Today I went back to the Thai boxing thinking I was going to use my feets and only my left arm. How did I do you ask? I did just that, thank you:)
After the warmup(wich I held), we did some technique training and then we started the sparring(6 rounds). Jim wanted cardio in the end so cardio it was. Really nice easy going training with alot of liquid leaving the body.
To train something that really gets your pulse up like I try to, is a great meditation for the mind when you juggle all these different balls.
Tomorrow Rami will do the grappling and striking class, maybe just maybe I´ll be there. If not I will train something anyhow:)
Just got home from training. The sport for the day was Thai boxing. I couldn´t train MMA today since my daughter was ill. Started with my own warmup(25min) and then straight on to the class.
I´ve noticed that my shoulder has been feeling much better this past month(according to the doctor I need surgery), after the Thai boxing I now know what makes my shoulder worse, could it be me striking with the right hand?(dumb Christian)Yes! Left hand and kicks here I come.
Yesterday one more famous Monday ended. Grappling, box and MMA beginners. Worked on passing and breaking the lockdown and also one escape from the mount. Continued with the drill, halfguard/lockdown/break/pass/twister side control/mount/escape/halfguard and on and on. Finished of with 3 rounds of rolling.
The box is a cardio class pretty much, not much to tell really, I use many of my Capoeira excercises in the warmup and also a session at the end. A lot of focus on the legs and stomach.
MMA beginners, went with several rounds of padwork(1-2-3-4) and opening the full guard/passing to side control. the class ended with cardio:).
We´ll see what the workout will be tomorrow since it´s my "trainwhateveryoufeellike day"
Yes I like Thai food but Indian food is a little bit better.
Sorry for the late entry, worked 11 hours today(last thing I´m writing about work since you know already). I did 2 hours of stretch while doing this at least:). Otherwise not much has happened, just focusing on a knew wonderful week in the life of Draag.
I need to apologies for not fixing the DVD yet, from the seminar. Have faith my friends it will be done! I will ofc post it here, on this great blog the moment it´s done.
Almost forgot, watched Affliction´s "Day of Reckoning" also.
Train hard tomorrow!(I will, with all this new energy)
I made the weigh in today 69.7kg (haven´t been this light since my 18th year).
My first opponent came from Karlstad(where the sun always shine). Started out with some standing back and forth, tried the outside legtrip, almost worked. I did get him down though. Kept trying to pass his guard. Got the opening when I threatened for a "toe hold", passed to side control/nort&south(need to train more on my controlling), couldn´t hold it, he transitioned to turtle with me following. I sank in the hooks quite easy, established the anaconda bodylock and finished with a RNC (RearNakedChoke). Draag won!
My second opponent came from the southern part of Sweden(Lund). We started standing, he went for a takedown, I turned for the rolling kneebar, got caught in a strange kind of halfguard, couldn´t really get loose but tried to turn anyway. He took the opening and passed to side control, almost saved the points getting back to halfguard. After that he pretty much laid there in a crazy tight side control. I was stuck....he went to N&S, thats when my body exploded with a nice reversal/sweep and Draag was on top. Once again I couldn´t hold the position!!!(Yes I´m gonna work my ass off). We scrambled with me ending up in turtle, when he wasn´t able to sink in the hooks he transitioned to the armbar, escaped that one (tight) ended up in yet another,(tighter) escaped that one also. Finally he got the triangle, I went for my escape but was to tired to follow through. Draag lost...
I´m quite happy with my performance, since this was my first ever advance competition. I´ve only trained on paper for 1 year and 3 months(grappling since last spring). When I told my second opponent and his teacher this(in a conversation, ofc), they told me that they where impressed with my performance and that it was a good match. These are some of the things that now motivates me even more, since this guy is a judo brown belt and Bjj purple belt, with at least 3-4 more years on me.
Monday I will be back in training again(maybe some ninja training tomorrow though).
For not writing yesterday, but the work will come first for some time ahead.
I´m one of the responsible people for the roll out/go-live in the sales department, when it comes to implementing the ERP system "SAP" at my work "Papyrus". We will start with SAP on the second of february and then it will be some more months of hard work. But as always, Draag will endure!
