AxelB's running, lifting and kicking log

Monday 21st and Wednesday 23rd 1 hour BJJ

Wednesday afternoon 2.7mi run 30min 29s 158bpm AVG HR.
20 mins stretching
Thursday 2 miles walk, I planned lifting but I didn't have time with other tasks taking priority.

Friday 2.7mi treadmill 30min 2s 151 BPM AVG HR.
20 minutes stretching

Running feels like it's improving.
Wife had a horrible cold which got worse, then Saturday covid test came back positive. The rest of the week of was negative, so second time in 7 weeks

With my wife unwell I thought it best to drop all workouts and not go out in case I spread it prior to a positive test. I had no symptoms throughout the week, but my wife has really unwell and 9 days later after the main symptoms subside the tests show negative.
She is better now although taste is still coming back and fatigue seems to be still there.

A week of "rest" seemed to be the right option for me, i.e. no BJJ, light running and light lifting. Without any signs of the virus and my wife symptoms clearing I went on the treadmill on Wednesday.
2.26 mi 26min 4s 143bpm AVG HR.
I kept it easy to break back into it.
Thursday
Changed the workout up a bit

Barbell row
15kgx10, 25kgx10, 35kgx10, 45kg 3x10, 35kgx10, 25kgx10, 15kg x10

Lateral raises 10kg 3x10
Curl 28kg 3x12
Push ups 3x10

Friday 3.1mi treadmill 35mins 147bpm AVG HR.

20 minutes stretching.

A few walks over the weekend.

Monday all clear in the house so back to it.

1 hour BJJ
Drilling kimura from half guard Shied.

Tuesday
Dropped my son off at school and was late back for meeting, no problems I can run for miles, looking whilst crossing the road and my knee goes "pop".
Hmmm that didn't feel like the normal pops, but no pain, nothing unusual, walked the rest of the way.

A few hours later- swelling and pain! From what I can tell it's a mild MCL tear, pain on the inside but knee is stable.
I've been using the ice bath a few times a week for recovery, so I got into that again, it helped a lot.
Decided no more BJJ, running or anything with leg work this week.
A day later is feels mildly better, I can walk, but after being stationary for a while it takes some time to unstiffen.
Walked 2 miles at a moderate pace, but any flexion on turns I could feel the pain on the inside.
I have my trusty knee strap on and keeping an eye on it over the week.

Wednesday no leg work day.
Barbell row
15kgx10, 25kgx10, 35kgx10, 45kg 5x10, 35kgx10, 25kgx10, 15kg x10

Curl 28kg 12,15,15,15,15

Ice bath and gentle stretching in positions that do not stress the MCL.

 

Thursday no leg workout.
Never skip leg day, unless you tore you MCL.

Bench (without legs, that required some adapting)
15kgx12, 35kgx10, 55kg 2x10, 60kg 3x10

db press 28kg 3x8
db lateral raise 28kg 3x8

Would normally add push-ups, but not keen on trying with my leg, so I added db press instead.

Ice bath again, walked a mile without issue, generally feels a lot more stable and no sudden pain when I turn.
Stairs are usuable slowly down and moderate speed up. I'm not doing much more than that.

 

Good to see you back to logging

What a pity you started with an injury....Get better, soon!

 

Friday

Deadlift
15kg x10, 35kgx10, 55kgx10, 75kg 3x10
db curl 28lg 3x10

Walk 1.5 mile.

Knee stiff after sitting at work for hours, but after a few minutes it moves well enough for moderate movement.

Evening 2 mile walk.

Saturday and Sunday 2 mile walk.

Knee is definitely improving, but I'll give it another week before I test it out on more dynamic movement.

Monday 2 mile walk

 

Tuesday

Barbell rows
15kgx10, 35kgx10, 45kg x10, 55kg 5x8 45kgx10, 15kg x10

Db curl 28kg 5x15

2 mile walk

Wednesday
Bench back to normal form, knee was ok with this.
15kgx12, 35kgx10, 55kg x10, 75kg 3x8, 55kgx10, 15kgx20

db press 28kg 3x8

10 mins gentle Shadow boxing, hands only, minimal foot work.

5 minutes stretch.

