Light at the end of the tunnel

It’s about time I updated my blog, It’s been about 3 weeks and it’s been a long three weeks at that. Let me give you an update on where we are at the moment. I’ve been through a rollercoaster of emotions over the last couple of weeks. I was depressed, unmotivated, sad, frustrated and angry that I hadn’t met the criteria for Commonwealth Games selection which is still grating at me a little bit. I totally appreciate that these things happen but what a pain in the arse.

Pain equivalent - heart attack (fact)

Why was I feeling like this well, what seems to be the trio diagnosis of my injury is torn cartilage, costchondral separation and to top it off… fractured ribs. I felt awful at my first day of work, I was struggling to move, breath and probably visibly distressed. I’m still feeling pretty uncomfortable now and I’m just sitting. Now the pain feels like a stitch that you get when you run but two weeks ago I went through some of the worst pain I have ever felt. Scary Pain! I was driving home after a Scottish Student Sport committee day and had a sneezing fit on the city bypass travelling at about 60 mph I almost lost control but managed to save it. The pain was a searing pain close to my heart, it felt like I had been stabbed, someone was squeezing my chest, the whole episode took me about 20 seconds to recover. After that incident, nights of restless sleep I decided it was time to pay the doc another visit.

The doc was pretty good, empathetic to my plight at least and unsurprisingly it was the first time he had ever written a prescription for the cause of Olympic Freestyle Wrestling. My main issue was that I couldn’t sleep which to me meant that my body wasn't recovering well or at the very least quick enough, my point being that I wanted to get back onto the mat as soon as physically possible. He did reckon that the sneezing fit had fractured a rib due to the lack of support from the separated rib. He prescribed me some Supradol and Diclofenac in its droves to control the inflammation and numb the pain. With the Supradol, it was predominantly to knock me out at night and it did the trick, hadn’t slept so well in weeks but it did mean that I couldn’t drive.

I’m upset that I’ve lost out on 3 weeks of training already, I won’t be ready to hit the mat again properly for another 8 weeks or so but next week I’m starting to build up my cardiovascular endurance again, nothing strenuous but I need to get back doing something. I did try this 3 days after injury and was ok, iced down the chest and did some really light exercises (3kg fly) looked like a real hard man in the gym lifting those bad boys.

So... it’s been a frustrating couple of weeks, next week brings a new dawn in the training, it is going to be tough, I’m running a kids camp at work for 23 kids but luckily team [EN]GAGE will be on hand to deliver a fantastic week of activities. but I will need to chuck in some training as well. The key to this is to avoid reccurance 

Global blog - pretty cool


I was a little bit down at the end of my last blog post, I thought of it as me being a bit of a realist and I didn’t want to have expectations of making the Games next year, it still blows my mind thinking about it. This quest that Michael Cavanagh mused on me has taken its toll, I’ve put a lot into it. Sure, there are times when I could have and should have done more but I am where I am and I’m pretty happy with that. I feel like I have sacrificed a lot for this, I’ve completely stripped my social life down to the occasional catch up with friends and probably lost touch with a few more mates than I would have liked. I lost a few at the very start who thought that wrestling was stupid thing to take up and that I wouldn’t have the ability or conviction to get there and that took its toll mentally. At the end of the day It’s been tough but I have had a fantastic amount of support from a lot of great people and I’m lucky to have them in my life. They know who they are but what is cool about keeping this blog, I can thank them publicly. I read it back and it’s been an interesting journey, it’s been read over 6000 times from countries all across the world. In the last month alone people have been reading from the UK, USA, Germany, France, China, Russia, Netherlands, Poland, Canada and Australia which is incredible.

So for all those people across the world and particularly to my friends and family, I am absolutely delighted to say that I had a moment yesterday that made the slog of #mission2014 and everything over the last 10 months’ worth it.

I was lucky enough to get an email yesterday from Colin McLaren, wrestling team manager for Commonwealth Games Scotland who informed me that I have been put forward as the 120kg potential competitor for the Commonwealth Games 2014. To top it off, my friend Martin King is the same boat. A lot of other people have been working a lot longer and I hope they get their just reward.