Yesterday I did train though:). Went to the kickboxing training and did my "Draag warm up" for 20 min until the class ended. MMA beginners with Rami started after the "kicking", did the warmup, continued rolling for 40 min straight. I worked on trying to be as relaxed as possible in different positions.
This Tuesday was the first time that I really focused when watching Jeff Glover compete. Damn that kids good, I´m already a fan! He has it all including a really nice halfguard sweep that I nailed without thinking yesterday. Ofc i need to train more but I love it already.
Today 15 hours of work (6 hours in the car), crashing in the "you know what". Tomorrow will also be a training free day.
Today the couch is my friend after a long day in Malmö! Went passed the gym after 13 hours of hard labour(inc driving 6 h). Fun to see all the new faces in the Thaiboxing class. Did some conversation with Rami about him ninja training when I can´t:). Damn you Rami!
I will train tomorrow, don´t know what yet, we´ll see.
This week due to work. Going to Malmö(3 hours by car from Gothenburg) tomorrow to educate some people, back to Gothenburg on the same day. I will do this trip on Thursday also.
Since there will be a competition this Saturday (Alive) people tell me to rest, so I`m just gonna stretch these days (hopefully). I´m gonna compete in the -70 weightclass(need to loose 2kg) advance division. We´ll see how this goes since I only have trained MMA for 1 year and 3 months( focusing on grappling since late spring -08).
I can only do my best, anyways I will learn a lot against more experienced grapplers for the future so it´s a win win situation.
The classes today went fine. Continued the halfguard game on the grappling session and added the "100%". I had an evaluation on my box (sportlife) after the first class, long story short, he wanted me to teach the teachers some excercises. Always nice to get good feedback. On the last one, MMA beginners we went through 2 different guard passes to side control and then shrimping back to guard. Finishing up with some nice cardio rounds a´5 min each (love it).
May not be able to write in the next days but I will do my best.
Got home from yet another working day (will work everyday until the second week in February). After checking my mailbox I started to just roll around on the floor (see my livingroom) doing different excercises (shrimping, rolling kneebar, hip/wall, butt scoot, raise the bombat).
I got the same feeling like I got some years ago when I did all my Capoeira things, loving it! Draag will roll on his floor more I think(trying to film it).
I would like to once again thank everybody for all the thank you/congratz mail that you´ve sent me (the seminar).
After dinner, I crashed in the couch for 1,5 hours. Just gonna get the kids to bed and then start "Draagrolling" again. Will finish up with some stretching before bedtime.
Need to focus on tomorrow since every Monday has 3 classes(the beginners are very important for me).
So, me streaming the UFC doesn´t work any good:(. Will watch it later or download it in the morning.
The day went as expected, 6 hours of work and then the couch! Did 3 rounds of shadowboxing, "butt scoot", "whip up" and some stretching. Not the most tiresome training in my life but still 50 min of workout.
Leaving you early today, will hopefully be more tomorrow.
Yes! I admit it, I´m watching "Let´s dance". Yes! I´m crying to "Extreme home makover". Yes! I´m crying to the scene in "Gladiator" when Maximus yells "Hold the line.....Roma Victor!". Yes! I´m laughing until I cry when Jeff Daniels repaints the toilet in "Dumb and Dumber".
That´s Draag:)!
Ok, back to the training. I went to the gym at 1600, did 5 excercises 10 rounds á 3 min each 30 sec rest. The stations were, jumprope, hip/wall, bag kicking, circle control and a new one "Whip up"(Whipup to the side, dog fight and electric chair). Rounds 11 and 12 I did my "Capoeira". 1700 the grappling class started. Nice to see all the new faces. We started with warmup/drills for 20 min. Next 25 min went to the technique half guard/lockdown/whip up to the "Old school" sweep. Last 15 min we rolled.
The striking class with Rami started at 1800, I did 3 rounds of mitts work with Ted(good luck in the military) before getting picked up for some nice thai food.
Gonna work all weekend so I will do some evening training(stretching and technique).
