, school functions, etc..... i have been to 2 open mats, and 4 actual classes since the final black belt test day.

i have been hitting my heavy bag weekly, working on combos from my striking manuals, combos taught by shawn tompkins, greg jackson, fedor, anderson silva, and bj penn.

i have read these manuals for YEARS, but really havent had the opportunity to focus on drilling them,,, but since i've been too busy to train in the dojo.. ive taken advantage of this rest period to work these into my tool box for future sparring sessions.

mainly what ive learned from these combos is that when working combos, especially with your hands, the first 1 , 2 or even 3 strikes dont really need to have the intent on actually LANDING.

they are set ups.

if they land, yay, but, changing levels between kicks and punches, and using feints is huge.

ive always worked the body, and that is going to become more and more prevelant. mainly, like the diaz brothers, to open up the head shots.

boom.

i look forward to working alot of these in live situations.

my sledge hammer and tire have been getting a major workout, and i have been swinging the shit out of kettle-bells.

a MAJOR part of my focus has had to be on my diet.

i have gained 5 lbs since bootcamp ended, and with my reduced cardio workouts at the dojo, and actually working my strength more, i am quite happy about that #.

i feel good, made it into the stripe test last night in colchester, and abused the hellll out of myself.

and loved it.

i am very much looking forward to tomorrows cermony.

and, my main intent remains to go full on in the jiu jitsu when baseball cools out.

thanks for reading.

--

final test wrap up.

ok, well, its been a couple weeks since the final test.
the final test was all kinds of cool.
im going to break it down, and then give my thoughts on the entire experience...


leading up to the test:


skyler got pneumonia the week leading up to the final test, which pretty much summed up my entire bootcamp.
honestly, i had one sort of distraction or another for every test we had...

• pre test # 1 : me being sick.
• pre test #2 : the wifey and i beefing, me almost dropping out of this.
• final: sky in hospital.

anyways, Sky got out of the hospital Friday night, and the test was Saturday, so in a way it was good and bad. good in that i had a distraction to keep my mind off the pressure of this thing, and bad in that my kid had pneumonia , and i had not gotten to physically go to town on the combos like i had planned in the redneck barn on my heavy bag.
so instead, i sat in a hospital bed with my beautiful son, and rehersed them in my head,,, like 14 billion times.

the test:


thai combos:

when we got there, i wasn't nervous at all. we got pushed into sensei mcshanes office for about 15 minutes, and the longer that we were back there... the more i wanted to get out of there.
everyone was kinda running through our thai combos, and i did them each once... and decided it would be better for me to play wallflower and watch, keep my head right.
then the door exploded open and Sensei McPain rushed us out to the floor...
and into the twilight zone.
the floor was PACKED and i was like HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLY SHIT... haha.
these things are notoriously closed doors, so the evil genius had struck again.
it caught me off guard a little bit but we hopped right into our combos... i know i was a little rattled because i picked up my gloves and put them down about 3 times before we started.. haha.
*gulp*
i picked things up, i put them down.
thrice.
so the combos seemed like they went pretty well, i wish i had gotten to hold first then hit them, i would have been tighter, but i got through it, my kicks and hooks felt pretty good... and my heels were off the damn ground.
i screwed up a few times too, but in the end i hit them hard the whole time, and would give myself a b-.
from there we went into the:

run/exercises.

