AxelB's running, lifting and kicking log

not been feeling great, so haven't done anything else this week except 2 mile walks.

Had my flu vaccination today, which involved a longer route to the GP as there was a lot of dangerous driving by the petrol station on the more direct route.

 

not been feeling great, so haven't done anything else this week except 2 mile walks.

Had my flu vaccination today, which involved a longer route to the GP as there was a lot of dangerous driving by the petrol station on the more direct route.

Along with a dog walk I've probably done about 5 miles

 

been distracted from logging at the moment and not much training. Another death in the family so another funeral to go to

Monday 27th - BJJ
back takes from north south, one with belt, one with lapel
lots of sparring 5 rounds (I think)

Tuesday
pullups pushups

Wednesday 29th - BJJ
drilled omoplata from closed guard
3 rounds sparring

Friday pullups pushups

walking at the weekend

Monday 1 hour BJJ
arm bar defence from in closed guard (stack and pass)
arm bar defence from bottom with linked arms, up to stack and pass

4 rounds sparring

I've had the pleasure of sparring with a Judo blackbelt in BJJ, we start from standing, so it has been good to play starting this way.
Also had some moments of being thrown (in an awesome way) and later I had to spend time reflecting on how awesome the throw was, in some cases so well controlled they landed in perfect position to follow up.
I feel it's one thing to revel when you pull of a move so smoothly, and next to that is when someone pulls off a move so smoothly on you

 

Weekend was another funeral, so no training.
I'm hoping that I don't have any more to go to, 4 is enough for this year

Training Wednesday 1 hour BJJ standing closed guard break.

Emptied my garage for building work. Only for builder to tell me it will be next week.
Oh well, it was a good workout moving 300kg if stuff. Best move it back tomorrow and then again next week

 

18th October Monday night
BJJ 1 hour
I should have updated sooner as I struggle to recall what drill we did.

Tuesday builders turn up, but missing some material.
Wednesday finally hear back that the material will arrive Friday, but they will start the Friday after as I am away in the half term.
If they had told me sooner I would have gone training instead of waiting for them to arrive.

Friday material arrives (finally).

Went away the week after and back Friday - builders didn't turn up, they tell me the week after......

Saturday - covid jab 3. Very mild symptoms if any, a bit of a sore arm.
Monday - felt ok enough to go training.
1 hour BJJ
Drilled kimura from half guard shield.

3 rounds of sparring, first was with someone a lot lighter than me so went very easy. Next 2 rounds I realised that I fatigued very quickly - I guess symptoms from jab 3.
Head was woolly and I could not move as quick as my brain told me to once it eventually figured what to do, so a lot of defence was played.

Recently been studying Mindful meditation, after seeing it mentioned on a thread on MAP a few times. I had a lot of practise with no mind style of meditation from QiGong / Tai Chi, so I am interested to try the other approach.

 

Tuesday. No access to gym so I could get 1 dumbell out to workout.

squat 2x10
goblet squat 14kg 5, 10, 10, 5
Felt my legs cramping up so wound it down at the end.

pushups 3x5.
definitely still fatigured, 5 pushups felt like 20.

situps 3x10
dumbel curl 28kg 3x10

Wednesday: builders are here! not been this excited since I was a kid on Christmas day.

5 hours later they left, no more can be done until electrician comes.... they will let me know when that will be

Thursday walking - 2 miles
Friday walking 2 miles - took kids to fireworks.

Saturday - daughter had her covid jab. Did not do much else the rest of the day.
Sunday - still feeling a bit run down. 20mins light stretching.

 

Monday 1 hour BJJ
drilled X pass
still felt run down, drilling was taxing and sparring was hard work, felt exhausted at the end.

Tuesday, 30min walk, 10mins stretching.

Wednesday 1 hour BJJ
Knee was sore so strapped it up.
More X pass drilling - didn't feel as fatigued today.
Sparring went much better, so I think I am over whatever I've had the past 2 weeks, possibly a combination or run down and booster vaccine.

 

Thursday - building work ongoing, all I have access to is a small floor space and one dumbell

pushups 5x10
curls 14kg db 3x10 2x8
kneeling ab wheel 3x5
leg raises 3x10
bridge 3x 30s
stretching 10mins

1.6 mile walk followed by 15min stretch.

