More Titans.

So, you may or may not of realised that I haven't posted anything all week. This is basicly due to nothing of any interest occurring and me not wanting to bore people/ cant be arsed to write. A quick update of the last week: Ive been doing lots of conditioning focusing mainly on power and power endurance, making up for a bit of physicality I lost while only doing BJJ in NY. Has to be done but leaves a poor man feeling quite sore most the time. Around that ive been getting plenty of sparring in with guys at Mill Hill, treatment on my knee and a massage here and there for my aching back. Come down with a bit of a cold the past week, which often happens to me around comp time as your immune system drops when training intensity increases (or im just really unlucky all the time). Im over it now, and keep reminding myself that its very lucky I got it now and not next week.

So today my coach Nick Brooks had managed to sort out some sparring for me. So with a very early start (8.30!!!) I went down to the Roger Gracie Academy in Ladbroke Grove and await for my lift. He arrives, of course, on "Brazilian time" where the clock run just a bit slower ;). Roger Gracie was bringing me to Birmingham with him while he help Braulio train for the ADCC. Also in the car was RGA brown belt Juniao and Rogers cousin Kyra Gracie, who is of course over for the ADCC's. We head down to b'ham, we get lost, which turns out to be my fault as I suggested one area on the satnav over another (I did say "Dont take my word for it" though!!!). Eventually we get there and amazingly were not even the last ones there. The session that was meant to start at 12 ends up starting around 2 hahaha. As everyone gets changed and jumps on the mat, im taken back by the line up. I thought there were some pretty good names in the sessions in New York but this bested all of them. Roger Gracie, Braulio Estima. Victor Estima, Lucio Lagarto, Kyra Gracie, Pablo Popvitch, Roberto Cybrog. Unbelievable, on the mat were a large portion of the top 10 grapplers in the world! So training begins, pretty much everyone there was fighting this weekend at the ADCC so not an all out session, more of grab a partner and roll, like an open mat. First off was rolling with Kyra, obviously shes significantly lighter than me, we just had a light roll to warm up but it was nice rolling with such a legend and someone who had been a black belt since I was a blue belt. I sat down to rest a bit and got called over by the man himself, current under 77kg ADCC champ, moving up to 88kg now, Pablo Popovitch. The first thing I ask him is "How the hell did you ever weigh the same as me". The guy looks like a freckin' super hero, seriously massive. I roll with Popovitch for most of the session, incredibly strong and with a not stop relentless attacking game. Very much a wrestlers sort of game (which is one of his strongest bases), the never stopping domination. But we had a good roll. Seeing as he is the current champ of my division it was nice to see, and more importantly feel, what the level is like. After sparring is over everyone spends a while drilling and sharing techniques, just to be on the mat watching the number of world champions there training together was awesome. Kyra ask me to help her do a bit of technique drilling, then Pablo asked to use me to practice some wrestling. Popovitches wrestling is insane, I would not like to stand with anyone with the sort of movement, power and speed he posses (did anyone say jumpguard ?). Finally im used as a dummy while Pablo helps Kyra with her takedowns. And after having Pablos extremely square chin pressed in my leg repetitively it seems slightly more tender than before. After training its off for the customary post training Nandos, where I realise I really need to learn Portuguese, as I sit there throughout the meal as the only English guy; not understanding a word of whats going on.

After the meal its the drive back to RGA, drive from RGA to Mill Hill to do my last little conditioning workout before the comp, consisting of plenty of burpees, Kettle bell swings and pull ups. Then its home eat and bed. Up tomorrow early for last real BJJ session.

Ape Out.

Post NY Blogback.

So i’ve decided that due to popular demand I shall continue my blog on up to the ADCCs and possibly a post fight analysis. Since returning to the UK I have continued trianing but being wary of my knee. Im able to train and spar relatively hard without much pain or discomfort but I am at all times careful and assure I minimalise the movements of the knee that may exacerbate the injury. I’ve also been having some physio work on it, courtesy of one of the students at Mill Hill, Mark Warren, of the Active Chiropractic Healthcare Clinic. It seems that the area is still tender, but ok, and will be 100% come fight time. I’ve also got back into my regular schedule regarding sparring and conditioning. I will be stuffing a large amount of strength and conditioning into the next week to make up for the lack of it in NY.

Yesterday I did my first maximal strength workout with the Kettle Goat (my S&C coach Andrew Marshall) since being back. Its somewhat disheartening to be lifting less weight than you have before, but sometimes this happens. But this heavy compound lift workout will serve to work my nervous system and upon recovering shall be much stronger. If you have to get back strength fast; lift something very heavy a few times. I taught the class later in the evening and by then was knackered, so sparred quite relaxed, working more on technique. Its important to sometimes roll using as little strength as possible and focusing on technique, while its equally important to sometimes roll balls to the wall out muscling your opponent when ever possible. You must train everything; always spar hard and your technical abilities will suffer, always spar light and you’ll never learn to have a killer instinct; possibly one of the most important attributes when it comes to competition.

Today I was suffering from yesterdays training. A single session today just to get the blood pumping around my body to assist with recovery. A sparring session with Mr Dave Onuma. I’ve been working with Dave (BJJ black belt and head of Combined Fighting Systems) for a long while now, going round to his garden dojo (very cool) for weekly sparring sessions. Daves a very knowledgable man and because of this he plays an important part in forumlating my strategy and tactics.

More importantly I have ordered my attire for the post ADCC night out. This is of the upmost importance as im sure you will all agree, and I hope that any of you coming to the ADCC shall be joining my on spoken of night out. A short to the point comeback post. Stay tuned for tomorrow where we ask who would win in a fight a Gorilla or a Lion? Your thoughts ?

Ape out.

Day 11,12, 13: Last post

I woke up Tuesday morning afte a pleasant nights sleep followed by a glorious breakfast in bed (thank you room service). Yesterday during the class, while paired up with the big injured black belt, he told me his shoulder was playing up, as it always does before it rains. Thats right, he told me his shoulder could predict the weather, and that it was going to rain, a lot. Thats right, a black belt with a physic wether predicting shoulder..... needless to say I ignored the magic shoulder. Well back to Tuesday morning and as I walked out the hotel in vest, shorts and flip flops I was reminded quickly of the shoulders premonition, and everything I thought I knew about shoulders was proved to be wrong. It was absolutely pouring down. I had four blocks to walk back to Renzos, in which time I managed to step in a half foot deep puddle and step out without my flip flop, which meant I had to spend some time fishing inside said puddle for my shoe. Anyway I got back to Renzos and found a physio I could see within the hour and headed down for the appointment.

