Promotion!

Hell yeah! Promoted to two stripes! Haha doesn't sound that impressive but I love the feeling of making progress. One more stripe to go and I'll be going for the no-gi class and the mma class. And also now I'm just 3 promotions away from a blue belt! Woot.

Recently there have many promotions all around. Papa rich got another stripe on his blue belt. Some other people got promoted to blue belt and I got to see the certificate that they got. I'm a junkie for achievements. I want that certificate!

In other news, I'm severely cut up. Ive taken an elbow, a knee, and a punch to the mouth. I have so many ulcers and cuts in my mouth it's so hard to eat food. Blah. But I understand it's all just accidents that happen in training it's just that now it happened all within the same few days so there's no part of my lips that's free from cuts. I can't even say avoid one part of my mouth cos every part has at least one gigantic ulcer.

The pictures attached are my new white stripe as well as the blood stains from getting elbowed in the mouth. Hahaha...

Evolve family

So I'm done with training and heading back home on the north east line. Learnt transitions from half guard to mount or side control. Also learnt the Ezekiel choke from half guard. All around interesting stuff but nothing too fancy.

This morning I briefly considered skipping training to play diablo 3 but decided to come in the end and I'm so glad that I did because today was Zoro's birthday. At the end of the lesson, the whole class as well as a whole lot of his students decided to take a picture with him to congratulate him on his recent muay Thai win. After the photos were done, surprise cake came out. The look on Zoro's face was incredible. Zoro is always smiling anyways but he was somehow smiling even more and Papa Rich gave him a gag present, a mini tripod and camera case, before giving him his real present a digital camera. It was so funny to see Zoro sitting there holding his camera case thinking how come it's so light and wondering what's going on how come my present is a camera case and still smiling being polite. Haha. But it was really great to see and I think Zoro really liked his present.

This is just one incident that shows how friendly and inclusive Evolve is. Sometimes gyms are always saying you join us we are a big family and I'm always thinking "yeah right" but with Evolve I feel like I can believe it. The instructors as well as the other students here are just good to train with. Inclusive, friendly, have not met any partner so far that is the gym hero kind that wants to dominate others to show how tough he is. All in all, I feel that all this has just reaffirmed my choice in deciding to train at Evolve.

Training day

So I'm on my way to Evolve right now and I thought I might as well blog on the train. Got caught in a triangle for the first time on tuesday whilst doing specific training for guard passing. Man, passing guard is really hard. Also I've taken an elbow and a knee to my mouth in the past two sessions. It wasn't on purpose and it thy weren't particularly hard hits but my lips are cut up all the same. Ah, how to enjoy the wedding banquet I'm going to tonight with my lips full of ulcers and cuts. Oh well.

Also evolve schedule recently underwent some changes and now there are more beginner bjj classes to attend. Good for me. However, the mma classes now have a minimum requirement of bjj 3 stripe or muay Thai level 2. I am underqualified. I've been waiting all semester for the holidays to come so I can attend the weekend mma class and now I can't. Guess I'll have to work harder for my 3 stripe.or maybe muay Thai level 2 will be faster? I dunno.

In other news, my order from the Gracie academy store has arrived already but I've just been a bit lazy in updating so I have yet to post them here. I must say that their vintage shirt looks really good. Also, their submission series video is not only educational but highly entertaining. Keeping it real! Alright, shall blog again after today's training.

Back to Evolve

So I've been taking a break from training at Evolve because of my school exams and some other personal commitments. So it's the first training back at Evolve for me since my exams ended. Went for my usual BJJ lesson at 745 and today Airam was the instructor (where's Zoro? I don't understand how the instructors rotate but no big deal all are good).

Learned some escapes from side control today. Nothing really fanciful just the usual hip escape, hook with legs to get half guard and then work towards full guard. The other was the escape to double underhooks and then bridge to take the back. Specific training was quite satisfying though, managed to finish two submissions, one americana armlock and the other was an armbar. Submissions FTW.

Introductory Post v.2

Introduction


I'm also a 24 year old Singaporean male, and was referred to in the previous introductory post as the friend who enrolled at Evolve PoMo together with Daryl. We both rapidly got hooked on MMA and he invited me to contribute to this blog in order to chronicle both our experiences with Evolve and MMA in general.

Background


Unlike Daryl, I have no previous martial arts experience. We both achieved our first stripe in BJJ at the same time, but I am currently on a two-month hiatus from Evolve as I have gone overseas to the UK to visit my fiancee. BJJ is very much like physical chess, which appeals greatly to me as it isn't just about winning by using brute force and athleticism, but also by outwitting or tricking your opponent in order to create openings for you to exploit.

Physical Fitness


I'm a regular in the Republic of Singapore Navy, and a certain standard of physical fitness is expected. However, I have experienced many injuries in the past, including dislocating my shoulder (the most commonly repeated injury) and many others, which has led my physical fitness to be somewhat under par. I was overweight not too long ago (about 95 - 100kg at my heaviest, and I'm only 180cm tall), but ever since joining Evolve, I've lost about 12kg from Feb to April and now weigh about 83kg. Hopefully the weight loss continues, but more importantly, the MMA lessons have me feeling fitter and better about myself than I have in a long time.

Aims


Beyond chronicling what we learn in Evolve, I also hope to keep a record of just how I transform (hopefully) from an overweight, sedentary computer gaming nerd into a much fitter person with a lot more interest in life beyond computer games. I'm currently in the UK and working out at a normal (non-MMA) gym in order to continue building up my physical fitness even if I cannot do MMA, and this is something which would never have occurred to me to do in the past, so I already have MMA and Evolve to thank for that change in my life and mindset.