How to Balance training and your Job

Life is how I like it at the minute, busy and interesting however since starting my new job in February I have been struggling to stick to my training routine.
As there so much I want to do and achieve at the minute, I thought I would take some time to get organised and share some of my time management techniques and ways to keep motivated even with a busy work schedule.

When I used to work for Bupa people would always moan that they didn't exercise because they just didn't have any time due to work. My response would always be "oh it must be horrible having no free time what so ever!" to which they would always catch themselves and start to think about what they had just announced. More often than not they would begrudgingly admit they had a bit of free time here and there which they could be using more efficiently with a little bit of effort.

And a little bit of effort is really all it takes. I usually do my planning on Saturdays or Sundays and go through the following tasks. At the start of the month I might take a bit longer to review events and appointments that I may have agreed to (facebook is good for this) and when I know I have a fight or competition coming up that is when I really need to put in the extra effort to stay organised.


1) Keep a diary: I like one with week and month views so I can see what I'm up against with one quick glance. Also it is a good idea to develop a monthly and weekly plans for the things you want to achieve in work and training to help keep you focused.

2)Make a time table of it all. I use a simple table with days of the week in the vertical column and the following heading on the horizontal:

Appointments/events: This immediately lets me know if I have anything important on that day and often effects how I plan my day/week.

To do/reading/study: This is where I add anything I really need to do that day usually its to write articles and blog posts or read up about something, practice my Portuguese, make a batch of healthy meals or whatever

Remember: An extra hint to remember training kit, extra snacks, an important document, call someone

Training: I like to know what training I can fit it and make sure I'm getting enough in especially when I have a fight or competition coming up

Scheduling your appointments like this lets you see if you are being overambitious and helps you iron out the finer details of your week. Make sure you factor in time to relax and just chill or see family and friends, it sounds obvious but rest and leisure can help reduce stress and help prevent over training. *If I'm feeling extra geeky I will also note down the weather, helps with making outfit choices for work

3)Prepare things:
Making plans are all well and good but the important part is executing them. This can take a little bit more thought and consideration but if you have taken the time to get the first steps right it shouldn't be too difficult and you will get into a routine soon enough
For me sticking to my routine is aided by making sure I have meals and clothes planned for the week ahead. It sounds silly but its so easy to make excuses not to go training if you've eaten badly and don't have energy or if you have to stop off home first to get training kit.
Try planning meals and stash some extra snacks in your bag, at work, (at the gym if your lucky enough to have a locker or somewhere greedy boxing coaches won't find)
I make sure I have enough training gear for the week and typically might stash some stuff at the gym so I don't have to lug it into work every day *hard to look stylish with a huge backpack on! Make sure your training bag is stashed full of useful bits and bobs (hairbands nail clippers, towel etc.)

4) Motivation:
Long stressful days can leave you with a lack of motivation to go to the gym, some days I actually fall asleep on the train home but when I get to training I always feel better.
A strong black coffee first thing when you get in and right before you leave can help Try announcing your plans to go train on facebook or texting your coach, once you feel you have committed yourself it will be make it harder to make excuses to go home and vegetate!
I collect my favourite motivational quotes (twitter is good for training quotes) and write them on post it notes for when I'm feeling particularly uninspired.
Make a playlist: Nothing makes me feel like hitting the gym than listening to some dubstep or heavy metal, if someone on the train asks you to turn down it down you have that instant can only be fixed by training irritation :)
Head to youtube and watch some videos of people that really inspire you or your favourite fight, I always get that must smash feeling when ever I watch a really good fight.


Feel free to share any tips as these are just some of the things that have been working for me.

Awesomeness

What up internet, so I haven't blogged in a while,, boo me! Its been pretty hectic with training and work.

