Morning workout 5/3/1 week 2 day 3 bench press
I combined oh press and deadlift at my last session
Well I decided I might want to update his log. It has been a while. Right now I am really not doing Jack shit for training which really bothers me. Life has caught up with me a bit and every time I go to my school nobody is there. I have came to the realization that it really is just a Jyu jitsu school in the end. It was great in the beginning when we had guys who were doing striking. We had Muay Thai, Krav maga. For a while we had a wrestling coach and lots of guests coming in. Now we have Jyu Jitsu class.
Although I have done some good classes recently im just not happy. Pajama fighting is secondary for me. I am a striker and I like the workout I get when training. I am weighing my options at the moment and I have said this before as well. The other side is money. I am hesitant to join a different school and then be commited to paying money every month.
A good thing is though I got rid of my home gym and have joined a health club. I have made a lot of gains in that dept. I find myself lifting and working out in there and not going to my school more often than not. Im up about 10lbs in bodyweight and have made strength gains. What I have also noticed is that when I do train my body is not as flexible or conditioned as it once was for fighting. Im still in good standards but for those of you who have trained to get in a cage or a ring you know what level you can get to.
I am currently working two jobs. One regular job and then part time before or after my regular job and on Saturdays too. That combination really hinders what a 40yo man can do. That will be changing in the future as I am making an exit from my current job to a new one. Just waiting on things to play out. In the meantime Im working on getting bigger faster and stronger.
Just a question/suggestion.
I really admire your persistence.
And I can relate to your frustration with classes.
When you change jobs, would you perhaps be able to start your own classes/school for martial arts?
You’ve already taught in mma. Maybe you could make it pay for you by teaching kids and then getting some good adults to train with yourself?
[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:
Just a question/suggestion.
I really admire your persistence.
And I can relate to your frustration with classes.
When you change jobs, would you perhaps be able to start your own classes/school for martial arts?
You’ve already taught in mma. Maybe you could make it pay for you by teaching kids and then getting some good adults to train with yourself?[/quote]
That is not really something I have considered. I don’t see myself as a teacher. There are so many things I don’t know and probably suck at. Also from what I have seen it is quite the hassle to run a school. I wish I could get people into our school and I might just teach a class but it really just turns into what looks like Krav mixed with MMA. Its hard because I don’t have the time to devote to making it better. I would like to call some other people from around the area and let them teach different classes such as boxing, wrestling, jyu jitu and then I would fill in the blanks…?? Really though I just want to train, im selfish, I want to get better and I can’t train myself.
Really right now I am just frustrated. I am not in a position to take on another expense to join a different school and nobody and I mean nobody does any striking at our school anymore. I think I am going to just keep calling my friends and training around town for a little while LOL as crappy as that is.
[quote]Ranzo wrote:
That is not really something I have considered. I don’t see myself as a teacher. There are so many things I don’t know and probably suck at. Also from what I have seen it is quite the hassle to run a school. I wish I could get people into our school and I might just teach a class but it really just turns into what looks like Krav mixed with MMA. Its hard because I don’t have the time to devote to making it better. I would like to call some other people from around the area and let them teach different classes such as boxing, wrestling, jyu jitu and then I would fill in the blanks…?? Really though I just want to train, im selfish, I want to get better and I can’t train myself.
Really right now I am just frustrated. I am not in a position to take on another expense to join a different school and nobody and I mean nobody does any striking at our school anymore. I think I am going to just keep calling my friends and training around town for a little while LOL as crappy as that is.
[/quote]
Ah its not crappy; I understand.
I have a friend a very good BJJ blackbelt.
He was really struggling to train, so he set up his own school as a purple belt. BJJ wasn’t a draw on its own so he became an MMA school; and that gave him a much greater scope.
It kinda worked for him and he has travelled internationally learning & competing.
I guess more importantly he has one of the tope two BJJ scholls in the country now and a few brown belts that are excellent rolling even for him.
And I doubt very much you suck at anything.
Ok im still hitting the weights. I do not miss a day in the gym and I been training where I can.
5/3/1 last night Week 2 Bench press
Warm up Main Lift
45x10x1 135x3x1
65x5x1 155X3X1
80x5x1 175X10X1
115x3x1
Accessory lifts
Seated rows 95x10x3
Dumbbell Bench 55x10x3 45x8x1
Pull ups 10x3
Cable Crossovers 50x12x3
Also did some random tricep presses and barbell curls. Ran 1.5 miles on treadmill 10. 3 min the best I can remember but first mile was 7.2 minutes.
last Thursday went back with the Krav guys and got in some training. Worked on standard punches working focus mitts and also did sparring. Probably did about 10 rounds. Also did some basic ground work with arm bars and defenses choke escapes and some sacrifice throws. I needed the cardio and Its always good to spar.
found some time over the weekend to get out in the country with a old high school friend. I had my pistol and we grabbed some guns from his house and went out. Much better than going to a range where everything is controlled.
