Wot? No Update??

It's been a while...

There's an update coming up in 1 week.

Fight Club!

I'm getting ready to take a 10 day holiday in Thailand this week. While there I plan to stop off at Bangkok Fight Club to do a bit of training. I also hope to get some Thai Boxing in. A tan would be nice, too.

My BJJ has been improving at a satisfactory rate, but every now an again I have an off day. Today was one of those days- I felt weak, gassed quickly, and got owned by less experienced guys. I also noted that my takedowns need work- Because of my dodgy ankle, I find it hard to commit to takedowns for fear of something moving out of place, I can feel it starting to happen when I crouch down and push up. I need to tape it up better and start working stand up- I want to be feared on my feet, not to fear being thrown about like a rag-doll.

I will update when I'm in Thailand.

Into My Sixth Month

Lost 14 Kg / 30lb
My clothes feel looser- need a belt
Got a stripe on my white belt
Passing Blue-belt guards- occasionally dominating + beginning to get submissions on them

6 months ago- I hadn't even gotten around to making the commitment to lose weight, let alone study Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It would have been difficult for me to believe that I would have been able to stick to any kind of program and have lost the weight that I have. I'm pretty pleased with myself about these achievements.

However, I have slipped up a lot along the way and I haven't been as disciplined as I'd like- especially with weights and cardio- these have been pretty much non existent and I've been relying on BJJ and a bit of kickboxing for my fitness needs. It has been effective but I'm still not satisfied. Yes, I feel lighter and much more agile, but when I look in the mirror I don't see much of a difference. This is probably becasue although I've lost poundage, my basic body shape has stayed the same- whereas if I'd at least pushed it with weight training, I would see some muscle size and definition increases- more so if I did more cardio. I can't be too hard on myself though...I remember that I was going to to it slowly and in small steps.

So at this point I feel it's time to make some further commitments to myself.
It would be so easy to go running here. I live at the top of a big hill, at the bottom of which is a lake for me to run around before climbing back up. I have a dog that needs lots of exercise, and I know from exoerience that it really works for me. The main problems are that I hate it..if fucking bores me to death- and theres a motivation problem, you know - the one where you convince yourself that you done need to go right now becasue you can go any time. I need to go cliche on it and 'just do it'. I don't have a good excuse for avoiding weight training either.

I think I should start of lightly by allotting time to do each of these twice a week- I know that cardio work should be done more often- but it's best to start slowly, and I do get a good workout at BJJ. This will start in September.

On the financial front, I need to move house in 2/3 weeks time but I haven't found anywhere yet. I'm moving house in order to help me save money- the place that I'm in right now is in the lap of fucking luxury- fully furnished with high high high quality stuff- everything I need. I've been shelling out a small fortune every month for the past 2 years and have decided that I can find a place at half the price with some basics like air con, sofa, etc. This all means that I need to find cahs for 2 moths deposit, the first month's rent, and the agency fee that I will no doubt have to pay unless I find a place by myself. This could be done, if I didn't also need to leave the country to renew my visa and work permit at around the same time- that will cost a bit too. So, I need to do a bit of juggling to make all that work, I might stay at a friends place for a month to make things financially smother- the problem is, I have a dog and I doubt anyone wants to deal with a pet. We will see.

Leaving the country- As usual, I think I will make the trip to Thailand. The benifits are many. I can get a break from this wasps nest called Taipei, catch some live Thai Boxing- perhaps train, too. I can also head to Bangkok Fight Club, where they have BJJ, Thai boxing, and MMA classes. I'd like to try my hand at mixing things up and doing a buit of MMA. I can also get some new clothes- jeans and t-shirts. It's pretty much impossible for even average sized foreigners to find stuff here. Next, there's the food... then beaches. Ihope I can stay for a while and make a holiday out of it, I don't think a couple of days will cut it. That's it, I'm making it a mental health break, so I can come back fresh.

Actually Getting Shit Done!

I've been so busy actually getting shit done to come here and write about it. ..I suppose it's a good thing.

