Morik's training log

Discussion in 'Training Logs' started by Morik, Oct 6, 2016.

  1. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    I want to track my progress. I think I'll do so better if I keep an online log, so here goes.

    I recently swapped up my schedule from training (traditional) Jiu Jitsu 2x/week + 1 weight training day.

    Now instead I'm planning on doing:

    Judo 2x/week (2hr each)
    jiu jitsu 2x/week (1hr each)
    Weight training 3x/2 weeks. (Still getting this set up, should start within the next few weeks.)

    So that's only 1-2 rest days per week. I'll have to see if this is too much.


    Without further ado...

    10/3 + 10/4: Attended JJ class

    10/5/16, attended first judo class (trial/free lesson).

    Quickly went over various falls. I already know them from Jiu Jitsu, just need to learn a slight modification on the forward roll, to end in 3-point fall instead of tucking legs and getting up from it.

    Was taught a new throw I didn't know (they said the name but I can't remember, and they didn't seem to stress learning the name). Some sort of forward throw after trapping one of their arms with your bicep.

    Did a few randori rounds. No one threw me during this--they said they wanted me to get a feel for my balance & my opponents balance as we move. I need to work on staying loose during this.
    I did get to throw my opponents a few times (they told me to go ahead and try to throw them even though they weren't going to throw me), and got good instruction on corrections/etc.
    Did the leg sweep I know from JJ, the hip throw I learned in JJ, and the forward throw I learned earlier tonight a few times each.

    I think I made my tailbone a bit worse though. Current injuries/issues:
    - Very minor pulled/strained muscle in my shoulder (from 10/4 JJ I think), only noticed it while stick rolling my calves. Took a quick 15 minute massage and the masseuse said she didn't want to go too deep on the shoulder because it wasn't releasing or something like that, and that I probably have a minor pull/strain. Didn't have any issues with it at judo on 10/5.

    - left thumb got forcibly extended backwards at JJ on 10/1. Have full mobility back in it but still a bit sore. (Its always sore though since an injury a few years ago while wrestling in an MMA class. Got cortisone a year or so ago, got full mobility & function back in it but a few things make it feel sore).

    - Right thumb also forcibly extended backwards at JJ on 10/1. We were working untrained-knife-attacker defenses (against a knife attacker who knows what he is doing we were told to just always run/do what they want as there isn't really any way to stop them empty handed). I was grabbing for control of a limb incorrectly and got my thumb hit pretty hard and bent backwards. I had injured this thumb a month or so ago in the same fashion (falling with my ~290lb weight against a wall while doing some parkour like thing, bending my thumb back, had mostly healed before I re-injured it here). Still swollen, don't have full range of motion, certain movements hurt a good bit. Pretty sure the bone is fine though, since most movements don't hurt at all.

    - bruised my tailbone (as far as I can tell) pretty good on 10/4 at JJ. It was exacerbated by the judo on 10/5 and last night I felt pretty beat up. Its feeling a lot better this morning (about where it was yesterday morning before I did judo).

    - something is wrong with the achilles tendon on my right foot. Pretty minor, its been having trouble for about 2 weeks now (pain with certain movements), has been getting better.

    Considering taking today as a rest day instead of going to JJ tonight... have been catching only 6-7 hours of sleep last few days. That said, my energy levels are still high, I don't feel tired/worn out today. Just my body seems to be getting more and more beat up.
    I'm away from home for the next few days anyway so will have a few days to rest regardless... we'll see.

    Oh and current weight as of today: ~284
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2016
  2. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Didn't train since last Weds due to a family emergency calling me out of town.
    Also got much less sleep (about 8 hours total) from Thurs (10/6) up through Saturday night (so 3 nights). One night was about 5 hours, the other two nights about an hour and a half each.
    I did get 11 hours of sleep though last night after arriving back home.