So the prognosis is that ive pulled my hamstring and have a slight tear in my lateral meniscus. Its not bad, but apparently could get worse if I dont rest it long enough. The physio said to take 4-5 days of from anything with knee pivoting/rotating (errrrrr, have you SEEN BJJ?). Anyway I was left with the choice of either waiting here till I can train again, which would give me about two days of training before I fly back. Or coming home earlier so I could get some treatment on my leg (physio is very expensive out here) and finishing my camp back home in Mill Hill. It was a long hard decision to make but after conferring with my coaches I have decided to come back early. I will be flying back friday afternoon and back in the UK on saturday. Its a shame to leave such a high class academy, but I feel this is the best thing to do in preparation for the tournament.

This shall therefore be my final post. I understand and apologise that this is a slightly premature and anticlimactic end to this blog. However I can assure everyone that the injury has only affected training slightly and will make no difference come ADCC. I very much appreciate everyone who took the time out to read my daily (or not so daily) ramblings. And a thanks to all the people who have spoken to me and messaged me with words of advice, support and encouragement, it is very much appreciated.

I cannot wait to get on the mats in Nottingham and to see all of you there. And if you do see me, please do not hesitate to come and say hello (preferably after I fight lol). Thank you once again.

Ape Out.

Day 10&11: You don't take a day off from Jiu Jitsu

Woke up Sunday. Still very achy. Didnt have much to do today, so saw it as a day to get a nice bit of rest and recovery, maybe try and get a massage to loosen up my neck/back. Spent a few hours chilling downstairs, chatted to Mauricio for a bit, GSP came in and Roger was late once again. By the time they got on the mat I was hungry so left to get some food. Went to pick up my laundry, it was closed, they had a sign up on the door (same sign that was on there yesterday), it read: "Closed early today - 5:00pm. Closed all day Sept 5th" (tomorrow). It was 3.00....... I was starting to get pissed off with them as its a long arse walk (for a knackered body) to get to. I had gone there yesterday, today (ended up going back again later, to no avail) and they were closed the next day. And I was running out of training clothes !!!! I made a mental note to myself to find a different place to go next time. I returned to the gym and started asking around if anyone knew a sports masseuse or if the gym had a "go to" masseuse for the fighters. The general reply I got was; there are lots of massage parlours and lots of "massage" parlours.... I was intent on getting an innocent sports massage to help a bit with recovery, promise! So to make sure I didnt walk into the some dodgy place I looked online for a sports massage clinic close by. Found one and went on my way, and I managed to find the only street in Manhatten that seems abandoned and all the buildings shut down/boarded up, including where this place was meant to be, so I head back to the gym to look for another place. When I get back, with it being a Sunday, the security guard had left, meaning I couldn't get back inside the gym! I waited for about 10 mins, trying to ring some people who were still inside training to come let me in but to no avail. And it was scorching hot outside, so I went looking, knowledge free, for a massage (MASSAGE!). There was a place a few buildings down for the academy, at the end of the street. It was above a pizza place.... I ignored this and went in. When I got in I saw the name; "The Relax Center"...... ok.... Il have faith. Anyway I wait a bit and a chinese lady comes out. She doesn't speak a word of English, however I try and make very clear that I want a "S.P.O.R.T.S....M.A.S.S.A.G.E" as I wasnt aware that "sports massage" was code for "happy ending" in any country. So I laid there half worried, half trying to relax, she actually wasnt to bad. It was relaxing and think it helped to relive some soreness in my back. However there was one "WTF moment" whhere all of a sudden this 4 foot 10 little chinese lady seemed to effortlessly leap 4 feet onto the massage table to stand on my back. After the massage she asked if I wanted any extra time to which I swiftly replied "No thank you!".

I went back to the gym to see if I could sneak in as someone left and luckily after a few mins I managed to do just that. Set up camp for the night, had some protein bars for dinner (as I couldn't go out for food), watched some Dragon Ball and went to bed.

Monday I woke up later as had been told that only Johns 1 oclock nogi class would be on today (it was a bank holiday here). When out for a really breakfast(!) and got back in time to train. I had a bad pain in the side/back of my knee that had been bothering me since saturday morning so was intending to use this session to gauge the severity. Big class again about 35-40 people (massive considering its a holiday) a included not only a host of black belts, but George St Pierre and Frankie Edgar, thats TWO UFC champions on the mat. John began again with standing techniques; a single leg entry, the guy steps back to protect the leg so you switch to the other leg, and take him down. The second technique the opponent is controlling both wrists, you do a nice maneuver to strip a grip and shoot on the leg, when the opponent defends you switch to a hip throw. Next its onto the ground, and a we doing passing the butterfly guard. John shows a very nice technique to pass called "the elbow slip" which kills the a knee without endangering an arm. Its a extremely tight pass, and doesn't allow for any space from underneath. Next is another pass from butterfly using double under-hooks, this is so tight it makes the last technique look as loose as an essex girls underwear. And can be combined with the elbow slip for people with short arms or weaker wrists. Next is a open guard pass from standing, it uses the angles to get into the guard at an angle and kill the hips, the guy underneath then has the choice to turn in, securing himself underside control, or turn away, which the person passing would then use to sink a hook on the back. From there if the guy defending does nothing the attacker secures the second hook and attacks the neck, if he defends traditionally by trying to get his back on the ground he falls into a twister (spine lock).

Next it was sparring. I went with the guy I was training techniques with, a purple belt around my weight. I had to go extremely light to not put my knee into positions where it would hurt/ be injured more. After the roll it felt tender so I decided to sit and watch for the rest of the session. After the sparring, normall the class would end, but John let everyone know that as many people decided not to show up today because it was a holiday; the rest of us would suffer. So we did 3 min rounds of drilling. I paired up with a big black belt who was also injured. The drills were designed to help movement and coordination and included (the ones I can remember): double shins under thighs to heel hook position to x guard, to sweep. Then guillotine defense from guard, and butterfly guard. And then turtle to crucifix position. At the end of the class John congratulates everyone for coming on whats meant to be a day off. He says that you will walk out here today knowing more than you did when you walked in, and this is the aim. And for fighter, that you were getting stronger and better while your opponents were getting weaker. He said "You don't take a day off from breathing. You don't take a day off from eating. You don't take a day off from Jiu Jitsu."