I got a new cellphone, paid a load of bills that I would normally leave until the day I am scheduled to have the service disconnected, got a load of food shopping done..and other stuff that I can't think of right now. This simple stuff is all aimed at being prepared for the last week or so of the month- before my next paycheck comes in> to avoid anything like the scooter incident from happening again. I've also been keeping a close eye on what I'm spending. I haven't bought anything expensive on impulse, I've been eating at cheaper places when I eat out- and cooking at home more. I can see that this is all simple stuff but I'm trying to break a lot of fucking bad habits in order to make my life easier.

I saw a movie/documentary recently which has been having an influence on the way I look at my own behaviour. The movie is called 'What The Bleep Do We Know' and is all about quantum physics and its relationship to how we live our lives. It's late now and i've just come back from BJJ class, So I don't want to get into the details, in any case its a bit new age and far out, but it made me think more about the fact that I have a lot more control over my life and how I affect my surroundings than I thought..I want to talk about this but my eyelids are heavy..I will move on.

BJJ is going well, I'm working a lot on my open guard and trying to make it fucking difficult to pass my guard- I've had some success, but havee been more successful in recovering guard after the guy thinks he's got me. I't seems that it's been a while since I submitted anyone but the quality of opponents has been pretty high lately.

I've been in touch with this dude who has a virtual sever with shit loads of space and banwidht, he has offered me a nice deal and I plan to move this site away from old blogger to my own domain. I'm still working out what I actually want to do with it and how I want the whole thing laid out- I'm thinking that I want to keep my blog, but have a lot of other stuff that is not centred upon my excruciatingly boring diary- like a BJJ techniques library perhaps..I'm just brainstorming and will write more as it comes together...

zzZZZzZZZzzzzzZZZ..

Shit Magnet

Everyone knows someone who everytime you meet them, they always seem to be in the shit in some way. When you meet this person and hear their latest run of bad luck, you probably wonder to yourself, how the fuck they can get into so much trouble- well, It's becasue they are 'Shit Magnets'.

"I AM A SHIT MAGNET!" There! I have said it. And thus, I have taken my first step out of thit filthy pit of misfortune.

I used to think that some people are destined to be unlucky and that there's nothing that they can do about it. But after the 'long march' incident last friday- I have began to see the error of my ways. Everyone has good and bad luck at various times- these are the things that we can't change. But chance does favour the prepared mind. Things like saving money and preparing for things that can go wrong, can absorb the worst part of the bad luck, and help us to take advantage of the good luck- the opportunities that frequently come our way.

I have come to realize that my general patterns of behaviour actually invite misfortune and shun opportunities. The examples are many but you only need to look at last weeks farce to see what I mean

1. Running late for work for no particular reason. I probably just took a gamble and messed around on the net for an extra 10 minutes.

2. Gambling again- I tried to find a parking space near to my office despite knowing full well that it's so very difficult. I could have parked further away and then walked

3. Parking ilegally, right next to the sign which warned of towing in operation.

4. Having no money on me- or anywhere else for that matter. If I had some, I would have been able to take the subway and avoided this mess altogether

5. Not having a mobile phone, so I couldn't call anyone for help.

Under those circumstances, bad luck found me just too irresistable to pass up.

So, I'm taking steps to ensure that this kind of thing never happens again. I have already bought a phone and plan to charge up a subway card for use in emergencies only. I will be anal about parking legally- even if it means being late for work- It's not like I'm late often- but I am often 'running' late. So I will be more conscious about giving myself enough time to get to places.

I'm not sure if anyone reads this now, since I changed the name and address- but if there are readers, I know what you are thinking. "How did this guy make it to the age of 29??" Sometimes I wonder about that, too. I think that must be down to the good luck that comes my way. Any reader of this blog must also be amused that a guy needs a blog to organize the simplest things- It amuses me too; it seems that I have excelled at some things, and I feel I am capable of doing something great and worthwhile (come on, don't laugh)- yet I can't seem to function well at all in terms of mundane, common sense things.

This has got to change.