    10/10/16

    Went to Judo today. Warmup wore me out pretty good (I was panting and was unable to keep up when they did something like 80 pushups I did maybe 15-18, pushups are hard for me.)
    I couldn't even do all the jumping jacks--my leg muscles gave out about the same time as my cardio... I think they did something like 100 jacks. I didn't count, and they counted in Japanese which I don't speak, so not sure, but it lasted a very long time.

    Ground work today. Worked on a method to roll your opponent from the back (they are on their forearms & knees, you are behind, grab both lapels, hook a foot in their leg on one side, roll to that side, keep the hook so they can't spin on you).
    Then worked on some chokes & armbars from that position.
    I didn't do the armbars (was completely exhausted, starting to get nausea & a headache, so probably not hydrated enough either).

    Then did some ground randori (that isn't what they called it, didn't catch the term) for 45 sec each (a pair of 45 sec rounds, switching who gets bottom), though I sat out all but one pair of rounds due to being almost completely exhausted.

    Then they worked on counters to osoto gari and several other things that I didn't catch the names of.
    I sat out the whole time as I felt very beat/exhausted.

    Then they did some randori and I also sat out as they requested super new people sit out (also I was completely exhausted and wouldn't have been able to anyway i think without vomiting).

    I will try to get good sleep tonight for Jiu Jitsu tomorrow.

    Weight (morning of 10/11): 280.6 lb
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2016
  3. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    10/11/16

    Jiu Jitsu tonight.

    Worked some striking drills--jab into pads while pad holder moves around.
    Then same with counterstrikes coming in with a pad (randomly after a jab).
    Then 3-strike combos with random counterstrikes coming in with a pad after the combo.

    Worked defense against forearm choke with knife from behind. Mugging scenario: instructor says to just give them the money, every time. (EDIT: Also said to do it very slowly, don't startle attacker, and that if you think cops are twitchy wait til you see a criminal with a knife to your throat.)
    Instructor says if they are trying to take you somewhere though (so kidnapping), it is probably better to fight back right there if you're going to fight, because wherever your attacker takes you is going to be a better environment for the attacker.

    Sneak hands slowly up to belly height while placating attacker (sure, sure, whatever you want, etc), e.g., pretend you are stressed and holding your belly.
    Then very quickly hook all 10 fingers into their arm and press into body, remove one hand, strike a bunch to various places, close free hand over knife hand to prevent them opening it (do this from below so as not to cut yourself; your other hand is still pinning their arm to your body), then an escape (pushing their elbow up over your head and ducking out behind) & stab them with the knife while they still hold it, then a throw to take them down.

    Worked on some Ippons during open mat: low wedge attack into a knee cut (by defender), high wedge attack into a head grab & throw by defender (well, more of a powerstep back which twists their head).

    Handled the cardio much better today, though the JJ warmup is a bit less intense than the judo one, so...
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2016
  4. Guitar Nado

    Guitar Nado Valued Member

    I have to say seems like some pretty serious training you are doing with the judo and jujitsu with striking and knife defense. I'm pretty impressed by the intention of the stuff you are doing. For me in my training the scariest thing I can hear is "ok, we are doing X amount of burpees till I decide you stop", and it seems it is a bit more intense where you are training.

    So cool stuff anyways!
     
  5. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Oh just to clarify: the random striking is always the same strike (hook to head with pad), but we don't know if its coming or not, and are not to pre-emptively block it. So not super intense--I didn't really word it carefully. This is the basic class though. (We do often get a random strike from any of several directions though, just not tonight. We were mostly focusing on speed & accuracy with the jab + recoiling in time to cover block without pre-emptively just doing it.)
    Though higher belts get faster counter strikes thrown at them with more force. I'm just yellow right now.

    Once I hit blue belt I plan to go to the advanced class which is more intense, plus join the kickboxing class that meets afterwards a couple times a month, where they spar.

    The hardest part for me right now is that I have a lotta fat (I think something like 45% according to the scale we have at home, not sure as to its accuracy).
    So a lot of extra weight to haul around, and my cardio still isn't so great, though much better than it used to be.

