FACTORY BJJ

I've just found out that Adam Adshead (of Conceptual BJJ - link in the sidebar) will be involved in setting up a new BJJ gym in England.

I sincerely doubt that I get any kind of random traffic from that part of town, but I want to give the place a plug and wish him and his guys the best of luck.

Factory BJJ
Hulleys Gym (AstraZeneca)
Charter Way, Silk Rd Business Park, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 2NA

Check it out here. And I'll just add, I'm really digging the logo.

Cheers!

ME GRIMLOCK NOT KISSER, ME GRIMLOCK KING!

The title of this post is not completely relevant. I just wanted to use a Transformers quote.

In preparation for my wedding, my fiancee and I have been taking dance classes. We're learning the Waltz, as well as the Argentinian Tango. The Waltz is kind of tricky for me, but if I do say so myself, I'm actually not bad at the Argentinian Tango.

It was really weird, though, my form had to be corrected quite a lot. Among my errors - my shoulders were always too high up and too tense.

After all that mat time in BJJ and CMD classes, I think I'd be a bit alarmed if this wasn't the case, but in any event it was pretty hard to get used to...I feel a bit naked without my shoulders touching my jaw.

Also, I actually have a pretty long neck; as it turns out, several circumstances have conspired to make it appear otherwise:

1. My neck is a little thick, and my traps are a bit bigger than the average guy on the street.
2. My shoulders spend more time closer to my face than away from it (see above).
3. I don't shave regularly and I also keep a goatee, which apparently makes my jaw seem longer than it is.

As an aside, I would like to send out a great, big "HA!" to all the people who keep giving me flak about my jaw and neck (or the overabundance and lack thereof, respectively).

AN INTERESTING THOUGHT

Golf tips are like aspirin. Take just one, and it will probably do you good. But if you swallow the whole bottle, you'll be lucky to survive.
-Harvey Penick

I really like this quote. In fact, I wish I had read it 2 years ago. It would have saved me so much hassle - trying to robotically memorise every last detail of every class, and then never being able to pull off any of those cool escapes and submissions because I was thinking too much.

I find it much easier to just focus my attention on one or two things per class. This way I can slowly but more reliably (I don't like the use of the word "surely" in this context) grow my game, instead of trying to cram for exams before every class and praying that I can remember enough to survive.

TIMELY INSPIRATION

Chinese New Year is great for alot of things. The time off work is excellent. Dinners with friends and family are always fun. So it's not that I have anything against the occasion, except when it comes to my training.

The gym was closed from last wednesday and today will be our first day back in action. My training casualty count thus stands at: 2 boxing classes, 3 conditioning classes and the ones that really get me, 1 BJJ class AND an open mat session.

My fiancee was visitng her family for the holidays so I was left to my own devices. And OH, what fun and exciting devices they were indeed. I cleaned the house - yes I swept the floor - I played a few board games with friends and there was a lot of World of Warcraft thrown in for good measure.

When I finally dragged myself into the office today I was feeling thoroughly apathetic. Inertia had taken what seemed like a reverse triangle on me, and I could feel my knees being pulled steadily into my chest. What's worse, I knew I should be trying to kick my legs out and roll to my stomach...but in a way I couldn't be bothered.

Basically, I was feeling pretty blah and just generally uninspired. I wasn't even going to write this blog until I read a post on John Will's blog (link in the sidebar on the right) which I will cross-post in part:

The Springtime Squirrel

The old ‘financial planning’ model is based on the premise that you dislike your work and one day you will ‘retire’, put your feet up, and live your life by drawing a pension from the nest-egg that you have spent forty odd years building up.
I can tell you one thing for certain – it is far more important to find a way of making a living that you really enjoy than it is to grit your teeth and keep doing something you dislike just so you can ‘live large’ when you turn 60.

...

We all need money to live the way we want and do the things we want – no doubt about that. But don’t give up the ‘now’ so that you can ‘live the life’ when you turn sixty. Live it all the way – be passionate about what you do – invest in super, be smart, read good books, talk to successful people – but LIVE NOW! Love the whole journey – and never stop.

When I read that it was an instant reminder of every last reason I have for training. All my plans for opening my own place are based around this exact line of thought. I'm excited by what the future holds - and I'm also pretty fired up for tonight's class.