Mark O Mac

 

Hi everybody,

 

By now, I’ll assume that most of you know that i am taking part in a Mixed Martial Arts training program known as Wimp 2 Warrior. I’m certain a lot of you might not have any idea what that actually is though. So, what better way to explain it then to show you what the creators of the concept decided would be a good description:

 

“Wimp 2 Warrior is the Ultimate Human Experiment! Where regular people are thrown into a 6-month professional MMA fight camp. At the end of the camp, the top newly formed fighters will step into the cage to fight on a Brace promotion. Wimp 2 Warrior is an exciting platform to help bring MMA into the mainstream, demonstrating that anyone can take part and train in this amazing sport.”

 

So, what that means for me, is that for approximately 5 and a half months, I will finish working my normal job, jump in the car, and drive to Brookvale to train the various components of Mixed Martial Arts. And then, with any luck (well, more so skill than luck) I’ll have the opportunity to fight one on one in a cage in an MMA bout.

 

If you happen to have any queries about any of the process or anything at all, then feel free to contact me through any of the social media outlets I have linked up on the left side of your screen. I’m happy to answer whatever I possibly can.

 

Now, onto the actual aspects of what I’ve done so far…

 

Week One is officially completed. And what can I say other than “WOW!”? Already, some of the training has been at an intensity I’d never push myself to on my own. There have been points of time during the training sessions where I think i’ve gotten myself in WAY over my head. Then, at the end of those very sessions, there’s a sense of accomplishment. And that sense of accomplishment makes me look back on the session and think “boy, that was fun”.

 

Training wise, so far, it has been pretty heavy on the “Conditioning” aspect. I’ve already done countless sprawls, wall walks, planks, hip switches and scramble drills. All these are pretty basic maneuvers when done individually. Then you start doing multiples of them, followed immediately by another, then another, then another etc etc and it becomes a very intense workout. And most of the time, thats just the warm up… To my knowledge though, everyone has banded together and I dont think any one has bailed on completing a session. Which is a good thing!

 

 

Part of the process to show how much each of us change over the course of the program was to have 3D scans that gives us a bit of information on how our body is currently. Apparently, the scanning thing is something new to Australia and this is one of the first times its been used (not sure how accurate that is, but the guy did say some of it was still in testing, so I think thats probably true). Basically, they set up the machine in a room. You log into an account you’ve set up previously, strip down to just your underwear and you stand on a turntable. There are a couple of handles that you hold onto that have buttons on them. Once you are all in position, you hold the buttons and the turntable starts to move. Its very hard to NOT move when youve been told to NOT move.

 

Now, from my basic understanding there is a laser light that moves up and down your body as you rotate and it reads all of the contours of your body. So, that means there is no radiation like other scans require, and it gives you a pretty creepy 3D image of your body. Personally, I think it made my bulge downstairs look bigger than it actually is, so good job machine!

 

 

Apart from the conditioning side of things, we’ve also done a bit of Wrestling. Which I find to be absolutely fun. There’s been a lot of pummeling to try and get double underhooks. Doing these wrestling drills are probably some of the sweatiest moments ive ever experienced. When you factor in that you’re already dripping in your own sweat, and then you are pressing up against somebody else who is also dripping in their own sweat, it certainly ends up as one big sweat bowl. As gross as that may sound, its not something that particularly turns me off the training. Its all good fun, and at the end, its almost straight into the shower anyway (providing I can actually get my dripping wet shirt off. Seriously, its so damn hard).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, with week one done and dusted, I can honestly say I am having a blast. All of the coaches seem to be great people who know their stuff. I’m sure very soon i’ll come to love whatever motivational techniques they will use. Hopefully. It is only going to get harder as we go, so, I guess we’ll see if thats true over the next few weeks. So far though, they havent scared me off.

 

 

Stay tuned for further updates as the program moves along. I’ll be trying to update this blog at least every saturday, but might do it more frequently if I feel its necessary or every other week if I dont have much to update.

 

Cheers for all your support as well. Feel free to follow/contact me on the social medias up on the left. Your likes and shares and re-blogs etc also mean the world to me, and I’m sure Coach would appreciate the further spread of the Wimp 2 Warrior word as well.

 

Cheers!