On the horizon - fingers crossed

it’s by no means a definite that I will be competing at the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow 2014. I have to get a podium finish in the British Closed Championships next year to earn my place in Team Scotland and even then I think that Team Scotland will have to approve everything but I’m closer than I was and that’s the main thing. That said hearing that I have been officially put forward has renewed my motivation, passion, vigour and to have a target is and always has been important in this. It’s amazing to be recognised as having potential to do something and its thanks to everyone who has supported me thus far and for the coaches and management of Scottish Wrestling for seeing a bit of potential that they can work with. My thanks especially has to go to Michael Cavanagh and Steven Cote for the hours of coaching they have put in and the things they have taught me. Final shout out goes to my friends and family, guys who have taken time out to wrestle and the support of family and family in law.

Still lots of work to do but we are back on track and it feels amazing!

As always, thanks for taking time to read.

Cheers

@shocksjr

HERE WE GO!

Since my last impromptu update about the competitions, i've really just had my head down and have been trying to get myself into the mind set I need to be in - that is that i'm officially kicking off my wrestling career in just over a weeks time. I've been asked a few times how I feel about that? and am I ready for that? 

The answer to the first question is that i'm a little nervous. Who wouldn't be? I've been doing this for five months and although I know some of the basics, i've still not fought anyone who is a wrestler and in my weight category, which will no doubt be an issue when I go against the big dogs at the English Championships but at the same time as all that i'm of course excited. It's a great feeling knowing that i'm going to actually get on the mat and compete. I'm currently sitting at about 116kg which is fine, I would have liked to been a bit closer to 118kg - 119kg but there is still time for that. In fact there are 544 days!

Training has been great over the last couple of weeks, back into 2013 with a bang and I have a new programme from Alex that is designed to get me to competition in April, but a few tweaks to get ready for the first competition. I'll get into that in a minute. 

The Wrestling side of things has been good too. Friday two weeks ago l I had a fantastic session with Ewan Maddox. He has a lot to teach me and gave me some great pointers. Steve Cote was coaching and again has a lot of knowledge to pass on. In fact Steve is all about fluidity, he wants to see me go from one move to the next without having to think about it too much. That's one thing I found with wrestling at the start. I didn't know where to go or what to do. My repertoire of moves is getting there, I have them in the bank it's just a case of spotting the opportunity when to use them and at the 120kg weight category, the chances of actually being able to use most of them is pretty slim. We worked on a combo move for me to get a guy from standing into a pin, it works quite well but we will need to see. It's not a sexy weight category to be competing at. Its more of a grapple rather than a throwing match but then again sexy has never really been my style! I would give you my combo, but I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for the guys i'm going to be wrestling down at the English next weekend

Last friday night saw mr Andrew Wildgoose attend wrestling at [EN]GAGE for the first time. Andy is a big boy, a rugby player must be pushing 6'6 and is about 130kg. He is a gentle giant but picked up everything that was thrown at him and again another one who enjoyed himself, we had a wrestle at the end which was really good practice for me to be fighting against someone heavier.

I have only made it through to Glasgow a couple of times in the last few weeks. Not through lack of trying but...

The New car??????

One is cost, my car (god rest its soul) loved a bit of petrol and cost a fortune to travel through, second is work, I have just had a bit too much on to get through. The car packed in, decided it had had enough and that was that this morning. AA popped out to save me again and told me that it was probably the timing belt but likely a bit of damage to the cam shaft. Knackered for those who aren't car people. I'm desperate to buy one of these to the right but I will keep dreaming for now!

However, I managed to get through to Glasgow before it died and met Zane, this mysterious heavyweight who i've heard about. He was described to me as an older hells angel type of guy with a massive beard. It was funny when we met because I half recognised him some somewhere, we had a chat then he came out with "Oh No, you play for those "F**king Edinburgh Eagles, just as I was beginning to like you." I had a good chuckle at that, Zane played for Ayrshire Storm in the Rugby League Conference a couple of years back and was affectionately known as the viking to our lads at the Student Rugby League 9's. It's a small world after all. We got on well, Zane taught me a few things and schooled me on a few others. I always feel coming back from Glasgow that I haven't made good progress, I think its because everyone has been wrestling for longer than me but you live and learn. 