I have been really lucky and been able to train with 2 of the UK's most talented and well known WMMA fighters Rosi Sexton and Danielle West.
If you're reading this and don't know who these women are then shame on you!
These girls have been on the scene for nearly ten years now and are really are true pioneers of the sport!
Its crazy because I think of WMMA now and how much support we get and even then its still a difficult and challenging sport to be involved in.
Rosi and Danielle both share a true love and passion for MMA that has stood the test of time and is really inspiring to me.
I think because they are both so humble it is easy to forget how much they have both accomplished! If it was me I would be boring you with tales of my epicness left right and center.

Now that I am working full time part of my new training plan is to make the most of my weekends and get good training in on both Saturdays and Sundays.
I had a great day of sparring with Laura, Rosi and Kim at Semtex gym in Kent.
It was great to spar with someone who had come to MMA from a grappling background,as I still had to work just as hard once the fight got to the ground!
On Sunday I headed over to Carlson Gracie to train with Kerrie and Katherine and the grappling theme continued as I got a few good rolls in with some of the guys there and Katherine who is a really amazing judoka.

The following weekend Kerry and Katherine came down to do fighters sparring which is the hardest day of training at first gen and pushes us all right out of our comfort zones. I've always felt this is the most essential part of any fight camp as getting comfortable mentally with being pushed hard and not giving up are both important aspects of training that sometimes get overlooked.

On Sunday I went up to London again and trained at new wave gym. It was a really good session and we drilled escaping back control and head and arm control from standing and the ground. I sparred a couple rounds with Laura and Danielle and felt quite strong with my defence and take downs.

Sorry this blog post isn't too thrilling but training outside of my comfort zone and with different clubs and individuals has given me some good ideas for articles so watch this space. I am off on Holiday to LA on Monday so I will have lots of free time to write which I am really looking forward to!

Inspiration

My friend and student Bex Packham has been kicking ass and taking names lately so I thought I would devote a whole post to her awesomeness! She is 16 years old and has been training really hard for the last year. You can check out the whole article at

MMA Prospects

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I meet Bex Packham after Junior MMA class to have a chat and do some competition sparring for the upcoming British Open Brazilian Jiujistu competition that we are both training for. Bex smiles when I ask her what made her want to come and try a sport that generally attracts more of a male audience. "My brother was really into wrestling and had been getting into fights with our step brother. I think my dad thought the class would help him to channel his temper. He asked me to come along to a class and I thought ok I'll go to one just until he makes some friends but it was so much fun I just kept coming back!"
I can relate to her on this one, the first class that I went to was to spend more time with my then boyfriend who was ditching me more and more to spend time at the dojo training. I thought I would go and see what all the fuss was about but similar to Bex I was quickly hooked to the sport! I think it can be difficult for some girls to take that initial step and try a class and it can be nice to have a friend with you when you start your journey.

Bex quickly took to the sport balancing a busy schedule of school and social commitments yet still making it to the gym 5 times a week! It wasn't long before she decided to start competing. With a lack of girls her age involved in the sport she gutsily stepping up to fight the boys at competitions and has sent a fair few home clutching a runners up meddle and not knowing what hit them.
R: Am I right in thinking the last two competitions you have done have seen you beat the guys to take home the gold? B: Yeah I still can't believe it myself It's great to be able to see that everything you learn in training is really effective in competition. Its brilliant to suprise the spectators, they always approach me afterwards with wide eyes, sorta in disbelief haha R: I watched your fight on youtube, it's got so many views, what do your friends and family think about it all? B: They were all really impressed; I think it helped them to understand the sport a bit better. My family are really supportive especially my mum. R: Do you find it tough being the only girl in class B: No I really enjoy training and am friends with all the guys, no one has an attitude and Pauls class is really fun. R: what do you enjoy most about the sport? B: It's just made me more confident in myself; it makes you feel like you can achieve anything. R: Do you follow MMA on TV? B: Yeah I sometimes watch it but I actually prefer watching amateur MMA, it just feels more real I think the production and entertainment side of the stuff you see on TV detracts from the sport its self. R: Do you have a favourite fighter? B: I like Gina Carano, I think she helped people to see that just because you do a combat sport it doesn’t mean that you aren’t feminine, I guess females in any male dominated sports have to put up with that though. R: What are your goals for the future? B: Now that I am 16 I am hoping to get my blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu and compete against women in the adult divisions. I would love to do some more amateur MMA but it's just the challenge of finding opponents.
I can tell that the future of WMMA is going to be even more exciting with talented younger fighters like Bex representing the sport. Bex is training hard for the BJJ British Open and looking forward to testing herself in MMA.Its Great to see how much passion Bex has for the sport and it takes me back to when I first started and how exciting it was to find something that I really loved doing. Here are some videos of Bex showing the guys how its done at the last couple of grappling comps we have been to!

