Praxis 9

Back to Bloggin...

2010-04-17T08:32:00.004+01:00

So I was Kontaining for a bit but it ain't as good. It's pretty, it's nice, but there's something about having my own design and domain that makes me feel a bit better about things.

So - what's been happening in the year and a bit that I've been incommunicado? Fuck loads! I've moved twice, had a REAL shitty relationship (that I'm thankfully out of as of September), saw Joe Rogan Live in Manchester (which was just frikkin' AWESOME!!) and more recently, decided to join a Martial Arts Instructors programme, or at least attempt to...will find out in the next few months if I'll be able to do it.

Anyways, think I'll be back on the Blogging tip from here on so expect more soon.

Oooh - Big Giant Happy Birthday to JoJo - Have an awesome day sis :)

I'm not dead - I Kontain now...

2009-01-06T16:37:00.002Z

FYI - I'm not dead, I just Kontain now....

www.kontain.com/tim-mcknight/

Eddie Bravo

2008-11-13T22:11:00.001Z

The dude is just a straight up stud!! Complete visionary...

this guy totally makes me wanna keep doing jiu jitsu!

Check it

My first Submission and UFC predictions

2008-11-11T11:56:00.003Z

So I got my very first submission last night. May have only been 1 submission but it was sweet all the same. I was in top position in a guillotine choke. Luckily he didn't have his legs wrapped around me so I could stand up and ease the pressure. Managed to get my head out - take the full mount and then went from an arm triangle to a Kimora - those 3 light pats on the mat have never sounded sweeter. OK - I got submitted about 300 times after that but the fact still remains...there is a bit of progress there I think :)

Anyways, Couture vs Lesnar this weekend and I can't wait!! I'm totally routing for Randy...the dude is one of my Heroes and just a complete gentleman. He don't walk shit about people...give it large or bring on attitude...he is a true champ in every sense of the word. Integrity and Honour. Brock on the other hand...a complete beast and a total prat in my opinion. OK, so he beat Heath Herring and I respect the dude for that totally, but as I've said before, I'd respect him more if he was a bit more humble. I know that in the MMA World you need confidence, but there's a fine line between confidence and arrogance and Brock has opted for the latter. He was talking shit about Randy even before this fight was on the cards so I think I'll get satisfaction out of watching Randy beat him (if that turns out to be the case).

OK - Predictions for this weekend and the tournament are 2 fold. My first set will contain what I would like to happen, the second will contain what I think will happen.

What I would like to see:

Couture vs Lesnar : Couture wins
Noguiera vs Mir : Noguiera wins
Couture vs Noguiera : Couture wins

What I think I will see:

Couture vs Lesnar : Lesnar wins (I want Randy to win more than anything but I have a very bad feeling about this entire thing!!)
Noguira vs Mir : Noguira wins
Lesnar vs Noguiera : Lesnar wins

OK - so my prediction for this weekend, on the record...Couture wins by submission (RNC) in the fourth round (I know this is a contradiction...but I'm a big fan of Randy and so I intend to predict with bias).

I think Demian Maia will win by submission IF he can take Quarry to the ground without being caught by a hay maker. We'll see...but I'm gonna go for Maia coming out of this with a clean record.

Check out the fight card and extras at the official UFC 91 web site.

Dizzy Rascal what are you doing?

2008-11-06T08:35:00.004Z

So I was watching TV last night, surfing for information relating to the recent election of Barack Obama. I'm waiting for Heroes to come on so I go to BBC2 and what do you know, they have a Newsnight special relating to everything that has been going on. At one stage Paxman decides to get the point of view of 2 people that the BBC must have thought correctly reflected the different spectrums of the black community.

So you have former Leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Valerie Amos in one corner and Dylan Mills (aka Dizzy Rascal - no...you have not read that incorrectly) in the other!

Valerie Amos gave a clear, thorough and well presented view of where she felt everything was going and what needs to be done next etc. Dizzy Rascal on the other hand did nothing but fulfil what in my view is an extremely negative stereotype. The hand gestures, the obvious lack of understanding relating to some of the questions and his blatant inability to clearly communicate his patterns of thought in a concise manner were an extremely sad sight to see.

