Unfortunately, not a joke

This left me almost speechless.

Summer sun and training outdoors, part deux

Check this awesome vid of my good friend, Fighters Only contributor and professional fighter Peter Irving (and chums) training on a beach.

Pete is the one with the GSP headband on.  Looks awesome.  I wish I lived near a beach.

Be sure to check out Pete’s blog over at Knuckle Draggers Survival Program.

The worm (re)turns

Image credit: Sarah Mae (That’s not me in the pic by the way)

Bastard. I’ve got ringworm. Ah well - it’s part and parcel of sharing your personal space with dirty sweaty people I guess…

Zen and the art of swimming

Image © Speedo, photographer unknown

I forgot how much I liked swimming. I used to swim a lot, but stopped and never really got back into it. I was too sore from a jits session on Monday to train last night, and even though I spent plenty of time on my new foam roller (oh god how I love this invention) I was still a bit banged up and decided to give them gym a miss tonight. Not wanting to stay home and do nothing two nights in a row I headed to the pool, a 50m Olympic standard pool that thankfully was split into two 25m lengths.

It’s a well known truism that swimming is very similar to grappling - the way you need to move as efficiently as possible, the control of your breath, the coordination between limbs, the relaxed tension… And the zen-like state you hit after 30 or 40 lengths where all you think is “breathe, stroke, kick, breath, stroke, kick…”

“He who dies with the most toys, wins”

Some toys

“He who dies with the most toys, wins”. I love that quote.

Ice baths suck

I’ve been doing some pretty intense training the last few days… Lots of kettlebells, running, cycling and a return to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (on the hottest day of the year - it was like rolling in the fires of Hades).

The soreness in my legs was getting too much to bear so an ice bath was in order. Don’t watch if you don’t like swearing.

Edit: Watching it back I only just realised how much I sound like one of the members of Dirty Sanchez when I’m swearing (not surprising - me and Dainton went to the same school, he was a few years above me).

Summer sun and training outdoors

The above picture was taken 20 metres from my house.  Sweet.

I’ve not been in the gym much recently, and it’s actually been something of bit of a blessing in disguise, because I’ve been ‘playing’ outside in beautiful surroundings like the above. 

Who needs food?

Who needs food?  Huh? That shit is old, man.  No one eats any more.  Get with it, dude.

I needs my fix, man!

Due to a cascade of drama, crises and a shitload of work, I couldn’t get into the gym all week.  It’s rare for me to go a few days without a session on the mat. From Saturday through to Sunday I barely made it out of the house, let alone to the gym.

This much became clear.

• Working out by yourself is shit in comparison to the kind of exercise you get when pushed by others
• Not training for more than three days is enough to drive you crazy
• Taking a week off does not necessarily mean you lose your edge.

I’m going to try to get into the gym a bit more often next week. This has been probably the most difficult week I’ve had in ages. From dental surgery to drama, relationship issues to flooding in my house, it’s all come at once.  Oh, and work’s been a bitch, as usual. But hey ho, on we go.

Balls of Steel

Casey hits a one-arm swing

I hate traditional weight training, but I really like kettlebells. I never really bought into the whole gym culture thing of pumping iron for pumping’s sake. The sets, the reps, the PB’s and shit never did anything for me. It felt hollow, and I felt fake next to the gym bunnies for stepping onto their turf without the same level of seriousness required to becoming a living sculpture of muscle and sinew. I just didn’t like it.