AxelB's running, lifting and kicking log

Thursday continued

BJJ - 1h15mins

A different coach in and we were given extra 30minutes, although I had to get back, so planned to stay for the usual 1 hour.

Usual warmup then ground work drills.

From closed guard work arm bar from closed guard, then onto kimura from guard, and finally triangle from guard.
Worked this a few times, then onto guard passing/passing defense drills
A number of drills working on person standing attempting guard pass from standing, worked a number of defenses.

After an hour we went onto sparring, I didn't want to leave without some rolling, so stayed for a bit longer. Rolled with a partner who I've rolled with a few times before and knowing I only had a short time left decided to up the pace a bit more
I felt some more improvements, I was able to workout out of north south to side control then half guard, almost rolled out of north south a few times as they attempted sub setup.
lucky I put my gum shield in for it as I took an elbow to the chops during a scramble.

My abs were feeling fatigued from all the drills earlier bringing hips up in the guard, probably due to the ab wheel a couple of days before - I'll probably stick with that routine for now.

Back again Monday for more fun

 

Friday

Squat
20kgx10, 40kgx10, 50kg 4x10, 50kgx14 (a reserved AMRAP).

Strangely my quads cramped a bit (again) on 3rd working set for the first rep, which cleared up on the other reps.

Bent row
20kgx10, 35kg 4x10, 35kgx12

Lunges (no bar) 3x10

5 minute shadow boxing at about 135 bpm HR. Focused on foot work, kick defense, and kick combinations.
I always find it hard to do anything kick related whilst keeping HR down, so I kept the kicks infrequent.

5 minutes stretching.

My daughter has the same illness that my son had, so they both missed their TKD lesson today despite wanting to go.
Another bad night's sleep for the family, I'm hoping that my wife and I don't get the lurgy next.

Average weight 87kg - I've been eating more and running less, so a slight increase is expected.

I have been drinking a bit more recently (by that i mean i have been drinking, whereas before it would be maybe 1 drink a month) adding to the weight increase, and came to the conclusion that beer makes me snore really badly every time, which is bad for my rest, asthma and also bad for the wife's rest!
Even with 1 can/ bottle and nothing else and the snoring is really bad, whereas 3 glasses of wine or a few measures of vodka and its not a problem.
Very frustrating as I enjoy a beer, but not the end if the world.

 

Saturday/ Sunday

Rest, 2 kids recovering, and I was happy to keep it low key with the lack of sleep.

Monday
BJJ 1 hour

Working drills for taking the back and setup for a collar choke.
Drilled this a few times with some variations.

Finished with a couple 5 min rounds sparring from knees. It was another busy class so the rolling was moderate intensity, first roll was great, working with someone who seemed to be similar skill level, no subs, but plenty of transitions, escapes and setups between us that it felt I learnt a lot from it.

Tuesday

Feeling a little rough and my resting HR has been up, taking that into account iI changed my lift to a deload

Bench
20kgx10, 40kgx5, 50kgx5, 60kgx5, 70kgx5
Curl 20kg 2x10
Ab wheel rollout from knees superset with pushup
3, 5.

1 minute shadow boxing.

 

Wednesday

Thursdays is our Wedding anniversary, so managed to get to the day time BJJ session in lieu of Thursday night.

1 hour BJJ

Worked on passing de la riva guard to half guard, to knee mount, into side control.
Drilled this in sections and put some variations on common defense when attempting to pass.

Finished with a couple rounds of sparring from knees. I was partnered up with an old school friend who I also trained briefly in mma with before I had kids, he had also taken a break recently, but skill level is a lot higher having competed pro MMA. It was good to see his skills were still there as he tapped me out a few times

Plenty of random bruises today, where do they come from? I never notice when they happen.

rhinitis was being a problem during Wednesday night which was going on my chest, but fortunately no chest infection - if it continues I will take Friday as a deload or rest depending on how my body is.
Given my sleeping HR is about 62bpm instead of mid 50s (usually 55ish) I will opt for deload at least if improvement is shown.

