[CassiusGray]

Why did I start training? For various reasons. Number one, because I love the competition involved in fighting. It is not a team sport. If you lose it's because you weren't not the better man. Maybe you weren't the better man because you're weak mentally, or physically, or genetically. It doesn't matter. Losing isn't a bad thing either, having what it takes to step in there is all I'm worried about. Secondarily, my dad died of Lou Gherig's disease which basically ate his body away. I'm not sure if there's anything genetic involved, but if there is, I want to be in pretty good shape before I lose control of my muscles. This is very important to me.

Why am I stepping it up? Because I've been training MMA for about a year and I feel like the "new" has worn off. It's either quit now or step it up and I can't quit because I love this. Every new guy starts and says he wants to start fighting in a year. You don't see half of them back the next day and the half that do come back are gone after day two. One out of every 20 guys keeps coming back. I don't want to be the other 19 guys.
Also, my training partner Morgan has a title fight on January 21. This guy is damn good and a few years younger than me. That inspires me to get in gear. I do enjoy training but I train because I want to fight. I'm not just saying that like every jabroni on Sherdog or every guy that shows up to train one day and quits. I love it and I want to fight. Anyway, he's a bad ass that doesn't look like it or act like it and I hope he wins that belt. That's what I like about fight training; it's humbling. You have to mentally be prepared for it just as much as you have to physically be prepared for it.
Also, I graduate from law school and take the bar in July. In order to pass, I need to be on top of my game mentally and physically. So the plan is to train for fighting, but to use that training to get mentally fit to go in there an whip the bar exam. I'm going to do it in four phases.

Phase One:
This is 10 weeks of boot camp. I will work out with weights, cardio, and MMA 6 days a week. The goal is to break myself.
I'll take a one week break of vegging out and then get back in for phase two.
Phase Two:
This will be five weeks from March 26 to April 29, 2006. I'll ease out of boot camp mode by maintaining and not increasing my workouts. I'll also start studying a lot. I'll take a two week break for finals and law school graduation.
Phase Three:
From May 16, 2006 to May 31 I'll basically be lighten my workout load and get ready to get ready for Phase Four.
Phase Four:
This is from June 1 to July 26. The bar is on July 25 and 26. I want to peak on those two days so I'll probably only do very light workouts and study 8 to 10 hours a day.
I don't know where I'll go from here but if I stick to it I should be all right.

Finally, I have a brand new gym half a block from my house that is $25 a month. How can you not train when it's that easy.

[CassiusGray]

Sunday, January 8

Warm up run of .5 miles
eliptical bike for 3 miles at 120 rpms

5 set of 7 reps of the following:
Squats: 135
Hip abductor
Hip adductor
Weighted sit ups

[CassiusGray]

January 9
I didn't have a lot of time to work out because I was returning from town and had to get to work. But, I did manage three sets of seven reps of:
Overhead press, lat pull downs, rows, incline, bench.
I didn't get any cardio in.

I finally got back to train MMA after a month off. I got winded pretty quickly, which sucked. I sparred two light three minute rounds and then drilled some positions, subs, and escapes with a noob. It was really light, but I didn't mind easing back in. Hopefully Wednesday will be a lot more intense.

Side Note: My outside left knee is pretty sore from two leg kicks. Also my abs are pretty sore and my back is still sore from moving. Other than that I feel ok. I'm trying to keep stretching and work through the soreness.

More later.

[CassiusGray]

January 10
I wanted to run 4 miles but my shins started killing me after 1, so I finished up with 2 miles and then rode two miles on the stationary bike.

5 sets of 5 reps:
bis
tris
overhead
flies

Iced my shins and used my arbonne muscle rub on my shoulders because they are pretty sore.

January 11

My shins are still hurting so I did no cardio. I did 5 sets of 5 reps of:
bench, incline, overhead, lat pull downs, and rows.

MMA tonight.

[CassiusGray]

My mma workout last night was going ok until I think I may have broken my foot while sparring. I gave a lead leg body kick that connected perfectly with the other guy's elbow. The swelling is pretty bad but I did ice/heat last night and this morning. No health insurance sure does suck. It's pretty painful to walk on. I guess I'll ice/heat/arnica and see how it plays out. Thursdays are my planned day off anyway so maybe it's just a bruise and will be better by tomorrow.

Before the injury I was pretty happy with my sparring. I'm about 6'1 and was sparring a guy with a couple of inches on me. He's less experienced in MMA, but is an Aikido brown belt and had years of karate. I was able to land some good kicks and punches. He damaged me with some front kicks and knees in the clinch, but nothing to bad.
I also sparred with a guy who's stand up is really intense. He doesn't have training level. I landed a great lead leg body kick and some decent punches. I never really took any shots from him, other than the fact that he took me down at will.

[CassiusGray]

January 13

I'm pretty sure my foot is broken, but with no health insurance I can't find out for sure. It really sucks and I'm not too happy about it. I can't get the swelling to go down despite taking anti-inflammitories, applying ice and heat, soaking it in epson salt, and keeping it elevated.

It really sucks because it was a complete accident. He didn't spike my foot with his elbow or anything, I just kicked him right in the elbow. I even had my shin instep on. I'm not sure if the impact went through the instep or if somehow it slipped to the side. Anyway, I'm out of commission for a while. I'm going to try to keep lifting upper body stuff and I'll keep nursing it.

Any home remedy advice for a guy with no health insurance.

[CassiusGray]

This injury may not be so bad for my training program. I think I was overtraining and now I can focus on getting bigger and stronger. Cardio will have to be put off since I don't have access to a pool and it's winter in Kansas.
So I'm not going to worry about fat loss or cardio and I'm going to start dominating some food and trying to get huge. After a few weeks of that hopefully I can ease out of heavy lifting and ease into mma focused training.

[CassiusGray]

I know machines aren't as good as free weights, but I've got cheap, easy access to them so that's what I'm going to use. I'm going to try and lift as heavy as possible for every set. I want to do five sets of five. It's all upper body at first to take pressure off my pussy-ass foot.

New Program:

Sunday
Bis
Tris
Lats
Abs
Overhead

Monday
Overhead
Lat Pull Downs
Rows
Incline
Bench

Wednesday
Bis
Tris
Lats
Abs
Overhead


Saturday
Overhead
Lat Pull Downs
Rows
Incline
Bench

[pork]

You might be better off splittin your workout into, back + bi's, shoulder chester +tri's.
As im not sure of benefit of working lats/overhead on 2 consecutive days (sun and mon).

Sunday:
Lat pull downs (really should do pull-ups even if u get real low reps) (high back).
rows (mid back).
need something for lower back? got hyper-extension machine or a bar so u can do deadlifts?.
bi's

Monday:
bench
incline
Overhead
tri's

something like that perhaps?

[CassiusGray]

Thanks for the advice. I'm working on tweaking things as I go.

January 16
5 sets of 5; I didn't really pay attention to weight, just yet. I tried to lift as heavy as I could each set.

Bench
Incline
Overhead
lats
Abs

I missed MMA today, but I'm hoping to get in Wednesday to do what ever I can.

I'm taking today, January 17, off and I'll do bis, tris, lat pull downs, and rows tomorrow. As my foot gets better I'll work in squats and dead lift.