First let me say it is nice to be back. We are currently in the middle of week five right now and I am feeling great. Much, much better than week three, that is for sure. Week three started with extreme pain and ended with french fries and an after party! I know, I know not a recipe for success. Let me explain.
As everyone knows by now, I have a few bulging discs in my back along with some facet bones issues. As such, the hard work that I put into weeks one and two caught up to me.
To say I went into physical shock would sum it up nicely. My back flared up severely in the week leading up to the Strikeforce Challengers event in Fresno, Calif. As my trainers Dave and Anthony informed me, it is very important to listen to my body and act accordingly. With that in mind, I decided to maintain my diet and allow the pain and swelling in my lower back to subside.
Then came Fresno. I traveled to Fresno with Chris Leo of Projekt Label. We arrived on the day of weigh-ins, and in classic MMA fashion they were delayed. Am I the only one who found it torturous to hold a weigh in at a restaurant?
In a calculating move to dissuade my opponent John Morgan and satisfy my hunger, I ordered a beer with some french fries. All part of my plan! John, to his credit had obviously been working out as well and was about six pounds under at this point with me being 12 under.
As I was sitting dipping my fries in ranch, good friend and Strikeforce fighter Luke Rockhold came to me and asked, ” Eddie, what the fuck are you doing?!” Waiting for the weigh-ins was my reply. The interrogation continued as I informed Luke that today was my cheat day. This did not seem to matter to him. “What about tomorrow? You are hosting my party and you are going to cheat there too right?”
I have learned in my years of being around fighters to not disagree with a man cutting weight. I agreed with him that I was also planning on steering away from my diet tomorrow after the event with the killer party Chris and I had planned. So the fights went on, the party lasting LATE into Saturday morning and I was found relieving myself of my food outside of the Residence Inn Fresno.
Week four got off to a much better start. I found my back being back to normal (whatever that means). I returned to my regular training routine. Muay Thai with Steve Del Fierro is a type of cardio work that I am getting more familiar with. Having said that, I have a fucking long way to go.
Thank god for patient trainers. I have been doing BJJ off and on for more than 13 years and have come to know what to expect on the mats. But stand up conditioning is a different beast. The amount of core strength required to throw good strong punches, kicks, knees, and elbows is just amazing.
My abs were so sore after that training session that when I went into the Guerrilla class (upper belts) I was just done. However, as Anthony Morlaes constantly states to me, “We build mindset here.” I constantly refer back to that to push me through that third hour of training. Week four concluded with hard work and regaining the consistency from weeks one and two. Then came the moment of truth. The scale.
After four weeks of training the scale read 211.8 lbs. To those who have been following along that is precisely 19 pounds after 28 days (with a few cheats in there). I am right on pace for what I have fore-casted with the team at VIPMMA in order to bring this contest home and body paint to John Morgan. Check out the video recap put together by Manastorm productions for week four here.