The Montage Begins

Merry Christmas everyone! The festive season is now officially upon us and whilst you buy your presents and hang up your decorations I will be suplexing and dropkicking my way all the way into the New Year! 

November was slow, I had a lot of non-wrestling things to sort out and I couldn’t actually wrestle because of the eye thing. However, the gym training has been going well and December is really starting to step it up a gear.

Before I continue, a big thank you to Alex Jarvis who invited me to his firm’s Corporate Box to watch WWE live in the O2 Arena a few weeks ago. A great experience and interesting to see how they are playing in the big leagues nowadays. Also good to see wrestlers who used to be faces on the UK circuit having made it to the Holy Grail of professional wrestling.

Right back to me, I am most certainly not in WWE! In fact I am not even on any wrestling shows at all at the moment, nor should I be in my current form - I would stink the joint up. Well, there is only one way to change that - this is my training montage! (If you read the below to the Rocky soundtrack playing in the background I believe it will have much greater effect.)

Stronger!

Big! Heavy! Strong! My new weightlifting routine is the 5/3/1 method by John Wendler, which is actually a powerlifting routine rather than a conventional bodybuilding routine. Essentially designed to make me stronger rather than just look good without a t-shirt on.

A little controversial in the world of wrestling that is essentially a bodybuilder’s domain. In fact when I was younger, my friend and I used to laugh at a man named Gavin at our gym who was obsessed with getting strong (and would constantly talk at us about how strong he was getting), but aesthetically he looked terrible. Well young JC, stop laughing! You are now Gavin!

Actually I’m not too concerned I’m a Gavin. In fact I think poor Gavin probably had many other issues going on in life, which would not fit into a single blog post and is also massively off topic! I’ve actually noticed a lot of people seem to be converting to this more functional style of lifting now and they still look fantastic. Essentially if you train your body for athletic performance you’re going to look like an athlete. Plus, soon I will be picking people up above my head with triumphant ease! Hear me roar!!!

Faster!

The last few months I was being an idiot. I got very annoyed at myself for getting so skinny from all the running I did in the BVI (as I mentioned in a previous blog post). However, the reality is I got skinny because partly yes I was running a lot, but mainly because I wasn’t doing weights and not eating enough. I love running, it is great for my cardio and fat loss and perhaps more importantly I find it gives me focus and a time to think things through in this slightly unusual transitional period in my life.

I realise a few people did question me when I said I had stopped running due to the fact I was getting back into wrestling and I wanted to get big again. Well yep this is me backtracking! You were right I was wrong! Run JC Run!

Bendier!

On the triangle of fitness, I’ve always been fairly strong and had good cardio, but an element I have always been particularly bad at is my flexibility. I don’t know if this is because I was lifting weights and wrestling so much when I was younger without stretching or if I'm just naturally inflexible. Regardless, it is something that needs sorting as it just makes wrestling so much easier if I am flexible and mobile.

At the end of my weights workout or run I usually throw in a quick yoga workout followed by my own wrestler specific stretches. This involves a lot of wrestler bridges and dynamic leg stretches. The yoga I usually crib from Diamond Dallas Page Yoga* (I told you I was a mark for this guy now). The wrestling specific stretches involve a lot of wrestler bridges and dynamic leg stretches to improve my kick height. The bridges have improved but are still crap and need some serious work. The leg stretches and other mobility stuff is going great and I’ve seen some real improvement.

Wrestling!!!

And of course wrestling! Yeah wrestling! Last week I attended Grapple again a couple of times, where Paul the Poison Parisio continues to enlighten me with old school British locks and holds that this British born professional wrestler really should have learnt years ago! A great group of guys and a fantastic set up by Paul. I will be visiting quite frequently over the next few months.

I also went to Manchester on Sunday to visit some old friends at Grand Pro Wrestling (GPW), who despite me being responsible for getting them banned from a wrestling venue years ago (sorry guys!) were incredibly hospitable and it was great to see some familiar faces.

GPW has being making its mark on British wrestling for the last 10 years and run some excellent shows in the North West region. It is run by Johnnie Brannigan, who wrestles under the name Heresy. The training school has a nice 20ft-wrestling ring, which I got to run and bump around in for 4 or 5 hours. Most things good, some things bad and maybe a couple of things a bit ugly (essentially anything that involved those pesky wrestler bridges). Overall though I'm happy with where I’m at and I’ve highlighted areas that need improvement. There were also a tag team there, The Island Boys, who had a WWE tryout recently and they were showing and explaining some of the drills they had them doing there too. All very interesting stuff and valuable additions to my own training. Thanks GPW, I will see you again this Sunday.

Brazilian?

In the BVI I started to train quite a bit in MMA (that’s Mixed Martial Arts, sometimes known as cage fighting) with the fantastic Dominic Bufton. This is something I would love to continue and coincides quite nicely with wrestling. In fact it not only coincides with wrestling, but has had a huge influence on wrestling in recent years. Amongst all the things I have been describing above I have also being attending a few Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes. I will probably attend some kickboxing classes too soon. It would be cool to incorporate some of this stuff into my wrestling at some point, but for now it is just a fun thing to do and further helps me get back into shape.

