July 12th  Chris Anderson stepped into the Battlefield Fight League's cage
for his second time in just over 2 month. This time it was at the Hard Rock
Casino in Port Coquitlam and the winner of this match goes on to fight for the
BFL Amateur Title in the Fall. Andersons last opponent  was Mike Crisp, a
grappler that trained out of Lions MMA in Vancouver. Chris dominated that 
opponent so I imagine they wanted revenge. They matched up their
top striker (former BC heavyweight kickboxing champ and top ranked mma fighter)
Kiarash Moghaddam for this important fight.
  We had plenty of time to get ready for Kiarash so we brought in some of
the best fighters the Valley has to offer for Andersons training camp. Names
like Mike Hackert, Nathan Swayze, Todd Stewart, Russ McCumber, Travis Peterson,
Pat Kitto and Chris " Quicksand Anderson' just to name a few of the dozens. I was
proud to see the alumni of past and present members come together and put their
bodies on the line to get Chris ready for this battle. Everyone was united for
this one as they often do when an important fight comes up for an athlete in the
Valley
  Anderson put on an extra 5 pounds of muscle mass in our Kettlebell class
and that seemed to be a huge part of the outcome of this fight. Proper nutrition,
power and strength along with the endless days of sparring put Chris at the peak
of his his career going into this battle.
Before we went into this fight we knew that Kiarash would be fighting at
his lightest weight at 170lbs. Weight cutting is a science and in order to drop
weight divisions you have to make sacrifices  in order to do so. We figured that
he would either have to diet down with carb depletion,  cut huge amounts of
water weight or lose muscle mass to make 170lbs. Either way he was coming in
weak and we would take advantage of that with Andersons endless amounts of
cardio and pressure. At weigh ins we could tell he didnt make weight as
easily as Anderson did. Most of which was done on the ferry in a sauna
suit.
  Entering the cage Kiarash tried to intimidate Anderson with a huge mean
mug stare. This did nothing but fuel Bukwas's fire. When the fight started Chris
took the center of the cage and dictated where the fight was going. Anderson
shot for a take down right away and was successful getting him to the ground.
They were inticapating this as we heard in an interview earlier in the day. They
thought that Anderson was a ground fighter so we played right into it. Moghaddam
was able to get up to his feet without suffering any blows but he had taken him
off his game. Anderson pursued him across the cage and started finding
his range with combos and a few leg kicks. He was confident enough to land a
spinning back kick which pleased the crowd. Moghaddam wasnt able to put
anything togther always on his heals as Anderson followed him around the cage
keeping up the pressure. Anderson threw 2 overhand rights. One clipping
Moghaddam and the other just missing by a few inches. Anderson attempted a soft
kick  which his opponent caught but he wasnt able to capitolize on which proved to
be the only time he was able to touch Anderson in the fight. In the next few
seconds Anderson fakes the overhand right and goes for the straight cross to the
body. Moghaddam knees buckle and Anderson delivers another fatal blow to the
same spot.  Two more bunches land before the ref Tony Williamson jumps in to stop
the fight 1:10 into the very first round. The crowd goes wild and Anderson leaps
to the top of the cage to thank his fans.
  Later that night the BFL welterweight champion Curtis Harriot 6-1 won his
championship fight and vacated his title to pursue his pro career. Harriot's only
loss was to Anderson so we were a little disappointed we didnt get to try to
take it away from him later in the year. Maybe he didnt want that fight and
wanted to go out on top?
  All we know now is that we are waiting to see who who will agree to fight
Anderson for the belt as he just dominated the 2 toughest guys in the division.
Guess we are goinng to have to wait and see.
  We would like to thank everyone that supported Chris and the Bulldog Fight
Team for this event and its sponsors. Chris does not get paid to fight so what
he does is not for the cash but for the love of the sport. Without sponsorship a
young athlete would not be able to follow his dream and represent the Comox
Valley in a sport where we have to cross obsticales every week just to compete.
Many thanks to Skidlords clothing company, Plateau plumbing, Comox Chiropractic,
Siefferts farm and the fine people Island Bison for all chipping in to clothe
and feed him. I would also like to thank all the people that took time off their
busy schedules to help train Chris for his fight.
  If you are interested in sponsoring Chris in his upcoming title fight
please message Jonny Mac for packages. If you would like to see more of chris
you can follow him on Facbook under Chris Bukwas Anderson or go to the Comox Valley Boxing Club page