Barrack Obamas achievement is a proud moment in humanity and shows that the Human race is moving forward and transcending racial differences and divides. Many of those divides do still exist and I agree with Malcolm X who said that before we as a human race can unify we as black people need to unify. I feel that if we are going to have people that represent our community, the younger black community, it should be someone with a bit more effluence than Dizzy Rascal!

I couldn't even watch the entire thing for fear that he was gonna start shouting "Brap! Brap!" at the camera...idiot!!

Here we have, another point of view.
And another...

First Black President, pinging on Paul and a change of scenery.

2008-11-05T10:10:00.003Z

Well, I am still in a state of shock after reading the news on the BBC web site to find that Barrack Obama has been elected as President of the USA. Now this suprise is not derived from my not knowing obviously but more the fact that this is not something I ever expected to see in my lifetime. Even when the Polls had him as front runner all the way up until yesterday I couldn't help but cast my mind (as I am doing now) to when Senator Bush stole (in that he took something that blatantly was not his) the presidency. Al Gore had more votes, but who cares?? We have innocent people to kill, business that does not concern us to involve ourselves in, an economy that needs fucking up and some weapons of mass destruction to find (like looking in your neighbours house for your keys!). Either way, I think it a good thing that this change has introduced itself to the people of the world and it's a sight to see knowing that if you had even suggested the idea of such a thing 60 years ago, you would have been linched, laughed at or
both.

Anyways, I've left the martial arts school I was going to. A few reasons but the most important being that I really wanna concentrate on Brazillian Jiu Jitsu. Lucky for me there's a place within walking distance! Like...5 minutes away!! Had my 1st class on Monday and it was great! You spend 10 minutes warming up and stretching, the remainder of the hour practicing drills and then the remainder of the time you spend on the mat trying to submit each other. Awesome! Got submitted around 50 times which I don't actually mind in one sense being as that won't be the case forever.

Anywho, being as I want or rather, need to work on my standup, I currently spend about an hour a week now doing some pad drills with my good friend Paul. Paul and I met when we worked at Interactive Solutions together, we got on like a house on fire and were always
ribbing each other. The amount of dead arms that guy used to give me (back in my skinny days) was a joke! Anyways, just before I start the timer, Paul reminded me of what I used to say after one of these dead arms..."one of these days I'm gonna be bigger, find you and then kick the shit out of you". This comment was usually followed by copious amounts of laughter in my direction and another dead arm. 6 years on...my how the tables have turned! I was using the MMA gloves so I could only do open handed strikes but it was so much fun. Them gangly arms helped me again. Think I need to get in all the hits I can now though, a few more weeks and it'll be "one of these days I'm gonna be bigger..."

Kick ass weekend!

2008-10-29T09:43:00.001Z

So I get a phone call on Saturday morning from me dear old mum. "What you doing today??" ..."Errr...nothing..." "Great, I'm coming to see you". So, ended up spending the weekend with my mum (who had yet to see my flat). Was great as I don't get to see her all that much and while she's not altogether supportive/on board with my eventually wanting to do MMA - she still watched UFC 90 with me which was a total trip.

"BUT HE'S KNEEING HIM IN THE FACE!"

Bless :)
Oh yeah, apparently she doesn't rate Anderson Silva - HAHAHA!!

So yeah, that was a weird one but I gotta say, a cracking weekend all in all.
A total blast!

Human first, Black man second!

2008-10-24T09:57:00.005+01:00

OK, so I gotta say there are some people who I just simply do not understand. I meet people like this occasionally, as to where they see your colour 1st and you 2nd. Don't get me wrong, I know a great deal about my ancestry and am proud of both sides of it. My great grand father was Scottish and my great grand mother was Jamaican. My parents were both born in Jamaica and as such I've done research on both sides of the family as well as looking at my ancestry on both sides of the family tree. Regardless of which, I was born here (England), raised here, have lived here all of my life and this is basically everything I know. As far as I am concernced, regardless of my Ancestry, I am for all intents and purposes, English. However every now and then I meet people who feel that the best way to communicate with me is to be on what they must feel is "my level" by constantly bringing up my skin colour and/or heritage.