Meanwhile Jerome was waiting in Amsterdam I went to the MMA class for today. A lot of positioning was the subject of the day. We also rolled for 20min in the end.
I usually always try to think of one technique I want to train on and hopefully succeed with when the rolling begins. Today it felt different, because in each position I went for something new.
These are the things that came to me, butterfly to the X-guard, couldn´t really get to the "Ham sandwich" though but I´ll get there:). When in side control I used the "Circle control". From halfguard the "Electric chair" is always there I´ve noticed. For passes, the"Twister pass" in halfguard also worked fine. I hope this is a step in the right direction.
After the training I worked on my hip/wall excercises, finishing off with 50min stretching.
Jerome just did his last class in Sweden for at least some months. It was a great one. We went through the 5 "bug drop steps"(yes, kill those insects!), a lot of nice takedown drills once again with the MMA flavor. Finishing off with a transition from the side control (circle control) to a tight "kimura".
0300am the alarm will start to sound and I´ll wake up the little asian boy:). 0400am the taxi will arrive to take Jerome via Ekebäck to Landvetter airport. 0630am the plane will leave for Amsterdam, Holland and further on to sunny "Socal".
Must say that I´m very happy with the time(3,5 weeks) Jerome has spent at our house. We have been training almost everyday for 2-5 hours, arranged one of the most mixed seminars when it comes to gyms representing(14 gyms). I also think it was totally new techniques for pretty much everybody.
I´ve learned so many things when it comes to grappling/techniques, so it´s all up to me now to use the knowledge and try to implement it to my game. It will be hard but I´ll do my very best to make my teacher proud:). We´ll see were I stand in the summer when Hollywood awaits.
Got off work late today so I decided to rest from training. I did go to the gym though:), watched Jerome teach the class. He had a lot of good excercises when it came to the clinch and takedown defense. My teacher mind got my body moving from one pair to another, helping out.
Just finished the upload on all the photos from the seminar this weekend (360 btw). For this I used "Facebook".
Tomorrow will once again include a high workload but my goal is still to train at least 1 session.
On Thursday Jerome´s gonna leave the beautiful country of Sweden. I do plan to arrange another seminar in the late spring or early summer this year. With this in mind Jerome isn´t gonna miss Sweden or me that much:)!
So the first Monday is now over. It has been a stressful one but I work pretty good under pressure so I like it to a point.
I got of work 1530, hurried to the gym to be a part of Jeromes interview(fighter magazine) at 1600, 10min later I´m in the car again picking my family up, back at the gym 1630, perfect timing for the technique series. 1655, this time Draag really passes out on the last serie(freakin triangle). 1700, the first grappling session for the year starts.
Grappling: Worked on circle control, wall/hip excercises, stretching, halfguard, lockdown, whipup to the electric chair sweep/submission.
Picked up my family 1805 and went back to the gym(sportlife this time). Started the box class 1830 finished 1930. MMA beginners at 2000.
MMA beginners: Hip excercises, shrimping etc, standup(1,2,3,4), sprawl and cardio.
2130 finaly couch!
Btw Jerome is sitting next to me trying to learn swedish(I´ll never get rid of this kid! Just kidding).
I´m gonna try to upload the photos from the seminar on facebook just add me(Christian Lindell) in a day or 2 then they should be there.
So the seminar is now over. We had a great time, laughing, learning, farting and hugging. As long as these ingredients are there, well then I only have one word: success!
Todays techniques: Half guard/dubble underhooks Halfguard/whipup Halfguard sweep/electric chair/submission/calf crank/passing Halfguard/rubix cube/taking the back/triangle setup Rubix cube from the back/biceps slicer/sweep to the mount/neck crank/kimura/armbar Reversed biceps slicer/darce variation/triangle variation/sweep to the D-vice Semi X-guard/ham sandwich/sandwich sweep/passing Passing the guard Wii style/Wii twister
Reserved for lost ones:)
I would like to thank all of you for these 2 days, a special thank you to Pilo at Yamasaki Academy.