 

Monday
1 hour BJJ
Knee slide pass drill
It was good to have some focus on this as it's my go to pass focus for previous month's

15 mins sparring

Tuesday 1 hour BJJ
Knee slide pass

Wednesday
Still no gym access and limited on time
5x10 push-ups
5x10 curls 14kg dumbbell
15 mins stretching

Thursday
1.75 mile slow run
10min stretching

 

Friday
Squats 5, 10, 10
Goblet squats 14kg
3x10

Ab wheel from knees 3x7

Leg raises 3x10

Stretching 15mins

Weekend didn't do any workouts, walking on Saturday for 40min

Sunday very chill went to the cinema to watch Ghostbusters afterlife.

Monday 1 hour BJJ
Drilled reverse x pass
20 mins sparring

Tuesday
1h20
Came in time for some open mat so drilled and worked on side control escapes.

Lesson: drill knee slide pass with deep knee sheild.
15mins sparring

 

asthma has been bad so kept training to a minimum after last week.

Wednesday - (still no gym access)
pushups 5x10
14gk db curl 5x10
leg raises 3x10
ab wheel 5x5

stretching 10minutes

Tuesday felt well enough for BJJ
1 hour
drill de la riva to situp guard and 2 sweeps
one into over under pass.
Felt pretty good after this and rolling with purple belts which was great, nice to get beat without coming home covered in bruises, which often happens with the white belts who get anxious.
I feel rolling with whites is good in that you get to practise with movement that isn't orthodox, controlling someone who is going 100% as if their life depends on it, whilst trying my best not to hurt them. We have a large number of starters the last few months which is great to see, so we partner up with them to help progress their techniques.
Surprisingly the best white belt roll was with a guy who must have been 6'6" and said he was 130kg, he had a lot of boxing/kickboxing experience and he was calm and focused when sparring.
Afterwards he said it's the best sparring he had since he'd been there as all the white belts go crazy. I expect a lot of them see the size of him and panic.
I think my wife will be pleased that I was sparring with higher grades as she is not keen on seeing finger print marks all over me after taming those crazy white belts

Today I feel not so great again, asthma is on the bad side of ok, so I will take at least a week of training and any moderate to heavy exercise is off the cards.

 

I can see how one would get anxious being matched against a 130 kg guy Good thing he didn't go crazy on you.

It's a pity you have those trouble with asthma. Is it getting better/worse with regular exercising (or with the amount of exercise), or is exercise generally not a factor? (Sorry, I don't know that much about asthma.)

 

It looked like he was going to so I butterfly swept him straight away and took the top position, he was still energetic, but on the scale of white belts definitely on the calmer side

Exercise is a factor, in that I get worse the more sedentary I am, or the more I go into the red line of exercise. So it is a balancing act, and any swing towards one end needs to be addressed quickly.
To be honest to myself I would say based in this I should not have trained last week on Tuesday at BJJ, I would have been better to rest a day then go Wednesday, but I didn't think I would be able to get to training, so instead I squeezed it in for 2 days in a row.

That's were my 20 years old mind has to much to say.
I suspect with building work at home, all the airborne particles from brick and dust is also a factor, add in a sudden change in temperature over the weekend to -6c and it's like asthma bingo:
Over train- sightly, was definitely close to the red line.
Air pollution from building work.
Cold weather.

So now I need to acknowledge my judgment and deal with recovery, which includes eating calorie surplus (not too much)
Sleeping enough, which I usually do, but this also means I usually have a nap in the day aswell when its bad.
Gentle exercise, walking and light weights sessions.
Extra medication, I have 3 different inhalers, one for every day, 1 reliever, and a long term reliever which currently in taking all of.

Based on my recovery plan I know that I can get back to normal routine within 1-2 weeks without antibiotics, which I haven't had for 4 years now

 

Ah, ok. Sounds like a good strategy!

Thanks for the explanation. Wow, it sounds tough
So much medication and planning workouts! I am sorry you have to go through that. It's great you're still able to train. I apologize if you've mentioned this before, but have you ever had serious asthma attacks from hard exercise? If so, how did you deal with it?

 

I have never had a problem from exercise directly, I can push myself very hard, and it won't be a problem until a few days later.

The last time I had a major issue was a casual 4 mile run in winter about 3 years ago, I was also going through medication changes so a combination of things meant I needed a lot of steroids to get me back to normal quickly.
When that happens the doctor is very good to respond, but it rarely happens since I have a good mix of medication.

I monitor my peak flow and have a few other routines I do frequently, like putting my head in steam for 10 minutes a day, using nasal irrigation daily, keeping covered when weather is cold or bad.
I've been wearing masks for over 10 years, the last 2 years I just fit in with the crowd

Most commonly if it's below normal I just feel run down and tired when I'm training, for the most part I would not notice, only when doing some exercise that takes me over 70% effort for some times.
Then I reduce the routine every week until it's back to normal.