I don't mind having a conversation with someone as I do "on occasion" with some friends about racial history, but there are points when things seem to just get out of hand in almost a David Brent type fashion. I have friends (not just of West Indian/African origin) who can relate to this type of scenario as to where something is mentioned - such as Marijuana, Hip Hop, Reggae etc and automatically, because of the colour of my skin, I'm meant to know all there is about that subject. Dumb ass comments such as "Don't mess with him, he's bound to know some 'Yardies'", or "Smile, we can't see you" aren't funny and they do nothing but offend the recipient of these so called "Jokes".

All I am saying is this. Yes, I am of West Indian origin, my skin colour is different compared to that of the majority of people in this country. Regardless of which, I laugh, bleed, cry, feel emotion exactly the same way as any other human being on the planet. I am, before all other things, a human being.

Communicate with me in the same way that I communicate with you, as a human being.

UFC 89 review

2008-10-19T20:43:00.002+01:00

So, freaking crackin' time at UFC 89, and it was so much better than UFC 85. Also really nice to see some seriously excellent talent coming out of the UK! The seats were wicked and we were like 20 feet away from the cage. Almost every fight was the shiznit!

Terry Etim is a bad mama jamma and Dan Hardy is freaking awesome and ridiculously quick, I'm talking GSP quick!

Have to say that the Paul Taylor fight really pissed me off! Poor geezer was robbed and the judges were either totally retarded, watching another fight or they were American, regardless of which I think they need to rethink their judging system and base it on something other than pulling random figures from the air which most definitely looked to be the case in this fight.

The Bisping fight was class and even though Lebens face looked like he lost, everyone was holding their breath for the decision. Overall, Bisping was using his footwork to stay out of trouble and even though he was not aggressive in his attacks, moving backwards most of the time, I reckon he deserved the win. Leben, cheeky fucker he is decided to come at Bisping at the end of rounds 2 and 3 with his guard down bating our boy but he kept his cool and just tee'd off a few nice shots. I have to say though, the support for Bisping was amazing and with any luck I'll be able to watch the replay on Setanta when I get back. Is he ready for a shot at Anderson Silva? Shit no! But that's not to say he won't be eventually.

One thing I will say, with the quality of the fighters coming out of the UK, the next season of the Ultimate fighter which should be USA vs the UK is gonna be freaking awesome!

Anyways, off to Dublin in January for UFC 92 and it looks like we'll be going for VIP tickets so that we get to meet the fighters. Nice!

Mr Powell WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING!

2008-10-17T12:09:00.002+01:00

OK, former general and US Secretary of State lets his hair down a touch and shows his human side. Nothing wrong with that, but still a touch cringe worthy I have to say. It's almost like watching your dad at a wedding!

Fair play to him though, he's obviously taken the view of "So what - it's for charity and I'm gonna have some fun" and for that alone, more power to him!

My money is on Obama

2008-10-17T12:04:00.003+01:00

Yeah, my money is on Obama. From what I can tell he is the one best suited to take America in a better direction than Bush has been doing. I still think the prospect of seeing a black man in the whitehouse during my lifetime is amazing and damn near laughable in it's ambition, but certainly something I hope to see.

In my opinion he has already cemented himself in that group of great black men in history(Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Frederick Douglas, Martin Luther King Jr., Mohammed Ali etc)

Say hello to my next blackberry!!!

2008-10-15T16:42:00.002+01:00

Yup, since getting my blackberry I've said that I basically would not get another make of Phone again and this still stands! I currently have a blackberry Pearl and it rocks (with the exception of the memory leak issue)

Anyways, seen this and I want one. I reckon Orange will have them in the next 3 months which is great being as that's when I'll be able to upgrade my blower :)

Blackberry Storm baby!!