    EDIT: Also we did do burpees this class during warmups, but more like "Do them til I say stop", but its only 45-60 seconds worth, and you can go at your own pace.
    And my forearms are a bit sore as we did some one-arm forearm blocking drills (high & low, both left & right, with same hand, for reflexes).
    The soreness is from attacking into the block; bruises the forearms a good bit.
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2016
  6. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    10/13/2016

    Weight this morning: 281.1

    Jiu Jitsu today. Main instructor out today, was taught by the usual Monday night instructor.

    Light on the cardio today--the only cardio during warmup was ~25 jumping jacks & 60 seconds of burpees (with pushup). No cardio intensive drills today aside from repeatedly getting up from throw/practice falls which isn't so bad.
    (I tend to have the worst time with cardio intensive striking drills.)

    First we did an exercise where our partner stands with their arms out like a scarecrow and you circle slowly making no-force contact to their torso with various strikes (but pushing in a bit after contact). The stated purpose: to get familiar with how a body feels in the various parts you may strike (vs being used to pads). (This class doesn't spar.)
    As we circle we should identify specific targets and strike them, not just random striking. E.g., thinking "solar plexus", "kidney", "ribs", then going for that part slowly, making sure to accurately land in the right place.
    Using boxing strikes, elbows, and palm blows.
    We did several rounds of this each, trading off with each one.

    Next we did some falling practice with a partner: Facing each other, slap hands then fall to the other side. E.g., we give high fives (sort of) with our right hands (cross-body), then side fall to our left side.

    We did a long open mat (a little under 25 minutes, usually get 10-15 minutes except on pure open mat days) after that, and I continued learning two of the ippons needed for my next belt (a high wedge & a low wedge sequence). One involves a neck wrench which we take very slowly in class.
    Also reviewed a couple other Ippons that I've previously learned which are for my next belt.

    As usual, I try to keep my awareness on how all the power in almost all the movements comes from the hips, and try to generate good power with strong hip movements.

    After open mat we continued with the topic of the week, static (not in motion, just placed on or near your body) knife attacks from the rear.
    The instructor again emphasized to only use these when your life/safety are at risk because the risk is too high that you get injured.

    Today we looked at the attacker putting the point of the knife to your lower back. Defend with a sudden twist, pushing their arm aside with your forearm, then quickly trapping with your other arm (it involves some footwork that helps with this as well) in a type of standing armbar.
    Only covered up to that part due to only having a few minutes left, which we spent practicing up to there.
    He briefly touched on a few things to do from that position though.

    One option is to just knee them in the face until they are unconscious or until they loosen their grip on the knife sufficiently for you to disarm them (which we will cover some other time). Told to use the near knee so as to maintain reasonable balance on your back leg. Instructor said it might take a while, but you can sit in that position for
    minutes and they can't really get out of it once you lock it in.
    Another option is to break their arm while forcing them to the ground.

    I would normally plan to go to Judo tomorrow, but I am going to a 3 hour JKD seminar on Saturday which is normally a rest day, so I'm taking tomorrow as the rest day instead.
     
  7. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Fun seminar today. We did some empty hand JKD entering combinations, then worked on stick fighting disarms.
     
  8. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Saw my new weight trainer for the first time today. Did a functional movement screen and a variety of mobility stuff, mostly just him assessing how I move and where problem areas might be.
     
  9. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Monday 10/17: Was feeling tired & worn down, took a rest day.

    Tues 10/18

    Weight: 280.3 lb

    JJJ today.
    We worked striking drills with palm blows, quick backfists (not much power, more distraction), and integrating vertical fist strikes (generally into the solar plexus) into combos.

    We worked some defensive drills too: one partner closes their eyes, the other circles (quietly) to any angle of their choice, when instructor says go you open your eyes, your partner attacks from that angle (speed & force of attack increasing with belt level, with white belts going pretty slow & light). Either grab/pull & swing (e.g., from behind, grab shoulder & pull, then throw a head or torso punch which they must block or evade).