Final opponant over the last few weeks was Coach Cavanagh. It was a fairly even contest (I have a good 15kg advantage) but I will concede this time that he beat me almost fair and square by 1 or 2 points. I say that but he beat me with some crazy move that I didn't see coming. Believe you me, he still has some skills up his sleeve! so depending who you talk to its' 1 all or 2 - 0 in that contest.

 

Onto conditioning - conditioning is what I thought would be my least favourite activity but actually the programme i'm on at the moment is keeping me motivated. It's been tough as you would expect but it's keeping me guessing. The weeks sessions are - Strength, Aerobic, Muscular Endurance, Flexibility, Mobility and Power. Combine all that with a couple of wrestling sessions and you have a pretty intense programme. 

[EN]GAGE has been getting some professional photos done for marketing purposes and part of that was getting some sports in there. Wrestling featured and I got the opportunity to wrestle Alex. I've been hoping they would be up by now but we haven't had them yet so I can't show off the singlet that Michael gave me.

I mentioned in my last blog that this was going to cost me a small fortune, luckily my parents bought me the Wrestling shoes for my birthday. They are in the post thanks to Bank of Mum and Dad, I've been a member there for 29 years! good bank!

Start of the Road to 2014

Even Luckier though was that I had a text the evening after I posted the blog from my Michael who told me to hold off buying the singlets as there might be some old but new one's that he has. Now I didn't think I would ever get excited about a lycra onesie but I was wrong! The two I now have are pride of place hanging in the cupboard because they are awesome. Adidas singlets that are branded with the Team Scotland Logo on the front leg and have SCO on the back. They are the official Team Scotland 2002 Commonwealth Games singlets that were never warn. That to me was pretty special. I of course gave the wife a fasion show that evening and I think I pulled it off. It was a weird feeling. If you have pulled on a jersey that meant a lot to you, I got the same feeling when I put on my jersey for Scotland Rugby League 'A'. Granted the singlet is just my competition singlet but I look forward to the day when I can pull on my own deserved Scotland one. That will be a special moment!

Finally - Now i'm officially registered as a British Wrestler which is cool, officially on the record so its real and even better [EN]GAGE is now a registered club as well! Bonus!


As Always, thanks for reading!

@shocksjr

 

The Pancake, the Weeble the Gator and the Bear!

It's been a week or so since Simmo guest blogged about his experience of wrestling. If you didn't catch the video of that "big rig" contest its here. That was probably the first session where i've really gone at it and wanted to beat someone being focused on what I was trying to do. It would probably have been a different story if we were standing up, maybe a bit more agility from both of us or maybe not. I've had two very differing opinions of analysis from that video. The first was from S & C coach Alex who thought that my agility and speed were very good and I showed a decent amount of strength. Pretty positive overall.

Love you really Simmo

The second and not nearly so technical was from my mum who suggested that Simmo, who she did state was a lovely "young" man was a bit like a weeble toy. Which had me in stitches for a little while... Here is a still we took from the wrestle last week (left).
Simmo's feedback has been fairly positive... I think what i'm finding with the wrestling and trying to get my mates involved is that once they try it, they like it. It is quite similar to rugby in many ways as I keep telling folk. You don't really think about it and the preconception of wrestling is in a ring with a oiled up tanned muscle machine in speedos with a steel chair.

After Grappling with Simmo. I was pretty sore, for me it was tough because Simmo has got a few more Kg on me than most people i'm training with, i'm still hovering around the 114 - 115kg mark at the moment. I was in pieces on the Tuesday after a bit of DOMS set in so decided to call the repair man to fix me up. Pav from Optumus popped round and basically violated my shoulder, it was effectively rape. He got deep into the rotator cuff and tried to sort that out for me. His massages are great to be fair, the difference from before to after was insane and I had much better range of movement. 

