Happenings...

Just a short update here to keep things up to... date. Yeah.

So lately I've started attending more classes at Evolve. By more I refer to the variety and not the quantity. Sadly I've gone for fewer (in quantity) lessons lately because of personal commitments. Ironically I could attend lessons more frequently during the school term then I can during this long holidays. Energy and time constraints.

Anyway enough prattle, on to the lessons. Recently I attended both a wrestling lesson as well as a fightshape lesson. I must say that wrestling is pretty interesting, similar to BJJ in a sense that you have to be aware of body balance and hip placement and all that stuff. But apart from that it's really all just takedowns as far as that lesson went. Going for mainly BJJ lessons has somehow conditioned my brain to want to do BJJ moves even during wrestling. For instance, whilst in the body lock position I kept wanting to go for an osotto-gari instead. Anyway, I managed to hold my own for most of the lesson. I kept getting praised by Eddie and also my training partners but I suspect that it's more of them being nice to a newcomer than me being actually talented.

Fightshape. Fightshape was crazy. Hahaha... I must say it really pushed me quite close to my physical limit but I feel really good about it after. I must try to make more time for fightshape lessons. Kettle bell exercises plus interesting rope exercises and TRX exercises. Madness.

Muay Thai class...

Recently went for a muay thai class at Evolve on Tuesday at the 4:15pm time slot. Was quite interesting to attend an afternoon lesson because the class size is HUGE compared to the early morning time slots. To accomodate the huge class there were three muay thai instructors. Learnt an interesting combo of leg block followed by knee. The muay thai instructors are really funny jokers especially kru yo. Haha... but I think I still prefer to have a smaller class size so I'll probably try to go in the morning.

Have not been going so regularly for training lately due to knee injury + cough + life is busy. Excuses I know but those are the reasons nonetheless. I have not totally revamped the website as I had previously planned but I have managed to make a logo. :)

I initially tried to make the whole thing from scratch but in the end I decided it was easier to just go with a pre-made vector template and just modify it from there. The coat of arms vector is courtesy of www.vectorlady.com

The words on the coat of arms are Spiritus and Zelus meaning "spirit" and "zeal". Ok, it's latin and may seem pretentious and all but I like latin so there. I seem to attend schools that have latin mottos so I always liked the sound of latin words.

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.

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. 

Greg Jackson Clinic

Came across this video recently. One of the big names in MMA coaching. Loved hearing the insight that he has into the omoplata but even more interesting is his insight into ground and pound. Something that looks so simple as punching downwards can actually have that level of sophistication and technique to it. Cool video.

Shinya Aoki the Baka survivor!

So shinya is going to be fighting at bellator today. In a show of support and admiration I decided to buy his walkout shirt from Evolve. Check it out! Bad-ass!

Monday Lesson

So I went for BJJ lessons this morning. As usual I went for the really early timing at 745 so that I can have the rest of the day to go to school for classes and other scholarly stuff. I'm pretty happy that I decided to go today because my usual instructor Zoro is back! He recently just fought in the One Fighting Championship in the main event and won convincingly with an awesome armbar. In the weeks leading up to the fight he, he stopped coming for the morning lesson and also in the weeks after the fight. So basically today was the first time that he came back to teach after his fight. Zoro is an exceptionally friendly teacher and the way he greets you before training starts just makes you feel happy to train and you can feel that he is happy to be teaching you. Today he was especially happy, undoubtedly from his recent win and also because everyone was congratulating him on his victory.

Friendly but deadly and efficient!

So this morning we learned a few things.

1. Blocking a hook and grabbing across behind the head for a hip throw
2. Sweep from guard (sit-up sweep? not sure what it's called)
3. Armbar from guard
4. Straight arm lock from guard

For the straight arm lock I thought I heard Zoro call it a Juji gatame but when I came home and checked youtube, all the juji gatame that I found were all armbars. The closest thing that I could find that looked like what I learned was the Hiza gatame.

I can't find videos that teach it exactly how Zoro taught it today but here is one that shows you how to pull-off an armbar from guard.

So it was basically the same move with the exception that we pull the arm across our body before going for the armbar. If the person resists the pull, we overcome by bridging rapidly whilst pulling it over.

Okay, so that's all from me today. I might try to find videos of the other techniques if I can.

Fighting!

It's evolving....!

