Looking Back at Wrestling Season...

    Around this time last year, I decided to join the wrestling team.  Of course, as a female, this caused much controversy at school.  I had a huge variety of responses.  Some positive, most negative.  Kids I didn't even know came up to me asking "Are you really wrestling?" or "I bet you won't last two weeks.".  I even had some teachers tell me that "Wrestling isn't for girls."  The only thing that type of attitude does is motivate me.  
    The coaches were hesitant, and I completely understand why.  But I was determined to show them that I was serious and I could hang with the guys.  Come the first day of try outs and I found out that I wasn't the only girl interested in being on the team.  Here comes this blonde bimbo making her way to the wrestling room in tight, short, Soffe shorts, a too-snug T-shirt, and obviously still wearing a Victoria's Secret push up bra, and NOT a sports bra.  Good lord.  This was not about to help my cause at all.  She had no experience with wrestling, nor did she even play a single sport.  She was in it for the attention, and she expressed this vividly.  These are the kind of girls that do not belong in male dominated sports.  I knew that we were going to partnered together, and sure enough, we were.  I had to get her out of there.  I've never scooped someone up and slammed them on the mat as hard as I did her.  I did this for two weeks until she quit.  It may sound cruel, but I was doing her, and everyone else, a huge favor.  And the coaches were very proud haha.

My first match -and first win- wresting a Lakeshore wrestler

    I thought that my MMA background would help me out with wrestling, but it was quite the contrary.  I had to drop a ton of my habits- such as going to my back, attempting submissions, and resisting the urge to punch people square in the face.  Even though I lacked the experience that most of my teammates had, I tried not to show it.  I went "balls to the wall" -as we would say in practice- with everything we did.  New moves, buddy carries, trilogies, monkey in the middle, knee ball.  I couldn't have asked for better teammates.  They knew I was there for the right reasons and they treated me just like one of the guys.  I definitely had some unforgettable times with some unforgettable people.  Wrestling is hands down the hardest sport, both physically and mentally.  It teaches you hard work ethic and discipline.  I also learned that you are your biggest enemy, your mind gives up way before you body will, and you can always push a little harder.  I also learned that there's no greater feeling than when you make weight and don't have to go run laps in sweats after an exhausting two hour practice.

The season was a great experience and I'm glad I did it, but my heart belongs to MMA.

Coach Culver and Coach Radenbaugh 

Look Human - Product Review

    As much as I hate to admit it, I'm one of those people that likes to dress to impress at the gym.  Not in the sense that I have my hair done and fresh makeup on, but I always have fresh Nike shoes, unique spandex or leggings, and tanks, t-shirts, or hoodies labeled with gym slang.  Because of this I'm always searching the web for new clothing lines.  A few weeks ago I came across one called Look Human.  I started scrolling through their wide selection of fitness clothes and my cart was loaded immediately.  Their tops are generally $27, with free shipping over $50.  This isn't bad compared to other sites, but with my part-time job I don't have that kind of money.  

LookHuman.com

  When I saw these matching shirts I had to get them for my boyfriend and I.  I ordered them on a four weeks ago on Tuesday and the website said it would take 4-5 business days for delivery, so I wasn't expecting them until sometime that next week.  Two weeks later I realized they still hadn't come yet.  I wanted to track the package, but I hadn't even received a track number yet.  Finally that third week on Monday I received an e-mail from Look Human apologizing for the inconvenience, and that they had an unexpected back up.  They also gave me a 20% code for the next time I purchased from them- but of course I wasn't about to order again until I received my original purchase.  That Friday (last Friday) my package came and I am more than pleased with the tanks.  Sizes were perfect, and the material is soft and thin, perfect for working out.

I placed my second order today :)

Here's the link !

My boyfriend and I in our matching shirts

This is how I'm feeling today.

UFC Fight Night on Fox Sports

Last night was the first UFC Fight Night on Fox Sports!

www.tapology.com

     Fox Sports has now made it official that every Wednesday will be Fight Night.  Starting at 6pm, they stream live UFC cards.  Both the preliminary card (The prelims) and the main card.  The fights are immediately followed by a new episode of -my absolute favorite television series- The Ultimate Fighter (TUF).  It was previously aired on Spike TV for fourteen seasons, then in moved to Fox HD until season seventeen, and now, in the eighteenth season, it is on Fox Sports.  TUF is both a reality show and mixed martial arts competition produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Each season is weight class specific.  For example, this season is for bantam weights only (135 lbs.).  Each season is also led by two coaches, both of which are UFC fighters in said weight class.  Auditions are held in various places across the United States where fighters show off their skills and eventually thirty-six fighters are chosen.  From there, everyone is matched up and the winner of that fight gets to move into the Fighter House.  The remaining sixteen fighters battle it out week by week in a winner-moves-on loser-is-done situation.  On a side note, this is the first Co-Ed season in TUF history. That's right.  Girls finally have an opportunity to compete on TUF, due to the new addition of a women's bantam weight belt in the UFC.  Also, for the first time ever, they have two female coaches on the show. (Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate)

www.ufc.com

I'm so excited to see MMA growing as a sport.  Both internally, through diversity with the expansion of women fighters, and externally as it's being shown on a channel with other leading sports such as Football and Baseball.  