leading up to this, i had run with the boys on my property, my driveway is looooong and a hill, perfect for training the run portion of the test. i would run them late at night with my head lamp on... i would run it with the boys and the dog....
and im glad we did.
saturday morning jaiden said to me : "Dad, we never got to run yesterday"....
and my reply of  " Dont worry buddy, your dads gonna run like the police are behind him"... sums up my run pretty nicely.
i cut another minute off my time i think, and i am pretty proud of that. seeing all the people line the roads,, and mr congdon yelling " NED THEYRE RIGHT BEHIND YOU !!!" ... (awesome.)....helped alot. failing in front of many is never an option.
not without a fight.
so after the run, i caught up with ghost, and then i saw ms fritz finish, with tears in her eyes and i was inspired. no matter how much i got tired or how much pain i felt, i was going to push through like she just did.
everyone did awesome, whether they beat their times or not.... i carried ms fritz back to the dojo.. piggy bqack style,, i thought resting her foot even for those 200 steps or so would help her at least a little... lol.
then we did push-ups,, which i failed for the 3rd straight test ,, but, i upped my # again,,, did the 50 straight then 3 groups of ten, coming up 20 short. ironically, carrying ms fritz might have dropped my # lol.
but it didn't matter to me.
then leg lifts, i busted them out like a champ, 80 straight, quick leg shake out, and the final 20.
straight to the squats, which i actually finished first. 100 straight. wooo ....my legs were burning after them....
and it struck me that the timer on the final test plays a much bigger part in these things than the first 2 tests.
there is literally NO time for anything but doing the work.
i was happy to finish these the way i knew i would, successfully.
i would give myself a B+ on these. i only hold off of an A, because i failed the push ups. i did bring the # up, so maybe i'm being too hard on myself.
****side note: going into the final test i actually considered NOT doing the push ups. saving my strength. this was one stupid idea, and i'm glad on all kinds of levels that i didn't go that route. the second there was a mob in there , is the second that though flew out the window. plus, is half-stepping in the black book handbook? i think not.


400 kicks from hell:

from there we had to do 400 kicks.
100 left teeps.
100 right teeps.
100 left thai kicks
100 right thai kicks.


my legs, from the run, to the exercises, especially the squats, were getting mushy, lol.
400 kicks .. is alot.
i tried my best to have power, i tried my best to have good form..
i tried my best not to puke.
and i definitely failed on the puking thing.
i guzzled some water after the run, and i sloshed it up during the exercises, and it wanted OUT.
nothing like puking in front of your peers.
i got through the kicks, and Angel was still working his.. and what i saw at that moment gave me an entirely new respect for him.
angel, with his brother carlos holding the shield for him, kicking with all his might with those gorgeous kicks of his... giving it everything he had right to the end.
awesome.


i give myself a B- on this. i couldn't have tried harder. i gave it 110%, my legs just werent there.


KRAV MAGA MOSH PIT DRILL

from the kicks we went straight into sensei mcshanes office, where we sat for a few minutes. then we were again sent out, and told to stand out there on the mat, and close our eyes.
the lights were cut, the floor was FULL of people, the music pumped up, i think there was strobe lights or something, and we got attacked every way possible.
knives.
guns.
sticks/bats.
headlocks.
tackles.
all of it.
hoods thrown over our heads...
water sprayed in our faces.
tackled AFTER a hood was thrown over your head.


madness.
this was wicked exhausting.
it seemed to last for 20 minutes at least, and it was CONSTANT.
i feel i did pretty good, i messed up on a couple of them, but always ended up at the point of reference, and threw knees ( with my heels up)... or ended up with the weapon..... .
this was by far the most effective Krav drill as far as i can remember relating to just overall mayhem and confusion, and having to rely on instinct, and it was cool as hell.


i give myself again a B.

Sparring:


then .. back to the office. from there Sensei McPain came in and told us all that was left was sparring.
we geared up. paired up, and threw down. we were all pretty spent by this time, but my legs were back with me...
we were all really controlled, and pretty technical.. .and noone got beat up, even though we were pretty amped up from the KRAV.
i feel i finished in good shape, kept my pace while sparring, kept my hands up, threw effective combos, worked my defense and head movement pretty well....
i give myself a damn A on this,

JUDGEMENT / JUDGES


ok, so after we sparred, we sat on the floor in front of everybody while the judges went into the office to talk about us behind our backs,,, haha.
the judges were all very nice and respectful, and it was also nice to see Sensei McShanes judo intructors there, as i havent seen them since i was an orange belt..... there were ALOT of awesome martial artists in that room.
white belts to black belts, the fact that they WANTED to be there made them all awesome. 
after small speeches by them all, basically letting us know that we did a good job, and laid it all out there for everyone to see, we were judged with not #s, but with thumbs up or down.
which was cool.


and i got a thumbs up, so i am now a blackbelt.
which is cool as hell, but still has not settled into my mental yet, but i am Damn proud of everybody involved in this.
and i feel lucky to have experienced it with everyone i did.
and am actually GLAD all the students got to be a part of it too.
nothing like getting a first hand view of the experience you may some day get to live through.
i loved this test, this bootcamp, and the memories of this will always be there for me to smile on.




