Ranzo Training log

Bigger Stronger Leaner
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Decided to make a log in here so others could possibly learn from it and can get input and advice from other as well.
I was working the late shift at work this week so I had time in the mornings to lift and less tmie at night to train so you will see that in my training as time goes on.

Monday October 29th

5/3/1 Overhead press day one week three big but boring.

Warm up
45x5
55x5
65x3
Main lifts
80x5
95x3
105x7
Accessory lifts
Overhead press 5 sets of 10 reps at 55
5 sets of 10rep pull ups.

Working on Late shift this week so lifted in the morning and went to NoGi jiu jitsu after work.

Worked on Americana submission from guard , side mount etc and the defenses. 20minutes of open rolling.

Wed. Oct. 31st

5/3/1 Dead lift week 3 day2

Warm up
110 x 5
135x5
165x3
Main Lifts
205x5
230x3
260x4
Accessory
Dead lift 5 sets of 10 at 135
Weighted sit up 3 sets of 20 at 45

Thursday 11-1-12

Still on Late shift. No weights Went to class
Worked on guard passes and defenses
Kimura submission and escapes
Free rolling 30minutes.

Starting a regular schedule Next week. I will post some more training then.

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What is your diet like? Do you feel like you recover pretty well after lifting in the morning when it comes time to hit the mats in the evening?

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Right now I pretty much live from the Dolce Diet cookbook or something similar to it Schedule permitting. It is hard to cook with my scheule and my laziness so I make enough to get me through a couple days. I do end up eating out more than the 10% rule or whatever and that is probably why my abs won’t come out but im cool with that for now.

This morning I had a 3 egg omelet with cheese and baby spinach and two pieces of turkey bacon for breakfast
had a small snack about 945 Nutella on some wheat bread, lunch I had Steak and Asparagus which was leftover from last nights dinner then at 2:30 I had some Edamame and just now I had a Protien bar. I will probably eat something else before I go to the gym and I will have something small after training.

As far at recovering I have had problems with not recovering in the past and before a fight I usually drop the weight or cut way back. Right now I got nothing a possible in December but that is it so I am lifting more. I also notice if I do bench or overhead press I can’t go heavy on the strking or I will pay for it later and if I do deadlifts sometimes my back ends up being overly tired after jiu jitsu so I try to get my training days to offset the lifting.

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Monday Nov. 5th

Warm up with Shadow boxing and some footwork agility drills lots of situps and pullups

two 3min rounds on heavy bag focusing on jab
3 3 min rounds of combos with leg kicks and knees. Trying to stay focused on my stance and bringing my hands right back to guard after a combo.

worked with another guy in the gym doing more footwork and agility drills etc…

Jiu Jitsu.

Got on the mats and rolled couple rounds with a newer guy we ended up working on a couple of chokes and baiting moves. Then I had a guy I never seen before ask to roll with me. He said he didn’t know anything and had only been to two classes…hahahahaha man was I a sucker for that story. I gave him way to much leeway and he seemed to have a solution for lots of situations that no beginner would know. I got tapped twice and the last time was from a inverted heel hook beginner my stinky asshole! Next round I had to throttle up on this fucker rolled for a good 4-5 minutes and I got him with a mounted triangle and let him smell my stinky asshole. I would have respect for the guy but he made up some bullshit so now I am going to have to feed him steady helpings of asswoopin everytime we meet.

From there went into regular Nogi class and worked on lots of stuff from half guard. Mainly escapes and reversals which is something I needed. I got caught up with the liar before because I had some things wrong and struggled to get out of half guard. All in all not a bad day. I wanted more striking work but it is what it is.

Tuesday Nov. 6th

5/3/1 only no training today

Main lift Squats…I don’t have the numbers in front of me right now and just realised that. Last set was 205 for 4 reps the best I can remember. I felt decently strong but I struggle with form on squats when the weight gets heavier so I take it slow and just do what I can.

Thursday Nov. 8th

Heavy bag 4 rounds focus on knocking the shit out of that bag with good form on my Jab and lots of hooks and head movement. Basically used the hour or so before jiu jitsu to work on my boxing and get warmed up

Jiu jitsu
Today was a two and half hour class led by Allen Hopkins. Was a great class, started a bit slow but we worked into good. He has a unique way to teaching and is very laid back. Learned a ton abot hip movement, foot/ base placement and working out of a good side mount. Also learned some awesome stuff from guard. I definately feel my ground game has improved from just this one class.

