BJJ Backpacking - Copenhagen

What a trip! An absolutely incredible camp in one of the most beautiful cities on Earth. The pictures do not do it justice. The difference in atmosphere is almost tangible. From the very second I walked out of the Metro station in Christianshavn I knew that this place was very different.

Firstly, some stuff I learned about Copenhagen, Denmark, Hostel living, and drinking.

1. Damn do they love their coffee over there. Paris was good! But this place was better.

2. The Danish are a beautiful people. Literally, stunning to behold. I try and adhere to the idea of not sticking out when out and about. Blending in and not becoming a target. I became very aware that this may be impossible, due to my unfortunate affliction of a semi northern English face. 

3. England feels lazy now I've seen that the TOP method of transport out there is the humble push bike. I stepped onto Stafford Train Station and practically laughed at the quiet cycle racks.

4. Our attempts at Danish pastry is futile. End of discussion.

5. Marzipan. It is everywhere!

6. Staying in a Danish hostel is a treat. Just remember to squigee the shower when done. And pick a bed next to a charging port.

7. Europeans can easily shame me when it comes to alcohol. Especially on J-Day.

I'm sure there is more to this list, and I will add to it when I remember.

Finally, the camp itself. I will try and not get too technical, but the information was first class. The instruction was clear and concise. And the other attendees were polite to a fault. I met some utterly fantastic individuals whilst there. People who I am sure I will not be losing contact with any time soon. Jujitsu has opened some doors to me which I am forever greatful for, and I look forward to the next chapter on where it takes me.

One final thing. Street fight. Epic!

The Last Weigh In

Weight: 80.8kg (8.8% loss)
Loss: 17.2lbs
Body Fat: 11.5%
Bench Press: 122.5kg (1.52bw)
Chin up: 45kg (55.7%)
Obviously not my end goal. But I'm happy with the results. I just need to recover from my injuries and keep going in the same direction. There's a competition in a couple of weeks and I will be entering in the Under 80kg category :-)

Copenhagen: Day 1

Over the last 64 hours, 6 of them have involved sleep. Just 6! So how in the name of all that is right I managed to do a straight 4 hours on the mats I'll never know.
Anyway. If it is possible to fall in love with a city at first sight, I'm pretty sure I have with this place. The second I walked out of the metro into the light, I couldn't help be overwhelmed by the fantastic surroundings. Anyway, a few pics from the first day. This Gi will never dry otherwise.

Week 10 of 10.

81.75kg. Will do full stats when I get back home.

Counting Down

Gi folded. Bag packed. Passport and boarding passes at the ready :)

Crossroads

As I was walking towards the gym yesterday from my park bench, I came across something that made me ponder.
It was just a road sign, nothing spectactular. The reason I thought it appropriate, was the last time I made a trip for training reasons was to learn some BJJ in Bolton, and now here I am learning Wrestling in Wigan. A visual representation of which direction I should take my personal style.

Catch - A Pilgrimage (Cont'd)

I won't disclose any other information other than....

Catch - A Pilgrimage

I'm currently sat on a park bench in the middle of a village called Aspull, within the north of the Greater Manchester metropolitan county, but historically in Lancashire, the home of Catch Wrestling. I'm about to set foot in one of the best known gyms in the world. Slightly nervous to say the least.
To me, it feels like I'm going back to where I pretty much began. When I first popped my head inside the doors of Fighting Fit, where it was then thoroughly kicked in, the style of grappling was very much Catch based. As rough as it comes. But since Stocky had his accident, that side of things has been lost. Therefore it's about time I went to where the whole thing originated from. Get back to my roots.

And I'm on my bike, which is me all over.

Week 8 of 10: Apologies

Weight: 81.8kg
Loss (Week-ish): 0.4 pounds
Loss (Total): 15 pounds

I am aware I didn't post an update last week. Oops. I think I need to just make a final run at it.
Hitting the 77kg mark might have been a tad optimistic, because currently, how I feel at 81.8kg is how lean I used to feel hovering around 78kg, and my body fat percentage is about the same as it used to be around that era too. I'll be happy to see 80kg on the scales come 2 weeks time. Although I have realised I actually won't be here on that final Thursday, so instead I will do preliminary weigh in on the Wednesday and a FINAL one on the Tuesday when I'm back home. 29 hours of training and a limited food budget may slightly affect my size.

She's 3!

How is that even possible!

Week 6 of 10: Home Straight

Weight - 82.00kg
Loss (Week) - 1.7lbs
Loss (Total) - 14.6lbs

I'm starting to worry about how I'll be during this seminar, especially the 8 hour roll. It has been an intense week of training and I feel like I could sleep for ever, which I obviously don't have the option of doing whilst out there. I need to be up at 5am following an 8 hour charity roll.
Uh oh.