I need to go and find a new place to live, I want to move out of this expensive apartment at the end of this month- and move into somewhere cheaper...more later.

My Biggest Battle...

Of all the goals I have set myself, saving money is far and away the most challenging. I used to be very fucken poor, and for a long time I didn't need an excuse for never having any money. But now things should be different, I am making a fair amount each month and this is well over Taiwan's national average without working very hard at all- yet I never seem to have a penny to scratch my arse with. As with my weight issue, my problems are deeply rooted in habit. Being poor in the past has given me an extraordinarily high tolerance for being broke. I also have that burning a hole in my pocket sensation, which compels me to spend it all as soon as I can.

The straw that broke the camel's back came on Friday night. I was running a bit late for work and had to find a place to park my motorbike. This is something that is nigh on impossible in Taipei. In the end I had to risk parking on a red line. Sure enough, I came out of the office a few hours later and my bike had been impounded. Not really a big deal but then I realized that I didn't have enough money to get it back right away- I still don't. I also didn't have enough money either in my pocket, or in the bank to get get home that night. I was too embarrassed to call anyone, so I was forced to walk- If anyone wants to know how long it takes to walk from Taipei main station to the upscale residential community of 'Lotus Hill' ...it takes 3 hours. Am I fucking pathetic or what?

Since then I've been getting by on the shrapnel in my coin jar, and will have to try and make that stretch until friday, when I get paid. One that long, sweaty walk home, I made a pact with myself never to let myself be in this kind of situation again. So I'm going to start being more mature about my attitude towards money. This means budgeting adequately for the month ahead, stopping buying things I don't need such as the ipod thats gathering dust on my desk, and putting money away and leaving it there in case of emergency. I also need to save money for my plan to leave Taiwan.

I need to pay a lot of bills and stuff when I get paid, and it will be another month without much money to play with, but I should have enough to get by if I don't waste anything. I won't be able to save anything- that's for sure. Also, I will move house in early september, which will no doubt cost a bit of money, so I think I will start saving in October. I think I earn enough to be able to put around 750 pounds away each month, providing I change my habits...

More on this later, I need to get some sleep now.

Time To Pull My Finger Out

6KG In One Month?
I weighed myself today and recorded a weight of 96Kg- No change from last month. I actually started to go up again at one point after not training for a while and eating a lot of shite. So I quickly turned things around again to get back on track.

I really want to hit 90Kg by the end of August. 6 Kilos in about a month is quite a lot, but when I look at how I've lost weight so far, I think it can be done. I've only been doing BJJ and watching my diet a little. I haven't been very strict and I've pussied out of going running for a long time now. I should also be weight training but for a number of reasons, I haven't been able to go- and that's for real- I'm more than willing to admit laziness.

So, now I need to work out exactly how I'm going to get sown to 90Kg. I currently practice Ju-Jitsu on Mondays and Thursdays, so those days are covered. I work all day on saturdays So I won't be able to do anything after that. Tuesdays and Sundays are days off, and Wednesdays and Fridays are pretty easy work days. This all means that I should do some form of exercise on Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It might also be a good idea to keep one of these days as a rest day- I'm thinking Wednesadays for now.
It's very convenient for me to take my dog out and go jogging and I should go and do that. However, I know that I won't be able to stick to it 3 times a week becasue I hate running- so I need to think about something else. One of the BJJ guys who I train with, has suggested doing some Judo- sounds like a good option, and it can also improve my BJJ stand up game. I will look into it.

I will start this week by running on Tuesday and Friday along with the BJJ and I will see what I can arrange for Sunday. This should kick start some fat loss.

I've been thinking about my ideal weight. In the beginning I thought that 85 would be just right, but right now I'm thinking that I will still be carrying a fair ammount of fat even at that weight. 85Kg would be a good weight if I had some more muscle tissue-and this could be a longer term goal-but for now I thing that 78Kg would be ideal for my height and musculature. That leaves another 18Kg to go- and that I'm already more than a third of the way there after 5 months of moderate exercise and a diet which could still be vastly improved upon. So it's resonable to say that with an increase in intensity, via running etc, I should be able to do better than that in the next 5 months. With this in mind, I think that I could reach 78Kg by Christmas. It's a lofty goal but I think that the past 5 months have been good preperation for me to step things up a bit.

