Hi everyone. Been wanting to do a log like this for a while. Here is a bit of background on me. I am in my mid 40s and after taking about a decade off of any training and letting myself plump up to over 260 and to the point that stair climbing was getting me winded climbing steps I had enough. About two year ago I started to hike and slowly improved my health. I got to the point where I started lifting again. After a few months of that, I was ready to start training martial arts again. That was about a year ago. Since that time I have been training five-six days a week, two of which has been in the weight room. I became certified as Mixed Martial Arts Conditioning Coach a few months ago. Going through that course was a phenomenal experience and I recommend it for anyone. I will now do my best to chronicle my training in here.
Did some rotator cuff work tonight. I have been on a de-load week, as I had been training very hard the past six weeks and got to the point where all my body's muscles were starting to get tight and cramped. So after karate on Saturday, I have taken it easy and completely rested until tonight's work on my rotator cuff. My left shoulder has been sore for a few weeks now and I wanted to see if it is the deltoid like I have assumed or something deeper. After tonight I think even more that it is the deltoid. So I will probably forgo any push-ups in karate class Thursday. I also have issues right now with my gracilis muscle, which I pulled pretty bad after doing the Steve Reeves Challenge (squatting 100 reps at 1/2 your body weight) and then walking around the city all day a few days later. So I have been doing some pretty intense foam roller work this week. Although the gracillis is very challenging to get at, especially at the insertion point. I want to lift again this weekend. Well that is my plan anyway.
Diet, the forgotten component of training. Diet is so important. For the past six to eight months I have been on somewhat of a zig-zag diet. I have dropped around 50 lbs of fat off my body between working out and diet. I have also gained approximately ten pounds of muscle in the past year and I am now fluctuating between 215-220lbs. I typically lift heavy on Saturday (after karate class) and on Sunday. I take Monday off as a rest day and sometimes Tuesday depending on the volume of training. From Saturday through Monday I will eat at a calorie surplus and throw some cheat meals in during this period. I will treat myself to ice cream, cookies, etc. I don't get too caught up on calories on these days, but also don't overdo it. The rest of the week I eat at a calorie deficit. Although the past two weeks I have been eating a bit more than I should. Weighed myself this morning and I remain at 218. My goal is to get down to 200 without losing any muscle. Some of my favorite "training" snack foods are greek yogurt, sardines and McDonalds Southwest Salad (grilled of course). I will eat these on my "cutting" days. I now eat 6-7 times a day. This helps keep the hunger at bay and keep the blood sugar stable. By the way, my blood chemistry, resting pulse and blood pressure have seen dramatic improvements.
Karate class tonight. Spent the whole time in free-sparring. I am a bit bruised up and took whack to my front quad, but it was fun and so productive. Realized I need to work on my cardio a bit more.
Back to jumping rope tonight. We learn when we realize we have let something go a little bit and then call upon that skill and it just isn't up to snuff. Message loud and clear, jump some rope or have Kyoshi kick your butt again. :fight1:
Karate class this morning. Lifted this afternoon and then took a hike in the woods with the dog. Will post my lifts later. Starting a six week cycle today, had taken off the past two weeks from lifting due to injury (still kind of plaguing me a bit.) Also started to take creatine today. I haven't taken it in about six months or so and have a full bottle of Kre-alkalyn sitting on the shelf, so I might as well use it for the "fall bulk". I plan on eating a bit heavier than I had been the past few months upping my calories by about 1,000 per week.
Does that stuff work? What exactly is it supposed to do? I see adverted at the local pharma quite a bit. On your lifting...you basically go at it pretty heavy for a period of say 5 days with a two day off - this you continue for a period...say 6 weeks, after which you will take a lifting hiatus and do cardio for a period? ta
I'll post it later. I first bought the stuff months ago and went through 2-3 bottles. I wanted to take some time off to see how I would do without the stuff. I lifted for a while back in the late 1990s with creatine and it worked really well for me. Far more than any other supplement I had tried before. I am not so sure my body is responding to it as well these days. I am even questioning my testosterone levels at this point, as my gains are real slow the past few months. I'll post my lifts later. Maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow is my big day with deads and squats. Today I just did some db bench press, flyes, cable shoulder raises (with some external rotation), some ab work and standing shoulder press. I am really into the big old school lifts and really don't like to do isolation work unless there is a reason like rehabbing an injury, which I am kind of doing with my shoulder and also my gracilis muscle that I pulled and am still nursing a bit. My body just doesn't repair itself like it did twenty years ago.