My shoulder has been giving the most amount of jip over the last couple of weeks, I must have tweaked it a little and its not had a chance to recover, the problem is that I keep on hurting it doing ridiculous stuff... taking the child seat out of the car or lying on it funny whilst i'm sleeping. Anyway, i've got prehab stuff to do with it using therabands which is helping! With a combination of massage and KCR from Laura, I'm feeling pretty good and pretty chilled out even after hard sessions. The noise my back made on Friday when Laura did her therapy on it was pretty impressive!

So after, wrestling last Monday and doing quite well, I was hoping that I would have someone to take on the next week. I text bear, given that he has been along to throws training with Jig and has been in the gym a couple of times over the last two months. The response I got was typical Bear and along the lines of:

"are you just going through your phone book and finding you fat friends?" 

A little harsh I thought on him and Simmo. Although for me the closer to my weight the better for training. It's tough because both of them are quite strong. Bear did manage to get to Wrestling last week and we were going over head locks into gator rolls. It was fine and we were shown how to counter and escape before you were thrown. Unfortunately, for me at least, I got myself into a stupid position where I knew exactly what was going to happen as Bear had my head locked up and was pulling my arm underneath me. There was a slight pause, it was one of those moments where through your mind you knew what was about to happen and for some reason  I couldn't recall the counter quick enough. I remembered as I was about a foot off the floor that I should have rotated before being rotated and thrown. Annoyingly for me... it happened twice! So I will concede, given that i'm being truthful in this blog that I was well beaten by bear on this occasion. 

That said, I realised something about wrestling this week and that is that its a fluid sport and its all about building up your repertoire of moves available to you, I think i'm getting better at it, but more mat time is needed. I find myself in some situations not knowing where to go next and that is all down to inexperience. So, i'm trying to figure out where I am and what i'm doing but it really is all practice. Que - Favourite quote about Practice "Practice makes permanent not perfect".

That Monday session hailed the last in my 10 week block, i'm moving on to a rest week this week followed by two 6 week blocks of Hypertrophy. I can not wait. This is where the muscle mass should in theory come on and put me back up to 120kg. I still need to shed a bit of fat around the mid section but that will come and to be honest although it would be nice to get rid of it from an aesthetic point of view, its not essential. The end of the 10 week block had me lifting some relatively good weight, I blasted a set of 3 x 180kg deadlifts and would probably hope to have a 1RM of approximately 200kg. My back is strong at the moment. That on top of Overhead squats at 8 x 55kg. (horrible exercise). Had me in a happy place (minus Bear's Ego dent as mentioned). I've included a snapshot of week 10 training to give you an indication of the types of exercise I was doing and the weights at the end of week 10 from circuits 1 & 2.


circuit training week 10 - weights and exercises

I even managed to top the week off with some family time - a chat on Skype to my brother Adam is wife Karen and son Nathan who he has taught to call me "muppet mike". Had lunch with my other brother Paul with his wife Nat and my Niece and Nephew, Ava and Josh. I even caught up with my folks and the in laws. It was great to see them all but i'm pretty sure Paul thinks i'll be wearing a mask, have a stage name and a finishing move. I have explained, so hopefully he has that out of his head! If not i'll bring him in for a session (he is going for second dan Ju-jitsu after all).
So, after 10 weeks... where does #mission2014 go from here. Like I mentioned, it goes to hypertrophy. I still have a lot of work to do and i'm not stopping until I get there or I don't. I still think it will be surreal to get to Glasgow 2014 and its a massive goal that does seem at times seem unachievable, everything has gone pretty quick and to be honest the support from friends and family has been terrific in places. I don't know if it is realistic target, but i'll stick at it and hope that in just under two years I will be representing Scotland on the mat in the Commonweath Games. How funny would it be to read this blog back having been to the Commonwealth Games and dare I dream with a medal of some description. I digress, I daydream. 

I'll be getting Tyson Fitness on the nutritional case over the next week to get my diet on track to make sure I can pull off the hypertrophy sessions, from what i've seen its going to be fairly intense i'm sure they will be hooking me up with all the good stuff I need but i'll let them decide (new protein shaker wouldn't go amiss!)

