Wishing you a speedy recovery!
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Sorry to hear dude
Appreciate the sentiment, but donāt give me pity dude, haha. Itās just a muscle pull. Gives me an opportunity to work on other things.
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Haha no pitty mate, I am just kinda awkward at writting
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No worries dude. I got the intent behind it.
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Hey Pwn, havenāt checked in here in a while, good to see youāre still kicking assā¦Iāve been reading about how you teach your kids martial arts and I think itās super great. Not that my opinion matters any, but I feel like that would have been the quintessential bonding activity for me and my dad as a kid.
Iām getting better at throwing kicks and coordinated punches again so when everything in NYC dies down I canāt wait to get back to it
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Good to hear from you dude. Itās definitely been a good bonding moment. Iām enjoying see it through their eyes, and now I get to share my martial arts nerddom with them. Slowly corrupting them, haha.
Good to hear the coordination and kicks are coming along. Sounds like you and I are both going back to the well there. I may try to get back to getting some formal instruction too, once the world opens back up. I seem to care way more about this than strongman, haha.
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Iāve been training belt-less and loving it. On my good days Iām stronger and in a better position to pull than I was with it. Pressing makes my abs stronger by default because I donāt wear a belt. With just a barbell Iām seeing great results. Hopefully Iāll be able to keep using my current program while training to fight because itās not super intensive. Itās more of a high-frequency (5x/week) deadlift/press thing. I think the heaviest weight I pull this cycle is 315 for a dead-stop set of 5 at the very end of the week. If I feel like I can do 10 with it Iāll be happy. My diet is also forcing me to eat tons of meat and vegetables and almost no carbs, and I havenāt been hating my workouts. Also gave up caffeine entirely weeks ago.
Iām hoping formal martial arts instruction and weightlifting do me well! I feel like I could kick 14-year-old black belt meās ass. I can throw a round kick to the head with my leading leg again. I also have powerful kumite techniques, spinning back kicks, front/side kicks, and jumping front kicks down.
I still pull with straps because my barbell sucks, but other than that Iām turning into a fighting unit.
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This stuff sounds fun. I wish there was some type of place to go for instruction around here. Besides TKD haha.
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@liftangryordie500 High frequency press and deadlift reminds me of Pavel Tsastoulineās modified DeLorme program. If you havenāt seen it, might peak your interest. I felt like I remember using Power to the People as a base before. Iām sure you can fit in the fight training. Iāve found that, as long as I donāt care about everything being super optimal, it can work. I know my bodyweight is about 20lbs over whatās an acceptable fight weight for my height, but at this point I just figure Iāll be too heavy, haha. Sounds like the programming you have is working itās magic, and youāre a better man than me for giving up caffeine: Iām still finding creative ways to get my fix.
Good to hear the growth on your techniques there. Probably gonna be a while before I brave a jump kick, haha. And no shame on the straps: save that grip for the grip work!
@jshaving I definitely enjoy it. Even with TKD, I think of it like a kid I went to high school with that dresses up like a knight and beats up people with foam weapons. Sometimes it can be fun to play at fighting: so long as you recognize it for what it is. That said, itās been kinda cool coming back to TKD after getting some actual fight experience, because now Iāll teach something and go āOh hey wait: they probably were TRYING to mean X when they taught Yā.
I actually ended up getting in my stretches yesterday, but the single leg work had to be put on hold. The part of my hastring that is aching is right on the opposite side of my knee, so it makes balancing tough. Woke up this morning and leg hamstring is stiff and achy, but gave it a look last night before bed and there was no bruising, so Iām very certain this was a pull rather than a tear. Thereās a fair chance that my squat programming is going to change to partial squats and reverse band work, because thatās what I did to get out of this mess the last time. Deads may shift to a focus of very high trap bar mat pulls. Yet again: solutions abound.
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I definitely havenāt seen it, but thatās probably because I havenāt been looking for it. Right now, my nutritional intake is just enough to support base building and not much else, haha. Eventually, when I can eat more and gain some weight, I figure Iāll slip more into the role of āweightlifter-turned-fighterā. But for now, I walk around at 165-170 (not by choice) and Iām probably better at fighting than weightlifting. Thankfully Iāve been able to see progress even on my worst health days because the prescribed top-set is always in the tank. Iāve even made the transition to no-belt training over the last month, Iāve lost weight, and Iāve been able to keep up with the same cycle weights, so I consider that progress as well.