    Worked on some standing submissions during open mat (guillotine off of a 2 hand push, standing ankle lock on an opponent on their back).
    The 2-hand push guillotine doesn't seem very viable to me; the black belt teaching this basically said this movement is just a demo and that guillotines are useful to know because untrained attackers will tend to leave their necks hanging out somewhat often. He also warned that unlike some of the other chokes we learn this one can permanently damage someone, so don't use it unless you are ok with severely damaging their windpipe.

    We then worked on defense on the ground when our opponent is mounting us. Worked hip thrust/bridge to keep opponent off balance and unable to strike with much power. Then worked doing the hip bridge and trapping their arm off their strike, then reversing into top mount with another bridging motion.
     
  10. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Weds 10/19: Rest day

    Thurs 10/20: JJJ today.
    The main cardio warmup (after jumping jacks/jogging in place/jumping & other leg movements) gassed me by the end, though I recovered from it much faster than usual.
    It was: partner stands facing away with small thai pads or mitts, you army crawl through their legs from behind, get up and turn around, jab cross hook hook uppercut uppercut knee knee, go around behind them and do it all again. Ran for maybe 60 seconds.
    I went 100% for the first 2/3rds of it, then I was slowing down a lot by the end and gassed out right at the call to switch.

    We worked on natural seeming ways to stand with your arms up. E.g., one arm across your chest (like if you cross your arms, but just with one), the other up by your mouth.
    Then we worked aggression from partner: they walk up and shove you, give verbal aggression, then strike, which you cover block or forearm block depending on the distance and if you see it in time. We were supposed to try to get our hands up without escalating as soon as they shove you. Going into a fighting stance could escalate things, so find more natural looking ways. (Not necessarily the one I used as an example above--that probably wouldn't look natural if someone has just shoved you.)

    We worked some bob & weaves as well, drilling slipping around behind them and attacking tailbone & neck.

    Worked on various ippons during open mat.

    We were going to continue with ground strike defenses, this time when you are in your opponents guard, but open mat ran long because a couple orange & green belts are going up for their next belt soon and needed some extra reps, plus lots of people were still asking questions about what they were working on/etc. So that will be for next week.
     
  11. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Friday 10/21: Went to a concert, so no training.

    Sat 10/22: No training today. I'v been thinking about giving Muay Thai a shot (would replace all my other MA training, or maybe Muay Thai + BJJ, but thinking Muay Thai by itself for a while first.)
    I stopped by the Muay Thai place that would be most convenient for me (well, the most convenient place that does regular sparring) and scheduled a trial lesson for the 24th.

    Sun 10/23: Weight training today. Did a ton of work on my hamstrings--my trainer wants to strengthen my hamstrings & glutes to help with some leg issues I have (tendency to externally rotate one leg, and I hyper-extend my knees).
    We did a lot of body weight stuff (valslides doing bridge->reverse curl, for instance) as well as some things like weighted step-ups & uneven farmers carry.
     
  12. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Monday 10/24.

    Moderately (maybe somewhere between moderately and very) sore today, especially glutes, obliques, and hamstrings. Quads are a bit sore but ok.

    I hit the foam roller before training. I went to the trial Muay Thai class today. I'm glad I've been taking JJJ 3+ times a week for a month or so. I don't think I'd have made it through class otherwise.

    Now, I didn't actually fully gas out at any point (not as badly as some of the JJJ drills do). But the instructor was having me go very slow and giving me breaks while the others did stuff since I'm new and he wants to ease me into it.
    E.g., we do drills for a while, then everyone does burpees for a bit and he tells me to go drink some water.

    Nonetheless, it was a very hard workout.

    We started with jumprope, though I only did 30 seconds or so before he pulled me off to work on stance/etc.

    He had me shadow box for a bit with the 4 boxing strikes + elbows and a few types of kicks (he went over all of those real quick, saw I was familiar with everything but the kicks, gave a few pointers such as more torso rotation on the jabs/crosses to extend range more, showed me the kicks, and off I went).

    I did a lot of drills on a padded pole (e.g., do 30 push kicks each side. Do 20 leg kicks on each side. Do punching & kicking combos. Etc.