I had the chance to move around and shoot from the draw on targets at different ranges. This was good training without a doubt and a ton of fun! I wore my Go Pro for a bit while we were messing around. We would simulate a “bad guy” drawing on you or attacking you and shoot from the draw as it would most likely happen in real life. For some reason most of the videos were not good but I did see that I sometimes do weird crap with my support hand when the tension was high or from a surprise. Suprisingly still accurate enough though. At one point I did not get my left thumb forward on the support hand and the slide hit my thumb and cut some nice divets in it.
The more I shoot my Taurus the more I like it and the better I get with it. I also have a tendency to slap that trigger if trying to shoot in a hurry causing the rounds to go really low. At one point after shooting about 100 rounds already we were taking a break and talking shit when all of a sudden there was a big snake coming through the creek. We were both like oh shit and trying to get a shot off on this thing. My pistol was laying in the back of the truck but I went for my holster…what? oh shit, hurry…where the fuck is my gun!? LOL saw in laying there grabbed it and went for a shot. Magazine was empty… dropped that mag and pulled the one from my pocket. Took the first shot and it went low, I slapped the holy hell on that trigger. Next shot I relaxed and took aim and boom got that snake. It was a long shot too.
I guess that was the highlight since we really were only shooting targets most of the time. After that we were looking for another Snake to come hauling through there and about 10min went buy before we saw one. We both took aim and missed. Both of our shots were real close though and the Snake dove down and was never saw again.
Awwww I guess I am a redneck at heart after all. Fun times and I feel real comfortable with my gun now.
5/3/1
Week 2 Squats
85x5
105X5
125X3
155x3
175x3
195X11
Leg curls 110x10x2 90x10x1
Leg ext. 200x10x2 185x9x1
Week 3 OH press
45x5
55x5
65x3
95x5
105x3
115X8
Dumbell Press 45x10x3 35x8x1
Lat pulls 180x10x2 170x10x1
Decent workout. My weights are slowly going up now. I had to sort of combine my workouts because I have just not had the time to get in the gym lately. Looking forward to doing some jyu jitsu tonight and god willing some striking as well.
Got some time on Saturday to go Hit the bag for a while.
2 rounds shadow boxing. Lots of movement and pivots
5 rounds of heavy bag working combos and trying to focus on speed without sacrificing power.
Worked a couple of light rounds integrating kicks with combos.
My chest and shoulders were burning like fire since I been pushing weight in the gym so much lately.
On another positive note things are changing at the school it seems. There are rumors of things as well. For the Interim though lots of guys that left before have came back and we have taken in a Professional fighter that has trained at some top level gyms and as fought in Strikeforce and Bellator. It’s going to be good learn some new things and spar with somebody new and a higher level.
Sunday, back on the weights.
I skipped the Deload week and just rotated back to week 1 and kept the same weights since I jumped up 10 pound last rotation
don’t have my log in front of me at the moment like a retard.
95x5
115x5
125x5
This is as I remember it.
Lat pulls, 190x10x2 180x10 170x 10
dumbbell oh press 45x10x3
Lots of ab work
Oh almost forgot. I did attend Bellator fights this weekend. Tito spent some time at one of my Friends gyms and he got to spar with him. That was a great opportunity. He said it was crazy how strong he is.
Was cool to see some of the fighters in person and many of our local guys fought on the card as well. Oh and Rampage sucks and so does King Mo. I was napping during the bought. And I feel that big fights like that must have the outcome predetermined
Good to see you are still at it.
I have heard/read the same about Tito.
RE: Snatching the Trigger
Assumption is that you are snatching the trigger and not “flinching”/trying to manage the recoil before it starts.
I have a similar issue, but probably worse. Small hands make grip and trigger control real important for me putting the holes where I want them.
Dry practice is usually beneficial. If you don’t have snap caps, buy some (A-zoom brand is my choice). Follow all dry fire precautions (ammo in another room, triple check condition of firearm, backstop/“safe” direction if possible, etc.)
Work on really seeing what happens to your sights when you work the trigger. Ideally you should be able to “call” your shots based on your sight picture at ignition and not have to check the target. If the front blade dips or scoots to the side that tells you where your miss went. Work on the whol “Compressed, surprise break” thing. A lot of folks like the empty case on the front sight drill, but because I have to rack between shots and because the “crunk-SPRONG” of the Glock trigger tends to vibrate the slide a bit I and I don’t feel like I pick up a ton with it currently. It is great with revolvers or DA/SA autos though.
I have noticed that grip is really important for this problem. Shooting freestyle (both hands on the gun) I don’t really have too much of an issue, even at speed. Alter my grip and my ability to place shots quickly goes down. Suddenly the front blade is more likely to veer off. Strong hand only is even worse. At current I cannot shoot fast and accurate support side only. Reason for saying all that is that if this is an ongoing thing anything you can do to work on getting a consistent and stable grip should help. Dry practice from the holster, one handed or two, ect.
Because you noted that speed was a huge part of when the problem surfaced (and in your story you also had to pick your gun up from an unusual position and then do manipulations) there are some ways to make square range training more beneficial as well. Get a shot timer (if you don’t have one there are aps from Surefire and Taurus for smart phones) and practice making a “quick” shot from low or contact ready. Don’t worry about the mic recording your shots, just use the par time feature.
