By Gray Maynard · December 3, 2009 · 4:55 PM

Hello Las Vegas. I hope you all have been great since the last time we talked!! I’ve been doing well, thanks for asking!!

Before we get started I’m going to give you all an idea of a normal week of training for me.

First off, my strength and conditioning days are Monday, Wednesday and Friday at PSI (PhilippiSportsInstitute.com). I also do Jiu-Jitsu on those days (RobertDrysdale.net). Tuesday and Thursday I work with my boxing coach Gil Martinez at Las Vegas Elite Boxing. Monday through Friday I’m at Xtreme Couture (XtremeCouture.tv) for the pro training session. This is the time for sparring and complete MMA training. Saturday I do Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling and yoga. I do all of those back to back, lasting an hour each. I fit in my running three days a week, usually in the evenings.

The rest of the time is mostly filled in with eating, sleeping, and driving. I live in the northwest and all the gyms are in the south part of town.

So I have time to think about this blog during my drives to and from practice. I hope it shows!!

Now let’s pick up where we left off, Thursday Nov 19th. My little cousins started wrestling for the youth league here in town. They hold the practices over at Shadow Ridge High School. I had an opportunity to go help with their practice that evening.

I headed up to the school that night when I got done with my practice at Xtreme Couture. I walked in the door to an ocean of little wrestlers ages 3 to 13. It was great to see so many kids and parents get involved with the sport!!

I think with the UFC becoming so popular, its exposing people to other combat sports like wrestling. I definitely recommend the sport for all kids. It’s a great way to help build discipline and work ethic. Most importantly, I think they will enjoy it. Parents will love it because the kids usually don’t have any extra energy after practice. That makes for a quiet night at home.

Courtesy of Gray Maynard

Line of fans waiting for an autograph at Mandalay Bay Events Center before UFC 106.

Whenever the UFC is in town, like UFC 106, my comfortable hermit lifestyle during training camp goes right out the window. There are always things I got to do for the UFC and my sponsors. But it’s great to meet the fans and watch the fights.

I got my list of things to do from the UFC and saw the day of the weigh-ins (Friday) was going to be full. I had to do video clips for the new UFC game in the morning, autograph signing in the afternoon, then some radio interviews afterwards, and fit in my workouts in the morning and evening.

Sometimes it gets pretty hectic, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I really do love my job!!

I did the autograph signing along side of Joe Stevenson and Jon Fitch. It was a great turnout and an opportunity to meet all the people that support the UFC and us. It’s really amazing how far this sport has come.

Saturday I got my workouts in and then headed over to Mandalay Bay to watch UFC 106 live. The UFC is good about giving the fighters a couple tickets to go watch the event.

Personally, I love going to the fights. You get to feel the energy from the crowd, the production and the actual fighters. If you ever get a chance to go, you’ll definitely have a great time. The fights were all very competitive and exciting.

My teammate Forrest Griffin won his fight against Tito Ortiz and looked great doing it!! I always get nervous when my friends fight. If I’m fighting I don’t get that at all. But, when it comes to my teammates or my friends competing I’m always on the edge of my seat sweating bullets!!

Courtesy of Gray Maynard

View from my seat at UFC 106!!

For Thanksgiving I went to Big Bear City, Calif. for two days with my family. They rented a cabin close to the ski resort for a week. I could only stay Thursday and Friday though. It gave me a chance to get out of the gym for a couple days, spend some time with my family and a reason to eat some good food.

I was able to get in a workout before we left Thursday morning. I timed it perfect, when I showed up all the food was prepared and ready to eat!! I didn’t have to cook anything or do any last minute runs to the store!! Just enjoy a good meal. But, that’s probably why they put me on clean up duty afterwards. Oh well, it was definitely worth it!!

Friday morning I went for a run, and then beat my cousin in some video games. I don’t think he gets much video game time being in the military and having kids. In the afternoon my uncle, cousin and myself went mountain biking and some really tough trails. They both are avid bikers, so were able push the pace up the mountain.

It ended up snowing that night and we had to leave the next morning, of course my mom and aunt didn’t think we should leave because the roads were so dangerous!! I looked out the window and could still see some grass coming out from under the snow. That’s my mom and aunt, always looking out for me!!

This week has been back to normal. I slid right back into my hermit shells of the gym and my house and my weight has come down from 178 pounds to around 172.

Wednesday I had chance to try something new that helps my body recover faster during training camp. I went to the Hyperbaric Institute of Nevada (hinevada.com) and got hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Coutesy of Gray Maynard

Me trying out a hyperbaric chamber.

Basically it’s “the medical use of oxygen at a level higher than atmospheric pressure.” It’s supposed to help with healing, swelling, enhances white blood cells, energy, among other things.

I walked in the room and it felt a little like a future spaceship, with large tubes where someone would sleep. But those large tubes were for me to lie down, while oxygen got pumped in there. I was in there for an hour, just long enough to watch most of the Star Trek movie. Which was actually pretty good. There’s a TV that’s attached on the outside of the chamber that you can watch through the glass with speakers on the inside. I’ll be going in there once a week, I’m curious to see in what ways it helps. I’ll let you what happens.

Well, thanks for reading Las Vegas. Talk to you in a couple weeks!!

Editors Note: Gray Maynard competes in the lightweight division of the UFC. He attended Durango High School and Bonanza High School before transferring to St. Edwards in Ohio. Look for his blog entries for the Las Vegas Sun every other week.