Here's a link to the UFC homepage on FoxSports.com Eeeeee!  I get butterflies just thinking about it :)

And here's another link for the TUF homepage, also on FoxSports.com

The 'Weight' is Over

    I had a recent doctor visit, and I can say it was less than pleasant.
After arriving five minutes early to my appointment- I don't know why I still do that-, then proceeded to sit in the waiting room for the usual twenty minutes before the nurse called my name.  She took me to the back and told me she needed to check my weight and height.  My weight?  Crap.  I knew that the number wasn't going to be desirable, but it was worse than I had imagined.
I shouldn't be surprised, though, due to my new guilty pleasure of Hudsonville's Triple Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream.
    I waited in my little white room, praying the the doctor would over look my noticeable amount of added pounds.  Soon enough, she barged in, and, with her Russian accent she  "You've gained 12 pounds in the last month, what's going on?"
I felt ashamed.  I don't want to be nervous about stepping on a scale.
    So I'm going to start watching what I eat again.  Making healthier choices, not eating when I'm bored, or when I should be doing something else such as homework, cleaning or whatever it is I'm trying to avoid.  And definitely watching my portion control, that's the hardest thing for me.
Now I've said all this before, but this time will be different.  
I've decided that the 'weight' is over.

Just a little motivation for the day :)

Health and Fitness Blogs

There are so many health and fitness related blogs out there on the web.  These are two that I've come across that always stay updated and provide great information.  Check them out and maybe you'll enjoy them as well.

Nerd Fitness

Steve, the creator of this blog, is a very talented individual.  His posts are always informative and entertaining.  His tagline for the site is  “Level up your life, every single day.”  

"If I do my job right, you’ll wake up every day a little healthier than you were yesterday – eat a little better, get a little stronger, run a little faster, and feel a little better about yourself." -Steve

http://www.nerdfitness.com/

Muscle Freaks Nutrition

Muscle Freaks Nutrition is a local supplement and vitamin shop here in St. Joseph, Michigan.  Most people in the area haven't even heard of this little business, due to it's location in the alley behind Hardings and the Laundromat.  It targets elite athletes, those who are very serious for getting in tip top shape or putting on muscle.  They are not their own brand, but they are a distributor of some top products that you will not find at your local GNC store.  Such as Xcel, TwinLab, ISS, and AST Sports Science.

http://blog.musclefreaksnutrition.com/

(I rep them every day on the back of my Buick and on my protein shaker)

What great health blogs do you follow?

Sushi

Sushi.  
Noun: Sushi is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice sushi-meshi combined with other ingredients, usually raw fish or other seafood.

Every morning these delicious delicacies are hand crafted, chopped into perfect bite-size parcels, and equipped with a dab of wasabi and a slice of ginger.  It is then packaged and placed conveniently in it's own special cooler amongst Martin's Family Market's deli.

This is a wonderful creation that I have just recently discovered.  
A friend recommended the Rainbow Roll to me one day at lunch, and since then my last few paychecks have been spent almost entirely on nothing else this rice and raw fish.

Now if you're on a low-sodium diet, this might not be the best idea.  But if you take a look, the calories of the Rainbow Roll in particular are not bad at all.  With less than 500 calories and 31 grams of protein, I'd say sushi is definitely an acceptable meal.

MMA

When people ask me what I do or what sports I play, I reply with 
"I fight MMA"
This is then how a typical conversation goes.

"What's that?"
"Mixed Martial Arts"
"Oh like karate?"

Just to make this clear, Mixed Martial Arts is very far from karate.  It's an extreme combat sport in which contestants are permitted to use the fighting techniques of wrestling, boxing, and but also those of martial arts such as kickboxing, judo, karate and, my personal favorite, brazilian jiu jitsu.
 
"No, it's cage fighting."
"Oh so you do UFC?"

This drives me nuts.  That's like saying to a high school football player, "You do NFL?"
No, that's not how it works.  
Like any other sport, there are multiple levels of MMA.  You start out as an amateur, and later on you can get your professional license and move on to fight for organizations such as Strikeforce, Bellator, or the well-known Ultimate Fighting Championship (The UFC).

    Now, I'll give you a quick summary of my personal MMA background.
My (ex)boyfriend and I started going to Sandmann's MMA gym, located underneath the Touch of Color tattoo shop.  Now at the time I'd played basketball, volleyball, track, soccer, and softball, but MMA was the hardest sport- both physically and mentally- I've ever taken part in.  And there was something so addicting about it.  Anyway, my boyfriend decided this was not for him and didn't continue coming to practice.  I never thought our 4 year relationship would end because of this, but it did, and life moved on.
After over a year of training there, the tattoo shop closed, and the gym closed with it.
I then joined the Legion Fighting Alliance.  I've been with them for about 6 months now, and I had my first fight this past summer against Rose Dawson.  She was 3-0 (3 wins and 0 losses) I won in the first round with a rear-naked choke.
I wish I had more fights to look back on from my past two years of training, but with school, work, and a lack of female fighters, it's difficult for me to find opponents. 

Some of my fight pictures from Vic Coar photography