It’s been about a week or so since I last trained. I took a little time to rest up some nagging injuries. My elbow was entirely weak and my neck was stiff from all the brabo chokes we have been drilling. After a week of resting my body, I feel exactly the same, so I’m going back to training. I really exhausted zero physical effort during my little R&R from Long Island MMA. I perhaps exerted some energy during our little winter storm shoveling …but not much. Albeit my physical well being wasn’t affected there was however one thing I noticed changed in my over all health during that week off from training and that was my mental status (with out sounding like I am totally off my rocker). With out making this an entirely psychological digest, I am a happy person. That being said, I felt a certain unhappiness about not training. I realized about mid-week that I was totally jonesing for some grappling. My endorphin, dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin levels needed their stimulation!! Our very own Mike “ The Caveman”, did his piece on Facebook, covering the addictive qualities of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu/ Grappling etc and I can attest to all his points made in his presentation. Not only does going to LIMMA satiate my pleasure for a contact sport but also as pointed out by my significant other the gym provides me with a great escape valve. I work a rather hectic workweek with deadlines and I am always in crunch mode as an architect. I’m a huge advocate of not taking work with me, in terms of complaining and taking out my stress on my lady or the kiddies. To me work is work and it should remain there. However, as I was saying sometimes I need somewhere to blow some steam and there’s no freaking better way of legally getting away assault than going to the gym. Just kidding that sounds horrible but you get my point. For me that hour on the mats is my moment of clarity. With that said I can’t wait to beat up on my body some more the rest of the week and hopefully get a chance to make it out to the new West Islip location that recently opened in Gold’s Gym.
-Pat Rivera