Week 5 of 10: Half Way There

Weight - 82.75kg
Loss (Week) - 3.6lbs
Loss (Total) - 12.9lbs
Body fat - 16.4%
Bench Press - 115kg (1.39bw)
Chin Up - 40kg (48%)

If I followed a linear route and lost the same amount every week, today I should have been on 83kg.

Week 4 of 10

Weight - 84.4
Loss (Week) - 0 pounds
Loss (Total) -  9.3 pounds
Not completely happy about this...
I'm unsure if its to do with not training whilst on holiday. This week I've had 2 conditioning sessions, 3 grappling sessions, 1 wrestling session, 1 kick boxing session and 1 weights session.
I did feel a little deflated when I returned from Cornwall, oh well, next week will hopefully show some better results.

Week 3 of 10

Weight - 84.4kg
Loss (Week) - 2.4 pounds
Loss (Total) -  9.3 pounds
Considering I have been on holiday in Cornwall all week, and was unable to do any training, a 2.4 loss is better than I expected.
If I looked at this in a linear way, 25 pounds over 10 weeks would be an average of 2.5 a week, so I should be on a 7.5 loss right now. I'm mostly there then.

Week 2 of 10

Weight - 85.5kg
Loss (week) - 1.5 pounds
Loss (total) - 6.8 pounds
Still heading in the right direction, just need to speed it up :)

Week 1 of 10

Weight - 86.2kg
Loss (week) - 5.3 pounds
Loss (total) - 5.3 pounds
Good start in the right direction.

Copenhagen, What You Talking About Willis?

Yes yes the plan for a jaunt around Scandinavia is still going forward for next year, just pending the decisions of some folks. In the mean time, I will be heading over to Copenhagen for a bit of a scrap this Autumn. Currently it looks like I will be by my lonesome, but I'm sure that shouldn't be too much of an issue. Travel has been arranged through the sultry EasyJet.com, and accommodation via the DanHostel Copenhagen City.

Just need to squeeze my Gi into a backpack and I'm all set :)

25 pounds by Copenhagen

Current weight as of today is 88kg (195.3 pounds). Goal weight by Copenhagen is 77kg (170 pounds). Time till Copenhagen is 10 weeks.
Current Stats:
Weight - 88.6kg
Body Fat - 19.6%
Bench Press - 115kg (1.31 bw)
Chin Up - 40kg (45%)

Hopefully I'll maintain my current strength, or even add to it.
Goal Stats:
Weight - 77kg (12.5% loss)
Body Fat - Below 10%
Bench Press - 125kg (1.62bw)
Chin Up - 40kg (51%)

Here goes nothing. Light Heavyweight to Welterweight :)

10th of August

So, me and Helen got hitched. Months of planning, scheming, stressing and crying all peaked in one perfect day. I got to marry my best friend.

I then took her Paris XD

Only for a short while. Orlaith couldn't join us unfortunately, therefore any longer than a few days would seem like an eternity to Helen and I. Although, apparently, Orlaith did not notice or care.

Just means we'll have to take lots of small holidays to make up for the shorter honeymoon. Oh well :)

A Brief Comparison of Time

To put this in perspective from my home town. If 100 000 years was 1 mile, the beginning of the dinosaurs till now would reach from the Town Hall to the end of Italy's boot. The length of time Homo Sapiens have existed would reach from the Town Hall to the Shire Horse pub, and Christianity wouldn't actually make it out of the Market Square.

Itinerary (Draft)

Right, finally getting some dates together for this trip. My first rough draft is:
10/02/14 (Mon) Luton to Gdansk 14:55-18:05 (Wizz Air) - £25.99 

12/02/14 (Wed) Gdansk to Turku 10:05-12:25 (Wizz Air) - £16.99 

13/02/14 (Thu) Turku to Stockholm 08:45-18:55 (Viking Line) - £13.50 

16/02/14 (Sun) Stockholm to Copenhagen 15:20-16:30 (Norwegian Air) - £41.80 

18/02/14 (Tue) Copenhagen to Manchester 17:20-18:25 (Easyjet) - £32.77 

Travel Total = 16 Hours

Travel Cost = £131.05

Due to the amount of places I had planned to visit, and the short amount of time available, Malmo has had to be dropped from the list. Otherwise I think it would be too busy and I wouldn't have time to take in the various cities along the way.

Next step then, accommodation.

PS. Me and Helen. Manchester-Berlin. 16/19 January.

Viking!