After the class I went for some food and returned, finding out I would once again be locked in from around 4 or 5 (as it was a holiday). Upon hearing this my parents very kindly found a nice hotel with massively reduced rates; about 4 times cheaper (YES FOUR TIMES!!), and paid for me to stay there for the night. I cannot explain how nice it was to sit on a real bed, with air con and a tv. I had a very pleasant evening in and went to sleep in my nice COOL room.

Ape out.

Day 9: Giants in my Garden

Saturday, so a much appreciated lie-in. I wake up around 11, a bit too late as I was actually hoping for a real breakfast this morning. But seeing at training is at 11.45 it was not to be and I had my standard breakfast of protein bar and Jack3d and headed downstairs. I had finished my first full week of hard training and I could defiantly feel it. Without my usual recovery routines at home I felt, quite honestly, battered. Today was pretty much a sparring class. So did a quick standard BJJ warm up of running around, star jumps, press up etc, you know the drill. And we begin as usual with some takedown entries, then some takedowns. An old friend from RGA was over in NY on business so we paired up and started drilling. After a while it was straight into sparring. First a round of specific sparring from the guard. Next its a partner change and into sparring from turtle. It was cooler today than usual (or im getting used to it), but still immensely humid. By the end of the second round of sparring doing anything to my opponent had become a near impossibility due to sweat. I was starting from on top turtle, and the guy I was sparring with wasn't that good, despite that I was slipping and sliding all over the place, it looked like a oil wrestling match they make half naked girls do in a nightclub to rouse the men up. At times the floor got so slippery that you would base on a foot or go to stand to move and slip and fall over, most annoying.

We took a quick break from sparring to learn a technique, we were shown a controlling grip from guard that allows a nice set up fro a bicep slicer, triangle or back take. Then back to sparring. I sparred a few more rounds and was gonna call it a day, considering how knackered I was, missing the last roll. However I was told by the instructor to have a roll with the "new guy". What this usually means is either "See if this guy has any skills" or alternatively "put his guy in his place", most of the time it means a bit of both. I accepted the responsibility and looked round to the guy he was referring to. Just my luck, there is a huge swedish dude standing infront of me. The guy is a purple belt, MMA fighter and 100kg. We have a extremely boring roll where if hes on top stands around and tries to pass my guard without engaging and when hes on top I follow suit. I think he passed my guard once and squashed me, catching me with a brabo. After class I feel even more knackered, stretch for a bit, go take a shower then go out quickly to grab some lunch.

When I get back I see that Mauricio is over. Mauricio Gomes is Roger Gracies dad, a red and black belt (hell yes!) and a good friend. Although he lives in Rio he is often over in London, and he looked after us when we were in Rio in 2008, and it was good to see him again. He was here to fly out with Roger to his MMA fight against Mohammed "King Mo" Lawal next weekend in Strikeforce (the reason Roger has been at Renzos the last few weeks, preparing). I sit and chat with Mauricio for a while until a familiar face rolls in. Its none other than dominate UFC welterweight champion George St-Pierre. He comes in, says hello and goes and shakes hands with everyone. GSP is renowned for many things; his great conditioning, his world class wrestling, being the greatest welterweight champ in UFC and arguable pound for pound the best fighting in the world at the moment. But most of all Georges is known for his humble and nice guy persona. And I can confirm this, I dont think i've ever met someone who is such a high level fighter, so famous and really, if anyone does, deserves to a bit arrogant; but be so humble. GSP, along with one of his training partners he brought over, go and get changed and jump on the mat waiting for Roger (as Mauricio say "Roger is always late. Its so embarrassing"). Finally everyone arrives and they move up to the top floor mat or "my garden" as I call it, seeing that the mat touches what could only be referred to as "my front door."

Within a few mins the numbers had picked up, probably 10 guys. Including Roger, GSP, John Danaher, David Branch and a handful of other MMA fighters. They spend 10 or 15 mins getting a sweat on, gloving up and oiling up (I frantically tried to get a pic of GSP holding a tub of Vaseline, as a harcore BJ fan, but I was too damn slow!!!!!). Finally everyone seems to be warm, and John Danaher takes to the middle of the mat. Now you would imagine that guys of the calibre of Roger and GSP (both undisputed world champions) would be in charge of their own training, but you would be wrong; John claps his hands twice, signally that everyone needs to be quite and come in (exactly how he starts everyone of his normal grappling classes). John commands the room of professionals and world beaters in the same way he would a room of blue belts. Its not in disrespect, but in a "I dont care how good you are, you are still students" way, which I found amazing. He said that since Roger was fighting in a cage next week he will be in the cage, and as there are no padded walls up here, everyone else will be below on the Muay Thai mat. John tells everyone there will be 4 5 min rounds of "shoot boxing" with a minute break in between each round. Shoot boxing is striking with takedowns, but no grappling, once your one your arse, its back to the feet and back to fisticuffs. John would later talk about this form of training as "the most exhausting style possible..... you never get a break". John was downstairs watching the others and sending up a guy every round for Roger while Me and Mauricio crawled into the corner between the ring and the cage to watch.

Roger first sparred with David Branch. Then GSP, then GSPs training partner, a tall powerful fighter, much like Rogers build, then Back to GSP. Now, I know all that everyone is interested in is knowing is how Roger and GSP went, but im not gonna go into detail, as I know for a FACT that King Mo has a scout intently reading every one of my blog entries (of course I joke). But I will say that GSPs clean takedowns (takedowns without clinching) are just as fantastic as everyone has been lead to believe from watching his MMA career. Roger is extremely strong in the clinch, and his striking is far better than many people think. Throughout the session its relatively quiet and all you can here is Johns voice from downstairs "Very good", "Nice", "Tres Bein". And when GSP took a while getting downstairs between rounds "Georges, hurry up!", *French accent* "Sorry John".

After the class most the guys: Roger, Mauricio, GSP, John, David and Jason (Rogers Thai coach) sat around in a circle and chatted, mainly tactics. Needless to say I sat and listened. GSP did most the talking, whats going right, whats wrong, you should do this, hes gonna do this, he cant handle that etc etc. It was very interesting, as you would expect, GSP has a wealth of knowledge about the sport, the stuff he said was both intriguing and made perfect sense. He took Roger and worked on some strategy stuff for him, showed him a move and drilled it with him. They then sat down, talking again, and as it usually does in training, jokes started being cracked and soon the tension from the upcoming fight vanished and everyone was laughing and joking. GSP said that Roger hit him with one teap (front kick) that nearly had him winded, and that "it was only his pride" that kept him from going down. *French accent* "Your Dad was watching, I did not want to look like a pussy so I stayed up. I was like ewwwwwww, eeerrrrrrrr, eeeeeeee". Everyone laughs, and disperses slowly.

