Hey guys.......as some of you may know, Drew Dober won the FIght! Magazine contest to go to vegas and train at Xtreme Couture with Shawn Tompkins for a week.
This is his daily blogs of his experiences at the gym and living in Shawns Fighter Home......Hope you enjoy
Day 1:
8:30- Ryan (my manager) wakes me up with breakfast in bed, lol what a weirdo. We leave for the airport at we part ways at the security
10-20- I get seated in my plane and fall asleep instantly, for the whole flight.
12:06- I get picked up from the Las Vegas airport by Shawn Thompkin's Wife, Emilie, and Sam Sout
12:30- I arrive at the fighter's house. Its Shawn Thompkin's house but he lets fighters stay on the second floor. I share a room with Sam Stout.
From 1-4 I watched a movie with Sam and just relaxed in the house.
4:30- I leave the house with Shawn Thompkins to tour the strip and all the casinos. We eat some ice cream and just talk about mma and training. Shawn is one of the coolest guys that I have met in the MMA game.
5:30 Shawn and I go grocery shopping haha
6- I am back at the house talking to Sam Stout about people that train at Xtreme Couture and the reality show. And start watching Rocky II haha
The rest of the night was watching the Rocky marathon and talking to a couple of the pros about fights and cutting weight
It was a pretty lackluster first day. Just trying to get comfortable in a strange place and getting to know these guys in Vegas. Tomorrow I start my training camp with the pros so I will have an interesting entry tomorrow.
Goes to sleep
10-20- I get seated in my plane and fall asleep instantly, for the whole flight.
12:06- I get picked up from the Las Vegas airport by Shawn Thompkin's Wife, Emilie, and Sam Sout
12:30- I arrive at the fighter's house. Its Shawn Thompkin's house but he lets fighters stay on the second floor. I share a room with Sam Stout.
From 1-4 I watched a movie with Sam and just relaxed in the house.
4:30- I leave the house with Shawn Thompkins to tour the strip and all the casinos. We eat some ice cream and just talk about mma and training. Shawn is one of the coolest guys that I have met in the MMA game.
5:30 Shawn and I go grocery shopping haha
6- I am back at the house talking to Sam Stout about people that train at Xtreme Couture and the reality show. And start watching Rocky II haha
The rest of the night was watching the Rocky marathon and talking to a couple of the pros about fights and cutting weight
It was a pretty lackluster first day. Just trying to get comfortable in a strange place and getting to know these guys in Vegas. Tomorrow I start my training camp with the pros so I will have an interesting entry tomorrow.
Goes to sleep
Day 2:
8:00 - I began my day by showering and eating some oatmeal and protein
9:00 - Shawn and I Arrive at the gym. After getting my clothes on I walk into a gym with a full boxing ring, full cage, a big padded floor, and follow some stairs and there is a completely padded room for wrestling and a sauna haha. When I first enter I notice Junie Browning shadow boxing in the ring, Randy Couture working some pads in the cage, and Gray Maynard and Tyson Griffin doing a strength circuit.
9:15 - Shawn has be put pads on and start sparring haha (Great I love sparring guys who can kick my ass this early in the morning) So I work 3 minutes rounds with Shawn and Junie, and we spar for about an hour.
10:15 - Shawn sends me upstairs to work some wrestling. So I partner up with this tall college wrestler ands we work drills that Gray Maynard and Tyson Griffin are working. After that we work positions going in 30 seconds bursts.
11:15 - I finish my morning work out and so I just sit and watch Shawn go through pad rounds with Sam Stout and Ray Sefo ( a k-1 fighter). It was extremely entertaining to watch.
12:30 - Shawn, Emilie, Sam, and I go home and I have myself a sandwich and a banana lol Shawn states "First morning workout completed" haha then I go take a nap
3:30 - I wake up get a power bar and watch Donald Cerrone vs. Jamie Varner on tv (what an amazing fight) then we leave for pro practice at 4
3:45 - As I walk in i notice that there are twice as many people in the gym than the morning. And it is the whos who of mma. I see Gray Maynard, Tyson Griffin, Phil Baroni, Vitor Belfort, Frank Trigg, WarMachine, and even Forrest Griffin
4 - Pro training starts of with some jogging and sit up for like 10 minutes haha then we found a partner and shadow boxed in front of the partner. I partner up with some unkown guys and then Sam Stout. After three rounds of that then we start hand fighting and clinch fighting. I partnered up with Warmachine and then Frank Trigg (who beat the hell out of me shakes head).
