Where do I start ?
Good evening folks - guess who's knackered ? The entire month of november has been spent training with some proper legendary folk - Rick Young, Bob Spour, Dan Inosanto, my own instructors from the club and the like.
At the start of the month, myself and the rest of the boys were training at Rick's again - this time we covered Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu, Shoot Wrestling AND Combat Submission Wrestling, a'la UFC !
The first two hours were spent doing Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu - he was pleased to know that three of us had the balls to fight in the tournament a wee while back, and that we're training more hours each week now. After a lot of work on lapel chokes and FINISHING MOVES, we got to have a wee roll with him and see what it was like to fight a champion - a lot like trying to wrestle a tree made of rocks. It was brilliant though, and it shows just how far we've got to go.
After that, we got changed into rashguards and the like to do a bit of CSW and Shoot Wrestling - we covered basic stuff like different ways of going in for takedowns, a few locks and a few other nasty ways of making people tap ! After training was done, goodbyes were said and then I went straight into work that evening - lovely.
Near the beginning of the month, Dan Inosanto came to Edinburgh again for two days to take us through some escrima/kali/arnis/who-cares-what-its-called. Lots of knife-fighting was covered, along with single and double stick fighting so everyone went home with bruises ! The next day was spent covering a lot of Panatukan (Filipino dirty boxing) and a bit of ground-fighting, which was a welcome change from trying to tie each other up like pretzels. After that and a bit of history, we got a photograph with the man himself and I had a wee chat with him about a weapons-based martial art from the Canary Islands (Juego Del Palo, if anyone's interested).
Fast-forward to last thursday !
It was the club grading, and I'd just started recovering from that bloody virus that was going around - I got put up to 4th rank and I only had to fight four people for it ! For some strange reason as well, I was made to go mental and start pummeling the thai pads whilst everyone else watched - it was good though. I spent a solid 13 hours at work the next day throwing plates at customers, then prepared myself as well as possible for the following day.
On Saturday, SAS veteran and Muay Thai god Ajarn Bob Spour came to the club again to run us through some Muay Thai and a some of his trademark self-defense drills. We spent over three hours on Muay Thai as it is done in the big stadiums, by the champions IN Thailand at this very moment in time - Google "Phraya Pichai" and you'll find out why Bob is the man to come and see as far as Muay Thai goes.
We did work on the basics, then went on to cover the clinch for a while before we went on to abusing the thai pads. As ever, Bob brought his own brand of humour to proceedings which made my job as camera man difficult - not for the easily offended !
After about three hours of that, a few folks (myself included) got a rank with his training camp - my instructors were made associate instructors of Phraya Pichai and I was given the rank of 6th Khan (1st being the lowest rank, 10th the highest) which bloody shocked me - I even got a Pra Jiad (An armband worn during fights) and the club was presented with a Mong Kon (The headpiece worn by fighters during the ceremonial bit before the match). Bob then went through the Ram Muay, the ceremonial dance that has to be done before a proper fight which shows respect and lets your opponent know you're going to mince him.
There was a wee break for lunch, and then Bob fired up with his "No Doubt, No Fear" part of the class - he was in the SAS and saw action during the Falklands war and in Northen Ireland when people were getting blown up so he knows a thing or two about dealing with dodgy folk. We did a few drills, went through a bit of face-ripping as well (far better than it sounds, trust me) and Bob led us through it all again with his own brand of humour before ending things after 6pm and taking a few photographs of the motley crew present !
So if anyone's been wondering where I've disappeared to, I've been training with legends and picking up one or two achievements along the way. The new degree isn't going badly either !
At the start of the month, myself and the rest of the boys were training at Rick's again - this time we covered Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu, Shoot Wrestling AND Combat Submission Wrestling, a'la UFC !
The first two hours were spent doing Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu - he was pleased to know that three of us had the balls to fight in the tournament a wee while back, and that we're training more hours each week now. After a lot of work on lapel chokes and FINISHING MOVES, we got to have a wee roll with him and see what it was like to fight a champion - a lot like trying to wrestle a tree made of rocks. It was brilliant though, and it shows just how far we've got to go.
After that, we got changed into rashguards and the like to do a bit of CSW and Shoot Wrestling - we covered basic stuff like different ways of going in for takedowns, a few locks and a few other nasty ways of making people tap ! After training was done, goodbyes were said and then I went straight into work that evening - lovely.
Near the beginning of the month, Dan Inosanto came to Edinburgh again for two days to take us through some escrima/kali/arnis/who-cares-what-its-called. Lots of knife-fighting was covered, along with single and double stick fighting so everyone went home with bruises ! The next day was spent covering a lot of Panatukan (Filipino dirty boxing) and a bit of ground-fighting, which was a welcome change from trying to tie each other up like pretzels. After that and a bit of history, we got a photograph with the man himself and I had a wee chat with him about a weapons-based martial art from the Canary Islands (Juego Del Palo, if anyone's interested).
Fast-forward to last thursday !
It was the club grading, and I'd just started recovering from that bloody virus that was going around - I got put up to 4th rank and I only had to fight four people for it ! For some strange reason as well, I was made to go mental and start pummeling the thai pads whilst everyone else watched - it was good though. I spent a solid 13 hours at work the next day throwing plates at customers, then prepared myself as well as possible for the following day.
On Saturday, SAS veteran and Muay Thai god Ajarn Bob Spour came to the club again to run us through some Muay Thai and a some of his trademark self-defense drills. We spent over three hours on Muay Thai as it is done in the big stadiums, by the champions IN Thailand at this very moment in time - Google "Phraya Pichai" and you'll find out why Bob is the man to come and see as far as Muay Thai goes.
We did work on the basics, then went on to cover the clinch for a while before we went on to abusing the thai pads. As ever, Bob brought his own brand of humour to proceedings which made my job as camera man difficult - not for the easily offended !
After about three hours of that, a few folks (myself included) got a rank with his training camp - my instructors were made associate instructors of Phraya Pichai and I was given the rank of 6th Khan (1st being the lowest rank, 10th the highest) which bloody shocked me - I even got a Pra Jiad (An armband worn during fights) and the club was presented with a Mong Kon (The headpiece worn by fighters during the ceremonial bit before the match). Bob then went through the Ram Muay, the ceremonial dance that has to be done before a proper fight which shows respect and lets your opponent know you're going to mince him.
There was a wee break for lunch, and then Bob fired up with his "No Doubt, No Fear" part of the class - he was in the SAS and saw action during the Falklands war and in Northen Ireland when people were getting blown up so he knows a thing or two about dealing with dodgy folk. We did a few drills, went through a bit of face-ripping as well (far better than it sounds, trust me) and Bob led us through it all again with his own brand of humour before ending things after 6pm and taking a few photographs of the motley crew present !
So if anyone's been wondering where I've disappeared to, I've been training with legends and picking up one or two achievements along the way. The new degree isn't going badly either !