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[quote]Ranzo wrote:
Monday Nov. 5th

Jiu Jitsu.

Got on the mats and rolled couple rounds with a newer guy we ended up working on a couple of chokes and baiting moves. Then I had a guy I never seen before ask to roll with me. He said he didn’t know anything and had only been to two classes…hahahahaha man was I a sucker for that story.
[/quote]

HA man I was training at a different gym a few years back, got paired up with this guy who’d “been training jiu-jitsu for a few months”. Dude absolutely smoked me, I asked “WTF?” and he was like “Oh, I mean, I’ve wrestled since I was about 8 years old. But I’ve only had a couple months of jiu-jitsu” lol Asshole.

I have better luck with front squats than back squats, form wise. You might give that a shot.

And since this is turning into the you and me thread, I won’t be at V3 after all this weekend. Our fighter got a NASTY staph infection and had to drop.

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Its all good man. I want to go but I have people pulling me all directions this weekend so we will see. I have a couple of friends fighting but nobody from my gym. Im sure we will meet sometime in the future.

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November 10th.

Had to work today even though it is Saturday so I got up early and did my workout before work. The job took up all the training slots at the school so only weightlifting.

5/3/1 Week 1 Day 1

Main lift Overhead Press.

Warm up
45 x 5
55 x 5
65 x 3

Main Lifts
70 x 5
80 x 3
95 x 10

Accessory Lifts

Overhead press
60 x 10 5 sets.

Pull ups

10 reps x 5 sets Changing grips on two sets.

Monday Nov. 12

Back at the School standard training day for me

Shadowboxing 3 rounds worked on my â??signatureâ?? combos with kicks and knees.

Heavy bag 3 rounds staying focused on developing power and keeping my form/stance and working footwork around the bag.

Sparring for 2 rounds heads up with hands, feet and takedowns basically anything goes.

Took a small break and went into Nogi jiu jitsu. Worked on half guard escapes and did some review from the Allen Hopkins seminar. Lots of focus on not being flat and rotating the hips.

Went into some â??rollingâ?? sessions. Starting of in the standing and working from the clinch to takedown. I like this because I am pretty strong in the clinch and most jiu jitsu fags like to start on their knees. I had one guy gassed before â??hisâ?? fight even started.

Trying real hard to focus on submissions right now. I feel like I am learning so much right now by picking a submission and trying to maneuver so I can set it up. Also seeing that I need more submissions because with some guys I can just never get to the one I want and have to take what is available but that is the nature of jiu jitsu anyway.

Tuesday Nov. 13th

5/3/1 Week one Day 2 DeadLift

Warm up
110 x 5
135 x 5
165 x 3

Main Lifts

175 x 5
205 x 5
230 x 9 this was a rep PR for me. I feel like I can def. do more weight but taking it slow

Accessory lifts

Dead lift
135 x 10 5 sets

Weighted Sit ups.

Wednesday Nov. 14th

Back to the School for striking/ kickboxing type work

Warmed up with Shadowboxing for 2 rounds and then started a regular class. I was assisting with teaching the class. I have learned a lot about stance and footwork as of late and I noticed that this is commonly a secondary thing with instruction or not focused on enough IMO. I have started teaching guys stance and movement and rotating the hips etc without even using hands at all. Since I had the floor I took that time to do some drills

I seen this video and I thought it was great. I tried it out and it has seemed to help. You guys can give me your thoughts on it

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That looks like a terrific way to waste your time. ‘Shakehouse’ and ‘Teaci’ do not look like guys you should be taking agility advice from. Nothing in that video clip was agile, dynamic, or beyond the capabilities of anyone with two legs.

My actual reasoning:

Fighting is about angles. The purpose of footwork is to put you in a position whereby you can throw your combinations. The ability to use footwork for this purpose is the result of many hours spent practising, in shadowboxing, in sparring, and even on the bag. It is not something you learn, or even improve, by running up and down over rope. Much like skipping (a far superior method of conditioning, and developing your agility/stamina in your legs), its beneficial effects are marginal, and are only really felt once you reach a level of ability where you are able to create angles. Much like strength training for hitting harder, agility drills for footwork are an easy way to avoid the fact that you actually need to spend more time getting better at your sport.