[EN]GAGE Wrestling Club

I've started the Wrestling club on a Friday night at [EN]GAGE Sports Centre (18:00-19:30) which was great on Friday, one of the guys Steve leads the session and his knowledge and method of coaching is a valuable asset and we certainly found it really useful especially in simulated situations, like the one I struggled with. I was training with one of the guys, managed to get a nice "pancake", a "gator role" and a pin. I did have a weight advantage though. For those who don't know what a "pancake" is, it's basically the defending of a double leg attack where you basically rotate them onto their back. The beauty of this move is that you can use the bone on the knuckle of your thumb on the jaw line, which apart from being very uncomfortable releases the grip and allows you to throw. It's pretty rough, but pretty effective!  

This week is pretty full on for me, I have Wrestling 4 times this week, I'm finally getting to the Palace of Arts to meet the national coach and let him know what my ambitions are and to take some guidance off him. I'm heading there Tuesday and Wednesday and will be familyless for those days as they are all away, allows me to catch up on sleep!
The hope for me would be that I would like to eventually like to fill one of Scottish Wrestling's institute places and get the support that I need to keep this up, travelling to Glasgow will take its toll, mentally and financially and of course the work and training at ENGAGE is also keeping me busy! but where there is a will, there is a way! I've got loads of hard work and some matches to win before I get to where I need to be with that, but fingers crossed.

My final thought for the day shifts back towards work, I've been nominated for the Edinburgh Napier University Achievement awards, nothing to do with wrestling but about all the stuff I did at uni for sport and for what I have been doing since I graduated. The awards aren't until the 15th November but its really humbling to have been nominated for doing something that you love doing, so fingers crossed for me on that one! Even if I don't win, its a great thing to have been put forward for and one that I would love to win for a number of reasons. 

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the update - feel free to share it around and if you want to get involved in wrestling in Edinburgh let me know. Engage Wrestling Club is on facebook just click the link and as always you can follow me on twitter.

@shocksjr

I decided to go back to this one, got confusing with the others. The reason I had two in the first place was because I was trying to keep it separate but thought, what the heck... who cares!

Cheers and thanks for taking time to read the blog!
P.S - Happy Birthday Bear!

Road to 2014: impromptu update

I wasn't planning on updating till later on in the week but... I found movie maker on my laptop and got a little bit excited this evening after I was sent some video. Hopefully my counterpart in this movie Aran "Simmo" Simm will be writing a guest blog section for the next update with a few of my thoughts thrown in there. 

Now what you are about to witness! Please bare in mind that this was our first proper grapple. Probably also worth noting that Simmo on a couple of occasions fails to abide by Wrestling etiquette (a friendly slap before starting  - tut tut). We will let him off though because he was good enough to come to the session today and put in a shift. 

It's on our knees grappling trying to throw and pin. Not bad for big lads! hope you like it an let me know what you think of my movie making skills! haha.

Will update properly later in the week but for now ENJOY...

Circuits - VO2 Max - Circuits

Me promoting Community Sports Development

I'm delighted to say that I made it through week one of my training and week two is now pretty much done. I feel good. I feel like i'm making progress, I've lost a reasonable amount of weight in the last 3 weeks, just through two weeks intense exercise and 4 weeks diet. I've dropped 8kg (about the weight of a West Highland Terrier) That puts me down at 115.9kg

I feel alot fitter and stronger than this time last week but that might be because i've reintroduced carbs at a low level back into my diet to get me through training.

Last week was pretty brutal, my legs took a pounding and by the time I got round to circuit training on Thursday I still wasn't sure how I was going to do it. The warm up on the crosstrainer was difficult as my legs were screaming with DOMS but I managed to get to the platform for the circuit. 

The circuit was a muscular endurance circuit that did really test me. 8 sets of 12 repetitions featuring the good old 50% weight (60kg) parallel squat, push ups, TRX rows, Leg raises and sprints. followed by a 21 minute boxing circuit. New levels of tiredness that i've never experienced before.