 

Thursday

Rest

Friday

Bad nights sleep for various reasons, illness and personal things on my mind.
So today was rest day, managed to get 40 mins nap at lunch.
worked the trigger point in the evening, my muscles were surprisingly loose, apart from the usual calf tightness.

 

Sounds like your day (and previous night) went exactly the same way that mine did, up to and including the prolonged nap!

Travess

 

Saturday/Sunday
rest

Monday 15th Oct

feeling better and resting HR back to normal.
In an effort to get back to the routine I planned a short run despite the awful weather.
Anticipating loads of puddles, I figured I may as well embrace it and go off road around the lake with my new running coat and trail shoes.
Lunch run:
2.86mi 32m34s 11'22" min/mi avg pace avg HR 149bpm

Kept it easy going, HR was high relative to pace which is a combination of lack of condition, and running on trail.

Evening
BJJ - 1 hour

After warmup started with a drill from outside fight range, anticipating a long hook attack, change level and move to clinch whilst covering.
from there working a takedown
Next part worked pulling guard from grip.
Final drill was to work on basic guard pull from knees, or push on knee/shoulder to side mount.

Specific sparring was from closed guard - work to pass guard, or work to sweep from bottom position. I felt a lot of things working, a few times it seemed I kneeded a bit of muscle to move the open guard and bring the knee through, so I will have a think about how I can do that with less force.
Also passing half guard sucks, I had looked at a few pass options, but without drilling them they don't come to me so well in sparring until after I finished.
A few people I was able to not get subbed/mounted that often do, instead it became more of a stale mate, and some I was able to pass to mount which feels like I had some progress.

Tuesday

Feeling much better in general, physically and mentally. Missing squat/deadlift on Friday feels good on the legs, I feel a lot fresher than normal but at the same time I know I'll feel it more when I get back to the leg work.

bench
after last weeks ad hoc deload, I came back to where I left off; this week was intensity cycle.
20kgx10, 40kgx8, 50kgx7, 60kgx5, 70kgx3, 75kg AMRAP- x12 (I left a few in the tank so I'm not ruined for the next BJJ session).
curls
20kgx10, 25kg 2x10
Ab wheel kneeling 5, 8 (felt very easy)
ab wheel standing rollout 3
pushups 5, 8, 10.

3 minutes shadow boxing, foot work, some hands and kick work.
15 minutes all over stretching.
5 minutes meditation

 

Nice to read that you are on the mend!

Travess

 

Wednesday

Some light cardio was planned, instead I had a trip to ikea to load ~40kg of furniture, office chair and draws into the car and our with provided a little workout. Just as well as I didn't have time after this was completed.

Thursday 18th

I had bag work or run planned, but I had some ikea furniture to carry up 2 flights of stairs and assemble. Another workout of sorts, not quite the same cardio though.

BJJ - 1 hour

Today I realised that I should have held back more on the ab wheel as my abs felt on fire and regularly cramped during warmup.
The rest of class I did what I could to not use abs in techniques when I could.
Throw drill was greater inner reap / O uchi gari.
I used this a fair amount in my judo days having long legs and taller than most, however the rust was thick on this technique for me so it was great to practise.
Ground work drills:
On top of Half guard, cross over with leg trapped, bring your jacket across their neck to meet grip behind and other hand crosses over to Ezekiel choke, then lift their hand up and bring the loose leg over to tighten the choke.
Nasty choke came on quick once the leg came over.

Sparring; a 3 rounds from knees, I didn't get to spar any non white belts today so I didn't get "smeshed", instead some productive rolls, but made sure to roll with the high striped whites.
At the start of roll I took in what my coach said from the last session, if they stall try for top position, if they come in aggressively for top, or pass attempt then go straight to guard; this worked really well, got straight into it quickly.
Sweeper info mount more often now and worked to maintain before attempting sub.
Pulled off my old favourite cross collar choke from mount after securing the grip from closed guard, then sweep to mount (have to say I was very pleased to get that off )
Also arm bar from s mount, I seem to get arm bars more often than most other subs, I think without realising it, the positions I get to present them better.