As an MMA fighter, your time spent practising striking/standup is limited, as is your skill at it (by necessity). I honestly don’t believe there is an MMA fighter on the planet (who is not already a pro needing to find ways of relieving boredom and giving his body a break whilst staying in the gym) who would not benefit more from sport specific training than they would from running around a piece of string. You may as well play musical chairs for agility benefits.

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ahaha awesome post London, They guys in the video are certainly “unique”. I really wanted to use something like this to get students more focused on thier feet. I hate skipping rope and getting guys to do it just dosen’t work. I was also wanting something I could do to improve myself. I would maybe be better off to do hopscotch LOL.

I think my biggest problem right now is my gym is really sucking for the last few weeks. Nobody shows up anymore. My sparring partners are limited and I think I am really just looking for things I can do on my own to stay sharp. Last night I showed up and nobody was there so I did an all levels Krav class. This is something I am qualified to teach honestly but it was a decent workout and I realised that I could absolutely destroy any of those Kra folks in a fight. Honestly at this point I am looking at going to a boxing gym one or two times a week to learn something new and implement it into MMA.

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Honestly, I think the idea of going to a boxing gym (or any other ‘specialist’ gym) is a very good idea. I know that we get a lot of posts here saying that those MMA guys who are specialists get destroyed in the ring, it is the jacks of all trades that win blah blah, and I am the first to admit I have very limited experience with MMA on any level, however, from what I’ve seen, the specialists do thrive, as long as they introduce other elements into their arsenal that let them dictate how the fight goes. I am not suggesting that you abandon MMA training at all, but spending some time with a specific focus on a specific discipline, at a time when you don’t have a fight booked, could be great for your long term MMA development.

Like any other sport, the guy who loses seems to do so because he is unable to perform in the way he is most effective, and is instead forced to compete in an area where his opponent is superior. Just because a sport is ‘specific’, say boxing, as opposed to ‘general’, MMA, doesn’t mean the same mental strategic things arent going on. Me as an outside fighter discouraging a good inside fighter by effective jabbing and straight right-ing so that he fights my fight, is not any different to a good striker in MMA developing a good takedown defense etc to force a good ground fighter to compete on the strikers terms. (Obviously massively over simplified, but the point is clear). Specialists will win over jacks of all trades, so long as the jack of all trades is forced to compete within that speciality. Same principle applies if you’re bjj dominant or whatever. Too many MMA guys I’ve met (at amateur level) think that because they can grapple a bit, and punch a bit, they are invincible to a guy with only one skill set. A guy who can crush 99% of people grappling, and who can protect himself in stand up and walk down an opponent, really will be a force to be reckoned with. It’s all about surviving long enough to put yourself in a position to take control.

This is more of a general rant, as you are more than aware of all that Ranzo, and I wouldn’t begin to try and preach to you about how to do your sport.

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Man footwork is what separates the great strikers from the good ones and the good ones from the shit ones. It took me a lot of time and a lot of ass kickings to finally figure that out lol

This is a drill I have my guys do every night, it’s nothing fancy but does a lot for weight distribution and balance.

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This is another one we do every night, works really well not only for striking but for setting up takedowns in MMA/grappling/pajama wrestling:

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London, I completely agree about specialising in one area. I feel that if you are really really good at one aspect of fighting then you will accel in MMA. I feel it is time for me to get back to basics. Footwork is a weak point for a lot of guys and I can see where I need to be more agile to avoid takedowns and to get my shots on target. Also because I love this stuff! It feels so good to work on something to get it down really good and then use it in a fight or sparring session.

Melvin, I have actually watched that second video a bunch of times and have tried to use that to circle off the cage etc. I am not as smooth as this guy and I find it difficult to use in both directions right now.

the first video I think could be a great training tool for some of our guys for sure. If I were to build something like that it would have to be easy to move in and out of place. Our school has a very strong jiu jitsu focus and the floor could not have this ther all the time. I think I could come up with something similar to get the point across though. I like using drills to warm up with and get my mind focused on fighting.

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I built mine out of a couple scrap 2x4s, I cut one into 4 2’ pieces and left the other whole to go across the top. About 40 cents worth of screws and I wrapped a bunch of duct tape around it (for whatever reason, these guys are fine with punching and kicking and choking each other but they bitch about splinters in their feet). When it’s not in use you can stand it up in a corner somewhere, it doesn’t take up much space at all that way.