I go out for dinner followed by chill and bed.

Ape out.

Fisitcuffs

The secret technique!

Tactics

"ewwwwww eeeerrrrr eeeeeee"

Day 8: Week in.

Once again, I awake nice and early (or not-nice and early. It doesn't matter what country i’m in, 7 will ALWAYS be too low a number to see on my clock when I first open my eyes in the morning.) So its a protein bar and a scoop of Jack3d for breakfast again (terrible I know but if you think i’m gonna wake up EVEN EARLIER to get a meal in, you don't know me very well!!)

So in a sleepy haze, I walk down stairs onto the mat (the convenience totally outweighs the negatives!). John is taking the class again. We begin, as usual, with some stand up. A two-on-one drag down into turtle, then the nice turn over into side/arm attacks, the same one John taught the first class I was here. So we pair off, and I spot a young man looking particularly stylish; fully adorned in Scramble gear, be like water rashguard and crossed swords shorts. Of course I have no choice but to pair up with a man with such a fine taste in fighting attire. The guys name is Alex, from Blackpool, England and a blue belt under Mario Sukata. He was in New York on a family holiday and decided to get a session in at Renzos; seems he picks his gyms as well as his training clothes. Next technique is from the “four point position”, this is a failed take down or otherwise that leaves the opponent facedown, on both hands and feet with his hips in the air. We did a nice way of blocking the shoulders and hips and dropping the guy down, but into a position where he couldn't stabilize his base and therefore drops half onto his side. From there, as long as your weight is placed correctly, its extremely difficult for the guy to move and either you more round to side with an arm to attack, or he attempts to get to his knees and you move to the opposite side once again with an arm to attack.

After this we went into sparring. Once again, 4 6 min rounds. Me and Alex rolled first. Turns out he's a fan of guillotines as well, and as he attempts to submit me with my own move I must quickly return the favor ;). Anyway we have a good roll. And its nice to speak to someone from England; as although they’re meant to speak English over here, its seems that half the people don't understand a word i’m saying most of the time!?!?! After rolling with Alex I spar with a couple of other people. At the end of the class John calls everyone over and informs us that although monday is a bank holiday “holidays are for the weak”, and classes will run as usual, and anyone who misses mondays session will be “punished”.

One thing I noticed while half a sleep warming up this morning was the number of Renzo Gracie logo tattoos on the students. With my tired eyes I spotted at least 3 or 4 Renzo Gracie “Lion logo” tattoos on peoples inner biceps, and there weren't that many people wearing short sleeved T shirts or rashguards. I’ve seen at least 3 or 4 others with the logo on their chest as well. I find it fascinating, the loyally and dedication that is shown when you put your teams logo on you forever, it seems like, as many will find in Jiu Jitsu, that the team is less like a team, and almost like a religion. That there is something that binds its students together far more than simply: “I live closest to here so I train here”, this either means that the academy is run as such a tight nit, family unit or that Renzo is great at brain washing people..... I suspect it’s the former.

After the class I take my collected bag of dirty training clothes to the cleaners to get washed and go get some breakfast. I have the afternoon to kill until training with Roger et al at 5.30. I do my now routine “bottle-of-water-buy” at Starbucks to use their wifi for a few hours. I’ve been wanting to get the internet in my room (just to pimp it out that much further) so I went to get a 3G “dongle” you plug into you laptop. Now correct me if im wrong, but in the UK a 3G dongle is about 20-30 quid max, and buying download memory isnt to much more, RIGHT?!? Well over here, you’re looking at $150 for the dongle and $50 to start you off with some memory!!! BEFORE TAX!!!! Needless to say, I spat out my metaphorical coffee and left the store. But not easily defeated, it was not long until the Raspberry Ape had formulated a plan and even shorter before putting said plan into action. I went into T mobile and purchased a sim card for my Ipad. It cost me $50 and allowed me to access the internet through 3G on my Ipad. Having previously jail broken my Ipad; unlocking its FULL POWER MUHAHAHAHAHA (except less dramatic). I then download a program that would allow me to use my Ipad to create a wireless hotspot that my laptop, as well as my phone, could access. And VOLA internet on my laptop, Iphone and Ipad anywhere in the United States. And only about $150 dollars less. I love it when a plan comes together (and possible advice for anyone considering buying a dongle in America (or anywhere). I will add that Iphones can also be jail broken and used to create a wifi hotspot for a computer).

Anyway, after all that excitement it was time for training. I get changed and jump on the mat. And not the most welcoming of sites; it seems like the group is once again 4 of us: Me, Roger Gracie (about 100kgs and oh, only the best BJJ fighter ever to live), David Branch (UFC and Bellator fighter, BJJ black belt and around 90kgs) and “Jerry” Rinaldi (2 time NCAA all american wrestling champ, BJJ black belt, silver medalist at ADCC and only about 100kgs). Its was a long tough session. We did about 5 rounds of closed guard sparring and 4 or 5 rounds of free sparring. I didn’t sit out a round and felt a lot better than when I rolled with these guys the first day I got here, maybe getting used to the heat a bit more everyday. Although it would be a bit nicer, if while Roger is throwing you all over the place, he at least ACTED like he was putting in ANY effort. A good session. I visit my now “go-to” Japanese restaurant for dinner, before chilling a bit and then going to sleep.

Ape out.

Day 7: Photo tour !!

Being Thursday there was no nogi classes. So I did a bit of weights around midday. Walk around NY and spent a while in starbucks on the internet.

I also, as promised, I took some pictures of Renzos gym. This blog has been very void of anything but letters, so I thought id take one giant photo dump on all of you. Hold your breath and enjoy.

The lobby/team trophy room.

The main mat area !!! It is very big (this pic only shows half of it!!)

Side mat area. Other classes go on here during main classes.

First floor. Muay Thai mat with full length cage wall. Nearly never without someone hitting someone or something. (Photos were taken at night when locked in. Like a ninja.)

Second floor. Another big matted area, normally MMA or something going on here. Backs onto my room.

Ring at the back of the matted area.

Full cage behind the ring. I normally wake up to Roger kneeing people in here.

Now the crazy stuff! The mens changing room is a standard changing room you'd find in any gym. However I managed to stumble across the womens changing room (innocently). And it is INSANE. Without a doubt the nicest changing room ive ever seen in a gym ANYWHERE (BJJ, MMA or even a commercial gym)

Showers and toilets with Renzo Gracie logo etched on!