Chris Anderson's nickname "Bukwas' comes from his roots and suits him very well.  Chris is of native descent and his ancestors believe in a supernatural spirit " man of the woods". Legend tells that Bukwas was mysterious and illusive, he lurks nears the edge of the dark forest in which he lives, offering food to lost humans, luring them to become spirits in his shadowy underworld.
 The same can be said about himself as a fighter. The cage is his woods and inside he is very dark and mysterious. He llures you in with some openings making you feel safe but draws you in where he wants you. Most find themselves in very bad positions where they cannot escape .
 Chris has a big fight ahead of him coming up July 12th at the Hard Rock Casino in Port Coquitlam. This will be his 3rd appearence in the Battlefield Fight Leagues cage. His last fight was very impressive controlling his opponent and finishing the fight in the second round with a clinic of ground and pound to earn him a TKO. This win should have given Chris a shot at the title owned by Curtis Harriot 6-1 ( His only loss was to Chris) but we are patient and will gladly beat up the rest of the division until that date is set.
 We are not looking past this fight as his opponent Kiarash Moghadam is no joke. He is 4-2 and used to be a Canadian heavyweight kickboxing champion. We have studied Mr. Moghadam and found some holes in his game. This will be the lightest he has ever fought at which might be hard on him to cut and doesnt have the bjj or wrestling pedigree that Chris will have to worry about on the ground. He is a great striker but Chris has a gym full of great strikers to get him ready. He also has a wrestling coach that competed in the olympics, former #1 mma heavyweight to roll with, a team of fighters that would gladly take time off work and put their bodies on the line to spar with, one of a few certified kettlebell instructors that helped him pack on more muscle mass and engineered a routine around fighting, a team doctor that has kept him injury free, food sponsors, clothing sponsors (skidlords) and most of all his woman and his family are standing right behind supporting him. This man has never had this in his many fights so look for Bukwas to put on a great performance and get that title shot he so rightfully deserves.
 You can get ticket at www.bfltix.com or you can stream the fight ppv. You can find the link at www.battlefieldfl.com

 The Comox Valley Boxing Club mourns the loss of member of our Family. Tiffany Gagnon we will miss you dearly. Rest easy my beautiful friend. Hope you are doing your squats up in heaven.

Time for an update on the big guy.
Andrew hit a huge goal of losing 100lbs that I posted in my last blog a few weeks back. Last week on the scale he was 389lbs. He is losing a half a pound a day and with every weigh in he is gaining more confidence and his motivation is increasing to lose more. He still has a long way to go but he can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Appart from the serious pain and suffering I apply to Andrew, we also shoot the shit at the club. The other day I see Andrew chasing around my dog, laughing like a little kid. It gave me such a huge smile because I know that he wouldnt have been able to do this last year or even 6 months ago and its great to see him happy. The progress this guy is making on getting his life back is outstanding. I might be helping him by setting up his routines but he is doing all the hard work.
  If you dont know Andrew I can tell you its worth meeting him if you see him about. He is always positive , well mannered and is very approachable. If anyone can inspire you its this man. 
 By this time next year Andrew will be around 275 or less if he continues at this pace. I look forward to the many laughs and stories we will share along the way.
To be continued..........