I sent you a PM (or tried to anyway, I’m easily confused and it may not have worked), but anytime you want you’re welcome to come up and train with us at Gracie Barra. I’ve made footwork my main priority the last couple years, got a ton of drills and stuff you could take home with you.

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Ranzo, sounds like Melvin is a great resource, and well worth checking out his set up if you get the chance.

Fine tuning the basics is what makes you as a fighter. It’s great that you are at a stage in your development where you feel that is a useful use of your time. Expect to see substantial improvements in your overall ability in the coming months. I always found I had to get some experience, then come back to the basics, each time refining what I’d learned, before I could build again and improve as a fighter. Years of steady graft and intelligent training, with a focus on fundamentals, and their effective execution, is the difference between top fighters and the guys who plateau.

I’m looking forward to following your log.

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Thanks for the input guys. Melvin I was wondering what gym you were with. I have seen some great fighter from Gracie Barra. Like you said before we have probably been in the same room together but had no idea.

we are in the middle remodeling the school/gym right now with new mats and padding for the walls among other things. I will ask about using something like this and see if I get the go ahead. If not i will make one and put it in my garage with all my other crap. Anything I don’t need a partner for I will use at home on days that I can’t make it to train or before a fight when I need extra training.

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Yeah, I’m the kickboxing coach for GB Arkansas. I’m the tall guy that does hand jobs in the locker room… I mean, um, tape jobs, you know… ha I’m not any kind of expert or anything, but I’ve been around for quite a while and had the chance to train with a lot of good guys, I’ve picked up a few tricks over the years.

There’s also going to be a two day training camp at Max Bishop’s place in Paragould Dec 1 and 2. Lot of good coaches coming out for that one. Torian Whitlow is coming up from Memphis, handful of other guys. Should be really good, I learned a lot at the last one I went to.

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Yeah I am going to Max’s camp. gotta make the call today as a matter of fact. Torian and I are good friends from doing cars and martial arts. He made my T shirts etc and helped me with my standup for that last fight. I am ready to train that is for sure. I grew up not far from Paragould and used to cruise there when I was like 16 LOL. There is a lot going on that weekend so I will have to drive back and forth for sure.

I tried some of the drills last night and worked the heavy bag for quite a while. Got in a few rounds of sparring with one of the better guys in the place and ended up going hard. I felt really good sparring and was working my game plan. I am still wearing a good leg kick this morning though but the guy was hurting himself kicking me so I guess it evened out. Also ripped up a pair of my favorite shorts and that sucked.

Went into nogi and did some good technique and positioning and about 30 min of free rolling. over all a good night of training. Got home about 10:30 at night, back up at 6 this morning. I love my life

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Well trainnig for me has been almost a total waste since before the holidays. Seems like nobody shows up anymore WTF!!! Been spending more time doing shadow boxing and bag work and still staying on the weights pretty good.

did have a good class on Monday though in Nogi. Had a guest instructor if you will. He showed some good stuff taken from Sambo to set up ankle locks, heel hooks and knee bars and all that jazz. I struggled getting the hang of it in the beginning but got it for the most part by the end.

30 min of free rolling. rolled with the instructor guy… Wow I suck, or he is really good. I felt helpless, this guy had an answer for everything I did really. He submitted me 3 times WTF? Oh well I am a new blue belt and this guy has been around for a long time but I hate losing so friggin bad.
Rolled with a couple other guys and one super aggressive guy who was so damn tense and just squeezed the shit out of you in every position even when it wasn’t doing a damn thing. I used him as a time to just play the waiting game and go from bad positions to good positions. This fucker laid on me in half guard so long I was gonna go to sleep from boredom. Kept tryin for americana and any chance to choke my neck. Eventually worked my out and put him in side mount and got the armbar. Still I feel like I could have used my time more wisely.

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I can’t imagine how frustrating that must be for you mate. I can’t really relate, as I’ve only ever boxed out of the one gym, with a rich history and plenty of fighters. Might be time to accelerate that temporary switch of discipline, if you know there is a good gym around you. Like the seasoned guys on here always say, choose an instructor over a discipline.

Same goes for choosing a good gym over the ideal discipline. Better to be a great thai boxer/boxer/wrestler/bjj, than shitty at all 3 (not saying you are shitty at them, just illustrating a point). It’ll be more rewarding that way too. Your time and ability is too valuable to waste it treading water.