Thursday Didn't feel much better or much worse. I had time for a nap at lunchtime, so took advantage, which was definitely needed. evening BJJ - 1 hour Went through the same takedown drill as Tuesday. This was a great opportunity for me to refine the takedown combo. Monday's times have changed, so I'm going to stick with Tuesday and Thursday for BJJ. Ground work - low mount, moving to high mount and working one elbow up and across the face with the body. Move into S mount and finish with leg over their head straight armlock, or come back to arm bar/juji gatame. Worked a variation with one hand round the back of the head which looked like a good combination to put with eziekiel from mount. Sparring 3 rounds. Another great session, really enjoying training at this club. It felt like starting back this year I have improved from before I stopped for Christmas, able to get in better positions than before, pass better, and shut down attacks, energy conservation is better. If I could quantify it, I would say maybe 10-20% better than before. Friday reviewing my sleep - the amount is about "normal" for what I get with interruptions, resting HR is hanging in low 60s which is a minor improvement. Most mornings I felt rough on my chest. To add to all this my GP messed up my asthma med renewal, so I was 2 days without. Deadlift I lighter workout than planned, until I'm resting properly. Also I introduced the puppy to the gym, so she gets used to all the different places and things, I set her up with a safe space and she just laid down for the most part. 20kgx10, 60kgx5, 80kgx5, 100kgx5, 110kgx3, 120kgx3. High bar squat 20kg 3x10 Adding in some neck work after getting a neck harness (which my wife commented that is looked like some S&M thing). Starting light with high reps and going no where near failure as this is accessory work. neck harness raise 2.5kgx10, 2.5kgx12, 5kgx10 a lot lighter than I could do, so I'm happy with that. 2 min light jog in the garden whilst being bounced on by a puppy. 2 min shadow boxing. 2 min light stretch (whilst being jumped on again)
Saturday/Sunday Rest- an active weekend with no workouts planned. Monday No planned workout, did a few bits to keep me active - 5 minutes Shadow boxing, 2 minutes stretching. 2x5 Pushups 3x5 squats
Tuesday An early wake up and broken sleep from youngling distractions began the day earlier than usual, so I felt very tired and weak. A good lunch time nap got my energy back up. Evening: BJJ 1 hour Takedown drill, o Uchi Mata. Working on finishing the throw by hopping/turning round. Ground work: From mount, peel under one elbow and move across their body with your chest. Move to s mount. If the closer arm is locked under, then scoop round the far arm, post and switch s mount direction. Finish in straight arm lock, or pull back to Jujitsu gatame. Rounds of sparring, had a couple of shiny new white belts, so I took it easy and worked in positions and helped out with their defence. Last round against a young lad who had a strong half which was hard to pass. Was a great roll. Wednesday Getting the puppy accustomed to the various goings on in the house, so another gym session. Bench 20kgx10, 40kgx8, 50kgx6, 60kgx5, 70kgx5 75kg 5x3 Neck harness No fatigue on my neck from last time, or tension, so sticking with the similar plan. 5kg 10,12,10 I checked my weight, to make sure it does not increase too much whilst I'm not running. 89kg body fat 16% (tbh I thought it would be more like 17-18%, which may be likely as the accuracy with callipers isn't 100%) My body must be on the trai end of whatever I've been dealing with; Resting HR dropped to low 50s over the last few nights (whereas it was staying above 60bpm for the last 3 weeks).
Thursday BJJ - 1 hour The same takedown drill as Tuesday ; Uchi Mata. Working on finishing the throw by hopping/turning round. I'm enjoying getting 2 goes at this drill a week to help sharpen the takedowns. Ground drill; From mount, work a setup for eziekiel Choke. Followed this up with an arm trap of they worked on pushing the knee to half guard. A few rounds of sparring. I need a lot of work on my traingle set up. I secured the mount a few times and worked on chaining some sub combo. Friday Getting the puppy used to the gym again, she's settling in well. Deadlifts 20kgx10, 60kgx5, 80kgx5, 100kgx5, 120kg 2x3, 120kgx5 High bar squat 20kg 3x10 Neck harness 5kg 3x15 Lunges 3x10 Puppy just goes to sleep and not phases by what is going on. Except for stretching, that gets her excited. 3 minutes stretching /being jumped on bitten Saturday/Sunday Active rest.