ossss.





now, in the beginning of this blog , 3 or so moths ago, i mentioned that i was on a path, and at the end of the bootcamp, i would find something at the end of it.
i mentioned i was going to switch over to jiu jitsu,,,,
i mentioned i wasnt going to test for a black belt, but rather for a white belt, since thats where i will be starting in jits.


but somewhere, after this test, i came to a spot on that path that showed me that i'm not actually on a path, but in fact in the middle of a very big labyrinth.
there's alot of turns left to choose, decisions to make....
i cant say exactly WHAT i am going to do now.
because i dont know.
but i now understand that i am a martial artist who loves martial arts, ESPECIALLY MUAY THAI.


because , like i said in my intro class,
I LOVE HITTING STUFF HARD.
that hasnt changed, as a matter of fact, i love it more now.


*** i am on the biggest break of my martial arts life right now, and i believe its well deserved. my boys jaiden and cooper are in baseball mode right now.
my wife worked her ass off with my 4 boys allowing me to go through this process, something i will always appreciate more than she knows...
so i will dedicate myself to STAYING in shape, eating right, and , most importantly, being the dad i love being.
then, when baseball ends, i will pop back in there, and i will again throw everything at it that i have, because there is so much to this, and im only scraping the surface.

video clip

video cliphttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvXD_TUbVFA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

4 days... Giddy up.

Ok so , I'm in a good place mentally. Let's start with that. The first entry to this blog was a video where I basically let it be known that the biggest hurdle in my opinion would be mental. The buildup to this thing was insane. People talkin crazy... Blah blah. 

So, while usually i'm carefree, I was tight going in. Had NO idea what to expect, at all ,, not like most everyone else involved, except mike.

:)
This lasted 1 week.
I can honestly say I had a blast during this boot camp ... And I will forever hold on to the memories with a smile .
I figured out EARLY that I could do sooo much more than I would ever had previously expected simply by shutting my eyes , gritting down on my mouthpiece...and just putting in the work..
I kicked over chairs
I jumped over chairs
I ran 7 billion laps around the dojo mixing in sprawls,  burpees and bear crawls and stuff.. For a half hour.. And enjoyed every minute of it.
My big ass jumped over and squiggled under a rope ... Danced around that thing like bobby brown... Didn't love that so much, but love the fact that I DID it.
And so much more.
And made lifelong friends in the process, we now have a common bond.

I've always trained as hard as I could.
I committed to do that and open my mind to instruction and allow myself to get as much out of this technically and also in a zen type way as possible. Open my mind up a little.
and I can honestly say I got more out of this than I ever expected.. And that all is a major nod to sensei mcshane... Who truly is an awesome instructor.
So ...thank you sir.

I have gotten my combos down tight.
After Saturdays pop quiz , which I didn't do so well on... I worked them in my barn for 4 hours over the next 20 hours.
My intention all along was to tighten them up this week, and I have done so , actually ahead of schedule. Now I am working on my fine details as best as I can. I will practice holding them wed thurs and fri.
Don't worry I'm not making anyone look bad. Never did on a test and I'm not starting now ...
So yes.. I'm actually confident for this,, and why shouldn't I be?
I've busted my ass to get here.. And this is like my title shot.
I don't plan on walking out of there without that belt.
Both in a hypothetical and real sense.
Good luck everyone ,,  do your thing.
Thanks for the 600ish page hits too, that's kinda cool. 

9 days left

wow, huh?

9 days left... and what a great bootcamp it has been, sorry for not being here in a long time, life has become busier with the change in temp it seems.

without looking back on these post i have no idea where i left off, so i guess i'll just break things down however.

i'll touch on a few things here, and then imma go back and stare at those little pieces of paper you see up top there... holy crap, i guess i'll start with that.

COMBOS:

for an old burn out like myself, remembering the 3 combos for each pretest was a challenge.

i feel i did OK.. but now i need to double that up, and remember all 6.

i didn't want to start them too early, i wanted them to be fresh in my head, so i just started concentrating heavy on them about a week and a half ago.

hitting the heavy bag, they're taped to my walls in the redneck barn, i set the timer and hit them,. and then i hold them for my invisible Thai friend.

this is something that will now be happening EVERY NIGHT FROM 10PM TO 11PM NIGHTLY.

sink or swim.