I admit that I am a bad blogger. Especially when we have had so much going on. For that I am sorry. I am hoping to change that but probably not with everything we have going on down the road at the club. Just to fill you in a bit: 
The A-train Andrew Mcloughlin has crossed the 100lb mark of his weight loss(down from 500lbs to 399lbs). He did it in less then 10 months. At this rate he will be very close to his goal of 275lb this time next year. I will be pushing this guy all the way as I have many hours into to this and there is no way I wont let him down. He has been posting every 3rd week on his facebook account. He appreciates the support and it fuels him to continue
 Vasil Stefan(Vassi) former Romanian Olympian wrestler joined our club just recently. We are trying to develope a strong wrestling team and compete at a national level. That being said our girl Claudie De Muylder came 5th in the province after only starting wrestling 8 weeks prior. I look forward to seeing what's in the future for Claudie and the team  as this class is getting more popular every week.
 We started running circuit classes every Monday Wednesday and Fridays mornings at 9am. Its run by trainer Noel Wallace. I have seen so many improvements to the people in that class over short peroids of time. If you are looking to tighten areas you didnt knew existed this is your class. Great fun atmosphere ( to Noel watching you sweat) good music and calories burnt.
 We now offer Judo classes on Monday nights. This class should humble any body that wants to lay a hand on you. My god there are some scary throws. Every heard of a brat in the UFC called Ronda Rousey? Judo is her backround. Has anyone been able to mess with her? Try it ! You'll love it
 We are trying to spruce up the front entrance of the club right now. Try to make the place look less intimidating. That is a job in a half. We run the club out of one of the oldest bulldings in the Valley. Lots of character we like to call it. There will be more renos in the next couple months. Pics to follow
 Private lessons are picking up.  I am inspired in seeing be my clients getting stronger,faster and sometime cockier. lol. I enjoy the challenges I encounter with each individual as they all meet certain needs. Some have injuries, weaknesses, poor balance  or just plain ol lazy. Others are advanced athletes trying to be challeged.Coming up with a fitness routine for each person keeps me on my toes and stimulated.
 Im going to cut it short and hopefully get some time in the near future to write again.
 Always in your corner
 Jonny

I have know Andrew McLoughlin for many years. Never ever had he had anything bad to say and always seamed to be positive. This was just the outside face of this big kind man. On the inside his body was starting to fail, feelings of depression and the day to day teasing he heard from people had him in a huge rutt. You could only imagine the difficult daily routine he had to go through. From getting out of bed, washing, getting his clothes and personal hygene. Nobody knows the troubles he has seen and nobody would hear it from him even if they wanted to know.
 I would run into him from time to time and he would always say " I should come down and see you at your club". At first I just wrote it off. Everyone says that to me when I go out. But Andrew said "he just had to wait to get some cash together and he would be down". Thats when I piped up ( maybe it was the drinks) but I said " I will train you for free if you just show up on Tuesday at noon. That Tuesday came  and I was there finishing up with another client when he walked through the front door. That was the hardest step he had to take in order to change his live.

Here he is week two at the club. He weighed over 500lbs and his skin and hair was terrible.
I sat down and explained to him that we were going to take things very slow. We were looking at 2 to 3 lbs a week and he needed to consult a doctor with his routine. I could see him counting in his head. That will take over two years.
 I did a physical assessment of him and tried to see what he could and couldnt do. This is where I thought i might be over my head. I asked him to give me 10 push ups and 10 sit ups on the ground. I didnt know at that time he needed help to get on the floor and 2 people to help him up. I asked him to raise his legs to get on a step and he couldnt. I knew i had my work cut out for me.
To be honest In my mind I thought this is not going to last. I've seen people come and go and when people get discouraged they usually find an excuse not to come back.
 I found some exercises he could do to get him moving for his first workout, got him sweaty and sat down with him and discussed what goals he wanted to achieve at  the end. ( in order to get to a destination you should follow a map, this is the route we were plotting) First he wanted to get under 500lbs, second is that he wanted to compete in a charity wrestling event. He tried the year before but couldnt get in the ring. He was very dissapointed about that and his 3rd goal was to get to 450lbs.

 From the very beginning  we struggled with his diet. Not because he was a binge eater. It was because he was at a low income tax bracket and couldnt afford what he needed to help shed the weight. He had to visit the food bank a few times and we all know what kind of food goes there. Starched, pastas , bread, milk and processed food. We were going to have to do it the hard way and beg for some help. My sister donated some farm free run eggs, my friends Tia and Shaun donated veggies from a local farm and I did some fishing and gave him some big hunks of salmon. Even with help it just wasnt everything we needed. We needed protein powder and multivitamins, some c.l.a., msm and fish oils. Too far out of our budgets.
 That wasnt the only problem. He couldnt do many things that an ordinary person could do like walk long distances, push ups, sit ups or leg lift to name the few. This took a lot of thought.
 After a good few week the momentum was rolling. He was able to do a bit more each time. I added a bit more weight, more time and more difficulty to each training session. He came in happy one day to tell me that he was now under 500 and he had lost about 5 pound. That was a start. I asked him to weigh in ever 3 weeks from then on.