    Worked on several things with partners:
    - Kick feints (fake kick, opponent moves to block it, you put your foot down and then go fast as soon as they relax from the block)
    - Ultra Light (my term) sparring. A slowed down and less contact version of what the instructor called technical sparring where on the kicks you make contact before doing the extension/push. So on a roundhouse you would move your leg into position at full speed, but lay your shin on opponent and then finish the kicking motion (so kicking off them). I could feel how powerful the opponents kicks would be without actually being damaged by them. The version I did was slowed down and had no contact with the hands (throw punches, but stop short of contact).
    - Various other kicking drills (e.g., shin blocks)

    One of my shins is pretty sore. I was wearing the loaner shin guards (which smelled so incredibly bad that I think it rates in the top 5 worst smells I've smelt in my life). I feel like they dug into my shin a bit in one spot where I caught a couple kicks--it was quite painful. I have a nice bruise developing now. Hopefully by next class it won't be so bad. I also have my own shin guards for next class (I foolishly forgot to bring them).

    At the end of class we did 1,000 ab exercises. By "we" I mean the others. I did what I could.
    It went something like:
    - 100 crunches
    - 100 seconds of plank
    - 100 leg raises
    - and so forth, for 10 exercises total, all focusing on various parts of the abs.

    I was surprised by how much I was able to do and still keep going. I felt like the instructor did a really good job of keeping me balanced on the edge of being too tired to continue. I.e., he worked me just about as hard as I could go without being miserable/gassing out/puking/etc, and kept it at a steady burn for the full 2 hours.

    I am pretty exhausted now. I also have a mild headache like I used to get after working harder than I was used to in JJJ. I don't think its hydration related; I've been having tons of water and my urine color has been pretty clear all day, including after class. I had 64 oz of water during the 2 hour class, and maybe 40 oz of water during the day before that (as well as 24oz of coke zero).

    I signed up for a month, will try to get down there 3 times a week. This first week I may have to limit myself to 2--I'll see how I feel later this week.

    I forgot to ask my instructor about bag drills I can do at home (I have a heavy thai bag). I figure I can at least do the drills that we did in class.

    EDIT: Oh and I rubbed both my nipples raw cause my shirt was so soaked I guess and the way I was moving around it chaffed a lot... My wife mentioned male runners get this issue and have products which can help--I'll look into that.
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2016
  13. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Tuesday 10/25

    Rest day today, but I wanted to note how I'm feeling so I can look back later at how much I've improved in terms of recovering well (hopefully) from sessions.

    Weight this morning: 279.6 (I had gone up to 283 or so over the weekend after eating out several times).

    Had to wear bandaids on my nipples--they are still very irritated.
    My right knee is not doing so great. Walking on it is fine, but stairs were giving me sharp pain in the joint. Relatively high level of pain.
    I often get sore knees after training, though they tend to adapt and stop getting sore after a while of doing similar activities, so I'm hoping that will happen here too.

    To be fair, I did take a kick to the side of my right knee last night (not very hard, but hard enough to buckle it to the inside a bit). I also had a push kick caught and was forced backwards to the ground; I recall hyper-extending that knee a bit as I came down (i.e., like I knee-barred myself a bit). So it could also be from those mild traumas.

    I've been trying to keep the joint moving a lot today. No pain if I'm just kicking my leg out/rocking it side to side a bit while sitting. I'm trying to get up and walk around more than usual today too.

    Both shins have developed some bruising. That one spot where I had a lot of pain from catching 2 kicks (despite the shin guards) has a pretty good bruise developing.

    My headache from last night got a lot worse when I lay down to sleep, and my head felt very hot compared to the rest of me. The headache was gone in the morning though.

    My right achilles is still sore. Its worse today that it has been in a while. I'm guessing coming up on the ball of that foot a lot irritated it.
    Hoping it recovers well in a few days.