Final Thoughts

Ok you can turn off that soundtrack now. I’m exhausted just writing all that! No wonder I felt so weary Monday morning this week. I must be careful not to burn myself out by over-training, but at the moment I think I have about the right level, so long as I eat and sleep enough.

The training will continue much as I have described above and I hope in the New Year I will soon be ready to make a comeback. The sad fact does remain, however, as hard as I train I will never be as good as these guys…..

https://showyou.com//v/h-Uh0Gh3PS7k7fodnC/this-aerobic-video-wins-everything?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=timeline

Thanks for reading

JCT

*DDP Yoga – check out this inspirational video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448

As the Mist Falls

Once what was so clear is now a heavy fog before me. Once the path seemed so obvious, now there is no path - just haze and confusion. Once within my grasp, now I reach out to emptiness and black. I could once see, but as the mist falls around me I am left lost and blind.

That’s right blog fans, I’ve had to have laser eye surgery…….for the second time! Stupid eyes! Do they not know I’m meant to be making a huge wrestling comeback soon?! Well it turns out, no they do not! In fact I’ve been told I can’t wrestle for a month. Worst start to a comeback ever! To make matters worse I have recently had my follow up appointment and one of my eyes hasn’t healed properly and at risk of infection. Stupid stupid eyes!

Now before you start jumping on the feel sorry for JC Wagon, I must advise that I originally received laser eye surgery earlier in the year by my own choice and is for all sense and purposes a purely cosmetic procedure to avoid me having to wear glasses/contact lens anymore. I could only afford this because I was off working that highly paid job in the Caribbean I kept going on about (hey is anyone still on this wagon?). Unfortunately for me, however, it didn’t work as well as it should have and I’ve had to have a slight adjustment.

Despite this minor delay, things have been going well. Here’s a quick run down of what was going on prior to my eye surgery. I just hope that these fuzzy squiggles on my computer screen equal a coherent blog post.

Pump it up

I’ve found an awesome gym near where I’m staying that you only need to pay tree fiddy (that’s £3.50 if you don’t watch Southpark) for a workout. It’s run by an ex body builder and has big heavy bulldozers of men throwing iron all over the place. Exactly the sort of gym and atmosphere I wanted.

My workouts currently consist of two sections; heavy compound lifting exercises to get me big and strong again and then I spend quite a bit of time doing flexibility and wrestling specific exercises (such as bridging – a bit like the gymnastics style crab to you non wrestling folks).

This flexibility and mobility stuff I criminally ignored back in the day, but it is so important if I want to be able to wrestle well. As a result of how I used to train I’m finding my strength and size is coming back quite easily, but it may take a little time before I’m doing Stretch Punches like Dhalsim from Street Fighter.

Enter Parisio Palace

 

I have at least managed to attend a few wrestling sessions before I got lasered. A wrestler I started out with years ago, whose stage name is Paul ‘the Poison’ Parisio, now runs a wrestling school by the name of Grapple in Leeds.

Paul has a good understanding of the older British technical style of wrestling. For those of you don’t know, technical wrestling focuses on applying locks, holds and submissions to an opponent and reversals to the same. If any of you readers watched British wrestling back in the day a man like Johnny Saint is considered a good technical wrestler, a man like Big Daddy – not so much (but the Queen liked him so that’s ok).

If I’m going to make it in any shape or form at wrestling I should be good at my National style of wrestling. It is part of where I am from and I should know how to do it well. I was not a bad technical wrestler as such, but it was generally my character and story telling that got me noticed in the past (those things are extremely important too by the way as will become evident in future blog posts I’m sure). As I attempt to re-build the house that is known as JC Thunder a bit of work is needed on the foundations first.

Ginger Beard Man

I’ve grown a beard! A glorious ginger beard (well more extended stubble if I’m honest) that makes my head hair look platinum blond in comparison! You might be asking how this helps me be a better wrestler. Well it definitely makes me look more rough and ready. Secondly facial hair does seem incredibly fashionable at the moment (I can here you laughing by the way – but this stuff is important to someone wanting to make money from the entertainment business!). Finally and perhaps most importantly it is really really cold in England! This thing at least keeps my face warm!

Get a job you bum!

Ok I’ll try to keep this short as it goes against the whole ethos of this blog! On one hand, I am following my dream and transforming from a mild mannered accountant to a dynamic real life action hero by the name of JC Thunder. On the other hand I am a 30-year-old unemployed man living with his mum and step dad who seems to be too lazy to shave!

Initially I am going to need a source of income to support my wrestling habit and I should probably find a place of my own to live too! In my defence I have only been staying here two weeks and the way things are going both these issues should be resolved soon.