Creatine was awesome when I was lifting in my 20s. I don't think it works as well for me these days. As for cardio, I jump rope, hike and we do a lot of kata in my dojo, which has been great for my hand and foot speed, coordination, etc. I can't speak highly enough about kata for ma conditioning (as long as it is done correctly). This is how matsubayashi ryu stylists do kata: We start off half speed concentrating on our form, then we add snap like in this video and then we go all out like we are in a fight: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNzcUfnGJyI&feature=related"]Matsubayashi Ryu - Pinan Shodan - YouTube[/ame] Perhaps you can imagine the cardio workout from an hour straight of doing kata like that? The style is very old school Okinawan Shorin-Ryu. There is a very big emphasis on kata for the kyu ranks. You don't start free-sparring in many schools until you are a Ni-Kyu which takes a few years. Most people don't have the patience for this anymore. The philosophy is that you need to know how to move the body the right way before you start free-sparring. We do have multiple pre-arranged sparring techniques that you learn from white belt level. These are to develop your timing, reaction and mai. It isn't a walk in and start going at it style. I have only been lifting two days a week. I sometimes throw in an extra day and work arms, but that is very rare. I really focus on the big compound lifts. I am lifting for karate and have no interest in looking like a bodybuilder. The funny thing is that my biceps and chest are much smaller than many of the guys in the gym I work out in, but they seem to always be doing bicep curls or bench pressing. I laugh when I walk by them and they are only doing maybe 100lbs on the cable row (all bench well over 200lbs). Rarely do I see them ever do any leg work and if they do, it is the hack squat with not too much weight. You will find me in the squat rack doing squats, presses or deads mostly. I cycle my training in six week cycles with the seventh week being very light exercising. With most of my lifts I will progress from going three sets to five sets by the end of the cycle with hopefully a decent amount of weight increase too.
Today's weight training (about two hours after karate): Standing barbell press (for years only did the seated military press], really like the recruitment of the back stabilizers on this lift while standing. There is no leg push in the move, only shoulder press) 12x75 8x85 6x95 Leg lifts (did this on leg raise/dip station) 20x straight leg 10 x side to side bent knee Repeated 3 x DB Bench press (I prefer dumbbells on this, as we do many push-ups in class and I want some stability work on this) 12 x 40 1 x 75 (failed on the second with left arm, had been doing x 6 reps three weeks ago np) 6 x 70 6 x 70 Cable front lateral raise (this is more for rehab than growth) 12x40 each arm three times DB Chest Flys (also more for reahab) 12 x 30 12 x 35 12 x 35
Makiwara training. We have a nice Shureido makiwara at the dojo. I love hitting the thing, but do wish it was mounted on the floor instead of the platform. I remember trying one for the first time as a white belt and thinking sheet this thing hurts how the hell do these guys hit this thing. A few months ago I started getting into hitting it with my left hand shuto then immediately with a right hand punch. The board is just rebounding from the shuto strike as the punch lands. Today I added an left elbow strike just before the shuto and punch. It is very satisfying to be able to land three consecutive techniques on a makiwara, as it took a long time to get to that. I also do much prefer a makiwara to a heavy bag for this kind of work. One of these days I will have a few of these things mounted to my basement floor. I do makiwara work every time I am at the dojo.
I'm a big fan of kata for conditioning as well. I like to alternate kata with hardstyle kettlebell swings/snatches or similar exercises, terrific workout and very applicable to karate. Nice work on the makiwara.
Thanks. I developed some great circuits around kata too. They are designed for a class or at least two. Each station reflects at least one move in the kata. Deshi move from station to station and one group does the kata. For example, the pinan yondan one starts off with tossing a medicine ball back and forth in cat stance alternating sides on the toss and stance. They are designed to develop explosiveness.
Ok, some good news and some bad news. Increased my deadlift this week 10lbs for reps. But really couldn't squat, as my right quad is still in significant pain from sparring on Thursday (took a nasty kick to it). Started with a 5 min jog on the treadmill flat set at 5.5mph and go the heart rate up to 140. Deads 6 x 135 12 x 225 6 x 285 6 x 275 Gravitron pull-ups (I started using this machine when I was doing lat pull-downs close to my body weight but a standard pull-up was out of the question. This machine is pretty cool and if you have been doing pull-downs because your a heavy guy like me and can't do a pull-up try this thing) Less weight means you are lifting more: 7 x 110 8 x 90 7 x 80 Squats (Took this real light today due to quad pain, I still wanted to work them and pump in some blood): 6 x 135 12x 135 12 x 135 Barbell Rows (Great classic lift and much better than cable rows IMHO) 8 x 135 3 x 165 (don't know what happened here) 6 x 155 6 x 155 Finished up with farmers walks. I have been using 85lb DBs for this, but went with 60lb ones but for double the distance. Finished up with wrist rolls doing 20lbs up and down a few times. Forearms were on fire like usual. Great way to finish up after deads, etc Now it is time to EAT!
Very crisp and precise [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNzcUfnGJyI&feature=related"]Matsubayashi Ryu - Pinan Shodan - YouTube[/ame] While maintaining that level of snap...I can see your point!
Thanks for following the log. Pretty much anyone who has been doing Matsubayashi for a while will look like that. Kata is a real focus of the style and it isn't unusual to spend an hour straight going through the katas like this. I like doing kata on my own, but there is something special about doing it in a group, especially a large one. It can be viewed as Zen meditation and Zen is heavily attached to Matsubayashi Karate. http://seinenkai.com/articles/art-heshiki.html That said, once you reach Ni-Kyu you can really start to open up the kata outside of kata practice and work the techniques in serious bunkai and free-sparring. Some stylists prefer to go lightly here and spend their time on kata instead. I really enjoy both. I don't think there is any aspect of formal training I don't enjoy fully.
Rest day today. My whole body is now feeling DOMS. What's funny is that I eat so much post lifting that I get tired of eating. It is a strange thing, but there is no way to gain muscle without eating enough. Muscle is built after you lift and you need to fuel that process adequately or you are wasting your time lifting.
Won't be able to make it to class tonight, but I did get a chance to swim today and sit in the hot tub. Swimming is great to loosen you up and after this weekends lifting session I was feeling a bit tight and sore. Feel better now.