Michael Cavanagh, kindly gave me a ring at the end of last week and we are moving to set up the Wrestling club at [EN]GAGE. Michael is hopefully donating a bit of time to help out with the coaching, so if you are reading this and interested in Wrestling, get in touch with me and i'll give you all the info when it starts. I can't wait for that! very cool that its happening!

By the end of training last week. It left me wondering how the hell I was going to get through the next 18 months if I could only get up and down the stairs without bending my legs but 3 Stretching sessions later and Monday was back around and i'm still here!

The weekend was Awesome, Giles, one of my best mates got hitched to Becky - it was a cracking day, they lucked out on the wedding and everything went smoothly. I had a few drinks as ordered by Alex but nothing too extreme.

I've also got another in kind Sponsor. Ross Grady is now officially doing my massages as and when required which is fantastic, he knows how to cause me pain (good pain obviously) but another person i'm grateful to have on board.

I rocked in on Monday, actually dreading what was going to happen, but Alex sat me down and told me that week one was all about shocking the body and getting the mindset right to push you to levels that you need to get to and continue on. What a B*****D!

I say that but I got through it and that's the main thing. Week two was a lot more gentle. I'm not into 10 weeks anatomical adaptation and prehab, basically getting my body ready for Hypertrophy and Max Strength. Monday's session was tough but really good and Tuesday's session was later on in the day after Throws with Darren "Bear" Steadwood. It was pretty hard going but I was feeling pretty good. I threw Bear but "accidentally" dropped him on is head, occasionally stuck the knee in his side a few times and landed on him a couple more times. Bear, sweating out 4 days of booze joined me for my circuit as well, it wasn't as phyisically taxing as I would have liked to see bear go through, but it was great for technique, we were squating, overhead (OH) squatting, push pressing, OH lunging, Deadlifting and a few others, all in all the volume was high (160 reps) but the intensity and load were quite low. Still, pretty hard work!

Wednesday hailed a rest day, well I say rest day... I actually find flexibility a bit tough, but I am getting more agile and more flexible as the days go on.

Thursday - Not so fun! I had to do my 1st VO2 Max test in 9 years. Alex will give you a bit more information in the video below:



VO2 Max test

And here is me starting...

This wasn't the most fun I have had over a Thursday much time, but I guess it needed to be done!

Below you will find two video clips... the first is me really beginning to struggle and the other is me at exhaustion. Wonderful stuff!

I keep telling myself that it will all be worth it 2 years down the line if/when I make the Scotland Squad for Glasgow 2014.

Off to a good start

It's been another exciting day.


Well...The kid is in bed, still jumping around it, but in bed. The wife is on a pass tonight and in town and i'm chilling out at home on baby duty, so figured i'd update with what's been happening.

Yesterday and today have been pretty awesome. I've not really kicked off my campaign to get into the Commonwealth Games Wrestling Squad, i've been dabbling a bit with the gym, mainly sitting on the bike and just trying to shift a few pounds before the mental training starts, the diet has been pretty good the last couple of weeks and I haven't been eating any crap and i've been off the booze completely. 

Even though I haven't started yet things are starting to come together. I received my nutritional plan and diet yesterday - It looks pretty good, no starchy stuff and loads of veg. I've seen a lot worse, so it should be pretty easy to stick to. Could hit the wallet quite hard though! Yesterday I announced on facebook (obviously that makes it official) that I would be embarking on this quest and within hours of that I got offered a cheeky sponsorship deal with my mates company (Tysonfitness) to help with supplements. Looking forward to hearing what he has to say on things. Quite a few folk thought I was joking, but alas i'm not. I've been needing a goal for ages to get me back into shape and i've found it.

Today was pretty wicked, I took a trip down to the Loch Centre in Tranent of all places to watch Michael Cavanagh (Chairman, Commonwealth Games Scotland and former wrestler) deliver a session to the SRU age grade lads. It was awesome to watch and I got my first real taste of wrestling up close. There is a lot of cross over with Judo - happy days as my throws coach is a GB judo lad. Today was all about Tsuri - Goshi,  I learnt quite a bit and the chat was good afterwards. I should be getting in touch with Scottish Wrestling's performance director over the next couple of weeks (after the Olympics) to discuss the plan of action which is great news for me. 