Promises

I woke up today feeling pretty shitty without rhyme or reason, it just seems to be one of those days.
I don't really know who to talk to when I feel stressed about training and life in general, it can be hard to explain why I spend so many hours training. Sometimes I even wonder why myself.

So here it is.

I knew in the first few moments, that was all it took. A silent promise made to myself that I wouldn't stop until I had mastered everything. The promise was solidified with each minute that passed during my first class in grappling. Every sweep, choke and joint lock was a thing on wonder and mystery, it was knowledge I wanted to own.

Those few seconds sparked a chain reaction that took my life off the path it was going and down a more challenging and complicated yet interesting route. Four years later I have a better understanding of the nature of that promise. To master everything in BJJ means never stopping.

It is a sport that is constantly evolving, to throw some metaphors around it is like a busy city that never sleeps. You can't let yourself get too comfortable, as even when you think you know the city like the back of your hand things can change. Just as the very essence of the city can be affected by the people in it, jujitsu too is changed and moulded by the athletes that push the boundaries and make it their own.

Maybe I make things more complex than they need to be, I could probably be happy enough working up through the ranks of a 9-5 and going out getting drunk and doing what ever everyone else is doing but I would always be living with a broken promise. There is something in my nature that seems to rebel against normality and being settled, it used to bother me but I guess its better to embrace that and work even harder on days where I feel like this. Like I said in my last post things are never dull and in many ways I'm thankful for that.

There will be days like today where I feel a bit lost but there will be many more moments where I feel like I have pushed myself and become a stronger and better person because of it.

Melancholy aside I spent my day planning, plotting and organising and feel like I will wake up tomorrow a bit more at ease with the world.My cure for most things is to book a holiday and I got my flights for California. I have always dreamt of doing the IBJJF worlds and I cant wait to train at all the amazing gyms over there. As such I have decided to cut to a lower weight class which means an annoyingly strict diet but I have abs now check it out!

Any one with suggestions as to where to go and what to do in California leave a comment or send me a tweet @kimurakoi!

Well as always in the life of Rachael things are never boring. Since my last update I competed in the Euro's and came third in my category, got a new job in events management and also had my first K1 fight, not bad huh?
I'll start with the Europeans. It was my second try at this competition except this year I would be fighting as a purple belt. It was a very different trip to the year before, mainly because I had come by myself without a coach or team mates but I felt it was something I needed to do to improve my game and help to focus on BJJ. I had sort of sidelined jits while I was busy training for my MMA fights, and it felt great getting back into it! I arrived on Tuesday so I would have a day to chill and do some sight seeing before the competition kicked off. Lisbon is a really beautiful city, I will do a separate post on my guide to Lisbon for the Euro's for anyone thinking of going next year.

I was pretty happy with my performance, although my mental game is still a really big issue in jits, I just don't seem to switch on as well as I do in MMA. I did feet strong and technical but I need to work more on passing guard for sure! I think the important thing I learnt is that 7 minutes is a long time so its ok to be patient and wait for the best opportunity to pull guard or go for the take down.