Stretching
Ever since my karate and kickboxing days, I've wanted to be able to do the splits. I was naturally quite flexible as a kid and I could get pretty close to the spilts after a good warm up or after a tough training session. Nowadays, however, my flexibilty is average at best. This is probably due to inactivity and the lack of stretching activity in Thai- boxing Jiu-Jitsu.

Anyway, I recently came into possesion of a video and book set called Stretching Scientifically by Thomas Kurz. Kurz is an expert in the field and he states that the splits can be achived within 2 months of regular stretching- if it's done right. This book and video have been on the go for about 20 years and no one has said that it's shite, so, I'm going to start following the stretching programme and aim for full flexibility in my legs.

I won't be disappointed if it takes longer than 2 months- in fact I find it hard to believe it can be done, nevertheless, I will just follow the programme and see what happens.

Wanted: New Ankle
The saga of my ankle injury continues as I never fully recovered from it. There is something in there- a piece of cartelage or bone, that has broken off and can move around. I can even grab the peice and move it myself. Although, it doesn't affect my daily functining, it does cause a few problems when exercising. It's unstable when I crouch or go for takedowns in BJJ- so, at some point I'm going to be forced to have corrective surgery that would probably put me out of BJJ for at least a couple of months. This one of the reasons that I haven't had it done yet. The other is that I am still in Taiwan and I don't trust the bungling idiots that pass for doctors here to do a very good job. Unless something happens to make it worse, I'm going to leave it until I leave Taiwan.

Chinese
Living in Taiwan for 3 years has allowed me to pick up Mandarin Chinese. I really did pick it up very easily and have had very little formal instruction. I learn through my daily interactions with people, the television, reading, and a lot of curiosity. Having this ability has opened a few doors for me here in Taiwan and I now work in translation. I think that I would like to continue translating after I leave here and at the moment it's the closest thing I have to a career.

One of my options after leaving Taiwan is to do an MA in translation, and i think it would be a necessary step in order to carve a career out of it. The obstacles are that my bachelors degree is in Psychology, I have no formal Chinese qualifications, and I am terrible at saving money (i.e. the money needed to fund an MA)- so I need to try to get around these problems in some way. The money thing will be covered later, but the qualification thing can be helped by getting a decent HSK result. So, I plan to take the test next may.

The HSK is actually seperated into 3 tests: Basic, Elementary/Intermediate, and Advanced. I've taken a couple of mock tests for the Basic level and stormed them. A high score on the basic test is enough to get a place on an undergraduate programme in science, engineering, agriculture and Western medicine at any university in China. So being called 'basic' is a little deceptive.

I just stole this HSK breakdown from another site:

Proficiency Level: HSK Basic

Certificate Raw Score Range Proficiency Level
Level 1 (100-154) Intermediate
Level 2 (155-209) Intermediate +
Level 3 (210-300) Intermediate ++

Proficiency Level: HSK Elementary Intermediate

Certificate Raw Score Range Proficiency Level
Level 3 (152-188) Intermediate ++
Level 4 (189-225) Advanced
Level 5 (226-262) Advanced
Level 6 (263-299) Advanced +
Level 7 (300-336) Advanced +
Level 8 (337-400) Advanced ++

Proficiency Level: HSK Advanced

Certificate Raw Score Range Proficiency Level
Level 9 (280-339) Advanced ++
Level 10 (340-399) Superior
Level 11 (400-500) Distinguished

So as far as I can be sure, I'm at the intermediate ++ level right now. The chances are that I'm better, but I haven't taken any mock tests at the higher levels yet. I have found a website that has a load of practice tests and I will probably do an elementart/intermediate one later tonight.

Ideally, I should have a pass at the advanced level, but I'm certain that I won't be able to reach that standard at the moment- whether or not it can be done next may is still in the air until I get a good enough idea of my current limits.

