Tired but still excited… then Australia happened

It is now lunch time on day 2 and I am starting to feel how unfit I really am. My advice to everyone wanting to get fit is to come out here and do this but I warn you all, make sure you are fit as possible before you some. This regime is not a forgiving one.

To add to all that fun the mosquitoes have had a field day with my left leg which isnt fun. Not as bad as when I was a kid and went to Jamaica but still something I could live without.

I decided to give No-Gi BJJ a go this morning to start mixing things up and see what the different classes are like. The class is held inside in a room with Aircon but you would never think it as the heat was still intense. There are some really good grapplers here who know what they are doing so I feel like a bit of a noob not having nearly as much skill and not a clue what to do in No-Gi. Every move that I go for I get half way through and then remember that I need a Gi to grab onto to complete it. I did get one monstrous guy in a nice choke though that I was proud of, but again the lack of a Gi helped him to get loose. I didnt let him get away without making him gasp and panic a little first though. The only positive to No-Gi is from a defensive point of view. When you are sparing and dripping in sweat suddenly everything gets really slippy and moves become a little harder to pull off so I managed to avoid a few arm bars by simply pulling my arm out of their hold; something I would never achieve with a grippy Gi sleeve or wearing MMA gloves

Towards the end of the session my mortal enemy showed its ugly face… Cramp! I got it in both calves and my quad which isnt great during the 2nd round of sparing out of 5. I managed to battle through it quite well and need to make sure I keep myself hydrated a bit more and start knocking back electrolyte drinks like Gatorade (at least I think that’s what im drinking).

To have a little change of pace I have headed back to Chalong Reggae for some more rice with a bit of beef this time (I’m sure you are all fascinated by me meal updates!). They have free wifi which means that for about a quid I can get a meal and a drink and then chill out for a while typing some of this up instead of having to stay stuck in my hotel room. To be fair nearly every bar here has free wifi and it is actually quite decent too. Better than some of my friends have back home.

I think I am going to leave the bulk of my exploring time for the weekend as I don’t really have enough time (or energy) between classes. I am really tempted to do 3 classes today but I doubt that would end well at all. They have an early morning Yoga class that I am going to check out. I think the stretching and flexibility stuff would probably help me quite a bit.

 

….It turns out that I didnt make it to Yoga… or morning BJJ / Muay Thai because Australia hit me at full force. During the workouts I have been getting spurred on a bit by an Aussie lad called Jake (or Jack as he is known here as they cant pronounce Jake). After the class we decided to grab something to eat together to have a chat and a chill. I ended up being about 10 mins late to the bar as I had walked straight past it and all the way to the end of the road before I realise my mistake like an idiot! Jake is a decent guy who had a bit of trouble back home and decided to come here for 3 months to get his shit in order which is what a lot of people are doing I guess. i really respect him for that and turning things around. Walking back to our respective hotels we decided to check on Nelson (A Brazilian guy that Jake is friends with) as we hadnt seen him all day only to find out later that he had been sleeping and was then that home sick that he went out and bought an Xbox to play on to make him feel at home.

Waiting for Nelson was where things started to go wrong (or right depending how you look at it) when my new Aussie mate turned to me and said “fancy a quick beer? 1 wont kill us after a days hard training”. As im sure you can guess 1 turned into 6 and we did have a good laugh but it definitely impacted my ability to function before noon today.

On a positive note though I made some friends and had a good time and isnt that what life is really about? Sitting outside of a Thai Bar at 2am after the staff have closed up around you chatting with new friends about the world and life and all that other crazy drunk people chat 🙂

Good times.