This evening was good fun as well, I popped into Edinburgh and Caught up with Matt and Kev from Uni and bumped into my best mate from school Rich. Awesome to see all of them and was nice to hear their thoughts on my new venture, they all gave good support for me even trying to get to the CWG but honestly, I reckon its just to see me in lycra (bunch of perverts).

Thanks for your support so far. 

Scottish Wrestling

Back again - Day 2

The Goal

As you can probably tell, I'm really excited about this new venture into the Wrestling world and am really positive that I can qualify for Glasgow 2014. I can't wait to start training properly. It's been ages since I've had a proper focus for sport and ages since I've had the motivation to do something. Almost feels like a switch has been flicked and my focus completely restored. I have got too many people involved with helping me get to where I want to be to pull out, so either way this is going to be happening.

I've been doing a bit of research into how things work with the Wrestling and think I've managed to get my head round what needs to be done. I'm hopefully catching up with Michael Cavanagh tomorrow who will be able to give me some guidance and make sure i'm on the right track. 

At the moment my target is to compete and win the Scottish Open Championships in 2013, then Finish in the top 3 of the British Championships in 2013 before finishing top 8 in the Europeans in March 2014 before the Commonwealth Games in July 2014. That should allow me to qualify for the CWG... in theory although the official seclection criteria is still to be realeased.

So, that gives me a year to learn the ropes of wrestling and get into really good shape to be able to compete.

My training is officially starting on 13 August with fitness testing. VO2 max testing, anthropology and 1 RM testing. I'm dreading it a little bit... haven't done a VO2 max since my second year in uni almost 10 years ago. Plus I know that I'm not that fit and am sporting more fat than I would care to have for this sort of testing. I suppose the final thing is that I haven't been hitting the weights very hard over the last couple of months but can probably still shift enough to get me started.

Alex Rawcliffe - my S&C coach

It's all relevant anyway, everything will give me a baseline a that will gauge my progress and in that sense I'm looking forward to it.

My new training diet also starts on the 13th, a friend of mine who is clued up in that field in sorting me out with that side of things.

Tuesday the 14th will be the first day of the programme and my S & C coach Alex hasn't given me any details except to say that "he is going to break me in that session." Which is fine. #gohardorgohome

James Millar - my Grappling / Throws coach

Tuesday also sees my throw coach coming in to burst me on the mat and start to give me some basic know how on grapples and throws. James Miller is my throws coach, he has represented GB judo on a number of occasions and is a good friend of mine. Looking forward to working with him. Jig as he is affectionately known is a lot smaller than me, but I cant wait for him to put me through my paces.

Wrestling itself in Scotland is a bit of an anomaly, I want to join a club but the nearest one is about 60 miles away from me in either Stirling or Glasgow but needs must and I'll be joining one in January to improve my wrestling skills and of course learn the rules! That is of course until we have a club set up out of [EN]GAGE in Edinburgh.

I'll get my first taste of wrestling coaching tomorrow and see what's what and how its done. very excited about that and the next few weeks.


Twitter: @shocksjr

Where better to start than at the start!

Well... This is my Blog - i've never done one before so we shall see how it goes. 

This is all about the journey i've decided to embark on to try and get myself to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games as a Wrestler in the 120kg weight category. 

A bit about me and why i've decided to do this? 

I would class myself as a very average guy, there isn't really anything special about me. The basics are that i'm Scottish / American (My old man is from Edinburgh / and my mum from Kansas), I'm 28 and married with a little boy. I'm 6'2 and a little bit over weight, the last time I had a 6 pack I must have been about 8 years old. I'm a graduate from Edinburgh Napier University in Sports Science and one of the few to work in my chosen field in the Sports Sector. My mates call me "Shockers" after my brothers before me and I suppose the other thing that makes me normal is that I have financial worries just like every other new family man. Pretty bog standard.