"The derived Old Norse masculine noun víkingr appears in Viking Age skaldic poetry and on several rune stones found in Scandinavia, where it refers to a seaman or warrior who takes part in an expedition overseas."
From Wiki

Firstly, let me point out that mixing Christian Graugarts "BJJ Globetrotter" book with an impressionable young fighter and his newly acquired passport is always going to lead to disaster. Therefore, let me announce my project for next year. A jolly around Northern Europe, taking in as many continental gyms as possible.

The initial plan is as follows:
London - Gdansk, Poland - Turku, Finland - Stockholm, Sweden - Malmo, Sweden - Copenhagen, Denmark - Manchester

Over the next few months I intend to post up my ideas and progress on this trip, bookmarking it together with some sortttt of hastagging system. Maybeeeee #stone-to-scandanavia? That'll do.

If I plan this just right, the travelling part should cost less than £150 all in. That could potentially swing either way, but from my research so far, I'm not too far off the mark.

So, what's next? Save! Make sure there is enough dough squirreled away to make this possible. Also, it may be worthwhile learning a bit of the local dialogue. As a start, here is my first phrase I will attempt to commit to memory.

Witam, mam na imię Chris. Proszę przestać dusi mnie. (Polish)
Hei, nimeni on Chris. Lopeta tukehtuminen minua. (Finnish)
Hej, mitt namn är Chris. Vänligen sluta kväva mig. (Swedish)
Hej, mit navn er Chris. Venligst stop kvælning mig. (Danish)
Hello, my name is Chris. Please stop choking me.

I also need to make sure I mention the following. This whole idea, it's weird inception through to it's ultimate realisation, can only be done with my very loving and very supporting wi-girl-fianc-fe (currently in a state of flux). Once the final dust is settled and the last blood spatters are cleaned from my Gi, the full stop would be a small holiday with her to the same place/s. We shall see.

2530 Miles (ish)

Biggest Job Ever!

Monday morning, at 04:11, I was called out to probably the largest job of my career to date. Well, it was the largest job in West Midlands history, a more modern Buncefield. In Smethwick, Birmingham 50,000-100,000 tonnes of plastic had gone up in flames.
We were called out to act as relief for the crews already over the border. Upon hearing from Jess that we were going to a "make pumps 35" I thought it was some weird early morning sarcasm. Apparently not.
So, without further do, when kids ask "what was your biggest job", here is the main contender.

She Grows Up So Fast

So does Orlaith.

Post Download Round Up

Things to remember from this years adventure.
1. Sometimes it's best just to pass out.

2. Thai food stalls do boiled rice at £2.50, mocha mania has the cheapest on site coffee, and Dorset smokery has a meal deal.

3. It takes at least 3 bottles of meths to last 5 days, and asking for meth on site gets you no where.

4. Vibrams rock.

5. The honey monster is omnipresent at all circle pits.

6. Ground sheets suck.

7. Bagged rice and protein flapjacks.

News Flash: Download 2013

And I'm stuck in my tent due to a thunder storm, get it?

Bolton

Finally arrived in Bolton. I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore...

UKTrotter

Epic Session

All Aboard

It's bright. It's early. Me and Dan are being geeks on the train. And I have an AWFUL lot of caffeine in my system.

Yeah, I Didn't Die

It's been a fair while since I blogged last, and I kinda left it on a cliff hanger. I was just about to go wild camping up Snowdonia.

March

Well it went well, in so much that I learnt that I'm a bit more gritty and "soviet", than I was previously aware, compared to others in my party. The experience served me well for Download Festival 2012, which was an utter washout.

Download Festival - June

OK, it was a tad soggy, but still bloody awesome! My 1950s Belgian Army Bivvi Bag served me well as others slept in damp and filth for 5 days.

I ran twice last year! A whole marathon, just split into two halves 6 months apart.

Stafford Half Marathon - March

Birmingham Half Marathon - October

Grappling is still going swimmingly. I've visited a few other clubs and met some great people along the way.

Gracie Barra Birmingham - February

Diesel Gym London - September

Urban Kings London - September

Competition wise it's been a pretty great year. I've brought home 2x golds and a bronze from my 3 No-Gi outings. A couple of limbs might have been claimed too.

UMA Ground Fighting - April

Staffordshire Open - September

UMA Grappling - December

Helen is as beautiful as always. Putting up with my silly ways on a daily basis (Cuz she's completely normal).

Birmingham Christmas Market - December

She has started grappling, so now any argument can be settled in a mature and adult way.

Fighting Fit Girls Class - January 2013

And Orlaith is, well... Big.

Birmingham Christmas Market - December

Here is to a wild 2013.