    Overall I feel much better today than I expected. Though my energy level is a bit low. I don't typically have a big breakfast, only 200 calories or so.
    This is usually ok (I think) cause I generally have food right before bed. E.g., last night I had 1.5 bananas 30 min before bed.

    I'm wondering if I had enough food yesterday... from memory it was something like:
    Breakfast:
    luna bar (190 cal, it has 9g protein, 6g fat, 26g carbs)

    Lunch:
    2 cups white rice, 1/2 cup chicken, 1/2 cup cod, beans, various fruits & vegetables in a bowl (pineapple, kimchee, onions, etc).
    I think I only ate about 70% of it though. (guesstimating 450 cal)

    1 bao bun with pork belly (~150 cal)

    Snack before muay thai (~2 hours before):
    1/4 cup cubed turkey, 6 cherry tomatoes, 1/4 red bell pepper, 1/4 cup of carrots.
    (guesstimating 150 cal)

    Second snack before muay thai (~1 hour before):
    Fig & blueberry bar (whole wheat giant fig newton, basically. 180 cal, 5g fat, 4g protein, 34g carbs)

    Dinner after muay thai:
    spinach leaves, ground turkey with riced cauliflower (~1-1.5 cups), cheese (maybe 3 tablespoons), tomatoes (4 tablespoons), sour cream (maybe 2.5-3 tablespoons), crushed tortilla chips (maybe 1/2-1 cup)
    (Not really sure on calories for this one... maybe 600-700?)

    Snack before bed: 1.5 bananas (~150 cal)

    So that is ~2000 calories.

    I used some random calculator I found online, entered moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 per week)
    It says my minimum calories are 1800, and to lose 1lb/week I should eat 3336 calories per day.
    For 2 lbs/week it would be 2836 calories.

    So it sounds like I may not be eating enough? I'll have to think about how to get more food in on days I go to muay thai. (I'm usually full/not hungry most of the time now that I've settled into eating roughly like the above every day.)
    Maybe I'll start a thread about this and get some opinions/advice.
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2016
  14. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Weds 10/26

    Another rest day. Feeling good today--no knee pain on stairs (or anywhere), achilles has calmed down from yesterday (was irritated), no more DOMS.

    That big shin bruise is still not great but it seems to be healing a little. I think it will be ok for more Muay Thai tomorrow.
     
  15. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Thurs 10/27

    Muay Thai today for 2 hours.

    It was quite rough--I knew before I even started that my energy level or something was off today. I was almost breathing heavy just from walking 1/4 a block and crossing the street to get from where I parked to there.

    We started with a 30 minute warmup. I couldn't manage most of it.
    They started a 3 minute round timer with 60 seconds between rounds.

    To start, 5 sets of:
    - Jump-rope 3 minutes (during round)
    - during 1 minute round-break do 20 pushups or 20 squats (alternates), then plank for the remaining duration.
    No rest in between sets.

    I managed maybe 30-45 seconds of jump-rope before I had to start taking breaks to avoid gassing.
    I did pushups on my knees (I can do full pushups, but not sets of 20 reps. More like 8-10 reps.)

    After that they ran laps around the mat for maybe 10 minutes. 3/4ths of the mat was just jogging, 1/4th was different stuff such as:
    - Sprint as fast as you can
    - Side-travelling ape
    - Backwards crab walk
    - etc

    I jogged for a bit but then had to go down to walking. I would occasionally jog more (until I was winded) then go back to walking until a little bit after I wasn't winded anymore. I didn't do most of the activities for the 1/4 of the mat as I was too winded.

    Then we kneed heavy bags for a while (both knees alternating). No rest between the jogging & this, but it was followed by a water break.

    Then we loosened up or something (I'm guessing the reason, wasn't told the purpose) with "play sparring". No protective gear, no contact or very very light contact. Just get in stance, get moving around, throw some slow, relaxed, gentle jabs/crosses/hooks/kicks.

    After that an experienced student took me aside and went over stance & strikes again (again since I did this on Monday too).

