Walking and Talking: Path to the Pros

[WestlundFitness]

My name is Billy Westlund. I am 20 years old, I am 5'6", 140 lbs. I have very little formal fighting training of any kind, but what I do have, is desire, motivation and mental toughness.

In highschool I did track and powerlifting. I was somewhat successful at both, qualifying for state at 123 lbs in powerlifting. I only played these two sports to get better at football, its all i ever really cared about. I played my whole life. I was never very good, but man did I work my a** off. I was never bitter I just kept putting my time in, in the gym, waiting for the payoff and then it came! Or so I thought. Midway through my Senior season of highschool in a JV game I was put in at Cornerback (previously a WR). I played out of my mind, best game of my life to that point, by a long shot! I was going to be splitting reps at starting CB the next varsity game! I was so excited and in the moment that I didn't even feel myself get hurt.

After the game, my mother took me to the hospital where they discovered I had strained my patella tendon, and had a contusion on my patella. So they gave me a brace and crutches and off I went.

Monday at practice I crutched up to the field with all my gear, took off my brace and started suiting up. My coach was having none of that. Needless to say I missed the rest of my senior year. Man was I bitter. I fell into one of the deepest spells of depression to date and did nothing for a few months, absolutely nothing.

I finally struck some motivation and dedicated myself to the sport again. After I graduated I began playing Semi-Professional football back in Wisconsin. I carried on my new found mentality, and played really well. I was the starting Corner, Slot reciever, and return man. A few games in i broke my wrist. I refused casting as I wanted to play. I played with it uncasted and still broken for 2 games. During this time, we were losing, and not in a close fashion. We were being demolished, by every single team.

I was so upset that I was there with a broken bone for them and they couldn't even do little things to better the team (like show up for practice...) that i quit. And that was the bitter end to my football career.

I should backtrack a bit to when I was 5. It was here that the fighter in me was awoken. This was when my father died. I carry that with me everyday, and I am a very angry man. But moreso I was an angry kid. When I was 11 I started getting in trouble, in and out of foster homes, juvenile hall, and boot camps. Anger management wasn't working so my mother enrolled me in tae kwon do. I progressed very fast but grew bored with this "sissy sport" as I called it. And I decided to take up boxing. I boxed for maybe a few sessions, never felt comfortable with it, and quit. For the time being. I ended up starting boxing again about 8 years after that when I was 19-20. I was never that great at it but I stuck with it as I knew what my ultimate goal was.

Around my 20th birthday I realized that what I wanted to do was become a professional Mixed Martial Artist. I went to my library and got every book on Judo, Muay Thai, and Jiu-Jitsu they had, and read them front to back, practicing the techniques on a pillow in my bedroom. I also watched every jiu-jitsu video on youtube, again emulating the techniques on my pillow. During this time I was still at my boxing gym, training that aspect of my game.

After the summer I realized that if I wanted to seriously do this I would need to move somewhere where there are good trainers. I mean the best of the best. Some of the larger places in Wisconsin just didnt seem far enough away from home. So i decided to move to North Hollywood, CA. My plan was to come train with Eddie Bravo at 10th Planet JiuJitsu!

I Scraped up about 250$ and bought a plane ticket and some fighting gear and moved out to California. I won't get into the details of after I got out here too much but basically for the first 2 months I was out of work, and not in the gym. Then I got kicked out of my place. And slept on the street for a night. It was here, in the cold, in the rain, huddled up to all of my belongings that I was humbled. It was here that I found God.

I awoke the next day with a new found motivation and got a job, and a gym membership. I began lifting, eating right, and doing cardio, while supporting myself financially. This is basically where I sit today. I struggle every day to make ends meet financially, but I'm out here chasing my dreams and I think thats what life is all about.

I found a gym, King's Combat in Chatsworth, CA, and that's where I will be training at least for the next few months. My Coach and I talked, and I am probably gonna have to move on to more experienced trainers in a few months, which is okay with me.

I randomly ran into Eddie Bravo at 24 hour fitness a little while ago, and luckily he told me he trains at Legends MMA. So as of right now I'm two classes in at King's with my trainer Dellwaun. I'm just getting back in the swing of things but it is all feeling pretty natural again thankfully. I couldn't be more excited to train tomorrow its going to be my first "official day." I'm excited to prove myself, not to anyone else, but to me.

This is gonna be an opportunity for those who wish, to look into my life, but moreso for me to keep track of my journey as I go. I do not care if you don't like me, if you dont believe in me, any of that. I don't need any fuel, I don'y need any motivation.. It all exists within me. But nevertheless this entry marks the beginning of my path to becoming a professional fighter.

[WestlundFitness]

It was a very good day today! I showed up at the gym at about 5:55 AM. And after stretching jumped right into some sparring (just boxing).

It went okay, a little rusty though! I need more movement and to throw more jabs thats for sure. But it felt good to hit and get hit again. After about 25-30 minutes that group left and it was just me, Cameron, and my coach. We stretched and talked for like 10 minutes then got a little warmup in.

From there we proceeded to alternate heavy bag work, and hitting the mitts. I definitely pushed myself and was dripping sweat by the end of this. Unfortunately my shoulder was acting up again so i had to keep switching from my normal stance to southpaw, but I think in the long run this will be beneficial!