Thursday
Knee is improving, so today I tested it on controlled routine.
1.77mi treadmill run with knee support on
3mins walk, run for 1 mile, 2 min walk, run for .3 miles
Run pace was about 11min/mi
A few times I could feel the knee if my tracking went off.
5 mins stretch
Nothing felt bad
10 mins rest then 30 minutes drilling on the dummy.
I went through a few steady drills, things I would normally work on in class, but also to see what I could do in controlled environment.

10min round knee slice pass variations.
To the left no problem, to the right when using my left/bad knee, I could feel it pull/sore. This seems to be the way I place my foot in the cut through which pulls on my knee outward, so I'll be conscious of the over the recovery period when I get to training.

10mins closed guard drills, setting up omoplata.
Not much problems in my favoured direction, but to the left I felt a few times.
Also having had leg under in the closed guard is sore.

10mins side control and mount escapes.
Not much problems for the most part, reguarding as I escaped it is tender if my butterfly hook on the left is pointing out too far to the left.

5 minutes butterfly guard sweeps/setups.

5 minutes stretching.

Knee felt ok after this, and an ice bath later helped.

Friday, no obvious after issues from running.
Today and the rest of the week next week is DIY, so no workouts planned.

 

Monday 25th April
Back to BJJ
1 hour kimura escape.
Sat out for sparring which will be my plan for next week.

Tuesday 26th
1 hour BJJ
Arm bar from mount against outstretched opponent and closed opponent.
Sat out again watching sparring.

Knee felt fine, no problems, mostly overly hesitant to move it in certain position.

Wednesday's
Barbell bent row
Straight leg deadlift
Curl

Thursday
Bench
Db shoulder press
Push-up ups
20 mins BJJ drill on dummy

Friday
Squats
Single leg dumbbell deadlift

Went away on the long weekend, plenty of walking and a bit of swimming. I noticed a couple of times turning quickly in the water tweaked my knee, so kept it to a minimum.

Tuesday
1 hour BJJ.

2 sweeps from half guard with underhook.
I did 1 easy round of sparring with a trusted partner. No problems with my knee.

Sat out the rest and watched along side another MCL injured guy.

Wednesday
Barbell row
Romain deadlift
Curl

30 minutes BJJ drills working omoplata, triangle arm bar from closed guard.
Half guard sweep from Tuesday
Side control escapes.

Thursday,
Last day at 41
Bench
Db shoulder press (felt much improvement)
Push-ups

 

A few weeks of BJJ twice a week.

Monday, Tuesday 1 hour.
Each week upping the sparring a bit, now back to moderate pace with coloured belts only.

3 lifts a week, 1 run
Every other day I am stretching and doing some rehab exercises.

On the whole the knee feels ok except when I have been sat at my desk a long time, then it's a bit stiff.

This week I upped to 2 runs, it's usually 15-20 mins, so I'll keep it this steady.

 

Knee has been about the same.

Still doing BJJ twice a week, some drills from closed guard to take the back or sweep from 2 on 1 grip.
I've been focusing on omoplata from closed guard since the start of the year, with all the interruptions from illness and injury this has probably been about 3 months of decent training.
I have been able to consistently omoplata sweep and depending on who it is against, finish the omoplata.
So even though I feel I could work on it more, I am going to switch to focus on other areas.

Defense is definitely better.
A lot of focus on knee slide pass, and finishing from mount.
I'll spend the next few sessions playing with a bit of everything then I plan to focus on working to back takes, and control/sub from back.

Outside passing definitely needs work, with knee slide variations being my go to, I rarely try outside pass.

Open guard, from seated, I will continue to play with.
Half guard improved with sweeps and reversals, but still needs a lot of work.

I plan to follow these areas of focus for 3 months.

Running is back on, 2-3 times a week for 20 mins, I'm keeping the pace steady, it's usually about 2 miles.

Lifting continues 3 times a week; pull, push, legs.

 

A very busy jubilee weekend, lots of lifting and constructing with a green house in our allotment. By Saturday I was very sore.

Sunday no physical work, so took the opportunity to rest.

Monday BJJ 1 hour
Drill closed guard 2 on one sleeve grip to back take or pendulum.

Tuesday
12 mins treadmill run

1 hour BJJ.
A different format, started with half guard positional sparring, then worked on passing the knee shield 2 variations.
Then 5 minutes positional sparring from side control, followed by 5 minutes from back.

Final 20 mins was free sparring.
Got to work on some back takes, x pass (instead of my usual knee cut), and half guard sweeps.

Plenty of chances to work on defence against higher belts

Wednesday
30 minutes treadmill.

