Class last night. Starting this week, the instructors have decided to incorporate MT/Kickboxing the first half of class and BJJ the second half of class, which is great, because I can only make it one day a week, so now I get the best of both. First half of class, hit the pads, did kicking/punching/sparring drills. Second half of class for BJJ was all sparring. Worked with one of the new guys on his technique, and helped him with armbar from guard and kimura from guard. It was good practice for me too, as I got to work my technique.
I feel that I am using my energy expenditure much better now. At first when I would roll, I would try to use my strength and not my technique, and gas within 30 seconds. Now that I’m becoming accustomed to rolling, I am using less energy, and rolled 4 one-minute rounds in a row without gassing. I’m still a LONG ways from being in any kind of conditioning shape, but slowly and surely I’ll get there.
The power cord on my home PC tore last night and I can’t access my regular exercise log from work. Going to store my workouts here until I get the situation fixed.
November 6th
Overhead Cable Pull-Aparts 35lbs x 17, 17, 15, 12
Dips x 10, 8, 7, 6
DB 1-Arm Shoulder Press 35lbs x 8, 8, 7, 6 (reps are for each arm)
Underhand Grip Body Weight Rows +45lbs x 10, 9, 8, 8
Wide-Grip Barbell Curl 70lbs x 10, 7, 6, 5
My coach is nixing the striking class on Wednesday. There were only a couple of us showing up on a regular basis. He’s decided to use this time to instruct combat Judo instead. Which is cool with me. So now on Wednesdays I’ll be doing 3.5 hours of Judo… with some Shingitai Jiu-Jitsu mixed in.
I was working the speed bag at lunch one day last week, and one of the VP’s asked how long I’ve been boxing. Then he tells me how he and 3 or 4 other guys get together on Fridays for some MT and TKD and asked if I wanted to join in. The timing couldn’t have been better, and it won’t require me to take any more time away from home. The added bonus of kicking the crap out of my boss’s boss is icing on the cake.
Pull-Ups +25lbs x 7, 5, 4, 4
Alternating Cable Curl 45lbs x 20, 50lbs x 14, 50lbs x 12, 60lbs x 8 (reps are for each arm)
Leg Press 450lbs x 8, 470lbs x 6, 475lbs x 4, 475lbs x 4
Glute-Ham Raise asst. w/ stick x 8, 7, 5, 4
45 Degree Hyper-Extensions 95lbs x 10PR, 95lbs x 6, 95lbs x 4, 90lbs x 5
Push-Ups +45lbs x 11, 8, 6, 6
Standing Shoulder Press 90lbs x 8, 6, 5, 5
Standing Cable Pull-Aparts (thumbs up) 25lbs x 7, 25lbs x 6, 20lbs x 8, 20lbs x 7
Decline Bench Leg Raises (steepest setting) x 17, 15, 12, 10
Standing Barbell Twist +25lbs x 7, +27.5lbs x 5, +30lbs x 4, +32.5lbs x 3 (reps are for each side)
Hanging Knee Raises +3lbs x 20 x 4 sets
Side Bends on 45 Degree Bench +15lbs x 8, 8, 7, 7 (reps are for each side)
Bench Step-Downs (5 blocks + step) x 20 reps each leg x 4 sets
Seated Hamstring Curls 120lbs x 11, 10, 10, 11
Glute-Ham Raise – folding at hips +25lbs x 12, 8, 7, 6
Dips x 12, 9, 7, 6
Wall Slides x 12, 10, 9, 8
DB 1-Arm Shoulder Press 40lbs x 6, 5, 5, 4 (reps are for each arm)
Underhand Grip Bodyweight Rows +50lbs x 12, 8, 10, 8
Cable Curl with Regular Bar 42.5lbs x 13, 10, 10, 9
1-Arm Overhand Lat Pulldown 110lbs x 18, 120lbs x 15, 125lbs x 12, 130lbs x 10
Seated Underhand Cable Rows 55lbs x 18, 15, 12, 10
Wide-Stance Squats 225lbs x 6, 6, 6, 5
Last night’s training was fun. I worked with this 17 year old boy from Israel who is just about my size & likes to go hard so we can both go a little crazy on each other. A few fun drills we did:
*Ron is on his knees holding a kickshield while I am lying face down in front of him in hostage position (eyes closed, fingers interlaced behind my neck, ankles crossed, knees bent). On verbal cue I pop up & bear crawl or military crawl over to him & start kneeing him as hard as I can while I am still on my knees. If I haven’t knocked him down by the 4th knee (& I never did) I have to take him down & keep kneeing him.