This is my longest post ever and I think I should stop now, I doubt anyone has read this far anyway coz its as boring as fuck! This site has always been a place for me to get my head together- not for the entertainment of others- but, as some people actually read this blog-

Shutdown your fucken PC and do something with your Sunday!

Expanding

So far this blog has been focussing upon my progress in both Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and losing weight. As you can see by my new title, I want to broaden the scope of the blog and dedicate it to all of the things I want to achieve. This way I can set goals and use this blog to keep track of them. I'm going to be experimenting with new templates over the next few days because the basic Blogger format doesn't quite cut the mustard in terms of what I want to do with my blog.

So..what about my goals then? From the top of my head, my current goals are to:

continue to lose weight
continue to get better at BJJ
be able to do the splits with ease
leave taiwan
take the HSK test (the internationally recognised test of Chinese ability)
improve my career prospects
save a bunch of money
have that ankle operation that I need

Of course, with each of these there are secondary goals- such as learning x number of words for the HSK, or saving x ammount of money each month for 6 months, and so on. Over the coming days I'm going to work out how I'm going to go about Getting Sh1t done, and post it on the blog.

After looking at that list, I realized that many of those goals are interconnected. Leaving Taiwan requires some saving up. I can't leave Taiwan if it's not going to improve my career prospects or if I prevents me from practising BJJ. Also, I don't particularly want to have that operation here, so it may have to ait until I leave... Anyway..more on all that later.

I've only been doing BJJ twice a week this month and I haven't done any other exercise at all. All that talk of weight training and running came to nothing. Having said that, my weight is pretty stable- it's not going up at least. I will work on getting more exercise as I'm sure that If I ran a few times a week, the fat would melt off quickly.

Back to BJJ for a minute- I don't feel like I've improved much at all since the tournament, I'm also having a harder time beating people because the newer guys are starting to catch up just like I was a couple of months back. I still get superior position on all of the white belts but it's not so easy to finish- That's not really a bad thing, it just means that I'll have to tighten up my technique and timing a bit. Despite being pretty good among the white belts, it's obvious that I'm no where near blue belt level- especially when I'm on the bottom. When I'm on the bottom its only a matter of seconds before I get choked or cranked. At the moment, the best I can do is pass their guards occasionally. Speaking of which, my guard passing stinks! I've been too focussed upon submission holds since day one and need to pay more atttention to passing.

Anyway, enough for now- got to go out and make some money.

Change: The Only Constant

There's hardly been any training since the tournament because Andy was getting his shit together to go home. during this time I've let me diet slip badly and I can feel the bad habits coming back.

Andy's departure has brough a few changes. The club has been left in the hands of one of the blue belts, which is fine- I can still learn a lot from this guy. The schedule has changed, too- as has my own work schedule. This means that I can only practise BJJ twice a week. There's nothing I can do about that for at least the next two months, so I'm going to have to do oother stuff to make sure I'm still losing weight, which is still my main goal.

I have had a hard time motivating mnyself to go weight training, but I think I should up the frequency a little bit. I could also run a couple of times a week around my neighbourhood- I hate running though. So basically, I have to dig deep and do some stuff that I don't enjoy for a while in order to keep moving forward.

I continue to give a lot of thought into relocating. I've promised myself that I will leave Taiwan next year- September 2006. I haven't decided where I'm going to go yet, but my decision will be based upon my ability to continue studying BJJ, alongside being able to continue making progress in my career. The ideal option would be to go to the U.S. They have some great clubs like 10th planet, Grappling Unimited (Hawaii), and Kobra-Kai. But it would be very tough for me to find work there as the regulations are pretty tough , especially for Brits. I'm not sure I would be able to find the kind of work I'm looking for anyway. I do wish to go somewhere like that though. I'm fed up of being a foreigner in Asia. I'm looking into other options like Australia and NZ- but the most viable option is to go home to England, despite not really wanting to. In England there are lots of BJJ clubs, work shouldn't really be a problem, and I can get that Masters degree in Translation that I want.

