The First Rule Of Fight Club Is. . .

The gym is small, cramped and wouldn't pass for much in some high schools in the U.S. Yet me and several friends gather there each week to get in a good work out, spar with each other, and share knowledge about different disciplines of martial arts.

It was started by my friend's Nick and Matt. Both are fitness freaks with interesting back stories. They share a love for martial arts, particularly Brazilian Jujitsu. Both are currently learning at least two forms of martial arts a week. As a means to share and gather with others, they worked out a deal with the owner of the BBJ gym the train out of. A year before I came to Korea, fight club was born. Together they run mini-classes mainly for foreigners on the weekends as a means to give people a taste of martial arts and a place to spar and trade ideas about fighting. Nick's girlfriend Susy is also there, usually working with the girls who come in each week (and does a good job of it).

This is how i spend my Saturdays. After meeting with Nick, he used his fanatical sales pitch (a jack-legged Baptist preacher would be proud) to get me to check out fight club. I was impressed and I started coming. At some point, it became a need for me each week. Sure, one of the best parts about Fight Club is that we all gather and get to meet up with people we consider friends, but the majority of us have a desire to learn more about the sport of Mixed Martial Arts and all the elements that can be added to me. I myself have only my wrestling background to fall back on. I turns out that it's really helpful when things go to the ground. I've also found that it helps with my standing game.

Each week I go home sore, bruised and/or tired from the beatings I've given or received from the rest of group. We have a lot of fun, but we also work hard. More than few of us at least want to be in fighting shape. Not so much that anyone wants to fight; we just want to be able to say we COULD train to fight if we wanted to. I have no illusions of becoming the next UFC star. I only want to drop weight. Some of the girls who come in only want to learn basic self defense, kick boxing or Taekwando. Sometimes the girls will even go off on their own and do Yoga. There are a few girls who don't mind mixing it up and learning how to fight, but no one is pushed. One of the rules is you put the work you want, no one is going to make you do something.

One of the fun things about this gym is that the Koreans who are members will come in and sometimes spar with us. There are a few who are training to become professional fighters and they are REALLY GOOD. I've seen guys smaller than my brother take down someone who's almost as big as me. I've learned a few little tricks from a few of the Koreans there. One of them I like to mess with because he's funny. He goes by John and he's a high school kid with a lot of talent. He gets a little cocky, but he's a nice kid. I sometimes treat him like a little brother because he gets a little high on himself. I think if he sticks with it he might be able to go pro one day.

The highlight of each Fight Club session is "The Brick". One man gets in the ring for five minutes and each minute the sparing partner changes. Basically it's 1 vs. 5 one at a time. It's tiring, but it's become a gold standard. Now because of Brendan, there is a new teir for the brick; the "Ten Stack." 1 vs. 10!

Recently, I've gotten very serious about Fight Club. I've seen that I've lost weight and the slow improvement in my technique. I also bought to pairs of gloves to spar in (I used to use the ones the gym provided - very stinky) and I've noticed an improvement in my stamina. I want to see more results and I want my skill set to improve faster. I can't do it just going one day a week, so I plan on joining the gym full time in August. I will be able to join in on any of the weekday sessions and I'll work with the hardcore teachers and students. I will more than likely have to rolled out of the gym the first 30 days because I will be tired. I've seen the workout these guys do and it's ROUGH. I know what must be done, but I really want to build myself up into a more healthy individual. Also, it would be nice to know I have the ablity to fight if needed.

Pictures of the Week (April 22)

This week's pictures from the wonderful world of Korean weirdness come from my random walking around the city of Daegu. I think it's time for something a little different, so I might want to travel around to get pictures from different places.

First up on the list is this wonderful little shirt I found with a friend when we wandered into a cell phone assessory shop. The girl wearing the shirt seemed to be uneasy about me taking the picture, so I asked her friend to take it for me. We also explained why it was so funny to us silly Americans. I think it was more than fair considering that she was squeezing the chicken and making nosies with it.

There are a lot of keychains and cell phone charms here. This one caught my eye due to the fact that not only is it Spider-Man, but it's Spider-Man holding a bottle of Soju. For those of you who don't know, Soju is the local liquor of choice for many Koreans. The drink is synonoious with the country despite a movement to distance itself from the drink. But how could such a trinket exist? Well, the copyright laws are very fuzzy here. Many things aren't "offical" here so it's not usual to see such things.

Weekend Warrior Report: Racing The Sun

My Friday was boarder line pointless. I didn’t do too much and I only ended up meeting with friends and bar hopping to Commune and That. The night started out with a little bit of promise. That promise eventually fizzled out and gave way to mundane blah-dom.

Saturday I allowed Nick’s girlfriend Susy to talk me into coming to Salsa lessons and observe . I might actually sign up because I like dancing and want to learn how to do it right. Truth be told, I’m a little self-conscious about it. Dancing is one of the few kinks left in my armor. I plan on making Susy teach me some basics before I walk into class (Yes, a pre lesson before an actual lesson! Makes sense. . .) due to my own silly issues about it.

After getting galbi with the usual suspects, I headed off with a few friends to find something to do. Intially there wasn’t much success. That was blah, Old Skool has officially been taken over by the U.S. military, but, it was in Frog where I ended up having the most fun.

Now I hate Club Frog because It’s overcrowded and I always feel like I should have an STD test after going there. Yet it’s my boy’s favorite spot to hit up in town and I ended up hanging with him for a bit. Surprisingly it wasn’t bad; the music was decent and a few people I know were there.

Towards the later end of the night, Jeff the DJ showed up and bought me and some of the guys a few rounds. Me and him kicked it a bit on the balcony and he gave me some intersting info and prespective. At some point during out converstation, he tells me of a random spot to check out and on the spot he decides to take me there. He introduces me to the staff and then talks me up to some people hanging in there. I found this funny, but I took the que and enjoyed myself.

We stayed at the bar until they closed. By this point the sun was beaming down but I somehow ended up at another galbi joint with a few random Koreans while they drank Soju and talked. To wrap up this little adventure, I walked into the house around 8:30-9ish in the morning. After a little net surfing and skype called back home, I hit the sack. Definitely a unique night for me. . . but fun all the same.