    We worked a variety of drills with checking kicks with our shin guards on, then countering. We also worked on feints/kick fakes into full kick slipping past guard (if you sneak it in correctly--if not it gets checked). Not using much force here, contact was pretty light. I could feel it on that big bruised area of my shin, but only very mildly. The new shin guards are good.

    We then worked on response to getting your leg trapped off a kick for a while.

    After that we worked on the clinch--swimming for position, knees to the ribs. We didn't turn our leg so it was more inner-thigh just above knee to the rib--told that in a fight you would try to turn your leg as much as possible, but that it tends to be pretty hard due to the position you try to maintain with your hips up & forward to keep from getting your head pulled down and to minimize distance between you and opponent so they can't get power into their knee strikes against you.

    We ended with the 1000 reps of ab exercises: plank (1s = 1 rep, so 100 seconds), crunches, side plank (100 secs each side), and various others. I couldn't keep up with the speed at which they did the exercises (though I try to maintain good form, I noticed some others not maintaining good form). I also couldn't do that many reps of any of them.
    Did maybe 80/100 on the easier ones, maybe 50 on a couple, and more like 20-30 reps on the harder ones.

    I almost bit it walking up the stairs at the end of class--my calves were cramping very badly going up the stairs. I'm guessing from all that time on the balls of my feet & raising myself up when kicking/in clinch/etc.

    Despite all this, I felt pretty ok once I got home. No headache so far (its been a few hours now).
     
  16. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Fri 10/28: Rest day

    Sat 10/29: Ugh. I was planning to go to Muay Thai for 2 hours today.
    Unfortunately I woke up with a migraine and feeling very un-energetic.

    So I got up (~1 hour before I'd have to leave for class) and took my migraine medicine, had some breakfast (yogurt & pork jerky), packed up my gear and headed out there.

    My plan was that if I felt better enough when I got there I'd go to class, otherwise I'd just go do the errands I was going to run after class anyway.

    I wasn't feeling better by class time and went and ran errands. I still don't feel very good, but I'm disappointed that I didn't get to go to class. I am eager to improve my conditioning so I can keep up with the rest of the class more than I'm doing so far.

    I have weight training tomorrow (Sunday)--I may also try to get in some heavy bag work to compensate somewhat for missing class today.
    Though I shouldn't over-do it as I have class again on Monday.
     
  17. Knee Rider

    Knee Rider Valued Member Supporter

    There is a bit of bad stuff going around right now. I've been ill for a week or more myself (low energy, bunged up, headaches). I dropped in on an open mat/drilling class on Wednesday at a gym near me. It almost killed me. I thought I was better but I was not. Next day I got really sick (vomiting).

    My advice is to rest up properly and bit force yourself back early :) you'll thank yourself for it long term!
     
  18. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Sun 10/30
    Saw my weight trainer today. We did mostly mobility stuff, continuing to address problems with my legs. Lots of resistance band stuff & stability muscle activation (e.g., overhead press (18kg kettlebell) from half-kneeling position, and elastic band chops from half kneeling while trainer has a band against the upright leg pulling it inward).

    Opted not to do heavy bag work today but rather to save my energy for Muay Thai tomorrow.
     
  19. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Mon 10/31

    2.25 hours Muay Thai today, and it killed me pretty good. Class ended a little over 3 hours ago and I feel one of those exertion headaches or whatever they are lurking, but it hasn't materialized fully. Hopefully if I keep drinking water, it won't. I also had dinner: chicken, baked sweet potato, and green beans. It seemed to help a bit too.

    We started with a few rounds (3 min rounds, 1 min between rounds) of jump-rope. Between rounds pushups & plank, or jump squats & plank, or v-sit-ups & plank, etc.

    I managed maybe 100 total seconds of jump-rope. I did pushups on my knees.
    I was already dripping by round 3 (maybe 60 seconds of jump-rope in). (As in, every time I jumped for the jump-rope 3+ drops of sweat would shake loose from my head/hair and fall on me, at least for the first few jumps after a break.)

    Then we did some jogging & other stuff (sprints, forward rolls, bear crawl, etc). I didn't do the sprints, I jogged slower than most of the class, but managed not to slow to a walk for most of it.