I've played sport as long as I can remember, rugby was my forte but I was always pretty good at Athletics in particular the shot putt and discus. Towards the latter days of my school career I played for Fife Chargers in the county rugby set up and played midlands rugby union before getting dropped just before the making a regional team called the Caledonia Reds. To be fair I had a shocker of a game and that was the end of my climb up the rugby union ladder. 

My brother Adam after a tour to France

My older brother Adam used to come back from uni with all sorts of cuts and bruises and once with a broken thumb and that got me interested. He was playing rugby league for Scotland Students and got me involved in the first ever Scotland Rugby League under 18 squad. We played France in Peebles and got humped by about 40 points, but it was a good experience and since I went on to play for Scotland Rugby League about 60 times at various levels. Never made it pro though.

I've had my share of injuries. I'm 28 now, 11 years ago I had my first keyhole surgery on my knee which was a bit of a bugger, it set me back a little bit having my cartillage out. I made it back to form and to a national level and blew my knee out completely in 2005. I was playing for Scotland Students in the World Cup in Australia against New Zealand. 

When you get an injury like I received that day everything happens so quickly but I seem to remember it in slow motion. This monster of a kiwi came running towards me I stepped forward, planted my left leg and threw my shoulder into him. This guy was a mutant and just ran over me, I remember trying to pull him down, realising my leg was stuck, it hyperextended as I fell backwards and twisted, completely tearing the ACL. very painful. If you ever see a footballer on TV rolling around, you know they aren't really injured. When that happens and you hear your knees cracking, you don't move a muscle.

Anyway, I made it back to play for Scotland and it was a great achievement for me after thinking I was done. Actually my comeback was a complete fluke, in 2009 I was helping out with the coaching of the Scotland A squad and we had a few injuries which meant I was drafted into play against Wales, did alright and that was me back in the fray.

Playing for Scotland 'A' against England (2010)

In 2010, after a fantastic international and domestic season I was playing in the Scottish Grand Final for my club "Edinburgh Eagles" and in the last moments of the game jarred my knee against someone. It was sore but not too bad, on MRI I found out the PCL had torn and from then I decided my competitive sporting career was over.

In fact, it was over until about a month ago when I decided to play Rugby in a friendly match. I miss playing competitive sport dearly so it was nice for a run out. I managed to show the young bucks how its done a little and like anyone else, its nice to know you still have it! Anyway, I played my last game of rugby last week for Edinburgh Eagles 2nd team and got hammered 84 - 4. You'll never guess where the 4 points came from!! 

More to the point though... Wrestling!

I know pretty much bugger all about it. All I know is that Michael Cavanagh who is the Chairman of Commonwealth Games Scotland and a wrestler himself popped in for a meeting at my work about setting up a wrestling club, he was looking for a 120kg man with a sports background who might take up wrestling as we (Scotland) haven't really got anyone in that weight category. 

I joked with him about me getting back into training and going for it and his parting words were "aye, see you at Glasgow 2014". I went home reflected on it, spoke to the wife and a couple of others and now here I am, ready to start training for the Commonwealth Games 2014. 

I've managed to get myself a Sport Scientist, Strength and Conditioning Coach and even a nutritionist and a throwing coach to start me on my quest. So i'm all set and the 13th August is my start date.

Honestly, I have no idea how it will go, I dont even know the rules of the sport or what style i'm going for... but what I do know is that i've been inspired by the Olympics and inspired by my friend Euan Burton. He won't know this but he is a two time Olympian and his commitment really is inspiring and I want to have that. Euan has had a tough time at London 2012 but he'll bounce back. I'm 100% motivated to do this and want to compete for my country but most of all I want to try a new sport and fall back in love with competing. I've never really done any individual sport, so this will be a test but I'm confident I can make it!

So to sum up - I'm an average bloke, who has been inspired and is motivated to try this and see if its possible. I don't have a clue really about the road ahead but for me all signs are pointing to Glasgow 2014 and that's where I want to be in 2 years time!

watch this space!!

Oh and you can catch me on Twitter - I've only just set it up, hence hardly any followers: @shocksjr