EXAMPLE:
Target-8x11" paper with visible, bright aiming circle at it’s center.(Use a marker or sticker)
Range-7 yards(or whatever range you are constrained to)
Drill- Start position is low ready, eyes on target (you have your target/threat ID’d and the buzzer subs in for the “must”/“should” shoot stimulus). At the buzzer raise your weapon and place one good shot on paper before the end buzzer.(Note: most of us while tell ourselves “at” the buzzer was “in”. It isn’t. The buzzer adds tenths of a second. Shot has to come before the end signal or it doesn’t count.) Repeat.
Drill must be shot clean prior to lowering par time. If using the above range and target start with something like a second and a half and work down in .10 increments. Some very dialed in folks us .50 as the target goal which works out to .25 to react and .25 to break the shot.(at 7 yards).
Easy drill, but turns a “slow fire” range into something more useful.
Regards,
Robert A
Thanks for the advice Robert. I wish I had more time to fire in different situations. Definitely going to make some time and get out somewhere. I will also download that shot timer. Seems like a very useful tool
Well,
Attended a great “MMA” class last week. Haven’t had the time to post up about it though so here it goes.
We had guys from different schools across the area showing up. It is a new class but has major potential.
Started with normal warmup activities, running, sprawls and the usual drill work. Pretty basic.
Worked 5 round of shadow boxing, using your own combo’s. He also called out random drills during shadowboxing like sprawls or knees and takedowns. As a side note, am I the only one who limits the combos I use when shadow boxing in the open like that? I don’t want to work the stuff I am going to fight with because I feel like I am being studied.
Did another 3 rounds using only combinations as directed and also incorporating takedowns and sprawls.
3 more rounds on the focus mitts with directed combos. Moved from there right into light sparring work just trading combos and defending, pretty much anything goes. Worked around the room sparring everyone and the intensity worked up until we were throwing about 60% power only standup though.
It was great to spar with people I have never even met before and someone on the Bellator level. I always thought my standup was better than the guy teaching this class based on what I had seen in the past. I was wrong though. He can see shit and counter quickly. I was probably giving telegraphs because my game is sloppy due to lack of training. Also MFer is a LHW and hit strikes have power!
There was some talent in the room for sure one of the other guys teaches at another school and is considered a top level jyu jitsu guy but I must say his Muay Thai is top notch. Holy shit I wish I was 20yo again. So just an introductory class if you will.
He is setting the classes up to have different focus on each one covering all aspects of MMA. This is exactly what I have been trying to get going. I wish I was running it in small part but I am happy I can train now.
I will keep you guys posted
Work has kept me busy lately, I just put in my notice for my current job and will be moving to my part time job full time. This will open many more chances to train.
Still hitting the gym as much as possible. Been gaining some weight because I don’t train as much as I used to.
Yesterday I got some one on one with a guy who works with me. He is interested in Self Defense and aspects of MMA. He has never trained at all but is athletic. We worked about 2 hours and I showed him the basics and I touched on a number of techniques and aspects of fighting just to give him a taste. He catches on fast and I think it will be cool to teach him.
Next week I will be going back to MMA classes regularly so that is good. Anyway just wanted to make a post even though nothing too exciting is going on/
Cool news about the classes and job switch.
Good of you to post frequent enough to abvoid my threats of random video.
Definately work the dry fire drills. Trigger is like making a fist. It needs to be an absolute “gimme” in order for things to work well. Just like a bad fist, if you screw it up nothing else matters, but just because you have doesn’t mean you are good.
You have KO’d plenty of dudes who could make tight, good fists. But if you didn’t have one when you punched them, you would have hit lighter, and maybe broken your hand instead of them.
IF you are in the “point shooting” mind set it is even more important because the feedback you get of a bad trigger pull is what the sights do. Not using a visual reference on the gun denies you that. So grip consistency and trigger pull are going to need to be fucking solid.
You know my stand on sights though.
Regards,
Robert A
I am now hosting a Open Mat on Sundays at the school. I also work with a couple guys who want to self defense type training. Its good practice for me and some extra workout time. Not a lot of guys showing up but that’s typical and I really only want the hardcore people anyway.
Yesterday I had two guys and we went over a lot of different techniques and being one on one I can fix their problems and point out things that would take forever in a regular class.
I went over proper stance, hip rotation and using the core to make power, I can’t believe how many times you can say that and people still don’t do it. Hollywood has fucked the world up!! Also covered some takedowns that don’t involve dragging your knees on the ground. One sacrifice throw and we did a bunch of guard breaks.
Hoping to have some more people show up in the future
[quote]Ranzo might as well have wrote:
I am foolishly not updating my log even though I realize that this will invite Robert A to post videos.
[/quote]
Fair enough.
Regards,
Robert A
Ranzo,
Hey, bro, isn’t it about time for you to check in? You know, like a health and wellness check?
[quote]idaho wrote:
Ranzo,
Hey, bro, isn’t it about time for you to check in? You know, like a health and wellness check? [/quote]
I think both he and Melvin Smiley went off the rez at the same time. I need to see if I have any e-mail contact info for either of them.