Evolve MMA Singapore

Since I am currently attending lessons at Evolve MMA Singapore, I felt it would be useful to let people know about what Evolve is like and why I chose to attend Evolve out of the many MMA gyms already established in Singapore and the many more that are still sprouting up as MMA is becoming more popular. 

Training under Champions

First off, Evolve has a star-studded roster of instructors and fighters. It's a great feeling to know that you are training under the instruction of a world champion and if you come to Evolve to learn MMA you will definitely at one time or another be taught by a world champion. Just a look at the instructor wall at Pomo and you will see the words Mundials Champion and Lumpinee champion all over. In fact you will see Lumpinee champion next to words such as "two times" and "three times" and even "four times".

Location and Schedule


Secondly, Evolve has two branches, one at Pomo and one at Far East Square. Both are conveniently located in the heart of Singapore. There were some other gyms that I looked at in considering which to join but the locations were typically at extreme ends of the island or some place that I had no idea how to get to. Aside from location, Evolve also seems to have one of the best schedules for me. Evolve runs lessons very early in the morning. I really mean VERY early, like 6:45am kind of early. This is great for me because most of my classes start in the late morning or early afternoon so I have time to go to the gym in the morning and then head home to rest before heading off to school.


Atmosphere


Learning something new is always slightly scary. Learning something as intense and physical as martial arts is especially intimidating. In this aspect, I found that Evolve had a very friendly and welcoming environment. Although the instructors are all so accomplished, they are not arrogant nor are they harsh. They greet everyone as they enter the gym and they are quick to praise you if you do well. Not only are the instructors friendly but the other gym members are all very friendly too. When I attended my first BJJ class, the other student who was my training partner was friendly and helped me learn the steps to the techniques. In terms of physical facilities, Evolve looks very well-maintained and professional. The mats are always constantly being cleaned by the cleaners after every lesson and the training equipment all looks to be in great condition. The toilets are also a pleasant surprise. They are so clean and modern-looking, I might say it's even better than some country clubs. Nice towels, nice showers. All in all, it's really good that you can enjoy a nice shower before going from the gym to work or school


Cost


The one downside I perceived from learning at Evolve is mainly that it is not cheap. I think I can safely say that Evolve is among the more expensive MMA gyms in Singapore. If you have a small budget then probably Evolve will not be so suitable to meet your budget. However, when I consider all the other things I mentioned earlier I still felt that the quality justifies the cost.


Conclusion


My experience at Evolve so far has been nothing but positive. I enjoy every lesson I go to and I feel that I am learning new things all the time. The quality and professionalism of how the gym is run is very impressive and although the price of membership is high but "you get what you pay for".

First things first...

Introductions


This is going to be a typical first blog post kind of post. Let's get it on! I'm a 24 year old (1988) Chinese Singaporean male who has recently started to venture into the world of MMA. I decided to chronicle my journey into this exciting world of martial arts and at the same time consolidate whatever useful resources I can find onto this blog.

Background


As for my existing experience, I have learned Taekwondo and achieved a black belt level at the age of 16. Admittedly, rising in rank in Taekwondo seems much faster and relatively easier than the martial arts that I have started to learn recently. About a month ago (Feb 2012), I enrolled at Evolve Mixed Martial Arts located at Pomo together with my friend. So far I have attended both the Muay Thai lesson as well as the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) lesson and have thoroughly enjoyed both. The BJJ lessons especially appeal to me because I have never experienced this level of grappling and technique while learning Taekwondo and the complexity combined with strategy makes for very interesting lessons. After one month of training I had managed to achieve my first stripe at white belt for BJJ and the satisfaction has really gotten me addicted to BJJ.


Physical Fitness


I am an asthmatic. I have been since I was 5 years old but my asthma is relatively well-controlled so I have engaged in sports most of my life. Playing badminton in primary school and squash in my junior-college. During my national-service I managed to complete the 21.1km army half-marathon but I feel that my physical fitness has definitely fallen since then. I currently weigh 65kg and hope to bulk up through the MMA lessons at Evolve. Apart from Evolve, I have also recently signed up for the Sundown Marathon but only for the 10km distance. Don't want to overestimate myself. 


Aims


So what's up with this blog? Firstly it is going to be a fitness journal. I am going to blog my progress of my physical fitness. I believe it is only with regular and specific monitoring will I be able to make progress with improving my fitness. Secondly, I hope it can be useful to others who are thinking of picking up MMA. I hope I can give some insight into what it is like to learn the martial arts and also some preview into the gyms that I am a member of.