 

Thursday bench, db shoulder press, push-ups in the morning, run in the evening.

Friday squats and deadlift at lunch, 10 mins punch bag in the afternoon.

I realised that I had not hit the bag since we did the gym up in April. That double end bag really is hard to hit when you haven't been training on it a long time!

Monday 13th
1 hour BJJ - working on omoplata sweep from closed guard on standing opponent, some nice setups to learn.
Managed to pull the sweep off a few times, but higher grades know it well and are quick to defend.

Afternoon 10min treadmill run.

Tuesday 16min treadmill run at lunch
Evening 1 hour BJJ
Drilling X guard pass, great! I have needed this and a pass like torreando
Pulled the x guard pass of a few times in sparring to knee on belly.

A long sweaty hot day and I thought I'd weigh myself to see the loss since Saturday I was 14st12lbs.
Today I was 14st 2lbs clearly a lot of water weight lost!!
So spent the evening drinking plenty of water.

Wednesday morning barbell row and curls
Lunch time- outside run! I'm mostly running on the treadmill due to a mixture of time constraints, uncertainty about my knee, and cautious about cold or wet weather affection my asthma. I think it is paying off as my asthma has been ok, and mileage is progressing.

Outside was hot, managed a steady 2.7 miles.

 

Thursday morning
Bench, overhead dumbbell press, pushups
Afternoon 2 miles on the treadmill

Friday
Squats, deadlifts.
My right "good" knee felt a bit odd in what I am now familiar as the MCL region, so took some time to cool, stretch and rehab.
After an hour it was fine, but I'll be keeping an eye on it.

 

Monday
BJJ 1 hour
Omoplata sweep to mount 1 arm in and pull back to triangle from bottom.
I like this setup and seem to be able to hit it more than trying to go into omoplata from sitting on it shoulder position.

1.1 mile treadmill run.

Tuesday morning bent row, curls.

Evening 1 hour BJJ
Same drill omoplata sweep to mount then triangle.
Getting the sweep I can do from closed guard or when they stand. The higher grades are better at base on the roll, so trying to figure out a more efficient way to roll (ended with using my strength to finish the roll to sitting in shoulder).

Wednesday 4.4 mile run outside. Was hot!

Thursday morning bench, shoulder press

 

Thursday lunch 3 mile run

 

Friday
Squats, since MCL tear I have been keeping it low weight but I feel that missing leg work would be detrimental to recovery.
Squats up to 45kgx8
Romain Deadlift 45kgx10

I purchased a weight pin so I can do some grip training. Put 40kg and static hold using a marital arts belt for sets of 15 seconds each hand. Much harder than I was expecting.

 

Monday 1 hour BJJ
Collar drag to single leg takedown
Lapel baseball choke from side control.


17mins treadmill run 1.33 miles

 

Tuesday morning lifting

Bent row, curls

Evening 1 hour BJJ
Butterfly sweep variations
Great to drill these setups
4 rounds of sparring.

Yesterday and today I definitely was on the hard end of sparring intensity. It felt great to be able to keep the pace up.

Wednesday 4.3 mile run 41mins

Thursday morning bench, shoulder press, push-ups.

Afternoon 3.4 miles treadmill 41mins

 

Friday working lighter weights as I think the next week should be easy week.

Lunges, Romanian deadlift.
Some grip work.

Monday 1 hour BJJ
Started with some positional sparring. Back mount and side control.
Omoplata drill

10 mins run in the afternoon.

Tuesday 3.4 mile steady run.
Afternoon barbell row and curls

Wednesday BJJ
Bit of a beast of a session. Double warmup with some new drills.
Straight into positional sparring from closed guard, 5 mins each side.
Drill standing open the closed guard to leg drag.
A short drill bit enough to work on it.
Then 5 x5min rounds of sparring.
Focus at the moment is getting to back, which I managed a few different ways. Finishing from back is something to be worked on.

 

Carrying on my standard routine
Week of 11th
Monday 1 hour Bjj
15 min treadmill run


Tuesday
Weight lifting am: row, curl
evening: 1 hour BJJ
Wednesday 5.3 mile run 52 mins
Thursday am bench press, db shoulder press, pushups
Midday 3.6mile steady run

Friday squats, lunge, Romanian deadlift
Knowing that the next week was going to be record breaking hot I planned not to go out.
So week schedule changed
Weight at 14st 2lbs

Sunday morning 4 miles treadmill

Monday morning lift: row, curl
Was super hot and with kids at home as schools shut we played pass the Aircon.