Today's bruise collection can only be described best as leopard spots on my arm
I was laughing with one of the other guys after about the random bruises we get; in kickboxing I usually know where they occur and why (who from), but BJJ seems to be less noticeable at the time of occurrence.

 

Friday

knowing that I will be away Monday, so not running or BJJ, I opted to push today's lift a little more than normal.

Deadlift
20kgx10, 60kgx10, 70kgx8, 85kgx5, 90kg 2x10, 90kg AMRAP x18 (I left about 2-3 a few in the tank).
High bar Squat
20kgx10, 40kgx10, 50kgx5, 55kg 2x10, 55kg AMRAP x12 (left about 1-2 in the tank)

Bag work
About 10 mins keeping it easy, I didn't have my HR monitor on, so work on feeling to keep it about 140bpm
3x 2min 30s with 30s rest
1 round basic jab cross, or hook, hook, alternating every 30s.
1 round various jab cross hook upppercut combinations
1 round working rear hook, lead uppercut, cross, lead uppercut, trying to get a gentle flow going
I had about 1 minute left of my 10 minutes after the rounds, so went for a bit of everything - a track I like came on the radio which might have upped the intensity somewhat

finished with 10 minutes stretching, wanted to do a bit more, but I run out of lunch time, and fortunately had some tuna mayo already made to cram in my mouth before going back to work.

 

Oooh haven't posted a log since Friday.

Well I did do something despite this week being relatively training free due to school holidays.

Saturday

Knowing I would not be training again until Wednesday at the earliest I joined my wife in the gym.

Bench press
20kgx10, 40kgx10, 50kgx8, 60kgx8.
70kg 5x10 AMRAP on the last set x11.

Pushups superset with situps
2x8

(Avoided an wheel due to ab cramping on Thursday and still sore)

The rest of the week has been active with the kids, plenty of walking but no "workouts".
Stayed at a hotel which had a mattress that can only be described as wood, so my hip and glutes where sore a couple of days after.

Thursday

BJJ 1 hour
A much anticipated session after a week off.
Warmup followed by throw drills.
O uchi gari - greater inner sweep,
and setup from o Soto gari major outer reap.

Ground work drill; side control hip escape, to head towards then double leg from ground to side control.

Sparring from knees was with blue belts so it was a tough roll, but plenty learnt. Mostly that my guard needs more work.
I gassed quickly a few times, I have been feeling a bit off this week with my chest, I'm on double doses since Sunday, so I need to remember to check my peakflow for the next week.

 

Friday

Peak flow was okay, my chest felt sore and lots of aches around so decided to do no workout knowing that I would be driving at the weekend which usually pushing my asthma to chest infection time.

Saturday/Sunday

A fair bit of time in traffic visiting family, so no time for a workout.

Monday

I had DIY which was overdue, so I did this instead of a short run. I probably got a fair amount of cardio going up and down stairs and putting shelves together:
Without BJJ my calorie burn was 3026kcal

In the evening
BJJ 1 hour
Usual warmup then into a drill working figure 4/Americana from mount, a few nice steps to get it in tight and prevent resistance.
Followed this with a combination to arm bar if they used the other arm to resist.

Sparring was split intoi weight over or under 80kg.
Starting from mount (or under).
My mount needs a lot of work I tried out what we drilled today, but everyone was doing the same and also resisting.

Next was sparring starting side control. I felt improvement here in my escapes and control. I rolled with someone who must have been very new (white) as they went full pelt under my side control, so it was good practise to maintain the control before attempting transition/submission. I was surprised how much of a gas tank they had to keep going I certainly would have been gassed at a tenth of the time.