Right that’s enough about silly normal life chat, now let's all have a think about what colour tights I’m going to wear…….

Final Thoughts

Annoying about the eye delay. However, it is a very short time in the grand scheme of things. Furthermore I should be back at the gym soon, which is really the first step anyway. It’s not the worst thing in the world to focus on that for a few weeks before I hit the wrestling training hard. I do wonder what I’m going to write about in the next blog, but that is a challenge I’m willing to accept! (I promise it won’t be an entire blog about gymnastic style crabs!)

Right I’m going to have to go, I think that’s Mum calling to tell me dinner is ready!

Thanks for reading!

JCT

Reality Hits

The crowd eagerly awaited with cameras and banners. They saw the plane land and everyone went silent with anticipation of what was about to happen. The excitement in the air was electric. A father put his arm around his son to acknowledge they were both there for this key moment. A tear of joy rolled down the left cheek of a woman who had thought this day may never happen. The doors opened and out he came. The crowd erupted! Finally, the return of……

……nobody cares JC!! Nobody cares about my crazy dreams as I walk along at a snails pace, whilst my sleepless body is crumbling under the weight of my rather large and heavy bags containing all my worldly possessions. I would have at least thought they would have made a suitcase trolley more readily available for me, but there are none to be seen. In fact I must admit London did not look pleased to see me at all. As I waited for my friends in Heathrow airport everyone and everything looked a bit grey and miserable. A far cry from the beautiful turquoise waters and white sands of the British Virgin Islands.

However, despite my grey surroundings I am incredibly happy to be back. I have had a great week catching up with friends, both wrestling and non-wrestling. I have had a chance to think further about what I’m doing, I’ve managed to attend my first wrestling training session back and attend a live UK show to see what the current state of affairs is. However, a few realities have set in and reality does bite somewhat!

Skinny Man

One of the first comments people have made to me is how much weight I have lost. Whilst this is usually meant as a compliment, for a professional wrestler it is devastating. Wrestlers don’t all have to be bulging meatheads, but it definitely helps to have a good muscular body and more importantly they need to stand out from the crowd. My current look is an office bod who does long distance running and triathlons on the weekends, because that is what I have been doing for the last 2 years!

If I’m going to make any impact at all, one of the first things I need to be doing is hitting the gym hard. I don’t need to be huge, but I need to be in shape and to put it bluntly – look like I can kick someone’s ass! 

JC Thunder wasn’t built in a day

After admiring my new gazelle like frame the next question is - so why are you back? What are you doing now? Rather than stand on my soap box and shout 'I am JC Thunder again and I am going to take the world by storm' (pun intended!), these conversations have led me to question myself and be more realistic about this whole thing. Sitting on the beach dreaming of spandex and folding chairs is all well and good, but the reality is this is going to take a while. It will probably be a while before I am good enough to be on shows again and a bit longer before I am consistently working. That said my drive and commitment is still as high as it was.

Training Day

I woke up Saturday morning body aching and very immobile after lifting weights for the first time in an eternity (great workouts James and Daniel Dewhirst) and if I’m honest I was a more than a little hungover too (will need to be a bit stricter on that one!). Great start to my first wrestling training session in about 4 years! Epp!

So does JC Thunder still cut the mustard with these young wippersnappers? The answer is whilst I do have a lot ring rust, I do at least remember how to wrestle! Phew that’s a relief! My training did feel sloppy at times and I’m clearly not ready for shows yet, but I did have an awesome time and it felt great to be back in a wrestling ring. Big thank you to Tom Chamberlain for inviting me down to his training session at Wrestle Force, it feels good to be back in action! 

Show Time

After training I visited some familiar faces at a Revolution Pro Wrestling show in Bethnal Green. The show was absolutely phenomenal and even featured wrestling legend Bret ‘the Hitman’ Hart! The production and the wrestlers themselves all looked very professional. It is fantastic to see British wrestling looking so promising and hats off to the promoter, Andy Quildan, for all the hard work he clearly put into it! It was also great to catch up with people I haven’t seen in years and to see everyone is so welcoming even after all this time.

One thing was also very apparent after watching the show, I have a lot of work to do! I want to be on shows like the one I saw on Saturday, but at this time I would be embarrassed to be seen on them. It would be worse than when Rocky Balboa got destroyed by Mr T after he didn’t train properly in Rocky III. Unfortunately for me I am not Rocky and my training to get to a level I am happy with will most likely have to consist of more than a 3 minute montage! 

Final Thoughts

Despite these reality checks, I’m still very positive about the decision I have made and happy to be back. Thank you to everyone who read my blog and sent me messages last week. Very encouraging feedback from people and cool to see people actually read this thing. Also a final thank you to everyone at BVI for making my last few weeks so enjoyable and Todd Vansickle for giving me a full page spread in the BVI Beacon last week, which if you're interested in seeing can be viewed below.

Right, time to get on with training! I will update you soon to let you know how it’s all going.

Thanks for reading!

JCT