4:45 - We start a machine gun drill. A group of three and one partner has to shoot takedowns the entire round. I was partnered with Sam Stout and Junie Browning. After all three of us did a round we turned it over to Free Sparring
5 - First partner was Sam Stout, which has amazing striking, after a couple minutes we end up in my guard (dont remember how) and I am able to hip heist him *flex but then the round ends. Second partner is Warmachine who takes me down against the fence and beats me up from my guard the entire round haha. Third was Frank Trigg, I went for a shot and it was good but of course Frank sprawled threw me over and then just beat me up from top the rest of the round haha. Next was Junie which it was a back and forth match but we were both exhausted.
6 - Practice was over and I finish it with an interview with Fight Magazine after waiting around for awhile we head back to the house to relax
6 :30 - I have a protein shake and start writing this blog haha.
I spent the rest of the night watching harry potter with Sam Stout haha and Emilie Thompkins made some amazing chicken sandwiches with sweet potato fries haha. pretty lame I know but thats what happens in the Thompkin house in Vegas haha. Stay tuned though I guess Shawn in gonna take me out on the strip shakes head I hope i behave
9:00 - Shawn and I Arrive at the gym. After getting my clothes on I walk into a gym with a full boxing ring, full cage, a big padded floor, and follow some stairs and there is a completely padded room for wrestling and a sauna haha. When I first enter I notice Junie Browning shadow boxing in the ring, Randy Couture working some pads in the cage, and Gray Maynard and Tyson Griffin doing a strength circuit.
9:15 - Shawn has be put pads on and start sparring haha (Great I love sparring guys who can kick my ass this early in the morning) So I work 3 minutes rounds with Shawn and Junie, and we spar for about an hour.
10:15 - Shawn sends me upstairs to work some wrestling. So I partner up with this tall college wrestler ands we work drills that Gray Maynard and Tyson Griffin are working. After that we work positions going in 30 seconds bursts.
11:15 - I finish my morning work out and so I just sit and watch Shawn go through pad rounds with Sam Stout and Ray Sefo ( a k-1 fighter). It was extremely entertaining to watch.
12:30 - Shawn, Emilie, Sam, and I go home and I have myself a sandwich and a banana lol Shawn states "First morning workout completed" haha then I go take a nap
3:30 - I wake up get a power bar and watch Donald Cerrone vs. Jamie Varner on tv (what an amazing fight) then we leave for pro practice at 4
3:45 - As I walk in i notice that there are twice as many people in the gym than the morning. And it is the whos who of mma. I see Gray Maynard, Tyson Griffin, Phil Baroni, Vitor Belfort, Frank Trigg, WarMachine, and even Forrest Griffin
4 - Pro training starts of with some jogging and sit up for like 10 minutes haha then we found a partner and shadow boxed in front of the partner. I partner up with some unkown guys and then Sam Stout. After three rounds of that then we start hand fighting and clinch fighting. I partnered up with Warmachine and then Frank Trigg (who beat the hell out of me shakes head).
4:45 - We start a machine gun drill. A group of three and one partner has to shoot takedowns the entire round. I was partnered with Sam Stout and Junie Browning. After all three of us did a round we turned it over to Free Sparring
5 - First partner was Sam Stout, which has amazing striking, after a couple minutes we end up in my guard (dont remember how) and I am able to hip heist him *flex but then the round ends. Second partner is Warmachine who takes me down against the fence and beats me up from my guard the entire round haha. Third was Frank Trigg, I went for a shot and it was good but of course Frank sprawled threw me over and then just beat me up from top the rest of the round haha. Next was Junie which it was a back and forth match but we were both exhausted.
6 - Practice was over and I finish it with an interview with Fight Magazine after waiting around for awhile we head back to the house to relax
6 :30 - I have a protein shake and start writing this blog haha.
I spent the rest of the night watching harry potter with Sam Stout haha and Emilie Thompkins made some amazing chicken sandwiches with sweet potato fries haha. pretty lame I know but thats what happens in the Thompkin house in Vegas haha. Stay tuned though I guess Shawn in gonna take me out on the strip shakes head I hope i behave
This is the Video for the Contest for those of you who are curious about the contest and who drew is...
ttt for Dober and Ryan
edited for being double post
edited for being triple post. To make up for my mistake, allow me to brighten the thread with this amusing gif
Video blogs
Excited to see him fight in Denver next month. See what this week of training was able to do for him. I think he has 3-4 fights since the last one I've seen of his, excited to see his improvements.