Check that shit out !!!!

Finally, my room, REVISED. Now with entertainment centre (laptop), luxury blow up bed and air conditioning (fan, stolen overnight from the male changing rooms. Also it sounds like a turbo jet taking off, but worth it for the coolness).

Hope this brings some insight into one of the biggest (maybe the biggest) BJJ gym in the world.

Ape out.

Day 5 & 6

If you didn’t realise (cos your probably not paying that much attention), I didnt post yesterday. This is primary because nothing of much interest happened; I had a bad nights sleep monday night due to a combination of the unreal heat in my room and the mat I was using as a bed (its not one of those nice soft mats you get from thousands of hours of being walked over, thrown onto and rolled on top of. It was one of those brand new mats, that are so dense it leads you to question whether you've stepped off the concrete floor onto the tatami yet) This left me to wake up yesterday morning with not only a extremely sore neck, but tired and in a pretty bad mood. Theres no nogi sessions on a tuesday (or thursday) so I was left not really knowing what to do with the day. I go downstairs and Rogers there. He tells me that were doing wrestling at 5 so be there, cool. Anyway I have a large portion of the day to kill, so I go for a walk. I walk up to times square (about 15 min walk from the academy) to look around. Its a crazy place. Huge sky scrapers everywhere, massive billboards and tonnes of people. The area in and around times square reminds me a lot of central London, on steroids (as most things in the states seem to be). I get back and Roger has to take Renzo back to the airport but the others would be here apparently. I wait around a bit and no one shows, oh well. I go to grab some food and when I come back do a bit of weights but its hard to motivate myself to lift in such heat and with no one to lift with (Im used to training in Mill Hill with a group of guys, listening to 80’s power ballads running around, shouting and lifting shit. Hard to stand in a gym by yourself and move iron once your used to that). Anyway I have a very short work out, buy a blow up bed, steal the fan from the changing rooms and get to bed. Another early start tomorrow.

I wake up at 7, class starts at 7.30/8. One big plus about living in the gym is all I have to do is walk downstairs and im at training. I have some nuts and Jack3d again for breakfast (need to sort that shit out) and head downstairs. Bigger turnout than monday morning. Probably 30 guys on the mat. Mr Danaher was taking the class again. We started standing, with a front headlock to ankle grab and then snap down from single arm thai clinch to ankle grab. Nice takedowns. We move onto what to do when the opponents stands in guard; One from if he stands in a narrow base (lock around the knees and sweep to the side) and one from a wide base (ankle grab and take him backward, simple stuff but with some nice details). He then taught a very nice open guard movement drill, De La Riva guard to heel hook position/guard (don't know the name) to both shins on the thighs and ready to double ankle sweep. Nice drill. We then do sparring. 4 6 min rounds, I roll with a couple of very tough guys, both brown belts. one was around my weight, about 5 foot and a solid ball of muscle. The other guy was huge, probably 95kg. Hard rolls, I feel a lot more tired than I usually do. Think its to do with the god damn heat (maybe lack of food). I must note one interesting thing about John. He calls all the moves by their original (japanese) name. Including stuff like arm bars, I found this very interesting, it also meant I didnt know what he was talking about half the time hahaha.

I have until 7.30 for the next nogi class (about 10 hours) so I decided to go for a walk back down and around times square. I spend most the day in cafes and restaurants stealing their wifi. Pretty much how I made my way from the academy to times square; get a ice tea in pret a manger, spend and hour or so on the net there. Walk a few blocks. Get a smoothie in Starbucks, hour there. Lunch in a sushi place, hour there. I got up to times square and decided to find a place I could both cool off (very hot here) and kill some time; cinema, perfect. So I find a cinema in times square, and ive never seen anything like it. From the outside (and even the lobby) it seems like a normal, standard sized cinema. Except it had 5 floors!!! And not 5 stories, 5 FLOORS each floor was about 2-3 stories from floor to ceiling. The place was huge. The screen was also probably the largest movie screen ive ever seen (see what I said about yanks and stuff on steroids). Anyway, needless to say I went to watch (make that re-watch) The Rise of the Planet of the Apes (awesome film!!!). Also it inspires me, in the same way a lot of people find Rocky inspiring.

Then its back to starbucks for a bit more wifi. Then back to the academy for 7.30 nogi class. The class was quite, between 10-15 people. It was being taken by the guy who's apartment I stole over the weekend, his name was Max. Max was a brown belt and physically a beast. Around my height, maybe a bit taller, 90kg, shredded, the look of a wrestler. He taught some nice double legs and single leg switches. One of the biggest things ive noticed here is the number of stand up grappling techniques (wrestling) taught in every class. Its without a doubt the weakest area of my game, so its nice to learn some takedowns and I hope to get into wrestling more in the future, especially as I will look to move more into MMA soon. On the ground we do a nice last ditch effort sweep from when the guy is passing the half guard and then a knee bar from on top of half guard, which is very useful as there is very little movement from the set up to the finish, making it sneaky, I like sneaky.

Then came sparring. My first roll was with Kay, a brown belt girl, very strong and extremely tough, she toughed out a lot of chokes that a lot of guys would of tapped to. I then rolled with Max. He was extremely strong and explosive and we had a very good roll. He couldn’t pass my guard and I couldn’t sweep or submitted him, but we both had a great time trying. The small class meant that it wasn’t as humid/hot/sweaty as the other classes i’ve done, which I can assure you was greatly appreciated. I then rolled with 3 or 4 more guys. Blues and purples. Maybe a bit to do with the heat (or lack of), but for the first time out here I was finally starting to roll like myself. A good session. Now to pick up some food. Steal the fan back from downstairs and sleep.

Ape Out.

The man, The Myth, The Rashguard

Before I start I would like to talk a bit about “hurricane” Irene. If you saw my post from yesterday you may of gathered that this storm of apocalyptic magnitude was in fact an apocalyptic let down. From what I could tell absolutely nothing happened apart from some mild breezes and very light rain (and im NOT under exaggerating).

So the monday morning nogi class starts at 7.30. Which meant I was up at 6.30 (thats right, 6 fucking 30 !!!! believe it or not !!!). This gave me enough time to tidy up the apartment as the owner was back today, and pack all of my stuff back into my suitcase. I managed to consume all of my dooms day supplies which left me nothing for breakfast apart from some vitamins and a scoop of Jack3d. I left my bags in the apartment and would come back to get them after the class.