So funny because it's true

2008-10-15T11:33:00.002+01:00

Enabling the Back/Forward button with ASP.net AJAX

2008-10-15T11:18:00.003+01:00

So we're building this new web site and it's an upgrade to one we have before. Basically redeveloping from the ground up making it more user friendly, better design etc. Anyways, one of the problems with ASP.net AJAX is that eventually you're going to have problems with the back/forward buttons being as they won't relate to the series of actions the user has done on the page.

Done a quick search and found this which works a treat. Took 10 minutes to implement...
http://www.nikhilk.net/UpdateControls.aspx

Enjoy :)

UFC 89 Countdown is up...

2008-10-14T16:49:00.003+01:00

The countdown to UFC 89 is up, watched it in my lunch break. Very good indeed. Amazing some of the things these guys have been through.

Anyways, it's on the UFC web site and should eventually be on the official UFC 89 web site too.

Healthy Healthy Healthy...

2008-10-14T16:41:00.003+01:00

So, was on the Mens Health web site and it would appear they have a workout generator. I have a book at home called Strength training anatomy which is freaking awesome. Tells you loads of routines you can do including variations and the relevant body parts they work. Anyways, I've been using that to change my routines being as you should change your routine every month or so to keep the muscles shocked. The body gets used to punishment so if you can keep mixing things up and not give your body the time it needs to adapt to a certain exercise, you'll get the most out of it ever time you train.

Anyways, for those of you who can't be bothered to fork out for a book and would rather a web site do it for you, I introduce to you....THE WORKOUT GENERATOR

I've had a few goes on this and I gotta say I'm impressed. Check it out...get yourself fit, don't be a couch potatoe :D

The Couture vs Fedor question

2008-10-12T09:24:00.001+01:00

Hmmm, when is this fight actually gonna happen? I watched Affliction : Banned last night and shortly after Fedor demolished Sylvia he was asked "who do you wanna fight?" and inbetween all the Russian everyone heard him say "Randy Couture", next thing y'know, Couture is in the ring and he be well up for it. From what I hear, they've been trying to get this setup for ages but it just ain't been worked out. Fedors management team can't strike a deal with the UFC, Randy (who now has things sorted with the UFC) won't be able to fight outside if the UFC (they're funny about that). I hope this happens soon and I think this would be a perfect scenario for UFC 100! Hmmm, we can only hope!

Talking of the UFC being funny about their fighters competing in other organisations (especially champions, look at what happened to BJ Penn). How comes Minitoro is fighting in the next Affliction event??!! If anyone can shed some light, please do!!

My new workout plan

2008-10-12T01:56:00.005+01:00

Yeah, have come up with a new workout plan. I been thinking that if I wanna get my health and conditioning to where I want it to be I can't just be doing some weight training and MMA. My usual routine was MMA twice a week for about 3 hours altogether and then working chest, back and shoulders on 3 separate days. The new routine is freaking awesome!

Monday
Weight Training (3 body parts)
Bike Ride (4 miles, 2 totally uphill)
MMA Training (1 hour)
Sparring (1 hour)

Tuesday
Swimming
Conditioning (5 Exercises, 1 minute each, all full bollock, 60 second rest inbetween each set of 5)

Thursday
Weight Training (Remaining 3 body parts)
Bike Ride (4 miles, 2 totally uphill)
MMA Training

Friday
Swimming
Conditioning (Same scenario as Tuesday just different exercises)

Saturday
BJJ Training, Krav Maga Training or light exercise

If anyone wants to see the more detailed routine then just post a comment and I'll add the full thing in a new article. One thing I will say, you gotta build up to the routine, going full bollock on everything in my personal opinion slows down your progression. I'm not saying take it real easy, just give your body a chance to get used to everything and don't burn yourself out.

New Blog Template Launched

2008-10-12T01:12:00.005+01:00

OK, so being as I've actually been running this blog for over a year now (about 11 months more than I thought it would last!!) I decided it was time for a bit of an upgrade. Added some sliding bits here and there and I gotta say, I'm well chuffed with it. I prefer it to the last one but feel free to let me know what you think (which you can totally do now as I've added the ability for anyone to post comments).

