Kevin Burns week 2 blog

Last week I gave the readers of this blog some insight to how my life and MMA crossed paths. Since that time, the sport has not come without numerous physical and mental challenges. After recording my first pro victory in August of 2006 I was forced to take 16 weeks off as I healed a broken hand. Basically, the hardest lesson you can learn about properly seeking out the knowledge to correctly tape your hands! The next 2 years of my fighting career would be a living testament to it! I went on to break my hand in the exact same spot 2 more times. Funny enough both other times were in practice. The last time I actually broke it 2 weeks before my fight. I told myself less than 6 hours later….”You trained way to hard to pull out now!” From there I kept it very quiet among my teammates and went into my December 2007 fight with a broken hand. It wasn’t easy, but I did come through with a victory so I could keep my hopes of making it to the UFC alive.  I was blessed this time to find a specialist that could fix my hand for good! Next, I geared up for the biggest fight to date in my career against Bobby Volker. This fight proved to be the jolt my fighting career needed to get noticed by the UFC. Trust me I’ll never forget the day I got the call and realized I would be fighting in the UFC on 9 days notice in London! I looked at Chris David (my main B JJ trainer) while at the Des Moines Jiu-Jitsu Academy and said, “You want to go to London Monday?” and without blinking an eye we hopped on a plane to travel across the pond. As a 6:1 underdog going into my 1st UFC fight I came out victorious via triangle choke and was awarded the “Submission of the Night” bonus. It was an amazing entry without a question to today’s biggest MMA promotion.
 
Throughout all of this I have somehow been able to keep a work/home/life balance. I’m sure all of you reading this can relate to trying to figure out what this magical balance truly is. My equation has consisted of balancing full-time work in the finance industry, going to night school full-time, being a father, and aspiring to take my professional fighting career to the next level. The moving parts of each required me to become a master of time management. When and where do I need to be to get all of this stuff done?? I would ask myself that question almost weekly it seemed. All in all a typical day usually starts at 4:42am and ends around 9:00-9:30pm each night. I have to tell you it’s like a race all day from the sound of the bell its “go time”.  The activities vary from day to day, but throughout my training week I work Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu technique/sparring, Muay Thai technique/sparring, wrestling, strength and conditioning, cardio, massage, and sauna time. I look at my weeks really as training time available then divide it up into the appropriate categories depending on where I am in relation to a fight. Further out I spend more of my “total time” on technique getting better and as I approach a fight I beef up my cardio and application of the moves I have been learning for competition day. Having a schedule like this doesn’t come without a great support network of family and friends. My wife Cindy wasn’t a fan of the sport in the beginning, but since has become my largest supporter. Trust me to the wives and girl friends out there that deal with grown men cutting weight… YOU DESERVE A MEDAL! Part of what’s necessary though to complete what you set out to accomplish. This week in my current training things get stepped up a notch! I’m jacked to get after it!
 
Kevin Burns