Day 3:
8 - woke up and had some breakfast getting ready for the day
8:45 - Shawn and I leave for the gym
9 - Put the gear on and started shadow boxing for warm up
9:10 - Shawn put me on the heavy bag and have me work 3x5 minute rounds hitting angles and combination on the heavy bag. Then 3x5 minute rounds working knees on the heavy bag. It was exhausting and then, 3x5 minute rounds working ground and pound on the dummy.
10 - Jiu jitsu class starts and Shawn throws me in there to drill techniques. The entire time we work on the mechanics of the guillotine. So when I come home plan on getting choked out haha. After jiu jitsu class I get washed up and talk to a couple of the amateurs, they are pretty good as well.
11:30 - We head back to the house and I meet Mark Hominick, who is bunking with me now too. We pretty much relax get some food (I got a sandwich called the bobby haha) and watched movies. Getting ready for the pro practice.
3:30 - Sam and I leave for the pro practice
4 - I put the hand wraps on and I start jogging around the mat with the team. We start of with some crunches and more jogging. After we are all warmed up we put the big gloves on and we start drilling techniques. I was partnered with Mark Hominick, which is incredibly cool inside the house but as soon as he gets in the gym his entire demeanor changed. He was so intense and serious it was incredibly intimidating. So Mark and I worked defending a lead hook and an overhand. Second round we worked angling of of straight combinations. Last round we worked our shot off of combinations. I was tired after all that drilling but Mark kept his same pace, which I tried to keep up.
5 - We put our shin pads on and headgear (which I would like to thank Fight Magazine for the sweet gear) and started out heavy sparring. I was first partnered with Mark Hominick, which for anyone who fights this guy I feel sorry for. His pace and intensity is matched by none, which is incredibly intimidated when he is combo'ing up on you haha. Then I sparred Mike Pyle, who just beat the ever living crap out of me. He did not let me do anything. Jab, cross, knee, takedown, and vicious ground and pound. He was beating me up haha. Next was this guy I don't know who he was, I did well against him, it went pretty back and forth but I felt comfortable. Then it was Sam Stout and I, his striking is amazing and he kept peppering me. Last was Tyson Griffin, who kept ripping me with body shot and strong body kicks. My height was an advantage but he was stil tagging the crap out of me. I tried to take him down but we all know how that ending with lol. Extremely tough day! I am so sore!
6:30 - I hang out with Paul, a photographer from Fight Magazine. He takes me to On The Mat, which is a mma store. Surprising enough the front counter guy recognized my name flex that made me feel good. Then Paul took me to Wanderlei's gym just to check it out. It was a very decent gym but I didn't see anyone I recognized.
7 - I am not back at the house relaxing with the roommates. Just got finished with another interview with Fight Magazine which will be up on the website.
Well i'm not gonna bore you guys with mentioning the lame stuff we do at the house. But I can say that Emilie Thompkins is an amazing cook haha
good to hear for him..
im envious.
cheers
We'll be putting more video up on Drew's sparring sessions, he's a tough kid. He had a tough day of training with some of the best in the business & kept coming back for more!!
Bag Work
Shawns thoughts on Drew
8 - Its getting harder to wake up haha so incredibly sore. But ate some breakfast and getting ready to go
9 - arrive at the gym and put my brand new equipment (Thanks Fight! and MMA Warehouse) on and started shadow boxing to warm up
9:15 - Shawn, Kaplan, and I start sparring. Kaplan was just tearing my legs apart. After every combo whether it being mine or his, he would rip me with a leg kick. Then Shawn would just hit beautiful combos and body shots. Towards the end Shawn dropped me with multiple body shot lol. It doesn't tickle when Shawn's toe goes into your liver.
10 - After sparring is over I am extremely tired and beaten to a pulp. I try to go up and do some wrestling but no one was there. So I took advantage of the time off to watch the other pros and talk to people, mainly trying to recover.