He came in after a weigh in and he was down. I asked him why? He thought he had let me down and that he had only lost 2 pounds and was expecting 6lbs. I stopped him and googled 2 pounds of butter. I said to him" every weigh in is going to be different and be happy that you lost 2lbs and had not gained it. His motivation has been positive from that point on. He can now do more then he has ever have in his adult life. He is now able to get down and up off the floor, he swings 50 lb Kettle bells like they are toys. He is able to run short distances, kick and punch the heavy bag, he walks to and from the gym, completes each workout and is breathing 100 times better. In the last month he doesnt have to take heart medication and the diabities is all but non existant. He have been and insperation to many people and now has a group of people that want to follow his story and that is why I am writing this blog. We have brought in other Heavyweights to help them in their struggles but Andrew is my number 1 concern. 
Today Andrew weighed in at 450 lbs. He had set his 3rd goal. Something that was so hard to achieve but he stuck to it. For that I told him we have to go to the next level and ask for help. Get the right things he needs so he can drop more. I posted a short message on facebook and within an hour we were set for 3 months of food and suppliments. I am very proud to be part of this transformation. A-Train insires me as well and has become a good friend. I want to thank everyone that has helped along the way from supplying him with food to pressing "like" in his blogs to saying very kind word on his stauses.
Below is his latest picture. If you look up top and compare that is over 50 lbs and has gained about 20 in muscle. This is a feel good story but it far from over yet. His next goal is 425lbs by the end of November early December. If anyone can do it Andrew will be the man.

Its that time again ladies and gentlemen. We all make some sort of plan to get into great shape, lose weight and eat right. Or do we?
 The problem for most is that they go at it alone or con some buddy into going to the gym. They read some article written by Dr. Phil on some new diet  and they think they have it all figured out. "Its that simple!" 
Here lies the problem. They go to their gym and there is 100 other people there moping around like the walking dead looking for any available machine. They bounce around from machine to treadmill to free weight and don't get a "proper" workout in. Their buddy gives up so they stop going. They fall off their diet for a day and say screw it. I see it every year and it is disappointing. 
 Here is where I can help out. Let us do most of the work for you. Set classes starting with a beginners class to get the muscles used to taking on the stress of a workout and building your way to become the best "you" you can be in our advanced classes. We offer many different styles of workouts so if you are not into Boxing or any combat type sport you don't have to worry. Our strength and conditioning class is unique and will not find anything like it anywhere. I guarantee this.
 We have a great support system where every new student is welcomed not only by the instructors but by the TEAM. This is not an individual sport. Behind every athlete is network of people that got them there. 
 I take pride in the Comox Valley Boxing Club and the family that stands behind me. Let us help you achieve your goals and have fun doing it.
 Happy New year my friends and hope to see you soon.
 

 Here is some motivation for the plus size people and some that have just thought to themself that its too late.
Here is a guy ( Dylan Moore) that has busted his ass to become a role model for many including myself. Dylan has lost a total of 125lbs since he said enough is enough last January. Many people try to take the easy way out and look for the "magic pill' or some fad diet that so call works over night. The fact is that if you want to look good you have to live a healthy lifestyle. Exercise, hydration and proper nutrition are your key components in loooking and feeling great.

Here is a picture of Dylan a week and a half ago. Dylan has been down at the club training almost every night and when he is not there you can catch him running up 6th st east  or at the the rec center lifting weights.
 I am not going to take credit for Dylan's success because it was his effort and determination that got him to where he is today.
Dylan is set to fight late November in the Battlefield Cage in Vancouver. This will be his second fight but the first time at this weight. I am looking forward to seeing him compete as he has more confidence then ever before. If you would like to meet this outstanding athlete feel free to look him up or pop by the club as he is more then eager to help anyone that might be interested in changing their life.