Just before I flew out to Europe I had an interview for a job at a communications company, and the night before I was set to fly off they told me they wanted to give me the job! I told them I could start Thursday, so I had time to recover from all the partying that had gone on in Lisbon. I think I had forgotten how time consuming a new job can be as it left me with little time to train as I wanted to make a good impression. We had a really big event in London the night before my fight which left me feeling pretty uneasy about how it was going to go.

Pretty much everyone from the gym was fighting so I felt relaxed as we all got to have some food together and then had our own separate area to warm up. I didn't really feel as nervous as I do before Jits or MMA, it was an odd quiet before the storm type of feeling. The fight its self was probably not the most technical that I have ever been in but I stuck to my game plan and followed Paul and Tolly's coaching to get the win.


Even though it was one of my least impressive performances I was still glad I went through with it, as I learnt a lot and it motivated me to work more on my stand up! I might try and get a few more stand up fights on smaller shows while I am waiting to find out when my next MMA fight will be. I think the next Jits comp I compete in will be the British open in May.

The importance of Variation

Another weekend and another adventure, this time I headed to Icon BJJ in Milton Keynes. Unfortunately I had to drag myself out of bed and get on the 6.24 train to London again as I was aiming to get to MK by 9.30 to start training at 10.

The session was busy as the guys who train at Icon Holland had come over for a visit. After a very quick warm up we immediately got into a long session of sparring 8 minute rounds. Being so early I felt it took a while to wake up and get going but after about an hour I was well into a jiujitsu groove and rolling more fluidly. The following day we went over a half guard sweep and escaping from back control and had a slightly more relaxed sparring session (only 5 minute rounds).

The last few weekends made me think a little bit more about the importance of variation in training. It is my experience that when you have been training with the same people for a long time you start to relax too much. As you know the way they play rolling strategically can minimise energy expenditure. In other words, it is easy to get stuck in a rut.

The great thing about doing some training at a different club is that you have to work harder as you do not have a good idea of peoples skill levels or what type of game they play. It is perfect training if you have a competition coming up and want to push your self, with the Europeans looming it was exactly what I needed. So if you have the chance make time for some BJJ adventures of your own and visit a friends club to get some variation in your training. I enjoy learning new drills and different teaching points for the same techniques. You also get to take back some new techniques to try out on your unsuspecting team mates!

Pre European Competition Sparring

This post is part 2 of my exciting weekend of training. Following a busy day at S.K.J I headed over to Derby to do some competition sparring for the Europeans. At the time I wasn't really sure if I was even going to go, as I mentioned in the past I felt a bit unsure about my purple belt and where I was at with my BJJ. As I was coming all the way from Brighton Rebecca, one of the girls that trains at GBD, kindly let me stay the night at hers so I felt much more rested up and ready for some training than Saturday.

We arrived at Gracie Barra Derby at 12.30, the club has a traditional dojo feel and has a matted area as well as a caged off section for MMA. As people started arriving I recognized lots of familiar faces and it was great to meet some of the blue and white belts that were new to the sport since I had been over seas. Christine took charge and made sure we all felt welcome, suggesting that we begin with some specific positional sparring and finish with some rolling at the end. This worked really well and gave me a good idea of the area's I needed to work on, girls move a lot differently than men and I think what most of us don't get much practice of is maintaining an on top position and working on attacking.

I rolled with Leoni, who I used to train with at BJJ school, she said I felt much stronger than before which made me feel a lot more confident as she trains and competes at a high level and is someone I have always looked up to in the sport. All in all the training session left me feeling confident in my abilities and I decided to man up and enter the Europeans. I have only done the nogi British open and competed in MMA since getting my purple belt, so I think I need to start challenging myself more to progress and improve my BJJ.

Hopefully there will be more sessions like this in the near future. Sometimes its just nice to meet up with other girls that understand the madness of training in BJJ. Back in Eastbourne I have begun pestering everyone to train some Gi with me, Tolly already had me sparring from standup with Joe and Lee, and I think I have a pretty solid game plan to work.

Some further reading for you Femme fighters article on the Grace Barra Derby girls