Well, I will keeping mulling that over until I find an answer- I suppose I have over a year to work it all out.

A Cherry Popped

So last week we had the tournament..

Overall it was a big success. There were teams and competitors from Hong Kong, Thailand, The Philippines, Japan, and even a guy from Guam. The nationalities of the competitors was even more diverse.

I had a shitty start to BJJ competition and got dragged to the floor, sat on, and then choked out with my own jacket in my first match. That guy (trains in a nother city) was the most experienced of the lot of us and went on to win the heavyweight division, which is some consolation for me. It has also given me more encouragement to get out of that division as soon as possible- I just shouldn't be there.
That was the 'gi' competition. The rest of the guys had some success and our club won the team trophy.

The next day came the 'no-gi' competition. I had some reservations about entering becasue I was a bit jaded by yesterday's loss. However, I thought about Andy leaving and the fact that there may not be another tournament in Taiwan for a long, long time- and decided to give it a go. Besides, I felt that not wearing the gi would give me a bit more freedom to move around without someone hanging from my jacket for 5 minutes.

My aim was solely to redeem myself after yesterday's loss, the competition was actually tougher than the day before due to there being no stratification based on belt level...there were blue belts and even a purple belt in our bracket. Also, interstigly enough, a bunch of local 'pro wrestlers' came along to participate. A couple of us were worried about being body slammed and piledrivered by these huge guys, but it transpired that they didn't know anything about the guard- and the only submission that any of them seemed to know was a playground style headlock.

I didn't have the pleasure of rolling with any of those guys and was instead matched against a guy from our club. He was the only guy from our club that I was really concerned about. He's a natural heavyweight and has been there since the club began - he has a bout 4 striped on his white belt too. I've rolled with him in practice and although I don't remember being submitted by him, he usually controlled things from the top and used his weight well. The match started out with me steeping back and seeing what he had in mind- It seemed that without the gi, he wanted to try double-leg takedowns. I stayed on the defensive and sprawled out of two of his shots and when the third came in I instinctively wrapped my left arm around his neck with my forearm over his throat. I've done this a lot in practice but have never been able to finish it, but this time I know that It was deep enough. So I used my other arm to help lever my choke more deeply, went to my back, and the closed my legs around him to prevent escape and apply additional pressure. After about 15 seconds, and an adjusting twist, he started gurgling and tapped out.

Winner by Guillotine Choke

After that, I felt like I'd redeemed myself, even if it was a bit lucky.

The next round had me matched up against the biggest guy in the room. He's aslo a blue belt and had won his gi division the day before. I had hoped to simply last the full 5 minutes and not give away too many points. I puilled guard right away but was unable to break his posture and he had no trouble getting around my legs. I was able to escpape from his mounts and submissions a couple of times and towards the end of the match found myself under a north south position and not knowing what to do. He managed to get my arm and submitted me with a shoulder lock.

He went on to win it all, even defeating the purple belt. So at least I can say that I was beaten by the best.

People were recording the matches all day and I hope to get the videos soon. In fact, I remeber looking into one video camera as I was being choked out- so that footage should be funny.

I don't know when I will be able to compete again, I don't even know if there is a club anymore, but I'm already looking into ways to move somewhere and train at a top school without compromising my career.

I've lost more weight and have set my goal to be well under 90Kg by September.

Weight on 30th June 2005: 96Kg

Finishing Touches

I will compete in my first submission grappling tournaments this weekend. There is a BJJ gi tournament on Saturday and theres a no-gi event on Sunday. I am focussing primarily on the gi event as thats the way I've been training for the past four months- I will think about the no-gi part on Saturday night.

The past few sessions for me have been about escapes and coping with the pressure of being in unfavorable positions. I know I can apply a few submissions now, so I feel it's time to think about how I will react beyond my comfort zone. I have been allowing people to past my guard, get full mount, and take the back..just to work on getting over the fear of being sort of helpless. It feels like how I imagine drowning would be..especially when being choked- I reckon that if you are drowning and start to panic and flail around, you will only die faster. It's better to be relaxed and to think rationally, even under such pressure. I've had some success with this over the past few sesions, however, I got choked out twice tonight. Tthe first was after deliberately giving the guy my back, the second he got fair and square.

