Bob long is the coach out at canton he's a very good ground fighter and an expert in no gi ju jitsu. No gi just means without the white traditional martial arts outfit. Training this week hasn't been go good monday i went to canton and its been my first time there in like 2 weeks and i can always tell when i'm off my game. We did stand up at first and i'm usually very comfortable on my feet but i felt sloppy. I felt sloppy the whole night after that as well, and tonight i was only able to get a little cardio and weights in before i had to come home and do homework. My next scheduled fight is october 2nd in east peoria. Im pretty excited i've been training for almost 3 years and i've only had one fight because my parents hate this sport so much. I know i have the potential to be great thats why i'm doing this fight without telling them. Im usually supremely confident before a fight even if deep down i'm not as good as i think i am it doesn't matter. A fighter without confidence in himself doesn't belong in any kind of fighting. This sport is 80 percent mental, the guys who are tough aren't always the big strong ones its the ones that are mentally tough. Tough is only that a mindset, a way of thinking. Before a fight i will pretty much believe im Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali, not because i'm cocky, but because i have to have confidence to perform on fight night. That might just be me but finding your mindset to compete in any sport is very important especially any kind of combat sport. I developed a bit of a wrestlers mindset during wrestling season, i learned what to think before a match. Never think the negative once i realized that i did much better competing. Even if i new the guy i was going to face was way better than me, i didn't care cause i was just going to ruff him up. Even if i couldn't win he was going to look back and say, holy crap that kid was tough or if he looked back and said a simple ouch i'm in pain after wrestling him, i'd be happy. People are always scared of the journey, i look forward to it.

my gyms

I have been training for a fight that is set for oct. 2nd in east peoria. Its being hosted by the main team that i train with CICC central Illinois combat club they, are located in canton. I usually work with a local pro fighter named David Gaston, he is recently retired from the fight game but is an ex pro boxer also wrestled in college, and has been a pro mma fighter for quiet awhile. He and his wife own a small chiropractic clinic, she runs the clinic with her colleague and he runs the small gym in the back of the building. This gym is in peoria closer to where i live im usually there four or five days a week its hard work but its worth it. We have a small group of fighters about 6 on a good day but most fighters cant take the workouts. Dave believes strongly in the conditioning and physical aspect of the sport we have strength and conditioning almost everyday for an hour before fight practice even starts. Most fighters just wanna punch somebody in the face or wrestle, atleast most amateur fighters do. I usually make the 40 min drive to canton about once or twice a week, and there all fighting and grappling. What i get from dave is my stand up and conditioning when i go to canton we do wrestling and ju jitsu. They have about 30 guys there. Its a decent sized gym with nothing but wrestling mats lining the floor and walls, looks like one of those padded rooms you put crazy people in but bigger.  

introduction

Hey my name is Grant im an MMA fighter. I started doing mma back when i was 15, i wanted to do the crazy workouts get in shape and ofcourse learn how to fight. I dont have what most people believe as a fighters attitude, i dont walk around trying to pick fights or have a tough guy bully type personality. If you get to know real fighters though they dont have that attitude either. Im a nice guy outgoing when i want to be, and im always sweet to the ladies. Enough about me though this blog will be about the day to day life of an amatuer mma fighter. You see the professionals life style and training on tv but you never see them in there younger years. I hope to provide some perspective to people who are interested in the sport, either entering the sport or watching the sport.