Hey Axel.. Snap! We have a puppy too coming up to 5 month old, he's a French Bulldog called Buster. Often loves to get involved when I'm stretching or doing tai chi.. Last night he went a bit too far though and took a whizz on my yoga matt just as I was about to start a circuit.. lol
Monday Feeling rough again, total rest day with a bit of a day nap. Tuesday Missed BJJ : Traffic was bad from the "snow" so wife was home late, kids to bed late, too late for training Wednesday Bench 20kgx10, 40kgx8, 50kgx7, 60kgx6, 70kgx5, 75kgx4, 82.5kgx3 Neck harness 5kg 3x18 Pushups 10. Which was all I managed as the puppy thought this was a great game Stretching 5 mins Shadow boxing, foot work and some punching 5 minutes. Puppy shadowed me around and was very excited by this!
Thursday BJJ 1 hour Takedown drill; tai o Toshi/body drop variation with cross collar grip. Drilled the entry first for a while before the takedown. Ground work drill. Mount, to high mount, attack cross collar, as they defend move the arms across and into s mount. Wrap the far arm around your waist to wrist lock or kimura. A few rounds sparring, had a new person, so mostly teaching them the basics, then a great round with someone else about the same level as me. Friday Deadlift 20kgx10, 60kgx8, 80kgx5, 100kgx5, 120kgx3, 130kgx3, 140kgx2, 140kgx2 High bar squat 20kgx10, 40kgx10, 40kgx10 Neck harness 2.5kg 3x18 Bridges 10, 12, 14 Lunges 10, 12, 12 Stretching 5 minutes
Saturday 55 minutes digging/turning soil at the allotment. The wet soil was easy to turn, but heavier with the moisture. Thought I'd set it as a workout to see what my output was. 531kcal AVG HR 116 bpm. Afterwards I thought it probably wasn't the best idea after deadlift day, but felt fine, not much soreness, just some fatigue. Sunday. Puppy's first weekend outing, went for a walk at a nature reserve by a lake. With another impending "snowfall" forecast Tuesday/Wednesday, which inevitably means traffic problems, I will plan an extra workout Monday in case I can't make Tuesday class again
Monday With snow forecast, I expected not to train tomorrow, so today was a lift. Bench 20kgx10, 40kgx8, 50kgx8, 60kgx7, 70kgx6 80kg 4x3 80kg AMRAP with some left: 8 Neck harness 5kg 4x15 Pushups 3x10 Stretching 5 minutes
Tuesday No snow, so BJJ 1 hour Drilling takedown Tai o Toshi from sweep setup. Ground drill high mount escape towards arm around the back of head/neck; trap arms and legs then bridge Few rounds of sparring. Wednesday Rest
Thursday Will it snow/won't it? Well it looked clear and forecast changed until after BJJ, so BJJ 1 hour Drilling takedown setup same as Tuesday Tai o Toshi from sweep setup. Ground work: From high mount, pushup with hands into armpits so that the head is lower down and arch legs over into armpits. Push with legs and escape underneath, setup Achilles lock. This was a strange one to execute, as it was new movement to me. rounds of sparring, plenty of practice defending the mount My plan to focus on defense and guard play certainly seems to be helping my progress.