I avoid doing any events or competition which is a factor that has helped be maintain good health, whenever I have a competition or event I would often get ill as I ramped up the training, and inevitably I would push myself so much I would have to stop all exercise for a month or 2 after.
So even though I want to compete again, and I am asked about it I have to say no to myself, because I have to think about the long term, and every time I put myself in that position it takes longer to get back to "normal", and I wonder moreso recently, what that means for my life expectancy.

Probably went on way to long about that, but not many people ask about it

In training people are surprised I have bad asthma, but I say that's because i rarely am training when it's bad, then only see me when it's behaving and in ready to smash

 

That is interesting, it looks like you're managing it well with medication, then. I don't have asthma as you do, but I sometimes have similar problems due to allergies, probably, so I had a few rare attacks like that during excessive exercise. It was nothing I'd like to go through again, if I could so choose. Last time it happened a few years back, I overdosed myself on Ventolin as I forgot how much one should take. I was shaking like I had a Parkinson's then.

It is good you have several ways to improve your condition. It sounds like you have to take a good care of the issue.

I don't know that much about chronic asthma like that. I wouldn't have guessed it would make one ill for so long after intense exercise. Wow, that's a real shame you have to deal with something like that. About the life expectancy, do you worry that making yourself ill in general would have an impact on your overall health, or is it that asthma can reduce life expectancy as a known fact?

No, no, that's fine, I was curious! I don't know anyone who'd have a severe asthma like that, but know you mention if often, so I was curious how much it limits you in training and in what ways.

How long have you had asthma? Since infancy? Is there any chance it may just go away one day or at least get significantly better? It's maybe a naive question, but I'curious.

 

I first had asthma at 8, it went away by 12.

Then it slowly came back in my late teens, but not by much. In hindsight I can correlate this directly to my environmental factors (friends who smoked a lot, and going out where smoking was still legal indoors, 2 hour drive to work in heavy traffic).
It wasn't until 26 when I had severe pneumonia that I had any treatment, it has been monthly antibiotics and asthma medication until I was 37.

Life expectancy is reduced, but medicine is better these days, so it is about risk mitigation. Half a century ago people would die from it in their 40s, but these days I think it is very unlike to affect so much as long as I follow the plans and reduce asthma attacks as I get older.

I am at a healthier place now that 10 years ago in many ways. The battle is partly with my ego, I know I can still do things from 10 years ago, but I shouldn't push it.

I still train hard with 20 year olds, but for those with closer skill experience I choose not try to keep up with them and accept when they are doing better; well most of the time, you know what it is like when you know you can push it a bit more, it's an ongoing battle with ego.

Certainly reading your log has reminded me to revisit taijiquan and breathing exercises which always helped.

 

So did have it since young, at least with breaks. Wow, monthly antibiotics for years? Hasn't that affected your health, too?

I see, I hope the medicine today can help. I can see why you would care a lot about treating it well to reduce any attacks, etc.

Yeah, battling with ego is sometimes hard.

Cool, if that's something that helps, it might be a good idea! It's nice to hear. Thanks.

 

There is a lot of talk about antibiotics stop working after some time, but I never had this fortunately, they always cleared up the chest infection and I would be back to normal a couple of weeks after, but I'm definitely preferring the proactive method.

 

So the last week I had nothing much planned, as wife was having surgery and I wanted to be available to help out as much as possible.
I thought I could get some small home workouts in when possible, but my asthma was pretty bad, so did nothing more than daily activity (usually the school walk, and walking the dog, maybe 1-1.5 hours walking) and some light stretching.
Went away at the weekend also as we booked it long before wife's surgery and she thought she would be ok to go.

Monday evening, 1 hour BJJ
I still felt a bit run down from asthma, and random aches which usually happen when asthma is bad.
Turned out after the warmup that my body was fine.
Drill - side control escape, shrimp and frame inside (my most used option) and turn away to turtle if they block the close hip (not very good at this so was good to practise).
Lots of new blue belts after grading this weekend, so I introduced them to wristlocks in sparring

Ended the session getting my 3rd stripe on blue belt, was not expecting so a welcome surprise. Went home feeling energised and awesome, then ate lots of chocolate

Hoping I can get a few more sessions in before the Christmas holidays.

The garage gym/storage room is almost finished, just some plastering and I moved all gym equipment back - there is some tidying and plastering then I should be good to set it up for proper workouts again. Looking forward to it as it has been since start of October since I could do a proper weight session or bag work, I also liked having the space with grapple dummy to do 10 mins every break time on some drills.