It turns out that the weight brackets for this tournament will be different to the one I went to in the Philippines. I have lost enough weight to make an under 96kg category, however, these tournaments have the heaviest catergory at 201lb and above..thats 90kg, So I'm not going to make that in 3 days- I wouldn't have been able to do it in a month in my condition. It's funny though, I remeber losing crazy ammounts of weight in short periods of time to make weight Kick/Thai-boxing bouts. But that was when I was in good shape, my metabolism was optimal and most of the excess weight was water-not fat. So, I don't need to worry about weight for the rest ofthe week- unless I take being the lightest heavyweight into account.

Due to this being an Asian tournament, with the bulk of its participants being of Asian origins, I suspect there won't be that many heavyweights. But there are at least 4 heavyweights from our club taking part, and the chances are I will have to take on at least one of them. That's no problem for me: it's competition and I won't be holding anything back. I want to push myself beyond my limits, no matter which bodies are put in front of me. I'm not underestimating any of those guys..I've beaten them all in sparring, just as they have beaten me. I expect that group to be pretty tough. A couple of things set me aside from the others, though-None of those guys have trained as hard as I have over the past six weeks- I'm no stranger to competition and know how to prepare myself mentally for this challenge.

I don't understand how I let myself drift away from this (fighting sports)..but It feels great to be back...

Stay Tuned

What Happens Next?

It looks like my instructor, Andy Wang, will be leaving Taiwan for a while to pursue his own BJJ and MMA career. He says he's 28 and is still young enough to further make his mark in these sports, and I know what he means. ONLY 28- not too old to compete and be successful, however, ALREADY 28- time to get a move on if it's ever going to happen.

The announcement came tonight after practice. He's been hinting at it for a while and knowing his martial arts background before he came to Taiwan, I knew it had to happen sooner or later. I suppose everyone else knew, too...but as the announcement came, there were more than a few heads hung low, and faces that couldn't hide their sadness. The usual childish banter that takes place while we are getting ready to leave was replaced by the kind of silence and moping seen at a funeral.

For me personally there was also a strong sense of dissapointment- for want of a better word- I mean, I've learnt so fucking much over the past 3/4 months, I've lost a lot of weight, I feel better about myself, in every sense of the word, than I have in years. I guess a word better than dissapointment is- loss. I came home tonight, sat down on my sofa and suddenly came to the realisation that the only thing keeping me in Taiwan at the moment is Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. I haven't really gotten personal on the blog before, but my life here prior to starting out with BJJ was starting to fall apart and up until that point the only thing keeping me here was the gradual improvement in terms of my career. Since that time, the work situation has taken a severe turn for the worse and I'm simply not making money anymore. This has been great for my training; I've had tons of free time, and the joy of training has lessened the impact of the shitty job situation. I spend most days looking at the clock and thinking about going to train that evening. With that gone, what will I have left? Sweet fuck all.

Andy was a little vague about how long he will be away, and when he will be back ( I assume he will be off shortly after the tournament-which is next weekend). He may not even be back for more than a quick visit- Hell, he may end up being succesful enough to get a spot on one of the bigger promotions like Pride and the UFC, which makes the chances of his return even less likely. Sure, he's not the kind of guy who would leave us high and dry, and there are a few blue belt guys that can cover when he's away-perhaps I'm overeacting, and he will be back after the competitions he will enter in October, nevertheless. I'm already looking into getting off this island and going to a place where I can get a masters degree in translation while training at a great grappling club. Any suggestions? After all, I recently discovered that over 70 people stop by here every day- a lot more on the day that I post.

I think this is a wake up call for me; From the outset in February, I committed myself to seeing this thing through, It was initially about getting in better shape because I feared for my health and was disgusted each time I was confronted with my image in the miror. But now its very much a hobby. I realise that I need martial arts in my life, I always have and I'm not going to turn my back on it again.