So I get to the gym, get changed and get on the mat. Only a few people there. One of the guys tell me that the class doesn't really start til about 8 despite what it says on the timetable and that John doesn't do a warm up so get warm now. I stretch a bit and another guy comes up and asks if I wanna roll a bit, I agree. The guy is older, probably mid 30’s. About 5’7, 80kg and solid. I assume hes a blue or purple as hes just wearing a regular T and non branded shorts (smart eh?). Anyway I intend to roll light and just move around a bit, as im still half asleep. Of course after a few mins that goes out the window as the guy tries to pull me apart. He is extremely strong with a monster base. He doesn't do much but is hard to do anything to. But does one thing really good; horrible chin strap control, he keeps reaching around my neck, clamping onto my chin and bending me around to pass. Its very uncomfortable to say the least, this leads me to believe that he is a wrestler, god damn Americans and their wrestling. Anyway we roll for a bit, no much happens apart from my guard getting passed and then me recovering. The class is about to start so we stop, once again I feel like ive been roughed up a bit but a strong wrestler low belt and im a bit pissed. I ask him what belt he is; black.... ok makes more sense. Been training 10 years. I ask if he wrestled; yes, for 9 years before starting BJJ. Ok, makes more sense now, and once again I feel slightly better about myself. I make a mental note to not judge peoples belts on what they look like anymore.

The class has filled up a bit. Probably 15 people (apparently very quiet and theres usually 30-40 people). The instructor walks on the mat, and guess who it is in his famed attire; John Danaher and his rashguard. This is great, ive always wanted to be taught by John. For those who dont know who John Danaher is (you are fools, but I shall explain anyway). John is a legend amongst the BJJ and MMA community. Despite never fighting he is widely regarded as one of, if not THE best grappling coach in the world and some of his more famous students include the likes of George Saint Peirre, the current UFC welterweight champion. Im excited to say the least to have my first class with the legend.

He starts off with some takedowns, a very nice adjustment on the single leg position (I shall not be going into details on any of the techniques I learn out here, if you wanna know you just have to come to one of my seminars when im back ;D ). Then a counter to a defense of the single leg. We then hit the ground, we do a very slick way of taking the arm from the turtle position into a kimura, then armbar. His details on the techniques are very specific and taught brilliantly. Then its time to spar. We do four six min rounds. I spar with a whole lot of guys, mostly blue belt. One of the guy im about to start rolling with I assume is a blue belt due to his rashguard (for the most part the students wear rashguards coinciding with their belt rank). But then I remember my mental note and ask him his grade, he is a black belt hahahaha. Thats one of the weird things about training here; the sheer number of black belts on the mat, that you don't even realise they are! I guess that what happens when the sport has been around in the country for so much longer, I suspect it will be similar in the UK in 5 years or so. I have a good roll with the black belt, but he is a bit smaller than me (a rare occurrence here).

Anyway we finish training and it was a good session. Afterwards I thank John for the class and introduce myself. We start talking about how blown out of proportion this “storm” was. Some yanks come over so we start to mock them about how much the city over reacted. We end up sat around in a group chatting for about an hour. The conversation topics go something like this: You guys made such a fuss about nothing, which led to talking about the Japan earthquake and how amazing the Japanese people were. That led onto how America would of acted much worse which went into talking about “when shit hits the fan”. That turned into talking about guns, that segwayed into knives and swords. Then into killing people/animals. Then into ancient battles, into cutting peoples heads off. It was a interesting discussion to say the least. (Which also made me think I need to move to America so I could buy a load of guns).

After the morning session I went to get my bags out of the apartment. The superintendents wife buzzes me in and lets me into the apartment room. I walk in a realise that the owner has already come back, and is face down a sleep in the bed (studio apartment so nowhere to hide). I switch into ninja mode, pack up my stuff, zip my suitcase up and exit swiftly and silently (my definition of silent anyway) the guy must of been a deep sleeper because he didn't move an inch. I head back to the academy, dump my stuff off, eat, go pick up some sheets and a pillow for my mat bed and get ready for the 1oclock nogi class.

Unlike the morning class this is packed. At least 40 people on the mat maybe more. I comment on this and am told that this is still small and theres normally 10-15 people more!!! There where a tonne of black belts on the mat and MMA fighters including current UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. John is taking the class again. From standing we do stuffing the single leg attempt into a forward throw, backwards throw and stomach to stomach toss. Very nice stuff, which when demonstrated by John is made to look unbelievably elegant and effortless (not so much when I did it). On the ground he explain a principle in BJJ about how when a guy goes to attack he has to extend his limbs, this means that if the attack fails there is a small moment where the limbs are at risk and can be counter attacked. We did two techniques based off of this principle. One from a arm bar defense into a counter achilles lock and one from a triangle defense to counter heel hook. Both techniques were AWESOME. And I hadn't seen either set up from those position before. Then it was onto sparring. Sparring was good, I didn't go too hard as I had already done a full sparring this morning. I did spar with one older guy called Gene, now this guy was not only a awesome black belt but he was fricking enormous!!! 110kilos and solid as hell, just one of these simply massive people. He rolled amazingly nice, it was like a grizzly bear play fighting with one of its cubs. Its all very nice, but the whole time I had the feeling he could rip me in two if he felt like it. Very nice guy.

Anyway Class was over, I stretch for a bit, and then watched some of the other guys rolling. I find the black belt fights at the mundials unbelievably boring, you wanna watch some good jiu jitsu? Come and watch the guys rolling during and after the 1pm nogi class at Renzos. Amazing to watch. Then John Danaher started rolling with a very high level black belt. Wtf..... it was amazing, he wasn't putting in ANY effort and was just mangling this guy up repeatedly, I’ve never seen anything like it. He's so smooth, so fluid, so precise in his actions. And emotionless, the whole time he's throwing this guy around it looks like he's doing tai chi.

Anyway, time for some more food. Then its chill out for the rest of the day. Try and make my room a bit more homely/comfortable. Excuse me for the long post. Also, Renzos been in Brazil and just got back today, saw him earlier and said hello. Hope to see him on the mats soon.

Ape out

Day 3: The Biggest Hurricane to Ever Hit NYC ?

I promised a post as exciting and eventful as the storm itself so here it is.

Ape Out.

Day 2: Sometimes your the hammer, sometimes your the nail.