Friday Planned deadlift and squat was cancelled as school closed due to snow. Saturday/Sunday Rest Monday Planned a lift (Fridays deadlift, as I cannot train Tuesday) but sore, tired and chest playing up. So I think this week needs to be a deload. I checked resting HR, which is up again from low 50s to high 50s/low 60s
Tuesday Feeling much better today. Went for a reduced volume lift, with some intensity on bench. Bench 20kgx5, 40kgx5, 50kgx5, 60kgx5, 70kgx5, 80kgx3, 90kgx1, 100kgx2 (went for 1, but it felt good, so did an extra ) Deadlift 60kgx5, 80kgx5, 100kgx5, 110kgx5 High bar squat 20kgx 5, 8, 10 Neck harness 2.5kg 3x10 5 minute stretching. Evening; no training Wednesday Rest Thursday BJJ Takedown drill Harai goshi, sweeping hip throw. Drilled entry for a round, then steady takedown on the second round. Ground work Back mount with seatbelt grip. Rolled to side lower down (weak side?) Kimura grip, adjust feet, bring the hand over then leg over to arm bar, close hand through to far hip to break grip and finish. Second drill from the kimura position, use the outside leg to trap arm, then sliding collar choke, or move to rear triangle. I had be glad to drill rear triangle as I never am able to set it up . Half hour of sparring which was really great.
Friday Active rest. With the puppy and school run, I estimate I walk about 3-4 miles every day, so I should probably factor this into my routine. Spent a fair amount of time reviewing videos on the rear traingle as I felt there was a lot to improve. Also reflecting on yesterday's sparring I bridge rolled out of an Americana from mount, so reviewing videos on this to refine this escape. Resting HR is between 55 and 62bpm, not great, but improvement. Saturday/Sunday Active recovery, plenty of walking Weight has gone up to 90kg, bf 16% not surprisingly as I have been eating more and exercising less.
Monday Bench I was feeling 80% back to normal, which to me was good enough to get back to the scheduled routine, but avoiding any AMRAP type sets. 20kgx8, 40kgx8, 50kgx8, 60kgx8, 70kgx5, 80kg 7x3 neck harness 5kg 3x15 curl 20kg 10, 12, 15 shadow boxing 5 minutes stretching 5 minutes. Tuesday midday 30 minutes trigger point roller, focusing on back and calfs. small ball on the neck. Felt a heap better after. evening BJJ 1 hour Drilled takedown - Harai goshi from standard grip. I felt marginal improvement from last session, but need to work on a full turn. Often I would drive towards the uke in setup too much pushing the weight back, and turn was not 180 degrees every time. ground work drill back attack - escape from seatbelt rear mount with attempted sliding collar choke. Grabbing sleeve with both hands and head bridge away from overhook/choke hand. Protect from mount attempt, underhook and either pull guard or take the back. A useful tip from my partner to pull on the opponent with the overhook to help come round the back rather than just attempting to move your body. sparring starting from rear mount with underhooks. Then onto free sparring from knees. Another awesome session, I feel like I'm learning each time, first time I have enjoyed training this much since I started my kungfu journey. Plenty to learn, lots of resistance to justify the techniques working, and after 6months I am hoping my lifestyle stays in a way that I can continue with it I've noticed that even when my chest is playing up I can still train and work on technique, whereas my previous clubs involved a lot of calisthenics throughout which would kill my lungs and put me out for longer. Wednesday Mostly a rest day, going for a few longer walks with the puppy, and I'll do some more trigger point/ball rolling and light stretching.
been away a bit. Thursday-Sunday Rest Monday I couldn't guestimates what I should lift as I wanted to stick to planned lift, but with my resting HR being higher than optimal, I thought I would go marginally scientific. Based on my resting HR over my optimal HR, I used this percentage against planned working weight. 53 (optimal hr) / 59 actual resting X 87.5kg (planned lift 77.5kg) Sounds good to me. So bench Warm-up, then 77.5kg 5x3 (No AMRAP) Lunges 20kg 3x10 Neck harness 2.5kg 3x10 Stretching 10 mins
As I was not training, I did some research between looking after partner and worked a few physio/lacrosse ball massage technique on the wall. These really hit the spot in my commonly tight neck and trapeze muscles, feel 100 times better for it. 20th Feb BJJ 1 hour. I found time to get some training in. Worked taking the back from side control using kimura control. First drill was rolling to under hook side. Second to overhook side of they block the leg. This is great as I have been trying to work on moving to back position. Sparring. Great fun again, there is often a large attendance at the classes, so sparring different people often is great to check various resistance. Took an elbow to the face/eye in a scramble. I awaited the inevitable shiner which I've had many times in the past, which triggers family's comments on my welfare, but nothing more that a little soreness.