*Ron is either on his knees or sitting, either way his back is against the wall. He is holding a kickshield & I have to continually knee, punch, elbow, etc. him while I am standing. Turns out its pretty awkward to beat someone while they’re down if you can’t kick or stomp them.
*Half the class (6) were lined up on one side of the room, half on the other, facing each other as if to play “Red Rover”. We were each assigned a number. I was number 1 on my line & my friend Matt was number 1 on his line so we immediately start giggling & trash talking across the room. There are 2 kickshields in the center of the room. When the instructor calls out 2 numbers, those people try to be first to get the bag. If you don’t get the bag you have to prevent the other from reaching the other end of the room by any means except picking them up & slamming them to the ground.
*You against everybody. The whole class lines up (except for one person, who waits in back) in a herringbone pattern holding kickshields, simulating a tightly packed crowd. Your job is to fight through the crowd (using a ‘swimming’ technique) & make it to the person in back of the room to give them 10 hard knees. Its scary, exhausting, & overwhelming to be in a crowd of 10 people pressing you, shoving you, & yelling at you, but its fun.
I’m a little battered & sore today, but I’ll tell you, I walked into that training room feeling kind of depressed & sad, & walked out drenched in sweat, exhilarated & grinning like a monkey. I am so lucky to have this stuff in my life.
After 4.5 shitty classes in a row, I finally felt back to enjoying training. I thought it might be too much work, not eating enough or some other general stress issue, but I think it was focusing too much on effort and not enough on technique.
Half-way through today I decided to work on some technical details and instantly noticed an attitude shift.
Fingertip Push-Ups/Push-Ups x 8/9, 5/9, 5/9, 4/7
BB Reverse Grip Shoulder Press 50lbs x 14, 15, 13, 12
Standing Cable Scarecrow’s (thumbs up) 20lbs x 13, 12, 10, 8
Decline Sit-Ups (full decline + bench) +10lbs x 13, 13, 11, 9
DB Side Bends 35lbs x 12, 10, 7, 6
A little weaker, which is what I’d assume after skipping two weight sessions last week.
Was thinking about ditching the rear delt work (scarecrow’s) because I’ve been doing rows more consistently, maybe throw in a neck exercise instead. Got to the gym and realized that my shoulder strength is down anyways, so will keep them in.
for my strength training session (one of two wieght training sessions per week)
barbell hip bridge 225x3,275x3,315x3, 365x5x3
front squat 205x3,215x3, 225x2x3, 245x2x3
deadlift 225x3,275x3, 315x6x3
incline barbell 225x8x3
t-bar 175x8x3
train high volume because i train grappling a lot so not trying to get sore at all. definately love the iron game so can’t suppress the need to lift heavy. love my grappling too. took me awhile to find a good balance with wieght and getting stronger aloingside my jiu jitsu, wrestling, judo training.
I started off going wayyyy easy against a guy who rolls like a bull in a china shop. Was getting physically mauled until I started increasing my own intensity.
The same thing happened for a couple rounds, I would have the complete opposite intensity of my partner and it was not working.
At the end I started with the bull again and decided to bull back, immediately felt confident and strong. I followed this with an immediate round vs. another guy who’s more chill. I tried the bull approach and began gassing out and not getting much of anywhere, I adapted to a more easy pace and again felt confident and strong.
I think there’s a good lesson in here about BJJ training.