Anyways, enjoy!

Thank you to Eddie Bravo and Matt Hamill

2008-10-10T08:30:00.004+01:00

So, last night in training we were playing the "pinning" game. Quite fun and very good for anaerobic conditioning. Anyways, managed to use a move that I've seen used by Matt "The Hammer" Hamil. Was a single leg sweep and it worked like a treat. I also managed to use the lockdown which was REALLY effective. The dude couldn't do anything apart from struggle to get his leg free giving me a chance to do a sweep and reversal and get the pin.

Oh, on a side note, I've totally sprained my wrist now, my elbow is saw, my shoulder is screwed and the big toe on me right foot is knackered. Ahhh well, I WANT MORE!!!

Impossible is Nothing!

2008-10-10T08:16:00.002+01:00

Read this in the Metro this morning. A superb and extremely inspirational story.

A mouse gets fed to this snake, the snake is thinking "Ahhh....lunch....", the mouse if thinking "FUCK YOU!"

I hate rodents but I want this mouse as a pet!!!
More info here...

Talk about tragic

2008-10-09T11:10:00.004+01:00

Poor lady, a damn shame if you ask me and something I truly believe could happen to anyone. Some would say that it's a little irresponsible, I say, put yourself in that situation and see how you fair!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3161948/Fire-death-brothers-Arrested-mother-to-be-quizzed.html

She's been arrested too as if losing her kids ain't enough to deal with not to mention the fact that she'll probably be blaming herself and now she's under arrest for manslaughter and child neglect. A damned shame!

Heroes

2008-10-09T07:41:00.003+01:00

Careful, spoiler to follow if you have yet to watch last nights episode.

Looks like Sylar and the Petrelli boys are all brothers! What the hell? Nathan seems to have lost his mind (or has he) And Nicky can freeze people? How the frig does that work? And what's with that street fighter shit that Ando done on Hiro last week with that glimpse into the future? The entire thing is ridiculous and makes little sense but I don't care cos its freakin awsome and I love it! Long live Heroes!

Kimbo Slice, XXX Grot and Dylan Moran

2008-10-08T14:55:00.006+01:00

OK 1st things 1st. Came across this video (forgive the pun - totally intended) and laughed my ass off. Very funny stuff!!!

Check out www.diesel.com/xxx/

Also, looks like Kimbo Slice has suffered his 1st defeat to Seth Petruzelli. I gotta say, the entire thing looks like a slip from Kimbo which was then capitalised on by Petruzelli, still counts as a win but if you replayed that 20 times I think Kimbo wins 95% of the time.

Oh, Dylan Moran was not good. I'd say get teh DVD but you won't be impressed, his 1st 2 DVD's were great and I think he's a good comedian but unfortunatley he's lacking in consistency and seems to have lost a great deal of spark. Joe Rogan keeps the Number 1 spot as my favourite stand up, shortly followed by Dave Chappelle and now Jamie Foxx moves up from 4 to 3 knocking Moran right outta the top 3.

Sorry Dylan, you've lost your sting mate :(

I thought I was gonna die!

2008-10-05T11:47:00.002+01:00

So I'm in Birmingham at the moment being as I got a pair of tickets to go see Dylan Moran (black books, Shaun of the dead). Yesterday, I go walkin the dog for like 15 minutes with my mate and all of a sudden I get chest pains! Feels very tight and uncomfortable. We get back and I aint good at all. Shooting pains all up and down my left arm and I can hardly breath! My chest keeps gettin these waves of pain and I couldn't get comfortable at all! Anyways, the way I see it, this is my body telling me to stop treating it like a 10 dollar ho! As of tomorrow, no more cigs, ting or drink. For the next 3 months health comes first. March/April, I was in a good place, cardio was loads better, I was training more, I was heavier and I felt superb! I need to get back to that! I think really push it til Christmas and then start again come Jan and keep it going. I have new goals that I want to achieve and having a healthy body is core to all of it!

I'll drop a post on how the standup gig was tomorrow.