Tuesday
I had to pick something up, so ran there and back 1 mile each way, 10 minutes one way 11 minutes back. Legs felt good and general effort was easy.

Bench press
20kgx10, 40kgx5, 50kgx5, 60kgx5, 72.5kgx3, 77.5kgx8, 77.5kgx8, 77.5kgx10

Bent row 20kgx10, 40kg 3x5
Curl 20kg 2x10

Superset with pushups, sit-ups 2x10 and technical standup 2 each side for 2 sets.

2 mins Shadow boxing.

 

Wednesday

rest

Thursday

planned BJJ, but other half was working late. Felt disappointed not to be able to go, but these things happen, and I'm still got a session in Monday

 

Friday
given that I've regularly fatigued, my sleep is not great due to kids waking me most nights I decided to drop my lifts by about 80% - follow the rest of my current program but at a little bit less weight

Squat
20kgx5, 40kgx5, 55kg 4x5, 55kgx6

Deadlift
40kgx5, 60kgx5, 80kgx5, 100kg 4x5, 100kgx7

10 minutes stretching

Saturday/Sunday

mostly rest, some activity with the family, including a 2 mile walk on Sunday

30minutes trigger point roller.

Monday

Running 1.89 miles 20min50s, 10'59"min/mi
just a short run to ease myself back in.

I ran about 345miles this year, and if I can get to 400 miles among all other tasks I will be happy, acheivable with 2-3 short runs a week.

Evening:
BJJ - 1 hour

Usual warmup followed by drilling the scissor sweep from closed guard. I was glad to get some time to practise this, I've seen it and tried a few times rolling but not really had a chance to drill the aspects.
Following on from that, cross collar choke from mount.

sparring starting from mount/under for a few rounds, then starting in closed guard.
For the most part I worked on maintaining the mount as best I could rather than sub hunting - this worked well as eventually the subs presented themselves. under mount I worked defences and escape, did not even look for subs, this also worked well - waiting for a sub attempt then worked escapes.
With closed guard I looked for sweeps and breaking posture instead of sub hunting - worked well except for when my ego got the better, a new white belt tried a pushdown choke, so I attempted armbar instead of breaking posture, and they passed
From in closed guard, I made some passes, which I was pleased with - for the most part is was into half guard which was some improvement.

Tuesday

Bench press
20kgx5, 40kgx5, 60kgx5, 70kg 4x5, 70kgx8

pushups/situps 2x10

4x 2min30s rounds of bag work - kicks only (some punches slipped out but mostly worked kicks)

15minutes stretching.

My left knee felt a bit "twingy" and know what my body was like I expected it was my usual calf knots - 30minutes leg focused trigger point and trigger ball rolling calfs, quads, glutes and IT band.

The twinge has alleviated for the most part, so I will keep the roller routine regular for the next few days.

 

...and, still massively out lifting me!

Travess

 

Wednesday

BJJ - 1 hour
warmup followed by side control escape, set up whilst they pass the guard on the outside - setup for kimura.
2 variations on the drill depending on where they would move once attempting the escape.
sparring - started with a blue belt so I knew I was in for a fun time worked on maintaining base in closed guard and few passes - made some improvement in escape from triangle attempt. worked with someone fairly new so just kept to transitions, sweeps. Then another blue so I was pretty exhausted by the end. I felt like some improvements in technique, but clearly plenty of improvement in movement efficiency required to lower fatigue.