Tuesday early morning treadmill run 3.2 mile

Wednesday 90 mins BJJ
Drilled double leg takedown, then turtle recovery options if they sprawl.
Was hot and I'm pretty sure I melted half a stone.

Thursday am lifting: bench, shoulder press, pushups.
Midday 3.7 miles treadmill.

Evening 1.4 mile treadmill

Friday lunges, deadlift

Week commencing 25th
Monday 1 hour BJJ,
Opening the closed guard, x pass, knee on Belly switch to side control.
We worked up each part.

A few recent upgrades and a visiting black belt meant that half the class was made up of brown belts and above (of about 12 of us).
It was great to see such a range at the gym (and at a lunch time session!!)
It really feels like the level of skill at the gym has gone up, and I'm seeing a huge turn out in the beginners classes. Really enjoying the classes (even when I get smashed by all the brown and black belts )

Still trying to focus on x pass for guard passing, back take setups from any other position, and SLX against standing. I feel like I'm piecing things together, but it's grafting and I'll stick to this focus the next few months.
On reflection I can get to the back once I setup from side control, mount or closed guard, but finishing from back I find difficult, I think this is in part because I can never decide which sub to do from the back. After I get there I try for RNC, but this seems a better chance of I set up during transition, bow arrow or arm bar seem to be my more successful finishes from back after failing RNC.

Afternoon 20min run 1.75mile.

Weight after dinner 13st 12lbs

 

Keeping with the same routine most weeks.
Last week felt a little on the fatigued side, so cut down the lifting and running.

Family was away for a few days, so I went to BJJ 5 times since Sunday.
90mins open mat.
Closed guard standing break to knee slide, and variations.
Drilled seated guard against standing partner, to SLX, x guard, or dummy sweep.
Did sparring with this and reset whenever they passed or I swept. Took a lot in from it.

I decided to use one of my many blank journals to write in. After each session to see if anything sticks in my mind differently than just using a spreadsheet with notes.

Monday morning session half guard shield, 2 on 1 back take or, to side control/sweep.

Lunch session closed guard break to floating pass.

Tuesday evening half guard drill, same as Monday morning

Wednesday lunch same drill as Monday lunch.

I didn't run this week and only few sets of light weight lifting.
Body coped with the load without any issues, managed to progress my open guard this week.

 

I've been training BJJ twice a week since the last post, apart from a holiday for a week and a bit.

I've changed my lifting routine a bit, so every day I lift something expect Saturday or Sunday.
It will be 1 set for a body group, low CNS impact, or low weight compound.
2-3 times a week I'll do a "normal" lifting workout.
Running 2-3 times a week.

Monday morning lift, 8 curls, 5 db shoulder press, 10 db squats. 40kg (20kg each db)



I am changing my focus as it's been 3 months.
Guard work more focused on half guard/knee shield/reverse de la riva.
This fits in well with other guards I've been working on, single leg X, X guard, butterfly.

Passing still focusing on knee cut and X pass.

Continuing top game transitions to back, playing with arm bar, back triangle, bow arrow and RNC.

So half guard needs a lot of work, but I have something to focus on, and accepted that I need to keep going to it even though I get passed by the bigger guys.



Tuesday barbell row 3x5 60kg, shoulder press 2x5 40kg, db curl 2x40kg
20 minutes stretching.
BJJ evening 1 hour. Mount escapes

I have an arm strap HR monitor which I put on for BJJ. 1 hour session was 1100 calories burnt. 145bpm AVG HR


Wednesday morning lift, 8 curls, 5 db shoulder press, 10 db squats. 40kg (20kg each db)

Lunch 1 hour Bjj side control lapel choke setup.

Afternoon 15 minutes run

Thursday morning lift, bench 3x8 60kg, 2x8 curls, 2x 5 db shoulder press, 10 db squats. 40kg (20kg each db) 2x10 pushups, 3x30 bridge.

20 mins stretching

Friday row 3x5 60kg, deadlift 2x5 60kg, 10 db curl 40kg, 5 db shoulder press 40kg

10 mins punch bag.

From next week I'm planning to schedule 3 BJJ sessions a week as my schedule can fit it in.

Weight still hangs around 86kg