DarthPenguins Training log of an unfit person!

As i mentioned on the training goals thread i thought it would be an idea to start posting a training log to increase my accountability, and it would also allow people more knowledgeable than myself to chime in if they felt like it!

I found Bushido_mans log to be quite interesting and if more people started one then it might lead to some interesting discussions on training methods.

Little background on myself and my log :

I'm currently 42yrs old, 6'4" and about 105kg (about 230lbs approx). Due to a combination of work and two little kids running about i've been out of the gym too much over the last few years and now am weak as a kitten and out of practice martial arts wise!

I've trained in a few martial arts over the years but my current focuses are BJJ and Shotokan. At Shotokan i have decided to regrade as i was away for so long and started again at White belt last October - I started back as i am going to classes with my son. The class is mainly adults but they are fine with him attending as long as i am there too. At BJJ i got my Blue belt in 2014 and have trained inconsistently since due to a lot of injuries, work and the appearance of the mini people.

I'm currently looking to do one class session of karate a week plus some more in my own time and 2-3 bjj sessions a week depending on work.

Training goals :

I want to regrade to Shodan and then subsequently would like to see if i can manage to get to Nidan by the time i turn 50! I would like to get my BJJ purple by the time i turn 45 ideally and then see what happens.

Lifting wise i want to recover my prior levels of strength from when i lifted a lot more frequently. I have always been much weaker at Push exercises due to my long limbs so would like to increase them too.

Plan is to lift weights 2X per week following a modified version of the 531 programme. Goal is to hopefully match and exceed my prior lifetime PRs though a lot of them are a long way off!

Target PRs from past

Squat : 150kg x 5

Deadlift : 200kg x 5

Bench : 100kg x 1(much weaker presser)

Overhead press : 60kg x 1

BB Row : 102.5kg x 3 (with weight belt)

All lifting to be done in garage in home gym. I have a squat rack, trap bar, 7ft bar, swiss bar/football bar, EZ curl bar, 2 x olympic db handles, 180kg in plates and assorted KBs

Apologies for the small book for the initial post but thought some background would help for context and encourage myself!

Tuesday 7th June

BJJ Nogi session

Worked some wrestling takedowns (I am a terrible wrestler) from armdrag to rear body lock

Drilled takedown followed by drilling the stand up and break grip from the takedown.

Followed this by adding in another takedown in response to opponent standing, taking them down into turtle

Added in a rollover from turtle finished with rear naked choke

Rounds of drilling technique to see if could turn over turtled opponent and then apply choke. king of the hill style. Winner stays on and attacks the choke

Finished with a few rounds of rolling

Wednesday 8th June

Karate session

Warm up first

Began with Kihon appropriate to grade. i am 8th Kyu currently and am grading again next week for 7th.

After practicing Kihon we then moved to multiple rounds of grading kata. For myself this will be Heian Nidan

Did one round of 5 step kumite with a 1st kyu to practice it in advance of grading then put gloves on and did a few rounds of free sparring with a second dan.

After this the class did 5 rounds of kata of your choice. I chose my grading kata for all rounds to get in extra reps.

Thursday 9th June

Lifting session

I am currently doing a 2day per week 531 template with Bench and Deadlift on week 1 and Overhead press and Squat on week 2. i am doing a modified version of the BBB assistance when i use the opposite weeks exercises as the assistance (so i do press assistance with bench and squat with deadlift). Starting at 3x10 of each on the first week of the cycle, increasing by 1 set of 10 for the subsequent weeks. After 3 weeks i then add 2.5kg and repeat.

I'm doing it this way so that every lift is performed once a week, either a heavy (531) lift or the lighter assistance one

Lifts :

Bench press:

20kg x 10

40kg x 5

50kg x 3

57.5kg x 5

65kg x 5

75kg x 6

final set felt heavier than usual but my shoulder was feeling fatigued before starting due to the karate night before so i was fine with this

Barbell Row (no belt)

60kg x 8

60kg x 8

60kg x 8

60kg x 8

60kg x 8

Have lowered the weight massively here and doing all sets without weight belt. I always used to use a belt for bb rows but i want to try and build up the numbers without it now

Seated Overhead press (no back support)

30kg x 10

30kg x 10

30kg x 10

I am doing my overhead press seated on a flat bench with no back support. Can't do them standing as the ceiling in the garage is too low for me to press standing inside

Triceps rope pushdown / biceps cable curl superset

25kg x 7

25kg x 7

25kg x 7

25kg x 7

am adding these in as i think my arms are proportionately weaker. Got a cheap plate loaded lat/low pulley machine that i can use for these and face pulls etc

KB hammer curl (two hand on one kb)

16kg x 10

16kg x 10

16kg x 10

16kg x 10

16kg x 10

This is a new exercise i had never tried before so i thought i would give it a shot and err on the side of caution. I liked it so will keep it in programme

Straight leg raises lying on bench

4 sets of 12

Friday 10th June

BJJ session - Lunchtime Nogi

warm up

Practiced techniques from sitting/butterfly guard. Take deep underhook then a shoulder crush grip. Pull opponent onto you for sweep to trapped side

Practiced hipping out to an armbar when the opponent shifts weight to the non trapped side to prevent armbar

Drilled technique king of the hill style. start with the shoulder crush grip and have to either sweep or submit. opponent has to try to pass to dominant position

Then couple of rounds of rolling

Was good session, fit in on lunchtime from work

Solid log!! Thank you for sharing with us your journey!! Train hard and train well!!

Solid log!! Thank you for sharing with us your journey!! Train hard and train well!!

Thanks!

Wednesday 16th June

Karate session

I've been full of the cold all week so been trying to be sensible exercise wise, but since i have a grading on Saturday i wanted to get at least one more session in before the grading

Class :

warm up

Kihon

lots of Kata practice

Grading kumite practice and some free sparring too

lots of grading practice and the instructor pointed out a few things to work on before the grading. Thankfully they were things like an adjustment to hand position etc where the prior position was a conscious movement so i can adjust easily enough i think. He also pointed out that i wasn't doing Hikite at a particular point in kata. For some reason i had it in my head that i didn't need to do it there so was deliberately not. Should be a straightforward fix.

Working quite a bit on my Yoko Geri Keage as i think it needs a lot of work. Everyone seems to show it differently though - i have had 3 different 3rd dans show me it in totally separate ways. I preferred one of them and have started doing it that way and since then have not really had any comments on issues with it that i had before so it is hopefully slightly less bad now!

It's great to see you getting those little extra bits to work on prior to your grading. Keep it up!

Saturday 18th June

Grading sat and passed successfully so have now reached 7th kyu. Will look up some videos online tomorrow on next kata and make a start on learning it.

Still full of the cold so will take it easy weights wise this weekend.

Since the preceding week has been messed up a lot by feeling ill and starting a new job, and it was just week 1 of my current 531 cycle I’ll just start again from the beginning of week 1 workouts this week. Wont hurt and saves messingup the progression