Thursday

I suspected I would not be able to train late, so went for a short run.
1.8 miles 19mins 148bpm avg HR

evening BJJ 1 hour I was able to attend
warmup followed by takedown combination drill - ko-uchi gari, to O-uchi gari (minor inner reap to major inner).
follow up with 3 throw combo - major to minor to finish on major.
Glad to practice these as they were my preferred takedowns from judo days.
ground work; escape from side control on back control, then a variation of it trapping the hand into arm triangle.
Sparring was good, had some great flow rolls making transitions, sweeps and guard passing. the last 2 rolls was with blue belts, so I was exhausted by the end - last guy was very nice and let me start in side control towards the end as he could tell I was tired

Friday

wasn't sure how this would go with lack of sleep (6 hours average this week) and I didn't eat as much as usual this morning
Squat
20kgx5, 40kgx5, 50kgx5, 60kg 2x5, 60kgx7

Deadlift
60kgx5, 80kgx5, 100kgx3, 110kgx3, 115kg 2x5, 115kgx6

I felt the strain on the deadlift, probably due to lack of fuel and sleep.

5minutes shadow boxing, foot work and punch combinations.

filled after the workout to make sure I got some fuel in

My leg looks like it used to when I was sparring a lot kickboxing/sanda - I guess someone was leaning on my shins at some point

 

Saturday/Sunday

A trip away which meant I stayed at a hotel and went to bed when the kids did. 8.5 hours sleep my watch said, but my hips said the bed wasn't to my liking.

Monday

lunch run 1.95 miles 21 minutes 11min/mi 150bpm avg HR

evening
BJJ - 1 hour
usual warmup, then we added some neck warmup which reminded me of wrestling warmup on my head slowly rocking back and forward - at least it did not progress onto the neck bridge we used to do in wrestling
drill guillotine escapes, then sparred from back mount, then side control.
Finished the lesson with getting my first BJJ grade, a stripe on my shiny white belt

Tuesday

Bench
20kgx5, 40kgx5, 50kgx5, 60kgx5, 70kgx5, 77.5kg 2x5, 77.5kgx6
row
40kg 2x5
curl
20kg 2x10
pushups/situps 2x10

warm down with some sweeping up of leaves in the garden!

 

Wednesday

Running
Time to get the mileage back up gradually.
I'm planning to get 400 miles total before the end of the year, so realistically that means before Christmas.

Today was 4.5 miles 46min 10'22" minutes/mi 154bpm AVG HR

After that run I'm at 354 miles this year, so 9.2 miles average a week over the next 5 weeks will get me there.
Let's see how it pans out

That's the first mid distance run I've done for a few weeks, and now I'm super hungry!!

 

Initially read that as the distance that you wanted to cover between NOW and Christmas...

...Glad that I kept on reading!

Travess

 

Thursday 15th November

Started the day feeling dehydrated, and asthma was giving me bother.
I drank plenty of fluids, took extra asthma meds and skipped my planned lunch workout, instead I had a power nap.

This seemed to do the trick as I was all good for evening training.

BJJ 1 hour 15 mins.

Warm-up, followed by pulling guard drills.
Ground work
Pendulum sweep from closed guard.
Progressed to arm bar against them posting across.
Sparring.
Some good rolling with high white belts, then a very new white who was big and strong, but struggled to do much so I gave him pointers, started from guard, and then switched after sub so that they were in guard, then started with me under side control.
Last guy I rolled with has a strong North South, always good to work with him so I can work my escapes. Head scrape again (probably as I cut my hair short today) which meant I got blood over his and my gi, but he wasn't bothered.
A different coach who didn't know class time so it over ran.

Friday

A lot of general aches, a bad night sleep, and morning asthma issues.
Lots of liquid, and extra asthma meds and I was ok by mid morning.
I felt ok to workout but given this I changed the routine to 85% of planned weight, only 3 instead of 5 sets and no AMRAP.

Squats - high bar
20kgx5, 40kgx5, 52.5kg 3x5

Deadlift
60kgx5, 80kgx5, 100kg 3x5

felt I could have done a lot more, but it was enough weight to "feel" heavy.

I had planned a 1 mile slow run after, but avoided this also.
I still wanted to get a minor warm down, so I tidied the house up at speed, vacuumed all the floors which was enough for 20 mins at ~110HR AVG BPM.