So after a nice nights sleep in a real life bed I wake up pretty late again. 11 Oclock, and with the nogi class at 11.45 this gives me just enough time to have some edamame beans for breakfast a scope of Jack3d and head to the academy. As I step out of the building, and after all the talk of destruction yesterday, 250,000 people evacuated from parts of NY, people saying goodbye from training yesterday with “see you monday if were alive”, I expected to walk outside into something out of a post-apocalyptic movie. Buildings leveled, dead bodies decorating the streets, over turned cars and cows impaled on building tops. This was NOT the case. The only signs of “the biggest hurricane to hit NY” was some extremely light rain. I was massively let down, mainly because I was hoping that this “storm” would cool the weather down a bit. It was just as hot only much more humid! Horrible!

So I get to the gym. Apparently the nogi class on saturday is usually huge, 20-30 people. Today there was 7, apparently because of the “storm”. Mostly blue belts, one purple I think. And closer to my weight than the guys yesterday. After my beat down yesterday my instructor Nick Brooks commented “Sometimes your the hammer, sometimes the nail”. Truer words never spoken. Yesterday I was most certainly the nail, today I got to be the hammer. Its vitally important that you train both with guys who can fuck you up and guys that you fuck up. Imagine it like boxing, if your picking apart everyone with ease you never learn to take a punch and in a fight if you get hit your gonna react badly. And on the other side if your always getting knocked about, your never gonna learn how to knock out someone else. And bjj is no different. Normally you would hope that in every session you will have guys that you can mess up and guys messing you up. This was not the case, instead, yesterday I got beat up by everyone and today got to beat up everyone. I think I prefer it that way, one session as the hammer one as the nail. It allows you work on one thing in one session and another in the other. Anyway, to warm up we did some takedown entries and then got straight into sparring. Six five min rounds. It was once again insanely slippery. I didn't go insane in sparring, I rolled light and technically. Like most people who haven’t sparred with me before was often catching them in my slight twist on a guillotine.

It was a good sessions and after I spent a bit of extra time cooling down and stretching. I’ve realised that the most important thing for me on this trip is going to be recovery. The training is going to be great so no need to worry about it. All I need to do is make sure im able to carry on training, keep muscle soreness to a minimum and make sure i dont get injured. My knees felt sore today as they often do so I double up on my joint supplement. Anyway I stick around a bit and me and Roger mock the others for making such a big deal out of this little “storm”. Apparently its gonna hit tonight and tomorrow the worse and nothings gonna be open tomorrow so im strongly advised to stock up on food. The thought of being in all day without food terrifies me so I heed their advice and leave the academy in search of food.

Most places are closed so I walk around looking for open stores and eventually stock up from various different places. I get back to the apartment, we dont have the key but the owner has talked to the super and he has agreed to let me in when I need. All together my hurricane supply of food for today and tomorrow consists of:

• 5 bottles of muscle milk.
• 4 bowls of whole wheat pasta with grilled chicken and beef bolognese.
• 3 portions of grilled chicken quesadillas.
• 2 tubes of penuts
• 1 pack of beef jerky
• And a few bottles of water.

Im sure this shall last me fine.

Anyway I get into the apartment and im dripping with sweat just from walking around outside (thats how god damn humid it is!!!). I have a cold shower to cool down and reduce any swelling from training. Eat some food and now just chilling. I think were gonna watch the UFC tonight with Roger and some of the other guys from the gym. So that should be fun. Will be a good event and will be interesting to watch the UFC with some guys who could be fighting in it soon!

Tomorrow could be very uneventful with no training and nowhere open outside. So basically tomorrows entry could be VERY small.

Ape Out.

Needless to say, Renzos academy has some success at competitions.

First Day

So I had a moderately good nights sleep. Kept on waking up but going back to sleep. Didnt get out of bed (or sofa) til about 11. Which is 4pm english time, so yes, very late. Zed left early in the morning and gave me some direction to get to the academy. Unlike the station workers from yesterday I actually kind of understood them. I left the flat at about 12 and the first thing I notice when I step outside is "fuck its hot!!!", and everyone who knows me knows how much I love the heat.... o wait..... And it wasnt even a nice heat, it was a humid, horrible sweaty heat. So I walk a few blocks down to the subway (where its even hotter !!!). One change on the subway and I come out at Penn station near the academy. Its also right in Manhatten, as I walk outside the first thing I see if the madison square gardens. And lots of people around, very busy, very much like central London. I walk a few blocks to Renzos gym.

Renzos gym is situated in the basement of what seems like a very nice office block. No signs outside or anything, very executive. I go downstairs. What a lovely gym. And its huge. Big lobby, reception area, HUGE mat space in the middle a smaller mat area on the side. And another room with strength and conditioning equipment next to that. I later find out there is another massive matted area upstairs for thai boxing and ANOTHER above that with a ring and cage next to it. HUGE gym. All very nice and clean as well.

I sit around for a bit, head off to get some food, come back and sit and wait for Roger. After a couple of hours (yep) Roger rolls in. Tells me hes not training but I should get changed, im doing nogi in a little while. I get changed and start warming up.

Eventually everyone training arrives, there are 4 of us. Me, BJJ world champion Romulo Barral and two other big guys. Heres hoping I could find some guys my weight here (77kg) but the lightest guy is Romulo at 88kgs. The other two are 95kg and 100kg (I need to put on some weight!!!). To warm up I do some take down drills with Romulo then its sparring time. We do 3 min rounds with each person without stopping, so 9 min rounds. It was VERY sweaty. I mean VERY sweaty. I was pretty much positionally dominated by everyone although rarely submitted. I put this down to the insane slipperiness we all became within a few mins. I think I tapped twice in 30 mins. Both times slightly more to sweat pouring into my eyes, nose and mouth (drowning) than from the actual chokes. Its hard to take much away from a roll when the people your sparring with are so significantly stronger and more vitally heavier. I pretty much gathered that the two big guys where ex wrestlers but only been doing grappling for a few years. I felt a bit shit that I was beat up by people with only a few years grappling experience regardless of size or wrestling ability. I was later to find out that the 95 kilo guy was BJJ black belt and UFC fighter David Branch and the 100 kilo guy was two time NCAA Div 1 all american wrestling champion, last ADCC's under99 silver medalist and BJJ black belt Gerardi "Jerry" Rinaldi. I felt slightly better with myself.

After the class Roger took me upstairs to my "room". Now yesterday I joked that Roger might of said "No bed". Well I wasnt laughing anymore. The room was hot and had a single BJJ mat on the floor with two towels on as a pillow. I pondered staying at Zeds instead, but decided to choose convenience over comfort. As my S&C coach the Kettle Goat says "Comfort makes us weak" (or something to that meaning). So there you go Andy.