With a half hour left Dellwaun (my trainer) decided we should roll a little bit. We started from square one, so all we learned today was 2 ways to get out from the bottom when the other guy has full mount. I learned them fast and was executing them with explosiveness and thankfully I was naturally flowing into reversing the guard.

We also did a drill he called "break dancing", which to me was basically just like "sit-throughs" for wrestling only sometimes you spin over back if that makes any sense. After 10 minutes straight of this my shoulders got very sore so as instructed i just sprawled on the mat for 5 or so minutes, I actually think that was helpful i really focused on exploding my hips out and back.

In total i was at the gym for about 2 hours and 15 minutes. At about 5 PM I went for a run, I haven't ran in awhile so I only did 2 miles but I kept a good pace and pushed myself so im happy with it.

My coach says he wants me fighting in muay thai or kickboxing by march, and that when im more comfortable with my bjj ill get in the cage which i agree with 100%. Overall it was a really good day. I learned, I got better, and I made a plan. Not only that but I know how im gonna attack it. I couldn't be more excited I'm just a little bummed I cant train again until Monday!

[WestlundFitness]

Gosh I feel like crap today. I have a bad cold, my whole lifestyle is a recipe for disaster right now. I stay up late, and wake up at 4am to go to the gym, I workout multiple times a day, and I don't eat anything but oats, and brown rice. I didn't go to the gym today or yesterday, my trainer texted me and said something else came up, which is fine because I feel like I'm dying anyhow.

The last time I was in the gym was Monday morning, and it was a really good workout. We did like 5 rounds of shadow boxing, then he hung a rope in the cage and I did some drills in there for 4 rounds. Me and Cam alternated working with Dellwuan on the mitts and doing situps ( 3 rounds of each). Then we took a medicine ball and hit it into a heavy bag for 2 rounds but instead of resting in between rounds we had to sit on the floor and do oblique exercises with the ball. We ended with some jits, we learned how to do an armbar from guard, and side control. However while performing this from side control I somehow ended up ripping my toenail off, that wasn't pleasant.

On my way home I saw a sign that said "thai kick boxing : free week" so I got off the bus to see what it was about. Its name is KMA (kicks martial arts) and apparently its a really good muay thai gym after doing some research. Anyways I have a free "evaluation" next tuesday, and I will have 1 free class after that. But honestly I have no intention of paying to go there, I'll just learn what I can in those two days.

Looks like I may be doing some MMA smoker fights by the end of february, I'll make sure to get video, and I'll keep this updated!

[WestlundFitness]

Yesterday was a really good day in the gym. I had an amazing breakfast and just felt great even though I only had one hour of sleep and I am sick. I was using footwork a lot more and actually moving around. We worked the mitts and the bags like always, I was really struggling to throw a left uppercut. Here is a video of me on the mitts.

Obviously I have a lot of work to do! After this we worked on Jiu Jitsu a little bit.

Today was a really intense cardio/muscle endurance workout, it just never ended! Round after round, it was brutal but fun . It was mostly boxing work and after that we worked on jits.

In total, what jiu jitsu I've learned is pretty much :
-4 reversals from guard.
-Arm bar from side control, guard, and from a triangle setup
-Omoplata from guard, and from a Kimura setup
-Kimura from guard
-Triangle from guard

It still looks like I'll have a few MMA smoker fights in the upcoming months, and I'd like to compete in both muay thai and kickboxing competitions as well. The more experience the better! I'm about to go for a 3 mile run and do some ab exercises. Working kicks on Monday I'll hopefully have some video!

[RyannayR]

Cool log ..subbed.

[WestlundFitness]

Jeez. Keeping this log is harder than I thought it would be. I have been training still every morning. Mostly boxing but have been incorporating alot more kicks. I've gotten a little better at bjj but honestly i'm not progressing as fast as I want to and I think it is because of the way the training is structured. I will be sure to update this more often but this is all I feel like saying right now.

[WestlundFitness]

Today and yesterday have been crazy! I squatted 60 more lbs (245) yesterday than I have ever! and today I deadlifted 315 today which is the most I've pulled ever! I haven't been training fighting was much lately, other than just shadowboxing. But I am hopefully going tomorrow!

[WestlundFitness]

Man oh man.. Still barely any fight training which is starting to upset me! But I have been lifting alot, and getting stronger.

Here is my Beta-Cret Supplement log that shows all my lifts: http://adf.ly/5dEUa

Here is my youtube Channel which I also update regularly: http://adf.ly/5dFwV

[CUHRIS]

I look forward to more entries. Keep it up. You still on for that smoker at the end of this month?

[WestlundFitness]

I look forward to more entries. Keep it up. You still on for that smoker at the end of this month?

No its not happening. My trainer/promoter is kinda MIA. He has a fight coming up and kinda put me on the backburner.. Oh well, I just gotta keep doing what I do. I'll hopefully have a GOOD entry tomorrow.

[KrisDeagle]

And hopefully it will be posted this month.

[WestlundFitness]

Well I've had plenty of good posts, in my other log.. I didn't see a point in posting the same thing in both

[KrisDeagle]

Where is this other log?

[Kwonj]

Bro if you made a twitter, I'd follow you.

[WestlundFitness]

Bro if you made a twitter, I'd follow you.

@billywestlund.. but I also have a log i keep up to date.. this one just kinda died i guess due to my betacret log..

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=144094541

and dont forget my youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/WestlundFitness

thanks man