    This was followed by skip-knees to a heavy bag, then a couple different quad & hip stretches.

    We then shadow boxed for a few rounds. After the first round the instructor had us work in specific combos. E.g., kick fake/feint, step through to opposite stance (so if normally a righty with left side forward a bit, you step through so your right side is forward a bit), throw 3-4 punches, then kick from the rear.
    Between rounds we did v-situps, pushups, and punch-outs (high knees while punching rapidly).

    We drilled kicks into bags for a bit (something like 100 kicks, 50 each side).
    We then worked with a partner on slipping jabs & crosses with counter-strikes (both punches & kicks in various combinations, usually 1-2 punches with 1 kick).

    We worked on hook kicks for a while. Opening my hips like that, suddenly, feels uncomfortable in a similar way to the frog stretch, which feels pretty unique compared to other stretches. If not familiar with that (first vid I found on youtube): [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3gHK8nH2t8"]The Frog Series: to improve your squat- kicks -and splits - YouTube[/ame].

    Hook kicks seem useful if you kick a lot (as is done in Muay Thai), as you have more options from the same opening kicking motions, and those options impact very different target zones (e.g., leg kick hooking into a downward-diagonal impact into their neck).

    Then we play sparred for a bit (no equipment on, ultra light contact, slower speed).

    After that we geared up (gloves, mouthguards, shin guards) and sparred for a few rounds, switching partners each round. I asked for slow/light as this is my 3rd class.
    Still technical sparring--kicks are a bit slower and you chamber it against your opponent (instead of swinging your lower leg like a bat at them), and then push back off them. On the punches I generally went 80-90% speed with very little power behind it. I enjoyed it.
    In between rounds (that 1 min period) we did various exercises like pushups/burpees/v-situps. It was hard--my muscles were pretty tired from similar exercises earlier.

    The end of the class is what really got me (aside from the warmup).
    With a partner we did 30 kicks with each side into a heavy bag while they held it in place.
    Then we did 15-second punchouts into the bag while they held it, then got a 15 second break while they did it (3-4 rounds of this).
    Then we wall-sat while our partner bear-crawled to the other side of the mat and back, then we switched. 3 rounds of that (I could only do the first round--I was panting and slouched against the wall after the first one, unable to wall sit or bear crawl anymore--I was pretty gassed from the kicking & punchouts). I did manage the 3rd one, very slowly.

    Then we did leg raises while holding a partner's ankles, and they catch your lower leg as you come up and throw you back down to the left, right, and center (alternating). 30 reps per partner, 1 round. I think I was pretty dehydrated by this point (I had had ~50oz of water prior to class, and another ~30oz during class)--I started getting a bad throbbing headache during the last few of these, which went away when I stopped exerting myself on the brief (~1 minute) break after this.

    Then we finished with 500 ab reps instead of the usual 1000. I managed to do maybe 250 reps of stuff, but with poor form and some of the reps wouldn't have been counted as anything approaching a rep (e.g., for crunches, just twitching my back off the floor briefly for some of the reps when I couldn't do any more). The throbbing headache returned occasionally, and I would stop exercising and wait it out, then continue. It got more frequent & worse as we neared the end.

    After that the class did some more stretches while I went and stood by the toilet cause I thought I was going to vomit (I didn't though).

    I spoke to the instructor afterwards and asked about going easier on the warmup (even though I already skip or reduce the intensity of a lot of it) to save more for later in the class and he said I should do that, and that after a month or so I'll be a bit more conditioned and it will get easier.

    I should also note that I still don't feel as bad as I did after the first JJJ lesson I took back at the start of summer. After that I felt horrible for the rest of the night (starting on the way home, every bump in the road was a spike of pain through my head), nauseated, headache.
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2016
  20. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Tues 11/1

    Weight this morning: 277.7
    Rest day.

    I did get a headache last night, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the prior one.
    Feeling pretty good overall, recovered well from class yesterday.
     

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