12 - Shawn, Emilie, Sam, and I left then gym and went to a gourmet pizza restuarant. It was some food, a little expensive though but hey! it Vegas. After that I head back to the house to lick my wounds to get ready for pro practice at 4 shudders
4 - Arrive back at the gym and put mma gloves on. We start of with some jogging and some crunches. Then after the warm up we do some clinch fighting. First starting off slow and progressively getting more intense. Until we start working for the takedown. After there is a good sweat going then we get in groups of 3 and grab a dummy.I was partnered with Mark Hominick and this guy name Julio. The drill was two men grappling with punches and the other man working ground and pound on the dummy and we rotate every round. We did 5 rounds and two sets, so like 15 rounds in total. I did pretty decent today, I felt good. After practice was over I feel a little more comfortable in the gym. So after cleaning up and icing our wounds we head back to the house.
Again i'm not going to bore you guys with meaningless stories of what happens in the house haha mostly just movie watching and a lot of chatting
9 - arrive at the gym and put my brand new equipment (Thanks Fight! and MMA Warehouse) on and started shadow boxing to warm up
9:15 - Shawn, Kaplan, and I start sparring. Kaplan was just tearing my legs apart. After every combo whether it being mine or his, he would rip me with a leg kick. Then Shawn would just hit beautiful combos and body shots. Towards the end Shawn dropped me with multiple body shot lol. It doesn't tickle when Shawn's toe goes into your liver.
10 - After sparring is over I am extremely tired and beaten to a pulp. I try to go up and do some wrestling but no one was there. So I took advantage of the time off to watch the other pros and talk to people, mainly trying to recover.
12 - Shawn, Emilie, Sam, and I left then gym and went to a gourmet pizza restuarant. It was some food, a little expensive though but hey! it Vegas. After that I head back to the house to lick my wounds to get ready for pro practice at 4 shudders
4 - Arrive back at the gym and put mma gloves on. We start of with some jogging and some crunches. Then after the warm up we do some clinch fighting. First starting off slow and progressively getting more intense. Until we start working for the takedown. After there is a good sweat going then we get in groups of 3 and grab a dummy.I was partnered with Mark Hominick and this guy name Julio. The drill was two men grappling with punches and the other man working ground and pound on the dummy and we rotate every round. We did 5 rounds and two sets, so like 15 rounds in total. I did pretty decent today, I felt good. After practice was over I feel a little more comfortable in the gym. So after cleaning up and icing our wounds we head back to the house.
Again i'm not going to bore you guys with meaningless stories of what happens in the house haha mostly just movie watching and a lot of chatting
Photos...
9 - I arrive at the gym and I put my gear on wondering if my legs with be able to take anymore sparring. Thank god Shawn wanted to do a weight workout. So we start with 3 round of stairs, up and down for 5 minutes every round. Then we worked basic bench, rows, and curls.
10 - Shawn and I get done with the weights and he tells me to get my gloves on. Shawn holds pads for me and works on my timing and technique. We do 3x5 minute rounds just working on boxing. I need to use my back foot more, pull my right shoulder back on my crosses, and stay relaxed and work on my timing. After that was all over my workout was done so I just sit and relax and talk to some fighters. Today I am getting more acknowledgment from the other fighters. Tyson Griffin told me I had my pants tucked in my sock on accident haha, Gray Maynard and I talked about weight cutting and size,
12 - I convince Shawn that we need to get some Chipotle so after everyone was done with their workouts we went out and got some burritos
1 - just eating the burrito and putting icy hot on my legs. Well not at the same time lol that would be no good. Getting ready for pro practice and working up the courage. Today is big gloves day!
4 - After a nap I wake up and head to practice still pretty groggy. We start off with shadow boxing and some crunches. Then we put our bag gloves on and did 3x5 minute rounds on the heavy back going back and forth between offensive and defensive. Then we geared up and started sparring. I sparred with Sam Stout, War Machine, Mark Hominick, Mike Dezak, and Julio. I've started to notice that the fighters are starting to acknowledge the fact that I am there. So it goes to show that if you make it through mon, tues, and wed then they will respect you a little more. During sparring I felt good, still getting my butt kicked but I feel more comfortable.
6 - Pro practice is over and I just kinda wonder around talking to people
7 - We all go out on the strip and have some dinner at the Cheese Cake Factory.
9 - we head home and I pretty much crash haha
great stuff!
Day :6
8 - Woke up debating what was going to happen this morning. Incredibly sore I was a little worried that Shawn was gonna have me spar haha.