Back from day 1 of the 10thplanet seminar here in Gothenburg. I acted dummy all day(feeling it now), thx Jerome:). Just whining, I had a blast. It felt like the people on the seminar liked it, ofc I must be happy then.
The techniques for the day:
Breaking down your opponent Getting that hand to the mat/Zombie Mission control Clearing the neck Chill dog Latch on(to the armpit) Gogo plata The carni Omo plata Sanitarium/sweep/submissions Meat Hook to the darce Meat hook to the Bombat Rubix cube/peruvian variation
(This is for memory use only, sorry for the rambling)
Day 2 will be even more awsome. See you guys there.
Haven´t done any training today since I needed to fix a couple of things for tomorrow(good for the knee also).
So what´s up for tomorrow? The first official 10thplanet jiu jitsu seminar in Sweden(ever), arranged by yours truly.
The Teacher: Jerome Basilio an Eddie Bravo prodigy. Participants: 80 people from at least 15 different gyms. Techniques: Rubberguard, Advance Rubberguard and a lot more ninja tricks.
Sitting in the couch(no news there) waiting like a teenage parent on the phonecall that will take me to the car. Once in the car I´ll go downtown and make the pickup.
I get a lot of questions about why I use the name Draag. So here it goes.
Once upon a time a little boy in his thirties wanted to play with his friends, the only way(may be more though) he and his buddies knew how, was to meet online. This is the perfect way to socialize if you have mates all over Sweden. So what to do online?
Well, since many of us were raised on Dungeons&Dragons, Mutant/2 and Rolemaster there was only one thing we could do, MMORPG(Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game).
Around this time the only game we wanted to try was World of Worlcraft(commonly known as WoW). So one winterday in february(I think it was) this 30 year "young" boy sat down infront of his computer and started his character/adventures wich would continue for almost 3 years(yes, 3 years).
So which race will it be, Christian? I want to play the good ones(alliance)! OMG noes(WoW expression), we shall be the mighty horde! Ok, then orc it is.
And the young "Oneshot Draag" started to run around in Barrens(like Nevada).
You the readers of my blog already understand that Draag couldn´t just be any hunter on the server "skullcrusher" . A lot of time were invested in creating one of the top 5 hunters of the realm(for a while at least). When I say a lot of time I really mean a huge amount of time(I´m afraid of wrighting down the hours).
WoW Pros: I had a blast, met a lot of great friends/players, always had something to talk about at work, reality escape.
WoW Cons: Almost played away my family, addictive, time consuming, no training for 2 years, hemoroids you name it.
So conclusion: If you can control your addiction(wich I can´t) then go for it, the game is too good:)(at least for me). If you have kids though, be quick to restrict and monitor their time by the computer(really important).
But why the name Draag? A friend asked me after reading my blog. Well the word "drag" in swedish means pull and since Oneshot would be a hunter pulling the bowstring I added an "a" just for the flavor:)
There you have it, the story of how Draag was born.
The first MMA training for the year is now over. I felt weak and tired(haven´t trained cardio for some time). No big deal, you win some and you loose some, just need to train harder Christian:).
Todays workout started out great btw(by the way), we did some rounds doing fast lowkicks on the mitts(punching/kicking pillow). I was the holder in the first round Lukaz the kicker. I held the mitt on my back right leg and the left was infront. The happy and kind polish/norwegian man should then use his right leg to kick the mitt I was holding on the back leg. He should not kick the front leg(knee).
Ok! Now the million dollar question, so were did he kick the kind and loving Draag? Correct!
Crack, the sound of foot against knee(special sound) and no more mr Lukaz but the sturdy viking Draag stood tall(for a second more).
Now when I´m back in the couch my knee will not be part of any stretching, but my ninja senses tell me that the hamstring is ok:) Hamstring it is!
I did finish the training though. 10 rounds of vale tudo(everything goes), boxing, grappling etc.
Just got home from training. Stretching as usual in my couch(best place ever). The workout went as I planned and wrote earlier today.
When it comes to training and pretty much everything I do, people keeps telling me how crazy and sometimes f****d up I am:). It doesn´t bother me att all since I´ve heard that so many times already. Everybody has a couple of things they are good at, one of my pros is to go all out (at least for a while).