Iām glad to finally have found something I can do consistently. My hamstring was a little tender the other day, but it went away after some deadlifts. I seem to be adapting to workout-related aches and pains in stride and they almost never interfere with my ability to lift.
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Please make another log dude
I have one, but I frequently say absolutely whatever is on my mind at the time, so beware.
Where?
@liftangryordie500 Learning to live through those aches and pains is big. Good on you for getting it sorted. It can freak out a lot of trainees, and make progress regress.
AM WORKOUT
30 minute TKD lesson (new material: 180 degree turns and maintaining stance)
@FlatsFarmer The coin trick was solid. I used pennies, since my student has small hands, and no bribery, but just the training tool was big on understanding the concept. Punches and blocks were strong with a proper fist, and it ALSO revealed what the BIG issue is with the thumbs: my student has a perpetually itchy face and ZERO ability to live with it. They have long hair that gets messed up through the lesson and just the general itches of children, and they were using their thumbs as their āready to goā itch defender. I noticed this when the pennies were in the thumbs and they started digging their knuckles into their eyes.
Theyād complete a one step, and before I could even say āgood jobā the thumb would come out of the place in the fist and go to work adjusting hair or scratching itches. As frustrating as that is from a discipline perspective, at least I know that they UNDERSTAND the concept of a fist now. The thumb wasnāt coming out because they didnāt get intent: theyāre just more worries about not being itchy than defending themselves, haha. Iām sure youāve dealt with your share of this as well @kdjohn
LUNCHTIME WORKOUT
SUPERSET (press-chins)
Axle strict press
5xAxle
5x66
5x156
5x181
10x206
10x181
NG chins w/30lbs (various grips)
6x8
GIANT SETS (press-dip-raise-pull aparts) Sets 1 and 4: trap bar. Sets 2 and 5: axle. Sets 3 and 6: weighted dips.
Trap bar press 175
1x10
1x7
Axle strict press 156
1x12
1x9
Weighted dips w/95lbs
1x8
1x9
Dips
6xFailure
DB lateral raise 30lbs
6x12
Band pull aparts
6x13
PM
25 minutes of stretching and some single leg work
Notes: 3:45 between heavy presses, 2:00 between giant sets. With the hamstring still achy, I 86ād the log because of the clean and didnāt push until I blew up on the topsets. Weighted dips were a good bit of variety, but my set-up was wrong. I used a loading pin and 45lb plates, and I have my dip handles spaced so narrow that there was barely any clearance between the plates and the uprights. Had to be VERY precise while dipping to keep from smacking into the uprights. Felt like I was playing the claw game at an arcade. I usually use smaller diameter plates, but I loaned most of mine to a high school kid that didnāt have any during the quarantine. If I come back to this next week, Iāll get creative with the plates I have left.
The hamstring tends to feel fine if I keep moving. Iāll pick up and occasional twinge or ache. Long periods of inactivity are where it gets ugly. Also woke up this morning and forgot I was injured, so got out of bed quickly and yelped in pain, haha.
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I agree, congrats on the huge pressing by the way !
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I could fill an entire thread with times I wanted to pull my hair out.
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Pulling hair out would solve the itchiness problem, tbf.
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Iām glad the coin thing was kinda useful.
Maybe try an Eric Roberts style, slicked back TKD-top knot for the hair issues?
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@kdjohn Be fun to read, haha. I instructed physically and mentally disabled students back in the day, so challenges were unique compared to what Iām doing now. Still about as many hugs though, haha.
@mattjp A bald kid will still find something to itch. Kids are a good reminder of how annoying and weird you most likely were at their age, haha. Itās been maddening having a kid during COVID because kids CONSTANTLY are touching their faces and putting their fingers in their mouths. Itās like their face is still so new to them that they need to remind themselves that itās there. And if you ever play video games with a kid, they need to pause ever 4 to 6 seconds to scratch some itch on their face.
@FlatsFarmer Surely the Steven Seagal if I want to unlock latent powers, haha.
AM WORKOUT
5 minutes rope skipping
10 rounds on the BAS (2 minutes on, 1 minute rest)
Walking up and down a hill while my kid rode their bike
Notes: Fitness continues to improve. My hamstring twinged a few times on the BAS, but nothing drastic. Tried running on the hill and it was no nice, so I just had to walk quickly to catch up with my kid.
Will try to fit in stretching today. Itās my week on of work, so schedule will be compressed.
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