9 - I arrive at the gym and I put my gloves on and work the heavy bag for a couple of rounds working on the techniques that Shawn was having me work on pads. A little while later jiu jitsu class starts and I partake in that. We went over side control escapes, drilled them, and then free rolled. After class we head back to the house
11:30 - I arrive back at the house and I chat with Sam and the rest of the guys about whats going on tonight. They tell me they are going to supervise some weigh ins that one the Couture's fighters is fighting in. So I decide to take nap.
4 - I wake up and decide that I need a day to heal so I take the night off and check out vegas with a teammate I met at the gym.
10 - I go back to the house and go to bed debating what the last day at Couture's is gonna bring
9 - I arrive at the gym and I put my gloves on and work the heavy bag for a couple of rounds working on the techniques that Shawn was having me work on pads. A little while later jiu jitsu class starts and I partake in that. We went over side control escapes, drilled them, and then free rolled. After class we head back to the house
11:30 - I arrive back at the house and I chat with Sam and the rest of the guys about whats going on tonight. They tell me they are going to supervise some weigh ins that one the Couture's fighters is fighting in. So I decide to take nap.
4 - I wake up and decide that I need a day to heal so I take the night off and check out vegas with a teammate I met at the gym.
10 - I go back to the house and go to bed debating what the last day at Couture's is gonna bring
Day 7:
8 - I wake up and eat some breakfast and then head to the gym.
9 - I arrive at the gym and Mark asks me if I could roll with him after his run. I agree and while he ran I hit the heavy bag for a couple of rounds working on the things Shawn has been trying to fix. After Mark gets back we go up into the wrestling room and free grapple for a couple of rounds. After we finish rolling I take a shower and all of us head back home.
12 - After we head back to the house and I did was relax and watch movies
6 - Shawn, Emilie, Shawn's family, and I all leave for some amateur fights.
7 - We arrive and I was incredibly impressed with the theatrics and the set up. For being an all amateur promotion it had a very professional sey up. The fights were ok, some of them good, and some pretty lackluster. While watching the fights I ran into some pretty well known people. Towards the end of the night I was suprisingly apprached by Victory Jay (Local midwest promoter and writer for a grappling magazine) We chatted a bit and then I found my seat and watched the rest of the fights
At the end of the night I head back to Shawn's house for the last time. In the morninig I am going to head back home
I want to thank Fight Magazine and Shawn Thompkins for all the help! This trip was extremely benifiticial to me and I'm going to grow as a fighter with the things you guys have taught me. Thank you to Sam Stout, Mark Hominick, Mike Dezak, and Dusting for making the trip to an unknown place bareble and enertaining. Emilie Thompkins I want to thank you for your hospitality and wonderful meals lol. I had a lot of fun in Vegas and I would love to come back on my own terms. And last I would like to thank everyone at Xtreme Couture for putting up with me, beating me up, and helping me out.
9 - I arrive at the gym and Mark asks me if I could roll with him after his run. I agree and while he ran I hit the heavy bag for a couple of rounds working on the things Shawn has been trying to fix. After Mark gets back we go up into the wrestling room and free grapple for a couple of rounds. After we finish rolling I take a shower and all of us head back home.
12 - After we head back to the house and I did was relax and watch movies
6 - Shawn, Emilie, Shawn's family, and I all leave for some amateur fights.
7 - We arrive and I was incredibly impressed with the theatrics and the set up. For being an all amateur promotion it had a very professional sey up. The fights were ok, some of them good, and some pretty lackluster. While watching the fights I ran into some pretty well known people. Towards the end of the night I was suprisingly apprached by Victory Jay (Local midwest promoter and writer for a grappling magazine) We chatted a bit and then I found my seat and watched the rest of the fights
At the end of the night I head back to Shawn's house for the last time. In the morninig I am going to head back home
I want to thank Fight Magazine and Shawn Thompkins for all the help! This trip was extremely benifiticial to me and I'm going to grow as a fighter with the things you guys have taught me. Thank you to Sam Stout, Mark Hominick, Mike Dezak, and Dusting for making the trip to an unknown place bareble and enertaining. Emilie Thompkins I want to thank you for your hospitality and wonderful meals lol. I had a lot of fun in Vegas and I would love to come back on my own terms. And last I would like to thank everyone at Xtreme Couture for putting up with me, beating me up, and helping me out.