Do you wanna know what crazy is for me when it comes to training? No, ok but I´ll tell you anyway. The people who are bicycling day in and day out to infinity and beyond! Those guys are crazy athletes. My friend at work Glenn Dahl is such a person, amateur training if you compare to the pros but still crazy:)!
Sitting once again at the same desk with the same computer and the same bluetooth plugged into my messed up ear(forgot the glasses). Don´t get me wrong I really like my job but I can´t shake of the feeling that I´ve done these things before. Gonna work another 1,5 hour before leaving for home.
Later in the evening we will ninja start this years training at the gym(2000 pm). Rami will be the teacher while I´ll be borrowing a corner to do my own training. The workout will at least include 12 rounds(a 3 min/30 sec rest) of different stations. Circle control, hip/wall, bag work, jumprope, five bug drop steps and some "whipup" training(inc video later on). 1 hour stretching will then be next in line.
Yesterday we worked on some passing from the half guard(Twister pass) and the full guard(also Twister pass).
Today 3 more people joined our training, so while Jerome taught some more passing through the open guard I worked on my wall/hip and circle control(inc video) excercises. The lesson for the day started out like I said and then went on with some quarter guard transitions to the back and the truck.
Just chilling right now waiting to go to the movies again. The film for the night is "The day the earth stood still". I haven´t heard that many good things about it but we´ll see:)
This is the first time, it looks better today(inc video later on).
Sorry to say, no news from the grappling world today. I did have a very nice walk with my family though, for like 1,5 hours in the cold and "crispy" weather of beautiful Gothenburg.
This was actually the first day of 13 straight ones, that we haven´t been training for 2-5 hours. My mind is still there but my joints are like "wtf Christian!". Gonna continue writing down my training from yesterday in my book(goldmine btw). Ten pages so far:)
You already know what I´m doing, yes, the couch! Just resting for our adventures later tonight. We´re going to this persian restaurang called "Shiraz" after a nice dinner the party continues at the cinema, watching "Body of lies". We will also bless "Sticky fingers" with our presence later on, hoping that Jerome finally gets his wish without Rami "cockblocking" him.
The training today started later then usual since someone had their period(just kidding). Started out with the famous excersices down below, jumprope and some bag love(kicking). Warmup done, then wrestling(The 5 bug drop steps, inc video)with some dancing and sprawls. Continued on to some nice back techniques(Rubberguard/Rubix cube style).
Oo! Almost forgot that I used my fellow blogger "Jimmy"(sorry for the pants) as my dummy when doing the "Griever"and the "Christian".
Btw here you get some advice on how to truly sex/cockblock someone.
Just got home from the second training session of the day. Started the day with a lot of wrestling excersises, takedowns, sprawls, reversals and counters(darce). Oo about that darce, I learned a nice "darce" defense from Pilo(Brown belt/Yamasaki) also. Btw we call it the "Pilo" now.
Moving on to the second one. For little more then an hour me and Jerome trained on footlooks. We focused on the "Griever" setup(it´s the jumping heelhook J does in the movie like three times). I also tried to work on the "griever" jump and turning it to a "toe hold" that my friend keeps naming the "Christian"(since I´ve tapped him out with it 6 times).
Here is the excersise I´ve been training on and promised you guys.
Danny Glover in "Lethal Weapon" right? Just change Dannys name for Christian and then you have how my body feels right now. Mind what I wrote, body not mind. My mind is top notch after all all these wonderful moves.
Todays lesson started with me reviewing a lot of excercises for an hour before starting with the different takedowns(I like judo). The last 20min before rolling(30min) I finally began working on the control/top game from "side control", "knee on belly" and "north to south". Using transitions between these three while controlling the hip.
The rolling went ok, got out of two positions that surelly would have been "a tap" some days ago:)
About those wall/hip thingies I´m always talking about. Did some filming today but since I showed signs of stage fright, this will hopefully be done tomorrow!
This is the official blog for Paragon Sweden. The goal is to have it as a reminder for the students and ofc get feedback from our great instructors in US.