I'm not sure where I'm going to go, I still have strong reservations about returning home to England, despite of the cost of a masters degree being much lower than if I go elsewhere. I just don't feel like I'm one of 'them' anymore- I wouldn't be able to fit in~ I never did. Anyway, I have some time to work it out because It will probably be another year before I can really afford to set up somewhere else.

In spite of this being a selfish, pissy, sob story, I support Andy fully in his decision and I'm not at all dissappointed in him, the stuff I've learnt through him is priceless, and I owe him for that. He has done a great job here, more and more local people are expressing and interest in this progressive martial art in a land that is blinded by tradition and superstion with regards to martial arts (there are still Tai-Chi and Kung-Fu masters who say they can walk through walls and instantly boil water with their finger) . The classes have become huge lately, which adds to the sadness because there is no one here who can fill his boots, and maintain the high numbers. A Chinese guy is needed to win the trust of the locals. Rome wasn't built in a day I suppose, and in the long run Andy's future successes will only benefit the martial arts scene in Taiwan.

I hope to see him smashing fools in the near future.

From Nail To Hammer

I spent my first 2 months in BJJ being the nail. I was getting tapped out left right and centre by everyone in the club. Since that time, I've improved enough to bring the frequency of me being submitted down considerably. Also some new guys have come along and are currently going through what I went through. I tend to avoid the newer guys just because I want to work with the experienced guys - I've always found that having tough opponents helps to raise one's game; the learning curve is pretty steep and it can be frustrating at times, but there isn't a faster was to make progress.

During the last couple of sessions I made a point of rolling with a couple of the newer guys..and wow! Being the nail for so long has finally paid off! I must have submitted one guy at least 15 times during a 5 minute period. I found I was able to do anything I wanted to him due to my having a better sense of position and him not knowing when he was in danger- man, I was trying stuff I'd seen on intructional videos and getting away with it. Naturally, dominating a guy with a couple of week's training is nothing to brag about- there's no way I'd be able to submit a blue-belt with a triangle choke from the mount, but, the way I see it is that this must be how the average thug on the street will fight on the ground (not accounting for punches and other attacks, of course). So, I certainly have a bit more confidence in my ability to defend myself should the need arise- Not that I'd ever want to put myself in that situation.

I think that every now and again I will roll with the new guys- It's an opportunity to work on techniques that I can't practice with the more experienced guys..it will help the newbies, too, just as it has helped me.

So Far..

This is a list of the stuff I've been taught over the past 3 and a half months. I haven't, by any stretch of the imagination, come close to mastering all of the techniques in the list- In fact I've already forgotten how to do a number of them; my collar chokes are shite. However, I always make a point of trying as many as I can in sparring.

Submissions

Baseball Choke (Side control)
Chop Choke
Cross Choke (full mount, knee on belly)
Key Lock (full mount)
Armbar (knee on belly)
Spinning Armbar (side control)
Armbar from closed guard
Crosschoke from closed guard
Omoplata from closed guard
Triangle Choke from stack escape
Reverse Guillotine (from back)
Collar Choke (from back)
Arm bar from back
Crosschoke from knee on belly


Positions

Full Mount
Knee On Belly
Puppet Guard
Side Control
Correct posture when sitting inside a closed guard
Stack+guard pass
North-South position
Taking back from North-South
Half guard
Half guard to back

Throws/Sweeps/Takedowns

Large Hip Throw
Ankle Throw
Sweep from Puppet Guard
Greco Roman Twist and Drop (basic+backover)
'Tito' Lift and Twist
Scissor Sweep from the guard
Back Suplex (yes, just like in WWE!)
Single Leg takedown
High Crotch takedown
Double Leg takedown
Double leg with sweep
Elevator sweep

Escapes

Upa-bump n roll
Armbar escape (rolling)
Turtle escape
Stack escape
Half guard escape (pass)
Omoplata escape+reversal
Key -lock escape
Elbow escape (under mount)