BEING A COLCHESTER STUDENT IN THIS PROCESS::

being a student in colchester has its advantages and disadvantages when it comes to the boot camp process, and this is something i would like to discuss with sensei mcshane and mister hesser when the test ends and the dust settles.

i love being a part  of the ABD team, and being a part of the COLCHESTER ABD team is something i am very proud of, and wouldn't have ever changed for anything, but...

..

after this ends, as either a black belt, or someone who came damn close, i would like to just use my experience to make it a better experience for future candidates from colchester.

and believe me, i understood going into this that the majority of the training would be on my own, it was laid out quite clearly in the bootcamp handbook. i guess it was just a little more that way for me. 

right now i would like to point out that i would NEVER had made it to this point without the help of two very cool friends i have in my ABD Colchester Family.

DRIZZLE: mike, who lended (lent?) me the thai heavy bag and thai pads for my barn. i would have been LOST without those things.

EVEREST: chris, who was my main training partner , who would come to the barn, bring floor pads, and we'd hold pads for each other. .in the freezing cold. ( 19 degrees one night lol )..whatever. what a great dude. we had some awesome redneck thai workouts out there, and again, i would have been lost without the help.


and ghost. not much i can say about my friend mike, other than, thanks my man,, you helped me more than you know. 

THE CAMERAS/ BLACKBELT BOOTCAMP VIDEO SERIES:

this was an amazing thing, if you ask me.

the cameras were never a distraction,,,

the videos were fun as hell to watch...

and helpful too.

i literally broke down all video of me, and watched it all in slow mo looking for areas to improve..... daily.

i still do.

overall:

i loved this whole test, and will miss it when its done.

i feel as though i have solidified friendships, and made my self a better person, in many ways.

that's it for now, i'll do more of these leading up to the test...

oh yeah, i feel alllll kinds of good, im strong, and healthy, woo!

pre- pretest 2 blog.

well, Saturday is pre-test #2.
i've gotten my hook basically under control, and am feeling pretty good leading into this one.
the first pre-test i had no idea what to expect... so naturally, that will contribute to your nerves.
master mcshane said there's gonna be no surprises, so i guess all i need to do is my best.
like coop says, that's become my mantra.
do my best.
i'm confident with the self defenses this time around, i know that not missing the Saturday class before the pretest this month really helped me.


my conditioning stands at this:
pushups: 50/50 chance i will pass this. 
leglifts: i should have no troubles, i will try to do all 80 straight. if not 70/10
squats: i should be able to complete the 80 straight.
running: i am not rebounding from sickness, so i should beat my time easily.






i feel as though by Saturday i should have my Thai combos down pat.
basically, i need to tighten up a few details, such as the teep, turning back-kick, teep string of kicks in Thai 10.
i also need to slow my hook down a little and make damn sure the elbows right.
and make sure my heels off the floor.
forever.


lets talk about last Saturday.
probably the most strenuous Saturday class yet for me. i think the whole jumping over then under the rope thing RIGHT OFF THE BAT beat me down pretty hard. some exercises i'm solid with and then some are definitely more challenging. again, being big presents its challenges. but i gave it 100% and didn't quit. and i recovered pretty well.


then we did our krav . the only one's i feel i need to work on are the headlocks on the ground ones, and mr hesser and i will work on them Wednesday after class.


we closed out saturday with the sickest challenge yet....
the DOJO 500.
running laps around the dojo floor, with exercises ( walk lunges, bear crawls, crab walks, burpees, push-ups, sprawls), sprints, and self defenses interspersed in.
for a half hour AT LEAST.
there were a couple times about half way in where i felt as though i couldn't go on, but then, .....and this is something i will always remember and appreciate....
my body kicked into this spot where i was just in a groove..... my left ankle was killing me,, i was a sweaty mess....
but , the feeling of nausea passed, and my breathing was steady...
and i could have kept going when it ended.
kind of an epiphany.....
cool stuff.  


granted, i was sore for 2 days, but i'm recovered now, and proud of myself and everyone who was there, we are an awesome group, i don't care what anyone says.


video blog to pop up later tonight... thanks again for dropping by.