Anyway after unpacking my stuff I went downstairs where one of the people working at the academy told me he had an apartment for me over the weekend while the owner was away, FANTASTIC a bed! So I pack my stuff back up and wait around a bit until someone gives me directions to the apartment and go on my way. The location is perfect. 5 mins walk from the academy. I get there and cant get the key in the door. I try for 10 mins and call the guy. He sends some people to help, they are no more successful. We walk back to the gym, grab a load more keys and head back to the apartment. After 20 mins of trying, no luck. We go talk to the superintendent but hes not in. His wife tried to help us but nothing. We wait a bit for the super to get back. He gets in with his master key. and tightens the lock up a bit. Has a look at our keys and says we dont have the right keys and therefore shouldn't be allowed in. At this after seconds ago being elated ive got a room, looks like a may not after all! After a tense moment, and luckily the guy from the gym knows him as his kids train the super allows me to stay the night as long as I bring him the keys tomorrow. Thank god. What a nightmare !!! Anyway, happy to see a bed. And speaking of which, im gonna hit it now.

Ape out.

(P.s Biggest hurricane ever gonna hit NY tomorrow so if I dont post tomorrow consider me dead.)

Comfort makes us weak.

The Journey

Plane travel is in no way glamourous or exciting thus do not expect this post to exhitbit far different attributes. 

In the car on the way to the airport this morning it was pissing down with rain, which is somewhat a odd feeling, you are miserable because its raining, but elivated that you will be far gone from this within the next few hours while everyone else you know is stuck in this shitty weather for the forseeable future. 

I had a flight to Boston then over to JFK (New york). I get on the first flight and just before we take off it seems a miricle has happened and I have 3 seats all to me !! This was of course not the case, and when moved to my actual seat I was understandably upset as I was faced with the classic american flight scenario; a fat old lady sitting next to me, invading my personal space. I sit down, and it gets worse. O you want to play THAT game do you. And before the plane had even turned on its engines the arm rest war was on. Stupid lady. Needless to say, it was a short lived battle. With my greater understanding of leverage, coupled with me superior physical attributes topped off with my ruthless attacking style she was no match for me and i quickly took control of the arm rest. But I am not evil arm rest dictator. I was merciful in victory. Until about half way through the flight she asked me to moved my leg. Well, and friendly pardoning of elbows was long gone. For the rest of the flight I made sure to place my forearm across the entire length and breadth of the arm rest and keep it there for the remainder of the flight. Even when my body positioning made it uncomfortable, I still stuck with it. Thats called determination. 

Anyway, fun over. It was a pretty easy flight. I get off at Boston. Everyone seems to know about BJJ. Immigration asks what im doing here, I say training, he asks who, I say Gracie he knows BJJ. Very different from the UK. Anyway, I catch a short uneventful flight to New York and get out of the air port. 

Now Roger (Gracie) has sorted me out with staying at a room at Renzos gym (very cool). In his text he writes the room is "Not bed". And obvious typo, this could either mean what im hoping it means: That the room is "not bad". Or equally could mean: the room has "no bed". You just dont know with these things. But as I got in too late im staying with one of Rogers friends tonight and going to the gym tomorrow. Guess I will find out then. 

Anyway I intend to get to Rogers friend Zed in Queens by public transport. I get some crap directions and go looking, luckily I meet an extremely nice man who asks where im going and after seeing were heading in the same direction gets me to follow him. I sit next to him on the "air train" and to the train station where he helps me find my way. Coming from London this sort of kindness is odd and scares me. At first I took him help, some what confused, but then I just start to think hes crazy. Anyway, he takes me as far as one of the stations at which point I kind of work out his knowledge of the train system may not be as good as previously assumed and I assure him that I can take it from here and he leaves. 

So I go over to one of the station workers and they tell me what route I need in what im sure is some sort of alien language. I can understand numbers, I can understand letter. But put them together and I dont have a clue whats going on. I needed to find platform E take the red train to jamacia (yep!!) take the 4 to 23 then the 7 to manhatten. Then something else. So I pondered it for a sec, then jumped in a cab. 

I got here and waited outside for Zed to get back from dinner. I saw him a mile off. Short, stocky, brazilian, wearing shorts and havianas. Classic bjj. He let me in and made me feel more than welcome. Said although im only here for tonight im welcome here any time while im in NY. Its one of the things ive love about this sport. You meet a guy for the first time and within seconds you feel like youve been friends for years. Anyway off to Renzos tomorrow morning. Dont know what to expect but very excited. 

One last thing. Everyone keeps saying there a hurricane coming. I think they are being a tad over dramatic. But its true: I will be training tomorrow . Ape Out.  

(P.S excuse massive spelling errors. Am on Zeds computer and its set to portuguse)

Intro

My name is Daniel Strauss but my friends call me The Raspberry Ape.

Earlier this year I qualified for the ADCC championships (if you dont know what that is I would kindly request that you leave my blog please). And as part of my training I will be traveling from my gym in Mill Hill, north London under Nick Brooks to New York to train with the man himself, Renzo Gracie. I will be staying there for 3 weeks, returning to the UK a week before the comp.

Ive decided to keep a blog of my journey to:

A.) Keep anyone and everyone who is interested updated on what im doing (so I dont have to talk to anyone personally, its efficient (no much unlike Jiu jitsu)).

B.) Because there is a possibility that apart from training I will have nothing of interest to do, thus leaving me with a possibly large amount of free time, and this will give me something to fill it with.

I must however warn readers that it is possible that:

A.) I dont have anything interesting to say, thus making reading my blog a waste of time.

B.) Im having so much of a good time that I have no time to write this blog.

(and the most likely) C.) I cant be arsed/forget to write this blog regularly.

But none the less I shall try my hardest (I will consider it a test) to write regularly and to do enough interesting things that I have something worth writing about. I shall also try and get some pics up of all the awesome people I shall be throwing down with daily and some of the places I visit.

Currently it is 10:30 and I am leaving tomorrow at 9:30am. Needless to say I have not begun packing yet. And im thinking I can get a few rounds of Modern Warfare 2 in before I really need to think about packing.

Before I leave tomorrow I would quickly like to thank the people who have made this trip possible: Nick Brooks and Andrew Marshall. Who are not only my coaches but have paid for my flights to NY. David Onuma. Roger Gracie for sorting me out with a place to stay and training in NY. All the members of Mill Hill BJJ who have shown their support. My sponsors Scramble and Faixa Rua. And everyone else who has supported me thus far.

Thank you for reading.

Now to go a shoot some terrorists.

Ape out